Some Questions on a 3xs config.

[Qahrahm]

I'd like to order a system based on the 3XS Black Widow but with 1 or 2 changes, would these be possible?

The Motherboard listed is the Asus Rampage II Extreme. Would it be possible to use the new Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD7 instead? The main reasons being the USB3 & SATA III support - and it being a newer board the future compatability with the next set of CPU's should be better.

I've picked 2xSSD's, I'd like to use them as the system drive but that isn't an option on the current system config page?


System Overview below, wouldn't need the selected system drive, but not possible to remove it on the config page.

Custom Coloured Cases: *No Custom Colour Required*
Case: Corsair Obsidian Series 800D
Side Panels: *Custom Side Panels Not Required*
CPU: Intel i7 920 2.66Ghz 4.8GT s QPI @ 4Ghz with 20% OC
CPU Coolers: Corsair Cooling H50-1 Hydro Series H50 High-performance CPU Cooler
Overclocking: 3XS System Core-Logic Overclocking*10 - 20%*
Memory: 6GB (3x2Gb) Corsair Dominator PC3-12800 (1600) CAS8
NVIDIA Graphics - Multi GPU SLI Options Available: *No NVIDIA VGA Card Required* (ATI Required)
ATI Graphics - Multi GPU Crossfire Options Available: 1Gb XFX HD 5870 850Mhz GPU 1600 SPs 4800Mhz GDDR5
Power Supply Unit: 850W Corsair HX Series Modular (Dual Graphics Cards)
System Drives: 500 GB Samsung Spinpoint F3 7200 rpm 16MB Cache
Storage Hard drives: 1500 GB Western Digital Caviar Green 32MB Cache
Solid State Drives: 128GB Corsair Extreme Series X128 (Read 240MB s Write 170MB s), 2 selected
Optical Drive 1 - DVD Blu Ray: Sony AD-7240S-0B - 24x DVDRW
Optical Drive 2 - DVD Blu Ray: *DVD Writer Not Required*
Sound Card: *Sound Card Not Required Use On Board Sound*


I did send an email to Philip sometime between christmas and new years, but I've answered one of those questions myself since, and the motherboard query wasn't included. I thought it'd be better here...

Also any other comments or suggestions would be welcome.

Thanks in advance for your help.

[TAKTAK]

The list you're given on SCANs site is only a starting point, you can chop and change how ever you feel

Just either ring/email SCAN (or wait for one of the 3XS guys to pop in here) and they will sort it all out for you

[leepen@scan]

Hi Qahrahm, great to hear you're thinking of purchasing a 3XS System.

You'd be welcome to swap the boards out however this may affect the overclock and performance in Crossfire/SLI

Please bear in mind that the A series of boards from Gigabyte compromise the PCI-E bus when using the new host controllers...

Gigabyte compromises by giving users a choice between SATA/USB speeds and dual graphics. Other manufacturers, especially those with add-on cards are likely to go for the compromise.

http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles...?cid=6&id=3068

So if you stay with a single GPU, you should be okay but dual GPU's would be much harder work for the board. As for the SSD's we could configure them in any way you wish. The site is a general guideline and we can tweak the systems in many ways to suit your needs.

All the best

[Qahrahm]

Thanks for explaining that, I was under the impression that they would only conflict when both in use at the same time (only when a memory stick happened to be plugged in - who needs SLI graphics at the same time as copying 20GB's worth of files from a memory stick anyway?) Now I see that adding a second graphics card will completely disable the USB3.

Looks like I'll have to try to be patient until the Asus P6X58D is available. Do you happen to have an ETA of any sort on those? they've had them in the US for almost a month now :/


Thanks again for your help.

[Pete the Painter]

Thanks for explaining that, I was under the impression that they would only conflict when both in use at the same time (only when a memory stick happened to be plugged in - who needs SLI graphics at the same time as copying 20GB's worth of files from a memory stick anyway?) Now I see that adding a second graphics card will completely disable the USB3.

Looks like I'll have to try to be patient until the Asus P6X58D is available. Do you happen to have an ETA of any sort on those? they've had them in the US for almost a month now :/


Thanks again for your help.

Hi Qahrahm,

I've looked into the supply of the Asus P6X58D and I've been informed we should recieve stock by the end of the week. If you was to place your order in the next couple of days I can arrange to get one reserved for a system order if that's the board you require. Stock is very limited and we are only expecting 15 pieces.
Hope this helps.

Regards,

Pete