• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

Highest-End rig suggestions

S

seedler

n00b
Joined
Feb 3, 2010
Messages
19
Hi, I thought I was on top of the world when I built my i5-750 and 5850 setup.

How very wrong was I.

A friend of mine, quite wealthy, recently got addicted to Crysis. He said it looked better than real life, and fortunately has asked me to build him "The bestest ultimate gaming computer ever". Budget is... well, anything less than a BMW X5 ($80000 ish?) will do.

So, without further delays, here are the parts:

Thermaltake Level 10 VL30001N1Z Black Aluminum ATX Super Full Tower Gaming Station Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133089

Intel Core i7-975 Extreme Edition Bloomfield 3.33GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor - Retail
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115212

SILVERSTONE ST1500 1500W ATX 12V 2.3 & EPS 12V 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256054

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9Q-16GBRL - Retail
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231315

2x5970 I'd assume, can't seem to find stock tho

And I've no idea what the best Motherboard or SSD/HD would be.

Honestly, budget isn't an option. When he was talking to me, he said me, in a joking fashion, "anything less than a sports car will do".

So, please, help me out here, I want to test drive this baby for a week or two before I pass it onto him and nerdgasm as much as I can with it.

Thanks in advance.
 
Motherboard- Asus P6T7 WS Supercomputer "Ultimate Gamer" choose 3Way SLI + PhysX at Real X16 X58 CEB Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131390

SSD would be (2) in Raid ! Intel X25-M Mainstream SSDSA2M160G2R5 2.5" 160GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167024

Storage Drives would be Western Digital Caviar Black WD2001FASS 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136456

I wouldn't get the Level 10 Case unless your friend has an attachment to it. I would get this.
 
Just be sure you don't fall for the misconception that more expensive = better.

Remember you'll need to run your ram in triple channel (you linked a 4 stick kit)

Other than that, drool, I'd love to get to do this!
 
Thanks for the replies, after chatting with my friend he was wondering whether it'll be worth it to wait for Hex-core processors and the GTX480 and get something like the 5850 in the meantime?
 
seedler said:
Thanks for the replies, after chatting with my friend he was wondering whether it'll be worth it to wait for Hex-core processors and the GTX480 and get something like the 5850 in the meantime?
Click to expand...

Tell him to get this rig now, and give it to you as commission when the new stuff comes out and you can build him another one :D
 
Level 10 is just a joke of a case, please don't contribute to that thing. I would say get a Corsair 800D, i7 9##, 12gb Quality ram (corsair/g.skill), asus/gb high end motherboard, single 5970, hx1000, dual Intel X25M-g2 160gb and dual samsung f3 1tb for storage. Watercool everything with quality WC parts. Get 3 quality 1900x1200 monitors and run eyefinity. Can't get much better tbh...
 
Shadowssong said:
Level 10 is just a joke of a case, please don't contribute to that thing. I would say get a Corsair 800D, i7 9##, 12gb Quality ram (corsair/g.skill), asus/gb high end motherboard, single 5970, hx1000, dual Intel X25M-g2 160gb and dual samsung f3 1tb for storage. Watercool everything with quality WC parts. Get 3 quality 1900x1200 monitors and run eyefinity. Can't get much better tbh...
Click to expand...

this...except 3x Dell 3007 wfp HC
 
I would start with a dual processor 1366 board with two xeons and at least 24GB of memory.

[EDIT]On second thought none of these seem to have dual pci-e x 16 slots so not going to be a high end gaming board. [/EDIT]
 
Last edited:
You should totally wait for the i7 980x. I think the extra time would be worth it. Since you would be waiting for that check out when fermi releases at the end of this month--but I wouldn't hold my breath.
 
Get him a 3x30" eyefinity display and X-Fire 5970's. Then suggest he buy you $700 worth of monitors for your own budget eyefinity setup.
 
seedler said:
Hi, I thought I was on top of the world when I built my i5-750 and 5850 setup.

How very wrong was I.

A friend of mine, quite wealthy, recently got addicted to Crysis. He said it looked better than real life, and fortunately has asked me to build him "The bestest ultimate gaming computer ever". Budget is... well, anything less than a BMW X5 ($80000 ish?) will do.

So, without further delays, here are the parts:

Thermaltake Level 10 VL30001N1Z Black Aluminum ATX Super Full Tower Gaming Station Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133089

Intel Core i7-975 Extreme Edition Bloomfield 3.33GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor - Retail
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115212

SILVERSTONE ST1500 1500W ATX 12V 2.3 & EPS 12V 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256054

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9Q-16GBRL - Retail
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231315

2x5970 I'd assume, can't seem to find stock tho

And I've no idea what the best Motherboard or SSD/HD would be.

Honestly, budget isn't an option. When he was talking to me, he said me, in a joking fashion, "anything less than a sports car will do".

So, please, help me out here, I want to test drive this baby for a week or two before I pass it onto him and nerdgasm as much as I can with it.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Here's what I would buy for a gaming rig if money wasn't an object...I'd probably stay away from the dual processor idea just because it's not going to offer any benefit for gaming...anyway, here goes:

Processor: Xeon w3520 -This can be easily overclocked to 4Ghz++...even with an unlimited budget I wouldn't waste money for the extreme edition...And yes, Bloomfield Xeons will work fine in an LGA1366 motherboard.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117213

But, if he insists on having the fastest:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117220

CPU Cooling: A water cooling system would be awesome, but if your just looking for something easy that does a good job, I use the corsair H-50 and love it :)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181010&Tpk=corsair h-50

Motherboard: Any high end motherboard will do, personally, I'm partial to Asus

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131352

Ram: I'd go for a 3x4GB kit such as

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226100

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104127

Hard drives:
OS drive- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...167024&cm_re=intel_ssd-_-20-167-024-_-Product

Storage: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...456&cm_re=caviar_black-_-22-136-456-_-Product

PSU: 1500 Watts is probably overkill...but that silverstone would certainly get the job done.

Graphics cards- I would wait to see what kind of numbers the new Nvidia cards are going to put up, but if he must have it now, I'm sure a few 5970s would do the trick

And as far as computer cases go, it's usually a matter of personal preference :) Anyway I hope this helps, good luck putting it together!
 
I am planning to buy..
CPU:-INTEL 980X OR 2 x INTEL 8 CORE SERVER PROC
MOBO:-EVGA DUAL LGA1366
GPU:-2 x GTX 480
ram:-24GB+
HDD:-Raid 6 array Of SSD
MONITORS:- 3D surround gaming with 7.1 beasty speaker system.
And a PS3 :D
 
Last edited:
the i7 980X is being released on March 16th...only 2 weeks to wait and much better value for your $1000 then the i7 975
 
I always find it odd how little imagination people have when building "uber-rigs" in discussions like this. Below are my thoughts on Uber-PC's for general use and mainly for gaming.

Cases

Generally when it comes to cases you've got a million choices. Not all of them are good, but the main thing is to get a case that can house whatever you've got planned for installation and give you some room to go. Other than that it comes down to build quality and how much you want to spend. My current favorite is the Corsair Obsidian 800D despite having some reservations about it. My other choices all come from Lian-Li currently. I'd go with something along the lines of the PC-B71.

Power Supplies

The Corsair HX1000 is one of my favorite power supplies. Unfortunately for an "Uber-PC" 1,000 watts of maximum power output may not get the job done. I've pushed this envelope many times over the years and I just have to cross anything below 1200 watts off my "Uber-PC approved list" for being too small. Throw in a pair of power hungry Radeon HD 5970's and overclock them, it becomes possible to burn through 700+ watts with your video hardware alone. Remember when overclocking standard TDP numbers go out the window. Above the 1KW market space there isn't much out there that I'd actually put in my machine. I'd stick with the Thermaltake ToughPower 1200 watt since I know it can actually output 1200 watts if needed. There may be some other newer choices, but my quick research hasn't turned up much beyond the Ultra X3 1600 watt and a few other 1200 watt units. The Koolance 1300 watt water cooled PSU is compelling as well but I don't know if I'd spend the money on that even in an "Uber-PC". Then again I might just because an Uber-Rig should know no boundaries.

Motherboards

There are many great choices for the motherboard of any kind of "Uber-PC". Personally I can only think of a handful of them I'd actually use. For this I'd definitely go with an LGA1366 motherboard over a newer P55 Express chipset based board despite the fact that the latter boards are now appearing with SATA 6.0 and USB 3.0 support. We should start seeing a few options in X58 land for that soon, but until we see a few I'm going to have to recommend something I've already worked with. For this I'd probably choose the EVGA X58 3X SLI Classified, or the 4X SLI version. These I'd choose for their overclocking options, track record (albeit short) and of course their layout. Another possible choice for me would be the ASUS P6T7 WS Supercomputer.

LGA1156 vs. LGA1366

Why LGA1366 over LGA1156? Well LGA1156 doesn't support the highest end processor Intel offers, nor does it allow for triple channel memory. X58 also gives you more PCI-Express lanes to work with, which will come into play later. I've also found that LGA1366 CPUs have more overclocking headroom than LGA1156 CPUs do. When you overclock the power savings LGA1156 provides over LGA1366 pretty much get tossed out, so again in an "Uber-PC" build, there is no reason to opt for LGA1156 over LGA1366. Another final reason to go with X58 over P55 Express is Intel's "Gulftown" Core i7 9xx CPU which is due out soon. (Some ES chips can already be found on Ebay and through other sources.)

Dual socket vs. single socket systems

I know that I'm going to hear about dual LGA1366 systems after people read this post, and I did consider this but the main reason why the "Uber-PC" wouldn't get them is because of their lack of overclocking options. That and there is no benefit to having that many cores when 6 core CPUs are headed to the high end desktop market segment. For these reasons no dual LGA1366 server/workstation boards would be in the "Uber-PC". Now if I were posting about creating an "Uber-Workstation" then yeah, it would be dual socket Xeon boards and processors all the way. Then again I'd make many different choices in the design of the system too. :cool:

Memory

For any kind of super high end rig, you want as much memory as you can have while still getting great performance and overclocking. Some people go for slower clock speed with tighter timings or for higher clock speeds and looser timings. You'd really be hard pressed to actually notice the difference when dealing with CAS latencies, especially on Intel processor based systems. They just aren't that sensitive to CAS latencies. Corsair's Dominator GT 6GB PC3-16000 2000MHz DDR3 DIMM Triple Channel Memory Kit is one of my favorites. G.Skill also recently upped the ante with their DDR3 2200 CL7 Memory Modules. These would certainly be worth looking into. I'd be happy with at least 6GB of RAM for most usage scenarios, but 12GB has a nice ring to it. You can go for larger memory sizes if you want, but you may find that you've got a lot of slower RAM you can't take advantage of. So 12GB is the max I'd go for in an "Uber-Gaming" Rig. Getting a triple channel kit or two should go without saying.

Processor

Obviously we know the Core i7 920 is a solid choice for overclocking but with no budget ceiling I'd still go with the Core i7 975 Extreme Edition. In an "Uber-PC" there is no reason not to. You can overclock with a combination of multiplier adjustments and bus clock adjustments. This gives you the most potential and of course, it is very likely that any Core i7 975 will be among the best binned CPUs to work with.

Cooling

For the sake of this discussion I won't get too specific, but I'd go with water cooling. It isn't the most extreme form of cooling, but a machine that can't be "driven daily" isn't of much use to me. I wouldn't want to mess with LN2 daily and phase change presents its own set of challenges to your average high end computer enthusiast. Electrical power being one of them. Most of the units I looked at were 220 volt, which not everyone can provide for any number of reasons. (Living in an apartment, or renting a house.) This also ties into my motherboard choice as the EVGA boards have water blocks that are made to fit them exactly. I'm also going with pre-installed EK blocks on the video cards, so this is all essential. As for the specifics, well I'd suggest Bits Power fittings of the compression variety, and a Thermochill radiator. The Corsair Obsidian case is nearly ideal for that, but as for more specifics about blocks, water pumps etc. I'll just leave that up to the individual user preferences. I don't really want to get into all that here.

I'm also leaving case fans out of the discussion. Some people want powerful fans, noise be damned, while others want a balance of acceptable noise and good performance, other schools of thought may come into play such as "just move a little air, and keep the noise to a minimum." This is highly subjective to the builders and end users, so go with whatever you want that will meet your needs.

Video Cards

I buy my video cards for playing games. Folding and other secondary applications are meaningless to me. I'm also going to have to pimp Eyefinity here so my choice is clear. Two Power Color Radeon HD 5970 LCS Edition cards in CrossfireX are the only way to go in my "Uber-PC" build. (If I actually had the money and desire to build one.) These cards come with pre-installed EK full cover waterblocks. This again ties in with my cooling of choice. I know CrossfireX scaling hasn't been all that great in the past, but when running Eyefinity resolutions on 3 30" LCD panels, you need all the help you can get. I'd also want to save some expansion slot room, hence why I'd go with 5970's instead of 5870's. Now, after the GTX 480 releases and we see some credible reviews about them, my recommendations may change quite a bit. I don't know yet, but for the sake of this discussion I'd go with the 5970 until something better comes along.

Audio Cards

Audio is entirely subjective. Some people are perfectly fine with onboard, while others want more. Despite their shitty drivers I'm still a fan of the Creative Labs X-Fi cards so it is likely I'd choose one of those in PCI-Express. I'm not certian about the Xonar or others as I've not looked into them. I may do some research and edit this post later. I've often had too many video cards in my machine to be able to use an internal audio card of any kind. Thanks to water cooling in the "Uber-PC" build I'd be able to look at that again.

Storage

After reading up on the Crucial/Micron Real SSD C300 drives I've decided that the best thing to do in a machine with an unlimited budget, is to use 8 of these (at least) in a RAID0 array. Really I'd cram as many of them as I could get in the case without going to external enclosures. Of course given an unlimited amount of money, 256GB models are the only way to go. For raw storage, I'd use a large SAN or NAS on my network.

Storage Controller

Given that most X58 motherboards don't support SATA 6G, and add-in cards can far outstrip the performance of the built in chipset controllers, a RAID card would be absolutely necessary for the "Uber-PC" build. I'd probably go with an LSI MegaRAID® SAS 9261-8i which supports up to 32 SATA 6G and SAS drives through the use of expanders. It also features 512MB of cache memory and a PCI-Express x8 interface.

Optical Drives

In modern PCs I rarely see the need for multiple optical drives. Therefore I'd go with a single drive and currently Pioneer's BDR-205BKS seems the most compelling to me. It is also among the fastest available currently. This doesn't matter much and if you wanted to save a little cash (not typically the goal with a machine like this) then any old $30 Samsung OEM DVD drive will do.

Monitors

Currently 30" LCD's are king in my book. With each having a resolution of 2560x1600 they are the current highest resolution, and largest, dedicated PC displays. Since input lag and hardware scaling sucks, my only choice right now would be the Dell 3007WFP-HC. I'd need or want at least 3 of them attached to my Uber-PC build. Of course this would necessitate the need for the Dell Display Port to DVI adapter, which I'd also grab while I was at it.

Obviously not everyone would build their "Dream machines" the same way I would, but some of the proposed machines out there aren't really all that special, well thought out, or even all that high end honestly. When cost is a factor then obviously give and take is required when trying to build anything even close to your dream machine. But in a theoretical discussion about such machines, "Go big or go home."
 
Last edited:
/me is surprised Dan hasn't reviewed any of the updated X58 boards (with SATA600 and USB3.0). Though, since you'd be getting a RAID card, no real need for one of the newer boards since you can just buy a PCI-E USB3.0 card.

The new SSDs from Micron/Crucial (RealSSD) are the ones to lookout for since they supposedly outperform both Intel and Indilinx based drives. I'd definitely wait for those in addition to the 980-X CPU. ... but only 4 SSDs? No no no... 24... no that is UBER!!
Samsung SSD Awesomeness ... of course, you'll need more than one RAID controller, which might take up one of the PCI-E slots you planned on using for a vidcard, hehe.

I agree, Eyefinity with 3x 30" just screams uber. :D
 
Well much of the X58 hype is over for now. When the Core i7 980 Extreme Edition is released I'd expect renewed interest in the X58 chipset based boards. Once that happens I wouldn't be at all surprised if I had some new ones to review. As it stands now I haven't looked at an X58 board in awhile. Everything I've reviewed recently has been a P55 Express chipset based board. I am aware that there are some X58 chipset based boards that do support SATA 6G and USB 3.0. However none of them that I've seen really grab me as just "awesome." Though again I haven't worked with any of them myself. As you pointed out, the addition of a RAID controller negates the need for onboard SATA 6G support. I chose the boards I mentioned earlier for use in an "Uber-PC" for their sole overclocking prowess and layout.

I've heard the same thing about the Crucial/Micron SSD's, but I haven't read too much about them. 8 of them to max out the RAID controller would certainly kick ass. :) Though with SAS expanders you can use more than that on the card I mentioned. I might have to rethink my build if I were to win the lottery. :cool: In that case I'd probably need to take all my storage drives into a SAN or something like that. Just fill up the case with SSD's attached to the RAID controller. :eek:
 
Dan_D said:
I always find it odd how little imagination people have when building "uber-rigs" in discussions like this. Below are my thoughts on Uber-PC's for general use and mainly for gaming.

Cases

Generally when it comes to cases you've got a million choices. Not all of them are good, but the main thing is to get a case that can house whatever you've got planned for installation and give you some room to go. Other than that it comes down to build quality and how much you want to spend. My current favorite is the Corsair Obsidian 800D despite having some reservations about it. My other choices all come from Lian-Li currently. I'd go with something along the lines of the PC-B71.

Power Supplies

The Corsair HX1000 is one of my favorite power supplies. Unfortunately for an "Uber-PC" 1,000 watts of maximum power output may not get the job done. I've pushed this envelope many times over the years and I just have to cross anything below 1200 watts off my "Uber-PC approved list" for being too small. Throw in a pair of power hungry Radeon HD 5970's and overclock them, it becomes possible to burn through 700+ watts with your video hardware alone. Remember when overclocking standard TDP numbers go out the window. Above the 1KW market space there isn't much out there that I'd actually put in my machine. I'd stick with the Thermaltake ToughPower 1200 watt since I know it can actually output 1200 watts if needed. There may be some other newer choices, but my quick research hasn't turned up much beyond the Ultra X3 1600 watt and a few other 1200 watt units. The Koolance 1300 watt water cooled PSU is compelling as well but I don't know if I'd spend the money on that even in an "Uber-PC". Then again I might just because an Uber-Rig should know no boundaries.

Motherboards

There are many great choices for the motherboard of any kind of "Uber-PC". Personally I can only think of a handful of them I'd actually use. For this I'd definitely go with an LGA1366 motherboard over a newer P55 Express chipset based board despite the fact that the latter boards are now appearing with SATA 6.0 and USB 3.0 support. We should start seeing a few options in X58 land for that soon, but until we see a few I'm going to have to recommend something I've already worked with. For this I'd probably choose the EVGA X58 3X SLI Classified, or the 4X SLI version. These I'd choose for their overclocking options, track record (albeit short) and of course their layout. Another possible choice for me would be the ASUS P6T7 WS Supercomputer.

LGA1156 vs. LGA1366

Why LGA1366 over LGA1156? Well LGA1156 doesn't support the highest end processor Intel offers, nor does it allow for triple channel memory. X58 also gives you more PCI-Express lanes to work with, which will come into play later. I've also found that LGA1366 CPUs have more overclocking headroom than LGA1156 CPUs do. When you overclock the power savings LGA1156 provides over LGA1366 pretty much get tossed out, so again in an "Uber-PC" build, there is no reason to opt for LGA1156 over LGA1366. Another final reason to go with X58 over P55 Express is Intel's "Gulftown" Core i7 9xx CPU which is due out soon. (Some ES chips can already be found on Ebay and through other sources.)

Dual socket vs. single socket systems

I know that I'm going to hear about dual LGA1366 systems after people read this post, and I did consider this but the main reason why the "Uber-PC" wouldn't get them is because of their lack of overclocking options. That and there is no benefit to having that many cores when 6 core CPUs are headed to the high end desktop market segment. For these reasons no dual LGA1366 server/workstation boards would be in the "Uber-PC". Now if I were posting about creating an "Uber-Workstation" then yeah, it would be dual socket Xeon boards and processors all the way. Then again I'd make many different choices in the design of the system too. :cool:

Memory

For any kind of super high end rig, you want as much memory as you can have while still getting great performance and overclocking. Some people go for slower clock speed with tighter timings or for higher clock speeds and looser timings. You'd really be hard pressed to actually notice the difference when dealing with CAS latencies, especially on Intel processor based systems. They just aren't that sensitive to CAS latencies. Corsair's Dominator GT 6GB PC3-16000 2000MHz DDR3 DIMM Triple Channel Memory Kit is one of my favorites. G.Skill also recently upped the ante with their DDR3 2200 CL7 Memory Modules. These would certainly be worth looking into. I'd be happy with at least 6GB of RAM for most usage scenarios, but 12GB has a nice ring to it. You can go for larger memory sizes if you want, but you may find that you've got a lot of slower RAM you can't take advantage of. So 12GB is the max I'd go for in an "Uber-Gaming" Rig. Getting a triple channel kit or two should go without saying.

Processor

Obviously we know the Core i7 920 is a solid choice for overclocking but with no budget ceiling I'd still go with the Core i7 975 Extreme Edition. In an "Uber-PC" there is no reason not to. You can overclock with a combination of multiplier adjustments and bus clock adjustments. This gives you the most potential and of course, it is very likely that any Core i7 975 will be among the best binned CPUs to work with.

Cooling

For the sake of this discussion I won't get too specific, but I'd go with water cooling. It isn't the most extreme form of cooling, but a machine that can't be "driven daily" isn't of much use to me. I wouldn't want to mess with LN2 daily and phase change presents its own set of challenges to your average high end computer enthusiast. Electrical power being one of them. Most of the units I looked at were 220 volt, which not everyone can provide for any number of reasons. (Living in an apartment, or renting a house.) This also ties into my motherboard choice as the EVGA boards have water blocks that are made to fit them exactly. I'm also going with pre-installed EK blocks on the video cards, so this is all essential. As for the specifics, well I'd suggest Bits Power fittings of the compression variety, and a Thermochill radiator. The Corsair Obsidian case is nearly ideal for that, but as for more specifics about blocks, water pumps etc. I'll just leave that up to the individual user preferences. I don't really want to get into all that here.

I'm also leaving case fans out of the discussion. Some people want powerful fans, noise be damned, while others want a balance of acceptable noise and good performance, other schools of thought may come into play such as "just move a little air, and keep the noise to a minimum." This is highly subjective to the builders and end users, so go with whatever you want that will meet your needs.

Video Cards

I buy my video cards for playing games. Folding and other secondary applications are meaningless to me. I'm also going to have to pimp Eyefinity here so my choice is clear. Two Power Color Radeon HD 5970 LCS Edition cards in CrossfireX are the only way to go in my "Uber-PC" build. (If I actually had the money and desire to build one.) These cards come with pre-installed EK full cover waterblocks. This again ties in with my cooling of choice. I know CrossfireX scaling hasn't been all that great in the past, but when running Eyefinity resolutions on 3 30" LCD panels, you need all the help you can get. I'd also want to save some expansion slot room, hence why I'd go with 5970's instead of 5870's. Now, after the GTX 480 releases and we see some credible reviews about them, my recommendations may chance quite a bit. I don't know yet, but for the sake of this discussion I'd go with the 5970 until something better comes along.

Audio Cards

Audio is entirely subjective. Some people are perfectly fine with onboard, while others want more. Despite their shitty drivers I'm still a fan of the Creative Labs X-Fi cards so it is likely I'd choose one of those in PCI-Express. I'm not certian about the Xonar or others as I've not looked into them. I may do some research and edit this post later. I've often had too many video cards in my machine to be able to use an internal audio card of any kind. Thanks to water cooling in the "Uber-PC" build I'd be able to look at that again.

Storage

For storage Intel's X25-M is still hard to beat. It still offers some of the most balanced performance of any drive out there. Though there are some newer drives I should probably look at before choosing newer SSD's. Right now though I'd probably grab four 160GB G2 drives for RAID0 action. For just raw data storage, Seagate's Barracuda XT ST32000641AS 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" drives would be my first choice. I've had no luck with Western Digital lately, so their Caviar Black drives are out for me. I'd probably get at least 6 or 8 of these drives for my "Uber-PC" build.

Storage Controller

Given that most X58 motherboards don't support SATA 6G, and add-in cards can far outstrip the performance of the built in chipset controllers, a RAID card would be absolutely necessary for the "Uber-PC" build. I'd probably go with an LSI MegaRAID SAS 9280DE-8e which supports SATA 6G and SAS as well. It also features 512MB of cache memory and a PCI-Express x8 interface. Using expanders you can support nearly all the drives you could want or ever need.

Optical Drives

In modern PCs I rarely see the need for multiple optical drives. Therefore I'd go with a single drive and currently Pioneer's BDR-205BKS seems the most compelling to me. It is also among the fastest available currently. This doesn't matter much and if you wanted to save a little cash (not typically the goal with a machine like this) then any old $30 Samsung OEM DVD drive will do.

Monitors

Currently 30" LCD's are king in my book. With each having a resolution of 2560x1600 they are the current highest resolution, and largest, dedicated PC displays. Since input lag and hardware scaling sucks, my only choice right now would be the Dell 3007WFP-HC. I'd need or want at least 3 of them attached to my Uber-PC build. Of course this would necessitate the need for the Dell Display Port to DVI adapter, which I'd also grab while I was at it.

Obviously not everyone would build their "Dream machines" the same way I would, but some of the proposed machines out there aren't really all that special, well thought out, or even all that high end honestly. When cost is a factor then obviously give and take is required when trying to build anything even close to your dream machine. But in a theoretical discussion about such machines, "Go big or go home."
Click to expand...

Thanks a million, I'll definitely take some, if not most of your suggestions :)

Cheers.
 
I've updated my storage recommendations since you quoted my post upon further consideration. :cool:
 
I would never watercool someone else's PC.

1)
a) Stock: No benefit from watercooling at all. Caveat: The 5970 has a waterblock, and no aftermarket cooler that I'm aware of. Wait for this: http://news.softpedia.com/news/CeBIT-2010-Sees-Sapphire-s-4GB-HD-5970-136378.shtml

b) OC: You won't be pushing the limits with a client's pc, and you certainly can just keep the components within spec for temperatures. 50c load vs 70c load doesn't really matter at the end of the day.

2) You do need to top the loop off every once in a while.
3) More things to break

IMO, the goal of cooling for a high end pc that's built for a customer is silence. That's all that most people are going to care about, because even if you do decide to overclock, you will get 95% of the performance with aftermarket heatsinks/fans. Anything else is just flash.
 
Talonz said:
I would never watercool someone else's PC.
Click to expand...

If properly tested there is nothing wrong with doing so. Plus this guy has tons of money to spend. There is really no reason not to do it.

Talonz said:
1)
a) Stock: No benefit from watercooling at all. Caveat: The 5970 has a waterblock, and no aftermarket cooler that I'm aware of. Wait for this: http://news.softpedia.com/news/CeBIT-2010-Sees-Sapphire-s-4GB-HD-5970-136378.shtml
Click to expand...

Umm, this is BS. You will get better results with water cooling than you will with air cooling. This has been proven time and time again. Not to say you can't get great overclocks with air cooling, but water cooling will allow you to go father.

Talonz said:
b) OC: You won't be pushing the limits with a client's pc, and you certainly can just keep the components within spec for temperatures. 50c load vs 70c load doesn't really matter at the end of the day.
Click to expand...

We aren't talking about building a machine for a salon or building one for a local office. We are talking about a gaming machine, and building for a guy with a nearly unlimited budget. As for your comment about 50c vs. 70c, no, it isn't that simple. When you break the 4.0GHz mark, you are talking about 70c vs. 90c. One is OK, the other is not.

Talonz said:
2) You do need to top the loop off every once in a while.
3) More things to break
Click to expand...

Topping off the loop isn't a big deal. It is something I've had to do maybe once a year or so. It isn't a big deal. As for there being more things to break, well yeah I suppose that's true, but water cooling is a proven technology.

Talonz said:
IMO, the goal of cooling for a high end pc that's built for a customer is silence. That's all that most people are going to care about, because even if you do decide to overclock, you will get 95% of the performance with aftermarket heatsinks/fans. Anything else is just flash.
Click to expand...

Umm no. I don't guess you've actually built high end machines for customers if you think that's the case. I have and let me tell you, their requirements and goals are as different as night and day. Again you aren't talking about getting a 5% higher overclock with water cooling vs. high end air. The difference is usually MUCH greater than that unless you are comparing lower end all in one kits to a Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme.
 
after the build please post the pic

btw for CPU, i really recommend bloomfield xeon against the core i7
 
PAo_ReVoLT said:
after the build please post the pic

btw for CPU, i really recommend bloomfield xeon against the core i7
Click to expand...

I wouldn't. The Core i7 975 Extreme Edition is multiplier unlocked. As far as I know all the Xeons have locked multipliers. For that kind of money, no thanks. If you are talking about regular Xeon W35xx sequence CPUs over their Core i7 counterparts, eh, maybe. They seem to cost more and I'm not totally convinced they are superior overclockers. Or at least I'm not convinced they are worth the price increase.
 
well dan,

i have tried i7 920, 965, 975, W3540, W3520 and i found that W3520 is the best oc'ed (at least for me)

the EE edition is such a waste in my experience (i own 2QX6800 3QX9650 and few 965s and few 975s) all EE CPU is seem good only very first few batch (you buy them at launch) after those very first batch, the quality seem drop. i dunno why but that is happen to me last few years. on the xeon part most CPU seem to be binned better across the production unlike consumer class.

anyway OP. is your budget included audio? if so your budget is not enough if you want best of the best : )
 
Dan_D said:
If properly tested there is nothing wrong with doing so. Plus this guy has tons of money to spend. There is really no reason not to do it.



Umm, this is BS. You will get better results with water cooling than you will with air cooling. This has been proven time and time again. Not to say you can't get great overclocks with air cooling, but water cooling will allow you to go father.



We aren't talking about building a machine for a salon or building one for a local office. We are talking about a gaming machine, and building for a guy with a nearly unlimited budget. As for your comment about 50c vs. 70c, no, it isn't that simple. When you break the 4.0GHz mark, you are talking about 70c vs. 90c. One is OK, the other is not.



Topping off the loop isn't a big deal. It is something I've had to do maybe once a year or so. It isn't a big deal. As for there being more things to break, well yeah I suppose that's true, but water cooling is a proven technology.



Umm no. I don't guess you've actually built high end machines for customers if you think that's the case. I have and let me tell you, their requirements and goals are as different as night and day. Again you aren't talking about getting a 5% higher overclock with water cooling vs. high end air. The difference is usually MUCH greater than that unless you are comparing lower end all in one kits to a Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme.
Click to expand...

I'm not talking out of my ass either, I've run high end WC loops as well.

The point I'm trying to make is if someone has an large budget and is not building the system themselves, they likely want a "set it and forget it" solution. Are you really going to leave their machine at 4.5ghz instead of 4.3? Temperature fluctuations between summer and winter are often big enough to affect maximum overclocks as well as hardware degrading over time (memory, motherboard, PSU). You're building a system to be stable for the next 1-2 years without maintenance and adjustments.

Yes, watercooling gives you better performance in the end, but is the extra cost justifiable and will it be worth the headaches if something goes wrong? The customer should be aware of all the tradeoffs because watercooling isn't a blanket solution for all high end systems.
 
Fans or anything mechanical can fail just as easily. If you use quality components in the system's construction then I wouldn't worry about the reliability of water cooling anymore than I would air cooling. If the cooling system fails the same thing happens in either case. Though water cooling systems can leak, which is something that air cooled systems can't really do unless a heat pipe were too fracture. Something I've never seen happen.
 
if OP is new to Water cooling but would like to give a try. he can go with all-in-one WC solution (ie. corsair or coolit system) that will give you a lot less headache
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top