Thoughts on new rig?

[RepoMan]

I was wondering if I could get some feedback of people that are using new generation hardware and how it performs. My main hardware specs are below with questions.

 

video: nvidia EVEGA Superclocked 780 w/ ACX cooler (edit)

cpu: i5 haswell k

Mem: 16GB

Board: Haven't decided (m-atx, or m-itx)

 

I'm building this for single monitor 1920x1080p gaming. I usually splurge some on full custom water cooling. Not sure I'm going to do that this time around and rather spend it on something else like track IR and good hotas.

 

- Is the fans on these cards noticeable? I usually game with headphones.

 

- How well is this card handling the game and what max temps are seen?

 

- Has anyone moved from a custom loop to a factory closed loop like the corsair h100i? I read a review of cpu only loop with a 360 rad with comparable temps to the h100i.

 

- I'm a returning player of this game. Anything else I should think about purchasing to make my sim playing more enjoyable? My last rig was geared more for mainstream gaming.

 

Thanks

Edited December 25, 2013 by RepoMan

[cichlidfan]

Your questions about fans and temps on the 'card' need more info to be answered. I am assuming you are talking about the GTX 780, and the answers greatly depend on which 780 you have (are looking at).

[RepoMan]

Superclocked EVEGA 780 with a ACX cooler. It's on a reference board. ;)

 

Anyone interested in cpu only cooler comparisons with big water here is a comparison.

http://www.technologyx.com/featured/xspc-raystormd5photonax360-kit-review/10/

Edited December 25, 2013 by RepoMan

[Rainbowed]

I just finished building my new rig

 

CPU: i7 4770K with Corsair H100i cooling

MOBO: Asus Maximus Formula

Mem: 16GB 1600 Corsair

Video Card: eVGA GTX 780 Classified

Case: Corsair Air 540

 

Here's my two cents on your questions, although its not GTX780 with ACX, i think the difference is not that huge...

 

- Is the fans on these cards noticeable? I usually game with headphones.

 

No, not at all. I use headphones as well cuz I use trackclip pro for TIR5, never even noticed the fans on the video card. I did try to make it go 100% RPM and it did produce some noise that I can notice, but unless I manually adjust it to 100%, in DCS it wont go more than 50-60%.

 

 

- How well is this card handling the game and what max temps are seen?

 

Max temp I have seen is around 65-70C, but I dont have time to start some serious overclock and adjusting yet, so that might change.

 

 

- Has anyone moved from a custom loop to a factory closed loop like the corsair h100i? I read a review of cpu only loop with a 360 rad with comparable temps to the h100i.

 

with H100i, my 4770k (again, running on stock settings, I wont be able to start overclocking till I have time next month) on idle is around 30C and in DCS, average is 40C, max temp i have seen is 48C.

 

- I'm a returning player of this game. Anything else I should think about purchasing to make my sim playing more enjoyable? My last rig was geared more for mainstream gaming.

 

I would suggest a nice HOTAS and also a rudder pedal if you are gonna get UH-1 or Mi-8. Another suggestion i can give you is that if you are planning to get the GTX 780 ACX and do not plan to water cool it, then you really need a case with nice air flow. That hot air from the GTX 780 is serious...

[danilop]

...

 

I'm building this for single monitor 1920x1080p gaming.

 

 

 

No need for a 780 then.

 

770 will do just fine @1080p with everything on High for a less $. 16GB RAM is overkill for DCS as well. I've built machine on m-ITX platform (look at the sig) with that in mind several days ago and DCS just flies on High setting (no pun intended). Fast & smooth. The worst I have seen is around 35FPS (average around 50-80 depending on the MFDs and scenery) and nothing is modified in graphics settings files yet.

 

P.S.

At this point, we don't know what the EDGE will bring specs wise beside DX11 support (AMD will suddenly come to life in DCS) and SLI/CF support. It well may need more then 8GB and CPU with hyper threading for max performance. OTH, maybe not. We'll see.

Edited December 25, 2013 by danilop

[RepoMan]

Thanks for this info guys. This helps me alot. Those temps are just a touch high compared to a custom loop on cpu but not by much. I can live with that.

 

Secondly, I knew DCS only currently supports two cores and only supports sli for multiple monitors. I'm interested in this upgrade path you speak of. It looks like I will be going with your recommendations. I may go with a cpu only custom water loop with a budget pump.

 

My last card was a MSI 680 lightning. The only time I experienced stutter was on cluster bombs but I believe that was a memory leak. I would go with a 770 but I ran a 680 last time. I want something to beat it. :)

 

Again I appreciate all the feedback I get. Danilop, that is an awesome rig you have built. I know a man knows his stuff when he chooses a seasonic ps. I think there is roughly a $50 difference in memory ammount? I can't see myself worrying about that. My biggest concern was water cooling as my current specs is $500. That could go to another 780, but I know DCS wouldn't take advantage of it unless I had more monitors.

Edited December 26, 2013 by RepoMan

[jctrnacty]

If you want only one monitor choose 1920x1200 resolution 16:10 makes a big difference.

As for the temps on your cpu, if you are not oveclocker choose a good air cooler from noctua , very important is good thermal paste.

If you want to oberclock water cooling is a way to go because haswell is very hot chip.

Mobos , msi mpower series or asus maximus formula are good ones.

For gpu windforce or msi lightning solutions are the best. I would recommend to wait until edge is released because its dx11 engine. Right now nvidia is better for dcs world which is dx9 engine

[RepoMan]

About the monitor, I probably won't purchase another one right now. As for the video; I'll never purchase another product from MSI. Yes, I'm in to overclocking mainly my cpu. I didn't get enough returns from OC'ing my GPU worth the trouble.

 

My last rig cpu and gpu were water cooled and I had a MSI 680 Lightning. It didn't overclock worth a damn. I did the bios flash, the money mem hacks etc. It was such a pain and I never touched that cards thermal ceiling.

 

Eventually I wanted to run sli but the price went up on that card and they became very difficult to find. I will NEVER purchase a non-reference board/specialty card again after that. Water blocks also become scarce.

 

I was unaware DCS was getting an update until after you guys told me. Looking forward to it, and it will help me plan a little better ahead of time. :thumbup: