Desktop Computers

those 2 look like the exact same card, EVGA Superclocked 970, no clue why that one is listed at so much more, but I got mine for $350. The only more expensive card that EVGA makes is the FTW edition that is base clocked slightly higher, this one:Amazon.com: EVGA EVGA GeForce GTX 970 FTW ACX 2.0 4GB GDDR5 256bit, DVI-I, DVI-D, HDMI, DP SLI Ready Graphics Card Graphics Cards 04G-P4-2978-KR: Electronics

But I see NO point in ever buying that, the "superclocked" EVGA card can easily be bumped up to stock "FTW edition" speeds. I bumped mine up last night with no issues.

EVGA basically has a base/reference 970 for like $330-ish, a "Superclocked" that has their awesome ACX cooler fans for $350, and that FTW Edition that is $400+ that has the same ACX 2.0 cooler as the Superclocked, but is just defaulted to a slightly(very slight) higher clock speed.

The bump up from the standard card to the "Superclocked" is worth it for the better cooler, IMHO, but the FTW is a waste of money, it's almost as expensive as a 980, and that's just dumb.

I can't speak to that card specifically, but previous FTW models have had more power phases / VRMs.

In regards to that video card, I heard it has a coil whine. Is that true? What do you do to work around it?

I was afraid about that with my Asus 970 STRIX but fortunately it has no coil noise. From what I've been reading, there's a lot of reports that a burn in solves the problem (12-24h of Furmark or similar). The other option is ofcourse RMA.

edit :

Amazon.com: Intel 730 SERIES 2.5-Inch 480 GB Internal Solid State Drive SSDSC2BP480G4R5: Computers AccessoriesPrice: $239.65 &FREE Shipping

No coil wine on my evga 970. It's basically completely silent, makes zero audible noise when gaming.

gogusrl_sl said:

Amazon.com: Intel 730 SERIES 2.5-Inch 480 GB Internal Solid State Drive SSDSC2BP480G4R5: Computers AccessoriesPrice: $239.65 &FREE Shipping

Click to expand...

For me:

List Price: $499.99
Price: $199.99 Free Shipping for Prime Members
You Save: $300.00 (60%)


That's for the 480GB.

Decent drive, reads are pretty damn fast, writes are a little slow

AnandTech | Intel SSD 730 (480GB) Review: Bringing Enterprise to the Consumers

I'd still probably get the 500GB Samsung Evo for $30 more

Amazon.com: Samsung 840 EVO 500GB 2.5-Inch SATA III Internal SSD (MZ-7TE500BW): Electronics

gogusrl_sl said:

I was afraid about that with my Asus 970 STRIX but fortunately it has no coil noise. From what I've been reading, there's a lot of reports that a burn in solves the problem (12-24h of Furmark or similar). The other option is ofcourse RMA.

edit :

Amazon.com: Intel 730 SERIES 2.5-Inch 480 GB Internal Solid State Drive SSDSC2BP480G4R5: Computers AccessoriesPrice: $239.65 &FREE Shipping

Click to expand...

My STRIX has been dead silent. The fans don't even click on unless you're gaming. I can't even hear the GPU fans over my radiator fans when gaming. Stock fans on Corsair h100i are noisy as shit and are going to be replace by Noctua 120mm fans whenever they get here on Monday or Tuesday.

joeboo_sl said:

Decent drive, reads are pretty damn fast, writes are a little slow

AnandTech | Intel SSD 730 (480GB) Review: Bringing Enterprise to the Consumers

I'd still probably get the 500GB Samsung Evo for $30 more

Amazon.com: Samsung 840 EVO 500GB 2.5-Inch SATA III Internal SSD (MZ-7TE500BW): Electronics

Click to expand...

Can get the 1 TB Samsung for $170 more.

Workstation Build advice, I've been swamped at college lost touch with which components are the best price/performance. I'm looking at two different builds. Specifically for 3D modeling in Solidworks.

Current Setup
AMD Phenom X6 1055T
8GB Ram
GEforce GTX 570
Samsung 60GB SSD

Build Idea 1 CPU/MB
$99 Amd FX-4300 or $$169 FX-8370
$79 gigabyte GA-970

Build Idea 2 CPU/MB
$169 I5 4440 Quad Core
$86 gigabyte B85-HD3

Ram (2x8GB)
$138 16GB Team vulcan ***never heard of this ram but great newegg reviews**
$149 16GB Crucial Ballistix Sport

Graphic Cards
$179 Firepro W4100 2GB
$169 Quardo K620 2GB

Everything I've been reading for solidworks CPU is the most limiting factor, and I'm always waiting on rebuilds to happen when I start changing things in a design with my current system.

I-7 prices are fucking ridiculous but I wonder if they are worth the price.

thoughts on which components to go with?

If you are building something for modeling/rendering, and going intel, you definitely want an i7 over and i5. Big difference, hyperthreading in the i7 makes up to a 30% performance increase in some applications.

AnandTech | The Haswell Review: Intel Core i7-4770K i5-4670K Tested

Correct, but he specifically said this build was for a 3D modeling workstation, not gaming

sign me up for a 10 TB SSD

Intel promises 10TB+ SSDs thanks to 3D Vertical NAND flash memory | KitGuru

joeboo_sl said:

sign me up for a 10 TB SSD

Intel promises 10TB+ SSDs thanks to 3D Vertical NAND flash memory | KitGuru

Click to expand...

Just an Intel marketing hype blurb. Worst of all, it's old news. Samsung already beat them to the market with 3D V-NAND flash with the 850 Pro series SSDs.

Intel playing catch-up on the SSD market is all.