Another 3XS system ... and various questions

[SonyCloWn]

Few questions

Roughly how many days does it take from purchase to build and delivery a 3XS system. I'm thinking about purchasing a Black Widow with customizations.

Also what are the major differences between the 24" Samsung SM2443BW and 24" Dell 2408WFP monitors, i heard if configured correctly the Dell is superior in picture quality but i'm worried i'm not going to be able to replicate these results. Are you able to set this up?

I'm also concerned about getting Vista 64bit only to find out Windows 7 starts to dominate, whats your general thoughts on this?

Also are two 1792MB XFX GTX 295 graphics cards overkill for a 24" monitor?

Does the graphics memory sit inside the available motherboard memory in Vista 64 bit as it does in 32 bit XP? If I'm not being clear what i mean is that is i get 2 of the above graphics cards which has about 4 gb of memory and i get 6gb of corsair will that mean i have only 2 gb of system memory?

When overclocking the PC will it make much difference if i have purchased XMS or Dominator memory?

And a trickier question to answer.... in this current climate ... im concerned that my brand new pc dies a quick death only to find that Scan has also gone bust and my warranty becomes invalid... is the warranty outsourced and backed by a third party? General thoughts?

Thanks very much for taking the time to answer these questions.

[sleepyhead]

Also what are the major differences between the 24" Samsung SM2443BW and 24" Dell 2408WFP monitors, i heard if configured correctly the Dell is superior in picture quality but i'm worried i'm not going to be able to replicate these results. Are you able to set this up?

Due to the price, the Samsung is most likely a TN Panel whereas the Dell is a S-PVA panel. Generally speaking TN panels give great gaming response times with the downsides being colour reproduction and viewing angles. The S-PVA is much better in the latter two respect however a few people have commented on "input lag". Of course you will find users of the Dell here who are very happy with the Dell and experience no such "input lag".

I'm also concerned about getting Vista 64bit only to find out Windows 7 starts to dominate, whats your general thoughts on this?

Also are two 1792MB XFX GTX 295 graphics cards overkill for a 24" monitor?

Yes. a GTX260/HD4870 is fine for 1920x1200 gaming. If you are spending that much on graphical horsepower, why not invest in a 30" monitor and game at 2560x1600?

Does the graphics memory sit inside the available motherboard memory in Vista 64 bit as it does in 32 bit XP? If I'm not being clear what i mean is that is i get 2 of the above graphics cards which has about 4 gb of memory and i get 6gb of corsair will that mean i have only 2 gb of system memory?

in any 64bit OS you choose, you'll see your full quota of 6GB RAM

The above is just my 2p.

[Philipp]

SonyCloWn

Great to hear your looking at getting a 3XS Black Widow, I have some pictures here of a watercooled one that I will upload tomorrow in work.

I will get a proper reply back to you in the morning, sleepyheads comments are correct mind

In regards to the warranty,

1) We are very busy at the moment and not going any were
2) Our warranty is insurance backed, unlike many other system builders.

Cheerios

[SonyCloWn]

Silverstone TJ07B-W Black Aluminium Full Tower Case with Window
3XS Black Widow System
Asus Rampage II Extreme, Intel X58, DDR3 1600(OC)/1800(OC)
Scythe KAMA-BAY Black System Cooler 120mm Fan for 5.25" System Cooling
2x Revoltec RL048 White LED 92mm fan
Thermalright LGA1366 Bolt Kit
3x Akasa AK-FY320 3pin Female to 2 x 3pin Male (Fan) Splitter Cable
3x Zalman ZM-EC1 Fan Extention Cable
Acronis True Image Home 2009 HDD Backup & Restore Software
Build / Configure / Test / H.E.
Scan 3XS System - 1year Onsite Warranty (Mainland UK)
Scan System Configuration (Details confirmed at checkout stage)

Qty Selected Specifications
1 *No Custom Colour Required*
1 *Custom Side Panels Not Required*
1 Intel i7 920, 2.66GHz, 4.8GT/s QPI, 8MB Cache, Retail
1 Thermalright True Black 120 Heat Pipe Black Nickel Plated Heat Sink
1 3XS System Core-Logic Overclocking*10 - 20%*
1 6GB (3x2GB) Corsair XMS3 DDR3 PC3-12800 (1600) CAS 9-9-9-24
2 1792MB XFX GTX 295, 576MHz GPU, 480 Cores, 2000MHz GDDR3
1 *No ATI VGA Card Required* (NVIDIA Required)
1 1000W Corsair HX Series Modular (Dual Graphics Cards SLI / Crossfire)
2 1000 GB Samsung Spinpoint F1, 7200 rpm, 32MB Cache
1 *Hard Drive Not Required*
1 80GB Intel X25-M SSD (Read 250MB/s Write 70MB/s)
1 Scan Black Floppy Disk & Internal Combo All in 1 Card Reader
1 Pioneer DVR-216DBK 20x DVD±R, 12x DVD±DL, DVD+RW x8/-RW x6, SATA, Black
1 *Blu Ray Not Required*
1 Creative X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Champion Soundcard - PCI-E (x1)
1 *Use On Board Network*
7 120mm Revoltec Internal Case Fan with WHITE LED
2 Sharkoon 4" White CCFL 2in1 Kit
1 Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate 64Bit
1 MS OFFICE 2007 - 25 Usage/60 Day TRIAL Basic,SBE & Professional
1 CyberLink PowerDVD 8 Standard Movie/Audio Player & Decoder
1 *No Software Required*
1 *No Software Required*
1 24" Dell 2408WFP Ultrasharp Widescreen, LCD, 1920x1200, 3000:1
1 *Gaming Keyboard Not Required*
1 *Gaming Mouse Not Required*
1 *Gaming Mouse Mat Not Required*
1 *Speakers Not Required*
1 Standard 3XS System Warranty - 2 Years (1st Year Onsite / 2nd Year Return to Base)

Scan Finance Price
10 months no interest charges £150.80 Net Total £3,237.54
Classic Credit 24 Months £186.31 V.A.T £485.63
Classic Credit 36 Months £135.05 Total £3,723.17

[NightOwl]

I recently got a 24" Dell 2408WFP with my new system - it's a fabulous monitor, both in build quality and picture quality - it's pin sharp, evenly lit and has great colour reproduction (once properly calibrated - my main use is for digital art work so I have a gadget that does this calibration for me and sets up a colour profile). I'm afraid I have no comments to offer re. gaming performance as that's not my scene (nor comments for video playback as I haven't had it long enough to test that out yet) but so far I am very, very pleased with it. A great bit of kit!

[SonyCloWn]

Thanks - now i'm looking forward to seeing these pics

[SonyCloWn]

Any luck?

[Infinite]

Its in the sub forum at the top. I'll even link it to you. lol, they were put up today.

http://forums.hexus.net/3xs-systems-...ack-widow.html

[SonyCloWn]

beautiful huh

[SonyCloWn]

so it appears i only need 1 graphics card for 1900 by 1200 ... esp considering we may see a new direct x .. 11... so ive knocked 1 off the list - looking at the RAM when overclocking is there much of a performance leap between dominotor and corsair?

[sleepyhead]

Corsair makes the Dominator ram modules. I think their range is XMS3, Dominator and Dominator GT. As to which is better...apparently if money is no object, the Dominator GT (which you can only purchase directly from Corsair themselves). I'd say the XMS3 should suffice though if the price differential is negligable perhaps the Dominators.

I note you want the GTX295...that is 2 GPUs on one "card". The GPUs are like hybrids of the GTX260/GTX280(5) and are probably the basis of the GTX275. Having 2 GTX295s may not bring you massive joys in some games - scaling gets less and less as the more GPUs you add; however for pure bragging rights 2 GTX295s is fantastic None of these cards officially support DX11 (I don't even know if they can) so don't worry about DX11. Don't forget to check reviews of the GTX285 and GTX295 as some games don't support the GTX295 well and it's 3D performance is hampered as it's only using one of the two gpus.

[SonyCloWn]

u think that a 4870x2 better val for money?

[sleepyhead]

u think that a 4870x2 better val for money?

4870X2 is just 2 4870s on one PCB. If games don't support crossfire then you only get the performance of 1 4870.

It's give or take as some games have preferances to certain cards.

[Infinite]

Since your specing up the system here, I'd recommend you ask them to use this memory instead. It is basically the dominator stuff (8-8-8-24) in an xms3 heatsink and only costs like £3 more than the standard XMS3 (9-9-9-24) stuff:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/6GB-D...preader-CoreI7