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[CrankyJay]

Dude where can I get a pair of gloves like that? =)

 

[BigBlackGamer]

haha awesome

 

[Curufinwe]

Lol... that's a nice photo essay.

How long is the card exactly? My 9 inch 8800 GTS barely fit in my case because it was right in line with the back of the hard drive, but my new 8 inch 460 GTX has so such issues.

 

[nib95]

I must say, I find the new ATI cards far more attractive in terms of physical aesthetics compared to the Nvidia 500 range. Love the blocky linear encased, hard ridged, red black design.

 

[opticalmace]

cool stuff

Nice job! There's nothing like the pride of your own MacGyver handiwork.

But that's a mid-tower, not a full-size, isn't it? What case is that?

 

[LiquidMetal14]

DE03, make sure you set up a fan profile for that. I have the exact same card and saw temps in the mid 90's before getting my aftermarket cooler. If you're already unlocked and at 930, you want to set it up higher. I had mine going into the 85% range when it hit 70C. I think I capped at about 78C but man it was loud and stock cooling does not properly cool the memory and other components. I found this out when I took out my face plate and stuck in the Accelero XTREME Plus. I cap at about 60C with a full OC of 950/1450 on the same card. Just make sure you DON'T update to the 11.4 drivers. Stick to the 11.2 CATALYST drivers for now. 11.3 is supposed to be good.

Opticalmace, I have a mid-sized case and was able to get the card in with the Accelero that requires about another 1 1/2 inches of clearance. He definitely has a small sized case or the HDD bays are just too big. The Handy Manny job did the trick though.

 

[Trojita]

Damn I might not have enough space in my Antec 900 to fit the 6950 I ordered.My Asus 4870 512mb barely fits into the case and I believe it might be 9.5 inches. The 6950 I ordered is 10.5 inches.

 

[Skenzin]

Question: Looking to upgrade for BF3 like probably everyone else.

Current Rig is.
Intel Q9400 (stock HSF)
Nvidia gtx275
8GB DDR2 1066
7200rpm HD

What is on the horizon for upcoming video cards before BF3 ships? Cant find any info on ATI/Nvidia roadmaps.

 

[cackhyena]

I recently bought an Asus VG236HE 120hz monitor. The thing is beautiful and it's like they say, once you've tasted PC gaming at 120hz, there's just no going back. Unfortunately to really get the most out of these monitors you need to be able to have your games running as 80+ fps, and sadly my trusty HD4870 was no longer up to the task, especially at my new monitor's 1980x1020 native resolution.

So, out with the old 512MB HD4870, in with the new 2GB HD6950!


But when I tried to install it, I found there was a little problem. My case wasn't big enough!

So how big is your case? That's the same card I'm looking at and was wondering how I'm going to decide on what case to get to accommodate it's size.

 

[Flying_Phoenix]

I know some of you told me not too. But I got cold feet and decided to exchange my 550w Fatal1ty for a 750w Fatal1ty.

Sorry but I really wanted to future proof my system. Who knows what crazy technology is around the corner or what insane deals I will run into.

Also it was only $15 extra dollars so meh.

I hope I won't be wasting too much power.

Again my rig is:

2500k in which I'm planning to overclock to its fullest at some point
6850 1GB
120GB SSD
8GB of Ram
2 120mm fans
Asus p67 motherboard LE
Blu-ray drive

 

[Ronix]

Ended up ordering everything in my original post, except I dropped the short cable kit and changed PSU's to the Cooler Master M600 based on price/performance/quieter. Ordered the H50 (sorry InertiaXr) from Amazon to save a few bucks. Headed down to Dallas tomorrow to grab the 2500K and C300 SSD from Micro Center to save a few bucks.

I either just made a great decision or a really bad one, heh. More than five years on one system, though, is starting to take its toll. YouTube on an older Mac is a nightmare.

Schlep are you putting a disc drive in that silverstone? Looks like a great build and the small case is something I am looking into but slot load doesn't give to many options. Post some pictures when it is finished!

 

[Zel3]

Thoughts on this card?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121432

 

[Trojita]

I recently bought an Asus VG236HE 120hz monitor. The thing is beautiful and it's like they say, once you've tasted PC gaming at 120hz, there's just no going back. Unfortunately to really get the most out of these monitors you need to be able to have your games running as 80+ fps, and sadly my trusty HD4870 was no longer up to the task, especially at my new monitor's 1980x1020 native resolution.

So, out with the old 512MB HD4870, in with the new 2GB HD6950!

I've got the extra shaders unlocked now and the core is rock solid at 930mhz at a fairly conservative 1.175v. I'm still trying to figure out the memory overclock though, whether it's stock 1250mhz, 1375mhz, or 1400+mhz, I'm not really seeing much of a difference in benchmarks.

Oh wow, I didn't even see your post. You're upgrading from the same graphics card as me. I was worried that it wouldn't fit in my case and now I'm double worried lol. I have an Antec 900 case. I might be able to take out one of the hard drive enclosures.

 

[momolicious]

Are fans of the same size pretty much the same noise level? It mainly depends on how its screwed on case with rubber and the speed right?

 

[Q8D3vil]

so, what is the best motherboard p67 for i7 2600k
my friend is considering buying
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...02&cm_re=asus_lga_1155-_-13-131-702-_-Product

do you recommend it or is there something else better

 

[MikeE21286]

Here's a quick (hopefully?) question for some of you guys....how do you deal with game saves?

I would like to move all of my game saves to a backup drive (that is not my SSD boot drive), however it seems as though games ALWAYS want to default to the boot drive even if they are installed on a backup drive.

They always seem to go into either

C:\Users\Michael\Documents

or

C:\Users\Michael\Documents\My Games

 

[BigBlackGamer]

DE03, make sure you set up a fan profile for that. I have the exact same card and saw temps in the mid 90's before getting my aftermarket cooler. If you're already unlocked and at 930, you want to set it up higher. I had mine going into the 85% range when it hit 70C. I think I capped at about 78C but man it was loud and stock cooling does not properly cool the memory and other components. I found this out when I took out my face plate and stuck in the Accelero XTREME Plus. I cap at about 60C with a full OC of 950/1450 on the same card. Just make sure you DON'T update to the 11.4 drivers. Stick to the 11.2 CATALYST drivers for now. 11.3 is supposed to be good.

Opticalmace, I have a mid-sized case and was able to get the card in with the Accelero that requires about another 1 1/2 inches of clearance. He definitely has a small sized case or the HDD bays are just too big. The Handy Manny job did the trick though.

heh I just tried out the 11.4 preview drivers today and I'm pretty impressed. I've seen some decent FPS gains. Particularly in Crysis Warhead. I would hover around 25-35 FPS on 11.2 with my 6970 but now I'm seeing 35-45 FPS consistently. This is on Enthusiast with 8x AA.

 

[Ravidrath]

Asked this before, but got stuck with the last post on a page...

Anyone know a place I could pre-order an OCZ Vertex 3 from?

 

[verbum]

Asked this before, but got stuck with the last post on a page...

Anyone know a place I could pre-order an OCZ Vertex 3 from?

This next week should see some places online offering them. From February 24th:

As exciting as the Vertex 3 is, buyers are going to have to hold tight for a little bit. Production units aren't expected to be ready for two to three weeks, making the Vertex 3 part of a huge month of March, which is key in the enthusiast SSD space. There are a handful of new SATA 6Gb/s SSDs due out over the next few weeks. While OCZ is first and the fastest it will be interesting to see how the Intel and Marvell-based SSDs match up. Frankly, it's hard to imagine they'll be able to hang with the Vertex 3, but consumer choice is a good thing and we'll always rejoice at a new super speedy SSD in the office.

http://www.storagereview.com/ocz_vertex_3_review_240gb

 

[Man]

Have the third generation SSD drives arrived yet? Just a few weeks it was said in January.

 

[Hazaro]

Have the third generation SSD drives arrived yet? Just a few weeks it was said in January.

A select few. Corsair 3 only one off the top of my head.

 

[opticalmace]

Have the third generation SSD drives arrived yet? Just a few weeks it was said in January.

This maybe?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167042

 

[mescalineeyes]

so since a few of my friends want to jump on the train that carries exclusively the Master Race when Shogun 2 drops, I have put together a build.

My question is the following: Is there anything I am overlooking, can this build be made more cost effective (AMD?) or does anyone have any advice on how to improve on it's bang/buck ratio?

Thank you guys very much in advance!

 

[Deadstar]

I will definitely be overclocking my i7 2600k. Is it possible to overclock it without adjusting the voltage on anything?

Also, should I buy a better heat sink for the cpu or just leave the stock one on? If so, what would people recommend?

 

[mrklaw]

Are fans of the same size pretty much the same noise level? It mainly depends on how its screwed on case with rubber and the speed right?

No. If you want quiet, get some fans designed to be quiet. I use noctua fans along with low noise adapters (just a resistor to slow the fan down) and rubber mounts. Tempted to get an aftermarket cooler for my 6950 as that's the only thing I can hear now

 

[Corky]

Case-fights...

Pick your winner GAF :

Fractal design define r3 vs Haf 912 plus

 

[mrklaw]

I will definitely be overclocking my i7 2600k. Is it possible to overclock it without adjusting the voltage on anything?

Also, should I buy a better heat sink for the cpu or just leave the stock one on? If so, what would people recommend?

If you oberclock, use a better cooler. Hyper 212+ gets recommended. If you have a compact case check you have enough height


That 6950 not fitting is weird. Why aren't cases standard sizes? It shouldn't be a crapshoot when you buy components. My vase was too shallow for a hyper 212 so I had to use a shorter CPU cooler, yet I had plenty of space for the 7950..

 

[mrklaw]

Case-fights...

Pick your winner GAF :

Fractal design define r3 vs Haf 912 plus

Oh god the fractal design. If I hadn't needed a desktop style case (Silverstone lc17), I'd have gone for the r3 no contest

 

[Funky Papa]

Case-fights...

Pick your winner GAF :

Fractal design define r3 vs Haf 912 plus

Fractal, no questions. They tingle my pee-pee.

I myself am behind a R2 for my new build (the R3 is a huge bitch).

 

[BloodySinner]

Case-fights...

Pick your winner GAF :

Fractal design define r3 vs Haf 912 plus

Just checked out the 912. Don't waste your time. R3 all the way.

 

[Corky]

Cheers, there's no doubt that I personally love the design of the R3 much more than the HAF. In fact the HAFs ( aesthetic ) design is everything I hate about top of the line pc stuff. I.E looks huge industrial blinky red metal grrr angry piece of rectangular metal.

Whereas the R3 actually looks very "slim" and clean or w/e. Though I wonder if a huge 30cm card would fin in the R3 without hassle.

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

Case-fights...

Pick your winner GAF :

Fractal design define r3 vs Haf 912 plus

I'm rocking a Fractal R2 if I recall correctly.

 

[Schlep]

Schlep are you putting a disc drive in that silverstone? Looks like a great build and the small case is something I am looking into but slot load doesn't give to many options. Post some pictures when it is finished!

I thought about it, but I don't think I've used the drive on my Mac in at least a year now. Both Ubuntu and Windows can be loaded from a USB drive, and everything else is downloadable. Thanks and now I feel like the pressure is on my cable management skills, lol. I'll definitely post a couple pics.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

heh I just tried out the 11.4 preview drivers today and I'm pretty impressed. I've seen some decent FPS gains. Particularly in Crysis Warhead. I would hover around 25-35 FPS on 11.2 with my 6970 but now I'm seeing 35-45 FPS consistently. This is on Enthusiast with 8x AA.

I'm getting increases in most games but it seems other stuff is suffering a little. I went back for now as I am completely happy with performance right now.

 

[Veelk]

Okay, so I need help because I know absolutely nothing of PC's. What I'd like is a computer that's powerful enough to play Crysis on it's highest possible settings, and that includes the ultra high quality mods that make everything look even better. Here is what I have at present:

Radeon HD 4890 Xtreme
ASUS P6T SE LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard
Intel Core i7-920 Bloomfield 2.66GHz
CORSAIR XMS3 6GB (3 x 2GB)

I don't think you need to know the other stuff like CPU but if you do, tell me. Anyway, when I run Crysis at Optimal settings (which is everything set to 'high') I only get 20-30 FPS out of it. When I set everything to it's highest setting possible, it becomes 5 FPS. It'll be even worse if I download the ultra high quality mods and set it to those. So what do I need to get so that it'll run at a silky smooth 60 FPS no matter what I kind of pressure I put on it?

 

[Corky]

gaaah poppycocks, apparently the fractal R3 doesn't have enough space for a 30+ cm gpu

 

[ElyrionX]

I built a new Sandy Bridge PC for a friend recently and just today, it keeps restarting when playing games. I am assuming it is probably heat issues. I checked and all the case, CPU and GPU fans are working. What's the quickest and easiest way to check the temps on the CPU and GPU?

Any other advice?

EDIT: Installed Speedfan. Temps are no higher than 30 degrees at idle so I don't think it's a heat issue. Checked all the cables and everything seems fine. I need help here.

 

[Shambles]

I built a new Sandy Bridge PC for a friend recently and just today, it keeps restarting when playing games. I am assuming it is probably heat issues. I checked and all the case, CPU and GPU fans are working. What's the quickest and easiest way to check the temps on the CPU and GPU?

Any other advice?

EDIT: Installed Speedfan. Temps are no higher than 30 degrees at idle so I don't think it's a heat issue. Checked all the cables and everything seems fine. I need help here.

If it's shutting down under load and it's not temperatures it's likely that the power supply isn't supplying enough current. If your PSU is decent you might want to try hooking it up to your friends PC. His PSU might either not be powerful enough, or might simply be faulty. Of course it could be something else but that is the most likely cause.

Is it BSOD and restarting or does it just instantly turn off and back on?

 

[Enosh]

I think this a question for here

atm, I have a ATI 4850HD 512 MB
I'd like to upgrade that to something better. Should I go with the 5xxx or the 6xxx series? How about an Nvidia card? Whats a good card for up to ~200€?
is it even worth to upgrade given that my current setup is a E8400@3.0 GHz and 4GB ram or would the new card be botlenecked by the CPU or Ram?

I think my power suply is 550W, how much does that limit my options?

 

[Kuga]

Oh wow, I didn't even see your post. You're upgrading from the same graphics card as me. I was worried that it wouldn't fit in my case and now I'm double worried lol. I have an Antec 900 case. I might be able to take out one of the hard drive enclosures.

It will fit if you move your hard drive(s) down to the lower bay.

 

[nib95]

Basically I own both a 6970 and a GTX 570, and I'm not sure which to keep. Originally I was dead set on the GTX 570 as I required Premiere Pro CUDA performance, but as it turns out, I now no longer will be requiring such a thing till several months from now. So the only important aspects are gaming performance and Photoshop CS5 acceleration.

I also read just today that new AMD drivers have improved performance, and that Nvidia drivers are causing weak performance in DA2 which has swayed me over to ATI a bit.

For use with the following games...and Photoshop CS5, which is the better choice?

Metro 2033
Mafia II
Crysis
Crysis Warhead
F1 2010
Shogun 2: Total War
Starcraft
COD Black Ops
Dragon Age II

Future games

Battlefield 3 (one I'll be playing most)
Dirt 3
Shift 2
Crysis 2
RAGE
Witcher 2
Portal 2
Deus Ex HR

Currently gaming on a 24" 1920x1200 HP LP2475w monitor with a C300 SSD and a i7 920@3.9ghz.

What do you guys think?

 

[MikeE21286]

Case-fights...

Pick your winner GAF :

Fractal design define r3 vs Haf 912 plus

.

 

[Wrekt]

I think this a question for here

atm, I have a ATI 4850HD 512 MB
I'd like to upgrade that to something better. Should I go with the 5xxx or the 6xxx series? How about an Nvidia card? Whats a good card for up to ~200€?
is it even worth to upgrade given that my current setup is a E8400@3.0 GHz and 4GB ram or would the new card be botlenecked by the CPU or Ram?

I think my power suply is 550W, how much does that limit my options?

There are 2 really good choices in that price range. If you want to go the Geforce route, a 560GTX is about 180 euro. If you want to stick with ATI, a 6950 can be had for roughly the same price.

I'd imagine that your 4850 is your current bottleneck. Your RAM is fine. Your CPU may be the new bottleneck but it depends on the game.

And 550W should be fine for your setup with either of the cards I suggested. Plug your components into this calculator and see what it says.

 

[Deadstar]

If you oberclock, use a better cooler. Hyper 212+ gets recommended. If you have a compact case check you have enough height


That 6950 not fitting is weird. Why aren't cases standard sizes? It shouldn't be a crapshoot when you buy components. My vase was too shallow for a hyper 212 so I had to use a shorter CPU cooler, yet I had plenty of space for the 7950..

Hey thanks, this looks great. It looks huge though...this won't rip the cpu off or warp the motherboard?!

Edit: I think that might be too large for my case. Is there a smaller version or alternative?

 

[DEO3]

I think this a question for here

atm, I have a ATI 4850HD 512 MB
I'd like to upgrade that to something better. Should I go with the 5xxx or the 6xxx series? How about an Nvidia card? Whats a good card for up to ~200€?
is it even worth to upgrade given that my current setup is a E8400@3.0 GHz and 4GB ram or would the new card be botlenecked by the CPU or Ram?

I think my power suply is 550W, how much does that limit my options?

I have pretty much the exact same system as you, an overclocked E8400 (@4Ghz), 4GB ram, and a 550W PSU, and just upgraded from an HD4870 512MB to an HD6950 2Gb. Considering I got a new monitor at the same time and went from gaming at 1680x1050 to 1980x1020 I wan't expecting to see that much of a boost over what I had previously, but it turns out I've been pleasantly surprised. So if I can upgrade from a card that's faster than yours, jump up a whole resolution, and still see a noticeable increase in performance with a PC that's almost identical to yours, you will definitely see a boost.

550W is fine for any single card solution (i.e. not Crossfire/SLI/Dual GPU setups). I don't know how much video cards are in Europe, but 200€ = $277, which is how much HD6950s and factory OC'ed 560Tis sell for here - so those are the cards you want to be looking at.

 

[ElyrionX]

If it's shutting down under load and it's not temperatures it's likely that the power supply isn't supplying enough current. If your PSU is decent you might want to try hooking it up to your friends PC. His PSU might either not be powerful enough, or might simply be faulty. Of course it could be something else but that is the most likely cause.

Is it BSOD and restarting or does it just instantly turn off and back on?

No BSOD. Screen turns black and the PC restarts itself.

EDIT: PSU is a Seasonic 620W running a single 560 Ti with one HDD and a SB 2500k so it's definitely up to the job.

 

[Enosh]

thanks for both your help
looked at the cards you were sugesting and they are way out of my price range
a 6950 is some 270€ to 300€ on some places around here (2GB) or 240€ to 280€ for the 1GB version similar with the 560GTX, blame taxes, beacose I do ^^
the 68xx series seems to be more in my price range
for nvidia cars it's the GTX460 series

should have looked that up before I posted my question...

is the 6870 worth the 20 or 30 something € more than a 6850 version? How does the GTX460 stack up to those 2?

 

[Zabojnik]

I recently bought a Samsung BX2450 24" LED monitor. Not top of the line, obviously, but a nice monitor nonetheless. Well, except the stand, if you can call it that, which totally sucks. I know it's a longshot but ... are there any custom monitor stand makers out there?

 

[TheExodu5]

Case-fights...

Pick your winner GAF :

Fractal design define r3 vs Haf 912 plus

Fractal Define, easily. HAF 922 if you need cooling for some extreme overclocking and SLI. HAF 912 doesn't really compare. It's a fantastic budget case ($60), but really doesn't compare to the better $100 Define or 922.

 

[AnkitT]

I recently bought an Asus VG236HE 120hz monitor. The thing is beautiful and it's like they say, once you've tasted PC gaming at 120hz, there's just no going back. Unfortunately to really get the most out of these monitors you need to be able to have your games running as 80+ fps, and sadly my trusty HD4870 was no longer up to the task, especially at my new monitor's 1980x1020 native resolution.

So, out with the old 512MB HD4870, in with the new 2GB HD6950!

http://i.imgur.com/nv893.jpg[IMG]

But when I tried to install it, I found there was a little problem. My case wasn't big enough!

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/8dFRE.jpg[IMG]

Now I read that this card is big, and that you should be sure it will fit inside your case before ordering it, but I figured "I have a full size case - surely I needn't be concerned." Well shit. So now I'm thinking I have to go through all the trouble of sending it back and ordering a 560Ti or something instead. Shit would takes weeks, while my beautiful new monitor sits there chugging along at 40-60fps (gasp!).

The solution:

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/BtQBR.jpg[IMG]

Glad I ordered an aluminum case all those years ago...

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/SzROE.jpg[IMG]

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/Z1dEu.jpg[IMG]

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/m5YA3.jpg[IMG]

Ta-da!

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/7TmQm.jpg[IMG]

Problem Solved!

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/oK8Ze.jpg[IMG]

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/Xub6b.jpg[IMG]

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/YUi7Q.jpg[IMG]

I've got the extra shaders unlocked now and the core is rock solid at 930mhz at a fairly conservative 1.175v. I'm still trying to figure out the memory overclock though, whether it's stock 1250mhz, 1375mhz, or 1400+mhz, I'm not really seeing much of a difference in benchmarks.[/QUOTE]

I wasnt so lucky with my coolermaster mystique, unfortunately. :( I had to "breadboard" my motherboard, and now its sitting on my desk with the 6950 on it.

I also have been hearing around the webs that the 6950 can be flashed to the 6970 bios, but it can damage the ram or some shit like that.