Hi all, Basically I'm looking to either upgrade my system or just go the whole hog and go for a full rebuild. Budget: Honestly, it's between £600-1500. If I can get away with just new Graphics card, SSD, CPU cooler, and RAM I'll go with that rather than having to shell out for a new Mobo, CPU etc Main uses of intended build:Gaming. In particular, looking to buy into the newer generation of gaming (Witcher 3, GTA V EDIT: FALLOUT 4!) at higher resolutions in the near future. Parts required:I've been looking at 2 x AMD Sapphire 390's. I just like Sapphire as a brand, never had a problem with them. I originally had an ASUS DirectOCII 6970 and it just did not overclock beyond the paltry 10mhz factory clock. Also, the card needed RMA'ing after a couple of years (thankyou 3 year warranty!) and I got an XFX7870 from Scan as a replacement. This card is just so damn hot that I get constant popups from the Asus software telling me my USB3.0 headers are overheating. This is all from the card generating that much heat. Enough with just the cards then. I'm also going to look at getting an all-in-one water cooling kit for the CPU. The Gelid Tranquillo I've got is pretty good at doing it's job, but I think that if I want to extend the life expectancy of the CPU, I should get some better cooling on it. My FT02B case only really has a single exhaust fan so I'm looking at an H60/80. I was also going to bang the RAM from 8 to 16gb, just in the interests of future-proofing it a bit more. Previous build information (list details of parts): In Signature Monitor resolution: 1080p at the moment. Looking to go to 1440p in the near-ish future. Storage requirements:Currently using a 60gb Agility 3 (I know, I know) as a boot drive. Going to replace this with a 240gb+ SSD, but not sure of the current bang/buck situation. Will you be overclocking: yes Any motherboard requirements (no. of USB, Xfire/SLI, fan headers): My Sabertooth takes Crossfire so should be ok for running two cards in parallel Extra information about desired system: Basically I'm looking for suggestions. Whether 2 x 390 is worth the money and will garner significant increases over going with probably one 390 and a full system upgrade to Haswell or Skylake. I'm going to assume that my Corsair HX750 PSU is up to the job of powering 2 mid/high-end cards, but if it's not, please let me know.
I would just get a nice 512GB SSD and 1 gpu - sandy bridge is still playing games well , maybe look at 1 x FuryX?
I could go with one Fury X. Unfortunately then, that renders my choice for watercooling the CPU redundant as the exhaust options on the FT02 are extremely limited (1 x 120mm fan). Unless AMD have plans to release a fan cooled Fury X? I'm also doubting that the cooling loop will even reach to the top of the case. Not at the system just now, but I'd say it'd be about 250mm from the bottom of the card looping back to the top of the case.
There will be no fan cooled Fury X as far as I am aware, that's what Fury is for (some unlock to X though). Don't worry about it reaching the hoses are epic long. RE - 390 Crossfire. Don't do it. I'm not so much anti Crossfire any more I'm just anti open coolers in SLI or Crossfire. It doesn't work and you'll be fighting the heat for years to come. I run a Fury X in 4k (where currently they do make sense) and I can't speak highly enough of it. I got rid of the stock fan as I found it a bit revvy and replaced it with push pull fans. For 4k it's been a revelation. And I'm coming from Titan Black SLI which supposedly works brilliantly but the Fury X is just so much better behaved and never requires any profiles.
Thanks for the tips guys. As I'm in the AMD camp when it comes to cards (I just don't get on well with Nvidia's business strategies), i'll have a thorough look at the Fury and the Fury X. I plan on only going up to 1440p so the Fury X may be a bit of a waste. With a Fury, 512gb SSD, and another 8gigs of RAM, i'll be saving about £6-700 rather than building a new system from the ground up. At least then, if Intel's next generation of CPU's is a drastic leap forward, the upgrade process will be fairly simple.
Even though it doesn't quite match the benchmark prowess of the 980ti @ 1440p the Fury is still a fantastic card. I believe over time it will get better too, given that some of the results don't make any sense. IMO? the Fury is a fantastic 1440p card. The X is just about good enough for 4k so tbh I think the Fury belongs at 1440p any way.
Well, I've bitten the bullet. Went for a Fury X, 16gb of Corsair Vengeance, and a 500gb Samsung Evo SSD. Will be buying myself a 1440p monitor in the next month or so as well. All is well in the world...
Got the system up and running over the weekend. Reinstalled W7, upgraded to 10 and holy smokes this card is fast! And so cool! Peaking at 55 degrees in Unigine Heaven. I don't want to load furmark just yet, will let the card bed in a bit first before I properly stress test it. Being able to load games from the SSD and the extra 8gigs of RAM is making a noticeable difference as well. Next step may just be to upgrade to a 3770k if I can find one cheap enough. The gains from a 2500k to 6600k are near as dammit the same as if I just kept the P67 chipset and upgrade the CPU.
