GridStream Productions

Within the next month, if I play my cards right, this is the type of rig I will be putting together:

3xeVGA GTX 280 HC (holy crap hydra copper) editions. That equals out to be 720 processing cores, 3GB DDR3 graphic memory, 466.56gb/second memory bandwidth so almost half a TERAFLOP (1025gb instuctions per second) of graphics processing all together.

1xQ6600 Quad-Core Processor OCd @ 3.6ghz per core. So 14.4ghz of CPU power (Already have and have been using this processor at this speed on current rig)

8GB DDR3 (Already have)

Fatal1ty Audigy X-Fi Soundcard (Already have)

Do you think I'll need to upgrade again until 2015?

Oh and here is the case I picked out. It's already on its way though since I already had the money for it.
http://www.xoxide.com/aerocool-extremen ... black.html

And heres a link to the HC editions
http://www.evga.com/products/moreInfo.a ... s%20Family

8 GB of RAM is pointless overkill unless you're doing some serious 3D rendering...

No Game or Application other than that (save for server apps) will ever touch it.

Jairyn wrote:8 GB of RAM is pointless overkill unless you're doing some serious 3D rendering...

No Game or Application other than that (save for server apps) will ever touch it.

Nothing right now will max the 3 GTX280s either (Yes, not even crisis). But with Alan Wake & Doom 4 being officially announced for E3, Blizzard confirming Diablo 3, and with Starcraft 2 and Spore on the horizon for Q4, I think they might, and even the 8gb DDR2 too(Expecially Alan Wake, Holy crap its going to probably take this machine.. ANY machine to its physical limits).

I'm building it so I dont have to build another for another 5-6 years when things are using 8GB of RAM

Neoagent wrote:I'm building it so I dont have to build another for another 5-6 years when things are using 8GB of RAM

That reason alone is worth it. I'm sure this current in progress rig is not gonna be cheap, but by all means early congrats for when its done.

I can't wait honestly. I'll throw pictures up when it is done though.

Let's put it this way. A 32-bit operating system can only use 4gb memory maximum in theory. And if you have graphics cards with lots of memory you need to withdraw that from the 4gb. So if you have 3gb of graphics memory you can only really use 1gb of memory. You might be able to use 3 of them if all doesn't need to be mapped.

The only way to get out of it is to use 64-bit operating system, which can address the full span.

And even then, you need to run a 64-bit process to use the memory, which only a handful games out there can do.

And to me it seems like a waste of money to buy 280-GTX with ATI 4870 coming out for 1/3 to half the price, and almost the same processing power. Get the 4870x2 cards instead and bundle up 3 or 4 of those and you have a better gaming rig for the same money

Just my suggestion before you go and blow money

Actually, to compare relevant performance check out my charts here:
http://EmSai.net/reviews/

GeForce 280 GTX is the top dog beating all dual GPU and SLI solutions too.
The Radeon HD 4870 is a good comptetitor to the GeForce 260 GTX though.
The Radeon HD 4870x2 is not out yet though and it will compete with the 280GTX.

And Xtrophic is correct, if you plan 4GB or more then Vista "64Bit" is the only way to go currently. (you could go XP 64bit but if you plan this rig to last a few years then Vista 64bit is a better bet. Plus you get DX10/DX10.1 and Vista will be supported well into the next decade)

IMPORTANT! Get a DAMN GOOD PSU, the 280's and the CPU will drain a lot of power especially 3 280GTX GPU's. Not sure what you need but a 1200+ Watt PSU, maybe a 1400 one. A 1000 Watt PSU may get pushed to the limit and die under really heavy system load. (I think 1400+ Watt PSU's is popping up on the market now)

Considering you CPU choice I'm assuming you are waiting for a Sexta(sp?) or Octa core CPU? Compared to the GPU's the CPU will look a tad underpowered. Unless you got a two CPU slot MB that is and you slot in a second 6600.

PS! A single Radeon HD 4870 is supposedly a 1 Teraflop GPU, with full hardware tesselation in addition to full DX10.1 so in a few years when games start to use those features heavily it should look just better and better. But currently the 280GTX kicks it's ass obviously and is still an amazing card and will be so for several years.

I just (as of last night) went from Vista 32bit to Vista 64bit for the RAM (thanks for the advice).

Yes, waiting on Octcore before I upgrade that, but my mobo will have eVGAs stepup program support so I'll just swap out mobos for that when the time comes.

Now the HD 4780x2 will be around by the time I do the upgrade, but I'm not sure if I'm ready to make the switch back to ATI/AMD or not, it was piss-poor support and crappy drivers that made me switch to nVidia/eVGA in the first place. EXPECIALLY eVGA, their support/warentees go WAY above and beyond any other company (BfG is on-par but not better).

I might reconcider though.

Oh and I'm well set with my PSU. Thermaltake Toughpower 1200W. I think that will more then handle it.

My advice is simple: Vista + nVidia = ouch, mostly because of nVidia's incredibly sucky driversets, plus the general overpricedness of their products compared to the performance you actually get. I also have a personal gripe against the case you've chosen, since it's flimsy as hell, not very well laid out, noisy and rather inefficient in cooling, despite the 250mm fan in the door and the 140mm fan in the front.

I'd dish out a bit more cash and get the Antec P180 or P190 instead, as then you'll not only have a better cooling-solution, but you'll also have a quality case that's quiet, well made and has enough space to keep you happy.

Nice plan Neo, can't wait to see pics!

Throwing in my 2 cents here for fun: You should check the specs on the northbridge of your motherboard to see how much data it can pass back and forth. I'd be really surprised if anything but a really really insanely overpowered motherboard (Intel X48 chipset or something equiv) could handle as much as you're trying to do without having the CPU or one of the GPU's sitting around idle waiting for data to arrive.

Dunno Miv, I have vista running on my machine, with dual nVidia cards, and I have no graphics issues.

I agree. I prefer solid steel framed cases (like my current raidmax smilodon). I may end up going Antec but honestly, CPU and video cards will all be liquid cooled and really I only need 2-3 fans to cool the mainboard, RAM, and northbridge.

Vista+nVidia= no problems for me, you just have to make sure you completly uninstall the old drivers, then reboot, then install the new drivers. Otherwise you get conflicting things and it won't be stable at all. Mind you though I've had to replace one of my 8800GTX due to a bad driver but it was a beta driver (that and eVGAs RMA process is so superb i literally had a replacement card 2 days later)

As far as the mainboard I've chosen, behold:
http://www.evga.com/products/moreInfo.a ... d%20Family

Only a few more weeks left to wait until I'll have the money!

Sveet mainbord. Time to overclock it just a little..

*rubs eyes* wow, I need to take a few classes....I was thinking on building my own compy but Holy Waffles I think I'ma drown in all the initials....

Thank goodness I start school in the fall

Hey Neo, just did some comparing cause I felt like it.. Deep Blue (well, the upgraded Deep Blue) that beat Kasperov in Chess back in '96 was rated at 11.38 gigaflops. That means your graphics cards themselves are around 40x more powerful than that entire supercomputer was.

That is insane! If someone back then would have had an inkling of what a single chip could do now they'd freak!

Kyrros wrote:Hey Neo, just did some comparing cause I felt like it.. Deep Blue (well, the upgraded Deep Blue) that beat Kasperov in Chess back in '96 was rated at 11.38 gigaflops. That means your graphics cards themselves are around 40x more powerful than that entire supercomputer was.

"I beat both Deep Blue and Gary Kasparov with nothing more then two pawns and a single bishop." - The Master (Pure Pwnage)

Now if I can harness all of the power and be able to warp space/time and get me to Dcon and jedimindtrick Tarryk into buying me tickets then it would be well worth all the money I'm putting into it!