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Extreme Performance Gaming PC/Video editing (~2.5k budget)

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Xantor

Registered
Joined
Apr 17, 2010
So, been about 3 years since my last major upgrade. Really time to upgrade again. My case has gotten really worn out though, so I decided, scrap my PC, start from new. Just wanted to check everything here was compatible (pretty sure it is) and I had a question about XMP.

Here's my shopping cart so far, budget would be ~2.5k$

Corsair Obsidian Series 800D CC800DW Black Aluminum / Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case


SAPPHIRE 100281-3SR Radeon HD 5870 (Cypress XT) 1GB 256-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support x2 in Crossfire

I understand it's not a reference card or superior to 2x Vapor-X's but it's still insanely good and saves some money

CORSAIR CMPSU-850TX 850W ATX12V 2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply


CORSAIR DOMINATOR-GT 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)


ASUS P6X58D Premium LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard


Intel Core i7-930 Bloomfield 2.8GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache

Noctua NH-D14 120mm & 140mm

APEVIA CF12SL-URED 120mm Fans (x4)
Bought these cause I know I cant really afford LC and the Obsidian's airflow is less than ideal, but I can add these 4 and tinker with the system for some better airflow.

Have a few TB drives that don't need upgrading I'll be using, same with a CD/DVD drive (never use it anyways), and a sound card, some other hardware etc.

I think everything is compatible? If anyone has recommendations to add something, change something, I'd love your input :D!

Thanks for any input :D

Current breakdown:

Subtotal: $2,254.88

Tax: $186.03

Shipping:
$31.14

Grand total:
$2,472.05

If anyone knows where some deals are on this equipment and are willing to share with me, please do!
 
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XMP support on a mobo just means it'll read XMP ram profiles and auto-set them.
Being as you intend to OC, it's actually quite useless anyway, don' worry about it.

Get a Megahalems cpu cooler, or a Thermalright Ultra120 Extreme (TRUE), or a Noctra 14whatever it is.
If you want cheaper, get a sunbeam CCF or Xigmatek HDT-1283.
 
XMP support on a mobo just means it'll read XMP ram profiles and auto-set them.
Being as you intend to OC, it's actually quite useless anyway, don' worry about it.

Get a Megahalems cpu cooler, or a Thermalright Ultra120 Extreme (TRUE), or a Noctra 14whatever it is.
If you want cheaper, get a sunbeam CCF or Xigmatek HDT-1283.
Megahalems is a little too big even with my massive case, out of stock of the Thermalrights. The Noctua NH-D14 120mm & 140mm looks perfect. I'll get that...can't believe I thought I could OC my CPU with stock or a cheap Scythe lol. Glad I posted here before ordering or I wouldn't have caught that.

Feeling pretty good about everything now, just want to see if I can find some of this a little cheaper.
 
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You can save a bit on Noctua cooler from here, Very reputable place btw. You might want to consider ordering your fans from here as well.

http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/no6durafor13.html

Save about $15 on the case from Tigerdirect or they have the case and a TX950 combo. Depending on shipping I don't know how much of a better deal it will be for you.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=31445&csid=_22
Sidewinder charges 20$ for shipping to where I live. Makes it close to 100$. More than anywhere else. I have an Amazon Prime account so I'll get it from there, free 2 day shipping and cheaper than Newegg.

http://www.amazon.com/Noctua-NH-D14...1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1271536382&sr=8-1

Ordered from TG before, had some trouble with my order & CS reps sucked. That's not really my problem but after shipping it actually is costing me a little extra. Been dealing with Newegg & Amazon for years so I feel more comfortable with them anyways.
 
Didn't realize Sidewinder was going to cost that much to ship. As far as Tiger, I've never had an issue, I do understand going with who you feel comfortable with though.
 
Well, everything is working great. Used default settings first few days, amazing performance, insane FPS on anything I do, quick video conversion, quick boot, runs quiet, runs cool (on Idle SpeedFan has sys on <32C, large load 35-40C, CPU <32C Idle max I've recorded before OC ~40-45C).

After playing around with OC settings/voltage a bit on my CPU, I set the BCLK at 160MHz, multiplier x22, voltage 1.3V (pretty low, I'm lucky). Don't want to push 4GHz just yet, want to see how stable I can get with 3.5GHz on a low voltage, Prime95 after 6hrs with In-Place FFTs doesn't return errors. IntelBurnTest also comes back fine. Temp gets up to 50-60C but I'm not too worried about that (it is Prime95). IntelSpeedStep is on, TurboBoost is off. GPUs are using both Crossfire ribbons as apposed to 1, GPUs not overclocked, no reason to OC 2x5870s that already run hot), RAM is great, very flexible when I was overclocking my CPU.

After all that, I try playing BFBC2, and the screen starts to flicker a hazey purple, same with Metro 2033 and any other game. This doesn't happen in windowed mode, doesn't happen with anything else (only fullscreen games), doesn't happen when I'm stress testing the CPU. My theory is that even though I don't get any errors on P95/IntelBurnTest the voltage is still a little too low. And/or RAM voltage too low (it's possible, this RAM is designed for 1600MHz but defaults to 1066 on this CPU)?

Or, it could be an emerging problem with my GPUs & heat? I doubt that though, they're running cooler than my old nVidia GTX 2x 275s did. Help is appreciated ^^ thanks..


Edit:
Restarting my PC and changing the GPU the HDMI-DVI cable went to fixed it. Wonder what it was caused by in the first place, suppose I had to jump to conclusions, though.
 
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