TheBeast3 - nvidia 780i or 790i ?

[Munson]

I'm almost set to order my bits for TheBeast3. I'll be using an Intel CPU but with an nvidia Tri-SLI chipset so I can use SLI. Probably 780i, but I hear the 790i will support DDR3. Which I may or not want. Yet.



Specs as it currently stands will be;

Asus P5N-T Deluxe nForce 780i
Intel Core 2 Quad Extreme Edition QX9650 "LGA775 Yorkfield"
EVGA GeForce 8800 Ultra SuperClocked (x2)
Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2 Dominator PC2-8500C5 x2 (4GB)
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 64-Bit Edition



Now, I know there are better mobos for less, but my need for Intel SLI narrows down the choices significantly, so it'll definitely be an nvidia chipset and most likely DDR2. I'm open to discussion on my choices - good or bad, so please comment

 

[seb]

sexy imo tbh.

 

[Munson]

lol

 

[Gregg]

Asus P5N-T Deluxe nForce 780i
Intel Core 2 Quad Extreme Edition QX9650 "LGA775 Yorkfield"
EVGA GeForce 8800 Ultra SuperClocked (x2)
Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2 Dominator PC2-8500C5 x2 (4GB)
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 64-Bit Edition

christ, that will be a beast!

 

[Munson]

Asus P5N-T Deluxe nForce 780i
Intel Core 2 Quad Extreme Edition QX9650 "LGA775 Yorkfield"
EVGA GeForce 8800 Ultra SuperClocked (x2)
Corsair 2GB DDR2 XMS2 Dominator PC2-8500C5 x2 (4GB)
Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 64-Bit Edition

christ, that will be a beast!

Lol that's the plan. I'm almost 100% decided to stick with the current setup as listed (some other minor bits), I was mainly wondering what people thought about 780i DDR2 vs. 790i DDR3. Of course there's also new CPUs over the horizon...and the 8900 etc etc. but f**k it eh?

 

[Mike_182]

I'd stick with DDR2 at the moment, but to be fair if you're starting now if at all possible, hang fire til Nehalem...

 

[Bloooor]

christ, that will be a beast!

Lol that's the plan. I'm almost 100% decided to stick with the current setup as listed (some other minor bits), I was mainly wondering what people thought about 780i DDR2 vs. 790i DDR3. Of course there's also new CPUs over the horizon...and the 8900 etc etc. but f**k it eh?

You'll never keep up with technolgy mate, best just to go for what you can instead of waiting for better things lol

 

[Mike_182]

Lol that's the plan. I'm almost 100% decided to stick with the current setup as listed (some other minor bits), I was mainly wondering what people thought about 780i DDR2 vs. 790i DDR3. Of course there's also new CPUs over the horizon...and the 8900 etc etc. but f**k it eh?

You'll never keep up with technolgy mate, best just to go for what you can instead of waiting for better things lol

Nehalem is a hell of a change though - it's not just faster/newer/smaller - it's an entirely different architecture moving onto on-die memory controllers (like AMDs) and a 32nm process allowing for up to 8 cores (although to start with only two quads joined).

 

[Munson]

Lol that's the plan. I'm almost 100% decided to stick with the current setup as listed (some other minor bits), I was mainly wondering what people thought about 780i DDR2 vs. 790i DDR3. Of course there's also new CPUs over the horizon...and the 8900 etc etc. but f**k it eh?

You'll never keep up with technolgy mate, best just to go for what you can instead of waiting for better things lol

Yeah that's the spirit I reckon. I already have the foundations of TheBeast2, so even though that shopping list is pretty extreme, the entire build of TheBeast3 only comes to around £2,200 and then Cyrsis can go f**k itself

 

[Mike_182]

Get a dedicated array controller too... Run a few drives in a stripe array or RAID5...

 

[Munson]

^^For now I'll be using the existing 10k Raptor for the OS, but RAID is a future option for sure

 

[Mike_182]

^^For now I'll be using the existing 10k Raptor for the OS, but RAID is a future option for sure

I've got 4x74Gb Raptors as my OS disk... 600Mb/second FTW!

 

[Omid]

well if you have any parts for sale pm me lol

 

[wozzaa]

If you are not going to overclock the CPU is pretty much wasted on you. And if you are going to overclock but on air it is pretty much wasted too. It is a great CPU as long as you are overclocking and have water cooling or something better.

Otherwise it is a bit of a waste of money as you are paying double the price of the Q9550 which is really so close in performance it makes the QX only really suitable for people who are going to take advantage of the unlocked multiplier which is why you are paying so much for them.

And ask yourself if you really need Vista Ultimate as the extra features you get are hardly worthwhile paying over Home Premium. I mean the only difference is encryption for the hard drives, And backup utilities and remote connection. And since you have always kept your high end machines as pure gaming rigs I just dont see you needing those extras especially when they are costing you so much more money.

2 8800 ultras might be wasted depending on resolutions you are running too. If you are 1680x1050 or under crysis will run brilliantly on just 1 of them. If you are over that then 2 is worthwhile. But again performance difference between the new GTS is tiny talking 3 - 5 fps in games with them in SLi. New GTS's are brilliant. Made me wish I didn't spend so much on my GTX now since they outperform it.

The 8800 range is a bit buggered at the moment. So many variations and what were the slowest cards now are the faster ones.

 

[Cookie]

Don't bother with the SLi'd Ultra's, not even 3 of the f*****s run Crysis properly

Plus latest 8800 card due to be announced soon (supposed to be a twin GPU on a card jobby, ala the 7850)

 

[wozzaa]

The new GX2 is likely to be a rip off.

But quite a few of the places say not to invest in a GTX / Ultra SLI rig due to the newer GT, GTS' with the G92 GPU. Which should soon find it's way into the GTX / Ultra.

 

[David]

monsterous machine but as massive waste of money IMO and a v poor time to upgrade, especially the g cards, they're not even 10.1 compliant so you'll be pissed off inside 6 months guranteed, if you want to spend another 2k then, then I suppose its fine so you may aswell get ddr2 until you do it all over again...

 

[Lagerlout]

Can I have your old graphics card Roy?

Is it a Cup version? lol

The sum of what I know about computer parts is contained in the full stop at the end of this sentence.

 

[Munson]

If you are not going to overclock the CPU is pretty much wasted on you. And if you are going to overclock but on air it is pretty much wasted too. It is a great CPU as long as you are overclocking and have water cooling or something better.

Otherwise it is a bit of a waste of money as you are paying double the price of the Q9550 which is really so close in performance it makes the QX only really suitable for people who are going to take advantage of the unlocked multiplier which is why you are paying so much for them.

And ask yourself if you really need Vista Ultimate as the extra features you get are hardly worthwhile paying over Home Premium. I mean the only difference is encryption for the hard drives, And backup utilities and remote connection. And since you have always kept your high end machines as pure gaming rigs I just dont see you needing those extras especially when they are costing you so much more money.

2 8800 ultras might be wasted depending on resolutions you are running too. If you are 1680x1050 or under crysis will run brilliantly on just 1 of them. If you are over that then 2 is worthwhile. But again performance difference between the new GTS is tiny talking 3 - 5 fps in games with them in SLi. New GTS's are brilliant. Made me wish I didn't spend so much on my GTX now since they outperform it.

The 8800 range is a bit buggered at the moment. So many variations and what were the slowest cards now are the faster ones.

Yep, all valid points mate. However, I intend to run this rig at 2560x1600 wherever possible, or 1920x1200 depending on which panel I eventually get for it. Yeah, for now 1680x1050 is the max. I've pretty much decided to just get the best of everything currently available

By the way I will be overclocking this system quite hard. If I have to go water later, then that's an option too. Also I think an unlocked multiplier is essential for good overclocking of the motherboard

 

[Munson]

Can I have your old graphics card Roy?

Is it a Cup version? lol

You could say it's the R26 of the 7900 world

For sale: Nvidia 7950GX2...

 

[Munson]

Hmmmm...

February should see the launch of 9800GX2. Quad-SLI 9800GX2s :evil: :evil: :evil:

 

[Mike_182]

If you are not going to overclock the CPU is pretty much wasted on you. And if you are going to overclock but on air it is pretty much wasted too. It is a great CPU as long as you are overclocking and have water cooling or something better.

Otherwise it is a bit of a waste of money as you are paying double the price of the Q9550 which is really so close in performance it makes the QX only really suitable for people who are going to take advantage of the unlocked multiplier which is why you are paying so much for them.

And ask yourself if you really need Vista Ultimate as the extra features you get are hardly worthwhile paying over Home Premium. I mean the only difference is encryption for the hard drives, And backup utilities and remote connection. And since you have always kept your high end machines as pure gaming rigs I just dont see you needing those extras especially when they are costing you so much more money.

2 8800 ultras might be wasted depending on resolutions you are running too. If you are 1680x1050 or under crysis will run brilliantly on just 1 of them. If you are over that then 2 is worthwhile. But again performance difference between the new GTS is tiny talking 3 - 5 fps in games with them in SLi. New GTS's are brilliant. Made me wish I didn't spend so much on my GTX now since they outperform it.

The 8800 range is a bit buggered at the moment. So many variations and what were the slowest cards now are the faster ones.

Crysis will eat an Ultra for breakfast at 1280x1024 in places.

 

[warine_warrior]

geeks

 

[Munson]

What were you expecting to find? The title is quite clear, even to any potential retards

 

[Aberclio182]

http://www.tech.co.uk/performance-pc/general/blogs/2007/12/13/must-tri-harder

 

[Cookie]

What were you expecting to find? The title is quite clear, even to any potential retards

He must be a special kind of r****d

New Intel Quads are being announced in March IIRC, why not wait for those?

 

[Munson]

^^Yeah I must admit I'm considering waiting another few weeks at least. The DDR2 vs. DDR3 (or 780i vs. 790i) topic is what I'm really interested in, what with DDR£ being high latency and prohibitively expensive at the moment...there's never a good time to buy, but now is probably the worst time ever