Will my Antec 900 fit... (and other questions).

Technology and Gaming Help and Support
#1

Hi all,

I’m shortly going to update my 2007-era PC to something more 2011-friendly. In the interim I’ve not kept up with hardware advancements at all, so I wanted to ask a few questions. These are my plans after a morning of limited research.

I’m currently looking at an Asus M4A89TD Pro motherboard (with a Phenom II x6 1090T cpu) and a HIS Radeon HD 6970 2GB video card.

  1. Will this mobo and gpu fit in my existing Antec 900 case? Preferably I’d like to continue using this case. If not, recommendations are welcome.

  2. Presumably this is a good mobo/processor combination? If not, recommendations are welcome.

  3. I’d be happy to hear recommendations for good quality power supplies and RAM (I’m looking at 16gb as it seems to be possible under $200AUD) to use with this setup.

  4. Will I be fine running my existing HDDs? I’d rather not fork out for new ones but if the old ones will somehow hinder my performance noticeably then I’ll upgrade.

  5. In the future I have Eyefinity in mind and plan to add 2 more 22" monitors. How do you think this setup will be able to handle it?

Thanks a lot to anyone who takes the time to answer any of these questions.

#2

I am not able to assist you, but I will give you a bump in the hopes that someone else will. :slight_smile:

#3

  1. CHECK THE DIMENSIONS AND THE MOBO SIZE/CASE SIZE. For the case and mobo sizes, there are things like ATX, Mid-ATX, etc.

  2. IT DOESNT MATTER THAT MUCH. What does matter is your cpu, your ram, etc etc. I do have an HD 6970 myself, and it’s wonderful, although you might have some slight problem plugging one of the power cables.

  3. USE BRAND-NAMED STUFF. YOU SHOULD GET ABOUT 600W (or more when considering about continuous expansion). FOR RAM, I RECOMMEND RIPJAWS. I have a Corsair 950W, and Ripjaw 4x2 GB. I think 8 Gb should be fine. Good PSUs will protect your computer, or at least not randomly blow up (which some cheap Chinese stuff do).

  4. NO, NOT THAT MUCH. If your existing HDDs are Sata 2, you should be fine.

  5. HOW THE HELL SHOULD WE KNOW? WE DON’T KNOW YOUR COMPUTER IN FULL DETAIL, DO WE? Post your CPU, and all the other details. (like definite amount of RAM)

#4

Easy there Tiger. My original post mentioned CPU (Phenom II X6 1090T) and RAM will be at least 8gb to start with. I might add more later. PSU and RAM I’m undecided but good brand names are the intention. GPU and mobo are also mentioned in the first post. Anyway, some people seem to run Eyefinity on less so I think I’ll be right there. I’ll worry about that later.

What problem?

Regarding case and mobo size. From the motherboard specifications - “ATX Form Factor, 30.5cm x 24.4cm” and from the case specs - “Fits micro and standard ATX” (total dimensions of case 49.3cm x 20.6cm x 46.8cm).

This sounds right to me. Feel free to give your Caps Lock another workout if I’m wrong.

Thank you for your response.

#5

If you’re planning on eyefinity, I DO recommend a crossfire solution of 2gb 6950s. While many reviews state that 1 vs 2 gb of vram will have little difference in performance, when it comes to eyefinity, it will help considerably (due to the higher resolution)

#6

I used caps lock to highlight short answers. But if you saw it as threatening, sorry.

About the problem with the power plug, one of the plugs did not go in fully, and I had to push it in really hard to put it in.

#7

Thank you and thank you.

I’ll be getting one card to start with but Crossfire is a future consideration. In that case I’d just add another 6970. I’d almost certainly need a new case in that case (sorry for the overuse of the word ‘case’). I think I might have to rip out some drive bays and the middle fan from the Antec 900 just to fit one of the GPUs.

#8

That’s not why anyone else uses caps lock on a forum. Stop being a dick.

#9

How is using capslock make me a dick?
I just wanted to highlight the short answers.

#10

This is what I purchased in the end (bit impulsive I know)…

PSU: Corsair TX-850 v2
Mobo: Asus M4A89TD Pro
CPU: AMD Phenom II x6 1090T Black Edition
RAM: G. Skills Ripjaws F3-16000CL9D DDR3 2x4GB dual channel
GPU: HIS Radeon HD 6970 2gb
Win7 Home Premium

I think (hope) I’ve gotten it all right and everything works together. If anyone has anything to add please do, if something has been overlooked I have several days to get back to them about exchanges etc.

No hard feelings regarding the Caps Locking calhoun freeman.

#11

850W is kinda overdoing it unless you are going to upgrade it later.

Looks fine other than that.

#12

850 isn’t really overdoing it, especially if you do Xfire. But in my experience, NEVER “plan” for a multi GPU setup. That is, don’t say “oh I’ll get a slower cheaper GPU now and then get a second one later” - by the time you go to buy the second card, a new GPU will be available that is faster than your single card AND faster than 2 of the old cards in tandem. Do SLI/Xfire now (or next week) or not at all.

Otherwise, build looks good.

#13

I´ve had an Antec 900 in the past, and anything will fit in that case, I´ve full atx size mobo, with SLI config and liquid cooling no problem, so go for it : )

#14

Already have. Has been set up for about 2 days now, running like a dream so far (touch wood).

Have to turn a couple of things down in Crysis 2, otherwise nothing has challenged it.

In the future I’ll be building all my PCs myself.

#15

Damn. I wish I would have found this thread sooner. AMD is about to release a new line of processors called the “Bulldozer”. 3.9 Ghz octa-core. It comes out mid September. I was gonna get a Phenom II until I heard about this series.

#16

This series has been “coming soon” for quite a while actually, and was supposed to arrive last quarter but I assume it was delayed because its performance isn’t on par with the Sandy Bridge series (but AMDs part is to offer more value than performance, IMO)

#17

LOL. When I was looking for CPUs for my computer, I saw bulldozer, said DAYUM MUST HAV. I CAN WAIT. Then said, it’s fucking AMD. It’ll get delayed… And whatcha know? DELAYS!

#18

Dissapointing really… 8 cores yet not on par with sandy bridge.

#19

You have a 6970 and had to turn settings down in Crysis 2? That’s surprising. I have a 5870 1GB, running 1920x1200, and every setting in Crysis 2 is maxed 100% with super-playable framerates (I’d wager 40+ the entire time, no slowdowns, but I didn’t keep an FPS meter running or I’d give more accurate readings). In any event, I found Crysis 1 more visually appealing (and punishing for hardware, though that could just be engine efficiency).

That said, this isn’t a Crysis discussion, I’m glad your rig is up and running :smiley:

#20

Are you running the DX11 update and hi-res texture pack?

Anyway, it can get a bit laggy for me if everything is set to ‘Ultra’ (25-40fps average) so I dropped everything down to ‘Extreme’ and it runs around 40-60fps on average, which is manageable.

Could my old hard drives (sata 2) be causing a bottleneck?

Off-topic (kind of): If I have to rage-quit Crysis 2 once more after dying just before the next save checkpoint I’m going to piss all over the disc and mail it back to Crytek, telling them to go fuck themselves. No manual save, indeed!

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