My High-End Gaming Rig - Comments / Suggestions

OK ive done some reading today, and found that in most instances a x38/x48 is better than a p45 chipset. (up to 20/30% faster sometimes)

so, I guess a good setup would be:

R2000 - Q6600.
R2350 - x38 Chipset Mobo. (ASUS Maximus Formula)
R7000 - gigabyte 4870X2.
R1200 - 4x2GB DDR2 800 RAM...
R900 - 720W PSU.

Anything else I should know about?
 
When you say 30% faster what do you mean? damn because it does not sound right?

What is faster? programs, gaming , applications?
 
killadoob said:
When you say 30% faster what do you mean? damn because it does not sound right?

What is faster? programs, gaming , applications?
Click to expand...

oh sorry, lol - well in crossfire mode the x38 is faster.

x48>x38>p45

sometimes it's 5% better, sometimes up to 30% better.

edit: but the x48 and x38 performs basically the same.... it looks like the p45's 8x + 8x Crossfire just sucks a bit sometimes....

Oh, and yes - you were right - DDR3 only has like a 5% maximum increase in speed - THANX!!! (Now i don't have to buy that expensive ddr3 ram now, can use it for the PSU)
 
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Keeper said:
OK ive done some reading today, and found that in most instances a x38/x48 is better than a p45 chipset. (up to 20/30% faster sometimes)

so, I guess a good setup would be:

R2000 - Q6600.
R2350 - x38 Chipset Mobo. (ASUS Maximus Formula)
R7000 - gigabyte 4870X2.
R1200 - 4x2GB DDR2 800 RAM...
R900 - 720W PSU.

Anything else I should know about?
Click to expand...

R900 is not going to buy you a quality PSU of 700 odd watts. Budget about R1500-1800 (Corsair TX650 and TX750 pricing) for a good one. Remember that a cheap power supply is like a fake diamond ring, she may appear happy now, but the day she finds out, you end up with a knife in your back. Remember wattage isn't king, AMPS are. My friend could not get his 1000W R1000 PSU to power his 4870X2 stably in games. we stuck in a Corsair TX650, which powers it perfectly. The reason is that the 4870X2 can draw about 30A of power. That means that no matter how powerfull your Power supply, if it cant supply 30A on a single 12V rail, it cant power the card. The TX750 does not take any shortcuts and gives you one massive 60A 12V rail, rather than the 4x 22-25A found in some 1000W and 1200W PSU's. Corsair's 1000W PSU btw has 2x 45A rails.

Otherwise, some great picks, great board (I own one).
 
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Sapphiron, it is not the amps on a single rail it is the combined amps that get taken into account. I do not use single rail psu's and i have had zero hassles running cf 4870's.

As long as total amps is more than needed across the 12v rails there will be no hassles from my experience
 
Keeper that seems strange to me because those 2 8 x 8 pci-e2 which means more bandwidth than pci-e 1 so i am not sure how they are getting 30% more on x38. Will google a bit tomorrow and check it out.
 
As far as i know nothing manages to max out pci-e1 so pci-e2 is still a little early, though not to sure how it will relate to 8 8 or 16 16.
 
QX6700RULZ said:
Sapphiron, it is not the amps on a single rail it is the combined amps that get taken into account. I do not use single rail psu's and i have had zero hassles running cf 4870's.

As long as total amps is more than needed across the 12v rails there will be no hassles from my experience
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Not always, depends on the PSU manufacturer. but with multiple rails, you are much more likely to run into compatibility and stability problems with high end graphics cards. Only 4 cards that I know of tend to cause problems:
old 8800 ultra
9800GX2
GTX280
4870X2

Most single GPU cards are fine

My Supplier had lots of problem with people bringing back 4 and 5 rail 850W and 1000W PSU's. Swapped them for 1,2 or 3 rail units of similar wattage, with more amps on a single rail, and they worked fine.
 
Sapphiron said:
Not always, depends on the PSU manufacturer. but with multiple rails, you are much more likely to run into compatibility and stability problems with high end graphics cards. Only 4 cards that I know of tend to cause problems:
old 8800 ultra
9800GX2
GTX280
4870X2

Most single GPU cards are fine

My Supplier had lots of problem with people bringing back 4 and 5 rail 850W and 1000W PSU's. Swapped them for 1,2 or 3 rail units of similar wattage, with more amps on a single rail, and they worked fine.
Click to expand...

Most likely they were just cheapskates and bought *** psus. A decent 600watt should be fine for it.
 
killadoob said:
Keeper that seems strange to me because those 2 8 x 8 pci-e2 which means more bandwidth than pci-e 1 so i am not sure how they are getting 30% more on x38. Will google a bit tomorrow and check it out.
Click to expand...

the Asus Maximum Formula mobo has:
"2 x PCIe 2.0 x16 , support at full x16, x16 speed"

...that's PCEe 2.0, not PCIe 1 ? :confused: so its 2 PCIe in XFire, both running at Full 16X, at PCIEx 2.0 bandwidth speeds.


Qwikslver said:
Most likely they were just cheapskates and bought *** psus. A decent 600watt should be fine for it.
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Are Gigabit Power Supply's decent? ive heard galaxy PSU's are good - but they're just a bit expensive...:(
 
Keeper said:
Are Gigabit Power Supply's decent? ive heard galaxy PSU's are good - but they're just a bit expensive...:(
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To be honest I have no idea. There are only a few brands I trust.

Corsair, Antec, Zalman, Pc power and cooling, Enermax and Seasonic.

I might have left one or two out there but anyway.

If you're getting a single 4870 get the Antec or Corsair 550 Watt. If you're getting the 4870x2 get the Corsair 650watt.

The 550s go for around R1200 the 650Watt R1400 if memory serves.
 
so i should kinda disregard the wattage, and go for brand? - eish...I never knew PSU's were so confusing...
 
Keeper said:
OK ive done some reading today, and found that in most instances a x38/x48 is better than a p45 chipset. (up to 20/30% faster sometimes)

so, I guess a good setup would be:

R2000 - Q6600.
R2350 - x38 Chipset Mobo. (ASUS Maximus Formula)
R7000 - gigabyte 4870X2.
R1200 - 4x2GB DDR2 800 RAM...
R900 - 720W PSU.

Anything else I should know about?
Click to expand...

I'd have to agree with the other posters, you're probably not going to get a good quality PSU for R900 at the wattage you want. And yes, wattage isn't as important as quality, unfortunately. A good 450W > a cheap 800W :D

And Keeper, rather buy your HD4870X2 at PCInt, it'll work out cheaper ;) R5,699 excluding VAT if memory serves.

And please overclock that Q6600 :p
 
Keeper psu's are not confusing, its just everyone is making them out to be.

Buy a name brand 550 or 650w like antec and you will be fine, stop worrying about amp per rail and all this other kuk. Just buy a name brand and you will be fine. With the rand dolla though you will be looking at about 1.2k though.

http://www.prophecy.co.za/antec-550w-eps12v-certrified-high-efficiency-p-1832.html something like this will be just fine.
 
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Keeper said:
so i should kinda disregard the wattage, and go for brand? - eish...I never knew PSU's were so confusing...
Click to expand...

Yes disregard wattage comparison between brands. You ALWAYS get what you pay for with PSU's. To have a certain quality, you need to spend the money. R1400 price range for a 650W or R1200 price range for a 550W is what you should be looking at
 
Sapphiron said:
Yes disregard wattage comparison between brands. You ALWAYS get what you pay for with PSU's. To have a certain quality, you need to spend the money. R1400 price range for a 650W or R1200 price range for a 550W is what you should be looking at
Click to expand...

+1
 
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