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[Phloxy]

I'm having an unusual problem. My computer when I start it up, just stays black for 30 seconds, then boots directly into my windows 7. Mind you everything works perfect, but I can't access my bio or my post screen. How do I fix this?

 

[BigBlackGamer]

if your card has dual DVI then switch to the other DVI port.

 

[abq]

I sent my mobo and HDD back to the vendor at the beginning of this week and recieved everything today. They said the HDD problem I had was due to some incompatibility issue between the mobo and HDD, so they sent me a different model.

Trying to install Windows 7 from a usb stick atm.

 

[·feist·]

More pics of the build, please (especially that case). Also, if you happen to be in North America, how much was shipping for the R2/R3?

Quoting this for the new page:

If any of the Cooler Master CM690 II owners here are like me and need to get more air into their cases, these photos below may give you some ideas (these are not mine):


http://i36.tinypic.com/2vjab8j.jpg

http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac306/twicey/P8150207.jpg http://i910.photobucket.com/albums/ac306/twicey/P8150206.jpg


Dual 120mm fans. I've been considering doing this for some time now as the front 140mm intake isn't enough to cover all six HDDs in the primary drive cage. Either that, or I may work in a 180/200mm single intake.

 

[Kintaro]

I sent my mobo and HDD back to the vendor at the beginning of this week and recieved everything today. They said the HDD problem I had was due to some incompatibility issue between the mobo and HDD, so they sent me a different model.

Trying to install Windows 7 from a usb stick atm.

I'm on the verge of ordering this case and fans. I love the style.

 

[Midas]

I'm on the verge of ordering this case and fans. I love the style.

Is it the Fractal Design? I have it right next to me, waiting for parts to be placed in it. But I don't have the graphics card just yet.

 

[apocalidiot]

AVAdirect isn't truly customizable as they don't allow you to select Nvidia cards if the board is a Crossfire board (or vice-versa) in certain config pages. From trying a few builds on their site I'd really just recommend going with the i5-750 and a GTX 470 with 64-bit Windows 7 included, maybe a nice CoolerMaster 690 II or similar case, a 212 cpu cooler, and Samsung F3 1TB. *IF I WAS BUYING FROM AVADIRECT, AND ONLY AVADIRECT, AND HAD ~$1200 to spend*

Another option is NCIXUS.com where you can pay $50 (i think) to have then assemble everything for you. Please don't look only at my advice and search around and see if people with similar builds to the one you're targetting have good results with them and try to see how much it cost them as well.

I think actually I'm going to go with the Dell XPS 7100 that you recommended in the beginning. The specs are sweet and the price isn't bad from what the review covers. Looking at the specs from the review and the website, the build that says "Includes 6-core processor for maximum control over overclocking, media player video conversion, and game play" - http://www.dell.com/us/en/home/desktops/studio-xps-7100/pd.aspx?refid=studio-xps-7100&cs=19&s=dhs


edit:

PROCESSOR & GRAPHICS CARD AMD Phenom™ II X6 1055T + ATI Radeon HD 5870 1GB edit
OPERATING SYSTEM Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64Bit, English edit
MEMORY 8GB Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz - 4 DIMMs edit
HARD DRIVE 1TB - 7200RPM, SATA 3.0Gb/s, 16MB Cache edit
OPTICAL DRIVE Blu-ray Disc (BD) Combo (Reads BD and Writes to DVD/CD) edit
MONITOR No Monitor edit
SOUND CARD THX® TruStudio PC™ edit
SPEAKERS No speakers (Speakers are required to hear audio from your system) edit
KEYBOARD Dell Studio Consumer Multimedia Keyboard edit
MOUSE Dell Studio Optical Mouse edit
MODEM No Modem Option edit

 

[·feist·]

Is it the Fractal Design? I have it right next to me, waiting for parts to be placed in it. But I don't have the graphics card just yet.

Yes.

 

[Toki767]

I think actually I'm going to go with the Dell XPS 7100 that you recommended in the beginning. The specs are sweet and the price isn't bad from what the review covers. Looking at the specs from the review and the website, the build that says "Includes 6-core processor for maximum control over overclocking, media player video conversion, and game play" - http://www.dell.com/us/en/home/desktops/studio-xps-7100/pd.aspx?refid=studio-xps-7100&cs=19&s=dhs

The Dell is a very good choice. The only thing I have against Dell really is that their motherboard BIOS options are usually fairly gimped. I'm not sure if they'll even let you overclock it, but you should definitely ask some of the people here that got it if they can.

 

[apocalidiot]

The Dell is a very good choice. The only thing I have against Dell really is that their motherboard BIOS options are usually fairly gimped. I'm not sure if they'll even let you overclock it, but you should definitely ask some of the people here that got it if they can.

I think I'm going to go with the specs I posted above for $1,199.99. I don't think I'll be overclocking it (but who knows?) but that is something that is definitely to keep in mind.

 

[IonicSnake]

Didn't know where to post this so I hope here is good.

I have a NZXT Hush chassi and my front 120mm fan sounds like a wheel made of bricks so I'm going to have to replace it. I was wondering if someone knows of a nice 120mm fan I can get, the one that's in right now is using a 4-pin connection but I don't know if that matters.

 

[GillianSeed79]

I know this topic has a lot information, but any recommendations for just a plain jane pre-built PC or laptop at a store like Best Buy? I'm in the market for a new PC, but would like to be able to do some gaming if I bought one. I have no idea how to build my own gaming PC or anything about their components like graphic cards or physics cards. I could buy a pre-built one I guess, but would probably need a credit card to finance the purchase with my budget. I mentioned Best Buy before because they have those no interest for 48 months deals, but I get the feeling store model PC's aren't the best for gaming.

 

[abq]

More pics of the build, please (especially that case). Also, if you happen to be in North America, how much was shipping for the R2/R3?

Quoting this for the new page:

I'm not in North America. Doesn't Fractal have distributors overseas? I'll take some pics later. It's hard to capture the beauty of the R2, the understated aesthetics, on camera, though.

 

[Adent]

I've had a problem similar to this trying to install windows XP and it was driving me crazy.. Turns out the problem was one little setting in the BIOS under SATA Compatibility mode or something.

Definitely check all the hard drive settings in your BIOS. You can access this normally by pressing F1 when your computer first starts up. Google "BIOS Setup sata compatibility" etc.

Thanks for replying. I wish you could remember what you changed but I'll do a search on what you mentioned.

Right now I'm doing a diagnostic test on the HDD. The Diagnostic program found the HDD no problem.

 

[AkIRA_22]

Im looking for a micro atx mid tower case that has a lot of room internally(for a 9 inch 9800gt) and has great airflow, preferably under $100, any suggestions?

Ahhh a man after my own heart, I love mATX and have currently got a P180 mini from antec. It has a beautiful design, great HDD capacity and brilliant air flow (top 200mm) and can fit your 9800gt and even a 5970. It even comes in black or white if you so desire. This case makes your rig nearly silent. the only time I can hear mine when the room is quiet and when I have the 200mm cranked to full, even then it is barely noticeable. I live in a dusty house and there is barely any dust in this case, the filters actually do their job, and they are easy to clean.

here it is from amazon vendors

Here is my set-up. What you don't see is the two HDDs in the PSU compartment, for a total of 5.

 

[DrForester]

edit: Yay Reading!

 

[Diablohead]

For that price you could have got something a lotttttttttttttt better. I'd return it and get something else.

I think it's great but if you could show me an example of something to swap it with i'll look into it, we needed a monitor replacement today so it's why I went and bought it directly instead of looking at online stores, plus as I said before we have nothing hdmi in the house and if we did it would go in the main room on the 32"

*edit* I see that amazon have the next model up with dvi and hdmi ports for the same price and my model for £25 less then what I paid, it's cheaper but either me or my parents would be without a screen for the week while it's delivered so it's not worth the effort for such a small change.

 

[undu]

That the Antec 183? I got the 193 for the giant, filtered, side intake but unfortunately it made ti do I could not use that Corsair CPU cooler. Zalman fan I have is doing just fine though.

Looks like a white mini p180

Edit: he even says so in the post.

 

[DrForester]

Looks like a white mini p180

Edit: he even says so in the post.

Well don't I feel silly. :lol :lol :lol


Either way, Love my Antec case.

 

[Omiee]

what is faster a sinlge 5970 or 2 460's or 2 470's

anybody have a chart..?

 

[brain_stew]

what is faster a sinlge 5970 or 2 460's or 2 470's

anybody have a chart..?

I wouldn't recommend a 5970, it can often have weird scaling issues and is overpriced. 470s are the fastest.

Comparison here, its pretty much the same as SLI 460s really but with slower Crossfire profile updates and a much higher price:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/165?vs=181

 

[Omiee]

I wouldn't recommend a 5970, it can often have weird scaling issues and is overpriced. 470s are the fastest.

Comparison here, its pretty much the same as SLI 460s really but with slower Crossfire profile updates and a much higher price:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/165?vs=181

the 460 sli will cost me 440 euro.
470 cross fire about 500
a 5970 430 euro.

so its not that much more expensive.

and people keep saying crossfire and sli is not good so i thought better to go with a single card and the fastest and i found that that is the 5970. right..?
my first thought was to settle with a 480 now and get a second one after a year or so when they get cheaper. but all this talk about sli and crossfire being not good i thought better to go with the 5970.

 

[Diablohead]

the 460 sli will cost me 440 euro.
470 cross fire about 500
a 5970 430 euro.

so its not that much more expensive.

and people keep saying crossfire and sli is not good so i thought better to go with a single card and the fastest and i found that that is the 5970. right..?
my first thought was to settle with a 480 now and get a second one after a year or so when they get cheaper. but all this talk about sli and crossfire being not good i thought better to go with the 5970.

Since the prices are close just go with what you feel the most comftable with, if you worry about having two cards then go with the single beefy one Which ever method you pick you are good to go for a long time.

 

[brain_stew]

the 460 sli will cost me 440 euro.
470 cross fire about 500
a 5970 430 euro.

so its not that much more expensive.

and people keep saying crossfire and sli is not good so i thought better to go with a single card and the fastest and i found that that is the 5970. right..?
my first thought was to settle with a 480 now and get a second one after a year or so when they get cheaper. but all this talk about sli and crossfire being not good i thought better to go with the 5970.

The 5970 isn't a single card, its crossfire on a single PCB and has all the same issues as other multi GPU setups do (moreso since crossfire is worse than SLI).

How much is the 480?

 

[Omiee]

The 5970 isn't a single card, its crossfire on a single PCB and has all the same issues as other multi GPU setups do (moreso since crossfire is worse than SLI).

How much is the 480?

a 480 has seen a price cut today from 430 euro to 350 euro.
man i regret ever selling my 5770 and other stuff to upgrade, this is to difficult cuz i dont wanna make the wrong descision.

so what do u think go with 2 470's for the price of 500 euro
or go with a 480 one for 350 now, and wait untill it goes to 200 or something after a year or so.

 

[brain_stew]

a 480 has seen a price cut today from 430 euro to 350 euro..

Then get that, its the obvious choice.

 

[Omiee]

Then get that, its the obvious choice.

and thats not my only issue
i have to choose between these 2 options

a 870 with this motherboard.

http://tweakers.net/pricewatch/245569/intel-core-i7-870.html#tab:info

http://tweakers.net/pricewatch/245933/asus-p7p55-ws-supercomputer.html#tab:info

a 930 with this motherboard.

http://tweakers.net/pricewatch/253297/intel-core-i7-930.html

http://tweakers.net/pricewatch/254070/gigabyte-ga-x58a-ud3r.html


i am gonna do some overclocking

or if u could find me a cheaper motherboard for either option
cuz i might not even do sli after all.
or crossfire.

 

[Thrilltacular]

Big thanks to Ziraki for letting me know about microcenter's cheaper i7 processor. I didn't realize that there is one 15 minutes away from me in Yonkers. I modified my build with a 750w Corsair power source and plan to buy tomorrow.

Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
GIGABYTE GV-N460OC-1GI GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory
ASUS P6X58D-E LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Intel Core i7-930 Bloomfield 2.8GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Desktop Processor
COOLER MASTER Intel Core i7 compatible V8 RR-UV8-XBU1-GP 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler
CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply
Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Just wondering about a monitor now. Is it worth it going 24", or is the difference between 24 and 23 completely negligible. cnet seems to like the Sasung PX2370 and the Dell SP2309W (On sale this weekend for $199. Is it worth another $20 for another inch for the ST2410. Any help or suggestions would be appreciated!

 

[Toki767]

I'd probably go for the Samsung. Sure an extra inch is only $20, but most people seem to favor the Samsung over the ST2410. The SP2309W probably isn't a bad choice either though. I believe Dell monitors are usually made by either Samsung or LG.

 

[Adent]

Does my ram match my board? The ram shows up fine in the bios. It matches this right?

Memory
Number of Memory Slots 4×240pin
Memory Standard DDR3 1666(OC)/1333/1066/800
Maximum Memory Supported 16GB
Channel Supported Dual Channel


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227558

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128437

 

[MechDX]

Im pretty much a new guy when it comes to this PC stuff but my old HP motherboard went kaput and I ordered a Dell Studio XPS 7100 that will be here Tuesday.

Specs:

Studio Athlon II X4 630 (2.8GHz)
6GB DDR3 SDRAM,1333MHz, 2x2GB+2x1GB
500GB Serial ATA 2 Hard Drive 7200 RPM

Did some research and it comes with a 480 watt power supply. I need a videocard though and dont need anything over the top. Just need some ideas as to what card would be good for this set up. BTW for referance my old HP ran with an 8600 GT.

Will an AMD processor work better with an ATI card?

 

[Aselith]

My friend wants me to build him the best computer money can buy. He's well off so price is basically no object. What is the best CPU + GPU + Motherboard combo at the moment? I don't want to fuck the guy by going too high on something that will have severly dimished returns. Is the I7 the best CPU at a reasonable price on the market right now or should I go higher?

Edit: Actually, looking at Newegg, I think this might be the best choice currently. I7's with higher clock speeds are like 900 dollars.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103849

You guys agree? And what would be the top of the line MB for this setup?

 

[brain_stew]

If he wants the best.

A Core i7 970 is what he wants, 6 cores + hyperthreading.


SLI GTX 480 AMP editions.

Intel SSD

 

[AkIRA_22]

My friend wants me to build him the best computer money can buy. He's well off so price is basically no object. What is the best CPU + GPU + Motherboard combo at the moment? I don't want to fuck the guy by going too high on something that will have severly dimished returns. Is the I7 the best CPU at a reasonable price on the market right now or should I go higher?

Holy fucking shit I wish I was you right now.

here is my thoughts.

i7980X... hands down. chuck on a corsair H50 liquid and OC that to 4GHz+
GA-X58-UD9, huge expansion, if it's too expensive the UD7 will do.
two GTX480 in SLI (possibly 3)
12GB (3x4GB) Corsair Dominator or equivalent, gives room for future upgrade.
at least 1000W PSU I'd go with a Corsair modular 80+ bronze or silver.
a 128GB SSD either the Corsair Force 128 or the equivalent OCZ (sandforce controller)
you do not need to go nuts on the HDD a couple 2TB will do. RAID if you want.
case wise I would go for the Cooler Master HAF-X. great for SLi rigs chuck in an extra 200mm fan in the roof that will allow you to spin them a little slower, reducing noise.
30" dell or Mac display.
you can splash on a liquid cooling setup on the CPU and GPU, but it's more trouble than it's worth. you don't need to OC the GPU when you have two or three.

 

[Aselith]

If he wants the best.

A Core i7 970 is what he wants, 6 cores + hyperthreading.


SLI GTX 480 AMP editions.

Intel SSD

I'm poor and frankly I feel sick about going to someone with a $900 processor. I know you have to pay if you want the best but I feel like that AMD is nearly as good at a much more reasonable price point. Do you know how much of a performance gain the I7 gives you generally speaking?

Holy fucking shit I wish I was you right now.

here is my thoughts.

i7980X... hands down. chuck on a corsair H50 liquid and OC that to 4GHz+
GA-X58-UD9, huge expansion, if it's too expensive the UD7 will do.
two GTX480 in SLI (possibly 3)
12GB (3x4GB) Corsair Dominator or equivalent, gives room for future upgrade.
at least 1000W PSU I'd go with a Corsair modular 80+ bronze or silver.
a 128GB SSD either the Corsair Force 128 or the equivalent OCZ (sandforce controller)
you do not need to go nuts on the HDD a couple 2TB will do. RAID if you want.
case wise I would go for the Cooler Master HAF-X. great for SLi rigs chuck in an extra 200mm fan in the roof that will allow you to spin them a little slower, reducing noise.
30" dell or Mac display.
you can splash on a liquid cooling setup on the CPU and GPU, but it's more trouble than it's worth. you don't need to OC the GPU when you have two or three.

How hard is a liquid set up to do? I've never handled one before so I'd be real worried about this exploding on his motherboard in the future. Is it pretty easily done or do you need to know what you're doing? I'm good with computers so I can handle myself in a case I just really don't want to fuck someone over on accident because I'm not familiar with the tech.

 

[Omiee]

If he wants the best.

A Core i7 970 is what he wants, 6 cores + hyperthreading.


SLI GTX 480 AMP editions.

Intel SSD

could u please take a look at the motherboards and processors i linked.
and choose the one who will work the best with an 480 and is faster in gaming.
and in the future when i decide to buy a second 480

 

[TheExodu5]

Holy fucking shit I wish I was you right now.

here is my thoughts.

i7980X... hands down. chuck on a corsair H50 liquid and OC that to 4GHz+
GA-X58-UD9, huge expansion, if it's too expensive the UD7 will do.
two GTX480 in SLI (possibly 3)
12GB (3x4GB) Corsair Dominator or equivalent, gives room for future upgrade.
at least 1000W PSU I'd go with a Corsair modular 80+ bronze or silver.
a 128GB SSD either the Corsair Force 128 or the equivalent OCZ (sandforce controller)
you do not need to go nuts on the HDD a couple 2TB will do. RAID if you want.
case wise I would go for the Cooler Master HAF-X. great for SLi rigs chuck in an extra 200mm fan in the roof that will allow you to spin them a little slower, reducing noise.
30" dell or Mac display.
you can splash on a liquid cooling setup on the CPU and GPU, but it's more trouble than it's worth. you don't need to OC the GPU when you have two or three.

I'm drooling right now. Seriously.

I'm poor and frankly I feel sick about going to someone with a $900 processor. I know you have to pay if you want the best but I feel like that AMD is nearly as good at a much more reasonable price point. Do you know how much of a performance gain the I7 gives you generally speaking?

Keep in mind you said "best money can buy". If you want a budget cap, let us know what the budget cap is.

How hard is a liquid set up to do? I've never handled one before so I'd be real worried about this exploding on his motherboard in the future. Is it pretty easily done or do you need to know what you're doing? I'm good with computers so I can handle myself in a case I just really don't want to fuck someone over on accident because I'm not familiar with the tech.

Don't bother with it. Does require some maintenance, and upgrading is a bitch with liquid cooling.

 

[brain_stew]

I'm poor and frankly I feel sick about going to someone with a $900 processor. I know you have to pay if you want the best but I feel like that AMD is nearly as good at a much more reasonable price point. Do you know how much of a performance gain the I7 gives you generally speaking?



How hard is a liquid set up to do? I've never handled one before so I'd be real worried about this exploding on his motherboard in the future. Is it pretty easily done or do you need to know what you're doing? I'm good with computers so I can handle myself in a case I just really don't want to fuck someone over on accident because I'm not familiar with the tech.

If you get something like the Corsair H70, its no harder than an air cooler really.

 

[TheExodu5]

If you get something like the Corsair H70, its no harder than an air cooler really.

Still not worth it. The only reason you go liquid is if you're really pushing the overclocks, and you will want to know what you're doing with a setup like that (volt modding, etc.).

Air is more than good enough to cool anything bar an extreme overclock.

 

[Aselith]

I'm drooling right now. Seriously.



Keep in mind you said "best money can buy". If you want a budget cap, let us know what the budget cap is.



Don't bother with it. Does require some maintenance, and upgrading is a bitch with liquid cooling.

Yeah, I totally understand that. I think it's more my own hangup rather than his. There is no way in fucking hell I'd ever drop that much on a CPU. Anyway, I left him a voicemail about it so we'll see what he thinks.

I'm definitely going SSD for primary/OS hard drive and probably get a big ass 7400 rpm for storage. What's a reasonable memory cap at this point? Is 8 fine or should I push it up to 16 gig?

 

[brain_stew]

Still not worth it. The only reason you go liquid is if you're really pushing the overclocks, and you will want to know what you're doing with a setup like that (volt modding, etc.).

Air is more than good enough to cool anything bar an extreme overclock.

Well something like that isn't really all that more expensive than a high end air cooler. If he's got the cash, might as well have nice low temperatures and something that looks cool.

 

[Phloxy]

if your card has dual DVI then switch to the other DVI port.

Thank you, lol, was like, wtff. It's the small things, and with that, my super rig is complete! Thanks a lot gaf, will post pics soon.

 

[TheExodu5]

Yeah, I totally understand that. I think it's more my own hangup rather than his. There is no way in fucking hell I'd ever drop that much on a CPU. Anyway, I left him a voicemail about it so we'll see what he thinks.

If you want my honest opinion:

Super high end:
AMD 6 core or i7 930 -> Overclock to 4.0GHz
Deluxe motherboard
12GB RAM
SLI GTX 480
SSD
2x 2TB HDDs
30" Dell display

High end:
cut the ram down to 6GB
cut the video card down to a single GTX 480
32" 1080p TV with low input lag (possibly the newer LGs)

Well something like that isn't really all that more expensive than a high end air cooler. If he's got the cash, might as well have nice low temperatures and something that looks cool.

The heat plates for video cards are like $100. Plus, watercooling setups rarely look cool since you have a big ass radiator sticking out of the back of your case. A friend has had a watercooling setup for a few years now, and I've helped him maintain it. We both agree: it's simply not worth it.

 

[brain_stew]

Yeah, I totally understand that. I think it's more my own hangup rather than his. There is no way in fucking hell I'd ever drop that much on a CPU. Anyway, I left him a voicemail about it so we'll see what he thinks.

A 1090T and a Core i7 980x aren't in the same league at all though. The Intel is much faster clock for clock, is clocked higher and has hyper threading which can make a huge difference in applications that take advantage of it. If an application can make proper use of all 12 threads then you're going to be approaching twice the performance here.

 

[TheExodu5]

brain_stew pretty much said it. What we need to know though: were you absolutely serious about money not being an object, or were you just exaggerating? If money is a concern he could spend half as much on the computer and get something nearly as good, and buy another computer a few years down the road.

Let's be honest, the i7 980 is not going to offer significant performance advantages in most games. You're far more likely to be GPU bound.

If we're talking purely gaming performance, I'd just go i7 930 with a mad overclock, 2x GTX 480 with custom coolers to keep them nice and quiet, and a good looking case (the HAF-X previously mentioned is pretty sweet).

 

[brain_stew]

If you want my honest opinion:

Super high end:
AMD 6 core or i7 930 -> Overclock to 4.0GHz
Deluxe motherboard
12GB RAM
SLI GTX 480
SSD
2x 2TB HDDs
30" Dell display

High end:
cut the ram down to 6GB
cut the video card down to a single GTX 480
32" 1080p TV with low input lag (possibly the newer LGs)



The heat plates for video cards are like $100.

The Corsair is for the CPU only and its radiator stays inside your case though. Its not really comparable to a traditional water cooling setup.

 

[brain_stew]

brain_stew pretty much said it. What we need to know though: were you absolutely serious about money not being an object, or were you just exaggerating? If money is a concern he could spend half as much on the computer and get something nearly as good, and buy another computer a few years down the road.

Let's be honest, the i7 980 is not going to offer significant performance advantages in most games. You're far more likely to be GPU bound.

If we're talking purely gaming performance, I'd just go i7 930 with a mad overclock, 2x GTX 480 with custom coolers to keep them nice and quiet, and a good looking case (the HAF-X previously mentioned is pretty sweet).

Don't think you'll get anything much better/quieter than the cooler that comes standard with Zotac's AMP edition GTX 480s.

 

[Aselith]

I've never really thought much about memory timing since my rigs are usually mid-range and I mostly cared about price. Is this something that going to effect performance significantly? I'd assume it would be negligable but I've got the experts here so why not ask I thought. I'm looking at the various Dominator types and that's the only difference I see.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...n=corsair dominator&name=Corsair (XMS Series)

Top two are what I'm looking at and the price difference of 50 doesn't seem like it's gonna be worth the upgrade. Am I wrong? I don't want to spend 50 for a negligable gain even if it's not my money.

 

[TheExodu5]

The Corsair is for the CPU only and its radiator stays inside your case though. Its not really comparable to a traditional water cooling setup.

I just checked a review...seems to get beaten pretty badly by the Noctua DH-14.

Don't think you'll get anything much better/quieter than the cooler that comes standard with Zotac's AMP edition GTX 480s.

Isn't Arctic bringing out an Accelero for the GTX 480 now?

edit: oh shit, the Zotac is using the Zalman VF3000. I thought I only saw 2 heat pipes on there...but it must be damned decent to pull that name from Zalman. I also didn't realize it was a 3 slot cooler.

edit2: the Zotac fan doesn't throttle. I wouldn't even consider it.

 

[brain_stew]

I just checked a review...seems to get beaten pretty badly by the Noctua DH-14.



Isn't Arctic bringing out an Accelero for the GTX 480 now?

edit: oh shit, the Zotac is using the Zalman VF3000. I thought I only saw 2 heat pipes on there...but it must be damned decent to pull that name from Zalman.

Its more than a little decent, check out the peak temperatures here:

That's despite very low noise levels as well:

Best GPU on the market imo.