Time for an upgrade

[slasher0161]

The itch to do some upgrades has been striking up, I would like some input on what people consider the better option.
1) dump my 7870xt into my htpc so it can game when mates come around for a gaming session and drop a gtx 780 into my rig (was looking at a card with reference design to drop a block onto it later).
2) Butcher case and put a custom loop in (240x80mm rad in top, 360x80mm rad in front (full new drive cage assembly would be required as well as adding increasing case hight and cutting out front panel and rebuilding that [would take a while to happen as currently my shed is populated by a ute that is halfway through an engine rebuild]).
3) Buy a new case and custom loop (similar rad set up to option 2)

At the moment i'm leaning more to the side of the loop only because i'm curious to see these amd chips that are apparently coming end of the year.
What is everyones thoughts and also if option 3 some case recommendations.

[Deleted]

Hard to give solid advice, personally I would go for the GTX 780 rather than watercooling. Building a watercooling system is going to cost a pretty penny and it's never going to be "worth it" if observed by how much performance increase you got per dollar than buying a better performing component. But then again it's a hobby, and if you enjoy the tinkering, go for it.

[Deleted]

If you are curious about AMDs new cards I would go for the WC loop with new case (option 3), or atleast the WC loop.

And than wait till AMD launches their new cards.

[ebah]

If you are curious about AMDs new cards I would go for the WC loop with new case (option 3), or atleast the WC loop.

And than wait till AMD launches their new cards.

AMD series launching in q4 2013?

[Toffie]

They will be launching in October, right before BF4 launch on October 31.

[slasher0161]

Well i'm still tossing up, been looking at cases and thus far only corsair obsidian series 650D, 900D and 350D (though this would require a change of mobo as well) and the NZXT switch 810 have caught my interest in cases that out of the box suit my needs which at the $200+ price point I kind of would like. Does anyone else have any ideas?

[Deleted]

I've had a thorn up my side for ages about custom watercooling, it's cool. That's pretty much it, sure it can keep lower temps but what's the point to cool it to roomtemp? I've got a closed waterblock for my CPU, which made a diffrence but looking back the only "advantage" is a few db lower, and I mean a few. The waterblocks are like MADE to be filled up with dust.

Second, AMD is a cheap-skate company, what I mean is that their products are well priced, or cheap even, however their technology hasn't really advanced that much in recent years. It's basically, add 2 more cores every other year, while you slowly tune it from 2.5ghz and over two years end up at 3.8.

Now, they ARE better value for money. However, take theese facts into consideration: You limit yourself to dual-channel memory, whereas intel based boards allow up to QUAD-channel, this will not be something you would notice daily however so lets move on. Intel has ALWAYS had lower temps, and not just a little. I used to have a AMD cpu, it too was watercooled, and still it never, not even when the parts were new, dip below 50c while idle, now to put that into perspective I did the same thing with my current cpu, Intel i7 3820 with intel's own liquid cooling opposed to coolermaster last time around (for the amd). After 12 hours using benchmarks to push the CPU to 100%, the temps varied between 55-57, however the flucuation was most likley due to external factor and/or a poor sensor. I'm pretty sure it was more or less 57 all the time.


What I am saying is, if you're serious about your build go intel. However, if you're short on money, or simply wouldn't like to spend 1400$ on a complete rig, go for AMD (should add they own ATI)

[slasher0161]

I wasn't meaning AMD cpu, if I did a cpu upgrade it would be to haswell and not for performance increase but purely for the z87 chipset. I was talking about the gpu side of things there. The reason for the custom loop is I want to test the limits of my chip and unfortunately I don't have easy access to LN2 (dry ice I can get but only in limited quantity), if I get 5ghz out of my 3570k and have to throw 1.5v to achieve it and it dies in 12months time because I burnt it out I wouldn't be phased. I will also be delidding when putting the loop in. I'll need to do some more research for now and some more crunching / reshuffling finances however at the moment the setup is looking to be something like this.

NZXT switch 810 - $200 AUD
XSPC raystorm cpu block - $60 (possibly copper edition which is $110)
Alphacool UT60 full copper 360mm rad - $100
Alphacool Monsta 240mm rad - $90
Phobia balancer 150 - black nickle res - $40
Koolance d5 pump - $90
tubing (3/4 OD 1/2 ID) ~$40
Compression fittings x8 ~$70
Noctua NF-F12 x5 - $150 (Place holder for now, may use other fans)

Total ~$840 AUD before postage of roughly $100

360 rad in roof, 240 in floor.

[Deleted]

Second, AMD is a cheap-skate company, what I mean is that their products are well priced, or cheap even, however their technology hasn't really advanced that much in recent years. It's basically, add 2 more cores every other year, while you slowly tune it from 2.5ghz and over two years end up at 3.8.

Now, they ARE better value for money. However, take theese facts into consideration: You limit yourself to dual-channel memory, whereas intel based boards allow up to QUAD-channel, this will not be something you would notice daily however so lets move on. Intel has ALWAYS had lower temps, and not just a little.

They went with a complete new architecture, in which modules are used. In these modules are 2 cores which share certains things. Turned out, it doesnt work all that good in the single core department.

Intel also just have dual channel on their "mainstream" line (1155/1150). Quad channel is only used on the 2011 platform.

AMD does run with some higher temps I think. But their Tmax is lower.