Hey Folks!
I need a few second options / advice for a system I'm building. My own requirements may be a bit weird from the normal gaming folks.
So i'm looking to build a small/silent ITX build. Since seeing Tom's review of the prodigy I have said to myself, YEP that's the case I want. So right now I have gone out and purchased the White prodigy with a matching 1440p CROSSOVER 27Q LED White Black Monitor. (http://imgur.com/a/V4OtF) Cosmetically it should look fantastic.
The power supply is a Corsair CX600 with Corsair Vengeance low profile Ram (was hoping to find the white sticks, but someone had the blue for cheep)
Ultimately I'm going to use a XSPC AX240 Dual Fan Radiator - White, White Tubing, XSPC Raystorm CPU Block, and a XSPC Back plate for whichever Video Card I decide on, But mind you I have a Very limited income so I have only been purchasing parts every few checks or so, as an Idea I've had the prodigy still in the box for almost half a year now.
So right now it's motherboard time! I was about to make the order online but I figured I'd come here first.
My choice so far is the Gigabyte GA-Z87N-Wifi. I've look at soo many benchmarks where the board has had a overclocked core i7 at 3.9ghz and I just don't see the advantage of the more expensive boards like the Asrock Z87E-ITX or even the new Impact. Yeah sure it has a nice sound card and all, but I'll more than likely be using my M-audio Fast Track C400 interface. any other thoughts / opinions on this?
Secondly I won't be using a Core i5 or i7. My plan is to use a Intel® Xeon® Processor E3-1275 v3 (8M Cache, 3.50 GHz) http://ark.intel.com/products/75464/Intel-Xeon-Processor-E3-1275-v3-8M-Cache-3_50-GHz. Why? you may ask? I actually need the virtualization technology more than I need overclocking, so VT-x, VT-d and EPT etc. features removed from the mainstream overclocking chips. I figure the 3.9 turbo may combat that. BUT with said now I need to wonder if I need a Z87 at all over a H87 if i'm not going to overclock, My thoughts so far is to go z87 anyways in case I decided to go more gaming focused down the road with say a haswell-e comes out.
My setup will be based on XEN, for those not familiar, it's a virtualization platform. My main OS will be Linux (Debian) for the majority of coding / administration I do. But parallel with that I will also be running Windows 8. The xeons onboard Intel® HD Graphics P4600 will be used by Linux, with PCI-E Passthrough setup to route whichever graphics card I use (possibly a 7970) to Windows 8 as well a USB passthrough for my audio/keyboard/mouse. The performance decrease should be minimal as the Machine still has direct access to the hardware even though Virtualized. Hopefully that makes sense to someone.
Next I will still need help choosing a video card for windows 8. I think my best option so far is to try to get a 7970 3G for cheeps now that the new rebrand is happening. I think that should drive 1440P. Work to gaming ratio on the system is going to be around 90/10 , but it would be nice to be able to play a few games even on medium at 1440p.
I'll keep posting here on updates if I have any questions and of course give you folks some pics of the build when it happens, by next year it should be done haha. I'm only a gpu and cpu away but watercooling will have to happen over time.
Some may even wonder why watercool it? I think it would be quieter for both GPU/CPU. There was once a time in my youth where I would LOVE to have a billion fans humming away in my over sized tower. (Delta Computer fans anyone? ) But working in IT for so long it now seems like the smaller it is and the more non existent technology is the better, at least for sanity sake sound wise.
Sorry for the rant, but I'm open to any advice/changes/suggestions.
Matt
I need a few second options / advice for a system I'm building. My own requirements may be a bit weird from the normal gaming folks.
So i'm looking to build a small/silent ITX build. Since seeing Tom's review of the prodigy I have said to myself, YEP that's the case I want. So right now I have gone out and purchased the White prodigy with a matching 1440p CROSSOVER 27Q LED White Black Monitor. (http://imgur.com/a/V4OtF) Cosmetically it should look fantastic.
The power supply is a Corsair CX600 with Corsair Vengeance low profile Ram (was hoping to find the white sticks, but someone had the blue for cheep)
Ultimately I'm going to use a XSPC AX240 Dual Fan Radiator - White, White Tubing, XSPC Raystorm CPU Block, and a XSPC Back plate for whichever Video Card I decide on, But mind you I have a Very limited income so I have only been purchasing parts every few checks or so, as an Idea I've had the prodigy still in the box for almost half a year now.
So right now it's motherboard time! I was about to make the order online but I figured I'd come here first.
My choice so far is the Gigabyte GA-Z87N-Wifi. I've look at soo many benchmarks where the board has had a overclocked core i7 at 3.9ghz and I just don't see the advantage of the more expensive boards like the Asrock Z87E-ITX or even the new Impact. Yeah sure it has a nice sound card and all, but I'll more than likely be using my M-audio Fast Track C400 interface. any other thoughts / opinions on this?
Secondly I won't be using a Core i5 or i7. My plan is to use a Intel® Xeon® Processor E3-1275 v3 (8M Cache, 3.50 GHz) http://ark.intel.com/products/75464/Intel-Xeon-Processor-E3-1275-v3-8M-Cache-3_50-GHz. Why? you may ask? I actually need the virtualization technology more than I need overclocking, so VT-x, VT-d and EPT etc. features removed from the mainstream overclocking chips. I figure the 3.9 turbo may combat that. BUT with said now I need to wonder if I need a Z87 at all over a H87 if i'm not going to overclock, My thoughts so far is to go z87 anyways in case I decided to go more gaming focused down the road with say a haswell-e comes out.
My setup will be based on XEN, for those not familiar, it's a virtualization platform. My main OS will be Linux (Debian) for the majority of coding / administration I do. But parallel with that I will also be running Windows 8. The xeons onboard Intel® HD Graphics P4600 will be used by Linux, with PCI-E Passthrough setup to route whichever graphics card I use (possibly a 7970) to Windows 8 as well a USB passthrough for my audio/keyboard/mouse. The performance decrease should be minimal as the Machine still has direct access to the hardware even though Virtualized. Hopefully that makes sense to someone.
Next I will still need help choosing a video card for windows 8. I think my best option so far is to try to get a 7970 3G for cheeps now that the new rebrand is happening. I think that should drive 1440P. Work to gaming ratio on the system is going to be around 90/10 , but it would be nice to be able to play a few games even on medium at 1440p.
I'll keep posting here on updates if I have any questions and of course give you folks some pics of the build when it happens, by next year it should be done haha. I'm only a gpu and cpu away but watercooling will have to happen over time.
Some may even wonder why watercool it? I think it would be quieter for both GPU/CPU. There was once a time in my youth where I would LOVE to have a billion fans humming away in my over sized tower. (Delta Computer fans anyone? ) But working in IT for so long it now seems like the smaller it is and the more non existent technology is the better, at least for sanity sake sound wise.
Sorry for the rant, but I'm open to any advice/changes/suggestions.
Matt
