I was a member here some time ago but I guess it got purged as I've been away a while.
I decided my old main Rig was a bit tired, and besides, I wanted something new to tinker with. So I went for the new Intel Haswell i7 4770K CPU. (I've been an Intel fan for ages. I never seem to find more superior AMDs at the same price levels.) I also bought an Asus Z87-A Motherboard and 16 Gigs (2X8) of Corsair Vengance DDR3 Ram. This all will fit with the Plextor M5 Pro Extreme 128 Gig SSD, and a 1TB Seagate Barracuda for on Box data storage. I ended up with a new case by Bitfenix call "Ghost". The case seems like a real bargain at the NCIX sale price. (I bought it based solely on Web Photos and reviews on line, as NCIX had none in stock at the store nearby, and said they would not bring one in to show me!
They said if I didn't buy it, they'd have to sell it as an Open Box Item at 15% off => bizarre!). Anyway, it's much bigger than I first thought (pretty much the same size as the Antec P180 it replaces) and the reviews I read /saw were all pretty positive. I must say I'm not impressed with Intel's CPU Fan. They had the Fan cable pulled so tight (I didn't notice when installing it) that it stalled the Fan when I first booted it up
. I miss my Scythe Zipang already. I put 3 of them in various Boxes. All are still working great and very quiet. I wonder if one would fit here...My Buddy really wants me to go to Water Cooling (Corsair Cooling Hydro Series H100I) so he can have me put it into a new Rig he wants me to build for him. I just read a very uneven review here at SPCR, after 3 far more positive ones elsewhere => on the Cooler Master Seidon 240M. One of the reasons for the Ghost case was it has the ability to accept a 240 mm water cooler set-up. I'm not 100% sold on water cooling, but what I've read is it's a must if you want to try some serious overclocking (O/C). In the past I've been far more interested in changing pieces out to make my Box quieter, and not high performance.
(The most intensive thing I do is Video Editing with Cyberlink's PowerDirector. I muck about with some HD home movies off our Sony Camcorder and put them onto BluRay disks. And then like everyone else, file them away never to see the light of day again...
)I have not installed my son's old Gigabyte GTX 550 video card as I'm trying out the Intel 4600 on board (the CPU) graphics. So far it's flawless => even at 1920 x 1200.
I migrated over the PSU - a Corsair TX-750, an LG BluRay Burner and a Samsung DVD Burner as well as a Sata Mobile Rack (all only a couple years old) from the P180 => I've got a dozen Hard Drives about with various bits of Data so I'm a huge fan of having only a single drive for data inside the case and Hot Swapping to move data onto off machine backup drives.
Right now the noisiest thing is the Intel CPU Fan. I need to decide in the next few days what direction to go if I want to try O/C. Right now I can get the Cooler Master Seidon 240M for $40 off (after a manufacturer's mail in rebate - Grrr I hate rebates
) The Ghost case can accommodate a rather tall conventional Fan Type CPU Cooler and also is open at the back of the Motherboard so acess to mount something is simple - even if you have to bolt it on.I'd love to hear what you folks are doing if you want to O/C as well as try to be Quiet these days.
Please advise. Thanks.