Build Advice Needed - Project Dalton

Ok need to say this upfront, definitely want to go with DS. Read a lot of good things.

Edited by Citius - 21 Feb 2010 at 3:34pm

more stuff does not mean more performance.

what is your budget? and what resolution will you be gaming at?

I would never recommend 2 x 5970 right now, there is a better solution tho first and foremost you want what you need, filling up yoru systme with gpus you don't need can hinder your performance due to heat and maybe other things.

keep in mind:

gpu rule #1: single gpu solution is always best, for performance and least amount of problems.

Edited by DST4ME - 21 Feb 2010 at 4:20pm

2 x 5870 will give you better performance then 1 x 5970 and 3 x 5870 give you better performance then 2 x 5970, just fyi.

so you want LC right or do you want me to show you the budget build that will perform the same pretty much?

ok highend:

Here you go Ticket# 386914 --- Price: $5586 (To see this build click here) Price after current promotion $5136

Copy of Specifications:
Chassis Model: Digital Storm HailStorm (Black OPS Edition)
Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish
Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish
Processor: Intel Core i7 920 2.66GHz (Quad Core)
Motherboard: EVGA X58 Classified 3X SLI (Intel X58 Chipset) (Supports Triple SLI or CrossFire)
System Memory: 6GB DDR3 1600MHz Corsair Dominator with DHX Extreme Edition
Power Supply: 1000W Corsair (Dual/Triple/Quad SLI Compatible)
Expansion Bay: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1x (160GB Solid State (By: Intel) (Extreme Performance) (Model: SSDSA2MH160G2R5)
Set 1 Raid Options: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: 1x (1TB Seagate/Hitachi/Western Digital (7200 RPM) (32MB Cache) (SATA) (Extreme Speed)
Hard Drive Set 3: Backup\Misc.: - No Thanks
Optical Drive 1: Blu-Ray Player/DVD Writer (Play Blu-Ray and Burn DVDs)
Optical Drive 2: DVD±R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 22x / CD-Writer 48x)
Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Video Card: 2x CrossFire Dual (ATI Radeon HD 5870 1GB)
Add-on Card: - No Thanks
Sound Card: Creative Labs X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Champion (Includes Front I/O) (PCI-Express Slot Based)
Extreme Cooling: H20: Stage 6: Sub-Zero LCS Dual Loop: CPU & Dual SLI/CrossFire Video Cards
H20 Tube Color:Blue Tubing with High-Performance Fluid (UV Lighting Reactive)
Chassis Airflow: Standard Factory Chassis Fans
Internal Lighting: Internal Chassis Lighting System (UV) (Creates Glowing Effect for H20 Tubes)
Enhancements: - No Thanks
Chassis Mods: - No Thanks
Noise Reduction: - No Thanks
Boost Processor: FREE: Stage 1: Overclock the processor between 3.3GHz to 3.9GHz (Requires Air Cooling Upgrade)
Boost Video Card: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s)
Boost Memory: Memory Fan Kit Only (Does not include memory overclocking service)
Boost OS: - No Thanks, Please do not tweak the services on the operating system
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional (64-Bit Edition)
Restore Kit: Digital Storm Specialized Recovery System (DVD Image Based)
Virus Protection: - No Thanks
Office: - No Thanks
Benchmarking: - No Thanks
Install/Test Game: FREE: Please include a free copy of a hot-selling game
Display: - No Thanks
Surge Shield: - No Thanks
Speakers: - No Thanks
Keyboard: - No Thanks
Mouse: - No Thanks
External Storage: - No Thanks
Exclusive T-Shirt: FREE: Digital Storm T-Shirt - Black (Large)
Priority Build: - No Thanks, Ship Within 5-10 Business Days After Order Is Successfully Processed
Warranty: 3 Year Platinum Care Extended Parts & Labor Warranty

tell me what you think, we can cut costs if you like but for the things in the pc, all parts pretty much compliment each other.

pretty much means some games like crysis can't be maxed out no matter what you get.

smooth gaming is at 50 to 60 fps, 2 x 5870 will give you that with highest settings and 8x/4x aa and 16x af in 90% of the games, but also keep in mind teh config is setup so that you can add a third gpu down the road if the need arises.

Edited by DST4ME - 21 Feb 2010 at 4:38pm

honestly there is nothing tweak on that build to make it perform better, only thing left to do is go 2 x 160GB intel for much faster HDD performance and room.

everything in there is top of the line in performance.

cpu change will not make a difference.

ram change will not make a difference.

mobo change will not make a difference.

gpu change will not make a difference.

fan upgrade is pointless and brings more noise.

fan controller is pointless and can't control all fans and temps are not as accurate as software that can report it.

nose reduction is pointless, trap noise, trap heat.

gpu oc is pointless, you will see no difference.

os tweak will not make a big difference and if you need some the services you can be in trouble.


I do recommend 5 year warranty tho, thats what I went with.

but go ahead and play with it, at the end its your pc, I'm just proving facts and info

Edited by DST4ME - 21 Feb 2010 at 4:49pm

what would you like to change teh case too? for LC on cpu/gpu you want room and the corsair has got more room then the other cases, only the lian is bigger I think.

the dvd burner? you can go ahead a remove that, if you don't plan on burning bluray either then you can change that to a reader also.

what are you changing the storage drive to?

you mean intel 160GB ssd right?

all changes sound good, raid will give you more room, and faster speeds with read and write.