Phenom II X4 + GTX 295 Quad SLI = AMD 3DMark Vantage WR

Hi everyone,

I finally got some time to try Asus M4N82 Deluxe motherboard which is based on NVIDIA's nForce 980a SLI chipset. Officially this chipset / motherboard supports 3-Way SLI but I decided to try Quad SLI configuration and after some initial problems I got the system up and running with 4 GPUs :)

I used NVIDIA's latest WHQL-Certified GeForce 185.85 drivers, which will be soon also FM approved.

System:

Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition
Asus M4N82 Deluxe
4 GB G.Skill 1066 DDR2
NVIDIA & Asus GeForce GTX 295
Corsair HX1000W + PC Power & Cooling 1200W
GeForce 185.85 drivers
Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit

http://plaza.fi/s/f/editor/images/am...sli_setup2.jpg

http://plaza.fi/s/f/editor/images/am...sli_setup1.jpg

First I did tests with all default (CPU @ 3,2 GHz):

Single GeForce GTX 295 = ~P15000
Two GeForce GTX 295 = ~P18500

Then I overclocked the CPU to 3,72 GHz (18 x 206,7 MHz), NB to 2687 MHz and GFX 675/1475/1245 MHz.

http://plaza.fi/s/f/editor/attachmen...sli_p22320.jpg

The score was 22320 in 3DMark Vantage which seems to be new AMD WR:

hwbot.org: Phenom II X4 940 BE 3DMark Vantage results
hwbot.org: Phenom II X4 955 BE 3DMark Vantage results

I gained ~3300 points raising CPU clocks from 3,2 GHz to 3,72 GHz (+520 MHz) so it will be interesting to see the result when CPU goes under LN2 and hopefully runs Vantage @ +6 GHz. I'm thinking +30k :)

You got me scared there. For a second I thought you have got a 7GHz Vantage stable Phenom II, then I've noticed that you mentiond AMD WR in the title :D

With LN2 on the CPU and serious clocks on the VGA, we will see 30k from you soon. Nice work!

What were the problems in getting quad SLI to run on the board?

I had plans for a tri sli on foxconn...

but I've got some medical things going on. :/

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Chris_redfield

What were the problems in getting quad SLI to run on the board?

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First I just got a black screen when trying 3D but after re-installing drivers couple times and switching the cards system suddenly started working :)

LOL misleading title is misleading. Like claiming the wPrime AMD record with a 6-core AM3 chip :p: Will be interesting when you put the CPU and GPUs under LN2.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sampsa

First I just got a black screen when trying 3D but after re-installing drivers couple times and switching the cards system suddenly started working :)

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I hate when things unexplainably fix themselves. It makes me feel redundant.

Congrats on the score though.

whats the point of this over a crosshair II does 980A do anything different?

both "support" quadsli
same NF200 chip
both run DDR1200
hell they even look almost identical


oh and good scores

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cdawall

whats the point of this over a crosshair II does 980A do anything different?


oh and good scores

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Yah it does something diff, it works apparently lol

Quote:

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Originally Posted by chew*

Yah it does something diff, it works apparently lol

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lol sounds good! :rofl:

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/3466/...955benewwc.jpg
http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/p2423...jpg/1/w800.png

This was on my Foxconn Destroyer which I got rid of recently due to shady support/bios and picked up a M4N82 Deluxe. I do not see any performance difference. I am hoping to test it soon on 06 and vantage with 2 and 3 GTX275

Turn off PhysX from NVIDIA drivers to make your Vantage result valid.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by cdawall

whats the point of this over a crosshair II does 980A do anything different?

both "support" quadsli
same NF200 chip
both run DDR1200
hell they even look almost identical


oh and good scores

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Price? That was my reasoning :p:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sampsa

Turn off PhysX from NVIDIA drivers to make your Vantage result valid.

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KK I will try it. I have alot of changing going on. I have a new case, swiftech apex ultima, and new psu so it will be probably next weekend.

Physx off
http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/333...1609ppuoff.jpg

Normal
http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/433...516093x275.jpg

CobraXP, Using PhysX in Vantage is not "normal" since it transfers CPU load in CPU tests to GPU and you get CPU score of +40k. Also Vantage scores with PhysX enabled are not counted as valid results by Futuremark or HWBot so it just makes no sense to run Vantage with PhysX enabled.

Sampsa hows that board play with your gskills at 4-4-4?

Preety sure I got the same set minus a SMD resistor :shakes:.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CobraXP

This was on my Foxconn Destroyer which I got rid of recently due to shady support/bios and picked up a M4N82 Deluxe. I do not see any performance difference. I am hoping to test it soon on 06 and vantage with 2 and 3 GTX275

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I was going to get a destroyer :/

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sampsa

CobraXP, Using PhysX in Vantage is not "normal" since it transfers CPU load in CPU tests to GPU and you get CPU score of +40k. Also Vantage scores with PhysX enabled are not counted as valid results by Futuremark or HWBot so it just makes no sense to run Vantage with PhysX enabled.

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I have heard that argument on the Futuremark forums. Its like nitrous oxide in drag racing. It was not considered natural or normal but its preferred by the ones that have it and disliked by those that do not have it (in this case ATI).

But any how I wasn't trying to burst your bubble or anything like that. Just trying to get involved with the community here other than flaming about Foxconn (don't do it demonkevy666).

Congratz on the WR. I wish there were more ppl that ran Nvidia cards with AMD cpu's. I have seen lots of posts from yourself (Sampsa, demonkevy666, chew* and cdawell as far as AMDs, Nvidia cards and other things in general and have learned alot. Thank you guys. :D

Nice result Sampsa........!! give me more result with LN2 ......

For the record 980a is the same chipset as on the Crosshair II, welcome to the wonderful world of Nvidia renaming once again.

OT: Congratz Sampsa, now shove some Ln2 on that baby!

Crosshair = UnderarmHair, same thing ;) Sorry for the flame, but asus and nv pssd me off 0,o

No. U guys are wrong M4N82 Deluxe = $169.99 on newegg. Crosshair II = $229.99 on newegg. That is a sizable differance.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CobraXP

No. U guys are wrong M4N82 Deluxe = $169.99 on newegg. Crosshair II = $229.99 on newegg. That is a sizable differance.

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Price matters.... how...?

I know I am 100% on this part, this is another renaming scheme of Nvidia - Period.

congrats Sampsa, but with all your cash, you might have been able to affors a case :rolleyes:

as for our crosshair - Asus boys, have you thought about joining this XS group?

http://www.xtremesystems.org/Forums/...php?groupid=52

http://www.xtremesystems.org/Forums/...&pictureid=382

ohh and yes i am a member

I'll try to test with LN2 on upcoming weekend if there are any left after me & SF3D will run our MOA 2009 Europe qualifying runs :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sampsa

I'll try to test with LN2 on upcoming weekend if there are any left after me & SF3D will run our MOA 2009 Europe qualifying runs :)

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Can't wait to hear more from MOA 2009 and how QSLI fares on AMD!
Good luck!

And we want broke in cpu-Z 7GHz ;):up:...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by FlanK3r

And we want broke in cpu-Z 7GHz ;):up:...

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That will happen soon, but unfortunately not by me. Stay tuned.

Very nice work...and as you can see there remains much to be done. Vince was able to do amazing work, but there are new challenges...

Was just playing around sampsa, wasn't trying to beat you , more or less wanted to know what the handicap is for ATI in vantage So i was using your scores as a reference.....Looks to be about 500mhz....if you can push the cards hard in multi card configs.

On a side note I have no problem Ocing in vista 32 :shrug:

Been a very long night and the poor seasonic 500w is crying for mercy now.......I'm off to bed...

Looks like I got my work cut out for me......

http://members.cox.net/wmdieselmc26/...%20vantage.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by chew*

Was just playing around sampsa, wasn't trying to beat you , more or less wanted to know what the handicap is for ATI in vantage So i was using your scores as a reference.....Looks to be about 500mhz....if you can push the cards hard in multi card configs.

On a side note I have no problem Ocing in vista 32 :shrug:

Been a very long night and the poor seasonic 500w is crying for mercy now.......I'm off to bed...

Looks like I got my work cut out for me......

http://members.cox.net/wmdieselmc26/...%20vantage.jpg

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hey man not bad, but yeah.. Quad SLI definitely has an advantage compared vs 4 x 4890 @ 1050/1125 MHz (checked the file name 4x4890%20vantage.jpg) ;)

I'll try with higher CPU speed as soon as I have time.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sampsa

hey man not bad, but yeah.. Quad SLI definitely has an advantage compared vs 4 x 4890 @ 1050/1125 MHz (checked the file name 4x4890%20vantage.jpg) ;)

I'll try with higher CPU speed as soon as I have time.

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Shhh supposed to be a secret :ROTF: I have a second shot with the tab. 1050/1185, running out of webspace compreesing everything lately.

Hi Sampsa, k10stat working on nvidia chipset?

Well at least they are scaling 3 to 4 card decent in vantage....I get the feeling they need to work out some kinks with the drivers though based on some of the higher frame rates I was seeing in test 1 at specific locations in tri versus quad.

It's a tad hot today, had to back off the cpu a little.

http://members.cox.net/hoobahans/3x4890%20vantage.jpg

If it’s ok I thought I would post up my Vantage results for comparison? I’m running the same MB with Evga GTX 260’s in tri-sli. I’m at best just an average overclocker so I’m sure there is more to be had from my hardware in the right hands but this is where I stopped for the time being.

CPU is water cooled but the GFX cards are air cooled.

http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/i...controlpan.png

Hmm.. I haven't installed Vantage yet.. it is soo boring :P Sorry.. i hate long benches :) I will report back on what I get too.

- Ton

ps - Seems Zolkorn has the AMD Vantage WR @ 24k with 3x4890 and 955 @ 5.5Ghz.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TiTON

Hmm.. I haven't installed Vantage yet.. it is soo boring :P Sorry.. i hate long benches :) I will report back on what I get too.

- Ton

ps - Seems Zolkorn has the AMD Vantage WR @ 24k with 3x4890 and 955 @ 5.5Ghz.

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Sampsas post date is alot older ;) thus it was a record then, and 24k will be broken soon, and after that sampsa is gonna Roll me with nvidia :ROTF: unless i can find a retail chip that does 6.7 3d........

I'm still on air with cards btw cpu is water ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by chew*

Sampsas post date is alot older ;) thus it was a record then, and 24k will be broken soon, and after that sampsa is gonna Roll me with nvidia :ROTF: unless i can find a retail chip that does 6.7 3d........

I'm still on air with cards btw cpu is water ;)

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lol.. yeah.. those 295 are very strong on Vantage. I might have to try to get a score in soon too ;)

Ton

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TiTON

lol.. yeah.. those 295 are very strong on Vantage. I might have to try to get a score in soon too ;)

Ton

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I will once I dial something in, however I tend to be a pioneer and lead the way and break the laws, you will understand that comment better in the near future.......

BTW there is a couple of bios updates for the board improving memory stability and cpu full load heat

awesome, still sad no other 980a's are out but good stuff!

Has anyone else using this motherboard noticed that when setting the Bus Speed in the bios that you don’t always get the number that’s typed in? I set 204 but the bios sets 202, I type 206 then the bios sets 204, 208 or 207 and get 206. I’m using (if I remember correctly) the 704 bios.

Anyway I tested a little more today and this is the best result I have had with this combination to date.

Vantage PhysX disabled CPU @4125MHz
http://i262.photobucket.com/albums/i...sxcpuzgpuz.png

I have a set of Evga GTX 295 reds coming in this weekend... i will run some benches soon.

We raised the bar preety high, dont think AMD vantage record is gonna be doable on air now ;) not even with nvidia......Totally expect samspa to whoop my ass though :D

http://chew.ln2cooling.com/satbenchsession/7.jpg

wow looking at this stuff making me o/c again hopefully my DFI LP(forgot model #) board will do some good

Undoubtedly a lot of work behind those numbers chew, great score.

I spent alot of time hacking the bios on the cards....third party software clocking has glitches and performance issues......impedes the score by alot......

We're gonna give it another go and see how much of a run we can give the intel guys soon, wasn't maxxed out.

Hopefully my 6.1 gig chip is up to the task in vantage next round.

Well done chew*, the bar is pretty high now. Was it easy to do 5.6Ghz for Vantage?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by VoodooProphetII

Well done chew*, the bar is pretty high now. Was it easy to do 5.6Ghz for Vantage?

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Yah 5.6 is cake even on a bad chip which that was, Msimax and myself were also a tad sketchy and conservative about voltage with that board, chips usually range from 1.75-1.85 so were were really on the low side.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by chew*

Hopefully my 6.1 gig chip is up to the task in vantage next round.

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remember just keep it cold

Yup, I saw the vcore was a bit low. I'm going to give the 955 I'm running another go in about a week, but this time on a DDR3 board, hopefully the Crosshair III. Just need to get my M4A79 Deluxe RMA'ed.....

Quote:

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Originally Posted by chew*

I spent alot of time hacking the bios on the cards.....

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why?
what did you "hack"

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dinos22

why?
what did you "hack"

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CCC limits and voltage limits ( normally PLL is capped 1.4v ),and some secret sauce .......you know just the simple things :D

Nice job Chew*. I've been too busy (or lazy) recently and MSI 790FX-GD70 killing my best chip :( But.. sooner or later :P

You can probably smoke that with your worst chip :p: I want to see 30 K plus :up:

The MSI is very sensitive to any moisture near PWM it seems. Might want to give it another shot with a dud first.

Either that or the latest bios got it to work for us.

Time will tell.

I think I am late for the party.....

http://img37.imageshack.us/img37/100...2909ppuoff.jpg

Hey Sampsa did you get a voltage tuner to work? I tried the evga one my friend uses but I get lock ups. Thx.

Ok update....
http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/415...09physxoff.jpg

Just for reference Vantage with TWKR and GTX 295 Quad SLI on M4N82 Deluxe:

http://plaza.fi/s/f/editor/images/am...age_p28426.jpg

Vantage CPU @ 5900 MHz:

http://plaza.fi/s/f/editor/images/am...e_cpu_5900.png

P30k needs +6 GHz on CPU with this platform. Very bad motherboard for extreme-overclocking (especially NB) so no more tests from me.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sampsa

Just for reference Vantage with TWKR and GTX 295 Quad SLI on M4N82 Deluxe:

http://plaza.fi/s/f/editor/images/am...age_p28426.jpg

Vantage CPU @ 5900 MHz:

http://plaza.fi/s/f/editor/images/am...e_cpu_5900.png

P30k needs +6 GHz on CPU with this platform. Very bad motherboard for extreme-overclocking (especially NB) so no more tests from me.

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THX for the reference point sampsa. seems the gtx have about a 1000 point advantage at rougly same cpu speed.

OK I give! Not to change the subject about TWKR but how would you go about getting engineering samples from AMD? I do work for a new company that sells gamers if that might help my cause... Thx in advance.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CobraXP

OK I give! Not to change the subject about TWKR but how would you go about getting engineering samples from AMD? I do work for a new company that sells gamers if that might help my cause... Thx in advance.

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The first thing you do is not ask them ;)

If they see potential they will come find you.

Thx for the heads up chew* :(

Nice job Sampsa! :mad: I think I can get a lil more from the ram. I will keep trying.

Thank you guys for all the useful info you guys post out there. :up:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CobraXP

Thx for the heads up chew* :(

Nice job Sampsa! :mad: I think I can get a lil more from the ram. I will keep trying.

Thank you guys for all the useful info you guys post out there. :up:

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Your chip will probably do those speeds we benched at Cobra.....nothing stellar about either of our speeds, Sampsa and I were just feeling out particular boards.....MSi has a back track record as sampsa already knows. I guess he covered that board......the search continues....as I'm still not confident about using the MSI with a good chip.

I have a few factors working against me. South Florida is one factor and only running on water. I do enjoy speeding hrs on end testing and benching so.... i may company expense some stuff in the future to try to keep up with the big boys :yepp: .

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CobraXP

I have a few factors working against me. South Florida is one factor and only running on water. I do enjoy speeding hrs on end testing and benching so.... i may company expense some stuff in the future to try to keep up with the big boys :yepp: .

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Thats the spirit :up:

would you guys recommend this?
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...ducts_id=25622

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CobraXP

would you guys recommend this?
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...ducts_id=25622

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For DI yes.....Ln2 no....However...I have some inside if on a rather affordable but awsome performing DI pot in the works.....via this company....it's combining effeciency with performance with bang for buck...it may even perform well on ln2...jury still out as it needs testing.

www.ln2cooling.com

Awesome. We tried this before with regular ice water. We should have gotten the bubbles out before dropping it in the cooler but its all for fun lol. The beer did stay cold.
http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/4002/img0858e.jpg

DI works with a rad setup as long as the mixture has a low freeze point and blocks have high flow....done it before with a dual pump setup.

Awesome ! :D I've been looking for result with Quad-SLi/3-way SLi on this motherboard and with a Phenom II X4 955 CPU.
By comparing I assume my system gets what it should get. I swapped my Core i7 920 GTX280 SLi system for PII X4 955 GTX280 3-way-SLi.

Cooler Master CM 690 nVidia Edition
AMD Phenom II X4 955 B.E 3.2GHz
Arctic Cooling Freezer Xtreme CPU-cooler
4x2GB Crucial BallistiX PC6400@800MHz CL4-4-4-12 2T @ 2.0v
2x MSI N280GTX-T2D1G Super OC & 1x Leadtek WinFast GTX 280 in 3-way-SLi
Asus M4N82 Deluxe motherboard
Samsung F1 640GB & Seagate 7200.12 750GB harddrives
Samsung SH-S203D DVD-RW+/-
Thermaltake Toughpower 1500w

score:
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dmv=1228544

Other systems score (the one to the right in the signature)
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dmv=1012137


I know it's with PhysX but I can't be bothered, why cripple the cards.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gripen90

Awesome ! :D I've been looking for result with Quad-SLi/3-way SLi on this motherboard and with a Phenom II X4 955 CPU.
By comparing I assume my system gets what it should get. I swapped my Core i7 920 GTX280 SLi system for PII X4 955 GTX280 3-way-SLi.

Cooler Master CM 690 nVidia Edition
AMD Phenom II X4 955 B.E 3.2GHz
Arctic Cooling Freezer Xtreme CPU-cooler
4x2GB Crucial BallistiX PC6400@800MHz CL4-4-4-12 2T @ 2.0v
2x MSI N280GTX-T2D1G Super OC & 1x Leadtek WinFast GTX 280 in 3-way-SLi
Asus M4N82 Deluxe motherboard
Samsung F1 640GB & Seagate 7200.12 750GB harddrives
Samsung SH-S203D DVD-RW+/-
Thermaltake Toughpower 1500w

score:
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dmv=1228544

Other systems score (the one to the right in the signature)
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dmv=1012137


I know it's with PhysX but I can't be bothered, why cripple the cards.

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:up: NICE

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CobraXP

:up: NICE

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Thanks :p:

http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l1..._3378Large.jpg

Cable management i know i know, but i did the best i could do in this case. The cables were really stiff and the ATX cable I could put behind the motherboard plate since then the case-panel couldn't close, so I had to put the ATX cable in the middle up to the sidepanel.
All the PCI-E cables are so stiff so I had to put them in the bottom of the case, they are obstructing a bit airflow from the 80mm fan almost invisibe, but it's there... it's better than nothing. Else the whole harddrive area and the area for the GFX and the CPU area i free og cables. The cables you can see are all placed right up the right left case-sidepanel.
The 8pin motherboard connector wasn't long enough to let ig go around the back... and I couldn't wait for an extension cable.

http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l1..._3384Large.jpg
http://i95.photobucket.com/albums/l1..._3385Large.jpg
I put a Scythe Kaze Maru 140mm 1900rpm on the side panel (fits in 120mm mounting wholes), hooked up to a Zalman fanmate.
And don't worry I've cleaned the panel so no more fingerprints all over :D

Looks good :up: I can do a better job on a friends/customers comp on cable management but when it comes to mine.... well you know :D. Overclock the piss out of those cards. You are holding back on us :sonic:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CobraXP

Looks good :up: I can do a better job on a friends/customers comp on cable management but when it comes to mine.... well you know :D. Overclock the piss out of those cards. You are holding back on us :sonic:

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Hehe yea I know. If I had waited on a 8pin extension cable it would probably look better, but I couldn't wait to get it running, and I couldn't get bothered in the end:p:

Well the MSI card's are Pre-OC'ed to 700mhz core, 1400mhz shader, 2300mhz memory, but maybe I should OC the Leadtek card, it's running stock speeds :rolleyes: