Sense check my £2k+ purchase please

ok that platinum stuff is an extra £100 over what I currently have spec'd

12GB (3x4GB) Corsair Dominator, DDR3 PC3-12800 (1600), CAS 9-9-9-24, Connector, DHX, XMP, DF, 1.65V

Amit
 
get 2 of these:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-092-KS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1389

memory is very slow compared with cpu
they have increased bandwidth by using multiple channels (3 now)
and also by essentially raid 0 the memory chips inside the DIMM
but latency is the issue - a cpu *always* waits for ram
so a roughly 9/7 = 1.28 = 28% increase in cpu performance is available from low latency memory

the reason I believe the 970 is a waste of money is this:

as the no of cores increases - the ability of software to utilise them decreases
remember a 16ghz cpu is far superior to a 4ghz cpu with 4 cores
for one simple reason - it can execute a single thread 4 times faster
very few applications know how to use multiple cores

now put SQL Server on a six core with a heavy load and I will say OK
but with a desktop machine the money is better spent elsewhere

the biggest bottleneck in a PC (the one you REALLY feel) is the storage
until the trim/raid issue is fixed your next bet is to separate into multiple volumes
a) os
b) pagefile
c) temp
d) program files
e) data

or get a PCI solid state card ...

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-051-OC

for really psychotic (> 1000mb/sec) storage for almost no expense look at SuperCache

http://www.superspeed.com/
 
Are 6 dimms better than 3?

I have read there is a greater heat issue with 6 and I guess they use more power?

I will be running SQL on the box. While it is a home pc, I will be using it for enterprise web dev also.

So with the ssds, I will stick with two non raid, os on the first, page file and apps on the second.

Are there any good articles that explain the trim/raid issue just out of interest.

I am 100% going ahead with it so will keep you guys in the loop. No doubt I will be asking you how to oc it :)

Amit
 
Not fussed by super silent as it lives in my office.

Did fancy a bit of wc but don't really know enough about it.

Fancy speccing me a wc shopping list?

Things have changed a lot since my day lol. Over clocking used to involve soldering resistors to CPUs and mad stuff like that!

Amit

Amit
 
OCZ RevoDrive 240GB PCI-Express Solid State Drive (OCZSSDPX-1RVD0240)
(£389.99) £458.24
HIS ATI Radeon HD 5870 2048MB "Eyefinity 6 Edition" GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with CODMW2 (H587F2G6DG)
(£299.99) £352.49
Intel Core i7 950 3.06GHz (Bloomfield) (Socket LGA1366) - Retail
(£193.99) £227.94
Coolermaster RC-1000 Cosmos Silent Full Tower Case - Black
(£133.61) £156.99
Asus P6X58D-E Intel X58 (Socket 1366) DDR3 Motherboard
(£127.65) £149.99
Corsair Professional Series™ Gold AX850 High Performance 850W Power Supply (CMPSU-850AXUK)
(£124.24) £145.98
Kingston HyperX 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 12800C7 1600MHz Triple Channel (KHX1600C7D3K3/6GX)
(£104.99) £246.72
Corsair Hydro H70 High-Performance CPU WaterCooler (Socket LGA775/LGA1156/LGA1366/AM2/AM3)
(£71.48) £83.99
Samsung SpinPoint F2 EcoGreen 1.5TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD154UI)
(£41.75) £98.12

£1,940.25 inc vat // just add optical drives + fans

sql dev edition will take all available ram by default - you might want to alter that!

TRIM RAID issue is straight forward - only the OS has enough information to create TRIM commands (because it understands the filesystem)

but the RAID controller needs to convert the (logical) OS TRIM command into 2 (physical) SATA TRIM commands (one for each drive)

I don't see that being very hard - but nobody does it yet

regarding 6 DIMMs - memory uses very little power - 12gb will use about 20w
 
FireShadow said:
but latency is the issue - a cpu *always* waits for ram
so a roughly 9/7 = 1.28 = 28% increase in cpu performance is available from low latency memory
Click to expand...

Not really. The latencies dont totally dictate RAM performance - the delay introduced by latencies is only a fraction of the time the RAM is 'doing something'. Similarly, a CPU does not spend all it's time waiting for RAM. So a 28% difference in latency numbers does not equate to anywhere near a 28% difference in overall CPU/system performance. A few % at best in applications heavily dependant on RAM performance.

Many apps are getting well multi-threaded now and can use 6 or more cores. OS's and apps will only get better at using multi-cores. OP seems to need to burn some money so whyever not go for a six core? Of course it must also be overclocked to over 4GHz so that even single threaded apps are as fast as they can possibly be.

Amit - the minimum number of dimms is generally found to offer better overclockability as the memory controller is less stressed. So go for 3x4 for your 12GB.

I'd second the idea of going for a 'proper' water loop if silence is what you're after.

EDIT: Ouch - didn't have it in my mind the 970 was £700! Thought it was 4-500 and only the 980X was a silly money six-core. Looking at the spec above I'd say go for a 950 quad core build something like that. That revodrive will certainly meet your storage speed requirements! I'd never even consider that ridiculous 5870 though, and I'd get 3x4 for the RAM.
 
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Cool cheers.

I quite like the sound of 6 cores. Over time, as you say more and more apps will be multi threaded. Especially the server apps I am likely to run like SQL and maybe virtualisation software too.

What is the actual difference between the 970 and 980? The price diff isn't much. Will it oc better?

Re water cooling, I am not too fussed about absolute slience, just don't want a hair drier going off as soon as the machine flexes it's muscles.

The gpu 5870 is off the list. Only choose it as it was the cheapest card with mini displayport on the site.

Will get one of the new 6000 series cards around £200 instead.

Will check out the revo drive.

Cheers amit
 
As my screen name may suggest............I have read this thread with genuine tears rolling down my face. :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

This isn't a case of overkill.........its over-massacre on a gargantuan scale. Got to go now and grab another box of kleenex..............;)
 
I'd recommend a 128 MB SSD as your boot device. Once you've installed Visual Studio / Creative Suite / SQL Server + assorted tools you'll have used a fair amount of disk space.

If you are actually doing anything with the database (beyond development) - i.e. big reports and such then it may be an idea to have a dedicated SSD for it. If your workload is highly multithreaded i'd think about the AMD x6 CPU's - can shave some money for other things with that. The 4 core i7's aren't slouches mind you, I do big compiles and reports on 5,000,000 record databases with mine and the CPU isn't the bottleneck.
 
Vfm addict,

The good news is, I don't need that mad video card any more because the 6870 is perfect :)

So which card? Asus, sapphire or HIS?

I defo want 6 cores. While it may not offer much right this second, I have seen how much benefit the two extra cores can offer when utilised. On a mac pro forum talking about the nehlam, some processing task went from over a day to a few hours.

As I am building this machine to have a desk life of 5 years, it is very like that heavily multithreaded apps will become the norm.

So with that in mind, I think I am set on the CPU being a 980. So now I will tweak around the SSD area.

With regards to raiding ssds again, is the fix likely to require hardware changes when solved? Ie will need new drives? Or can I get two, and raid them later when the issue is resolved?

Amit
 
Vin.

Case is a coolermaster cosmos.

Gpu will be a 6870. Probably the asus one.

Will I have crack off all the plastic and sinks?
How hard is that to do?

Amit
 
Your basket
Product Name Qty Price Line Total
OCZ RevoDrive 240GB PCI-Express Solid State Drive (OCZSSDPX-1RVD0240) £458.24
(£389.99) £458.24
(£389.99)
Patriot Viper 2 Sector 7 12GB (3x4GB) PC3-12800C7 1600MHz Triple Channel Memory Kit £234.99
(£199.99) £234.99
(£199.99)
Intel Core i7 950 3.06GHz (Bloomfield) (Socket LGA1366) - Retail £227.94
(£193.99) £227.94
(£193.99)
HIS ATI Radeon HD 6870 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with FREE CODMW2 PC-Game £199.99
(£170.20) £199.99
(£170.20)
Coolermaster RC-1100 Cosmos S "Sport" Silent Full Tower Case - Black £158.99
(£135.31) £158.99
(£135.31)
Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R Intel X58 (Socket 1366) DDR3 Motherboard £140.99
(£119.99) £140.99
(£119.99)
Corsair Professional Series™ Gold AX750 High Performance 750W Power Supply (CMPSU-750AXUK) £133.99
(£114.03) £133.99
(£114.03)
LiteOn iHBS112 12x BluRay-RW / 16 x DVD±RW Drive - Black (OEM) £86.99
(£74.03) £86.99
(£74.03)
Noctua NH-D14 Dual Radiator CPU Cooler (Socket LGA1366/LGA1156/LGA775/AM2/AM2) £66.99
(£57.01) £66.99
(£57.01)
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 32MB Cache - OEM (HD103SJ) £43.99
(£37.44) £87.98
(£74.88)
Sub Total : £1,529.42
Shipping cost assumes delivery to UK Mainland with:
DPD Next Day Parcel
(This can be changed during checkout) Shipping : £14.75
VAT is being charged at 17.50% VAT : £270.23
Total : £1,814.40
 
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Why dont you get a hdmi to mini display port converter and connect up to the screen through hdmi? They are fairly expensive but would make your component choice less limited
 
why do people keep specing him a 950 when he has said he wants the six core? you say the 980 dont bother get the 970 if you are set on six cores. the only difference between them is the 980 has an unlocked multiplier which only becomes useful when extreme overclocking (hence it being an extreme edition chip) the 970 will still hit 4ghz fine and will save you a few quid with absolutely no performance being lost.

the 6870s so far seem perfect for your needs. able to comfortably hold their own while gaming, but it might be worth waiting just a little long for a 6950/70 but there is no date for these set in stone yet. (rumours are November time)

I also suggest at least waiting a day or 2 longer for some other responses and do a little research on peoples suggestions, even ringing OCUK themselves and having a chat with someone there might be a great idea.

oh and also make sure you take some pics when it all arrives ;)

good luck!
 
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