Got Crysis for Xmas: Upgrade time

[Solouko]

yeah so i've got crysis for chriatmas, great game but my system just wont run it effectivly.

my current system is in my sig and i'm looking to upgrade to an intel core2quad and get a mobo with a 680i chipset...

now, the reason this thread is in the cooling section is because I want to transfer my existing cooling setup to the new one, hooking up the swiftech waterblock shouldnt be a worry but...

I've also got a Thermalright HR-05 IFX SLI northbridge cooler.
now, looking at all the 680i mobos they all have a complicated chipset cooling system on both chipets chips, so:

Q. can the stock chipset cooling be removed

Q. will my Thermalright HR-05 IFX SLI NB cooler still fit

Q. is the southbridge cooler the same mounting specification as a VGA cooler?


Btw, i'm also going to be getting another 7900GTX and SLI them and will also probably be switching to Vista. I cant quite aford to go to an 8800 yet

 

[Ben M]

i used to live in bodlewyddan

i have no clue about your question though =p

 

[paradigm]

Don't waste your money with a 2nd 7900GTX, sell the one you have and get an 8800GT.

Don't get a 680i chipset as they are crap compared to the intel equivalents (assuming you get an 8800GT and therefore don't SLi).

 

[CyZMyAssBaby]

i used to live in bodlewyddan

i have no clue about your question though =p

So why post if you are unable to offer any relevant advice to the ops question?

Q. can the stock chipset cooling be removed

Q. will my Thermalright HR-05 IFX SLI NB cooler still fit

Q. is the southbridge cooler the same mounting specification as a VGA cooler?

Yes the stock chipset cooling can be removed carefully using long nosed (thin) pliers from (clips) underneath the motherboard


Yes the Thermalright HR-05 IFX SLI NB cooler will fit the 680i motherboard (North Bridge)


You can use the Thermaltake Extreme Spirit II cooler for the (southbridge) (approx £12-00) http://www.thermaltake.com/product/Cooler/VGAnCHIPnMEM/cl-c0034/cl-c0034.asp

Don't waste your money with a 2nd 7900GTX, sell the one you have and get an 8800GT.

Don't get a 680i chipset as they are crap compared to the intel equivalents (assuming you get an 8800GT and therefore don't SLi).

paradigm offers sound advice

 

[Ben M]

So why post if you are unable to offer any relevant advice to the ops question?

because he lives near there?

mr backseat mod.

and sli 7800= waste of time.

either sell your existing one now and get an 8800

wait for the new GS which will be cheaper than a GT (i think)

or wait for a new 9 series card.

 

[wolvers]

Just get an 8800gt or the new gts. That'll get you going well enough for a nice crysis experience and will be loads cheaper because it's a gpu dependant game.

Unless of course you're looking for a nice excuse to upgrade the rest of your pc as well............

 

[CyZMyAssBaby]

i used to live in bodlewyddan

i have no clue about your question though =p

So why post if you are unable to offer any relevant advice to the ops question?

because he lives near there?

 

[Solouko]

i used to live in bodlewyddan

i have crashed two completely different fird fiestas in bodlewyddan

Back on topic:

Don't get a 680i chipset as they are crap compared to the intel equivalents

Q. Why are they crap in comparison?

Q. do you have refferances to benchmark infomation to support the answer to the above question?

Q. If i went for an intel chipset, which one ovffers the best value for money? cause... y'know i'm not made of cash

Q. also... which intel chipset is the best for overclocking?

Don't waste your money with a 2nd 7900GTX, sell the one you have and get an 8800GT

Q. Dirext X 10 asside, can an 8800GT with 512MB GDDR3 memory produce higher framrates on the same game settings as 2 SLIed 7900GTXs with 1GB of GDDR3 memory?

You can use the Thermaltake Extreme Spirit II cooler for the (southbridge) (approx £12-00)

the Thermaltake Extreme Spirit II cooler looks like a good option but is there an alternative? The copperness of it doesnt match the chrome in my case and i'm trying to get away from active cooling with little whiny fans, at the moment my systems silent on idle apart form the waterpump. it's no biggie, if I cant find anything that's designed to fit i'll just thermal epoxy a butured socket A heat sink to it


Thanks for your replies so far guys... even if some of them have been a bit random.

 

[paradigm]

Q. Why are they crap in comparison?


Q. do you have refferances to benchmark infomation to support the answer to the above question?

Q. If i went for an intel chipset, which one ovffers the best value for money? cause... y'know i'm not made of cash

Q. also... which intel chipset is the best for overclocking?

I'll have to dig up reviews in a bit, but basically, the intel 3-series chipsets have far FAR better memory bandwidth, they are better overclockers, and will support up and coming intel processors without a BIOS upgrade that nVidia may or may not actually release, nevermind waiting for individual motherboard manufacturers.

Unless you are going to be using crossfire, then the x38 and x48 are wasted chipsets IMO, the P35 offers all the overclocking benefits of the newer 3-series chipsets, and are also affordable. The abit IP35 (vanilla, non -E or -PRO versions) offer great value, and good overclocking.

Q. Dirext X 10 asside, can an 8800GT with 512MB GDDR3 memory produce higher framrates on the same game settings as 2 SLIed 7900GTXs with 1GB of GDDR3 memory?

A single 8800GT will outperform 2 SLi'd 7900GTX's unless you are playing at incredibly high resolutions (>1920x1200).

If you can stretch to the new 512MB 8800GTS, then even better.

 

[Solouko]

I'll have to dig up reviews in a bit, but basically, the intel 3-series chipsets have far FAR better memory bandwidth, they are better overclockers, and will support up and coming intel processors without a BIOS upgrade that nVidia may or may not actually release, nevermind waiting for individual motherboard manufacturers.

Unless you are going to be using crossfire, then the x38 and x48 are wasted chipsets IMO, the P35 offers all the overclocking benefits of the newer 3-series chipsets, and are also affordable. The abit IP35 (vanilla, non -E or -PRO versions) offer great value, and good overclocking.



A single 8800GT will outperform 2 SLi'd 7900GTX's unless you are playing at incredibly high resolutions (>1920x1200).

If you can stretch to the new 512MB 8800GTS, then even better.

Wow, you've cirtanly given me somethign to ponder over
Thanks for the chipset info, i know what to look for now.
I'm a little reluctant to switch to ATI, so many of my games are made for nvidia and i can really see the differance, and i'm a little paranoid about ATI GPUs being hotter then the equivilant nvidia one... heat is a big no-way for me

 

[paradigm]

So long as you are only going to be running one card, I'd stick to nVidia, but I would push to either get a reduce priced 8800GTX (£244 inc VAT), or a 512MB GTS (£217 inc VAT).

However, the 38x0 (3850 and 3870) series from ATI are very cool running due to being down at a .55nm process rather than the .65nm of nVidia. Crossfire scales better than SLi also (I have run both), so as far as multi-GPU solutions go, Crossfire is better than SLi from what I have found. The only downside to Crossfire is that at present, Crysis doesn't work with Crossfire.

 

[Solouko]

So long as you are only going to be running one card, I'd stick to nVidia, but I would push to either get a reduce priced 8800GTX (£244 inc VAT), or a 512MB GTS (£217 inc VAT).

However, the 38x0 (3850 and 3870) series from ATI are very cool running due to being down at a .55nm process rather than the .65nm of nVidia. Crossfire scales better than SLi also (I have run both), so as far as multi-GPU solutions go, Crossfire is better than SLi from what I have found. The only downside to Crossfire is that at present, Crysis doesn't work with Crossfire.

meh... that AND the motherboard upgrade at out of my budget... by a long way! i was loooking at spending bare minimum on a graphics card or not at all.

right now i'm happy with the majority of the effects my computer and graphics card can run crysis on, but i really think it's just the CPU letting it down.

i've got my AMD X2 clocked to 2.3GHz which is disapointing and every time i push it any more it just becomes unstable. so i'm really just thinking about CPU and motherboard now and i know the CPU is going to be the Q6600.

One other thing though... i need a motherboard with built in RAID, i really cant live without it now. i liked the idea of the nvidia 680i chipset because it can support 6 SATA drives in an aray. I interprit that as a possible 50% more speed on my file transfers or, a second 2 disk aray for just windows.

 

[paradigm]

The IP35 supports 6 SATA disks in RAID0, RAID1, RAID5...

 

[Solouko]

The IP35 supports 6 SATA disks in RAID0, RAID1, RAID5...

w00t!

well that's me sorted =D