[Solved] 1920x1080: 6950 or 6870?

Hello all,

I am currently running:

AMD X2 555 unlocked to X4 955 (3 cores stable) @ 3.6 GHz w/CM GeminIIs
4 GB GSkill DDR3 1600
ASRock M3A770DE Mobo
COOLER MASTER eXtreme Power Plus RS500-PCARD3-US 500W (Looked this up on another site and apparently it's crap)
XFX 5830 OC 875/1175
72GB Raptor OS
640GB WD Black Programs
Blah blah blah

This is a multipart question, so if you are prone to TLDNR, just skip to the last sentence

I game with my machine and that's it's primary use. I use a 46" Sony Bravia TV as my monitor and it is capable of 1920 x 1080 so that's what I usually shoot for.

I know, I know - I could shoot myself for buying the 5830 and I will probably never live that down BUT it's actually doing ok for the most part.

So, after all that, I'm looking for better performance overall and am looking for some recommendations. How bottlenecked am I at the CPU? I have Skyrim, and GTA IV and Deus Ex and Crysis and etc, etc, etc. I would like to run all these games just as maxed out as I can possibly get. I'm likely to add another 4GB of RAM (Not that that has much to do with this post, but just saying) soon. I think I can get away with running a 6870 on my current PSU, but I wouldn't want to risk it with a 6950, so to sum (FINALLY amiright?)

Does it make sense to suck it up and wait until I can afford the $400 to plunk down on a new PSU (SeaSonic x750W (Also gives me headroom for XFire someday, but that's a new mobo, and a story for another day)) and a 6950 ?

OR

should I drop the $170 on a 6870 now?
Can I max everything and maintain not just playable but PRETTY framerates at 1920x1080 @ 60Hz with the 6870?

How future-proof am I with a 6870? (I do know with another one in XFire it's a BEAST from what I hear, and I can save up and piecemeal the PSU, then mobo, then nuther 6870)

Thank you all in advance for reading and/or commenting on this, and I appreciate any and all assistance you may provide on this matter.

FOR THE TLDNR FOLKS YOUR CHOICES ARE:
Buy 1 6870 right the he** now, or wait and deal with my 5830 for now and save up a new psu and a 6950?

(The desired outcome being fast, pretty framerates (60FPS maybe?) from maxed-out (or as maxed-out as would really be necessary for max prettiness on a 46" TV @ 1080 from 8 ft away) settings at 1920x1080 on brand-new games)

PHEW! So thanks for making it this far and I hope to hear from you all soon!

Cheers, Chris

Reply to Goose_Nipples

This might help you a bit~

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/290

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to Russwood1488

6950 twinfrozr iii.

Message quoted 1 times

------------------------------ Switching over to watercooling soon....
Reply to amuffin

In my opinion if you want to play these games at High settings at 1080p you need to upgrade to a 6950 because a 6870 is not THAT big of a jump from a 5830 (maybe 10-15% more powerful).

Your CPU should be ok for now (but would be obsolete once the next generation of games is upon us)

------------------------------ CPU: Intel i5 2500 @ 3.9ghz

GPU: AMD HD 7850 @ 1.15 ghz

Reply to 9a3iqa

amuffin wrote :

6950 twinfrozr iii.

+1

Goose_Nipple

What's your budget... meaning most you're willing to spend? Maybe I can help ya find a 6950 & PSU with what ya have... this way ya can have the best of both worlds. [:russwood1488:3]

Message quoted 2 times

Reply to Russwood1488

Russwood1488 wrote :

+1

Goose_Nipple

What's your budget... meaning most you're willing to spend? Maybe I can help ya find a 6950 & PSU with what ya have... this way ya can have the best of both worlds. [:russwood1488:3]

Well the budget's a bit frexibru. Let me explain: I have a $100 'Egg gift card burning a hole in my pocket, and if I got something, it's up in the air if I sell the 5830 or stick it in my wife's machine and XFire it or sell it to recoup anything extra I spend over the $100 (She has the same rig. She plays Skyrim but on much lower res <3 <3 <3 Love you sweetie!)

BUT if I decide, after reading all of you folks' wonderful feedback, that the 6950 is the way to go, then the budget opens up (as much as it needs to. I'm a patient man I'm pretty set on that PSU, too. I did a good bit of research and for whatever reason, I seem to have my heart set on it. It is currently $160 on the Egg ($190 - $30 Instant) and the 6950 I'm looking at is $240. So $400 total, which is fine, I would just have to wait....which I hate doing PLUS the $100 gift card, and the eating of the hole in the pocket, etc, which is why I'm here asking you kind peoples if I should blow my wad now, or take a longer view.

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to Goose_Nipples

Russwood1488 wrote :

This might help you a bit~

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/290

Thank you, I will do so.

Reply to Goose_Nipples

the 6950 doesn't offer than much more than the 6870 and probably isn't really worth it over the price. a 15% increase in performance might or might not be worth it since the 6870 can be had for $145 while the 6950 sits at about $200.

and definitely get the 6870 over the 6850 as the 6870 offers 10-15% in performance for just a few $ more.

The 6850 is only like 10% faster than the 5830 so its probably not worth the upgrade.

------------------------------ sllaw eht no nettirw gnihtemos saw ecno ereht
Reply to esrever

Russwood1488 wrote :

amuffin wrote :

6950 twinfrozr iii.

+1

+2

------------------------------ "Grant me the strength to accept the things that I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference."
Reply to Memnarchon

Guru3D uses the following games in their test suite, COD-MW, Bad Company 2, Dirt 2, Far Cry 2, Metro 2033, Dawn of Discovery, Crysis Warhead. Total fps (summing fps in each game @ 1920 x 1200) for the various options in parenthesis (single card / SL or CF) are tabulated below along with their cost in dollars per frame single card - CF or SLI:

Here's ya choices under $300

$ 170.00 6870 (434/701) $ 0.39 - $ 0.49
$ 220.00 6950 (479/751) $ 0.46 - $ 0.59
$ 240.00 6950 Frozr OC (484/759) $ 0.50 - $ 0.63
$ 205.00 560 Ti (455/792) $ 0.45 - $ 0.52
$ 215.00 560 Ti - 900 Mhz (495/862) $ 0.43 - $ 0.50

To answer ya question, out of the two, I'd have to say the 6870 offers the best bang for the buck at 39 cents per from as a single card and 49 cents per frame in CF. The 6950's (reference and factory OC) are up at 46 - 50 cents as a single card and 59 - 63 in CF. If ya thinking 6950, I'd have to say the factory OC'd 560 Ti is the better deal as it's cost per frame is substantially lower at 43 cents as a single card and 50 cents per frame in SLI.

Message quoted 2 times

------------------------------ If a man speaks in the forest and no woman hears him, is he still wrong ?
Reply to JackNaylorPE

JackNaylorPE wrote :

Guru3D uses the following games in their test suite, COD-MW, Bad Company 2, Dirt 2, Far Cry 2, Metro 2033, Dawn of Discovery, Crysis Warhead. Total fps (summing fps in each game @ 1920 x 1200) for the various options in parenthesis (single card / SL or CF) are tabulated below along with their cost in dollars per frame single card - CF or SLI:

Here's ya choices under $300

$ 170.00 6870 (434/701) $ 0.39 - $ 0.49
$ 220.00 6950 (479/751) $ 0.46 - $ 0.59
$ 240.00 6950 Frozr OC (484/759) $ 0.50 - $ 0.63
$ 205.00 560 Ti (455/792) $ 0.45 - $ 0.52
$ 215.00 560 Ti - 900 Mhz (495/862) $ 0.43 - $ 0.50

To answer ya question, out of the two, I'd have to say the 6870 offers the best bang for the buck at 39 cents per from as a single card and 49 cents per frame in CF. The 6950's (reference and factory OC) are up at 46 - 50 cents as a single card and 59 - 63 in CF. If ya thinking 6950, I'd have to say the factory OC'd 560 Ti is the better deal as it's cost per frame is substantially lower at 43 cents as a single card and 50 cents per frame in SLI.

Well under $300 these are not the only choices:

EVGA 012-P3-2068-KR GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 448 Cores Classified 1280MB which at 797Mhz this monstrous thing is clocked is 5% powerful than a stock 570 or 6970
$289 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130739

But I think he wanted AMD gpu.

Message quoted 1 times

------------------------------ "Grant me the strength to accept the things that I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference."
Reply to Memnarchon

Goose_Nipples wrote :

Well the budget's a bit frexibru. Let me explain: I have a $100 'Egg gift card burning a hole in my pocket, and if I got something, it's up in the air if I sell the 5830 or stick it in my wife's machine and XFire it or sell it to recoup anything extra I spend over the $100 (She has the same rig. She plays Skyrim but on much lower res <3 <3 <3 Love you sweetie!)

BUT if I decide, after reading all of you folks' wonderful feedback, that the 6950 is the way to go, then the budget opens up (as much as it needs to. I'm a patient man I'm pretty set on that PSU, too. I did a good bit of research and for whatever reason, I seem to have my heart set on it. It is currently $160 on the Egg ($190 - $30 Instant) and the 6950 I'm looking at is $240. So $400 total, which is fine, I would just have to wait....which I hate doing PLUS the $100 gift card, and the eating of the hole in the pocket, etc, which is why I'm here asking you kind peoples if I should blow my wad now, or take a longer view.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] &Tpk=tx850

A 6870 with 2GB of VRAM and just CF later~

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814150563

So, $219 + $134 = $353 - $100 = $253 out of pocket cash. Overall you save 50 bucks...

Message edited by Russwood1488 on 01-30-2012 at 11:48:59 PM

Reply to Russwood1488

JackNaylorPE wrote :

Guru3D uses the following games in their test suite, COD-MW, Bad Company 2, Dirt 2, Far Cry 2, Metro 2033, Dawn of Discovery, Crysis Warhead. Total fps (summing fps in each game @ 1920 x 1200) for the various options in parenthesis (single card / SL or CF) are tabulated below along with their cost in dollars per frame single card - CF or SLI:

Here's ya choices under $300

$ 170.00 6870 (434/701) $ 0.39 - $ 0.49
$ 220.00 6950 (479/751) $ 0.46 - $ 0.59
$ 240.00 6950 Frozr OC (484/759) $ 0.50 - $ 0.63
$ 205.00 560 Ti (455/792) $ 0.45 - $ 0.52
$ 215.00 560 Ti - 900 Mhz (495/862) $ 0.43 - $ 0.50

To answer ya question, out of the two, I'd have to say the 6870 offers the best bang for the buck at 39 cents per from as a single card and 49 cents per frame in CF. The 6950's (reference and factory OC) are up at 46 - 50 cents as a single card and 59 - 63 in CF. If ya thinking 6950, I'd have to say the factory OC'd 560 Ti is the better deal as it's cost per frame is substantially lower at 43 cents as a single card and 50 cents per frame in SLI.

the 6870 can be had for $145 while the 560 ti is at $190+. So the 6870 is even better deal right now compared to that chart.

------------------------------ sllaw eht no nettirw gnihtemos saw ecno ereht
Reply to esrever

Well, this is what I'm shooting for, perhaps you can all give me your feedback:

The 6870 I'm looking at:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814150521

The 6950 I'm looking at:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814125385
(Tom's Hardware Approved, no less)

The power supply I'm looking at: (Really can never go wrong with SeaSonic, plus they actually make their own PSU's)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817151087

Some pictures of stuffs for you'se to look at (And make fun of if you so choose )

That last one is my livin' room. My rig's on the left in a CoolerMaster Elite 430 and my wife's is on the right in an Apevia X-Plorer 2 (Black and Pink of course)

I'm going to add a fan controller to the rig, and then two slimline 120 fans for above the CPU and finally some serious UPS protection:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6842102133

My apologies if that is all a bit off topic.

After reading through all of your wonderful feedback I saw a post or two saying that perhaps even the 6950 isn't going to cut it, so I begin to wonder if perhaps I should just get the 6870 now, and then begin to save up for the PSU, new motherboard (Because my current is only X16/x4 in Xfire (And it already has a Hauppage PVR card in the x4 PCIe slot) plus it's all old and stuff) and another 6870.

Mobo:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128514

So again, thank you all for your feedback, and by all means, keep it coming.

And again, sorry for straying from the topic with all the pics and whatnot, but darnit, I'm proud of this thing (Other than the atrocious GPU. I hang my head in shame.)

Nothing's final until I pull that trigger.

Message edited by Goose_Nipples on 01-31-2012 at 01:04:47 AM

Reply to Goose_Nipples

Memnarchon wrote :

Well under $300 these are not the only choices:

EVGA 012-P3-2068-KR GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 448 Cores Classified 1280MB which at 797Mhz this monstrous thing is clocked is 5% powerful than a stock 570 or 6970
$289 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130739

But I think he wanted AMD gpu.

Well, I'm not really partial to either one, but I suppose I had only been looking at AMD's offerings.

Also, price is actually not THAT much of a factor. (No, I don't have a bajillion dollars for a 7970 quad gpu 1.21 gigawatts thermonuclear powered Skynet self-aware monstrosity, or I'd be somewhere else, sailing on my gold-plated yacht, not here, but within reason.)

However, the main question remains: Drop the money now, on a 6870, (with options for future XFire with add'l upgrades) or save up for a new PSU + 6950 all the while keeping the following goal in sight: Maximum (realistic not retarded) settings gaming @ 1920 x 1080 with high framerate (Prefereably a bit more than just "playable" framerates)

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to Goose_Nipples

Goose_Nipples wrote :

Well, I'm not really partial to either one, but I suppose I had only been looking at AMD's offerings.

Also, price is actually not THAT much of a factor. (No, I don't have a bajillion dollars for a 7970 quad gpu 1.21 gigawatts thermonuclear powered Skynet self-aware monstrosity, or I'd be somewhere else, sailing on my gold-plated yacht, not here, but within reason.)

However, the main question remains: Drop the money now, on a 6870, (with options for future XFire with add'l upgrades) or save up for a new PSU + 6950 all the while keeping the following goal in sight: Maximum (realistic not retarded) settings gaming @ 1920 x 1080 with high framerate (Prefereably a bit more than just "playable" framerates)

Well I am not a fun of Xfire nor SLI unless its with high end gpus so (cause of the microstuttering) so I would say that you should save up for new psu+6950 and who knows maybe when you will have the money 7870 might be availabe to replace 6950. (assuming that they will be around the same price)

ps: Dont exclude also the possibility that if you choose to go with 6870 and Xfire later, if AMD has already choose to replace 6870 with a 7xxx series it will not be easy to find a 2nd (lets say that you will crossfire maybe in 6-12 months) in the shops.

Message edited by Memnarchon on 01-31-2012 at 01:51:11 AM

------------------------------ "Grant me the strength to accept the things that I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference."
Reply to Memnarchon

Ok, so after reading through everyone's posts and giving it some thought:

The 6870 is within my reach NOW, but I find that when I take my time, think, ask questions, get feedback, and keep on saving money, I do ok.

That being said: The PSU I want is currently going for $120 after all deals (no MIR BS) until 2/1 on the 'Egg (Anyone on the fence, go buy it, like NOW) That clinches it. I don't really need it if I want the 6870, but if I wanted to CF or go bigger down the road, I'd need it anyways, so I'm actually going to get that, and save up for a 6950.

Why the 6950 vs the 6870? Well, the 6950 runs excellent at 1080 maxed, whereas the 6870 does ("only" ) very well. Seems minor, but for future titles, this isn't necessarily going to be the case, and with the release of the 7950 pending, the price of the 6950 should (I hope) be coming down some time in the next few months (and even if it doesn't, the price of the 6950 I want isn't too el terrible')

Also, to touch on 6950 vs CF 6870's - the best time to discover if you are one of those lucky folks who notices and is bothered by Microstuttering is not after you've dropped over $340 on hardware, so I'm going to wimp out and just get one more-badder-a$$ card vs two still-pretty-righteous ones.

So all that being said, thank you all so very much for your input on my questions, and for reading through all my various nonsense and wordy replies. You have been super.
So, if anyone else wants to weigh in, please feel free to continue posting in this thread, about anything you have seen in it. (Like the pics?)

Some things not covered too heavily that I would LOVE to hear more about: For present day gaming and with an eye to the at-least-near future, how much time does my current CPU, in it's current configuration, have left to be a viable option for high-end gaming? I know it's no i5-2500K (He**, it's not even an i3-2100 ) but should I consider upgrading to a Phenom X4, X6? Should I bite the bullet, donate a kidney, and buy an i5?

Also, I heard next to nothing from all you NVidia GTX 560 Ti fans. Tell me why I should be rocking their GPU instead of AMD.

So thank you all, and keep on keepin on.

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to Goose_Nipples

Quote :

should I consider upgrading to a Phenom X4, X6? Should I bite the bullet, donate a kidney, and buy an i5?

Forget the X6 Phenoms... the 980 BE will do just fine.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] k=980%20be

Message quoted 1 times
Message edited by Russwood1488 on 01-31-2012 at 04:47:07 PM

Reply to Russwood1488

Goose_Nipples wrote :

Also, I heard next to nothing from all you NVidia GTX 560 Ti fans.

In the title of your thread you're asking about AMD cards, if you want this to turn into an Nvidia Vs AMD thread then I'll lock it.

Message quoted 2 times

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http://img545.imageshack.us/img545/3995/bl11.gif

Reply to Mousemonkey

Mousemonkey wrote :

In the title of your thread you're asking about AMD cards, if you want this to turn into an Nvidia Vs AMD thread then I'll lock it.

Good eye, I can also foresee another redundant nVidia vs AMD flame war.

Reply to Russwood1488

Russwood1488 wrote :

Quote :

should I consider upgrading to a Phenom X4, X6? Should I bite the bullet, donate a kidney, and buy an i5?

Forget the X6 Phenoms... the 980 BE will do just fine.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] k=980%20be

Awesome sauce though it may be, OEM proc's only have a 30 day warranty. (I'm pretty sure) Pee on that. But that makes me happy to hear. If I get the mobo I'm looking at (link prev post) (990FX) and get a bit more aggressive with the voltages and cooling and whatnot, perhaps I could get that dodgy (SECOND core, can you believe that BS? The 2nd core that is ON by default on a x2 555, suddenly sucks @$$ when you unlock 3 and 4, which run fine) second core to stay stable. (Fails Prime95 worker thread after one pass)

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to Goose_Nipples

Goose_Nipples wrote :

Awesome sauce though it may be, OEM proc's only have a 30 day warranty. (I'm pretty sure) Pee on that. But that makes me happy to hear. If I get the mobo I'm looking at (link prev post) (990FX) and get a bit more aggressive with the voltages and cooling and whatnot, perhaps I could get that dodgy (SECOND core, can you believe that BS? The 2nd core that is ON by default on a x2 555, suddenly sucks @$$ when you unlock 3 and 4, which run fine) second core to stay stable. (Fails Prime95 worker thread after one pass)

It's rare that someone has to use a warranty on a CPU. They're pretty tough and take tons of abuse so the fact it's OEM is pretty much a non-factor (atleast to me)... get it in the mail plug it in and if it works then you're golden... in all my years I've never had a CPU fail despite the abuse that I've dished out. My 2600K still works and I've done some irresponsible stuff to it...

Reply to Russwood1488

Mousemonkey wrote :

In the title of your thread you're asking about AMD cards, if you want this to turn into an Nvidia Vs AMD thread then I'll lock it.

Allow me to repose that question while keeping it within the confines of the original thread: Is there any reason, given the various things brought up pertaining to the specifics of this post (and I do so love to be specific) that I would want to choose the NVidia GTX 560 Ti (This specific card, not, as I did not ask, why NVidia (all of it) is better than AMD) over the AMD Radeon HD 6950 1GB? (Bearing in mind all of the criteria I have outlined in my previous posts and keeping the diehard fanboy dittohead responses OUT of the thread.)

They have similar enough price points, and are more or less on equal footing performance wise. I know the GTX is a little quieter but sucks more juice, and the Radeon has a very (VERY) slight edge on performance. Which is the better overclocker? How much actual, noticeable, difference will said overclocking make? (Because I really can't tell the diff on my 5830 OC vs stock. (Yes I know it sucks))

And by "reason" I mean to say, whichever one at the end of the day, overclocked and dialed in, which one is going to make me say "Golly (Yes, golly) I sure am glad I chose XYZ over ABC videocard, because I can totally tell the difference." (Really, at this point, if I can see the difference, or hear the difference, than it's a difference, otherwise, bupkis) Ergo: if a reasonable person cannot tell the difference between XYZ and ABC, just say so. I'll get whichever one is cheaper and go about my business and stop tormenting you good people with overly long posts.

So thank you all again for your feedback.

Message edited by Goose_Nipples on 02-06-2012 at 06:50:16 PM

Reply to Goose_Nipples

Quote :

Which is the better overclocker?

I've been dedicated to AMD GPU's for quite some time and the 6950 is unequivocally an excellent card, but I think the GTX 560ti is probably the better overclocker.

Reply to Russwood1488

Update:
Well, the current deal on the Egg for the SeaSonic x750 was too good to pass up, so that's where I dropped my cash. $120 for a $190 PSU? I'll take it. So that lays down the groundwork for a stronger GPU in the future. After staying tuned to this thread and continuing to pore over reviews, I have decided on the 6950 1GB from Gigabyte, linked above.

For the immediate future, I'm pretty excited about the upcoming arrival of said PSU, because I get to tear apart and reroute all the cables in my computer again, but that's ok. I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with cable management. My eyes love it, but my neck and back hate it

The other reason I'm excited about the new PSU is I am going to steal the 5830 out of my wife's machine and crossfire it in mine for giggles. Too bad the second PCIe slot on my mobo is only x4, but I knew it was a cheap(er) part when I bought it; I have no regrets. It's only temporary until I get a new GPU anyways. I'll have to steal the 5570 out of my HTPC and replace the low-profile bracket so it will fit in her machine, but with the settings she plays Skyrim with, she'll probably never know the difference.

So thank you all again for your input and I hope to be able to post the results in a few months. Mods permitting, I can post a few more pics after I re-do all my cables.

Cheers,

Chris

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to Goose_Nipples

Best answer

Goose_Nipples wrote :

Update:
Well, the current deal on the Egg for the SeaSonic x750 was too good to pass up, so that's where I dropped my cash. $120 for a $190 PSU? I'll take it. So that lays down the groundwork for a stronger GPU in the future. After staying tuned to this thread and continuing to pore over reviews, I have decided on the 6950 1GB from Gigabyte, linked above.

For the immediate future, I'm pretty excited about the upcoming arrival of said PSU, because I get to tear apart and reroute all the cables in my computer again, but that's ok. I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with cable management. My eyes love it, but my neck and back hate it

The other reason I'm excited about the new PSU is I am going to steal the 5830 out of my wife's machine and crossfire it in mine for giggles. Too bad the second PCIe slot on my mobo is only x4, but I knew it was a cheap(er) part when I bought it; I have no regrets. It's only temporary until I get a new GPU anyways. I'll have to steal the 5570 out of my HTPC and replace the low-profile bracket so it will fit in her machine, but with the settings she plays Skyrim with, she'll probably never know the difference.

So thank you all again for your input and I hope to be able to post the results in a few months. Mods permitting, I can post a few more pics after I re-do all my cables.

Cheers,

Chris

You have a good attitude... wish more people were positive like that.

Good luck on the machines, hopefully the wife doesn't find out you cannibalised her machine. The wrath of a woman is no joke!

Reply to Russwood1488

Well, she plays at 1280x1024 on the 32" LG in the above pic so she shouldn't notice any framerate drop with the 5570. (I hope ) And chances are, I'm not going to be happy with the CF results on my machine (x16 x4 and only 5830's) anyways, so I bet that 5830 will be back in her machine in no time.

Why thank you good sir. Thinking about pending hardware updates always puts me in a chipper mood.

Cheers

Reply to Goose_Nipples

Well, the PSU is in and I thought I'd post a few pics, in case anyone is still browsing this thread. I moved the Hauppage PVR card up to the top PCIe slot, but I actually had to remove the Northbridge cooler and clip off the bottom left 2 x 5 fins so the card would fit. It didn't seem too hot after having it on for awhile. I think it should be fine. Also, I have removed the two (breakaway, Ugh) PCI slot covers in preparation for my wife's 5830.

Preparing for battle:
(Also, it would seem I need to clean my bottom intake filter)

It was a hard fight, but I emerged victorious:
(We've all obviously seen better, but this is probably the cleanest wire-job I've ever done, and I'm pretty proud of it)

Up and running:
(Yay, nothing exploderated!)

Side put back on:
(Yeah that's me with my phone. Phone pics generally suck, but the iPhone isn't HORRIBLE at it.)

More front-ish shot. Rather horrible-looking and yellow. Wife playing Skyrim on her TV in the background.

Kate, with a look that says "Get out from in front of Skyrim before I kill you" :

Reply to Goose_Nipples

Well, I can't really say that there's a "Best Answer" to my question, since everyone's answers really helped me to make my decision, so I shall simply pick the one that made me smile the most.

Thanks everyone, enjoy the pics, tip your staff, be nice to children and small animals.

Reply to Goose_Nipples

Best answer selected by Goose_Nipples.

Reply to Goose_Nipples

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey

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Reply to Mousemonkey

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