View Full Version : Building an over the top gaming rig. Advice?
Okay i am building a monster gaming rig and i want to stick with all AMD i just am not to familiar with their Video Cards. I was a firm believer in the 9800 but its time for change with this build. here is my parts list and plans let me know what you think i am definatly wanting to run two cards for sure with this one.
Cpu:AMD HDE00ZFBGRBOX Phenom II 1100T Black Edition Six Core Processor
Motherboard: ASUS Crosshair IV Formula Motherboard
RAM: Corsair CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9 Vengeance 16GB PC12800 DDR3 RAM
HDD:
PSU: Corsair CMPSU-850AX AX850 Power Supply
Case: Mountain Mods-Ascension Crystal Ship CYO
GPU:ASUS EAH6970DCII/2DI4S/2G Radeon HD 6970 DirectCU II Video Card
the build will be w/c i am planning on a performance/bling build. at this point i know dual loops, possibly three loops if there are dual video cards involved. just have no clue on AMD cards any suggestions???
Black C5 Z06
05-31-11, 01:31 AM
Dual Sapphire 6950s flashed to 6970 bios.
thats what i was looking at initially im planning on running them on my 55 inch tv. do you know if they are making full coverage waterblocks for these cards yet?
Black C5 Z06
05-31-11, 09:15 AM
No clue. I don't water cool.
EarthDog
05-31-11, 09:28 AM
Over the top? Heh... ok...
1. Dont go Crossfire with 1920x1080 res. That may be 'over the top' but its also a giant waste of money. A single 6970 will do or if you want to go over the top grab a 6990.
2. Even with 2 cards OR a 6990. I would get a Corsair 850HX PSU. Again, a 1KW PSU is over the top and a giant waste of money.
3. Here is a 6950/6970 Reference card full coverage block (http://www.frozencpu.com/products/12898/ex-blc-895/Heatkiller_GPU-X_69X0_ATI_Radeon_6950_6970_Reference_Design_Full_ Coverage_Water_Block_15009.html). You can manage this in a single loop in that case also. Just make sure you have enough rad to keep things cool (2 3x120mm rads at minimum).
4. I dont call a WD Caviar Green over the top, I call that slow and trying to save money vs the rest of the build that is bleeding it. Step up to a small SSD and a storage drive, or a caviar black for better performance.
tool_462
05-31-11, 10:04 AM
thats what i was looking at initially im planning on running them on my 55 inch tv. do you know if they are making full coverage waterblocks for these cards yet?
Many companies make blocks for them, I've had my EK Full Cover blocks on my 6950's since shortly after release. The FC 6970 blocks that are made to fit reference cards will fit reference 2GB 6950's as well.
If you are only gaming at 1080p you can get away with a cheaper card setup unless you plan on upgrading to a bigger (resolution) display at some point.
Edit: EarthDog beat me to it, I open too many tabs and take forever to read the threads :p
will update the parts list on HDD and storage drive.
Heres a question i know there are huge speed differences with the SSD's but from what i can see the storage size is so low that they almost seem pointless. the largest i could find was 320 gigs and its over a grand. whats the norm a small ssd for the system and them a normal storage HDD
if your talking about sizes 120gb for SSD and 1TB for HDD
if your going SSD then how i have mine setup is I have the OS and storage on my 1TB WD Black and all my games Dedicated to my SSD.
Or you could do the wasteful 30GB Win7 OS on the 120GB SSD and then put your games on it and use it all up and just have storage...
I have never liked that idea because because aside from boot time i have never seen any real speed difference between a HDD and SSD in windows tasks... So i put the OS and storage on the HDD and programs on the SSD.
tool_462
05-31-11, 01:18 PM
If you just want OS + programs and a game or three on the SSD, I'm fine with 60GB Vertex. I don't use the original bloated Win 7 install though, I use RT7Lite to cut down a Windows 7 Ultimate x64 install with my basic Firefox, CPU-Z, Prime 95 etc to about 6GB.
So would an 80G SSD and a 2TB HDD do the job
If you just want OS + programs and a game or three on the SSD, I'm fine with 60GB Vertex. I don't use the original bloated Win 7 install though, I use RT7Lite to cut down a Windows 7 Ultimate x64 install with my basic Firefox, CPU-Z, Prime 95 etc to about 6GB.
Is there a way you could possibly show me where thats at :D
EDIT: JK got it google ftw!
So would an 80G SSD and a 2TB HDD do the job
If you do what tool does then yes that should be perfect :D
over the top.. with phenom? :x
Sorry Vixro never been a fan of intel. performance to price just never did it for me!
over the top.. with phenom? :x
+1
Grab a 990 chipset mobo, you'll be able to upgrade to BD when it is (finally!) launched.
ive read over the stats of that board and im more enthused with the crosshair formula as well i know its purley an opinion choice but i will never run an intel processor
thinking the crosshair 4 extreme is going to be a good choice as well
thinking the crosshair 4 extreme is going to be a good choice as well
No no no no and no. That is ten steps beyond "over the top". ESPECIALLY if you are only buying one or even two video cards. Please don't buy this motherboard unless you are filthy rich and crap $100 bills. On top of that, you don't even need six cores for gaming. Top games barely take advantage of 3. If you are sticking with AMD just get an AM3+ board and wait for bulldozer.
ive read some of the stuff on the bulldozer and whats the huge benifit of it?
I am just now starting to read into BD but I do know that it is SUPPOSED to be 25-50% better than the Sandy Bridge craze. As far as I as I know it is a completely new architecture also. I am sure that others will be able to shed some light on the topic better than I can.
the main question for me is it an amd based chipset for amd processors or is it the intel stuff?
Yep, AMD chip, you can get an amd 6 core with the 990 chipset and then upgrade to BD when it's out
that works for me i just really like the easy overclocking system of the crosshair 4 formula and the overall setup and also the fact that im gonig to have to wait for the new mobo watercooling block for the BD to come out as well
ive read over the stats of that board and im more enthused with the crosshair formula as well i know its purley an opinion choice but i will never run an intel processor
Should be a bit more open minded. I've run both AMD and Intel, but mostly Intel, depending on which was the better overall system for my needs and for the money.
Just because in your opinion Intel hasn't been worth the money doesn't mean you should always ignore them.
In my opinion AMD always finds a way to lose to Intel, but I always check them when doing a new build.
Should be a bit more open minded. I've run both AMD and Intel, but mostly Intel, depending on which was the better overall system for my needs and for the money.
Just because in your opinion Intel hasn't been worth the money doesn't mean you should always ignore them.
In my opinion AMD always finds a way to lose to Intel, but I always check them when doing a new build.
Yep, and nothing can beat a 2600K in the $300 range...
EarthDog
06-02-11, 04:52 PM
Agreed with above posts... but be careful, this is in the AMD section and the gaurd dogs here bark pretty loud. ;)
i have looked into intel often and i just hate the fact on how focused on money they are. on all of my past builds i have looked into both amd and intel. in some ways amd may find a way to loose to intel but the performance to price ratio always wins with amd
i have looked into intel often and i just hate the fact on how focused on money they are. on all of my past builds i have looked into both amd and intel. in some ways amd may find a way to loose to intel but the performance to price ratio always wins with amd
I don't believe that. It's not a best bang for your buck if the competition runs slower for lower prices. It should be like this:
Pay a lot less, get similar performance albeit a little bit less.
NOT: pay less, get a lot less. Pay more and get a hell of a lot more. Sounds like the same "bang for you buck" you just get less for less money.
The sandy bridge series is easily top of the line and you do pay a bit, but I'm still on my Q9550 and love it. (for now, I actually bought a 2600K today at microcenter for $280 + tax) I think the price I paid for my Q9550 compared to the AMD processors at the time and the performance (over a year) has been fantastic. I haven't even considered upgrading till now and that's because I know I can get so much more for an upgrade. I always wait between series until I know it's worth it and I check on both series. Intel is still the best "bang for your buck" when it comes to processing power. If you don't want to shell out the $300 for top notch, you can score a 2500K with great overclocking potential for $100 less! (e.g $179.99+tax at microcenter)
On the other hand, in terms of video cards since that's what section we are in, the best bang for your buck shifted last series from Nvidia to AMD with these beautiful 69x series cards. The performance, power usage, and price are all fantastic. Should Nvidia come back in the next generation (or the one after that if I wait to upgrade again), then I'll switch. You shouldn't ever just stay with one brand because of the past. Technology and competition are supposed to HELP the consumers, not hurt them.
Some good points in well toned discussion. Let's keep this from turning into another Intel/AMD war. I merely wanted to remind the OP to keep his options open and never ignore anything.
I agree with your point vixro. as for the overclocking im not 100% versed in that factor based that ive stuck to air cooling at this point and im just now branching into watercooling.
If you had a suggestion on a mobo and cpu that would work well with my setup and would work well watercooled and overclocked what would it be. keep in mind im trying to get something that i wont have to upgrade for a year or so?
The 990 chipset mobo with eventual BD is a smart move.
On the Intel side of things I know that Ivy Bridge will be fully compatible with some 6 series boards which are currently available for use with Sandy Bridge or soon to be (Link (http://www.anandtech.com/show/4389/computex-2011-msis-x79-and-llano-motherboards)) including PCIE 3.0 support, which as far as I know 990 AMD boards will not have. This is only important if you plan to use more than 2 video cards, however. Apparently Ivy Bridge will work with any 6 series board that supports it with bios updates, etc using PCIE 2.0, so your choices aren't all that limited actually.
Looks like both AMD and Intel have good options coming up soon for upgrading, so pick your poison. Buy AMD with 990 board for short term, drop in BD once available for a noticeable boost or buy Sandy Bridge with your choice of carefully selected 6 series motherboards then drop Ivy Bridge in about a year from now for another boost option.
If BD is as good as they say it is (beating Sandy Bridge), and right now it is completely unconfirmed, AMD might have a window between BD release and Ivy Bridge release where they will be King of the Hill for half a year or so, possibly longer depending on how Ivy Bridge performs.
I'm glad I dug into this a bit deeper as it helps answer some of my own upgrade path questions I've had in the last few days.
i am an amd lover for sure and the fact that i also love my computer build leads me to having a more open mind now thanks to some stern yet good advice from everyone here at overclockers so i want to thank everyone and ive got about a month or so until i start ordering parts being that i just ordered my case (Mountain Mods Ascension crystal ship) and some other minor stuff. i could start ordering now but as of this point there are too many unanswered variables on build potential. as well too many possible options. i now know that i have a lot more research to do and questions to ask lol. heres a future thanks to everyone for the future answers!!! :D
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