Some upgrades

[Devilguns]

Well here's my latest upgrades:
Asus Maximus III Gene Matx mobo
Intel i5-750 2.66ghz oc'd to 4.0 ghz.
2x MSI 460 GTX Hawk, Talon Attack version.
ABS 1050 watt PSU
Ram: Crucial Balistix Tracers, 1600, 4 gigs 2x2
Seagate 500 gig hd.
LG Sata DVD rom

Reused Components:
Thermaltake Shark Case
Zalan Reserator cooling system.

Some pics:









Overall this was probably the smoothest build I ever had, and the performance is pretty sweet. After the holidays I'd like to get a smaller case and a different cooling solution. The Asus board is pretty cool and clean looking. So weird to not have a north or south bridge.

[Skud]

Oooooo, sweet build!

[Caddys83]

/drool

I keep telling myself I need to get a spot fan but I always forget to order one What kind of cooling solution are you planing/looking to get?

[Devilguns]

I'm thinking of getting the Noctua NH-D14 Cooler, still researching air coolers. Those spot fans work well. I got that one from Best buy. They funny with the pricing. Sometimes it's $19.99 and some times it's $9.99.

[Duke{CLR}]

Any cooling issues with the top 460? I had some airflow issues which forced me to move my second card into the third slot which was no pci x 2.

[Devilguns]

It runs about 3 degrees Celsius warmer under load, nothing too crazy though. The coolers that are on them work really good. But they are loud, not like your typical fan noise. Like when your window in your house is open and a fifty mile an hour wind is rushing past. Like a constant WHOOOSH! Which 460s you have Duke?

[Duke{CLR}]

I have the 470's. I bought them a few months back and there are a few pics in this thread.
Cain's Lair Forums

By moving the bottom card down to the bottom slot I fixed the heat issue but I lost about %4 in FPS due to the bottom slot being a bit slower. With the latest drivers theses bad boys are performing so well that I will not notice it. Down the road I would like to experiment with water cooling and maybe I can get that small bit back.

[Devilguns]

Ahhhh, the 470 is a more powerful card. I think it runs almost 20c hotter than the 460. The ones I got from MSI don't use an Nvidia reference cooler. Instead of one blower wheel they have two fans with heat pipe configuration. That's a really cool setup Duke, wish they had this kind of power in back UT 2004 days.

[Duke{CLR}]

Thanks, i don't know if you were around when I built it but it's called the vasctomator. Basically the wifey took over my older rig to use it for her mundane PC activities but got mad when I made changes so i said you can have my rig OR my fertility but not both.

Here is thread original thread.

Cain's Lair Forums

[Devilguns]

Yeah I did miss your post Duke, I wound up missing out on gaming just about last 2 years, I didn't get to check the lair as much as I would have liked.

"The Vasctomator" Probably one of the best stories behind a PC build lol. But it did turn out awesome. Price inhibited me from going to a 1366 socket mother board, but I'm more than happy with the performance. Even not overclocked it buries my Core 2 Duo. I'll be happy if it lasts 2 two years.

Hows the performance on the Thermaltake cooler? I was eying that one too.

[Duke{CLR}]

Lol that CPU cooler looked nice but it didn't work out so well for me. I even tried lapping it as you can see in some pics in the post below below. I can send you mine real cheap if you want the give it a try. I ended up getting the Hyper 212 which works great and is inexpensive.

I think I need to lap my CPU or go with a liquid solution before I try for 4.0 + but for now I'm happy with 3.4 with over boost and HT enabled. The games barely touch this thing and the cores stay in the 50's.

Cain's Lair Forums
Cain's Lair Forums

[Apache Warrior]

Try the Corsair H50.

http://www.corsair.com/products/h50/default.aspx

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/rev...h50_cpu_cooler
Apache

[Devilguns]

That's good to know Duke. My proc hits 54c under Max load @4ghz. That Corsair looks neat Apache, might be an option too.

[Apache Warrior]

I have had mine for a while and it cools great, is silent and trouble free.
Apache