OK just one question why then is every test rig that I have seen using the 3930K or the 3960X. Secondly I would put good money on the fact that with in 3 - 4 years hex cores are being used by games.
My insane Rig
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OK just one question why then is every test rig that I have seen using the 3930K or the 3960X. Secondly I would put good money on the fact that with in 3 - 4 years hex cores are being used by games.
Again future proofing. The monitor i have chosen takes even the most powerful cards and give them something to think about. The RAM gives me options plus I really want to try a RAM disk. As for the hex core see my above post
Feronix
New member
Not to be rude, but you come here for advice and when people give you exactly that it seems like you don't really want to hear it
Truth is that no one can forsee the future, and there's no such thing as a rig that's guaranteed to still run games at high settings in 5 years or even more. If you buy that "insane" pc of yours, there's still a chance that it's too old for games in 5 years, and if you buy the suggested rig, there's a chance that it will run just fine for that time.
Absolutely no one can say for sure, so I'd just go with the cheaper option now. It's still extremely high end and you can use your remaining 4000 quid to upgrade it over the years
Truth is that no one can forsee the future, and there's no such thing as a rig that's guaranteed to still run games at high settings in 5 years or even more. If you buy that "insane" pc of yours, there's still a chance that it's too old for games in 5 years, and if you buy the suggested rig, there's a chance that it will run just fine for that time.
Absolutely no one can say for sure, so I'd just go with the cheaper option now. It's still extremely high end and you can use your remaining 4000 quid to upgrade it over the years
Did see a vid on youtube they raid0'ed like 24 SSD's through a PCI RAID controller now that was nuts. But as for the idea emm let me run the numbers and i'l get back to you. It might not be so crazy as it sounds.
MacLeod
New member
Well history would say youre wrong. Games were barely using 2 cores back in 2006 and theyre barely using 2 cores now nearly 7 years later. Why are they all of a sudden gonna jump up 4 more cores in 3 years?
Game developers are building for the lowest common denominator i.e. consoles. Theyre not building their games to suit us PC gamers and our rigs that we painstakingly put together and obsess over. Like I said, a dual core processor from 2006 can still be a viable gaming processor today nearly 7 years later but the highest end GPU's from 2009 are at best mid range by todays standards.
If you want to spend twice as much money as you need on a SB-E processor, by all means go ahead. Im a big fan and believer in MOAR and will never judge a person for buying overkill cause its fun but Im telling you youre not only not going to need it but youre not going to see a difference in it. There is a difference in buying something stupid expensive just because its fun and you want it and mistakenly thinking you gotta have it. But if youre really gonna do it right, why not get the 3970X? Then youd REALLY be future proofing.
Well history would say youre wrong. Games were barely using 2 cores back in 2006 and theyre barely using 2 cores now nearly 7 years later. Why are they all of a sudden gonna jump up 4 more cores in 3 years?
Game developers are building for the lowest common denominator i.e. consoles. Theyre not building their games to suit us PC gamers and our rigs that we painstakingly put together and obsess over. Like I said, a dual core processor from 2006 can still be a viable gaming processor today nearly 7 years later but the highest end GPU's from 2009 are at best mid range by todays standards.
If you want to spend twice as much money as you need on a SB-E processor, by all means go ahead. Im a big fan and believer in MOAR and will never judge a person for buying overkill cause its fun but Im telling you youre not only not going to need it but youre not going to see a difference in it. There is a difference in buying something stupid expensive just because its fun and you want it and mistakenly thinking you gotta have it. But if youre really gonna do it right, why not get the 3970X? Then youd REALLY be future proofing.
Im nuts but not that nuts £700 odd for the same bit of kit. Its attractive but no not when they OC to basically the same speed.
To change subject I just fucked up. I just noticed that there is a 4gb version of the 680. So now I got to go find out which is better a 690 or 2 680 4gb any suggestions????
If I say that two 680s are faster, will you go with the 690 cause you don't really listen to our input anyway?
So yeah, 680 SLI is faster, though a dual card set-up does get warmer. However, with an overkill machine like you want I expect a custom watercooling loop ;3
SLI may be warmer but i am water cooling like you said. The problem now is finding the proof that sli 680 4gb is better than a 690 but I think you may be right. I do listen to input I changed my PSU to a better one thanks to Mac because he showed me proof and I incorrectly thought that the 680 only came in a 2gb version thats why i was rejecting the idea of the 680. I am always willing to change provided there is proof
Feronix
New member
You could just try researching things yourself, I'm pretty sure that Google will come up with some benchmarks when you search for "GTX 690 vs GTX680 SLI"
Long story short; a 690 basically has two 680 chips on one card, but because those two chips must share the power phase design and cooler, they underclocked it a bit to keep the temps reasonable. Two actual 680s will have the same chips, but each card has its own power phase and cooler, thus allowing faster clockspeeds which results in a faster set-up.
Long story short; a 690 basically has two 680 chips on one card, but because those two chips must share the power phase design and cooler, they underclocked it a bit to keep the temps reasonable. Two actual 680s will have the same chips, but each card has its own power phase and cooler, thus allowing faster clockspeeds which results in a faster set-up.
Kidbest100
New member
It sounds like a bit of a weird hardware choice to me...
Why all the velociraptors? Why don't you wait until the 4 TB Caviar blacks come out, get 1 or 2 of those, and then get an SSD?!?!
Also, the GTX 690 is fine, 2 won't really future proof you much, but if you really want to have bragging rights have atter. Otherwise, 2 680 will scale better, but will put out more noise and heat. however, once you do watercool the entire thing, that will not be an issue.
Also, why the 3930K? I would go with something like the new 3970x, but I can understand the value problem there.
That power supply is horrible... Why not take advantage of the current technology and get something that is 80+ Platinum, and looks nice, like the AX 1200i? That would be plenty enough juice, and would definitely keep your system for years and years to come.
As for the RAM, I would go with something like the dominator platinums. Great RAM, great looks, and great speeds. Pair up 16 gigs of that with a extreme edition processor, and you won't have to upgrade for a long time.
I know that some of my ideas don't really speak to those people who want to save money, but from what it sounds like, you really aren't too worried. Anyway, don't listen to me, I don't know exactly what you want.
Good luck!
Why all the velociraptors? Why don't you wait until the 4 TB Caviar blacks come out, get 1 or 2 of those, and then get an SSD?!?!
Also, the GTX 690 is fine, 2 won't really future proof you much, but if you really want to have bragging rights have atter. Otherwise, 2 680 will scale better, but will put out more noise and heat. however, once you do watercool the entire thing, that will not be an issue.
Also, why the 3930K? I would go with something like the new 3970x, but I can understand the value problem there.
That power supply is horrible... Why not take advantage of the current technology and get something that is 80+ Platinum, and looks nice, like the AX 1200i? That would be plenty enough juice, and would definitely keep your system for years and years to come.
As for the RAM, I would go with something like the dominator platinums. Great RAM, great looks, and great speeds. Pair up 16 gigs of that with a extreme edition processor, and you won't have to upgrade for a long time.
I know that some of my ideas don't really speak to those people who want to save money, but from what it sounds like, you really aren't too worried. Anyway, don't listen to me, I don't know exactly what you want.
Good luck!
You could just try researching things yourself, I'm pretty sure that Google will come up with some benchmarks when you search for "GTX 690 vs GTX680 SLI"
Long story short; a 690 basically has two 680 chips on one card, but because those two chips must share the power phase design and cooler, they underclocked it a bit to keep the temps reasonable. Two actual 680s will have the same chips, but each card has its own power phase and cooler, thus allowing faster clockspeeds which results in a faster set-up.
Yeah after some research I have decided to go with 2 GTX 680 4gb bit more money but less issues over all and from what I have seen in reviews ect better real world applications.
Though I can understand the X and could buy it i can't justify it over £700 for the same bit of kit. As for the PSU how so? all the reviews i have read say its fantastic and if I think it wont be enough there is the XFX Pro 1250 but from what i read the AX1200i is not quite as good do you own one? As for the RAM the g-skill was recommended but I have not really had time to look at RAM seriously yet. Thanks for the input though.
Can you please explain a few things:
1)You want to spend insane amounts on a build, but you haven't said its for the fun of overkill or just because you can, but because of future proofing? (so is this your real reason?)
2)You have already witnessed a good system not staying a top performer for as long as you would have liked, so you think this time it will be different? (even though this time you have people saying it won't)
3)you want to future proof, but state that already in "part 2" you will think of getting a new cpu and gpu if they are out? So why future proof if you have no problem spending for the latest tech?
4)You are ready to spend 3x the amount that would get you an epic rig to get minimal performance gains, but when debating about 2x680 vs 690 and the 3970x you are worried about price? (I understand the cpu, but even talked about price in the gpu debating)
5) you need so much proof and tests to go with 680s. to qoute you "I am always willing to change provided there is proof" yet someone just has to mention dominators and you change the ram just like that. (not saying its a bad choice, but you blindly listened to that even though "its good" hasn't been enough for you in anything else)
6) when people say you don't listen to advice, your defense is that you changed the PSU. Yet the post that made you change it says that 860w is plenty, so you didn't even listen to everything that the post had to say.
I hope these questions don't sound too harsh. Don't get me wrong, I see no problem in making an expensive insane rig if you can and want to, but your logic baffles me. Maybe if you could answer my questions, people would understand your line of thinging and give better advice or be able to reach out to you better.
1)You want to spend insane amounts on a build, but you haven't said its for the fun of overkill or just because you can, but because of future proofing? (so is this your real reason?)
2)You have already witnessed a good system not staying a top performer for as long as you would have liked, so you think this time it will be different? (even though this time you have people saying it won't)
3)you want to future proof, but state that already in "part 2" you will think of getting a new cpu and gpu if they are out? So why future proof if you have no problem spending for the latest tech?
4)You are ready to spend 3x the amount that would get you an epic rig to get minimal performance gains, but when debating about 2x680 vs 690 and the 3970x you are worried about price? (I understand the cpu, but even talked about price in the gpu debating)
5) you need so much proof and tests to go with 680s. to qoute you "I am always willing to change provided there is proof" yet someone just has to mention dominators and you change the ram just like that. (not saying its a bad choice, but you blindly listened to that even though "its good" hasn't been enough for you in anything else)
6) when people say you don't listen to advice, your defense is that you changed the PSU. Yet the post that made you change it says that 860w is plenty, so you didn't even listen to everything that the post had to say.
I hope these questions don't sound too harsh. Don't get me wrong, I see no problem in making an expensive insane rig if you can and want to, but your logic baffles me. Maybe if you could answer my questions, people would understand your line of thinging and give better advice or be able to reach out to you better.
In replay to NURF's latest post
1: Future Proofing is the top reason the other two are there as well. This is also something of an experiment into the theory of future proofing. My first rig failed in that task. Mainly ,I think, because I did not use the best parts but any experiment has to be done more than once so a slight change and off we go again.
2: I hope this was covered above and because I'm lazy i wont repeat myself
3:That change was made yesterday and again falls inline with point 1 of using what appears to be or is the best. And Part 2 was adding in more RAM, extra GPU if I had the funds. The CUP is strictly Part 1. What is the point if future proofing if I am using old tech and I had not realized the the 700 series and IB-E were coming in 2013 though I doubt the IB-E will be a 2013 product.
4: That was a major error on my part I foolishly assumed the the 680 was a 1 core 2gb card only for a price of aprox £420 - £450 while the 690 was a 2 core 4gb card for aprox £750 to £1200 (£1200 pre installed water block no performance gain) All the bench tests and reviews supported this. But now I know better and 2 - 3 GTX 680 4GB at aprox £450 each is far better option than the 690's and thus have changed my parts list.
5: I have not completed my RAM research yet and at time of posting had not done any other than to find out some prices. The G. skill was recommended to me so I stuck it down. After 30 min of browsing I realized there was several better options so I quickly changed. Still need to do more research though.
6: I am still unsure about that a used a few PSU calculators and they told be 1200w min and usually 1500w recommended. So I guess I jumped to conclusions again, a foolish error that was not properly researched. I am still dubious on PSU size. It would be very annoying and expensive if I got the wrong one better to have an umbrella than get wet don't you think.
Lastly I have dyslexia so if I dont present myself well in text or seem curt it is only because writing is a pain in the ass but that is not an excuse just a fact I really enjoyed writing this and you have made me stop and think which is always a good idea. So thank you for your input and feel free to do it again.
1: Future Proofing is the top reason the other two are there as well. This is also something of an experiment into the theory of future proofing. My first rig failed in that task. Mainly ,I think, because I did not use the best parts but any experiment has to be done more than once so a slight change and off we go again.
2: I hope this was covered above and because I'm lazy i wont repeat myself
3:That change was made yesterday and again falls inline with point 1 of using what appears to be or is the best. And Part 2 was adding in more RAM, extra GPU if I had the funds. The CUP is strictly Part 1. What is the point if future proofing if I am using old tech and I had not realized the the 700 series and IB-E were coming in 2013 though I doubt the IB-E will be a 2013 product.
4: That was a major error on my part I foolishly assumed the the 680 was a 1 core 2gb card only for a price of aprox £420 - £450 while the 690 was a 2 core 4gb card for aprox £750 to £1200 (£1200 pre installed water block no performance gain) All the bench tests and reviews supported this. But now I know better and 2 - 3 GTX 680 4GB at aprox £450 each is far better option than the 690's and thus have changed my parts list.
5: I have not completed my RAM research yet and at time of posting had not done any other than to find out some prices. The G. skill was recommended to me so I stuck it down. After 30 min of browsing I realized there was several better options so I quickly changed. Still need to do more research though.
6: I am still unsure about that a used a few PSU calculators and they told be 1200w min and usually 1500w recommended. So I guess I jumped to conclusions again, a foolish error that was not properly researched. I am still dubious on PSU size. It would be very annoying and expensive if I got the wrong one better to have an umbrella than get wet don't you think.
Lastly I have dyslexia so if I dont present myself well in text or seem curt it is only because writing is a pain in the ass but that is not an excuse just a fact I really enjoyed writing this and you have made me stop and think which is always a good idea. So thank you for your input and feel free to do it again.
VictorB
New member
My way of future proofing is to buy a good motherboard cpu combination which supports lots of mem for todays standard. And enough modern standards sata3 usb3 enough pci-e. And don't get pci32 bits and such very old thing on your motherboard. And don't spend to much money on video cards.
In 2002 i bought a dual socket amd xp 2400+ and i allready had a ati radeon 64. Later i bought a x1600 card (for battlefield2) in 2005. In 2007 i bought a e6600 on a insane asus workstation motherboard with pci-x 133mhz and 2x pci-e 8x and a 8600gts after 3 months i swapped with a friend and got a Q6600 which i clocked on 3ghz in 2009 i bought a 9800GT (for farcry2) and late 2011 i bought a gtx570 (for Battlefield3)
So in june 2012 i bought a i7 3770k and put the gtx570 in
So if you really want to spend some money go for a socket 2011 with a 6core and put in a videocard which can play today games. (Single 680) And if we have crysis4 over 2 years then put a newer card in. So my plan is 5 years motherboard cpu combination and 2 to 3 years with the graphics card.
Overspending don't future proof your system i you have 2 insane expensive video cards you never gonna upgrade it because there where so expensive
In 2002 i bought a dual socket amd xp 2400+ and i allready had a ati radeon 64. Later i bought a x1600 card (for battlefield2) in 2005. In 2007 i bought a e6600 on a insane asus workstation motherboard with pci-x 133mhz and 2x pci-e 8x and a 8600gts after 3 months i swapped with a friend and got a Q6600 which i clocked on 3ghz in 2009 i bought a 9800GT (for farcry2) and late 2011 i bought a gtx570 (for Battlefield3)
So in june 2012 i bought a i7 3770k and put the gtx570 in
So if you really want to spend some money go for a socket 2011 with a 6core and put in a videocard which can play today games. (Single 680) And if we have crysis4 over 2 years then put a newer card in. So my plan is 5 years motherboard cpu combination and 2 to 3 years with the graphics card.
Overspending don't future proof your system i you have 2 insane expensive video cards you never gonna upgrade it because there where so expensive
I think you should consider a 850w psu. It will be plenty and you can get one that is 160mm long. A longer PSU always has the risk of causing space issues especially when having an internal wc build. So seeing as you never know what you will want to build in the future, I think a shorter psu is more "future proof" than a longer one. I would trust real world tests much more than calculators in power consumption.
I don't think you should raid ssds for only performance reasons. Raid always increases the chance of problems so only raid the ssds if its for the fun of it.
When it comes to storage use. You don't need speed and you never know how much space you will need, so more space is more future proof. So why not get some HDDs for storage and go overkill on size not speed. A quieter system is better than a loud one and as I said, speed isn't needed for storage so a slower HDD which is quieter is better than a faster one, imo.
Now the dominators are good, but you can get the same performance cheaper, but they look good and thats what you are paying for. I think a build like this should also look super nice, so I say go for the doms, but IF you don't like the look of them, there is no reason to get them over something else. I would also advise you to make up you mind on how much RAM you want now, rather than getting some now and getting a bit more later. This way you can buy a single set and avoid any compatibility problems.
The dual gpus is all about overkill fun. I would say get the 2x680, not because its future proofing, but because of the fun of it.
As for future proofing in general, so your old build isn't cutting it anymore. What kind of better performance could you have bought back then? A gpu that has 10% better performance? Would that added 10% really have made your system last longer?
If I had the money, I would personally not spend huge sums just to get the system to last half a year longer, but instead use it on something like insanely good speakers to go with my insane build that will be good for pretty much forever, but thats just me. (I have a little audiophile inside me)
I don't think you should raid ssds for only performance reasons. Raid always increases the chance of problems so only raid the ssds if its for the fun of it.
When it comes to storage use. You don't need speed and you never know how much space you will need, so more space is more future proof. So why not get some HDDs for storage and go overkill on size not speed. A quieter system is better than a loud one and as I said, speed isn't needed for storage so a slower HDD which is quieter is better than a faster one, imo.
Now the dominators are good, but you can get the same performance cheaper, but they look good and thats what you are paying for. I think a build like this should also look super nice, so I say go for the doms, but IF you don't like the look of them, there is no reason to get them over something else. I would also advise you to make up you mind on how much RAM you want now, rather than getting some now and getting a bit more later. This way you can buy a single set and avoid any compatibility problems.
The dual gpus is all about overkill fun. I would say get the 2x680, not because its future proofing, but because of the fun of it.
As for future proofing in general, so your old build isn't cutting it anymore. What kind of better performance could you have bought back then? A gpu that has 10% better performance? Would that added 10% really have made your system last longer?
If I had the money, I would personally not spend huge sums just to get the system to last half a year longer, but instead use it on something like insanely good speakers to go with my insane build that will be good for pretty much forever, but thats just me. (I have a little audiophile inside me)
