Please help building my new main cruncher

Hi there,

it's been about 10 years since I last ordered a customized computer, and I probably missed almost everything that happened in desktop computing since then. That's why I request your opinion on the machine I'm going to build.

Feel free to suggest better components, the price shouldn't rise significantly, though. I've decided I want to use an Intel CPU and nVidia GPUs because I never had any complaints with their products.

The computer will be used as a 3D gaming/game development machine, as a file server and - of course - as my main cruncher. I intend to use Windows 7 64-bit. Here is an overview over the significant components I have considered.

Motherboard:
ASRock X58 EXTREME3 (€ 149,35)
-> http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=X58%20Extreme3&cat=Specifications
ASRock X58 EXTREME6 (€ 190,85)
-> http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=X58%20Extreme6&cat=Specifications

CPU: Intel Core i7-970 / 3.20 GHz, 6 cores, TDP 130W (€ 489,45)

RAM:
Corsair XMS3 DIMM Kit 8GB PC3-10667U CL9-9-9-24 (€ 53,15)
Kingston HyperX DIMM Kit 8GB PC3-12800U CL9-9-9-27 (€ 66,50)
Corsair XMS3 DIMM Kit 12GB PC3-12800U CL9-9-9-24 (€ 115,95)

GPUs: 2x MSI N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II/OC (€ 201,25 each)
HDDs: 2x 2TB Samsung EcoGreen HD204UI (€ 79,99 each)
Sound card: CREATIVE Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium, PCIe x1 (€ 71,75)

Yes, these are all DDR3 modules.
____________

Unless you feel you really need 6 cores, I'd say you could save some money and get almost the same level of performance by switching to an i7 2600 (or 2600K if you fell like you will want to overclock). The chip will be significantly cheaper, I would guess (though I don't know your country's pricing) that the motherboard would end up around the same price level, and you could use dual channel RAM instead of triple channel. It's not clear from what you spec'd out below, but are you thinking of using a dual channel kit on an X58 board (since that's what an 8G kit would be)? If that's the case, then you wouldn't be saving any money there, but still, the overall cost would be significantly less. Just something to think about.

-Dave

____________

Unless you feel you really need 6 cores, I'd say you could save some money and get almost the same level of performance by switching to an i7 2600 (or 2600K if you fell like you will want to overclock). The chip will be significantly cheaper, I would guess (though I don't know your country's pricing) that the motherboard would end up around the same price level, and you could use dual channel RAM instead of triple channel. It's not clear from what you spec'd out below, but are you thinking of using a dual channel kit on an X58 board (since that's what an 8G kit would be)? If that's the case, then you wouldn't be saving any money there, but still, the overall cost would be significantly less. Just something to think about.

-Dave

I too would recommend the skt.1155 "sandybridge" CPUs, either 2500K (4 cores/4 threads) or 2600K (4 cores/8 threads), and suitable motherboard.

PC3-1333 Dual Channel RAM is recommended.

I'm using an 800W 80plus rated PSU to power my two GTX 260 ti's, but I only have one hard drive and minimal other things so it might be cutting it fine - these cards do seem to be a bit particular when it comes to power/heat/stability, so more is probably better.

The MSI Twin Frozr II is a good card with good reviews, I have one. Good case airflow is key, especially with two cards installed. It is recommended that the CPUs stock cooler is replaced with maybe a 'tower' cooler with 92mm/120mm fan - it will not only keep the CPU cooler but keep things a bit quieter.

Maybe consider a SSD for your OS drive and applications, for quick bootup and loading times and improved responsiveness.
____________
Brian.

You do realize that the Sandy Bridge motherboards have a lot less PCIE lanes so that you can't use as many video cards as you could with say an i7 970.

Just a thought.
____________

"Dual channel" and (I assume) "triple channel" is marketing-speak for two (three)physically and electrically identical modules. There's no need to buy "special" dual/triple channel modules as long as the ones you get are identical (i.e., same model/part number).
____________

I'd really consider getting a solid state drive to boot from. That alone will knock your socks off. Time to load programs and system bootups will be dramatically reduced. As for SSD recommendations I personally use an Intel 510 drive attached to a sata3 capable system board.

I wouldn't bother with the sound card, most onboard sound systems have great fidelity, and adequate software support.

FWIW, My system has two ASUS 560Ti cards and averages 26,000 credits and climbing and consumes at least 350 watts, it's RAC ranking is around 129th in the world tough.
____________

I'll just chime in here if I may. :D

IMHO the current X58 setups are not worth investing in by a long way with the current crop of 1155 processers (if you want to spend that sort of money then wait until the X79 setups come out).

Myself, I'm just waiting on a few more parts to turn up for my latest upgrade (these only happen every 3yrs or so here) and this is the total parts list;

Intel Core i5 2500K Processor LGA1155 3.3GHz
ASRock Z68 Extreme4 Z68
Corsair TX-850
G Skill Ripjaws 8G(2x4G) DDR3 1600Mhz CL9
Cooler Master V8
OCZ 120G Vertex II SSD
LGE Blue Ray HD Combo

and I'll reuse my Antec Titan case, 2x 9800GT's (until these get replaced by GTX560's or better a bit latter) plus WD 1TB Black HDD.

You could pay $110 (or so) extra for an i7 2600K over the 2500K but I really can't see the value there myself.

Cheers.
____________

You do realize that the Sandy Bridge motherboards have a lot less PCIE lanes so that you can't use as many video cards as you could with say an i7 970.

Just a thought.

"Dual channel" and (I assume) "triple channel" is marketing-speak for two (three)physically and electrically identical modules. There's no need to buy "special" dual/triple channel modules as long as the ones you get are identical (i.e., same model/part number).

Thank you for all your suggestions.

About the sound card, I initially thought I needed an Optical In connector, but I found out if I overhaul my current audio setup, I can do without that.
Also, I just got around to try a machine with a SSD and I think it's absolutely worth the extra money.

Now that I chose a different CPU, I will also have to choose a different motherboard. Of those my retailer offers, I think the MSI P67A-GD65 is the right one for me (http://www.msi.com/product/mb/P67A-GD65.html#?div=Overview)

What do you think about this one?

About what some of you said regarding PCI Express slots and Sandy Bridge MBs - are there really any issues with just two graphics cards?
____________

For GPU computing, the # of lanes shouldn't matter very much, as almost all the computing is done onboard the GPU and its memory; at least for the NVIDIA apps, they only use main memory to load the WU data at the start and maybe when checkpointing (?). And that's a small percent of the overall time for any WU. Thus mainboard memory speed doesn't affect them that much either.

In fact, get a board with 4 or more GPU slots and the cheapest CPU and don't do CPU computing at all - a midrange single slot GPU will out-perform all but the most expensive CPUs regardless of CPU cores and with or without HT.
____________

I think you might have missed the part in their initial post about this being a gaming dev machine & not a dedicated cruncher.

Well thanks to all of your suggestions, I was able to cut costs while improving performance.

I knew that GPU computing is by orders of magnitude faster and more effecient than CPU processing, but the costs of building (and also running) a dedicated GPU-only cruncher do not allow me to do this at this time. So I think I settled with a machine that can do all tasks I need at once, and at the same time being pretty cost-efficient. You all helped me achieve that goal, and I'm grateful for that.

Once the machine I'm going to order now arrives, I may come back and ask a question or two about optimized apps, if I don't figure it out myself - I already run them, but I think more optimizing can be done than just running them in the default configuration.

Kind regards,
Helsionium
____________