Silverstone LC16M and BFG 7950GX2 graphics card

[Kornylius]

Hi, I'm looking to get the combo of LC16M Silverstone Media case and a BFG 7950GX2 graphics card.

I've been told by sales that the card will fit in the case but having looked on the Silverstone site and at http://www.rojakpot.com/showarticle.aspx?artno=326&pgno=2 I'm getting concerned that it actually won't.

Does anyone have any experience or more info on this combo?

Thanks.

[Nox]

No actual experience, but judging from the dimensions of the card (it looks to be the same length as the 7900GTX) I would hazard a guess saying the 7950 also would not fit in that case, and that silverstones website was slightly out of date, and Sales may have provided info based on this?

It does look like the bay that will take the CD drive overhangs the motherboard somewhat, and judging from my own 7900, I reckon a 7950/7900gtx will almost reach the side of the motherboard. All is not lost though, there are always options...

Can someone from tech support/returns confirm this suspicion?

Nice case though :)

Nox

[Taxation]

why dont you get a slighty bigger case??

[Nox]

why dont you get a slighty bigger case??

Don't think Silverstone do a deeper case in that style, which, lets face it, is lovely... And a case is something you need to stare at, and its got to look the part, which that one does very well.

Nox

[Taxation]

thats a nice case, it isnt compatable with 7900gtx's, but is with 7900gt's, so im guessing that the 7950 WONT fit

[Kornylius]

I'd prefer to use this case if possible since it'll look cool and for the price/purpose it's about the best i could find.

[Taxation]

why dont you just get a 7900gt,
save money from cutting down on gpu, and get a badass cpu and loadsa RAM :twisted:

[Kornylius]

Already getting good CPU and uber RAM, not an issue that i need to worry about. :wink:

[Big Beere]

I have the XFX 7900GTX card, and believe me.. its a BIG card.

I would recommend getting a LARGE case. Thermaltake have good looking cases, and most of them are very big.

I have posted two pictures below of the size of my GTX card inside and outside the case - just to give you an idea of the size (remember the 7950 is a little bit longer than the gtx)

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2006-1/1129813/gtxsmallpic.JPG

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2006-1/1129813/gtxsmallpic2.JPG

This was taken before i installed my watercooling, so think about how much room i have now ! - if any at all !! :?


BIG B 8)

[Taxation]

i think that a 7900gt is fine for todays games, very playable at basically every resolution, unless you want uber high resolution
but for anything up to 1600 X 1200, the 7900gt is fine.

or to get a 7950 to fit, you could just do a wee bit of modding to the inside of your case :twisted:

[Kornylius]

Yeah it may well just be a simple hacksaw and meccano job to invalidate any warranty and modify the case. Personally I'd prefer not to resort to that but it wouldn't be the first and I doubt it'll be the last time.

It's amazing how many hard drives you can mount in a full tower case through innovative use of meccano, stuffs the air flow though :wink:

At least if i can get a definitive answer regarding the fit then I can make an educated decision whether the case is worth purchasing and maybe modding or if i need to look to another case.

As for my reasons for buying a 7950GT, it's the newest, the only reason i'm not buying two is because the SLi doesn't work yet.

[Nox]

I'd get a 7950gtx if I could afford it :p

or two...

Nox

[Big Beere]

The thing is.. would you notice much difference playing games??

Take my system spec for example, if you changed my gfx card to the 7950 version, and played BF2 / doom 3 / FEAR / Far Cry .. Would i notice any difference??

My games run v. smoothly, i have no juggers what so ever, every game is maxed out and runs perfectly!

Is there much point of the 7950 card at the moment?

BIG B 8)

[Kornylius]

From looking at the pics of your case Big B it does look like it will be a close issue.

The fixing supports for the far right of the mobo are only just obscured by the DVD fixing box. Assuming that your 7900GTX is about half an inch from the right edge of your mobo and also hoping that the right edge of your mobo is barely further than the fixings it may just fit.

[Nox]

the only reason i'm not buying two is because the SLi doesn't work yet.

Officially ;)

Have to say, I notice a difference, quite a large one, between a 7900GT and a 9700pro... Its not so much the speed of the game, but what you can and can't have enabled. Even EQ2 @ 1920x1200 on a 7900GT I can't have anywhere near everything enabled... Thats a 2 year old game. Though I really don't know how much difference 2x 7950's would make over a single 7900gt there...

I would like to see another answer from Novatech on here if possible, I don't think it will fit, personally, but if sales have said it will I won't argue with em.

Nox

[Taxation]

at the moment a single 7900gtx and a single 1900xtx beat a 7950gtx at games by like 1 fps, but then when support for the 7950gtx grows, and more software updates to come out then the 7950 will be very good

And to my knowledge quad sli does work, it has been done on a conroe board, and on many other boards.
but at the moment, the one thing that the 7950 does alot better than any card out at the moment is 3d marks

[Nox]

Hence my ';)' next to the word 'officially'

If you ask nvidia, it will be around august before the drivers are ready.

Nox

[Taxation]

so whats the point that

i think that i wil bring out a HD TV that ONLY takes HD sources so you cant use existing tv connections, oh wait, HD tv is ages away, oh well :twisted:

[Kornylius]

HD TV isn't ages away, it's well sweet and very pretty :wink:

[Taxation]

HDtv television, the actual source from tv programs isnt out yet

the tv's are out, but the actual channels are still coming through on ariels, and not HD quality

[Kornylius]

You've still got SkyHD though, limited channels currently but the ones out there do look good.

Also interesting to know that the domestic user only had access to ~60% of the disk space in the SkyHD box. The remaining 40% is purely for Sky to use to download movies to the box ready for movies on demand. But thats getting way off topic :wink:

[Taxation]

yea it is...........................
some form of minor mod may have to be done to get the 7950 into that case, maybe it could be done by just removing a thumb size bit of metal to make it fit

[Nox]

Its the thumb size bit of metal out the back of the cd/dvd that concerns me :p

but, like anything, not impossible, might just need a lump of circuit board replacing with wires...

Nox

[Taxation]

if you have a very small optical drive then it could be done

impossible is nothing :twisted:

[Kornylius]

I've just had an email from Silverstonetek telling me that the maximum length graphics cards can be in that case is 8".

So over to Novatech now to measure a BFG 7950 GX2 and tell me its 7.9" long.

I wish.

[Nox]

Take a look on the web - is around 9" long - ie will not fit.

Nox

[Big Beere]

omg wtf...

i hate people who f*ck about !!!!

BAN THAT USER

[Chewie]

Nope, some son of a ****** has a prog that hijacks forums . You'll notice that they are all against recent posts. Its not some twit doing random posts in every part, thats my guess based on the timing of this, its targeted maybe 3-4 posts within a minute. Gotta be virus/worm or something.

And the worst bit is, unless one of the guys see's this once their at home, its gonna be here till monday.


Danno, Gwendes, I think you need to give me Tax and the others some discretionary powers to remove these sort of posts, ASAP.

That and get the security patches updated.

[Taxation]

wtf, they are bloomin everywhere

that is just nasty

[Feanor]

Just found my way to this forum via google, so hi all :D

I'm in the process of ordering all the bits for a nice and shiny new PC, and I'm umming and ahhing about what graphics card to get - it was a no-brainer until the other day, when the price difference between the two narrowed.

I can't make up my mind between a single 7900GTX (then I can go SLI later on down the line if I want) and the 7950GT. My first concern is how much noise those tiny little fans in the GT make in practice. My current PC is noisy, and I hate it. This time around I want something much quieter. I'm probably going to get a Lian-Li V1000 case, which should help with the noise, but I'd have thought that the big chunky fan on the GTX would be much quieter than the little whiny ones on the GT.

I've read that the 7950GT gives out 35.5 dbA of noise. This doesn't sound like all that much, so as long as the performance increase of the 7950GT is worthwhile, I'll be happy to go for that.... but is it worthwhile?? I've read in reviews, and it was mentioned earlier in this thread, that the performance increase with the 7950GT isn't all that significant except under certain conditions. Someone said, though, that the performance increase will be greater as newer games that support its features come out. But I'd have expected a far greater gain over the GTX with two GPUs and a doubling of memory, even if the memory is clocked slightly slower!

My third concern is, I'm thinking of buying a second monitor. I've got a nice shiny new Samsung 970p, and while that is still available I fancy another identical one but I just read that you can't have two monitors working when your gfx cards are in SLI mode. If I were to take the 7950GT out of SLI mode to run two monitors, then I may as well have just got a single 7900GTX as there's no way half a 7950 could compete. Sure, I've read that you can work around this with a PCI graphics card, but that's hassle and a waste of a PCI slot IMO. It also leads me nicely onto my next point.

I've read various things about the GT cards taking up PCI slots each, and that the 7950 also takes up a PCI slot (I believe just one, even though its effectively two cards). But I've also been told by someone that the GTX doesn't take up any PCI slots. Can someone clarify this for me? If I want to go quad SLI sometime in the future it's a bit much to lose two PCI slots - three if I get a PCI graphics card for my second monitor.

The 7900GTX is less expensive, probably quieter, can support both my monitors until I get another later on, and isn't that much slower than the 7950GT. I'm leaning towards the GTX right now. Would you agree? Care to pursuade me otherwise?

Many thanks in advance :)

[Taxation]

i would go for the 7900gtx, there is a performance barrier that is hit by any graphics card, and that is caused by the cpu, i would go for the cheaper 7900gtx and save a bit of cash for going sli, or watercooling later on

7900gtx stock cooler is very quiet and runs cool

[Big Beere]

Well, i currently have the XFX 7900gtx card, it is big, and does use up a PCI Slot. I think the reason it takes up another slot, is because the second part of the card acts like an exhaust to get rid of the warm air ( will post pic below, you will see what i mean then)

Overall, the 7900GTX is V.quite, to be honest, i cant even tell if the fans on or not. When you start the system up you can hear it then, as it does 1 big burst of air then runs quite after.

The card it self is pretty long (almost reaches the end of my mobo) and the 7950 cards are slightly longer (give or take a few MM :) )

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2006-1/1129813/gtxsmallpic.JPG

Card ^^

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2006-1/1129813/DSC00721.JPG

Just below the monitor inputs, that takes up the extra slot.

Hope this helps,

BIG B 8)

[Feanor]

Rightyho. I'll probably go for the GTX then!

Thanks for taking the time to put up those pics, thats really useful. Tbh I thought the reason the PCI slots were taken up was because of some hardware resourcing issue, rather than physical space. Surely, though, if only one PCI-E slot is next to the PCI slots, I won't lose a second PCI slot if I get another GTX to SLI?

On the subject of being limited by the CPU, one of the tests I read was done using a FX62 iirc, so that's one of the quickest consumer CPUs out there and the performance difference wasn't that significant even then. I've just ordered an AMD AM2 X64 5000 because I found it for about £305 inc vat from a reputable website, when most places are selling it for £450-£500 :D (im guessing putting the names of competitors on the forum is a nono as it is on most forums run by online companies).

Again on the noise subject. I have seen some pretty cool aftermarket GPU fans available, but I'm told that you can't replace the fans on the 7950, presumably because you physically can't get at the middle fan. I've also read that the design of the HSF on the 7950 takes into account the limited airflow between cards in such close proximity, and I'd be concerned about whether an aftermarket HSF would be as good at that job.

[Taxation]

You can get to that middle fan, but you have to take the 2 cards apart.
You can get watercooling blocks for both the cards because the block is uber thin.
I havent seen any aftermarket aircooling solutions apart from stock on the Nvidia 7950

[Big Beere]

Whooo AMD 5000x2 :P . . . . I need to get my self one of those lol, but that means changing the mobo... and i cant be fussed with that lol.

Once you have your computer up and running, is there any chance you can post a 3dscore 2006 and some pics of your system? :lol:

Cheers,

BIG B 8)

[Feanor]

Oops, i meant the 5000 X2 not the X64... which i believe doesnt exist! duh! lol :oops:

Big Beere, for various reasons it's gonna be at least a couple of weeks before I receive all my bits, and then I've no idea how long before I get round to builing it (altho knowing me, probably the evening I receive the last component lol) but sure, no problem - if I remember! lol

Unfortunately my 5000 X2 is on pre-order, so I've no idea how long it's gonna take. If it takes too long then the £305 I'm paying for it won't seem such a good price as everyone else will be charging the same! But hopefully I'll get it soon. If anyone wants to know where I've ordered it from, I'll PM them... don't want to get banned after 3 posts for advertising competitors ;)

I'm also planning on getting a Track IR and a nice shiny new HOTAS (Hands On Throttle And Stick, ie a flightsim joystick & throttle) and a set of peddles. If only I had the cash to get this sort of kit when I was 16 and had the time to get my moneysworth out of it!!! Can't wait to get back into flightsims though :D

[Taxation]

big beere, you would also have to get new RAM, and change the waterclock on your watercooling setup
:lol:

the X2 5000 is a very good processor from what ive seen

good luck with the build :P

[Feanor]

Ahh Big Beere your system has got plenty of life in it yet! :p My Athlon XP2000+, 1Gb old-skool SD RAM and Geforce FX 5200 has served me well, but it's just not up to the job anymore. I don't tend to upgrade until I'm forced to by the march of technology... and I wouldn't have got the "upgrade bug" just yet had I thought my PC was broken about a month ago (it would turn on, but wouldn't get passed the primary boot stage where the BIOS makes it beep).

Incidentally, I don't think I can be bothered to replace my 160Gb IDE drive with a new ATAII one, at least until I'm forced to switch to Windows Vista (more because reinstalling my OS is a hassle I hate than because of the expense). I can't see the performance difference being all that significant, as I'd have thought that while the burst transfer rate will be quicker, the physical limitations of a HDD would limit the sustained data transfer rate to well within the 166Mb/s (iirc) that my UDMA drive can do. What do you think?

Hmm I appear to have hijacked this thread somewhat, apologies!! lol

[Taxation]

dont worry matey, they can be easily deleted :twisted:
if you dont have to upgrade then dont, there wont be a noticable performance gain between your old hdd and a new ATAII one. Its all about RAM nowadays

Fx5200,i had that baby 8)
had to overclock everything just to play bf2 on lowest ever settings :lol:

[David T]

*insert randomness flashback moment here*
I used to know a Feanor on a forum called Shores of Valinor..... :shock:

[Feanor]

Not me! There aren't many Feanors around, mainly because few people are sad enough to bother reading The Silmarillion (Tolkein's "prequal" to the Lord of the Rings, for anyone who doesn't know) - and yet fewer are sad enough to name themselves after one of the main characters.

I go by Feanor in other forums, but usually Fean0r or Fe4n0r as usually the text only version is taken already. I'm guessing the Shores of Valinor is a Tolkein-related forum, Valinor being the place where the Valar live and a safehaven for the Elves - and where, for anyone cares, they all go to at the end of the Lord of the Rings when they leave in those big ships.

Right. Now I've bored everyone to death, probably time to get my coat... :lol:

[Chewie]

heheh

if you think your names sad, then what about...................... :wink:

[Nox]

apparently he really is that hairy... :D

Nox