I7 New Build - Need Help with GPU

[jamesgomez08]

I'm almost decided to the following components except video card.
Core i7-965@Stock Cooler
ASUS Rampage II Extreme
3x2GB Dominator 1600Mhz
Coolermaster 1250w
HAF 932


For GPU, I'm thinking GTX 295 or GTX 285. And Planning to either or quad SLI in the future but I've read that 285 tri-sli is better. Should I wait for i7-975? I currently have a 24 inch monitor with 1920x1200 @60Hz. I don't like OCing so I would like to get the highest. I'm going to use this for 3D Rendering, Video Converting and Extensive Gaming. Thanks.

 

[Shnur]

What budget do you have in mind for? If you have the money, go for the best.
Your motherboard is overkill if you're not planning to do any overclocking, you can try to find something cheaper and supporting tri/quad SLI and then invest the money into the 295.

 

[Helloworld_98]

the 965 isn't worth it, get a 920 D0 if you want to OC or get a 975 if you have the money and want to OC since it will get over 5ghz on a good air cooler alone. then for gfx cards buy a trio of 4890's because ATi has better multi GPU drivers and they will outperform the GTX 285's while costing less.

but for the amount of money you're ready to spend I would be thinking about a Dual W5520 setup with one of the CF supporting boards and a couple of 4890's as this will help a lot for video converting and rendering since it has double the cores (8) and double the threads (16) while still playing games amazingly, probably 40-50fps max settings on crysis.

 

[jamesgomez08]

What budget do you have in mind for? If you have the money, go for the best.
Your motherboard is overkill if you're not planning to do any overclocking, you can try to find something cheaper and supporting tri/quad SLI and then invest the money into the 295.

I actually thinking of MSI Eclipse which is a bit cheaper than R2E. I've read somewhere that Quad SLI slows down system. On the other Hand There is a good review about 285 Tri-SLI which they said it's faster than 295 Quad-SLI. I won't be able to get the TRI-SLI right now but I will in the near future. My Current Monitor is 24" with 1920x1200 max res and also need to connect my PC to my 40" LCD TV for movies while gaming. Some of the forums I read said that GTX-295 is Overkill for that res but I'm just wondering why most people always try to get the maximum out of components. I understand about finances but I'm just wondering what if you need a big head room. What I'm trying to say is that If you get the The Highest specs you may or may not use all of the resources but at least you will have enough leeway for new software or games especially now a days that almost every 3 months new applications are being launch. I don't want to Offend anybody but I just can't figure out why they said that 920 is better than 965. I think I will only be convince if I see benchmarks of i7-920@3.2 vs i7-965@stock.

 

[Helloworld_98]

^ the 920 is a D0 which allows it to overclock just as far if not further than the i7 965 which is a C0 cpu. you'll also see that the 920 @ 4.6ghz will outperform the 965 at 4.6ghz because it will have a higher QPI base.

 

[jamesgomez08]

^ the 920 is a D0 which allows it to overclock just as far if not further than the i7 965 which is a C0 cpu. you'll also see that the 920 @ 4.6ghz will outperform the 965 at 4.6ghz because it will have a higher QPI base.

Does all mobo enable QPI adjust? Do you suggest any mobo brand?

 

[Helloworld_98]

the ASUS P6T series and gigabyte seem to be the best for low to mid end boards, but for top end go for the EVGA classified.

 

[jamesgomez08]

the ASUS P6T series and gigabyte seem to be the best for low to mid end boards, but for top end go for the EVGA classified.

Don't you recommend R2E? I heard that Classified is only for people using Liquid cooling or L2N. Which I'm not. I would probably stick to air.

 

[jamesgomez08]

I'm kind of Lost track with my question. Is GTX 295 worth it? Will this be compatible with DX11?

 

[Shnur]

No DX11 until we get completed specs for the requirement... probably the next gen of cards will support it.

 

[jamesgomez08]

No DX11 until we get completed specs for the requirement... probably the next gen of cards will support it.

So does this mean If I buy the most expensive card i.e. GTX 295 this won't be compatible with the next versions of DirectX? Will NVidia provide any driver for this?

 

[Shnur]

DX11 is not a question of drivers, it's a hardware question, and nVidia will not provide you with a small add-on chip that you'll be able to solder into your card... instead they'll sell you the next gen cards.
The standard is still under work, if we're all lucky, it'll be compatible with the 2xx GeForce series and the 4xxx (and maybe even 3xxx since they both have DX10.1 support), but I wouldn't be counting on this.

 

[PC_Plum]

DX11 is not a question of drivers, it's a hardware question, and nVidia will not provide you with a small add-on chip that you'll be able to solder into your card... instead they'll sell you the next gen cards.
The standard is still under work, if we're all lucky, it'll be compatible with the 2xx GeForce series and the 4xxx (and maybe even 3xxx since they both have DX10.1 support), but I wouldn't be counting on this.

This is good Topic. Question, So what happen to those video cards that only supports DX9.0 can you play games runs on DX10? Do I need to be more concern about the hardware than the software. In my case I don't upgrade often, I mean at least 5 years. From you said, it's kind of pointless if I'm going to buy GTX 295 if you cannot use it with DX11.

 

[Shnur]

DX10 support came along with nVidia 8xxx series and ATI HD 2xxx series, the cards before (even coupled with Vista) don't support it.
You have to be aware of hardware AND software; it's impossible to get DX10 under XP (was at a certain point, but the guy that made it possible stopped fixing things that didn't work well...), it's also impossible to get DX11 on Vista (or maybe it will with a service pack or a patch, like for DX 10.1 and SP1).
So basically what you will need, it's Windows Seven along with a DX11 card. What I would tell you, is buy everything now and a basic video card (like a 4770) and when proper hardware comes, you upgrade and you don't feel sorry for the 100$ you dropped off. Other, more interesting option, is that you get some nVidia card of 8xxx or newer (I'd say go for a 9800GTX or a GTS 250) and then use it as a PhysX accelerator.

 

[PC_Plum]

Almost a year old news but not sure if this is true.