Case and PSU that will fit/feed an HD 5970 rig

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ckim2116

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Nov 20, 2009
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I was just given a Diamond Radeon HD 5970 for my birthday and all these reviews I've been reading suggest that I need to buy an enormous case because the video card is very long.

I'm planning on a setup consisting of an i7-920 with an x58 chip and 6 GB of triple channel DDR3.

What kind of case and PSU should I be looking at? Will a Cooler Master HAF 922 be sufficient, or should I opt for the 932? Any other recommended cases?

Will a 750W power supply be enough? Will I need more than that if I plan to Crossfire 2 5970's in the future?
 
Solution
JohnnyLucky
I have the Coolermaster HAF 932. It is a huge case. It's a beast!. Ventilation, airflow, and cooling are excellent. The brand new ATI Radeon HD 5970 is a very long card. The HAF 932 can accomodate the card.

The general rule of thumb is a high quality 700 to 750 watt power supply rated at 60 amps on the +12 volt rails can easily power a system with two video cards operating in dual mode.

Corsair, PC Power & Cooling, and Seasonic are some of the brands with a reputation for high quality power supplies. They consistently earn high marks in technical reviews. They are stable, reliable, and come with a 5 or 7 year warranty. Lately we've been seeing a few other brands offering some high quality power supplies.
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I have the Coolermaster HAF 932. It is a huge case. It's a beast!. Ventilation, airflow, and cooling are excellent. The brand new ATI Radeon HD 5970 is a very long card. The HAF 932 can accomodate the card.

The general rule of thumb is a high quality 700 to 750 watt power supply rated at 60 amps on the +12 volt rails can easily power a system with two video cards operating in dual mode.

Corsair, PC Power & Cooling, and Seasonic are some of the brands with a reputation for high quality power supplies. They consistently earn high marks in technical reviews. They are stable, reliable, and come with a 5 or 7 year warranty. Lately we've been seeing a few other brands offering some high quality power supplies.
 
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Solution
ckim2116 - Do you mean a local Fry's store does not have a HAF 932 or do you mean Fry's online doesn't have the case? We have two Fry's store here in Phoenix, Arizona and they always have them in stock. I do know they have been keeping inventories low to help reduce costs due to the economic recession.
 
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Hiya All.

If you want to be able to run 2 of the 12 inch HD5970 cards in CrossfireX
ever, you need 1200 watts most likely! Note that 1000 watt was ATI's bare minimum size for two HD4870X2 cards.

At 12 inches these can not be squeezed in either, the entire end is made up of two large air intakes, just like the models like the HD5870 already reviewed a lot more often.

A 750 watt is in the range of what is needed for One HD5970 card, but the HD5970 cards advertise the Overclock Speeds as a Major feature!

A lot of OC too as while Stock these are 725mhz Cores and 4000 Effective Ram, they have a voltage OC also but I doubt will be used much! Since in total with volts raised these cards will go to 1000mhz and 6000mhz Effective Ram, a little more than the 400 watt rated vapor chambers for the Cores will handle (the Ram has a metal plate heatsink along the back for cooling.)

These OC to 890mhz without any voltage increase at all and almost 5000 Effective Ram, the HD5870 model is already known to do 890/5000 and is set at 850mhz/4800 Stock. So 890mhz/5000mhz will be a likely overclock used by most, meaning 850 watts may be closer for one card's needs.

For two cards I'd hope 1200 watts is enough when overclocked at 890mhz and 5000 Effective Ram, as an advertised feature plus 1200 watts is the limit for USA 15 amp sockets.

I use the Ultra X3 1600 watt in a Silverstone TJ-10 Case in which a longer PSU and about any Card fits (up to 13.5 inches leaving space for the 12 inch card to pull in air easily). The 1600 watt is an ATX-E for enhanced so is too long for most cases as it is 3 inches longer than ATX PSUs. But it has 2 power cords 15 amp and 20amp. It is limited to around 1200 watts with the 15 amp plug which should run 2 cards, but a plug for 20 amps can be added later to get the full 1600 watts for future cards. And it may be needed for Tri SLI if wanted later although I doubt ATI will ever be beaten now. ATI has a 28nm HD6000 series coming out in a year or less. On Nvidia a third of the new GT300 is devoted to CPU for SuperComputing use not GPU so for GPU use it will not be as fast as many hoped and likely expensive. So it's doubtfull Nvidia will ever make a faster card anytime soon.

Hope this helps
 
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Just a tip to every one if you want to fit one (or two) of these extra long card HD5970's in your case, just search for a case that can accommodate a extended ATX board. Those boards are 12x13" with the 13" being the width, so those cases should be able to easily accommodate those huge cards.
 
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you would need to remove a hard drive cage and possibly mod the bracket or cut it off completly
 
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These "Simple) To me meaning no Plastic Molding to break) well built Classy Cases have 13 1/2" of room length wise with no changes for a long Video Card like the hard to find at MSRP price HD5970 which also has LARGE air intakes on the end.

Note: 850 watts for CF on box is for the "high idle" of 725mhz/4000 that if used you bought the wrong cards. Those are for Extreme OCs and even have ATI Volt adjustment provided. OC limits are too high at 1000mhz Core and 6000 Effective Ram. The Ram runs around 5000 Effective (1250) maybe higher but why, some of Cores will reach 1000mhz but only max of 950mhz stable and that's "good GPUs"

Black with Green a Special Case (the Std Black Case has ugly Red inside)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163109

I prefer Silver or Black with Green inside but I have 1 of 3 with Red Fans Yuck!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163090

I will try to post the lesson on logic and truth about PSUs here from another forum, please read as smaller borderline PSUs actually draw more watts and amps!

Those Cases will hold Ultra's X3 1600 watt nicely which I use and then can use any cards for evalutaion, they are most effecient at about half watt draw!


http://techreport.com/r.x/radeon-hd-5970/card-full.jpg



Here are many myths exposed about PSUs including Brands pushing many rails


http://www.pcpower.com/technology/myths/#m8

Note 1 Where power use is lowered by upgrading to a larger PSU


http://ultraorder.com/images/item_ [...] ciency.jpg

Example of the PSU I use I found the efficiency range for

(I hope the links will all work)

Take care, Dane
 
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Ive got a Thermaltake Kandalf LCS, which is working quite well (30°c on usual use, 40 when playing hard games). Althought it might be a tight fit for the 5970... Otherwise, I would suggest that big Coolermaster case, the Cosmos or something like that...
 
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2 5970's? dude ur gonna need more than a 750 watt PSU for 2 of em. for one its even a little fishy. those cards use 300 watts at full load and ive also seen in reviews it go over 400 watts. i hav a 1000 watt PSU and im trying to determine if ill be able to use just one. id definatly say u should have 1600 watt PSU to use 2.
 
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