Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: LLv34_Snefens on August 04, 2010, 11:26:59 AM
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I'm beginning to get tired of limitations of my 2004-vintage CPU and found a new high performance setup I'm thinking about buying. As you can see it has 6GB as standard, but possible to double that, but I'm not even sure that the RAM is the bottleneck here. Maybe the CPU instead?
- INTEL i7 920, Quad 2.66GHz, 4.8GT/s, SOCKET 1366 (D0)
- GIGABYTE Motherboard X58A (with USB 3.0 OG SATA3)
- 2 x GTX480 in SLI (1536MB DDR5 RAM x2)
- 1000GB HARDDISK SAMSUNG F3, 7200RPM (32MB CACHE)
- 6GB DDR3 1600MHZ KINGSTON "TRIPPLECHANNEL" HYPER-X
- 24x SATA +/- AND DVD-RAM DUALLAYER DVDBURNER (SONY)
- 1000W 80+ AND SLI CERTIFIED POWERSUPPLY, COOLERMASTER (80A, 12v)
- CASE, COOLERMASTER CM690 (NVIDIA SLI OG CROSSFIRE APPROVED)
- 7.1 SURROUNDSOUND CARD
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Here is your biggest bottleneck:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119137 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119137)
:neener:
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It's a good case. I love the CM690 II Advanced. Lots of neat features. Look into NZXT cases too.
Nothing is a bottleneck there. You can OC the i7 quite well with a aftermarket cooler. 2 480's are overkill, can I have 1? :)
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You were doing good until you got to that hard drive... :uhoh
You would be much better off one of these for your primary drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136533 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136533)
And one of these as the secondary/storage drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284)
A Samsung or Pioneer DVD burner would be better than that Sony too.
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Snefens, I recently put together a new machine built around the i7-930 CPU, ASUS P6X58D-E mobo, and a single ATI 5850 graphics card. I see a solid 85 FPS during *everything* but the big simultaneous FSO takeoffs, when it only drops down to about 70 FPS.
The i7-930, rated at 2.8 GHz, clocks very easily for me to 3.4 GHz, using a Zalman CNPS9900ALED (http://www.zalman.com/ENG/product/Product_Read.asp?idx=356) after-market heatsink.
Also, based on Skuzzy's posts in here about power supplies, I bought a SeaSonic X750 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151087). It even comes packaged like a bottle of fine Scotch, in a black velvet drawstring sack! :rofl
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You were doing good until you got to that hard drive... :uhoh
You would be much better off one of these for your primary drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136533 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136533)
And one of these as the secondary/storage drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284)
A Samsung or Pioneer DVD burner would be better than that Sony too.
Wow... literally a $5 difference between the two... just buy two of the first ones and RAID them together.
Or you can go SSD...
Although I do love my velociraptor...
Twin GTX480's are WAY overkill for just about... everything.. might be better off losing one of them and spending it elsewhere...
regardless though, it's a very nice system...
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Twin GTX480's are WAY overkill for just about... everything..
Except for FSX
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the only bottleneck w/ the build is the storage.
ssd or hw-based raid0 should rectify that.
also, three of these should work best (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824002469) with your SLI'd video cards.
anything less would also be a bottleneck on the visual end.
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also, three of these should work best (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824002469) with your SLI'd video cards.
anything less would also be a bottleneck on the visual end.
You'd think they would throw in free shipping on those. :O
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I have in use almost what you describe.
I use a CoolerMaster HAF 932, I recommend it highly.
Your ram choice should be at minimum 1600MHz ram, Affects how you OC the system with QPI.
I would consider at minimum a WD Velociraptor HDD.
I use SSD's in a RAID 0 array, sweet. I would use a single SSD for OS and games. 1 ms seek time, less wattage, silent.
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Thx for the input guys.
I'll be getting a SSD drive, and also going with the i7 930 CPU instead since price difference is less than 20$. The site I'm purchasing through have the HAF922 instead, but that looks nice as well.
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Thx for the input guys.
I'll be getting a SSD drive, and also going with the i7 930 CPU instead since price difference is less than 20$. The site I'm purchasing through have the HAF922 instead, but that looks nice as well.
I would suggest Newegg.com, but you are international. Shipping could kill you, altho they shipped my last purchase for free??????????????????
Make sure the SSD has a cache on it. Windows 7 works best with SSD's, if you go XP you need to prep the SSD for XP install.! Check out the manufacturers forums for proper use of SSD. Mine work great but I made sure I did my homework. I am not a puter professional.
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Nothing wrong with the spinning drive you listed. I have it personally and it's a wonderful drive. I specifically AVOIDED the Western Digital 1TB drives because of alarmingly HIGH negative reviews, drives dying after a few months, DOA drives. They have serious issues right now. The F3 was the best by far out of the newegg reviews (and I pored over them dilligently before hitting the "BUY" button).
If you want that for storage and a faster drive, you can get a couple smaller faster drives for RAID (if you're comfortable) or get a velociraptor or something with a rep for being reliable and fast as your primary boot disk.
I'm toying with the idea of 15,000 RPM SCSI (SAS) RAID in my next major build, but outside of that something like a 10,000 RPM SATA drive is what I'd look at.
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I just noticed that SSD's are 2.5" and the HAF 922 only have 3.5" bays. Should I get a converter or how does that work?
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Many folks just rest them on the bottom of the case or "sit" them inside a 5" bay without securing them. No spinning, so not much vibration. Less maintenance.
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I just noticed that SSD's are 2.5" and the HAF 922 only have 3.5" bays. Should I get a converter or how does that work?
I'd get a converter but that is just me.
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just mod it like they did here (http://www.overclock.net/computer-cases/392179-cooler-master-haf-932-922-club-455.html#post8370827). easy.
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just mod it like they did here (http://www.overclock.net/computer-cases/392179-cooler-master-haf-932-922-club-455.html#post8370827). easy.
Voiding a Warranty?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817994085&Tpk=BYTECC%20Bracket-35225 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817994085&Tpk=BYTECC%20Bracket-35225)
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Voiding a Warranty?
tell me, what warranty gets voided?
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tell me, what warranty gets voided?
You mentioned "mod" which means "voiding a warranty" 100% of the time.
After looking at a pic of the Agility drive, no warranty would be voided.
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Hey hey...NZXT cases come with a 3.5 to 2.5 slot for SSD's :)
But yeah that link is just an aftermarket bracket...so no worries.
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I just noticed that SSD's are 2.5" and the HAF 922 only have 3.5" bays. Should I get a converter or how does that work?
The HAF 932 case has drive bays with little cradles that slide like drawrs. I just zip tied them to a cradle, no adapter needed.
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Thanks again. About $18 for what appears to be nothing more than a metal tray with some screws... I'll see how it sits in (or can be ad-hoc attached to) the tray before I'll buy the converter.
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Thanks again. About $18 for what appears to be nothing more than a metal tray with some screws... I'll see how it sits in (or can be ad-hoc attached to) the tray before I'll buy the converter.
I said same thing, zip ties worked fine. If you have same style cradle in 922, should be sweet.
Remember to do research on OS install to SSD. Port location important, IDE, AHCI, choice important, aligning the primary partition important if using XP, SSD FW important. Look at OS adjustments for proper care and feeding of SSD.
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I'll be reading up on the install. Already found some good guides.
Creepy that when I booted up my old PC this morning it reported HD error for the first time in 6+ years. A reboot gave the same error, but otherwise normal start. It must have been offended about my plans to replace it :)
Anyway my backups were pretty recent, so it wouldn't have been a complete disaster if it decides to quit next time, but would be nice if I could have it working while I was getting the new one set up.
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Since SSD's have no moving parts, you can probably mount it with duct tape if you had to! Not that I would, but you won't have to worry about it vibrating loose so much.
You could also check amazon.co.uk for some stuff. I don't buy anything online without checking at amazon first. You never know what you're going to find (like my New Logitech G940 setup for US$199 with free shipping). It was only that price for a couple days, but I snatched it up.
I got my dad a laser printer (brother HL-2140) awhile back for $50 with free shipping from newegg.com.. just happened to 'stumble upon it'. It's only black and white, but so what? His ink cartridges kept drying up from lack of use, and the few times he DID need to print something involved going to a store and buying a new ink cartridge for $20-30. It's worked great for him for over a year now. I just recently ran into the same exact printer at newegg but this time it was $58 with free shipping, but I snatched it up for myself! We also used one of these at work, printing about 400 pages a day and it has held up for several months now with no issues. Great printer, and retails at about $140.
The moral of the story? Make sure you shop around. Your options may be limited in Denmark, but you'll find huge price differences from one site to another. Also make sure you check out the 'free shipping' options. Newegg for example might have a DVD burner for $25, but with $15 shipping, making its total price $40, however you might find a better one for $35 with free shipping, so it's like getting a much better part for $5 less! You just have to pay attention, is all.
Oh and someone mentioned about twin Fermi's being beneficial for FSX... yes you've got a good point there, but Snefens didn't mention it so I assumed (possibly incorrectly) that the new system would be used for the most part, for Aces High in which case a single Fermi is overkill, let alone two of them.