Question about 6850 cards, and heat exhausting.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

It looks like the Akasa Vortexx Neo may not fit the HD6850 1GB as the VRMs are now at the back of the card.

[MSIC]

Just as i think i'm close to knowing what I want, i then go and find something else...
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/lian-...x-case-w-o-psu
(Note, Scan has it as a MiniITX case, but its a mATX case as far as I can tell.
Clunk's review here (hello Clunk).

[Pob255]

It's more expensive but the Sapphire Toxic vent air out ot the back of the case
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1gb-s...vi-hdmi-2x-mdp
http://www.overclockersclub.com/revi...50_toxic/2.htm

edit: just seen I've been beaten to it by CAT

For a case, the silverstone fortress TF03 might be a good one to look at, it's mATX not mini-ITX, but the design of it gives it a very small foot print
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/silve...r-case-w-o-psu
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/silve...r-case-w-o-psu (nearly £15 more for the silver&white version)

There's a build log with the FT03 here http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=139470

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

For a case, the silverstone fortress TF03 might be a good one to look at, it's mATX not mini-ITX, but the design of it gives it a very small foot print
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/silve...r-case-w-o-psu
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/silve...r-case-w-o-psu (nearly £15 more for the silver&white version)

There's a build log with the FT03 here http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=139470

I didn't know that the FT03 was already available for sale!

[Pob255]

Yep offical production version was released at CES and it's just come into the UK

[MSIC]

Sapphire 6850 Toxic review:

It kicks all of the hot air outside the chassis so you don't have to worry about heating up the air inside your case any higher than it already happens to be.

Sounds like the one!!

Edit: Also, check out this video of the Silverstone FT03 - a very cool looking case
http://www.maximumpc.com/article/hom..._new_ft03_case

[MSIC]

At the risk of seriously tempting my wallet now...
Silverstone FT03 £117.
Silverstone 500W Modular PSU £60
Asus P8H67-M-LE Motherboard £77.60.
Core i5 2400 £147.
Aftermarket HSF ?? (Dont know)
2 x 4GB RAM DDR3 1600Mhz £87.
Samsung 1TB F3 £40.
64GB V100 SSD £78.
Slimline Optical Drive £20.
6850 Sapphire Toxic £160.

Total = £786.60.

Going to have to do some serious pleading with my wife...

[Pob255]

You need a slot loading slim dvd drive
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/sony-...ook-sata-black

8gb is a lot of ram, you could spend a little more on the motherboard and get 4 ram slots
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/gigab...gb-s-raid-uatx
You could then get 2x2gb ram and add more in later if needed.
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/4gb-%...s-9-9-9-24-15v

As you're not overclocking no need to go silly on the cooling, I'd say go with a coolermaster hyper 212+ http://www.scan.co.uk/products/coole...m2-am2plus-am3

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The OP already has a Q6600 so perhaps it would be wise to wait a month or two until the revised socket 1155 motherboards are released. Also AMD Bulldozer is being unveiled at CeBit next month AFAIK.

[MSIC]

Indeed, truth is i cant see me beginning to buy this for another couple of months anyway
Even then, i might only get a couple of components per months to spread the cost.
But you know... i like imagining ... testing out some different configurations.

Regarding the FT03, I am now wondering whether or not it's actually too tall a case for what I want - after all, one objective of my new system is to replace my large and cumbersome P180 with something that I might want on my desk.

[Biscuit]

ft03 must have been officially released very recently as im constantly on the prowl and haven't noticed it till you posted (admittedly the black version doesn't have pictures so i may have skimmed it)

[MSIC]

This is now becoming more of a 'case' thread, following on from my previous thread about mATX cases here:
http://forums.hexus.net/chassis-syst...5-build-2.html
However as far as i'm concerned, it's all good

For me, there are 2 clear manufacturers now that are head and shoulders above the rest for my needs, Silverstone and Lian Li, and of them all I keep coming back to Lian Li's PC-V352 (which appears to be a minor evolution of the V351).
Review here.
What i particularly note about 3/4 the way down the review (and getting back to my original point about the graphics card) is how heatpipes that are raised above the regular height of the graphics card would prevent installation... something to think about.

I do wonder however if it's really worth £50 more than the V351 (Scan's prices for V351 and V352).

I really like the form factor, can easily imagine one on my desk.
I would though still really like to read a review of Silverstone's FT03, in particular to see what people think in real-life day-to-day terms of things like where the power lead goes in, what the trailing cables are like etc etc.

I've also been looking into aftermarket GPU heatsink/fans, and looked at
Zalman: They produce a VF3000A which fits onto a reference 6850 (so i note not necessarily any other), ebuyer sell them for £32. Mixed reviews though.

[Biscuit]

For me, there are 2 clear manufacturers now that are head and shoulders above the rest for my needs, Silverstone and Lian Li, and of them all I keep coming back to Lian Li's PC-V352 (which appears to be a minor evolution of the V351).
Review here.

Personally i would say those two manufacturers along with maybe Corsair are above the rest in general. In smaller form factors this is especially the case (pun alert )
The only other manufacturer that really caters for enthusiast gamers in this arena that i can think of is lan-gear (as mentioned by CTF in the first thread)

What i particularly note about 3/4 the way down the review (and getting back to my original point about the graphics card) is how heatpipes that are raised above the regular height of the graphics card would prevent installation... something to think about.

Assuming the case has decent cooling, this should be less of an issue as it isnt as important to soup up the aftermarket cooling on the GPU.

I do wonder however if it's really worth £50 more than the V351 (Scan's prices for V351 and V352).

Probably not in the long run, there isnt a great deal between them and on a case that small the USB3 ports on the back of the motherboard are just as accessible as the ones on the front. I think i would probably still spend it though.

I've also been looking into aftermarket GPU heatsink/fans, and looked at
Zalman: They produce a VF3000A which fits onto a reference 6850 (so i note not necessarily any other), ebuyer sell them for £32. Mixed reviews though.

Zalman are extremely hit and miss. My VF900 was awesome, kept it through a good few graphics cards and i think my brother is still using it however its the only product of theirs i have bought and been pleased with. Other than that they have either been noisey or complete dust traps. Whenever its cooling i always stick to Thermalright.

[MSIC]

Assuming the case has decent cooling, this should be less of an issue as it isnt as important to soup up the aftermarket cooling on the GPU.

I reckon that the Sapphire Toxic 6850 looks to be the one for me overall anyway, and there appear to be no protruding heatpipes above. Still, i might just keep looking for any other aftermarket HSF's.
I had a good look around the Thermalright website, couldnt see anything that would fit a 6850.

I think i would probably still spend it though.

Indeed, when I think that i'm likely to keep the case for a minimum of 5 years, the difference is very small. Thinking about it, i bought my Antec P180 in around 2005 i think, making it 6 years old already, so has served me well.

My VF900 was awesome, kept it through a good few graphics cards and i think my brother is still using it however its the only product of theirs i have bought and been pleased with.

I also had one on a Geforce 7000 series (midrange), and it was great. I've also had Zalman CPU coolers over the years, but the company seems very much to have stagnated recently in terms of new designs.

In terms of aftermarket CPU HSF, and given the likelihood of the Lian Li case (or very similar style), i'm looking at this type of thing:
Cogage Intel 1366 & 775 cooler (although dont know if this particular model would fit a socket 1155.
Any other recommendations?

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

AFAIK, only EVGA and XFX will allow you to use an aftermarket cooler without voiding the warranty.

Also,like I said before the VRMs on the HD6850 1GB cards are near the rear of the card and not the front like the HD5000 series meaning you will need to be more careful about what coolers you use.

[JoeBurn]

I'd like to see where you end up with this build MSIC, it's helping me to decide on my mATX setup