Just about to buy my new setup...

steevie_b · Post by **steevie_b** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 3:39 am

Ok, so I'm just about to get on and buy my new components:

CPU - Intel Core i7 920 "D0 Stepping" 2.66Ghz

Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R

RAM - OCZ 6GB (3X2GB) DDR3 1333MHz/PC3-10666 Gold XTC Triple Channel

Case - Antec P182

Whilst keeping my current components:

PSU - Enermax 625W MODU 82+

GPU - Sapphire Radeon HD 3870 512MB GDDR4

HDD1 - WD 80Gb SATA

HDD2 - Samsung 1TB SATA

Any opinions?

Steve

Olle P · Post by **Olle P** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 4:59 am

Antec P183, @Â£10 extra, is a generally better case that you might want to consider.

Cheers
Olle

steevie_b · Post by **steevie_b** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 5:02 am

I did think about that. In what ways is it better? (other than not having that raised bit at the back).
Steve

danielG · Post by **danielG** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 9:19 am

P183 has much better airflow, since the whole front is, essencially, a big air filter.

A Core i7 is bound to overheat in a stock P182. The intake door is restrictive and the 5.25'' bays are blocked, so there are less places to intake air from. I had to a lot of headscratching when I mounted a Athlon X2 4400+ in my P182 to keep both noise and heat down.

loimlo · Post by **loimlo** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 9:52 am

Besides, P183 has moved the fan in bottom chamber from the middle to the front, and thus improving airflow towards HDDs. But I dislike the holes on the front door as noise would escape from holes without any obstruction. There're already lots of enthusiasts' P182 mods, P183 to me is an official modification, balance, or compromise in terms of airflow design and moise reduction. I prefer noise reduction to airflow design since I don't need dual VGAs like SLI, yet your mileage may vary depending on your priority.

steevie_b · Post by **steevie_b** » Wed Apr 22, 2009 11:13 pm

I think I'm going to go for the P183.

Will probably upgrade the stock cooler in the very near future too.

Thinking about the Scythe Mugen 2.

loimlo · Post by **loimlo** » Thu Apr 23, 2009 12:09 am

Were I you, I would upgrade ATi 3870 to 4830 or 4850, WD 80GB to WD640GB Blue, but downgrade Enermax Modu 625W to Corsair HX520, or Enermax Modu 525W. You system at most may draw 300W DC, 500W is fairy enough for your need. WD 6400AAKS is a proven champion in terms of performance and acoustics. At last, 4830/4850 is a lot faster than 3870 despite a bit more power consumption like 20~30W.

steevie_b · Post by **steevie_b** » Thu Apr 23, 2009 12:16 am

HDD and GPU upgrades will be phase 2 of my new build. Can't afford that right now. My current CPU / MoBo / RAM is a low-end AM2 setup.
I have a spare Seasonic S12II-430 I might be putting in there instead of the Enermax.

loimlo · Post by **loimlo** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 12:25 am

If you were on a tight budget, you may consider purchasing Intel E8400 or AMD Pehnom II 710 instead of Intel i7 920 since most games weren't optimized for 4 cores. After all, VGA is the most critical component concerning PC games. ATi 4870 is highly recommended for gaming on PC.

Back to the topic, S12II-430 should be enough for i7 920/3870 system.

steevie_b · Post by **steevie_b** » Fri Apr 24, 2009 12:27 am

It all got ordered yesterday. Went with the P183 case in the end.

steevie_b · Post by **steevie_b** » Tue Oct 13, 2009 12:13 am

Ok, so I've got my new setup built and running (currently on Windows7) and have upgraded the CPU cooler to a Scythe Mugen 2 and running nice and quiet and cool.

On my old setup I kept on having a problem where my PC would freeze and the only solution would be to hit the restart button. I couldn't find out what it was, hence my new build.

The only parts I brought from my old setup to my new one were the PSU, graphics card and a hard drive. I've tried a different hard drive and PSU, so I can now safely say that it was the graphics card that was causing the freezing problem.

So I need a new one. Does anyone have any recommendations of something nice and quiet? I'm not sure whether to get ATI again because of it making my systems freeze. Does anyone have an opinion on nvidia cards? I want one with a similar / higher spec than the 3870 and MUST have S-VHS out...

Any help, much appreciated.

Cheers

Steve

UPDATE:
Got a ASUS Nvidia GTX275, seems to have solved the problem.