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Help with New gaming rig that is most needed

crazyeyesreaper,

But the nuts are bolts of the argument is that the entire idea of crossfire is to add another card to improve performance or price/performance.

When you've got an expensive card like the 5850 that can run through any game adding another card for CF will not do it justice until the games get more demanding. There is only so much the ATI programmers can do if games developers are not making games intensive enough to appreciate 5850 in CF. If your 5850 CF isnt stressed enough and gets bored rendering the mundane scenes you can not blame scalability only the game or its developers.

ebolamonkey3 said:
Dent, I heard the i5 6xx series OC like crazy, and if you have a good chip 5ghz is achievable on air. Again, stuff I heard but I don't know for sure since I don't own one.
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4.3GHz is possible on air, i've seen upto 4.6Ghz but this is with a lot of voltage and on high end air coolers and I'm not sure its really 100% stable, it is not the norm overclock that the average person can get.

5GHz overclock would require high end equipment, a lot of skill. I doubt you'll see it stable without some sort of water cooling or liquid nitrogen cooling.
 
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I checked the mobo ASUS M4N98TD EVO AM3 NVIDIA nForce 980a SLI ATX AMD Motherboard Customer Reviews Of ASUS M4N98TD EVO AM3 NVIDIA nF...

And it has mixed reviews esp. regarding the onboard sound card. Constant buzz and issue with games. Is it just me or the RMA/doa is something that occurs on a regular basis for this card?

Thx,
HoboBob
 
theres always bad eggs and more ppl that hate or have issues speak up then those that had a good item point tho 66% give it 5 eggs as in flawless 18% give it 4 eggs which is above average that means 66+18 84% agree its a good board ive used boards with 1 egg before off newegg no issue what so ever its luck of the draw really for the most part tho ive only had 2 Dead parts new and both were GPUs so yea

and i do blame ati / amd fact gtx 480 scales better in sli then any ati card combo every nivida gpu combo scales better on average then any ati combo its a FACT and again 5770s 5750s gain the SAME % improvement as the 5850 and 5870 in dual card modes meaning the 5770 is not scaling better then any other crossfire card the % is still roughly the same 30-70% depending on game and when i say 30% it tends to be 25-35% scaling across all ati gpus where 2 nvidia cards no matter the cards would get 45-55% in the same situation SLI is just better currently and im done arguing that point
 
crazyeyesreaper said:
and i do blame ati / amd fact gtx 480 scales better in sli then any ati card combo every nivida gpu combo scales better on average then any ati combo its a FACT and again 5770s 5750s gain the SAME % improvement as the 5850 and 5870 in dual card modes meaning the 5770 is not scaling better then any other crossfire card the % is still roughly the same 30-70% depending on game and when i say 30% it tends to be 25-35% scaling across all ati gpus where 2 nvidia cards no matter the cards would get 45-55% in the same situation SLI is just better currently and im done arguing that point
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^

But you have to take price into the "price to performance" ratio for scaling.

I understand that the 5750/5770 might be the same percentage wise for scaling as the 5850/5870 but the percentage of improvement per dollar shows the 5750/5770 are top dog.

I'm not disputing whether the SLI or Crossfire scales better, its a subjective matter which I would rather not get into.

Now you may feel robbed because your 5850 in CF didnt scale well and maybe you should feel a bit annoyed especially when Nvidia's high end cards may scale better. But its always been the case that whether your CF or SLI on midrange cards you get better performance output per dollar and with most midrange cards (whether ATI or Nvidia) they are often smaller, output less heat, consume less power in addition to being cheaper within its respected series, and hence midrange cards seem the best SLI/CF candidates because high end cards are generally the opposite and can often be large, noisy, relatively hot, use more power and is expensive these negative traits are hardly make SLI/CF as appealing.

Think of this analogy, the 5850 is so powerful that Crysis only 40% of its GPU. You decide to buy another 5850 for crossfire. Crysis will still use 40% of the GPU whether the activity is split between 1 or 2 GPUs its still 40%. This is because the game didnt become more demanding. Is it ATIs fault that Crysis wasnt demanding enough?
 
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crazyeyesreaper said:
it tends to be 25-35% scaling across all ati gpus
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That is not my experience at all. I would say I get about 70% scaling on average with my two 5850's. SLi does even better than that.
 
im saying worst case senario erocker crossfire tends to be 30-70% and sli tends to hover in the 50-90% range and when i said all ati i gpus i was refering to bad scalling in a game on 5770s in crossfire is going to also be noticed in scaling on 5870s etc
 
crazyeyesreaper said:
im saying worst case senario erocker crossfire tends to be 30-70% and sli tends to hover in the 50-90% range and when i said all ati i gpus i was refering to bad scalling in a game on 5770s in crossfire is going to also be noticed in scaling on 5870s etc
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I would say my setup is around 50-90% which gives an average of around 70%.

Are you using one CF bridge or two? Use two, though I doubt that was/is your problem.
 
So I looked around, and that is what I came up with.

AMD_rig_sli2_newegg428.jpg

(hoping I did not goofed)

Btw, what do you all think if the ram. I read that 1600 with low cl was the way to go for AM3. I might be wrong.

It sucks a bit that the mobo is outdated and my not be supported in a near future...

Thx again, you guys greatly helping and we will be able to narrow the selection a bit. I'm rarely jump to conclusion and do not buy because the deal is ending in 20 minutes. So I can wait, it's not like my games on steam are gonna vanish anyway... ;)

Hobobob

..Yeah ok the prices are cutoff, and keep in mind the parts are from newegg.ca, so it doesn't include taxes nor s/h
 
Get some ram made for the AMD platform. :) G.Skill Flare

Though.. It being a 980a chipset hmmm.. I'll have to look up the memory QVL list for it.
 
But can you run those flares without the ram fan, just wondering if it will get in the way of the frio cpu cooler.

Thx,
HoboBob
 
HoboBob said:
But can you run those flares without the ram fan, just wondering if it will get in the way of the frio cpu cooler.

Thx,
HoboBob
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Yes you can, it's not needed at all. By the way, there is no Mushkin RAM on the QVL list for that board at all. If you're unsure with teh G.Skills, go to the Asus support download site and view the memory QVL list.
 
In all honesty, G.Skills make great ram, iam using it myself.

But I would ignore the flare range, they are overpriced, $415 on the newegg.ca for 8 GB G.Skills flares :O

Get the Gskill Ripjaws, they are $196 for 2x (2GBx2) kits

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Produc...77&cm_re=4gb_ddr3_1600-_-20-231-277-_-Product

HoboBob said:
@erocker Thx for the tip. Will try to look into it more.

@Dent1 I can't find the G-Skill on the QVL. Maybe I'm just getting tired. F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL the only thing I get is the same model (weird) but for 4x1gb.. errr what? :confused:
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That isnt to say it will not work. We are talking high end memory here on a high end motherboard you can be almost certain it will work.

TBH iam not feeling the old 980a chipset anyways, it seems like a big sacrifice going with a old chipset just for SLI. I would rather a newer chipset knowing that bios updates will be more frequent.
 
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@erocker Thx for the tip. Will try to look into it more.

@Dent1 I can't find the G-Skill on the QVL. Maybe I'm just getting tired. F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL the only thing I get is the same model (weird) but for 4x1gb.. errr what? :confused:

Thx,

HoboBob
 
not to mention any kind of air cooler of decent make will not clear the flare heatsinks
 
Sadness engulf me :cry:

This shiat is tougher than I thought at 1st tbh :rolleyes:

I'll be in touch with you guys, but for now I have to get some sleep since I'm kinda getting nowhere atm... running braindead :twitch:

Thx all, see you tomorrow with more knowledge for my brain.

HoboBob

Now if I could find a good set of ram that would run under my Frio/ any good cpu cooler if I want to OC the 1055
!peace I'm out for the day.

Thx again reaper,

HoboBob
 
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JrRacinFan said:
@ebola

I understand your point, problem is cpu longevity as I previously stated. Intel has already claimed to not release(IIRC) anymore cpu's for 1156/1366.
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That's why I recommended SLI hack on a 890FX :)

crazyeyesreaper said:
and lol ebola yea the haf is ugly as sin but function over form man function over form :toast: id use a cardboard box to house my stuff if i had balls made of Titanium do to the wtf holy crap factor of it.

cases are a get what u like senario good cooling comes with the desire to make the cooling better any case can have good cooling ur willing to do it yourself i was just to lazy
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Haha true that, I ran a HAF 922 myself for a while, but it got too loud for me since it's right next to my bed.

Bob, if you read through all that stuff I posted (patience, lol), you'll understand why I recommend against the 980i or any Nvidia chipsets for AMD. In short, they are not as good as AMD's own implementations and may have a short life ahead of them.

Problem w/ going Intel as Jr. mentioned, is that P55 and X58 are going to be discontinued shortly. Even though they are very powerful right now, we don't know how long support will continue for these two platforms once LGA1155 and LGA2011 rolls out.

So that's why I recommend the SLI hack personally, because my first recommendation is AM3, except it lacks SLI. But if you really don't want to do that, I would suggest going with P55.
 
If I'm 100% frank.


I think the OP should get the 890G/890GX, 785G etc with crossfire/crossfireX

A single 5850 is fine and a second one can be added later. Its crazy that one guys bad experience with scaling has steered you away from the most logical build.
 
theres nothing wrong with a single 5850 its a better option then 2 5770s but in general a better single gpu is the way to go over dual unless sticing with nvida and current GTX 470s can be found for $279 on the newegg which is a better deal then any 5850 currently just have to look hard to find them
 
Dent1 said:
If I'm 100% frank.


I think the OP should get the 890G/890GX, 785G etc with crossfire/crossfireX

A single 5850 is fine and a second one can be added later. Its crazy that one guys bad experience with scaling has steered you away from the most logical build.
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Normally that's be logical, but right now the 5850 is overpriced and in the long term, OP wants to have multiple GPUs and SLI simply has better scaling and drivers.
 
ebolamonkey3 said:
Normally that's be logical, but right now the 5850 is overpriced and in the long term, OP wants to have multiple GPUs and SLI simply has better scaling and drivers.
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I have no problem with SLI, my issue is buying a SLI motherboard on a AMD platform because you'll be settling for a older chipset.

I feel that if the OP truely wants SLI perhaps Intel's i5 or i7 is best as you'll get a newer chipset.
 
Thx a lot guys for the replies, again great arguments from both sides.

Feeling sick today, so I might not hang around for the night (explains the lack of reply from myself too :shadedshu )

Regarding the SLI hack, well... I don not believe in my skills enough, 1. I never had a SLI rig before, 2. it looks possible on (virtual) paper, but will I really be able to do it? I might would have tried it if I was still in school 10 years ago and it wasn't my parts, but today, I'm already lost and it would be on parts that I just bought :laugh:

Yes SLI looks really good, but such a pain when it comes to pair it with AM3, so I might go with a 5850. Why not go with a 5870, well they are pricey... yes the 5850 is overpriced, but it runs cool and is not power hungry.

For now I'll keep looking around and posting here (for sure, you guys seem to enjoy helping ppl and I enjoying reading and learning) and I'll try to spot some deals (if possible from newegg.ca or something)

For you know, it's fun to play with a new rig, but it's way better (imo) to shop for parts and learn how to build your rig to it's (almost let's face it I'm a noob) full potential. :toast:

Thx, again (might come up with more post in the evening)

HoboBob
 
5850s will overclock and run neck and neck with a 5870 at stock a 5850 at same clocks as a 5870 is only 1-5% difference and most 5850 can hit 900 core stock voltage that means even non reference cards will overclock and equal a stock 5870
 
Thx again reaper, what would you consider a good 5850 with great OC potential. I know many ppl would say asus cuTOP, but is the TOP necessary?

If not asus, what is a rock solid one?

Thx,

HoboBob
 
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