My best build yet

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Tell me what you think :D

Updated 28th March

Hello again, this is my new pc build yet again, looking for advice on compatibility issues if any, any recommendations and also why have the cheaper mobo's got 4 gpu support whilst the more expensive only 3? Would i be able to fit 3 gpu's in that case as shown below. Am I able to mix and match gpu's of different brands? Not just 3 x ati 5850 (example). Also I just noticed with the motherboard I chose I quote;

'Memory: 6x DDR3 DIMM 2200 / 1333 / 1066 / 800 MHz'

My chosen ram runs at 1600mhz, does that mean it does not support it? Lastly is it me or do the cheaper mobo's seem to have better specs Lol.

newpbbuild.jpg
 
You could opt for a cheaper motherboard say around the 140-150 mark.

You havent chosen any SATA3 components, and I assume that you dont upgrade often, so no point buying new tech when your not using it.

I reckon with that saving, and possibly dropping down to a slightly lower spec PSU ~ £50 mark, you could afford a small SSD drive for a boot disk.

In answer to your question, its not wise to run different make graphics cards in the same rig, as crossfire doesnt work with Nvidea, nor does SLI work with AMD.
 
The motherboard will run 1600mhz memory fine. It will be a case of changing the memory multiplier in the BIOS.

You can mix some crossfire cards, not sure which actual ones, 5850 + 5870.
 
The motherboard will run 1600mhz memory fine. It will be a case of changing the memory multiplier in the BIOS.

Memory multiplier, what exactly is that. It doesn't like something good to me lol. It sounds like overclocking.

You can mix some crossfire cards, not sure which actual ones, 5850 + 5870.

But not ati and nvidia? Is it usually better to buy 2 graphics cards at the same time if you're looking to do sli or crossfire or does it not matter if you have been using one for a year and suddenly buy another of the same make brand new whilst the other is used.

Looks sound!
If you wish to mix and match GPU's, I think this should answer any queries :)
CF_combo_chart.jpg

Thanks appreciate that. Just to let you all know, I'm into heaving upgrading, I will continue to upgrade I do not ever want to buy a new pc again. So im looking for future proof parts. I don't quite get that chart to be honest.

What Higadeb said. I woulda posted that pic if he hadnt :p

I appreciate it, but I can't quite understand the chart.
 
You could opt for a cheaper motherboard say around the 140-150 mark.

You havent chosen any SATA3 components, and I assume that you dont upgrade often, so no point buying new tech when your not using it.

I reckon with that saving, and possibly dropping down to a slightly lower spec PSU ~ £50 mark, you could afford a small SSD drive for a boot disk.

In answer to your question, its not wise to run different make graphics cards in the same rig, as crossfire doesnt work with Nvidea, nor does SLI work with AMD.

I need a mobo that will allow for a lot of future upgrading also I thought the 700watt psu would be good as I would be looking to go sli/crossfire sometime.

These ssd drives are they really that good, what is the point of them? Aren't they just a hard drive?

Oh by the way I noticed my motherboard has 10 x usb 2.0 and 2 x usb 3.0, though the case doesnt say anywhere about having usb 3.0 slots and only has 4 usb 2.0 slots does that mean 6 usb 2.0 slots will not be available to me?
 
But not ati and nvidia? Is it usually better to buy 2 graphics cards at the same time if you're looking to do sli or crossfire or does it not matter if you have been using one for a year and suddenly buy another of the same make brand new whilst the other is used.

That's right, you can't connect a ATI to a Nvidia card.

You don't need to buy the cards at the same, you can wait until you need another card later. Weather second hand or new and or the same make.
 
That chart is telling you which ati cards will work together in crossfire. Choose a card from the vertical (card 1) list on the right, and another from the horizontal (card 2) list at the top. Go right from the card 1 list and down from the card 2 list. Where you meet in the middle shows the result of those two cards in crossfire. Red or pink = that combo works, a black dot in the middle means it's recommended (guess that means it works better?). What you generally see is that only similar cards work together - eg 58xx cards work together, 57xx cards, 48xx cards etc etc. You couldn't possibly run ati and nvidia together in sli/crossfire, though I believe you can run ati card(s) as main gpu with an nvidia thrown in for physx, for what that's worth.

Yup an SSD is 'just' a hard drive. A very very fast one, though, as it is all solid-state memory rather than moving mechanical parts like a conventional HDD. Must make a big difference to load times if you can afford one.

Dont really matter how many usb ports your case has - it's just that some cases (probably all nowadays) have some USB ports on them at the front which you can connect to your motherboard. Just for conveniece really. Regardless of your case, all of your USB ports will be available to you - most on the back of the mobo but some designed to be connected to case USB ports.

Hope that helps.

Liam
 
That chart is telling you which ati cards will work together in crossfire. Choose a card from the vertical (card 1) list on the right, and another from the horizontal (card 2) list at the top. Go right from the card 1 list and down from the card 2 list. Where you meet in the middle shows the result of those two cards in crossfire. Red or pink = that combo works, a black dot in the middle means it's recommended (guess that means it works better?). What you generally see is that only similar cards work together - eg 58xx cards work together, 57xx cards, 48xx cards etc etc. You couldn't possibly run ati and nvidia together in sli/crossfire, though I believe you can run ati card(s) as main gpu with an nvidia thrown in for physx, for what that's worth.

Yup an SSD is 'just' a hard drive. A very very fast one, though, as it is all solid-state memory rather than moving mechanical parts like a conventional HDD. Must make a big difference to load times if you can afford one.

Dont really matter how many usb ports your case has - it's just that some cases (probably all nowadays) have some USB ports on them at the front which you can connect to your motherboard. Just for conveniece really. Regardless of your case, all of your USB ports will be available to you - most on the back of the mobo but some designed to be connected to case USB ports.

Hope that helps.

Liam

Thank you, it really did help. I am now battling it out with these three cases which would you prefer?

Case 1: http://elementg.thermaltake.com/
Case 2: http://elements.thermaltake.com/
Case 3: http://elementv.thermaltake.com/

Which one would be the most ideal, a pc mate of mine said 2, but I need more opinions lol.
 
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Would this be a good setup 2 x Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache for raid 0 or just 1 x samsung f3 1TB 32 mb cache or finally just save up money and on a later date get a ssd drive?
 
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I'd save for an ssd or drop to a UD3 mb which is way cheaper for similar ocing results and use that cash to go towards a mainstream intel ssd. And those cases look a tad pricey why not again go for a tested popular case like antec1200 it'll be big enough if thats your worry and is about the same price as the thermaltake V.
 
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