Building a computer? Need advice/suggestions? Come here!

**JackalStomper** · March 20th, 2012 04:19 PM

gallery doesnt work for me

here they are if they dont for anyone else

**Cortexian** · March 20th, 2012 06:15 PM

Dual-gpu cards from last gen are still boss I see..

**Warsaw** · March 20th, 2012 09:30 PM

Lol, yeah. A little bit of overclocking an HD 7970 (and I presume the GTX 680 as well) can net you performance parity with the GTX 590 though.

Precisely as I called it. The GTX 680 is better, but if you bought an HD 7970 you aren't missing much in performance. Not unless DiRT 3 is one of your most-played titles, which is funny because ATI cards have always sucked at DiRT 3 despite it being one of the AMD-backed titles.

**Cortexian** · March 20th, 2012 09:51 PM

Can't wait to see what some water-cooler GTX 690's will do.

1.5GHz Dual-CPU solution go!

**Warsaw** · March 20th, 2012 10:18 PM

I have a feeling that the GTX 690 is still a single-GPU card. That, or they'll save the fully powered Kepler GPU for GTX 780 the same way the GTX 580 is the fully powered Fermi.

**Amit** · March 21st, 2012 07:45 PM

Okay so it's Spring now and temperatures have skyrocketed. It's the first time I've used my PC in a climate higher than 20 degrees Celsius. At one time I thought that the stock cooler for my X4 955BE was good enough, but Jesus. I can't play anything without it heating up to above 50 degrees and the CPU fan runs at 4500+ RPM while playing Company of Heroes and 5200+ RPM while playing Civilization 5. That's pretty much full tilt. So obviously I need a new cooling solution.

I want to go with the CoolerMaster Hyper 212+ because it's cheap and damn effective. However, my case simply just does not have the space for it (the thing is massive). I was contemplating Corsair's Hydro line of closed-loop water coolers for CPUs. I'd be using the H40 version ($50 at local store). I have done the measurements and the radiator will fit in my current case. So maybe I should go with that.

Thoughts?

**Zeph** · March 21st, 2012 08:15 PM

I must admit, I'm glad to see that the 'early adopter' 680 benches were considerably off. 680s outperforming my 590 by 40% was quite frightening while amazing at the same time.

And yes, I too, have noticed the dramatic rise in temperature. My new cooling solution should be installed Sunday. I expect my temps to drop back down after that.

I have a feeling that the GTX 690 is still a single-GPU card. That, or they'll save the fully powered Kepler GPU for GTX 780 the same way the GTX 580 is the fully powered Fermi.

The 680 is the 104 chip right? 110 should be the 690 and 695 should be dual 110s.

**Cortexian** · March 21st, 2012 08:26 PM

Well my chip still stays well below 60 degrees at 4.4GHz. Had to lower from 4.6 because new BIOS for board changed something and I'm to lazy to figure out new stable settings for 4.6GHz.

**Warsaw** · March 21st, 2012 08:38 PM

@Timo: Precisely. But they may look at their own sales and performance and hold off on GK110 for the next generation of cards and make the GTX 690 a dual GK104 solution instead. If I were running a business, that's what I would do. You only need to be just good enough to take the performance crown from your competition. Since AMD won't trump a GTX 680 with a single GPU solution until the Radeon HD 8970 comes out, it doesn't make sense for Nvidia to release GK110 now. They would save money on R&D that way.

Amit, will this fit your case? I have one on another computer in my house and it's pretty damn good. I would *not* recommend going with the H40; rubber tubing instead of FEP, loud pump, ineffective cooling. It's too much of a hassle for too little benefit. If you want water, either get the H80 (or better) or go custom. If Asetek's AMD-branded cooler was out, I would recommend that one because it is identical to their Intel one except for the mount (duh), and the latter has been pretty awesome for me thus far.

**Amit** · March 21st, 2012 09:10 PM

No, that cooler won't fit. The clip would hang over my first two RAM slots so I'd be forced to put my RAM in the the third and forth slots, effectively destroying my Dual Channel performance. The closed-loop water cooling isn't a hassle, but I've read reviews and it doesn't seem to cool a whole lot. I really wish that Zalman one would fit. So many people are having a great time with it.