My second attemped build

Deano12345

If your doing a lot of encoding an conversion with video's it may be worth looking into an Nvidia card with CUDA.

CUDA is something thats built into most Nvidia cards that allows the graphics card to help the CPU while doing certain tasks.You can read about the technology here :

http://www.nvidia.com/object/cuda_what_is.html

stylie

Deano need some help here...Im looking at the CUDA Nvidia cards on komplett and cant decide. I'm hoping to eventually have dual monitors if that helps.

We have about 400e to play with

Venom

stylie wrote: »

Deano need some help here...Im looking at the CUDA Nvidia cards on komplett and cant decide. I'm hoping to eventually have dual monitors if that helps.

We have about 400e to play with

400 quid is more than enough. Maybe a GTX 285 1GB seeing you need more media conversion power than more FPS in games.

Solitaire

Bear in mind you'd need to pay for Badaboom and/or custom filters and plugins to get any use out of CUDA. And that might be a dead-end technology now anyway - DX11's embarasure of the GPGPU concept has sent things into flux; non-manufacturer-specific GPGPU may well be the way forward and many may cease CUDA software development to focus on DirectCompute, as that doesn't automatically shut out 60% of the target audience

If you really need that amount of power stick with i7 for now for raw CPU grunt and see how the GPGPU and DX11 sector shapes up before committing to a powerful GPU - CUDA may well be left out in the cold :P

Deano12345

stylie wrote: »

Deano need some help here...Im looking at the CUDA Nvidia cards on komplett and cant decide. I'm hoping to eventually have dual monitors if that helps.

We have about 400e to play with

Two GTX260's in SLI would be yum

Solitare's ponts are very good though

stylie

This one Deano ? Point of View GTX 260 Premium 216 core

also this monitor looks ideal LG 22in for 185

Deano12345

Actually,If you have 400 quid to spend.I've just seen these GTX275 for €205

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=449598

stylie

This is wrecking my head. There is such a choice I feel a kid in a candy shop. I have seen some great reviews of the processor, SSD, chassis etc..I want them all now...my budget was 1500e but I have a feeling I will be going over it..:)

Solitaire

Beta HD5870 ~ GTX295 < 2*GTX275 << Mature HD5870. And which is cheaper and is DirectCompute-capable? :P

leninbenjamin

Solitaire wrote: »

Bear in mind you'd need to pay for Badaboom and/or custom filters and plugins to get any use out of CUDA. And that might be a dead-end technology now anyway - DX11's embarasure of the GPGPU concept has sent things into flux; non-manufacturer-specific GPGPU may well be the way forward and many may cease CUDA software development to focus on DirectCompute, as that doesn't automatically shut out 60% of the target audience

Correct me if I'm wrong, but to my eyes DirectCompute seems to be a select subset of the CUDA instruction set wrapped into a different API. DirectCompute runs on CUDA enabled DX10 cards already. Me suspects it was a typical Microsoft co-developing (i.e. borrowing) Nvidia research ala HLSL. I'd love to see some benches (do they exist?), but considering ATI generally aren't as good as the Nvidia for GPGPU, methinks it could be a while before ATI's DirectCompute performance matures to the Nvidia level.

Solitaire wrote: »

If you really need that amount of power stick with i7 for now for raw CPU grunt and see how the GPGPU and DX11 sector shapes up before committing to a powerful GPU - CUDA may well be left out in the cold :P

this seems so anti-solitare! :eek:

the OP seems to suggest it will be used for poker, gaming, and general use... an i7 is wasted surely regardless.

Farcear

Farcear wrote: »

I've read that the i7-920 gets very hot, so definately add an after-market cooler in that build.

Try cooling like this : http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8284366.stm. Liquid Nitrogen is the way to go. He gets the i7-920 to over 5 GHz.

stylie

leninbenjamin wrote: »

the OP seems to suggest it will be used for poker, gaming, and general use... an i7 is wasted surely regardless.

Oh it wont be wasted. I do a lot of media encoding conversions...:D

Solitaire

leninbenjamin wrote: »

Correct me if I'm wrong, but to my eyes DirectCompute seems to be a select subset of the CUDA instruction set wrapped into a different API. DirectCompute runs on CUDA enabled DX10 cards already. Me suspects it was a typical Microsoft co-developing (i.e. borrowing) Nvidia research ala HLSL. I'd love to see some benches (do they exist?), but considering ATI generally aren't as good as the Nvidia for GPGPU, methinks it could be a while before ATI's DirectCompute performance matures to the Nvidia level.

Thanks, was wondering. But the poor GPGPU performance of AMD cards has nothing to do with architecture and more to do with AMD not really being arsed about trying to get into a pissing match with nVidia over CUDA. AMD GPUs may actually have more potential in this sector; their architecture is horrifyingly parallel

leneinbenjamin wrote:

the OP seems to suggest it will be used for poker, gaming, and general use... an i7 is wasted surely regardless.

Err...

stylie wrote:

Thats pretty much me then, I could have 100's of pics to work through and do a lot of media conversion.

RTFM! :P

leninbenjamin

stylie wrote: »

Oh it wont be wasted. I do a lot of media encoding conversions...:D

sorry, I missed that bit. In that case you'll be very very happy with your i7 (I know, i have one. The difference between my Core2 laptop and the i7 for encoding is unreal.)

Solitaire wrote: »

Thanks, was wondering. But the poor GPGPU performance of AMD cards has nothing to do with architecture and more to do with AMD not really being arsed about trying to get into a pissing match with nVidia over CUDA. AMD GPUs may actually have more potential in this sector; their architecture is horrifyingly parallel

yeah, but the big thing with effective GPGPU programming is memory management and limiting writes to main memory. Being excessively parallel may actually be hindrance if it requires a second or third pass to access main memory (and not to mention chew up bandwidth which will hinder the rendering). That's pretty much why i'm such an Nvidia fan boy when it comes to GPGPU, as it seems to me (and my limited knowledge) that the Nvidia architecture is slightly more flexible in the allocation of memory.

At the end of the day though, only benchmarks will tell the full story, and i haven't seen any yet.

Solitaire wrote: »

RTFM! :P

I said sorry...

Dunno how I did that. not normally like me, i swear! :eek:

Slutmonkey57b

There's no point getting too in depth about hardware implementations of CUDA/Stream/DX11 as the bottleneck in GPU compute at the moment (as with all computer apps) is incompetent software devs (all parties are guilty here). All modern hardware spends either 99% of its time doing nothing or 1% clogged up doing things wrong.
uTorrent is the only example of competent software development I've seen since BASIC days.

As to your build, if you'e going multi-monitor you'd be a moron not to buy an Eyefinity equipped ati 5 series. i5/i7, no point going for 2000mhz ram unless you're a LN2 freak, get a decent Indilinx or Intel SSD, 5870, 6-8GB 1333mhz ram, fat storage drive, 600w PSU and you should be fine.

stylie

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium, Full Version (PC DVD) for £64.68 when you pre order from Amazon, seems good value is it not ?

@slutmonkey...going to review the RAM and look at the 1333mhz options..The eyfinity looks cool but its seems for the best effect you need 3 monitors and i cant find any price for one of the cards..To keep costs down I might stick to one monitor for the mean time. Thanks btw

Venom

stylie wrote: »

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium, Full Version (PC DVD) for £64.68 when you pre order from Amazon, seems good value is it not ?

@slutmonkey...going to review the RAM and look at the 1333mhz options..The eyfinity looks cool but its seems for the best effect you need 3 monitors and i cant find any price for one of the cards..To keep costs down I might stick to one monitor for the mean time. Thanks btw

Stylie the 5870 is probably overkill for your needs but the 5850 are going from €213 and should more than suit your needs.

stylie

Step one done..pre-ordered win 7 from Amazon..seems good value at 74sterling..
I think I might start my order at the end of this week or next week...all this waiting around is killing me

stylie

Ok..Im pretty sure this is what I will go with..




Cooler Master HAF 922 Midi Tower Black

2 x Samsung SpinPoint F1 1TB SATA2

OCZ Summit SATA II SSD 60GB

Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R, X58, Socket-1366

Intel Core™ i7 Quad Processor i7-920

OCZ Reaper HPC DDR3 2000MHz 6GB KIT

PowerColor Radeon HD 5850 1GB GDDR5

Corsair Powersupply HX 850W

Sony NEC Optiarc DVD±RW burner AD-7243S

LG 22" LCD W2261VP-PF

Im kinda worried I have overlooked something. I have no sound card included, the mobo says Sound card - 7.1 channel surround what exactly does that mean ?
also do i need an ethernet card for the mobo ?

Should I get any extra cables, screws, fans(probably will), cool neon lights accesories ?

Is there anything you would have liked to have for your first build that you didnt the first time around ?

Jock Strap

stylie wrote: »

ck

2 x Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA2

:cool:

Deano12345

stylie wrote: »

Im kinda worried I have overlooked something. I have no sound card included, the mobo says Sound card - 7.1 channel surround what exactly does that mean ?
also do i need an ethernet card for the mobo ?

Should I get any extra cables, screws, fans(probably will), cool neon lights accesories ?

Is there anything you would have liked to have for your first build that you didnt the first time around ?

That board has onbaord audio,so you dont need a sound card.Nearly sure they have 2 ethernet ports included 2 (At least 1)

Pick up some longer than standard length SATA cables.They make the case look neater becasue you can hide them.(If you want to see waht my cable mangement looks like at the moment just let me know.

HAF includes the relevant screws for motherboard and PSU mounting.However corsair PSU's come with black screws if you prefer them.

The standard HAF fans are more than adequate for cooling so theres no need to pick more up.Lights are a personal preference .I dont like them.The Front LED is always OFF for me

Only thing you may want to look into is a fan controller.Although the 922 fans are quiet.You may want to turn them down more (Its just me.the iMac is near silent)

Slutmonkey57b

You want to replace the OCZ Summit for an Indilinx based drive or an Intel. The Samsung controller in the Summit will lead to stuttering and loss of performance in a short time. Indilinx based drives:

* Corsair Memory Extreme
* Crucial Technologies M225
* G. Skill Falcon
* OCZ Vertex, Vertex Turbo, Agility, and Solid II
* Patriot Memory Torqx
* SUPER TALENT UltraDrive ME, GX
* Asax Leopard Hunt II T2

stylie

Slutmonkey57b wrote: »

You want to replace the OCZ Summit for an Indilinx based drive or an Intel. The Samsung controller in the Summit will lead to stuttering and loss of performance in a short time. Indilinx based drives:

* Corsair Memory Extreme
* Crucial Technologies M225
* G. Skill Falcon
* OCZ Vertex, Vertex Turbo, Agility, and Solid II
* Patriot Memory Torqx
* SUPER TALENT UltraDrive ME, GX
* Asax Leopard Hunt II T2

Do you mean one like this Corsair Extreme ? only 10e more expensive than the one I picked earlier..

Slutmonkey57b

Yep, that should do it. The problem is that a lot of manufacuturers stuck with very similar names for the Indilinx drives as they had on the broken jMicron ones. Corsair extreme perform the same as OCZ agility I think.

Deano12345

Slutmonkey57b wrote: »

Yep, that should do it. The problem is that a lot of manufacuturers stuck with very similar names for the Indilinx drives as they had on the broken jMicron ones. Corsair extreme perform the same as OCZ agility I think.

Yeah they are identical.Indilinx controllers and Samsung memory

stylie

Success...of sorts...finished buying the rig just this minute..Had to split it into two orders one from Komplett and one from ebuyer as one would have the mobo I wanted while the other would have the RAM I want etc and saved a few euro too . I will post a few pics of the build when it arrives.
Thanks to everyone that helped, I could not have done it with out your sound advice. Strange thing is all the time spent researching the various components has given me the bug for building pc's..looking forward to doing another one already

MickH503

stylie wrote: »

Success...of sorts...finished buying the rig just this minute..Had to split it into two orders one from Komplett and one from ebuyer as one would have the mobo I wanted while the other would have the RAM I want etc and saved a few euro too . I will post a few pics of the build when it arrives.
Thanks to everyone that helped, I could not have done it with out your sound advice. Strange thing is all the time spent researching the various components has given me the bug for building pc's..looking forward to doing another one already

Hi Stylie, so what was your final parts list and price? I am very interested to hear how it all goes together and what you think of the finished product!!

stylie

1 PCS 428330 Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD3R, X58, Socket-1366
CrossFireX, DDR3, ATX, GbLAN, Firewire, 2xPCI-Ex(2.0)x16

1 PCS 391447 Intel Core™ i7 Quad Processor i7-920
4,8GT/sec, 8MB, Boxed

1 PCS 487793 Corsair SSD Extreme X64 2,5" 64GB
SATA2, read/write speed of up to 220MB/135MB sec

2 PCS 496258 Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA2
32MB 7200RPM

Coolermaster HAF 922 Mid Tower Case

OCZ 6GB (3X2GB) DDR3 1333MHz/PC3-10666 Gold XTC Triple Channel

XFX HD 4870 750M 1GB DDR5 DUAL DVI TV Out PCI-E Graphics Card

Corsair 750W HX Modular PSU

22in LG Monitor.

Corsair H50 Hydro Series CPU Cooler

Win 7 O/S

It came in for roughly 1600e..there are a few other small bits and pieces in the build but the above was the main bulk.

I decided to get the 4870 graphics card as it kept my budget down and its probably more than enough for my needs.

I had to split the order between Komplett and Ebuyer, again it helped to keep the price down and they had a larger range of graphics cards and RAM. All in all I cant wait to get cracking on the build and to see how it compares to my old pc...

My komplett kit arrived today, and it looks very shiny, me so happy ...ebuyer not arrived yet, me no happy but the bubble wrap is great fun...POP POP

MickH503

Cheers for that! Enjoy the build and let us know how it goes!:D

stylie

Hi guys, thought it was time for an update....Im updating from my new pc..so success ...the i920 is ridiculously fast...encoding that took a minimum of 90mins took just 10 last night. Thats with out overclocking and just using 33% of the cpu's...

i bought a Cosair H50 watercooling system and i must admit it keeps the temps very low, and even when the cpu's are hitting 75% load the temp barely goes over 15C from normal.

i have yet to break in the graphics card..maybe tomorrow i might treat myself to call of duty or cyrsis(?sp)..

A downer however..and weirdly times my old pc suddenly died...one of the HD which holds the os i think, suddenly reports an error during the early boot up stage..of course its a dell so i have no start up cd or original os cd...racking my brains trying to solve it and wondering what happened..the reg might have fecked up when I was transfering files over to externals...

the error message looks like this

\windows\system32\config\system error

will d/l a startup cd and see how i get on. Takes the happy out of an otherwise happy week