First PC boxing rig...can you help identify bottlenecks?

[Jeremiah]

Hi All,

I've boxed for several years on Mac but have decided to switch to PC as there is almost no support for mac anymore. This will be my first PC rig and I'm upgrading from 3 boxing to 5 boxing. Can you help me to identify potential bottlenecks? Running 3 monitors too.

• Intel i7 - 4820k 3.70Ghz Quad core 10mb cache
• Asus P9X79-Pro
• Corsair 16GB Vengeance 1600mhz quad channel DDR3
• 2 x Nvidia Geforce GTX 770 4GB GDDR5 in SLI
• 128GB SSD
• 2TB Hard drive 2

Thanks guys, Jeremiah

[HPAVC]

None, I have 5-10 boxed, and still do when working on mods and stuff on my main computer, on extremely less without issue.

[MiRai]

Is there a reason you've chosen to go with the X79 chipset, but are only installing a quad-core CPU? I would say the only other reason to go with X79 is to gain access to 64GB of RAM, but you're not utilizing that either.

The 4820K is an Ivy Bridge CPU which is "old" technology at this point. The 4770K is a quad-core Haswell CPU, it's what has replaced Ivy Bridge, and it's faster. Haswell uses the 1150 chipeset, which will probably save you money when purchasing a motherboard.

[Jeremiah]

Is there a reason you've chosen to go with the X79 chipset, but are only installing a quad-core CPU? I would say the only other reason to go with X79 is to gain access to 64GB of RAM, but you're not utilizing that either.

The 4820K is an Ivy Bridge CPU which is "old" technology at this point. The 4770K is a quad-core Haswell CPU, it's what has replaced Ivy Bridge, and it's faster. Haswell uses the 1150 chipeset, which will probably save you money when purchasing a motherboard.

I was under the impression that the 4770K Quad Core was an LGA1150 chipset? Would that not be compatible with the P9X79 as it is a socket 2011? Would you suggest going with the 4770K and maybe an Asus Maximum VI Extreme Socket 1150?

Like I said, I don't know very much about customising a PC...I normally just custom build things on the apple website and press 'order'. I guess I'd like to have a motherboard that allows for upgrade in the future? Thats why I was going for the bigger motherboard so I can upgrade the ram later on.

[MiRai]

I was under the impression that the 4770K Quad Core was an LGA1150 chipset? Would that not be compatible with the P9X79 as it is a socket 2011?

Right, and I asked questions trying to find out why you wanted to go with X79 (2011) when it's cheaper to go with Z87 (1150) if you're not going to use X79's features -- Especially if you're only using a quad-core CPU. You answered this at the end of your post...

I'd like to have a motherboard that allows for upgrade in the future? Thats why I was going for the bigger motherboard so I can upgrade the ram later on.

...and that's what I was trying to figure out.

The X79 chipset gives you access to hexa-core CPUs and more than 32GB of RAM. It also gives you 40 PCIe lanes, but I doubt that's a selling point unless you're running more than two GPUs (for the most part).

So, if you're going to stick with X79 then I'm going to highly recommend that you try and re-arrange your budget so that you can afford a 4930K with the initial purchase. Not only because swapping out CPUs kinda sucks, but if you buy a 4820K for $330 now and then buy a 4930K for $560 later, you're essentially spending ~$900 in total; and I doubt you're going to make any money back on the 4820K because people typically go with X79 only to gain access to hexa-core chips (and X99 is supposed to come out later this year anyway).

If you ever expect to use more than 32GB of RAM then X79 is a must, but just make sure that when you upgrade the RAM at a later time that it is absolutely identical RAM because I've heard a lot of bad stories about people having trouble with mismatched RAM using X79's quad-channel setup.

Would you suggest going with the 4770K and maybe an Asus Maximum VI Extreme Socket 1150?

Sure, I guess, but isn't that motherboard ~$150 more than the X79 motherboard you've chosen? I was originally suggesting 1150 so that you could save money. >_>

I also think the motherboard you originally chose for the X79 build is EOL.

[Ñightsham]

Since SLI isn't officially supported in WoW, those of you that use it are you seeing any improvement over not using it?
I'm running a single CPU Titan as my video card, just curious as to how it might compare.

[MiRai]

Since SLI isn't officially supported in WoW, those of you that use it are you seeing any improvement over not using it?
I'm running a single CPU Titan as my video card, just curious as to how it might compare.

Of course SLI is supported... WoW has had it's own SLI profile for years.

If by "official" you mean, Blizzard built WoW to specifically take advantage of SLI? Well, then no... because SLI (in the form we currently know it as) didn't exist back when they designed the game.

[ebony]

If by "official" you mean, Blizzard built WoW to specifically take advantage of SLI? Well, then no... because SLI (in the form we currently know it as) didn't exist back when they designed the game.

This?

[Ñightsham]

Yeah, I was referring to a blue post about it.

Thanx

[MiRai]

Yeah, I was referring to a blue post about it.

Thanx

It pretty much falls under the same "official-ness" of multiboxing: You can use it, but if you have a problem with it, they're likely going to tell you to disable SLI in order to troubleshoot your problem. If your GPUs being in SLI are what is causing the issue, Blizzard is unlikely to 'fix' anything on their end and you'll have to take your problem to the nVidia forums.

And what the OP said in that thread is true, SLI can mess with Shadows that are set to High -- You're pretty much stuck with Good or Ultra. As for whether you'll see a performance gain or not, well... That could be hit or miss. Only you know the settings you'd like to run and the performance you'd want out getting a second video card -- You may see 20% in some situations or you may see 80%, but as for me, I'll use SLI wherever and whenever I can as long as I'm seeing some sort of performance gain.