New build... sort of, want to crossfire 7970's

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mick500

mick500

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Got a bit of a issue. Currently i have a z68 pro3 gen3 motherboard with a 3570k and a 7970 with a corsair gs 600w psu, my motherboard doesn't support crossfire, neither does my psu or aerocool case.

Infact my aerocool case couldn't even fit 1 7970 in it as i had to use pliers on the hdd bay to squeeze the 7970 in. For the record the 7970 is a HiS model and is a bit larger than the reference model i think @ 30cm, or 11.8".

So i have $500 with which i am looking to upgrade the case, the psu and the motherboard. I need a case that will fit these huge 7970's, i dont mind if it's via removable hdd bays or not. Most cases i have been looking at are around 12" and i assume that's for 1 slot not 2.

The motherboard needs to be able to do crossfire properly as i have read that some support it but dont do full speed on the second slot. And the psu obviously needs to be able to run this thing. So far this is what i am looking at, any suggestions are more than welcome...


PSU:

Corsair TX850 $165 or Corsair HX750 $198



Motherboard:

Asrock z77 extreme4 $135 or Asus P8z77 V-LE-PLUS $159



Case:

Corsair cc600T white $185 or Antec 300 Hundred 2 $77 or coolermaster HAF 932 $161
 
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mikerockett
Yea i think you should be fine, take a look at the below, should give you a good idea of how things will fit.

600t_update_5.png
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mick500

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It's my first full build, will the haf 932 be a bit more difficult than the corsair's, thats the feeling i get from what i have seen. And will i be missing out on anything important with the asus le plus vs the asus P8z77 v pro? And seasonic psu's are better than corsair?
 
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mikerockett

mikerockett

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You will have no issues with the HAF fitting the cards.

To be honest both of those mobo's are good, go with which one you prefer.

Seasonic PSU's are widely regarded as the best you can get. This one carries a gold rating and is fully modular.
 
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mick500

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Yeah, i was looking at the R4 aswell, just wasn't sure if the bottom hdd cage can be removed aswell, or if it was big enough to fit 2 7970's @ 30cm without having to remove both hdd bays.
 
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redeemer

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yes it can be removed

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/2020/4/

Yeah I just recently built a pc using this case for a relative, nothing special just an i5+gtx650ti. I have to say that the case has amazing build quality pretty heavy, and decent cable management options. The stock fans are so quiet and move decent air, so for the price I think its the best right now.

I believe they have a windowed model out now!
 
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mick500

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Nice. Looking at the antec p280 atm, and that looks pretty nice and i think it will just fit the gpu's in there. And to the other guy, i know it's meant to have some issues but i have seen alot of happy people with crossfire aswell, it will keep the minimum above 60fps in all games and im sure the micro stutter will get sorted.
 
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mikerockett

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Micro stutter has already been sorted in the latest drivers. I think what he was referring to was that unless you have a multi monitor set up you will not need the graphics output that xfired 7970's can provide. Basically a single 7970 will handle any single monitor set up.

As for cases they're pretty subjective, just get what you like the look of best.
 
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mick500

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With 30cm gpu's , half the cases i have looked at wouldn't fit cos of the hdd bay, so i can't just get what i like the look of, i gotta make sure its going to fit. As for not needing 2 7970's unless it's a multi monitor setup, well if you want to play @ above 1920x1080p i will need 2 gpu's. There are also games out right now that cant maintain 60fps not even maxed out @ 1920x1080, like far cry 3, hitman and a few others. I would like to have the option of going crossfire that's all.
 
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mikerockett

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Yup, not saying you're wrong i was just trying to clarify what the other guy was saying for you.

With regards to the cases i meant between the ones you'd picked out. The HAF certainly has space for the cards. Also a lot of the cases have removable HDD cages to accommodate the larger GPU's.

At 1080p a 7970 should max far cry 3. Not until you get to resolutions like 2560x1600 with MSAA on will you drop to fps of about 30.

Once again, not saying you shouldn't xfire, just giving you some information and trying to clarify what Andq1 was saying.
 
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mick500

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yeah, no worries. I know i can get ultra settings with far cry but not max anti aliasing, with 2x it drops below 60fps pretty regularly. I just want to whack everything to max, including anti aliasing and be done. Plus im a little addicted to buying stuff for the computer lol. This case stuff is shitting me tho, seems like the majority of them are 12" or 30cm and right on the limit of whether it will fit or not.

Ah, k i see what you were saying. The haf one's just seem a bit old? And im not sure if the bottom cage is removable on the corsair 600t? and if it's not, does that mean the 2nd gpu wont fit, or could it fit just above that bottom cage?
 
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mick500

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I think the corsair should be alright, looks nice to me as well. Seen a few ppl say its over priced but you get what you pay for. For a first build it looks pretty straight forward hopefully. I'm sure I will have issues tho lol.
 
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mikerockett

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I honestly couldn't tell you for sure but it looks like it could be. What i can say is that mobo is 10" width, it looks to me like there's approx 3-4" space to the right so 13-14". That should accommodate any 7970 board.

Also, even if not, from that you can see that for two card xfire you only need to remove the middle HDD cage so you will still have plenty of mounting points for HDD's.
 
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mick500

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Yeah, if that's a 10 inch board it should squeeze in nicely. I was shocked at how big the HiS 7970 is , literally need 31cm of clearance. The case I currently have can attest to that lol, the non removable hdd bay has been massacred by pliers to squeeze it in. And my case Isnt exactly small.
 
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mick500

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Yeah, no doubt. After looking at all these cases it does make mine look a bit like a piece if crap lol. Even if it wasn't all busted up. You know much about the as rock z77 extreme 4 In terms of sli? To be more specific , the spacing between the 2 pcie slots? Like in that pic you linked, those cards are really close. I wouldn't mind having a gap between them or is that only available on like a quad sli/crossfire board or will the 2 slots be positioned like 1 and 3 ? I'm just worried about heat aswell, I have looke at pics of the boar it's just hard to gauge the width of the slots compared to the width of the cards in pics and I would be a little disappointed if I got it home an it was gonna be super close to each other. Picking them up today so I need to start making some decisions! Lol.
 
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mikerockett

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Looking at the mobo it looks like there could be a space between the two, think mobo manufacturers are recognizing people more often using crossfire than using pci cards so they are arranged in this manner.

I do know that the extreme 4 is often recommended as a good quality and reasonably cheap crossfire board so it should be ok.
 
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mick500

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Cheers for the help. All done now, here's the result. Not the best cable management, but not bad for my first effort if I do say so myself. Won't be winning any awards but I'm happy with it, had my doubts that I could get it done but was surprisingly simple really. http://db.tt/orFcmRJS
 
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