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[Seraphinianus]

I was gung ho about a gaming laptop for a while, now I'm starting to entertain the idea of a home PC for less $$$ and using the rest for a cheap on the go laptop. plus, building is fun.

The thing: I've got a panasonic plasma TV that I'd want to use. It's 720p (or 1355x756 or whatever that weird res that 720p tvs have.) Will I have issues with overscan or the display in general? Last time I had a pc, I had overscan issues with my LCD + 8800GTS + WinXP. I'd have to reset it quite a bit and resolution changes between programs always threw it off. Honestly, the desktop never looked quite right on the tv.

I could order a monitor, but I really wanna game on my big comfy couch plus, that might kill the savings a bit.

 

[scogoth]

I was gung ho about a gaming laptop for a while, now I'm starting to entertain the idea of a home PC for less $$$ and using the rest for a cheap on the go laptop. plus, building is fun.

The thing: I've got a panasonic plasma TV that I'd want to use. It's 720p (or 1355x756 or whatever that weird res that 720p tvs have.) Will I have issues with overscan or the display in general? Last time I had a pc, I had overscan issues with my LCD + 8800GTS + WinXP. I'd have to reset it quite a bit and resolution changes between programs always threw it off. Honestly, the desktop never looked quite right on the tv.

I could order a monitor, but I really wanna game on my big comfy couch plus, that might kill the savings a bit.

Most TVs have a PC mode, full scan or just scan or some other name where the picture should fit. If not I know nvidia drivers allow you to correct it to fit, I'm sure AMD has the same thing.

 

[MrBig]

I was gung ho about a gaming laptop for a while, now I'm starting to entertain the idea of a home PC for less $$$ and using the rest for a cheap on the go laptop. plus, building is fun.

The thing: I've got a panasonic plasma TV that I'd want to use. It's 720p (or 1355x756 or whatever that weird res that 720p tvs have.) Will I have issues with overscan or the display in general? Last time I had a pc, I had overscan issues with my LCD + 8800GTS + WinXP. I'd have to reset it quite a bit and resolution changes between programs always threw it off. Honestly, the desktop never looked quite right on the tv.

I could order a monitor, but I really wanna game on my big comfy couch plus, that might kill the savings a bit.

Yes, you can set up custom display bounds for the TV in the nvidia control panel. My 720p TV has no PC mode, so I had to adjust the overscan and set the resoltion to 1176x664.

I'm in the same boat with the laptops. I'm building a $1,500 tower ($1100 not inc the 27" 2k monitor). I settled on the 1.5k budget because the last laptop I bought was that much, and I can get much better parts for that price. My android tablet it much more practical than a laptop I would be happy with owning.

 

[Seraphinianus]

Most TVs have a PC mode, full scan or just scan or some other name where the picture should fit. If not I know nvidia drivers allow you to correct it to fit, I'm sure AMD has the same thing.

Yes, you can set up custom display bounds for the TV in the nvidia control panel. My 720p TV has no PC mode, so I had to adjust the overscan and set the resoltion to 1176x664.

I'm in the same boat with the laptops. I'm building a $1,500 tower ($1100 not inc the 27" 2k monitor). I settled on the 1.5k budget because the last laptop I bought was that much, and I can get much better parts for that price. My android tablet it much more practical than a laptop I would be happy with owning.

thanks guys...unfortunately, the nvidia control panel on my 8800gts had the same setting and it was spotty. sometimes working, sometimes not. But this was years ago, so I imagine it'd work better now.

now that I think about it, the laptop would be better for a streaming set up. or I could buy a cheap second display...i dunno.

i realize this is a "read the fucking thread" question but could I get away with an ~$800 rig that nails modern games + PCSX2 + Dolphin? yes or no is fine, then i could research on my own. pretty much have to build it from scratch, mouse+kb included.

 

[BoobPhysics101]

Vertex 4 and Everest 2

Looks interesting, a few firmware updates and this will challenge Samsung and sandforce. Anand also alluded to more new SSDs coming out so we should have an interesting summer storage wise.

Still won't buy their drives, my Vertex 2 just died a couple of weeks ago for no reason at all. Crucial M4 is still king for me.

Guess I better RMA my Vertex 2 and see what they do about it.

thanks guys...unfortunately, the nvidia control panel on my 8800gts had the same setting and it was spotty. sometimes working, sometimes not. But this was years ago, so I imagine it'd work better now.

now that I think about it, the laptop would be better for a streaming set up. or I could buy a cheap second display...i dunno.

i realize this is a "read the fucking thread" question but could I get away with an ~$800 rig that nails modern games + PCSX2 + Dolphin? yes or no is fine, then i could research on my own. pretty much have to build it from scratch, mouse+kb included.

Yes, absolutely. A 2500k + 6870/560 Ti will be perfect for modern games on High, PCSX2 + Dolphin maxed out running smooth as hell.

I tested the VRAM limits in Witcher 2 at 1080p with Ubersampling and the highest amount of VRAM used is 950mb. So the performance in Uber mode is not due to hitting a V-Ram wall or anything like that. Now, I don't have any .ini tweaks put in yet, I know I need to add the ones you advised like more texture memory and the one that reduces the LOD. Right now trying to find the thread and the post where you had the settings you created.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=28106991&postcount=2825

Enjoy. I'll pm it to you too. But Witcher 2 with ubersampling should be using TONS of VRAM...

 

[Seraphinianus]

Yes, absolutely. A 2500k + 6870/560 Ti will be perfect for modern games on High, PCSX2 + Dolphin maxed out running smooth as hell.

eenteresting. i have some overhead to get nicer parts too, so...maybe i'll go for that.

if they announce dark souls PC, i will pull the trigger immediately. though it seems like an inevitability based on those magazines.

 

[JayDub]

Question for those running with an SSD and HDD setup. Since the HDD storage size is bigger, and will be the one you put your games on, what are the benefits of having an SSD?

 

[BoobPhysics101]

Question for those running with an SSD and HDD setup. Since the HDD storage size is bigger, and will be the one you put your games on, what are the benefits of having an SSD?

Put games that need fast loads/stream a lot (Skyrim, Battlefield 3, etc) on the SSD along with the OS. Put games that don't need fast loads/do a lot of loading on the HDD. Switch back and forth as necessary using Steam Loader + Symlink Creator.

 

[MrBig]

There's also the Intel SRT for creating a beast of a hybrid drive in a Raid setup if you have a Z68 or are getting a Z77 board.

How so? How much space would you need?

You'll need a 4gb drive I believe. Use the MS Store's USB tool http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/html/pbPage.Help_Win7_usbdvd_dwnTool
They tell you how to set it up there, if you want to do it another way there are many tutorials available to google.

 

[EatChildren]

I have a question about my GPU performance.

I own a MSI GTX570 (factory OC'd). The core is cloked at 789, memory 2100, and voltage defaults to 975mV.

Dicking around in MSI Afterburner, running Kombustor to stress my card, I've noticed that Kombustor reports weird performance drops.

Put it this way. Starting up Kombustor, for the first minute or two it will report an average framerate of ~145. Looking at the reported frames it generally fluctuates between 145 and 150, max being 159.

However, after the first couple of minutes, minimum framerates drop quite substantially. Dips into the low 80's occur, performance fluctuating between ~100 - 120 fps.

What I don't understand is why? If this were a graphics stress test for game, introducing new rendering elements to scenes, then I could understand, but Kombustor does nothing like this. It is a single render that never changes.

Why is initial performance a good 20+ fps higher than what it drops down to after a couple of minutes, despite the scene itself never changing? Is it heat related? Hardware problem? Stupidity on my behalf?

 

[Shambles]

I have a question about my GPU performance.

I own a MSI GTX570 (factory OC'd). The core is cloked at 789, memory 2100, and voltage defaults to 975mV.

Dicking around in MSI Afterburner, running Kombustor to stress my card, I've noticed that Kombustor reports weird performance drops.

Put it this way. Starting up Kombustor, for the first minute or two it will report an average framerate of ~145. Looking at the reported frames it generally fluctuates between 145 and 150, max being 159.

However, after the first couple of minutes, minimum framerates drop quite substantially. Dips into the low 80's occur, performance fluctuating between ~100 - 120 fps.

What I don't understand is why? If this were a graphics stress test for game, introducing new rendering elements to scenes, then I could understand, but Kombustor does nothing like this. It is a single render that never changes.

Why is initial performance a good 20+ fps higher than what it drops down to after a couple of minutes, despite the scene itself never changing? Is it heat related? Hardware problem? Stupidity on my behalf?

Sounds like the card is running into it's TDP limits and reducing clockspeed/voltage in order to prevent damage. I know that Kepler is designed to overclock itself when it calculates that it has thermal headroom it can take advantage of. Kepler doesn't have the same powertune feature, or whatever it's called, but I do believe they still have thermal controls on the chips. You shouldn't notice a performance drop during gameplay though, only the GPU-burner apps like Furmark and the like trigger it.

 

[scitek]

Guys, what does the Lucid Virtu software do? I just found out about it, and I have a Z68 board and can make use of it. From what I can tell, only the new MVP version is making any headlines, but you need a license to use it beyond a 30 day trial. Is the regular Virtu worth bothering with?

 

[EatChildren]

Sounds like the card is running into it's TDP limits and reducing clockspeed/voltage in order to prevent damage. I know that Kepler is designed to overclock itself when it calculates that it has thermal headroom it can take advantage of. Kepler doesn't have the same powertune feature, or whatever it's called, but I do believe they still have thermal controls on the chips. You shouldn't notice a performance drop during gameplay though, only the GPU-burner apps like Furmark and the like trigger it.

Interesting. Experimenting, I increased the voltage to 1.063, keeping all the clocks the same, to see how the card would react. Kombustor showed a clear performance drop right away about the same as what I was experiencing previously from the drop after a few minutes on the original voltage. I could also hear this weird sound coming from my GPU with the increased voltage, though I'm not sure what it was.

 

[n0n44m]

Interesting. Experimenting, I increased the voltage to 1.063, keeping all the clocks the same, to see how the card would react. Kombustor showed a clear performance drop right away about the same as what I was experiencing previously from the drop after a few minutes on the original voltage. I could also hear this weird sound coming from my GPU with the increased voltage, though I'm not sure what it was.

it's probably the Over Current Protection (OCP) kicking in, which Nvidia introduced on the GTX5** series to discourage the use of torture programs (e.g. Kombustor ;p )

 

[clav]

Cloning should work fine. I would recommend acronis true image but you would have to pay for it.

Since Windows Vista and Windows XP SP3, you can clone your entire hard drive using the complete backup tool that is built-in Windows.

Acronis was great during the XP era.

Is seagate pretty decent overall? I've disliked them ever since the whole firmware fiasco on their hard drives years ago. Them and Hitachi are like the only two I avoid.

Seagate is just as good as Western Digital.

7200.11 was a disaster, but that was some time ago.

Rely on a backup solution (e.g. server, external hard drives, cloud storage), not "brand reputation" for mechanical hard drives. I learned that the hard way, so please do not ignorantly rely on only one backup.

Awesome, thanks. Its a single platter.

I got smashed on HDD prices because I bought a 1TB before the Thailand incident and returned it. I think it was like 70 at the time (CAD)

If the price difference is significant, I would go with the cheaper option since it appears they are single platter.

That sucks. No one can predict natural disasters.

 

[Zeliard]

Interesting. Experimenting, I increased the voltage to 1.063, keeping all the clocks the same, to see how the card would react. Kombustor showed a clear performance drop right away about the same as what I was experiencing previously from the drop after a few minutes on the original voltage. I could also hear this weird sound coming from my GPU with the increased voltage, though I'm not sure what it was.

Coil whine, probably. Shouldn't be anything to worry about.

 

[EatChildren]

Coil whine, probably. Shouldn't be anything to worry about.

it's probably the Over Current Protection (OCP) kicking in, which Nvidia introduced on the GTX5** series to discourage the use of torture programs (e.g. Kombustor ;p )

Hmm. So, if I want to tinker OCing my graphics card, and see if I'm getting any real world framerate performance out of games increasing the clock speed to ~800 or so, any suggestions as to what I should use for benchmarking?

 

[mkenyon]

Hmm. So, if I want to tinker OCing my graphics card, and see if I'm getting any real world framerate performance out of games increasing the clock speed to ~800 or so, any suggestions as to what I should use for benchmarking?

Look no further than GAF:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=454318

 

[Hawk269]

Put games that need fast loads/stream a lot (Skyrim, Battlefield 3, etc) on the SSD along with the OS. Put games that don't need fast loads/do a lot of loading on the HDD. Switch back and forth as necessary using Steam Loader + Symlink Creator.

I do exactly what BoobPhysics has stated. Games the I have on Steam that I know woud benefit from the SSD I have on the SSD...all other games I used Steam Mover and my regular HDD's. It works extremly well and works great. If I have a game on a normal HDD I use Steam Mover to move it back to the SSD if I need it.

 

[BigBlackGamer]

x79 parts are coming tomorrow! excite!

 

[Gueras]

Guys should i get a ivy bridge core i7 or wait for haswell cpus???
My cpu is a core i5 750

 

[sk3tch]

I know you guys won't be too sympathetic to my exotic PC problems, heh...and that's cool...but received my 4th EVGA GTX 680 today and my new RAM...yesterday I received my new mobo (XL-ATX MSI Big Bang XPower-II) and CPU (3960X) - today I started the install into my NZXT Switch 810...long story short: quad-SLI with Big Bang XPower-II is not possible in a NZXT Switch 810. There is a 2 slot offset due to the layout of the board so it only leaves one slot open for the 4th card. :-(

Going to buy a CM Cosmos II, I guess. Other option is HAF X from research. Would rather have a more premium case for this rig. Just sucks...traveling to visit my buddy on Friday and help him build his box so I don't have time to do any rebuild, so my quad SLI dreams are put on hold for a bit. :-(

In other news...this board is so ridiculously awesome. Wow.

 

[scogoth]

I know you guys won't be too sympathetic to my exotic PC problems, heh...and that's cool...but received my 4th EVGA GTX 680 today and my new RAM...yesterday I received my new mobo (XL-ATX MSI Big Bang XPower-II) and CPU (3960X) - today I started the install into my NZXT Switch 810...long story short: quad-SLI with Big Bang XPower-II is not possible in a NZXT Switch 810. There is a 2 slot offset due to the layout of the board so it only leaves one slot open for the 4th card. :-(

Going to buy a CM Cosmos II, I guess. Other option is HAF X from research. Would rather have a more premium case for this rig. Just sucks...traveling to visit my buddy on Friday and help him build his box so I don't have time to do any rebuild, so my quad SLI dreams are put on hold for a bit. :-(

In other news...this board is so ridiculously awesome. Wow.

First your changing the wrong component, change the mobo not the case, its too sexy compared to the cosmos to change.

2nd single slot water cooled gpus!

 

[sk3tch]

First your changing the wrong component, change the mobo not the case, its too sexy compared to the cosmos to change.

2nd single slot water cooled gpus!

I will use the case in my 2nd PC. I like my CM 690 II Advanced but I like the NZXT Switch 810 better.

I can't return/exchange the MSI Big Bang XPower-II mobo. I suppose I could sell it...the resale is quite good because you can't buy it standalone. I guess we'll see. My buddy's mobo is the ASUS Rampage Extreme IV X79...so maybe I'll be impressed enough with that board to swap to that versus the case move. I just really love the MSI.

 

[·feist·]

Still kinda tight I didn't buy a Lian Li PC-X500FX when it was easier to find. Now the wait for the next revision...

Guys should i get a ivy bridge core i7 or wait for haswell cpus???
My cpu is a core i5 750

Haswell. Broadwell/Rockwell, if you're extra patient. Your 750 should be at 3.8GHz, at least. If you want/need SATA III (for SSDs, and such), check out some inexpensive PCIe solutions.

Funny you should ask, though, as I've been thinking about making a Haswell thread for a long time now, but the BD thread gets to be enough of a hassle, at times.

 

[Hawk269]

I know you guys won't be too sympathetic to my exotic PC problems, heh...and that's cool...but received my 4th EVGA GTX 680 today and my new RAM...yesterday I received my new mobo (XL-ATX MSI Big Bang XPower-II) and CPU (3960X) - today I started the install into my NZXT Switch 810...long story short: quad-SLI with Big Bang XPower-II is not possible in a NZXT Switch 810. There is a 2 slot offset due to the layout of the board so it only leaves one slot open for the 4th card. :-(

Going to buy a CM Cosmos II, I guess. Other option is HAF X from research. Would rather have a more premium case for this rig. Just sucks...traveling to visit my buddy on Friday and help him build his box so I don't have time to do any rebuild, so my quad SLI dreams are put on hold for a bit. :-(

In other news...this board is so ridiculously awesome. Wow.

WoW...all the work and expense and it doesnt fit? Damn, I woud be royally pissed. Like someone suggested, would it be better to get a different motherboard versus a different case?

 

[Hawk269]

x79 parts are coming tomorrow! excite!

What all did you order? Still contimplating a x79 build, so just curious.

 

[Elsolar]

Hmm. So, if I want to tinker OCing my graphics card, and see if I'm getting any real world framerate performance out of games increasing the clock speed to ~800 or so, any suggestions as to what I should use for benchmarking?

Torture programs like Kombustor aren't particularly relevant in the GTX 5xx series and up, the best benchmark right now is just to play BF3 or run Infinite City or something really GPU-intensive.

 

[GraveHorizon]

Huzzah! My final parts arrived today, but the box they came in was kind of shitty. (Taken on my Vita.)

Combined with the weird shipping, I'm a little disappointed in Amazon. Luckily the stuff inside was alright. Haven't got a chance to put it all together yet, but I might do it tonight.

On an interesting note, accidentally changing the capitalization of one of the letters in the URL of that image while typing it in gave a surprising result.

 

[mkenyon]

I know you guys won't be too sympathetic to my exotic PC problems, heh...and that's cool...but received my 4th EVGA GTX 680 today and my new RAM...yesterday I received my new mobo (XL-ATX MSI Big Bang XPower-II) and CPU (3960X) - today I started the install into my NZXT Switch 810...long story short: quad-SLI with Big Bang XPower-II is not possible in a NZXT Switch 810. There is a 2 slot offset due to the layout of the board so it only leaves one slot open for the 4th card. :-(

Going to buy a CM Cosmos II, I guess. Other option is HAF X from research. Would rather have a more premium case for this rig. Just sucks...traveling to visit my buddy on Friday and help him build his box so I don't have time to do any rebuild, so my quad SLI dreams are put on hold for a bit. :-(

In other news...this board is so ridiculously awesome. Wow.

The best PC problems are the ones created by buying too much awesome stuff.

http://abee.co.jp/Product/CASE/AS_Enclosure/800/index.html

Get one of those, if you can find a way to import it that is

Other Choices

Little Devil V8 (can get tons of different color options - available from Performance PC's)

Caselabs M10

DangerDen Tower 29

\

XSPC H2

Silverstone TJ-11 too, but that thing is ridiculously expensive. You pretty much have to go test bench or ridiculous case with XL-ATX. I'm partial to the LittleDevil cases. Got to play around with one at PDXLAN and was seriously impressed with the build quality.

Still kinda tight I didn't buy a Lian Li PC-X500FX when it was easier to find. Now the wait for the next revision...

Dont make me think about it. Or when I saw the X900R for $210 on newegg and didn't bite. I'm such a freaking idiot. Here's hoping for a new case with the "super tower" design soon. Day 1, will even pay the Lian Li NIB tax for it.

 

[FoxSpirit]

Well that's not very encouraging, I'm going to be buying a Fractal R3 case soon

Weird, don't think my 212+ is the loudest thing in my case. Was going to buy a 4-pack of Coolermaster 120mm fans for like $12 on Amazon but how well do they compare (in terms of quietness) to Noiseblockers or Scythe fans?

Well, I have a Noiseblocker Multiframe fan as my case fan and it's dead quiet. Mine:

NoiseBlocker-Multiframe® S-Series MF12-S2


Also quite stylish :-D

 

[BoobPhysics101]

Guys, what does the Lucid Virtu software do? I just found out about it, and I have a Z68 board and can make use of it. From what I can tell, only the new MVP version is making any headlines, but you need a license to use it beyond a 30 day trial. Is the regular Virtu worth bothering with?

No, absolutely not. It's pretty much worthless.

 

[sk3tch]

The best PC problems are the ones created by buying too much awesome stuff.

*snip*

Little Devil V8 (can get tons of different color options - available from Performance PC's)

Wow...thanks a lot for the very informative post, man. I really appreciate it. That Little Devil caught my eye. I think I have seen that in magazines...for one of those gaming PC resellers. Definitely going to check it out. Cosmos II is just so ugly, IMO...just needed to expand my horizons.

 

[divisionbyzorro]

Okay; I need some serious advice. I got my order in and put it all together last night. I've got two issues:

My case fan doesn't work. I have it plugged into the motherboard; I pulled the plug out, turned on the machine, and checked those pins with a voltmeter. There is no drop across those pins. I figure this means I should RMA the motherboard (?).

My video looks weird too. Other than the case fan, everything else seems to "work," except the screen is green-shifted. Everything has a funky green hue to it. Now, I haven't finished all the system setup yet, so maybe it'll sort out with drivers (I'm hooked into my video card not the on board video). But I'm worried about the card too.

The other thing is that my box came to my door incredibly beaten up, with all the parts bouncing around inside. Part of me really wants to send back the entire order just to be safe. Is that overkill?

 

[BigBlackGamer]

What all did you order? Still contimplating a x79 build, so just curious.

Sabertooth motherboard, 16gb ram, 3930k and samsung 120gb SSD. I cast alot of games so I'm gonna work the fuck outta the 3930k. I plan on doing hardware capture with the decklink Extreme 3D capture card and my old 930 can't really pull that off.

 

[1-D_FTW]

Guys, what does the Lucid Virtu software do? I just found out about it, and I have a Z68 board and can make use of it. From what I can tell, only the new MVP version is making any headlines, but you need a license to use it beyond a 30 day trial. Is the regular Virtu worth bothering with?

Is it an older board like the Asrock Extreme 3 Gen 3? Cause I have that board and looked around. It's absolutely useless. You actually lose a couple frames with it in benchmarks. And it's obsolete in purpose. It would have been cool to run integrated graphics when idle back when GPUs didn't downvolt when idle, but now that they do, it really is pointless.

But are you saying the MVP and virtual v-sync is just software you can run? I thought that was limited to the new z77 boards? Or is that what you have?

 

[Kilrogg]

You'll need a 4gb drive I believe. Use the MS Store's USB tool http://www.microsoftstore.com/store/msstore/html/pbPage.Help_Win7_usbdvd_dwnTool
They tell you how to set it up there, if you want to do it another way there are many tutorials available to google.

Thanks, I'll look into that. Man, I didn't know going from an HDD to an SSD could be such a pain :/.

 

[Gueras]

DDR4 will release next year for desktops or 2014?

 

[ccbfan]

Is this a good deal for 6870?

Is this 6870 good?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150561&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&AID=10446076&PID=3705318&SID=skim1043X499650X2630c4dd858ad759f974f49fcc6421cb

 

[Ledsen]

Best/most quiet fan for 212?

 

[sk3tch]

I think I am just going to get a HAF X for my quad 680 setup. I don't think I will do watercooling this time around...between the CPU, GPUs, mobo, and the 3way BenQ 120hz setup I think I've had enough. Looks like HAF X is the best for an all-air setup like mine and best of all - it's ~$200 (versus $600 for some of those awesome cases mkenyon pointed out). Yeah, it won't look as nice as my NZXT Switch 810, but it'll house the beast and keep it cool.

Any thoughts for/against? Thanks guys.

EDIT: crap...HAF X only has 9 expansion slots. I need 10 or more.

 

[n0n44m]

I think I am just going to get a HAF X for my quad 680 setup. I don't think I will do watercooling this time around...between the CPU, GPUs, mobo, and the 3way BenQ 120hz setup I think I've had enough. Looks like HAF X is the best for an all-air setup like mine and best of all - it's ~$200 (versus $600 for some of those awesome cases mkenyon pointed out). Yeah, it won't look as nice as my NZXT Switch 810, but it'll house the beast and keep it cool.

Any thoughts for/against? Thanks guys.

EDIT: crap...HAF X only has 9 expansion slots. I need 10 or more.

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cases/2011/07/15/xigmatek-elysium-review/1

ugly bitch but it's cheap and cools well, has 10 slots

Spoiler

just go water if you're already spending like a madman lol

Best/most quiet fan for 212?

http://martinsliquidlab.org/category/fans/

I prefer Noiseblockers ... Scythe Gentle Typhoons are also nice. for a 212, won't you want a PWM fan so you can control its speed with your motherboard (like the original fan AFAIK) ? Then I like the Be Quiet! PWM version.

you'll need at least an ~800 rpm fan on a CPU heatsink I guess

Okay; I need some serious advice. I got my order in and put it all together last night. I've got two issues:

My case fan doesn't work. I have it plugged into the motherboard; I pulled the plug out, turned on the machine, and checked those pins with a voltmeter. There is no drop across those pins. I figure this means I should RMA the motherboard (?).

is there only one spot on the motherboard? most boards these days have 1 cpu and 3 chassis fan connections

be careful with voltmeters, shorting pins = smoke, been there done that

can't really say anything about the color ... assuming you have a digital connection (DVI, HDMI, DP) a green hue sounds weird :/

 

[Ledsen]

I prefer Noiseblockers ... Scythe Gentle Typhoons are also nice. for a 212, won't you want a PWM fan so you can control its speed with your motherboard (like the original fan AFAIK) ? Then I like the Be Quiet! PWM version.

you'll need at least an ~800 rpm fan on a CPU heatsink I guess

I don't really know anything about controlling speed, RPM etc, I just put the 212 in and let it do its thing. It's a bit loud and I've heard that I should replace it. That's all I know

 

[n0n44m]

I don't really know anything about controlling speed etc, I just put the 212 in and let it do its thing.

assuming the fan on your 212 has a 4-pin connector it's a PWM fan, which means the motherboard should be able to control it's speed

if you go into your bios you can probably select some speeds or fan profiles or something under the "PC Health" section (name differs per manufacturer, but usually the same page where you see all the temperatures)

under heavy load it will still run faster and be louder, but when browsing it should be able to stay at a low speed; nice and quiet

 

[sk3tch]

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cases/2011/07/15/xigmatek-elysium-review/1

ugly bitch but it's cheap and cools well, has 10 slots

Spoiler

just go water if you're already spending like a madman lol

Thanks man. I can go higher. That one is pretty ugly HA. Cosmos II maybe. 11 slots and it is $350.

I want this guy: http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=103_1000&products_id=30709, but it's $600. :-o mkenyon got me going hehe.

At least I could easily go water in the future. So it may be worth the investment. Plus dual PSU support. :-D

 

[n0n44m]

Thanks man. I can go higher. That one is pretty ugly HA. Cosmos II maybe. 11 slots and it is $350.

I want this guy: http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=103_1000&products_id=30709, but it's $600. :-o mkenyon got me going hehe.

At least I could easily go water in the future. So it may be worth the investment. Plus dual PSU support. :-D

If I didn't had an external radiator and if they had more noise isolation/less air holes, I'd be all over those

some really nice combinations on their site http://www.ldcooling.com/

 

[divisionbyzorro]

is there only one spot on the motherboard? most boards these days have 1 cpu and 3 chassis fan connections

be careful with voltmeters, shorting pins = smoke, been there done that

can't really say anything about the color ... assuming you have a digital connection (DVI, HDMI, DP) a green hue sounds weird :/

Yeah, there's only one. And I didn't see any smoke, and the computer still boots up, so I imagine I didn't kill the mobo with my voltmeter.

Regarding the video: I actually don't have a DVI cable, so I'm using the included DVI-VGA connector. I actually have a couple different versions of those; maybe I should swap through them before declaring complete failure? I can guarantee that the monitor is fine; I run my 360 on it all the time.

 

[gokieks]

Guys, what does the Lucid Virtu software do? I just found out about it, and I have a Z68 board and can make use of it. From what I can tell, only the new MVP version is making any headlines, but you need a license to use it beyond a 30 day trial. Is the regular Virtu worth bothering with?

It lets you use both the integrated video of Sandy Bridge CPUs and a discrete GPU.

 

[n0n44m]

Yeah, there's only one. And I didn't see any smoke, and the computer still boots up, so I imagine I didn't kill the mobo with my voltmeter.

Regarding the video: I actually don't have a DVI cable, so I'm using the included DVI-VGA connector. I actually have a couple different versions of those; maybe I should swap through them before declaring complete failure? I can guarantee that the monitor is fine; I run my 360 on it all the time.

yeah might be the VGA cable. Or the quality of the VGA output itself ... VGA quality is not exactly the focus of today's GPU manufacturers

you could quickly try to attach the casefan to the cpu fan connector and see if it does run that way (quickly = turn off PC, swap the fan connectors, boot up for 20 seconds to see if it works and power it off again)

 

[sk3tch]

If I didn't had an external radiator and if they had more noise isolation/less air holes, I'd be all over those

some really nice combinations on their site http://www.ldcooling.com/

All over that Little Devil that I linked to? It's that hot, huh? I can push the budget if need be. If it's *that* good. Man this hobby...