Coolermaster Black Storm Sniper vs. Antec Red Lanboy

[soarwitheagles]

I know the 5870 is supposed to run a little hotter than a 460 (roughly 5°C idle 12°C load), but I wouldn't expect space heater levels.
... So, reading while typing makes me think I should learn conversions, 5-12°C = 41-53.6°F, so yeah I can see where the heat is coming from.

Feel silly writing this considering you build computers regularly but, you made sure it was properly seated and the monitor cable was snugly plugged right?

Merry Christmas Roark!

I hope you are having a wonderful holiday! Thanks again for replying to my post. Yes, I have built a few computers, but I am a total rookie compared to most people here. I feel I know next to nothing about software and hardware issues after interacting with some of the people here.

I grew up in Silicon Vally [a couple of blocks away from Apple's headquarters, here in Cupertino, a couple of miles from Intel's headquarters, and a couple of miles from AMD's headquarters]. In fact this morning, on the way to church, we passed Marvel's new headquarters. In the Bay Area, massive numbers of computer software/hardware/EE PhD's and guru's surround us. So, living next to, interacting with, and looking at people with credentials like that help me realize I know next to nothing compared to what is happening in the high tech industry every day.

Purchasing a few hardware components and throwing them altogether in a metal box may make me look smart, cool, and hip to some of my not so high techie friends, but most of my friends that have worked in Intel, AMD, Apple, etc. know much better! So, no, I am not so smart or intelligent after all and it is good to keep reminding myself of this truth Roark!

My first exposure to computers was in 6th grade, at an elementary school in Palo Alto, CA. They had teletype machines connected to computers at Stanford University and it was the very first of this type anywhere in the world...but I had no clue at the time what was going on...

Well, back to earth now...the 5870 truly does feel like a space heater. Yes, I plugged everything in correctly. I'm convinced something is seriously wrong with the card. Any time I bumped the computer case the screen goes tilt and after about one hour, the screen was shaking and doing all sorts of strange things. I promptly removed the card, contacted the vendor, received a RMA number, and will ship return it tomorrow. That was quite a disappointment Roark, but I am happy because it did not fry any other component in the rig.

Not to worry! Got lots more cards and according to benchmark charts, the 6870 is significantly better than the 5870.

There is something that happened yesterday that did upset me though...

I received a couple of free copies of BF3 and these free copies arrived on cards that asked I download the BF3 via Origin. I trusted that they knew what they were doing. I selected my large 2 TB platter drive for the program, clicked the button, and went to bed. When I woke up in the morning, the BF3 download had automatically installed 14 GB's of itself on my very small SSD, leaving me with only 1 GB left!

That was so frustrating. I am not sure what to do. I will go to the gaming section of this forum and ask for help I suppose!

Anyway, that's what's happening here during my holiday break so far! Oh, I also rebuilt my dad's computer for his Christmas gift and he is really happy about that!

How about you?

What is your rig?

Do you play games and if so, which ones?

And finally, have you any more advice for me?

Soar

 

[Roark]

Merry Belated Christmas to you Soar!

I know how you feel about credentials, especially in a community like that!
Its funny though, it all depends on the people you interact with. When it comes to my family and the majority of my friends I'm some sort of techno-guru, but when I actually chat with people who have been working with computers for decades, or have CIS degrees/certifications, I feel like a total idiot.

Hopefully the next card isn't faulty, would be awesome if they sent you another 6870 instead so you could crossfire, not sure how likely that is though.
Still, fingers crossed for you!

If Origin was on your 2TB I'm surprised it didn't download BF3 to the same location.
If its on your SSD there is a way to split it, should be able to after the download, would stink to have to download it all again.
Info to do so is here, 4th post down Night Fox explains it.
If you're having trouble with it I'd say hit him with a PM, or the PC Gaming thread.

My rig is a sad little 4-yr old Dell Vostro 200 w/ a 8600GT, specs at the bottom of my sig.
It was a gift at the time and its been holding up fine for 4 years, so I can't really complain that much.
I used to play more games (L4D, TF2, WoW, EVE) but my friends moved on to better games that my rig can't handle, so now I play solitaire a lot.

Haha, I had to go back to the first page because I forgot exactly how this thread started.
I'm guessing the original questions/concerns were more or less covered, so no more advice until more questions come up

 

[soarwitheagles]

Roak,

Whoops! Sorry for deviating from the original post!

Ok, I have decided to put the AMD in the Lanboy. I have been looking for a good deal on the AMD FX-8150 but it is nowhere to be found. NewEgg has it for $269, but that is too much for me. Amazon had it for $239, but it is back ordered.

I became impatient with the Intel rig because I wanted to play BF3. So I ripped out the problematic 5870 and threw in the XFX 6870...and it works like a charm.

I wanted to wait for a good deal on a 120GB+ SATA III, but again, ran out of patience. So I threw in an Intel 320 Series 160GB. Intel's® Data Migration software worked a perfect miracle in transferring everything from my Crucial C300 64Gb...but I did lose .4 points in the windows performance levels.

I made my decision to use the Intel Series 320 after reading many, many articles that stated there would be very little difference in the real world between SATA II and SATA III. To be honest with you, they are right...the benchmarks may show significant differences, but it works about the same for me when doing daily computing.

Roark, thanks again for all your good advice. I would have followed it more carefully if I had more patience.

Going back to the Lanboy dream I have...

I would like to use the FX-8150 in the brand new GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard I was able to find for dirt cheap.

Not sure how long the wait will be for the FX-8150, but I will do my best to be patient.

Last question: why haven't you upgraded in such a long time?

Soar

 

[Roark]

Nothing wrong with deviation, wouldn't have 3 pages of useful information otherwise!
I've already started coming back to this post to snag links for other uses.

I think you need an upgrade intervention
Seriously though, not sure how happy you'll be with the FX-8150, other than having bragging rights.
Going by Anandtech's benches the 2500K is superior, and its marginally beating the 1055T you have (source | source).
But if you have the means and motivation can't say there is any real downside to it, other than having to be patient.
Can always find your 1055T's max stable overclock while you wait, that should give you a performance boost and entertainment.

Glad to hear the 6870 isn't giving you any troubles like the 5870, not as hot either I take it?

I've heard that outside of benchmarks there isn't a huge difference for everyday users between SATA II and III, glad to have this confirmed.
Windows experience index scores seem silly to me, you can't see a major difference, but I bet its nagging at you that the number dropped.

As to my upgrades, I was in college for 3 of those years and essentially unemployed for the last 1.
Over the last year I've had the money twice to do a full build (tax return/b-day $) but resisted just in case I didn't get a good job and needed it for rent/car repairs/etc, which turned out to be a good decision.

 

[soarwitheagles]

Roark,

Yes, I keep reading the articles about how AMD has terribly failed in the Bulldozer release...yet other articles are saying that with Windows 8 and some upgrades to Windows 7, we will see improvement. Then again, many people are really angry and bitter at AMD for not delivering on their promise of a marvelous CPU...some of these people have waited months for the promised BD only to be deeply disappointed.

Roark, every time I read your sources with the accurate benchmarks, I change my mind! Now, after reading the comparison between the 1055T and the FX-8150, I have changed my mind again. I suppose I will stick with the 1055T...esp. since the 1090t's and the 1100t's are no where to be found. Anyway, thanks again for helping me to not make a terrible mistake that I would regret afterwards...I just erased the 8150 from my dream list.

The 6870 is quite different than the 5870...well, at least in temperatures...

6870 idles at 33c and feels like an air conditioner when I place my hand by the back vent.
When I play BF3, the 6870 never goes above 50c.

5870 idled around 60c, and as I stated earlier, felt exactly like a space heater when I placed my hand by the back vent. I did not dare to even try BF3 with that card because I was afraid of damaging something else in the system. I did RMA the 5870 this morning. It was a big mistake. The vendor promised it would be new, yet you could clearly see the knocks and the dings on it. Also, someone made a lame attempt to hide the fact that it was used by painting it with really cheap black spray paint. This was the first, and the last time I will ever use that vendor.

Roark, I admire your self control and patience as you have completed school and waited patiently for a good job to open for you. That is not a easy place to be in, and is obvious you are very intelligent and not willing to go into needless debt as so many other people do.

My hope and prayer for you is that you find that dream job and can soon afford a nicer machine.

May I ask what was your major and what area are you attempting to break into employment?

Soar

 

[Roark]

I've been hearing mixed opinions on Bulldozer too and how it might be better with the next generation of software, like Win8.
I honestly hope that it does deliver, or at least the next generation of chips is a bit better for current usage.
As much as I prefer Intel personally, I have a soft spot for the underdog.

How are your frame-rates on BF3, and what level of detail do you play on?
I know in the recommended requirements they suggested a 6950, so insight as to the 6870's performance would be nice.
Also, willing to share which manufacturer made/RMA'd the 5870? It would be nice to know who shouldn't be on my "recommend them" list.

Well I appreciate the praise.
I have watched a number of friends dig themselves into a hole buying stuff they didn't need/couldn't afford, so learned that lesson vicariously thankfully.
There isn't really a dream job that I can think of, other than getting paid to lurk around the forums all day
I have a BA in Philosophy and Religion (philosophy concentration), and am actually planning on going back to school to get a MS in accounting.
Figured there will always be a demand for accountants, death and taxes are the two guarantees in our culture and I didn't want to be a mortician.

 

[soarwitheagles]

Yes, lots of varying opinions on the BD. Several articles stated that AMD was criticized in the past for releasing various hardware, but after a short while most people recognized the value of the hardware and got on board. Not sure if that will occur in the case...esp. with all the disappointing benchmarks. I suppose time will clearly tell if the BD is really worth it.

Not sure on the frame rates on BF3. In fact, I am not even sure how to discover the frame rates. Can you help me understand how to do that?

For the very first time in my life I just was given a free copy of 3DMARK 11 Advanced Edition. I am not even sure what this software is good for, but it does say, "A Gamer's Benchmark for Direct X 11" on the front.

I also have no clue how to determine what level of detail I played on. How might I discover this?

I understand that the 6950's and 6970's are best to use with BF3 [I read your source you posted earlier]. The 6950's are available for right around $200-$250, and the 6970's for $350-$400. That is a bit steep for me and definitely beyond my present budget. Besides that, the 6870 seems to be doing a great job right now and the detail and graphics from BF3 is out of this world. I am kind of happy with it at the moment so I will stick with it for now. The temp finally did go above 50c tonight. My wife was helping me locate the enemies and as we played the game together, the temp went up to a whopping 58c! I think that is quite ok though...and we have not overclocked anything simply because we have no clue how.

The 5870 I purchased had no brand name on it at all...and I found that kind of strange. It was red and black and it was the heaviest GPU card I have ever handled in my life. I purchased it from a vendor that is known to sometimes offer incredible deals at far below market prices...yes, new components. On the other hand, I read several reviews that clearly warned about this vendor sending components that were previously used and were a total rip off! As I said before, never, never again for me!

Roark, accounting is quite a departure from Philosophy and Religion! Wow! I hope you like numbers and number crunching! I have two friends that are CPA's and they totally love it...and each has an inherent love for numbers...please consider completing a career assessment to be certain your internal gifting and desires line up with your major! A job that does not pull from 90% or above of your internal gifting = very limited satisfaction in your place of employment...

I have had a number of majors and job types in my life....completed more university classes this year too....I have worked in over 30 different nations...

In the 80's behind the iron curtain. In the early 90's, in south america. In the not so early 90's, all over southeast asia. Then finally in the far east. Presently I am involved in kinesiology, also known as human kinetics...the scientific study of human movement.

Hopefully it will help me know how to click the button on the mouse better so I can stop more terrorist in the BF3 game! LOL!

Roark, thanks again for all the good advice you have shared. I appreciate you and the time you have given me.

Oh, to stay on topic, I will place the 1055t in the GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3, then slap it into the Antec Lanboy. I was going to also slap in a Cougar 700 PSU because the colors match the red Lanboy, but after reading the reviews on the Cougar, I have decided to not use it. I will probably use an OCZ 850 gold that I found at a very good price.

Soar

 

[Roark]

http://www.fraps.com/ is probably the easiest way to monitor your FPS.

Show how many Frames Per Second (FPS) you are getting in a corner of your screen. Perform custom benchmarks and measure the frame rate between any two points.

3D Mark 11 pretty much just stresses your system to test its gaming performance, then provides you with an objective score for that performance.
TF has a 3D Mark 11 ranking thread here.

I haven't played BF3 so can't really give specific directions, but typically you can find level of detail under video options/settings.
I would expect the game to know what card you're using and apply the best looking graphics that will still maintain playable framerates for you.

Your 6870's temperature is awesome. Checking around I found the max it can handle is 105ºC with a suggestion to keep them below 90ºC.
If yours is staying under 60ºC you have nothing to worry about (source).

I'm glad to hear you got the 5870 from some shady back-alley GPU dealer and not straight from XFX or something, that would have crushed me.

Yeah Philosophy to Accounting is quite a stretch, but I do love number crunching, so it should be a good fit. I'm planning on taking some of the pre-requisite courses in the spring, so that should give me a good idea of what I'm getting myself in to, and if I want to follow through with it.

It sounds like you have had quite the exciting life so far! You must have some amazing stories about your travels, and gained many life experiences that most people can hardly imagine.
When you find the key to human interaction with a keyboard and mouse you'll have to share it on the forums, I'm sure many people here would also like a leg-up against those terrorists.

The OCZ 850 Gold with the AMD rig sounds like a great idea, especially if it is going to be the one running the majority of the time.

 

[soarwitheagles]

Thanks for helping me understand what the 3D Mark 11 is all about. I suppose I will give it a test drive and see how it scores my system.

Yes, the XFX 6870 has far exceeded my expectations. I think one reason why it is obtaining such great temps is because this model has the two fans instead of the one fan [see pic].

I hear you on the fly-by-night vendor. Normally I never purchase any hardware from vendors like that...but the price was hard to resist...and I did read reviews of people who were shocked when they received brand spanking new 5870's that worked flawlessly...oh well, not everyone lucks out I suppose! I suspect they are either ASUS's or HIS's.

I have never received anything of poor quality from XFX and I have purchased over 30 separate components from them. Also, their rebates have always arrived in a punctual and honest manner. I really like their PSU's and their GPU's.

I like your attitude going into accounting...you sound as if you are testing the waters before you jump all the way in, and that is wise.

Finally, I will probably use the Intel now as my main rig after removing the XFX 850 Silver and replacing it with the OCZ 1000 Watt Gold. I always do my best to future proof, and I believe this Intel rig should keep me going fine for the next year or two and the best part of all, it should use less power [wattage] than the AMD rig.

Roark, thanks again for all the helpful info. Man, I hope you can upgrade soon! What MB are you using with that E2140? I just finished upgrading the system I built for my dad and he is using the E2200 with an ECS GF7050VT-M MB. He has left it on 24/7 for two solid years, and before that, I left it on 24/7 for over a year too. It still is chugging along just fine after 3-4 years of continuous use. This last week I did upgrade [to totally new] the computer case, all system fans, CPU cooler, RAM, and PSU. I was concerned a fan would burn out and ruin his system. For some reason, the system would not accept a new GPU, no matter how many different GPU's I attempted to use [BSOD's from every one of them].

Next time I visit him, I will remove Vista Ultimate and install either Windows 8 or 7. Hopefully that will solve the problem with the GPU upgrade.

Ok, another question:

What type of rig would like to build now?

What is your dream rig?

Soar

 

[Roark]

Very nice card, if the temps stay cool and you want a boost you should be able to easily overclock it a little.

Yeah I've had nothing but good experiences with XFX, and heard the same from other people.
I get paranoid when purchasing deals that seem too good to be true, one of the few areas where cynicism has served me well.

If you are keeping the Intel rig as your main I'd suggest swapping it over to the LanBoy.
Since its essentially just a mesh cage you'll want those fans running as often as possible in a positive pressure setup (1st page 4th post).
Though I guess the other option would be to get a dust cover for it when its not in use. Just trying to keep you from having to clean it out too often.

Really weird about the BSOD issue. Not that great at troubleshooting myself, I just keep trying different things until something works, usually by random chance.
Did you try posting up the stop code in the Hardware Problem/Troubleshooting or Windows thread for input? Mak made a nice list of them here.

I'm sure I'll be able to upgrade at some point in the not too distant future, luckily this computer works fine for basic tasks and gaming.
The motherboard is a Dell 0CU409, pretty much limited to the most basic needs of what a motherboard has to do, leave it on 24/7 too.
My dream rig was sitting in my Newegg cart for a while, won't bore you with the details but essentially was:
2500K, GEN3 MB, 8GB RAM, GTX 580, 120GB SSD, 1TB HDD, 750w PSU, case/os/odd/cooler, came out around $1,500.

Have you noticed this thread has, at time of posting, 543 views?
Hopefully others are getting useful information out of it as well, or at least some entertainment.