Building a i7-990 Extreme Machine....

[FenixAremid]

Hey people,

I just built a pc with the following specs:

Intel i7-990x 3.46ghz 6 core CPU
12gb corsair DDR3 ram
Zotac gtx 470 video card
ASUS P6X58d PREMIUM mobo
OCZ 80 gb solid-state hard drive
2tb 7200 RPM Barracuda XT hard drive
1000 watt powersupply
Soundblaster x-fi extreme audio card
Win 7 Ultimate 64Bit
25 inch HP high def monitor

Anything you guys can reccomoned so that Im getting the most out of this setup? Bios Tweaks,c orrect SATA connections, ANYTHING you can think of is welcome!

 

[basket687]

I recommend the i7 970 instead of the 990x
I certainly don't recommend the Gtx 470, there are better options (tell us what will that PC be used for and your screen resolution).

 

[FenixAremid]

Why 970 over 990?
Why not GTX ?
Screen Resolution is up to 1920x1080
The machine will be used mainly for video editing and photoshop type software.

 

[basket687]

the 970 is more than 400$ cheaper than the 990x.
For the Gtx 470, do you want it for CUDA in photoshop? Because it is one of the few Geforce GPUs that photoshop supports as a CUDA processor. Otherwise, there are better options (especially for gaming).

 

[FenixAremid]

Well I already bout the CPU and yes the gentleman at the store did inform me of the price difference and the slight difference in specs...I opted for the 990x cause I had the extra cash to spare...I wanted the top of the line CPU. Not going to do much gaming on this thing....I used to build gaming machines when I was younger but this puppy is gonna be partnered up with my Canon EOS Rebel T2i DSLR. I have already been able to watch 1080p video taken with the camera at full screen with no clipping or skippping...that alone is worth the price tag on this thing...Im just hoping I have my SATA drive properly connected cause I know the MOBO supports 6gb/sec tranfer rate. Arent I supposed to see 6 CPU's in the computer/Properties panel?

 

[geekapproved]

The video card is pretty week for the rest of the system for sure.

I agree with Basket687, you paid $400 more for 200mhz. You could have just bumped the 970 up 200mhz.

Anyways, also there are new cpu's coming out that will be half that price and much faster in a couple months.

 

[FenixAremid]

Well Gents,
Ill start by saying thanks for all the POST PURCHASE advice. But Like I said the parts are already purchased and assembled. I know full well that anything you buy is bound to be obsolete weeks to months after you buy them. Thats a fact that we all know. My purpose for starting this thread wasnt to hear "coulda, woulda, shoulda" If i had held off for something "better" then something "better" wouldve come out right after that. The purpose was to hear anythoughts on what i can do with what I HAVE. I dont want to get involved with overclocking because then you need to spend extra cash on cooling systems and all that jazz and then there goes the money I couldve "saved" on the proccessor. So I went with what I felt was the best choice for what I want to do...gaming is NOT a primary use for this machine, but at least I have the option. So as much as I appreciate the Post purchase advice(which I will keep in mind come upgrade time) I really would like to hear from people who can help me tweak it the best way as it is.

Regards,
Fenix

 

[mortonww]

I'm just hoping I have my SATA drive properly connected cause I know the MOBO supports 6gb/sec tranfer rate. Arent I supposed to see 6 CPU's in the computer/Properties panel?

I'm not understanding this part. You are unsure if your HDD is connected to the correct ports? Is your SSD SATA III? Your ASUS board has two SATA III ports in white, so as long as you've connected your SATA III devices to those two ports, you should be fine.

And you should see 12 CPUs in device manager. Go to device manager by typing it into the start menu search bar, and under "Processors", you should see 12 instances of your CPU.

Further tweaks: You could always buy a $30 - $60 cooler and push the 990x a little faster. Maybe do a mild overclock to 3.6 or 3.8 GHz with the Tuniq Tower 120, Hyper 212+, Corsair H50 or H70.

 

[FenixAremid]

NOW THATS WHAT IM TALKIN ABOUT MORT!!! Yes i see the 12 proccessors in device manager! Thanks!! Any other advice feel free to let me know!!

 

[mortonww]

Have you checked your BIOS to be sure that your RAM is running at the rated speed and timings? Is it a 1600 MHz set? I think it defaults to 1066 if you don't manually set the RAM multiplier and timings.

 

[FenixAremid]

Thanks for that....I just went out and got another 12GB of ram but it seems that the Corsair I was running is at 667MHZ and this new RAM is running at 533MHZ...I was told by the person at Microcenter there would be no difference if I mixed Ram as long as it was 1600 DDR3 The new RAM is Patriot Sector 7.... Im going to go in the bios now and Check on the multiplier and timmings

 

[FenixAremid]

Well now.....I am so not well versed in this enough to go playing around in that stuff...But Ill be googling all night LOL Thanks Mort!

 

[FenixAremid]

Say Mort....what do you know about CUDA?

 

[mortonww]

Not much, I've only dabbled with PhotoShop and flash, but apparently you can utilize NVIDIA GPUs to accelerate some functions in CS4 and CS5. I know almost nothing beyond that. Sorry.