Will my PC Run this? What CPU/GPU to get? What settings? System Specifications.

[bangtail 0]

Yah, that Nvidia news really sealed the deal for me. The OCing potential of these things is just nuts and yields some amazing gains.

Despite the fact that I prefer Nvidia's drivers, I've been doing a lot of reading, and AMD seem to be getting better as far as their drivers go. I haven't had AMD cards for a while now, but the last time I did, I wasn't impressed.

I hope I'm in for a good experience with these babies this time around :D

Edited January 14, 2012 by BangTail

[PuFu 4600]

numptie! Well, let us know how they perform once you got hands on...i guess you gonna keep your 580s for a few ;)

[bangtail 0]

I got the shipping notice an hour ago but I won't get them until Monday at the earliest, it being the weekend and all :(

[cannonouscrash 12]

A question for hopefully someone with multi experience.

Im looking at liquid cooling for my PC. Ive had it before in the form of a thermaltake Armour+LCS case.

But since, Ive parted with that machine and resigned it to the dark corner of the garage. My newer I5 2500k is currently running at 4ghz but a bit warm under load.

Whats the best form of liquid cooling.

Do i go for a proper kit, or do I cheap it out and get one of the corsair h50/60/70/100s, or the antec khuler range.

Any advice truly welcomed!

[Leon86 13]

When you say "a bit warm under load", how hot is it exactly?

If I turn on LinX on my i5-750 the cores get up to about 80 Celcius, compared to that your system might be pretty cool.

If you didnt change the voltage temps like 80 on the cores are perfectly acceptabe, start to overvolt and you'll have to keep the cpu cooler so the voltage doesnt kill your cpu. (heat makes the cpu "softer" and voltage kills it, so to speak)

[alfa7172 1]

for $1200 you can get a very fast system. something like:

guess I'll just post prices from newegg

i5-2500K $210

Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 $160

Corsair Vengeance CML8GX3M2A1600C9 Low Profile $50

XFX PRO750W XXX Edition Semi-Modular 80Plus Silver 750 Watt Power Supply $130 (psu is complete overkill but it's a good piece of kit for the money and will allow any gpu (twice))

If you have a harddisk you can re-use that'll save you a lot, because of the thailand floodings they're very expensive now.

A sata dvd burner might be convienient. $18

system will fit in any case that says it's ATX, might want to get a nice case as they can last you ages, just like good psu's.

a 6950 2GB of a 560Ti 2GB are still good cards price/performance wise, will still leave plenty room in the budget for a nice case and a harddisk. I prefer the green team so I'd get the 560Ti 2GB. well, both are about $270

If you have a nice case, a harddisk and still have money "left" you really want to spend I suggest you spend it on an ssd (Z68 mobo has a ssd cacheing trick) or an aftermarket cooler. still have money left? why not get a corsair AX750 instead of the XFX? 7yr warranty, more efficient and less noise.

Thanks for the info. I actually looked up a custom computer on tigerdirect and with the upgrades I gave it; intel i5-2600k processor with liquid cooling, 16gb ddr3 ram(idk who makes the memory units), 1 tb hdd, and nvidia gtx560ti graphics card, it came to about $1300 which includes a mouse, keyboard, and 850w power supply. So I think that's what I'll get

[cannonouscrash 12]

Im running about 70 degress underload, but for me its a little too warm.

Im running at 4GHz with an akasa venom HS with an air penetrator fan in pull formation. Cant have pushpull because of the ram and height of the HS.

I want to push for 4.5Ghz possibly 5GHz. Im not at home at the minute, but Ill get some CPUz and temp shots soon as I get home.

Ive never really tweaked around with voltages, but ive pushed the multiplyer beyond 40 and my pc decided to shit itsself on me.

[Leon86 13]

4.5 should be pretty easy with good aircooling or the easy corsair watercooling things.

For 5 Ghz 24/7 you have to get lucky with the chip. Most chips are not stable on that speed unless you give it a massive overvoltage, meaning it wont last long.

[bangtail 0]

They arrived this morning, will try to get some testing done at some point today :)

They solidly beat the 580s in the Call of Pripyat Benchmark (only one Ive had time for with all the tinkering).

One other thing, the 'white dot' effect is horrible with these and that's with AA off/ATOC=0.

EDIT1: The weird stuttering in ArmA 2 was due to Vsync being enabled.

EDIT2: Exceptional cards :D

Edited January 16, 2012 by BangTail

[Leon86 13]

you play without vsync?

I play with vsync in almost all games, if the fps can keep the refresh rate of the monitor it's way more fluent than without.

[bangtail 0]

No. But arma doesn't seem to like it enabled with these cards. No doubt a driver issue.

[Bee8190 10]

Vsync was the first thing I've disabled too and seen no difference really.

Bangtail@ Nice cards, hope you ll share some benchmarks later :D

btw these cards look exceptionally long judging by the pic...

You have fun with those ;)

[cjph 0]

Hi Bangtail

If you get a chance I'd be interested to know the VRAM usage on these cards (vs 580s 3Gb ?). I use eyefinity on three screens at 5040x1050 res on a single 6950 flashed to 6970 spec, so wonder if 2Gb is the cause of occasional freezes I get.

cj

[kotov12345 10]

7970s

EDIT1: The weird stuttering in ArmA 2 was due to Vsync being enabled.

EDIT2: Exceptional cards :D

what minimum and maximum fps you will get flying on chernorus with 1920x1080 or similar vd 10km

all setting to normal/balanced/app setting except pp and shadows off ?

[bangtail 0]

Vsync was the first thing I've disabled too and seen no difference really.

Bangtail@ Nice cards, hope you ll share some benchmarks later :D

btw these cards look exceptionally long judging by the pic...

You have fun with those ;)

Seems that disabling vsync helps a bit but there is still some stuttering that was not present with the 580s. To be fair, the drivers are still very new so I'll give it some time.

@cjph: The RAM usage seems to be typically higher than the 580s in some places. I have seen them use the whole 3GB.

[froggyluv 2136]

The RAM usage seems to be typically higher than the 580s in some places. I have seen them use the whole 3GB.

*Waits for Atomic release*

:D

[cjph 0]

Cheers BangTail, I have read that a number of other games use all the VRAM that is present, so 3Gb may not be surprising at high resolutions and detail levels.

cj

[bangtail 0]

Cheers BangTail, I have read that a number of other games use all the VRAM that is present, so 3Gb may not be surprising at high resolutions and detail levels.

cj

There is a 6GB version in the works, specifically for Eyefinity configs :D

[cjph 0]

Interesting, using the max settings I can in the game, Zargabad with everything v high, 10km VD and very high AA requires a max of 1.85Gb VRAM according to GPU-Z. Might explain the occasional 1 sec freezes I get when playing that map in MP.

Update:

Given the GPU is running at or near 100% load I summize the CPU is not bottlenecking the graphics, and any freezes are down to the near saturation of the VRAM - spikes in loading are most likely due to transfers to/from the main memory, which momentarily halt the card. The price of running across three screens I guess and not a reason to load more files onto a RAMDisk ?

cj

Edited January 18, 2012 by cjph

[Leon86 13]

Seems that disabling vsync helps a bit but there is still some stuttering that was not present with the 580s. To be fair, the drivers are still very new so I'll give it some time.

@cjph: The RAM usage seems to be typically higher than the 580s in some places. I have seen them use the whole 3GB.

I once had some stutter in arma, was gone after I added the .exe to the antivirus allowed list. Gpu-z in the background caused stutter as well.

[bangtail 0]

Unfortunately, I have had to revert to the 580s. I had several BSODs and other assorted issues with around 50% of the games I tested. The most prolific problem is that stuttering, which can be alleviated in most cases by Alt-tabbing, but is entirely unacceptable.

ArmA 2 and Take On Helicopters both BSOD'd on me on several occasions.

As always, it boils down to drivers and more specifically, CF support.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/01/17/amd_crossfirex_drivers_opportunity_lost

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1666851

If you are going with 1 card, the 7970 is an excellent choice but for multi GPU configs, I'm still not sold. Hopefully, a driver update (or several) can fix this in short order.

[froggyluv 2136]

Ouch!!! Hopefully they resolve that Xfire Asap. Still gonna wait for the Sapphire Atomic 1335/ 5 Gig version.

[cjph 0]

I tried a number of things last night to reduce my stuttering, and saw GPU-Z reports a max of 1.95Gb VRAM use in MP games on Zargabad, and a max 91% GPU load (though typically below that). I'm no expert but it seems to indicate that for the bigger res of eyefinity, 2Gb VRAM is the cause and is not enough. So for bigger res you will have to wind down the settings (I play on 3K VD and most settings high, low AA). It seems my eyecandy addiction will have to wait for a 7970 or similar card with pimped up VRAM.

cj

[Leon86 13]

Unfortunately, I have had to revert to the 580s. I had several BSODs and other assorted issues with around 50% of the games I tested. The most prolific problem is that stuttering, which can be alleviated in most cases by Alt-tabbing, but is entirely unacceptable.

ArmA 2 and Take On Helicopters both BSOD'd on me on several occasions.

As always, it boils down to drivers and more specifically, CF support.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/01/17/amd_crossfirex_drivers_opportunity_lost

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1666851

If you are going with 1 card, the 7970 is an excellent choice but for multi GPU configs, I'm still not sold. Hopefully, a driver update (or several) can fix this in short order.

BSOD, damn. Havent seen one of those in a while.

[GOLGO_13 10]

Hey guys!

I finally tested the Arrowhead demo on my rig.

Mobo Asus P8P67 Pro

2500K @ 3.7

EVGA GTX 570 2.5GB

2x4GB Corsair 1600 RAM

Corsair CMPSU-850TXV2 850W

Old Sata 2 500GB HD with Windows XP. LOL!

LG LCD 23" 1080p.

Soon I'll get a SSD to install Windows 7 and the full game.

I know the demo isn't the best way to test the PC, but I keep getting lag spikes when there's a lot of enemies clustered far away and I use the sniper scope to take a look.

I've set the View Distance to 3000(I snipe most of the time :D), disabled the Post Processing, set the 3D effects at 100%(1920x1080), and everything else on Very High.

Which other settings I could turn down to get a smoother game without loosing too much quality/details?

BTW, I'll get a Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus next week, and I'll try to OC the 2500K a bit, to see if makes a difference. :D

Any suggestions are appreciated. :)