CASE, PSU and CPU COOLER?

[donsrbin]

Hi there!

I'll try to be quick. here's my PC spec:

-intel core 2 quad q660 @ 2.4GHZ, wanna clock it to 3GHZ (will get to that later)
-2x4GB RAM @ 1333
-8800 GTS 512 (but getting a new, better one, something like gtx 670)
-MSI G41M-P28 motherboard
-One hard disc drive
-350W PSU (getting a new one, probably 750+W)
-Chieftec DG-01WD-D case
the rest is probably irrelevant

Now, I want to get a better cooler for my CPU, so I can overclock it. It has to cool good (and by that I mean I can overclock any processor on it as much as I want, and not think about heat), and to be compatible with socket 775 (current CPU) and with i7/AMD equivalent new generation sockets. But there is a problem: if I put a low profile (and by that I mean small) cooler, it will probably not cool it very good, especially since it's 30+ degrees C outside, and I want to overclock. On the other hand my current case is too small for a big profile CPU cooler.

Currently, between my motherboard and the case is a bit less than 15cm.

So, what should I do? Search for some very good, and very expensive low profile cooler, or should I get a new case?

Also, if I'm getting a new case, what would you recommend? I have only one HDD, and one graphic card, so it doesn't need to be too big, but I want to put a big CPU cooler in it.

Also, very important! I would like the case to come with built in fans (like, for example Cooler Master HAF series)

And last, but not least, I want both my cpu cooler and case to be as time-resistant as possible (meaning I could probably use them for 5+years long)

am I hopeless?

And many thanks for any help!

P.S. Please no water cooling! Thanks

 

[Raiddinn]

I would absolutely get rid of the current case.

Top mount PSU cases were so last decade. Since the invention of bottom mount cases all gamers have been encouraged to switch to them and I would highly suggest you do the same thing.

Also, I wouldn't suggest you shy away from mid tower cases. The more room there is in there the better the airflow will be.

The HAF 912 is a hugely successful low end gamers case and I would highly recommend it. The stars pretty much align over the top of that case.

However, most cases come with fan slots for optional fans and I would highly suggest you add fans yourself in those optional slots. This is not very difficult to do at all. As long as you make sure the fan has a MOLEX connector the whole process takes a couple minutes each.

The Hyper 212 is a cheap and hugely popular CPU cooler, but you will want to check if it works with LGA 775. I am pretty sure it works on everything newer than that, though, like AM3+ and 1155. If it does work, it is considered to be the best bang for your buck cooler, often beating things that cost 3x as much.

You may want either low profile RAM or a motherboard with more than 2 RAM slots, though, because the Hyper 212 is pretty large.

Also, whenever you get the new video card and new PSU, do yourself a favor and get an XFX PSU. The 650w version should be way more than fine for a 670.

 

[donsrbin]

I would absolutely get rid of the current case.

Top mount PSU cases were so last decade. Since the invention of bottom mount cases all gamers have been encouraged to switch to them and I would highly suggest you do the same thing.

Also, I wouldn't suggest you shy away from mid tower cases. The more room there is in there the better the airflow will be.

The HAF 912 is a hugely successful low end gamers case and I would highly recommend it. The stars pretty much align over the top of that case.

However, most cases come with fan slots for optional fans and I would highly suggest you add fans yourself in those optional slots. This is not very difficult to do at all. As long as you make sure the fan has a MOLEX connector the whole process takes a couple minutes each.

The Hyper 212 is a cheap and hugely popular CPU cooler, but you will want to check if it works with LGA 775. I am pretty sure it works on everything newer than that, though, like AM3+ and 1155. If it does work, it is considered to be the best bang for your buck cooler, often beating things that cost 3x as much.

You may want either low profile RAM or a motherboard with more than 2 RAM slots, though, because the Hyper 212 is pretty large.

Also, whenever you get the new video card and new PSU, do yourself a favor and get an XFX PSU. The 650w version should be way more than fine for a 670.

Hi!

Thank you for your reply!

Don't mind me for asking: but what's wrong with top mount PSU?

"The HAF 912 is a hugely successful low end gamers case and I would highly recommend it." Okay, but I was thinking more of something bigger, like HAF 932?

"However, most cases come with fan slots for optional fans and I would highly suggest you add fans yourself in those optional slots. This is not very difficult to do at all. As long as you make sure the fan has a MOLEX connector the whole process takes a couple minutes each."

I know how to mount a new fan and how the airflow should go. I just wanted a case with built in, because it's easier than buying an empty case and then searching for good fans separately.

"You may want either low profile RAM or a motherboard with more than 2 RAM slots, though, because the Hyper 212 is pretty large."

I wasn't planning on buying new ram and motherboard. Where did you get that info from?

"The 650w version should be way more than fine for a 670." Are u sure? Even with overclocking?

 

[Uther39]

My first question is whats your budget for all 3 items, and your country of residence, or currency?

 

[donsrbin]

I'm from Serbia, and the budges is probably enough: it's around $230 for case and CPU cooler.

I can get very cheap PSU, but not from XFX, but cooler master and chieftec.

I think I have enough money, and I can increase the budget, I just don't want to waste it on something that is not good, that's all.

 

[Raiddinn]

I don't think you could possibly crush the XFX 650w with an OCd 670. Maybe if you had 2x OCd 670s. A full system with a non-OCd 670 uses like 250w at load and an XFX 650w can do 800+ watts.

Most people vastly overestimate how much wattage they are using. That just happens to line up perfectly with most PSUs being massively overlabeled, which the XFX PSUs aren't.

I can't speak for sure about if the Hyper 212 will mess with the RAM slots on the MSI board (it might) but whenever you get around to getting an i7 or whatever you would probably want to have a 4 RAM slot board for that reason since you can just put them in the 2 farthest away slots and there is definitely no problem.

A lot of people seem to be getting the Hyper 212 without getting low profile RAM and I don't hear a lot of complaints about it not working. Take that for what you will.

HAF 932.. Overkill I would say. That thing might as well fit a couch inside it. Get whatever you want, but expect diminishing returns on your dollars the more money you throw at the case.

What is wrong with top mount PSU - PM me your email address and I will friend you on Google+ and you can read it on my blog. I would have to warn you, though, it is 2 separate walls of texts. You would be a power/cooling expert after reading it.

Either that or search in the forums here if you can where I have answered questions about PSUs, I have written the whole thing out many times on here in response to people's questions. It would take forever to find it, though, unless you are a good forum searcher because I have responded to thousands of people.

- Edit - Cooler Master and Chieftec PSUs are both pretty bad most of the time. Are there any other options? Particularly from Antec or Corsair?

 

[Uther39]

I'm from Serbia, and the budges is probably enough: it's around $230 for case and CPU cooler.

I can get very cheap PSU, but not from XFX, but cooler master and chieftec.

I think I have enough money, and I can increase the budget, I just don't want to waste it on something that is not good, that's all.

Do you have an online retailer in serbia so we can see whats available to you?

 

[Raiddinn]

See if you can pull up this link to one of the blog posts in question:

http://tinyurl.com/7oss8no

I have no idea if it will work.

 

[donsrbin]

I don't think you could possibly crush the XFX 650w with an OCd 670. Maybe if you had 2x OCd 670s. A full system with a non-OCd 670 uses like 250w at load and an XFX 650w can do 800+ watts.

Most people vastly overestimate how much wattage they are using. That just happens to line up perfectly with most PSUs being massively overlabeled, which the XFX PSUs aren't.

I can't speak for sure about if the Hyper 212 will mess with the RAM slots on the MSI board (it might) but whenever you get around to getting an i7 or whatever you would probably want to have a 4 RAM slot board for that reason since you can just put them in the 2 farthest away slots and there is definitely no problem.

A lot of people seem to be getting the Hyper 212 without getting low profile RAM and I don't hear a lot of complaints about it not working. Take that for what you will.

HAF 932.. Overkill I would say. That thing might as well fit a couch inside it. Get whatever you want, but expect diminishing returns on your dollars the more money you throw at the case.

What is wrong with top mount PSU - PM me your email address and I will friend you on Google+ and you can read it on my blog. I would have to warn you, though, it is 2 separate walls of texts. You would be a power/cooling expert after reading it.

Either that or search in the forums here if you can where I have answered questions about PSUs, I have written the whole thing out many times on here in response to people's questions. It would take forever to find it, though, unless you are a good forum searcher because I have responded to thousands of people.

- Edit - Cooler Master and Chieftec PSUs are both pretty bad most of the time. Are there any other options? Particularly from Antec or Corsair?

I think of HAF 932 because it's like $10 more expensive than the 922, and it has space for 2 PSU's, that might com in handy for my next gen PC.

About PSUs: I have the following options:

http://emmi.rs/napajanja-i-dodatni-ventilatori.10.html?categoryId=219
http://www.comtradeshop.com/napajanja
http://www.winwin.rs/racunari-i-komponente/racunarske-komponente/napajanja-i-dodatni-ventilatori.html

It's in Serbian mostly, but I think translate with Chrome can help you a lot. Those are my options.

 

[donsrbin]

Do you have an online retailer in serbia so we can see whats available to you?

These are the best solutions I have:

http://emmi.rs/napajanja-i-dodatni [...] goryId=219
http://www.comtradeshop.com/napajanja
http://www.winwin.rs/racunari-i-ko [...] atori.html

It's in Serbian mostly, but I think translate with Chrome can help you a lot. Those are my options.

 

[Uther39]

I would go with a Corsair 400r case, Corsair H100 CPU cooler and a Corsair 650w PSU.

If there available to you.

 

[Raiddinn]

I would never want so much Corsair in my PC, not even close. Not even 1 thing if possible.

PSU wise I would get one of these:

Power supply 500W Seasonic SS-500ET
Power supply 520W Seasonic SS-520GB
Power supply 520W Seasonic SS-520GM
Power supply 650W Seasonic SS-650AM

The 650w would be the safest bet if you want to massively OC.

Not sure what you intend to do for a next generation PC, but I would rather have 1x a good PSU than 2x a sucky one.

 

[donsrbin]

I would never want so much Corsair in my PC, not even close. Not even 1 thing if possible.

PSU wise I would get one of these:

Power supply 500W Seasonic SS-500ET
Power supply 520W Seasonic SS-520GB
Power supply 520W Seasonic SS-520GM
Power supply 650W Seasonic SS-650AM

The 650w would be the safest bet if you want to massively OC.

Not sure what you intend to do for a next generation PC, but I would rather have 1x a good PSU than 2x a sucky one.

Only 650W? Is that enough for a next gen i7 with gtx670? :O

I can get 2 x 750W PSU for about 10% cheaper than a single 1000W PSU. Just a thought.

 

[dudewitbow]

the seasonic ss 650 and the 850W Silverstone Strider are the only decent psus i could find on the site with decent quality in them.

@above, newer technology =/= more power consumption. companies build their products with the goal of lower power consumption. the 670 should have a lower power consumption than the last gen 580 has and performs better

www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/517?vs=598

that's how the computer world works, attempt to make it consume less power, with added performance.

 

[Raiddinn]

I would like to go ahead and dispell a myth now. That being that labels are worth something and easily comparable.

Some 750w PSUs cant even give out 450w. Others can give out nearly 1000w.

What really matters is the quality of parts and you can't see that on a label. You can, however, see it on a price tag.

In PSUs, performance closely tracks price. If there is a 300w PSU that costs $40 and a 400w PSU that costs $30, the 300w can probably provide more power.

The best way to know if you are getting a good one or a bad one is to look at the brand on it. Seasonic happens to be the best one. You know you are getting quality with one of theirs. All XFX PSUs also happen to be made by Seasonic.

So you can't really ask "Is a 650w good enough for i7s and gtx 670s?", because there is no way to answer that question.

Some 650ws are good enough and some are not.

Is a Seasonic 650w good enough? Yes, it is.

- Edit - Here is a link showing a full system with a 670 using only 247w.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-670-review,3200-14.html

 

[donsrbin]

I would like to go ahead and dispell a myth now. That being that labels are worth something and easily comparable.

Some 750w PSUs cant even give out 450w. Others can give out nearly 1000w.

What really matters is the quality of parts and you can't see that on a label. You can, however, see it on a price tag.

In PSUs, performance closely tracks price. If there is a 300w PSU that costs $40 and a 400w PSU that costs $30, the 300w can probably provide more power.

The best way to know if you are getting a good one or a bad one is to look at the brand on it. Seasonic happens to be the best one. You know you are getting quality with one of theirs. All XFX PSUs also happen to be made by Seasonic.

So you can't really ask "Is a 650w good enough for i7s and gtx 670s?", because there is no way to answer that question.

Some 650ws are good enough and some are not.

Is a Seasonic 650w good enough? Yes, it is.

- Edit - Here is a link showing a full system with a 670 using only 247w.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-670-review,3200-14.html

wow, I didn't know that. Well that sucks. but thanks for the info, though, I'll keep that in mind

 

[Raiddinn]

Here is a link

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/977

Showing a 750w PSU that blew up when a reviewer tried to get more than 450w from it.

 

[gcatalin]

you can't overclock on that motherboard...it's a low end g41 chipset that doesn't support overclock

 

[Unolocogringo]

http://emmi.rs/napajanja-i-dodatni-ventilatori-napajanje-500w-seasonic-ss-500et.11.html?productId=16816
Best deal on power supply. And plenty of power for a single video card.
Great case cools very well and is pretty quiet.
http://www.winwin.rs/kuciste-cooler-master-haf-912-plus-rc-912p-kkn1.html
very good heatsink for the price. Even when overclocking in the future
http://www.winwin.rs/cpu-hladnjak-lga1156-lga1366-am3-am2-cooler-master-hyper-212-evo.html
Do not know conversions but this is a very sweet setup in US prices.

 

[donsrbin]

you can't overclock on that motherboard...it's a low end g41 chipset that doesn't support overclock

That's not true. I've been overclocking my Q6600 to 3.2 GHZ

I've downclocked it because it was hitting more than 65 degrees.

 

[donsrbin]

http://emmi.rs/napajanja-i-dodatni-ventilatori-napajanje-500w-seasonic-ss-500et.11.html?productId=16816
Best deal on power supply. And plenty of power for a single video card.
Great case cools very well and is pretty quiet.
http://www.winwin.rs/kuciste-cooler-master-haf-912-plus-rc-912p-kkn1.html
very good heatsink for the price. Even when overclocking in the future
http://www.winwin.rs/cpu-hladnjak-lga1156-lga1366-am3-am2-cooler-master-hyper-212-evo.html
Do not know conversions but this is a very sweet setup in US prices.

Thank you!

but in case I want to go for a SLI build in the future (when I change the processor and motherboard), can it all be put in HAF 912?

Also, 922 has cooler slots on bottom (which 912 doesn't have) and a bigger side fan slot (200mm over 120 on 912).

does that makes difference in cooling?

Besides that, I love how 912 looks, and how it performs.

 

[Unolocogringo]

You can remove the center Hard drive cage and put ANY pair of video cards in the case with lots of room to spare. Most will fit without any changes. It is a nice roomy case.
It has 2 SSD mounts at the bottom of the case in front of the power supply. A 3 1/2 to 5 1/2 adaptor, 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 adaptor good cable management .Mounts for extra fans if needed.
And the side panel will accept 120 or 140mm fan for extra air on the Graphics cards.
I have the 912 not the '+' model and love it. The Hyper 212 Evo works wonders with this case.
Run Folding at Home 24/7 with a AMD 960t unlocked to 6 cores @3.4 and a overclocked GTX460 max temps are 54 for CPU and 74 for GPU.
Noise is not a problem . An all arround great case for the price.

 

[donsrbin]

You can remove the center Hard drive cage and put ANY pair of video cards in the case with lots of room to spare. Most will fit without any changes. It is a nice roomy case.
It has 2 SSD mounts at the bottom of the case in front of the power supply. A 3 1/2 to 5 1/2 adaptor, 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 adaptor good cable management .Mounts for extra fans if needed.
And the side panel will accept 120 or 140mm fan for extra air on the Graphics cards.
I have the 912 not the '+' model and love it. The Hyper 212 Evo works wonders with this case.
Run Folding at Home 24/7 with a AMD 960t unlocked to 6 cores @3.4 and a overclocked GTX460 max temps are 54 for CPU and 74 for GPU.
Noise is not a problem . An all arround great case for the price.

Then HAF 912 it is. I'll only take the plus version, because there's no other one on the market here.

Thank you for all your support

 

[Raiddinn]

The 200 MM side fan is all that I would miss.

I wholeheartedly support getting the 912, but a 200 MM side fan is a beautiful thing.

Bottom front fan is pretty much worthless. It actually prevents good airflow by making sure the air from the front fans can't go straight back into the case by redirecting it upwards. Even if it was an option on my case I wouldn't install it.

Also, I would avoid SLIing if I were you. Ebay the current card and use the money plus whatever other money to buy 1x of a bigger card instead.

 

[donsrbin]

Also, I would avoid SLIing if I were you. Ebay the current card and use the money plus whatever other money to buy 1x of a bigger card instead.

Why? What's wrong with SLI?

EBay doesn't work here, and besides, I can't get much money for my old card, it's kinda worthless... Selling it for $20 is just pointless :\