Compatability question, Cooling, What windows version to use

[Mistgard]

Hi all, first of all im a newbie to computer building.

So far I've bought:
ASRock X58 Extreme Intel X58 Socket 1366 ATX
Intel i7 920
Asus Geforce GTX 275

How can I find out wether the graphics card is compatible with the motherboard? Is the fact that the motherboard manufacter says that it supports DDR3 memory(the same memory that the graphics card uses) enough?

Also, what about cooling. I bought my i7 920 as used and I got the fan and basically the whole package with it with manuals etc. However the person said even though he hasn't used the cooler he sent it to me in the same package. So it is worth it to actually buy a better cooler than what was in the package, would it increase the lifespan of the processor significantly?

Lastly, since I plan on multiboxing at least 8-10 toons using this computer, I will probably need to hog about 2 or 3 sets of 4gb ddr3, wich also brings in the question of what microsoft windows version should I use? Atm im running with Vista 32 bit but I read from somewhere that it is not capable of using any more than 4gb of ram. So what kind of version of Windows would be capable of running 8-12 GB of DDR3?

Thanks

[Deleted]

How can I find out wether the graphics card is compatible with the motherboard?

You check the type of connection.

Is the card PCI-E?
Then yes.

The memory type is irrelevant for compatibility; its simply part of the GPU's specifications, much like clock frequencies.

[shoebox]

Latest graphic card use DDR5, your motherboard will be compatible will all the latest and old graphic cards no problem, what you have to look for when compatability between a graphics card and motherboard is the Slot the card fits into the Pci-e slot.

The stock cooler should be sufficient if you do not plan to overclock your CPU, when tweaking voltages and modifiers is when you want yo invest in an after market cooler and look into more cooling conscious options (Case airflow, CPU Cooling ect). At stock, your cpu will have a long life span, and it will not be in danger of degrading until you start pushing the voltage, and also you get an increase in heat that can also slow the CPU down when it under clock itself (this occurs at 90*c approx). also you can keep your CPU cold, but when you reach a certain voltage 1.5 for example you start risking it to degrading.

Microsoft windows 32Bit does not recognize more than 4gb of memory (including graphics memory), so when exceeding 4gb of memory you want to start looking at 64bit windows, i dont think its at any more cost, so not a biggie.

[Evildeffy]

You check the type of connection.

Is the card PCI-E?
Then yes.

The memory type is irrelevant for compatibility; its simply part of the GPU's specifications, much like clock frequencies.

What this guy said, as long as the GFX card is PCI-Ex, it will work (unless the card is busted/dying).

As for Windows, any 64 bit of Windows 7 will work, personally i bought Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit, it handles all the way up to 16TB of memory (theoretically ofcourse).

Since the i7 920s are hotheaded CPUs, the consensus is to get a better then stock cooler yes, there are MANY variants out on the market, generally there are people whom know it on a more budget level then i do, i buy only the highest ranked stuff so i can't honestly tell you to what effect the mid-range is.
And yes it would increase lifespan because heat determines a good portion of life for it.

HOWEVER, as good as the i7 920 still is, not 100% sure it can handle 8 - 10 toon multi-boxing without some serious overclocking, and aswell as serious RAM requirements, hell on that amount you're probably best off grabbing 24GB of RAM and even then it's still of whether it can live through that much.

[Deleted]

You'll want 64bit windows for the ram and seeing as you're going to multibox you'll probably want to overclock your CPU since multiboxing that many characters does take quite a bit of juice from the cpu, so you'll want a proper aftermarket cooler for the overclocking. Stock coolers don't really provide the necessary cooling when you start increasing the CPU voltage for the overclock.

[Mistgard]

HOWEVER, as good as the i7 920 still is, not 100% sure it can handle 8 - 10 toon multi-boxing without some serious overclocking, and aswell as serious RAM requirements, hell on that amount you're probably best off grabbing 24GB of RAM and even then it's still of whether it can live through that much.

Well, I just went ahead and did some research. My current processor, amd athlon 3800 x2 has 1048 whatever "points"
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_look...l+Core+3800%2B

When compared to the i7.. isn't this about 5 times more efficient than my current one is?
http://www.cpubenchmark.net/cpu_look...20+%40+2.67GHz

Please do correct me if im wrong.

Im running 4 toons almost fine on my current computer with just 2gb ram.. just resize windows to 800x600, set maxfps to 1 and resize WoW windows and you should really have no problems at all running alot of WoW's on any single modern computer..

But, thanks all for the replies

[Evildeffy]

Aight thanks all. And if the i7 920 doesn't support 8 boxing very well I'll have to go ahead and get one of those 6 cores, wich then should also fit perfectly into that motherboard

Doesn't change a damn thing, WoW sucks @ CPU multi-threading.
You could manually set CPU affinities, but i still doubt you'd be able to run 8 instances of WoW without issues.

[OhpUldum]

Aight thanks all for the input.

I dunno dude the price of the socket 1366 six core is just wasted money in comparison to the price of an i7 2600k and a socket 1155 motherboard.

---------- Post added 2011-09-15 at 02:18 PM ----------

Doesn't change a damn thing, WoW sucks @ CPU multi-threading.
You could manually set CPU affinities, but i still doubt you'd be able to run 8 instances of WoW without issues.

You can limit the FPS in the 7 instances following you around. While maintaining adequate FPS in the main window. We're not talking a consistent 60, but because of a video this guy saw I'm sure he's expecting 20 to 30 FPS consistently.

[Mistgard]

I dunno dude the price of the socket 1366 six core is just wasted money in comparison to the price of an i7 2600k and a socket 1155 motherboard.[COLOR="red"]

Fair enuff, didn't realize it was that big of a price diff

I'tll come down eventually though

[Evildeffy]

You can limit the FPS in the 7 instances following you around. While maintaining adequate FPS in the main window. We're not talking a consistent 60, but because of a video this guy saw I'm sure he's expecting 20 to 30 FPS consistently.

Not happening, 20 - 30 FPS on 8 - 10 instances is simply not happening with the limited amount of VRAM buffer you get nor the RAM memory you get.
It will die and crumble at his feet, especially if there's any resolution higher then 800*600.

As "easy" as WoW is on the hardware, it can bring a very powerfull system to it's knees simply because it's not very well multi-thread optimized, losing alot of power from powerfull CPUs.

[Mistgard]

Not happening, 20 - 30 FPS on 8 - 10 instances is simply not happening with the limited amount of VRAM buffer you get nor the RAM memory you get.
It will die and crumble at his feet, especially if there's any resolution higher then 800*600.

As "easy" as WoW is on the hardware, it can bring a very powerfull system to it's knees simply because it's not very well multi-thread optimized, losing alot of power from powerfull CPUs.

Well im actually fine with FPS being 1 on all of the toons, to be frank, even the main toon. As long as all the windows will execute their commands properly and damage the enemy when I press hotkey im fine :b

But yeah, resizing down to 800x600 seemed like a simple solution to my problem. My current 2008 dated dual core was having hard time with just 3 windows in 1000x700 resolution; and when I resized it lag went down significantly and 4th toon didn't lag nearly as much as my 3rd toon in the 1000x700 did, and I was even able to surf internet, wich was previously nearly impossible in the 1000x700

[OhpUldum]

Not happening, 20 - 30 FPS on 8 - 10 instances is simply not happening with the limited amount of VRAM buffer you get nor the RAM memory you get.
It will die and crumble at his feet, especially if there's any resolution higher then 800*600.

As "easy" as WoW is on the hardware, it can bring a very powerfull system to it's knees simply because it's not very well multi-thread optimized, losing alot of power from powerfull CPUs.

If the user is going to 8 box WoW I would say it is safe to assume he has already looked into the necessary software and video settings required for such a task. Personally I wouldn't bother looking at the other 7 instances but even still they would be running at the lowest possible settings / resolution with audio disabled.

[Gilgemesh]

I'd get a Nvidia gtx 420 instead of the 275. 420 is the best bang for the buck out there atm.
Also, I have a machine, actually the one I'm on now... AMD 64 FX52 oc3.44ghz(single core...lol) Gefore 7600/512mb 3gb ddr RAM... Windows xp pro... I still get 30+ FPS at 1440x900 and the settings as high as the game allows me to...
The other machine is an athlon2 dual core 2.8 ghz, dual geforce 9800's and 6 gb ddr2 ram, it plays the game with everything maxed but shadows, 50-60 fps.

Try using Windows 7, pro or ultimate, installed in 64 bit mode... It should let you eat all the memory you give it.

[Evildeffy]

I'd get a Nvidia gtx 420 instead of the 275. 420 is the best bang for the buck out there atm.
Also, I have a machine, actually the one I'm on now... AMD 64 FX52 oc3.44ghz(single core...lol) Gefore 7600/512mb 3gb ddr RAM... Windows xp pro... I still get 30+ FPS at 1440x900 and the settings as high as the game allows me to...
The other machine is an athlon2 dual core 2.8 ghz, dual geforce 9800's and 6 gb ddr2 ram, it plays the game with everything maxed but shadows, 50-60 fps.

Try using Windows 7, pro or ultimate, installed in 64 bit mode... It should let you eat all the memory you give it.

Ahem... the GTX275 is stronger then the GTS 420 you are referring to.

It's nice you're adding all this though, but you're there's no real info to be had here barring the last statement :P