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Sunday, March 28, 2010

Rethinking my upgrade

10:42 PM / Technology / No Comments

I've made a few changes to my proposed list of components for my Summer 2010 computer upgrade. Over the last couple of days, I've been reading reviews of the Corsair H50 cooling solution and have come to the conclusion that it may not be all it's cracked up to be. I've read several complaints about the level of noise generated by the radiator, and while I know I won't be able to get a completely silent system (my need for a decent gaming graphics card puts paid to that), every little helps. As such, I've decided to forego the H50 and instead pick up a Noctua NH-D14, widely considered to be one of the (if not THE) quietest and most effective heatsinks out there. The only problem: size. The thing is massive.

If I was still getting a Corsair Obsidian 800D tower, that wouldn't be a problem. However, I'm now shying away from that too, in favour of sticking with my two-year-old Antec Sonata III. The Obsidian 800D is a huge piece of equipment, as large lengthwise as it is tall, and I'm rather limited in terms of space. My desk has a low horizontal beam to support the legs, making it difficult to stash a tower, and the cubby-hole in the corner where my Sonata III currently resides offers nowhere near enough room for anything even slightly larger (the Sonata III only just fits as it is). Therefore, if I were to get a new tower, I would end up having to get a new desk too, which in my mind simply isn't worth it. Provided my Sonata III can take the NH-D14, I can save at least £100 on the overall cost of the upgrade... which is why I've already ordered an NH-D14, so I can check in advance whether it will fit. If not, new tower here we come.

As for the remainder of the package, everything remains more or less as it stands. I think I'll probably go for 6 GB of RAM - 12 just seems like overkill, in terms of both cost and its use to me. I currently have 4 GB in my system and have never exceeded that, and I would have gone for 4 GB again were it not for the operating requirements of DDR3 RAM - modules have to be installed in triplets rather than in pairs, and I suspect 3 GB wouldn't be enough, so 6 it is. For the video card, I've decided to go for a Sapphire HD 5850 Toxic, which has had its core clock and memory speeds overclocked beyond those of the standard model, and also features a custom heatsink which is supposedly quieter and more effective at cooling the board.

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