Bergauk's PC Thread. [Slight GFX Upgrade]

[bergauk]

Terronium-12 has one, why can't I?

Right.. So this is going to be the thread I'll use for PC.. Stuff.. Be it asking questions/garnering opinions about parts. Or just showing the progress I'm making on it.

First off. A listing of specs:
Motherboard: OEMD975XBGG1
CPU: Core 2 Extreme QX6700 @2.66GHz
RAM: 2GB DDR2-800
Graphics Card: ATI Radeon X1950 Crossfire Edition 512MB
HDD: 500GB Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM
ODD: 2 random OEM included DVD drives.
Audio: Creative Soundblaster X-Fi
OS: Windows XP Pro 32-bit SP3


Pictures of said machine:

Side View:

Front View:

Internal View:

Sorry for the relatively massive pictures.



Over the next few days I might add to this thread with things I'm doing to it.
I'm thinking of getting a few parts soon, so check back for updates.

 

[GTR3mh]

I'm beginning to think that a PC thread in general is needed here.

I want to post some pics of some case modding I did, but don't want to spam the place up .

Your computer has an incredibly strange form factor however. Seems quite clear how much technology in all areas has increased in the past four years or so, haha.

 

[VEXD]

Vacuum the vents.

👍

 

[m00ndancer]

I'm beginning to think that a PC thread in general is needed here.

I want to post some pics of some case modding I did, but don't want to spam the place up .

Your computer has an incredibly strange form factor however. Seems quite clear how much technology in all areas has increased in the past four years or so, haha.

No, not really, Its a BTX. Designed to improve airflow inside the case and as a replacement for ATX, ATX is old, I saw the first ATX cases in 1996-97. Intel released it in 1995. Never really replaced ATX in the enthusiast market. Some OEMs still use it.

BTX standard

 

[bergauk]

Decided to do some shopping for parts today. Picked up one Thermaltake ISGC 120mm Fan. It is currently doing it's job well.

And I also got a 4gb kit of Kingston HyperX DDR2-800 PC6400 RAM. It does not even work.. Why? I have no clue. But I'm currently thinking about returning it and going to a store that actually lets me SEE the thing I'm buying, instead of just showing me it on a screen, and going up to a "cage," where a monkey in a suit will give me it. [Yes I'm talking about you Fry's Electronics.]

So if anyone could fill me in on why my RAM doesn't work, that would be great.

I'll add some pics in a bit too.

 

[Terronium-12]

Never been interested in Kingston's RAM but I've never heard of their DIMM's being DOA. Crucial on the other hand had a bit of that reputation with DDR.

Anyhoo...get G.Skill or Corsair.

 

[Omnis]

I'm beginning to think that a PC thread in general is needed here.

Everyone's rig threads are typically supposed to go in the computer and electronics forum.

 

[eSZee]

No, not really, Its a BTX. Designed to improve airflow inside the case and as a replacement for ATX, ATX is old, I saw the first ATX cases in 1996-97. Intel released it in 1995. Never really replaced ATX in the enthusiast market. Some OEMs still use it.

BTX standard

BTX is used by oems, who else? It's a standard they developed in order to stop the user from using the extensive library of ATX products. The whole better air flow sounds like a gimmick yeah, the intake/cpu/exhaust are lined up but the difference isn't that great.
You're very limited with BTX as upgrade choices are limited. You can get a better processor/gpu, up to a point, but then cooling/case choice/power supply become issues.

 

[Casio]

As the link to that standard states, it is really designed to optimise airflow over components. Looking at Bergauk's machine, almost all the main components except the RAM are in a single airflow stream. I could see it's advantages during the P4 days where you had burning hot chipsets, and huge power draw, but these days where you can run a C2D in an enterprise environment pretty close to fanless, and with an external power supply, so it's really a non issue.

Though like you said, companies also like nothing more than coming up with a new standard.

 

[bergauk]

Well, I ended up returning the RAM I got and got store credit instead. Decided to pick up a new keyboard with it. I ended up getting the Razer BlackWidow. The keys feel a little bit funny, but I think its just that i'm not used to them yet. I love the sound they make though. Thinking about getting keycaps for it. I just don't know where to start looking.

*waits for Azuremen to come in here*

Also. Pic's:
I wish that I could do something about the cables.

 

[Casio]

Let us know how you go with the keyboard. I'm thinking of going Mechanical too and deciding if I want all my lights and things(I'm a sucker for lights), and the Razer Blackwidow Ultimate is really the only Mechanical with lights for a decent price. Otherwise I'm thinking Leopold FC500R with Cherry Red, or Das Keyboard Model S Ultimate (Cherry Blue).

(Cody get in here...)

And yeah, get those cables sorted out, but it might be hard with an OEM PSU as generally they only make cables to the exact length so they won't reach if you reroute.

 

[bergauk]

I didn't get the Ultimate unfortunately. I couldn't justify the pricing for it anyways if I wanted it. The features on it aren't worth it in my opinion.

However this one is fantastic. The sound it makes reminds me of the sounds that you'd hear watching a guy in a movie hacking something. It just sounds fun, it feels nice, and its very responsive. The gaming lock feature is pretty cool, it locks out the Microsoft key when you turn it on. It's already come in handy once. The only thing that is slightly odd, is the fact that it didn't come with a driver disc, or even a cheap usb stick with it on it. I had to go to the site and download it instead.

And yes. Cody needs to get in here.

 

[Terronium-12]

Sweet keyboard. I was going to pick up the Ultimate last month but brought a bunch of other stuff instead.

Perhaps I'll get that or a Das for my birthday.

 

[Casio]

Want a crazy form factor. Look at these newly announced case from BitFenix.

*Mind Blown*

 

[Sharky.]

Is that meant to be a huge case or a tiny one? I can't tell.

 

[Casio]

When in doubt, check the PCI Slots. These days generally <7 is Midsize, 7> is full size.

 

[bergauk]

Right.. So I've been doing some thinking. I just realized I cannot do anything regarding heatsinks, or liquid cooling. All because of my motherboard design.. However.. if I were to get a new ATX board, and a decent case.. I could do everything I want to do. Here's the problem.

I have no clue how to go about locating a good enough board for what I want to do.

Things I need:

1. Core2Extreme/Socket 775
2. DDR3/Or DDR2 [If certain issues are ran into, such as support for other features]
3. Crossfire or SLI Support
4. Expansion Slots I have a sound card, Ethernet Card, and Wireless card, so at least enough for that, and being able to fit them in between Crossfire/SLI would be ideal.]
5. Ability to overclock easy, or at least supported well enough to do a mild overclock.

I think that's it. I figure I can re-use most of the parts that I have and put them into the new case/mobo combo. I'm just having a hell of a time locating a board.

 

[Sharky.]

Yeah, if you're looking for a new 775 board you might be looking for quite a while.

 

[bergauk]

Well, my RAM came in today. I now have 8GB of DDR2-667 in the form of 4 2GB sticks. I'm only using two at the moment as I only have a 32bit OS. however I have plans to change that ASAP. No pics really as the inside of the case looks no different from before.

And before I forget. I picked up a second fan, same as the ISGC fan that's pictured above in the thread. I replaced the other fan that was behind the green shroud for more "quietness".



One more thing. I'm not going to go through with finding a new board. I've since figured out what I can do with the one I have, and I have a plan that I'm going to follow for how I'm going to go about upgrading it.



Also. If you're wondering why you haven't seen this thread before, it's cause it was hiding in the premium section. I moved it out in preparation for my loss of premium in the coming months.

 

[bergauk]

Bump.

I'm in the process of picking out a new video card since my current one is a bit old and outdated.

I'm thinking about one of these 5 cards as they all are within the right size to fit within my relatively cramped case.

I've got roughly 10 inches worth of horizontal space. However I have an issue of a CPU heatsink that I cannot remove as there is no aftermarket BTX coolers available. What this means is I can have a 9 in long PCB, but I HAVE to have something that'll be about 6 - 6 1/2 inches long for a cooler. Otherwise it'll hit/be in the heatsink. Height of the cooler doesn't matter all too much so long as it doesn't hit components.

First one is a Radeon HD 6750. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814129180 It meets all the requirements, however it's a little bit "low" powered.

Second, as well as the rest of the ones to follow are all Radeon HD 6770's
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127599
Definitely the shortest of the bunch.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161387
This one I'm not too sure about, I can't seem to tell whether or not it would fit.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150540
I've seen a lot of nice looking cards come from XFX, but are they any good?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814103189'
Same for Diamond, Lots of really nice looking cards but I haven't heard too much about them.

I'm personally leaning towards the MSI card as it seems to be the smallest one of the bunch.

Any opinions would be greatly appreciated. Also, is there anything comparable in the Nvidia department? I couldn't seem to find much there.

 

[NissanSkylineN1]

How about this one?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131434

I have it, works fine.

 

[nick09]

I would use this one made by msi. Looked it up here and it's 8.18 inches long. It's got a overclock of 875MHz over the regular clocks. Should run cool too. Though you could look into the HD 6850 since you are approaching $150 GPU's for it's worth.

 

[bergauk]

I think you missed this part of the post Nick.

I've got roughly 10 inches worth of horizontal space. However I have an issue of a CPU heatsink that I cannot remove as there is no aftermarket BTX coolers available. What this means is I can have a 9 in long PCB, but I HAVE to have something that'll be about 6 - 6 1/2 inches long for a cooler. Otherwise it'll hit/be in the heatsink. Height of the cooler doesn't matter all too much so long as it doesn't hit components.

@Nissan, that one might be cutting it a bit close.

A picture for reference.

There really isn't too much room in the area around the heatsink.

 

[NissanSkylineN1]

Its only 7 inches long (182mm). The height is only 38 mm, about 1 1/2 inches. Its a great card, really. It runs cool too, max of 72 degrees when running Furmark.

 

[nick09]

Then this HD 6770 would be your best option. It is the width of the PCI expansion slot so it will fit quite nicely in your case. You will just need to get some Mini Displayport adapters for your monitor.

 

[bergauk]

Its only 7 inches long (182mm). The height is only 38 mm, about 1 1/2 inches. Its a great card, really. It runs cool too, max of 72 degrees when running Furmark.

That still might be a stretch. I'll look into it though. There are at least 3 6770 cards that'll just drop right in now problem though so I'm leaning towards them.

Then this HD 6770 would be your best option. It is the width of the PCI expansion slot so it will fit quite nicely in your case. You will just need to get some Mini Displayport adapters for your monitor.

I'd rather not deal with an adapter for the card as it'd be far too heavy and would most likely end up breaking off because of the size.

I use DVI at the moment and will most likely upgrade to an HDMI interface when I get a new monitor.



Does anyone know of any Nvidia cards that might fit the requirements I have? I honestly know nothing about Nvidia cards as their numbering scheme makes little to no sense to me. It'd be great if someone would be able to chime in with some info on them.

 

[Casio]

I'd rather not deal with an adapter for the card as it'd be far too heavy and would most likely end up breaking off because of the size.

What will break off? The adaptor? The card? Confused.

I use DVI at the moment and will most likely upgrade to an HDMI interface when I get a new monitor.

They're actually the same, except HDMI carries audio. Dual-link DVI is actually better than HDMI.

 

[bergauk]

Most likely the adapter. I wouldn't trust something that small to hold a DVI adapter in place. Especially as the cable I have currently is massive. Also.. The card I linked in my earlier post, is practically the same card, with a larger heatsink, and already has DVI, HDMI, and VGA on it. Not much else is different. Saves me the effort of buying an adapter too.

I've heard that HDMI and DVI are pretty close, but never really seen anything that proves it. Any sort of source on that? I'm going to be getting a monitor eventually that'll have both on it just for convenience anyways, in case I feel like hooking up a gaming system to it.

 

[NissanSkylineN1]

Wait.. I thought you had 10 inches of space. That XFX looks like it will run quite hot though... no overclocking there.

 

[nick09]

Wait.. I thought you had 10 inches of space. That XFX looks like it will run quite hot though... no overclocking there.

The HD 6770 series don't run that hot. My ASUS HD 6770 runs at 29C. The only card that is slim as the XFX is this Powercolor. All of the other graphics cards are too tall for his use. It's a shorter card with a length of 7.1 inches and it stays in the form factor of a single slot graphics card.