SymphonyX7

December 2013. October 2013. WHAT? Also, GPU Boss? Really? :lol: If you haven't realized, the GTX 770 is getting beat up by the R9 280X in the latest games. Just read the latest reviews: July 24, 2014: http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/6529/sapphire-radeon-r9-280x-3gb-vapor-x-oc-video-card-review/index.html July 22, 2014: http://www.legionhardware.com/articles_pages/amd_radeon_r9_280x_round_up,1.html July 11, 2014: http://www.techspot.com/review/841-radeon-r9-280x-roundup/ July 2, 2014: http://www.tweak.dk/review/Club3D_Radeon_R9_280X_RoyalQueen_3GB/2014/1/1 Also, please take a look at the "best graphics cards" list by reputable tech sites for the month of May, June and July, or Q2 2014. The GTX 770 isn't even on any of their honorable mentions list. If you haven't noticed, things change. Back in 2012, we had the GTX 680 beating up the HD 7970 Ghz edition. Now you have the GTX 770 which is a highly overclocked GTX 680, and the R9 280X which is a slightly lower clocked HD 7970 Ghz edition. One would think the gap would be even bigger now, but it is certainly not the case.

What's the difference though? The R9 290 is over 20% faster than the GTX 770 and R9 280X on average. If the difference is less than $50, the R9 290 is obviously the better pick, not unless the R9 290 is overpriced where he lives. You will not find a single reputable tech site that recommends a GTX 770 2 GB/4 GB over the R9 280X or R9 290 at the moment. Go to Tom's Hardware, Anandtech, etc. They all have their "top picks for this month/this quarter" articles.

Personally, I'd avoid the FX-8320 and a 2 GB GTX 770 regardless. The FX-8320 eats thrice as much power as a stock Haswell Core i5 (i.e. i5-4460) and isn't any faster. The 2 GB GTX 770 won't allow you to max out games simply because of the lack of VRAM. Who in their right mind would buy a $300+ card if it can't even max out games at 1080p? Also, it's slower than the R9 280X on the latest games. Best compromise would be the Core i5-4670K + R9 280X. But honestly I'd go for the cheapest stock Haswell i5 and the cheapest non-reference R9 290. i.e. i5-4460 + Gigabyte R9 290 Windforce. tl;dr: Don't get the FX-8320 (or any Vishera part for that matter). Most Vishera parts will lose to the latest Core i3 in most tasks for 1/4th to 1/3rd the power consumption. That's a very big difference in power consumption. Don't get any of the current GK104 Nvidia GPUs (this includes GTX 760 to GTX 770). Their price-to-performance value is downright terrible. Only the most daft of Nvidia's sheep will refuse to acknowledge this, even if you slam a dozen of the latest reviews in their faces saying otherwise.

You're completely forgetting the side panel vents on the right side of the Elite 130, opposite of the graphics card. It's a completely different ball game when you fit side fans there. The Fractal Node 130 doesn't have that. You're stuck with the two 92 mm front fans and 120 mm rear fan. Those are the only fan provisions you have on the FN 304. Also, I don't see how the airflow is affected when you install an additional 80 mm intake fan on the front of the Elite 130. That's what we did on the Elite 130 and motherboard VRM temps dropped even lower. Also, yes. I made an error there, I was talking about water cooling the CPU on the Elite 130, not air cooling. My bad.

I don't think we're even talking about the same thing. I'm referring to the height clearance of the CPU cooler, not the provisions on what kind of radiator fan can be fitted when water cooling. I said the Fractal Node 304 has a clearance of around 120 mm for the CPU cooler in case you'll use an air cooler. The Elite 130's clearance is only around 75 mm, hence you can only use very low profile coolers. Once you use a water cooler, the clearance doesn't matter. Both the Elite 130 and FN 304 can accommodate a single 120 mm radiator fan. The Elite 130 has far more places to put fans, and despite its more cramped layout, it's more intelligently designed which allows a clean flow of air from the front intake to the rear. I've worked with both the Fractal Node 304 and Elite 130, and despite the similarities, and I'm far more impressed with the Elite 130 especially in terms of cable management. That's why the Fractal Node 304 is best with a fully modular PSU with short cables. The Elite 130 is more practical in every way but the CPU cooler clearance,though the FN 304 is arguably better looking, so there's the trade-off. But in terms of what kind of GPU will put on either case, it's a non-issue. Both have side vents that allow the GPU to pull in fresh air directly from the outside and both can fit long cards (330 mm length for the Elite 130, 310 mm for the FN 304). Yes, the Fractal Node 304 would be perfect for you. The FN 304 also has a fan controller so you can manually control your case fans, in case you want it dead silent. I'm just stating that the Elite 130 is the more utilitarian choice as it's usually the closest to the Fractal Node 304 in terms of configuration, layout and size. As for the PSU, the Seasonic SSR series is suitable, but honestly the Corsair RM series (i.e. RM550) series would be better because of its "zero fan" technology where its fan does not spin at all until the load reaches 60%. It's completely silent for HTPC applications and its temps are impressive even when the fan isn't spinning. It's also completely modular. I suggest you check out its reviews. That Notcua cooler is a staple on high-end builds. They're expensive (Austrian-made), but have strong push and are extremely quiet at the same time. Honestly though I wouldn't buy it unless you try the stock fans of the FN 304 first. If the stock fans of the FN 304 are unsatisfactory, get the Noctua coolers.

Only partially correct. As I've said, better compatibility for the CPU cooler itself since you have up to around 120 mm of clearance for the CPU cooler versus 75 mm of clearance on the Elite 130. But that said, the Elite 130 has more vents and cooling provisions (and more flexible positioning to boot), not to mention its cage allows for superior cable management. The front intake of the Elite 130's wide mesh grill and spare 80 mm fan slot (in addition to the front intake 120 mm fan) allows much more air to pass through the case. The Elite 130 has superior air cooling potential despite its smaller size, though the Fractal Node 304 doesn't trail behind much and many will appreciate the air filters on the FN 304. The Elite 130 doesn't have air filters. Basically: Elite 130 = better air flow, better cable management. FN 304 = better CPU cooler.

I see. It's because I have buds that both have the Cooler Master Elite 130 and Fractal Node 304 which I helped assemble, so I believe I'm qualified to give feedback for both. Both have a similar layout overall, with the exception of the PSU placement. The PSU placement on the FN 304 ensures its cooling is completely isolated from the rest of the components. This also means there's higher clearance on the CPU cooler on the FN 304 compared to the CM 130, but the poor provisions for cable management on the FN 304 means your air flow may not be optimal, so a fully modular PSU is best. On the CM 130, both the PSU and CPU benefits from an upgraded front intake fan. The stock fans on the Fractal Node 304 are decent (good push and quiet, no buzzing sound), and honestly I wouldn't replace them unless you find their performance inadequate. It's design to be an HTPC in the first place, so its fans are quiet. P.S. I'd disagree with the Elite 130 being a generic case. It's possibly the best small ITX case I've seen with the least compromises, and is equally great with either air or water cooling. I wish they could make a sleeker looking update in the future, as the front is rather utilitarian.

It's slightly bigger as it takes more floor space and uses a regular ATX power supply (great for future upgrades), but it's nowhere near as tall as the Hadron Air. Check the size comparison I found and posted at the very bottom of this post. Personally, the best small ITX case for air cooling would be the Cooler Master Elite 130. It has a big 120 mm fan at the front that ensures the entire case from front to back receive fresh air. The position of the graphics card on the Elite 130 is also directly in front on the side panel vents, so it receives fresh air directly from the outside. It also has provisions for the cables throughout its cage for good cable management. The Fractal Node may look sleeker, but it's less functional and actually slightly larger than the Elite 130. Cooler Master Elite 130 Fractal Node 304 Size comparison (CM Elite 130 - lower left, FN 304 - upper mid, Hadron Air - upper right)

Depends on the resolution I'm playing at. If playing at resolutions between 1920x1080 and 2560x1440, I would get the GTX 780 if the price difference is small. If playing at resolutions higher than 2560x1440, I would get the R9 290.

No. The GTX 760 is no match for the R9 280. Not even an overclocked GTX 760 can match the R9 280 stock. This is most apparent in the latest games. Every review of the R9 280 in the past 3 months have reiterated this fact. Let me quote KitGuru's review here: http://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/zardon/msi-r9-280-gaming-v-pny-gtx760-xlr8-185-shootout/22/ Get the R9 280. You have a 384-bit bus that will help you maintain higher settings without suffering too much drop in frames at higher resolutions. Reviews also state that the R9 280 is also capable at 1440p on some new games. That's approximately close to 4320x900 (3.88 million pixels). 2560x1440 is 3.686 million pixels. The R9 280 is also a Tahiti chip, although it has a lower amount of GCN cores since they're disabled, most likely due to binning. The R9 280/HD 7950 Boost is the Tahiti Pro with 1792 GCN cores while the R9 280X/HD 7970 Ghz is the Tahiti XT with 2048 GCN cores. Kind of like the R9 290 and 290X, and the GTX 780 and GTX 780 Ti. The slower variant uses a lower binned chip with disabled cores. With regards to comparative performance, those are old videos which featured old drivers and old games. Even the GTX 770 was faster than the R9 280X in last year's reviews which featured older games, but if you look at the latest reviews, the R9 280X is actually faster than the GTX 770 in most games. What's actually funny is how well the Tahiti chip has aged. The GTX 680 had a healthy lead over the HD 7970 Ghz edition back in 2012. Flash forward two years later, and you have the GTX 770, which is basically a highly overclocked GTX 680 and the R9 280X, which is a slightly lower clocked HD 7970 Ghz edition. You'd think the gap would be even wider now, but it isn't. AMD made the right move to equip the Tahiti chip with a 384-bit bus. The newer tech in newer titles take advantage of this.

I honestly suggest a similar case with a layout that's optimized for air cooling. A few cases come to mind like the Silverstone SG05 and Fractal Node 304. Heck, there are even smaller cases that can accommodate a standard ATX PSU and are still great with air cooling, like the Cooler Master Elite 130. The Hadron Air would only make sense if you're water cooling. Its design is poor for air cooling particularly when the graphics card produces the most heat. The graphics card's intake is directly facing the SFX PSU's intake. Unless you can manage to place a fan on the side panel that's directly pointed towards the gap between the card and PSU to feed them fresh air, they'll run hotter than normal.

GTX Titan Black. Blender in particular will need as much VRAM as possible, not to mention Blender only has acceleration on Nvidia cards. Primarily, you should concentrate on the processor and RAM. The graphics card is also important, but only where it's applicable, and not every task in those productivity apps take advantage of the graphics card. I suggest you go for a six-core Core i7 processor with at least 32 GB of RAM. It sounds like overkill, but depending on how your projects scale, having excess is a good thing, especially during crunch time. P.S. There will be a new generation of six-core Core i7s based on the latest Haswell revision. There's even an eight-core variant (http://wccftech.com/intel-haswelle-core-i7-5960x-core-i7-5930k-core-i7-5820k-specifications-unveiled-flagship-8-core-boost-33-ghz), which is astronomically priced at $999, but if you have the budget, you may want to wait for that one. Their current six-core lineup is the i7-3xxxX and i7-49xx which is still based on Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge respectively.

It's most likely your cooler. You should return your card and tell them that you aren't get decent cooling results even in an open environment.

No, not even the factory overclocked GTX 750 Tis (which actually requires external power) overclocked could match an R7 265 or GTX 660 on stock. The performance difference is too great. Then again, that's expected since the GTX 750 Ti is strangled by its narrow 128-bit bus. The GTX 750 Ti could get close to the R7 265 and GTX 660 if you lower settings to high and disable anti-aliasing, but once you go ultra and enable even just 2x MSAA, it becomes clear that the performace of the GTX 750 Ti is a tier below. It's very good given its low power consumption, but ultimately, it's slower. The R7 265 and GTX 660 are simply the best performers at $150, with the slight edge towards the R7 265 on newer titles. BTW, the EVGA FTW edition isn't even the fastest factory overclocked GTX 750 Ti.

There we go. Just joined 'Left for DOTA'. BTW, the link to the group posted earlier had a maligned URL link. The primary address is LTT. Just reposting the group link: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/LFDOTA