Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: Skuzzy on December 04, 2012, 10:19:55 AM
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Well, a fair number of people keep asking me about my new computer. So, here it is. I want to note that this should not be construed as product endorsement.
I have two specific requirements for my home computer. One is video editing/encoding. The other is 3D rendering, via ray trace. I decided, from the start, I would not be overclocking this computer. I also decided this one would need to last for a good eight years. I also needed this computer to be very quiet.
Computer Case: Antec 900 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021&Tpk=N82E16811129021)
Power Supply: Seasonic X-850 Watt (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151102&Tpk=N82E16817151102)
Motherboard: ASUS Sabertooth Z77 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131821&Tpk=N82E16813131821)
CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116501&Tpk=N82E16819116501)
Heat Sink: Noctua NH-D14 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608018&Tpk=N82E16835608018)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Z Series 16GB (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231539&Tpk=N82E16820231539)
Hard drives: 4) Seagate 1TB Disks (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148784&Tpk=N82E16822148784)
DVD Burner: Sony Optiarc DVD Burner (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118067&Tpk=N82E16827118067)
Blue Ray Burner: ASUS Blu-Ray Burner (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135302)
Video Card: Sapphire 7950 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202006)
Monitor: NEC 27" IPS Panel (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824002544)
Sound Card: ASUS Xonar Essence STX (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829132010&Tpk=N82E16829132010)
Keyboard: DAS Professional Keyboard (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823830007)
Mouse: Microsoft Intellimouse 3.0 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826105557)
It all went together nicely and runs well. The CPU cooler is massive, but well made. Clears all the motherboard and RAM components and does not crowd the video card. Quiet, very quiet.
The video card is quiet as well.
Video rendering is over four times faster than my previous overclocked E8400 CPU.
I have not tried the game yet.
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nice, I need a system like that :(
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Took me five years to save up for that one. I kept a spreadsheet of the products I wanted. As time went by, I kept it updated to what I wanted. I kept putting money into the toy fund until I could afford to get exactly what I wanted.
In the past I compromised on my computers. This is the first one I have built that I refused to compromise on my goals. It will not win any bragging rights, but it is exactly what I wanted.
It was worth it.
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Ill bet it is.....
I am still using an old Duel core 2.9 GHZ with a 4830....imagine what happens when my models in Blender get up over 1million verts....it is a slide show haha...then when I try to render......it just crashes......
although I have found with comps there are always was around....now I am breaking up the models and sculpting it a piece at a time and rendering it out that way, takes longer but worth it.....
I would be able to sculpt anything with that system...... maybe when the kids are all grown up..... :rofl
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How many fans are in it? Hopefully they are some nice Scythe ones or similar...I've always wondered about the NZXT cases they advertise to be very quiet with the foam inside...have you eve thought about them?
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The Antec 900 has two 120mm front fans, one 140mm top fan and one 120mm rear exhaust fan. There is an option for a 120mm side panel fan, but the heat sink does block that one.
I replaced all the Antec fans with fans from Noctua. I cannot hear any of them.
There is a gentle whoosh from the case and that is all the noise there is. Quite pleasant, actually.
EDIT: I should say, there are better enthusiast cases out there. This case happens to fit into the hole I have for it and still allow enough space around it for airflow. While I do not feel I compromised on my goals, I did not desert price/performance expectations either.
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Good stuff...how much were the Noctua fans? I need to do something about my tower...it sounds like I am sitting next to an Abrams.
I think most of it is the video card, but I am nervous to mod it with a different fan or heatsink.
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Hmm. I must have missed your OEM copy of windows 8 :lol
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Hmm. I must have missed your OEM copy of windows 8 :lol
I dual boot Windows 7 64bit and Windows XP. When Microsoft drops support for Windows 7, I will wipe it all out and go with Linux. I am already making those plans.
Good stuff...how much were the Noctua fans? I need to do something about my tower...it sounds like I am sitting next to an Abrams.
I think most of it is the video card, but I am nervous to mod it with a different fan or heatsink.
These are the 120mm fans I used: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608009
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You say you got Sapphire HD7950 but the link leads to HD7770. Which one did you get?
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You say you got Sapphire HD7950 but the link leads to HD7770. Which one did you get?
Oops. Wrong link. Fixed.
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Skuzzy
I got the EVGA z77 FTW mother board and I still am using my i5 2500k ... Tried the i7 2600k in it and it seemed to slow down ALOT. Can you suggest a good CPU for this MB????
CrazyLwn
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have had the antec 900 case for 6 years and it hasn't fried any components in all that time surprising they are still selling it! The huge top fan is the business as heat rises.
Am looking at a new board / processor / ram combo for a cheap fix up are there any advantages over the 2011 socket compared to 1155? Price wise the I7's are the same but the 1155 boards are half the price what gives?
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I tally that at a mere $3,090.65
Thats 3,307.00 if you live in New Jersey after sales taxes.
Damn cheapskate. LMAO
But you should be able to run a game of Pong or Stargate on that if you turn your in game graphic settings down and get maybe 20-25 FPS I wouldnt try to do much else with it if I were you though :neener:
Seriously though. Damn nice looking system. I see you did leave yourself open the option to OC though. Lets see how long you can resist LOL
Howd you like the modular PSU? I thought you werent a big fan of modular?
Not being critical. Just wondering
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have had the antec 900 case for 6 years and it hasn't fried any components in all that time surprising they are still selling it! The huge top fan is the business as heat rises.
Am looking at a new board / processor / ram combo for a cheap fix up are there any advantages over the 2011 socket compared to 1155? Price wise the I7's are the same but the 1155 boards are half the price what gives?
Bruv,
Not to be a smart azz, did you try google 2011 socket compared to 1155 I see there is many articles. I am sure thre is bits and pieces of info there. I imagine from jsut memory the 1155 will be cheaper.
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Skuzzy
I got the EVGA z77 FTW mother board and I still am using my i5 2500k ... Tried the i7 2600k in it and it seemed to slow down ALOT. Can you suggest a good CPU for this MB????
CrazyLwn
I really do not know anything about that motherboard. Sorry.
have had the antec 900 case for 6 years and it hasn't fried any components in all that time surprising they are still selling it! The huge top fan is the business as heat rises.
Am looking at a new board / processor / ram combo for a cheap fix up are there any advantages over the 2011 socket compared to 1155? Price wise the I7's are the same but the 1155 boards are half the price what gives?
I have no idea.
I tally that at a mere $3,090.65
Thats 3,307.00 if you live in New Jersey after sales taxes.
Damn cheapskate. LMAO
But you should be able to run a game of Pong or Stargate on that if you turn your in game graphic settings down and get maybe 20-25 FPS I wouldnt try to do much else with it if I were you though :neener:
Seriously though. Damn nice looking system. I see you did leave yourself open the option to OC though. Lets see how long you can resist LOL
Howd you like the modular PSU? I thought you werent a big fan of modular?
Not being critical. Just wondering
The power is so clean in these new generation power supplies, using modular plugs simply does not push the noise levels beyond acceptable levels anymore.
For anyone considering the motherboard I used, here are a couple of tips.
There are two small fans that come with the motherboard. Be sure to test fit the top one with your aftermarket CPU cooler before mounting it. Also, be sure to plug in all your SATA cables before mounting the motherboard in the chassis.
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:aok
Congrats on the newborn Skuzzy.
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My PC is dead :old:
So I will be getting a new one after christmas :old:
I have a HD6970 spare now :)
So what's the best card now on the scene ?
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My PC is dead :old:
So I will be getting a new one after christmas :old:
I have a HD6970 spare now :)
So what's the best card now on the scene ?
Depends on how you look at it. If you're prepared to pay 500 bucks extra the nvidia GTX690 is the fastest single card. AMD 7970 Ghz edition gives best bang for buck at top level.
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Depends on how you look at it. If you're prepared to pay 500 bucks extra the nvidia GTX690 is the fastest single card. AMD 7970 Ghz edition gives best bang for buck at top level.
I doubt you could see any significant difference with HD7970 compared to your "spare" HD6970. IIRC the #970 is the fastest model of its series anyway. The main differences between the flagships of 6000 and 7000 series might be support for some new feature that will never be used in any game. The HD8000 series is on its way to the market, so I'd build a new rig around the 6970 and wait until there really is need for a new card.
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I doubt you could see any significant difference with HD7970 compared to your "spare" HD6970. IIRC the #970 is the fastest model of its series anyway. The main differences between the flagships of 6000 and 7000 series might be support for some new feature that will never be used in any game. The HD8000 series is on its way to the market, so I'd build a new rig around the 6970 and wait until there really is need for a new card.
The 7970 has 50% higher memory bandwith and 40% higher texel rate. Those are not features that will never be used ;)
But I agree that you have to be extremely foolish with money or very wealthy to want an upgrade from 6970 using current games. He could go crossfire on the 6970 but for some reason I've always hated the whole idea. It brings variables into the system that I don't like. If problems arise (and they do) you'll be hard pressed to know what is caused by hardaware, drivers or just imcompatibility to SLI/Xfire.
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So my 6970 is still a good card?
I know nothing about pcs, it's 5 years old and I only found out its water cooled.
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So my 6970 is still a good card?
I know nothing about pcs, it's 5 years old and I only found out its water cooled.
The 6970 is a high-end card released less than 2 years ago.
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Do you have any beer money left Skuzzy? :devil
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Zack,
6970 ~ 7870 with a higher TDP. Absolutely not a bad card.
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Do you have any beer money left Skuzzy? :devil
I can manage to scrap some coin from the sofa cushions. I am pretty sure I have a stein with a hidden cache of change I have been tossing into for the last twenty years as well. Just have to remember where I put it when we moved.
Actually, I paid about 30% less than what the prices are now. Got it all during the Black Friday sales Newegg was having.
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I have to noctua NH-D14 too, it is awesome. I've read that there a couple better one, but they are difficult to find.
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The only reason I went with the Noctua sink was the fans. I have been impressed with the quality of all their fans. Super quiet and long lasting.
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Top 1% of gaming computers right there... not to mention you actually have the know-how to get the power out of it (Love the quad TB drives!).
PICS OF CASE!!!
(Also, can you run Aces full out? kekeke)
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Top 1% of gaming computers right there... not to mention you actually have the know-how to get the power out of it (Love the quad TB drives!).
PICS OF CASE!!!
(Also, can you run Aces full out? kekeke)
With vsync disabled and all the advanced options enabled, 2048 texture size, 2048 shadow texture, and the environmental slider at midpoint, the frame rate does not drop below 60FPS when flying in or around a B29.
It was a quick test. It probably needs to be tweaked if I really was able to fly online.
Not really built for gaming. It does rock for video editing though.
I have no way to post pictures. Have to be able to take them first. Then have to find a host for them. Blah, blah. Too much trouble.
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One other thing. The monitor I got is not really a good gaming monitor. I got it for color accuracy, which I need when editing video.
Most games today look pretty bad, when you run them on a properly calibrated monitor.
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Most games today look pretty bad, when you run them on a properly calibrated monitor.
:lol
Many websites too.
:lol
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With vsync disabled and all the advanced options enabled, 2048 texture size, 2048 shadow texture, and the environmental slider at midpoint, the frame rate does not drop below 60FPS when flying in or around a B29.
It was a quick test. It probably needs to be tweaked if I really was able to fly online.
Not really built for gaming. It does rock for video editing though.
I have no way to post pictures. Have to be able to take them first. Then have to find a host for them. Blah, blah. Too much trouble.
Nice setup Skuzzy,I opted for a 2700K to save a couple bucks and grabbed a 120g ssd but otherwise I have the same setup,oh I got a 902 case but it's almost the same.
I've been having issues with the 7950 tho,mine is an XFX unit with dual fans and with out self shadows on it runs fine but I'm getting artifacts and what looks like texture load issues.
I have the stock driver that can with it out of the box and to be honest I'm not sure of the version. What I'd like to know is if you have any of these issues or not and what solved the problem. Seems several others ingame are having some issues with the ATI cards ATM.
:salute
PS: seems to manifest itself when changing view,I use the hatswitch if that matters.
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Nice setup Skuzzy,I opted for a 2700K to save a couple bucks and grabbed a 120g ssd but otherwise I have the same setup,oh I got a 902 case but it's almost the same.
I've been having issues with the 7950 tho,mine is an XFX unit with dual fans and with out self shadows on it runs fine but I'm getting artifacts and what looks like texture load issues.
I have the stock driver that can with it out of the box and to be honest I'm not sure of the version. What I'd like to know is if you have any of these issues or not and what solved the problem. Seems several others ingame are having some issues with the ATI cards ATM.
:salute
PS: seems to manifest itself when changing view,I use the hatswitch if that matters.
This morning I did a quick 'walk through' of the game. No artifacts, and performance was smooth. I panned around a B29 on the runway. Changed the time of day to increase the shadows and never saw anything out of the ordinary at all.
I have no idea what version driver I installed. I used the one that came from Sapphire. I did do a custom install and left out several things. The HDMI audio driver and the Catalyst Control Center were not installed.
That HDMI audio driver can cause all manner of grief and the CCC sucks off 10 to 15 percent of the video performance just by installing it.
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Thx Skuzzy,
I disabled the HD audio as it was causing conflics with my soundcard but I have the CCC installed.
I didnt setup the machine as I'm just not qualified but I will have my tech guy look at that.
I was wondering about the driver version you're using,I read in tech support some guys have rolled back the drivers and are having better results. I'd thought I might have a bad card but it seems others using the 7series ATI cards are having the same or similar issues. Hopefully it's just a driver problem and it gets corrected soon,I was disappointed with the 7950 and wished I'd got an Nvidea card. But after seeing that I'm not alone hopefully the solution can be found.
:salute
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Awesome! Any pics!
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morfiend, I'll check to see what driver I have installed.
No pics. No way to make them.
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morfiend, the best I can come up with is the version of the driver as shown in DXDIAG.
Version: 8.982.0.0
Date: 7/27/2012 8:13:56 PM
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Top 1% of gaming computers right there... not to mention you actually have the know-how to get the power out of it (Love the quad TB drives!).
PICS OF CASE!!!
(http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/402/antec.png) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/717/antec.png/)
I built my desktop with the same case. The fans will cool a room on a hot day :lol
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morfiend, the best I can come up with is the version of the driver as shown in DXDIAG.
Version: 8.982.0.0
Date: 7/27/2012 8:13:56 PM
Thx Roy,I,ll check on mine and see if theres a difference.
:salute
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I know Windows 7 will never boot as fast as Windows XP did (for me), but I managed to get it under 10 seconds. I think that is about as good as I can get, from regular hard drives.
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8.982 is 12.8. They are up to 12.10 I think (and 12.11 in beta?). (12.8 is the latest that supports XP. I rolled mine back to 12.4 but I actually lost 6% performance so I went back to 12.8).
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Nice set up Skuzzy!
:aok
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8.982 is 12.8. They are up to 12.10 I think (and 12.11 in beta?). (12.8 is the latest that supports XP. I rolled mine back to 12.4 but I actually lost 6% performance so I went back to 12.8).
Thx for the clarifacation on the drivers 715,I was kind of scratching my head when Skuzzy said his driver was 8.982 as I'd been read that some were rolling back to 12.4 so I thought I might have to go all the way back to 9.0 or something..... :rofl
:salute
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One other thing. The monitor I got is not really a good gaming monitor. I got it for color accuracy, which I need when editing video.
Most games today look pretty bad, when you run them on a properly calibrated monitor.
You'll love it. Especially after you calibrate it. Color accuracy is excellent and gamut is just, well, a mile wide. Awesome ergonomics too
And you got it for damn nice price to top it off. A while back I paid over $2k for it. As for gaming, it won't ghost much but it does lag a bit, especially if you make a jump from CRT. Not a big issue though after you get used to it.
I'm looking to step up to PA30 in 16:10 which is my preferred aspect, I'll probably wait until price drops though.
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morfiend.Yes roll back to 12.4 and your issues will be gone.I had major cloud flickering issues and artifacts but all my problems are gone now with 12.4 drivers.Make sure you purge your old drivers with driver sweeper.
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You'll love it. Especially after you calibrate it. Color accuracy is excellent and gamut is just, well, a mile wide. Awesome ergonomics too
And you got it for damn nice price to top it off. A while back I paid over $2k for it. As for gaming, it won't ghost much but it does lag a bit, especially if you make a jump from CRT. Not a big issue though after you get used to it.
I'm looking to step up to PA30 in 16:10 which is my preferred aspect, I'll probably wait until price drops though.
The gray scales are near perfect and the lighting of the panel is flawless. I do not have any games installed on my computer. I cannot play Aces High as I do not have any space for a proper HOTAS setup.
I can make you a little more ill. Newegg had it on sale for 25% off the current price, when I bought it. Too good to pass up.