255 replies to this topic

[GasClown]

So got that extra fan and installed it and rearranged the HDDs and removed the top cage. Much better airflow now. 1 for the HDDs and the other blowing through the case onto the GPUs. Think I don't have to worry about it for a while now.

[GraphicX]

pictures.

[GasClown]

GraphicX, on 02 March 2015 - 01:05 AM, said:

pictures.

Here's a quickie...

Attached Files

•  2015-03-02-12.22.37.jpg   122.17K   19 downloads

[GasClown]

So got the HOTAS which came with the fan - just opened it up to have a look at it (didn't want to do it earlier so I didn't distract myself from work too much). Both parts (throttle and joystick) are bloody huge! Think I might have to move the screen further back but I like to sit really close to it as that's what I'm used to.

[GraphicX]

just ordered a new motherboard, was looking at an asus z97-a, but found a gigabyte z97x on sale/clearance at msy so grabbed it:

http://www.msy.com.a...otherboard.html



looking to 'possibly' run sli when windows 10 is launched as it supposedly has a ton of extra support for multi-card setups.  hoping this board will provide as much future-proof-ness as possible, supports 4 amd or nvidia cards, has pretty orange parts & has buzz words like 'overclock' that get me moist.

thinking it will see me out for a fair bit though, at least get me past a new graphics card (my current board is only pci-e 2 so enough headroom for the 660, but nothing higher) but also when i possibly update the CPU to either an unlocked i7, or even see what the 5th gen intels look like.

mobo has cost me just under $220, so really rough add up of total pc cost is:

initial pc - $400
new case - $150 (??)
2x 120gb ssd hdds - $100
mobo - $220
total after about 18 months: $770

it's starting to get up there a bit now.

so next on the cards is a second gpu, or just straight out replacement gpu as i can sell mine to a friend who wants it (& it's not probably going to be easy or cheap to find another gtx660 that'll play happy with the one i have).

[GasClown]

Can't go wrong with that mobo. GPU is really dependant on budget. Do you need a newer GPU for DX12? Actually I think they're backwards compatible, meaning any DX11 card will be okay with DX12.

[GraphicX]

i'm 'fairly' sure it'll be compatible, but with games like witcher 3 & i'm guessing fallout 4 i think my system will start to underperform a bit to a point where i'll feel like i'm missing out on something.

was thinking i could sell the 660 & get a 960, but there's bits & bobs that the 660 is still better at, & bits the 960 is tons better at, but i'd still get more benefit going 970, but that costs a ton more so then back to dual 660s & i can't make up my mind lol.  it'll just come down to how i feel on the day & if the boosts to multi gpu performance MS are promising are actually realised (they're even speaking potentially mixing completely different gpus & it still working so dunno).

[Axe99]

I'd go with the GPU with the best matching colourscheme to that very nice looking motherboard .  I'd also strongly advise against taking any of my advice when it comes to putting a PC together, the last time I did that m'self, I think the CPU was an early-model Pentium.

[GraphicX]

was it spec that was needing an upgrade to his pc ??  if it was he can have my old board, if he adds a cpu can he still keep his ram ???

[GasClown]

GraphicX, on 11 June 2015 - 04:09 AM, said:

i'm 'fairly' sure it'll be compatible, but with games like witcher 3 & i'm guessing fallout 4 i think my system will start to underperform a bit to a point where i'll feel like i'm missing out on something.

was thinking i could sell the 660 & get a 960, but there's bits & bobs that the 660 is still better at, & bits the 960 is tons better at, but i'd still get more benefit going 970, but that costs a ton more so then back to dual 660s & i can't make up my mind lol.  it'll just come down to how i feel on the day & if the boosts to multi gpu performance MS are promising are actually realised (they're even speaking potentially mixing completely different gpus & it still working so dunno).

I have no idea about comparing 660's in SLI vs a 960/970... here's some examples vs a 970 though...

[GraphicX]

thanks but can't do vids at work, best i can do is look at bar graphs lol.

[GasClown]

GraphicX, on 11 June 2015 - 05:35 AM, said:

thanks but can't do vids at work, best i can do is look at bar graphs lol.

970 about 10-15FPS ahead of the 660 SLI (in BF4). You'd think the 960 would be around the same as the 660SLI then. If that's the case, may as well get another 660 as it'd probably be a lot cheaper... only problem is where.

[GraphicX]

yeah it's just a matter of continually hitting ebay.  direct-x 12 though is meant to drastically improve performance though, way beyond that of crossfire or sli as it also doubles your vram.  see how i get on as if i end up with a 970 at least i can add another in future i guess.

[spectre51]

GraphicX, on 11 June 2015 - 04:53 AM, said:

was it spec that was needing an upgrade to his pc ??  if it was he can have my old board, if he adds a cpu can he still keep his ram ???

At this rate I'm going to change everything but the case, cpu cooler and maybe psu. Which will hopefully have the money to do at the end of the year.

[straussy240]

Hold out a bit longer mate

Everyone is talking about price drops with the release of 980ti and AMD fury now/very soon. Hopefully the price drop comes to Australia, but you never know

[GasClown]

GraphicX, on 11 June 2015 - 08:57 AM, said:

yeah it's just a matter of continually hitting ebay.  direct-x 12 though is meant to drastically improve performance though, way beyond that of crossfire or sli as it also doubles your vram.  see how i get on as if i end up with a 970 at least i can add another in future i guess.

970 should blow everything away at 1080p. I had two of them at first (if you remember) and before I even switched the SLI on (because I am a PC noob and didn't know about it) I did some Unigine tests on it at 3440 x 1440 and the single card was doing pretty darn well so you'd think at 1080p it'd rip through it. Only upgraded to the 980s because of that 3.5Gb debacle and you really need 4Gb minimum for 2K+.

If they do double it (VRAM) with DX12 then that's awesome.

straussy240, on 11 June 2015 - 11:52 AM, said:

Hold out a bit longer mate

That's the problem with PC gaming - you hold out and hold out and hold out... because there's always something better or cheaper on the horizon. I'm already looking at those 980ti's and wishing I waited (although it would have cost quite a bit more). haha.

[GraphicX]

i didn't know you went 980s gc, thought you went the 970s.  i would only get the 1 to begin with though, but apparently dx12 may let us mix & match cards but i really don't know.

@ spec; if my mobo will help you out at all i'm happy to post it to you (you can cover the post though).  it's nothing special but it's socket 1150 if you know anyone that may have one of those cpus spare or cheap.  i dunno what ram etc is in your current pc but maybe it'd fit & you'd get a mini-upgrade for the meantime.

[spectre51]

Thanks for the offer but I'm still on DDR2 still, I have no issue waiting, I just hope the HDD hold out till then.

[GraphicX]

been reading about the mobo i've ordered, starting to think i may have made a bad decision v the other board i was looking at.  it has more features, slots etc, but it all looks overly complicated for what i want to do, also keeps referring to 'dry ice' & 'nitrogen' cooling along with overclocking the ram & entering overclock comps :S

[GasClown]

GraphicX, on 11 June 2015 - 11:36 PM, said:

i didn't know you went 980s gc, thought you went the 970s.  i would only get the 1 to begin with though, but apparently dx12 may let us mix & match cards but i really don't know.

I got the 970s initially (yes)... then the 3.5Gb limit arose and I quickly jumped on it and changed them to 980s before the retailer I bought them from wouldn't exchange them... it of course cost me quite a bit extra but they chew up most things I throw at it. Witcher 3 I can run on Ultra at 3440 x 1440 without any problems. Hair thingy switched off as I'm not interested in it. Also no (or minimal 2x) AA.

GraphicX, on 12 June 2015 - 03:45 AM, said:

been reading about the mobo i've ordered, starting to think i may have made a bad decision v the other board i was looking at.  it has more features, slots etc, but it all looks overly complicated for what i want to do, also keeps referring to 'dry ice' & 'nitrogen' cooling along with overclocking the ram & entering overclock comps :S

Mobo is probably an overclockers board. You should be doing more research into what you're buying but I dare say you'd be able to opt out now while it's early.