What now ?

Hey all

I've been doing a PC project and I'm kind of stuck and looking for ideas to improve it so I'm just gonna list what I did so you guys may see something I can't that needs improving



-Apluscase El Diablo

-8gb 800mhz RAM (4 sticks of 2)

-Phenom X4 955 BE OC @ 3.7ghz -> Cooled by a CoolerMaster V8 and a Scythe Kama Flex exhaust fan

- 2x 1000gb SpinPoint F1 in RAID0 and 1x 1000gb SpinPoint F1 in normal config (3TB of space and I can use the 1 TB for backup) (cooled by my case's HDD cooling system/fan)

- Lightscribe DVD Burner (can't remember speeds but doesn't matter anyway I guess)

- OCZ Fatal1ty 700w PSU

- 2x GTS 250 1GB in SLI (one being an MSI Frozr OC and the other a Gainward GTS250 1GB but the older normal version, not Green one)

- X-Fi Titanium with Creative 5.1 speakers + Razer Barracuda 5.1 headset

- Razer Lachesis and a nice LED illuminated keyboard

- 27" FullHD 1920x1080 TV/monitor by LG

- The cables are managed and I used watercooling UV tubing to organise them so it looks nice with my 3 UV cold cathode lights and it also helps in organising them for maximum airflow...


My only "issue" with this rig is that my Gainward GTS250 tends to run a bit hotter than before the SLI (60c idle) but normal temperatures underload (max of 80c when using Furmark for example) but problem is the fan gets a bit loud.
I'm thinking of replacing this one with another MSI Frozr OC cause it runs quite cool + quiet and it's OC by MSI so it will run a tad faster without need of overclock from my part (now I have them synced at 745/1000/1836 which are reference GTS 250 clocks). But I will be stuck with an extra GTS 250...

I considered using an aftermarket VGA cooler for it but I have a bad experience with that from a previous ATI HD4830 that got fried cause of the lousy Accelero S1 rev.2 memory heatsinks etc. and now quarantee won't even cover it...

Other than that I also considered watercooling for CPU + SLi cards however it seems like I'm gonna be wasting my CoolerMaster V8 for a probably minor decrease in temperatures which isn't worth the costs?

Any other ideas? I hope I didn't annoy you guys but I love building up + tuning my PC but I'm in a dead end now :\

Are you looking to upgrade system?... You can go with an AM3 board & DDR3. Switch out your hard drives for the faster Samsung Spinpoint F3 or SSD? Upgrade your video cards to GTX275's... Your system can always be updated... Now your "build", you are getting low on options... You have Water Cooling, Fancy Case Lights, Case Mods... etc. left you can do.

My recommendation is save up more money and do a whole new build!! You will get to have the thrill of the build all over again. You could keep it yourself or sell to fund another build... so on so...

Well I do run an Nvidia chipset and I'm pretty happy !
I run at 3.7ghz 24/7 and my highest temperature was 51c when using torture test of Prime95... I'm sure I can push it up to 4ghz with no issues but just didn't do it yet

I wouldn't go for a new motherboard or RAM cause it would be kind of pointless in real life performance I think... I'm pretty satisfied with those aspects !

The only thing I'm considering is watercooling and some GPU solution...
However I'm kind of skeptical since with this GTS 250 sli setup I can pretty much run everything I tried at 1920x1080 maxed out and some games with AA some without...

I'm wondering tho... 2x GTX 275 or 1x GTX295 and use one of my GTS250 for PhysX ?

I noticed some issues in game compatibility using SLI so I'm wondering if the SLI-on-a-stick GTX 295 still has them ? or is it treated as a single GPU ?