I was going to buy an Antec CP-850 only to find that stock is very limited and at sites that are questionable enough that I may not feel too comfortable buying from.

I get the hint that 650 watts is questionable for SLI and am just hoping for as quiet of a SLI ready and multi hard drive ready device as possible. Or am I missing something? Or should I just go for the limited availability CP-850?

Thanks.

GTX 670 TDP = 170W. 2x = 340W.
Don't know your CPU - call it a 95W quad Sandy bridge.
Mobo burns ~ 30W
everything else (unless you have lots of HDD) ~ 20W.
Total = 485W if running Prime 95 + Furmark. Probably 400W while gaming.

So, since you are visiting SPCR, get a PSU that's silent idling/low CPU use (call it <100W), quieter than your two GPUs when gaming, has some headroom for a bit of power decline over time, and has 4x PEG connectors (or buy the extra molex to PEG connectors). This should lead to an 80+ Gold or better PSU (higher efficiency -> less heat -> lower rpm fan profile). Probably in the 600-750W range, depending on how quiet you want it. Take a look at the recent PSU reviews.

The Antec CP-850 was reviewed by SPCR some years ago:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article971-page1.html

Although it was awarded editors choice that was 3.5 years ago. It is a CPX form factor PSU and it looks like even Antec is not behind this form factor anymore, the P280 does not support it. This probably explains why you are struggling to find one. A good reason not to get one is that it only fits a small number of now deprecated cases and for future upgrades it could be a real nuisance to maintain compatibility.

What other hardware is involved? Maybe a 500W fanless will be a little optimistic but 600-750W should be plenty as CA_Steve suggests.

Looking at
i. Intel 3570k maybe a small OC depending on noise
ii. Mobo Asus Sabertooth x77
iii. 8GB of general 1600mhz RAM
iv. SLI PNY 670 GTX's 2GB
v. P193
vi. CP-850

If I could get by with a quieter PSU then I am interested. Budget is $150 unless my math is abysmally wrong.
I want to have like 3 or 4 hard drives. I was encouraged to try:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... nic%20x750
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817151121
If money wasn't an issue, http://www.amazon.com/Seasonic-PLATINUM ... tinum+1000

I take it the idea is to get as little load and hence noise as possible.

I probably will run at stock speeds unless my GPU just demands a custom cooler and then lower voltage on the fans.

Thanks for any advice.

Yeah, either of those Seasonics will work. Check to see if you need more PEG connectors. One question: do you really need the firepower of two GTX 670's for your apps?

If you only intend a small OC then you do not need the k version. The k is only useful if you intend to do big overclocks due to it being fully unlocked. The normal 3570 will still overclock.


This will probably not be a good motherboard for noise. It has a built in fan and somewhat questionable cooling system when virtually all normal motherboards have been passively cooled for the last 8 years. In addition gaming motherboards like this tend to be poor for power efficiency. They generally get differentiated by showy features and gimmicks, I wouldn't buy one. Look at Asus' normal Z77 or H77 based boards if you want a quiet computer.


Any reason for this larger size case other than being able to support the CP-850? It is now a deprecated PSU form factor so may cause problems moving forward. The P-280 or Fractal Design Define R4 would make more sense.

In terms of do I need the second 670, no I probably don't need it but am coming from a Crossfire 3870 and want to be able to game at 1080p or 1200p. I bought two of the 2GB variant at a good price, $280 ea. I could try to return one if there was a good reason to but I am sick of under performance. Plus you can run bitcoin mining apps on graphics cards.

As far as the mobo goes, none of the P8Z77's below Deluxe - V Pro has eSata. Is there an alternative, like should I just stick to USB 2.0 or 3.0 over eSata?

The P193 is because I had a good experience with P150. My HDD mounting rubber bands broke and I think the 670s I bought need the space. I got a good Seasonic 430 (I think it was) but was trying to determine how best to create a new computer. Pretty sure I need more power now.

Thanks. I probably want to try SLI but will embrace it may not be worth it. My budget is roughly 1400 (1200 before case).

We've come a long way since the HD 3xxx series. For 1080p gaming and even up to 1920x1200, you really don't need more than a single 660 Ti. I've accumulated a lot of 660 Ti reviews here. Useful to you as they typically include a GTX 670 in the benchmarks. So, you probably don't need SLI.

Asus is moving away from eSATA in favor of Thunderbolt. If you want eSATA (and I find it useful), just buy a $25 PCIe 6Gbps SATA controller card. Or, see if you can just buy an eSATA bracket from Asus support for a previous gen mobo. That'll let you move down to one of the less expensive Asus P8Z77 -V variants.

Along with what CA_Steve said about the big performance increase versus a 5 year old card, running SLI or Crossfire is inherently inefficient and poor value. So how much you paid for one might be good value, but combining the two cards together isn't good value.

I can't understand the worth of this. You're better off putting your money in real life investments.

An eSATA backplate would be one way but USB 3.0 would be easier even if you might be sacrificing a little theoretical performance.

Modern graphics cards have become smaller and have lower power consumption than the previous generation. You don't need a massive case to fit this stuff in so E-ATX is just making things much bigger than it needs to be and potentially more difficult to cool.

Yes things have changed a lot since the 3870 days of crossfire (no x) and granted I am coming from an upgrade to my alienware with a matte screen's dual gpu that just resounded with me as maybe I shouldn't pay 600 for 4850 master/slave (more if two slaves which I read you can somehow manage). Also with graphics mobility, dual chip support as well as even supporting in the first place is somewhat rare. I could not run any card save 3870 or 4850 in CF(X? I think that 4850 was in the first generation of CFX)

I came from an unhappy performance on my old x850 XT PE which outperformed on F.E.A.R my 3870s easily. I also like that I bought the x850 xtpe from a great online deal. See self obsessing but it finally clicking that maybe it was just not a good card and that higher performance I dream of may not actually involve two separate cards.

Returning an xmas/birthday gift card may be a little more difficult

The bitcoin thing is kinda my brother's new internet obsession not really anything but a gimmick to me. In some ways I guess it doesn't really click that I'm wasting money because of how poorly that alienware handled everything from Starcraft 2 to Diablo 3 to Crysis etc. I want a beefy machine only have a light budget. This way seems like the way I should play it out. If you have any more advice for me, I will take it to heart even if you just want to save me from a budget nightmare.

If you only have a tight budget:
- Don't buy any motherboard aimed at gamers. Buy a normal motherboard with the features that you need, it'll have lower consumption and be quieter too.
- Don't buy a k edition processor if you don't intend heavy overclocking
- Buy 1 graphics card, not 2. Having 2 does not double your performance ever in the real world and in some scenarios can be slower than 1.
- Don't buy a massive E-ATX case.
- Buy the PSU of the size that you need, not the size that PSU manufacturers and mainstream enthusiast sites say that you need.

Would there be any material benefit in returning a 3570K that would make it easier to return as it (the whole computer is a gift work in progress. I would rather undervolt for noise than overclock.



What board do you recommend, or should I just take the ASUS P8Z77 -V -Pro and be done with it (I pause over the lack of esata and the deluxe is quite a bit more). I also don't know what form factor to go for just want to game on two monitors unless the consensus is no more help if I keep the 2nd GPU.



Again don't know what form factor to go for just want it to have an officially quiet case and remember the p150/p180. I figure if there's a better solution that's smaller than the 193 or p280 then I should go for it. I want advice on Mobo Case and PSU. Existing PSU is like 460 I think and that's just not enough for a modern machine I don't think.

I am going for SPCR approved case that will be big enough to fit two video cards and as minimal of a PSU as possible.

Thanks.