Same old same old

wolfeking

banned
I think I am just staying with the 1TB drive now, and probably offloading a lot of my just statistical data and such over to the 5400 RPM 640 GB lappy drive that is just laying around right now. That would free up a lot of space since none of that data really needs speed to do its thing.

And GPU wise, I do not know. I am nearly maxing or maxing everything I own currently at at least 30 frames in 2000 and well over 40 frames in Vista (DX10 and better drivers I rekon). I was thinking of getting BF3 just to play the single player, but that needs quite a bit more to run. Probably a 6870 or something. But I do not want to invest now and just need to run and get something better in 2 months. I do have x8/x8 SLI and CF, but anything much above the 6870 is going to need a PSU. CF will need a new PSU anyway, cause I only got 1 8pin and 1 6pin PCIe power cable.
I will probably wait at least another month before messing with the GPU though.
 

Russ88765

Active Member
6850 sure surprised me. Usually mine doesn't get much higher than 60c during gaming, and it does have overclocking potential for those pain-to-run games like BF3. It probably has a lot to do with huge fans in a big case that always feels cool to the touch. If you plan to get BF3, I would invest in a card that supports dx11 for sure. Maybe you could ask about trading it in for something more suited to the task?
 

Russ88765

Active Member
Well you mentioned an interest in a 6850, so perhaps you could trade in your 4870 towards a 6850 somewhere. Worst case scenario you'd get a cheaper card.
 

wolfeking

banned
I do not think that is even possible.

But I do not know. MW3 is not going to dictate what I do. That is for sure, cause it will just end up in yet another 10+ Gb in downloads for the updates and such.
 

wolfeking

banned
okay. 6 days to think this out.

2500k. Can do. Or not. I do not know. The 2570k is also out there. Is it worth it to have PCIe 3.0? My board supports it. but I do not know.

Okay, coolers. I have been looking around and I like the way that the H series attaches to the board, seems less complicated that the antec coolers. Okay, so is it worth it to get a H100? or would a H70 core be good? I got 2 fans already in the case for either.

Anything else?
 

spirit

Moderator
Staff member
wolfeking said:
2500k. Can do. Or not. I do not know. The 2570k is also out there. Is it worth it to have PCIe 3.0? My board supports it. but I do not know.
I think you mean 3570K don't you? Anyhow, if the 3570K isn't much more than the 2500K, then I'd say get it, but if the 3570K is more expensive by a significant margin, then stick to a 2500K. There is virtually no performance difference between the two and they both overclock as well as each other, but the 2500K is still a slightly better overclocker than the 3570K.

Is it worth having PCI Express 3.0? Depends. If you're going to stick with a Radeon 4870, then no, but if you're going to upgrade to something newer in the future which uses PCI Express 3.0, then yes it probably is. Bear in mind though that again, there is virtually no difference between PCI Express 2.0 and 3.0.

wolfeking said:
Okay, coolers. I have been looking around and I like the way that the H series attaches to the board, seems less complicated that the antec coolers. Okay, so is it worth it to get a H100? or would a H70 core be good? I got 2 fans already in the case for either.
An H70 would be fine and you'll be able to overclock quite a long way using one of those. I'd honestly save the money and get the H70.
 

wolfeking

banned
its $20 more. That's like a large pizza or something. Not much at all.

Yea, thats what I meant. Guess I should not have stopped looking at the keyboard. :/

I am upgrading, but I do not know what to. Probably a GTX670 or maybe a 5970, maybe go 3 way CF and do a 5970/5870. Anyway I go, I will need to go up on the PSU. There was a neat one I was looking at earlier that was sleeved and modular. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341053 is it.

I would sleeve it myself, but I haven't an idea where to get the tubes to do it with, or like a kit.
 

spirit

Moderator
Staff member
If the 3570K is only 20 bucks more, I'd say go for it.

I have a 5870 myself, fantastic card. Still very fast and maxxes everything out at 1080p without an issue. Two 5870s in CF or a single 5970 would be even better though. Just make sure you have enough room in your case, the 5870 is a pretty long card (10.5") and the 5970 even longer. I only just got the 5870 to fit in my case (Lexa S), but you should be OK with your HAF.

If have any questions about the 5870 send me a PM and I'll try and answer. :)
 

wolfeking

banned
I will not have any issues fitting it in there. With the top 3.5" cage removed I have over a foot to work with. closer to 15" I think.

My main thing is that I may not have enough cable for the PCIe power with a bigger card. The 4870 has them stretched pretty tight. If it were to move up top or to the rear farther back then I would have to run the cables up front and go crazy from non managed cables.

Isn't the 5870 closer to the 6970 than the 6870? 1600 SP 256 bit IIRC. Which would put it on top of the 6970.
 

spirit

Moderator
Staff member
You should be fine with 15 inches of room in your case.

I had the same problem with power cables with my 5870, I had to rearrange my cable management so that it allowed my cables to be longer and reach the card, you may need to do the same. I have an OCZ power supply and my cables are all long enough, so you should also be fine.

The 5870 is a bit slower than a 6970 but is faster than a 6870. I'd say it was probably a little bit closer to 6870 performance than 6970 performance but don't let that you put you off getting a 5870. They're so cheap second hand these days you could get two 5870s for fairly cheap and two of them will outrun a 6970 by a significant margin, and probably cost about the same.
 

wolfeking

banned
a 5870 is $180 and the 6970 is $250. If it is not that much better than a 6870, then I will go to a nvidia card and be done with it.
And your sure about that? It should at most be about 12% worse than the 6970.
 

wolfeking

banned
okay, Got it pinned down I think. or maybe not.

2500k and H70 now.

Next up: Better build.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119257
- It looks clean. 18.4" of room for graphics, and more importantly has that cover for the PSU to clean up the look. OCD quenched!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341053
- Sleeved. 1000 watts of power for anything I add in the future.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500242
- Best out without wasting money, yes?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220609
- memory. What more to be said?

Okay, so going to throw a HDD in and use the OCZ I have with the 4870, H61de/s3 and G530, and the 8GB in the 912 and use it for god knows what, but I will find something to do with it.

Hows it look vista?
 

spirit

Moderator
Staff member
a 5870 is $180 and the 6970 is $250. If it is not that much better than a 6870, then I will go to a nvidia card and be done with it.
And your sure about that? It should at most be about 12% worse than the 6970.
You can see the difference between a 6870 and a 5870 here http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/511?vs=540 the 5870 is the faster card but it's not much faster. The difference between two 5870s and one 6970 is huge, with the CrossFire 5870s being over twice as fast as a single 6970 in some cases http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/300?vs=290 I didn't mean that one 5870 would be faster than one 6970, one 6970 would eat a single 5870 for breakfast lol. :D

okay, Got it pinned down I think. or maybe not.
Hows it look vista?
OK Wolfe, it all looks pretty good. The case is good but pretty expensive, but if you're concerned about room, then that case is for you. It will fit just about any card. I have not come across a card which is over 12" long, so a case with almost 18.5" room to hold a card is going to give you a lot of clearance.

1000W seems fine for the 670. You likely don't need 1000W to run just one, but if you want to another in the future you won't need to upgrade your power supply. Zotac are not a bad brand, but they're not really the best. This MSI GTX 670 is 10 bucks more and seems good http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127675 it's not compulsory you get the MSI, just a suggestion. Underneath they're the same card.

Patriot's memory is good, go ahead and get that kit. :)
 
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wolfeking

banned
The only reason I am going with that supply is because it is sleeved. If they had one smaller watts then I would get it.

And I was just showing the parts. I will pick brands later.

The CM HAF XM is one of the best though. Its the midtower of the HAF x. And it is not really that much considering the cases in others lineups I was looking at for about the same does not even have cable management, much less the black innards.
 

claptonman

New Member
I'd stick with standard 1.5v memory. Anything higher is out of JEDEC standard voltage, basically overclocking-level voltage.
 

wolfeking

banned
I am sticking with that ram for a couple of reasons. I already have a 8GB set of it, it is solid, it will run on 1.5 @ 1600-9-9-9-24, and its cheaper than the rest.
If it is really that big of a problem, try finding some better RAM that does not have a cooler that sticks up real big. I know hyperx fits, but its $30 more than the gamer 2.
 

spirit

Moderator
Staff member
I am sticking with that ram for a couple of reasons. I already have a 8GB set of it, it is solid, it will run on 1.5 @ 1600-9-9-9-24, and its cheaper than the rest.
If it is really that big of a problem, try finding some better RAM that does not have a cooler that sticks up real big. I know hyperx fits, but its $30 more than the gamer 2.

Stick with the Patriot RAM, it's good stuff.

Your other choices are all good too, I'd say go ahead and buy it all when you are ready. :)
 
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