System Question

[Ethanc]

First of all I would like to thank everyone for all the help. I have recently looked into getting back into W.o.W. I was looking at building a new system that would easily handle 5 WoW instances running at one time. Now I realize the system that I am about to post is over-qualified in some aspects, but why not live by the motto "Go big or go home"?

Case:
COOLER MASTER HAF X RC-942-KKN1 Black Steel/ Plastic ATX Full Tower Computer Case (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119225)
Motherboard:
ASUS P8Z68-V PRO LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131730)
Video Card:
3GB GTX 580 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500199) (only one I found on newegg)
Power Supply:
OCZ ZX Series OCZ-ZX850W 850W ATX12V v2.2 / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply Compatible with Core i5 & i7 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341044)
CPU:
i7-2600k (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115070)
RAM:
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL7Q-16GBXH (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231442) (Updated to this because it's faster and it's on sale)
Hard Drive:
Intel 510 120GB SSD
WD Black 1TB
DVD Drive:
Basic DvDRW drive (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204)
Monitor:
2x 23in Full HD (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236117)
Operating System:
Windows 7 Ultimate Full


Now the main questions is if the system would be effective enough to run the 5 instances at the same time while recording video. The system would also be used to edit HD video.

All the help would be appreciated, I know that some people are busy buy I don't want to go and build this and a week later a better product come out.. :)

E.C.

(Updated power supply, graphics card, hard drives)


Update: I was looking at an aftermarket CPU cooler and I found one by Zalman (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118052). Looked promising to where I would be able to use all my RAM slots. Thoughts if anyone has used one of these before?

[Bollwerk]

Are SandyBridge procs not available where you live?

I would take an i5-2500K over the i7-990x any day of the week and twice on Sunday. (or the i7-2600K if you need the hyperthreading for video editing). For gaming, it's as fast (or faster) than the 990X, costs 1/3 the price and can overclock just as high or higher.

[Umbaalo]

Just so that you are aware, there is a known issue with those hard drives not being able to handle being set up in RAID. Why not look into getting a ssd for the extra performance and one of those caviar black drives for a secondary mass capacity drive?

[Ethanc]

So after taking in the advice I looked at changing the CPU to the i7-2600k (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115070) and I would have to change the motherboard, which I found an MSI P67 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130574) board, although I haven't heard anything on the quality of the board. I then would have to change the RAM package since there would be 2 less slots so I was thinking of Ripjaws 16gb package (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231429). Only downside was when I was reading the feedback it seemed people had problems with a quality issue.


Now on the issue of the Hard Drives. I've been out of the loop on SSD and I haven't read much into them, what I know/have read briefly is that there are no moving parts and it has a faster connection. Now would I want to get 2 SSD, and then use a more stable 1TB or what would you suggest?



(sorry for having to edit this post so many times)

[Noids]

Now that they are available I would look into getting a Z68 motherboard rather than a P67 especially running the equivalent of 4 GPUs and an overclockable sandy bridge processor. Seeing you chose Asus for your Mboard, something like this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131730

Outo of interest, what is the problem with the Black Caviars in raid? I run 2 x intel X-25M 80GB SSDs in Raid 0 for my system drive and 2 x 1GB blacks in Raid 1 for storage and backup. Never had a problem with them.

If I was building a system drive with whats currently available I would choose an 240GB OCZ RevoDrive II http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227661. This is a 4 x PCIE card made with an inbuilt raid 0 controller attached to 4 x sandforce controllers.

As an alternative the new Vertex 3 SSDs appear to be the fastest SATA drives at the moment so if you wanted a cheaper option, one of these would be fine for a system drive http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227706.

As a criticism perhaps, not sure on the merits of the dual 2xGPU video cards for WoW. To get full value out of these, you would want one GPU powering a monitor each so you are looking at at least a 4 monitor setup. If you are looking at a one or two monitor setup I would prefer a single GTX580 (pref. the 3GB version now it's available) or a GTX590 if you wanted two monitors.

Cheers

[Umbaalo]

All you really need is just one ssd. For the purpose of holding Win 7 and your game programs, that's all you'll store on it. Anything else can be put on the capacity drive of your choice (caviar black 1 and 2TB drives are a nice pick.).

If price is no object to you, I'd recommend the OCZ vertex 3... But any second generation ssd will give you very noticeable gains. Like I said before, crucial and Intel have excellent quality control for the most part, but aren't exactly the fastest.

[Ethanc]

Concerning the GPU would a single GTX 590 run 5 wow instances (main on ultra or high and slaves on medium) in a populated area without a lot of problems? I was planning on just running 2 monitors but I wouldn't be opposed to a 3 or 4 monitor setup.

I will likely get OCZ vertex 3 for the SSD.

(The Mboard (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131730) that Noids suggested was what I was thinking of after I saw something about the Z68, only thing I wasn't sure about was if I would be able to eventually upgrade it to 2 video cards)

[MiRai]

Concerning the GPU would a single GTX 590 run 5 wow instances (main on ultra or high and slaves on medium) in a populated area without a lot of problems? I was planning on just running 2 monitors but I wouldn't be opposed to a 3 or 4 monitor setup.

I will likely get OCZ vertex 3 for the SSD.

(The Mboard (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131730) that Noids suggested was what I was thinking of after I saw something about the Z68, only thing I wasn't sure about was if I would be able to eventually upgrade it to 2 video cards)
It sounds like you've changed your mind from the 990X to a SNB chip but you haven't updated your original post so I'm not
sure what exactly to comment on.

I do know that you don't want dual GPU cards since multiboxing doesn't work well with SLI or CF. It'd be a complete waste
to separate the GPUs and have one sit dormant which would just make it an underclocked GTX 580.

And for the sake of argument and variety... I would recommend the Intel 510's over the OCZ V3's.

[Ethanc]

It sounds like you've changed your mind from the 990X to a SNB chip but you haven't updated your original post so I'm not
sure what exactly to comment on.

I do know that you don't want dual GPU cards since multiboxing doesn't work well with SLI or CF. It'd be a complete waste
to separate the GPUs and have one sit dormant which would just make it an underclocked GTX 580.

And for the sake of argument and variety... I would recommend the Intel 510's over the OCZ V3's.

Updated the orginal post, thanks for reminding me.

Concerning the Intel 510's, Are there any performance differences between it and the Vertex 3? They are the same price on Newegg for the same amount of space and I didn't know if I was missing something while reading.

[RSM72]

The HAF is a nice case, I moved from a (silent) Antec P182 to a HAF 932 and did not notice much of a difference in terms of quieteness. The only change was that I never hearded my HDs in the Antec and now with the HAF I can tell when they are accessed.

Imho the gtx 590 is overkill, 580 is sufficient for 5x wow and less power hungry (CPU is the limitation here). And SLI is asking for trouble most of the time. Based on that I think a 1200W power supply is somewhat oversized.

If you intend to overclock I'd go with a good aftermarket cooler for the CPU. Comming from i7 overclocking I can recommend the Prolimatechs (Megahalems / Shadow / Super Mega). I'm unsure about their new Genesis because it blocks the RAM banks but that can be an advantage in cooling too. Easy mounting, good performance and still very quiet with a good fan.

EDIT: took a look at the corsair cooler I'd say that thing is not worth the bucks. Good quality silent CPU coolers come at 50% of its price.

[Ethanc]

Well I changed the CPU after the suggest of switching from the i7 Extreme Edition Gulftown 3.46.

The power supply I was thinking of bringing it down to a 1000W but I would like some room to upgrade in the future.

I was looking at an aftermarket cooler although I think it was something of a combination of a watercooled + fan but I didn't know how easy it would be/where to mount it. It was the Corsair Hyrdo H70 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181013) which is compatible with the 1155 socket. I will look into the fan you suggested.

[Ethanc]

If you intend to overclock I'd go with a good aftermarket cooler for the CPU. Comming from i7 overclocking I can recommend the Prolimatechs (Megahalems / Shadow / Super Mega). I'm unsure about their new Genesis because it blocks the RAM banks but that can be an advantage in cooling too. Easy mounting, good performance and still very quiet with a good fan.


I looked at the Prolimatech Supermega (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835242006&cm_re=prolimatech_cpu_cooler-_-35-242-006-_-Product) and the only concern I would have is that it would get in the way of the RAM I chose, guaranteed I could always pick a RAM with a smaller heatsink. I would like to be able to get 16gb into this system.

On a side note I assume that I would have to buy a 120mm-140mm fan to sit on top of that?

[Tonuss]

As I understand it, in order to control temps and power the GTX 590 is "down-clocked" a fair amount, and thus the performance benefit isn't as big as it should be. I've run 5x WOW on a Radeon 5850 (low video settings on slaves, high settings on main) without issue. A GTX 580 paired with that i7 2600K should handle 5x WOW and allow you to run the main character at Ultra with solid frame rates except when you enter a packed area (like a city or sanctuary when there are a few dozen players in the area).

One thing to keep in mind about SSDs is that your WOW folder(s) can get pretty massive. I think mine have gotten as big as 35-37GB with all of the patch files and other crap that can build up. 128GB SSD seems like the minimum size if it's also your boot/program/swap drive.

[MiRai]

Updated the orginal post, thanks for reminding me.

Concerning the Intel 510's, Are there any performance differences between it and the Vertex 3? They are the same price on Newegg for the same amount of space and I didn't know if I was missing something while reading.
There are performance differences across the board (http://www.anandtech.com/bench/SSD/65) regardless of which SSD you choose... that includes both brand and size.
The OCZ V3's are technically the fastest drives out there when it comes to benchmark numbers, but hardly any of that is
every day real world performance. What I like to look at is reliability.

Mr. Fenril, how do you figure that Intel SSDs are more reliable than OCZ SSDs?
I'm glad you asked that. Technically, I don't know. But, just by browsing hardware forums on a regular basis I rarely see people
bitching about Intel SSDs (or even Crucial for that matter), but someone is always bitching about their OCZ drive. Something
else that really bothers me about OCZ is their forum. If you look at Intel's SSD forum (http://communities.intel.com/community/tech/solidstate?view=discussions&start=20&numResults=15) and OCZ's SSD forum (http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?248-Sandforce-Vertex2-LE-Pro-Agility2-Vertex2-Agility2-EX-Drives-REVO-and-HSDL-drives) (after you get past
OCZ's 15 fucking stickies) and compare them side-by-side on how many people are having issues with their drives every day. I
think you'll notice that OCZ has a plethora of problems going on over at their forum while Intel's forum is nice and quiet.

It can always be argued though that since OCZ boasts the biggest numbers, they have the most customers, and, in turn, have
the most reported issues. Who knows?

Anyway, get rid of that stupid GTX 590. The 590 is just two underclocked 580's jammed on the same card. They're
underclocked because if they weren't the card would probably catch on fire. I own the 3GB GTX 580 and this thing can pump
out some heat.

[Ethanc]

There are performance differences across the board (http://www.anandtech.com/bench/SSD/65) regardless of which SSD you choose... that includes both brand and size.
The OCZ V3's are technically the fastest drives out there when it comes to benchmark numbers, but hardly any of that is
every day real world performance. What I like to look at is reliability.

I'm glad you asked that. Technically, I don't know. But, just by browsing hardware forums on a regular basis I rarely see people
bitching about Intel SSDs (or even Crucial for that matter), but someone is always bitching about their OCZ drive. Something
else that really bothers me about OCZ is their forum. If you look at Intel's SSD forum (http://communities.intel.com/community/tech/solidstate?view=discussions&start=20&numResults=15) and OCZ's SSD forum (http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?248-Sandforce-Vertex2-LE-Pro-Agility2-Vertex2-Agility2-EX-Drives-REVO-and-HSDL-drives) (after you get past
OCZ's 15 fucking stickies) and compare them side-by-side on how many people are having issues with their drives every day. I
think you'll notice that OCZ has a plethora of problems going on over at their forum while Intel's forum is nice and quiet.

It can always be argued though that since OCZ boasts the biggest numbers, they have the most customers, and, in turn, have
the most reported issues. Who knows?

Anyway, get rid of that stupid GTX 590. The 590 is just two underclocked 580's jammed on the same card. They're
underclocked because if they weren't the card would probably catch on fire. I own the 3GB GTX 580 and this thing can pump
out some heat.


I'll look more into the the Intel 510's a bit more. Do you use just 1 3GB GTX 580?
I am trying to order everything from Newegg and the only 3GB GTX 580 I found was the one by ZOTAC (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500199&Tpk=3gb%20gtx%20580)
(Edited to include link)

[MiRai]

I'll look more into the the Intel 510's a bit more. Do you use just 1 3GB GTX 580?
I am trying to order everything from Newegg and the only 3GB GTX 580 I found was the one by ZOTAC (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500199&Tpk=3gb%20gtx%20580)
(Edited to include link)
Yes, I have a thread in this forum just a few posts below this one.

[RSM72]

I looked at the Prolimatech Supermega (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835242006&cm_re=prolimatech_cpu_cooler-_-35-242-006-_-Product) and the only concern I would have is that it would get in the way of the RAM I chose, guaranteed I could always pick a RAM with a smaller heatsink. I would like to be able to get 16gb into this system.

On a side note I assume that I would have to buy a 120mm-140mm fan to sit on top of that?
Yes you need fan(s) on top of that. Supermega is compatible with 120 and 140 ones and I think it comes with two pairs of clamps to mount either one or two fans. Thus I'm running with only one because whatever I do the second one will turn my silent airflow into some kind of turbine.

And damn are those things expensive at neweggs, I can get the Megahalens Rev B for 40€ over here while the Supermega is close to 60€.

[MiRai]

As for those large coolers like that, I use the Thermalright Venomous-X and on the Gigabyte UD7 board there
wasn't enough room to attach 2 fans to it with how tall my RAM is. On the Maximus IV there is just enough
room to attach the second fan but, to be honest I'm not sure I notice much of a cooling difference. I've always
been told a push/pull setup can actually hurt cooling performance and that you should really just strap a single
fan on there with a high CFM.

[Noids]

With the ssds I would say a few things. Keep in mind I actually use two intel x25s because they were the best drives for what we wanted at the time. Ocz originally had reliability issues due to poor controllers and intel came out with their own controller which was much better. Since then ocz (and most of the industry) use sand force controllers which are widely recognized as the best.

Intel's new 510 ssd does not use an intel controller any more. It has also been designed to excel in large sequential read performance rather than smaller random reads which is what we want. For a system drive you want one which performs well with random writes also (this is where the original ocz drives fell in a hole). The vertex 2 and 3 both perform at best in class level for random read and writes. If you are set on getting an intel drive (which I'm sure will not disappoint) then I would recommend looking at a 320 instead as it is designed around better random read/write performance which suits your use as a system drive slightly better.