Help on couple QuadFX systems

[cracker123]

Hi Guys,
After the price drop the QuadFx is getting better. Friend and I are planning on getting fx74's. My friend is building his system from scratch and I am just updating my motherboard and case. So I need some recommendation for the case, cooling fans and other stuff.

Here is my current config
M2N32
6000+
4gb OCZ rev2 plat
74gb raptor
250g + 160g sata2
P180 case
Zalman 9500
OCZ 850Watt power supply
4 Sony fluid bearing fans
Vista ultimate 64bit

What I am thinking about
FX74
L1N64
Lian Li 2100A case
One R600 + R610
One more Zalamn9500AM2 cooler
two Zalman fan new display mcf2 controllers


And pretty much the same setup for my friend, in terms of the power supply and ram and coolers.

Questions
Case:
Do you think Lian Li 2100 A is a good case. I need a quite computer; I will probably run the CPU's at 2.8 ghz when not playing games.
Motherboard:
I like Nvidia motherboards, and I will probably run ATI cards on this board.I don’t see myself ever doing crossfire, I will probably get one high end R600 and one cheap R610 to drive the 3rd display. Is this board good with Vista ?Should I wait for RD790 Wooho board. Will upgrade in November to the new Quad core processors, man having 8 cores on one system will be amazing, I know it is an overkill but , I always wanted a nice computer.
Coolers:
What are good quite coolers for this setup, Will the Zalaman 9500AM2 work on this board. I have a feeling I need some extra hardware to make this cooler work on this.

 

[cracker123]

also, any feedback from current QuadFX owners ?

 

[Super Nade]

For a QuadFX system and especially if you are spending that kind of money, I would get a better PSU, i.e a Zippy, Etasis 850W (Silverstone Zeus series) or PCP&C Turbocool. You would probably need a 750W PSU at the minimum. It's gonna cost you a bomb, but then it looks like money is not going to be a constraint. If it is, I would still get any of the units I recommended and compromise on some other component.

Welcome to the Forums!

S-N

 

[gocartman2]

they make those quadfx's fit on micro atx yet?,
id get something other that the zalman, but keep the idea of flow through with the dual cpu's, it may just be me but i hear people dont like the full load cooling they produce

 

[Molester]

i would definitely wait for rd790, not because i know it's gonna be all that or anything, but at least then you'll have a choice..

of course, right now, there is only the asus board using the insane chipset 680a, when the rd790 drops, there will be more motherboards

also, when rd790 drops, it should be right around the same time the quad K10's will drop, so you can use those instead of the QuadFX cpu's

you should know, that Opteron 22xx series do work in these motherboards, with unregistered ram, and being the current K8's are really close to top clocks anyways, you can save alot of money, and overclock lower clocked Opterons, more than likely, to the same speeds you'd get from FX74's..

being that Opterons work in the QuadFX systems, one would expect that the K10's will as well, i say this, because i'm doubting they'll release Quads for the QuadFX platform when they release the Opterons..they'll probably release the QuadFX cpu's a couple months after Opterons...

 

[cracker123]

The new AMD quads are backward compatible with Socket L, from what I heard even the 6M L3 cache version of the chip is compatible with the present nvidia board. but again RD790 boards might have better support than the current Asus board. Me and my buddy will upgrade once the R600 gets released, i am hoping they release the RD790 board with the R600.

Powersupply: I will make sure my buddy gets one of your recommended one's, but for me I don’t know if I will upgrade? I got this setup about 3 months back, I upgraded from an Antec 550w to the OCZ 850. I loved OCZ customer service, so I bought whatever power supply i could find from them.

Cooling: What other options are better than Zalman ? I am not too impressed with the Zalman compared to my old one which was a thermaltake. From the looks of the LianLi case, it might help with the airflow.

 

[Super Nade]

OCZ CS is supposed to be very good. THere is nothing wrong with the 850W unit you have. My logic was, if you are gonna drop that kind of money into a system, you might want to get a PSU that out-regulates the OCZ/FSP.

 

[AlabamaCajun]

OCZ CS is supposed to be very good. THere is nothing wrong with the 850W unit you have. My logic was, if you are gonna drop that kind of money into a system, you might want to get a PSU that out-regulates the OCZ/FSP.

I second this too, I first doubted there PSUs but now all I'm reading is good reviews.
Being an upper level system, I would still at least look at the PC-P&C units.

 

[cracker123]

I second this too, I first doubted there PSUs but now all I'm reading is good reviews.
Being an upper level system, I would still at least look at the PC-P&C units.

Interesting, I see your points, from toms hardware and anandtech the CPU consume almost 500 watts on peak, which leaves only 350watts for everything else.

Also how is the OCZ cooling solutions ?

 

[cracker123]

As far as cooling goes, can I use standard AM2 coolers on these boards. ?

 

[AlabamaCajun]

As far as cooling goes, can I use standard AM2 coolers on these boards. ?

You will have to look for coolers with a narrow tall profile such as the Ninja or Infinity, ThermalRight 120 upright or server style coolers. Some of the big Thermaltake and Zalmons sink might hit. Do consider that you will need unimpeded airflow through the case (cut out cheese grates on the case and replace with the chrome wire grills).

I'm not familiar with OCZ cooling! I use Scythe and some Thermaltake.

This is the thread to watch :jawdrop:

 

[cracker123]

For the airflow I will looking at the LianLi 2100 case, and looks like it might be doing a good job with the cpu airflow. I will probably install one of those sycthe fans in front the case. I heard the thermalright 120 ultra is a great fan, also the tuniq tower is pretty nice. I hope it does not get in way of the motherboard heat pipes.

->CaseFan -> CPU1 Fan -> CPU2 Fan -> CaseFan ->


Do you guys know of other 5.25" fans.

 

[Molester]

yeah, i'd get rid of all those heatpipes and use aftermarket coolers, better performance and less in the way...

 

[Super Nade]

Interesting, I see your points, from toms hardware and anandtech the CPU consume almost 500 watts on peak, which leaves only 350watts for everything else.

Also how is the OCZ cooling solutions ?

Mate that is incorrect. That CPU will not consume 500W even if it is OC'd by 100% !
OCZ have a heatpice HSF, which is the same as the Ninja series by Scythe.

 

[cracker123]

Mate that is incorrect. That CPU will not consume 500W even if it is OC'd by 100% !
OCZ have a heatpice HSF, which is the same as the Ninja series by Scythe.

my bad, i must have misread according to the review the system consumes 500+ watts.

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2879&p=13

http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/11/30/brute_force_quad_cores/page12.html

 

[AlabamaCajun]

What happens with todays rigs is the surges in power demand more on the PSU than the actual power consumption. Most of our CPUs average about 100 watts OCed some as much as 125 others only 65-85. To really have enough power to run it requires more than 2 times the wattage in Reserve Power to handle the surges. What causes these surges is when you have millions of transistors on die somewhere between 100,000 to over a million can be switching at any point in time translating to something like a billion switches per second. This is enormous in terms of a circuit that has to stay at 1.3-1.5V steady. This is the main reason they switched to using 12V rails to power a 1.5V cpu, you need current on demand. Regulating 12V down to 1.5V provides a larger potential buffer as current is drawn in surges. So if the first 200-250 or so watts is for the cpu and reserve power then double it for the second CPU. For the peripherals, the demand is more at starup for another 100 watts for 2 HDs and a DVD RW is about where it is. More drives, start adding about 35 watts a drive YMMV.

 

[CrazyIrish]

Those look to be the power consumption numbers for the whole system.

 

[Serlant]

Under load the Quad FX system pulled 456W on average, a full 73% more than our Kentsfield testbed.

i agree with CrazyIrish

 

[AlabamaCajun]

Did the Kents have SLI video cards? It does not say, they just give a generalized list of add ins.