My new PC build

[tmazz]

World domination. 

--Jerome

Then you must be a member.

[jsaliga]

The three monitors came today and I have them set up.  The way Nvidia does multiple monitors is really optimized for gaming, so when you configure Nvidiva Surround your screen resolution goes to 5760 x 1080 (assuming that you are using three 1920 x 1080 displays).  It's pretty cool when you fire up Crysis 2 and change the in game display resolution to match.  But it isn't so great when you are trying to multitask with all three monitors since you have to size your application windows for each screen.  It will take some getting used to but overall I really like it.

Tomorrow the Nvidia 3D Vision glasses and the third GTX570 will be here and then I will have 3D and 3-Way SLI.

I'll probably set off power monitor alarms at Connecticut Light & Power when I fire up the three video cards.  

I'll post some pics once it is all done.

--Jerome

[etcarroll]

You're cracked..................




And I'm jealous.


Have fun!

[jsaliga]

You're cracked..................

I must be....

I had to send the Silverstone case back.  As nice as it is it will not take either of the CPU coolers I have.  It would have been ideal for water cooling, but otherwise it is just not a good fit.  The restocking fee was $52.

So...I am left with the Thermaltake Armor + and will probably just stay with it.  The only place to go from there I think is a custom built case.

--Jerome

[tmazz]

I'll probably set off power monitor alarms at Connecticut Light & Power when I fire up the three video cards.  

--Jerome

You've been worried about how to cool the CPU and GPUs, at this rate you may have to up the BTUs on the A/C for the room.  


PS - I agree with Gene, I'm jealous. That sounds like one amazing machine.

[etcarroll]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh - $52 restocking fee, that crushes my soul.

[jsaliga]

Here's the rig before the changes...



...and here it is after.  Note that 3 GPUs requires at least a 1000 watt power supply, so I upgraded to Corsair's flagship unit.



And the obligatory photo of surround gaming in action.  This is Crysis 2 at 5860 x 1080 on the Very High graphics settings across the board, one notch down from Extreme.  I'll play with it later and run some benchmarks.  On the right hand side of this picture is the Nvidia 3D glasses.  I have not installed them yet and won't get a chance to try them until tomorrow.  But I expect to be pretty impressed.



The reason you still see the Cooler Master V10 CPU cooler in the after picture is because the other cooler would not fit the motherboard.  The heat pipes could not clear the massive Northbridge heat sink.

Which brings me to some lessons learned.  It is harder today to properly match components.  This is because, in my opinion, manufacturers, especially in the performance and enthusiast space, are not doing enough to document compatibility of their products with other components.  While it can be argued that a manufacturer cannot possibly test compaitibility with all possible configurations, it would seem they aren't even testing compatibility with most likely configurations.  For instance, there are not that many 3-Way SLI motherboards on the market.

This means that if you want to build a high end, smokin' hot machine you should be prepared for a few false starts and an RMA or two.  Lots of research can help, but it can't guarantee a mistake free build.  The three incompatitilities in this build set me back a total of $142 in restocking fees and $119 in merchandise that I can't use but decided not to return.

In the grand scheme of things being out $261 on a system build that costs about $4,500 is not the end of the world.

Strangely enough this time around I am getting better temps from the Cooler Master V10.  My idle temps are about 4C lower.  I remounted it once and it made no difference...but maybe the third time is the charm.  If I can get a decent 4GHz overclock with temps below 85C at 100% load then I may leave things the way they are.  I'll do some more testing over the weekend.

--Jerome

[etcarroll]

Are you using a silver based thermal paste, I forget the name of what I used, but it did make a minor, but definate cooling improvement in cpu temps.

I would hope the CM V10 comes with a quality paste, but if not...............

[richidoo]

http://www.arcticsilver.com

[jsaliga]

I used Artic Silver 5 each time I mounted the V10.

--Jerome

[jsaliga]

BTW...Artic Silver isn't the only game in town.  There are a number of very good TIM compounds out there, some of them are non-metallic.  When I was researching water cooling I read up on several of them but didn't see any reason to change.  I wasn't going to try something else when I had a perfectly good tube of AS5 handy.

--Jerome

[etcarroll]

That's it, AS5 in all my builds.

[richidoo]

What is TIM, Tim? (I wish your name was Tim just for this question.)   

iirc AS5 claims to be non conductive, but is it really? All that silver in there makes me wonder. In the old days a CPU heatsink was not grounded so electrical insulation didn't matter so much. I wonder if it is more important now that you are building a small city on top of that chip? Reason I ask is it would be nice to use AS5 or similar super thermal grease on amplifier power transistors. But the heat sinks are almost always grounded so dielectric grease is mandatory.

[jsaliga]

What is TIM

Thermal Interface Material.

--Jerome

[jsaliga]

I am encouraged by these early results at 4GHz.  After a 10 minute Prime95 torture test temps are looking pretty good and the machine is stable with a VCore of 1.25 volts.  I'll run this test for an hour and a couple of sweeps of memtest, and then I'll benchmark the machine.  But so far so good.

--Jerome