My Rig Died

ArboristUK · March 31, 2012 at 3:49 PM

Well my old rig is dead, so in the market for something new

Seems now is not a great time to buy with Ivy bridge and z77 mobo,s around the corner but i do not want to wait. And its looking like IB will not be such a huge step up.

Looking at getting another rig like Ginia,s

So Asus maximus z
i72600k
16gb ram (2 x 8gb)
240gb intel 520 (i found a deal on this but not sure)
2 GTX680,s
Corsair HX1050 psu

I've looked at the x79 rigs they give ultimate bench marks but for what i need and how i want my system it'll be £500 more and i do not think i,d utilise the power to make it worth it, what i,m getting is stupid enough for my needs but i,m a sucker and my last pc drove me mad.

Any suggestions i,m looking to buy soon.

NecessaryEvil · March 31, 2012 at 7:37 PM Official Post

If you're only using it for gaming, you can save money on the CPU and go with 2500k, as the 2600k's hyper threading does nothing for gaming performance.

K9shibby · April 1, 2012 at 12:30 AM

WOW 2 680s high roller here

ArboristUK · April 1, 2012 at 5:08 AM

Quote from "NecessaryEvil";p="11834"

If you're only using it for gaming, you can save money on the CPU and go with 2500k, as the 2600k's hyper threading does nothing for gaming performance.

I had my heart set on a 2500k a while back but seeing ginia,s pc perform in video editing software makes me want it now. I lost hours of work on my pc it drove me mad having to redo projects so I,m hoping this pc will make it smoother for me as its something I really want to get into.

As for the 680's again getting real good deal on these, getting 2 is just stupid I know, but I worked my freakin ass off in Germany blood, pain and sweat.
These will be kept for 3 years just like my old 4890 which seved me well.

Ripley · April 1, 2012 at 5:15 AM

freakin Germans

ArboristUK · April 1, 2012 at 5:44 AM

Quote from "Ripley";p="11837"

freakin Germans

Ich liebe meine arbeit.

Ripley · April 1, 2012 at 6:40 AM

I know I saw that on your videos

Other than that I wonder if you can see a difference between 2 680s and 2 580s when you play BF3

ArboristUK · April 1, 2012 at 8:14 AM

Quote from "Ripley";p="11840"

I know I saw that on your videos

Other than that I wonder if you can see a difference between 2 680s and 2 580s when you play BF3

I doubt I,d see a difference between 1 or 2 of either! dunno why I want 2 in gods honest truth, although I do want to get a 30 inch ips monitor next. Even so 2 is decadent.

I,m still undecided about the ssd, so confusing reading online reviews, plus benchmarks can mean real world squat.

The more you think about it the worse it gets, I,m more of an act now think later kinda guy anyway.

icomrade · April 1, 2012 at 7:41 PM Official Post

with 2 680s i wouldn't be doing any cpu driven video encoding. try and find a suite that supports gpu accelerated encoding.

NecessaryEvil · April 2, 2012 at 7:36 AM Official Post

sounds like youre asking us to talk you out of overkill

Yoda · April 2, 2012 at 11:29 AM

SSD drive's are the BIGGEST upgrade you could give to your computer, Hands down!

They reduce read/write/cache time by the bucket load!

An example is full disk encryption on - 7200RPM = 4-5 hours - SSD = 1 hour

You will pat yourself on the back for buying SSD!

icomrade · April 2, 2012 at 1:02 PM Official Post

Quote from "Yoda";p="11844"

SSD drive's are the BIGGEST upgrade you could give to your computer, Hands down!

They reduce read/write/cache time by the bucket load!

An example is full disk encryption on - 7200RPM = 4-5 hours - SSD = 1 hour

You will pat yourself on the back for buying SSD!

nobody encrypts their disks in the gaming relm. file encryption will reduce disk performance drastically, since every time a file is called it must be decrypted. While buying an ssd is a good upgrade, there is no point in buying one when HDDs are way below $1 per GB, while most value SSDs are around $1.20 per GB. the only thing I would consider is using a 60GB (up to 120GB) for disk caching using the z68 chipset; it will not work with larger than 120GB drives.

drive RPM does not necessarily reflect upon read/write speed, it reflects upon the drive's latency. overall, SSDs are faster because of it being a faster technology, not because it's lower latency.

edit: Here's a good one for caching, read up on ssd caching with the z68.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc…N82E16820227725

Yoda · April 2, 2012 at 1:41 PM

Quote from "icomrade";p="11845"

nobody encrypts their disks in the gaming relm. file encryption will reduce disk performance drastically, since every time a file is called it must be decrypted. While buying an ssd is a good upgrade, there is no point in buying one when HDDs are way below $1 per GB, while most value SSDs are around $1.20 per GB. the only thing I would consider is using a 60GB (up to 120GB) for disk caching using the z68 chipset; it will not work with larger than 120GB drives.

drive RPM does not necessarily reflect upon read/write speed, it reflects upon the drive's latency. overall, SSDs are faster because of it being a faster technology, not because it's lower latency.

edit: Here's a good one for caching, read up on ssd caching with the z68.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc…N82E16820227725

The encryption was just a example of disk performance, SSD vs rotary, even hybrid drivers see a massive speed improvement when it comes to read/write

ArboristUK · April 2, 2012 at 3:04 PM

Quote from "NecessaryEvil";p="11843"

sounds like youre asking us to talk you out of overkill

It's a lot of wedge, The main problem is its a bad time to buy it seems, on a side note though this build is costing a little less than ginia,s and is in many ways a better rig, superior case stronger components some more bells and whistle including 240gb ssd.
I suppose this is a trade off with new stuff just around the corner.

Slacker101 · May 29, 2012 at 12:03 PM

You should get a 2560x1440 IPS panel if you're going with two 680s. Otherwise one is just going to be sitting there basically lol. Plus they are beautiful displays.

icomrade · May 29, 2012 at 3:27 PM Official Post

Quote from "Slacker101";p="11975"

You should get a 2560x1440 IPS panel if you're going with two 680s. Otherwise one is just going to be sitting there basically lol. Plus they are beautiful displays.

While I agree 10000000% with the suggestion of an IPS panel there are a couple of things to watch out for.
1. e-IPS is an IPS panel, but it's the low low low end of IPS panels, that being said it is better than a TN panel.

2. keep an eye on response time. I game on an S-PVA panel with 6ms response time. The difference is unnoticeable between my 2ms TN-panel, the trade-off between picture quality and response time is worth it 10 times over.

3. Backlight bleeding is not a problem with IPS or PVA panels normally, lower quality TN panels almost 100% of the time have this issue.

4. This is probably one of the best displays for consumers (yes, it's apple, but bear with me) Apple Cinema Display Specs it has a 12 ms response time, the absolute max I would game on. Also note that it uses Intel's Thunderbolt technology for image, you can use DisplayPort (like I do on my HP LP2275w) and loose some functionality that isn't noticeable for gamers.

5. Contrast ratio is generally a garbage spec on TN panels, the contrast ratio is usually measured correctly but using 100% contrast on TN-panels often lessens color distinction and increases backlight bleed visibility.

6. Color display: TN panels can display 262,000 colors natively, and up to 16.7 million colors using dithering, which produces inaccurate colors
Here's a couple of recommendations (and no the Apple display isn't one). Good IPS and PVA panels can natively display 16.7 million colors and high-end H-IPS, and P-IPS displays can natively display over 1 billion colors AH-IPS (not in production) supports just as many but is extremely high pixel density.

1. a dell Dell UltraSharp 24" or if you like colors you can get this one, it also has 2ms quicker response time Dell UltraSharp 27" (supports 1.07 billion colors (10bit H-IPS) instead of the 24" 16.7 million colors (8bit S-IPS))

2. an Asus P-IPS 24" monitor this is a newer panel type (P stands for professional). Personally I would chose this one, It also have 10bit color as apposed to the S-IPS of 8bit color.

Read more on the comparison of panel types here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TFT_LCD

Also, if you do end up getting a very high end IPS panel like the Asus or Dell 27" they should come factory calibrated or come with a calibration tool, but if it doesn't you should look into these.

ArboristUK · May 29, 2012 at 6:05 PM

Quote from "icomrade";p="11977"

While I agree 10000000% with the suggestion of an IPS panel there are a couple of things to watch out for.
1. e-IPS is an IPS panel, but it's the low low low end of IPS panels, that being said it is better than a TN panel.

2. keep an eye on response time. I game on an S-PVA panel with 6ms response time. The difference is unnoticeable between my 2ms TN-panel, the trade-off between picture quality and response time is worth it 10 times over.

3. Backlight bleeding is not a problem with IPS or PVA panels normally, lower quality TN panels almost 100% of the time have this issue.

4. This is probably one of the best displays for consumers (yes, it's apple, but bear with me) Apple Cinema Display Specs it has a 12 ms response time, the absolute max I would game on. Also note that it uses Intel's Thunderbolt technology for image, you can use DisplayPort (like I do on my HP LP2275w) and loose some functionality that isn't noticeable for gamers.

5. Contrast ratio is generally a garbage spec on TN panels, the contrast ratio is usually measured correctly but using 100% contrast on TN-panels often lessens color distinction and increases backlight bleed visibility.

Intresting we will be looking into upgrading these but not for a few months yet,

6. Color display: TN panels can display 262,000 colors natively, and up to 16.7 million colors using dithering, which produces inaccurate colors
Here's a couple of recommendations (and no the Apple display isn't one). Good IPS and PVA panels can natively display 16.7 million colors and high-end H-IPS, and P-IPS displays can natively display over 1 billion colors AH-IPS (not in production) supports just as many but is extremely high pixel density.

1. a dell Dell UltraSharp 24" or if you like colors you can get this one, it also has 2ms quicker response time Dell UltraSharp 27" (supports 1.07 billion colors (10bit H-IPS) instead of the 24" 16.7 million colors (8bit S-IPS))

2. an Asus P-IPS 24" monitor this is a newer panel type (P stands for professional). Personally I would chose this one, It also have 10bit color as apposed to the S-IPS of 8bit color.

Read more on the comparison of panel types here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TFT_LCD

Also, if you do end up getting a very high end IPS panel like the Asus or Dell 27" they should come factory calibrated or come with a calibration tool, but if it doesn't you should look into these.

Display More

Slacker101 · May 29, 2012 at 6:12 PM

Quote from "icomrade";p="11977"

While I agree 10000000% with the suggestion of an IPS panel there are a couple of things to watch out for.
1. e-IPS is an IPS panel, but it's the low low low end of IPS panels, that being said it is better than a TN panel.

2. keep an eye on response time. I game on an S-PVA panel with 6ms response time. The difference is unnoticeable between my 2ms TN-panel, the trade-off between picture quality and response time is worth it 10 times over.

3. Backlight bleeding is not a problem with IPS or PVA panels normally, lower quality TN panels almost 100% of the time have this issue.

4. This is probably one of the best displays for consumers (yes, it's apple, but bear with me) Apple Cinema Display Specs it has a 12 ms response time, the absolute max I would game on. Also note that it uses Intel's Thunderbolt technology for image, you can use DisplayPort (like I do on my HP LP2275w) and loose some functionality that isn't noticeable for gamers.

5. Contrast ratio is generally a garbage spec on TN panels, the contrast ratio is usually measured correctly but using 100% contrast on TN-panels often lessens color distinction and increases backlight bleed visibility.

6. Color display: TN panels can display 262,000 colors natively, and up to 16.7 million colors using dithering, which produces inaccurate colors
Here's a couple of recommendations (and no the Apple display isn't one). Good IPS and PVA panels can natively display 16.7 million colors and high-end H-IPS, and P-IPS displays can natively display over 1 billion colors AH-IPS (not in production) supports just as many but is extremely high pixel density.

1. a dell Dell UltraSharp 24" or if you like colors you can get this one, it also has 2ms quicker response time Dell UltraSharp 27" (supports 1.07 billion colors (10bit H-IPS) instead of the 24" 16.7 million colors (8bit S-IPS))

2. an Asus P-IPS 24" monitor this is a newer panel type (P stands for professional). Personally I would chose this one, It also have 10bit color as apposed to the S-IPS of 8bit color.

Read more on the comparison of panel types here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TFT_LCD

Also, if you do end up getting a very high end IPS panel like the Asus or Dell 27" they should come factory calibrated or come with a calibration tool, but if it doesn't you should look into these.

Display More

Or if you're on a terrible budget and a bit of a gambler (like me) you could go with one of the various lower end Korean IPS. They used the 27 inch LG A- panel that the apple cinema uses for about 400 bucks (US) delivered (to the US) not sure what it would be for you. While it is the same panel it's very low end only supports one DVI dual link input and has a wheel to adjust brightness. Also keep in mind that the top 20% - 40% of the panels go to apple and the rest are basically randomly distributed to the off brand companies. Out of the people who have reported buying them 6% were dissatisfied and had flawed displays whether it was a couple dead pixels or back light issues, or anything else that could go wrong. Personally considering doing this myself. I can't afford an apple cinema display or the ultra sharp 27inch. It's an interesting option.

The one I like is shimian there is a model of it with tempered glass and the stand is removable.

An alternative is the catleap which has a shaky stand and apparently the only way to remove said stand is to open it up.

Both have the standard vesa mounting holes.

icomrade · May 29, 2012 at 6:59 PM Official Post

Quote from "Slacker101";p="11980"

Or if you're on a terrible budget and a bit of a gambler (like me) you could go with one of the various lower end Korean IPS. They used the 27 inch LG A- panel that the apple cinema uses for about 400 bucks (US) delivered (to the US) not sure what it would be for you. While it is the same panel it's very low end only supports one DVI dual link input and has a wheel to adjust brightness. Also keep in mind that the top 20% - 40% of the panels go to apple and the rest are basically randomly distributed to the off brand companies. Out of the people who have reported buying them 6% were dissatisfied and had flawed displays whether it was a couple dead pixels or back light issues, or anything else that could go wrong. Personally considering doing this myself. I can't afford an apple cinema display or the ultra sharp 27inch. It's an interesting option.

The one I like is shimian there is a model of it with tempered glass and the stand is removable.

An alternative is the catleap which has a shaky stand and apparently the only way to remove said stand is to open it up.

Both have the standard vesa mounting holes.

While the panel MAY be from an older cinema display, cheaping out on the other parts of the monitor is not such a great idea. Also considering that the warranty is probably crap, if it even exists. instead of buying a cheap nock-off I'd suggest waiting a while until you can afford the real one.

Slacker101 · May 29, 2012 at 10:29 PM

Quote from "icomrade";p="11983"

While the panel MAY be from an older cinema display, cheaping out on the other parts of the monitor is not such a great idea. Also considering that the warranty is probably crap, if it even exists. instead of buying a cheap nock-off I'd suggest waiting a while until you can afford the real one.

I fully understand all the risks and implications and have looked into it fully. I'm fairly sure it's the same panel as the current cinema just probably not up to their standards since the A- have a higher probability of being flawed and that is what they currently use in the displays. There is a warranty but it's not worth using. 1k for a monitor is a tad impractical.