I am actually planning to get the NF-F12 PWM for CPU cooler. Good choice. I think I'm currently using the NF-P14 FLX as a case exhaust fan and am honestly unsure if it should be replaced. This is one of the fans that works very well with the Fan Xpert software, it should drop down to just over 200 ...

...I appreciate some input on the choice of motherboards as this is one thing that I have been going over and over in my head without any resolution. The Asus H97/Z97 motherboards have the advantage that you can use Fan Xpert 2 or higher to manage case fans in a way that it not available currently ...

What motherboard are you considering for your upgrade toward 1150? I am actually torn between these two options: 1. i5-4690K + Asus Z97-A 2. i7-4790K + Gigabyte H97-HD3/Asus Z97-Plus (stock speed, yes) I'm aiming to overclock the CPU to around 4.3-4.5GHz mark. Option 1 will cause some hassle but at...

Thanks for the info. I am using Noctua fans throughout my system (a 120mm mounted on the Megahalem and a 140mm mounted as exhaust on my case). I can't recall the model numbers other than the CPU fan is from circa. 2008 and unlikely to be PWM. The 140mm was bought about 2 years ago and is likely PWM....

Thanks for your confirmation!

Out of curiosity, would you say the Megahalem still performs well enough against modern air coolers (like the Noctua NH-U12S or Scythe Mugen 4)?

Thanks.

HI all, I'm looking to upgrade to a socket 1150 (Haswell refresh) system. I am currently using the Megahalem with my current socket 1156 (Lynnfield) system and am wondering if I can re-use the cooler with the socket 1150 platform (i.e. are the mounting brackets compatible between the two platforms?)...

Hi all, The P180 has served me well over the years and for past builds. However, it no longer copes with current gaming cards. I previously had a HD6970 and had to underclock to keep things stable. My current HD7950 works fine at stock speed but cannot overclock to even 950MHz core (when it should e...

Just out of curiosity, can you please describe exactly how the crash goes? My experience with graphics card heat issues is that it tends to freeze the graphics with the sound looping or introduce graphical artifacts. What's your doing? It's quite exactly like you described. Just prior to the crash,...

According to GPU-Z, one point (which I suspect is the VRM) reaches approx 70-75C (20C higher than the CPU) with moderate load. That's perfectly fine. If everything was at the same 70C temp, I'd consider it fine. However, it is 10C hotter than the other parts on the card (and 20C above the passively...

Hi, I should really attempt that front fan intake mod but have not got around to it. Anyway, I'm still having heat-related issue, which gets worse with increasing GPU load. I suspect, despite the front intake fan blowing at the GPU (however small the airflow is), there remains little to no air movem...

You should be able to find one on Ebay for reasonably good price. I got mine for USD$400 delivered to Australia and, added by the more favourable exchange rate back then, it was a very good deal.

Hi, I ended up going with the MSI R6970 Lightning a few weeks ago. It's been a great and quiet performer (thankfully). I'm having a bit of a heat problem in my P180 case atm though (see related thread ) as its greater dimension and heat output clearly dwarfs the HD5850 it's replacing. I still haven'...

I have so far found an effective (but non-quiet) solution. In addition to the existing exhaust at spot 1, I added another Noctua exhaust at spot 2. This is connected to the CPU fan connector on the MB which somehow keeps the fan running at full speed (1200rpm). There is noticable air turbulence nois...

You might want to add the MSI R6970 Lightning to your list. I recently got one and it is a very quiet performer.

Hi all, I recently upgraded my system and am encountering heat-related issue. The below is my current spec, housed in the Antec P180: Intel Core i7-860 (Prolimatech Megahalem fanless) ASUS P7P55 D-E Corsair 2x4GB DDR3 RAM MSI Radeon R6970 Lightning Crucial M4 128GB & WD Caviar Green 1.5TB Corsair HX...

Hi all, I thought I would post my question here, rather than create a new thread, given the already existing information. The below is my current spec, housed in the Antec P180: Intel Core i7-860 (Prolimatech Megahalem fanless) ASUS P7P55 D-E Corsair 2x4GB DDR3 RAM MSI Radeon R6970 Lightning Crucial...

Thanks for the response. I did read the Xbit review a while back and nearly jumped for the MSI, but since most of the games I anticipated on (Skyrim, HoMMVI, ME3, etc) are not out yet, I decided to wait. It seems its price remains relatively high but, worse, I cannot find it anymore on Australian sh...

Hi all, I am considering a video card upgrade as my recent upgrade to a 30in screen (2560x1600) has seen the HD5850 struggling with the increased resolution. The HD6950 or HD6970 seems to fit my budget. I have been having trouble finding out how quiet the different models from different manufacturer...

Thanks for the thorough response, Luca. So either the 6850 or 5770 is the one to get then. I will get the latter if it is good enough for HD-gaming (time to hit the reviews). The 560Ti is unfortunately out of my budget considering the casual gaming intention. As for models within a particular brand,...

Hi all, Current HTPC spec is: Intel Core i3-530 (integrated GPU used) Gigabyte GA-H55M-USB3 Silverstone GD05 Corsair VX-450 (PSU) 2x2GB Kingston DDR3 I'm planning to occasionally play games on this system (1920x1080 resolution) and rid myself of the Intel 23.97fps issue. It needs not be a blazing fa...

According to the motherboard's manual "The DVI-D port does not support D-Sub connection by adapter. What it means is the DVI port cannot output analog signals, i.e. you cannot connect a DVI-to-VGA cable nor use a DVI-to-VGA convertor on said DVI port. The D-Sub port on the other hand works fine. It...

Temperature-wise, I have not really tested it under load but I was getting an amazing idle temperature of 19C (ambient temperature was around 21-23C)! It would be even lower with a good after-market cooler. I don't believe any of the AMD offerings can achieve this low temperature. Was that with the...

Do you have a "Killawatt" or some other means to measure the power usage of your new system? I would be interested to know what you get. -micah Don't have one unfortunately. I imagine it would be even lower if I were using an SSD (have a regular HDD instead). Other than that, it's just the motherbo...

As for HTPC: While you gain in CPU power with i3's and Intel, you will lose that in chipsets but any Intel chipset's still are more than sufficient for HTPC actions more than enough. in AMD way you get anything you need for HTPC in chipset's that are better featured and has more properties than Int...

I was not aware of the i3-530 and its good value & temperature when I posted this thread. Having read through its reviews (and related motherboards), I decided on and purchased these: CPU: Intel Core i3-530 Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H55M-USB3 RAM: 2x2GB Kingston KHX1600C8D3K2 (is this overkill?) PSU:...

I think $30 is pretty reasonable though I have to check first if local pricing is as reasonable.

I'm looking to assemble a HTPC mainly for movies and casual gaming, around the Silverstone GD05B. I'd build it around a Core i5-750 with a separate video card but this system is more of an afterthought than a serious investment so I'm not willing to commit that much budget. I'm thinking of a 785G-ba...

And, I'm thinking about going fanless with the CPU. i5-750, no overclocking. Fractal Design Define R2 case. Bad idea? That case design looks similar to the P180 so it should work. I would keep the top vent open/uninhabited and align the heatsink so that it faces that side. That way cool air will fl...

I did a 15min run with Prime95. All cores slowly heated up and peaked at 90C. There were 0 errors and 0 warnings.

I suppose this Prime95 is one of the 'worst' way you can heat up a CPU with?

With just a 900rpm Glacialtech fan blowing out of my trusty P180, I am getting 30-35C idle and no more than 60C at load. Which load, and how temperatures are recorded? Regards, Luca I use readings from Speedfan. Ambient temperature hovers around 25C. My typical loads are games, which currently are ...