Hello I am currently choosing parts for a new computer, I want power but also a quiet pc...
I will use the computer for poker (earn my living on it) but sometimes for playing some new game.
I am planning on buying another 4870 card for Crossfire and perhaps overclock.
Case: Antec P182 black
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article741-page1.html
Graphics: Amd Radeon HD 4870 or (4870x2 but I dont want to use watercooling and theres is no other way for cooling it down quite enough) ?
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-X48-DQ6 or
http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/1472/ ... index.html
Gigabyte GA-X48T-DQ6
CPU: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450 2,66GHz
Ram: no idea, some advice ?
PSU: Zalman ZM1000-HP or Zalman ZM850-HP
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article834-page5.html
HDD: Samsung F1 750GB or 1TB HD753LJ & HD103UJ
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article29-page2.html
Extra stuff to get the PC quiet:
Arctic Cooling Accelero S1 VGA Cooler with a Nexus 1200 mm fan
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article793-page5.html
Nexus 120 fan
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article695-page6.html
Smart Drive 2002 Copper Cool, Quiet Hard Drive Enclosure
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article29-page2.html
AcoustiPack Deluxe v2 Noise Dampening Material
http://www.endpcnoise.com/cgi-bin/e/std ... d=xMTd2SZV
Thermalright HR-01 Plus or
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article842-page5.html
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article30-page1.html
Noctua NH-U12P tower Cooler
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article850-page6.html
I think thats all, please leave comments on how to improve my system.
Maybe I need a new HDD or CPU?!?! I have done my best reading on the site and the forums but I have for sure missed something... I am choosing the path between price and quality, but I dont want to be cheap either, hope you understand...
Best regards
Gordon
Powerfull but still quiet?!?!
Moderators: NeilBlanchard, Ralf Hutter, sthayashi, Lawrence Lee
Oh my, looks very much like what I ordered a few days ago.
Looks good.
X48-DQ6 isnt really needed though. X48-DS5 or DS4 is pretty much the same, and cheaper.
X48T would be for DDR3, which is still a waste of money for nearly everyone.
When it comes to crossfire, I'm not sure tweaktowns article is really telling the truth, we just know too little about it so far.
AMD has said x8 bandwidth should be enough for their new cards, and this review:
http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=761&p=0
shows that the performance varies quite a bit, in some tests P45 and X48 performs equal, in others X48 beats P45 etc. It might come down to unoptimizd BIOS or something else.
In the end I went for a P45 MB (Asus P5Q-E), because I couldnt get the Gigabyte DS4 or DS5, and DQ6 was a lot more expensive ($100+). But I'm not really sure Ill get another card for crossfire anyway, if you are, its better to play it safely, and go for a X48 card.
Still DQ6 is a bit expensive for the extra you get over DS4 / DS5.
I also picked a ZM850-HP, seems like a great choice if you dont mind spending the extra money over a Corsair 620HX or similar.
Everything else seems really good too.
I went for Xigmatek S1483 CPU cooler (with an Scythe S-flex fan). The two you mention is fine too, as the reviews say. Personally I just dont mind if they are slightly better with low airflow, as I'll have a fan on it anyway
The CPU isnt an easy choice. You can save quite a lot by picking up an E8400 instead, so it really depends on whether or not you will pay a lot more for perfomance gains under very specific conditions (multitasking, video editing etc.). I decided to go for Q9450, while it might not be the logic choice for perfomance/price, I hope it will be the better choice in the long run with more stuff starting to use all 4 cores.
As you mention its not that easy to cool a HD4870X2, so 2 HD4870s in crossfire is a reasonable solution.
However, its not exactly easy to fit in 2 of those cards, with big heatsinks and fans on either, actually it might turn out to be very difficult, depending on the motherboards placement of the two x16 slots. Maybe it will be easier when Thermalright release their new T-Rad^2 GPU cooler (if its any good), it looks pretty thin.
Which resolution is your monitor btw? Two 4870s might easily be a lot more than is needed for a long time (beside for Crysis, but then 2 arent enough anyway...).
Generally, if its 2560x res, it would be ebst to get 1GB cards (which isnt out yet). At 1920x1200 512 mb should be good enough (although stretching it a bit for 1920). Anything below hardly needs crossfire currently.
Looks good.
X48-DQ6 isnt really needed though. X48-DS5 or DS4 is pretty much the same, and cheaper.
X48T would be for DDR3, which is still a waste of money for nearly everyone.
When it comes to crossfire, I'm not sure tweaktowns article is really telling the truth, we just know too little about it so far.
AMD has said x8 bandwidth should be enough for their new cards, and this review:
http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=761&p=0
shows that the performance varies quite a bit, in some tests P45 and X48 performs equal, in others X48 beats P45 etc. It might come down to unoptimizd BIOS or something else.
In the end I went for a P45 MB (Asus P5Q-E), because I couldnt get the Gigabyte DS4 or DS5, and DQ6 was a lot more expensive ($100+). But I'm not really sure Ill get another card for crossfire anyway, if you are, its better to play it safely, and go for a X48 card.
Still DQ6 is a bit expensive for the extra you get over DS4 / DS5.
I also picked a ZM850-HP, seems like a great choice if you dont mind spending the extra money over a Corsair 620HX or similar.
Everything else seems really good too.
I went for Xigmatek S1483 CPU cooler (with an Scythe S-flex fan). The two you mention is fine too, as the reviews say. Personally I just dont mind if they are slightly better with low airflow, as I'll have a fan on it anyway
The CPU isnt an easy choice. You can save quite a lot by picking up an E8400 instead, so it really depends on whether or not you will pay a lot more for perfomance gains under very specific conditions (multitasking, video editing etc.). I decided to go for Q9450, while it might not be the logic choice for perfomance/price, I hope it will be the better choice in the long run with more stuff starting to use all 4 cores.
As you mention its not that easy to cool a HD4870X2, so 2 HD4870s in crossfire is a reasonable solution.
However, its not exactly easy to fit in 2 of those cards, with big heatsinks and fans on either, actually it might turn out to be very difficult, depending on the motherboards placement of the two x16 slots. Maybe it will be easier when Thermalright release their new T-Rad^2 GPU cooler (if its any good), it looks pretty thin.
Which resolution is your monitor btw? Two 4870s might easily be a lot more than is needed for a long time (beside for Crysis, but then 2 arent enough anyway...).
Generally, if its 2560x res, it would be ebst to get 1GB cards (which isnt out yet). At 1920x1200 512 mb should be good enough (although stretching it a bit for 1920). Anything below hardly needs crossfire currently.
Thanks for the great feedback guys...
I currently have two monitors one 24" HP LP2465 and a 30" dell xxxx (2560x in resolution)
Regarding the mobo i think I will go with Gigabyte GA-X48-DQ6, it is not worth the eextra money for the ddr3.
I am not really sure what kind of CPU I need but I know the diffrent in cuad and dual. I want it to be a little bit future proof, and when I play poker I usually play 20+ tables with some programs in the bakground, so I hope I the CPU is right for me.
I ll take a look on the Muskin/Corsair/OCZ memory I am not that good on ram...
At first I twas only going to use this computer for work (poker) but than I thought it would be fun to play some new games with my 30" dell. That it is why I started to look on the 4870 and 4870x2 cards. At least I want to play on 1920x1200 resolution but I dont know if that is possible? How good do you think the 4870 with 1 GB vs 4870x2 will be?
Damn it I want the silence I seek the silence but I dont know how hahaha?
I currently have two monitors one 24" HP LP2465 and a 30" dell xxxx (2560x in resolution)
Regarding the mobo i think I will go with Gigabyte GA-X48-DQ6, it is not worth the eextra money for the ddr3.
I am not really sure what kind of CPU I need but I know the diffrent in cuad and dual. I want it to be a little bit future proof, and when I play poker I usually play 20+ tables with some programs in the bakground, so I hope I the CPU is right for me.
I ll take a look on the Muskin/Corsair/OCZ memory I am not that good on ram...
At first I twas only going to use this computer for work (poker) but than I thought it would be fun to play some new games with my 30" dell. That it is why I started to look on the 4870 and 4870x2 cards. At least I want to play on 1920x1200 resolution but I dont know if that is possible? How good do you think the 4870 with 1 GB vs 4870x2 will be?
Damn it I want the silence I seek the silence but I dont know how hahaha?
Would surely go for 1GB versions then, if you can wait for those.
And 4870X2 for that 30" monitor. Depends if you want to spend that much extra for gaming, it will surely give a big boost in games, but most curret games already run quite good on a single 4870 (at least in 1920x1200).
But surely not silent.
Two 4870s is an option too of course,if they can fit in, would still go for the 1GB version though, it will probably be quite a bit more expensive than one 4870X2 (you also need 2x heatsinks/fan for those obviously).
Got my PC yesterday, cant comment that much on noise yet, since I havent replaced the GPU fan, and still experimenting a bit with fan placements etc.
The GPU is noisy as hell sometimes (but rather quiet when it idles), it really needs to get another fan on, and I can only assume it would be A LOT worse for the 4870X2 (double power usage
)
The Zalman PSU is really quiet though, its pretty much the only part of the system I never hear so far.
Guess you could go for Nvidias GTX280 too, if a thirdparty heatsink gets released for it soon (Im not entirely sure when that happens). Its expensive, but you get the 1Gb ram and 1 card is good enough even for the big screen.
And 4870X2 for that 30" monitor. Depends if you want to spend that much extra for gaming, it will surely give a big boost in games, but most curret games already run quite good on a single 4870 (at least in 1920x1200).
But surely not silent.
Two 4870s is an option too of course,if they can fit in, would still go for the 1GB version though, it will probably be quite a bit more expensive than one 4870X2 (you also need 2x heatsinks/fan for those obviously).
Got my PC yesterday, cant comment that much on noise yet, since I havent replaced the GPU fan, and still experimenting a bit with fan placements etc.
The GPU is noisy as hell sometimes (but rather quiet when it idles), it really needs to get another fan on, and I can only assume it would be A LOT worse for the 4870X2 (double power usage
)The Zalman PSU is really quiet though, its pretty much the only part of the system I never hear so far.
Guess you could go for Nvidias GTX280 too, if a thirdparty heatsink gets released for it soon (Im not entirely sure when that happens). Its expensive, but you get the 1Gb ram and 1 card is good enough even for the big screen.