New PC, could use a little help

[ECA]

This is what I'm thinking atm, obviously I need a motherboard and I might just stick an extra 6970 in there at some point for the lulz.

Dont need anything but the box really, any suggestions/improvements welcome.

And obv, gonna sling some random TB mechanical drives in for torrent space

 

[inactionman]

Wait a week or so for the new Intel 320 SSD's?

I'm not a fan of the NZXT cases, only on the looks mind.

 

[ECA]

The SSD in the screenie are the new vertex 3s which come out in a few days, the new intel ones underperform quite badly in comparison.

 

[inactionman]

Yeah, but I thought that the Intel's are cheaper and come in higher capacities. Although given your budget, you probably aren't that worried about it.

 

[Kryten]

Stonking PC. I'd certainly go for the Vertex 3 over the new Intels - in fact, I'd go for the Vertex 2 over the new Intels too. Performance just isn't there.

I echo the comments about those cases - they're cheap and cheerful for a reason If you've got that sort of budget, get something like one of the Silverstone jobbies for a similar look or nearer the Lian-Li or Corsair Obsidian for outright performance.

 

[Puppet]

The socket 1155 platform ("Sandy Bridge") does only support dual-channel DDR3; therefore your choice of memory is wrong: The kit you picked out is a three-kit, meaning 3 modules of 4 Gb.

You are better off buying a two-kit with 2x 4 Gb., or if you want more then 8 Gb. memory buy 2x4Gb two-kit twice for a total of 16 Gb. memory (or, if you insist on 12 Gb, buy 1x 2x4Gb. and 1x 2x2Gb memory).

 

[caLLous]

What Puppet said - you need dual-channel memory for the 1155 CPU's - a few of these should see you through.

As for the mobo, I am currently eyeing up one of these for a similar project.

The Intel 320 seems to be getting bad (p)reviews but what about the SATA 6GB/s 510 series?

 

[ECA]

Thanks for the comments about the ram - I had discovered that after posting but forgot to update.

Kryten - the phantoms are actually really good cases for temperature, but I found the "king" of low temps and I dont give a fuck about looks so here is my new spec

Still really need some advice about motherboards though.

 

[caLLous]

You can't go wrong with an Asus, imo. Make sure you stick to a B3 Revision one, go for the Maximus IV (review) if your budget is *truly* spanktastic and you want the "best" oc'ing support but any of those will work for you I think.

 

[caLLous]

And I know you said you don't care about the looks but that case really is ugly as sin.

I'm looking for a Lian-Li that can take the 6990 and is in a similar price-range but it's just not gonna happen. I have the PC-7FNWX which is fantastic in every way except it's not configured to take long (>290mm) cards. It's one of the reasons I went with the 5870 instead of the 5970.

 

[caLLous]

Took so long writing this, the edit timer expired.

Slight tangent. I was involved in deep discussions with a very helpful guy from Kustom about whether I could fit the 5970 in the 7FNWX, he got it out the box and measured the depth and in theory it would've fit (with the end halfway into the 5.25" cage). IF the first PCI slot on the mobo had corresponded with the first PCI slot on the back of the case then all would've been fine (I had visions of putting a 3x5.25" bay fan in the front of the case to feed air directly to the card, it would've been fully awesome] BUT the slots on the mobo didn't start until the 3rd slot down on the back of the case, so the first PCI slot on the mobo crashed right into the join between the 5.25" and the 3.5". Luckily I spotted it before I ordered.

 

[Embattle]

The V3 will do really well, the only thing the newer Intel 320 will beat it on is low depth IOPS tests but then OCZ tend to update firmware often to change such things.

Personally I wouldn't buy that HSF and instead go for Corsair H50-1, if you want even higher performance then the H70 although not sure the extra cost/noise is worth it.

 

[ECA]

I've heard that the h50/h70 are both very noisy systems emb, I also lan a decent bit with my pc so having something protruding from the back would be vulnerable to knocks and bumps so I don't think I want to go down that road.

the DH14 is meant to be pretty good on sound levels and is only ~4 degrees hotter than the h70.

HEXUS.net - Review :: Corsair Hydro Series H70 CPU cooler review : Page - 4/7

My main question now is, since going from 2x 120gb ssds to 1x and swapping ssd for the 6970>6990 upgrade is the 850W PSU enough? I know it will be fine generally but will going for a higher rated PSU let it run quiter/colder and will capacitor aging fuck me 2 years down the road if i get that psu vs a 950w?

 

[Embattle]

The first thing is that the H50 is mounted totally inside and the H70 is mainly mounted inside with one fan on the outside, the standard fans are fairly quiet although can be replaced with even more quiet ones. Should also be pointed out that if you do LAN a lot then you should be very careful with the HSF you are looking at due to mobo stress. Personally again I've been considering another full water system but at same time I'm still wondering if the hassle is worth it at the moment

I wouldn't plump for the 6990, they just aren't worth it since both it and the 590 are a compromise of heat/noise and thus are generally weaker than two 6970/580s so unless you have a slot issue better to get a single GPU card then buy another later if required.

An 850w will be enough but make sure you get a good quality, one of the Seasonic ones which although expensive are some of th best.

 

[ECA]

The thing w/ 6990 is, I want a single card solution as I have multiple monitors running, I'm currently on 28", 24" and 19", but I'm going to be switching to 3x28" about a week after the pc gets done.

I've only ever had big pains in the ass with multi-card setups.

 

[Embattle]

The thing w/ 6990 is, I want a single card solution as I have multiple monitors running, I'm currently on 28", 24" and 19", but I'm going to be switching to 3x28" about a week after the pc gets done.

I've only ever had big pains in the ass with multi-card setups.

The issues are mainly based around multi GPU setups, not so much multi cards.

 

[ECA]

Switched cooler to a silver arrow as it's better+Cheaper+quiter than the D14.

 

[Aoami]

Can I have your old pc?

 

[ECA]

Can I have your old pc?

Why would you want it?

 

[ECA]

Thanks guys, everything ordered now, got the following:

Dark Fleet 85
1200w modular coolermaster psu
2600k
p8p67 pro
8gb g-skill low voltage ram
d14 cooler
1tb wd black cavier
120gb vertex 3
ati 6990

 

[ECA]

sigh the first item I ordered and got an email had been sent, is on the truck delivering today apparently. The rest of the systems been here 2 days now