[papalazaru]

Another itch to upgrade... I'm in no hurry, and it's looking like this at the moment. Want to spend some bonus money on that.

Key points : CF 6950, Carbide 400R, Gen3 motherboard, Seasonic PSU, 2500K, 8GB.

Other hardware : One 500GB drive, one 1TB drive, one BlackGold PCIE TV Tuner, one Akasa Apache Black for the CPU cooler. Also have 8GB kingston HyperX, but thinking of leaving it in current build and sell it as a whole.

Motherboard choice : Decent overclocker (not looking past 4.5GHz), looks like I have available PCI slots for my TV tuner and the Xonar PCI sound card. Motherboard also has loads of case fan controls, can do dual fan config on the cooler (don't think I'll bother).

GPU : reference design for CF, uprated VRMs, factory overclocked and potentially unlockable, altohugh I don't think I'll bother with that.

Power Supply : Always try to get the best. Can't top a X850. Ful modular, black sleeved, gold rated, and super silent.

SSD : I'm used to SSDs and can't see myself going back to HD for OS. M4 seems to be the best compromise for reliability / performance / price.

Case : Really impressed by that case. Extra fan for providing airflow to the GPUs and motherboard. Very well thought out, not too brash, lots of cooling options, good price.

Current System : Will be selling this build.
1055T @ 3.6GHz.
Corsair H50. Really good temps at that overclock.
Gigabyte 890GPA-UD3H.
Kingston HyperX 12800C9 8GB, or OCZ Reaper 12800C7 4GB.
Corsair HX620
Lian Li PC-A71B. Lacks cable management.
Zalman Fan Controller (don't think I'll bother with this on next build, unless it's too noisy).
Samsung F3.
Older Seagate Barracuda 320GB (for restore / backup and junk folders).
OCZ Vertex2E 60GB.
560ti Twin Frozr II.
Win 7 Home (OEM, I will use the retail for my new build).

Thinking of getting £400-£450 out of this one. Maybe more but I'm not too fussed. Looks a decent system for a kid's Christmas. Got all the boxes (if I can find them!).

Cheers for any inputs!

 

[papalazaru]

Oh yeah, about the keyboard. Still a little undecided. Not too big on the Cherry Red switches (and I know about the rubber macro and function keys but that doesn't bother me). Currently using a Logitech Illuminated Keyboard.

Will probably keep the logitech until I can make up my mind on that front.

 

[papalazaru]

Also postponing case fans until a bit later. Need to see how it will perform in terms of noise and temps, especially on the GPUs.

 

[papalazaru]

And I think I'll need a PCI sound card, due to the slots being blocked by the GPUs.

 

[alwang17]

Do you have any sort of budget in mind or you want to see what you can get first before deciding on how much you spend?

The ASRock Z68 Extreme4's slot layout can let you place the tv tuner and sound card in the top and bottom PCIe slots, and place the video cards in between. Whatever you place on the bottom might block the second card's fan, but I'd imagine that neither the TV tuner nor the sound card are long enough to do that.

 

[papalazaru]

Thanks for the reply

No real set budget. I don't want to go crazy, but £1500 for SLI / XFire, £1000 for single GPU sounds about right. I'm going for quality over quantity, without sacrificing performance. I like the 2GB Vram, and the 6950 is a good card. I'm gaming at 1920 x 1200.

I have a lot of wiggle room, and the keyboard would probably be a later buy (and maybe the memory if I decide to re-use the Kingston). So I will be well under budget.

Also, about the CPU cooler, I'm thinking of the MUX-120 Black. Should get me to 4.5GHz easy. and will save an extra £12. Then I can re-use the Apache, maybe mux-120 push-pull.

About the PCIE configuration, I'm not entirely sure. Any foreseeable issues with putting a PCIE 1x into a PCIE 16x? The Xonar DS looks like a good sound card. I want to move away from onboard. Looks like I can squeeze the Xonar between the GPUs. If I can indeed use another PCIE card, I will use a Xonar DX. Bit concerned how much room I'll have at the bottom PCIE, against the PSU. The BalckGold is tiny though. Maybe good to keep an extra PCI/PCIE slot available in case (wireless network card maybe). Definitely NOT going tri-sli/xfire.

I do want a motherboard with decent case fan control, the AsRock looks ideal with loads of case fan options. And it's not a bad board, is it

Looks good too.

 

[alwang17]

Nope, a PCIe x1 card will fit fine into a PCIe x16 slot.
I think you might as well get a fan controller. They're very helpful with cable routing IMO, and are worth the money, especially if you're concerned with noise.

The case is nice, I think the Fractal Design XL would be great. The upper hard drive cage is removable, so one of the front fans feeds cool air directly to your cards. Dunno about pricing in the UK, but I feel it'd be a bit better.

 

[papalazaru]

Thanks I think that's rounded up nicely

Gonna keep the 400R, mainly build quality, multiple reviews (so I can see it in action). Think the other components are good to go as well. Maybe a PCIE soundcard