Thoughts on My Ivy Bridge Build?

[VitaX]

Here are the parts that I'm currently looking at for this build. Feel free to give other recommendations or criticism on the parts listed.

Motherboard (2 Options)

1. ASUS Maximus V FORMULA
2. ASRock Z77 OC Formula

Processor

Intel Core i7-3770K Ivy Bridge

CPU and Motherboard Explained
First off with the CPU and motherboard. I chose the i7-3770k Ivy Bridge chip because I'm not as much into gaming as I used to be in the past and think I'll benefit from the hyper-threading. If I game nowadays, its mostly Left 4 Dead, Counter-Strike, Team Fortress 2, and Dota. The reason I chose the ASUS Maximus V Formula, was because I currently have a ASUS motherboard and its done me well all this time. No real big issues and I believe ASUS is one of the most trusted motherboard manufacturers and at the top of the charts in reliability. Sure the board might be overkill for what I intend to do with it, but I believe there's always a chance for an SLI setup down the road. I listed the ASRock Z77 OC Formula, simply because of the relationship between them and ASUS and the great reviews its received on Newegg and on this website.

Heatsink (2 Options)

1. Noctua NH-D14
2. Thermalright Silver Arrow

Heatsink Explained
The heatsink options could very well be overkill. I do intend to overclock my chip, but how much will I overclock it remains unseen at the moment. I just listed two of the top air coolers that I know can perform at high standards. As for coolers in the mid-top tier range, I'm not so sure on what those may be.

Video Card (2 Options)

1. MSI Twin Frozr GeForce GTX 680 2GB
2. EVGA GeForce GTX 680 SuperClocked 2GB

Video Card Explained
As for the video cards, well that's slightly up in the air at the moment. I want a great GPU manufacturer, one that I know can be quite reliable. Now to go past that further, is AMD or NVIDIA the right choice for this? I'm not so sure myself. From what it seems, the top choices would be: GTX 680 2GB, GTX 670 4GB, and Radeon 7970 3GB.

Sound Card

HT | OMEGA CLARO

Sound Card Explained
To take note on the sound card: This is something I currently have with my build in my signature at the moment. I do not know how it performs against on board audio these days. I got it at the time because I am becoming more an of audiophile these days. To give you some idea of how much of an audiophile, well I'm currently debating two headphone options: Grado RS1i and Sennheiser HD650. I'll pick up an amplifier as well, either tube or solid state. I probably won't pick up a DAC at this point in time, that's why I figure my sound card is still useful.

Power Supply

SeaSonic X Series X-850

Power Supply Explained
The power supply is overkill with the current build. I know that I would be fine with a 750 Watt PSU, but I did have future proofing in mind when I was coming up with the parts listed here. It was either the Seasonic X-850 or Corsair HX750. But the nice feature about the 850 is that all the modular cables are nicely sleeved as compared to the ones of Corsair. That was what tipped me off into going with the Seasonic. Dumb reason perhaps, but I liked that feature.

Memory (2 Options)

1. G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3 1600
2. CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3 1600

Memory Explained
I will most likely not mess with overclocking the memory. It's too much of a hassle. Corsair and G.Skill are regarded as the best of the best, and after reading several threads on here about memory speeds and timings. I ended up with those two currently listed in the OP. On another note, is 2x8GB what I would want to go after these days as opposed to 4x4GB?

SSD (2 Options)

1. Crucial M4 256GB
2. OCZ Vertex 4 256GB

SSD Explained
Now as for the SSD, I've heard the most reliable SSD at the moment is the Crucial M4. That there were a lot of problems with the OCZ Vertex drives in the past. I still listed the OCZ drive just as a comparison to see what people's thoughts on each were. I had read some about the Samsung drives that have been listed here recommending it, but did not know much about the reliable as compared with the two drives listed. Is this perhaps the new top dog at the moment?

Hard Drive

Western Digital WD Black WD2002FAEX 2TB 7200 RPM

Hard Drive Explained
Now I have two hard drives at the moment. Two Samsung F3 1TB drives that have done me well. The reason I wanted to upgrade to a 2TB drive was because I was planning on giving my signature rig to family and building a new one of my own. I thought that having 1 drive that is 2TB would be more efficient than having 2 drives that are 1TB. Is this a good choice or not? I Guess I'll have to wait and read in the comments if someone remarks on this later. The drives I seem to trust the most these days are Samsung and Western Digital. I've heard very mixed things about Seagate drives in the past and how there products have just taken a turn and are not as high quality as they used to be. I heard that recently Seagate now manufacturers Samsung hard drives, so I was kind of straying away from Samsung drives now. Good choice or bad? Don't know yet.

Case

SilverStone Fortress Series FT02

Case Explained
I really love the Silverstone FT02 case for air cooling. It has been solid to me for the past two years and is a case of high quality.

Monitor

Dell UltraSharp IPS-panel U2410 Black 24" 6ms

Monitor Explained
The monitor issue is one of my biggest concerns at the moment. Do I want a monitor with a glossy finish or matte finish? What I really want in the end though, is something that is at least 1920x1080, around 23 to 24 inches wide, Sturdy build, and very easy on the eyes. Now the one I listed switches between 1920x1200 and 1920x1080, I thought that was a nice feature to be honest. But I'm sure there a lot of other monitors out there that I'm unaware of at this point in time. So feel free to recommend what you believe to meet the criteria above. To note, I didn't list the Dell U2412M because it is purely 16:10. I'm not sure how annoying that would be to deal with when watching 1080p videos, since you would have black bars due to the aspect ratio.

 

[lehtv]

Welcome to the forums. Please post answers to the questions in the sticky

Regarding 7., how far are you planning to OC?

Do you have a Microcenter nearby?

 

[VitaX]

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.

• Particularly it will be used for a mixed assortment of tasks that would range from watching videos and listening to music to gaming. Probably no 3D rendering of any kind, however I am an Engineering student at the moment. So the possibility of getting a student edition of a CAD program is possible.

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread

• $2250 +/- $250

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.

• United States

4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc.

• I'm preferable to Intel chips at the moment. I like Asus motherboards, but the new ASRock has caught my eye as well. nVidia or AMD, I'm not partial to one or the other for video cards at this point in time. However I am leaning more towards nVidia based on reviews. I tend to stay away from Seagate hard drives at the moment, I've heard some mixed things about them as of late. I think Corsair and Seasonic power supplies are probably the ones I prefer the most. G.Skill and Corsair for memory sticks seem quite reliable.

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.

• HT Omega Claro Sound Card

*

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.

• I will overclock the CPU for sure. Not so sure with the video card and highly doubtful I will OC the memory. I'd like to try and OC the 3770k to at least 4.5 GHz. I've heard people have gone further with no stability issues.

8. What resolution will you be using?

• I think I'm leaning towards 1920x1080 because that is more of a standard for watching HD video without having to deal with any black bars in the picture. The monitor I listed switches between 1920x1200 and 1920x1080, which I thought was a cool feature to have. Though that may be annoying if I'm having to switch in and out like that.

9. WHEN do you plan to build it?

• Later this week, if possible.

There is no Microcenter near me.

 

[lehtv]

At that budget, definitely get a 2560x1440 monitor. It's simply pretty pointless to spend $2000+ on a 1080p gaming rig, when you could spend less than $1500 and play all games near perfectly. But 2560x1440 increases the hardware requirements enough to make more sense to spend more. It also looks a lot sharper in games, allows for better multitasking on the desktop, and it's 16:9 just like HD movies.

Unfortunately, this means readjusting pretty much all of your parts choices, bear with me.

Monitor Dell U2713HM 27" 2560x1440 IPS $740. That leaves max. $1760 for the rig.

CPU i7-3770K $305
Heatsink Noctua D14 $81
Motherboard Asrock Z77 Extreme4 $135
RAM 2x4GB G.Skill 1600 $35
GPU 2x Sapphire 7970 3GB Dual-X $380 ($360 AR) = $760 ($720 AR)
Sound Reuse HT Omega Claro
SSD Intel 330 240GB $155 - best bang for buck among quality 240+ drives right now.
HDD Caviar Green 2TB $95 - this is fine when you SSD is large enough to fit all your games; although running games from 5400RPM works just fine too, in my experience. Depends on how anal you are about loading times, I guess.
DVD Need one? $18
PSU XFX 750W XXX $95 ($85 AR) - 80+ silver, semi-modular, manufactured by Seasonic
Case Silverstone FT02 - you're reusing this? If not: Antec Eleven Hundred $100 (70 AR)

Total: $2519 ($2439 AR), includes case and dvd-rw

 

[VitaX]

I am going to completely hand over my current build minus the sound card to my family. So I was going to buy another FT02 for my own use.

I have some minor remarks in regards to some of the parts you listed:

1. Why go with the Z77 Extreme4 and not Z77 OC Formula or Maximus V Formula?
2. Why did you list 2x4GB of RAM as opposed to 2x8GB?
3. I personally don't know if I will go crossfire/sli at this point in time.
4. I did want to go with the Samsung 830 series SSD, but they are sold out everywhere. I think Crucial M4 is the next best bet based on reviews and reliability in that market.
5. Is there a major difference between the Caviar Green and Caviar Black in terms of speed/performance?
6. Are there any other good manufacturers of IPS monitors at this point in time besides Dell? Just curious, as I've been searching around trying to compare.
7. Whats your opinion on 16:10? Is it obsolete compared to 16:9 these days? What I mean by that is, do most people prefer 16:9 when gaming, watching videos, etc...

 

[lehtv]

1. It seems to me you only need Sli/Crossfire compatibility and good overclockability. Asrock Z77 Extreme4 offers those and it's well reviewed and good quality. How do you think the more expensive boards would benefit you?

2. Gaming doesn't benefit from more than 8GB. CAD and similar may benefit from 2x8GB and if you decide to use such applications, you can simply buy more RAM if it turns out 8GB isn't enough. RAM is cheap though so I'm not going to fault you for going 2x8GB; I was just trying to free up cash for the 2560x1440 + Crossfire setup.

3. 2560x1440 will need SLI/Crossfire to run all games smoothly. But even a single 7970 will get OK performance if you're willing to turn settings down, especially if you OC it. If you're sure you don't want to crossfire yet, you can either simply remove one 7970 from the build and upgrade to 7970 CF or a next gen card later, or additionally change the monitor to Dell U2412M $297. Up to you.

4. They're both good, pick whichever you like. I'd pick the cheaper Intel drive, it's fast and reliable.

5. Yes, the Black is faster. But with an SSD, hard disk performance is secondary. Your OS and programs and almost all games will reside on the SSD. What does matter is cost per gigabyte - the Caviar Green is $55 less expensive. It is easily fast enough for regular storage duty (videos, music, etc.), and if necessary, running games off of it will work just fine (personal experience).

6. Asus makes some cheap 23-24" IPS panels that are quite good. In 27" 1440p IPS, Dell U2713HM is the best choice. But there's also a no-frills Auria EQ276W for only $400 from Microcenter, for the budget oriented.

7. Obsolete, no - arguably it's still better for multitasking or reading or whatever you do that isn't watching movies. I don't really have a personal preference either way though - I wouldn't really mind the black bars, and for me 1080 vertical pixels are just fine as well.

Regarding the FT02, I think it simply makes more sense to spend on other components when working with a set budget. It's just a case, it will not impact your PC's performance or reliability over a $70 Antec 1100.

 

[VitaX]

Simply put, I don't think the more expensive boards would benefit me. I just initially built the system around the budget that I have at the time being. And after reading a good amount of reviews and threads on motherboards, I came across those two as good comparisons to one another. If you could perhaps explain what the differences are between the Z77 OC Formula and Z77 Extreme4, that might give me some more insight on the subject matter.

I was curious about the RAM orientation at first because I wasn't sure if it would indeed stress the memory controller too much if I filled up all the slots with RAM. That was why I strayed away from the 2x4GB sets and went to look at 2x8GB instead. Because in the end I think I am more attracted to the idea of having 16GB of RAM since I do tend to have a lot of programs opened at once.

That's good to know, I wasn't exactly sure if sli/crossfire was indeed needed to run a 2560x1440 monitor smoothly. Is there any reason why you listed AMD GPUs as opposed to ones from nVidia?

The U2713HM does sound promising to me now, but I guess if I go that route, I'll have to rethink a lot of my parts like you have said and listed already. Hmmmm...

 

[lehtv]

If you could perhaps explain what the differences are between the Z77 OC Formula and Z77 Extreme4, that might give me some more insight on the subject matter.

Z77 Extreme4 - Z77 OC Formula
Narrow ATX - Extended ATX (neither is standard ATX width)
Two PCI slots - only PCIe slots
Four 6gb/s ports - six 6gb/s ports
4 USB 3.0 in the rear - six USB 3.0 in the rear
8-phase CPU power - 12-phase CPU power

Oddly, OC formula lacks VGA, DVI-D and eSATA connectivity. But it has enthusiast overclocker features to compensate, which you can see listed on the newegg page. For any reasonable clocks that you may achieve with air cooling, the Z77 Extreme4 will do fine. OC Formula also looks better and is bundled with a front USB 3.0 panel.

That's about it. There's no particular reason to believe the more expensive board is of better workmanship or quality control or reliability.

That's good to know, I wasn't exactly sure if sli/crossfire was indeed needed to run a 2560x1440 monitor smoothly. Is there any reason why you listed AMD GPUs as opposed to ones from nVidia?

Yes. Performance-wise, 7970 is equal or better than GTX 670. But GTX 670 is offered in 2GB and 4GB variants - 2GB is not really enough for 2560x1440, while the 4GB model is considerably more expensive than a 7970. The 7970 strikes a better balance for this resolution in terms of cost, performance and VRAM.

 

[Termie]

Let me just chime in here to second lehtv's recommendation on the motherboard - it used to be that you had to spend over $200 to get a full-featured motheboard. That's no longer true. The ~$300 motherboard you were looking at is really just useful for extreme overclockers. You can get all the functionality in the AsRock Extreme4.

Now, as for the graphics subsystem, well, I do agree that a 27" monitor is a nice thing to have in that price range. That being said, given the games you listed, I think it would actually be a mistake to buy dual HD7970s at this time. A single 7970 could run all your games at 100fps all day long at 1440p. Now, a year from now, if you've gotten back into hardcore gaming with brand-new games, then by all means, pick up a second 7970 for cheap. But don't do it now.

On the SSD front, the Samsung 830 256GB is no longer made. The replacement is the 840 Pro (not the 840), but it's much more expensive. The Crucial is OK, but pretty slow compared to the latest drives. I guess I'd go for the Vertex 4 (which was just replaced by the Vector), but honestly, in your budget, I think I'd spring for the faster drives (the 840 Pro or the Vector), rather than pick up last year's top drives.

And by the way, I'd get 16GB of RAM. It's cheap, and yes, in some instances (not gaming), it does help. I use more than 8GB when editing RAW images, and you'll probably do so with the CAD software. And yes, 2x8GB is a bit less stress on the memory subsystem, but the sticks themselves generally don't have the same specs as 4x4GB sticks at the same price. So as to overclocking, it's a wash, but since you're not interested in that, you won't be stressing the memory at all.

 

[lehtv]

Now, as for the graphics subsystem, well, I do agree that a 27" monitor is a nice thing to have in that price range. That being said, given the games you listed, I think it would actually be a mistake to buy dual HD7970s at this time. A single 7970 could run all your gamse at 100fps all day long at 1440p. Now, a year from now, if you've gotten back into hardcore gaming with brand-new games, then by all means, pick up a second 7970 for cheap. But don't do it now.

You're right. The games he listed aren't demanding - all the more reason to go for the high resolution display.

 

[runzwithsizorz]

I am also building a gaming computer, though my budget is less than yours. I chose the Asus P8Z77 Pro just because I really like the Asus brand and have had several in the past with no problems at all.However, to get a PCI 16x16 for crossfire/sli, the Asus mobos are more expensive than the one I bought. Also, when choosing a case, make sure it has a USB 3.0 connection. As for monitors, I'm also kind of in a quandary, because I am not close to a Microcenter or Frys. so cannot actually see the monitors in person. However, from all the reviews ( not always reliable), I am leaning towards either a Dell or Asus IPS screen, though I am also considering the Asus VE278Q, a TN screen. As for hard drive, I have always liked Western Digital, mainly because of their excellent RMA service if you should get a bad one. I think I would go for the WD black series, just because they are faster than the green, and not that much more expensive. (1 TB for around 109.00). Good luck with your build.

Wife of Runz

 

[lehtv]

I really have the disagree about the Caviar black not being much more expensive. $110 for 1TB Black versus $95 for 2TB Green... That's over twice as much per gigabyte, for a marginal improvement in performance in an SSD system.

 

[Termie]

I really have the disagree about the Caviar black not being much more expensive. $110 for 1TB Black versus $95 for 2TB Green... That's over twice as much per gigabyte, for a marginal improvement in performance in an SSD system.

Agreed.

But the Green drives are pretty slow - unless there is a need for 2TB of storage, a 1TB Caviar Blue drive is probably the right choice.

I would only use the Green drive for media storage or backup, not for applications and certainly not for an OS.

The Black drives are, unfortunately, a complete ripoff. At one time (over a year ago), they were around $70. I like WD and all, but I can't recommend those drives anymore.

 

[lehtv]

Yeah I understand your reservations about putting any apps on the Green drive but I've had games on both my Caviar Green 1TB and my Samsung F4EG 2TB. Pretty much the only games I've noticed that that actually benefit from being installed on an SSD are online games like BF3 and PlanetSide 2, and Skyrim.

 

[VitaX]

Well I currently have two Samsung F3 1TB drives. They have done me well. I was contemplating either getting a WD or Samsung drive for this build. But I heard rumors that when people who ordered the Samsung F4EG 2TB drive, what they received was a drive not from Samsung, but from Seagate. Which I guess is due to the fact that Seagate recently bought out Samsungs HDD division. But that makes me a bit wary of their drives now.

Termie, I noticed that from your signature you have the Dell U2713HM monitor. How do you like it so far? I'm assuming it is probably comparable to the U2410 monitor, just a larger screen and 2560x1400 resolution. I've heard people have a lot of problems with this anti-glare coating on these monitors. How is it for you?

On the SSD front, I thought a lot of people are wary of OCZ drives at the moment due to the past complications and issues in the past with Vertex 3 drives. Is the Samsung 840 a reliable drive as I've heard the 830 was in the past? And are we talking the 840 or 840 Pro?

If just going for one GPU with that monitor at this point in time, which would you go for: GTX 670 2GB/4GB, GTX 680 2GB, Radeon 3GB 7970, or something else?

Do either of you know if Seasonic sleeves all their cables and not just the motherboard connector, cpu connector, and video card connector? When looking through their different power supplies, I noticed the 850W had all cables sleeved but the 750W didn't. Perhaps the picture on Newegg is old but that made me wonder a little bit.

 

[Termie]

Well I currently have two Samsung F3 1TB drives. They have done me well. I was contemplating either getting a WD or Samsung drive for this build. But I heard rumors that when people who ordered the Samsung F4EG 2TB drive, what they received was a drive not from Samsung, but from Seagate. Which I guess is due to the fact that Seagate recently bought out Samsungs HDD division. But that makes me a bit wary of their drives now.

Termie, I noticed that from your signature you have the Dell U2713HM monitor. How do you like it so far? I'm assuming it is probably comparable to the U2410 monitor, just a larger screen and 2560x1400 resolution. I've heard people have a lot of problems with this anti-glare coating on these monitors. How is it for you?

On the SSD front, I thought a lot of people are wary of OCZ drives at the moment due to the past complications and issues in the past with Vertex 3 drives. Is the Samsung 840 a reliable drive as I've heard the 830 was in the past?

If just going for one GPU with that monitor at this point in time, which would you go for: GTX 670 2GB/4GB, GTX 680 2GB, Radeon 3GB 7970, or something else?

Do either of you know if Seasonic sleeves all their cables and not just the motherboard connector, cpu connector, and video card connector? When looking through their different power supplies, I noticed the 850W had all cables sleeved but the 750W didn't. Perhaps the picture on Newegg is old but that made me wonder a little bit.

A few thoughts:

(1) you have 2x1TB drives right now but want to give away your computer. How much space do you realistically need? More than 1TB for yourself, assuming you have a 256GB SSD for the OS? Certainly a single 2TB green drive is way more efficient than two 1TB drives - the average 7200rpm drive idles at between 5 and 7w, whereas my Samsung 2TB uses about 3w. But that's not enough of a reason to get rid of perfectly working drives - at least not both of them.

(2) the anti-glare isn't bad on the 2713, but I haven't compared it to the recent Dell's like the 2410. My old 2408 didn't have anti-glare, so it's a new thing for me. It certainly doesn't have glare, but I did notice a cross-check pattern on solid white images that comes from the coating, I believe. If you have specific questions, just let me know.

(3) The Vertex 4 is better than earlier OCZ models in regards to quality. The Samsung 840 pro is probably going to be top-notch in quality, and it's faster. Take your pick based on budget.

(4) All my Seasonic cables are sleeved, but I've read here that new units are shipping with flat cables. Not a big deal IMO.

(5) The HD7970 is the best value right now in high-end VGAs. Well, except perhaps for the 7950 when it's on sale.

 

[VitaX]

What you say about the hard drives is certainly true. I guess why I wanted to hand both over was because I think in my mind I preferred to store everything I had on one drive. It would essentially make finding stuff a bit easier rather than dispersing things out among two drives. Lazy I know. I guess to save some money at the moment, I could cut out buying a new drive completely at this point in time, and run wit the 256 GB SSD, and 2x1TB Samsung F3 drives for now. I currently use the 120GB OCZ Vertex II SSD but I've been very low on space lately (Only have 5GB left). So that was why I want to upgrade to the 256GB Version. I just remembered thanks to your comment as well that I also have an old WD640 laying around that I could hook up to this PC when I pass it on. So I guess in the end that would be the optimal choice at this point in time. Doing this will certainly save me some money and help me decide if I truly do want to go with the U2713 as opposed to the U2410 as a monitor.

As for the power supply, if you end up running sli/crossfire in the future, would you suggest at least a 750W if not an 850W to run that system? Is there a certain manufacturer you recommend for the 7970 card series? I'm not too familiar with the manufacturers for AMD as I am for nVidia.

 

[mfenn]

You've gotten good advice from lehtv and Termie so far. They've steered you away from your initial build (which was very misguided) and towards a much more cost-efficient one.

As for the power supply, if you end up running sli/crossfire in the future, would you suggest at least a 750W if not an 850W to run that system? Is there a certain manufacturer you recommend for the 7970 card series? I'm not too familiar with the manufacturers for AMD as I am for nVidia.

750W is plenty for 7970 Crossfire, you'll still have over 100W in reserve. Anything else out of the current-gen crop of parts will use less power. As for AIB manufacturers, they're pretty much all fine IMHO. Get the least expensive card with a dual-fan cooler.

 

[mfenn]

Monitor

Dell UltraSharp IPS-panel U2410 Black 24" 6ms

Monitor Explained
The monitor issue is one of my biggest concerns at the moment. Do I want a monitor with a glossy finish or matte finish? What I really want in the end though, is something that is at least 1920x1080, around 23 to 24 inches wide, Sturdy build, and very easy on the eyes. Now the one I listed switches between 1920x1200 and 1920x1080, I thought that was a nice feature to be honest. But I'm sure there a lot of other monitors out there that I'm unaware of at this point in time. So feel free to recommend what you believe to meet the criteria above. To note, I didn't list the Dell U2412M because it is purely 16:10. I'm not sure how annoying that would be to deal with when watching 1080p videos, since you would have black bars due to the aspect ratio.

I know that the discussion has moved away from this monitor, but it's important to clear up this misunderstanding. The Dell U2410, like all monitors capable of 1920x1200 is a 16:10 monitor. Just because it can natively display 16:9 resolutions does not mean that the monitor somehow magically changes its physical aspect ratio. You'll still get letterboxing (black bars) when watching 16:9 content.

 

[VitaX]

mfenn, thanks for that information. I wasn't aware of that fact, and does make me sway more towards the U2713HM now. Which I guess for what I'll using it for, one powerful GPU should be enough as long as its 3GB or more on memory is what I'm understanding.

Termie, did you order your Dell U2713HM from Dell's website or some other online dealer like Newegg or Amazon? Reason I ask is because I heard that if you order from Dell's site, if you receive a monitor with just one dead pixel, they will replace the monitor no questions asked. Not sure if the support is like that else well. Caught my attention nonetheless. Also, do you ever have issues with IPS Glow?

By the way, do you always want 2 fans on your video card, be it nVidia or AMD? Does the extra one really help bring your temps down?

 

[Termie]

mfenn, thanks for that information. I wasn't aware of that fact, and does make me sway more towards the U2713HM now. Which I guess for what I'll using it for, one powerful GPU should be enough as long as its 3GB or more on memory is what I'm understanding.

Termie, did you order your Dell U2713HM from Dell's website or some other online dealer like Newegg or Amazon? Reason I ask is because I heard that if you order from Dell's site, if you receive a monitor with just one dead pixel, they will replace the monitor no questions asked. Not sure if the support is like that else well. Caught my attention nonetheless. Also, do you ever have issues with IPS Glow?

By the way, do you always want 2 fans on your video card, be it nVidia or AMD? Does the extra one really help bring your temps down?

I'll respond to your questions about the 2713 in a PM, as they are pretty technical.

As for fans on the video card, typically a dual fan card is going to run cooler and quieter, but will not be designed to push hot air out the back of the case. You just have to prioritize which is more important to you.

 

[tweakboy]

I'll respond to your questions about the 2713 in a PM, as they are pretty technical.

As for fans on the video card, typically a dual fan card is going to run cooler and quieter, but will not be designed to push hot air out the back of the case. You just have to prioritize which is more important to you.

All you need is 75 percent fan speed on both fans. for a total of aabout 70CFM ........ you need to use speedfan ..... or somethingl..

 

[lehtv]

As for fans on the video card, typically a dual fan card is going to run cooler and quieter, but will not be designed to push hot air out the back of the case. You just have to prioritize which is more important to you.

I haven't found a large difference in GPU temperatures with three case fans on low instead of four fans on high. I can only assume that 200 watts of heat, over half of which is going inside the case, is easy to take care of with just one exhaust fan in the rear/top of the case.

However, two OC'd 7900 series cards are a different story. I would just recommend getting a well cooled case and two dual/triple fan cards. Overall noise and heat levels will be lower than with two single-fan cards.

 

[mfenn]

I'll respond to your questions about the 2713 in a PM, as they are pretty technical.

What does this even mean? Isn't this a technical forum?

 

[Sleepingforest]

mfenn, thanks for that information. I wasn't aware of that fact, and does make me sway more towards the U2713HM now. Which I guess for what I'll using it for, one powerful GPU should be enough as long as its 3GB or more on memory is what I'm understanding.

Termie, did you order your Dell U2713HM from Dell's website or some other online dealer like Newegg or Amazon? Reason I ask is because I heard that if you order from Dell's site, if you receive a monitor with just one dead pixel, they will replace the monitor no questions asked. Not sure if the support is like that else well. Caught my attention nonetheless. Also, do you ever have issues with IPS Glow?

By the way, do you always want 2 fans on your video card, be it nVidia or AMD? Does the extra one really help bring your temps down?

Dell says here that they'll replace your Ultrasharp monitor if it has any bright pixels and/or 6+ dark pixels.

As for the video card question:

Edit: Poked around some threads here some more, and found that the above isn't quite true. It can be more easily summarized like this:

Aftermarket cooling pros:

-more effective at cooling
-less noisy at load
-"look" better
-overclock better, on average

Aftermarket cons:

-slightly more expensive
-not a good choice for tri or quad sli
-have to ensure great case airflow if using 2 or more cards


Reference design pros:
- better for tri/quad sli
-most economical choice, all other things equal

Reference cons:
-louder on average
-worse overclockers on average


I have MSI lightning 680s and would not trade them for anything. I think for overclocks, aftermarket cards are fantastic unless you're doing something crazy like tri or quad sli. I think for most people, aftermarket cards are the best if a budget allows - I would have a hard time going back to a ref card!