Curse

malevolence · Sep 07, 2009, 10:51 PM // 22:51

Hello,

After all the issues I had with the 9800gx2 cards (I was using Quad SLI, one is on RMA and the other one, I am planning to sell it) I want to upgrade my system.

First of all a Video Card, must I stay with nvidia ? what about the EVGA GeForce GTX 295 CO-OP FTW ? or should I go with ATI this time ?

Also I am planning to buy the thermaltake case SwordM with liquid cooling, so I will be able to overclock my CPU ^^ and try to avoid the cpu bottleneck and use the video card at it's full capacity, if I can of course. It is good this case for what I want to do ? is the liquid cooling good on this case ?

By the way here is my current setup:

CPU:Q6600 G0 2.4ghz (no oc)
Mobo: XFX 790i ultra
Mem: Corsair TW3X4G1600C9DHX 4096 MB, PC3-12800, 1600 MHz, 9, Non-ECC, Kit Of 2
CPU cooler: Xigmatek HDT-S1283
Video: Club3D GeForce 9800 GX2 1024 MB
PSU: Thermaltake Thoughpower 1200W Cable Management
OS: Windows Vista Ultimate x64 + SP2
Mon: 22-inch Samsung 226bw

Note: I like GW a lot , and I am planning to get GW2 for sure ^^ , starcraft 2 and diablo 3, but I also play this games;

-UT3
-Crysis
-Red Alert 3
-Street fighter IV

So , I would like of course a video card that is able to run crysis at all max including AA , I also have a samsung 52-inch TV and sometimes I play on it too.

Thank you.

Elder III · Sep 07, 2009, 11:49 PM // 23:49

the case you are referring to is overkill and the size of a small car, so unless you really need to wheel that thing around you could save some cash ($200-300) and get a "normal" sized full tower. Thermaltake's Armor series is great stuff and offers liquid cooling as well on select models. For video cards you might want to wait 2 weeks or so for the new releases from ATI - they are reportedly awesome and will blow anything currently on the market out of the water - in any case prices across the board will fall after the new ones come out.

malevolence · Sep 08, 2009, 08:02 AM // 08:02

cool , and yeah , I want the swordm , because I have the thermaltake shark case , and is too small , I mean , for cable management , airflow etc. I will take a look to the Armor series.

Nice to know about the ati releases, I am planning to buy all this for november 1st , so I believe new releases will be out at that time.

Thanks for your answer.

malevolence · Sep 11, 2009, 01:44 PM // 13:44

I have read a review of the SWORDM , and they said the stock water cooling that comes with the case is not good at all, has somebody here at guru with a SWORDM experienced this ? probably the reviewer was unlucky and got a faulty pump.

This time I want to go water cooling + a good full tower with lot of space for my hardware, what do you recommend ?

Ec]-[oMaN · Sep 11, 2009, 03:01 PM // 15:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by malevolence

I have read a review of the SWORDM , and they said the stock water cooling that comes with the case is not good at all, has somebody here at guru with a SWORDM experienced this ? probably the reviewer was unlucky and got a faulty pump.

This time I want to go water cooling + a good full tower with lot of space for my hardware, what do you recommend ?

What's your price budget for a case +water cooling? also what would you like to cool, just the cpu or both cpu+gpu. Regarding most case bundles including water cooling whatever you're getting is probably garbage and over priced.

This is probably one of the best cases around for under 125$. Completely tooless, lots of potential for airflow, simple sleek, no weird or fancy front panel, and not to mention ALL BLACK. It's made by the same guys that are known by making Lian-Li cases.

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum...se-review.html

Regarding watercooling and not knowing price range there are pretty much 2 self contained cpu water coolers on the market, for around 90-100$, those are....

CoolIT Domino A.L.C

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum...er-review.html

Corsair Hydro Series H50

http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=getarticle&articID=939

Now if you want better watercooling than those basic kits look to spend up wards of 200+ and you can mix and match whatever pump, radiator, tubing, waterblocks. Running dual rad setups become much harder on where you can mount them, or have the room to put them inside a case. If you wish to venture into dual rad or triple rad setups finding a compatible case becomes much harder and costly.

Edit: as it seems I never really read your first post just skimming and read the remaining posts you have some cash

. You could go with the sword m case although I'd pick up a seperate set of watercooling parts not the ones that come with the case. Find a better kit, or mix and match whatever parts.

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=52032

malevolence · Sep 11, 2009, 04:06 PM // 16:06

Thanks Ec]-[oMaN , that is a nice case but is the interior is not big enough I think , I like the SwordM interior because is huge , but there is a version of the SwordM without water cooling , and the price is like 50ish euros less, so maybe you got a good point here, buying the SwordM (only case), and a separate water cooling. And yes , I want to use the water cooling mainly for the CPU , so I can overclock it and avoid cpu/gpu bottlenecks. But if I can connect the water cooling to my GPU is even better

Ec]-[oMaN · Sep 11, 2009, 04:25 PM // 16:25

Quote:

Originally Posted by malevolence

Thanks Ec]-[oMaN , that is a nice case but is the interior is not big enough I think , I like the SwordM interior because is huge , but there is a version of the SwordM without water cooling , and the price is like 50ish euros less, so maybe you got a good point here, buying the SwordM (only case), and a separate water cooling. And yes , I want to use the water cooling mainly for the CPU , so I can overclock it and avoid cpu/gpu bottlenecks. But if I can connect the water cooling to my GPU is even better

Yeah the k62 won't do it for you unless you go for a small basic single rad setup like those entry level 100$ units. Anyways yeah you need space, look over that techpowerup thread for water cooling. I'm not sure right now who has complete kits for sale as I don't have watercooling and haven't read much about them over the years. You could check out Swiftech though for starters they have single rad kits and dual probably in the range of 180-300$.

http://www.swiftnets.com/

http://www.xoxide.com/watcoolkit.html

http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...b7727b558a2ad2

http://www.koolance.com/

malevolence · Sep 16, 2009, 10:45 AM // 10:45

Did ATI released new video cards ? I am asking this because I sent my 9800gx2 for RMA , but the company doesn't produce it anymore and it is damaged , they send me two solution:

1-Wait for about 6 weeks to fix the 9800gx2 that is damaged
or
2-THey can give me a credit of €143,77 and I can buy another graphic card

So I was thinking to get a new graphic card , but I don't know what to take , as I said I want a graphic card capable of running highend games like crysis to all max with AA on on my 22inch monitor or/and my 52inch TV.

EDIT: On of the best options I see on the company website is a EVGA GeForce GTX 295 CO-OP FTW 1792 MB , is it good ?

Can someone advice ?

Thank you.

Elder III · Sep 16, 2009, 01:19 PM // 13:19

That GPU (GTX 295) is the most powerful single slot video card on the market right now. You could do anything you want with it.

However the ATI cards are due out soon (2 weeks???) and they will drive prices downward for sure, not to mention being incredibly powerful themselves.

malevolence · Sep 16, 2009, 01:38 PM // 13:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elder III

That GPU (GTX 295) is the most powerful single slot video card on the market right now. You could do anything you want with it.

However the ATI cards are due out soon (2 weeks???) and they will drive prices downward for sure, not to mention being incredibly powerful themselves.

cool , I just called the company and they can hold the credit for 3 months

, so I guess I will wait for the new babies

Ec]-[oMaN · Sep 16, 2009, 05:28 PM // 17:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by malevolence

cool , I just called the company and they can hold the credit for 3 months

, so I guess I will wait for the new babies

Hopefully by the time the 5870/5850 hit store shelves sometime in October Nvidia will price drop it's higher end cards, or maybe even sooner just after next week when official review numbers come in regarding the new ATI cards.

Still based on leaks thus far a gtx 295 here costs like 600$ and if the 5870 can match it the better buy would be the ATI card at about probably 450$cad. Either way with the new cards comes lower prices on older tech, or in the case with Nvidia especially in Canada we won't see price drops until xmas and those cards can continue to collect dust on the store shelves.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/HD_5000_Leaks/

malevolence · Sep 16, 2009, 08:50 PM // 20:50

Thanks for the link , the 5870 looks good

Burst Cancel · Sep 17, 2009, 04:44 PM // 16:44

The Q6600 clocks to ~3.2Ghz on air pretty easily, so watercooling isn't at all necessary. Furthermore, I highly doubt your CPU is bottlenecking you; there are only a few games that are really CPU intensive (e.g., SupCom, GTA IV).

malevolence · Sep 23, 2009, 09:16 AM // 09:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Burst Cancel

The Q6600 clocks to ~3.2Ghz on air pretty easily, so watercooling isn't at all necessary. Furthermore, I highly doubt your CPU is bottlenecking you; there are only a few games that are really CPU intensive (e.g., SupCom, GTA IV).

Yeah , I managed to oc the q6600 g0 up to 3.3ghz and stable for a couple of hours because it was overheating as hell , so I decided to go back to stock configuration

.

Finally the HD 5870 1024 MB is out there ! lol , now I will try to find a good review to see if its worth. There are two differents brands Sapphire and XFX , I think XFX is better as I know the customer support is very good.

I have a question tho , will the new HD5000 series work good with a 790i ultra (nvidia chipset) ??

EDIT: link fro XFX HD 5870 http://www.xfxforce.com/en-gb/produc...ries/5870.aspx

Benchmarks , check this out : http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/radeon...-31685-10.html

moriz · Sep 23, 2009, 12:48 PM // 12:48

it will work. and yes, the 5870 is THE card to get right now.

can of whoopass: opened, but not by nvidia. (ON nvidia perhaps, but not by nvidia).

malevolence · Sep 23, 2009, 06:16 PM // 18:16

So , after reading many reviews, I see the 5870 (single version) is not that great , and the price difference with a HD 5870 and a GTX 295 is not that much (here in NL).

Now , the 5870 in crossfire is a better than a GTX 295 and GTX 285 SLI , but I don't want to mess up with SLI/Crossfire configuration , they overhead the case and there are many many trouble sometimes. And besides that , I don't want to spent that money again , I learned my lesson with the annoying Quad SLI 9800 GX2.

I guess , I will need to wait again , I want to see how the HD 5870 2X will perform. Does someone knows the release date of the HD 5870 2X ?

Ec]-[oMaN · Sep 23, 2009, 09:17 PM // 21:17

Quote:

Originally Posted by malevolence

I guess , I will need to wait again , I want to see how the HD 5870 2X will perform. Does someone knows the release date of the HD 5870 2X ?

Hemlock a.k.a 5870x2 is due out before the end of the year, no exact date yet.

moriz · Sep 24, 2009, 12:05 AM // 00:05

there's also a supply issue. apparently, AMD thought it was a good idea to ship most of their stock to Dell, leaving very little left for online retailers.

hopefully this will be fixed quickly. given how fast AMD can make these things, this shouldn't take too long.

aside from that, i think there's still some driver issue to be worked out. the performance just doesn't seem to be at its 100%. even with all that said, this is THE most powerful single GPU graphic card produced to date. it's power consumption is also so low that it's absurd, consuming less power than a 4870 while almost doubling the performance.

malevolence · Oct 09, 2009, 08:34 AM // 08:34

Time is coming close

So, for the Case, I saw a Lian Li TYR PC-X2000 , is really big but I need to compare it with the ThermalTake SwordM (without water cooling) . This time I really want to buy a case with an excellent airflow for overclocking.

Right now , my temperatures are quite high , 35 degrees idle and 45 degrees at 100% load. I have this Xigmatek HDT-S1283 , when I bought it , it was one of the best cooler around. I am wondering if I need to change my cpu cooler for a better one ? I know the the airflow of the case I have now sucks and the case isn't enough for my hardware , so probably the high temps I am having is because of the case itself and not the cpu cooler. In case you think I need to change the cooler too, can you please recommend one ?

What I bought so far for my new setup are a HD of 1.5tb (pff I really need this , too much downloads xD ) , another pair of Corsair TW3X4G1600C9DHX (so my setup will go with 8gb of RAM) and a OCZ Freeze Extreme Thermal Conductivity Compound (hoping is a good one?)

About the video card , I will wait a bit more , I really want to see the Hemlock 5870x2 in action

Cheers

Burst Cancel · Oct 09, 2009, 02:45 PM // 14:45

Adding more RAM can limit your overclock, so it's best not to add any unless you actually need it.

The PC-X2000 is overpriced (and, as far as I can tell, no longer widely available). If airflow is what you're looking for, there are any number of cheaper cases that would work well, such as the Coolermaster HAF932, Silverstone RV02, Antec Twelve Hundred, etc. If you really want a nice aluminum Lian-Li, the PC-B7x series, PC-P80, and PC-X1000 are all huge cases with great airflow that cost half of what the X2000 costs.

The cooler is adequate. Upgrades would be a Thermalright Ultra Extreme/IFX-14 or Prolimatech Megahalems.

Thermal compound has relatively little impact, but the best compounds in terms of cooling performance are IC Diamond, Noctua NT-H1, and Arctic Cooling MX-3 (IIRC). Of those three, the NT-H1 is the easiest to work with (easy to apply, no curing time), while the diamond is the hardest but supposedly cools slightly better. The diamond will also abrade your CPU IHS slightly, if you care about that.

If you want to play Crysis completely maxed-out at 1080p you're going to have to shell out big bucks for top-end video cards. However, none of your other games require anywhere near that kind of horsepower. In short, you could save a lot of money by just dropping one game.