I am waiting to see what the 69xx's bring to the table, price and performance. I have gone back and forth in my mind on SLI or Crossfire, but have decided to do one video card. I'm not an nVidia or ATI (it will ALWAYS be ATI, sorry AMD) fanboy, I like price/performance and whoever wins is what I get at the time. In the past $200 was always my video card budget, but with this powerhouse I'm building, I feel a $200 video card would be an insult. So, we'll see what my options are the rest of 2010.
As for motherboard, the Gigabyte X58A-UD5 is still an option, but I've been looking (here come the flames) at this, ASUS Rampage III Formula a lot recently. I like the layout of the PCIEx16 and PCIEx1 slots, the reviews etc. Guess I need to make up my mind by friday when I buy one.
I like the slot arrangement on the ASUS P6X58D-E a little more, since the PCI-E x1 slot will always be accessible on top. The Rampage gets the x1 slot covered up if you decide to go dual-card later on.
EDIT: NM, didn't see that x1 slot on top on the Rampage board, even though I looked several times. Blends in
That is a very nice board. But I don't like those heat pipes. VRM can work at a higher temperature than the north bridge runs. When CPU is overclocked, the heat on the VRM can move on to the north bridge to make it hotter than it would be by its own. I would rather have the heatsinks without heat pipes.
They pretty much all do that nowadays it seems, mirage. It's hard to find a board that doesn't have heatpipes going between the fet sinks and northbridge. And to be honest, if you have a little ventilation gong across that area it shouldn't make a big difference one way or another IMO.
fatcat, that is a nice looking board man. And the price isn't quite as bad as I thought it would be.
They pretty much all do that nowadays it seems, mirage. It's hard to find a board that doesn't have heatpipes going between the fet sinks and northbridge. And to be honest, if you have a little ventilation gong across that area it shouldn't make a big difference one way or another IMO.
fatcat, that is a nice looking board man. And the price isn't quite as bad as I thought it would be.
You are probably right, muddocktor. Anyway, pipes do not come with the cheap motherboards I always buy. Lucky me
The Rampage gets the x1 slot covered up if you decide to go dual-card later on.
just to clarify, if you run a dual card setup(SLI|XF), the manual states using PCIEx16_1 and PCIEx16_3 to give you 16x on both cards. Therefore the 2nd PCIEx1 slot would not be covered
What's the deal with that, fatcat? Think it's a bios issue or something?
BTW, do you live near a Microcenter? If you do, or if you have a good friend who does you can get a 930 for $200 plus tax. I had a buddy in Houston pick me up one; with tax and shipping to me included it was only $228.
Holy shit, just checked the Microcenter website and for $200 you get the i7 950 now for in-store pickup. Brian, check it out and check stock at your local Microcenter.!!
my buddy TiberiusLazarus was good enough to drive me to Microcenter in St. Louis and get me an i7-950 (paying him back of course) for $199. I rewarded him with a meal from 5 guys a mile down the road from Microcenter
Ryder. I'm gonna get the i7-950 up and going. get the bios set whatever. the 950 is 3.06ghz. Then once I know shit is good, I'll throw the 965 ES in and see if it boots. Worth a shot.
Also, the motherboard I got only has two BIOS revisions, so I imagine it might already have the original. (the new BIOS just adds 6-core CPU support I believe)
Comments
As for motherboard, the Gigabyte X58A-UD5 is still an option, but I've been looking (here come the flames) at this, ASUS Rampage III Formula a lot recently. I like the layout of the PCIEx16 and PCIEx1 slots, the reviews etc. Guess I need to make up my mind by friday when I buy one.
EDIT: NM, didn't see that x1 slot on top on the Rampage board, even though I looked several times. Blends in
fatcat, that is a nice looking board man. And the price isn't quite as bad as I thought it would be.
You are probably right, muddocktor. Anyway, pipes do not come with the cheap motherboards I always buy. Lucky me
and so I build
just to clarify, if you run a dual card setup(SLI|XF), the manual states using PCIEx16_1 and PCIEx16_3 to give you 16x on both cards. Therefore the 2nd PCIEx1 slot would not be covered
Also, the 69xx's are out. $299 for 6950, $369 for 6970.
6950
6970
so, I'm still another $600 away from my system being done. :bawling:
BTW, do you live near a Microcenter? If you do, or if you have a good friend who does you can get a 930 for $200 plus tax. I had a buddy in Houston pick me up one; with tax and shipping to me included it was only $228.
Brian. I see the microcenter in Madison Heights has twenty i7-950's in stock for $199, $100 cheaper than the egg.
Problem is, I don't have $200 until the 24th. :bawling:
If it is still cheaper than newegg then, I will have you get one for me Brian. And, Thank you
I'll even use USPS
heh
the build continues...
the problem is the BIOS is too up to date, if any of the BIOS revisions would even recognize the engineering sample.
worth a shot though
The newest boards are not going to recognize the ES CPU's of that age group.
Also, the motherboard I got only has two BIOS revisions, so I imagine it might already have the original. (the new BIOS just adds 6-core CPU support I believe)
still got some kinks to work out, and to get it to recognize 24GB, which Thrax was kind enough to link me to a forum with that info.
I'll try tonight. Just home for quick lunch right now
And, let us know when you find a way to use 25% of the RAM in your system.
just load 3 adobe programs at same time.
I've seen Premiere alone use 6-7 gigs doing the icrontic year in review video
It's all good man. I agree 95% of the time I don't need 24GB, but if I can have it, why not