Project: Antec 900 Revamp

[slaveofconvention]

motherboard only has a single PCI-E slot so now I have to find a new way to run my 3 screen display dammit. I currently have a 4870 in the primary slot running a 22" and a 4350 in the second slot running a pair of 19"s

I can either:
Buy a USB video card - overpriced and very poor performance
Buy a new motherboard with two PCI-E slots - expensive for a good one but best for overall performance
Buy a new video card with eyefinity support - not too expensive if I can compromise on graphics performance - not really a problem as I don't really game on the PC anymore
Buy a PCI graphics card as a second card - probably the cheapest and easiest option

Argh - I'm never gonna stop spending on this upgrade lol

[Fuganater]

I say get the mobo. I picked up a 5x PCI-E mobo on newegg for 125. It should last a long time.

[slaveofconvention]

Well the Antec 900 based system is now (wait for it) at the computer shop.... yeah I know but I suspect (strongly) a faulty motherboard and they won't change it without testing it (which is reasonable). Course, they didn't earn any brownie points by informing me that the colours looked garish.....

Irrespective, the motherboard is going to be replaced by an AsRock 970 Extreme3 - I'm just waiting to find out if it's going to cost me £70 or £15 heh

[f8l_0e]

What inputs do the monitors have?

[slaveofconvention]

the 22 is vga only, the 19's are both identical with vga and DVI

[slaveofconvention]

Ok so I got my PC back from the computer shop today - in exactly the same state as it was when I dropped it off - they hadn't had time to look at it yet.

Well I say in exactly the same state - exactly the same except for the bit of paint they pulled off by sticky-taping my address label to the orange top front section. Fortunately it isn't in an easy-to-see location but I have no doubt it'll bug me enough to eventually repaint it.

I bought the AsRock 970 Extreme3 motherboard too, so tonight is copying all of my data back onto the Q6700 system, followed by a rebuild and reinstall using the new board.

Wish me luck lol

[Waynio]

Sweet paint job mate, brilliant mirror finish on it, you made this case look awesome.

[slaveofconvention]

TY Waynio - it should look good - most of it was done 4 or 5 times till I was happy with it lol.

Win7 Installed now and I'm running a 1 hour OCCT test on it to see if the stock AMD CPU cooler is up to the job or if I have to raid my Media Centre for the frankly awesome Noctua cooler I reviewed a few months ago

[slaveofconvention]

So everything seemed to be just fine - a full 1 hour OCCT test produced no issues and peak temps of about 52 degrees which, while a little on the high side wasn't unexpected with the stock cooler.

Then I noticed the CPU seemed to be locked into 1.4Ghz, which was kinda odd as both the BIOS and computer properties were correctly identifying the chip as a 3.1. One BIOS update later and everything seems to be working properly - the chip is sitting at 1.4 when idle, and 3.1 under load with the occasional self-overclock to 4Ghz (which never lasts long) BUT.... I'm running another OCCT test as I type and I'm seeing temps in the mid-high 60's. That's OK as it's still within the specifications (just) but it leave me with ZERO room for overclocking so I think a new HSF is definitely the order of the day. Later on this afternoon I'm going to pull my sons's PC and the Media Centre to bits and try those coolers - my son is running an Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro and the Media Centre the awesome Noctua NH-C14 unit I reviewed last year. It'll have to wait till this afternoon as I need to go out and buy some more TIM as the stuff I have lying around is seriously cheap low-end junk heh