New system

[yggdrasil]

OK I am planing my new system, I was going to wait for a 2011 socket PC but I do not think I need such work station performance, So I am planing a gaming 1155 System. It will be used for other tasks such as web editing, photo editing and also Running VM ware (Not constantly only for testing software and also playing

)

Few new things coming out I am waiting for.

Case - Fractal Design FD-CA-DEF-MINI-B

CPU - Intel i7 2600k

RAM - Corsair Vengeance 1600Mhz 2x4GB or 4x4gb kit (It isn't that much expensive and instead of upgrading latter I can have a complete matching kit up front of use the other RAM in my second PC)

CPU cooler - NH-D14

Motherboard - ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z Z68

Power Supply - Corsair AX-850

I already Had SSD and other HDD's keyboard, Asus 460 GTX 1gb Direct Cu, screen so on so Only upgrading the parts I need.

OK Few things I am unsure about and also would like people opinions

Well Since the Mobo isn't out yet I don't know how far away the RAM is from the CPU socket.

I am not sure If the RAM will fit under the CPU, I know it wont but I see a lot of people raise the fan so it sits a little higher on the heat spreader fins and make it possible to fit high profile RAM on their motherboard, I cant get mushkin RAM in Australia as it is hard to get hold of in other countrys and even harder here :'(.... Thoughts?

If I can't get the NH-D14 there dosen't seem to be any preformance options besides the Corsair H70, or the H80/H100 that is coming out soon. I am not a huge fan of the cooler as I like the preformance of the NH-D14 as it almost seems it has no limits at the moment alway some one coming out with a even higher OC with it or I just get XMS3 RAM

 

[Karlos_the_n00b]

I'd just go for some different RAM mate. You don't need heatsinks that big on RAM and there's stuff out there just as good as the Vengeance. You also don't need 8GB for gaming, 4GB is all you need but lots of people just go for 8GB because it's not that expensive.

Sure you want the the 2600K over the 2500K? You know there's no difference apart from the extra threads?

I'd try to keep the D14 cus it's just better than any of the Corsair stuff.

Also bare in mind that if you stick two graphics cards in the Gene-Z it's going to split the bandwidth so they will be running at x8/x8 so it's not great for multi monitors.

 

[yggdrasil]

I have 8GB of RAM now and I generally have 6GB in use (currently 3.2GB in use just web browsing, having a game client open, Playing a video on the TV and a few other small applications) So I probably will get 8GB of XMS3 or some thing, Mushkin If i can find it or order it.

I currently have a i7 870 and I do make it work hard normally batch rendering videos and it dose make use of all 8 cores, so I will go for the 2600k, Also to be able to do some overclocking/benching.

I agree I am not to keen on a corsair cooler, I will go for the NH-D14 and chose a lower profile RAM to suit.

I did not know that about the gene z tho

I will be looking at getting 2 new cards in the future to run in Xfire od SLI. What board would you recommended then? Keeping in mind it being a Mini ATX.

Regards.

 

[Karlos_the_n00b]

Well you might not have to change motherboards. How many monitors are you going to be using and what graphics card(s) where you thinking of buying?

 

[yggdrasil]

Was going to Use 3 (2 monitors and a TV), Possibly 4 at most but not constantly, At the moment I would be looking at 2x 6970's

 

[Karlos_the_n00b]

Pretty high end stuff. Well in the time it takes for the Gene-Z they might bring out a 6990 with a better cooler. If watercooling is an option your laughing.

I suppose there is the X58 Gene which would give you two x16 lanes but I'm guessing you really want an 2600K.

There is the Asus ROG Extreme-Z though which is on the wat so you could wait for that.

That's the three options I can think of off the top of my head.

 

[yggdrasil]

I do want a 2600K as it dose have a performance increase over my current i7 870 (I'm upgrading because my motherboard is playing up) The i7 950 and 960 do not seem to have much if any performance increase over my current PC.

Wow decisions decisions I'm even more lost than when I started.

Where would I see more performance benefits? Dual x16 with a rampage Gene 3 X58? Or the performance of a 2600k? I will be keeping in mind I will overclocking either CPU.

Thanks for the help and points Karlos

 

[Karlos_the_n00b]

Your welcome mate, although I'm not sure what the best thing to do here is

Multi monitor setup's is about the only time x16/x16 matters.

I'm not sure what would give you the best overall performance though on a mini ATX board though.

A 2600K and two 6970's at x8/x8 or a A i7 960 and two 6970's at x16/x16.

All I can say is that where finding that better graphics processing is more important for gaming than the CPU. There was a post here the other day that showed that the higher the resolutions you use the less and less the processor matters.

I understand it's not just a gaming rig though.

Sorry mate I'm stumped

Edit: I don't think this is what you really want to hear or go for but I think the best performing system you could do with a mini ATX board and and that case would be to mount a rad on the back of the case and use a powercolor 6990 a waterblock. :/

 

[yggdrasil]

Yeah I think my video performance is more important, I not sure If I keen on a watercooling kit in this small case.

Are the coolers on current 6990's pretty average?

wouldn't running a dual GPU card on a x16 socket decide the lanes any way?

 

[Karlos_the_n00b]

Watch Tom's video review of the 6990. The coolers look like calling them below average would be complement. I would not put a card that hot in a case so small for air cooling. But it's not my rig

I understand what you mean but the way I heard it explained on a youtube video (So not exactly an official resource) is that the GPU's communicate on there own internal lanes so the x16 slot is only to communicate to the rest of the PC and not each over.

If you are remotely interested in watercooling a 6990 then you should take a look at this if you haven't already. It's KoS's log of when he watercooled is 6990 and also shows how you could mount the rad to the case your looking at.

http://forum.overclo...er-cooling-log/

I'm not recommending you do do this, just showing you what you could do

You should also see if a 6990 would fit in that case in the first place I guess

Just realised we might be getting ahead of ourselves here

EDIT: Just had a look and a 6990 would fit in there just fine as long as you remove the HDD bays.

http://www.fractal-d...egory=2&prod=58

http://www.powercolo...0#Specification

 

[yggdrasil]

How much performance would I lose running 2x 6950's in xfire on a board with x8/x8 instead of x16/x16?

I am still trying to decide between the ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z Z68 or the rampage 3 gene, If I get the gene-Z i will be able to OC the CPU a lot further than 960 i7.

 

[Karlos_the_n00b]

How much performance would I lose running 2x 6950's in xfire on a board with x8/x8 instead of x16/x16?

I am still trying to decide between the ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z Z68 or the rampage 3 gene, If I get the gene-Z i will be able to OC the CPU a lot further than 960 i7.

I'm afraid I don't have an answer for you.

All I can suggest is that you read the following and try to gauge it for yourself http://www.hardocp.c...16x16_vs_x8x8/3

That's the only good resource I've found on this so if anyone has anything else they'd like to share then that would be great!

 

[yggdrasil]

Thanks you have been a big help in deciding my next system.

Regards.