Got my 6970s today - Mixed bag so far...

[Mize]

As I said, since you own it, it must be better.

I looked at it seriously and found it ugly. Still do. Personal taste, get over it.
I chose a Lian Li silent case over the Cosmos S when I considered it.
I also vastly prefer (as in won't buy without) wheeled cases.

My wife is also hotter than yours, and my car faster.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Here's the sweet Maingear case:

Damn, if Silverstone had released that instead of the ugly POS they actually released, there's a fair chance I might have gotten it instead of the Antec P183 that I currently use.

And put the Haf-X and 932 on my list of potential cases for new WHS in a warm room build. The 932 looks like the better case for my needs with 3x 230 mm fans rather than 1x 230 mm and 2x 200 mm fans. And the wheels would be nice. Think right now I'm between the Coolermaster 932 of yours and the Asus 1200.

Regards,
SB

 

[almighty]

As I said, since you own it, it must be better.

I looked at it seriously and found it ugly. Still do. Personal taste, get over it.
I chose a Lian Li silent case over the Cosmos S when I considered it.
I also vastly prefer (as in won't buy without) wheeled cases.

My wife is also hotter than yours, and my car faster.

I'm not married so I'll give you the wife thing...Your car being faster?...... We'll see

And I bet mine corners better

And the Cosmos is one of the best at what it does, Cramming a crap load of high end gear with room to spare for a very high end water cooling loop.

A feat only a few cases can brag about.... TJ07 is my next though

 

[Mize]

And I bet mine corners better

My LR4 doesn't corner well but it accelerates pretty well for a nearly 6,000 lbs. SUV.
My 370Z convertible, on the other hand, corners nicely. Drove it yesterday as we had a nice sunny day in the mid fifties (F of course).

 

[Davros]

why hasnt anyone made side mouning bays for hdd's
trying to add one after the system is setup isnt easy

I dunno, I have a hard time with PC cases that are more vents and fan grilles than sheet metal

You mean like :


ps: mize how about corsair 800d (cheaper but still not cheap)


Or the lian-li PC-P50B Armorsuit PC Tower £114

 

[swaaye]

Very decent, I would say! At least for someone who has a large, roomy and well-ventilated case like yours. I will stick with the stock coolers for now I think, because my tiny box just couldn't handle the heat. I'm also still downclocking the cards to 500MHz, fan noise is much reduced at that level and performance is still much, much better than my old cards.

You could also set PowerTune to -20% and run the stock BIOS. It will throttle more often and in effect keep power levels, well, 20% lower than the normal limit. It definitely takes temps down but it should be faster than a permanent 500 MHz setting.

 

[swaaye]

I like the airflow of my relatively cheap Cooler Master CM690.
http://www.coolermaster-usa.com/product.php?category_id=19&product_id=2710

I only have 7v 120mm fans. 1x top, 1x back, 1x front, 1x CPU and the 7v 92mm fans on my new T-Rad2 6950 setup. My HDD FDBs are louder than everything else. The tool-less things actually work ok too for a change. And it's not overly gaudy. I actually taped shut the top side 140mm opening so there's only the one opening next to the video card and this seems to draw more air in right next to it.

Putting the PSU in the bottom has to be the best move in case airflow I've seen. PSU runs way cooler and you can have giant fans where the warm air is moving to.

I also have a box built with a microATX Cooler Master Centurion 541. I ran a 8800GTX in there for years and now have a GTX 560 in it. It'll fit the longest cards out there if you pull out the top 3.5" tray. I would prefer to have a PSU in bottom uATX case though.
http://www.coolermaster-usa.com/product.php?product_id=2723

 

[almighty]

Booyaa...New GPU block ordered and my 6950 should be here tomorrow

Then to take some messurments and check if the VRM coolers I found fit!

 

[Grall]

You could also set PowerTune to -20% and run the stock BIOS. It will throttle more often and in effect keep power levels, well, 20% lower than the normal limit. It definitely takes temps down but it should be faster than a permanent 500 MHz setting.

I did that first, but the fans still ramped hellishly at times - particulary the upper card where the intake directly faces the back-plate of the lower card, despite the powertune setting.

Also, listening to the fans revving up and down every damn minute got distracting. So, 500MHz...much much better. Core volts sit at 1V most of the time at that setting instead of jumping up to 1.175 at stock clock.

Next PC I build won't be uATX for sure. I learned my lesson there. I'll make sure there's plenty room for both cards to breathe.

 

[almighty]

It's here!!

No water block till tomorrow though

Only tried the Clear Sky benchmark on Ultra settings with 4xMSAA and performance is roughly 40-50% down over my 5850 crossfire

But.... There's ZERO stuttering and i meen NONE...

About 80% through the benchmark you go through some trees and end up in the little settlement you start wake up at the start of the game, Going from the trees and then into the settlement used to stutter like a bitch while stuff was loaded into memory. The 2Gb on my 6950 has fixed it as it's butter smooth.

Temps were in the mid to high 70's.

 

[almighty]

Successful unlock! Just flashed it with the equivalent ASUS 6970 BIOS and now running 6970 shader count and clocks

Just seen 90c temps though in Clear Sky

 

[Mize]

At 880 clocks?
Wow.

 

[almighty]

At 880 clocks?
Wow.

Yea, She's a quiet card but runs hot!

Only card that I've owned that runs hotter was an ASUS 5770 CuCore, Man that bitch ran hot! And it was the noisest card I ever owned as well.

 

[Mize]

Yea, She's a quiet card but runs hot!

Only card that I've owned that runs hotter was an ASUS 5770 CuCore, Man that bitch ran hot! And it was the noisest card I ever owned as well.

I'm betting you'll find something amiss with out tight the HSF screws are or the thermal paste.

 

[swaaye]

I've read that running a 6970 BIOS on a 6950 is risky because of some differences in the VRMs. So you might want to just use a unlocked 6950 BIOS. RBE can now unlock a 6950 BIOS but I don't think clock editing works yet.

 

[almighty]

I've read that running a 6970 BIOS on a 6950 is risky because of some differences in the VRMs. So you might want to just use a unlocked 6950 BIOS. RBE can now unlock a 6950 BIOS but I don't think clock editing works yet.

Yea I've just used a program to mod the original cards BIOS.

The water block is here now so I'll get that fitted in the next few days and report back with the temp drops

 

[almighty]

Just waiting for the VRM and memory sinks and my new drive bay reservoir and I'll report back with the temps :smile: