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[gilljoy]

Anyone mind critiquing this for me?

It looks like my current motherboards sata ports are going and I'm not able to post with all my disks in at once, I can post with one in at a time but not at once. I don't really want to buy a new mobo so I'm thinking of an ivy-bridge build.

I already own the GPU and PSU so those can't be changed

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/Mzzw

 

[kharma45]

Anyone mind critiquing this for me?

It looks like my current motherboards sata ports are going and I'm not able to post with all my disks in at once, I can post with one in at a time but not at once. I don't really want to buy a new mobo so I'm thinking of an ivy-bridge build.

I already own the GPU and PSU so those can't be changed

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/Mzzw

If you're looking to overclock (which I presume you are with a K CPU and an H100) you'll need a Z77 motherboard, H77 can't OC.

 

[gilljoy]

If you're looking to overclock (which I presume you are with a K CPU and an H100) you'll need a Z77 motherboard, H77 can't OC.

Thats the plan, damn I didn't notice that I'll go back and pick another mobo. Any other suggestions?

 

[BackwardsSuggestions]

Getting some money in April and really can't decide to upgrade my 570 or my old-ass i52400

 

[mkenyon]

Intake or exhaust for the cooler? Here are some temps. Min were idle and Max were using Intel Burn Test.

Intake seems better but now it's disrupting the airflow through the case. Not sure what to keep them at.

Also I have everything set at Silent.

Exhaust:

• Min 37 - 40 - 39 - 39
• Max 68 - 74 - 72 - 69

Intake

• Min 32 - 34 - 33 - 34
• Max 62 - 68 - 65 - 63

Intake with the cooler will increase GPU temps quite a bit. In every test I've personally ran, I've always had a quieter system with the closed loop coolers set as exhaust thanks to the reduced GPU temps. The few degrees on the CPU isn't going to make much of a difference.

Actually according to the HardOCP review the 650 Ti Boost is slightly faster than the 7850.

They don't use frame latency testing, HardOCP's GPU reviews are garbage at the moment.

Here's what you will want to look at:

 

[kharma45]

Frame Rating Dissected: Full Details on Capture-based Graphics Performance Testing

A really damning finding from it

In half of our tested games, the pair of Radeon HD 7970s in CrossFire showed no appreciable measured or observed increase in performance compared to a single HD 7970.

Thats the plan, damn I didn't notice that I'll go back and pick another mobo. Any other suggestions?

Any of the ones from mkenyon's SFF thing should be good http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=42660100&postcount=195

Anandtech and Tom's have a few round-ups done http://www.anandtech.com/show/6516/z77-mitx-roundup-five-of-the-best-msi-zotac-asrock-evga-and-asus and http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/mini-itx-z77-motherboard,3389.html

 

[PoweredBySoy]

If you go for an FT03 you also need a cooler that doesn't have long heatpipes. They're not ment to be mounted vertically and the liquid will get stuck at the bottom instead of moving around cooling the GPU. Blowers are perfect for the FT03 and its airflow and there are no blower 7850 except for some few reference models.

Oh that's interesting. Makes me feel a little better about my selection, but I still worry about the noise levels. I put silence at a high premium on most of my builds....

 

[theSlacker]

Thats the plan, damn I didn't notice that I'll go back and pick another mobo. Any other suggestions?

Personally I really love the ASUS P8Z77-I DELUXE for m itx right now. It is a good 100 ducets more then what you had in your bag though so don't know if that would be good for you.

 

[Hawk269]

A co-worker is looking for me to build him a new rig and his only requirment is that it plays WoW at 1080p/60fps at the highest possible settings, Ultra I assume is the highest for WoW.

He already has a 3570k CPU and Mobo to go with it...but not sure what GPU would allow him to hit this goal but also not break the bank. Any suggestions.

 

[Lucid07]

Clone the HDD to SSD or new OS install on the SSD.

So if I do a fresh install will I still be able to boot programs from my old HDD and remove various window system files from the old HDD?

 

[ruxtpin]

Rifle style right? Not the terrible other ones that will cut you? Don't get cut.

um. It's this one.

From my google search earlier, this is one of the terrible ones that will cut me I reckon. I picked that one up because I found a Temjin TJ08 owners thread on another forum and that seemed to be one of the fans that folks had been happy with.

 

[DagsJT]

Upgraded from a 7950 to a GTX 680 yesterday and pretty pleased. Tomb Raider benchmark went from 43fps to 57fps. FIFA 13, albeit not the most demanding game, actually feels a lot smoother. BioShock Infinite hit 120fps a lot of the time, if not then hitting 60fps.

Good times

 

[Ty4on]

Oh that's interesting. Makes me feel a little better about my selection, but I still worry about the noise levels. I put silence at a high premium on most of my builds....

I guess some non reference coolers like the HIS IceQ should be ok in the FT03, but I'm not 100% sure. The 655 (that's what I'm going to call it from now ) will not be quiet at load, but I'm not sure how noisy it will be or how it will be at idle. Several of the Kepler GPUs have fans mounted to the plastic and many have complained that they make a buzzing noise at idle fan speed. A regular blower (like my 7870 in an FT03 mini) is very quiet at idle when tuned to run at 0% fan speed (1100RPM). My 7870 (as with all blowers) is however pretty noisy at load.

The FT03 is small and hands down the prettiest case (beats my FT03-mini) on the marked IMO, but for silence the TJ08-e might be the better choice. The stock fans with the FT03 are said to be on the noisy side and replacing three fans isn't very cheap. Some also complain that the fan below the CPU rattles and GPU choices are limited. If you go for the TJ08-e you should also look for a non reference GPU regardless of brand.

Edit: I see that you have already gotten the parts. Get it all running and decide for yourself! Tweaking the fan profile can do a lot and no reviewers have so far complained about the cooler. When I say some I mean hardforum. They have a 50page thread about your case that could help you build in that case. I was veeeery close to getting it and kinda regret I didn't in regards to PSU and dem looks.

 

[lachesis]

Well, I'm about to do triple monitor on 1 gpu, which is EVGA 660Ti, 2gb vram - but I need some advice.

All of my monitors are 1920x1200, so 3 of them will make 5760x1200...

I do play games a little bit on my PC - but most important aspect of this particular PC is being my wife's 3D workstation - 3DS Max / Vray / Photoshop / AutoCAD are the most important programs that I have to run on this PC.

I am pretty content with rest of my computer - (an i7 3930k & 4.3ghz / 32gb DDR3-2013 etc) - but I've never done triple monitors before. So here are my questions:

1. Is 660Ti powerful enough to run 5760x1200 triple monitor resolution smoothly in above work related software?

2. If 1 card isn't enough to handle 3d max/photoshop/autoCAd - if I get another 660Ti and do SLI - will it improve the performance of triple display in general, not just gaming performance?

Thanks in advance!

 

[CornBurrito]

That is a bad way of trying to do things imo. You buy flagship cards because you have the money to spend, they will never be as cost effective as just upgrading more often with the mid range card. Not to mention that we really have no idea how the new console generation is going to effect the pc market.

So I shouldn't be getting the 680 then? Which mid-range card would you suggest?

 

[mkenyon]

You can run three displays like that in normal workstation-esque programs with onboard graphics. The 650Ti will have zero issues.

 

[HoosTrax]

The SF03 won't take a ATX PSU will it?

 

[metalshade]

Sigh. I have had a right difficult time with getting my hands on this case.
My Shinobi windowed German ED was just delivered.
The non-windowed version.
Still, I got a partial refund.
Now I need a couple of decent 120 fans for intake (will use the included 120 as exhaust.)
I suddenly realised, there isn't a fan section in the OP, any decent, quiet fans recommended?
Thanks guys.

Oh, and thankyou Scogoth for your help with my TV the other day, much better now.

 

[Ty4on]

The SF03 won't take a ATX PSU will it?

SF? Do you mean the Silverstone FT03? The mATX one does and the ITX (FT03-mini) supports SFX PSUs, though you can mod (not recommended unless you really know what you're doing) it to fit one.

 

[Anton668]

so with all this talk of downsampling in the Bioshock threads, is there an easy way to DS with a 7950?

 

[mkenyon]

Do you mean SG03?

Sigh. I have had a right difficult time with getting my hands on this case.
My Shinobi windowed German ED was just delivered.
The non-windowed version.
Still, I got a partial refund.
Now I need a couple of decent 120 fans for intake (will use the included 120 as exhaust.)
I suddenly realised, there isn't a fan section in the OP, any decent, quiet fans recommended?
Thanks guys.

Oh, and thankyou Scogoth for your help with my TV the other day, much better now.

Cheap: Low RPM Yate Loon

~$10: Cougar Vortex, Arctic Cooling F12, Swiftech Helix

~$15: Corsair AF/SP (AF for case, SP for radiator/heatsink) Quiet Edition, Gentle Typhoon AP-14/15

~$20: Noiseblocker eLoop

 

[lachesis]

You can run three displays like that in normal workstation-esque programs with onboard graphics. The 650Ti will have zero issues.

Thank you! Good thing that I don't have to buy another card... (but gamer inside me is crying.. LOL)

 

[kharma45]

Upgraded from a 7950 to a GTX 680 yesterday and pretty pleased. Tomb Raider benchmark went from 43fps to 57fps. FIFA 13, albeit not the most demanding game, actually feels a lot smoother. BioShock Infinite hit 120fps a lot of the time, if not then hitting 60fps.

Good times

What made you want to upgrade?

 

[mackattk]

I have a 6850, and like to maintain 1080p resolutions. With the new Bioshock out, my system is not quite as fast as I would like it to be. I am fine on the CPU end (i5 2500k), but should I wait until the refresh of video cards come out before upgrading?

 

[knitoe]

So if I do a fresh install will I still be able to boot programs from my old HDD and remove various window system files from the old HDD?

Nope. For fresh install, to have to reinstall all your programs to use them. Delete any files you don't want from the HDD. If you clone, all programs will still work. You might have to remove some programs and files to fit into the SSD.

 

[kennah]

I have a 6850, and like to maintain 1080p resolutions. With the new Bioshock out, my system is not quite as fast as I would like it to be. I am find on the CPU end (i5 2500k), but should I wait until the refresh of video cards come out before upgrading?

Up to you. Is your CPU overclocked?

I went from a 6850 to a 670 and saw a substantial improvement. Heck, even a 660 was a huge jump.

 

[mkenyon]

I have a 6850, and like to maintain 1080p resolutions. With the new Bioshock out, my system is not quite as fast as I would like it to be. I am find on the CPU end (i5 2500k), but should I wait until the refresh of video cards come out before upgrading?

What's your 2500K clocked at? Bioshock Infinite is UE3 iirc, so an OC in the range of 4.4-4.8GHz will help significantly.

 

[Ty4on]

Do you mean SG03?

Of course, kinda hard to miss FT like that. The SG03-F has a product page which brags about supporting ATX PSU. If you buy a Silverstone PSU you can get PP05 or nicer looking PP06 that will work with any modular Silverstone PSU made after 2009.

What's your 2500K clocked at? Bioshock Infinite is UE3 iirc, so an OC in the range of 4.4-4.8GHz will help significantly.

Just came from the DF FaceOff which stated it was a heavily modified UE3.

 

[mackattk]

What's your 2500K clocked at? Bioshock Infinite is UE3 iirc, so an OC in the range of 4.4-4.8GHz will help significantly.

Forgot what it is clocked at, I am at work right now and will find out when I get home. I think it is in the low 4 ghz area though. Was just wondering if it would be good to hold off until the next generation of cards come out.

 

[theSlacker]

So I shouldn't be getting the 680 then? Which mid-range card would you suggest?

Well I don't really want to tell you what you should or shouldn't get. If you have the cash and are willing to live with the fact that the next generation of card's mid range will be as good or better then the 680 for much less, then go for it.

As for recommendations, it is hard not knowing the level of quality you want and the price you would put on it. I just put some 7950s in a few computers I build for people for Christmas, and I liked how they ended up. AMD does have a better deal going on right now for the games you get for buying some of their cards too. But if you are interested in using the 2d lightboost stuff on a 120hz monitor you would need to go nvidia.

But yeah, I'm not meaning to convince you not to get a 680 if you want it, it defiantly will make things look better. Just that you shouldn't go into it thinking it will last.

 

[HoosTrax]

SF? Do you mean the Silverstone FT03? The mATX one does and the ITX (FT03-mini) supports SFX PSUs, though you can mod (not recommended unless you really know what you're doing) it to fit one.

Yeah my bad, I meant the FT03, not SF03. I've been looking at that case as well (the mATX), and oddball dimensions aside, it seems to make very good use of space. The internal volume seems to rival many higher end mini ITX cases.

 

[Lucid07]

Nope. For fresh install, to have to reinstall all your programs to use them. Delete any files you don't want from the HDD. If you clone, all programs will still work. You might have to remove some programs and files to fit into the SSD.

So I cant even boot programs from HDD? Damn I dont want to remove all my programs so I can clone it over.

 

[mkenyon]

Forgot what it is clocked at, I am at work right now and will find out when I get home. Was just wondering if it would be good to hold off until the next generation of cards come out.

Next gen is a good 6 months away. Since Bioshock is the game you mentioned wanting a boost in performance, I'd say fiddle around with your current setup to see if it is adequate. You would probably want to look at the 660Ti or 7950 to see a really nice boost in performance though.

Yeah my bad, I meant the FT03, not SF03. I've been looking at that case as well (the mATX), and oddball dimensions aside, it seems to make very good use of space. The internal volume seems to rival many higher end mini ITX cases.

As mentioned above, FT03 = mATX and can accept ATX PSUs. FT03 Mini = ITX and accepts SFX PSUs.

Read the SFF guide in the OP about it, as there are a number of considerations that limit part choices.

 

[PoweredBySoy]

Well shitballs. I went to Microcenter to pick up the 2500K (said they had 1 in stock) and turns out they were all out. So I ended up with the 3750K anyways. =/

The 655 (that's what I'm going to call it from now ) will not be quiet at load, but I'm not sure how noisy it will be or how it will be at idle.

The FT03 is small and hands down the prettiest case (beats my FT03-mini) on the marked IMO, but for silence the TJ08-e might be the better choice. The stock fans with the FT03 are said to be on the noisy side and replacing three fans isn't very cheap.

Yeah, I'll have to see. Like I said earlier, if it is loud, hopefully I'll be able to tame it a bit with a custom fan profile without having a meltdown.

I've heard pretty good things about the case fans, but if they're loud, I have no qualms about swapping them out.

I'm starting to agree, the FT03 is pretty striking. This is my first SilverStone - I'm usually a LianLi guy - so I hope it works out well.

 

[plainr_]

The 2500K is $160 and the 3570K is $190. It's always a slippery slope, but is the Ivy Bridge worth $30? I've read they're pretty comparable.

I've long sworn off Antec. Too many problems with them and their psu's.

If you don't mind me asking, where did you get a 2500k for $160?

EDIT: I just saw the above post. lol

 

[mackattk]

Next gen is a good 6 months away. Since Bioshock is the game you mentioned wanting a boost in performance, I'd say fiddle around with your current setup to see if it is adequate. You would probably want to look at the 660Ti or 7950 to see a really nice boost in performance though.

I guess that is what I will plan on doing, compromising for a few months and picking up something when the refresh comes out. Will probably go with an upper midrange card this time around, 8950 of whatever it will be when it comes next.

 

[theSlacker]

If you don't mind me asking, where did you get a 2500k for $160?

EDIT: I just saw the above post. lol

Yeah the microcenter deals on processors are crazy good. Even better when you realize they have bundles going on to give you like $40 off of a motherboard if you buy it with the cpu.

It is about the only good thing price wise from them though.

 

[HoosTrax]

Yeah the microcenter deals on processors are crazy good. Even better when you realize they have bundles going on to give you like $40 off of a motherboard if you buy it with the cpu.

It is about the only good thing price wise from them though.

They have decent prices on cases sometimes. I got a Fractal Core 1000 from there a year ago, and they seem to have the best price on the Bitfenix Prodigy as well.

 

[PoweredBySoy]

Yeah the microcenter deals on processors are crazy good. Even better when you realize they have bundles going on to give you like $40 off of a motherboard if you buy it with the cpu.

It is about the only good thing price wise from them though.

I have no idea how they do it. They destroy the online retailers at cpu prices. They must have some special distribution deal or something.

Their other prices are more what you would expect, but it's still nice having one right down the street from me for emergency runs.

 

[metalshade]

Arctic Cooling F12,

Ordered a couple of the PWM version.
Thanks man.
Hopefully I will have some nice shots of the updated build when its in the new case.

 

[plainr_]

Too bad they don't ship the 3570k. In store pickup only.

 

[HoosTrax]

I have no idea how they do it. They destroy the online retailers at cpu prices. They must have some special distribution deal or something.

Their other prices are more what you would expect, but it's still nice having one right down the street from me for emergency runs.

I like them. They have some knowledgeable employees who work there. Back in the days of Wolfdale, I went there to find an E0 batch one. The locked display case only had the older batch, so I mentioned to the CS guy what I was after and he went into the locked inventory warehouse area and found me an E0.

 

[theSlacker]

They have decent prices on cases sometimes. I got a Fractal Core 1000 from there a year ago, and they seem to have the best price on the Bitfenix Prodigy as well.

Yeah looks like you are right about the Prodigy. Know when I was getting a 550d and 300r for a few builds the amazon prices were way better. Will keep an eye on their case prices in the future.

They may not stock the ram, gpus, heatsink fan, or just normal fans that I like but their cpu prices are too good to pass up.

 

[Alexios]

Guys, how can I post a pic from my ipad so you can tell me what cables i am missing cos I thought I connected it,all but I get nothing when connecting the plug and trying to turn it on. Not even a mobo led, idk if it has one though. Imcould use live help asap,to get this done tonight...

 

[kennah]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loss_leader

The CPU prices are there to get you to walk in the door friends.

 

[PoweredBySoy]

I like them. They have some knowledgeable employees who work there. Back in the days of Wolfdale, I went there to find an E0 batch one. The locked display case only had the older batch, so I mentioned to the CS guy what I was after and he went into the locked inventory warehouse area and found me an E0.

They're pretty good, but I feel like in the past couple years they've turned into the Burlington Coat Factory of the electronics world. The store is a mess, inventory splayed everywhere, unkempt employees.... I feel like they used to be a little more upscale.

But the guy today did look in 3 separate spots for that 2500K, so he definitely helped me out.

 

[theSlacker]

Guys, how can I post a pic from my ipad so you can tell me what cables i am missing cos I thought I connected it,all but I get nothing when connecting the plug and trying to turn it on. Not even a mobo led, idk if it has one though. Imcould use live help asap,to get this done tonight...

Did you make sure the actual switch on the power supply is turned on? May sound like bonehead tech support, but I've done this before.

 

[HoosTrax]

Guys, how can I post a pic from my ipad so you can tell me what cables i am missing cos I thought I connected it,all but I get nothing when connecting the plug and trying to turn it on. Not even a mobo led, idk if it has one though. Imcould use live help asap,to get this done tonight...

Um, I don't have an iPad, but with my Google Nexus, I can either just connect it to PC via USB, at which point the memory just shows as a removable drive on the PC, or maybe upload it through image hosting?

 

[PoweredBySoy]

Uggggggh, I can't wait to build this thing and play some Bioshock. God damn if I don't get excited about new builds....

 

[Alexios]

Did you make sure the actual switch on the power supply is turned on? May sound like bonehead tech support, but I've done this before.

Yes I switched it around a couple times.