I decided to go for Seasnoic X-1250. The Antec is rather an old model and it has a small 80mm cooling fan which cant be noisy. I think there are better power supplies in the market now. If planning to install multiple GPU's, a 1500w power supply might be a better choice: Silverstone or Enermax (not the Thermaltake one). From my own research: the general consensus is that 1200w should be adequate for up to two GPU's. Here is a link to a PSU wattage calculator:
http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp
http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp
Quote:
Originally Posted by simurg 
Here are my next possible next steps:
- Get a new power supply at least 1200 Watt with multirails. I am thinking about Antec HCP1200. On the other hand, I am also curious if 1200 is enough, Fans/Pumps are already eating 50watt. 2 quad cores cpu's consume 550Watt with mediocre overclocking. It seems like 1200 is bare minimum.
- Add water cooled 6970 and ditch 5850. It seems like 6970 scales out much better and they are very affordable around $200. I can get one or two when the prices goes down to $150 after I saved some money.
- Replace RP-1200 with 2 mcp 65x equivalent. I think with 2 of them, I won't have to worry about head pressure. RP-1200 is pretty noisy since it has mcp-35x pump.
- I already got 1x140mm and one 3x140 mm Koolance RADs. They are thin so they can easily fit into the space above the motherboard with fans and inside/back of the case next 140mm fan. They will be all in push/pull. My goal is to add extra radiators which will reduce the fan speeds more. My XSPC 480 will do the most work when idling. High Flow rads will be effective when load gets higher. With so much radiator, I can cool as many components I want. This is the best part of the case. It offers space like one of these custom made cases.
- Upgrade the CPU's to 6core ones. This is not really urgent but eventually for higher clock speeds on 32nm cpus. I don't think I will ever need 12 cores but who knows.
What do you guys think? What should be the next set of improvements?
Here are my next possible next steps:
- Get a new power supply at least 1200 Watt with multirails. I am thinking about Antec HCP1200. On the other hand, I am also curious if 1200 is enough, Fans/Pumps are already eating 50watt. 2 quad cores cpu's consume 550Watt with mediocre overclocking. It seems like 1200 is bare minimum.
- Add water cooled 6970 and ditch 5850. It seems like 6970 scales out much better and they are very affordable around $200. I can get one or two when the prices goes down to $150 after I saved some money.
- Replace RP-1200 with 2 mcp 65x equivalent. I think with 2 of them, I won't have to worry about head pressure. RP-1200 is pretty noisy since it has mcp-35x pump.
- I already got 1x140mm and one 3x140 mm Koolance RADs. They are thin so they can easily fit into the space above the motherboard with fans and inside/back of the case next 140mm fan. They will be all in push/pull. My goal is to add extra radiators which will reduce the fan speeds more. My XSPC 480 will do the most work when idling. High Flow rads will be effective when load gets higher. With so much radiator, I can cool as many components I want. This is the best part of the case. It offers space like one of these custom made cases.
- Upgrade the CPU's to 6core ones. This is not really urgent but eventually for higher clock speeds on 32nm cpus. I don't think I will ever need 12 cores but who knows.
What do you guys think? What should be the next set of improvements?
