ati 5770 or still a nvidia

[mugginz]

Kano, I read that reference cards have the heat produced go out of the case while the custom cards will have it remain in the case and up to good cooling of the case determine temps. Also, I thought you are at the mercy of the design (so to speak) and the reference cards you can rely on some of the aftermarket programs to help with overclocking and fan speeds, perhaps? I haven't decided on a specific card yet so I'm open to various suggestions and advice.

I'm going to deal with the heat that's dumped into the case by increasing case fans. Currently I only have one blowing in from the front and through the drive cage. The exhaust is looked after by the power supply. This arrangement is fine for the system as it stands but an added exhaust and improved HDD fan should suffice.



These fans are basically silent and quite effective.

[pingufunkybeat]

I didn't think I was spreading FUD, though. I don't see how you can argue that there's a lot of ATI users in various Linux forums (both 'general Linux' and distro-specific) state various problems/issues especially regarding the most recent cards. I thought my speculation that the support is just slow was safe.

It is absolutely OK to point out that many people have problems with fglrx. This is a fact, and hopefully pointing that out will lead to improved drivers from ATi.

It's also OK to point out that the open source drivers (not fglrx, but the Mesa stack) do not support Evergreen acceleration yet, and to be unhappy about it.

It's not OK to claim that fglrx does not have any powersaving, or that it is not supported by ATi. This is misleading. It does have powersaving, and Evergreen is completely supported, including OpenGL 4. This is easily checked.

[Jimbo]

Dear Panix,

After reading you in this thread and a few threads more, I have observed that you are always totally wrong in your knowledge and conclusions. You need more patches than wine and fglrx together. Please don't speak about ATI features gratuitously.

[Panix]

Dear Panix,

After reading you in this thread and a few threads more, I have observed that you are always totally wrong in your knowledge and conclusions. You need more patches than wine and fglrx together. Please don't speak about ATI features gratuitously.

Whatever. So, other ATI users who complain of issues are totally wrong, too, right?

Don't worry, though. Other than this post from yours, I skip your posts usually.

[BlackStar]

I'm going to deal with the heat that's dumped into the case by increasing case fans. Currently I only have one blowing in from the front and through the drive cage. The exhaust is looked after by the power supply. This arrangement is fine for the system as it stands but an added exhaust and improved HDD fan should suffice.



These fans are basically silent and quite effective.

What is this monstrocity?! Kill it! Kill it with fire!

Seriously, your layout is extremely inefficient. Remove one of those CPU fans and move it to the back of the case. You'll get better efficiency and less noise, there's no need to add yet another fan in there:
- intake fans almost always do more harm than good.
- adding an exhaust fan in there won't work given the case layout. It will lose most of its efficiency by competing against the PSU fan, plus the CPU cooler is way too close and will further decrease its efficiency.

Personally, I would throw that CPU cooler away and go for a regular tower cooler with wide fin spacing (using a Scythe Ninja right now). Using the PSU fan and an exhaust fan you can even run the tower *passively* without issue (unless you are trying to overclock, of course, where you'd probably need an extra CPU fan blowing air towards the case exhaust).

[Panix]

Catalyst and wine:
i think the not so good supportet openGL extansion pulled in at 1.1.38 up to 1.1.44 is now replaced in GIT means the bug is fixed in 1.1.45!
catalyst 10-5/10-6 do have openGL bugfixes to!

Catalyst and Video acceleration:
the bug is fixed in the catalyst-beta program!
i think it comes on 10-5/10-6/10-7 only amd know that!

catalyst and the xserver maximize bug :
there is a clean fix for the xserver right now or direct2D in catalyst 10-6!


radeon:
vsinc,powermanagment---kernel 2.6.35!
in my point of view --> mesa7.9 openGL2.1 and mesa8=opengL3
the R800 opensource 3d driver is near by release...

That's good, Q.

I'm saving up for a HD 5770.

I'm hoping to RMA an extra BFG 7950GT I have so maybe I'll have another Nvidia card as a backup. So, I don't need another Nvidia card. I hope to try out an ATI card soon. Maybe when I get it, things will progress enough so that I can help participate with 'install steps' and experiences.

Thanks for adding info and help.

[Panix]

P.S. I'll have an Antec 300 case it would go into. So, better to have a reference card so the air flow will go out of the case more efficiently, right?

Hey, is that a Noctua NF-S12B FLX 120MM fan above? The white ones are Nexus?

I need an extra fan for my case, maybe two. I'm thinking of getting Gelid fans. Anyone have an opinion on them?

[BlackStar]

P.S. I'll have an Antec 300 case it would go into. So, better to have a reference card so the air flow will go out of the case more efficiently, right?

Hey, is that a Noctua NF-S12B FLX 120MM fan above? The white ones are Nexus?

I need an extra fan for my case, maybe two. I'm thinking of getting Gelid fans. Anyone have an opinion on them?

Gelid? Never seen one in person.

My current build is using a Scythe S-Flex and a Nexus fan. Both are silent under ~700rpm and have good, smooth noise characteristics up to ~1000rpm. The S-Flex seems to move a little more air at the same rpm and feels more solid to the hand, but it is more pricey too.

According to silentpcreview, Noctuas are pretty good but inefficient under high impendance (e.g. on a CPU tower). They seem to perform better as exhaust fans. Rather pricey, though.

[mugginz]

What is this monstrocity?! Kill it! Kill it with fire!

Seriously, your layout is extremely inefficient. Remove one of those CPU fans and move it to the back of the case. You'll get better efficiency and less noise, there's no need to add yet another fan in there:

Those Nexus fans running at 1000rpm are virtually silent. They push about 36CFM and are rated at 18dBA.

- intake fans almost always do more harm than good.

Well those hard disks need to be cooled somehow. Monitoring their temps via SMART there's a definite improvement with the intake fan and given that high heat is a killer of hard drives I'll likely keep it there.

- adding an exhaust fan in there won't work given the case layout. It will lose most of its efficiency by competing against the PSU fan,

I'd like to funnel as much heat rising from the gfx card and hard disks as possible before it's dragged through the power supply. Those Seasonic power supplies are quite quiet and only become audible under extreme load or during very hot days.

plus the CPU cooler is way too close and will further decrease its efficiency.

I'll be doing temp bench marks before and after the fans are added. I'm assuming things overall will be improved.

Personally, I would throw that CPU cooler away and go for a regular tower cooler with wide fin spacing (using a Scythe Ninja right now). Using the PSU fan and an exhaust fan you can even run the tower *passively* without issue (unless you are trying to overclock, of course, where you'd probably need an extra CPU fan blowing air towards the case exhaust).

The CPU cooler is very effective, keeping things in check on even the hottest of days. While coolers have moved on a bit since I first installed it (it's a few years old now) I don't see any need to spend where it's not required. CPU temps with that cooler have never been an issue and it's one facet of the build that doesn't require modification. I bought a big cooler because it was my intention to over-volt/over-clock but I haven't ended up doing that.

I've considered using ducting and creating different zones in the case with baffles but as the current config has never had any heat issues I haven't bothered. The graphics card's got a good cooler, as does the CPU. Both are over engineered from the point of view of what they're required to cool. Because I'll be putting a bigger graphics card in there I'll be adding an exhaust fan but when I was running the 9600GT along with the 9800GT there still wasn't any issues with temps.

[mugginz]

P.S. I'll have an Antec 300 case it would go into. So, better to have a reference card so the air flow will go out of the case more efficiently, right?

Hey, is that a Noctua NF-S12B FLX 120MM fan above? The white ones are Nexus?

Yep and yep

I need an extra fan for my case, maybe two. I'm thinking of getting Gelid fans. Anyone have an opinion on them?

Haven't used em myself but those Noctua's are pretty good from a throughput and quietness perspective so they'll be what I use next. I don't know if I'll run them at 1200, 900 or 600 rpm yet but even at 1200 rpm they're quiet.