What Is The Absolute Fastest System One Can Build Today?No Price Limit

I'm wondering what components would make the absolute fastest system one can build as of January/February 2009?

Price no object. Geared toward gaming.

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Just go to your favorite on line retailer and buy the most expensive components you can find. After all, if they cost the most, they must be the fastest. :sarcastic:

Threads like this are a joke... :pfff: :sleep:

------------------------------ ASRock X58 Extreme - Core i7 920 - 6GB Crucial Ballistix DDR3 1600 - Sapphire 4890 2GB - Creative Xtreme Gamer - 4-80GB WD in RAID0 on HighPoint RR 2310 as OS drive - 1-320GB WD scratch drive - Corsair CMPSU 750TX - HAF 932 - Hanns-G 281DPB @ 1900x1200
Reply to chunkymonster

Hey ass wad, did you read the thread?

I'm wondering what components would make the absolute fastest system one can build as of January/February 2009?

Price no object. Geared toward gaming.

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to wick001

Probably something around a i7 965 (1000$) + two GTX 295 in SLI (1000$) + 12GB DDR3 (300$, probably more for OCable memory) + Killer NIC M1 (230$ ... why not ...) + some SSD (500$+) + X58 MB (300$) + PSU (200-300$) + some good water cooling kit (lets say 300$) + tower (200$, Antec 1200)

So without going into details we are talking easily into the 3100$+ here. Oh and it will probably be matched by a 1000-1500$ system 12 month after built

------------------------------ The capacity to learn is a gift; The ability to learn is a skill; The willingness to learn is a choice. - Rebec of Ginaz

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Reply to Zenthar

Intel i7 extreme
I think 3 Nvidia GTX 285 cards would be faster than 2 Nvidia GTX 295 cards.
Most of the X58 motherboards are pretty good, but I hear there is one that is Called Rampage 2 extreme that might be the best of the best.
I would go with a raid 0 SSD setup using the fastest SSD on the market. I would set up several of these. As well as a mirror raid using five standard hard disks to esnureyou never lose your information.
Get some DDR3 2000 or higher if available memory. 3 x 2GB or if available 3 x 4GB.
Get a huge water cooling system. Maybe add in some tec coolers to the water basin to keep it cooler.

Proc $1000+
GTX 280 x 3 plus water cooling blocks $1500+
3 SSD raid 0 x 2 + 5 HDD raid 5 drives $3500+
memory $500
Motherboard $500
Water cooling and case $600+

$7600 + odds and ends

Reply to A Stoner

Okay here goes nothing.....
The fastest i7 processor you can buy, nitrogen cooling, overclock it to around 5 ghz. Put it on the most expensive x58 style motherboard you can find running a couple of GTX 295 cards for quad SLI.
Throw in about 6 gig of memory, Vista 64, and a couple of Velocirapters, 1 for the OS, 1 for the programs, or in this case, games. Maybe even an SSD for the OS, and a couple of Velociraptor's in RAID 0 for the rest.
Of course everything is relevant. It depends on what games you run, your Monitor, resolutions, and a whole host of other factors.

It's like asking what is the fastest production car in the world? There are a whole list of them that really scream, but each one excels at some point over the others depending on the course you are driving.
It's a bad analogy, I know, but this is a question compiled from ignorance.

Reply to jitpublisher

AMD! LOL

Reply to grieve

^ j/k in case you didn't figure it out.

Reply to grieve

If price is no object, you can build something pretty fast using AMD parts, sure.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_Roadrunner

Reply to aevm

I did this kind of crap about 5 years ago. as the above poster says. in about a year, your Rig that cost you a small fortune can be beat with hardware that is 1/5 the cost of your rig.

If I was doing this, I would make money an object. In fact i do. I look at the games I want to play, I build for them with a buffer. I would recomend getting the best motherboard you can, The X58 Rampage II Extreme. Get a lower priced i7 processor and over clock the hell out of it. Get a couple nice SSD, but not the $500 each ones, maybe something between those and the cheap ones. build a second back-up HDD raid. Go with either one GTX 295 or 2 GTX 285. Get the killer NIC, at this price, you might as well.

In six months, take the savings from buying the absolute best today, and upgrade your processor and your video cards. In 6 months again, repeat. The reason is that top shelf today is not top shelf in 6 months. Certain items are going to remain valid. Buy the best RAM you can, and the best Motherboard you can.

SSDs I would suggest the same, but their prices just keep dropping so fast and performance continues to increase so much over short periods of time that you may find out your $3500 worth of disks is slower than $250 worth of tomorrows.

I upgrade video cards twice as often as I upgrade processors. I upgrade processors twice as often as I upgrade motherboards, and I upgrade motherboards twice as often as I upgrade my storage. I gave up on water cooling, as no matter how much effort I put into ensuring no leaks, they always happened over time. Basically I decided it was possible to do water cooling, but only if you had a workshop that could do the entire cooling setup using hard copper tubing instead of flexible tubing.

Reply to A Stoner

Unless someone is literally bathing in money (Scrooge McDuck Style) and don't mind putting this kind of money every 1-2 year, it is my opinion that someone would get a much better overall experience if he simply put 1000-1500$ in his PC every 12-18 months. It would allow him to play every game at High settings and have a smooth computing experience.

------------------------------ The capacity to learn is a gift; The ability to learn is a skill; The willingness to learn is a choice. - Rebec of Ginaz

Reply to Zenthar

I agree Zenthar, $1500 every two years would keep you at the lower side of top end... forever.

Reply to grieve

The reason I ask this is because i just built a complete new system, and was wondering how much better it could have been with the best of the best parts...

Here is my brand new system:

Core i7 920 - overclocked to 3.9GHz stable
Gigabyte UD5 motherboard
6 gigs G.Skill DDR3 1333 ram
Sapphire ATI Radeon 4870x2 (2 gigs DDR5)
PC Power & Cooling 750watt
Coolermaster V8 CPU cooler
WD 640gig Hard Drive 32mb Cache

What do you think?

Message quoted 2 times

Reply to wick001

I think it's excellent.

A GTX 295 card or three GTX 280 cards would have had more raw power, but that HD 4870 X2 can deliver 60 fps in most games even at high resolutions anyway. If your monitor refreshes at 60 Hz, that additional graphics power wouldn't do you any good.

If you really want to upgrade that build, maybe add a Velociraptor.

Reply to aevm

wick001 wrote :

Hey ass wad, did you read the thread?

I'm wondering what components would make the absolute fastest system one can build as of January/February 2009?

Price no object. Geared toward gaming.

Yes butt-nugget, I did read your original post. Just about every n00b comes through here asking this same BS. Might as well have asked what the best pizza topping is...

wick001 wrote :

The reason I ask this is because i just built a complete new system, and was wondering how much better it could have been with the best of the best parts...

Here is my brand new system:

Core i7 920 - overclocked to 3.9GHz stable
Gigabyte UD5 motherboard
6 gigs G.Skill DDR3 1333 ram
Sapphire ATI Radeon 4870x2 (2 gigs DDR5)
PC Power & Cooling 750watt
Coolermaster V8 CPU cooler
WD 640gig Hard Drive 32mb Cache

What do you think?

I think you should have asked this question before you built your system, butt-nugget.

I can't decide if you are looking for approval of your new system or having buyers remorse. Either way, threads like this are a joke...

Message edited by chunkymonster on 01-21-2009 at 07:01:50 PM

------------------------------ ASRock X58 Extreme - Core i7 920 - 6GB Crucial Ballistix DDR3 1600 - Sapphire 4890 2GB - Creative Xtreme Gamer - 4-80GB WD in RAID0 on HighPoint RR 2310 as OS drive - 1-320GB WD scratch drive - Corsair CMPSU 750TX - HAF 932 - Hanns-G 281DPB @ 1900x1200
Reply to chunkymonster

This thread is full of fail.

Reply to oicwutudidthar

If the OP would have stated the question correctly he would have received better answers.
The system he put together is not the best but by no means is it crappy.
As soon as you buy something PC wise your going to have buyers remorse.
Maybe not immediately but it will happen.

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to XndeX

I7 965 EX
Rampage II Extreem
2X295 BFG
4xVelociraptors
3x2g Kingston HyperX DDR3 2000
Lian Li case
1200 Toughpower
some high end peltier or water cooling

DREAM.......

Message edited by mdma35 on 01-21-2009 at 10:28:41 PM

------------------------------

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Reply to mdma35

XndeX wrote :

If the OP would have stated the question correctly he would have received better answers.
The system he put together is not the best but by no means is it crappy.
As soon as you buy something PC wise your going to have buyers remorse.
Maybe not immediately but it will happen.

How can you even say the word crappy when talking about my new build?

The only thing that would make it better is the Corei7 Extreme, and another video card.

My system is one of the best out there right now...

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to wick001

wick001 wrote :

How can you even say the word crappy when talking about my new build?

The expression "by no means is it crappy" means not-crappy...

Message quoted 1 times

------------------------------ The capacity to learn is a gift; The ability to learn is a skill; The willingness to learn is a choice. - Rebec of Ginaz

Reply to Zenthar

Zenthar wrote :

The expression "by no means is it crappy" means not-crappy...

Thanks Zenthar.

And wick001 next time just ask for a comparison.

A good title would have been;

Please compare this build and tell me what improvements I can make.

Or,

Did I mess up or is this the bomb?

Or,

Would you build this rig if you had (whatever it cost you)?

Reply to XndeX

note taken. thanks.

Reply to wick001

I'd say something along the lines of:
the biggest case you can find
i7 965
x58 p6t WS
3x2gig ddr3 2000
I'm a bit iffy on pcie raid cards, a decent one is needed for sure though
4x x25-e (intel's extreme ssd's)
2x gtx295 (and a third card for physx?)
1000-1200w psu
xonar or fatal1ty sound card
killer nic
flash card reader
blue ray writer (pioneer?)
30inch dell screen (there's another equivalent 30inch panel out there but I can't remember the name atm)
flashy keyboard / mouse
for the watercooling kit, be ready to spend around 150$ per full-block for the 295s, 80ish for the cpu block, 70 pump (imo, x2 for cpu / vga separate loops), 30-50 tubes, 100+ for compression fittings, 20 ish for a reservoir, 200-400 for rads (go go 120mm x 4 rads, something like a PA).

The whole thing would cost you about 10 000$ in canadian dollars, probably around 8000$USD by last week's prices (I keep a spreadsheet updated lol).

Reply to antiacid

does it play your games? does it download your porn? does it make you feel good? go lick your own icing and quit asking us to watch!

Message edited by marcellis22 on 01-22-2009 at 05:08:23 AM

Reply to marcellis22

I'll admit that threads like these are stupid... but I felt I should mention the following for those 'ill informed' individuals...

Anyone mentioning any platter based hard drives are mistaken. SSD as well as RAM drives are slaughtering platter drives. I have an ANS-9010 with 24GB of RAM installed on a core i7. Even using the ANS-9010 on my Q6600 was night and day difference. The computer is night and day difference when using platter based media vice solid state media. The seek times of less than 0.1ms are the biggest performance increase I have ever seen for upgrading a hard drive. I was using 15kRPM SCSI RAID0 in 2003, and even those didn't give % differences in performance like this. Think about this... if you are waiting 5ms for data, that's 5ms that the CPU was waiting. What was it doing? Almost nothing. How many clock cycles were wasted during that 1 5ms wait? 400 million or more? That's alot of CPU power that just went down the drain waiting for a hard drive.

I will agree that for gaming, and other situations where you are not performing constant hard drive reads, these ms wait times are insignificant. But how often is a user seriously CPU limited? Very rarely, unless you are a gamer. You are pretty much always waiting for the hard drive. Boot times for your OS, program load times, everything is much faster. Often less than 1/2 the time it would take a platter based system. How long did it take most of you to install Windows XP SP3 when it came out? I installed it in less than 2 minutes. The rest of that 30+ minute time was lost due to pesky seek times. This situation alone represents an increase in performance of 15x for 1 task. I've already begun to buy SSD drives for my other computers. The upgrade to SSD alone is like buying a whole new computer. I'll be keeping my laptop for at least another year due to simply upgrading to SSD.

Yeah, I know, SSD isn't cheap, and ANS-9010 isn't cheap either. But price was no object..

Reply to cyberjock

wick001 wrote :

The reason I ask this is because i just built a complete new system, and was wondering how much better it could have been with the best of the best parts...

Here is my brand new system:

Core i7 920 - overclocked to 3.9GHz stable
Gigabyte UD5 motherboard
6 gigs G.Skill DDR3 1333 ram
Sapphire ATI Radeon 4870x2 (2 gigs DDR5)
PC Power & Cooling 750watt
Coolermaster V8 CPU cooler
WD 640gig Hard Drive 32mb Cache

What do you think?

That is an excellent build.
If I was building new, did not care to spend the extra for an i7, I would put together something almost identical. Personally though, I would chose the GX2 295. But really, past the parts you have it all comes downe to personal preference from here on out.
You can always go faster.....but do you need to? And where does spending money just to eeek out a couple of more FPS become completely foolish?
Again, nice build dude.

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to jitpublisher

Depending on the games he plays, the performance gained from GTX 295 might not be worth the 25% price difference (400$ vs 500$).

------------------------------ The capacity to learn is a gift; The ability to learn is a skill; The willingness to learn is a choice. - Rebec of Ginaz

Reply to Zenthar

jitpublisher wrote :

That is an excellent build.
If I was building new, did not care to spend the extra for an i7, I would put together something almost identical. Personally though, I would chose the GX2 295. But really, past the parts you have it all comes downe to personal preference from here on out.
You can always go faster.....but do you need to? And where does spending money just to eeek out a couple of more FPS become completely foolish?
Again, nice build dude.

Thank you, I appreciate that.

I’d just like to add something to everyone who is crying about this thread.
If I wanted to know “What is the absolute fastest system one can build today?” with no price limit, I would click on this thread and hope to find a list of different personal configurations so I could get some ideas. Not douche bags saying this thread is a joke, who probably have no real clue as to what they are talking about.

Reply to wick001

The idea is good, but "fastest money can buy" often end in so ridiculously high prices that it is close to irrelevant. However, there is the periodic "Builder marathon" articles with a similar concept, but they split it in 3 different budget categories.

------------------------------ The capacity to learn is a gift; The ability to learn is a skill; The willingness to learn is a choice. - Rebec of Ginaz

Reply to Zenthar

i7 965 EE: $1000
Asus Rampage II Extreme: $400
2x EVGA GTX 295: $1000
PC Power and Cooling T12W 1200W: $400
Lian Li PC80 case: $380
Adaptec 2252400-R SAS RAID controller: $650
4 Seagate Cheetah 15k.7 600GB drives for RAID 0: ~$2000 (Sure, you could get SSDs, but this setup gives you 2200GB of ridiculously fast storage)
LG Blu-ray burner: $250
12GB Corsair Dominator DDR3-1866: $820
Good water cooling setup

Total: $6900 plus the cost of a good water cooling setup.

Or you could get this:
https://cx1.cray.com/default.asp (try configuring it and see )

Message edited by cjl on 01-22-2009 at 05:50:01 PM

Reply to cjl

Does anyone have a compairison between the 4870x2 & GTX 295?

I just built my new system a couple weeks ago, kind of upset that the GTX 295 just came out and supposedly beats the 4870x2 now, but if the performance is only a hair better, I don't see the point in upgrading cards.

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to wick001

It beats it, but it would definitely not be worth upgrading to. Both are good cards honestly - I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Reply to cjl

wick001 wrote :

Does anyone have a compairison between the 4870x2 & GTX 295?

I just built my new system a couple weeks ago, kind of upset that the GTX 295 just came out and supposedly beats the 4870x2 now, but if the performance is only a hair better, I don't see the point in upgrading cards.

Yeah, nothing at all wong with your 4870X2, it is a very fast card, the 295 only beats it by a little, but if price is no object....... put 2 of them in there for Quad SLI!!!! I guess you can also though add another 4870x2 and go quad Crossfire(I think you can do that, but I may be wrong).......but it is a small gain for the additional cost.
As I said earlier, it's to the point with your rig that it's personal preference, I kind of lean towards nVidia these days, probably because the 8800GTS 512 (G92) I have has just been an awesome GPU for me, and I see no reason to jump brands. If I was buying a couple months ago though, I am sure the 4870x2 would have been high on my list of possibilities, that is for certain.

Reply to jitpublisher

You can quad with the 4870x2. It isn't really worth it until 2560x1600 though (and maybe at 1920x1200 if you really like Crysis).

Reply to cjl

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Reply to wick001

Oh, you're including sound in the system?

Be prepared for a massive bump in price on my dream setup then:

Sound card: Creative X-fi Titanium Fatal1ty Champion (PCIe x1 - $200)
Reciever: Denon AVR 5308 CI ($5500)
Subwoofer: 2x SVS PB13 Ultra ($1600 ea)
Mains: Bowers and Wilkins 800D x2 ($11,500 ea)
Center speaker: Bowers and Wilkins HTM1D ($9000)
Side and rear surrounds: Bowers and Wilkins DS8S x4 ($1650 ea)

Total: $47,500

Do I ever intend to spend this much on audio? No. Do I ever think I'll own this? No. But, it does figure into my dream setup...

Message edited by cjl on 01-23-2009 at 09:49:52 PM

Reply to cjl

I think this thread is OK, enough so that I read the whole thing. I read it because I wanted to see how close my idea of the fastest machine would be, and to see if there was something that I didn't know about.

I'm not a gamer, so the CAD workstation I just got for work is pretty close to a dream computer- E8500@3.8GHz, drive0- 300GB Velociraptor, drive1- 1TB WD, 4GB ram, XP Pro, ATI FireGL V3600, twin 22" widescreen Viewsonic monitors. The FireGL is a midrange card but good for CAD. I think now that I could improve the display situation with one large monitor (30"?) in the middle and a standard format 20" on either side.

Reply to cadder

Eight Way Opteron 5U Server
CPU type: SWT Eight Way Server
Eight Opteron 8439 Six-core CPUs, 2.8GHz, 3MB L2, 6MB L3
Tyan Transport VX50 B4985V50V4H-4P-E Eight Way Opteron Platform
Built-in IO: 4 USB, 3 Gbit, 1 serial and 2 PS/2 ports
128GB PC2-6400 DDR2-800 SDRAM, Registered ECC, 32 DIMMs

3ware 9690SA-8I, 8 direct devices, 128 w/ expanders
Battery backup unit for Areca RAID controllers
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8X DVD-ROM drive, ATAPI
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nVidia Quadro FX 5800, PCI-Express, 4gb, 2x DVI, Displayort, 2560x1600
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Three built-in Gbit network cards

Fedora 11 x86_64
MS Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit installed for multi-boot, w/ DVD/docs
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Reply to dave001

LOL... +1 FOR DAVE001'S BUILD!

Reply to KageRyu

What is wrong with you people...are you dumb?...why are you necroing threads that are 10months old???

Reply to blackhawk1928

Focus On

Forum Homebuilt Systems : New System Build - What Is The Absolute Fastest System One Can Build Today?No Price Limit