Building new system for Eyefinity - input welcome

Frraksurred

Frraksurred

2[H]4U
Joined
Jul 25, 2008
Messages
2,751
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Primarily gaming, web browsing, and daily use. Occasion photo / video editing
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$1500
3) Where do you live?
Midwest USA
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
Mobo, CPU, RAM, Video card & PSU
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
HDD, Case and Sound card.
6) Will you be overclocking?
Possibly, but not probably.
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
Triple 30" Gateway XHD3000's
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Completed before January 26th (Mass Effect 2, lol)
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
Crossfire, SSD & SATA II
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?
Yes, Win7, Vista, XP and Win98


For starters, here is my current system:

rigfrig.jpg


The three 30's were purchased in the hopes one day there would be a better option for surround gaming then SofTH and TripleHead2Go. To that end I've purchased an XFX HD5870 XXX with plans to pick up a second once Eyefinity is working with Crossfire. Since this will bottleneck my current C2D setup ("ICE" in sig) I've decided to make the jump to i7. Below is what I have in mind. I'd like your thoughts:

Mobo: EVGA E760 CLASSIFIED "Overclocker's Pick" 3-Way SLI + PhysX 1366 Intel X58 EATX (supports Crossfire / CrossfireX also)
DDR3: CORSAIR DOMINATOR-GT 6GB (3 x 2GB PC3 16000)
CPU: Intel Core i7-960 Bloomfield 3.2GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor
Graphics: XFX HD-587A-ZND9 Radeon HD 5870 (Cypress XT) 1GB XXX Edition
PSU: PC Power and Cooling T12W 1200W ATX12V / EPS12V CrossFire Ready
(wish SSD's would drop in price)

This scenario is already pushing my budget, so going bigger is unlikely unless I'm going to see substantial yields from it. As a side note, you'll notice everything conforms to a black / red color scheme. This was semi-intentional. I'm painting the inside of one of my Cosmos' black and re-sleeving its wiring, so I'm hoping to stick to this theme if at all possible.

I'd love to hear your thoughts, particularly anyone who has already toyed with Eyefinity at 7680x1600. Thanks all.
 
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Thanks for the input Shiro, much appreciated.

Mobo: The "Classified" give me the option to OC, plus the color scheme I'm after. Worth the extra for me.

PSU: The Corsair is an option, they seem to review well. I'm a big fan of PC&C, so I tend to default to them. Still, I'll look into it more.

GFX: The 5970 may be dual GPU'ed, but at lower clock speeds. Two or three 5870 XXX editions will treat me better without voiding any warranties.

DDR3: Agreed, Corsair is expensive. However they've never given me an issue in any of my builds and once again, these give me the added option to OC (plus color scheme).

Either way, thanks for your feedback.
 
Evga x58 LE can easy get to 4 GHz OC from a i7 920. Classified is only good for getting that extra 200-400 MHz. Which is near $1-.50 per MHz extra.

5970 is a crossfire 5850s with full 1600 sp and that not slow by means.
 
With three 30" monitors I'll take all the graphics horsepower I can get. I don't "do" medium settings if I can help it. The smoother my frames the better, and 7680x1600 has got to be demanding, so I'd rather spend the extra for the best results. That is one area I've never been prone to compromise. Thanks for the suggestions either way.
 
Frraksurred said:
Thanks for the input Shiro, much appreciated.

Mobo: The "Classified" give me the option to OC, plus the color scheme I'm after. Worth the extra for me.

PSU: The Corsair is an option, they seem to review well. I'm a big fan of PC&C, so I tend to default to them. Still, I'll look into it more.

GFX: The 5970 may be dual GPU'ed, but at lower clock speeds. Two or three 5870 XXX editions will treat me better without voiding any warranties.

DDR3: Agreed, Corsair is expensive. However they've never given me an issue in any of my builds and once again, these give me the added option to OC (plus color scheme).

Either way, thanks for your feedback.
Click to expand...

I agree with the Corsair HX recommendation... it is more modular and that is a big plus in my book (especially you aren't powering a lot of different things in your case I see it).

Also, the Dominators you chose may have trouble running at specified speeds if you ever intend to overclock.

The 5970s are lower clocked but overclocking them do not void any warranties. (Unless you meant taking off the HSF and doing your own watercooling/mosfet cooling, which may). OVerdrive is built into the ATI display drivers and is effectively a feature.
 
Maybe it's my fear of OC'ing, or impatience to safely do so, that is giving me pause. Either way, it would make CrossfireX a possibility so I will give it some thought.

I read last month that ram prices were on the rise, so I purchased the Corsairs already.

The case includes 2 opti drives, 2 HDD's, (will include) 2 to 4 Graphics cards, potentially 2 to 4 SSD drives plus 5 lighted fans. 1000w should work, but I like headroom for upgrades.
 
Frraksurred said:
Maybe it's my fear of OC'ing, or impatience to safely do so, that is giving me pause. Either way, it would make CrossfireX a possibility so I will give it some thought.

I read last month that ram prices were on the rise, so I purchased the Corsairs already.

The case includes 2 opti drives, 2 HDD's, (will include) 2 to 4 Graphics cards, potentially 2 to 4 SSD drives plus 5 lighted fans. 1000w should work, but I like headroom for upgrades.
Click to expand...

Heh, even if RAM prices are on the rise, it probably wouldn't have affected your super expensive Dominators lol! I am buying the same Dominators, only lowered binned (1600mhz, Cas 8) - I just have to have the red heatsinks and Corsair quality - for $267 @ AMazon.com
 
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