System Specifications:
I. Processor/CPU:
Intel 3770k
II. Current Graphics Card:
Onboard intel 4000
III. Display Resolution:
via HDMI to the receiver and then to my 1920x1080 panasonic viera 54" plasma.
IV. Power Supply Unit Specification (Brand, Wattage, Ampage, Age).
Corsair HX650
V. Case Specifications(N/A, Model, Length, Low Profile, Cooling, HTPC, Water, Silent):
Silverstone FT03 - pic on page explains pretty well everything you need to know.
Spent literally days looking for a case I liked and that seemed to work. This gave me the small footprint needed if it couldn't sit in my home entertainment unit. I've stuck the following inside it:
Mobo: Asus Maximus V Gene
CPU: i3770k overclocked to 4.2
Cooling: Corsair H80i (at the top of the case working as exhaust)
RAM: Corsair Dominator Platinum 2133mhz 2x4GB
PSU: Corsair HX650
HDD: OCZ Vertex 4 (SSD) 256GB (additional storage handled by a Synology 8-bay NAS)
Purchase Details:
I. Budget? Please be sure to include currency (If not USD), retailer preferences & specify whether rebates are a viable option.
Guesstimating $200-250CDN but if I needed to spend the extra money to get something specific I would. Chances are $200-$250 will be more than enough I'm sure.
II. Any particular preferences (Manufacturer[nV or AMD], Brand[XFX, Sapphire, EVGA, etc], Cooling Solutions)? This is where it gets interesting. The case I have is fairly unique. Cooling isn't yet a factor or problem, but I'm not sure how a video card might change that. The manufacturer recommends a blower style card, but those seem to be far and few inbetween. Beyond that, I like nvidia more than AMD though I don't really have any great reasoning for that. I'm also a fan of Asus, but don't really have any specific reasoning for that other than I've had good luck with their products.
III. Do you plan to have any Multi-GPU solutions such as Crossfire or SLI?
No, a single card will be more than enough I'm sure.
IV. Have you previously looked at a product(s) which you feel would fit your needs?
I've been researching this for a few days now. I would happily buy an ASUS GTX 660 OC directu, I'm just slightly concerned about the cooling side of things.
V. What are your needs for this GPU? Which games(If any)do you intend to play? If you have this information at hand, what are the desired detail levels?
This will sound silly, but I'm not a huge gamer for the most part. Never really had a computer capable of much, but I'd like to have the option to play some games if I choose to dabble in this or that. It'll probably be more of a SimCity style game or Need for Speed, never an online game against other users. Whatever I do choose, I'd like to play at 1080P and have mid-high levels of detail.
VI. Do you plan on overclocking the card you intend to purchase?
Maybe a tiny bit, but it'll be a juggle between temps and performance. I just enjoy playing around with things to see what I can get it to do.
Additional Notes
So my biggest concern is temps. The pc sits behind my home theatre below my plasma and behind a bunch of other electronics. As it stands, the cpu is overclocked to 4.2ghz. The room temperature is generally around 21, but may be a bit diff on the floor behind the HT. At idle, it sits at the low 20's celcius. It runs at about 30C during normal usage of, browsing, office, streaming itunes, downloading, etc. During prime95 it'll average around 67-73C and peaked at 77C.
There are no real size concerns for the card, but the manufacturer of the case recommends a blower style card for heat reasons. I've looked for those, but the options seem to be fairly limited. I think I only found a couple one of which was the EVGA 660, which seemed alright, I just liked the ASUS better though.
Sound wise, the PC has 2 120mm fans, and the H80i has another 2 120mm fans trying to cool the radiator. It runs quiet enough for me - never really hear it.
So the big question then is, is a normal style graphics card which expels heat into the case going to raise my temps that much? I'm sure during most usage I won't be pushing the PC to the extremes that prime95 does, but I don't know that forsure - hence asking you guys. Is a blower style card smarter for my purpose? I've read they're louder and don't technically cool the gpu as well - which I can probably live with as I won't be OC'n it to get every last bit of performance out of it. I just feel limited on choices.
For anyone thats read this far, I appreciate your time and any comments advice you have to offer. If I missed any info, please let me know.
I. Processor/CPU:
Intel 3770k
II. Current Graphics Card:
Onboard intel 4000
III. Display Resolution:
via HDMI to the receiver and then to my 1920x1080 panasonic viera 54" plasma.
IV. Power Supply Unit Specification (Brand, Wattage, Ampage, Age).
Corsair HX650
V. Case Specifications(N/A, Model, Length, Low Profile, Cooling, HTPC, Water, Silent):
Silverstone FT03 - pic on page explains pretty well everything you need to know.
Spent literally days looking for a case I liked and that seemed to work. This gave me the small footprint needed if it couldn't sit in my home entertainment unit. I've stuck the following inside it:
Mobo: Asus Maximus V Gene
CPU: i3770k overclocked to 4.2
Cooling: Corsair H80i (at the top of the case working as exhaust)
RAM: Corsair Dominator Platinum 2133mhz 2x4GB
PSU: Corsair HX650
HDD: OCZ Vertex 4 (SSD) 256GB (additional storage handled by a Synology 8-bay NAS)
Purchase Details:
I. Budget? Please be sure to include currency (If not USD), retailer preferences & specify whether rebates are a viable option.
Guesstimating $200-250CDN but if I needed to spend the extra money to get something specific I would. Chances are $200-$250 will be more than enough I'm sure.
II. Any particular preferences (Manufacturer[nV or AMD], Brand[XFX, Sapphire, EVGA, etc], Cooling Solutions)? This is where it gets interesting. The case I have is fairly unique. Cooling isn't yet a factor or problem, but I'm not sure how a video card might change that. The manufacturer recommends a blower style card, but those seem to be far and few inbetween. Beyond that, I like nvidia more than AMD though I don't really have any great reasoning for that. I'm also a fan of Asus, but don't really have any specific reasoning for that other than I've had good luck with their products.
III. Do you plan to have any Multi-GPU solutions such as Crossfire or SLI?
No, a single card will be more than enough I'm sure.
IV. Have you previously looked at a product(s) which you feel would fit your needs?
I've been researching this for a few days now. I would happily buy an ASUS GTX 660 OC directu, I'm just slightly concerned about the cooling side of things.
V. What are your needs for this GPU? Which games(If any)do you intend to play? If you have this information at hand, what are the desired detail levels?
This will sound silly, but I'm not a huge gamer for the most part. Never really had a computer capable of much, but I'd like to have the option to play some games if I choose to dabble in this or that. It'll probably be more of a SimCity style game or Need for Speed, never an online game against other users. Whatever I do choose, I'd like to play at 1080P and have mid-high levels of detail.
VI. Do you plan on overclocking the card you intend to purchase?
Maybe a tiny bit, but it'll be a juggle between temps and performance. I just enjoy playing around with things to see what I can get it to do.
Additional Notes
So my biggest concern is temps. The pc sits behind my home theatre below my plasma and behind a bunch of other electronics. As it stands, the cpu is overclocked to 4.2ghz. The room temperature is generally around 21, but may be a bit diff on the floor behind the HT. At idle, it sits at the low 20's celcius. It runs at about 30C during normal usage of, browsing, office, streaming itunes, downloading, etc. During prime95 it'll average around 67-73C and peaked at 77C.
There are no real size concerns for the card, but the manufacturer of the case recommends a blower style card for heat reasons. I've looked for those, but the options seem to be fairly limited. I think I only found a couple one of which was the EVGA 660, which seemed alright, I just liked the ASUS better though.
Sound wise, the PC has 2 120mm fans, and the H80i has another 2 120mm fans trying to cool the radiator. It runs quiet enough for me - never really hear it.
So the big question then is, is a normal style graphics card which expels heat into the case going to raise my temps that much? I'm sure during most usage I won't be pushing the PC to the extremes that prime95 does, but I don't know that forsure - hence asking you guys. Is a blower style card smarter for my purpose? I've read they're louder and don't technically cool the gpu as well - which I can probably live with as I won't be OC'n it to get every last bit of performance out of it. I just feel limited on choices.
For anyone thats read this far, I appreciate your time and any comments advice you have to offer. If I missed any info, please let me know.
Last edited: