My New Rig: K8NXP-SLI is up and running!

[Sentential]

Gigabyte told me that any DDR400 modules over 256MB would default to DDR333 in Dual-Channel mode.

Thats bogus. It will only default lower if you are using 3 or more dimms in DC

____

Very nice setup bro. You have a pix that shows the whole thing and not just the CPU socket

 

[Skeetman]

Very nice setup bro. You have a pix that shows the whole thing and not just the CPU socket

Here are a couple of pics. One is of the inside of my case and two shots of one of my video cards after my latest project. It's a tight fit on this MB with a 2 slot cooling solution on the video cards as you can see.

Skeetman

 

[Keelz]

what about some benchmark (3Dmark05)?

 

[Skeetman]

what about some benchmark (3Dmark05)?

So far my best 3Dmark 05 score is 6462.
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm05=492426

This is my best '03 score: 15203
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k3=3699291

Skeetman

 

[Keelz]

hehe nice scores!!!

 

[OldOne]

Skeetman, my system is hanging on me,mainly when on internet,I have Xp Pro and netscape.I am realy a newb at all this, any suggestions would help thanks.


I think it is my memory I had to go to 3-4-4-8 to get it stable

 

[Swatdog]

Nice system man, thats a damn good price also! I wanna see some HL2/Doom 3 FPS!!

I heard somewhere that 2 6600 GTs in SLI mode = 1 6800 GT (or Ultra cant remember) non-SLI. Is this corrtect?

 

[Skeetman]

Nice system man, thats a damn good price also! I wanna see some HL2/Doom 3 FPS!!

I heard somewhere that 2 6600 GTs in SLI mode = 1 6800 GT (or Ultra cant remember) non-SLI. Is this corrtect?

Thanks

I think two 6600 GTs = 1 6800 ultra EXCEPT with 4xAA or above enabled. The 6600s are bandwidth limited because they use a 128 bit interface instead of 256 bit like the 6800 series and the high end Radeon cards. Of course the 6800 Ultra has twice the memory at 256 MB, but also has literally twice the bandwidth because it runs at the same memory speed using twice as many "lanes". The 6600s try to make up for this by running fast speeds, but those speeds can not make up for the difference in bandwidth needed for anti-aliasing. For example, my system scores over 15,000 on 3dmark 03 with default settings (1024x768 without AA), which is higher than a single 6800 Ultra. But the Ultra would do better at 1600x1200 with AA. (*EDIT* I just saw in your sig that you are getting a 6800 GT. You will love it.)

I run at 1600x1200 without AA and 8x AF in all of my games, and it is totally smooth. I have never used AA in the past, so I don't notice the lack of it. There aren't really many jaggies at that resolution anyway. I have tried a few games with 4x AA, and I didn't think it was worth the performance hit. I can run quite well at 1280x1024 with 4x AA, but FPS is a little lower. So that is why I use 1600x1200 without AA.

I get about 123 FPS in the source stress test at 1600x1200. I haven't done any FPS tests with Doom 3 yet.
When I play single player games I care less about FPS, and more about if gameplay is smooth. HL2 and Far Cry look damn good at 1600x1200 without AA but with max settings including ultra high for water effects, and they play very smooth. For online games I care more about FPS and I run Battlefield Vietnam at 1280x1024 just to maintain super high FPS.

Skeetman

 

[Skeetman]

Skeetman, my system is hanging on me,mainly when on internet,I have Xp Pro and netscape.I am realy a newb at all this, any suggestions would help thanks.


I think it is my memory I had to go to 3-4-4-8 to get it stable

What kind of memory do you have and what speed are you running it? System specs would be very helpful also. I don't think the internet would stress your system very much. It sounds more like a netscape issue than a hardware issue. I use Firefox without issue, and I believe it is based on netscape. Does your system hang while running games or a stressful benchmarking app?

Skeetman

 

[OldOne]

Thanks Skeetman for the help,I found what was the problem. I enabled M.I.B.2 , I set timings at 2-2-2-5 and overvolt .2 ran memtest for 2and half hours no errors. Memory is G.Skill DDR PC4400 1GBLC.I have ran prime no problems.3Dmark05 no problems.Enableing M.I.B.2 is what solved the hangups. I am very happy with my system.I have stock heatsink with xp 120 on the way. HTT 212 stock vcore,temps around 35c doing nothing to 52c under load.I think I will wait for new heat sink before overclocking any more.Again thanks for the help.

 

[Swatdog]

Thanks Skeetman for the help,I found what was the problem. I enabled M.I.B.2 , I set timings at 2-2-2-5 and overvolt .2 ran memtest for 2and half hours no errors. Memory is G.Skill DDR PC4400 1GBLC.I have ran prime no problems.3Dmark05 no problems.Enableing M.I.B.2 is what solved the hangups. I am very happy with my system.I have stock heatsink with xp 120 on the way. HTT 212 stock vcore,temps around 35c doing nothing to 52c under load.I think I will wait for new heat sink before overclocking any more.Again thanks for the help.

Whats your system specs man? G.skill PC4400 is awesome memory, one of the best out there.

 

[Skeetman]

Whats your system specs man? G.skill PC4400 is awesome memory, one of the best out there.

OldOne,
I too would like to see your total system specs. Just copy what I did and write it out in your signature. Then it is in all of your posts. I think my sig gives all necessary info, and remains unobtrusive. Its super easy to setup in your profile. Of course, you can get all fancy, but try to keep it small.

Skeetman

 

[OldOne]

Ok here they are in my sig. I havent tried to overclock video cards yet, have some reading to do.Waiting for a XP-120 heatsink to get here before I push cpu any more.Going to see what it will do before going to watercooling. This is the first system that I have overclocked.Skeetman,just reading your post have helped out alot.Still in a huge learning curve.

 

[Swatdog]

Ok here they are in my sig. I havent tried to overclock video cards yet, have some reading to do.Waiting for a XP-120 heatsink to get here before I push cpu any more.Going to see what it will do before going to watercooling. This is the first system that I have overclocked.Skeetman,just reading your post have helped out alot.Still in a huge learning curve.

Oh good god... haha nice specs man!

 

[Skeetman]

Oh good god... haha nice specs man!

LOL, my thoughts exactly. I don't think surfing the web would stress that system. That is a nice setup. When you get some time, I would love too see some benchies OldOne. When I originally decided to go SLI, I was planning on getting the same CPU and PSU you have along with the xp120. So Im interested in how your system will perform once you get the xp120. You should be able to really push your system, even though its probably smokin fast already.

Skeetman

 

[OldOne]

LOL, my thoughts exactly. I don't think surfing the web would stress that system. That is a nice setup. When you get some time, I would love too see some benchies OldOne. When I originally decided to go SLI, I was planning on getting the same CPU and PSU you have along with the xp120. So Im interested in how your system will perform once you get the xp120. You should be able to really push your system, even though its probably smokin fast already.

Skeetman

Ok I ran 3DMark05, 5205 3DMarks.How does that compare. What would you like to see? Like I said, I am new at this so it might take a few to figure out how to do the tests and post the benchies

Skeetman, what would you improve in your system next?

Swatdog, You have a pretty nice system also

 

[Skeetman]

Skeetman, what would you improve in your system next?

My next upgrade will probably be a new venice cpu when they come out later this year. I would like to be running at 275x10, which would utilize my ram to its full potential. After that, I may step up to new next-generation video cards when they come out. But I'm already pretty happy with current gaming performance. I'll wait and see how stressful new games will be.

If I were you, the next very easy step is to OC your video cards. Just Google and download coolbits. You will be able to overclock your cards easily above stock, even with stock cooling. I think a lot of people can run 540core/1.1mem without problem. An easy fix that will give you some performance gains. I score ~6450 in 3dmark 05, so something isn't right. I would think you would be closer to 6000 at least. What video drivers do you have?

Skeetman

*edit* By the way, nice looking sig

 

[OldOne]

Skeetman, I ran 3DMark05 5742 @ 525 core 1.07 mem.I tried several different settings and that was the best I could do without getting green artifacts.The driver is 6766

I have $5000 to spend on upgrades(didnt know I had it when I bought the parts for this build) what are the next generation of video cards?I like this MB, so I will keep it and maybe get new videocards.If this is offtopic,I can ask in videocard thread

 

[Skeetman]

Skeetman, I ran 3DMark05 5742 @ 525 core 1.07 mem.I tried several different settings and that was the best I could do without getting green artifacts.The driver is 6766

I have $5000 to spend on upgrades(didnt know I had it when I bought the parts for this build) what are the next generation of video cards?I like this MB, so I will keep it and maybe get new videocards.If this is offtopic,I can ask in videocard thread

Damn, $5000? Well your next step would be to put 2x 6800 Ultras in your system. That will be the fastest setup possible for you right now. The next gen video cards I was referring to aren't even close to being out yet. I'm thinking next year sometime and would be labeled something like 7800 xx or 7600 xx.

With $5000 you could build a whole new system including the 6800 Ultras.

Skeetman

 

[OldOne]

Damn, $5000? Well your next step would be to put 2x 6800 Ultras in your system. That will be the fastest setup possible for you right now. The next gen video cards I was referring to aren't even close to being out yet. I'm thinking next year sometime and would be labeled something like 7800 xx or 7600 xx.

With $5000 you could build a whole new system including the 6800 Ultras.

Skeetman

I think I will buy two 6800 Ultras but not XFX, the main problem is the XFX stock is [[email protected] ]Oh well there goes $400 down the drain.From what I can tell XFX is not really that good. My 15 year old son will be getting this system when I see what is comming out next.