quad-GPU cruncher, mark 2

[VirtualLarry]

The discount on the free Gigabyte AM3+ 760G board IS showing up for me.

Anyways, for the main Cruncher/Gamer rig, I was let on to an alternative from Lol_Wut_Axl.
The Asrock P67 Extreme4 Gen3 and the Z68 Extreme4 Gen3.

ASRock P67 EXTREME4 GEN3 LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157265

ASRock Z68 Extreme4 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157250

Both boards have nearly the same layout. Three physical PCI-E x16 slots, x8/x8/x4. Both are "Gen3", so the first two PCI-E x16 slots will run at 3.0 with an IB CPU.
Both support SLI/CF.
Both have floppy ports.
Both have front USB3.0.
Both leave a free PCI slot when all GPU slots are populated.
Both are available at Microcenter, eligible for the $50 discount with a 2500K, and in-stock at the time of writing this.

My only hesitation, is the percentage of poor reviews on both of these boards at Newegg. It seems kind of high.

USB3.0 problems, BSODs, etc.


Edit: It has been pointed out to me that there is also an AM3+ Asrock 990FX Extreme4 board.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157266

Which is also available at MC for the same price, $160. With a $40 combo discount, with purchase of a 1045T!

The AMD board also has an IDE port, besides the other niceties. And because it is the 990FX chipset, there are 32 PCI-E 2.0 lanes for graphics, so both primary x16 slots get the full x16 electrical bandwidth too, which is nice.

Edit: I got the Asrock 990FX Extreme4 AM3+ board.

 

[blckgrffn]

I brought home a 1045t bundle today, hoping to get 225 on the bus of that 760g board, we'll see...

Sounds like a heck of a build, Larry. Seems close to the realm of just getting two 2600k builds and doing cpu crunching/folding to me, but obviously there are times when gpus cannot be matched.

I am a little surprised you havent just been incrementally replacing your gpus but I can see the appeal of a fresh build

 

[VirtualLarry]

I am a little surprised you havent just been incrementally replacing your gpus but I can see the appeal of a fresh build

You mean in my quad-GPU cruncher with the 9600GSOs? I thought about that, just throwing in some GTX460s. But that would mean that I would have the 9600GSOs left over, not doing anything. It would also mean that I would need to get a beefy PSU, and I would have to change the case to one with 8 expansion slots, to hold 4 double-wide graphics cards like the GTX460. So in the end, I would be replacing so much, it might as well be a new build.

Plus, with my current plans, I will be able to make it do double-duty as an SLI gaming rig, rather than just a crunching rig that sits in the corner. Major plus!

Edit: Though, I don't know if it is worth the electricity to run those 9600GSOs. I figure they take 75-80W each. A GTX460 card has three times the stream processors, so three times the performance, but they take 160-180W each. So I guess it's a slight win, as far as performance/power, for the GTX460s.

The 9600GSOs take 2hr ea to run PrimeGrid WUs, the GTX460 takes 35-40min.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Well, it's slowly getting together. I got the 990FX Extreme4 board, the 1045T X6 CPU, 4x4GB DDR3-1600 1.5v Sniper RAM, and an OCZ Vendetta cooler, in a Rosewill Blackhawk case.

I have a temp HD hooked up with a trial install of Win7, just to test and do some overclocking.

If anyone with OC experience with Asrock mobos, or X6 CPUs, please feel free to chime in. The thread is here:
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2225125