Rate this enthusiast ($3100+) build

[Deleted]

just registered for this here ...

if you really do this heavy multitasking, i would add way more RAM to the systems... (as here in europe good RAM is way cheaper than 150 ).

If you buy yourself a workstation we talk normally about 16-24gb RAM...

[ispano]

Just saying with two 6990's wouldn't it be possible for them to overload the 24 pin power connector?

if it is possible then you might have to look at a motherboard with molex/sata/PCIE port to provide extra power to the PCIE slots. Such as an Asus maximus

Nah, the 6990 comes with two 8 PIN PCIe Power connectors, which can supply 150 Watts each, more if you go beyond specs. The PCIe slot itself can do up to 75 Watts, and for two cards, it's not really an issue since the board he chose supports running two cards anyhow.

[Nockol]

Nah, the 6990 comes with two 8 PIN PCIe Power connectors, which can supply 150 Watts each, more if you go beyond specs. The PCIe slot itself can do up to 75 Watts, and for two cards, it's not really an issue since the board he chose supports running two cards anyhow.

O okay then Disregard that then.

[Deleted]

But the problem is that you're trying to recommend something to him, with only your personal opinion and on something you "believe" to be better. I would have gone "I don't know much about the 6990, I'll go read up on them" And then found a factual reason to use 580's over them. And if I couldn't find a good reason, I wouldn't have posted.

Okay, given the system requirements the OP stated and the benchmarks I've seen of SLI GTX 580s, and the lack of benchmark results of Xfire 6990's, which the OP actually indicated himself, it wasn't an all out "i'm wishing and hoping i'm suggesting something that might be correct" rather it was more of biased suggestion. For the topics sake, I'll just stop the arguing.

[Deleted]

I got a NZXT Phantom myself, and looking into the case and thinking "watercooling", I'd probably suggest you to look at another case. Sure, it would work with a Phantom - and it would work good, but like others have said - why cut it short on the case? There are better alternatives out there (specifically, cases built with only/mainly watercooling in mind). Unless you really like the way it looks ofc.

[Rendhammer]

Hey people coming in here to ask, "why he's spending all this money when he can spend less!" Stop it. He's not asking for an intervention. Some people like to spend big, it's fun, thus the title "ENTHUSIAST".

With that said, how set are you on 6990's? Have you looked into 590's? I believe the 6990's may have had a very slight edge on performance but I believe that SLI works much better across fullscreen AND windowed setups compared to Crossfire. Something to consider if you are going to run across 3 displays.

[llDemonll]

@OP why not try a single 6990 first and see how well that meets your needs? It's not like it would be hard to add a second card, and I can't imagine a week or two with "sub-par" (if you could call it that) gaming would kill you while waiting for the second card.

[ispano]

@OP why not try a single 6990 first and see how well that meets your needs? It's not like it would be hard to add a second card, and I can't imagine a week or two with "sub-par" (if you could call it that) gaming would kill you while waiting for the second card.

He was only going to buy one at first anyways.

[Recked]

...

With that said, how set are you on 6990's? Have you looked into 590's? I believe the 6990's may have had a very slight edge on performance but I believe that SLI works much better across fullscreen AND windowed setups compared to Crossfire. Something to consider if you are going to run across 3 displays.

Only components I have so far is the CPU, ram and mobo, I was looking at dual 580's initially but there's simply less room to upgrade with that, so I then looked into the 590. I received some unsupported feedback that the 6990 would simply outperform the 590 across higher resolutions due to more memory (1.5GB as opposed to 4GB). I found a review that supported this claim but I can't seem to locate it again >.< I'm not set on the 6990's, I've heard from multiple sources say that SLI is better supported then crossfire, however everyone experiences things differently and I'm yet to find any evidence that puts the 590's in front of the 6990 at higher resolutions. That and the fact that the 590's are $989 as opposed to the 6990's $799! Believe it or not I do care about the price =P

Thanks again to everyone who's offered feedback, it's greatly appreciated. I'll have a thread up on overclock.net for discussion on the case/cooling options complete with pictures and my planned case mods over the weekend.

Cheers

[ispano]

Only components I have so far is the CPU, ram and mobo, i was looking at dual 580's initially but there's simple less room to upgrade with that, so I then looked into the 590. I received some unsupported feedback that the 6990 would simply outperform the 590 across higher resolutions due to more memory (1.5GB as opposed to 4GB). I found a review that supported this claim but I can't seem to locate it again >.< I'm not set on the 6990's, I've heard from multiple sources say that SLI is better supported then crossfire, however everyone experiences things differently and I'm yet to find any evidence that puts the 590's in front of the 6990 at higher resolutions. That and the fact that the 590's are $989 as opposed to the 6990's $799! Believe it or not i do care about the price =P

Thanks again to everyone who's offered feedback, it's greatly appreciated. I'll have a thread up on overclock.net for discussion on the case/cooling options complete with pictures and my planned case mods.

Cheers

That would be 1.5GB vs 2GB. The 4GB 6990s are 2GB per GPU, just like the 3GB 590 is 1.5GB per GPU.

[Recked]

That would be 1.5GB vs 2GB. The 4GB 6990s are 2GB per GPU, just like the 3GB 590 is 1.5GB per GPU.

Right, my apologies. The 6990 is basically crossfired 6970's, not quite the same (2x6970's outperform both the 590 and the 6990 across the board I believe) but still (arguably) better then 1x590.
Essentially 2x2GB GPU's vs 2x1.5GB GPU. Not quite the right math but that's the simplified version from what I understand.

Edited to fix numbers, cheers ispano =)

[ispano]

No, it would be 2 GPUs with 2GB vs 2 GPUs with 1.5GB. If you notice in your post, you compared the 6990 and 590 by their memory.