New Comp for enthusiast! Want to order today/tomor

They don't have to be ATI, Nvidia does three monitors just fine as well (better because of more GPU muscle), they're just limited to 2 monitors per video card, so you would just have to have at least 2 cards. Quad Crossfire scales horribly, you really do not want two 5970s (each card has two GPUs), I'd recommend going with triple SLI 480s or 580s.

Currently 580s are in low supply and are overpriced, at around $205 (42%) more than a 480, but they only have about 20% more performance than a 480. Up to you guys which one of those you would rather go for.

Also, you're going to need a bigger PSU. The 1200w Corsair might do, if not then the 1500w Silverstone.

I'd probably go for the Rampage III Extreme motherboard over the Classified.

Avoid VelociRaptors, they are complete crap and all marketing. The only VR that is actually faster than standard 1TB HDDs is the large 600GB model, but only by about 5%. If you want fast get an Intel SSD for the OS/apps, those are on a whole other level compared to HDDs, literately 100 times faster small file performance (around twice the performance for large files).

The Killer 2100 NIC doesn't do anything, avoid it, you don't need it wasting one of your PCIe slots. Just pay your ISP more for a better connection.

Don't forget the free game and t-shirt selections.

The GTX 570 actually just came out, and you may want to consider that in terms of graphics. It's essentially 480 performance with lower heat and noise, $90 less too. If you go with the new 5 series, LC might not that beneficial. The 5 series cards are running pretty decent vapo-chill cooling rigs stock.

Velociraptors may net you some sort of performance gain, but it's so negligible that it's not worth it in terms of money you spend. For hard drive speeds, it's go the whole hog and get a SSD, or stick with your common 7200RPM drive.

As with Dragoon is saying, I'm starting to take a liking to Asus as well. The 3.99GB outbreak with EVGA X58 boards lately has got me on edge.

I own a Killer Xeno Pro running Firmware Update 6.0, which some BFG people claimed somewhere that it was supposed to net you the performance of the Killer 2100. Had high hopes for it at first, but still, although it nets you some sort of ping advantage, it's nothing that's really significant (especially for the price). Currently, the only benefits I see from the Xeno is that the config tool it comes with allows bandwidth priority regulation for your programs, along with application blocking. The tool is especially picky, however, if the Killer NIC is at anytime disconnected during runtime, the application will fail to get any input from the NIC again regardless if it's reconnected. The tool will only be able to then get inputs again upon a restart. Overall, not worth it.

Memory fan kit, I dunno, if you're not overclocking RAM I personally see no benefit from it really. Adds a heck of a lot of noise too since it uses small fans (Rule of thumb : Smaller fans = higher noise per airflow output).

Go windows home premium. Professional only gives you the benefit of running XP mode via download, easier connection to business domains, and backup to a network drive via the built in backup utility.

Tried to hit $6.5k within parts practicality- http://www.digitalstormonline.com/comploadsaved.asp?id=468064


Edited by ablahblah - 12 Dec 2010 at 4:31pm

Originally posted by Synth3tikMessiah Wow thanks a lot, i think im def. gonna switch to the geforce now. But since money isnt much of an issue, I'd say push the components farther to get it to that $6.5k. We're only following my brother's orders so no worries, lol. Heres the new list from me, http://www.digitalstormonline.com/comploadsaved.asp?id=468026 What do you guys think?

That's the same config as before. Here:

Ticket #468083, Price: $6462

Chassis Model: Special Deal Hot Seller - Cooler Master 942 HAF X
Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish
Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish
Processor: Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition 980X 3.33GHz (Six-Core) (Extreme Performance)
Motherboard: ASUS Rampage III Extreme (Intel X58 Chipset) (Features USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s)
System Memory: 12GB DDR3 2000MHz Corsair Dominator GT with DHX (3x4GB Sticks) (CMT12GX3M3A2000C9)
Power Supply: 1500W Silverstone (Dual/Triple/Quad SLI Compatible) (Recommended)
Expansion Bay: Internal Digital Media Card Reader (Black) (NOTE: Disables 2 Front USB Ports)
Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 2x (80GB Solid State (By: Intel) (Model: X25-M MLC Edition) (Extreme Performance)
Set 1 Raid Options: Configure HDD Set 1 to a Raid 0 Config - Stripe Performance (Requires Two HDDs)
Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: 1x (2TB Western Digital (7200 RPM) (64MB Cache) (Model: Black Edition WD2001FASS)
Hard Drive Set 3: Backup\Misc.: - No Thanks
Optical Drive 1: Blu-Ray & DVD Writer/Reader (Burn + Play Blu-Ray & DVDs) (12x BD-R) (Lite-On iHBS112)
Optical Drive 2: - No Thanks
Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Video Card: 3x SLI Triple (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 1.2GB (Includes PhysX Technology)
Add-on Card: - No Thanks
Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio
Extreme Cooling: H20: Stage 6: Sub-Zero LCS Dual Loop: CPU & Triple SLI/CrossFire Video Cards
H20 Tube Color:Red Tubing with High-Performance Fluid (UV Lighting Reactive)
Chassis Airflow: Standard Factory Chassis Fans
Internal Lighting: Internal Chassis Lighting System (Red)
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 (Cooling Upgrade Recommended)
Boost Video Card: FREE: Yes, Overclock the video card(s) as much as possible with complete stability
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)
Recovery Tools: Windows Recovery Toolkit (Bundled with Windows 7 CD)
Virus Protection: - No Thanks
Office: - No Thanks
Benchmarking: - No Thanks
Install/Test Game: FREE: Hot-selling game with a NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250 or above graphics card
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 5-15 Business Days After Order Is Successfully Processed
Warranty: FREE PROMO: Life-time Expert Customer Care with 4 Year Limited Warranty

Thanks to ablahblah for reminding me about the new 570.

OS/apps/games on the SSDs, music/movies/media on the HDD.

Dragoon, i caught that mistake and re-posted with the list inside the forum as opposed to linking you, thanks for doing another build for me! =]

Well looks like my list and yours are identical only no extra storage is required, the 2x 80gb SSD are fine (we have more external storage and other pc's) What its gonna boil down to is

Video Card: 2x SLI Dual (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 1.5GB (PhysX) (EVGA Black Ops 015-P3-1583-AR)

VS

Video Card: 3x SLI Triple (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 1.2GB (Includes PhysX Technology)

3x 570 may be better since i can make the third one PhysX Dedicated, and run the other two as dual SLI

What are your thoughts regarding overall performance regarding the video cards?

(And to answer the previous post, we'd like to achieve it all, hence why hes throwing money at it, haha.) We're tech geeks, only im too busy with grad school to keep up with the market for time being. Its why im asking all my DS buddies on here for help! He loves having the latest and greatest... Hes a gaming enthusiast who loves maxing every thing out but also does lots of various kinds of development (software and other) and requires a good number cruncher/workhorse. PERFORMANCE comes first to silence and looks etc... Thanks again all! If anyone else wants a stab, im setting the budget to $6800.

Oh, something I forgot about. The HAF X has a bunch of optional fan slots that can be filled. Ask DS (either through email or in the notes section of your order) for additional fans to fill the optional spots, which I believe is a 1x 200mm, 1x 120mm, and 1x 80mm fan.

Lemme know how much DS quotes you for those additional fans? I'm curious to know.

and id look into jacking your water cooling if you are nuts about performance. the stage 6 option gives you a 3x and 2x rad, id go for 2 3x rads with full gentle typhoon fans this would mean moving to a more extreme case, fyi

Originally posted by Dragoonseal Lemme know how much DS quotes you for those additional fans? I'm curious to know.

Based on my dealings with DS, it should be around 20$ per fan. That's the cost of the fan itself, the installation, and the warranty upcharge. There was no cost difference for the different sizes of fan, at least not in my HAF-X.

Well, see, for me it was only 40$.

I specified that I wanted all of the additional case fans, however, I only got charged for two. The ones included in my order were the 200mm fan on top and the 120mm fan in the GPU shroud. Where does the 80mm fan go? I can see if there is an empty slot in my case.

Another idea would be to go with push pull instead, have fans on both sides of your rad, it makes a big difference in your case's temp.

Just an idea, it will help both your LC temps and your case temps.

IF the fans are quiet then I would add them too, I too believe there is nothing wrong with good airflow.

As for the two fans I belive they go here:



You have an option of second 200mm fan on top also right?

@ablahblah, check out netlimiter, there is a free version and it allows you to limit net activity by app.

So i should put fans on both sides of the rad for this build and request DS to mount the extra fans. Anyone with the HAF X know of the optimal positioning for its fans? Negative or positive pressure?  Which fans should be intake and which fans should be exhaust? all that good stuff?

Cant i mount the 3x rad externally? I know my HAF 932 allows me to... And that's what i was saying before, my build is fully LC at stage 6, CPU all GPU, and chipset... Why do i even need an extra fan or two for ambient temps? The affect is too minuscule, i'd think, even with a 200mm.

Which chassis will allow for a push pull rad? Or what other options are there for me?


Edited by Synth3tikMessiah - 13 Dec 2010 at 6:29pm

Well then, i reported everything back to my bro and he did a little of his own research regarding the GPU's, apparently the only nvidia card that has similar technology to ATI's Eyefinity is the 580... So he officially wants triple SLI 580's...i dunno, id do otherwise, but hes got the money so i wont argue...

Here is the final build,
http://www.digitalstormonline.com/comploadsaved.asp?id=468530

He just put the order in now, i'll be sure to update you guys on any interesting developments as well as nice shiny pics once its finally here!

Thanks for all the help everyone. As usual, Digital Storm community proves to be nothing short of EPIC.

"The feature is called Eyefinity and what it does in essence, is allow for multiple monitors to be used as a single display. As it stands today, for the most part, when multiple monitors are connected to a single PC, those monitors are recognized as independent displays and can be configured for desktop spanning or mirroring, etc. With Eyefinity, however, the displays are arranged in a single group (or in multiple groups) and they are treated as a single display by the OS."

http://hothardware.com/News/AMD-Eyefinity-MultiDisplay-Technology-In-Action/

When ATI released eyefinity Nvidia's answer was 3d Vision Surround

Surround tech gives greater peripheral vision like eyefinity across multiple monitors, and 3d adds to depth. Also there is some 3rd party emulation software for nvidia cards that simulate eyefinity and make use of CUDA to assist.

From user reviews ive read on 3d Surround Vision, its supposed to be very next gen type of technology. Insanely immersive gaming.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/3d-vision-surround-technology.html


Edited by Synth3tikMessiah - 14 Dec 2010 at 12:37am

Originally posted by Synth3tikMessiah Cant i mount the 3x rad externally? I know my HAF 932 allows me to... And that's what i was saying before, my build is fully LC at stage 6, CPU all GPU, and chipset... Why do i even need an extra fan or two for ambient temps? The affect is too minuscule, i'd think, even with a 200mm.Which chassis will allow for a push pull rad? Or what other options are there for me?

you can mount the fan externally, look at my build in my sig and here for more pics. I have push pull on both 3x fans, the inside top is the feser with push pull and the outside is the gtx 420 which fits 140mm fans.

We have done test with the haf before and pointing the top fans to blow air in or outward has resulted in a 2c difference in temps, aka pointless, so it does not really matter which way the blow.

You have to ask DS if they push pull will fit.

Edited by DST4ME - 14 Dec 2010 at 6:57am

I agree with Dragoon on his GPU assessment, triple 570's is definitely the way to go if you are going to do 3 GPU's  Bang per buck I think it is hard to beat that.


Of Course I disagree with him about the Raptor HDD's they are NOT Crap.  Cost effective?  No, Bad Drives? No.   Good drives at a high price point.

Edit: Fixed a typo.


Edited by MagiK - 14 Dec 2010 at 11:35am

Do the drives have mechanical defects? Do they break down more than other drives? do they lose data more than other HDD's?  No, no and umm no....ergo NOT crap.
Expensive is not a corollary to Crap.

Crap to me is hardware with higher than average failures, or significant drawbacks...the Raptors only drawback is the price point.

And thanks for calling me dumb     I purchased one, Im happy with the purchase and when the G3 600GB SSD becomes available I'll swap it out  :

Velociraptor drives = Good hardware at a bad price.

By the way the price for a 600GB VR = roughly $260
I would advise anyone with budget issues not get a Velociraptor drive, if you arent worried about a few bucks here or there  go for it...or wait for the 600GB G3 SSD coming hopefully early next year.


Edited by MagiK - 14 Dec 2010 at 1:40pm