New Build Advice

[olic87]

Hi all, first post here!

I am currently replacing my system that has recently given up the ghost

Currently i am looking at spending ~£1100 on it, it will mainly be used for 3D design and rendering (Sketchup, AutoCAD + 3DSMAX), Photoshop and Illustrator CS5 and some gaming

I am in particular interested in getting a system that will work really well with the GPGPU renders that are out/to be released. many of these use CUDA but the majority being released now seem to be based upon the OpenCL framework.

i have chosen the following components so far:

Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R
Intel Corei7 920 D0, 45nm, 2.66 GHz
6GB (3x2GB) Corsair XMS3, DDR3 PC3-12800 (1600) Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 9-9-9-24, 1.65V
1TB Western Digital WD1002FAEX Caviar Black, SATA 6Gb/s, 7200rpm, 64MB Cache, 8 ms
24" Acer EcoDisplay, V243HLbmd , LED, 1920x1080 HD, Black, Wide, DVI/VGA, 8000000:1, 250CD/m2, 5ms
22" Monitor
1x320Gb + 1x500Gb Hard Drives
Multicard Reader
USB Bluetooth Adaptor
PCI Wireless Card

The last two pieces i need to choose is a Graphics Card and a powersupply

I currently have a Palit GTX260 896Mb card availible to use, and i want to increase the performance of this computer from the last to make it a worthwhile upgrade. My initial thought was to but another card and run in SLi, unfortunatly everywhere seems to have graded this card as end of life, not in stock and wont be. Is it worth me getting another different branded GTX260 to run with, the only worry i have is that the new card i buy will run at a slower clock speed than the current one and i will loose some performance.

Another option is for me to buy another card. There is only really one option to buy and that is to buy the 5830 which is in my price range as the nvidia card i would buy is the 260GTX.

I am torn whether to buy a new 5830, another 260 GTX or to just stick with my single 260 GTX for now? Any thoughts on rendering performance between these options? gaming wise, the 260 fairs pretty steadily running most games i want to play at a very good graphical standard (Not the on highest though)

Powersupply wise, my choice needs to be first informed by my Grapics card, but after having some bad experiecnces in the past with unbranded PSU's i have initally opted for a Corsair 850Watt PSU (Which is currently out of stock at scan ) is this enough to power the maximum configuration? (system + 2x260GTX)?

I know its a long post, especially for a first one, but im really stumped on what to go for at the minute!

Any help or advice would be apreciated!!

Regards

Oli

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Regarding the PSU the Seasonic X-650 or X-750 are worth looking at IMHO. I would stick with a single GTX260 TBH. However remember that the GTX470 and GTX480 only have 25% of the abilities of their Tesla cousins. It also seems that some of the newer Fermi derived cards maybe even further gimped when it comes to GPGPU abilities.

I would also be looking a monitor with an IPS panel too.

You could save money going for a Phenom II X6 1055T and an 870 chipset based motherboard but I would look through some benchmarks to see which ones suits you better.

[olic87]

Thanks Cat,

Hmmm, scan only stock the x-750 or x-850, but worth a look, i might stick with the corsair module, as it comes with a 5 year warranty

I didnt realse that the 470's are nerfed fermi's. considering i think i get reasonable gaming performance with the 260GTX atm and the i7 will only help it along, i very well might stick to my guns on the gfx card front an upgrade in the future when a better version of card with greater GPGPU support somes along to the mainstream, workstation cards are just way to expensive to justify!

Call me stupid but whats an IPS panel? and what advantages doest it carry over LED LCD displays?

Lol i struggled enough putting the correct combination of RAM, mainboard and processors together for the intel, but there are loads of varients of amd to choose from, i think i might stick with my guns unless anyone has any suggestions for a really good hex core phenom II processor memory and mainboard combo??

Thanks for the swift reply too

Hoping to order this all by the end of the week

Oli

[Domestic_Ginger]

I think scan are offering bundles which on today only may be helpful for AMD builds. Generally anything goes. AM3 boards use DDR3 and AM2+ use DDR2. Phenom II and AthlonIIs both have a DDR2 and DDR3 controller onboard so work on both sockets. The power consumption of the PIIs rises quite sharply after about 3.5ghz (if you need ot raise the voltage) if you plan on using it for a workstation.

I would keep the 260 until it shows its age. Another one may pop up and if you are will to pay 150 for a new one you should be able to find one.

I can't really help more although wiki is your friend for all the terms people use. They are all on there!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

IPS panels tend to have better colour accuracy and are usually 8 bit meaning that they can display 16.7 million colours. Most monitors use TN type panels which are 6 bit and can only display 262144 colours and need to use dithering to give the appearance of greater colour depth. Monitors with IPS panels are generally better for image editing as result.

I would have a look at the NEC MultiSync EA231WMi but this costs between £280 to £300. A cheaper monitor with an IPS panel is the Dell 2209WA which is between £200 to £250.

The monitor you listed has an LED backlight but the panel itself is an LCD.

[ehhhhhhh]

FYI, Corsair just rebrands Seasonic PSUs, so it doesn't matter which one you buy

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The X series platform is unique to Seasonic ATM though!

The Antec TruePower New is also made by Seasonic too.

[The_Wheelhouse]

FYI, Corsair just rebrands Seasonic PSUs, so it doesn't matter which one you buy

Actually not all of them are... but they are still all good

http://forums.hexus.net/1624441-post17.html

[DanceswithUnix]

Most monitors use TN type panels which are 6 bit and can only display 262144 colours and need to use dithering to give the appearance of greater colour depth.

Is that still true?

I wouldn't touch LCD panels for years because you could see the colour gradients as big distinct steps and I know those panels were 6 bit. Even the cheapest of our modern LCD tellies seems OK in gentle gradients though. Things like viewing angles might suck, but I can't fault the colour range.

Trivia for you: Next time you are paying with a credit card you might notice that the pinpad uses a really cheap TN display. Sometimes you *want* a narrow viewing angle

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I should have also included 8 bit S-PVA and P-MVA panels too in post 5 too. However P-MVA seems to have gone the way of the Dodo.

No doubt dithering has got better but when it comes to photography and also the work related imaging I have done the 8 bit S-PVA and IPS panels are better suited for these applications. I have yet to see any 8 bit TN panels though.

If you are not doing critical image work then a TN type panel is fine and especially for watching videos and playing games as they tend to have better response times. If anything TN panels are more optimised towards this and are cheaper to produce too.

[DanceswithUnix]

I should have also included 8 bit S-PVA and P-MVA panels too in post 5 too. However P-MVA seems to have gone the way of the Dodo it seems.

No doubt dithering has got better but when it comes to photography and also the work related imaging I have done recently the 8 bit S-PVA and IPS panels are better suited for these applications.

If you are not doing critical image work then a TN type panel is fine for watching videos and playing games as they tend to have better response times. If anything TN panels are more optimised towards this and are cheaper to produce too.

OTOH, I work with someone who wins competitions with his photography, and uses the same cheap Samsung 2048x1152 panel that I do. Obviously he does loads of photoshop with it, and says that it was a bit of a git to calibrate (his photo club lends out an optical calibration tool to members) but he is very pleased with it.

His work tends to get printed out around A3 size or bigger, so it has to be rather carefully done!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

OTOH, I work with someone who wins competitions with his photography, and uses the same cheap Samsung 2048x1152 panel that I do. Obviously he does loads of photoshop with it, and says that it was a bit of a git to calibrate (his photo club lends out an optical calibration tool to members) but he is very pleased with it.

His work tends to get printed out around A3 size or bigger, so it has to be rather carefully done!

For the imaging work I did the IPS and PVA panels we used were better than the TN panels we tried out even after calibration. Anyway YMMV and this my experience. Other people may have different experiences so I think I will keep it at that.

Anyway I believe this is the monitor DanceswithUnix is referring too:

http://www.ebuyer.com/product/152744

If it is good as he says it is then you have saved yourself a pretty penny over the NEC MultiSync EA231WMi!

[dodgybob]

Dell have just released a cheaper IPS panel 23" 1080P monitor in the USA, the U2311H. Not sure how long before it will be out in the UK, but it could be an interesting monitor to look out for pricing wise when it gets here.

[olic87]

Hiya,

thanks to all for the replies, i never realised the extent of variation in the type of LCD panels!!

I have had a look around and there are a couple of nice IPS panels listed on scan, but unfortunatly i think i might just have to keep with the one i spec'ed intially as the extra that the IPS panel would cost will push my budget too far

i cant imagine the LED LCD monitor will give a poor image for gaming and photoshoping/3d rendering would it??

Many thanks

Oli

[olic87]

What is the difference between modular and non-modular psu's?

I was looking at getting

850W-Corsair-CMPSU-850HXUK-ATX-EPS12V-Modular-UK-Version-7-Year-Warranty
over
850W-Corsair-CMPSU-850TXUK-ATX-4x-PCI-E-8x-SATA-PS-2-PSU-5-Year-Warranty

as it isnt in stock at the moment and has been on order for a while

Oli

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Regarding the monitor perhaps it is worth looking at the one DanceswithUnix mentioned like I said before.

However whatever monitor you use I would try to calibrate it and you can try a simple calibration using this website:

http://www.lagom.nl/lcd-test/

Hardware based calibration methods are better but will cost over £50.

Modular PSUs have less hardwired cables with many of the other cables plugging into the PSU itself. This reduces cable mess in the case and hence will mean better airflow.