hey Guru,help me pick the parts for my new supercomputer ;-)

[BUSTER]

I think iv found just what your looking for spud.

[..ME..]

lol buster,

spud, since u have loads to spend and ur looking for a good case have a look at the thermaltake armor series; some of them weigh about 15kg's but they are made of steel and u can pretty much run ur car over it without it collapsing lol. the air flow through them isnt bad either;

[GURU]

ok i had a bit of a read about the motherboards and i find that the p5n32E-sli is basically a cheaper version of the striker extreme but it really aint missing nothing of importance!

they go on to say that they overclock very similar and that apart from the lcd panel at the back i/o panel and a couple of external sata ports in the i/o panel and some slightly different heatpipe setup they are pretty much the same! and of course the price diff of $130 {US} less for the p5n32-sli is a bit of a bonus!

here are the asus specs from their website -
http://au.asus.com/products4.aspx?model ... =11&l3=397

here is a link to a really good review to show the differences!

http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=616&p=2


and some more for good measure !

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2007/0 ... us/10.html

http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/Reviews ... 7&PageId=0

http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardw ... li/12.html
this is listed as running the 650i and 570i chipset but according to the asus website it runs the 680i chipsets so i think these jokers at neoseeker have got it wrong!

over all it looks quite good from overclocking and also raw performance ! it is a cheaper alternative motherboard yet still containing the 680i chipset! in benchmarks the intel 965 chipset still seems to be slightly faster in general and overclocking as well ! but of course it DONT support SLI !

the 680i chispet is said to be a bit fussy on ram modules as well although i am not sure which ones!
thy say to follow the recommended guide at the asus website! in the past i have seen this is not always the most reliable!

retail price for in OZ is around - $280 or so for the cheapest listed on static ice!

[spud]

you've got 2 different motherboards stuck together there Guru. There is the p5n32E-sli which is a 680i board, and there is the p5n32E-sli PLUS which is a 650i board with a 570 SB. From a bit of reading I've been doing, the non-plus version is difficult to get your hands on these days as Asus seems to have discontinued it The plus version is getting some nice reviews, but the consensus seems to be that the chipset runs very hot.

I'm starting to think that I won't bother with SLI, it seems to be more fucking hassle than it's worth, expensive motherboards, driver issues, etc. I'm going to start looking at the 965 boards...

[GURU]

well i have been back to the asus website and i cant seem to locate the plus version but u appear to be correct ther spud! yup i definately got my wires crossed her spud, soz mate

i had a bit more of a look and it seems ther is still a bit of confusion with online retailers as well cos some have the plus version listed as 680i chipset and some dont! asus dont have the plus version listed at their website properly yet! if u type it into ther search u can find it but it aint in thenormal place it should be!
i would stick with the non plus version if it were me, or get a 965 chipset !

the plus version seems to be slightly cheaper and that they are both readily available!

personally i still like the gigabyte 965p-ds3P motherbaord ! i have got my eye on one of these !

u r worried about heat then the 965 chipsets arent n e better! on my only core 2 duo test rig to date on the board mentioned above the 965 chipset runs extremely hot! too hot to keep your pinkie on it for more than a split second! the cpu runs pretty cool but not the chipset! an after market cooler would get the temp down heaps! ther are a few around! a thermalright chipset cooler!

asus have a couple of newer versions of ther p5b series with the vista premium and std editions! dunno whether they are n e good but! p5b-deluxe is pretty good! priced at around $280 a good alternative to the gigabyte 965p-ds3p although it is about $70 dearer.

another alternative for 680i is the eVGA 680i mainboard.[dont get the lite version but]
it is priced around $425 in OZ

some links -

http://www.overclockers.co.nz/ocnz/revi ... 80isli0505

http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=7257&page=8

http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/article.asp?CIID=70783

http://techreport.com/reviews/2006q4/nf ... dex.x?pg=1

[spud]

whats the go with all these hot chipsets? Intel finally get their act together and release a chip that isn't a furnace, and then everyone goes and turns their chipset into a crematorium! And why are they all insisting on passive cooling solutions? The heat would be a non-issue with the inclusion of a fan for each chip! The silent computing craze seems to be an excuse for stupidity.

The non-plus version does indeed look very nice, but as best I can gather it is being discontinued

I am looking at the Asus Commando (based on the 965). Looks good. No SLI but I am slowly accepting that I may just end up with a single card.

Any news on the 8900's? The specs for the R600 look pretty impressive, but apparently it chews 300w, which is, frankly, fucking retarded! I don't think I'll be going back to ATI any time in the near future unless they pull some magic. A single 8800GTX seems like it will handle anything thrown at it for some time to come, so maybe by the time I go for the Vista upgrade we will have a 9900GTX or even a 10000 for me to upgrade to at the same time!

[BUSTER]

Good on ya spud your on the right track to making the wrong decision.

[spud]

yeah, that was a really helpful post buster, thanks for that

[BUSTER]

Well im trying. Don’t kid your self sli or xfire will be better than one card. I don’t understand. I must be the only one running it. its faster the bench marks show that, don’t buy a cheap plastic case if you want a good one you wont pay under $250

[GURU]

yeah u r right buster but , it costs a shit load of mula to run dual vid cards especially the top of the line ones!

although spud seems to be pretty cashed up!

that commando is a very good board but it dont do stuff all more than the p5b and the ds3p although it is a lot more expensive! it does do the hybrid version of ATI X fire ! 965 chipset style

but fuuuuuuk it overclocks like no other! hehe only a little bit better than the other 2 965 boards!

i am of the belief that 8900s will see the light of day towards the end of march although Nvidia may hold off till ATI actually release their R600 beast! and it has been delayed so many times who knows when thta will be although it is now slated for april i think! if it occurrs then it would be well worth the wait!

[spud]

cool, thanks for explaining Buster

I'll definitely be buying a tower case, looks atm like the Lian-li Rusty suggested simply because it's freaking huge!

The thing that is making me turn from SLI is, I've got a 21" CRT and am not planning an upgrading it until I have to (i.e. it dies). That gives me a useful max res of 1600x1200 (at a decent refresh). A single 8800GTX should be all over this resolution.
I figure an E6700, 2GB RAM and an SLI motherboard should last a couple of years (my current nForce2 + XP3000+ have lasted over 3 years), meaning, once I have to go LCD and have to deal with resolutions like 1920x1600 (or whatever) I can then pick up some 10000GTX's and SLI those bastages!

The problem I am having is with the motherboard support for SLI. I am not convinced about the i680 chipset, but I am still considering an SLI setup seriously, I just need to be sold completely.

What are you running there? Motherboard? Case? How many case fans? What are temps like under load on a 35 degree day?

I'm giving myself about a month to think about it before I buy, so I'm hoping I make the best choice after spending that long researching it and thinking about it.


Edit: you posted while I was typing Guru
You're right, I am cashed up but 2x8800GTX = $2000. I would not bother SLIing lower versions since the performance of SLIed GTS cards is not that much of an improvement over a single GTX, so for SLI to be worth it it would have to be GTXs.

[spud]

Oh holy shit! :

the 8800GTX cards are totally fucking insane! I hadn't really done much reading on them, just assumed they would tear arse, but didn't realise that amount of arse they would tear. The numbers for SLI 8800GTXs are compelling to say the least! An 8800GTX SLI setup should last for a couple of years I'd rekon, even once DX10 titles start hitting the street. I mean, 150+fps in F.E.A.R. with 4xAA & 16xAF @ 1600x1200? That's incredible, and I can't imagine that the first round of DX10 titles will destroy an 8800GTX SLI setup down to less than 60fps.

I've got a little wet patch after reading that review...

[GURU]

hey ther moisty ,

yeah i go along with ya ther spud if u gonna go high end dont settle for 2nd best , mights as well spend the extra few hundred and get as good as u possibly can!

and i really hope those 8900gtxs are out for u b4 u buy! basically they will still be around $1k each and hte 8800 series will be that bit chepaer b4 they faze them out!
but hey we are not trying ot save money , we are trying ot build a 3D RAGING BEAST ! heheh ooooh how i luv it!

if u got a month then u got plenty of time to do a fair bit of research so if u cant decide by then, then u might as well give it up! hehe

[spud]

this is what I am looking at atm:

Coolermaster Stacker 831 Black tower case
Gigabyte GA-N680SLI-DQ6
Intel Core2 Duo E6700
Corsair Twin2X 2048MB XMS2-6400 , 4-4-4-12
Inno3D nVidia 8800GTX "OC" 768mb (590/950) (x2)
74GB Western Digital Raptor 10,000 RPM, 16MB
Thermaltake 850W Toughpower PSU
WinXP Pro
Plus some extra cables and case fans

Total: $4846.60 (inc. Build and Shipping)

That compares with a similar system from PCCaseGear for around ~$4500, which didn't include XP Pro or any extra case fans, plus I'd have to build it myself, so I'm pretty happy with the price from AusPCMarket.

Ended up going with the CM Stacker case mainly due to the size of the 8800GTX cards. From the reading I did they barely fit in the other cases I was look at (Antec 900 and Gigabyte Aurora, both very nice cases), but I wanted the room. From accounts I read the 8800GTX had a clearance of mm's from the hard drive cages on those other cases whereas the CM Stacker has empirical shitloads of room.

Probably be a couple more pays before I can comfortably fork out (nearly) $5000 on a system, so I'll keep reading around and, of course, listening to any further advice you kents might have...

[BUSTER]

X2 74 gig Raid ...nice