New rig.....just wondering about GPU, raid

Banzai_Joe · 24 Aug 2011 at 16:33

Hi all,
ok, so got hold of:
Asus P8Z58-V Pro
i7 2600K
12Gb Corsair XMS3 1600
Vertex 3 (2.11)
ATI 5850

Now...just wondering IF i get another Vertex 3 to raid 0 them, just to see what performance i can get really. I have a penchant for quick loading maps during games :rolleyes:

Also, if i had a £200 budget what GPU could i get that would significantly increase 1920x1080 gaming over the 5850. 6950 seems approx. 30% faster (according to some benchies). Or maybe crossfiring another 5850, surely that would be much faster and cheaper.

edit: mobo model amends, thanks to Reaper for pointing that out.

Banzai_Joe · 24 Aug 2011 at 16:39

Corsair HX650 modular

Banzai_Joe · 24 Aug 2011 at 17:29

Thanks for the replies so far guys, and my apologies for writiing the post in a hasty manner.
So...here's an update.
The board is indeed (thanks to Reaper) an Asus P8Z68-V Pro. (simple type there)
PSU is HX650, not 850. Jeez, my memory. :rolleyes:

I bought 12gb of ram, as i already have another identical stick of 4gb from a recent build. Although i foresee no issues with using 12gb instead of 16gb, just means one stick will obviously be single channel. Done that plenty of times before without issue.

As you'll no doubt be aware, i don't NEED to raid 2 V3's, but i'd sure like to see how well it performs.
I've never used dual GPU setups before, instead always opting for decent single cards, but the benefits that a 6950 would bring for shelling out £200 doesn't seem as worthy as shelling out approx. £140 and getting much more fps.
Oh...a H80 will also be cooling the cpu, in the same CM690 case as in my sig, which already has 3 x 120mm cas fans.

Is xfire easy to setup? I've heard they can be troublesome?

edit: need to update my sig methinks.

Banzai_Joe · 25 Aug 2011 at 07:58

Well, moving the V3 from the rig in my sig to the new one, hasn't gone altogether smoothly.
It boots, but just like another rig imoved around the other from i5 to i7, the Catalyst Control Center won't load up, even after uninstalling ALL Catalyst software, rebooting and re-installing.
So, maybe a reformat is due. Now looking at a couple of the Agility 3 120gb drives. They seem nearly as fast as the V3, and with them in raid0 should give me better performance than one V3 don't you think?

Also, didn't realise that their is no native spdif on the board, so need to buy a bracket for that as my altec lansing 4.1 setup needs spdif......bummer!

edit: just looking at V3 versus A3 benchies, the V3 is way ahead, yet they seem to offer the same specs. I'm guessing IOPS is totally different between the two.