EVGA SR-2 vs Gigabyte X58A-UD9

[hyrule571]

Which one is better? USB 3.0, PCI-E16 4-Way, SATA 6GBs...

Only thing is, the SR-2 is obviously more powerful due to the dual processor strength and more RAM, but the UD9 has one processor to handle the system with, yet, one processor costs less than two XEONS lol those things are a bit more costly, arent they?

Is the SR-2 worth the hassle compared to the UD9?

PS: The SR-2 has got to have 2 processors in order for it to work?

 

[tecmo34]

What are you building this system for, as either board may be overkill for your needs?

As for the SR2, I will PM a fellow poster jaquith, who is the only one I know who has a SR2, so he can speak on it better than I can.

 

[hyrule571]

Overkill, and future proof. Real future proof. For high end gaming..

 

[Emperus]

You actually don't need two processors for the SR-2 to work with.. A single processor will work fine.. You may add in another one at a later stage..

 

[hyrule571]

Emperus are you serious? Thats sweet! So its worth getting that mobo over the Gigabyte one?

 

[Emperus]

Every bit worth.. Especially when you are considering building up a workstation..

 

[jaquith]

A good SR-2 rig is going to cost $12,000+ and in some cases there are compatibility issues. The SR-2 is not an ideal gaming platform. People who build these systems aren't budget conscious, and most water block everything. I used 2 X5670 - oddly I paid $2,919.98 but now they're $2,941.52 3 months later, the highest price compatible Xeon x2 ~$3,400. My 'point' is you can build one hell of a rig just for the costs of the CPUs.

Yes, it's correct about 1 or 2 Xeon CPUs, no one I l know 'adds one later', and no you cannot use an i7 980X or any i7.

 

[hyrule571]

The i7 CPU's aren't compatible i know that yeah... Im thinking of the SR-2 then over the Gigabyte, but, compatibility issues, like what? Ill add another CPU later, TBH im on budget, but still im thinking of it. I really think that 12GB RAM is seriously enough, if not, more than enough for gaming, big time. Understandable that 12GB RAM may not be in the far future but for now, big time. Im a far future proof person because it saves money overall i think. PCI-E 3 though? Will we really need it? Is PCI-E 2.0/2.1 more than enough even for the future?

Recommend me to the best CPU this motherboard can handle from the Xeon series please?

Lastly, Xeon vs i7, who owns who in gaming overall? Even if its the slightly bit of performance which is better? Thanks..

 

[hyrule571]

Wait, or should i wait for Intel's new line up next year and base a machine totally off of that newer technology instead of this one? >.< confused, i take everything into consideration and want the best for the long run, everything not meaning ATI or AMD. Intel Nvidia fanboy XD

 

[jaquith]

There are tons of components that simply won't work, you'll need to check them all. Some Apps won't take advantage of both CPUs let alone see 8-cores + 8-threads. I just opened my old spread sheet and cut out all the 'good stuff' and the price still way over $7,700; GTX 580 2-WAY SLI, 256 GB SSD, RAID 1 2TB, 24GB RAM.

The best CPU is the Xeon W5590 - 3.33 GHz ~ $1,700 per CPU.

What are you 'trying' to accomplish with the SR-2? Gaming or what?

These would be fun -> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100008120%2050001550&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&CompareItemList=636|20-227-499^20-227-499-TS,20-227-662^20-227-662-TS,20-227-581^20-227-581-TS,20-227-521^20-227-521-TS,20-227-520^20-227-520-TS

Yeah, the X68 and the new CPUs are coming out sometime before Spring 2011. Who nows.

People building these rigs are eccentric.

 

[hyrule571]

But, what components lol XD got to be really thorough with me =[ sorry..

My accomplishments with this... superboard... just a really good gaming build that will LAST for years and will have potential to keep up in the future to play games at 1920x1080/1200 ATLEAST at medium or something, you know.. My build im looking at atm..

1600MHz RAM triple channel 6GB for now, 12GB+ at 2200MHz or 2000MHz for future

Some Xeon CPU, idk.. lol, ill get dual cpu setup when i need it like this current system does, this Pentium 4 @ 3.0GHz 800FSB 512KB cache bottlenecks my AGP 7950GT, so i need a cpu upgrade( ill sell this system) whats the best one i can get for around 300(Xeon)? idk im clueless kinda..

GTX 570 for now, just one. future, ill get some overkill setup like 4x so it can keep up with games at the time, hopefully.

750W PSU Corsair, for now. 1200 or 1500 for future purposes, once again. Just need a pretty good sick setup that can plow hard for a long time until i just need to upgrade again.

Btw... the X5680 is better than the W5590? Its complatible with SR-2..

 

[jaquith]

Gaming then don't go the SR-2 route. Based upon what you're saying it's like buying a Ferrari and putting a straight 6 and Camry tires and going racing around the track. I'm not trying to sound mean or sarcastic; by te time you 'add-on' they'll be something 2-3X faster. Moore's Law speed doubles every 1.5 years.

Conflicts, example some RAID cards, some SSD PCIe, RAM, etc -- it's like asking you what components aren't compatible with the i7 980X and ASUS XYZ MOBO -> plenty. The SR-2 is very picky so I quadruple checked every component and the RAM I called Mushkin. I tried a post at EVGA and all I got was a bunch of idiots posting nonsense instead.

PSUs - I ended up with two Corsair AX1200; 2400W.

CPU see chart -> http://cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

What is your Budget?

 

[hyrule571]

Dont worry, be kind of blunt its ok, as long as you get me to where i need to be. i dont understand how the SR-2 isnt the route to go, because those components i listed above are enough for atleast 2 years worth of gaming arent they? why i say that is because if i put the system to its overclocked maxed out full potential theres no point its a total overkill system is it not? due to my budget thats what i listed for now, what i think for atleast 2 years should be good. should i just wait until intel rolls out its new series CPU's and pci-e 3.0? idk =[

 

[Emperus]

OMG.!! All this was for gaming.!! In that case, I too would say that going for the SR-2 will be useless.. Apart from the compatible CPU's being costly, that board will also require ECC ram which is again costly and slow compared to non ECC ram.. Also, on a single processor comparison, an i7 which actually be faster compared to its xeon counterpart making it the better choice for non heavily threaded applications like games..

 

[hyrule571]

So then the X58A-UD9 Gigabyte mobo is the way to go? Would you guys still think this motherboard is future proof?

 

[Emperus]

I still wont recommend the UD9.. Its too costly.. And the same performance can be obtained with other low cost options.. Check out the Asus Rampage III Extreme.. Pair it up with the i7 980X if you wish to.. For your memory i'll recommend the Kingston HyperX T1 6GB (3 x 2GB) 1866 MHz..

 

[jaquith]

The SR-2 doesn't require ECC RAM, it can use them if you want. I didn't use ECC and it ran fine. The folks that 'really' want the SR-2 want it for the 'bling factor' more than anything. Both the UD9 or R3E are excellent MOBOs.

Future proof'ish - then wait for the X68s.

 

[hyrule571]

x68 will be way better than current x58 CPUs? I dont know if i have the patience haha.. The Asus R3 has 3-way not 4-way GPUs if im not mistaken, the UD9 is really my best bet because you guys said theres lots of negatives about the SR-2 and the UD9 is what im basically looking for, everything im aiming for it has.

 

[jaquith]

Way better not initially - depends if there's an extreme CPU similar to the i7 980x released from day 1, and my eye is on the PCIe 3.0. Unfortunately, GPUs aren't the 'same' in regards to releasing some obscenely fast GPU and filling in the middle. The R3E will 4-WAY CF & 3-WAY SLI; it will 3-WAY SLI + PhysX or 3-WAY SLI + SSD Array Card. Since I water block I can often squeeze cards in between on a 4-WAY MOBO. 'I prefer' SLI thus the UD9. EVGA discontinued all their 'fun' X58 4-WAY's in preparation for the X68.

Future proof'ish is buying the BEST CPU and BEST GPUs on the BEST MOBO with the BEST RAM plus the BEST SSD {array}. The best SSD Array in a single form is 1400 MB/s.

Again, what's your BUDGET??!!

 

[hyrule571]

Oh... I see... Sorry! Lol my budget is around... Oh, idk around 1500 or 1700, maybe 1800.. like 1875 thats max man. My thought of future proof - lol it may sound odd - here it is..

Get a mid-high performance system for now, that has the potential to upgrade to something very good that can handle alot of stuff, so i dont have to spend money on some newer technology when its not all that great compared to what my system has the potential to do. Thats how i see it.

I have an old computer, check it out on my personal info page, i am still content and patient with it. I play Unreal Tournament 2004, and thats a pretty light game for a system. If i try turning it up all the way my processor struggles, fps drops. I've done alot, i mean ALOT of stuff just so this computer operates as fast as it can in WinXP n all. So i've turned EVERYTHING lowest as can be except resolution(in-game), i modded it to run 1024x768 can i get average 70fps overall, 75ish too. I've even gone in the game folder's files and configured them to make it run optimal performance.

 

[jaquith]

$265 - ASUS P6X58D Premium http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131614
$350 - GTX 570 EVGA 012-P3-1570-AR http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130593
$294 - Intel i7-950 3.06GHz Quad-Core http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115211
$120 - CORSAIR DOMINATOR 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 TR3X6G1600C8D http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145224
$550~ - SSD 256GB {RAID 0 CTFDDAC128MAG-1G1 2X128} http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100008120&IsNodeId=1&page=2&bop=And&ActiveSearchResult=True&CompareItemList=636|20-148-348^20-148-348-TS,20-227-661^20-227-661-TS,20-227-660^20-227-660-TS,20-148-349^20-148-349-TS
$289 - ** Corsair AX1200 {3-WAY SLI} http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139014
$140 - 1TB {RAID 1} Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST31000528AS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148433
====
$2,008
- $274 if running 1 128GB SSD
====
$1,734
+180 if GTX 580 EVGA 015-P3-1583-AR http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130589
====
$1,914

My thoughts are bang for the buck GTX 570 SLI ($700) vs GTX 580 ($530). If you water block then you can easily OC the GTX 570 at or above GTX 580 speeds.

http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/reviews/58228/NVIDIA-GTX-570-Launch-News-Review-and-Benchmarks/p2/c1/

** If a 4-WAY is a possibility then $360 SILVERSTONE ST1500 1500W http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256054

 

[Emperus]

A gaming rig's future largely depends on the video card(s).. Not so much on the processor.. That's the reason that you'll see many happy Core 2 duo owners still holding firm on their builds.. IMO, even an i5 760 build today will comfortably run for another 4 years to come with proper video card upgrades along the line..

 

[hyrule571]

Jaquith, how did you end up with such high numbers lol.. When i calculated i got... like 1750 with the $600 motherboard and two 10000RPM HDs for Raid 0 if its possible, i think i calculated 600GB on the HDs altogether.

 

[hyrule571]

So Emperus, is the UD9 a good idea then? The only time i've witnessed a processor bottlenecking the GPU is my own system currently, check it out on my configuration page, its a bottleneck.

 

[jaquith]

@ Emperus - You're kidding right? The 1156 or worst the LGA775 would bottleneck the crap out of a GTX 5XX or GTX 4[7/8]X.

Bottlenecking -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGdo75gasaQ

The UD9 'big' benefit is it's ability to through HUGE amounts of power to the CPU and other components when needed; example Koolance water but -> REALLY a Nitrogen cooled rig. That's about it.

Jaquith, how did you end up with such high numbers lol.. When i calculated i got... like 1750 with the $600 motherboard and two 10000RPM HDs for Raid 0 if its possible, i think i calculated 600GB on the HDs altogether.

My numbers add-up correctly.

No, you don't want a 10K/15K RPM HDD. The crappiest SSD will smoke the HDDs. Look at R/W Speeds NOT the interface Types.

Examples Single Drive:
WD VelociRaptor WD6000HLHX SATA 6 Gb/s 10,000 600 GB 32 MB R/W Speeds ~145 MB/s.
Crucial RealSSD C300 CTFDDAC128MAG-1G1 2.5" 128GB SATA3 ~ 355MB/sec / 255MB/s.

SATA 6 Gb/s = SATA3 = Interface only. SATA2 Limit = 300 MB/s per device; SATA3 Limit = 600 MB/s per device.
However, the OCZ RevoDrive X2 OCZSSDPX-1RVDX0240 PCI-E 240GB is 740MB/s / 720MB/s which EXCEEDS the SATA3 limit!!!!