Help Upgrade HTPC to High Spec Gaming Machine Ready for Oculus Rift!

Leprechaun312 · 19 Apr 2013 at 12:58

Killer Nads said:
ok i think ive sort of shortlisted that i want to go for this case:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-127-SV

It does mean that i will have to sell my bluray drive and buy a slim one though

But i dont really see any other sensible choice.

Then i can atleast have the best GPU card which will be future proof also for atleast sometime. This case also comes with the 450w PSU, is this going to be enough to run all top end cards such as 7950 or do i need a 500w PSU?

thanks

450w "should" be ok i can run crossfire on my 7850s (2 7850s in the one pc) with an i7 3770k on a 500w so an i5 and 1 7950 should be fine on a 450w psu, looking at psu calculator you will only need 345w and you ahve another 100 on top of that so it should be ok

Killer Nads · 19 Apr 2013 at 13:04

ok thanks.

Now that case is decided, how about cooling and noise? Do you think it should be ok with this case?

Leprechaun312 · 19 Apr 2013 at 13:13

emm well i dont know about the fans, i suppose you could get the case and if the fans are too loud then you could order some quieter ones although the graphics card cause some more noise when gaming but when your gaming you shouldn't hear it. cooling wise if you need an new cpu cooler http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-105-TR it will give you just about enough room with the pci slot being so close to the cpu and also will fit into the case aswell

Killer Nads · 19 Apr 2013 at 13:18

Leprechaun312 said:
emm well i dont know about the fans, i suppose you could get the case and if the fans are too loud then you could order some quieter ones although the graphics card cause some more noise when gaming but when your gaming you shouldn't hear it. cooling wise if you need an new cpu cooler http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HS-105-TR it will give you just about enough room with the pci slot being so close to the cpu and also will fit into the case aswell

OK cool, whats your take on this? Do i need this cooler? or would i be fine without it? Cause of the new case im already having to stretch towards the £500 mark, where as earlier i only wanted around the £300 range.

But if i need it then i guess i dont have a choice. The only thing is im not so sure if i definetly need this or not? The htpc is in a somewhat closed off cabinet with some open spaces around for air flow.

Leprechaun312 · 19 Apr 2013 at 13:20

not essential but i would recommend it although you can do without

Killer Nads · 19 Apr 2013 at 13:24

Leprechaun312 said:
not essential but i would recommend it although you can do without

ok thanks, so is the 7950 the best one for me to go for? or is there a better one at slightly higher price? Even if its a nvidia one??

Leprechaun312 · 19 Apr 2013 at 13:29

well the 670s up are better but your payint over 300 pounds a 7950 will suit your needs and future proof for a good few years

Killer Nads · 19 Apr 2013 at 13:45

im assuming by 670s you mean the nvidia series?

Yeah the gtx670 goes to atleast £270-320, how does the gtx660 compare with the ati 7950?

The thing is that im not sure if the 7950 will fit inside this case either?! It looks massive!

Leprechaun312 · 19 Apr 2013 at 13:54

for a 7950 there should be enough room as for the 660 vs 7950 the 7950 is better

Leprechaun312 · 19 Apr 2013 at 14:07

http://anandtech.com/bench/Product/550?vs=660 ironically the 660 beats the 7950 in bf3 which is an AMD driven game although I believe those results for the AMD card get better with the new hips update and the 7950 does beat the 660

Edit this is done on my phone sorry for the errors

Leprechaun312 · 19 Apr 2013 at 14:07

*drivers not hips

Killer Nads · 19 Apr 2013 at 15:52

How sure are you about the 7950 being better then the 660 Ti, those benchmark results show the 660 being quite a lot better then the ati for the major games such as Skyrim, portal, bf3 amongst others. Another benefit i see from the nvidia is the noise level seems a little bit less on this?!

Also the price of the 660 Ti is less then the Ati card!

Thanks

Leprechaun312 · 19 Apr 2013 at 16:13

this was before the 7950 got a driver update before it under performed but the new driver update http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/Catalyst_12.11_Performance/23.html

find radeon 7950 12.11 catalyst you'll see it is above the 660 whereas before it was on the same level also if you overclock it you will get more fps out of it

Killer Nads · 19 Apr 2013 at 16:31

hmm.... In this analysis i see:

7950 = 86%
660 Ti = 91%

Only the 7950 catalyst (whatever that is) is ahead with 92% (just 1% more) - which sounds to me that the nvidia one is on top? (obviously i might be wrong as i dont know about these cards and am learning for the first time).

I understand that the 7950 can be overclocked for higher fps, but then that works both ways right? Surely the nvidia can also be over clocked. To be honest im not sure i would over clock them considering they might get a lot louder and hotter that way.

Leprechaun312 · 19 Apr 2013 at 16:34

the anandtech link i gave, those benchmarks were on a driver version of 12.10 or less i think i have...13.1 or something now the current up to date drivers will give you better fps in games over a 660 ti. also overclocked the 7950 scales better and gets better fps

Leprechaun312 · 19 Apr 2013 at 16:38

Nivida get better fps on their 680, 690 and titan cards but they are more expensive than amd cards

Killer Nads · 19 Apr 2013 at 17:18

OK cool, so sounds like the 7950 is the better card then?! Anyone object

Now to find a type of 7950 to buy, why is there so many different types? Are they just different company releases of the same model card? (ie. same specs)

Oh man, building a pc just doesnt get any easier does it

the decisions never seem to stop!

Ive also seen that there is a 7950 with turbo boost?! Which seems to be even better?

Leprechaun312 · 19 Apr 2013 at 17:23

yeah pc building doesnt get easier...but it gets really fun when all the parts arrive and you feel like a kid again at christmas...and your parents/sisters have NO IDEA what you have just bought and look at you like ......your a 5 year kid at christmas

YOUR BASKET
1 x VTX3D HD 7950 V3 Boost X-Edition 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £245.99
1 x HIS HD 7950 IceQ BOOST 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H795QC3G2M) £239.99
Total : £497.38 (includes shipping : £9.50).

either of these are good it gives a slight overclock to the cpu without you having to do it yourself and as you said sound is a problem so this is better than a stock 7950

personally i would go with the HIS 7950

Killer Nads · 19 Apr 2013 at 17:32

Leprechaun312 said:
yeah pc building doesnt get easier...but it gets really fun when all the parts arrive and you feel like a kid again at christmas...and your parents/sisters have NO IDEA what you have just bought and look at you like ......your a 5 year kid at christmas

YOUR BASKET
1 x VTX3D HD 7950 V3 Boost X-Edition 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £245.99
1 x HIS HD 7950 IceQ BOOST 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (H795QC3G2M) £239.99
Total : £497.38 (includes shipping : £9.50).

either of these are good it gives a slight overclock to the cpu without you having to do it yourself and as you said sound is a problem so this is better than a stock 7950

personally i would go with the HIS 7950

thanks ill take a look at these

Killer Nads · 20 Apr 2013 at 19:27

Lol, just when i thought i had it all worked out in going for the ATI card. Someone told me this:

They look pretty similar on average to me in terms of FPS, the 7950 is only a little ahead. Normally, that would be enough to make the 7950 the obvious recommendation, but for your situation, the important metric is load power draw. The GTX 660 Ti uses about 40W less power, which also translates to 40W less heat that you have to dissipate. In a tiny case like the Sugo, that's important.

Back to square one!