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[Karmum]

As someone who has the same Cooler Master coming and has never installed such a thing, any tips/advice? What was the toughest part?

I actually didn't install mine, just helped out in the process. I dunno if you can put it on whilst the motherboard is in the case, but I wouldn't.

But uh, best "advice?"

It would be easier with three hands.

Yeah, probably that.

I dunno how long it's supposed to take, but it took us a good solid 30 - 45 minutes. It works though, and that's all that matters. Quiet as well.

http://i54.tinypic.com/2vbptlg.jpg

Haven't really used it under much stress. Don't have too many modern games to test this thing out, but obviously runs great on TF2, Portal and HL2. Any better software to use than what GIGABYTE gives?

 

[MisterNoisy]

With the Hyper 212 bring so popular, this should be in the OP.

 

[wandering goat]

With the Hyper 212 bring so popular, this should be in the OP.

This is the site that the base pic comes from: http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.p...sk=view&id=150&Itemid=62&limit=1&limitstart=3

It compares different methods and how they look post-contact. It's a couple of years old now, so its possible there are better articles now.

 

[scogoth]

Only thing more odd than when certain people consistently want you to do most of the research/footwork for them, is when it never occurs to those same people to say thanks.

<3 Feist

Thanks for posting all the news of the bleeding edge. Makes my day happy when I'm finished Anandtech, Toms, Hardware Canuckleheads, etc. to come here and find something those publications missed.

 

[Corky]

Will a gpu get damaged if it's running 70C for a prolonged amount of time? ( several hours, 4-5 hours )

 

[statham]

edit can I change a CPU on a store bought computer? next year I want to but a I5 chip instead of my phenom

 

[wandering goat]

Will a gpu get damaged if it's running 70C for a prolonged amount of time? ( several hours, 4-5 hours )

No, it's designed for that, and can take higher temps. I wouldn't worry unless it's getting to around 90C or more (on certain really hot GPUs, this is sometimes normal too!) 70C is pretty good for a load temp.

 

[Eusis]

edit can I change a CPU on a store bought computer? next year I want to but a I5 chip instead of my phenom

Is this an AMD computer you have now? Because then the real problem is the fact you simply can't put in an Intel processor into a board designed for AMD processors and vice versa. Hell, there'll be different socket types for processors too, especially Intel ones, that bar you from just sticking in the next generation's anyway.

If it's possibly PERIOD to change the CPU in a store bought computer though? I believe usually, but they may make it more of a pain in the ass than a custom built one or at least one built by a group like Origin or iBuyPower.

 

[Sketch_Turntable]

So. Built a custom PC. Everything was going fine. OC'd it some using ASRock's built in tools in the BIOS...But every once in awhile, my mouse gets all jumpy/laggy.

i5-2500K OCd to 4.2
ASRock Extreme4
8 gigs ram
Crucial SSD
Microsoft Mouse 5000 (wireless bluetrack)

I read somewhere to turn off Enhance Pointer Precision...but that didn't really help.

It didnt seem to happen when i OC'd to 4.0GHz, but i cant get back into the BIOS. i jam the buttons, but it wont let me in before Windows starts to boot up.

HELP?!?

 

[Raoh]

Questions:

What are my graphic cards options for a MSI 870-G45 AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard?

Currently Running an HD 4890. The card is awesome, hasn't let me down once. Its just loud as all hell. Figured might as well just upgrade to prepare for the 2012 games at the same time.

would like to go no higher than $200

running games on their highest settings not my highest concern.

What I'm running:

MSI 870-G45 AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard

AMD Phenom II X6 1055T Thuban 2.8GHz

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory (about to double the ram for $33)

CORSAIR Enthusiast Series CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible (sigh.. i'm going to have to upgrade this aint I?)

COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1 "Heatpipe Direct Contact" Long Life Sleeve 120mm CPU Cooler

Rosewill DESTROYER Black ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

ATI Radeon HD 4890 Video Card - 1024MB DDR5, PCI Express 2.0 x16, CrossFireX Ready, DVI, HDMI, VGA

 

[tehbible]

So. Built a custom PC. Everything was going fine. OC'd it some using ASRock's built in tools in the BIOS...But every once in awhile, my mouse gets all jumpy/laggy.

i5-2500K OCd to 4.2
ASRock Extreme4
8 gigs ram
Crucial SSD
Microsoft Mouse 5000 (wireless bluetrack)

I read somewhere to turn off Enhance Pointer Precision...but that didn't really help.

It didnt seem to happen when i OC'd to 4.0GHz, but i cant get back into the BIOS. i jam the buttons, but it wont let me in before Windows starts to boot up.

HELP?!?

i had issue with laggy/jumpy mouse cursor on a BT mouse before.

it was a logitech bt mouse, but i was able to fix it by putting the BT USB adapter to the front of the machine.

Could be that the BT connection is unstable, especially if you have lots of BT devices laying around in the vicinity.

 

[iSurvivedTheOutage]

Have you contacted their customer service recently?

Yeah Should be on there in the morning.

Anyone have a vanilla gtx 570? mind telling me your temps? and does it make the inside of ur case hotter than normal or does ALL the heat get dumped out of the back of the case? Im trying to figure out do I want the GTX 570 HD or just the vanilla GTX 570 because I have a mATX board and my last card covered my southbridge heatsink and kept causing it to overheat.

 

[Sketch_Turntable]

i had issue with laggy/jumpy mouse cursor on a BT mouse before.

it was a logitech bt mouse, but i was able to fix it by putting the BT USB adapter to the front of the machine.

Could be that the BT connection is unstable, especially if you have lots of BT devices laying around in the vicinity.

its bluetrack (M$s blue laser mouse) not Bluetooth. Sorry for the confusion. I notice it most when Firefox is under heavy loads. Updated my GPU drivers and no help.

 

[·feist·]

its bluetrack (M$s blue laser mouse) not Bluetooth. Sorry for the confusion. I notice it most when Firefox is under heavy loads. Updated my GPU drivers and no help.

This might help:

Microsoft Wireless Mouse 5000 - strange behavior
http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...behavior/460c1312-14d6-4781-b94c-23a1920601be

Yeah Should be on there in the morning.

Anyone have a vanilla gtx 570? mind telling me your temps? and does it make the inside of ur case hotter than normal or does ALL the heat get dumped out of the back of the case? Im trying to figure out do I want the GTX 570 HD or just the vanilla GTX 570 because I have a mATX board and my last card covered my southbridge heatsink and kept causing it to overheat.

Reference 570s exhaust the majority of their heated air outside of your case. The 570 HD, reference 560 Ti, 590, and most custom 570s exhaust a large portion of their heated air inside of your case. You'd have to account for added interior temps, and what that exhaust would do to your airflow, and temps of your other components. Can't say I've heard a great deal in favor of the HD over other 570s in regards to temps, noise, overclocking, and build quality. It's largely a cost saving measure for EVGA. That said, two of the 570 HDs (their are about four iterations of the card) have lifetime warranties, so it can be an inexpensive route to 570 performance levels.

If you're having SB heating issues, it sounds as if you may be running RAID, several drives, have poor airflow, or an inadequate sink. whatever the case, you could always upgrade it for ~$10-25, and not have to worry about stability, or lifespan.

Questions:

What are my graphic cards options for a MSI 870-G45 AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard?

Currently Running an HD 4890. The card is awesome, hasn't let me down once. Its just loud as all hell. Figured might as well just upgrade to prepare for the 2012 games at the same time.

would like to go no higher than $200

running games on their highest settings not my highest concern.

In that case, you may want to hold out for the upcoming round of 28nm GPUs. If you can deal with the noise for now, you'll get a very healthy increase in performance for relatively little outlay. Even if you decide not to get one, the current crop of 40n AMD 6000s, and GTX 500s will have a host of clear-out deals up for grabs.

<3 Feist

Thanks for posting all the news of the bleeding edge. Makes my day happy when I'm finished Anandtech, Toms, Hardware Canuckleheads, etc. to come here and find something those publications missed.

Ha! Did I sound like I needed a hug? Funny enough, I meant that in regards to all of the PC GAF regulars. You see members throw together some amazingly helpful posts that don't even get acknowledged by the original inquirer. Hell, Hazaro and MedIC86 took an already great OP from previous threads, made it that much better, and the thread title goes unnoticed a lot of the time. *shrug* No biggie, really. Just some observations. Thanks, though.

 

[TurbulentTurtle]

Some SSD questions:

What would be a decent size for an SSD if I'm only looking to install OS on there and that's pretty much it, no other programs really unless I have the room. I read about some people getting 60GB to install W7 on there + a few extra programs and stuff, but I'm just seeing the less I can get away with paying, what with SSDs being still kinda expensive.
Also, I don't plan on buying an SSD soon, I'm building my first computer tomorrow now that I have all the parts, so I'll be installing the OS on my mechanical drive. If I were to do a fresh install on an SSD, would I pretty much just take out the mechanical drive, put in the SSD and install the OS on there, and reformat the mechanical drive afterwards?

 

[ConstructMe]

Some SSD questions:

What would be a decent size for an SSD if I'm only looking to install OS on there and that's pretty much it, no other programs really unless I have the room. I read about some people getting 60GB to install W7 on there + a few extra programs and stuff, but I'm just seeing the less I can get away with paying, what with SSDs being still kinda expensive.
Also, I don't plan on buying an SSD soon, I'm building my first computer tomorrow now that I have all the parts, so I'll be installing the OS on my mechanical drive. If I were to do a fresh install on an SSD, would I pretty much just take out the mechanical drive, put in the SSD and install the OS on there, and reformat the mechanical drive afterwards?

Well for reference W7 reserves 16gb.

 

[Hazaro]

With the Hyper 212 bring so popular, this should be in the OP.

It's not a big deal at all. A blop or blob about half a BB or 7mm across is fine for every heatsink.

 

[knitoe]

Some SSD questions:

What would be a decent size for an SSD if I'm only looking to install OS on there and that's pretty much it, no other programs really unless I have the room. I read about some people getting 60GB to install W7 on there + a few extra programs and stuff, but I'm just seeing the less I can get away with paying, what with SSDs being still kinda expensive.
Also, I don't plan on buying an SSD soon, I'm building my first computer tomorrow now that I have all the parts, so I'll be installing the OS on my mechanical drive. If I were to do a fresh install on an SSD, would I pretty much just take out the mechanical drive, put in the SSD and install the OS on there, and reformat the mechanical drive afterwards?

I have Windows 7 Ultimate and it takes ~25GB after moving the page file to HDD. You can also save more space by turning off sleep/hibernation. You should have ~30 GB to install other stuff on a 60GB SSD. I would recommend you keep ~10GB free at all times so SSD can do it's garbage collecting thing and keep the drive at top speed.

It makes it easy to install Windows, because only one drive shows up, but you don't really need to remove your other drives. Afterward, you can manually delete stuff off the HDD(s) or do a Windows quick format.

 

[iSurvivedTheOutage]

This might help:

Reference 570s exhaust the majority of their heated air outside of your case. The 570 HD, reference 560 Ti, 590, and most custom 570s exhaust a large portion of their heated air inside of your case. You'd have to account for added interior temps, and what that exhaust would do to your airflow, and temps of your other components. Can't say I've heard a great deal in favor of the HD over other 570s in regards to temps, noise, overclocking, and build quality. It's largely a cost saving measure for EVGA. That said, two of the 570 HDs (their are about four iterations of the card) have lifetime warranties, so it can be an inexpensive route to 570 performance levels.

If you're having SB heating issues, it sounds as if you may be running RAID, several drives, have poor airflow, or an inadequate sink. whatever the case, you could always upgrade it for ~$10-25, and not have to worry about stability, or lifespan.

Thanks a ton...

 

[Hazaro]

Updated.


The Damn Capable Build: ~$600 - Intel i3-2100, 4GB DDR3, 1TB HDD, GTX460 1GB, $40-$60 case, Corsair CX430W, Biostar TH67B motherboard, DVD Burner. < Click for Standard wishlist (Pick Case color)

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

Alright GAF. Eid Mubarak to all! So me and my brother got $100 each as Eid gift and now my budget of card has gone up!

So now I have $600 of spare hard cash waiting to be spend on the PC. What I need is two $300 (or $275 to be exact excluding taxes) cards to kick some serious ass.

Our motherboards do not have enough room for dual cards (and not a powerful processor) or I would've gone for two GTX 460, so we'll have to stick with one card.

I have my eyes on 2GB HD 6950 (This one to be specific: Clickity click!), but if you have something else to recommend, by all means hit me!

I did purchase a GTX 460 but since my budget has gone higher, I'm going to return that and get another card instead for more bang for the buck!

Both our PCs are Quad Core 2.9Ghz (mine's AMD, his is Intel) with stock heatsinks and no overclocking in present or future, and 550W PSU with 4GB DDR2 RAM, with PCIe motherboards. Also, this might sound dumb but his motherboard is SLI ready and mine is Crossfire, though of course we won't be using it with the small motherboards we have with no room for massive cards like these.

His current card is GTX 460 and mine is HD 5770.

MEOW!

 

[Hazaro]

GTX 570 after rebate: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814162075

or

6950 2GB:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102945
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131393

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

Yeah, 6950 is indeed what I'm eyeing. I heard you can flash it and run it as 6970, but it has to be specific models. Must look into that and see how safe it is to do...

 

[Hazaro]

Yeah, 6950 is indeed what I'm eyeing. I heard you can flash it and run it as 6970, but it has to be specific models. Must look into that and see how safe it is to do...

You can't do that anymore.

What you can sometimes do is unlock the 6950's extra shaders if possible.
I personally haven't, but that POWERCOLOR has a dual BIOS switch which makes it safe to try.

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

Ahh! Oh well, it's all good I guess.

OK Last question... Sorry!

Ignoring the price differences, which cards are better: Powercolor, XFX or Sapphire?

 

[Hazaro]

I'd go for the powercolor. Dual BIOS and larger fans. It is very quiet at under 50% fan speed. Under 63% is good too.

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

Alright. Powercolor is it!

Goodbye XFX and EVGA. I hardly knew thee!

So it won't matter installing 6950 in an SLI-based-motherboard, right?! That's the only thing that "worries" me.

Spoiler

Oh God... I lied about last question. THERE IS NEVER A LAST QUESTION!

 

[Hazaro]

It's fine

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

HA! MADE YOU ANSWER!

(lol kidding. Thanks again for maintaining this thread! You're awesome alongside LordCanti!).

Looking to spend around 90 British pounds, the HD5770 seems to be the best one in that range i can see, could you guys link me to a card around price that is allot better..

Graphics card hunting on a budget is a nightmare!

Dude! Did you check your PM?

90 pounds? I'm willing to get rid of my minty mint HD5770 for half of that! It's a GAF-exclusive offer! Let me know if you want it and I'll ship it to you instead of ebaying it.

 

[cartman414]

You should probably update the i3 in the standard build to either the 2105 or 2120.

 

[Hazaro]

You should probably update the i3 in the standard build to either the 2105 or 2120.

I don't see the need for HD 3000 onchip since it costs $10 more.
The 2120 at 3.3Ghz for $15 more I'm iffy on.

 

[btcollide]

Ahh! Oh well, it's all good I guess.

OK Last question... Sorry!

Ignoring the price differences, which cards are better: Powercolor, XFX or Sapphire?

I just got the Sapphire today from Amazon, and man it's a beauty. It isn't loud at all!

I picked up a Diamond 6950 at Fry's and I almost kept it but the price differential was too much to pass up (I paid $313 after tax for that 6950). I ended up returning it and ordering an HIS 6950 that was overclocked out of the box from Amazon. The thing died on me on the 2nd day - I had a bad feeling too because it was giving me issues as soon as I began running it. Low and behold, the thing made my system go nuts.

I ended up ordering the Sapphire while i'm sending back the HIS to Amazon for a refund.. So far so good and I am loving this videocard.

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

Yeah, looks like most of the cards these days are built to perfection. Most.

There is a great deal at NCIX on Powercolor ($230 with mail-in-rebate) so I'll get that tomorrow morning!

 

[Nekrono]

Hey guys, I'm thinking about unlocking my 6950 to a 6970, I remember reading that some people were reporting their cards being damaged, I want to know if it's safe and if there's an updated non risk guide about it? Thanks.

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

Hey guys, I'm thinking about unlocking my 6950 to a 6970, I remember reading that some people were reporting their cards being damaged, I want to know if it's safe and if there's an updated non risk guide about it? Thanks.

Here's a recent answer:

You can't do that anymore.

What you can sometimes do is unlock the 6950's extra shaders if possible.
I personally haven't, but that POWERCOLOR has a dual BIOS switch which makes it safe to try.

Oh and from what I read elsewhere, it damages the card and renders it useless if you don't back up your BIOS and somehow fail to flash it properly.

 

[Nekrono]

Here's a recent answer:




Oh and from what I read elsewhere, it damages the card and renders it useless if you don't back up your BIOS and somehow fail to flash it properly.

I just did some research and apparently you still can, you just need to do it with your own card bios and you just unlock the shaders, the damaged cards reports I read a while ago apparently were because people were trying to flash their cards with an actual 6970 bios which messed up their voltages and speed, especially memory speed, which caused the card to be damaged beyond repair.

I found this guide and also this video, I thought just unlocking the shaders gave no performance increase but the guy in the last video says Crysis 2 goes up about 10 fps.

Seems safe but I need to do more research, I'll probably try it out in a couple minutes.

And yeah you need a reference card, I bought my card when they came out so I know it's reference, also I have the dual bios switch just in case.

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

Yeah it's a 5-10fps difference, which can make a lot of change depending on the game.

 

[Hazaro]

I just did some research and apparently you still can, you just need to do it with your own card bios and you just unlock the shaders, the damaged cards reports I read a while ago apparently were because people were trying to flash their cards with an actual 6970 bios which messed up their voltages and speed, especially memory speed, which caused the card to be damaged beyond repair.

I found this guide and also this video, I thought just unlocking the shaders gave no performance increase but the guy in the last video says Crysis 2 goes up about 10 fps.

Seems safe but I need to do more research, I'll probably try it out in a couple minutes.

And yeah you need a reference card, I bought my card when they came out so I know it's reference, also I have the dual bios switch just in case.

Well I just tried it on my POWERCOLOR 6950's and no dice. I wasn't expecting it too, but oh well.

It flashed, but there is no change to shaders. On the plus side it still is working fine.

 

[Caerith]

Man, case shopping. I'm getting a ROG Gene Z, which has internal headers audio, USB 3.0 (x2), and USB 2.0 (x4). The only case I can see that has a front panel exactly matching that is Rosewill's Blackhawk, but the USB 3.0 there is only an extension cable that plugs into the rear USB 3.0. All the other mid towers I see so far might have one USB 3.0 or maybe two but then no USB 2.0, or they have e-SATA which my mobo does not, and I'd prefer not to have sockets that do nothing. My search is not helped by Newegg's filters not differentiating between USB versions.

Anyone have any good recommendations on cases? I'd prefer to spend in the $50-$100 range, preferably silent and not lit up like a birthday cake, and looking to build the week after Labor Day (ie, a week from today).

 

[Hazaro]

Did you look at the OP?
Apart from that I can't recommend any since I'm not a case person.
The White R3 is quite popular.

 

[Caerith]

I did, and there are a lot of great cases but not seeing any with front panels that match the Gene Z's connectors. R3 only has 2 USB 2.0, 1 eSATA, and audio, which is what most cases seem to have.

 

[Nekrono]

Well I just tried it on my POWERCOLOR 6950's and no dice. I wasn't expecting it too, but oh well.

It flashed, but there is no change to shaders. On the plus side it still is working fine.

I just did it on my HIS 6950 and it worked flawlessly, the only game that I've tried though is Metro 2033, I did two benchmark runs of 2 loops each and these were the results:

6950 Stock:

6950 Shaders unlocked:

DAT MAX FRAMERATE

Even though the average FPS gain according to the benchmark was roughly 1.5 FPS when playing the game it does feel smoother, temps are pretty much the same.

I have to test some other games as I think the performance gain differs from each game, won't judge the benefit from just one game, it will be hard comparing though as the only reference I have to how these games used to run on my stock 6950 is my memory.

 

[Hazaro]

Max frames is probably for 1 frame where it zoomed or looked at a wall

Mine isn't reference so I wasn't expecting anything.

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

God, I'm so excited for 6950! Half a dozen more hours before the damn stores open!

 

[Corky]

I need some clarification.

Running 1920x1080 and 8xmsaa + 8x ssaa, does that equate to :

8x ssaa = 4x2 = 4*1920x1080 *4. In the end we have 7680x4320 running with 8xmsaa? Or are my calculations way off?

 

[NBtoaster]

I need some clarification.

Running 1920x1080 and 8xmsaa + 8x ssaa, does that equate to :

8x ssaa = 4x2 = 4*1920x1080 *4. In the end we have 7680x4320 running with 8xmsaa? Or are my calculations way off?

You can try looking here for AA explanations:

http://www.dahlsys.com/misc/antialias/index.html

It says 8xSSAA gives 7680x2160, I'm not sure how that math works..

 

[Corky]

You can try looking here for AA explanations:

http://www.dahlsys.com/misc/antialias/index.html

It says 8xSSAA gives 7680x2160, I'm not sure how that math works..

Ah I see, I guess that means that 8x counts as 4x2 which in turn would give 4*1920x1080*2, which is 7680x2160

 

[JCtheMC]

I'm currently eyeing this build for my Gaming HTPC:

Intel Core i5 2500K / 3.3 GHz
ASRock P67 Extreme4
eVGA GeForce GTX 570 SuperClocked
Corsair Vengeance 8GB
Corsair Builder Series CX600 V2
SilverStone LASCALA LC13
OCZ Agility 3 Series 120 Gb SSD
Samsung SH-222AB Burner
Scythe Mugen 2 rev.B SCMG-2100

rounds out at about 970 euro's. This system was more or less based upon the OP and another gaming PC building guide. Could you guys give me some feedback on how to get even better value for money and how to make this thing as quiet as i possibly can?

 

[n0n44m]

I'm currently eyeing this build for my Gaming HTPC:

Intel Core i5 2500K / 3.3 GHz
ASRock P67 Extreme4
eVGA GeForce GTX 570 SuperClocked
Corsair Vengeance 8GB
Corsair Builder Series CX600 V2
SilverStone LASCALA LC13
OCZ Agility 3 Series 120 Gb SSD
Samsung SH-222AB Burner
Scythe Mugen 2 rev.B SCMG-2100

rounds out at about 970 euro's. This system was more or less based upon the OP and another gaming PC building guide. Could you guys give me some feedback on how to get even better value for money and how to make this thing as quiet as i possibly can?

I'm not really a value for money guy (lol) but a few observations/tips:

-Corsair CX series isn't bad but definitely not as good as the TX/HX/AX, and with those cases you might want to grab a modular PSU as well, although that brings you up to the €100 category. I have a LC17 for my HTPC and modular would really make it a lot easier/less messy, especially because you'll probably have to remove the middle HDD bay for the graphics card to fit so your harddrives only fit in the bay directly opposite to the PSU which leaves you with little room to hide wires. The TX550M (modular) I see in the pricewatch are nicely priced but not in stock anywhere Seasonic 520 Modular are very high quality too

-no HDD for storage?

-grab the Corsair Vengeance low profile version, else the Mugen 2 fan would be lifted by/pressing down on the first memory stick

-Speaking about the Mugen 2 , I'm not entirely certain it fits in that case? I have some old 92mm tower cooler in my LC17 but if I remember correctly the Mugen 2 is much taller? A Scythe Shuriken is more HTPC oriented =]

-For silence you can opt for a card with non-reference cooling, like the Asus DCII series or the MSI Twinfrozr III

-The casefans can also influence silence, I'm running a ~6 year old X2 3800+ with a passive videocard in my LC17 which has the same layout, and achieved total silence with only 2 80mm fans at the back running at 5V. I doubt this will be enough airflow for a gaming pc though ... aren't there any HTPC cases that use 120mm fans out there? I see a couple of Silverstone models in the GD series that seem better prepared for a gaming htpc, although those would require a mATX motherboard (there is that nice Asus Maximus IV Gene-Z board that's only ~€20 more than the ASRock...)

 

[MrKnives]

God, I'm so excited for 6950! Half a dozen more hours before the damn stores open!

Question.
Why 6950? From what I have researched 570 beats 6950 in every turn. Don't know after you flash it to 6970 though.