Time for an upgrade..

[mikekim]

I thought it was about time to upgrade my current system, as my main pc is a lowly q6600 and starting to show signs of age..

so today i have ordered the following items to speed it up a bit:

Intel Core i7 980X 3.33GHz (Gulftown) Extreme Edition (Socket LGA1366)
Corsair Hydro H70 High-Performance CPU WaterCooler (Socket LGA775/LGA1156/LGA1366/AM2/AM3)
Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R Intel X58 (Socket 1366) DDR3 Motherboard
Corsair Vengeance 12GB (3x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Triple Channel Kit

OCZ RevoDrive 180GB PCI-Express Solid State Drive (OCZSSD2-2VTXE180G) ( I dont need a data drive, as I have a 6TB NAS)
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit - OEM (GFC-00599)

Dell U2711 27" IPS Monitor

these will be added to existing components i have:

Coolermaster Stacker 832 Tower Case
Enermax Galaxy EGX850EWL 850W Modular PSU
4x Akasa AK-191-SM Smoke Ultra Quiet 120mm Fan
Zalman ZM-MFC1 Plus Black Multi Fan Controller

Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 5850 Toxic 2048MB GDDR5 Graphics Card

G.Skill Falcon 64GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive (with WOW installed)
2x Pioneer DVR212BK 18x DVD±R/±RW (Black) SATA

Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard
Logitech G13 Gamepad
Logitech G5 Laser Mouse
SSeries Steelpad 5L Gaming Mat

Creative labs XFi Xtream Fatality Pro
Creative Labs 5.1 Speakers

with this machine I will probably look to run all five accounts from it and get rid of the other machines (and also reclaim some desk space back :p)

I will probably run one of the 22" screens from the old setup for web browsing. (the old machines will cleaned up and be given to family members to use - beats having to recycle them ;))

pics and performance to follow....

[MiRai]

Is this machine for multiboxing World of Warcraft only?

[Bollwerk]

Seems strange to spend so much on the i7 980X (aren't those nearly $1000?) and only have a 5850 for a graphics card. I'm surprised you don't upgrade to a GTX 580 also. =)

[mikekim]

responses to questions:

the machine will be used for Photo Editing and Graphic Design as well (photoshop CS5) which is why I chose an IPS screen

the 5850 is the current card I have in my system - it is the toxic 2Gb version, so is quite a bit quicker than a standard 5850. I will see how this performs before deciding whether to upgrade to a GTX580 (or similar)

[MiRai]

Well, unless you fall under one or more of the following:


A) Are positive you need and you'll be stressing 6 physical cores with what you're doing.

B) Have money to burn.

C) Are getting an Intel employee discount.

D) Just want to enlarge your e-peen. [I fall into this category]Then I would not recommend spending $1000 on a 980X.

[Kekkerer]

Using a i7 920 I have noticed that my 5th wow application sometimes seems to lag a little more than the others but it is extremely difficult to see. Follow breaking more often and so on, it seems that using a 6 core system has advantages when 5boxing in my experience at least.

[mikekim]

Well, unless you fall under one or more of the following:


A) Are positive you need and you'll be stressing 6 physical cores with what you're doing.


B) Have money to burn.

C) Are getting an Intel employee discount.

D) Just want to enlarge your e-peen. [I fall into this category]Then I would not recommend spending $1000 on a 980X.

the money is not an issue.. e-peen enlargement is something i think that all people who like computers have to deal with to some degree, so there is probably something there :o

I normally upgrade my main machine every 4 years, so when I purchase the system I want the best, or close to it, so the machine will be viable for the length of time I'm going to keep it.

The 580 will be the next upgrade on the list as soon as my supplier has the one I want in stock (EVGA GeForce GTX 580 SuperClocked)

As for the six cores, they will not go to waste, as I frequently have to play with multiple VM's and you never know having this machine might inspire me to move up to 10 boxing.

[mikekim]

UPDATE:

Decided to make some changes to the kit list:

Asus Rampage III (replacing the UDR3 which was supplied with faulty socket pins)
OCZ IBIS (replacing the Revo, which has gone end of life)
Asus GTX 580 (for the 5850 Toxic)

and added a set of Logitech Z5500's

behold.... its like all your christmases have arrived at once :)

http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/7729/boxest.jpg


installation was a breeze with the coolermaster case, as it has a removable motherboard tray. (the small card next to the 580 is the HDSL interface for the IBIS)

http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/3197/mbtray.jpg


completed installation in case, prior to tidying cables

http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/4658/casef.jpg

boots into windows is about 10 seconds from cold.

had a dabble with overcloking (well i picked the 4ghz option in the bios :p) runs stable- will look on pushing it to around 4.5 in the next couple of weeks

http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/4707/cpuzd.jpg

performed a slight OC on the GTX580 up from 782/2004 to 950/2194 seems to be running stable with no issues.

as for the speed increase comparison to my previous system...

when I originally installed my old system (Q6600, 8MB, GTX260) i benchmarked it on Aquamark (after finding the patch to enable it to run on vista) and scored 81,000, which i thought was pretty good at the time.

I have just installed and run the same benchmark on my new system and scored 250,000.

haven't got around to trying wow yet, but cant see it being a problem running 5 instances from this machine with high details.

[thefunk]

Nice!

Isn't the 980 about £300 more than the 950? What's made you choose the 980 over it as money obviously wasn't one of the issues.

Also out of interest, what was the total damage as i'm looking at something similar.

[mikekim]

I chose the 980x for the 6 cores, as I will be using this machine for development and design work, as well as gaming. the x price was £50 more than the 970 and has far more overhead to overclock if needed.

The total cost of the upgrades was just under the £3,000 mark, I was given the Z5500's for nothing :D (add another £500 for the existing case, SSD, PSU, Soundblaster X-Fi & 2x DVDRW's)


If you are looking just for a high speed gaming rig, look at the new sandybridge chips and motherboards, some people have had very good results taking them up to 4.3ghz on air cooling.

one item to take note of... don't bother buying an OC'd version of the GTX580, as all of them will quite happily go to insane speeds using MSI Afterburner Beta (just up the standard voltage from 1025 to around 1138 once you pass 850mhz)

[Sam DeathWalker]

Odd you would take the IBS over the OZC PCIe solutions:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3949/oczs-fastest-ssd-the-ibis-and-hsdl-interface-reviewed/5

http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/solid-state-drives/pci-express/z-drive-r2.html



Hey I would be most interested is seeing if your old video card (2G) is better then the new (1.5G) for wow as its my opinion that video ram is very important.

Run 5 wows then pick one and

Put all effects down to low and fly around org and see which card has the better frame rates.

Then turn up to Ultra and do the same. If on ultra your new card isnt doing better then we know that its not the gpu that limits performance but the texture pipeline.


That would give us a lot of infos.



Ya IPS for the win, I have 5 HP 2335's

[thefunk]

Hey I would be most interested is seeing if your old video card (2G) is better then the new (1.5G) for wow as its my opinion that video ram is very important.



I had a conversation with one of those custom pc config people and it appears the chip is as or more important than the vram; i.e. a 470 1.2gb would run faster than the 460 2gig. Kinda makes sense as you'd want a combination of a good chip and enough ram to support.

Then again i'm no engineer so happy to hear otherwise.

[Sam DeathWalker]

Ya with normal stuffs sure, but for multiboxing, say 5 boxing on one machine you have 1/5th of the ram per client. In areas where a lot of new textures are coming in/out that a lot of data to be moving from SSD to System Ram then to Video Ram. Obvoiusly the more video ram you have the less you need to move from the SSD. Dosn't matter how fast the gpu is if the textures are just not there.

And faster GPU only means you can run with more effects turned up as compare to a slower GPU (at the same frame rates), its probably not going to effect baseline fps (i.e. fps with all effects off).

Its easy to test. Just stand at one spot in Org and spin. If your fps goes down a lot its your gpu. If you fps is about the same or a bit less its your texture lag.

[Noids]

There will be no comparison between the 5850 and 580GTX as the processors are different generations and I really can't see Ram making much difference.

I am very interested to see how you go with the IBIS. I have been tossing up whether to upgrade my 2 x intel X-25s to an OCZ RevoDrive 2. As far as I understand, the IBIS just uses a proprietary bus which connects to the PCI-Express port rather than a direct connection like the Revo/Z-Drives, so performance should be pretty similar to 4 drives in a raid 0 setup regardless.

Also looking around recently, it seems that the new SandyBridge stuff is available at very good prices and will perform comparably to an X58 980X setup. It also seems that they are extremely easy to overclock (the K versions only) but they are limited to 4 cores. From what I have seen though, clock for clock, a 2600K chip will achieve similar results to the 980X even with the extra cores. If I was upgrading from Core2 I would probably look at this platform currently, if I was upgrading from i7 then I would probably wait for the Sandy Bridge E stuff to come out later this year.

I know you have already bought the gear and it looks like an awesome package mate. Either way, you will have heaps of fun with it which is the main thing ;)

[mikekim]

I am very interested to see how you go with the IBIS. I have been tossing up whether to upgrade my 2 x intel X-25s to an OCZ RevoDrive 2. As far as I understand, the IBIS just uses a proprietary bus which connects to the PCI-Express port rather than a direct connection like the Revo/Z-Drives, so performance should be pretty similar to 4 drives in a raid 0 setup regardless.

the IBIS shows in post as 4x 37gb drives. performance is stunning to say the least :eek:, programs open up instantly, the read and write speeds are very similar to the Revo 2, but that wasn't available at the time of purchase, so i went with the IBIS.
You are correct with the IBIS, it is supplied with a 4x PCi-e card with a HDSL connector that you connect to the 3.5 drive via the supplied cable (this cable can be seen in the case shot at the bottom, on the previous page)

[Noids]

Nice to hear ;)

After reading through the thread yesterday I was inspired to head over to tomshardware for a look at new goodies and saw all the OCZ stuff at CES. A new IBIS and a Z-drive 3 which are doing >1000MB/s transfer times. No wonder these guys have pulled out of the memory market to focus on storage when there is so much scope for development.

[mikekim]

Odd you would take the IBS over the OZC PCIe solutions:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/3949/oczs-fastest-ssd-the-ibis-and-hsdl-interface-reviewed/5

http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/solid-state-drives/pci-express/z-drive-r2.html



Hey I would be most interested is seeing if your old video card (2G) is better then the new (1.5G) for wow as its my opinion that video ram is very important.

Run 5 wows then pick one and

Put all effects down to low and fly around org and see which card has the better frame rates.

Then turn up to Ultra and do the same. If on ultra your new card isnt doing better then we know that its not the gpu that limits performance but the texture pipeline.


That would give us a lot of infos.



Ya IPS for the win, I have 5 HP 2335's

GTX 580 test - 260.99 driver
==========

GFX running standard speed, not OC'd for this test. i7 980x CPU running at 4Ghz(1,920x1280)

5x wows running on ISBoxer (4x background set to low detail 30)
On main everything set to maximum/ultra inc max aa/multi (apart from Shadows set to low)

Org flight fps 90-120.


1x wow running on ISBoxer.
On main everything set to maximum/ultra (apart from Shadows set to low)

Org flight fps 132-260.

the spin in place test averaged 220-225 fps when tried.


I wont be able to test the 5850 in the rig as i have sold it, but looking on every hardware test comparison it will not come close to these figures

[Sam DeathWalker]

That sure is nice.

So the spin test tells us that your gpu is way more then you need and you are texture lag limited.

(Fewer textures need be loaded when spinning but you still max stress the gpu).

And as expected you are more texture lagged as you have more clients.

I don't see any reason to play above 60fps so if your gpu can get 60fps during the spin test then its good enough and money best spent on the SSD.

Well as expected but overall results are basically fantastic. I am not getting anywhere near that. Have to move to a X58 at some point at least on my main I guess.

These tests also show that the system is not CPU limited either, its limited by getting the textures from SSD to System Ram to Video Ram as shown by the flying being lower (a lot) fps then then spinning.

I'm also kinda wondering if the 1.5G on your current system is giving you a big edge over people with 1G on their video cards .....



When you run 5 clients you tile 4 at lower resolutions with IsBoxer? Whats your Switch charater to Main screen from low resolution speed about? With your GPU maybe you can render all 5 tiled at full resolution (if you are not already) which should vastly speed up client to main screen portion switching. I can see that to be an excellent reason to use a higherpower gpu.



By the way whats your ping and are you using the onboard nic?

Whats the ping with one, and then with 5 clients?

[mikekim]

That sure is nice.

When you run 5 clients you tile 4 at lower resolutions with IsBoxer? Whats your Switch charater to Main screen from low resolution speed about? With your GPU maybe you can render all 5 tiled at full resolution (if you are not already) which should vastly speed up client to main screen portion switching. I can see that to be an excellent reason to use a higherpower gpu.


By the way whats your ping and are you using the onboard nic?

Whats the ping with one, and then with 5 clients?


All my alts are rendered at the same resolution (obviously in smaller windows on the 22" screen and lower details)
no delay what so ever in swapping characters.

havent run a tracert to wow's servers, but my latency was 80ms when running the tests

[Noids]

That sure is nice.

So the spin test tells us that your gpu is way more then you need and you are texture lag limited.

(Fewer textures need be loaded when spinning but you still max stress the gpu).

And as expected you are more texture lagged as you have more clients.

I don't see any reason to play above 60fps so if your gpu can get 60fps during the spin test then its good enough and money best spent on the SSD.

Well as expected but overall results are basically fantastic. I am not getting anywhere near that. Have to move to a X58 at some point at least on my main I guess.

These tests also show that the system is not CPU limited either, its limited by getting the textures from SSD to System Ram to Video Ram as shown by the flying being lower (a lot) fps then then spinning.

I'm also kinda wondering if the 1.5G on your current system is giving you a big edge over people with 1G on their video cards .....



When you run 5 clients you tile 4 at lower resolutions with IsBoxer? Whats your Switch charater to Main screen from low resolution speed about? With your GPU maybe you can render all 5 tiled at full resolution (if you are not already) which should vastly speed up client to main screen portion switching. I can see that to be an excellent reason to use a higherpower gpu.



By the way whats your ping and are you using the onboard nic?

Whats the ping with one, and then with 5 clients?

X68 (or whatever they call it) and LGA 2011 coming in Q3 this year :P Triple channel ram is going up to quad channel for you Sam, although they are cutting back to 4 slots instead of 6 so max of 16GB until they bring out 8GB DDR3 modules.

[mikekim]

UPDATE TIME:
+++++++++++++++

this is the result of having too much money and time on your hands... :eek:



Added a Antec Skeleton case (removed the top 250mm fan to site radiator)

Added full watercooling (to replace the H70)


pictures are prior to filling with fluid and test running to remove the bubbles.

I must admit it looks really good sat on the desk... almost too good to use!!


http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/3245/1front.jpg

http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/412/2rear.jpg

http://img806.imageshack.us/img806/8403/3left.jpg

http://img691.imageshack.us/img691/1655/4right.jpg


I will post a full kit list shortly, and final cost of build....

[Sam DeathWalker]

Antec stole my case design:

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=312803

[Sajuuk]

Antec stole my case design:

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=312803

Hardly. Suck it up.

Oh, and THANKS for linking to a thread that is SEVEN YEARS OLD AND NONE OF THE LINKS WITHING WORK, WAY TO GO.

[mikekim]

Full kit list
++++++++

Antec Skeleton Case
Enermax Galaxy EGX850EWL 850W Modular PSU

Intel Core i7 980X 3.33GHz (Gulftown) Extreme Edition (Socket LGA1366)
Asus Rampage III Extreme ROG ,X58, S1366, DDR3 DDR3 Motherboard
Corsair Vengeance 24GB (6x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz

2x Feser F1 UV Red 1L cooling fluid
3m PC-AK-12BLA 1/2' Black Cable Coil
2.5m Red UV Tube 1/2'-3/4'
XSPC X20 5.25' Bay Reservoir pump
HK CPU Backplate LGA 1366
HK CPU LGA1366 Waterblock
3x Bitspower right angle connectors
4x Bitspower 45 degree connectors
8x Bitspower compression fittings
Phobya G-Changer 120mm Radiator
EK-FC580 GTX VGA cooler
2x Akasa AK-191-SM Smoke Ultra Quiet 120mm Fan

Asus GTX 580, 40nm, 4008MHz GDDR5, GPU 782MHz, 1536MB GDDR5 Graphics Card
27" Dell U2711 A04 WQHD Widescreen IPS LCD. 2560x1440
22" HP 2229 Widescreen LCD 1680x1050

OCZ IBIS 160GB 3.5" HDSL Super-Fast Solid State Hard Drive
1TB WD Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 6GB/s
G.Skill Falcon 64GB 2.5" SATA-II Solid State Hard Drive
Pioneer DVR212BK 18x DVD±R/±RW (Black) SATA


Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit - OEM (to be u/g to Professional 64 bit)

Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard
Logitech G13 Gamepad
Logitech G5 Laser Mouse
SSeries Steelpad 5L Gaming Mat

Creative labs XFi Xtream Fatality Pro
Logitech Z5500 5.1 Speakers

Total cost of everyting £4,500 :eek:

(didn't realise it was that much - lol)
thats what happens when you buy bits over time