Getting QX9770 Today - What Else Should I get?

[Rubycon]

Originally posted by: Idontcare

Wait so Areca buckled? :shocked: I'd never have believed it. Time to dig up that nasty gram I got and reply back to ask what prompted the change in attitude.

Now I need to figure out how to flash that 1280ML...

It's not that bad. You need to have the areca server app running on your machine OR have the RJ45 connected to your LAN with the device setup on an accessible subnet. (or at least have a machine that can see it where you can flash it from)

Overview here

 

[Idontcare]

Originally posted by: Rubycon
It's not that bad. You need to have the areca server app running on your machine OR have the RJ45 connected to your LAN with the device setup on an accessible subnet. (or at least have a machine that can see it where you can flash it from)

Overview here

Thanks!

 

[HOOfan 1]

wait a second, wasn't the title originally getting a QX9650? now it is QX9770...umm where would you get one of those, they haven't been released.

or am I missing out on the joke? If so here let me join in.

I suggest for a case you modify a Koenigsegg CCR

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: HOOfan 1
wiat a second, wasn't the title originally getting a QX9650? now it is QX9770...umm where would you get one of those, they haven't been released.

future build which is why everyone is asking for pics.

:T Usually only a few people can actually get away with a i have unlimited budget to build a computer.

When they find out exactly what that number is, most get cold feet.

An exotic computer such as skulltrail can easily break 5 digits with the right eq. The op's 15k budget would probably cover the cost of what i listed.

SSD's arent cheap.


@ Ruby where do you see the 1680 for 400 dollars? Show me! Id by that card right now if you can link me to a crediable source for 400 dollars.

Last time i looked up that card was running near 1000 dollars.

 

[HOOfan 1]

Originally posted by: aigomorla

Originally posted by: HOOfan 1
wiat a second, wasn't the title originally getting a QX9650? now it is QX9770...umm where would you get one of those, they haven't been released.

future build which is why everyone is asking for pics.
.

but he said he was getting it "today"

 

[JohnVM]

no the title was always QX9770 and Tiger Direct already has them -- they called me tonight to confirm my shipment. it arrives tomorrow according to them (I overnighted it).

I didn't get skulltrail because I've read that FB-DIMM's can be up to 33% slower than non-FBDIMM's. Is this true or mistaken? I do do a lot of CPU/RAM intensive data mining on my machine (this is not primarily a gaming rig) and care deeply about both maximum single threaded performance and parallelism.

and for all the haters who think this is bs post -- pictures can start going up tomorrow accordin to shipping plans from the various co's. took 4 diff co's shipping shit to put together this rig, so can't confirm everything arrives tomorrow, but this is far from a bs post or a "future dream" build. shits already been ordered now (although might return/swap out the areca card for that new one recco'd now).

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: JohnVM
no the title was always QX9770 and Tiger Direct already has them -- they called me tonight to confirm my shipment.

I didn't get skulltrail because I've read that FB-DIMM's can be up to 33% slower than non-FBDIMM's. Is this true or mistaken? I do do a lot of CPU/RAM intensive data mining on my machine (this is not primarily a gaming rig) and care deeply about both maximum single threaded performance and parallelism.

Im kinda lost on this statement. Not primary gaming yet dropping 2 9800?

Needing best and fastest single thread performance, and going quadcore?

Overclocking til no tomorrow on a business machine?? <--- this expecially sounds funny.

Parallism does sound quadcore, but unlimited budget? How about building 2 machines and not meshing 1 big budget on 1.

Get a work computer, and a gaming computer. Im really lost because of this last post and your first.

Sounds like a work computer but your phasing it?

Im serously recomending that you dont overclock a machine which needs to handle sensitive data or process it in fact. Overclocking hurts stability by a lot, and can only cause more problems then gains on the overclocking aspect.



EDIT: on the OP's behalf tho i was wrong, tigerdirect does indeed have this processor in stock:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/app...pNo=3720514&CatId=2399

Originally posted by: Shortass
I get amused when people buy CD's for $18 when you can buy the same thing for $10 in non-enormous chain stores because it's a total waste of money (and since I buy hundreds of cd's it makes a huge difference). Someone 'wasting' their money on a top of the line rig at least gives them the enjoyment of building an extreme computer nobody can afford and playing around with insane computing power. Sure, in a year the difference is negligible, but I'm sure everyone here would love to work with totally top end parts if they had the chance.

Well, i dont think neha will make it until the end of next year. The extreme gamer stuff should roll out next year but your going to be paying a premium for those. They fall under the same platform as enterprise stuff. I honestly think skulltrail was intel's test at seeing who would buy enterprise stuff labeled as gaming stuff for a premium to see if neha will do well on that extremist platform.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nehalem_(CPU_architecture)

look at bloomfield and nehalem-EP which is the server line. MP would be the tigertron line. Man i wish i could get one of those!

Socket LGA1366 for both the server xeon line and high end enthueist line! nice pricing to come... yeah right...

 

[Rubycon]

Originally posted by: aigomorla

@ Ruby where do you see the 1680 for 400 dollars? Show me! Id by that card right now if you can link me to a crediable source for 400 dollars.

Last time i looked up that card was running near 1000 dollars.

I'm sure a lot of people would do the same. :laugh:

The $400 is for the memory - cache (DDR2-533 ECC UNBUFFERED 4096 1.9V DIMM). Add another $110 for a battery. BBU is REALLY important btw for these gargantuan caches. Why? Well if you lose power you could (potentially) be missing up to the amount of cache from your array! A UPS is NOT a solution - accidents still happen. (trip over power cord, machine hard locks requiring power cycle, etc.)

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: Rubycon

Originally posted by: aigomorla

@ Ruby where do you see the 1680 for 400 dollars? Show me! Id by that card right now if you can link me to a crediable source for 400 dollars.

Last time i looked up that card was running near 1000 dollars.

I'm sure a lot of people would do the same. :laugh:

The $400 is for the memory - cache (DDR2-533 ECC UNBUFFERED 4096 1.9V DIMM). Add another $110 for a battery. BBU is REALLY important btw for these gargantuan caches. Why? Well if you lose power you could (potentially) be missing up to the amount of cache from your array! A UPS is NOT a solution - accidents still happen. (trip over power cord, machine hard locks requiring power cycle, etc.)

lol it sounded like you ment the card: *kickn the can*

Originally posted by: Rubycon

Originally posted by: Idontcare


Gigabyte I-RAM falls into this category (no SMART, thus no function with Areca cards).

Actually this has been resolved in the newly release 1.44 firmwares.

OP: Don't waste your money on a 1281ML. It's a fine card - I have several but it's obsolete already!

What you want is the SAS equivalent - The ARC-1680ix-24. This puppy features a faster IOP (1200MHz vs. 800MHz) and can address a full 4GB ECC cache. (the 12xx cards only 2GB) That module is pricey at $400 but if it's performance you seek - you shall get! This card can also run SAS drives alongside SATA drives something the 12xx cannot do. That would be my recommendation. The cards have not shipped to distros yet but this gives an idea on cost.

I would NOT buy an nv based chipset for a mid to high end system! If you're taking off the kid gloves, might as well do things the right way.

 

[LOUISSSSS]

wheres the OP? u get any of your new parts yet?

 

[aigomorla]

wait... isnt this thread suposed to be in general hardware now that i think about it?

 

[flexy]

dfi still makes the best OC boards, and X48 is only "better binned" X38. So dfi lanparty X38 or X48!

 

[v8envy]

Originally posted by: aigomorla

Im kinda lost on this statement. Not primary gaming yet dropping 2 9800?

I could see it. Since Uncle Sam is probably paying for 1/3 of the build, why not use the machine for fun in the off hours.

Needing best and fastest single thread performance, and going quadcore?

Could see that too. I want as much single threaded performance as I can get too. And then as many cores as I can get my hands on, roughly in that order of preference.

Basically power/watt is the winnah, with whatever gets the best single threaded performance within 1 standard deviation as the #1 pick.

Overclocking til no tomorrow on a business machine?? <--- this expecially sounds funny.

Yup, I do this too. As long as you run a cluster of > 5 machines and have some way to verify results produced are accurate OC FTW.

Parallism does sound quadcore, but unlimited budget? How about building 2 machines and not meshing 1 big budget on 1.

Get a work computer, and a gaming computer. Im really lost because of this last post and your first.

Bingo.

 

[JohnVM]

Not sure if this is gonna be the right place to post this, but having an interesting problem in setting this machine up. Basically, connecting both power connectors (the 12 pin as well as the 8 pin) makes it so that, when I try to power on, it seems to get power for about a fraction of a second (the gfx card lights up for about this long), and then it just turns back off. However, if I try turning it on without the 8-pin plugged in at all, the computer will turn on and stay on. (The problem here being no video output, and no mobo beeps to troubleshoot by). So, I can understand why, running without the 8-pin has strange effects and makes the computer unusable. But why would connecting the 8-pin and trying to power on lead in pretty much an instant shutoff? I should note that, after I connect the 8-pin, try to turn it on, and it fails, the on button has no effect whatsoever until i pull and reconnect the power to the computer or clear the CMOS.

I'm starting a blog to keep track of my building progress, so if anyone is interested in pictures or can perhaps spot some mistake I've made, please visit:
http://battleshipjusty.blogspot.com/

 

[Tempered81]

um for video cards, get a nforce 790i top of the line... approx $400
Load it with 3 8800 Ultra Black Pearl OC editions.

dont think you will beat it. Sadly those are 1.3 year old video cards. LOL

http://img.ncix.com/images/24451_Box.jpg

3 x black pearls: approx $2,800

 

[Rubycon]

Try to simplify things a little. Install the Intel HSF first and disconnect any electrical connections to that refrigerator device. Installing those is a PITA enough as it is - let alone having an issue with the hardware requiring it to be removed!

What Areca card is that in the box?

 

[JohnVM]

With nothing in the system except the CPU basically (removed RAM, gfx card, cooling system, no raid card, etc), the same effects are happening. With only the 24-pin EATXPWR power connector plugged into the system, the status LED's light up and things seem to be functioning. However, when I plug in the 8-pin EATX12V power connector, the LED's light up for maybe .25 seconds and then turn off, and the system does not seem to start at all. I'm hesitant to believe it's a short on the mobo as things seem to function when the 8-pin is not plugged in, but this is quite odd and I'm short on ideas.

As I'm using this phase change cooling system there are no fans. Does this board (Asus Striker II Extreme) *require* a fan to be plugged into the CPU fan slot? I tried plugging one of the case fans into there just to see, and it did spin up with the 8-pin not connected but had the same results when I plugged in the 8-pin, which makes me believe this is not the problem.

Other than a short, any ideas? I'm pretty perplexed.

 

[CurseTheSky]

This sounds all-too-similar to what happened to me. It ended up being a bad power supply.

Try processor + one stick of RAM + 1 video card and a DIFFERENT power supply. Use the stock cooler for testing. See if it boots.

 

[JohnVM]

Yeah, just pulled everything off except CPU and motherboard, and tried a different power supply -- one that passes a voltage test too (just ran the tester on it right now) and it checks out.

Tried a different 775 CPU too -- I have no idea what could be going on at this point. Pulled everything out of the case and put it on rug to to ensure no shorts. Bad mobo?

 

[Idontcare]

Originally posted by: JohnVM
As I'm using this phase change cooling system there are no fans. Does this board (Asus Striker II Extreme) *require* a fan to be plugged into the CPU fan slot?

What phase change cooling are you using? Vapochill LS? You need to be wary of shorting the backplate to the solder pins that stick out the bottom of the mobo.

I had a bitch of a time getting my vapoLS backplate to stop shorting to my Asus striker extreme. It wasn't a hard-short, but just enough of a short to cause the system to be really flakey from time to time. Eventually had to resort to using vinyl electrical tape to create offsets to ensure no shorts were occuring, fixed the problem for me.

The fan is not required, but you do have to go into the BIOS and tell it to ignore the CPU fan or else the bios will ask you to press F1 to acknowledge the detection of a failed CPU fan.

 

[Idontcare]

Originally posted by: aigomorla
Needing best and fastest single thread performance, and going quadcore?

Overclocking til no tomorrow on a business machine?? <--- this expecially sounds funny.

Parallism does sound quadcore, but unlimited budget? How about building 2 machines and not meshing 1 big budget on 1.

Get a work computer, and a gaming computer. Im really lost because of this last post and your first.

Sounds like a work computer but your phasing it?

Im serously recomending that you dont overclock a machine which needs to handle sensitive data or process it in fact. Overclocking hurts stability by a lot, and can only cause more problems then gains on the overclocking aspect.

As a counter-point from a perspective of experience with this situation I'll add some of the following commentary.

I run a single-threaded application called metatrader for my business, but I run multiple instances in parallel with each instance causing 100% utilization of a core. So I can understand why one would need fast single-thread performance while at the same time wanting many cores in the same box.

Regarding overclocking...I ran my machine on phase cooling at 3.73GHz 24x7 fully loaded for >1yr...for my business. Time is money and you have to balance the trade-off between time to solution versus stability issues delaying your time to solution. In my case I invested upfront in ensuring my overclock was stable and didn't give me any grief. There was one stretch if time where I didn't reboot my phase system for 5 months.

Sure I could have slapped it all together and had reboots every other day, but overclocking does not guarantee instability. Do your homework, know your tradeoffs for stability versus performance, and you can build a stable work computer which is overclocked.

And on your last points...eventually I did diversify my computing resources across multiple more quad systems, all overclocked but less aggressively so.

There's a time and place for all things, but sometimes you can't go straight from A to C without regretting not going to B for a while.

 

[aigomorla]

the strikers dont require a cpu fan.



Also im curious what phase unit are you running? Whats the evap head loading at? How many watts is it? Any pictures of it?

What company is it or where did you buy it at? Who built it for you?

What compressor is it running? And what gas is it?

 

[JohnVM]

Looking like it was a bad motherboard. Not sure what was wrong with it, but went to local computer store and bought EVGA nVidia Nforce 790i (link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?Item=N82E16813188025) to see if that resolved the problems, and after (very preliminary) testing it's starting to look like it just might. Don't really want to keep this board vs the Striker II Extreme, but if the Striker II just won't work... not many options. Just tested this board (EVGA) with only the chip + RAM in and it seems to power up fine, unlike the Asus Striker II Extreme. I'm installing the cooling system now, and will have another status update in a few hours.

Thanks for the help to all the interested/helpful parties so far.

More pics of our current status at: http://battleshipjusty.blogspot.com/

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: JohnVM
Looking like it was a bad motherboard. Not sure what was wrong with it, but went to local computer store and bought EVGA nVidia Nforce 790i (link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?Item=N82E16813188025) to see if that resolved the problems, and after (very preliminary) testing it's starting to look like it just might. Don't really want to keep this board vs the Striker II Extreme, but if the Striker II just won't work... not many options. Just tested this board (EVGA) with only the chip + RAM in and it seems to power up fine, unlike the Asus Striker II Extreme. I'm installing the cooling system now, and will have another status update in a few hours.

Thanks for the help to all the interested/helpful parties so far.

More pics of our current status at: http://battleshipjusty.blogspot.com/

id really hate to call you out like this.

But do you know your boards? That board in your blog is a maxiumus, not a striker II. StrikerII's dont have the fusion block in the middle.

http://www.hothardware.com/Art...0i_Motherboard/?page=2

And your phase unit is a VapoLS.

 

[JohnVM]

Which post on the blog are you talking about? We started out with the Striker II and had to switch off to the NVIDIA 790i board because the Striker II was apparently faulty. If you look at previous posts (not the most recent as now we have the NVIDIA board in) you should see some of the Striker II.

And yeah, the Vapochill LightSpeed is the phase unit.

Aigo: The one you just linked to is the 780i chipset. This is the 790i chipset. Perhaps that's the difference?

here's a pic of the board and the box it came in: http://img296.imageshack.us/img296/3520/dsc00561av3.jpg