Buying parts one at a time, down to GPU/CPU/RAM!

[GoStumpy]

I wish, here in Canada that exact filter is $9.99 shipping :thumbsdown:

 

[lehtv]

Meh. Are there no canadian shops that offer free shipping on small items? Ebay?

 

[GoStumpy]

Wow, never thought about ebay.

Just bought one for $2.14cdn free shipping

 

[lehtv]

Shipped from Canada? Or Hong Kong?

 

[GoStumpy]

Haha, we'll see if it ever arrives :sneaky:

 

[GoStumpy]

On the upside, my XFX Radeon HD6850 XXX Edition arrived today What a sexy card!!

One thing that worries me is it says minimum 500w power supply... I hope my brand new Corsair CX430V2 can power it :'(

 

[Bryf50]

On the upside, my XFX Radeon HD6850 XXX Edition arrived today What a sexy card!!

One thing that worries me is it says minimum 500w power supply... I hope my brand new Corsair CX430V2 can power it :'(

I wouldn't worry about it. A 6850 isn't close to a power hungry card(only a single pcie connector). They only say 500w to idiot proof it.

 

[mfenn]

I wouldn't worry about it. A 6850 isn't close to a power hungry card(only a single pcie connector). They only say 500w to idiot proof it.

:thumbsup::thumbsup: They are just covering their asses so that people with crappy "500W" power supplies that can only output 250W or so don't complain.

 

[GoStumpy]

Thats what I was thinking... I see people post up systems much beefier than mine drawing 300-350w from the wall under load...

Took a pic of the filter in the front and the new video card installed:

 

[lehtv]

That does indeed look pretty nice on the red/black mobo.

 

[GoStumpy]

IT'S ALIIIVE!!

Booted up today with a spare HDD I had laying around, installing drivers etc.. now

WD Blue 1TB drive and Windows 7 Home, with 3 fans, all are on their way, but I can't wait

The stock intel heatsink is TINY! I'm gonna need something bigger just to fill the space

 

[mfenn]

LOL, yeah it is small. I don't think I've ever heard anybody complain about it before though! :awe: Glad that you are happy with the build so far.

 

[GoStumpy]

I received my 3 fans via Purolator today, installed and running Very quiet!

Setup is as follows:

2 120mm front intake
1 120mm side intake
1 120mm rear exhaust
1 140mm top exhaust

Temps at idle:
CPU: 29C
HDD: 19C
GPU: 33C

While racing in Race 07:
CPU: 39C
HDD: 21C
GPU: 44C

While racing in NFS: Shift2 with everything maxxed, AAx16
CPU: 46C
HDD: 21C
GPU: 57C

Finally got the GPU working a little bit! Still didn't hear the roar of the fan, so I don't think the GPU fan spun up much

 

[lehtv]

Very nice GPU temps! Love it. Now overclock it ;P. Or you could use Afterburner to make the fan even more silent at the cost of some temperature.

But your HDD is unhappy D:

 

[GoStumpy]

You could hear the HDD from there??? Man the HDD is loud... It's an old 80gb Seagate SATA drive that I was given from the IT department at work... It makes the famous HDD Crunching sounds

What did ya mean it's unhappy? Room temp not good enough for you? LOL

GPU is Overclocked with Afterburner, but not a ton..yet...

Definitely can't hear the GPU fan over the 5 case fans I got in there... LOL. I think a fan-controller might be a good investment, they're spinning at 2000rpm factory, I think 800rpm would be plenty for a non OC'd CPU

 

[lehtv]

What did ya mean it's unhappy? Room temp not good enough for you? LOL

I mean it's D: ... look at your post

5 fans at 2000RPM and you call your system "very quiet" ......?

Use your mobo to tone them down (if the mobo allows for voltage control...). You need splitters. Additinally you can attach directly to PSU and use 5V cables

 

[GoStumpy]

I see what you're gettin at now, hah.

The fans are the "19.whatever" db versions, basically the sound is just the air moving past them... I can put my hand 2 feet away and feel a good breeze, LOL.

Lowering voltage is key, right now they're directly plugged into the 12v Molex connectors... I don't think my Mobo has enough fan connections? Or just get a 3-pin fan splitter cable?

If the mobo doesn't have fan control I won't bother, but if it does...

 

[mfenn]

A fan splitter cable has the fans wired in parallel, so it doesn't change the voltage. To change the voltage, you do need something like what lehtv linked or a Molex to 3-pin adapter so that you can plug the fans into your mobo and let it control the speed.

 

[GoStumpy]

However, using a fan splitter may enable me to plug all 3 extra fans into a Mobo-powered fan-controllable socket, no? (The fans all have the 3 pin plug, and then a Molex adapter.

 

[lehtv]

Yes, if your mobo has two volt-controllable fan headers, 2 splitters will allow 4 fans to be controlled. If three headers, max 6 fans.

 

[mfenn]

Yes, if your mobo has two volt-controllable fan headers, 2 splitters will allow 4 fans to be controlled. If three headers, max 6 fans.

One thing to be careful about when you start adding a bunch of fans to a mobo header is to make sure that the max current draw of the fans doesn't exceed the rating of the header.

 

[lehtv]

Are those ratings even published by the manufacturer...?

 

[mfenn]

Are those ratings even published by the manufacturer...?

Not all of them. Sometimes it is silkscreened onto the board itself. A safe bet is to say under a couple of amps.

 

[GoStumpy]

Still haven't turned down the fans yet, but my god this thing is a BEAST!

Playing BF3 for a few days now, and the computer doesn't even really get warm!

Stock low-profile HSF, GPU @ 800core 1070mem
BF3@ 'Ultra' 1680x1050res

CPU Max temp: 48C

GPU Max temp: 57C

HDD Max temp: 24C

Mobo Max temp: 47C - I assume this is the north bridge?

 

[mfenn]

Temps look really good!

The mobo temp could be anywhere, but yeah the PCH is a likely spot. PCH instead of north bridge because technically speaking, the functions of the north bridge have been incorporated into the CPU itself.