What Graphics Card?

[Ash]

I was assuming the dual-processor potentional as the most likely scenerio but was just curious.

[likwidtek]

Don't get a XEON. LOL get an i7.

XEONs wont benefit you in gaming.

[likwidtek]

Some google research to get you started.
http://goo.gl/DUVjM

[Maglorius]

The system will be a dual processor setup with 24gigs of ram to start, with the potential to expand to 48gigs. System will have 4 Way SLI support with 4 EVGA GTX590 Fermi 3072Mb 768bit.

Honestly don't have a real reason for Xeno over i7 other then price. I could downgrade the mother board and ram.

[Milhouse]

We put Xenons into our workstations at the office for doing 3D design and rendering work.  If you're not going to do that kind of processing, you're not going to see any benefits outside of a benchmark program.  You won't see any benefit in video games at all.  They're just not designed to utilize the processor that way.

[likwidtek]

I'm not trying to poke holes in your system or anything.  But this is severe overkill for a gaming rig.  That much RAM and XEON (server) processors are for servers.  Not gaming.  HUGE difference.  Servers are built to be slow, precise, fault tolerant but you trade latency for stability.  They are NOT gaming computers.

If you need a bleeding edge system for something like engineering rendering or a special development app you need requires XEONS with 24GB of RAM  that's one thing.

If you're wanting to play your games at 100+ frames per second with every setting maxed, that's another thing.

The reason I say this is mostly due to the money thing.  You can easily sink 5, 6 7 grand into a machine like this.  Which is like 3 or 400% more cost than the average top of line line gaming rig.  Keeping that in mind, you WILL NOT see a 3 or 400% increase in your gaming experience.  Most of that money is going to sit there quickly losing value.  Tri SLI is also a pretty big waste of money.  That is unless you really want to show off synthetic benchmark scores.  

Now let's say you have 6 or 7 grand burning a hole in your pocket.  Drop 2k on a bad ass gaming computer.  And put the rest in the bank.  Every year put another 500 or $1,000 into getting the top of the line single Graphics card out there.  MAYBE SLI but meh,  And maybe every 2 years or so getting a new CPU.  You're not wasting money that way.  If you sink all your money into a super computer now, you're still going to be outdated in a year or two like everyone else.

Regarding dual or tri SLI or crossfile.. I still haven't seen a cost analysis that shows real world perfomance gains that match the dollars you need to put into it.  Keep in mind, the last two rigs I built were SLI and Crossfire rigs.  None of the games I played even took advantage of DUAL GPU.  I sold my extra video card last time.  I just didn't see the gain.  Heck, a lot of games STILL won't take advantage of multicore CPUs.  Devs build games towards what most people own.  Most people can't afford a super rig like that.  

Just trying to save you some money.  Having a machine like that is worth bragging rights for a year or so.  After that, you're just letting a huge amount of money depreciate.  Fast.

[Maglorius]

We put Xenons into our workstations at the office for doing 3D design and rendering work.  If you're not going to do that kind of processing, you're not going to see any benefits outside of a benchmark program.  You won't see any benefit in video games at all.  They're just not designed to utilize the processor that way.

I am actually planning on using it more for 3D design and rendering work then for gaming. I personally wanted to get into doing graphic design work as a hobby / business, I know I should probably buy cheaper system to start out but if I start a business by selling graphic designs then it will become a write off in the end.

[Maglorius]

I'm not trying to poke holes in your system or anything.  But this is severe overkill for a gaming rig.  That much RAM and XEON (server) processors are for servers.  Not gaming.  HUGE difference.  Servers are built to be slow, precise, fault tolerant but you trade latency for stability.  They are NOT gaming computers.

If you need a bleeding edge system for something like engineering rendering or a special development app you need requires XEONS with 24GB of RAM  that's one thing.

If you're wanting to play your games at 100+ frames per second with every setting maxed, that's another thing.

The reason I say this is mostly due to the money thing.  You can easily sink 5, 6 7 grand into a machine like this.  Which is like 3 or 400% more cost than the average top of line line gaming rig.  Keeping that in mind, you WILL NOT see a 3 or 400% increase in your gaming experience.  Most of that money is going to sit there quickly losing value.  Tri SLI is also a pretty big waste of money.  That is unless you really want to show off synthetic benchmark scores.  

Now let's say you have 6 or 7 grand burning a hole in your pocket.  Drop 2k on a bad ass gaming computer.  And put the rest in the bank.  Every year put another 500 or $1,000 into getting the top of the line single Graphics card out there.  MAYBE SLI but meh,  And maybe every 2 years or so getting a new CPU.  You're not wasting money that way.  If you sink all your money into a super computer now, you're still going to be outdated in a year or two like everyone else.

Regarding dual or tri SLI or crossfile.. I still haven't seen a cost analysis that shows real world perfomance gains that match the dollars you need to put into it.  Keep in mind, the last two rigs I built were SLI and Crossfire rigs.  None of the games I played even took advantage of DUAL GPU.  I sold my extra video card last time.  I just didn't see the gain.  Heck, a lot of games STILL won't take advantage of multicore CPUs.  Devs build games towards what most people own.  Most people can't afford a super rig like that.  

Just trying to save you some money.  Having a machine like that is worth bragging rights for a year or so.  After that, you're just letting a huge amount of money depreciate.  Fast.

Thank you likwidtek, I honestly appreciate you poking holes into it. Having another set of eyes on specifications and a system setup is always a plus.

As I stated in my last message, I plan on using it for 3D designs etc.

As far as what I am currently using, I built this rig around April of 2008, I spent about 1700 on this setup back then, I probably will be upgrading it slightly as well just for gaming. I love newegg!

XFX 780i nForce motherboard.
Intel 2.4GHz Quad Core
4 Gig Ram
2 – XFX GTX 9800+ Black Edition Video Cards in SLI.
ABS Tagan BZ Series 900W
4 – 250g Western Digital RE hard drives SATA
1 – Lite On DVD Burner
Xclio Case
2 – 24” Sceptre Monitors

[likwidtek]

What software will you be using for 3d design?  Maybe I can help, I'm an IT manager for a global engineering firm.  I design systems for the CAD and BIM department.    We have machines that are running enormous models of huge universities, all the MEP (mechanical, electrical and plumbing), nanofabs, flat panel display fabs... all kinds of stuff.  

If it's anything like that I can surely give you some insider info on a perfect system that won't wreck your bank.  Is it Autodesk software like Max, Revit and AutoCAD?

[XxUnforgivenxX]

Likwidtek pownz.

[Dread]

my rig is
AMD 6 Core 1099t
8 gigs ddr3 ram
2 5870 Radeon hd in crossfire
asus pro mb
900w power supply
1 terabyte hd
1 Samsung BX2250 LED 22 in monitor hooked up with a hdmi cable
it cost me about 850 dollore to get this build right. and here is what it can do
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_H_Kk7SwIs

[Mavin]

just ordered my new compy today, video card is a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 - 2GB

[Dread]

nice that is a good card