New Multiboxing Build [Complete & Upgraded]

[fleaplus]

Yep, even flying through the Jade Forest I can hit 80% CPU utilization, even though my GPU doesn't usually get over 60% even in busy areas. I have my settings mostly the same as you do. Did you do any overclocking on the 4630k, or is that at stock speeds? I think if I were to get an IB-E mainboard it would probably be either the intel one or the asus one. Whichever is the most reliable.

Actually I have been experimenting with ISBoxer over the weekend too. Strangely it seems that my FPS is quite a bit lower vs. using Hotkeynet. I think it must have something to do with how it scales the windows down from the higher resolution to the smaller resolution.

[moosejaw]

Isboxer doesn't scale the windows at all, they stay at full resolution. That is how you get instant swap and the extra hit on the video. It is worth every bit of performance hit though.

[rfarris]

I just got my first team into Pandera last weekend and I was shocked to see my CPU utilization go up by 20%. Whoda thunk it? My bottleneck is still my GTX 670 so my next upgrade will be a 770, but the old i7 920 is gonna have to get an upgrade pretty soon, too. It's pretty obvious that the 4-core cpu is sweating on the core that is supporting two toons. The 4930k with 6 cores so that each toon can have their own core is gonna be the way to go.

MiRai, I've got liquid cooling in my current box, but I'd like to go back to air cooling in the new computer. What is the model of the cpu cooler you're running in your new rig? And I couldn't tell from the video how you've got the fans set up. It looks to me like the fans are either both facing in or both facing out. Is that true? If so, which way is it? Are they blowing in and up, or sucking down and out? Also, I know you mentioned the fan brand in the video, but would you mind mentioning it here? I can't watch videos at work and I'd like to start building a wishlist.

[MiRai]

What is the model of the cpu cooler you're running in your new rig?

Xigmatek Dark Knight

And I couldn't tell from the video how you've got the fans set up. It looks to me like the fans are either both facing in or both facing out. Is that true? If so, which way is it? Are they blowing in and up, or sucking down and out?

Neither. It's called a push/pull setup where one fan pushes the air off of the fins and the other pulls it -- This should obviously be moving in the same direction as the rest of the airflow in your case. The cooling difference between one fan and two fans is probably negligible, so if you can't fit two on there there (or don't want to) then I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Also, I know you mentioned the fan brand in the video, but would you mind mentioning it here? I can't watch videos at work and I'd like to start building a wishlist.

Silverstone AP-122 Air Penetrator

[rfarris]

> Silverstone AP-122 Air Penetrator

So, with two of those, would that be double penetration?

[moosejaw]

Thanks. If you were going to go with a higher-end motherboard, then I would not recommend this eVGA Dark at the moment. I took a chance with it and, while I didn't get burned (as of writing this post), I don't think the board is very friendly to those who are new to building their own systems (or at least willing to spend time troubleshooting things).

The BIOS is loaded with options, some of which don't even work at the moment but the documentation is heavily lacking and I feel like I'm bug testing this BIOS for eVGA because they rushed it. In eVGA's defense, they have released two BIOS updates in the past two weeks which have corrected a handful of problems, but, in my opinion, these "fixes" should have been in the BIOS that shipped with the board last month.

For the record, in the video I stated I had to use their beta BIOS in order to get the IVB-E chip to work, but the bugs I'm referring to are affecting SB-E users as well (and they're not using the "beta" BIOS).

Please give us update on the bios maturity. I have my wish list made up and will be purchasing over the holiday season when the huge OT paydays hit. Should EVGA still have problems I might go for another brand instead.

[rfarris]

I just read the X79 Dark Bios forum on the EVGA website and I'm really scared about the idea of buying one now.

MiRai, if you hadn't gotten the Dark, what MB would you have considered for your new 4930k 6-core CPU?

[MiRai]

I just read the X79 Dark Bios forum on the EVGA website and I'm really scared about the idea of buying one now.

Well, when you go to a support forum it's likely that you're going to see a lot of problems and, because EVGA has such a following of fanboys, everyone and their mother who has no idea what they're doing buys their products.

EVGA makes great GPUs, but I would probably not recommend their motherboards at this point in time.

MiRai, if you hadn't gotten the Dark, what MB would you have considered for your new 4930k 6-core CPU?

I would have probably looked at Asus (again) or MSI boards (I've been wanting to try out MSI boards since I keep hearing good things about them). Honestly, I don't see myself buying another EVGA board in the future, but I have no problem sticking with this one for now because of the awesome warranty I get on it and it's actually working for me for the most part; although, down the road I may change boards and try to get rid of this Dark for cheap. /shrug

The Asus RIVE Black looks unbelievably sexy, but it's not out yet and there's no release date that I know of (or MSRP). I think EVGA rushed out the Dark so they could be everyone else to the 'refresh' of the LGA2011 market with the release of IVB-E.

[rfarris]

So today I read all 24 pages of the EVGA Dark MB forum and to be honest, it doesn't sound that bad. I'm not looking at overclocking -- I want to run IVB-E and I like the new GUI on the bios. As long as the 4930k will run at 3.4ghz I'll be happy. I need one ethernet port and one 6GB sata port running and that's about it. Well, and two PCIe x16 ports for GTX cards. It'll take me about a month to save the money for all the pieces, so I'll wait until the end for the MB and revisit the EVGA forum and see what people are thinking then.

If not, the Asus RIVE seems pretty popular. It looks like it had problems too when it first came out but it's been around for a while now.

[MiRai]

Please give us update on the bios maturity. I have my wish list made up and will be purchasing over the holiday season when the huge OT paydays hit. Should EVGA still have problems I might go for another brand instead.

So today I read all 24 pages of the EVGA Dark MB forum and to be honest, it doesn't sound that bad.

It'll take me about a month to save the money for all the pieces, so I'll wait until the end for the MB and revisit the EVGA forum and see what people are thinking then.

Figured I would toss out an update to those interested in the motherboard.

With EVGA's recent BIOS updates they've introduced what seems to be a bug into their latest 2.04/2.05 revisions. When powering on the system (after being completely off) the voltage to the CPU can spike dangerously high and people are reporting anywhere between 1.5V - 1.7V at the moment. It's unclear whether the voltage spike is actually hitting the chip or not, but EVGA has responded that it's a VRM "optimization" that's been brought over from the Z87 chipset. -_-

At the moment, I'm still not sure if I would recommend this board or EVGA as a motherboard manufacturer. I'll still purchase their GPUs, but I don't see myself ever purchasing another motherboard from them. This board has been out on the market for far too long to still be in beta testing status.

When the Asus RIVE Black is released at the end of this month I'll be watching the ROG forums to see what issues people are having and, if all is well, then I know what to ask for for Christmas (or maybe a Titan Ultra or two).