- Joined
- May 30, 2007
- Messages
- 9,019 (1.46/day)
| System Name | Black Panther |
|---|---|
| Processor | i9 9900k |
| Motherboard | Gigabyte Z390 AORUS PRO Wifi 1.0 |
| Cooling | NZXT Kraken X72 360mm |
| Memory | 2 x 8GB Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro DDR4 3600Mhz |
| Video Card(s) | Palit RTX2080 Ti Dual 11GB DDR6 |
| Storage | Samsung EVO 970 500GB SSD M.2 & 2TB Seagate Barracuda 7200rpm |
| Display(s) | 32'' Gigabyte G32QC 2560x1440 165Hz |
| Case | NZXT H710i Black |
| Audio Device(s) | Razer Electra V2 & Z5500 Speakers |
| Power Supply | Seasonic Focus GX-850 Gold 80+ |
| Mouse | Some Corsair lost the box forgot the model |
| Keyboard | Motospeed |
| Software | Windows 10 |
No need to click on the spoilers now.
Within some weeks I'll be getting an i7 930 (which I plan to oc to ~ 4Ghz), a Scythe Yasya cooler, 6GB DDR3 Mushkin Blackline and a Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R.
They're a HUGE upgrade from my system and what's more they're gifts, -- thank you mjkmike! --
Following are the parts I plan to buy for this new system. They might seem overkill, but I don't upgrade much unless it's to add more ram or to change graphics card.
I plan to keep my old E8400 rig running (for crunching and to give to my daughter for gaming) so I need to buy some new hardware too in order to have 2 decent working pc's at home.
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GPU: [Decided on ASUS GeForce GTX 670 Direct CU II TOP 2 GB]
_________________________
PSU: [Decided on NZXT HALE 90 + 850W GOLD (white PSU to match the NZXT Switch 810 case color)]
_________________________
Case: [Decided on the White NZXT Switch 810]
_________________________
HDD/SSD [Decided on the Sandisk 240GB]
_________________________
Optical Drive [Decided on Sony BWU-500S-WW]
Total cost for all the above, including Win 7 Home Premium will be €1320.
Just tell me if you think I'm getting ripped off.
Within some weeks I'll be getting an i7 930 (which I plan to oc to ~ 4Ghz), a Scythe Yasya cooler, 6GB DDR3 Mushkin Blackline and a Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R.
They're a HUGE upgrade from my system and what's more they're gifts, -- thank you mjkmike! --
Following are the parts I plan to buy for this new system. They might seem overkill, but I don't upgrade much unless it's to add more ram or to change graphics card.
I plan to keep my old E8400 rig running (for crunching and to give to my daughter for gaming) so I need to buy some new hardware too in order to have 2 decent working pc's at home.
_________________________
GPU: [Decided on ASUS GeForce GTX 670 Direct CU II TOP 2 GB]
My main difficulty is whether I should use my HD5970 with the new pc, or leave it in my old pc and buy another graphics card to use with the i7.
Consider the following:
- My daughter will be gaming at 1680x1050 while I will be using a 2560x1440 monitor.
- The only graphics card I have spare is an 8600GTS, which is a POS....
- I don't like my HD5970 much... for the following reasons:
1) It's a crossfire single pcb card, and so I can't disable crossfire;
2) While I play a wide range of demanding games (Alan Wake, Skyrim, Metro, Fallout...) one of my all-time favorites remains The Sims 3, and to have it running I have to install a 2 year old graphics driver otherwise I just get sound looping and crashing without the game even starting at all. Then I'd have to install the latest drivers again to have CF recognized in other games and to get good performance. It's extremely tedious having switch back and forth drivers just to play a different game.
3) I just don't have a very high opinion of AMD's driver support. See above The Sims 3 reason, and another reason being that Fallout 3 gets 'sky-strobing effects' unless I delete some file - it's known to be a CF issue and AMD never fixed it.
4) Though the HD5970 is marketed as a card with 2GB of VRAM, it being crossfire means that it only uses 1GB, I think at 2560x1440 a card with more than 1GB VRAM would give me much better gaming performance.
- The Nvidia 670's performance looks terribly attractive, and it's got 2GB of VRAM...
Let me say that again, it looks like something I'm excruciatingly itching to buy...
It gives approximately the same performance as the HD5970 but with 2GB of VRAM (and there's also a 4GB VRAM version but let's not go into that yet? Or shall we?)
Consider the following:
- My daughter will be gaming at 1680x1050 while I will be using a 2560x1440 monitor.
- The only graphics card I have spare is an 8600GTS, which is a POS....
- I don't like my HD5970 much... for the following reasons:
1) It's a crossfire single pcb card, and so I can't disable crossfire;
2) While I play a wide range of demanding games (Alan Wake, Skyrim, Metro, Fallout...) one of my all-time favorites remains The Sims 3, and to have it running I have to install a 2 year old graphics driver otherwise I just get sound looping and crashing without the game even starting at all. Then I'd have to install the latest drivers again to have CF recognized in other games and to get good performance. It's extremely tedious having switch back and forth drivers just to play a different game.
3) I just don't have a very high opinion of AMD's driver support. See above The Sims 3 reason, and another reason being that Fallout 3 gets 'sky-strobing effects' unless I delete some file - it's known to be a CF issue and AMD never fixed it.
4) Though the HD5970 is marketed as a card with 2GB of VRAM, it being crossfire means that it only uses 1GB, I think at 2560x1440 a card with more than 1GB VRAM would give me much better gaming performance.
- The Nvidia 670's performance looks terribly attractive, and it's got 2GB of VRAM...
Let me say that again, it looks like something I'm excruciatingly itching to buy...
It gives approximately the same performance as the HD5970 but with 2GB of VRAM (and there's also a 4GB VRAM version but let's not go into that yet? Or shall we?)
_________________________
PSU: [Decided on NZXT HALE 90 + 850W GOLD (white PSU to match the NZXT Switch 810 case color)]
Basically I have the same difficulties as with the GPU above.
On my present pc I have a modular Corsair 800W. Unfortunately I don't have any decent PSU lying around which I can use with the E8400 build in the event I decide to use the Corsair for the i7 build.
I'm unsure as to whether I should buy some cheaper ~ 600W PSU for the old rig and use the Corsair for the new one. Or whether I should leave the Corsair where it is and buy a more future-proof PSU. I bought the Corsair PSU in January 2010, so it's already more than 2 years old.
On my present pc I have a modular Corsair 800W. Unfortunately I don't have any decent PSU lying around which I can use with the E8400 build in the event I decide to use the Corsair for the i7 build.
I'm unsure as to whether I should buy some cheaper ~ 600W PSU for the old rig and use the Corsair for the new one. Or whether I should leave the Corsair where it is and buy a more future-proof PSU. I bought the Corsair PSU in January 2010, so it's already more than 2 years old.
_________________________
Case: [Decided on the White NZXT Switch 810]
I need a new case, if for nothing else because my daughter would be very disappointed if I stuffed in the hardware in some old beige case before giving her "my pc". 
And cooling wouldn't be great either.
So I decided to let her have my Aerocool and get a new case with good cooling options for the i7.
However I'm at a loss as to what I should choose.
The only requirements I have is that it must be a full-sized tower case this time (I had to use grippers to bend the HDD cage of the Aerocool to get the HD5970 to fit inside!) and that it must have a large side-window (preferably not funky-shaped, I'd go for the Antec 1200 weren't its side-window shaped like a number 3). Otherwise I wouldn't mind how the case looks, as long as it isn't some ridiculous color.
It must be good and future-proof for air-cooling. I had really fancied the Corsair 800D -- it looks really beautiful and neat (just saying so you get an idea of my tastes in cases) but I also read that it is more ideal for watercooling rather than air-cooling. Now I don't know, hence asking for advice here
And cooling wouldn't be great either.So I decided to let her have my Aerocool and get a new case with good cooling options for the i7.
However I'm at a loss as to what I should choose.
The only requirements I have is that it must be a full-sized tower case this time (I had to use grippers to bend the HDD cage of the Aerocool to get the HD5970 to fit inside!) and that it must have a large side-window (preferably not funky-shaped, I'd go for the Antec 1200 weren't its side-window shaped like a number 3). Otherwise I wouldn't mind how the case looks, as long as it isn't some ridiculous color.
It must be good and future-proof for air-cooling. I had really fancied the Corsair 800D -- it looks really beautiful and neat (just saying so you get an idea of my tastes in cases) but I also read that it is more ideal for watercooling rather than air-cooling. Now I don't know, hence asking for advice here
_________________________
HDD/SSD [Decided on the Sandisk 240GB]
I was planning to put the 160GB Intel SSD in the new pc and buy some 1TB or 2TB drive (you suggest which) for general storage and games which don't need high physical drive speed. And use my existent 250GB Seagate for everything in the old pc. Unless you think it's a terrible idea? (Keep in mind the Seagate is already 5 years old, but it never gave me any problems).
_________________________
Optical Drive [Decided on Sony BWU-500S-WW]
Total cost for all the above, including Win 7 Home Premium will be €1320.
Just tell me if you think I'm getting ripped off.
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