Building a new rig

727 Views 16 Replies 8 Participants Last post by JNielson, Jan 6, 2010

JNielson

Discussion Starter · Dec 1, 2009

Ok so i have decided to go out and build a new rig within a couple of months.

I planned on going with an i7 920 and either an asus rampage or a foxconn bloodrage motherboard. I was going to go with G.Skill memory not sure if it is recommended but in my current rig, my G.Skill tridents run at 1066Mhz with timings being 5-5-5-15 2T and its flawless. The MAIN reason im upgrading is because im building a gaming rig and my evga 750i ftw is having some heat issues since the SPP is at 1.5v. It works flawlessly untill i get into playing games such as crysis. my cpu temps dont even hit over 51c and most of the time its just core 4 that hits above 50c. my gpu temps are 68c under full load (except furmark. then gpu2 hit 94c). idle temps are 37c. Anyways, ive had to get rid of my 3.2Ghz OC because of the temp issue with the northbridge. I have a few questions still.

1.) out of those 2 motherboards, what would be the easiest to OC on?
2.) should i go with the next gen ati cards or get 4way sli with 2-gtx 295's or should i go with a different mobo and go 3-way sli with my gtx 260's? or should i just wait untill the next gen nvidia cards come out?
3.) if i plan to OC my cpu and my gpus, would i be fine to run that on air or would wc be a good idea? I prefer not to go WC'd yet because my budget is around $2600-$2800.
4.)How much better would it be to have a SSD for just the OS and then a velociraptor raid 0 for everything else instead of just a raid 0? (dont tell me about the negative side of raid 0. its a gaming computer and i have a 1TB harddrive to put all my important documents on).

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xHassassin

· #2 · Dec 1, 2009

1) Asus probably
2) What are you going to do that'll require 2 x GTX295 or 3x GTX260? Way too OP IMO.
3) If you're going for this high of a budget build, WC would be a nice investment.
4) Unless you're anal about having the best, 4x Velociraptors in RAID0 should be fast enough.

meticadpa

· #3 · Dec 1, 2009

1.) The Bloodrage's overclocking prowess should shine here, but you can't have more than two cards in a multi-GPU configuration on there, so no Tri-SLi or TriFire for you. It also has 3 DIMM slots compared to the Rampage's 6, allowing you to have a maximum of 6GB of RAM vs. 12GB. This shouldn't be a problem, however, since you're not going to be video editing, or using photoshop to the max.

2.) I'd get CrossFire HD5850s or HD5870s instead. Much lower power consumption, they scale very well in CrossFire, and will give amazing results at a resolution of 1920 x 1200 and below. (They could probably play most games at 2560 x 1600 maxed out, but I don't think you have a 30" monitor). Also, you wouldn't have to upgrade your power supply to CrossFire HD5850s or HD5870s.

3.) Overclocking both your CPU and GPUs would be fine on air, but obviously water would yield better temperatures, at a much higher price, however. If you can afford water, and have a case to accomodate radiators, and have a desire for water cooling, then you may as well get a loop going, but it won't be cheap.

4.) Hard Drives and storage devices aren't my area of expertise, but I'd say that an SSD for your OS and RAID 0 Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB drives would be the best option. The 640GB Black drives are usually faster then the Velociraptors in everything except seek time. They'll also be a lot quieter and run cooler due to their lower spin speed, (10,000 RPM for the Velociraptor vs. 7,200 RPM for the Caviar Black).

Hope this helps, and good luck!

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Buggedout

· #4 · Dec 1, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by JNielson

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Ok so i have decided to go out and build a new rig within a couple of months.

I planned on going with an i7 920 and either an asus rampage or a foxconn bloodrage motherboard. I was going to go with G.Skill memory not sure if it is recommended but in my current rig, my G.Skill tridents run at 1066Mhz with timings being 5-5-5-15 2T and its flawless. The MAIN reason im upgrading is because im building a gaming rig and my evga 750i ftw is having some heat issues since the SPP is at 1.5v. It works flawlessly untill i get into playing games such as crysis. my cpu temps dont even hit over 51c and most of the time its just core 4 that hits above 50c. my gpu temps are 68c under full load (except furmark. then gpu2 hit 94c). idle temps are 37c. Anyways, ive had to get rid of my 3.2Ghz OC because of the temp issue with the northbridge. I have a few questions still.

1.) out of those 2 motherboards, what would be the easiest to OC on?
2.) should i go with the next gen ati cards or get 4way sli with 2-gtx 295's or should i go with a different mobo and go 3-way sli with my gtx 260's? or should i just wait untill the next gen nvidia cards come out?
3.) if i plan to OC my cpu and my gpus, would i be fine to run that on air or would wc be a good idea? I prefer not to go WC'd yet because my budget is around $2600-$2800.
4.)How much better would it be to have a SSD for just the OS and then a velociraptor raid 0 for everything else instead of just a raid 0? (dont tell me about the negative side of raid 0. its a gaming computer and i have a 1TB harddrive to put all my important documents on).

1. Can only comment on asus mobo's, but in my experience they are very simple to OC on.
2. Budget dependent, lots of different possibilities. IMO go for the 2x 295, then eventually get another.
3. Air is fine if you OC to 4Ghz, still safe for a little more, but you will need WC after that.
4. 20% better

Should notice quite a difference.

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2

meticadpa

· #5 · Dec 1, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buggedout

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1. Can only comment on asus mobo's, but in my experience they are very simple to OC on.
2. Budget dependent, lots of different possibilities. IMO go for the 2x 295, then eventually get another.
3. Air is fine if you OC to 4Ghz, still safe for a little more, but you will need WC after that.
4. 20% better

Should notice quite a difference.

You can only use 2 GTX 295s at once in one system, since there's 2 GPUs on each card, and DirectX (currently) can only use 4 GPUs in tandem, along with an additional card for PhysX processing or something like that.

The reason people can use more than 4 GPUs for folding is because they're not in SLi.

(

)

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4

JNielson

Discussion Starter · #6 · Dec 3, 2009

ive been talking to my friends and they are telling me not to get the set of things i have planned to get. Can someone give me a build that fits my $2800 budget? It will be mainly used for gaming and surfing the internet since i have my school laptop for typing papers.

Here is my list of what is in stone:
CPU:i7 920
HS: ? Something that can handle a 4.0 Ghz OC
Motherboard: ? depends on how much memory is recommended and something that doesnt give me a problem when OCing. (im upgrading because with my current mobo, my northbridge overheats. I know this because on a cold boot, it will make 35 passes in LinX and then freeze whereas when its been on for a while, it will make only 7 passes)
Memory: G.Skill but i dont know if i just need 6gb or 12 gb
GPUs: SLI gtx 295(s) or crossfired 5970(s) either way i go, id probably use a gtx 260 for dedicated physx and power consumption doesnt matter. i live in a dorm so i dont pay the power bill.
EDIT: Im planing on going quadsli or crossfire with the 5790 because i want it to be able to take whatever i throw at it and not have to lower settings.
Case: HAF 932
PSU: Corsair 950W (let me know if i need more than that)
HDDs: i really dont know about this. i have a 1TB that i will be using just for data meaning id like to go with a SSD for the OS and then a raid 0 for applications
Monitor: 24" viewsonic - max res is 1920x1080 (im using this cuz i already have it) EDIT: thinking of getting another one but idk.

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JNielson

Discussion Starter · #7 · Dec 5, 2009

i now just need some suggestions on whether i need 6gb or 12 gb or ram and if so what mobo would be the best that supports that and is the easiest for overclocking.
Also, can anyone tell me what would be best for gaming? SLI gtx 295's or crossfired 5970's?

koda

· #8 · Dec 5, 2009

Quote:

Originally Posted by JNielson

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i now just need some suggestions on whether i need 6gb or 12 gb or ram

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...de,2264-3.html

Quote:

Originally Posted by JNielson

View Post

Also, can anyone tell me what would be best for gaming? SLI gtx 295's or crossfired 5970's?

Well, a 5970 beats a GTX 295, so I'd imagine that the same applies once you add one more of each. I'm no expert, though.

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2

JNielson

Discussion Starter · #9 · Dec 31, 2009

Ok so 6gb would be good enough. would there be any issues using 6gb in a bloodrage?

I havent done my research on the 300 series, so can anyone tell me if it would be worth sticking with my SLI gtx 260s untill the 300 series comes out? I prefer nVidia over ati because of the driver issues ive had but right now, im looking for the best performance out of the box.

TheF4LL3N

· #10 · Dec 31, 2009

you should stick with your 260's in sli for now, and upgrade to the new nvidia 300 series when they become available next year, 260's in sli isn't bad at all.

JNielson

Discussion Starter · #11 · Dec 31, 2009

thanks. thats what i was thinking... that way i can afford an SSD and a raid 0 setup.

JNielson

Discussion Starter · #12 · Jan 1, 2010

let me know what you guys think of this.

i7 920
EVGA e760
Megahalems Heatsink (what kind of fan or fans should i put on this? im looking to keep this somewhat quiet but i want it so i can get 4.0Ghz on air)
G.Skill 6Gb (F3-12800CL9T-6GBNQ)
OCZ Vertex 30Gb (OCZSSD2-1VTX30GXXX) (for OS)
2x WD Velociraptor 150Gb RAID 0 (for programs)
1x Seagate 1TB (data, music, back ups, etc.)
Corsair 1000w PSU (i know its not needed but it is so i have room to upgrade in the future)
SLI gtx 260's (already have these but might consider getting a third depending on what kind of performance i get with 2)
HAF 932 (reusing the case i already have.)
Logitech G19
Logitech MX518
WC setup? (depends on what temps i am getting and how much money i have left over)

If you think something else would work better, please let me know.

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StrongmanSal

· #13 · Jan 1, 2010

I would say

Venomous X for CPU cooler Scythe S-flexG Push/pull

RAM: Mushkin Redlines or Blacklines 1600Mhz the latencies are very low!

I also think you will need more than 30gb for OS

save your money on the Raptors in raid... just do 2 f3 spinpoints in raid or caviar blacks... not that much of a difference..

I would try and go all modular like a silverstone power supply...

Do not get a 3rd GTX260.... get a physx if anything...save money for FERMI

Water cooling is very expensive

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JNielson

Discussion Starter · #14 · Jan 1, 2010

I redid my list let me know what you think

i7 920
EVGA e760
Megahalems Heatsink w/Scythe S-flexG (Cant find the Venomous X)
Mushkin Enhanced Redline 6Gb (Model 998691)
OCZ Vertex 60Gb (for OS)
2x WD Caviar Black 750Gb RAID 0 (for programs)
1x Seagate 1TB (data, music, back ups, etc.)
SLI gtx 260's (can anyone tell me if itd be worth getting a cheap 8800gt or 9800gt just for PhysX or should i just pocket the money?)
Sliverstone 1000w PSU
HAF 932 (reusing the case i already have.)
Logitech G19
Logitech MX518

would the 60Gb ssd be good enough for just the OS?

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JNielson

Discussion Starter · #15 · Jan 3, 2010

can anyone tell me if that is a good setup? thats pretty much what im limited to since im going to newegg and microcenter.

EDIT: If there is something that is way better than what i have listed, please tell me. I am really really under budget but i am saving enough for the next gen nvidia cards

s0d0mg0m0rrah

· #16 · Jan 3, 2010

good setup.. don't bother getting a dedicated physx card, you'll get like an extra 3 - 5 fps in most cases.. and 30gb for os would be fine.. enjoy your rig!

JNielson

Discussion Starter · #17 · Jan 6, 2010

ok thanks

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