New Rig for NewGames(2010+)&graphic intense rendering &programing projects for school

[hecktic]

I basically need a hard core gaming rig + something to do heavy rendering and to test my programing projects on.

I am upgrading from a fairly decent Dell XPS M1530 with best of class specs at the time it was released( Core2Duo 2.5ghz T9300, 4gb ddr2 667mhz, 320gb 7200rpm drive, geforce 8600m gt 256mb, wifi a/b/g/n) It handles some games but its more of a lower end multimedia laptop when compared to todays games and multimedia programs and their respective requirements... and i got this laptop almost 2yrs ago.

So yeah I gotta build a new PC.... Im thinking of spending before cash back offers, rebates, credit card incentives, etc. maybe $3500 ~ $4500 but after all of the above, it will be a net cost of near $3,800 (includes tax and shipping) but I dont wanna spend more than $4,500 before rebates, cash back, etc.

Here is what I got so far:

Processor: Intel BX80613i7980X Core i7 980X Extreme Edition Processor - 3.33GHz, LGA 1366, 6.4GT/s QPI, 12MB L3 Cache, Six Core, HyperThreading, Gulftown, Retail CPU w/ Fan $859.99 or bundle it with a Ultra X3 1600w PSU from below for $1119.99

Power Supply: Cant decide between these two-

Ultra X4 1600-Watt Modular Power Supply - 135mm Fan, ATX, Lifetime Warranty, NVIDIA SLI & ATI Crossfire Certifications. $329.99

or

Ultra X3 ULT40070 1600-Watt Power Supply - ATX, SATA-Ready, PCI-E Ready, Energy Efficient, Modular, Lifetime Warranty $1119.99 w/ CPU bundle or $279.99 just the PSU.

Is it a better deal to get the bundle with the X3 or go for the CPU + the X4 for $69.99 more?

Motherboard: Still looking around but thinking about this-


Asus Rampage III Extreme Motherboard - Intel X58, LGA 1366, ATX, Audio, PCI Express 2.0, CrossFire Ready, SLI Ready, Gigabit LAN, S/PDIF, Firewire, USB 3.0, SATA 6BG/s, RAID for $319.99

GPU: Also still looking around but considering 4 of these for Quad SLI-

Asus ENGTX470/2DI/1280MD5 GeForce GTX 470 Video Card - 1280MB GDDR5, PCI-Express 2.0, Dual DVI, HDMI, SLI, DirectX 11 for $279.99 each

but I might go up a notch and get the GTX 480 instead.... just dont know which brand to go with and which stock clock speeds are best. Some manufacturers sell faster cards but maybe that may not leave any room for additional overclocking on the same cooling (ie. air-heatsink) although I might just watercool these cards or even get them custom modded by someone who does this professionally (name is ViperJohn if your curious)

HDD: Going to setup a raid config later on with a dedicated raid card but for now just basic onboard raid if its there with these-

Western Digital WD1002FAEX Caviar Black Hard Drive - 1TB, 7200RPM, 64MB, SATA 6Gbs x 2 for $164.99 total

or

Seagate ST32000641AS Barracuda XT Hard Drive - 2TB, 7200 RPM, SATA 6G, 64MB Cache x 1 for now for $169.99

I think the drives have equal performance but I could be wrong.. otherwise its just a matter of saving space by having 1 drive vs 2 (again for now later on I will add drives and change RAID config.)

Case: No idea where to begin with the gigantic power supply from above but I am currently eyeing this-

Thermaltake VL30001N1Z Level 10 Super-Gaming Modular Full Tower Case - Aluminum, ATX, Micro ATX, 9x Drive Bays, USB 2.0, Black which costs me $599.99 (mind you this is supposed to be a new in-house design from thermaltake and its supposedly more air flow efficient than any other case on the market but I can be wrong on that) Check this thread for high res. pictures and schematics:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=252890

Optical Drives: I need a Blu-ray RW/W drive and/or a Combo DVD+Blu-ray drive if they exist. I found this-

LG Black Blu-ray Disc Combo SATA Model UH10LS20 LightScribe Support - OEM for $82 I just dont like the cache level on this but I think there is no other brand or make that goes higher than 4mb

SSD Drive: I need one of these for the gaming side of things-

OCZ Vertex Series OCZSSD2-1VTX60G 2.5" 60GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) costs $137

Memory: Its been a long time since I looked at the RAM market so I got no idea where to begin here. I need fast ram and lots of it. lowest latency would be ideal. If its top notch stuff I dont mind spending extra money on it.

Accessories: Noise Reduction parts like rubber screws, rubber gaskets, etc. am also considering going water cooling.

Tell me what you think all this for around $3.8k net price.

[hecktic]

Oh and the CPU bundle actually also includes a ULTRA ChillTec Thermal Electric CPU Cooler which is better than the stock heatsink+fan.

[zanzabar]

dosnt buy an parts from ultra, ever.

on your build if u are going for air cooling why get the 980x, nothing will use all 6 cores for gaming and its 4.5x as much as a 930 for the same clock speed, for a MB i would go rampage 3 extreme as its the best and not to much money. the R3E also has an intel nic and digital pwms so its solid. for a HDD i think that raiding 2 large drives is a bad idea what would be better is to pickup a 120GB SSD (ether the ocz sand force i like the LE, or the crucial one) and a large drive for storage like the samsung f3 2TB. your bluray drive pick is fine, they dont use much cashe on the drive unless u are burning.

and the psu i would go corsair 1200ak its the only pick for using multiple g100 cards and ocing, but they really need liquid so if u went for the 930/920 instead of the 980x u could go liquid and that will help u clock the gpus and that would be better for gaming.

as a final note, to me it looks like you are trying to waste money as quad sli dose nothing for gaming and so would the 980x and the case choice is just bad

[hecktic]

dosnt buy an parts from ultra, ever.

on your build if u are going for air cooling why get the 980x, nothing will use all 6 cores for gaming and its 4.5x as much as a 930 for the same clock speed, for a MB i would go rampage 3 extreme as its the best and not to much money. the R3E also has an intel nic and digital pwms so its solid. for a HDD i think that raiding 2 large drives is a bad idea what would be better is to pickup a 120GB SSD (ether the ocz sand force i like the LE, or the crucial one) and a large drive for storage like the samsung f3 2TB. your bluray drive pick is fine, they dont use much cashe on the drive unless u are burning.

and the psu i would go corsair 1200ak its the only pick for using multiple g100 cards and ocing, but they really need liquid so if u went for the 930/920 instead of the 980x u could go liquid and that will help u clock the gpus and that would be better for gaming.

as a final note, to me it looks like you are trying to waste money as quad sli dose nothing for gaming and so would the 980x and the case choice is just bad

Well the beauty of the 980x is I can turn off the other cores and reallocate more speed and more cpu power to the ones I will be using... and its 3.33ghz according to the spec sheet i have... the 930 is 2.80ghz, thats not same clock... or I have wrong spec sheets?

RE: rampage 3 extreme -yes I agree and its a good price at $319.99 right?

RE: HDD -yeah I think I will raid the SSD and add another and just use the SATA drive for storage and not gaming.

RE: corsair 1200ak... i cant find it anywhere.. do you have a link

Not wasting money imo because I may very well make use of the things I wont be utilizing right when I get this rig... after all the requirements for games this year are not going to be the same for next year... or the recommended requirements for higher performance at least. Plus in terms of spending cash, I will be selling my laptop basically "like new" condition with most all parts replaced by Dell under my warranty terms and I will use some of that money to finance this new PC... I might even get more than what I paid for it because it still has 3 yrs of warranty coverage left lol.

[zanzabar]

so you are getting a 980x and not overclocking it, that defeats the point of an unlocked chip and spending about $1k on it

and the new corsair psus are listed on their site but arnt in stores yet, and the ax1200 not the ak sorry
http://www.corsair.com/products/ax1200/default.aspx

for the case look at the p80 or the tj07 and stick liquid cooling in it, u will need it for the gf100 parts if u get more than 2, and liquid would be a good idea when u are spending that much anyways.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112159
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163067&cm_re=tj07-_-11-163-067-_-Product

for your laptop u should not beable to get much for it, your have a defective gpu an old cpu (not slow but old) u would be lucky to get $500 for it.


what is your main purpose for this build will it be gaming mainly

[hecktic]

so you are getting a 980x and not overclocking it, that defeats the point of an unlocked chip and spending about $1k on it

No I do plan to overclock it but as you said earlier not all cores will be useful and this chip lets you turn off other cores and raise the frequency on the ones you still use. the spec sheet says


Intel Hyperthreading Technology gives the allows this new Six Core CPU to process up to 12 threads at once while the Intel Turbo Boost Technology allows the CPU to shut off uneaded cores, increasing the frequency of the others from 3.33GHz to up to 3.60Ghz for lightning speed.

But thats not really a true overclock but its there none the less. Now I dont know if a another chip like maybe the 950 could produce the same results respectively but again just having the extra cores there I think wont be a total waste.. at least not in the long run on the 980x ee



and the new corsair psus are listed on their site but arnt in stores yet, and the ax1200 not the ak sorry
http://www.corsair.com/products/ax1200/default.aspx

oh okay... well I gotta order all the stuff before end of this month because thats when all my incentives will expire, but that is a good PSU.. even the hx1000 is good but this one you linked is amazing... 90% efficient wow and now I see why its going to be a big hit... and yes you can order it:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003PJ6QVU/ref=asc_df_B003PJ6QVU1173398?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&tag=pg-401-38-20&linkCode=asn&creative=395093&creativeASIN=B003PJ6QVU

I know this is far beyond spec in terms of performance compared to the ULTRA X3 or even X4 but doesnt the Lifetime warranty say a lot about the ULTRAs... Im just curious.



for the case look at the p80 or the tj07 and stick liquid cooling in it, u will need it for the gf100 parts if u get more than 2, and liquid would be a good idea when u are spending that much anyways.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112159
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163067&cm_re=tj07-_-11-163-067-_-Product

Yeah those arent too bad but Id like more space or better air flow in the design of the case... but those are not that bad either. Im still looking through some cases and havnt decided.



for your laptop u should not beable to get much for it, your have a defective gpu an old cpu (not slow but old) u would be lucky to get $500 for it.

the GPU I have (and maybe its just for the XPS M1530 version build I got) is actually running since day 1 I got and I throw a lot of load onto it and dont really take any care in terms of proper cooling for the laptop... Infact the only part to go bad on this laptop was the hard drive in the last 2 yrs. Rest of the stuff is running well. I did change out the heatsink for the CPu and Gpu to a new one a year or so ago when I had to change out the hard drive but other than that and maybe a new TIM application the GPU is not defective. Ive run so many stress tests on it also.. I think again it has to do with my particular version of the XPS M1530.

The laptop came with all premium software such as adobe photoshop, etc. plus all the extended warranty coverage for just a little over $1350. (it was retail at that time $3500+) and again its still under all the warranties including the accidental coverage and theft coverage by LoJack.

but anyways I will get a good amount for the laptop, I am confident of that and I plan to put it towards helping finance this new PC.



what is your main purpose for this build will it be gaming mainly

no not gaming mainly. I need to be able to do complex graphics rendering and programing work more than the gaming. The gaming is just a bonus to me. And as I said with the newer games after this year we might actually be able to use more than 4 cores and a full blown quad sli... but until then its just for my academic and professional purposes.

[zanzabar]

what are u using for rendering

[doom102938]

Hmm if rendering is more important.. Why not pick up one of those ATi FirePro V8700 or V8800. For rendering in programs like catia, etc.

[Johnny87au]

Pickup a i7 930 for around $300, Mine sits at a nice 4.4ghz stable on AIR... with a super PI score of 8.5 which is good! I wouldnt spend 1k on a 980x when sandybridge and the new 990x is just around the corner...

[zanzabar]

Hmm if rendering is more important.. Why not pick up one of those ATi FirePro V8700 or V8800. For rendering in programs like catia, etc.

those cards are bad for gaming but ati has the radion cards that have ogl and other optimization so they work with pro programs were NV normal dose not work well unless u have a quatro. thats why i asked what program since if it is not one using cuda u want an ati card.

on topic with the build ideas. to me it looks like if u want to go 3 cards the 460 1GB looks the best option if u dont want to go liquid, the reviews should be out but if u want NV thats were i would look. but u could do the 5850 and go amd and get an x6 amd works better in 64bit with floating point, i dont have any benches off hand but amd should be copetative with most pro workstation things that are not just bulk int work like video rendering but then u would use cuda over the cpu for that if u wanted speed so the 980x would still not make sense IMO

[hecktic]

Yeah maybe if that is the case, that new CPUs and boards are due out by later this year then I might either just wait on the board and the CPU for now and assemble everything else OR I might settle for a core i7 950 or 960 priced at $484.99 and $474.99 (oem and not boxed retail) respectively. And its probably $55 cheaper per chip with any bundle -ie. CPU + GPU or CPU + motherboard.

Plus I have to wait for the new Corsair PSU anyways because the next one down I was going to get was the
Corsair CMPSU-1000HX 1000-Watt Power Supply for $174.99 and the new Corsair is about $265.99 at current pricing and maybe $50 cheaper with a bundle PSU + case or PSU + GPU or PSU + CPU


what are u using for rendering

Actually have not decided yet on that but Im waiting to see what hardware I will have first before I can determine which programs Ill be using... I know it will be really demanding though in terms of GPU , CPU , and Memory


Pickup a i7 930 for around $300, Mine sits at a nice 4.4ghz stable on AIR... with a super PI score of 8.5 which is good! I wouldnt spend 1k on a 980x when sandybridge and the new 990x is just around the corner...

when is Sandybridge due out? any links on more info. would be appreciated.

[hecktic]

Core i7 930 retail boxed is $249.99 by the way and maybe up to $45 cheaper with a bundle

[zanzabar]

Core i7 930 retail boxed is $249.99 by the way and maybe up to $45 cheaper with a bundle

thats the best option it will oc the same on air or liquid as the 950/960, affter looking at reviews of the 460 i would go for that if u want NV but i would wait a few weeks to see what ones if u need a special one to change the voltage in software. that should be around $500 and it should be better than a 480 and for multiplayer games it should be better than 470sli as the 460 has more texture filtering power.

also on case selection, when i was in a dorm my stuff got beat on by people coming through and moving so i would get nothing with plastic hinges or edges that can get caught.

[Lightning98]

WOW, ok to be 100% honest this really is the biggest amount of overkill/overpriced/unnecessary/useless parts i've seen put together in... in quite awhile actually :D

Lets review one part at a time:

CPU:
Why would anyone ever buy an extreme edition? just get a 930 and be done with it. Don't really concern yourself with "what the spec sheet says"
Also, if you really plan on overclocking the hell out of it get a decent water cooling system, if not just get a great air cooler with 2 140mm quiet fans. The pro's of that kind of setup are for me at least much much more bigger than spending a ton more money on 200Mhz more in an OC .

PSU:
OK, be honest, did you just load up any website and selected the PSU which said it has the most watts?
I'd say 1200W would be an amazing overkill. Maybe the new Corsair professional series (AX i think) 1200W if you're really looking to throw away money. But i'd just get a Corsair or seasonic 850 or 950W and be done with it.

Motherboard & memory:
For me this is a personal preference. I Prefer Gigabyte over anything else (in the desktop market), and as for memory i prefer Corsair. I'd get a 6GB kit and a quality high-end motherboard from any maker and you'll be OK.

HDD's:
The only choice is SSD's, you can get a nice 160GB INtel or anything with similar capacity for the OS, games, programming projects... whatever, and get a cheap Samsung 2TB EcoGreen for storage

Case:
This one is a personal choice, coolermaster makes nice big roomy BIG tower cases. And TT Level 10? come on... are you really serious there? combining quad SLI and level10 case in the same post?

Graphic cards:
You won't game much on a professional GPU. And also you won't gain that much in rendering from Quad SLI. So you have to decide what's really important. I'd probably just get 2 GTX470's in a simple SLI. Also, i'm just wondering what kind of resolution are you running that requires quad SLI? do you have 3 x 30" screens?


PS. Yeah, Catia isn't really a "rendering program". Really pisses me off when people start throwing off apps names without having a clue about them. Its like me saying that Visual Studio is a text editor.

[chuchnit]

Why hasn't no one mentioned that the RIIIE isn't 4-way SLI capable without the riser board which maybe 5 people in this whole world has?

[bobisgod]

Core i7 930 retail boxed is $249.99 by the way and maybe up to $45 cheaper with a bundle

If you get it at Microcenter you can grab it for 200 no strings attached

[bobisgod]

Why hasn't no one mentioned that the RIIIE isn't 4-way SLI capable without the riser board which maybe 5 people in this whole world has?

actually it is. With fermi, basically any board with 4 pcie2.0 x16 slots can run 4 way sli.

[chuchnit]

actually it is. With fermi, basically any board with 4 pcie2.0 x16 slots can run 4 way sli.

Not true. The mobo MUST have 2 nf200's for 4-way SLI to work. Crossfire is another story. I think the goofy add-on board is called ROG expander or something, but it is pretty much for a handful of benchers to run 4-way.

[bobisgod]

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=252125&highlight=asus+rampage+iii+extreme+gtx+480

[zanzabar]

Not true. The mobo MUST have 2 nf200's for 4-way SLI to work. Crossfire is another story. I think the goofy add-on board is called ROG expander or something, but it is pretty much for a handful of benchers to run 4-way.

4 way sli is just a little bit of a waste of money, and there are fixed drivers or a loader that will make quad sli work without shoving 2 nf200 on the board that do nothing for a 4 card setup other than add latency.

[chuchnit]

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=252125&highlight=asus+rampage+iii+extreme+gtx+480

Exactly like I said, you either need a board with 2 nf200's or a rog expander which of course has the two needed nf200's the RIIIE lacks in stock trim.


4 way sli is just a little bit of a waste of money, and there are fixed drivers or a loader that will make quad sli work without shoving 2 nf200 on the board that do nothing for a 4 card setup other than add latency.

I said nothing about being worth it. I was just saying it is not "available" on that board in stock trim. Sure I can run any P45 + hacked drivers and get SLI. Not everyone wants to run the hacked drivers. "Officially" you have to have two nf200's for nfarce certified 4-way.

[hecktic]

what about EVGA 170-BL-E762-A1 LGA 1366 Intel X58 4-WAY SLI Classified XL ATX Intel Motherboard for $349.99 which is awsome price imo or EVGA 270-WS-W555-A1 Classified SR-2 Motherboard - Intel 5520 Chipset, Dual LGA1366, 4-Way SLI, CrossFireX, Triple Channel DDR3, Dual Gigabit LAN for $474.99 which is also awsome price imo

Tell me what you guys think.. I still want to go 4x way sli by the way.

only bad thing is the 170-BL-E762-A1 dont feature new SATA connectors.

The EVGA 170-BL-E762-A1 is the best built board in terms of stability right? with the digital PWM, special power connections and meters?

[Johnny87au]

Only way 4 way SLI if your actually gonna go QUAD, remember AMD's bulldozer is coming out soon, Along with Sandybridges low end and their high end CPU's in 2011.. Also the Nvidia 490 and the ATI 6xxx cards soon to be released. Remember if you take the leap you wont be able to use your new mobo with the new Sandybridges, your gonna have to upgrade to a new socket, So think about it and choose wisely mate its your build..

[hecktic]

If you get it at Microcenter you can grab it for 200 no strings attached

online price or at the microcenter store?

[hecktic]

Only way 4 way SLI if your actually gonna go QUAD, remember AMD's bulldozer is coming out soon, Along with Sandybridges low end and their high end CPU's in 2011.. Also the Nvidia 490 and the ATI 6xxx cards soon to be released. Remember if you take the leap you wont be able to use your new mobo with the new Sandybridges, your gonna have to upgrade to a new socket, So think about it and choose wisely mate its your build..

yeah i guess it is kinda late in the game... ill probably get the i7 930 for $200 and the best deal available currently for the graphics cards. Just gotta pick a motherboard first.

[hecktic]

I decided to get the GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD9 LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 XL ATX Intel Motherboard because as someone said in this thread, the build quality and overclocking is just superb on these boards. Oh and I got the LIAN LI PC-P80 Black Aluminum ATX Full Tower Computer Case for just $100 with the board as a combo. The board might have been overpriced since only newegg is carrying it at the moment but its still worth it imo because its rock solid in all areas and gigabyte stands by their products from my past experiences.

Also ordered the Plextor PX-B940SA Blu Ray Burner and LG UH10LS20K 10X Blu Ray ROM/DVDRW Combo Internal Drive for $230 and it came with a 12 month license to CA Internet Security Suite 2010 1-User. I plan to sell the CA Internet Security Suite 2010 1-User license.

[hecktic]

UPDATE: Motherboard, Optical Drives, Case are all in transit now :)

Im ordering the hard drives next. Then memory and CPU. And last will be PSU.

RE Hard Drives: So I already got Seagate 2TB Barracuda XT ST32000641AS which is the new SATA III 6.0 gb/s with 64mb cache. Ill be using this for fast storage.

For the gaming side, I need a good SSD drive, preferably setup with the onboard RAID (if its there) on the board I got. Im seriously thinking of 2 x Crucial RealSSD C300 CTFDDAC256MAG-1G1 2.5" 256GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD). I know they are expensive but I don't plan to upgrade my PC for another 5-8yrs in terms of the hard drive or maybe I will sell it off when Im bored of it before the warranty period is up. We will see, but anyways these drives are coming to me at $550 a piece which isnt too bad considering most retailers got them for $700 + tax and shipping.

But I hear the new OCZ SSDs have some kind of proprietary technology that smokes away all the other brands?

[zanzabar]

the sate6gb/s drives are not faster than the 3gb for mechanical drives, u wont get anything over the 200MB/s when it would make a difference, and the cashe is only a write buffer on those drives so why waste the money and get an inferior drive, a WD black would be a better pick for a 2TB or an re4.

and u should really reconsider the quad sli, it wont make gaming better and it costs alot of money, and puts u 1300-1400W just in gpu without overclocking

[hecktic]

the sate6gb/s drives are not faster than the 3gb for mechanical drives, u wont get anything over the 200MB/s when it would make a difference, and the cashe is only a write buffer on those drives so why waste the money and get an inferior drive, a WD black would be a better pick for a 2TB or an re4.

and u should really reconsider the quad sli, it wont make gaming better and it costs alot of money, and puts u 1300-1400W just in gpu without overclocking


Well I already got the 2TB Drive and its just for storage anyways... it was almost a steal price... somewhere around $130.

Anyways okay so the SSD drives, what do you think is the best SATA III SSD currently?

[zanzabar]

the sata 6gb/s should help with the ssd but they have 2 options sandforce or the crucial one, the sandforce has higher IOps the crucial has better throughput. i would go iops so the sandforce like an ocz or a corsair (i would go ocz as they have a great warranty), in the winter there is supposed to be a 6gb/s sandforce drive though

[hecktic]

Crucial RealSSD C300 CTFDDAC256MAG-1G1 2.5" 256GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)



General
Brand Crucial
Series RealSSD C300
Model CTFDDAC256MAG-1G1
Device Type Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
Architecture MLC
Expansion / Connectivity
Form Factor 2.5"
Capacity 256GB
Interface Type SATA III
Features Micron MLC NAND Flash

Marvell Controller

SATA 6 Gb/s interface

RAID Support

ATA-8 w/ TRIM

Self-monitoring, analysis, and reporting technology (SMART) command set

Random 4k READ: 60,000 IOPS

Random 4k WRITE: 45,000 IOPS

Built-in EDC/ECC
Performance
Max Shock Resistance 1500G / 1.0ms
Max Vibration Resistance 2-500Hz at 3.1G
Power Consumption (Active) 2.1W READ, 4.3W WRITE
Power Consumption (Idle) 0.094W
Sequential Access - Read 355MB/sec (SATA 6Gb/s)
265MB/sec (SATA 3Gb/s)
Sequential Access - Write 215MB/sec (SATA 6Gb/s)
215MB/sec (SATA 3Gb/s)
MTBF 1,200,000 hours
Manufacturer Warranty
Parts 3 years limited
Labor 3 years limited

[hecktic]

link me the other ones your talking about please

[eclypse]

GIGABYTE GA-X58A?? Dont you need a certified NVIDIA only MB for Nvidia 3D/2D Surround Vision? Not saying the original poster needs that. I'm just hunting around for a good motherboard for a new build.

[zanzabar]

for the ssd u have sandforce with the better IO
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=ocz+vertex+le&x=0&y=0
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=ocz+vertex+2&x=0&y=0
there are others but u get the idea. then the crucial that u linked with the better throughput. u have the choice of the better IO that will give u faster access to small files like dlls or other OS files or u have the crucial that has better through put so it will do a batch write or install faster or rip a large file off the disk faster.


GIGABYTE GA-X58A?? Dont you need a certified NVIDIA only MB for Nvidia 3D/2D Surround Vision? Not saying the original poster needs that. I'm just hunting around for a good motherboard for a new build.

u just need sli, u can force sli to run on any board now that can physically use it.

[hecktic]

GIGABYTE GA-X58A?? Dont you need a certified NVIDIA only MB for Nvidia 3D/2D Surround Vision? Not saying the original poster needs that. I'm just hunting around for a good motherboard for a new build.

nope dont need it. and Im the OP :D

[eclypse]

u just need sli, u can force sli to run on any board now that can physically use it.

SLI yes.. but i dont think you can for Nvidias surround vision. I believe i've read that for the drivers to work its gota be on a SLI certified MB.

[hecktic]

for the ssd u have sandforce with the better IO
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=ocz+vertex+le&x=0&y=0
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=ocz+vertex+2&x=0&y=0
there are others but u get the idea. then the crucial that u linked with the better throughput. u have the choice of the better IO that will give u faster access to small files like dlls or other OS files or u have the crucial that has better through put so it will do a batch write or install faster or rip a large file off the disk faster.



u just need sli, u can force sli to run on any board now that can physically use it.

same one with higher capacity right?
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6371306&CatId=5300

[zanzabar]

yah, or u can go for the revo, its the best IO and throughput (its 2 sandforce with an lsi controller on the pci-e) but there is no trim. and its about the price of the normal drive of that size but u cannot use that with quad sli as u wont have slots
http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/solid-state-drives/pci-express/revodrive/ocz-revodrive-pci-express-ssd-.html

i dont find trim all that necessary when u can use pd10 and compact the free space then wipe the free space once a week or so

[Johnny87au]

I'd either run Raid 0 Crucial c300's or 2x vertex LE's as their both similar, Personally im purchasing the crucials soon just waiting on $$ to get my new controller!

[hecktic]

yah, or u can go for the revo, its the best IO and throughput (its 2 sandforce with an lsi controller on the pci-e) but there is no trim. and its about the price of the normal drive of that size but u cannot use that with quad sli as u wont have slots
http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/solid-state-drives/pci-express/revodrive/ocz-revodrive-pci-express-ssd-.html

i dont find trim all that necessary when u can use pd10 and compact the free space then wipe the free space once a week or so

yeah the revo seems like the best of both worlds but as you said i may have space issues.... but actually if I watercool the video cards I might just have enough room to squeeze one of these in?

what do you think?

and how do you run raid with these revos?

[hecktic]

I'd either run Raid 0 Crucial c300's or 2x vertex LE's as their both similar, Personally im purchasing the crucials soon just waiting on $$ to get my new controller!

which raid controller though :confused:

[zanzabar]

yeah the revo seems like the best of both worlds but as you said i may have space issues.... but actually if I watercool the video cards I might just have enough room to squeeze one of these in?

what do you think?

and how do you run raid with these revos?

i dont know how to raid them in hardware, they may have a link or something but i dont think that u would need to raid them.


which raid controller though :confused:

u cannot get a raid controller u would use the ich10 onboard since u wont have slots. if have a slot open i think that lsi makes the top right now.

i really do think that its a bad idea going quad sli, u can go tripple, get an r3e and have room for a raid card or revo. there is no way that u can get quad sli and oc them so if u go tipple and oc it should be about the same or even just sli and put them on liquid should be close, u can get a good 30-40% oc on liquid and it will be pushing over 400W and u cannot power 4 400W cards without getting 2 psus and rewiring your house so u have a 220V socket or different lines to the circuit breaker for each psu, even 3 cards over 400W would suck power like no other.


and if its for school i know when i lived in a dorm we had 1 breaker per 2 people in the bedrooms so u wont be pushing 1600W and beable to use the system, and on off campus housing its normally older and older houses have bad power layouts and cannot handle high watt things

[hecktic]

i dont know how to raid them in hardware, they may have a link or something but i dont think that u would need to raid them.



u cannot get a raid controller u would use the ich10 onboard since u wont have slots. if have a slot open i think that lsi makes the top right now.

The water blocks cant take up that much space like the default HSF do... at least I think so..



i really do think that its a bad idea going quad sli, u can go tripple, get an r3e and have room for a raid card or revo. there is no way that u can get quad sli and oc them so if u go tipple and oc it should be about the same or even just sli and put them on liquid should be close, u can get a good 30-40% oc on liquid and it will be pushing over 400W and u cannot power 4 400W cards without getting 2 psus and rewiring your house so u have a 220V socket or different lines to the circuit breaker for each psu, even 3 cards over 400W would suck power like no other.


and if its for school i know when i lived in a dorm we had 1 breaker per 2 people in the bedrooms so u wont be pushing 1600W and beable to use the system, and on off campus housing its normally older and older houses have bad power layouts and cannot handle high watt things

Well I was planning on putting a dedicated 20amp line for this PC and all its hardware etc, not to mention the tri-monitor setup I am planning. 20amp should be enough I think. And its an apartment not school housing or off-campus housing in the school area... its just a plain apartment and I should have enough authority to put in a new 20amp line just for this. I pay for electricity and I have to add an outlet anyways for my new AC. While this work is being done, Im going to ask the electrician to install the 20amp outlet for this computer. Plus, worst case scenario, I just turn off every other appliance in my apartment (except the fridge ofcourse) and just run this pc with a kill-a-watt meter and see how much total power it needs.

[hecktic]

and my board has 7 pci e slots... with 4 video cards each with its own waterblock I think I should be able to spare 1 pci e slot... what do you think?

[hecktic]

some pictures of the board:
http://img842.imageshack.us/img842/127/img0038d.jpg
http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/3994/img0039xz.jpg
http://img295.imageshack.us/img295/7114/img0040v.jpg

[zanzabar]

and my board has 7 pci e slots... with 4 video cards each with its own waterblock I think I should be able to spare 1 pci e slot... what do you think?

nope, u will use 8 slots for quad sli (the 4 pci-e then 4 for the blocks), u should not have any advantage over overclocked tri though and u do know that u will need like 8 fans of rad just for quad sli so make sure that u have room for that

[hecktic]

hmmm each block takes up an entire pci e slot??

[zanzabar]

hmmm each block takes up an entire pci e slot??

the card and the block together take up 2, just like with the stock air cooler, but u wont melt the cards like when u stack them and they cannot breath to well.

if u go tri u could get a sound card and a raid card and with the liquid u could oc it to the point that it will perform like a quad sli

[hecktic]

the card and the block together take up 2, just like with the stock air cooler, but u wont melt the cards like when u stack them and they cannot breath to well.

if u go tri u could get a sound card and a raid card and with the liquid u could oc it to the point that it will perform like a quad sli

and you think that will still provide enough power to support TRi-monitor setup? 30" more than likely.

[zanzabar]

and you think that will still provide enough power to support TRi-monitor setup? 30" more than likely.

most new houses u have 12A in the bedrooms and 16A in the kitchen. so that will give u about 1400W total from a 12A, and in some cases its only 6 or 8A (my house i have 8A) so 8A gives u about 900W that u can use. but if u have the power for quad u will be near the top of a 12A if not more with your other stuff, u will use about the same as quad with no oc as tri with oc and they should perform about the same but i would just go with 2, liquid cool and oc them then get the R3E and save the rest for beer, that way u wont have to worry to much about blowing breakers and u will have way more money as when u pay power bills it adds up, that will also give u room for a raid card and make it so u would only need about 6 fans of rad for the whole system instead of 9-10 making it reasonable to do in a normal case.

i dont think that u will want tri 30" monitors u wont beable to get that vary playable with any setup even with quad sli and for gaming there is little point in multi 30" and u wont have the viewing space for more than about 2 30", i would go with 5x 23" in portrait for the ultimate setup or since u want NV 3 landscape 120hz panels and use 3d vision or 3x 26" 1920x1200 ones.

[hecktic]

most new houses u have 12A in the bedrooms and 16A in the kitchen. so that will give u about 1400W total from a 12A, and in some cases its only 6 or 8A (my house i have 8A) so 8A gives u about 900W that u can use. but if u have the power for quad u will be near the top of a 12A if not more with your other stuff, u will use about the same as quad with no oc as tri with oc and they should perform about the same but i would just go with 2, liquid cool and oc them then get the R3E and save the rest for beer, that way u wont have to worry to much about blowing breakers and u will have way more money as when u pay power bills it adds up, that will also give u room for a raid card and make it so u would only need about 6 fans of rad for the whole system instead of 9-10 making it reasonable to do in a normal case.

i dont think that u will want tri 30" monitors u wont beable to get that vary playable with any setup even with quad sli and for gaming there is little point in multi 30" and u wont have the viewing space for more than about 2 30", i would go with 5x 23" in portrait for the ultimate setup or since u want NV 3 landscape 120hz panels and use 3d vision or 3x 26" 1920x1200 ones.

This isnt a house, its an apartment complex and very old also. I already know I need to install a new line for my AC unit so at the same time Im going to have a new dedicated line installed for the computer. 20amp is what I will be going for.

And Ive already got my board, the Gigabyte GA-X58-UD9, Lian Li PCP-80B Case, the Blu ray burner and reader. Still have not selected CPU, Memory, Monitors, Hard Drives (with exception to the 2TB drive I mentioned earlier in this thread)

How does 5 x 23" work out? The 120Hz is only on certain panels?

[hecktic]

I got 3 x EVGA GeForce GTX 480 1536MB DDR5 PCIe SLI, NVIDIA 3D Vision Glasses, 3 x Acer GD235HZ bid 23.6" 1920X1080 Monitor 3D Ready, Logitech Z5500 Digital Spk 5.1 505W RMS 1000TW, Ergotron LX Triple Display Lift Stand , Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64Bit DVD OEM , Razer dual-sided Razer Vespula Gaming Mouse Pad , Visiontek Killer 2100 Gaming Network Card, Patriot Sector5 4GB PC3-20000 2500MHz Dual-Channel, 4 x Crucial C300 256GB 2.5 SATA Solid State Drive, Intel Core i7-980X Extreme Edition 3.33Ghz CPU (got it for $800 brand new w/ ULTRA ChillTec Thermal Electric CPU Cooler), and Ultra X4 1600-Watt Modular Power Supply - 135mm Fan, ATX, Lifetime Warranty, NVIDIA SLI & ATI Crossfire Certifications (might sell it and get that corsair psu if it becomes available in the coming weeks), 5600 DPI Razer Mamba 2.4G Wireless Gaming Laser Mouse.

Saved a lot of money since I used bing yesterday, maybe around $850 off already discounted prices.

[eclypse]

I got 3 x EVGA GeForce GTX 480 1536MB DDR5 PCIe SLI, NVIDIA 3D Vision Glasses, 3 x Acer GD235HZ bid 23.6" 1920X1080 Monitor 3D Ready, Logitech Z5500 Digital Spk 5.1 505W RMS 1000TW, Ergotron LX Triple Display Lift Stand , Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64Bit DVD OEM , Razer dual-sided Razer Vespula Gaming Mouse Pad , Visiontek Killer 2100 Gaming Network Card, Patriot Sector5 4GB PC3-20000 2500MHz Dual-Channel, 4 x Crucial C300 256GB 2.5 SATA Solid State Drive, Intel Core i7-980X Extreme Edition 3.33Ghz CPU (got it for $800 brand new w/ ULTRA ChillTec Thermal Electric CPU Cooler), and Ultra X4 1600-Watt Modular Power Supply - 135mm Fan, ATX, Lifetime Warranty, NVIDIA SLI & ATI Crossfire Certifications (might sell it and get that corsair psu if it becomes available in the coming weeks), 5600 DPI Razer Mamba 2.4G Wireless Gaming Laser Mouse.

Saved a lot of money since I used bing yesterday, maybe around $850 off already discounted prices.

Nice setup.. Prey bing works out for ya since it was the last day an all.

I was going to grab another 480GTX and exchange the new 760 with a 762 4 way SLI MB but said screw it after reading about so many problems with 3D and 3 way SLI. FIgured by the time they get that working right, there will be a newer revision 4-way classified MB and i'll get it then. Plus i'd have to snag a new $500+ MM case to fit it. Wifes hurting after this round so i'll pause for now. :)

What case you planing on using?

[Reflex1]

I got 3 x EVGA GeForce GTX 480 1536MB DDR5 PCIe SLI, NVIDIA 3D Vision Glasses, 3 x Acer GD235HZ bid 23.6" 1920X1080 Monitor 3D Ready, Logitech Z5500 Digital Spk 5.1 505W RMS 1000TW, Ergotron LX Triple Display Lift Stand , Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64Bit DVD OEM , Razer dual-sided Razer Vespula Gaming Mouse Pad , Visiontek Killer 2100 Gaming Network Card, Patriot Sector5 4GB PC3-20000 2500MHz Dual-Channel, 4 x Crucial C300 256GB 2.5 SATA Solid State Drive, Intel Core i7-980X Extreme Edition 3.33Ghz CPU (got it for $800 brand new w/ ULTRA ChillTec Thermal Electric CPU Cooler), and Ultra X4 1600-Watt Modular Power Supply - 135mm Fan, ATX, Lifetime Warranty, NVIDIA SLI & ATI Crossfire Certifications (might sell it and get that corsair psu if it becomes available in the coming weeks), 5600 DPI Razer Mamba 2.4G Wireless Gaming Laser Mouse.

Saved a lot of money since I used bing yesterday, maybe around $850 off already discounted prices.

Nice rig, have you already built it yet? so you got 3 x 23.6" monitors instead of 3 x 30", what made you change your mind?

But you only got 2 sticks of ram, your board supports tripple channel ...unless im missing something

[hecktic]

Nice setup.. Prey bing works out for ya since it was the last day an all.

What case you planing on using?

Yeah I got all my bing cash back emails confirming the amounts.

I am using the Gigabyte GA-X58-UD9 board and Lian Li PCP-80B case.


Nice rig, have you already built it yet? so you got 3 x 23.6" monitors instead of 3 x 30", what made you change your mind?

But you only got 2 sticks of ram, your board supports tripple channel ...unless im missing something

Have not built it yet.

Did not receive most of those things I mentioned since I just ordered them yesterday.

I changed my mind about the 30" because most of them are using old tech. and frankly, we should have 120Hz and LED (backlight) available by now for 30" Not to mention the power usage on the 30" is insane... its from 130 to 240watts depending on the panel and brand of the screen. Thats not acceptable. So I decided to get 3 x 23.6 (or 24") 120Hz 3D monitors instead. Also there was a link to some monitor comparison site and I checked the images of how the picture quality looks like and this screen comes out on top for gaming compared to the other 3D screens. The 30" might be bigger but the refresh time and color contrast sucks and thats probably because its still using outdated tech.

I only got 2 sticks of ram because I am not 100% sure this ram will work. Which in that case if 2 sticks of 4gb total of ram does not work then I will have to get some other memory.

But the one I got is Patriot 2500Mhz

Im waiting for these memory sticks to be available:
https://shop.corsair.com/store/item_view.aspx?id=766411

Have not found them anywhere online....

[hecktic]

I need to buy cooling gear now for the video cards.... anyone want to help me with this?

For memory:

Im thinking about
https://shop.corsair.com/store/item_view.aspx?id=1473761
https://shop.corsair.com/store/item_view.aspx?id=1542371

[Reflex1]

I need to buy cooling gear now for the video cards.... anyone want to help me with this?

For memory:

Im thinking about
https://shop.corsair.com/store/item_view.aspx?id=1473761
https://shop.corsair.com/store/item_view.aspx?id=1542371

Im guessing you want watercooling since you have 3 graphics cards? Id get some EK blocks: http://www.ekwaterblocks.com/shop/

Regarding your ram, id just use what you have until the corsair GTX2 or GTX4 becomes more widely available and then get 3 sticks of that.

[hecktic]

Im guessing you want watercooling since you have 3 graphics cards? Id get some EK blocks: http://www.ekwaterblocks.com/shop/

Regarding your ram, id just use what you have until the corsair GTX2 or GTX4 becomes more widely available and then get 3 sticks of that.

thanks. I want the smallest water blocks possible so I can try and save some of the other PCI-E slots for something else, if possible again.

Which EK block are you referring to?

[Reflex1]

thanks. I want the smallest water blocks possible so I can try and save some of the other PCI-E slots for something else, if possible again.

Which EK block are you referring to?

Im refering to this block for the 480 GTX (http://www.ekwaterblocks.com/shop/ek-fc480-gtx-1.html). They have different tops for this block, I prefer the black acetal cover version, but they dont have any of them in stock.

[hecktic]

Im refering to this block for the 480 GTX (http://www.ekwaterblocks.com/shop/ek-fc480-gtx-1.html). They have different tops for this block, I prefer the black acetal cover version, but they dont have any of them in stock.

which one performs the best?

[Reflex1]

which one performs the best?

They perform the same. Its just personal preference, which ever one you think looks better.

[hecktic]

They perform the same. Its just personal preference, which ever one you think looks better.

I want best performance with smallest size so I can try and squeeze other stuff into the case where these cards will be located.

[hecktic]

w7pro, thanks.

an update for everyone, I received everything except the CPU Cooler so far. If I get it today, then I will fire everything up for testing.

I still have to order liquid cooling stuff. Not sure which brands/models to go with.

[hecktic]

Havnt got the CPU cooler yet.. its scheduled for delivery tomorrow. (8/11)

[hecktic]

Got the CPU cooler. Going to begin assembly of this today. Where is the best place to buy all the official Lian LI case mods for this case (PCP80B) ??

[hecktic]

no one where to get the case mods from?