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New 2560x1600 rig :D

Post Date: 2011-02-08
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Aroberts0820 View Drop Down
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Posts: 69 		  Quote Aroberts0820 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Topic: New 2560x1600 rig :D
    Posted: 08 Feb 2011 at 5:23pm

Alrighty, I've been looming around here in the shadows for about 6 months and I'm finally getting close to pulling the trigger (yay for tax refund). I'll link a configuration below but I still have a few questions. I've been looking into possibly going for a rig that displays 2560x1600 natively (yay for no more anti-aliasing). From what I've been able to gather through the various threads here at DSO, as well as my research online, the Dell UltraSharp 30" is supposed to be a pretty nice monitor for that higher native resolution. First question:

Does anyone else know of any other high quality monitors for said resolution? The word "Dell" makes me worry.
 
Question 2:
 
Will two video cards in SLI be enough to power a monitor like that or should I be looking into a 3-card solution? Also, would I be better off with ATI cards with more RAM?
 
Okie Dokie.
 
More Questions:
 
I am more of a gamer than anything else. I do some light web design and so light CS5 work. I know the second gen i7's would be fine for me. However, my fiance is in an animation program at a university nearby and she uses Maya, CS5, ToonBoom, etc. failry heavily. Should I be investing in a 970? Will the benefit warrant the $400 price difference?
 
As far as games, I play a bit of everything. I have SC2 and plan on playing Diablo3 in a million years when it comes out.
 
 
Here's the config I picked: 485184
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Dragoonseal View Drop Down
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Posts: 2247 		  Quote Dragoonseal Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 08 Feb 2011 at 6:28pm
When it comes to monitors, Dell isn't a name to be afraid of, it's like the one thing they do really well.

When it comes to 2560x1600 monitors I'd say the HP ZR30w and the Dell UltraSharp U3011 are both great options. The HP ZR30w has lower input lag and can sometimes be cheaper (if you don't catch a sale on the Dell, like the one that just ended on the 7th), but it's missing functionality: no OSD, no internal scaler, no connectivity options. Where as the Dell has all those as well as coming with a factory calibration report guaranteeing a Delta-E color tracking average under 5, which is nice if you don't have calibration software.

A 2560x1600 monitor is a big investment, they are very expensive, you should make sure to research all your options before you decide which is best for you. I ended up going with the U3011 myself. 
Lilim
Intel Core i7 920 @4.2GHz
HAF 932 - Dual SLI Nvidia GTX 480s
3x Intel X25-M G2 (80GB) SSD RAID0
R.I.P. Sinbad the cat (November 16, 1996 - April 18, 2011)
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Aroberts0820 View Drop Down
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Posts: 69 		  Quote Aroberts0820 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 08 Feb 2011 at 8:21pm
Sounds good! What about video card options? I know I should definitely be in the SLI realm. Should I be looking at a 2 or 3 card solution? Also, it appears 3x6950s is almost $200 cheaper than getting 2x580s. Should I go for that?
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Dragoonseal View Drop Down
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Posts: 2247 		  Quote Dragoonseal Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 08 Feb 2011 at 8:50pm
No, 6950s are underpowered little things. I would go with 2x570s if you want to get a better deal. A 570 is only about 20% less powerful than a 580 (and can be overclocked to 580 level easily) but is vastly cheaper, at a whopping $219 cheaper per card.
Lilim
Intel Core i7 920 @4.2GHz
HAF 932 - Dual SLI Nvidia GTX 480s
3x Intel X25-M G2 (80GB) SSD RAID0
R.I.P. Sinbad the cat (November 16, 1996 - April 18, 2011)
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Aroberts0820 View Drop Down
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Posts: 69 		  Quote Aroberts0820 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 08 Feb 2011 at 10:21pm
Awesome.
 
Just out of curiousity. Your sig says you have 3x80g SSD's in RAID-0. I thought you rlose TRIM support when you RAID SSD's. Is that true or did you find a work around or something?
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Dragoonseal View Drop Down
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Posts: 2247 		  Quote Dragoonseal Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 09 Feb 2011 at 1:35am
Originally posted by Aroberts0820

Awesome.
 
Just out of curiousity. Your sig says you have 3x80g SSD's in RAID-0. I thought you rlose TRIM support when you RAID SSD's. Is that true or did you find a work around or something?

You are correct, you lose TRIM support. However it's pretty much completely unnecessary on any SSD worth its salt these days. Intel SSDs are particularly great at being resilient to performance degradation almost no matter what you throw at them, TRIM functionality or not.

I've used and abused Lilim's RAID array for around 11 months now without breaking the array for any maintenance and it's still trucking along at close to full strength, having only lost some write speed along the way as it settled into steady state performance.
Lilim
Intel Core i7 920 @4.2GHz
HAF 932 - Dual SLI Nvidia GTX 480s
3x Intel X25-M G2 (80GB) SSD RAID0
R.I.P. Sinbad the cat (November 16, 1996 - April 18, 2011)
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DST4ME View Drop Down
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Posts: 36758 		  Quote DST4ME Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 09 Feb 2011 at 2:07am
Another vote for Dell UltraSharp U3011 30" tho for 2560 x 1600 res, if you gonna use high aa then you may want to go with cf 6970 since it has more vram, if aa is not gonna be high then the sli 570 will do great and are the way to go.

Nvidia Drivers----AMD Drivers
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justin.kerr View Drop Down
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Posts: 5084 		  Quote justin.kerr Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 09 Feb 2011 at 9:28am
3 6950's will blow away 3 570's at 2560x1600 res, with eye candy cranked up. some games it will be a difference of 300-400%  Multi GPU at high res with low VRAM is a very poor idea.
Yes the 6970's would be a better choice
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Posts: 36758 		  Quote DST4ME Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 10 Feb 2011 at 12:59am
I thought he said you won't use aa.

Nvidia Drivers----AMD Drivers
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justin.kerr View Drop Down
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Posts: 5084 		  Quote justin.kerr Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 10 Feb 2011 at 9:18am

AA does seem to use up the VRAM, more than most other settings, but with all the others settings on  high,  some games still will eat the Vram up.  And with any mods for games, I have found, usually increase VRAM needs a ton.

I wish I had the 2Gb 5870's in mine... It sucks being VRAM limited. Confused
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Aroberts0820 View Drop Down
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Posts: 69 		  Quote Aroberts0820 Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 11 Feb 2011 at 11:58am
Thanks for the help guys!
 
Edit: I'm a bit surprised no one gave me a hard time about picking the Silverstone FT 02


Edited by Aroberts0820 - 11 Feb 2011 at 12:00pm
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DST4ME View Drop Down
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Posts: 36758 		  Quote DST4ME Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 12 Feb 2011 at 2:36am
LOL its your choice not my cup of tea, you are not gonna like it when you see the lack of room with 2 or more gpus.

Our pleasure and good luck

Nvidia Drivers----AMD Drivers
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