Eyefinity rig!

[TakeNoPrisoners]

I'm looking to build an eyefinity rig. Right now I have:

X4 955 at 3.8 GHz
5850 1GB stable at stock clocks
400gb HDD
620w PSU
AM3 880GMA-UD2H mATX motherboard
Thermaltake V3 Black Case
DVD Burner
1440x900 19" monitor
Cooler Master Hyper 212+
4GB of DDR3

I'd like to reuse as much as I can. I also got into Bitcoin mining so I'd like to go for an AMD rig.

I was thinking of getting 3x1080p monitors and then going with two 6950 2gb's along with a new 990FX motherboard. Also getting another 2 or 4gb's of DDR3. Also maybe getting two 1tb HDD's and going with a nice RAID 0 setup. Also I'd need a new PSU so something along the lines of a cooler master modular 750w PSU sounds nice.

I play WoW and Runescape alot. I plan on playing BC3 when it comes out along with Skyrim. I also would like to be able to record my game playing with Fraps or a webcam or something so I'd like some CPU power for that.

Do you guys have anything to add? I'd love to hear what you think. Maybe getting more GPU's for bitcoin would be good? 3x6950's sounds pretty cash.

 

[somethingsketchy]

750W PSU might be on the low side considering what kind of hardware you will be putting into this build. HDDs aren't much, however 2x 6950s "may" be pushing it. If you end up getting 3x 6950s (whetever you go further into BitCoin mining or not), you'll need a more powerful PSU.

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

750W PSU might be on the low side considering what kind of hardware you will be putting into this build. HDDs aren't much, however 2x 6950s "may" be pushing it. If you end up getting 3x 6950s (whetever you go further into BitCoin mining or not), you'll need a more powerful PSU.

Ok, thanks. Do you think I should go for an Intel build based on my gaming needs? I might end up buying a six core AM3 processor before bulldozer goes live so I can run my fraps or webcam software on one of those cores. When recording I'd like the experience to be as smooth for the viewer as possible.

 

[wuliheron]

Yer talking some serious coin for a rig and if you want to do it all right now it might hurt your wallet and the final results.

AMD just finished taping out southern islands and bulldozer isn't on the market yet either. This fall then would be a better time for buying all this stuff and Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, is when you can find everything at the absolute lowest prices of the year.

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

Yer talking some serious coin for a rig and if you want to do it all right now it might hurt your wallet and the final results.

AMD just finished taping out southern islands and bulldozer isn't on the market yet either. This fall then would be a better time for buying all this stuff and Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, is when you can find everything at the absolute lowest prices of the year.

Thanks for the advice. Yea it is going to be expensive. Might as well make it a bit cheaper, might even use the savings to get more hardware.

 

[wuliheron]

Thanks for the advice. Yea it is going to be expensive. Might as well make it a bit cheaper, might even use the savings to get more hardware.

If you are going to build a new rig its also best to buy everything at once. That way if anything is defective you'll find out right away and can send it back before the 30 days is up.

Bulldozer should do everything you want and the new southern islands graphics cards will be a significant improvement over anything on the market and should drive down prices on the current high end selection. If you wait until Black Friday it means you'll have a chance to see reviews on them and on mother boards as well.

The big question right now is what kind of monitors do you want. Depending on your budget I'd shoot for 24-27" LCD monitors, ~24" IPS, or 120hz. You may want to visit a PC store so you can see the actual differences with your own eyes. That way you'll have a better idea what to buy when the time comes.

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

If you are going to build a new rig its also best to buy everything at once. That way if anything is defective you'll find out right away and can send it back before the 30 days is up.

Bulldozer should do everything you want and the new southern islands graphics cards will be a significant improvement over anything on the market and should drive down prices on the current high end selection. If you wait until Black Friday it means you'll have a chance to see reviews on them and on mother boards as well.

The big question right now is what kind of monitors do you want. Depending on your budget I'd shoot for 24-27" LCD monitors, ~24" IPS, or 120hz. You may want to visit a PC store so you can see the actual differences with your own eyes. That way you'll have a better idea what to buy when the time comes.

Well I was thinking 20" $120 due to my desk space. How much do those types of monitors cost? I'm afraid IPS and 120hz may be out of my budget.

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

This looks like a great monitor. It is native displayport and IPS.

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

Also what PC store carries these types of monitors?

 

[bart1975]

Crossfire + Eyefinity = CrossEye?

 

[Skott]

If the OP stays to nothing larger than 22" LCDs then its possible to do it on the cheap. Cheap as in the cheapest way to do it. You could go 19" or 20" but LCD prices wouldn't change by a whole lot and you give up more screen viewing area. Try to find LCDs with a thin bezel. You don't have to use the best quality LCDs either to get a good Eyefinity set up.

Two ATI 6950s should do the job nicely. Especially if they are of the 2GB type. A good 750w psu will run those two cards nicely. If the OP thinks he'll ever go bigger dual GPU then go with a good 850w psu to play it safe. If I was wanting to do Eyefinity on the cheap (as in price) that is how I'd do it. But that is just me.

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

If the OP stays to nothing larger than 22" LCDs then its possible to do it on the cheap. Cheap as in the cheapest way to do it. You could go 19" or 20" but LCD prices wouldn't change by a whole lot and you give up more screen viewing area. Try to find LCDs with a thin bezel. You don't have to use the best quality LCDs either to get a good Eyefinity set up.

Two ATI 6950s should do the job nicely. Especially if they are of the 2GB type. A good 750w psu will run those two cards nicely. If the OP thinks he'll ever go bigger dual GPU then go with a good 850w psu to play it safe. If I was wanting to do Eyefinity on the cheap (as in price) that is how I'd do it. But that is just me.

I always want to save money. If I can get a nice eyefinity setup for less I'm all for it. It's gotta look good in video though. Thats the top priority. I want to do this competitivly and as long as I can show people my gaming with high quality video and sound then its game on baby! I'm thinking of triple cards because of bitcoin. It also would give me an extra layer of power to lay on these games. For video recording I think as long as bulldozer is as fast or faster than my X4 955 with more cores then im in the money.

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

One thing I was thinking of is buying two 1920x1080p monitors now and using my 1440x900 and running eyefinity accross those three monitors using the resolution of the 1440x900 monitor. Then later buying a third 1080p monitor.

 

[wuliheron]

Well I was thinking 20" $120 due to my desk space. How much do those types of monitors cost? I'm afraid IPS and 120hz may be out of my budget.

Remember I suggested buying them on Black Friday when they are at their cheapest. Exactly how cheap they'll be is anyone's guess, but you are more likely to find deals on the larger monitors then the smaller ones. I'd measure your desk carefully, and go check them out in the store to see what really appeals to you.

My own monitor is 27" and I bought on Black Friday for $250.oo with free shipping, which is roughly a hundred dollars off the normal price.

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

Remember I suggested buying them on Black Friday when they are at their cheapest. Exactly how cheap they'll be is anyone's guess, but you are more likely to find deals on the larger monitors then the smaller ones. I'd measure your desk carefully, and go check them out in the store to see what really appeals to you.

My own monitor is 27" and I bought on Black Friday for $250.oo with free shipping, which is roughly a hundred dollars off the normal price.

Nice. When you run eyefinity do you run them all horizontal to each other like in a straight line? Or do you angle them somewhat? Also how much of an angle do they need to be at? This will help me figure out how big I can get on the monitors.

 

[mfenn]

Nice. When you run eyefinity do you run them all horizontal to each other like in a straight line? Or do you angle them somewhat? Also how much of an angle do they need to be at? This will help me figure out how big I can get on the monitors.

Generally you wrap them around you a bit. How much really depends on your personal preference and how far you sit from the monitors.

EDIT: Oh, and for the love of God, do not upgrade from a Phenom II X4 to a Phenom II X6. That would be terrible value even if Bulldozer wasn't coming out soon.

 

[wuliheron]

Nice. When you run eyefinity do you run them all horizontal to each other like in a straight line? Or do you angle them somewhat? Also how much of an angle do they need to be at? This will help me figure out how big I can get on the monitors.

Anything over 30 degrees is overkill for wrapping them around. There are also wall mounts and desk mounts, including cheap homemade contraptions, that can bring the monitors off your desktop and allow you to remove their pedestals. What you really need to figure out is how much space you have available from left to right and what size monitors will fit in that space.

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

Generally you wrap them around you a bit. How much really depends on your personal preference and how far you sit from the monitors.

EDIT: Oh, and for the love of God, do not upgrade from a Phenom II X4 to a Phenom II X6. That would be terrible value even if Bulldozer wasn't coming out soon.

I sit very close. My desk is realitivly small. For encoding video and video stuff I thought it would be worth it. Guess not.

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

Anything over 30 degrees is overkill for wrapping them around. There are also wall mounts and desk mounts, including cheap homemade contraptions, that can bring the monitors off your desktop and allow you to remove their pedestals. What you really need to figure out is how much space you have available from left to right and what size monitors will fit in that space.

Ok will do. I can always move the desk a bit so I can let the monitors hang off a bit. The stands are expensive I think. If I could make something nice I'd go for that.

 

[mfenn]

I sit very close. My desk is realitivly small. For encoding video and video stuff I thought it would be worth it. Guess not.

If you sit close and have a small desk, you will want to angle them inwards. I can't give you an angle off the top of my head though. Just play around with it until it looks right in games.

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

If you sit close and have a small desk, you will want to angle them inwards. I can't give you an angle off the top of my head though. Just play around with it until it looks right in games.

Ok, but I'm trying to figure out before I get the monitors so I can see how big I can go.

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

My desk is 47" Long by 23" Wide. A 21.5" 1080p 16:9 monitor is 20.19" wide. According to this 3 19" 16:10 monitors can be used which combined has a width of 53". There has to be a way to fit 3 1080p monitors on this desk.

 

[TakeNoPrisoners]

I could probably get this stand. It looks nice. That way I don't really have to worry about how big the monitors are. I can go from 21" to 23" It seems. Over 23" and I can only use two.

 

[mfenn]

My desk is 47" Long by 23" Wide. A 21.5" 1080p 16:9 monitor is 20.19" wide. According to this 3 19" 16:10 monitors can be used which combined has a width of 53". There has to be a way to fit 3 1080p monitors on this desk.

You're not going to be angling them enough to make any appreciable difference in the overall width. We're talking (much) less than 30 degrees here.

 

[mfenn]

I could probably get this stand. It looks nice. That way I don't really have to worry about how big the monitors are. I can go from 21" to 23" It seems. Over 23" and I can only use two.

Good idea. Just make sure the monitors that you get are mountable via standard VESA mounts (some super cheap ones are not).