My second build. Your thoughts please?

[HiDDeNMisT]

the computer is going ti be used for high end gaming and a few other things as well. The only thing i phisically have is the CPU everyhting else i havent ordered yet.

CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1090T 3.2 GHz
MoBo: ASUS Crosshair IV Formula
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 6870 In Crossfire
RAM: G.SKill Ripjaws X Series 16(4x4 GB)DDR3 1333
HDD: 1TB 6.0 Gb/s
SSD: Crucial SSD C300 64GB (Boot Drive)
PSU: Raidmax RX-8850AE
Case: Cooler Master HAF 932 Advanced Black Edition



Tell me your thoughts, I have spent a lot of time doing the research i need to make this system.

 

[red1776]

Hi Hid,
That looks good. just one bit of advice. With ram being so cheap right now, maybe want to get some faster ram. The Formula IV is forward compatible with the upcoming bulldozer, so while it will not make much performance difference right now, it will if you decide to pop a BD in there down the road. Nice build

 

[Leeky]

I'd use a Corsair, Seasonic, Antec (TruePower), Silverstone, Enermax or Kingwin PSU instead of the Raidmax.

I'd also change the HDD to a 1TB Samsung SpinPoint F3 as well.

16GB of RAM is OTT as well, 8GB is plenty. Make sure the RAM you choose is on the Memory Support List for your motherboard choice.

Also consider a HD6970 or GTX580 instead of purchasing two HD6870's.

 

[hellokitty[hk]]

I'd use a Corsair, Seasonic, Antec (TruePower), Silverstone, Enermax or Kingwin PSU instead of the Raidmax.

I'd also change the HDD to a 1TB Samsung SpinPoint F3 as well.

16GB of RAM is OTT as well, 8GB is plenty. Make sure the RAM you choose is on the Memory Support List for your motherboard choice.

Also consider a HD6970 or GTX580 instead of purchasing two HD6870's.

My thoughts as well! I'd also opt for DDR3 1600, because that seems to be a popular number.

 

[HiDDeNMisT]

I'd use a Corsair, Seasonic, Antec (TruePower), Silverstone, Enermax or Kingwin PSU instead of the Raidmax.

I'd also change the HDD to a 1TB Samsung SpinPoint F3 as well.

16GB of RAM is OTT as well, 8GB is plenty. Make sure the RAM you choose is on the Memory Support List for your motherboard choice.

Also consider a HD6970 or GTX580 instead of purchasing two HD6870's.

I see. I will go ahead and change the psu and the HDD to these.

According to what you are saying, i would only need 1 Vid card to handle what i wanted to do??

ill also take a look at different ram

ill post what i find after i get out of work

 

[Leeky]

A HD6970 or GTX580 will offer plenty of performance, with the option to add another at a later date with a 850w PSU. I would choose a HD6970 over 2xCF HD6870's if it was me.

 

[red1776]

the computer is going ti be used for high end gaming and a few other things as well.

......

A HD6970 or GTX580 will offer plenty of performance,

For what?
That does not exactly describe what kind of graphics horsepower they will need.
What resolution and detail do you play at? ...how many monitors/pixels are you planning to push?

Leave us not forget that CF'd 6870's offer considerably more performance than a 6970, for about the same the same price/cost.

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1488/6/

 

[Leeky]

As I understood it, CF'd HD6870's offered pretty much the same performance as one HD6970 at less cost, but obviously having one GPU gives you opportunity to add later on to increase performance further still. I know the motherboard in question can handle more than 2, but the PSU above is a limiting factor and i was taking that into consideration.

A HD6970 would also be fine gaming high 1920x1080/1200 or 2560x1200 resolutions as well. I was assuming one display only, multiple displays would change that.

Am I off the mark on this occasion Sir?

 

[red1776]

As I understood it, CF'd HD6870's offered pretty much the same performance as one HD6970 at less cost

CF'd 6870's best a 6970 by a good bit (this has been my experience with customer builds as well)

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1488/6/

A HD6970 would also be fine gaming high 1920x1080/1200 or 2560x1200 resolutions as
well

For most sure....Metro on VH will give you some problems @ 1920

"high end gaming" means very different things to different people. It goes from 1920 x 1080 up to multi monitor, The op should probably spell out what his/her expectations are for this system gaming wise. I don't know why I cover the bases like that....think there is any chance it's not a guy? :haha:

 

[HiDDeNMisT]

Well in the future I would like to have multiple moniters but as it stands right now I have a 22 in that the highest res is at 1980x1080. I would want to go 2560x1200 when I upgrade my moniter.

The PSU I can change with no problem in order to get enought power to the vid cards.

So basically we are at a stand still with the vid cards.

Its either a 6970 or CF'ed 6870.

Please let me hear your reasons. I can change the PSU to match the cards that's not an issue

 

[red1776]

CF'd 6870's = More energy/more space/equal cost**/Better performance

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1488/1/

Single 6970 Less energy**/less space/equal cost/less performance/can upgrade second PCIE slot to another 'mega card' down the road.

*** add the extra few bucks a year for electric bill if you are going green or need to buy carbon credits or such

 

[HiDDeNMisT]

Hmmm man this is hard lol. But ultimately its my choice I guess.

 

[Mizzou]

Well in the future I would like to have multiple moniters but as it stands right now I have a 22 in that the highest res is at 1980x1080. I would want to go 2560x1200 when I upgrade my moniter.

Assume you meant 2560x1440 or 2560x1600 for your monitor upgrade down the line. If you're considering multiple monitors then I would also recommend going with either the HD 6970 or GTX 580. I also agree with the suggestions that have already been made regarding faster memory, power supply, etc.

 

[HiDDeNMisT]

According to what I have read. The mobo that got does no suppoort sli so I'm assuming you mean getting only one card if I go nvidia.

Apparantly the GTX 580 gives higher preformance then the HD 6970.

And yes I ment 2560x1600 for the moniyor upgrade.

 

[red1776]

According to what I have read. The mobo that got does no suppoort sli so I'm assuming you mean getting only one card if I go nvidia.

I have a F4C as well, and it does not support SLI.
Did you look over the benchmark i linked? it is a good representation of performance. I hate to throw a third scenario in here but, I ran triple and quad CF on this board and it works very well. So if you would rather that the VGA upgrades happen more budget friendly at a time, you could run a third 6870. That way you can get the better performance of the 2 x 6870 now, and then have the option of adding a third 6870 should new games, or a monitor upgrade/addition call for it.

 

[HiDDeNMisT]

so then ill go with the CF'ed 6870's. Ill also change the ram, psu, and ram according to the recommendations of everyone else.

 

[hellokitty[hk]]

That sounds like a wise choice.
You might consider ones with aftermarket coolers since you're CFing.

 

[Leeky]

Surely 2/3x CF HD6870's would be a horrible choice given the OP has already stated he would like multiple displays in the future, and his next display would be 2560x1440/1600?

Running at 1920x1080/1200 they would be ideal, but I thought HD6950/70/90's were the realm of mega high resolutions across multiple displays?

Please correct me if I'm entirely wrong, but it just doesn't seem right to me.

 

[red1776]

Surely 2/3x CF HD6870's would be a horrible choice given the OP has already stated he would like multiple displays in the future, and his next display would be 2560x1440/1600?

Running at 1920x1080/1200 they would be ideal, but I thought HD6950/70/90's were the realm of mega high resolutions across multiple displays?

Please correct me if I'm entirely wrong, but it just doesn't seem right to me.

Huh? I don't even know what you are asking, or why you would think that.

It's up to the OP obviously, about how much they want to spend and when, but I am assuming they landed on:

That way you can get the better performance of the 2 x 6870 now, and then have the option of adding a third 6870 should new games, or a monitor upgrade/addition call for it.

The average 6870 has connectivity for triple monitor setup (eyefinity capable), and 2 x 6870 trumps 1 x 6970...whats the problem you are seeing here?

 

[Leeky]

The average 6870 has connectivity for triple monitor setup (eyefinity capable), and 2 x 6870 trumps 1 x 6970...whats the problem you are seeing here?

Its nothing personal dude, just as understood it, and the reason I was asking for clarification... Sorry if my last post was confusing, not had caffeine and not entirely awake! :haha:

Hd6870's are brilliant at 1920x or below resolutions... But I thought they weren't as good with the high 2560x resolutions, due to lower RAM, and having less processes (or whatever they're called) etc.

Whereas the HD69xx series was aimed at higher resolutions (e.g. 2560x and higher) from the outset.

Or can HD6870's in crossfire handle 2560x resolutions just as efficiently as a HD6970?

 

[red1776]

Its nothing personal dude, just as understood it.

Hd6870's are brilliant at 1920x or below resolutions... But I thought they weren't as good with the high 2560x resolutions, due to lower RAM, and having less pixel shaders etc.

Whereas the HD69xx series was aimed at higher resolutions (e.g. 2560x and higher) from the outset.

Or can HD6870's in crossfire handle 2560x resolutions just as efficiently as a HD6970?

I am not taking it personal. I genuinely didn't understand what you were asking or objecting to.

But I thought they weren't as good with the high 2560x resolutions, due to lower RAM, and having less pixel shaders etc.

The SPU's (shaders) work in tandem in CF obviously. The lower memory is not a concern with AMD cards should the op go for a triple monitor setup. AMD frame rendering changes from AFR to 'supertiling'.( they render in 32 x 32 pixel sections of the screen, rather than alternating frames) All of the GPU's have access to the total buffer . This can be a limiting factor for Nvidia SLI setups (AFR only) but is a nice option for AMD cards.

As for the 2560 x resolution, here is a lengthy benchamark review
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ATI/Radeon_HD_6870_CrossFire/1.html

I just listed the ups and downs of each scenario, but if $300 is what is available now, The 2 x 6870 is the more powerful setup.

 

[HiDDeNMisT]

I am not taking it personal. I genuinely didn't understand what you were asking or objecting to.



The SPU's (shaders) work in tandem in CF obviously. The lower memory is not a concern with AMD cards should the op go for a triple monitor setup. AMD frame rendering changes from AFR to 'supertiling'.( they render in 32 x 32 pixel sections of the screen, rather than alternating frames) All of the GPU's have access to the total buffer from all cards. This can be a limiting factor for Nvidia SLI setups (AFR only) but is a nice option for AMD cards.

As for the 2560 x resolution, here is a lengthy benchamark review
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ATI/Radeon_HD_6870_CrossFire/1.html

I just listed the ups and downs of each scenario, but if $300 is what is available now, The 2 x 6870 is the more powerful setup.

Reading all of this new data has me thinking again.

Well i can get the 2 x 6870 now or can get 1 6970 now and another in about a month or so, so i can CF them.

 

[red1776]

Reading all of this new data has me thinking again.

Well i can get the 2 x 6870 now or can get 1 6970 now and another in about a month or so, so i can CF them.

If you can CF 2x 6970, that is obviously the best scenario.
...and what i listed a few posts ago

Single 6970 Less energy**/less space/equal cost/less performance/can upgrade second PCIE slot to another 'mega card' down the road.

 

[Mizzou]

If you can CF 2x 6970, that is obviously the best scenario.

+1 for going with the HD 6970 initially (if you can) and adding the second one later. Ensures good performance for multiple monitors should you elect to go that route.

 

[HiDDeNMisT]

So then Ill be getting a HD 6970, a Corsair, Seasonic, Antec (TruePower), Silverstone, Enermax or Kingwin PSU instead of the Raidmax, a 1TB Samsung SpinPoint F3, and drop my 16 GB of Ram to a 8 GB set.

thx everyone