Looking to upgrade in the new year

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ntg

ntg

ntg

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My current setup is in my sig, but I'm looking to upgrade in the new year. I think all I'll keep is the AMD CPU as there's not much better in the market right now for what I need at a good price.

My priority is in a cool and quiet setup, without watercooling (too complex for my liking).

I want your help with the following:
a) mobo: which ones are good for my cpu
b) case: probably the most critical one, something quiet but with good enough fans to cool the following
c) 2 or 3x AMD 280 (will probably do a bit of crypto-currency mining). Which brands are the best in terms of temps and speeds?

I'm also thinking of upgrading my storage, is a 2x 3TB a good idea or will 3x 2TB be faster? Not sure how the platter densities work out these days. Of course I'll keep my current SSD for OS, don't think I can get much more speed by upgrading the SSD, any thoughts?
 
pipson said:
Budget?

Crosshair v formula z or sabertooth for motherboard sounds about right.
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Don't have a figure in mind at the moment, but I'd happily go for medium->top range.

However, is there any info on wether mobos for amd cpus would support future amd cpus? or will i be left with an expensive mobo and no upgrade path?

I'd say £150 for mobo, is that decent?

EDIT: wanted to mention that, if the AMD upgrade path is closed due to potential changes in cpu pins etc., I'm happy to go for intel if that offers more flexibility for the future (i.e. get a good mobo now and just change cpus in the future).
 
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Fallen god said:
Not sure which Mobo is best, but for the rest I would look at something like this.

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte Radeon R9 280X Rev2.0 WindForce 3X OC 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £275.99
1 x Antec P280 Super Midi Tower Case - Gun Metal Black £99.95
Total : £390.04 (includes shipping : £11.75).

Click to expand...

Agreed with the choices above.. excellent case and great GPU for the money..

For the motherboard id either go for the Formula V (Z).. or this motherboarD:

YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI 990FXA-GD80 AMD 990 FX (AMD AM3/AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard £139.99
Total : £149.59 (includes shipping : £8.00).



The reason for this over the Sabertooth is the PCI-E slot layout.. The sabertooth will force you too use slots 1,2 and 4 and your 3rd GPU will be hanging off the bottom of the motherboard, very near the PSU..

Whereas the MSI board is slots 1,2 and 3 like the Formula..

What CPU cooler do you have?
 
Also for 3 GPUS I think you might want to up the PSU, if your going to be doing a lot of Mining and you pay the bills it would be worth it to opt for a Gold PSU to help reduce the bills somewhat. I can't find the source but for a machine running 8hours a day a GOLD PSU paid for itself after 1 year, this off course can vary but if your machine is on closer to 24hours a day then it would help.

Not sure if you want to buy all 3 GPUS up front, or if you intend to get 1 then mine to get the rest, but something like this seems great.

YOUR BASKET
3 x Gigabyte Radeon R9 280X Rev2.0 WindForce 3X OC 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £275.99 (£827.97)
1 x Seasonic X-Series 1050w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £179.99
1 x MSI 990FXA-GD80 AMD 990 FX (AMD AM3/AM3+) DDR3 Motherboard £139.99
1 x Antec P280 Super Midi Tower Case - Gun Metal Black £99.95
Total : £1,264.39 (includes shipping : £13.75).

 
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ntg said:
Is the P280 considerably better from the 1200 (which I have at the moment)? The 1200 is quite noisy and not that cool when running at high loads tbh..
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The P280 is indeed a very quiet case and the cooling is excellent. You can of course add extra fans depending on your setup. I just got and installed the windowed panel and have not noticed any difference.
 
Doomedspeed said:
The P280 is designed to balance silence and cooling.. It will be far quieter than your 1200.

Any thoughts on my previous post?
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Thanks mate, sorry for taking long to reply but I was trying to find out what cpu cooler I've got.

I've got the Arctic Cool. Freezer 64 Pro. Not sure how good it is for today's standards, it's a 2008 cooler, if not earlier model.

I like the idea about the mobo that allows the gpu's to be spaced better.

Thanks again, I'll definitely look that option.

EDIT: Oh, and thanks for the PSU idea, I was actually just thinking that I'll need a new one.

EDIT2: Any comments on whether AMD or Intel has a better upgrade path??
 
Fallen god said:
Generally speaking AMD is much better at update paths compared to Intel which change sockets very 1-2 years.
Click to expand...

I see, thanks for that.

Is there any hint that next AMD cpu's will keep the same socket?

I suppose it's too soon to tell.
 
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