minor incidentexpert in a dying fieldnjRegistered Userregular
I'll reiterate that I've successfully run two 6950s plus a very overclocked i5 and a pair of HDDs on a 650watt PSU and my house didn't burn down.
Ah, it stinks, it sucks, it's anthropologically unjust
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minor incidentexpert in a dying fieldnjRegistered Userregular
So an idle thought that began "Hm, I wonder where Bear got that giant water-cooling case..." eventually had me stumble onto this: http://www.mountainmods.com/CYO_picker.php
I'm in trouble...
Ah, it stinks, it sucks, it's anthropologically unjust
I'm pretty blown away by the attention to detail and the overall quality of this case.
If they offered something in a normal mid or fulltower size I'd definitely recommend it for air cooled builds.
Mountain mods was one I looked at but I ended up going with caselabs because I preferred the aesthetics more.
PS Minor
I'm still trying to decide on reservoir location. i've got enough space to put it in the rear chamber but I want it up front 'cause it looks great. I'm currently liking this bottom horizontal placement.
Is there any little things I can replace on my PC to let me run BF3 better? Could I get away with just a new graphics card?
I don't have the cash to get an all new setup.
Here's what I've got:
Radeon HD 5770 1Gb
Phenom II X2 555 BE
4Gb DDR3 RAM
MSI 770-G45 770
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KadokenGiving Ends to my Friends and it Feels StupendousRegistered Userregular
Why get the 975 for $160 when the 980 is ten bucks cheaper, and is 3.7 instead of 3.6 MHz?
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minor incidentexpert in a dying fieldnjRegistered Userregular
Damnit, Bear, that looks so god damn pretty. I like that placement, too.
Hey, what are the dimensions of the m8? I don't see them on the website.
Ah, it stinks, it sucks, it's anthropologically unjust
Is there any little things I can replace on my PC to let me run BF3 better? Could I get away with just a new graphics card?
I don't have the cash to get an all new setup.
Here's what I've got:
Radeon HD 5770 1Gb
Phenom II X2 555 BE
4Gb DDR3 RAM
MSI 770-G45 770
Depending on your PSU you could throw a 6770 in there in crossfire, and I'm sure it'd help. Do you have a budget in mind?
For 64 player maps that phenom II x2 is cutting it mighty thin in the CPU department.
Damnit, Bear, that looks so god damn pretty. I like that placement, too.
Hey, what are the dimensions of the m8? I don't see them on the website.
15"wide x 20"long x19"high
The rubber feet add an extra three quarters of an inch to the height.
Considering how much hardware it can pack in it's actually surprisingly compact. An inch taller and seven inches wider than my fractal r3, and the same length.
I don't have the pedestal or the extended top on mine, but honestly unless you're going really crazy with hardware you can still easily fit enough rads in just the normal sized one.
Damnit, Bear, that looks so god damn pretty. I like that placement, too.
Hey, what are the dimensions of the m8? I don't see them on the website.
15"wide x 20"long x19"high
The rubber feet add an extra three quarters of an inch to the height.
Considering how much hardware it can pack in it's actually surprisingly compact. An inch taller and seven inches wider than my fractal r3, and the same length.
I don't have the pedestal or the extended top on mine, but honestly unless you're going really crazy with hardware you can still easily fit enough rads in just the normal sized one.
Man. I'm really tempted...
But then I'd really have to go all in with water cooling...
Do you think it would be easy enough to put casters on it?
Ah, it stinks, it sucks, it's anthropologically unjust
Remember that it's entirely possible to do a smaller water loop, even cooling multiple GPUs.
I went big because A, I hate noise and adding more rad space means I can run lower FPI rads and lower RPM fans while still keeping everything frosty and B, sandybridge E sucks watts like crazy.
That said it's a whole ton of fun, which really is all the reason I needed.
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minor incidentexpert in a dying fieldnjRegistered Userregular
Really unless you go to rediculous lengths like me, water can be pretty affordable.
Air is still cheaper, and simpler to boot, so I wouldn't really recommend a custom water setup to most people, but it really doesn't break the bank to do a basic system.
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minor incidentexpert in a dying fieldnjRegistered Userregular
Really unless you go to rediculous lengths like me, water can be pretty affordable.
Air is still cheaper, and simpler to boot, so I wouldn't really recommend a custom water setup to most people, but it really doesn't break the bank to do a basic system.
Want to drop any links on me on where I should be shopping for water cooling gear, and what sort of stuff you used? I'm not dead set on it yet, but I'm seriously debating it. Sounds fun!
Ah, it stinks, it sucks, it's anthropologically unjust
I got most of my stuff from FrozenCPU because they tend to have pretty good prices, and a whole lotta selection. Shipping is a bit slow for me since they're located in NY so it's across the whole country, but that shouldn't be bad for you.
Reading the sticky'd guides in the OCN watercooling subforum, as well as just keeping an eye on the general threads there helped a lot for general knowledge gathering.
Martin's liquid lab helped me a lot in making some more informed choices as far as various components go. He's got a very scientific approach to his testing.
For my setup, I wanted low noise but I still needed to be able to shed upwards of 800 watts of heat if everything was pushed flat out. Low fin density with a lot of radiator surface being the key for this kind of setup. I ended up getting a set of Black Ice SR1 radiators. These are 9 fin per inch rads, nice and thick. They aren't too restrictive on coolant or airflow, but they can still drop a fair chunk of heat. Generally regarded as some of the best low airflow radiators out there.
For GPU blocks I got some EK acetal/copper full cover blocks. EK makes some good stuff as far as thermal transfer, but I'd stay away from anything nickel plated from them since they had some real QC issues a while back. They've corrected now but their general stance towards people with failed blocks was less than stellar. I picked them in spite of those issues because these are some of the best full card blocks available for 7970s. On a 6950 like I think you're running you should have more options, but I'm not really sure who makes the best here. Definitely get full card blocks if you can, as otherwise you aren't cooling your ram/VRM and you'll need spot fans to pick up the slack.
For my CPU block I used an XSPC Raystorm It seems to be a popular block, and martin's testing has it neck and neck for best thermals and on top as far as restriction goes, plus the acetal topped one is easy on the wallet.
I got an EK block for my motherboard's VRMs as well, but on an 1155 board I don't think it's super important to block your board unless you have no airflow at all in that area.
For a loop that isn't too restrictive I'd say that the MCP35X is a really nice pump. I'll admit I don't know as much about some of the other options in the lower end of pumps since I knew I was going to have a fair bit of restriction in my loop just from the number of things in it, so I focused most of my research on the higher end more powerful pumps. I'm actually running a MCP35X2 which is a pair of the 35Xs with a dual top, giving them roughly double the pumping power. I'll probably end up only running them at 50-60% power, but that'll let me have all the pumping oomph needed while still keeping pump noise at a minimum.
There are a whole lot of other options here, and I won't pretend to know enough yet, but this is at least a starting point.
edit: I'll stress again how, much like everything else I do computer related, I obviously went way overboard here. It's very possible to do a more economic loop and get enough cooling.
Slightly off topic, but I went to college about half an hour away from Frozen CPU and have been to their store/warehouse a few times. It's been a few years since I was last there so I don't know if they've changed how they do things, but since they weren't really set up at that time to be a walk in store you basically could walk around the warehouse and pick out the parts you wanted. To this day I'm still amazed they let us do that, but there were employees back there with us and it's actually a fairly small place. Still, a very cool experience.
Donovan PuppyfuckerA dagger in the dark isworth a thousand swords in the morningRegistered Userregular
Stores that let you do that are amazing. There is a fastener place I always use that I learned about when I was working as a mechanic. It's basically just a warehouse chock full of bins of every kind of fastener you can think of. If you need one specific kind of bolt, and not a packet of 10? They'll sell it to you. If you need a special bolt from a Russian truck that they stopped making 30 years ago, they have it.
It's pretty amazing.
redacted boring story that could possibly get me in trouble.
Handgimp on
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Donovan PuppyfuckerA dagger in the dark isworth a thousand swords in the morningRegistered Userregular
edited March 2012
Eh, as long as the bolt is the correct type, dimensional tolerance and tensile strength, it really shouldn't matter. But I suppose you have to do all the paperwork and shit that goes along with certification programs like that...
Donovan Puppyfucker on
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AlectharAlan ShoreWe're not territorial about that sort of thing, are we?Registered Userregular
I have just been given position by my other half to splurge on a gaming PC before we do a long period of balls to the wall saving.
If anyone enjoys specing up systems feel free, I'd like to spend around £800 but can go to £1000ish. I only need the tower and I will be building it myself. I wont be reusing any current hardware and dont need tons of storage in it, as my current system will be turned into the networked house media hub and already has 5TB. I also never build with upgrading in the future in mind (so its got to last around 3 years).
Otherwise just some tips on the current hot techs to look into, obviously with my budget I cant max both CPU and GPU so which would be a best comprimise these days? I will be posting a potential build once I've spent today looking into it. But opinion is always welcome!
I have just been given position by my other half to splurge on a gaming PC before we do a long period of balls to the wall saving.
If anyone enjoys specing up systems feel free, I'd like to spend around £800 but can go to £1000ish. I only need the tower and I will be building it myself. I wont be reusing any current hardware and dont need tons of storage in it, as my current system will be turned into the networked house media hub and already has 5TB. I also never build with upgrading in the future in mind (so its got to last around 3 years).
Otherwise just some tips on the current hot techs to look into, obviously with my budget I cant max both CPU and GPU so which would be a best comprimise these days? I will be posting a potential build once I've spent today looking into it. But opinion is always welcome!
Hey, I just specced a computer out for myself so I can help you with this.
Comes to around £700, handles games comfortably at 1920x1080. Potential improvements:
i5 2500k +75
(For overclocking) Asus P8Z68 Gen 3 +55, and Coolermaster Hyper TX3 +20
(For higher resolution gaming) Radeon 6850 x 2 in Crossfire, +50
which is a total of +£200 if you opt for all of them. The thing with PC building seems to be knowing where to stop, haha. My 4 year old machine managed the Witcher 2 at around 40 fps with just two 3870s, the first build should last as long.
From what I've read online im going with the i5 2500k, its just had such good reviews.
Im not into overclocking, I mostly run stuff at stock levels. As for GPU I was under the impression from a few articles that Nvidia currently hold the crown in upper end cards or is that only with the current flagships? As such the 570 GTX was looking nice. Again im open to opinion, im not a fan boy for either camp.
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acidlacedpenguinInstitutionalizedSafe in jail.Registered Userregular
I haven't followed laptop stuff in quite awhile, does the "take the series number of the mobile card and subtract one to get it's desktop card equivalent? So like, 500M series ~= 400 series
From what I've read online im going with the i5 2500k, its just had such good reviews.
Im not into overclocking, I mostly run stuff at stock levels. As for GPU I was under the impression from a few articles that Nvidia currently hold the crown in upper end cards or is that only with the current flagships? As such the 570 GTX was looking nice. Again im open to opinion, im not a fan boy for either camp.
If you're not OCing, spnding more the the k-chip is a complete waste. And if you're not going to OC the 2500k, it's a point of contention as to whether it's even worth getting an i5 as opposed to an i3. But before you make a decision, you should know that OCing the 2500k is literally as simple as changing a single setting in your BIOS. It won't be the absolute best or most efficient OC, but you can easily push it a bit north of 4GHz that way. And all you need is a $27 Coolermaster Hyper 212+.
Why get the 975 for $160 when the 980 is ten bucks cheaper, and is 3.7 instead of 3.6 MHz?
I think you're looking at the 980 OEM and the 975 retail. I'm not 100% positive, but I think the only difference is that the OEM doesn't have a stock HSF, which doesn't matter at all if you're already getting an aftermarket one. And really, I'm not even sure the 100MHz difference between the 980 and 975 is worth it for $10. I doubt you'd ever notice the difference.
From what I've read online im going with the i5 2500k, its just had such good reviews.
Im not into overclocking, I mostly run stuff at stock levels. As for GPU I was under the impression from a few articles that Nvidia currently hold the crown in upper end cards or is that only with the current flagships? As such the 570 GTX was looking nice. Again im open to opinion, im not a fan boy for either camp.
If you're not OCing, spnding more the the k-chip is a complete waste. And if you're not going to OC the 2500k, it's a point of contention as to whether it's even worth getting an i5 as opposed to an i3. But before you make a decision, you should know that OCing the 2500k is literally as simple as changing a single setting in your BIOS. It won't be the absolute best or most efficient OC, but you can easily push it a bit north of 4GHz that way. And all you need is a $27 Coolermaster Hyper 212+.
From what I've read online im going with the i5 2500k, its just had such good reviews.
Im not into overclocking, I mostly run stuff at stock levels. As for GPU I was under the impression from a few articles that Nvidia currently hold the crown in upper end cards or is that only with the current flagships? As such the 570 GTX was looking nice. Again im open to opinion, im not a fan boy for either camp.
If you're not OCing, spnding more the the k-chip is a complete waste. And if you're not going to OC the 2500k, it's a point of contention as to whether it's even worth getting an i5 as opposed to an i3. But before you make a decision, you should know that OCing the 2500k is literally as simple as changing a single setting in your BIOS. It won't be the absolute best or most efficient OC, but you can easily push it a bit north of 4GHz that way. And all you need is a $27 Coolermaster Hyper 212+.
See a single setting in BIOS I wouldn't have an issue with, its constant voltage tweaking and temp monitoring I have no time for. OK so based on that advice what mobo would you recommend with that CPU and heat sink?
Posts
I'm in trouble...
and fuckit i can't make URLs link right
I got the M8 which is their smallest doublewide.
I'm pretty blown away by the attention to detail and the overall quality of this case.
If they offered something in a normal mid or fulltower size I'd definitely recommend it for air cooled builds.
Mountain mods was one I looked at but I ended up going with caselabs because I preferred the aesthetics more.
PS Minor
I'm still trying to decide on reservoir location. i've got enough space to put it in the rear chamber but I want it up front 'cause it looks great. I'm currently liking this bottom horizontal placement.
I don't have the cash to get an all new setup.
Here's what I've got:
Radeon HD 5770 1Gb
Phenom II X2 555 BE
4Gb DDR3 RAM
MSI 770-G45 770
Hey, what are the dimensions of the m8? I don't see them on the website.
Depending on your PSU you could throw a 6770 in there in crossfire, and I'm sure it'd help. Do you have a budget in mind?
For 64 player maps that phenom II x2 is cutting it mighty thin in the CPU department.
Gonna check a local parts store but I'm sure I'll be fleeced
My local Microcenter has oem optical drives for $17. Not bad at all. Of course, if all you have is Best Buy, yeah, you're fucked.
15"wide x 20"long x19"high
The rubber feet add an extra three quarters of an inch to the height.
Considering how much hardware it can pack in it's actually surprisingly compact. An inch taller and seven inches wider than my fractal r3, and the same length.
I don't have the pedestal or the extended top on mine, but honestly unless you're going really crazy with hardware you can still easily fit enough rads in just the normal sized one.
yeah its all department stores and strip mall PC repair shops
Man. I'm really tempted...
But then I'd really have to go all in with water cooling...
Do you think it would be easy enough to put casters on it?
Yeah, shouldn't be tough at all
The case comes stock with the rubberized feet, but there are pre-drilled and tapped holes to screw in casters if you want
I went big because A, I hate noise and adding more rad space means I can run lower FPI rads and lower RPM fans while still keeping everything frosty and B, sandybridge E sucks watts like crazy.
That said it's a whole ton of fun, which really is all the reason I needed.
Haha, I just found that on the site. Oh man, my wallet hates you. Well, it continues to hate you. This is nothing new.
You're welcome.
Yep!
Watercooled setups are cool, but I'm glad I don't have minor incident's affliction, because I could not afford that right now.
Air is still cheaper, and simpler to boot, so I wouldn't really recommend a custom water setup to most people, but it really doesn't break the bank to do a basic system.
Want to drop any links on me on where I should be shopping for water cooling gear, and what sort of stuff you used? I'm not dead set on it yet, but I'm seriously debating it. Sounds fun!
how do you do it with an ISO on a blank harddrive?
serious question, wondering if I can get Windows 7 on this box without having to buy a DVD drive
It's a blessing and a curse.
Mainly a curse for my bank account.
so your going to need either a dvd drive on some computer, or the ISO to make the bootable usb.
might have just saved myself 50 bucks
*edit*
does that tool work with DVD versions of Windows 7? it just talks about ISO's as far as I can tell
Reading the sticky'd guides in the OCN watercooling subforum, as well as just keeping an eye on the general threads there helped a lot for general knowledge gathering.
Martin's liquid lab helped me a lot in making some more informed choices as far as various components go. He's got a very scientific approach to his testing.
For my setup, I wanted low noise but I still needed to be able to shed upwards of 800 watts of heat if everything was pushed flat out. Low fin density with a lot of radiator surface being the key for this kind of setup. I ended up getting a set of Black Ice SR1 radiators. These are 9 fin per inch rads, nice and thick. They aren't too restrictive on coolant or airflow, but they can still drop a fair chunk of heat. Generally regarded as some of the best low airflow radiators out there.
For GPU blocks I got some EK acetal/copper full cover blocks. EK makes some good stuff as far as thermal transfer, but I'd stay away from anything nickel plated from them since they had some real QC issues a while back. They've corrected now but their general stance towards people with failed blocks was less than stellar. I picked them in spite of those issues because these are some of the best full card blocks available for 7970s. On a 6950 like I think you're running you should have more options, but I'm not really sure who makes the best here. Definitely get full card blocks if you can, as otherwise you aren't cooling your ram/VRM and you'll need spot fans to pick up the slack.
For my CPU block I used an XSPC Raystorm It seems to be a popular block, and martin's testing has it neck and neck for best thermals and on top as far as restriction goes, plus the acetal topped one is easy on the wallet.
I got an EK block for my motherboard's VRMs as well, but on an 1155 board I don't think it's super important to block your board unless you have no airflow at all in that area.
For a loop that isn't too restrictive I'd say that the MCP35X is a really nice pump. I'll admit I don't know as much about some of the other options in the lower end of pumps since I knew I was going to have a fair bit of restriction in my loop just from the number of things in it, so I focused most of my research on the higher end more powerful pumps. I'm actually running a MCP35X2 which is a pair of the 35Xs with a dual top, giving them roughly double the pumping power. I'll probably end up only running them at 50-60% power, but that'll let me have all the pumping oomph needed while still keeping pump noise at a minimum.
There are a whole lot of other options here, and I won't pretend to know enough yet, but this is at least a starting point.
edit: I'll stress again how, much like everything else I do computer related, I obviously went way overboard here. It's very possible to do a more economic loop and get enough cooling.
Thank god I dont have reference cards and I have no money.
It's pretty amazing.
You can make an .iso out of the DVD if you have to.
Battle.net
If anyone enjoys specing up systems feel free, I'd like to spend around £800 but can go to £1000ish. I only need the tower and I will be building it myself. I wont be reusing any current hardware and dont need tons of storage in it, as my current system will be turned into the networked house media hub and already has 5TB. I also never build with upgrading in the future in mind (so its got to last around 3 years).
Otherwise just some tips on the current hot techs to look into, obviously with my budget I cant max both CPU and GPU so which would be a best comprimise these days? I will be posting a potential build once I've spent today looking into it. But opinion is always welcome!
Hey, I just specced a computer out for myself so I can help you with this.
CPU: Intel i3-2120 - £90
Mobo: Asus P8Z68-V LX - £75
Case: Corsair Carbide 300R - £60
SSD: 120GB OCZ Agility 3 - £110
HDD: Hitachi 500GB - £60
GPU: Radeon 6950 1GB - £180
RAM: 8GB (2x4) 1600MHz - £40
PSU: Antec Neo Eco 620W - £65
DVD: DVD Writer - £20
Comes to around £700, handles games comfortably at 1920x1080. Potential improvements:
i5 2500k +75
(For overclocking) Asus P8Z68 Gen 3 +55, and Coolermaster Hyper TX3 +20
(For higher resolution gaming) Radeon 6850 x 2 in Crossfire, +50
which is a total of +£200 if you opt for all of them. The thing with PC building seems to be knowing where to stop, haha. My 4 year old machine managed the Witcher 2 at around 40 fps with just two 3870s, the first build should last as long.
Im not into overclocking, I mostly run stuff at stock levels. As for GPU I was under the impression from a few articles that Nvidia currently hold the crown in upper end cards or is that only with the current flagships? As such the 570 GTX was looking nice. Again im open to opinion, im not a fan boy for either camp.
http://www.ncix.ca/products/index.php?sku=68126&vpn=08623TU&manufacture=Lenovo&promoid=1009
I haven't followed laptop stuff in quite awhile, does the "take the series number of the mobile card and subtract one to get it's desktop card equivalent? So like, 500M series ~= 400 series
how does the i7 2670QM stack up?
If you're not OCing, spnding more the the k-chip is a complete waste. And if you're not going to OC the 2500k, it's a point of contention as to whether it's even worth getting an i5 as opposed to an i3. But before you make a decision, you should know that OCing the 2500k is literally as simple as changing a single setting in your BIOS. It won't be the absolute best or most efficient OC, but you can easily push it a bit north of 4GHz that way. And all you need is a $27 Coolermaster Hyper 212+.
I think you're looking at the 980 OEM and the 975 retail. I'm not 100% positive, but I think the only difference is that the OEM doesn't have a stock HSF, which doesn't matter at all if you're already getting an aftermarket one. And really, I'm not even sure the 100MHz difference between the 980 and 975 is worth it for $10. I doubt you'd ever notice the difference.
How does that one compare to this one?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103100
Which is the one I just got. Can I flip the bits on my 2500k with this one? With an ASRock Extreme3
See a single setting in BIOS I wouldn't have an issue with, its constant voltage tweaking and temp monitoring I have no time for. OK so based on that advice what mobo would you recommend with that CPU and heat sink?