First build

[mfenn]

First sli now or never, down the road there will be better single cards to replace your current one, 98% of the fine you never sli later, second, nothing is "bad" it just won't be as efficient and you will end up using more power (from the wall)

:thumbsup: A bigger PSU will cost you more upfront and along the way in operating costs.

To add to mnewsham's point, cards like the GTX 570 draw pretty damn close to the maximum amount of power that can be drawn by a PCIe card (250W). You're unlikely to see single GPUs get more power hungry until we switch away from PCIe, at which point you'll need a new PSU anyway.

 

[IanGutz]

I was checking out the 912 case and noticed there are some empty spots for optional fans, is it reccommended to purchase these? if so what fan? i will most likely dabble in small to moderate overclocking and I think for videocards after reading many reviews (especially guru3d) i will purchase two 6850s. They seem to kick ass.

 

[mnewsham]

If you are going to get extra fans i would recommend these. They are fairly quiet and have good airflow (63CFM)

While you don't NEED fans they can come in handy in smaller cases and if you are doing heavy overclocks.

 

[IanGutz]

mnewsham I owe you a beer. I was looking at the cooler master ones with leds. NCIX has them for like 9 bucks. I figured matching the fan brand to the case couldnt hurt, plus they have decent reviews and add a little flair to the case, is there a reason to avoid these?. Would you recommend the optional side AND top fans? will i have room with the cpu heat sink you mentioned earlier and two cards?

Also semi unrelated, but will i need to buy some thermal compound when assembling this? if so, which brand should i choose and how much should i buy?

 

[mnewsham]

120 mm fan x 2 or 200 mm fan x 1 (optional)
120 mm fan x 2, 1200 RPM, 17 dBA (can be front swapped for one 200 mm fan)
120/140 mm fan x 1 (optional)
120 mm fan x 1 (optional)

So you can pick up two 200mm fans one 140mm fan and one 120 mm if you want the largest sizes.

 

[IanGutz]

Will all that stuff i selected (2 cards, bigger cpu cooler), fit in the 912 or should i go bigger? i would ideally like to keep the case as tiny as possible.

 

[mnewsham]

Going bigger wouldn't be bad (HAF 932) but it SHOULD fit.

 

[IanGutz]

Bigger just better for airflow i'd assume? how much better? I live in a dorm so space is at a premium.

 

[mnewsham]

bigger is better for airflow and if you want to expand and upgrade later you arent so constrained by space.

 

[Davidh373]

There is so much great advice going on in this thread, I don't have anything to add. I'll just repeat that you should go with a single card. Wipe any thoughts about SLI/CFX from your head. It's just a waste a lot of times.

 

[themillak]

Bigger just better for airflow i'd assume? how much better? I live in a dorm so space is at a premium.

I don't know where you're headed exactly but for the brief time I was in Rochester, NY (winter for 6-8 months a year it felt like) and living in the dorms, my roommate and I had to leave the window open because of how hot the school kept the dorms.

Also, big silent fans likely won't kill your budget but will keep your computer happier.

 

[mfenn]

There is so much great advice going on in this thread, I don't have anything to add. I'll just repeat that you should go with a single card. Wipe any thoughts about SLI/CFX from your head. It's just a waste a lot of times.

:thumbsup:

Nobody should be looking at CFX with two low-midrange cards.

 

[IanGutz]

Those cards crossfired seem to have very very positive reviews everywhere i read, their bench marks are also great, for the price.

 

[Davidh373]

Those cards crossfired seem to have very very positive reviews everywhere i read, their bench marks are also great, for the price.

But when you see as many "SLI/CFX Problem" threads as we do you tend to think differently. With these configurations they can sometimes even DROP your performance in games. I have a friend that goes to lan parties all the time that giggles at the people struggling with problems with dual cards trying to deal with a compatibility error right before a tournament. I also gave up trying to convince a friend not to get CFX 5770s, and he had problems immediately. He tried reinstalling drivers, reinstalling his OS (approx. 26 times), and installing older versions of drivers, until he gave up and sold off his second card at a $50 loss a month later. He also paid a premium for his motherboard, and overhead on his PSU which he'll likely NEVER get use of. So yeah... you can go by what the reviews say, sure, but just know that it isn't likely to be a path paved with candy canes and gumdrops. There are definite, known problems with SLI and CrossfireX.

 

[IanGutz]

Thank you for sufficiently scaring me away from dual cards. So for around $350 my best bet is still probably the GTX 570, I will have to wait until i can get some Sandy bridge goodies (whenever that is) to build this thing and prices might drop a bit by then. For $300-450 am i correct in saying my best be is the gtx 570?

 

[BoomerD]

http://www.mycrysis.com/news/crysis_2/crysis-2-pc-min-specs-revealed

The official Crysis 2 minimum specifications for PC have been revealed!
See below for the full list of system requirements to play Crysis 2, as always remember you can share your thoughts and feedback directly with us through the comments section.

PC Minimum System Requirements

Operating system: Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7, with the latest Service Pack

Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo at 2Ghz, or AMD Athlon 64 x2 2Ghz, or better

Memory: 2Gb (Vista requires 3Gb)

Hard disk space: 9Gb

Video: NVidia 8800GT with 512Mb RAM, ATI 3850HD with 512Mb RAM, or better

Sound: DirectX Compatible Sound Card

DirectX®: 9.0c

Controller support? Microsoft Xbox360 Controller for Windows

Any special multiplayer requirements? Internet Connection Required

Internet connection also required for a one-time authorization when the game installed/first run.


Of course, as we all know...MINIMUM specs won't always give smooth game play at minimum resolutions...and cranking up the eye candy will take a TON more horsepower...

 

[Davidh373]

So it's basically the first game :sneaky:

 

[mfenn]

Thank you for sufficiently scaring me away from dual cards. So for around $350 my best bet is still probably the GTX 570, I will have to wait until i can get some Sandy bridge goodies (whenever that is) to build this thing and prices might drop a bit by then. For $300-450 am i correct in saying my best be is the gtx 570?

At $350, yeah I'd go with the GTX 570. $400-$499 is really a barren wasteland, so you would need to jump to the $500 GTX 580 if you wanted to spend closer to the top end of your budget.

 

[IanGutz]

Ok, i am only waiting on mobo avaliblity before i build this. Would i benefit at all from buying a cheap (200 series nvidia) or similar card to use as a dedicated physx gpu? or am i better off just rocking the 570 on its own. Also would someone care to suggest a p67 mobo that supports sli (for future 2x gtx 570s) as well as the other gear ive mentioned. Would like to spend around 150-250 on the board.

 

[mnewsham]

Ok, i am only waiting on mobo avaliblity before i build this. Would i benefit at all from buying a cheap (200 series nvidia) or similar card to use as a dedicated physx gpu? or am i better off just rocking the 570 on its own. Also would someone care to suggest a p67 mobo that supports sli (for future 2x gtx 570s) as well as the other gear ive mentioned. Would like to spend around 150-250 on the board.

Dont SLI later, PERIOD!!!

And with the Physx you will benefit in the 6 games that support it, everything else it will just sit there.

 

[IanGutz]

Why not sli later? your saying just sell the 570 and buy whatever is more current? instead of swapping in another 570 when they are cheap. Anybody know where i can buy a condemned p67 board? i really only have to hookup a sata III ssd and one hard drive so sata ports issue doesnt really concern me. I am dieing to start building this though.

 

[BoomerD]

You can probably find a P67 board on Ebay...but you never know what you're getting...
AFAIK, the benefits of SLi are minimal. You never actually double your frame rate...more like a 50% increase at best...and with the added cost of the second card...and the accompanying increase in power demand...possibly requiring an even larger PSU, most folks just don't think it's worth the cost...especially when you can usually get about the same increase by upgrading your video card every year or two and selling your "old" card to recoup some/most of the cost of the upgrade.

 

[mfenn]

Why not sli later? your saying just sell the 570 and buy whatever is more current? instead of swapping in another 570 when they are cheap. Anybody know where i can buy a condemned p67 board? i really only have to hookup a sata III ssd and one hard drive so sata ports issue doesnt really concern me. I am dieing to start building this though.

Once you look at the true cost of building an SLI-capable system (+$50 mobo, +$50 PSU, etc.) and the fact the GPU performance pretty much scales linearly with transistor count, you'll realize that you just can't beat Moore's law. In other words, you'll find that your total costs are less and your performance is the same if you just upgrade to a newer single-card solution when the time comes.

Not to mention that you won't have to deal with the typical SLI/CFX BS (microstutter, negative scaling, profiles, etc.).