Penultimate gaming setup

[Horrux]

So, it looks like money won't be a problem anymore.

With that in mind, I plan on building myself the ultimate gaming rig. Actually, 3 of them, for some good together gaming, and putting them into the home cinema room in the basement of the new house. I think the specs are going to be LGA 2011 and, if I can find them, 2 MARS III (GTX 690 OC 8Gb) video cards per machine. Or dual 7990, if I must. And this is where things get a little muddy for me.

I want to play in 3D, or 120hz at the very least, depending on the game I run. Multiplayer games never work out for me in 3D, probably due to the paltry 60fps limit in 3D mode. I much prefer nVidia's 3D Vision to the GPU-agnostic HD3D setup, given that HD3D renders frames at half resolution and is compatible with a much shorter list of games.

However, I plan on using 6 x 120hz, 1080p, 3D Vision compatible projectors per PC for diplay output. 5760 x 2160 resolution needs LOTS of VRAM, and 4Gb per GPU seems to fit the bill. However, can I run 6 displays with SLI GTX 690 or the MARS III variant? If not, I will be forced to go with 7990 or its "über" variant, I forget the name...

Any thoughts?

[Frick]

So WTF happened to you then?

[Jack1n]

The 7990 is not an official AMD release and has many issues,the 690 on the other hand is much more hassle free,especially since your building multiple rigs.
i believe the Mars 690 was never accually released,they had prototypes of it,but thats about it.
as for performance the 7990 should handle those high resolutions fairly better than the 690 but again it has some issues(overheatings,far from perfect crossfire drivers)

[digibucc]

start a big bonfire in the center of the room, throw all that cash in it - bam, 3d entertainment at it's finest

[TacoTown]

ASUS Z9PE-D8 WS
2x 3970xs
4x 680s
CMD64GX3M8A2133C9

DONE

[vawrvawerawe]

Originally Posted by Horrux

So, it looks like money won't be a problem anymore.

So we want to know how. Did you will the lottery? Rob a bank? Sign a multimillion/multibillion dollar contract? Inherit family riches? Curious.

[theonedub]

I don't think penultimate is the word you were looking for.

[Horrux]

Originally Posted by vawrvawerawe

So we want to know how. Did you will the lottery? Rob a bank? Sign a multimillion/multibillion dollar contract? Inherit family riches? Curious.

Business launch is a success.

[Horrux]

Originally Posted by TacoTown

ASUS Z9PE-D8 WS
2x 3970xs
4x 680s
CMD64GX3M8A2133C9

DONE

Yeah that looks pretty good. However, I don't think 12 cores would help anything at all for gaming. I think 1 hexacore is plenty, and can be OC'ed better, ie, more room for a water setup, which I am still on the fence about. Actually, I might prefer a quad core that would clock higher than a hexa-core, as few games would need more oomph than a highly overclocked quad, if I am not mistaken? I mean, games like BF3 can use 6 or more cores, but they aren't CPU bottlenecked anyways, and some games don't scale well with core count, but much better with clock speeds.

As for the 4 x GTX 680 4Gb, I thought about that, and my worry is PCI-E bus saturation, I'm not sure if it's more of a problem than with 2 x 690s?

So many questions.

[cadaveca]

50K budget required to really do what you want. Just saying.

[natr0n]

you be

[Shihabyooo]

Originally Posted by Horrux

Any thoughts?

Wait for the GK110 version of the 690. Or grab any standard 690 and save yourself the hassle of finding the limited edition MARS.
Also, Just because you have the cash for it doesn't mean you have to get it. For one rig I may agree, but for 3? Why not grab a couple of these if cash ain't the issue?

Originally Posted by cadaveca

50K budget required to really do what you want. Just saying.

Might as well hire a few men, arm them up, fit them with cams and watch them shoot each others' brains out

[cadaveca]

Originally Posted by Shihabyooo

Might as well hire a few men, arm them up, fit them with cams and watch them shoot each others' brains out

With 50K, I could build three killer rigs with watercooling, nice SSD RAIDs, multiple VGAs, blah blah...

4 VGAs, waterblocks alone are $500. Plus the $2k for the VGAs...

Such rigs should only be built using X79, or maybe Intel C606.

you gonna build such rigs, and not toss in 2TB+ of SSD! FOOL!!!

Then, shipping three completed rigs on a pallet, insurance...


I'd take that contract.

[Delta6326]

Here's a quick pick of stuff

I also do a small business its the way to go to make money, just don't freak out once you see your taxs

[SaltyFish]

With your budget, forget water-cooling and go with phase-change. Why measure your cooling performance by degrees above ambient when you can measure by degrees below ambient? FrozenCPU has a nice offering.

Just in case you abandon multi-GPU setup, there's the Sapphire HD7970 Toxic 6GB to run 5760 x 2160.

[Bow]

Originally Posted by SaltyFish

With your budget, forget water-cooling and go with phase-change. Why measure your cooling performance by degrees above ambient when you can measure by degrees below ambient? FrozenCPU has a nice offering.

[Frag Maniac]

Originally Posted by theonedub

I don't think penultimate is the word you were looking for.

I was going to comment on that too. Perhaps he DID intend to use the word, but like many didn't know what it actually meant.

In this case it could be a bad omen using it, because it in fact means "next to last". That could mean you'll only need to do it over again, and get it right next time.

Sad but true, it's often the search for the perfect build that leads people down the path of many mistakes caused by over thinking things.

In PC gaming rigs there's a lot to be said for practicality, esp when SO many games these days are not worthy of an ultra expensive investment.

[ALMOSTunseen]

If you do decide to go with watercooling. I would recommend getting 2 pumps. Just get one of the those dual pump tops. Oh and you're using the quick disconnect's as fittings? Those quick disconnects have compression fittings on them, all the blocks, rads, pump, and res, with have G1/4 threads on them.

[adulaamin]

... and don't forget to make a build log so we can see the epicness of your build...

[Delta6326]

Originally Posted by ALMOSTunseen

If you do decide to go with watercooling. I would recommend getting 2 pumps. Just get one of the those dual pump tops. Oh and you're using the quick disconnect's as fittings? Those quick disconnects have compression fittings on them, all the blocks, rads, pump, and res, with have G1/4 threads on them.

Good catch didn't notice i did both as compression. I like to have male on the block and use the females for the tubing.

Updated post .^

[cadaveca]

Originally Posted by Delta6326

Good catch didn't notice i did both as compression. I like to have male on the block and use the females for the tubing.

Updated post .^

WD Red drives are meant for external NAS enclosures(NAS =Network Attached Storage). Please choose Green for normal desktop, low power, Blue for mainstream, Black for performance. Since it is what it is, Black should be the choice, perhaps. Red drives are really not meant for desktop use. They use special firmware that makes them not ideal for desktop use.

Our exclusive technology, NASware™, makes WD Red thrive in the demanding small-NAS environment.

http://wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=810

WD Red NAS hard drives have been extensively tested for compatibility in 1-5 bay NAS systems in our FIT labs and AVL qualified with these key partners.

http://wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=810

[Easy Rhino]

if you have that much money and you need to ask people like us for advice... then as the saying goes, " a fool and his money are soon parted. "

[Delta6326]

Originally Posted by cadaveca

WD Red drives are meant for external NAS enclosures(NAS =Network Attached Storage). Please choose Green for normal desktop, low power, Blue for mainstream, Black for performance. Since it is what it is, Black should be the choice, perhaps. Red drives are really not meant for desktop use. They use special firmware that makes them not ideal for desktop use.



http://wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=810



http://wdc.com/en/products/products.aspx?id=810

You are right i was thinking of something else. i guess that's what happens when you try to put together a build in 10min. lol

[Horrux]

Originally Posted by Shihabyooo

Wait for the GK110 version of the 690. Or grab any standard 690 and save yourself the hassle of finding the limited edition MARS.
Also, Just because you have the cash for it doesn't mean you have to get it. For one rig I may agree, but for 3? Why not grab a couple of these if cash ain't the issue?

Normal GTX 690s will not cut it. 2Gb per GPU is far from enough for 5760 x 2160 resolution, given that some games already top 2Gb in 5760 x 1080. I think even 4Gb is cutting it close. But what can you do.

The thing about quad-SLI or quadfire is that I want at LEAST room for a sound card in the expansion slots. I think mobos and cases go UP TO 9 slots? If so, that's all of them right there. I thought of also getting a RAID controller for each box, going 4x to 8x SSD in RAID 10 for most things, and then another 8x magnetics in RAID 10 config using another controller, but 4 video cards would make that impossible, requiring me to get a server for the extra data such as movies and whatnot.

Talking about movies, can I expect my video cards to scale 1080p video up to my 5760 x 2160 resolution in a smart way, or will it simply scale up the pixels, giving me nice colored boxes when seen up close?

CAN I even use 6 displays with a dual 690 setup? Or do I need to go AMD?

Originally Posted by SaltyFish

With your budget, forget water-cooling and go with phase-change. Why measure your cooling performance by degrees above ambient when you can measure by degrees below ambient? FrozenCPU has a nice offering.

Just in case you abandon multi-GPU setup, there's the Sapphire HD7970 Toxic 6GB to run 5760 x 2160.

I will admit that I do have a water-cooling setup in my garage, that I removed from my PC. Too complicated, need to check on the water level, blah. I like to USE my system, not tinker around in it. Would a phase change be simpler? First time I hear of such a thing for everyday use.

And please, an array of 6 x 1080p x 120hz projectors needs HUGE GPU power... It will be 4 high end GPUs with gigs and gigs of VRAM, nothing less. Maybe that HD3D wouldn't look so bad at such a high resolution. I know not. EDIT: forget it, AMD doesn't do multi-GPU and 3D. Bleh. So it has to be nV.

Originally Posted by Frag Maniac

I was going to comment on that too. Perhaps he DID intend to use the word, but like many didn't know what it actually meant.

In this case it could be a bad omen using it, because it in fact means "next to last". That could mean you'll only need to do it over again, and get it right next time.

Sad but true, it's often the search for the perfect build that leads people down the path of many mistakes caused by over thinking things.

In PC gaming rigs there's a lot to be said for practicality, esp when SO many games these days are not worthy of an ultra expensive investment.

Sorry, but English is my second language. We speak French where I'm from. I meant to say "completely extreme" or somesuch.

Originally Posted by Easy Rhino

if you have that much money and you need to ask people like us for advice... then as the saying goes, " a fool and his money are soon parted. "

So I am a fool for asking advice about tech on a tech forum. That is interesting. I don't "Have that much money", instead, I'm starting to make some good money. It's not like I have 20 million in the bank or anything. Earning a good income and being rich are very different.

Originally Posted by cadaveca

50K budget required to really do what you want. Just saying.

I agree that the projectors seem to be pricey, given that no consumer projectors have DVI-D 120hz input and 1080p output. Places like christiedigital.com have pricey products.

But for a while, I'll have room for monitors only, so that takes care of that. I'll start by building one, then another. The 3rd one can probably wait until we move and set up in the actual home theater room. I mean, we do have a gaming PC in the living room, which I guess we COULD replace with such a beast of a machine, but I think it might be big, a bit loud, and maybe too hot. I think building a room with lots of great ventilation would be ideal if I'm going to fire up 3 powerhouse PCs in it. Especially with all them projectors, obviously. Then again, maybe the new tech doesn't create that much heat? So many questions.

[Jack1n]

Get 4x680 4gb version,on that top end x79 asrock mobo ech will get 16x bandwidth.