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[Net_Wrecker]

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.

So the HAF 922 is good all around then? I've been looking at it for the build I want later this year and not only does it seem to be really big for a mid size, but the mesh side panel and all the air flow seems like it'll be a smart decision considering where I'm putting the thing. The room tends to get really warm in the summer as well.

 

[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?

Quoting for the new page.

 

[teh_pwn]

Quoting for the new page.

Does your motherboard support SLI/CF? To run at a high resolution, high frame rate, and absolute max settings is still only possible with multiple GPUs. Nvidia boards perform better with crysis, so maybe a GTX 470 SLI or something?

Looks like AMD 6950 CF does well too:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/GPU11/188

 

[Cetra]

You will need to call Microsoft once you get the OS installed on a new drive and enter the product key. It will probably say this disk is installed on another computer, call 1-800...
If they ask just say you upgraded your hard drive.

That doesn't sound too bad at all. Thanks for the info.

Also here are the drives I'm eyeballing. Opinions?

SSD:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003NE5JCO/?tag=neogaf0e-20
HDD: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00272NHOK/?tag=neogaf0e-20

 

[scoobs]

Ok guys I've got more money to burn and I'm pretty much hell bent on going in on a SSD however I have no experience with SSDs yet. Couple things I need help on: Should I just install windows 7 on it and keep my games on my old hdd or would it be better to put my favorite games on it as well? Also, any recommendations GAF?

 

[Veelk]

Does your motherboard support SLI/CF? To run at a high resolution, high frame rate, and absolute max settings is still only possible with multiple GPUs. Nvidia boards perform better with crysis, so maybe a GTX 470 SLI or something?

Looks like AMD 6950 CF does well too:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/GPU11/188

I think so. My friend, who helped me build the computer asked whether I wanted 2 GPU's or a new really good one, so I presume it's possible, but he also said that a computer can only run 2 of the same graphics cards. Is this true? And if so, does that mean that if I go with a new graphics card, I'll have to get 2 of them? I mention Crysis because that's the main high end game I want to run with all cylinders fired up, but also because I thought if I could get it running at the highest settings, then every other game should be cake. I want to not have to worry about these things in the future. But the way you phrased it is that some GPU's work with some games better than others. Can I expect Nvidia to work well with most other games?

 

[itxaka]

Ok guys I've got more money to burn and I'm pretty much hell bent on going in on a SSD however I have no experience with SSDs yet. Couple things I need help on: Should I just install windows 7 on it and keep my games on my old hdd or would it be better to put my favorite games on it as well? Also, any recommendations GAF?

I'll wait a bit as the c400 is supposed to go out this month and it's one of the best SSD out there going by alt he reviews and benchmarks (And gaffers expertise).

You should install w7 on it and the main programs you use daily (Office, photoshopt, etc ..)

Keep your games on the main HDD and move what you want to play to the SSD and do a link from your steam folder/normal folder to the SSD so you don't have to install everything permanently to the SSD but move whatever you want to play on demand.

Of course, if you only have a couple of games or don't normally have a lot of games installed you can directly install them to the SSD.

There is a util that makes the links automatically but I can't find it, pretty sure someone will post it in a few minutes after this


Now in other news: Where is the news regarding the C400! I checked all pages and can't find anything related to it. Wasn't it supposed to start selling in February?

 

[scoobs]

I'll wait a bit as the c400 is supposed to go out this month and it's one of the best SSD out there going by alt he reviews and benchmarks (And gaffers expertise).

You should install w7 on it and the main programs you use daily (Office, photoshopt, etc ..)

Keep your games on the main HDD and move what you want to play to the SSD and do a link from your steam folder/normal folder to the SSD so you don't have to install everything permanently to the SSD but move whatever you want to play on demand.

Of course, if you only have a couple of games or don't normally have a lot of games installed you can directly install them to the SSD.

There is a util that makes the links automatically but I can't find it, pretty sure someone will post it in a few minutes after this


Now in other news: Where is the news regarding the C400! I checked all pages and can't find anything related to it. Wasn't it supposed to start selling in February?

Ok sounds like i should definitely wait on the c400. I've read some newegg user reviews (actually quite alot) where they're drives are failing within months. Is this the norm with SSDs? I'd rather not throw down $300 on a drive that will fail on me within a year.

 

[itxaka]

Ok sounds like i should definitely wait on the c400. I've read some newegg user reviews (actually quite alot) where they're drives are failing within months. Is this the norm with SSDs? I'd rather not throw down $300 on a drive that will fail on me within a year.

Can't comment on that, probably a more knowledge gaffer could answer it better but I think that SSD drives went wrong in one year has to be a fw defect or chip defect as they are supposed to take a long time now to die.

For example the first batch of c300 had a fw problem which made them self destruct IIRC. With a fw update they all went running with no problems.

But still, wait for other gaffers take on this as it's not really my field of expertise

 

[webcivilian]

I'll wait a bit as the c400 is supposed to go out this month and it's one of the best SSD out there going by alt he reviews and benchmarks (And gaffers expertise).

I don't know where you got the 'one of the best SSD' as there are no reviews or benchmarks yet. It's supposed to be released late March.

With OCZ Vertex 3 and Intel 510 its really going to be a tough market.

 

[itxaka]

I don't know where you got the 'one of the best SSD' as there are no reviews or benchmarks yet. It's supposed to be released late March.

With OCZ Vertex 3 and Intel 510 its really going to be a tough market.

Anandtech benchmark on a test unit and some gaffers comments on it. In any case he better waits out for the new batch of SSD like those 2 you commented.

 

[MacAttack]

My new mobo (MSI P67A-GD65) has something called the "OC Genie" button which automagically overclocks the proc and memory to appropriate memories.

I'm assuming this is kind of a useless compared to a real overclocking setup, but I wonder if anyone here has any experience with it, good or bad..

It got me a stable working 4.2 Ghz OC without having to enter the bios. I dont see the need to go much higher than that currently. Its nice to know that I can push it higher in the future but for now Im content to leave it as is.

Theres really not much to say about it, it kind of does what it says. One step overclocking.

 

[knitoe]

It got me a stable working 4.2 Ghz OC without having to enter the bios. I dont see the need to go much higher than that currently. Its nice to know that I can push it higher in the future but for now Im content to leave it as is.

Theres really not much to say about it, it kind of does what it says. One step overclocking.

The auto overclock will give you lower speeds and overvolt the CPU. It's better to do it manually, but no matter which method you go and for sandy bridge, you should try to stay under 1.35V and 75C for 24/7 overclock.

 

[Omiee]

budget 1300 euro build me a pc without monitors etc

 

[Kadey]

I think its funny Windows update is giving me all these problems. Vista is such a POS. I can't wait to upgrade to Win 7. Thing is, I can't do it yet since I don't plan on doing a full upgrade until well into the year or early next year.

 

[jiien]

budget 1300 euro build me a pc without monitors etc

Not trying to be mean, but if you expect an answer, keep in mind that most people around here won't put in the work if you don't. Just some friendly advice.

 

[nib95]

I think its funny Windows update is giving me all these problems. Vista is such a POS. I can't wait to upgrade to Win 7. Thing is, I can't do it yet since I don't plan on doing a full upgrade until well into the year or early next year.

The last Vista update (inc some hot fixes, Windows Live complete packager and .NET 4) BSOD'd my rig and actually killed my start up somehow. No restore would help. In the end I just moved over to Windows 7 and so far things have been peachy.

 

[Kadey]

The last Vista update (inc some hot fixes, Windows Live complete packager and .NET 4) BSOD'd my rig and actually killed my start up somehow. No restore would help. In the end I just moved over to Windows 7 and so far things have been peachy.

What I did was system restore to the point where my PC works and then just completely turned off windows update. And yeah it looks like one of those .NET packages are the ones that is giving me trouble.

 

[nib95]

What I did was system restore to the point where my PC works and then just completely turned off windows update. And yeah it looks like one of those .NET packages are the ones that is giving me trouble.

The annoying thing is you can't even uninstall it in Safe Mode. Something about the full installer not being available or something. SO frustrating. I actually did eventually manage to sort it, but then at the next update the same thing happened. Vista is dog shit.

 

[n0n44m]

budget 1300 euro build me a pc without monitors etc

you're in the Netherlands right?

go to tweakers.net pricewatch for best prices/order strategy

easy stuff:
cpu: i5 2500k
cooler: Mugen 2, Hyper 212+
mainboard: Asus p8p67 PRO
ram: some A-Brand DDR3 1600 mhz, 8 GB (2*4) should do nicely for the future
case: Already have one? If not I like my CM690 II Advanced or the Fractal R3/XL
PSU: Corsair AX850
SSD: OCZ Vertex2 120 seems to give most gb/euro and has good performance
HDD: 1.5 or 2 tb Samsungs are pretty cheap nowadays
Some dvd burner or blu-ray drive if you really need it

debatable:
GPU: Pick your poison ...
-single GTX580 will slightly push you over the budget and running 2 in SLI (in the future) is close to maxing the 850 PSU, but it has the best single card performance
-AMD 6950/70 and GTX570 are all more than fast enough anyway for 1080p gaming at the moment, and putting those in crossfire/SLI is doable with an 850 PSU

should come down to 1200 to 1400 euros (you can get a bit cheaper RAM and an Asrock motherboard which would save you around 100 euros)

ow and a 4500 RPM 120 mm fan for the top of your case so it sprays out all the stuff your nephew pours into it lol

 

[TheExodu5]

So the HAF 922 is good all around then? I've been looking at it for the build I want later this year and not only does it seem to be really big for a mid size, but the mesh side panel and all the air flow seems like it'll be a smart decision considering where I'm putting the thing. The room tends to get really warm in the summer as well.

Yeah, it's a great case. Definitely one of the best cases for airflow and ease of building at that price range. My only issue with it was the fan noise for a few of the fans at stock speed, but I hooked them up to the motherboard and just throttled them there, and it was great. Fantastic airflow at fairly low noise levels. The case certainly won't be as quiet as the R3 (mainly due to the lack of damping and mesh side panel), but for ease of building and airflow, it's very hard to beat.

 

[TheExodu5]

SO is having windows on a SSD and all my games music etc on a 7200rpm drive a good or bad idea?

Absolutely a good idea.

I don't know where you got the 'one of the best SSD' as there are no reviews or benchmarks yet. It's supposed to be released late March.

With OCZ Vertex 3 and Intel 510 its really going to be a tough market.

It will likely be pretty much the same as the Intel 510.

Personally, I'm going with the Vertex 3. I wanted to go Intel, but the Vertex 3 (and other upcoming Sandforce 2000 drives, I assume) is just leagues beyond anything else.

 

[Omiee]

you're in the Netherlands right?

go to tweakers.net pricewatch for best prices/order strategy

easy stuff:
cpu: i5 2500k
cooler: Mugen 2, Hyper 212+
mainboard: Asus p8p67 PRO
ram: some A-Brand DDR3 1600 mhz, 8 GB (2*4) should do nicely for the future
case: Already have one? If not I like my CM690 II Advanced or the Fractal R3/XL
PSU: Corsair AX850
SSD: OCZ Vertex2 120 seems to give most gb/euro and has good performance
HDD: 1.5 or 2 tb Samsungs are pretty cheap nowadays
Some dvd burner or blu-ray drive if you really need it

debatable:
GPU: Pick your poison ...
-single GTX580 will slightly push you over the budget and running 2 in SLI (in the future) is close to maxing the 850 PSU, but it has the best single card performance
-AMD 6950/70 and GTX570 are all more than fast enough anyway for 1080p gaming at the moment, and putting those in crossfire/SLI is doable with an 850 PSU

should come down to 1200 to 1400 euros (you can get a bit cheaper RAM and an Asrock motherboard which would save you around 100 euros)

ow and a 4500 RPM 120 mm fan for the top of your case so it sprays out all the stuff your nephew pours into it lol

I already have a seasonic 850W now so thats a pretty good powersupply, but i dont think thats enough if i want to do 580SLI.

i was personally thinking about CF these
http://tweakers.net/pricewatch/277768/asus-eah6950-dcii-2di4s-2gd5.html
or this one
http://tweakers.net/pricewatch/276348/gainward-geforce-gtx-570-1280mb-phantom.html

or 570's. Also as a motherboard i was looking at this one since you could tripple sli or 3CF it.http://tweakers.net/pricewatch/271659/asrock-fatal1ty-p67-professional.html

Also as a case i was looking at the HAF 932, because you could put 4 120mm fans on the side, i was looking at these. http://tweakers.net/pricewatch/237712/xigmatek-xlf-f1253-led-fan-120mm.html

Cpu cooling wise i realy dont know what to get, im either thinking of a corsair H50 in push pull or a noctua but the venomous came out better in a test than the noctua.


Def going with the i5, i have a question tough. I have 2 HDD's one has windows 7 on it and a lot of games installed, i used to have this motherboard MSI P55A-GD65
And if i go to the asrock can i just hook up my HDD to it and it will work or do i need a new HDD again and need to install windows and all games etc on it again.

Also some extra's i was thinking of either the
NZXT SENTRY LX or the LXE for fan controlling etc because im going to have 4 120mm fans on the side etc.

Not trying to be mean, but if you expect an answer, keep in mind that most people around here won't put in the work if you don't. Just some friendly advice.

Sorry dident mean it like that.

 

[TheExodu5]

I already have a seasonic 850W now so thats a pretty good powersupply, but i dont think thats enough if i want to do 580SLI.

It's plenty. SLI 580, when being maxed at 300W, will push the 850W, but it's doable. However, keep in mind that they only really get maxed in benches like Furmark, and regular gameplay tends to have them maxing at around 200W. A good 850W is fine.

 

[Omiee]

It's plenty. SLI 580, when being maxed at 300W, will push the 850W, but it's doable. However, keep in mind that they only really get maxed in benches like Furmark, and regular gameplay tends to have them maxing at around 200W. A good 850W is fine.

Even if i want to overclock the i5 to 4.5 and run 2 HDD's and a SSD

Also what is better ( that is if i realy need a new HDD and cant just hook up my old HDD to the new motherboard )
Having a 80GB or 120GB SSD or buying 2 samsung 1TB HDD's and run them in RAID.

 

[TheExodu5]

Even if i want to overclock the i5 to 4.5 and run 2 HDD's and a SSD

Sure.

I'm running SLI GTX 570 without any issues, and that runs within around 10-20W of the 580

SLI GTX 580 = 600W
OC'ed i5 = 200W at most (probably a lot lower)
Drives = 10-20W
Fans = 5W

Keep in mind the Seasonic can actually handle being pushed to 850W. And it will only come close to 850W in the most strenuous of circumstances, and probably never outside of Furmark + OCCT.

If you were doing folding 24/7, maybe it would be an issue, but for gaming? I doubt it.

 

[Omiee]

Sure.

I'm running SLI GTX 570 without any issues, and that runs within around 10-20W of the 580

SLI GTX 580 = 600W
OC'ed i5 = 200W at most (probably a lot lower)
Drives = 10-20W

Keep in mind the Seasonic can actually handle being pushed to 850W. And it will only come close to 850W in the most strenuous of circumstances, and probably never outside of Furmark + OCCT.

Is it worth the extra 100 euros though, because im oke with buying a 6950CF right now, or just one 570 or one 580 and upgrading to SLI later.
Oke nice to know my powersupply can actually handle it.

 

[TheExodu5]

Is it worth the extra 100 euros though, because im oke with buying a 6950CF right now, or just one 570 or one 580 and upgrading to SLI later.
Oke nice to know my powersupply can actually handle it.

Is what worth the extra 100 Euro?

 

[Omiee]

Is what worth the extra 100 Euro?

The 580, because a 6950 is 240 euro, the 570 is 300 euro, but the 580 is like 400 euro.
So either i get a 6950 right now, or a single 570 and upgrade to a SLI later on, or a single 580 and upgrade later on as well.

also what would you go for,
http://www.nzxt.com/new/products/fan_control/sentry_lxe
or this one
http://www.nzxt.com/new/products/fan_control/sentry_lx

EDIT: how spot on is the bench at anandtech, because the difference between a single 570 and a 6950 is not that big but the power consumption is.

 

[TheExodu5]

The 580, because a 6950 is 240 euro, the 570 is 300 euro, but the 580 is like 400 euro.
So either i get a 6950 right now, or a single 570 and upgrade to a SLI later on, or a single 580 and upgrade later on as well.

also what would you go for,
http://www.nzxt.com/new/products/fan_control/sentry_lxe
or this one
http://www.nzxt.com/new/products/fan_control/sentry_lx

Well...in terms of performance/$, the 6950 is hard to beat. I didn't go the 6950CF route simply because Crossfire support isn't quite as good as SLI. When a game doesn't have a Crossfire profile, you're pretty much out of luck. When a game doesn't have an SLI profile, you can usually set it to a particular SLI rendering mode and get it to work (though SLI can cause glitches in some games without a profile).

I currently have 2x 570. If I had to do it again, I'd go with the single GTX 580 route, simply because I find the headaches of SLI are not necessarily worth it. I feel that a single GTX 580, with a nice aftermarket heatsink would be my preferred option at this point.

And as for the case, if you're thinking of a 932, you might as well get a HAF X instead, as it comes with the side panel cooling, and is a nicer case overall. Time to pimp my setup once more:

For the fan controller...I haven't heard great things from the NZXT. Probably better off getting a Scythe Kaze. I have the Lamptron FC-6. Not the best fan controller, as it's PWM (which makes controlling speeds a little more finicky), but it provides a ton of voltage, and looks nice on the HAF X case:

Viewing angles on it suck though.

 

[iNvid02]

The 580, because a 6950 is 240 euro, the 570 is 300 euro, but the 580 is like 400 euro.
So either i get a 6950 right now, or a single 570 and upgrade to a SLI later on, or a single 580 and upgrade later on as well.

also what would you go for,
http://www.nzxt.com/new/products/fan_control/sentry_lxe
or this one
http://www.nzxt.com/new/products/fan_control/sentry_lx

i have the sentry lx and its ok, but if you have a lot of fans the voltage can be too much for it and one of the blue gauges doesnt light up properly. it doesnt affect the fans and temp/speed displays correctly, its just that one of the lights doesnt light up. need to hit reset to make it turn on.

edit: what headaches are you getting exodu, sli has been pretty good for me so far

 

[scotcheggz]

I'm going to be building a new PC soon, I've been using laptops for a long while though, so I haven't built a PC for years, the last one was an Athlon XP with a Radeon 9800 Pro lol. Would someone mind checking if this is all OK/compatible?

Seagate barracuda 1TB HDD
i5 2500K
ASUS P8P67 Mobo
Arctic cooler
G-Skill Ripjaw 8GB DDR3 PC3-12800 1600Mhz
Radeon 6950 (possibly a Nvidea 560Ti?)
750W PSU
Some case
Some DVD

Does all that look fine? Anyone have any suggestions to change it? All in it comes to £775, I want to stick about the same kind of price if possible. Also, I won't be doing this for about a month, so is there anything on the horizon i should be aware of?

Also, I'm not really sure about how high PC tech goes these days, i will be using this for work but also for gaming. What kind of performance would this put out? I'm a bit confused about SLI and the billions of GPUs these days.

 

[DeadRockstar]

And as for the case, if you're thinking of a 932, you might as well get a HAF X instead, as it comes with the side panel cooling, and is a nicer case overall.

? My HAF 932 has a 230mm fan on the side panel.

 

[teh_pwn]

I think so. My friend, who helped me build the computer asked whether I wanted 2 GPU's or a new really good one, so I presume it's possible, but he also said that a computer can only run 2 of the same graphics cards. Is this true? And if so, does that mean that if I go with a new graphics card, I'll have to get 2 of them? I mention Crysis because that's the main high end game I want to run with all cylinders fired up, but also because I thought if I could get it running at the highest settings, then every other game should be cake. I want to not have to worry about these things in the future. But the way you phrased it is that some GPU's work with some games better than others. Can I expect Nvidia to work well with most other games?

Yeah, you generally need two of the same card. AMD Crossfire allows a little more variation, but you wouldn't be able to get a new card and reuse your current one. For example, CF allows using both a 6950 and 6970, but not 6850 and 6950. Generally the first two numbers have to be the same.

You'll also need to check your power supply. For 2 6950s you need at least 750 Watts. I got 1 kW just to keep things quiet and stable.

I found 6950 CF to be the sweet spot for high end in terms of performance, power, heat, and cost. At $500, it performs within the top 20% of GPUs and peaks at 550 Watts. So far everything has run at max settings smoothly with one exception - Dragon Age 2 gets slow with smoke effects in cutscenes, but that's Bioware's fault, not the hardware. Metro 2033 looked nearly next gen compared to console games. Looking forward to seeing Witcher 2 on my rig.

To determine if your motherboard supports CF/SLI, look up the model on the web.

Then look around here to figure out what configuration suites your budget, goals:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/GPU11/188

 

[MacAttack]

The auto overclock will give you lower speeds and overvolt the CPU. It's better to do it manually, but no matter which method you go and for sandy bridge, you should try to stay under 1.35V and 75C for 24/7 overclock.

Under load Im at 1.4v @ 50C, I may be naive but Im not too worried about it for now. When I get my B3 board, I will probably go and manual see what I come up with.

 

[AnkitT]

I dont think I want my motherboard to be laying on my table for too long, so what cabinet should I get? I only have coolermaster brand ones available over here.

Fake edit: Will the HAF922 be able to fit the 6950 easliy?

 

[TheExodu5]

? My HAF 932 has a 230mm fan on the side panel.

Hmmm...I guess they must have removed the side panel fan at the CanadaComputers display here.

I dont think I want my motherboard to be laying on my table for too long, so what cabinet should I get? I only have coolermaster brand ones available over here.

Fake edit: Will the HAF922 be able to fit the 6950 easliy?

The HAF 922 can fit any card on the market, including a 6990 with ample room to spare. It's a very deep case.

 

[AnkitT]

The HAF 922 can fit any card on the market, including a 6990 with ample room to spare. It's a very deep case.

Hmmm. I bet it is also lighter than my current case(Mystique) since its plastic and acryllic built. Thanks for the help!

 

[BlueScrote]

It got me a stable working 4.2 Ghz OC without having to enter the bios. I dont see the need to go much higher than that currently. Its nice to know that I can push it higher in the future but for now Im content to leave it as is.

Theres really not much to say about it, it kind of does what it says. One step overclocking.

The auto overclock will give you lower speeds and overvolt the CPU. It's better to do it manually, but no matter which method you go and for sandy bridge, you should try to stay under 1.35V and 75C for 24/7 overclock.

Interesting. I guess I will try it out myself and see what kind of settings it gives me.

 

[Kadey]

Anybody want to take my 4870X2 off of me? PM with some offers.

 

[Omiee]

Well...in terms of performance/$, the 6950 is hard to beat. I didn't go the 6950CF route simply because Crossfire support isn't quite as good as SLI. When a game doesn't have a Crossfire profile, you're pretty much out of luck. When a game doesn't have an SLI profile, you can usually set it to a particular SLI rendering mode and get it to work (though SLI can cause glitches in some games without a profile).

I currently have 2x 570. If I had to do it again, I'd go with the single GTX 580 route, simply because I find the headaches of SLI are not necessarily worth it. I feel that a single GTX 580, with a nice aftermarket heatsink would be my preferred option at this point.

And as for the case, if you're thinking of a 932, you might as well get a HAF X instead, as it comes with the side panel cooling, and is a nicer case overall. Time to pimp my setup once more:

For the fan controller...I haven't heard great things from the NZXT. Probably better off getting a Scythe Kaze. I have the Lamptron FC-6. Not the best fan controller, as it's PWM (which makes controlling speeds a little more finicky), but it provides a ton of voltage, and looks nice on the HAF X case:

Viewing angles on it suck though.

Thank you, youv been a real help, im stil not real sure what to do but its a lot more clear for me. I always wanted to get the HAF X because it looks so good and it has 9 expansion slots but i realy want 4 fans on the side panel. Not only does that look much better with led fans but airflow should be better as well. If if get the haf 932 i would paint the inside black like the haf x.
Im realy tempted to go the 570 SLI route now, still not sold on the 580SLI though.

Also what would you recommend on the motherboard side, i put an order on this one
http://tweakers.net/pricewatch/271659/asrock-fatal1ty-p67-professional.html

Im still looking and reading reviews, but i should order everything tomorrow and hope it gets here by the end of the week and than put it all together.

Also again on the HDD question, if i go from the msi board to this one, and use my old HDD.
will it recognize the windows 7 install on it or do i need to do a clean install.

 

[knitoe]

Under load Im at 1.4v @ 50C, I may be naive but Im not too worried about it for now. When I get my B3 board, I will probably go and manual see what I come up with.

If under full load, 50C is amazing. What cooling setup? Is that running Prime95?

 

[MoxManiac]

For Intel CPUs, is the stock heatsink fan fine if I don't want to overclock? I figure if I decide to overclock later I can always slap on a better cooler.

 

[Chris R]

For Intel CPUs, is the stock heatsink fan fine if I don't want to overclock? I figure if I decide to overclock later I can always slap on a better cooler.

Should be fine. Just keep your case clean of dust when you can, and make sure there is a good flow of air coming in and going out of your case.

 

[MacAttack]

dp

 

[MacAttack]

If under full load, 50C is amazing. What cooling setup? Is that running Prime95?

hyper 212+
antec 902 w/ 4 fans (2 front/ 1 rear + 200mm top fan) running at high speed.

honestly only ran prime 95 for 15 min but the temps maxed out at 55C and went back down to around 50C a few times.

I know that I need to run prime (much) longer than that but since I will be swapping out this mb (B2) in the next month or so Im not going to spend hours testing it.

 

[Veelk]

Yeah, you generally need two of the same card. AMD Crossfire allows a little more variation, but you wouldn't be able to get a new card and reuse your current one. For example, CF allows using both a 6950 and 6970, but not 6850 and 6950. Generally the first two numbers have to be the same.

You'll also need to check your power supply. For 2 6950s you need at least 750 Watts. I got 1 kW just to keep things quiet and stable.

I found 6950 CF to be the sweet spot for high end in terms of performance, power, heat, and cost. At $500, it performs within the top 20% of GPUs and peaks at 550 Watts. So far everything has run at max settings smoothly with one exception - Dragon Age 2 gets slow with smoke effects in cutscenes, but that's Bioware's fault, not the hardware. Metro 2033 looked nearly next gen compared to console games. Looking forward to seeing Witcher 2 on my rig.

To determine if your motherboard supports CF/SLI, look up the model on the web.

Then look around here to figure out what configuration suites your budget, goals:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/GPU11/188

I just checked and yes, the motherboard supports SLI/CF. And so does the CPU, apparently, which is 750w. Is the noise bad enough that I need to upgrade that as well? And I don't mean to be picky, but I really want to experience Crysis with the Ultra quality mods on at no less than 60 FPS. You sure that those duel graphics cards will be able to support that?

If yes, then I think I found the graphics cards I need. Thank you very much.

 

[teh_pwn]

I just checked and yes, the motherboard supports SLI/CF. And so does the CPU, apparently, which is 750w. Is the noise bad enough that I need to upgrade that as well? And I don't mean to be picky, but I really want to experience Crysis with the Ultra quality mods on at no less than 60 FPS. You sure that those duel graphics cards will be able to support that?

If yes, then I think I found the graphics cards I need. Thank you very much.

If it's a good power supply and it has the connections needed, it may work. But if it's not really able to do 750 watts and you play a game that rails the GPUs you could have issues.

Also check to make sure you can actually fit both GPUs in your motherboard/case. They tend to consume 2 slots each. Something to consider if you have other boards connected to other PCIe/PCI slots.

 

[sh4mike]

Need some advice for the Sandy bridge motherboard recall.

NewEgg will be contacting me in a couple of days to process my P8P67 Pro replacement. I believe there will be an option for me to switch to an alternative board.

So far my P8P67 Pro experience has been miserable, despite using the non-recall SATA ports. I have constant freezes and am looking for a more stable experience. I have not tweaked/OCed my system in any way.

System Specs:
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
i5-2500K
EVGA GTX 570
G.Skill 2x4GB 1600 RAM
Samsung Spinpoint F3 7200RPM 1TB (x2)
Corsair 850HX
ASUS DRW-24B1ST DVD drive
Noctua NH-D14
FT02B-W Case
Cyberpower UPS

Any replacement board recommendations? I'm a newbie with no aspirations to OC. I liked the Asus EZ-Mode (helped with BIOS update, for example), but I am willing to switch manufacturers for stability.

Constant freezing sucks.

 

[iNvid02]

Need some advice for the Sandy bridge motherboard recall.

NewEgg will be contacting me in a couple of days to process my P8P67 Pro replacement. I believe there will be an option for me to switch to an alternative board.

So far my P8P67 Pro experience has been miserable, despite using the non-recall SATA ports. I have constant freezes and am looking for a more stable experience. I have not tweaked/OCed my system in any way.

System Specs:
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
i5-2500K
EVGA GTX 570
G.Skill 2x4GB 1600 RAM
Samsung Spinpoint F3 7200RPM 1TB (x2)
Corsair 850HX
ASUS DRW-24B1ST DVD drive
Noctua NH-D14
FT02B-W Case
Cyberpower UPS

Any replacement board recommendations? I'm a newbie with no aspirations to OC. I liked the Asus EZ-Mode (helped with BIOS update, for example), but I am willing to switch manufacturers for stability.

Constant freezing sucks.

could be an issue with your RAM. see here
https://vip.asus.com/forum/view.asp...O&id=20110114233152836&page=9&SLanguage=en-us

http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx...O&id=20110114233152836&page=1&SLanguage=en-us