If you were building the ultimate gaming machine...what parts would you get?

[suryad]

I am upgrading my system for epeen etc etc but more to the fact I am giving my parts to my brother. That includes the mobo, ram, the video cards and my PSU.

So now that that is settled, any recommendations? I have been looking to get the Asusm Rampage Extreme and a couple of 4870 x2s in Crossfire to go with it along with some DDR3 1600 ram and a 1000W PSU.

I am open to recommendations. Thanks in advance!

 

[Davros]

go to your etailers web site select you component then select display by price
buy the most expensive of everything

 

[suryad]

go to your etailers web site select you component then select display by price
buy the most expensive of everything

high price != performance unfortunately

 

[epicstruggle]

Are you in a rush? Nehalm should be out relatively soon.

 

[suryad]

Perfectly good question but for some reason I wanted to continue using my existing CPU...I dont know why though.

 

[ShaidarHaran]

DDR3 + GTL+ FSB = :lol;

IOW: don't waste your time.

Good luck pushing any modern Intel CPU past a 2GHz (effective) FSB. Dual-channel 1GHz DDR2 is enough to saturate a 500MHz QDR FSB = 2GHz.

As epicstruggle implied, wait for Nehalem, it's only another couple month wait. LGA 775 and the GTL+ FSB are a dead-end platform.

 

[suryad]

Fair enough Thanks for the input fellas. I still dont know what GTL means though....

 

[MfA]

It's the signalling technology of LGA775 (and everything since PPro AFAIR). Which makes mentioning them both a bit redundant.

BTW, if you are going to wait a while there are some interesting storage options in the future too. There are of course the flash SSDs but also ACard is bringing out a DDR2 SSD this month with 8 slots. Although to get a significant storage you are going to need a couple of units, and have to use 4GB (expensive) or 8GB (ridiculously expensive) modules.

 

[ShaidarHaran]

Fair enough Thanks for the input fellas. I still dont know what GTL means though....

Sorry, I realize now that my phrasing was a bit confusing... GTL+ is actually the name of the type of FSB that Intel utilizes (Gunning Transceiver Logic). The "+" is where the confusion lies, since I was previously using it as a placeholder for "and".

 

[Albuquerque]

Good luck pushing any modern Intel CPU past a 2GHz (effective) FSB. Dual-channel 1GHz DDR2 is enough to saturate a 500MHz QDR FSB = 2GHz.

While I agree that Nehalem is a good wait, the above quoted statement isn't as hard as you imply. I've had an E6850 on a 2400Mhz bus without so much as a single voltage adjustment to the chip, GTL, northbridge or essentially anything except my ram -- and the ram needed it only because it's rated at DDR2-800 and I was asking it to run at 1:1 ratio (thus DDR2-1200mhz.) My prior E8400 would do 2340FSB in the same way.

Both could pass Prime95 in both small FFT's and blend for days on end. The E6850 ran it's entire life in my rig at 550 x 7; the E8400 ran at 542 x 8. Neither had any issues at all, the ram needed a bit of extra cooling to keep up though

But again, Nehalem is more than certainly a move in the right direction.

 

[suryad]

From what I have been able to read they are saying performance improvements are on the scale of say a 2.9 ghz nehalem equivalent to a 3.2 penryn. I am going to try to find where I read that but I highly doubt given the software ecosystem today that it is worth upgrading a CPU considering the specs I have given in my sig. Would it not make more sense that I just upgrade my video cards especially for gaming purposes?

 

[Albuquerque]

In your first post, you said all of that hardware was going to your brother, and your next machine was going to be an e-pen0s extension.

Now you're saying that you're keeping the hardware and you're going to upgrade video cards?

Which one is it?

 

[ShaidarHaran]

Nehalem isn't about single-thread performance, so any gain compared to Penryn is good here. Nehalem is all about multi-thread performance (significantly faster than Penryn) and the much-needed platform change that brings us Intel's equivalent to AMD's HyperTransport, QuickPathInterface (QPI), as well as on-die memory controllers. Perceived performance increase (end-user experience) should be vastly improved with Nehalem, for these reasons.

 

[ShaidarHaran]

While I agree that Nehalem is a good wait, the above quoted statement isn't as hard as you imply. I've had an E6850 on a 2400Mhz bus without so much as a single voltage adjustment to the chip, GTL, northbridge or essentially anything except my ram -- and the ram needed it only because it's rated at DDR2-800 and I was asking it to run at 1:1 ratio (thus DDR2-1200mhz.) My prior E8400 would do 2340FSB in the same way.

Both could pass Prime95 in both small FFT's and blend for days on end. The E6850 ran it's entire life in my rig at 550 x 7; the E8400 ran at 542 x 8. Neither had any issues at all, the ram needed a bit of extra cooling to keep up though

But again, Nehalem is more than certainly a move in the right direction.

Let me guess - 965 board?

Surely you'll admit that yours is not the average case, and hardly easy.

 

[suryad]

In your first post, you said all of that hardware was going to your brother, and your next machine was going to be an e-pen0s extension.

Now you're saying that you're keeping the hardware and you're going to upgrade video cards?

Which one is it?

Well its been tough for me to make up my mind. My brother is getting my mobo, memory for sure 100%. I am keeping my CPU. So that means I have to get an Intel based mobo whether its SLI or Crossfire I am not sure. Thats why my vid cards I am debating between keeping mine or getting a couple of 4870 x2s...but I am not sure what Christmas time is going to bring. I really like Nvidia's cards and am comfortable with their setups, drivers etc so with them I know what I am doing most of the time.

So I am thinking maybe I should play it safe, stick with Nvidia Ultras that I have now, and get the next gen GT200bs that come out in Christmas and just upgrade my mobo to the 790i and DDR3 1600 ram to prep for that for now to replace what i am giving up currently.

 

[Albuquerque]

Let me guess - 965 board?

Surely you'll admit that yours is not the average case, and hardly easy.

Nope, X38. And no, I'd say that it is the average case and was stupidly simple.

Boot machine. Set multiplier to 6x. Set FSB to 500. Leave everything else at 100% stock settings (removing Auto and replacing with actual voltages where necessary). Reboot.

Done.

The only boards I see with FSB issues are really cheap ones, P35's and above don't seem to have any problems so long as your ram can keep up. The only place where it gets wonky is with quad cores; most of the dual cores dont' seem to have any issues.

 

[ShaidarHaran]

Nope, X38. And no, I'd say that it is the average case and was stupidly simple.

I suggest you do some research then, because you are severely mis-informed to believe such. 550 FSB is not an easy task on any chipset, let alone without voltage bumps.

Boot machine. Set multiplier to 6x. Set FSB to 500. Leave everything else at 100% stock settings (removing Auto and replacing with actual voltages where necessary). Reboot.

Done.

Hardly an overclock. 6x multi @ 500MHz puts your CPU at 3GHz. Max. FSB means precisely squat when it comes to real world performance. I'll put my 4GHz 500x8 Wolfie up against your 550x6 Conroe in ANY task, any day of the week and be happy to walk away with the performance crown

 

[ShaidarHaran]

Well its been tough for me to make up my mind. My brother is getting my mobo, memory for sure 100%. I am keeping my CPU. So that means I have to get an Intel based mobo whether its SLI or Crossfire I am not sure. Thats why my vid cards I am debating between keeping mine or getting a couple of 4870 x2s...but I am not sure what Christmas time is going to bring. I really like Nvidia's cards and am comfortable with their setups, drivers etc so with them I know what I am doing most of the time.

So I am thinking maybe I should play it safe, stick with Nvidia Ultras that I have now, and get the next gen GT200bs that come out in Christmas and just upgrade my mobo to the 790i and DDR3 1600 ram to prep for that for now to replace what i am giving up currently.

Why not pass on your entire rig and just build a non-SLI rig for yourself? You can still go 9800 GX2 or GTX 280 if you must use NV graphics hardware, or go for 2-4x CFX if you're open to ATi hardware. SLI scaling is a joke compared to CFX scaling. 30-40% compared to 70-80% is a no-brainer. Also you don't have to deal with shyte-tacular NV chipsets.

 

[Albuquerque]

I suggest you do some research then, because you are severely mis-informed to believe such. 550 FSB is not an easy task on any chipset, let alone without voltage bumps.

I think you should follow your own advice. I'm a member of more than a few overclocking sites, and 500FSB isn't the difficult part unless you're using A: shitty motherboards or B: a yorkfield quad. I think you're getting confused as evidenced by the following quote:

Hardly an overclock. 6x multi @ 500MHz puts your CPU at 3GHz. Max. FSB means precisely squat when it comes to real world performance. I'll put my 4GHz 500x8 Wolfie up against your 550x6 Conroe in ANY task, any day of the week and be happy to walk away with the performance crown

See, this isn't following your own topic; permit me to assist:

Good luck pushing any modern Intel CPU past a 2GHz (effective) FSB. Dual-channel 1GHz DDR2 is enough to saturate a 500MHz QDR FSB = 2GHz.

... to which I replied ...

the above quoted statement isn't as hard as you imply.

You didn't specify maximum CPU overclock, you specified front side bus speed in excess of 2000mhz. That isn't difficult at all, for exactly the reason I just posted.

And your E8400 would get it's shit ruined by my E8400 at 542 x 8

 

[ShaidarHaran]

I think you should follow your own advice. I'm a member of more than a few overclocking sites, and 500FSB isn't the difficult part unless you're using A: shitty motherboards or B: a yorkfield quad. I think you're getting confused as evidenced by the following quote:


See, this isn't following your own topic; permit me to assist:

... to which I replied ...

You didn't specify maximum CPU overclock, you specified front side bus speed in excess of 2000mhz. That isn't difficult at all, for exactly the reason I just posted.

You think the average forum-goer can just magically pull 500+ FSB out of their ass after reading a thread or two? I never said you and I couldn't do it, I said the OP would have a hard time. People that ask questions are in a different league than those that provide answers.

And your E8400 would get it's shit ruined by my E8400 at 542 x 8

I can bench @ 4.32GHz (540x8) if I want, a whole two ****ing MHz shy of your FSB clock. RAM in-sync with the FSB, no less. Sure you want to continue this petty pissing contest?