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On June 06 2013 01:06 Cyro wrote:Show nested quote +On June 06 2013 00:03 blueslobster wrote:What do you look for in an expensive motherboard? Overclocking capabilities, cooling, elecontronic components quality, better on-board sound or better network chips? Everything, i plan on pushing harder than the vast majority of OCers so i'd spend more than reccomended to pretty much anyone for safety and just to have it if nothing else Sounds like I should be very interested in your final choice, then. ;P
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United States7481 Posts
My build is starting to come together, just asking for some advice on final parts. I was aiming for about $1500 for around 2 years upgrade cycle, but I'm not going to get caught up in exact numbers. Basic overclocking, nothing too crazy since I've only used laptops for the past 6 or 7 years. One 1920x1080 monitor not in the budget, possibly adding a 2nd monitor in the medium term. Some sort of w7 not in the budget, count that as unfortunate expense. Currently planning to use it for sc2, wow, ps2, multiboxing eve, dota, and streaming/recording/basic editing some of the above. Here's what I have picked out/bought so far and some targets:
Corsair Vengeance C70 ATX $139.99 $99.99 GA-Z87X-UD4H $229.99 $149.99 I7-4770k $369.99 $279.99 Gigabyte GTX 770 $399.99 CoolerMaster TPC 812 $69.99 $54.16 2x4gb DDR3 1600 RAM, aiming for $60 here if I can find it 2x1TB HDD, looking to be around $140 around 250GB SSD. Not settled here yet. estimating $200 for now. Rosewill CAPSTONE 750M $159.99 $119.99 Optical Drive, don't want any blu-ray so estimating $20. No idea what's considered reliable for this part.
This leaves me, after discounts, $1524.11 not counting shipping (shouldn't be too bad between Amazon Prime and Micro Center covering some parts). Saving about $265 off list prices so far.
Right now I'm looking for guidance on SSD and Optical Drive. I've also heard some concerns about Rosewill PSU reliability and am hoping for more input on that. Is PC Part Picker a good place to pick out/find good prices on stuff like RAM, Optical, and HDD?
+ Show Spoiler [SSD Thoughts so far] +Samsung 840 250gb: slightly less storage, great price at $171. Lower performance. Samsung 840 pro 256gb: more storage, higher performance, significantly higher price at $220. Plextor M5S 256gb: specs in between 840 and 840pro, price also in between at $190. Kind of feel like Goldilocks here.
As for Monitor discussion, that's for another thread.
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Hardwareversand is a fantastic site. I'm part of an online community in Ireland which is a forum for building computers. We, without fail, recommend hardwareversand to buy from. The only thing I can say is maybe people are buying "single piece items" which are returns, hence their potential defective mess.
I myself have bought from them on 3 separate occasions, spending over 1500 euro in 3 years. Only one component has failed, and they replaced it. You being in the country should make the customer service even less of a hassle.
It's extremely difficult to damage a chip when overclocking. There are so many built in safety features, and the chips are so resilient you'd actually have to out of your way to damage it. Getting a basic overclock requires little to no effort, and will result in a ~15% performance increase. We can suggest an appropriate cooler (something which you should be getting anyways for quieter fan speeds anyways, stock fans sick and your budget is so high).
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Hey guys, looking to make a Haswell rig to stream SC2. Here's a brief outline of what I have so far
CPU = i5-4670k ~$200 @ microcenter Motherboard = ASRock Extreme6? Has good review at Tom's ~$170 HSF = CoolerMaster EVO ~$30 GPU = EVGA GTX 660 2gb ~$190 Memory = SSD Kingston HyperX 3K SH103S3/120G 2.5" 120GB ~$120 Storage Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM ~$75 RAM = Crucial Ballistix 8gb DDR3 1333mhz ~$50 Case = Rosewill R5 ~60$ PSU = Corsair Builder CX500 500W ~$50
Estimated Total ~$945
So my questions... Is it worth it to drop SSD and upgrade to i7, given that I don't mind longer boot time? What to look for in a motherboard? How good is gtx 660, and how much does it matter which brand made the board? My room might get pretty hot and I plan to overclock, how much difference would it be to get the legendary Noctua NH-D14 and just never worry about cooling again? Have anyone any experience with the Rosewill R5 case, or have any recommendations about the case?
Please let me if you think any changes made to this build, or comments about where it's lacking/overkill.
Filled-out survey:
+ Show Spoiler + What is your budget? Up to $1,000
What is your resolution? I want to be able to support 1080p, 60hz.
What are you using it for? SC2 and streaming it. Some other games, but don't expect to max out graphics. Stream max 720p.
What is your upgrade cycle? Most likely not for another 4 years for anything major.
When do you plan on building it? Some time this month, unless anything else significant is coming out.
Do you plan on overclocking? Yes. Slightly, on air.
Do you need an Operating System? No
Do you plan to add a second GPU for SLI or Crossfire? No, not a big graphics person.
Where are you buying your parts from? Mostly online. Microcenter is 1 hour away, so it's an option if deals are good.
Thanks in advance!
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Hey build experts, I'm looking to purchase a 13", Haswell ultrabook/notebook as they start being released in the next few months. I know I won't be able to select anything concrete yet, but hopefully with your feedback I can get an idea of which manufacturer/model combination I can narrow it down to. Also, I won't be looking at Apple since I'm currently using a Macbook and looking to switch back.
Survey:Budget: $800-$1000 Resolution: 13" screen, ideally 1600x900, but 1366x768 is fine Use: Some large-file-size spreadsheeting, light gaming (ideally 99fps in CS1.6, 40-50fps in SC2 low or medium and Source games like CSGO, Dota2, etc), capable of 720p moviemaking Upgrade Cycle: 4-5 years OS: No Where are you buying from? I'm located in US East, I was planning on just buying through normal means over the internet, either manufacturer's own site or resellers if cheaper Rough idea of parts so far:
Form: 13.3" display, <1" thickness CPU: i3 or i5 above 2GHz GPU: HD5000 or GT640M/650M (I looked over the Anandtech article about Haswell's graphics, and if an integrated GPU is enough to accomplish what I'm looking for, then I'd forgo discrete) Memory: 4-8GB HD 256GB SSD if upgradeable and won't put it significantly over $1000 total, otherwise, 500GB-1TB mechanical Everything is really rough, any general opinions on notebooks/ultrabooks are welcome, thanks in advance
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United Kingdom20275 Posts
On June 06 2013 01:42 Antoine wrote:My build is starting to come together, just asking for some advice on final parts. I was aiming for about $1500 for around 2 years upgrade cycle, but I'm not going to get caught up in exact numbers. Basic overclocking, nothing too crazy since I've only used laptops for the past 6 or 7 years. One 1920x1080 monitor not in the budget, possibly adding a 2nd monitor in the medium term. Some sort of w7 not in the budget, count that as unfortunate expense. Currently planning to use it for sc2, wow, ps2, multiboxing eve, dota, and streaming/recording/basic editing some of the above. Here's what I have picked out/bought so far and some targets: Corsair Vengeance C70 ATX $139.99 $99.99 GA-Z87X-UD4H $229.99 $149.99 I7-4770k $369.99 $279.99 Gigabyte GTX 770 $399.99 CoolerMaster TPC 812 $69.99 $54.16 2x4gb DDR3 1600 RAM, aiming for $60 here if I can find it 2x1TB HDD, looking to be around $140 around 250GB SSD. Not settled here yet. estimating $200 for now. Rosewill CAPSTONE 750M $159.99 $119.99 Optical Drive, don't want any blu-ray so estimating $20. No idea what's considered reliable for this part. This leaves me, after discounts, $1524.11 not counting shipping (shouldn't be too bad between Amazon Prime and Micro Center covering some parts). Saving about $265 off list prices so far. Right now I'm looking for guidance on SSD and Optical Drive. I've also heard some concerns about Rosewill PSU reliability and am hoping for more input on that. Is PC Part Picker a good place to pick out/find good prices on stuff like RAM, Optical, and HDD? + Show Spoiler [SSD Thoughts so far] +Samsung 840 250gb: slightly less storage, great price at $171. Lower performance. Samsung 840 pro 256gb: more storage, higher performance, significantly higher price at $220. Plextor M5S 256gb: specs in between 840 and 840pro, price also in between at $190. Kind of feel like Goldilocks here. As for Monitor discussion, that's for another thread.
You can't get a cheaper board with a discount?
I'm getting a ud3h for high end overclocking (delid and thermalright silver arrow) which is cheaper but still probably overkill, ud4h is really over the top IMO. 750w PSU too? 600-50 would be fine for SLI 770's AFAIK
Sorry for not adressing other stuff, i'm so busy and out of the loop atm with pretty much everything
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United States7481 Posts
if I saved $60-70 between going down to a Seasonic M12II-650 BRONZE ATX 650 PSU and ASUS Z87-A or ASRock Z87 Extreme4, where could I even put that for better performance? I would if it would be really helpful but I don't know where else I could go for a meaningful upgrade? Maybe the higher-end SSD I mentioned, but I don't mind going $20 over the estimated 200 there.
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On June 06 2013 01:52 Gumbi wrote: Hardwareversand is a fantastic site. I'm part of an online community in Ireland which is a forum for building computers. We, without fail, recommend hardwareversand to buy from. The only thing I can say is maybe people are buying "single piece items" which are returns, hence their potential defective mess.
I myself have bought from them on 3 separate occasions, spending over 1500 euro in 3 years. Only one component has failed, and they replaced it. You being in the country should make the customer service even less of a hassle.
It's extremely difficult to damage a chip when overclocking. There are so many built in safety features, and the chips are so resilient you'd actually have to out of your way to damage it. Getting a basic overclock requires little to no effort, and will result in a ~15% performance increase. We can suggest an appropriate cooler (something which you should be getting anyways for quieter fan speeds anyways, stock fans sick and your budget is so high).
I might give OC a chance, but then Im totally lost. I dont have even a CPU to start with.
CPU: Intel i5-xxxxk ... no idea ...ivy bridge? haswell? --> might OC Motherboard: no idea Z77? Z87? --> might OC GPU: no idea ...GTX? --> might OC HSF: no idea RAM: 2 x 4 Gb Corsair Vengence 1600 cl9 ->100% Monitor: 2 x 1920x1080 monitors, but no idea which ones Case: no idea PSU: no idea 500W? 600W? 700W? SSD: Samsung 840 Pro 128 (maybe 256) GB --> 100% HDD: any 2 TB HDD
Could someone help me out?
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United Kingdom20275 Posts
On June 06 2013 04:13 Antoine wrote: if I saved $60-70 between going down to a Seasonic M12II-650 BRONZE ATX 650 PSU and ASUS Z87-A or ASRock Z87 Extreme4, where could I even put that for better performance? I would if it would be really helpful but I don't know where else I could go for a meaningful upgrade? Maybe the higher-end SSD I mentioned, but I don't mind going $20 over the estimated 200 there.
Hm well if you have a static budget, it's completely fine to go overboard on quality for no reason; it's just that you could probably get a capstone 450w (for single gpu) or 600-650w (for sli and overclocking cpu + light oc on gpu's) and you can almost certainly save money on motherboard without noticing; the ud4h is a rather high end board, like i said even with my rather extreme OC goals i chose a ud3h (which was overkill and overpriced most certainly because i didn't want to spend a ton of hours researching boards)
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On June 06 2013 03:09 cooked wrote:Hey build experts, I'm looking to purchase a 13", Haswell ultrabook/notebook as they start being released in the next few months. I know I won't be able to select anything concrete yet, but hopefully with your feedback I can get an idea of which manufacturer/model combination I can narrow it down to. Also, I won't be looking at Apple since I'm currently using a Macbook and looking to switch back. Survey: Show nested quote +Budget: $800-$1000 Resolution: 13" screen, ideally 1600x900, but 1366x768 is fine Use: Some large-file-size spreadsheeting, light gaming (ideally 99fps in CS1.6, 40-50fps in SC2 low or medium and Source games like CSGO, Dota2, etc), capable of 720p moviemaking Upgrade Cycle: 4-5 years OS: No Where are you buying from? I'm located in US East, I was planning on just buying through normal means over the internet, either manufacturer's own site or resellers if cheaper Rough idea of parts so far: Show nested quote +Form: 13.3" display, <1" thickness CPU: i3 or i5 above 2GHz GPU: HD5000 or GT640M/650M (I looked over the Anandtech article about Haswell's graphics, and if an integrated GPU is enough to accomplish what I'm looking for, then I'd forgo discrete) Memory: 4-8GB HD 256GB SSD if upgradeable and won't put it significantly over $1000 total, otherwise, 500GB-1TB mechanical Everything is really rough, any general opinions on notebooks/ultrabooks are welcome, thanks in advance
You probably aren't going to like my advice, but I tell everyone this who are seeking advice on a jack-of-all trades notebook. Notebooks are great, I personally love them and have owned several since 2003. Although notebooks are built a million times better today than they were 10 years ago, I still cannot recommend them for anything other than light work loads. If money isn't an option, I would say go for it. But judging by your upgrade cycle being every 4 to 5 years or so, I will tell you that I have never had a laptop for longer than 3 years that hasn't given me some kind of trouble. Mobile parts are more sensitive to heat and are typically designed to operate near bare limits. For movie editing and gaming desktops remain king, and for good reason. You could realistically spend 800 dollars on a box that would outperform by a significant margin any notebook on the market at that price range. I would invest in the desktop, and save up for a low-end i3 or i5 notebook for your mobile needs. Think spending your money on performance on a desktop, and spending as little as possible on your notebook. Think of it like how some car enthusiasts spend a lot of money on their old muscle cars, and drive a honda civic for their daily driver. I can tell you without a doubt that the difference between a 500-600 dollar laptop and a 800 dollar performance wise is very minimum. Now, if you're talking about spending 1500 dollars or so, then you can potentially get a notebook with some pretty beefy hardware that could do almost anything except for last for 5 years after many hours of daily use. There are just too many advantages to owning a desktop to recommend spending up to a grand on a notebook. You just have to decide if the perks of being mobile outweigh the performance, security, and longevity advantages of a desktop.
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I'd be worried as it's only a tiny bit cheaper than Haswell, if at all, and only because of the combo deal. I see the Haswell replacement for that i5 for $10 more (i5-4570, same 3.2 GHz), and there's a B85 mATX board for $5 less from MSI.
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On June 06 2013 06:20 Ropid wrote: I'd be worried as it's only a tiny bit cheaper than Haswell, if at all, and only because of the combo deal. I see the Haswell replacement for that i5 for $10 more (i5-4570, same 3.2 GHz), and there's a B85 mATX board for $5 less from MSI. Oh okay. There's no problem from using that new CPU for the corsair that I bought? I only ask because I see some PSU's announce they're "Haswell ready" or is that just a marketing gimmick? If you can please link me the motherboard that'd be awesome.
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On June 06 2013 04:13 Antoine wrote: if I saved $60-70 between going down to a Seasonic M12II-650 BRONZE ATX 650 PSU and ASUS Z87-A or ASRock Z87 Extreme4, where could I even put that for better performance? I would if it would be really helpful but I don't know where else I could go for a meaningful upgrade? Maybe the higher-end SSD I mentioned, but I don't mind going $20 over the estimated 200 there.
While the Seasonic M12II is a good unit, its in an awkward position since the newer better gold units are in the same price point so you wouldn't want an M12II. I see that the Capstone-M 650 unit is out of stock so I'm guessing you want a modular unit and that's why you selected a M12II. I assume you also want SLI judging by the original choice of 750w so I'd select the Corsair HX650 for $105 ($80 after mail in rebate): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139012
Rosewill got their poor reputation in the past when they were using cheap ATNG and Solytech units. They still sell these units (Stallion, Performance, etc), which are still shit btw. Recently, they started using Superflower as their OEM. Capstones, Lightnings, and Tachyons are all superb units from Superflower, on par with Seasonic (the Corsair HX650 is a Seasonic).
You hardly use a DVD burner so its nothing to worry about. The least expensive one is probably from Microcenter.
The two notable differences between the 840 Pro and 840 is that the 840 Pro has significantly better write speeds and has two extra years of warranty over the 840. So if you are going to be writing to the SSD a lot then get the 840 Pro without a doubt. Otherwise, you should probably get the 840 because the performance difference between the two in loading WoW or Windows bootup is milliseconds.
Why the Coolermaster TPC 812? From what I remember, it performs worse than equivalently priced heatsinks like the Thermalright True Spirit or Macho. And Coolermaster's mounting system is god awful. Remember that heatsinks and cases can last through a lifetime of builds so don't settle for shit from Coolermaster when you're spending $50+, $20 more gets you something from Noctua, Phantek, Thermalright, or even Corsair. Noctua provides a six year warranty and mounting kits free of charge for life. Their support is pretty top notch as well if you ever need help with a heatsink? o.O Phantek is relatively new but their heatsinks perform well and looks nice, backed with a five year warranty.
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On June 06 2013 06:33 -RusH wrote:Show nested quote +On June 06 2013 06:20 Ropid wrote: I'd be worried as it's only a tiny bit cheaper than Haswell, if at all, and only because of the combo deal. I see the Haswell replacement for that i5 for $10 more (i5-4570, same 3.2 GHz), and there's a B85 mATX board for $5 less from MSI. Oh okay. There's no problem from using that new CPU for the corsair that I bought? I only ask because I see some PSU's announce they're "Haswell ready" or is that just a marketing gimmick?
Haswell ready means that the power supply can take advantage of the newer low power states of Haswell. If they're not Haswell ready then you just won't be using the newer low power states.
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There was something about Haswell systems being able to use a very little power when idle, but I don't know what's up with that and the PSU.
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On June 06 2013 06:36 Ropid wrote: There was something about Haswell systems being able to use a very little power when idle, but I don't know what's up with that and the PSU. If you can link me with the motherboard you recommended that'd be awesome. Thanks a lot.
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United States7481 Posts
On June 06 2013 06:34 skyR wrote:Show nested quote +On June 06 2013 04:13 Antoine wrote: if I saved $60-70 between going down to a Seasonic M12II-650 BRONZE ATX 650 PSU and ASUS Z87-A or ASRock Z87 Extreme4, where could I even put that for better performance? I would if it would be really helpful but I don't know where else I could go for a meaningful upgrade? Maybe the higher-end SSD I mentioned, but I don't mind going $20 over the estimated 200 there. While the Seasonic M12II is a good unit, its in an awkward position since the newer better gold units are in the same price point so you wouldn't want an M12II. I see that the Capstone-M 650 unit is out of stock so I'm guessing you want a modular unit and that's why you selected a M12II. I assume you also want SLI judging by the original choice of 750w so I'd select the Corsair HX650 for $105 ($80 after mail in rebate): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139012Rosewill got their poor reputation in the past when they were using cheap ATNG and Solytech units. They still sell these units (Stallion, Performance, etc), which are still shit btw. Recently, they started using Superflower as their OEM. Capstones, Lightnings, and Tachyons are all superb units from Superflower, on par with Seasonic (the Corsair HX650 is a Seasonic). You hardly use a DVD burner so its nothing to worry about. The least expensive one is probably from Microcenter. The two notable differences between the 840 Pro and 840 is that the 840 Pro has significantly better write speeds and has two extra years of warranty over the 840. So if you are going to be writing to the SSD a lot then get the 840 Pro without a doubt. Otherwise, you should probably get the 840 because the performance difference between the two in loading WoW or Windows bootup is milliseconds. Why the Coolermaster TPC 812? From what I remember, it performs worse than equivalently priced heatsinks like the Thermalright True Spirit or Macho. And Coolermaster's mounting system is god awful. Remember that heatsinks and cases can last through a lifetime of builds so don't settle for shit from Coolermaster when you're spending $50+, $20 more gets you something from Noctua, Phantek, Thermalright, or even Corsair. Noctua provides a six year warranty and mounting kits free of charge for life. Their support is pretty top notch as well if you ever need help with a heatsink? o.O Phantek is relatively new but their heatsinks perform well and looks nice, backed with a five year warranty.
Thanks for the advice on the first 3 - will follow that and pick up the 840 pro as well as the PSU you linked.
I was choosing between a couple different heatsinks. I have read some reviews for my case and it's not the greatest as far as temps go, plus it's a mid tower so it can't fit huge ones. I thought the TPC 812 would be better performance than the NH-U12s which is similarly priced but likely priced for its tiny size? I was also looking at the ThermalTake Frio but it's a few mm taller than the TPC 812. I couldn't find any hard numbers for the max height of a heatsink in this case and wasn't sure where to go. I'll do some more research into heatsinks though, thanks again.
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Yeah, but it turns out that desktop Haswell doesn't even have the new active idle sleep states?
The deal was that a really low load on +12 V (which a Haswell CPU itself could achieve on idle), combined with certain group regulated power supplies and simultaneously an unrealistically high load on +5 V and +3.3 V, could make the voltage regulation so bad the power supply could trip its overvoltage protection on +12 V. (for a group reg, the lower the +12 V load and higher the others, the higher the +12 V rail goes)
But on a desktop, even if your CPU were to consume 0 W, you'd still have +12 V draw from fans, GPU, drives, etc... if it's on. Hence +12 V draw wouldn't be so small, so even a pretty cheap group reg power supply shouldn't go bonkers.
Really not an issue.
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On June 06 2013 07:05 Antoine wrote:Show nested quote +On June 06 2013 06:34 skyR wrote:On June 06 2013 04:13 Antoine wrote: if I saved $60-70 between going down to a Seasonic M12II-650 BRONZE ATX 650 PSU and ASUS Z87-A or ASRock Z87 Extreme4, where could I even put that for better performance? I would if it would be really helpful but I don't know where else I could go for a meaningful upgrade? Maybe the higher-end SSD I mentioned, but I don't mind going $20 over the estimated 200 there. While the Seasonic M12II is a good unit, its in an awkward position since the newer better gold units are in the same price point so you wouldn't want an M12II. I see that the Capstone-M 650 unit is out of stock so I'm guessing you want a modular unit and that's why you selected a M12II. I assume you also want SLI judging by the original choice of 750w so I'd select the Corsair HX650 for $105 ($80 after mail in rebate): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139012Rosewill got their poor reputation in the past when they were using cheap ATNG and Solytech units. They still sell these units (Stallion, Performance, etc), which are still shit btw. Recently, they started using Superflower as their OEM. Capstones, Lightnings, and Tachyons are all superb units from Superflower, on par with Seasonic (the Corsair HX650 is a Seasonic). You hardly use a DVD burner so its nothing to worry about. The least expensive one is probably from Microcenter. The two notable differences between the 840 Pro and 840 is that the 840 Pro has significantly better write speeds and has two extra years of warranty over the 840. So if you are going to be writing to the SSD a lot then get the 840 Pro without a doubt. Otherwise, you should probably get the 840 because the performance difference between the two in loading WoW or Windows bootup is milliseconds. Why the Coolermaster TPC 812? From what I remember, it performs worse than equivalently priced heatsinks like the Thermalright True Spirit or Macho. And Coolermaster's mounting system is god awful. Remember that heatsinks and cases can last through a lifetime of builds so don't settle for shit from Coolermaster when you're spending $50+, $20 more gets you something from Noctua, Phantek, Thermalright, or even Corsair. Noctua provides a six year warranty and mounting kits free of charge for life. Their support is pretty top notch as well if you ever need help with a heatsink? o.O Phantek is relatively new but their heatsinks perform well and looks nice, backed with a five year warranty. Thanks for the advice on the first 3 - will follow that and pick up the 840 pro as well as the PSU you linked. I was choosing between a couple different heatsinks. I have read some reviews for my case and it's not the greatest as far as temps go, plus it's a mid tower so it can't fit huge ones. I thought the TPC 812 would be better performance than the NH-U12s which is similarly priced but likely priced for its tiny size? I was also looking at the ThermalTake Frio but it's a few mm taller than the TPC 812. I couldn't find any hard numbers for the max height of a heatsink in this case and wasn't sure where to go. I'll do some more research into heatsinks though, thanks again.
Most mid-towers including the C70 have clearance for large heatsinks such as the Noctua NH-D14
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