Marest's Sample Builds

[Xuvial]

Indeed, kicks both the 590 and 6990 in the ass!

Still, Guru3D:

Measured power consumption one card

System in IDLE = 182W
System Wattage with GPU in FULL Stress = 562W
Difference (GPU load) = 380W

So add another 400w for another Mars II for 900w max system consumption. Oh but we want TWO overclocked 3930X's in there, so toss in an extra 150w for both? Psshhh 1200w, maybe 1300w tops. Another 80-100w for WC pumps, HDD's, RAM, etc. A 1500w will do, you don't need another damn PSU :P

[DeltrusDisc]

Okay fine. A beefy 1500 watter it is!

[Fuzzeekee]

Hahaha! Wow $7000! :S ...For 7000$ I'd prefer to pick the layout of my PCB and its details.

IF I had money like that...I would get whizz systems to prototype me a custom turnkey solution with multiple boards, and processors. Then I'd have an array of XILINX off-processors much like cray did with some older supercomputers: http://www.xilinx.com/prs_rls/design_win/0591cray05.htm ...I'm really surprised there aren't desktop off-processors yet. Every market segment has it except consumer-grade. I guess, it's not really unusual though considering that silicon device market share is so low for x86. I might as well design it myself if I want it. >:-) ...I could probably get away with even a huge chain of spartan LXTs and a frugal board design and not go over more than a few thousand dollars for total bill of materials + debugging.

I mean if you care about water cooling and x86, this has water cooling options too. If you have endless money for an entry-level HPC unit: http://www.cray.com/Assets/PDF/produ...CrayCX1000.pdf

[DeltrusDisc]

It's just a proposed setup buddy....

[Fuzzeekee]

Mine is too. If you don't know what turnkey means... The company does all the setup for you, a proposed setup. Digital engineering gives you way more ideas of what to work with, and more creativity. Would be nice to have something that crazy in my apartment, but at the end of the day I'd rather just have my own design to feel proud of. Spartan's are fast and cheap, not really by far idealistic, crazy, or for the technologically critical.

You could design your own memory controllers, everything, actually you can get them in the form if IPblocks. Most companies now will just sell you an IPblock for whatever design you want to plunk in. Usually it's a chunk of verified VERILOG code ( C language-like program for designing CPUs and digital logic fabric)...Altium's boards boast very little need for hardware design, so you can work on the software right away...to add USB 2.0-3.0 to your design is around 2000 gates, which is tiny, on chips that have 150,000 gates on average. You can get any processor type in an ipblock, though they aren't that great unless you have like 10+ of them, and clock the fabric higher....A general-purpose-processor is faster for certain things, which is why I would just LOVE FPGAs mixed with those. ...If your computer ever went out of date, all you'd have to do is just recompile.

[Cyanotical]

Extreme Enthusiast 4000

MoBo: ASUS Sabertooth X79 – $339.99 Review CPU: Intel i7 3960X – $1049.99 RAM: Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 2x4GB x4 – $219.96 GPU1: EVGA GTX 590 – $749.99 GPU2: EVGA GTX 590 – $749.99 SSD: Crucial M4 120GB – $196.99 Review HDD: Samsung Spinpoint 1TB – $59.99 PSU: Corsair AX1200 – $299.99 Heatsink: Noctua NH-D14 – $85.99 Review Case: Corsair 800D – $279.99 Review Estimated Total Price – $4033

Recommended for: Extreme enthusiasts with too much money. This is a monster with enough power to gain consciousness and kill you.

I would change out a few things on this one, i know it doesn't stay within budget, but nothing enthusiast ever does, im mainly compiling this from my next build:

swap out the MB for the Asus Rampage IV ($446.99), the board is loaded with extra features and comes with 4 way SLI/Xfire support natively
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131803

Swap out the Crucial M4 for an OZC Revodrive 3 ($399.99)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820227745

or the Mushkin Chronos Deluxe ($214.99)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820226225



add the Asus Xonar Xense Soundcard ($299.99)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829132018



and personally i would have 5 1Tb hard drives, and swap out the Noctua for the Intel waterloop or the corsair h100

[Xuvial]

Xonar Essence STX / Xi-Fi Titanium HD + Audiophile phones >>> the Xense package if we're talking about an extreme enthusiast build.

[Cyanotical]

Xonar Essence STX / Xi-Fi Titanium HD + Audiophile phones >>> the Xense package if we're talking about an extreme enthusiast build.

The xonar xense is top end for gaming, if you wanted true extreme pc audio, something like the xonar essence one, sennhieser hd800's and a pair of KRK XLR speakers, but that costs as much as the build in total

[Xuvial]

Essence STX is an improved version of Xense with more features and a headphone amp, while the Creative boasts game-oriented audio with features like crystalizer.
But really, it's not the card as much as it's the headphones. Despite being one of the best headsets around, PC350's audio capabilities simply don't compare to a pair of cans like DT-880s/HD600s and many people have said that the PC350's don't even do the Xense card any justice, let alone an STX or Xi-Fi.
The Xense bundle is good for someone on a restricted budget looking for card + headset in one package.

A separate mic like Zalman ZM-1 or Logitech Desktop Mic can take care of chat needs.

[Deleted]

It's because of arguments like the one above that I have decided to not include any peripherals (e.g. soundcards). The listed SSD is basically just to show that "with such a budget, you should get a SSD as well" - the user can then pick whatever SSD they feel is the best (brand/size) based on both their research and other users input.

As for Cyanotical's comments on the 4000 build, I'm thinking about changing the name (enthusiast is well... not really something to name a sample build after all). I'm also thinking of changing the CPU to the i7 3930k and change the 590's to GTX 580's (2 or 3-way SLI) to reduce the cost down to a more reasonable ~$3500. I feel this thread isn't meant for people aiming at getting such high-end rigs, so it's just silly to include a build aimed at the enthusiasts. Or is my reasoning here completely faulty?

[Xuvial]

It's a build for giggles really :P
Like maybe once in 1-2 months do we get someone coming in saying "sup I gots $4000 bugdet biuld me pc pls?"

[Deleted]

It's a build for giggles really :P
Like maybe once in 1-2 months do we get someone coming in saying "sup I gots $4000 bugdet biuld me pc pls?"

Even if they do, it's not really fair to recommend something like that for someone just looking for a gaming build. Anything above the 2500 is overkill today, and for the average user going above that is "wasting money".

I'd say this topic focuses mostly to assist those with a budget between $500 and $2000 primarily. There are 14 builds now on the list (ranging from $250 to $3500), which is what I find reasonable.

[Cyanotical]

It's because of arguments like the one above that I have decided to not include any peripherals (e.g. soundcards). The listed SSD is basically just to show that "with such a budget, you should get a SSD as well" - the user can then pick whatever SSD they feel is the best (brand/size) based on both their research and other users input.

As for Cyanotical's comments on the 4000 build, I'm thinking about changing the name (enthusiast is well... not really something to name a sample build after all). I'm also thinking of changing the CPU to the i7 3930k and change the 590's to GTX 580's (2 or 3-way SLI) to reduce the cost down to a more reasonable ~$3500. I feel this thread isn't meant for people aiming at getting such high-end rigs, so it's just silly to include a build aimed at the enthusiasts. Or?

I saw this, and I fully agree, high end enthusiast builds are not standard and are not always the best performers, certainly not "bang for the buck" efficient, the complexities and problem solving of enthusiast computers either needs a thread of its own, or none at all (considering there are whole websites dedicated to it)


also, this:

Or?

has been annoying me all day

Or what? it's like you stopped mid thought

[Deleted]

has been annoying me all day

Or what? it's like you stopped mid thought

Was more or less looking for confirmation behind my reasoning.

[Deleted]

I know I mentioned that I wouldn't change the prices based on the HDD fluctuations, but as this price-change will last a good few months more I find it more and more compelling to go against what I first said and do it anyway. This would essentially mean that all builds take a $50-$100 jump upwards. Sure, one could try and compensate with a cheaper components overall (sacrificing performance or reliability) or just simply a smaller capacity HDD (even though that wouldn't change the price much).

I'm still awaiting concrete news regarding dates for the new Ivy Bridge CPUs as well as the new GPUs from both nVidia and AMD before I do any major overhauls. If you are considering getting a new build during the holidays I would only recommend it if you really feel that you need a computer right now or if the prices drop tremendously during the sales/you find a deal you just can't refuse. The release of the new IB CPUs and the new GPUs will not only offer us consumers new hardware, but it will most likely also have an impact on the prices for current hardware. This is of course just a fair guess from my side, but my recommendation remains: if you plan to get a new computer now, consider waiting until the new hardware is on the market.

[Xuvial]

Thanks for getting back to this thread Marest, I found myself frequently referring to these builds (especially in oh-so-common $500-1k budgets).

I can see you're a fan of DCII coolers (and it's hard not to like that triple-slot BRICK of a cooling solution) and Asus always manages to keep them amazingly cheap, but I would recommend staying away from triple-slotters unless people absolutely didn't have the MSI equivalent available. Looking at 6950/570/580 here.
I really, really hope Asus thins-out their design considering MSI have achieved equivalent cooling (or superior in some cases) with 2 slots.

[aisatsana]

That 4000$ build needs some watercooling! Oh and aren't 590's super rare now? Those you linked are out of stock.

[Deleted]

Thanks for getting back to this thread Marest, I found myself frequently referring to these builds (especially in oh-so-common $500-1k budgets).

I can see you're a fan of DCII coolers (and it's hard not to like that triple-slot BRICK of a cooling solution) and Asus always manages to keep them amazingly cheap, but I would recommend staying away from triple-slotters unless people absolutely didn't have the MSI equivalent available. Looking at 6950/570/580 here.
I really, really hope Asus thins-out their design considering MSI have achieved equivalent cooling (or superior in some cases) with 2 slots.

I do very much like the price-point of the ASUS DCII tripple-slot cooler cards considering the reliability and temperatures they offer. However, I'm also a big fan of MSI mainly because they offer their Twin Frozr II and III cards at such amazing prices. However, if you look at the overall representation, MSI is represented in 3 builds, ASUS in 3, XFX in 3, EVGA in 1, Gigabyte in 1 and so on. It is pretty "even"; I don't want to over-represent a certain manufacturer, especially since people's preferences when it comes to the major GPU manufacturers differ a lot. I have stumbled on a few that really dislike MSI for example, so I feel having an "even spread" is the best way to go.

That 4000$ build needs some watercooling! Oh and aren't 590's super rare now? Those you linked are out of stock.

They are, and it is most likely due to the fact that new GPUs are incoming soon-ish. They are still in stock on Amazon.com for example.

The 4000 build got changed to a 3500 build (see the OP). And as for your comment regarding the watercooling:

Disclaimer
These are sample builds that you can use as a guideline when looking at a potential new computer (they may not be perfect for your needs; use them as examples).

[invoke]

This is definitely a noob question but better to be safe than sorry. If i take the 1000$ gaming build except use an Antec 900 for the case will all the parts still fit/work?

[Xuvial]

This is definitely a noob question but better to be safe than sorry. If i take the 1000$ gaming build except use an Antec 900 for the case will all the parts still fit/work?

Definitely it'll all work, Antec 900 is and will be probably the most popular gaming case of all time. It's a dinosaur compared to today's cases but standards are still standards :P

Look the only thing that really need to "fit" together are the CPU and Motherboard, and even that has a range of flexibility. Everything else can be mixed-and-matched and that's really the point of the sample builds, they're just a generic guideline of what you'll see at different budgets. You can change around parts to your liking to fit your needs