Trifire build decisions.

Harri · 27 Dec 2010 at 11:04

I've decided on the majority of the components, although before doing the stupid thing with this amount of money, I'd rather get some personal opinions from others, if any of you have had experience with any of the parts, please let me know if it was positive or not, also I believe everything here is compatible with each other, but if anyone could do a quick check, it would be appreciated. My main problem is obviously the 1155 socket, as Intel plays their cards close to their chest, I've been trying to find out if it would support 1156 water cooling and power supplies, but to no avail, if anyone has any clue on this (with some evidence) can they please let me know. I have a fair amount to spend, after using 'hand-me-down' computers for the last 4 years, do not hesitate to mention the pricier components, although unless the 2600k comes in at a lot more than expected, I won't be looking at the extreme Intel range.

Processor : i7 2600k (to be oc'd in future, once some stable oc's start appearing)
Motherboard : Gigabyte P67 UD7
Memory : Corsair Vengeance (2x4GB) 1866MHz
Video Card(s) : (3x) HIS 2GB 6970
Hard Drive(s) : (2x) WD VelociRaptor 150GB (Raid 0) + WD Black 1TB (backup HDD) + (2x) OCZ 120GB SSD (Raid 0)

This is where my problems are though, I need a case which can fit the above in, with plenty of room for a water cooling system to go in as well.

Some I've though might do the job...
Case : Obsidian 800D / CoolerMaster ATCS 840 / ?

Then there is the problem of the power supply/cooling system, I believe I would need 1200w+ charger, I don't think I would require a 1500w one though, either way, I'm still struggling with the whole socket problem *kicks Intel*, I'm hoping the 1156 stuff can be used, just for money saving sake, as I'm sure each and every company will be trying to cash in on parts.

Sorry that its such a big wall of text, but I'd like to say thanks in advance for anyone who can give me any tips to get me going in the right direction.

Lemin · 27 Dec 2010 at 11:42

Dont understand why you would want the VelociRaptors. Wast of money (IMHO)

RJC · 27 Dec 2010 at 11:49

I would be inclined to drop the raptor and go for a couple of Samsung F3 1tb and use this for the backup drive as well.

Not sure why you want tr-fire then crossfire would be fine.

Harri · 27 Dec 2010 at 12:18

I intended to have the OS, etc on the SSD's, and then having any overflow programs on the raptors, as after checking through the main things I use, I easily pass the SSD's size limit.

I have heard from some people that it would be better to have 4x raptors as opposed to 2 and 2, and I've heard from others to scrap them altogether and just go raid 1 with another WD drive.

As for the reason I'm going tri not x, is mainly because I have the money now, so why not future-proof it, along with being able to knock down any and all games that are currently on the market.

The only reason I've had this much money accumulate it because it was locked in for 3 years, otherwise I would not be making this topic now, because I'm one of the terrible people who gets a tenner and then has to go buy something with it. And rather than spending it on some seedy needless thing I probably will, I'd rather spend it on something which I know I will make use of, even if it isn't used as much now as it will be in a couple of years.

JonJ678 · 27 Dec 2010 at 13:26

Harri said:
As for the reason I'm going tri not x, is mainly because I have the money now, so why not future-proof it

"Future proof" in computing means spending well over the odds for between zero and fractional improvement. Components advance very quickly and lose value even quicker, saving a few hundred quid now then reinvesting it six months time will leave you with a computer which performs exactly as well now as it would do had you gone all out, but with a "free" upgrade to keep it near the top of the pile down the road. The latest and greatest is not often a good buy in this market.

because I'm one of the terrible people who gets a tenner and then has to go buy something with it

Noted. You're going to have to get over that sometime, or capitalism is going to **** you

And rather than spending it on some seedy needless thing I probably will, I'd rather spend it on...

Three graphics cards is a pretty good example of a needless thing. The performance improvement over using two cards is going to be slight, and may well perform worse than two cards under various circumstances. Games aren't written for people with lots of graphics cards, because there aren't enough of those computers out there to justify the time spent coding.

The raptors are if anything a better example of a needless thing, if you can fill 240gb of ssd with programs you're installing things which won't be benefiting from the seek times.