Upgrade Advice

[marcus]

I just ran a 3dmark 2005 test at 1280 x 1024 and got 7005 marks. I need to reinstall the OS (as I simply took the HD out of my old one into this) and Im thinking about purchasing an Arctic cooler also, in place of my stock AMD heatsink. I found building this pc to be a lot more involved than the last one I did, and it took me the best part of two evenings to complete.

I do get an error in POST stating that my CPU fan speed fail or is too low which Im yet to resolve.

[wod]

good as i was going to reply to your pm but totally forgot about it

i told you that the case was big and abit bigger with the wheels on as the case is heavy if you move about alot, where the wheels are useful

the white box is useful too as it comes with alot of extra bits


the cooling is very good too and if you get some good fans , it can be silent i haven't bothered as the stock fans are ok

also on the hard drive cage take the fan off and remove the metal plates as it blocks airflow over the hard drives

[SubparMario]

How does it do in the standard 3dmark 03/05 ( all default settings, 1024x768 ) tests? They're probably the only meaningful scores to most people. Looking good though.

[marcus]

default game only got 8053 points

[Ish]

Only 8053. My games PC only scrapes a measly 2500.

[oblivion_6]

ha ha superb marcus thats quite a decent score, well compared with my hunk of metal

[marcus]

Ive tweaked and overclocked the system a bit, and have now gone up to 8792 points. Id love to break 9000, but dont think its going to be possible.

I need to work out how to make the GFX card fan idle when not being used for gaming, as its really quite loud all the time.

[Digfox]

Marcus, I recently upgraded to a BFG7800 GT and although it was one of the 'new' fan designs (all copper with blue LED's) it sounds like a hairdryer, especially when the rest of my PC is very quiet.

I thought the GTX had a quieter fan, but the problem with mine was that it had two speeds bearable or hairdryer. It is suppose to stay in bearable for Windows but I found a lot of the time it didn't. Download Riva Tuner if you haven't done already because that allows you to set fan speeds at start up for 2D, light 3D and 3D. I can find the link on the OC forums if interested.

In the end I just bought the Zalman VF700-CU Quiet Copper VGA Cooler at about ?30. It cools as well as the default fan but is wisper silent.

[wod]

only way to quieten it down is to water cool everything as marcus you can fit it in that case you bought

do they do arctic coolers yet for the 7800gtx as these are very quiet and cool very well costs about 20 quid i think

[marcus]

The Zalman VF700-CU could be just the ticket, where did you get yours from?

I have RivaTuner installed, Ive not checked out the fan settings as yet though. In terms of clock speeds, I have set the Core to 495 and Memory to 1.4Ghz and the system seems stable.

After a crash course in Overclocking this morning, have set my CPU to 225 x 11 giving me a clock speed of 2474mhz and FSB of 450. System temp during windows usage is around 30 degrees.

[marcus]

Wod, I thought water cooling was quite expensive an option? It would seem to me that my system temps are ok so perhaps theres no need to purchase a new cooling system, fans and so on, the noise is the biggest problem at the moment though.

[wod]

i find mine to be reasonably quiet just running the stock fans plus a neopower psu. its the cpu heatsink fan thats most noisy.

[Digfox]

The Zalman VF700-CU could be just the ticket, where did you get yours from?

From Overclockers.co.uk, about three weeks ago.

Although I would challenge wod's first point about water cooling; it is an option worth considering. I discounted it recently becuase I've got my system to very quiet levels already and run everything at stock. I came very close to buying a Swiftech H20-APEX kit though and may review this in the future when I move to AMD's next platform in 2006.

I've got a Nexus 120 22.8dBA fan on a XP120 as my main cooler, the two stock 120mm fans that came with the Lian Li V1000, a enermax noisetaker on min and the Zalman. This PC only makes a slight hum and is in the main room near the TV.

[marcus]

Can i just confirm that the Zalman GPU cooler managed to kill off most of the noise from the BFG7800GT card? Ill place an order tonight, also debating to get a mouse pad (Ive been advised to avoid the glass ones) and maybe a Zalman CPU cooler also.

[SubparMario]

Is the Zalman cooler worth voiding the warranty for? Sorry, but it's a consideration.