[Ultimate] All-Purpose Rig

[MaltheMM]

The below will be updated until i have settled on something

RAM: 12gig Hyper X DDR3 High Performance ram
Video: Quadro NVS 450
CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-965 Processor Extreme Edition (8M Cache, 3.20 GHz, 6.40 GT/s Intel® QPI) ('http://ark.intel.com/cpu.aspx?groupId=37149')
HDD: Samsung HD103UJ (1TB 7200RPM) ('http://www.samsung.com/global/business/hdd/productmodel.do?group=72&type=61&subtype=63&model_cd=249&ppmi=1155')
Motherboard: ASUS P6T Deluxe X58 Motherboard (is there a better one?)
Case: Lian Li A17 ('http://www.lian-li.com/v2/en/product/product06.php?pr_index=135&cl_index=1&sc_index=25&ss_index=62')

MOBO prioritizing
1. Intel Core i7 965 Support
2. 12GB ram support ( the more the merrier )
3. PCIe x16 ( must have atleast 2 true x16 )

Video prioritizing
1. QUALITY
2. 4x DVI outputs ( only 2 if if the card supports 3840x1080 or 1920x2160 )

Ram prioritizing
1. 240 PIN
2. 4GB per stick

Did i forget/miss something? Won't it fit together? Got another extreme thing?

Please leave a reply & thanks in advance
- MaltheMM

Edit: finally got it looking right
Edit: added prioritizings

[Kedash00]

holy wall of text batman...

[MaltheMM]

something is wrong with the forum .... i'll try to edit again but ...

[Freddie]

It's pretty ultimate but you might want to consider:

1. You can build a machine that's very nearly as fast for much less money.

2. If you wait a year, you can build a machine that's even faster for less money.

To put it another way, it's only going to be "ultimate" for a short time, and you're paying an enormous premium for that short period of ultimateness, and even when it's new, it will only be a little faster than much cheaper machines.

[MaltheMM]

Freddie i see your logic and raise you a "BUT I WANT ULTIMATIVITY NOW!!!"

[Freddie]

Hehe then go for it. :)

[MaltheMM]

so it take it there's no apparent errors like
ram not fitting on the MOBO?

[Chranny]

If you want ultimate I'd suggest upgrading the graphics card to a 4870X2. ;)

[Freddie]

To check ram/motherboard compatibility I would go to the motherboard manufacturer's website, look up that exact motherboard (including revision if any) and check the list of supported RAM. Same with CPU if you're not sure.

[Mutantopia]

If money is no object, then upgrade to the Radeon 4870X2. If money is an object, then still upgrade the video and downgrade something else. For example:

- 12GB RAM is way overkill for 5 instances of WoW unless you want to do video editing or something at the same time. 500MB per instance should be plenty. If you chose 12GB for triple channel memory, know that A) the bandwidth triple channel provides will go unused in today's systems/applications when compared to dual channel, and B) You don't necessarily need a multiple of 3GB to achieve it. I have a Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD4 board with 8GB running triple channel, for example. That configuration requires 4 sticks of RAM of any size.

- You could save a lot on the CPU by downgrading to a Core i7 920 and probably never notice a difference.

Take some of those dollars and get a better video card instead.

[MaltheMM]

well the videocards i chose both have 4 dvi outputs

to go with my 8 BenQ E2200HDs

and it's actually 24GB Ram

[Akeldema]

well the videocards i chose both have 4 dvi outputs

to go with my 8 BenQ E2200HDs

and it's actually 24GB Ram
And...Uh.....Why 24gb?

[MaltheMM]

Thats the max of the MOBO

[weeep]

- 12GB RAM is way overkill for 5 instances of WoW
Actually, it isn't. Even with the lowest possible settings on my slaves and no addons except jambe, total system memory consumption sometimes goes above 8Gb after few hours of playing, especially after Dalaran and Wintergrasp. I really feel that my current 8Gb is not enough, but I do not see any overclockable 4Gb DDR2 modules in the market now :(
Also extra RAM is never wasted, it is used as file cache noticeably speeding up load times. So I always suggest to go maximum RAM amount that your budget can afford.

[Owltoid]

....500MB per instance should be plenty....

I found that with 3-boxing 2GB of RAM wasn't nearly enough. Maybe 1GB per instance is enough, but I don't think 500MB is.

[-silencer-]

well the videocards i chose both have 4 dvi outputs

to go with my 8 BenQ E2200HDs

and it's actually 24GB Ram
You had better be SURE that someone has verified that specific mobo can run 24GB of RAM, and that the RAM you're using has the proper density chips for it. There are a bunch of mobos that say they support 12GB of RAM, but actual testing shows that they choke on it - the MSI x58 Eclipse for example. I'd be very cautious of any "24GB" mobo right now, until I've seen a review of someone doing it.. then I'd buy the exact ram they're using. I didn't see any 4GB memory modules out there yet.. are you sure this 24GB isn't 12 sticks of 2GB?

Edit.. just looked at the memory.. are you aware that it's ECC registered dimms? Many mobos don't support that memory - it's used more often in server mobos. Make sure you know what you're getting into by building a machine and don't know details.

[Owltoid]

Silencer,

Any problems with the following mobo? (uprgreadable to 24GB, needs special RAM, etc?)

MSI X58 Platinum Intel X58 Chipset SLI/CrossFireX Mainboard Triple-Channel DDR3/1600 SATA RAID w/ eSATA,Dual GbLAN,USB2.0,IEEE1394a,&7.1Audio
http://benchtec.co.uk/benchtec/index.php/2008/12/07/msi-x58-eclipse-sli-motherboard/

[Noids99]

I am fairly sure those memory chips won't work in an X58 mobo. They are designed for xeon systems. 12GB is really the max available at the moment, given there are not freely available 4GB DDR3 consumer RAM DIMMS.

Saying that, 12GB shouldn't hurt your performance at all. What may improve it is upgrading from 4850X2s to 4870X2s or better still GTX295s.

The hard drives could also be a lil faster. Either 4 x velociraptors or if you're super keen go for your favourite hardcore SSD, pref. something intellish.

My 2c, personally not the system I would build, but if you are looking for ultimate bang for back, they would be clear enough upgrades and considering the money you would save on the RAM and going for an i7 920 instead of 965EE, you wouldn't be out of pocket by much.

Cheers

PS: Quick peek at MSI.com shows that (Samsung K4B2G0846B-HCF8) was the only 4GB DIMM actually tested to run with that MB you mentioned. Good news is it worked fine with 6 DIMMS. Not sure if the crucial DIMMs use samsung or hynix chips though...

[MaltheMM]

first of all i wasn't aware of the RAM thing

and i wont change the video cards to anything but another one with 4 DVI outputs

[MaltheMM]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135229
this is my only alternative to DFI board

these ram stick are not ECC
Crucial 8GB Kit (4GBx2), 204-pin SODIMM, DDR3 PC3-8500 memory module ('http://crucial.com/store/partspecs.aspx?IMODULE=CT2KIT51264BC1067') (x3)

[Owltoid]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813135229
this is my only alternative to DFI board

Newegg has some pretty poor reviews on that board and many seem to be complaining that you can really only use one RAM slot.

[Mukade]

SODIMMs are laptop memory, and won't fit in a desktop motherboard.

[Bovidae]

Please review the use of Crucial 8GB Kit (4GBx2), 204-pin SODIMM, DDR3 PC3-8500 memory module ('http://crucial.com/store/partspecs.aspx?IMODULE=CT2KIT51264BC1067') (x3) a 204 pin SODIMM won't work, try again.

Since you seem to like Crucial, might I suggest: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010170147%2050001455%201052129233%201052345114&name=6GB%20 ('http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010170147%2050001455%201052129233%201052345114&name=6GB%20%283%20x%202GB%29')(3%20x%202GB)

Newegg only has 1 listing with 4gb modules, but it is a DDR2 kit: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231183 Likewise, OCZ only has two kits that use 4gb modules, and they are both DDR2 kits... http://www.ocztechnology.com/search/?q=4096mb+dimm&x=0&y=0

In fact, there are few to no 4gb modules out there that would really serve this purpose. You might have to wait a few weeks/months in order to realize your 6 x 4096 dream.

[MaltheMM]

samsung has a 16GB module(singlestick..) but its not up for grabs

[mmcookies]

mmm, bleeding edge sure bleeds your wallet

[Sam DeathWalker]

NO ECS NO NO! ECS is the WORST of all motherboards.

http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?from=R40&_trksid=m37&satitle=x58+i7&category0=


Asus ftw:

http://cgi.ebay.com/new-ASUS-Rampage-II-Extreme-SOCKET1366-i7-Intel-x58-ATX_W0QQitemZ310114207656QQihZ021QQcategoryZ101203 QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem


http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/1662/13/asus_rampage_ii_extreme_x58_motherboard/index.html

Asus wins! (and thats with their cheap $300 board not the superior rampageII above).

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3471&p=13

[MaltheMM]

but i have more than 300$

[Sam DeathWalker]

Get the rampage II

http://cgi.ebay.com/new-ASUS-Rampage-II-Extreme-SOCKET1366-i7-Intel-x58-ATX_W0QQitemZ310114207656QQihZ021QQcategoryZ101203 QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

You will not need more then a 920.

Well its 12G max, well ... 12G is pushing it for 5 (8G for wow folder, 1/2 g per wow and rest for 64 bit OS).

Get heatsink from thermaltake. I would use thermaltake case aslo but lu li is solid also.

Well if you think 12G is not sufficient then gigabyte is good but ...

Well if you can get 18G then you dont need SSD or anything else. Just a single raptor and video card and yur done

[MaltheMM]

it only supports 12 GB RAM and no raid 01

[Sam DeathWalker]

You dont need raid. Let me see the best 18G then.

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=3471&p=9

Get the gigabyte (extreme version) then.

http://cgi.ebay.com/GIGABYTE-GA-EX58-EXTREME-i7-X58-3-Way-SLI-Motheerboard_W0QQitemZ250356696538QQihZ015QQcatego ryZ101203QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Get a Veloraptor (1). Put 18G on the board. 920 should be suffieicent cpu (assuming just for 5 boxing wow if you doing ray tracing or seit or other stuffs then get better).

Get 280 or whatever high end video card you like (1), NOT TWO. If you want to burn money just get a better single card, not two.

SPend yur monies on FIRST QUALITY 18G ram.

64 bit OS and yur done dont waste on raid, SSD or anything else. Put the whole wow folder (everything) in ram before you start (make yur ram a ram drive for like 10G of it, after to shut down you have to read the whole ram drive back to the raptor so that if any writes were made they will stay). Wham you will get the best frame rates possible, and not waste monies where not needed.

You will get unreal framerates cause of the 28GB/s that the i7 can move data at. TWENTY EIGHT GIG A SECOND thats how fast you will be moveing data from your ram to your cpu. I mean lol ... you will never access the hard drive during play, because the entire wow folder is in your ram drive.

SSD drive is 3G/S IF THAT AT BEST, raptor is slower.

Your Ram 28G/S

This tells it all:

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/824/4/

My best system is 11G/sec. My others are like 8G/sec and there is a big difference between the systems (my 11G/sec system closes out 5 wows FASTER then a quadcore 4G/sec closes out ONE wow). I can't imigane have a 28G/sec is going to be. You can hit exit and hit the desktop almost instantly I bet.

You win.

Nvidia GTX 295 - good gawd! ('http://www.dual-boxing.com/forums/index.php?page=Thread&threadID=18274')

the 285 would be my choice but high end ati is good also. Silencer comments in the thread are my belief also.

Also you cannot use FPS that is more then your monitor refreash rate. If you have a FPS of 100, and your monitor is 75HZ then your video card just throw away the 25 extra frames it had to calculate that second. Get a 120HZ monitor if you have money to burn, THEN set your max FPS at 120 and you will see full effect of your video card. 120 FPS on a 60HZ monitor is you video card doing 2X more work then is sent to your eyes ....

[MaltheMM]

i have following requirements:

more than 12 GB RAM

raid 01 and 5 support

i need 4 TB of storage(before raid)

Core i7 965 support

8 dvi outputs

decent sound card (probably Lynx TWO) support

needs to fit in an ATX case ( Lian Li A17 )

[Bollwerk]

I don't understand the need for 8 DVI outputs, but by doing so, you limit yourself to a lower end graphics setup. Can you not use 4 DVI outputs with 30" monitors on each? That seems like it would be more than enough screen real estate.

[MaltheMM]

i have 8 22" full hd screens
and i like things on the screen to be small
and upgrading to 30" screens wont give me more realestate it'll take it away

[Sam DeathWalker]

The gigabyte board meets yur requirments:

Memory: 6x DDR3 DIMMs, 3 Channel, Max Capacity 24GB
Slots: 3x PCI-Express x16 Slots (Support CrossFireX & 3-Way SLI; Support PCI-Express 2.0); 1x PCI-Express x4 Slot; 1x PCI-Express x1 Slot; 2x PCI Slots
IDE/SATA: 1x ATA-100 Channel; 10x SATA2 Ports, Support RAID 0, 1, 5, 10

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Intel-Core-i7-965-Nehalem-CPU+Gigabyte-GA-EX58-Extreme_W0QQitemZ320332912782QQcmdZViewItemQQimsxZ 20090117?IMSfp=TL090117118001r32985



Not sure about 8 DVI outputs, but you can get 3 video cards on this board.

[MaltheMM]

if i want another video card i need a MOBO with 4 PCIe x16

imperfection has made realize i had to prioritize

1. Intel Core i7 965 support

2. Four PCIe x16(all available at x16)

3. DDR3 RAM

4. Max RAM higher than 12GB

5. Raid 5 and 01 support

[Sam DeathWalker]

http://vr-zone.com/articles/gecube-hd3870x2-x-turbo-dual-w-4-dvi-out/5538.html?doc=5538

Quad DVI out you only need 2 of them.

[MaltheMM]

but is HD3870 better than HD4850

[Sam DeathWalker]

This good enough?

http://fxvideocards.com/PNY-NVIDIA-Quadro-FX-4700-X2-1GB-GDDR3-Used-p-16434.html

Thats the price for a used one by the way.

This should be more resonable:

http://www.pricebat.ca/NVIDIA-Quadro-NVS-450-by-PNY-512MB-GDDR3-PCI-E-Quad-Display-Port-Workstation.p_10087825/

http://www.nvidia.com/docs/IO/40049/NV_DS_QNVS_450_US_Oct08_LowRes.pdf


Also keep in mind that 24G ram isnt going to be cheap:

http://www.crucial.com/store/partspecs.aspx?IMODULE=CT51272BB1067

[Sajuuk]

Holy crap.

I think I may go the cheap route and RAID a couple inexpensive drives. >_>

[MaltheMM]

i could use 2 GTX 295 and use the P.I. Engineering split screen thing?

if doesnt just add extra resolution (going from 1920 x 1080 x2 to 3840 x 1080) which the video card doesnt support .....



there also the option of the NVidia Quadro NVS 450

http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_quadro_nvs_450_us.html

[-silencer-]

it only supports 12 GB RAM and no raid 01
"Only" 12GB of RAM. That was my initial thought a few months ago after owning a DDR2 8GB mobo/ram for awhile, but you have to realize that there's just nothing available right now that's been tested with that much memory in the desktop market. Yes, the x58 *can* support 24GB, but motherboard manufacturers have had trouble just getting 12GB to be stable at decent speeds. Screw going past 12GB right now - it's just not worth sacrificing a quality motherboard like the Asus Rampage 2 Extreme (which I bought) for something that *SAYS* it supports 24GB. I'd bet with BIOS upgrades in the future that the Rampage 2 Extreme will support 24GB - Asus just isn't going to claim something it can't do RIGHT NOW. They all use the same chipset and are most likely capable of handling 24GB in the future..


As for RAID01.. just buy a damn aftermarket RAID controller card - it'll be faster using hardware RAID anyway. Get something like the 3ware 9650SE. You're nitpicking over a Core i7 system without going for what's the best overall product.. the Asus Rampage 2 Extreme.

[-silencer-]

if i want another video card i need a MOBO with 4 PCIe x16

imperfection has made realize i had to prioritize

1. Intel Core i7 965 support

2. Four PCIe x16(all available at x16)

3. DDR3 RAM

4. Max RAM higher than 12GB

5. Raid 5 and 01 support
That "rule" right there (#2) eliminates ALL x58 boards. The chipset simply doesn't have enough channels to handle the bandwidth. I believe Skulltrail is the only option then, which breaks rules #1 and #3. You're making rules that simply aren't available in today's market. Why don't you start by looking at what's actually available, then go from there? I had to make a choice from about 12 different x58 boards I really liked, and I initially had a "list" somewhat similar to yours. I picked the Asus Rampage 2 Extreme after weeks of deliberation, and I'm extremely happy with that choice.

You need to prioritize correctly.

1. Core i7 965 - excellent CPU that nearly all x58 boards support.
2. You're going to have to settle for a couple x8 slots - there are NO true electrical x16/x16/x16/x16 x58 boards, and there won't be in the future because the chipset can't handle it. About the best you can do is a x16/x16/x16/x4 board in the Asus P6T6 WS, but you can't use the other 2 slots if you use the true tri-x16 + x4 config. (There goes RAID controller support.)
3. All x58 are DDR3.
4. 12GB of RAM - *proven* to work at 1333/1600 speed on a few boards, and x58 supports 24GB so I'm sure all quality manufacturers will *eventually* have BIOS updates to handle it, once the memory is more widely available.
5. RAID 01? Buy a controller card that was designed to do it. Don't make this a factor in mobo choice.

You're asking for a product that isn't available. Good luck *hoping* that it comes out anytime in the next 6 months, because it won't.. there's not a chipset on the horizon that can support quad-x16.

[MaltheMM]

yet another prioritizing...

MOBO prioritizing
1. Intel Core i7 965 Support
2. 12GB ram support ( the more the merrier )
3. PCIe x16 ( must have atleast 2 true x16 )

Video prioritizing
1. QUALITY
2. 4x DVI outputs ( only 2 if if the card supports 3840x1080 or 1920x2160 )

Ram prioritizing
1. 240 PIN
2. 4GB per stick

EVERYTHING NEEDS TO FIT TOGETHER

[Sam DeathWalker]

Once again I am in agreement wih Silencer.

Clearly you are not using this soly for WoW multiboxing. I really dont know what the facination with raid is. The simple fact with raid is that when one drive fails your data is GONE. I once try and reconstruct data from failed raid drive and that was the end of raid for me. Get raptor and system ram. You dont need raid.

Any MB you get is going to be X58 based, and thus all will be the same, so you may as well get the best of those the RampageII

The Nvidia nvs 450 is the most resonable 4X solution, as you only heed two.

I'v only found the one company to make 4G ram in a single stick so yur choices are limited (might be more but not all that obvious). In DDR3. I think there are some DDR2 but ...


The other resonable option is to simply wait. Im not buying any of this stuff untill its 1/2 the current price. Why be a beta tester for all these companies? 6 months from now you will probably have 6 companies makeing the 4G ram and the motherboards will have more stable bios updates, and 450 vidoe cards will be lower in price.

[MaltheMM]

my fascination with raid is that i on my current PC filled it's 500GB HD in 2 months
and by using Raid 01 on 4 1TB drives i get 2TB storagew AND AUTOMATIC BACKUP

when any of this stuff is ½ of it's current price there will be new stuff thats even better at handling 5 wows and heavy duty film editing


which ASUS MOBO ('http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=179') is the best

when using 8 screens which is best DVI-D, HDMI or VGA
'cause this ('http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133255&Tpk=nvs%20450') nvs 450 has 4 HDMI instead of DVI outputs

[-silencer-]

my fascination with raid is that i on my current PC filled it's 500GB HD in 2 months
and by using Raid 01 on 4 1TB drives i get 2TB storagew AND AUTOMATIC BACKUP

when any of this stuff is ½ of it's current price there will be new stuff thats even better at handling 5 wows and heavy duty film editing


which ASUS MOBO ('http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=179') is the best

when using 8 screens which is best DVI-D, HDMI or VGA
'cause this ('http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814133255&Tpk=nvs%20450') nvs 450 has 4 HDMI instead of DVI outputs
Why use 4 drives in RAID01 for 2TB total space when you can use 3 drives in RAID 5 for 2TB total space? A slight performance difference, but that can be mitigated with an external RAID controller (which you'd likely need for RAID01 anyway).
8 screens = 4 videocards unless you're using TripleHead2Go (which is limited to 1280x1024 max resolution on each monitor).. which means your only Asus option is the previously-mentioned P6T6 WS.. at x16/x16/x8/x8 (or is the slot slot still only x4?.. it's not clear in the specs).
Again.. there's very little documentation on 4GB per stick of RAM and motherboard compatibility.. get 6x2GB for sure-fire 12GB system with no crashes.. or wait. It took mobo manufacturers long enough to get 12GB stable on *some* boards, and many still aren't stable at 12GB of 2GB sticks. It's only more difficult when you increase the memory density by going with 4GB sticks.

[MaltheMM]

if i use Quadro NVS 450

i only need 2 cards

[Sam DeathWalker]

http://forum.ecoustics.com/bbs/messages/34579/122868.html

I think you can convert hdmi to div and visa versa np.

RampageII is the best.

I dont see a problem with gettinng 4 1.5T drives, wouldn't "automatice backup" slow everything down a lot? I just dont like raid. What I do is I have a 80G drive for my operating system and 1.5T drives for movies and all that. Every week I copy the 80G to another 80G with arconis 11 (makes a bit for bit full drive copy). I have the TT shark cases which let me slap in drives in under 2 mintues and take them out (drive pull out to the side). I dont run norton or any anti vires. If my system goes down, I go get aback up drive toss it in and 4 mintues later I am up and runnning ....

I dont think that there is a need to back up music and movies files its not liek you can't get them again ... plus you can recover most non raid failures if you didnt overwrite you stuffs, raid failuers and its all over, thats why I dont like raid you can't recover (well maybe with the back up raid you are talking about).

Look into Cuda and if you plan to do heavy duty blu-ray film editing, forget it, I been trying to do that for a year now all all products are just crap. Now maybe with this system you can directly edit blue ray, but on mine its a joke. Tmpg Express 4 and Badaboom are Cuda enabled as is powerdirector but they are all lmited in some form or other. Other editing programs are so slow with blu ray its out of hand, even vegas. Although this computer you are talking about might have the horses to do the job right. if you can fire up vegas on this and edit blue ray, without conversion to another format, in real time I might get one also lol .....

You know lol if you get 24G ram you can put the whole bluray movie into ram (the main part) ... lol wow heh...

I dont know anything about the reliabilty problems of 24G and Silencer could well be right that its a pipe dream right now, again I would wait, I just dont see it my job to beta test everyones new stuffs.

[alcattle]

There are 2 video cards at Newegg with 4 DVI outputs. Both are 4850 x2, difference is memory.

[MaltheMM]

and the Sapphire one was my first choice but then i got otherones recommended



Also would i be better off with a Skulltrail and 2 of the best Core Extremes

[-silencer-]

Also would i be better off with a Skulltrail and 2 of the best Core Extremes
Skulltrail is only available with LGA771 CPUs (QX9775, not Core i7 965 Extremes - they're LGA1366 and won't even fit in the socket) and FB-DIMMs, not DDR3. Skulltrail is a server board that's marketed as a gaming board.. just info to be aware of.

[MaltheMM]

but doesnt skulltrail have more potential power and überness if paired with the hardware

[-silencer-]

but doesnt skulltrail have more potential power and überness if paired with the hardware
Because it uses two quad cores Xeons at 3.2GHz, yes.. but it can't have "the best core extremes" because the best CPUs available (Core i7 965 Extreme) aren't in LGA771 socket form. The time to buy Skulltrail was long before Core i7 / X58 boards came out. The Skulltrail platform hasn't gone down in price at all, and the competition is better now than it was a year ago.

[Sam DeathWalker]

Well ... if 24G is more important then CPU power and bandwidth maybe. CPU power is not important for WoW. Bandwidth is but having all of wow in ram is also big plus.

Skulltrain will get you the memory you need, but DDR2 (which is cheap), without all the problems you are talking about for the I7.

Again I say wait untill I7 boards are stable with 24G then spend yur monies. Just buy some temp system to get you by for 6 months or so. Who knows AMD isnt going to let Intel have a 900 percent lead in memory bandwidth forever maybe their platform will be close and cost effective.

Hey check this out:

http://www.nvidia.com/object/tesla_build_your_own.html



System Memory
Since each Tesla C1060 has 4GB of GPU memory, we recommend 4GB of system memory per Tesla C1060. So, for a 3x Tesla C1060 system, include at least 12 GB of system memory and for 4x Tesla C1060 system, configure with 16GB of system memory.

Most of the motherboards have only 4 DIMM slots, therefore you should use 4GB DDR2 DIMMs to get 12GB or 16GB of system memory (4GB DDR3 DIMMs are currently not broadly available).

http://weblog.infoworld.com/stratdev/archives/2009/01/gpu_computing_i.html


OMG

http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_tesla_c1060_us.html

102GB/sec !!!!!!!!!!


Form Factor 10.5" x 4.376", Dual Slot
# of Tesla GPUs 1
# of Streaming Processor Cores 240
Frequency of processor cores 1.3GHz
Single Precision floating point performance (peak) 933
Double Precision floating point performance (peak) 78
Floating Point Precision IEEE 754 single & double
Total Dedicated Memory 4GB GDDR3
Memory Speed 800MHz
Memory Interface 512-bit
Memory Bandwidth 102GB/sec
Max Power Consumption 200 W peak, 160 W typical
System Interface PCIe x16
Auxiliary Power Connectors 6-pin & 8-pin
Thermal Solution Active fan sink
Programming environment CUDA


Raptor: 1.5G/sec
SSD: 3.0G/sec
Skull: 12G/sec (wild guess - 1600pc ddr2 max?)
I7 28G/sec
telsa: 102G/sec



You know you could get a 16G skulltrain for now then upgrade later: MB $500

http://cgi.ebay.com/Intel-Motherboard-D5400XS-Skulltrain_W0QQitemZ270336937639QQihZ017QQcategory Z45090QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

16G ddr2 ram is only not much $340

http://cgi.ebay.com/LOT-OF-4-Samsung-D2-800-4GB-ECC-FB-DIMM-Original-Memor_W0QQitemZ380099304870QQihZ025QQcategoryZ1114 25QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Get just ONE CPU for it.... what another $250 or so.

Bingo yur temp system is skulltrain lol

[MaltheMM]

i couldn'tfind this on the nvidia site or on google so
is it possible to run with 2 tesla's and 2 Quardro NVS 450's ?

[-silencer-]

Bingo yur temp system is skulltrain lol
Dude.. it's called SkulltraiL. :)

[Sam DeathWalker]

I guess if yur motherboard supports, well I think you need like 4 PCI slots.

I am sure that 1 telsa is more then sufficient, remember there is probably no software that will use its full capacity yet, I guess I dont know.

Anyway it just depends how many fast PCI slots you have.

Dont forget these systems are like $8000 (but that 3 telslas).



then take the very same program and run it on a personal supercomputer built around $1,699 Tesla C1060 boards or on a four-teraflop 1U Tesla S1070 server. You don't need to know how many cores are available: you just have to tell the executive about the parallelism of your data.

For embarrassingly parallel problems, for example digital tomography, an under-$10,000 Tesla personal supercomputer can beat a $5 million Sun CalcUA. Does that apply to other problems? It depends, of course, on whether they are inherently parallel.

[MaltheMM]

i think i'm just gonna wait for some BIOS updates ... but thne i'd have to upgrade my temp rig ... a sucky Medion Akoya P34592 (MD 8393) bought in Aldi

but the video card really sucks ... so i'd have to upgrade it...

what
and my choice is GTX295 or GTX 285 ?
I'm only going to use 2 screens

[MaltheMM]

but doesnt skulltrail have more potential power and überness if paired with the hardwareBecause it uses two quad cores Xeons at 3.2GHz, yes.. but it can't have "the best core extremes" because the best CPUs available (Core i7 965 Extreme) aren't in LGA771 socket form. The time to buy Skulltrail was long before Core i7 / X58 boards came out. The Skulltrail platform hasn't gone down in price at all, and the competition is better now than it was a year ago.i was thinking of the Intel Core 2 Extreme™s and those i believe fits in LGA771 sockets

[Sam DeathWalker]

295 ftw:

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/1706/8/gigabyte_geforce_gtx_295_graphics_card/index.html


http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/1715/8/gigabyte_geforce_gtx_285_graphics_card/index.html

[MaltheMM]

ok 295 it is then .... what manufacturer/version then?

[MaltheMM]

also ... doesnt Quadro NVS 450 cost about the same as 295 ?
or maybe it's cheaper?

[Sam DeathWalker]

http://cgi.ebay.com/PNY-Quadro-NVS-450-PCIE-2-VCQ450NVS-X16-PB_W0QQitemZ360126234367QQihZ023QQcategoryZ3762QQs sPageNameZWD1VQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1638Q 2em118Q2el1247


http://www.nvidia.com/object/IO_14605.html

http://www.mv4t.com/Hardware_Graphics_CUDA-Capable-Cards.php

Not sure which is better yet .... 295 is a strong card are cost more then 450.

I think the 450 is considered the superior card, also if you plan on going for your 8 monitor system a 450 would be a better choice so you dont have to upgrade later.

Ok the 450 has 2 G98 cores:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nvidia_Quadro

Well G98 is the 8600 core, bigs deal.

SEVERAL READERS CAME back and asked us what is exactly G98, mentioned in previous stories by Mr. Demerjian and myself.
The answer is short and sweet. G98 is the new mainstream part with enhanced and more wide memory controller, going head to head with ATi's own RV670. G98 is all that G83 (8600) was supposed to be, but failed to deliver.

A while ago, a rumour about GeForce 8600 with 256-bit controller appeared on the market. That part is no other but the G98, even though the GF8600+256-bit is a bit downplayed, G98 is significantly faster and has much more shader power.

These are real $199 cards, not those notebook parts that were dumped into the desktop market.


So the 295 is the much superior offering.




Also:

Thats the first raptor with Sata 3.0 (instead fo 1.5) interface.

With raid 0 you get 6GB/sec

If you set up your 12G ram with a 8G ram disk you get 28G/sec. WoW takes more then 8G for all folders though.

I don't think access time is important (why would they store a zone data non consecutively in the data files?).

These are cheaper AND FASTER then the 300G ones:

http://cgi.ebay.com/80-GB-Velociraptor-W…1QQcmdZViewItem

WD740HLFS

I think 2 of those is by far the best cost/performance upgrade you can do. I hate raid but 2 of those in raid zero, or 4 in raid zero (12Gsec transfer rate humm.) for just $250 for 2 or $500 for 4 well ...

$500 for 12G/sec humm hummm with 280G capacity.

$1800 for 28G/sec ddr3 with 24G capacity (if you could get it).

Hummm ....


And for those really on a budget:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Western-Digital-10K-36GB-Raptor-WD360-SATA-Hard-Drive_W0QQitemZ330304245105QQihZ014QQcategoryZ3997 2QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

$40 for every 1.5G/sec.

So for a lousy $160 you get your wow folder to 6G/sec .... I should really get those for my slave computers.

[MaltheMM]

the temp rig is final

I'm getting a GTX295 and a Samsung 1TB 7200RPM HDD

[-silencer-]

but doesnt skulltrail have more potential power and überness if paired with the hardwareBecause it uses two quad cores Xeons at 3.2GHz, yes.. but it can't have "the best core extremes" because the best CPUs available (Core i7 965 Extreme) aren't in LGA771 socket form. The time to buy Skulltrail was long before Core i7 / X58 boards came out. The Skulltrail platform hasn't gone down in price at all, and the competition is better now than it was a year ago.i was thinking of the Intel Core 2 Extreme™s and those i believe fits in LGA771 sockets
There are a couple different Core 2 Extremes.. but only one is the specific model with LGA771. The others are LGA775 and won't work with Skulltrail.