Project: Overkill

StarBound · Post by **StarBound** » 11 Nov 2011, 10:56

As from my sig it is obvious my system is the cream on a good tasting coffee that only compliments its flavour. I have been considering and pondering the upgrade to a LGA2011 system on its release and have made provision for it. However recently I came into more funds due to the turn of events this year and by no means were these funds gained because of fortunate events.

Never the less, I now have the choice to embark apon my most expensive upgrade I can ever make or to rather have those funds locked away for later usage. The question though is why do I consider gettings this upgrade? Brag rights, the desire to have the best possible, and the ever present human stupidity.

Project Overkill Step 1:
- Acquire a 6 core Intel i7 socket 2011 and LGA2011 X79 board. I estimate the pricing to be in the region of R4-5k for the cpu and R3-4k for the board.

Project Overkill Step 2:
- 4x2gb Transcend AxeRam 2000mhz ddr3. This will compliment the existing 8gb ram. Truly this is another step in overkilling as nothing sates the 8gb ram at current and that is without a pagefile. Estimate cost is R1400.

Project Overkill Step 3:
- 1200W PSU and 2nd MSI TwinFrozer2 580GTX. With a screen that can display 120fps synced and a single card that manages to either run 90-120fps in most of todays games this is a final step in project overkill. This will have the most signifigant impact on both the current and new system but it is directed at gaming. That is around R6k-7k on this section.

This brings Project Overkill to an amount of anything between R14k-R17k.

Now, to sign it off or to reject it...

D3PART3D · Post by **D3PART3D** » 11 Nov 2011, 11:28

Reject! Invest the money for later use. THE WINTER OF PEAK OIL IS COMING!

Slimshaedy · Post by **Slimshaedy** » 11 Nov 2011, 16:27

Uh that's a tough one, I'm kinda like you where I like having the best of the best. But I would save up even more until technology evolves etc and the new rig will make a huge difference in performance. I would maybe throw in another GPU into your current rig but your current cpu is handling all your games with ease!
Spending 17K for brag rights alone is a big price to pay. Throw in a considerable performance increase and I'd say yes.
I upgraded from a lga775 Pentium D to a 2600K, an 8600GT to a HD6870. The performance increase made it all worth it, bragging rights were a bonus!

StarBound · Post by **StarBound** » 11 Nov 2011, 20:21

A 1200W PSU from Coolermaster is R3k. That shot up the margins by R2k instantly.

Post by **KALSTER** » 12 Nov 2011, 02:30

Leave the CPU and motherboard and get two more monitors for surround 3D. That and another GTX580 and maybe a PSU upgrade. That way you'll actually see something different for your money.

Slimshaedy · Post by **Slimshaedy** » 12 Nov 2011, 14:10

Nicely said Kalster! I agree

StarBound · Post by **StarBound** » 12 Nov 2011, 15:58

I dont have space for 2 more 23" screens and I prefer a single screen anyway. Unless they start bringing out curved screens.

Post by **KALSTER** » 12 Nov 2011, 16:56

Pity. It would look very cool with those thin bezels and in 3D.

Post by **KALSTER** » 12 Nov 2011, 17:06

How about this bad boy for R80k:

NEC 43" Curved Monitor

StarBound · Post by **StarBound** » 12 Nov 2011, 17:39

Hehe, Now I just need the extra 65k for it

Post by **KALSTER** » 12 Nov 2011, 17:51

I think the image quality would suffer a bit, since I think it is projected. Might as well do 3 HD projectors onto a curved cloth. Still, it would be cool.

Maybe a good modder can help you with removing the necessary bezels and putting the screens flush? Still not enough space for that though I guess?

Well, my desk is big enough, but of course, I am way too poor for something like that..

StarBound · Post by **StarBound** » 14 Nov 2011, 17:17

Seems like Project Overkill only kills my bank account...

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cor ... ,3071.html

StarBound · Post by **StarBound** » 15 Nov 2011, 23:41

Ok Project Overkill is not dead yet. Right now I am in the process of investigating the motherboards and while the Rampage 4 looks awesome in every aspect a snag has popped up giving me doubt. Board layout is my main concern as non of the LGA2011 boards has an onboard Xonar and Rampage being an ASUS board you would think that they would slap on the best sound chip on the planet. That is not the case however and its layout means that should I ever decide on going SLI/Xfire I will loose the x16 slot or my xonar. Tough choices. I am looking at the following boards and what makes them attractive and unattractive.

MSI X79A-GD45
http://www.msi.com/product/mb/X79A-GD45 ... div=Detail
There are 2 versions of each MSI board. This one happens to have a good layout for a dedicated sound card even with an extra card but the downside is it only has 4 ram slots and default number of sata6/usb3 ports.

ASUS Rampage 4
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_ ... V_Extreme/
One mother of a board. Will not only break world records but leave you broke aswell. 4-way SLI/Xfire, ample extra supply of sata6 and usb3 ports makes this very attractive but sadly the drawback is the pci-e x1 is right below the 2nd 16x pci-e slot so going multi gpu will decrease the setup to 16x/8x.

ASUS P9X79 Deluxe
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_ ... ifications
Again another nice board but same issue with the pci-e placing. Has the extra SATA6 and USB3 ports.

ASUS Sabretooth X79
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_ ... ifications
The layout for this board is probably the worst. Should I move to a 3 slot card I will loose my Xonar instantly. It has the other extra sata6 and usb3 ports but I can kiss my sound card goodbuy.

Now the pricing remains to be seen. I should mention that I am not really an overclocker and the rampage board screams overclock. But the features it has cannot be over looked even at stock clock.

RuadRauFlessa · Post by **RuadRauFlessa** » 16 Nov 2011, 06:58

Given the Issues I'd still go with the Rampage 4

Post by **KALSTER** » 16 Nov 2011, 09:14

MSI X79A-GD45
http://www.msi.com/product/mb/X79A-GD45 ... div=Detail
There are 2 versions of each MSI board. This one happens to have a good layout for a dedicated sound card even with an extra card but the downside is it only has 4 ram slots and default number of sata6/usb3 ports.

Will you ever need more than 16GB RAM? Will you ever need more than 3xUSB3 and 2xSATA3 ports? With 4 PCI-E x1 ports, you could always get an expansion card for two more USB3 ports?

StarBound · Post by **StarBound** » 16 Nov 2011, 09:35

Currently I have 4 2gb sticks so all slots are filled. That means I need to completely replace all my ram sticks. I have 3 SSDs and 1 of them is a sata6 drive. Given the size I can see going for another SSD sometime and that means I need the ports.

Post by **KALSTER** » 16 Nov 2011, 09:39

Like Kingston's new KC100 series. The 480GB goes for just over R10k.

StarBound · Post by **StarBound** » 16 Nov 2011, 11:36

Or I could go for an OCZ RevoDrive with all those pci-e slots to spare.

Post by **KALSTER** » 16 Nov 2011, 11:42

O ja those are cool. SuperTalent has similar drives.

StarBound · Post by **StarBound** » 16 Nov 2011, 14:57

Well the msi offering is out the window again on that Revodrives. They need a x4 slot and that means back to the big ones. They read/write at 1500mb, 3x faster than ocz vertex/agility 3 which is 500mb on sata6. So the only way to compensate for that is to go Rampage and then it renders going Revodrive useless because you get the extra 4 ports.

Post by **KALSTER** » 16 Nov 2011, 16:42

But the third PCI-E x16 slot will be open. Can't you plug the x4 card in there?

StarBound · Post by **StarBound** » 16 Nov 2011, 22:24

It could but placing is becoming awkward to say the least and if I want Revo it needs to be imported.

StarBound · Post by **StarBound** » 19 Jan 2012, 12:30

Ok Project Overkill has changed somewhat. The only part of it that is completed is step1. The CPU I got for R7000 and the motherboard for R6000. That is around R3000 more than estimated even with working on a 10x$ ratio.

I don't have an urge to head back to AMD after the whole battlefield 3/Rage issue. No doubt the 7970 is an amazing card but I want to see what nvidias answer is. I've had really good ATI experience in the past but thats just it, it was ATI. I'll see once the 780/680 hits the market on which way I want to swing it.

DevillEars · Post by **DevillEars** » 19 Jan 2012, 19:02

Given the Subject Line, you may just want to consider one of these:

At >R16k it's not exactly something you could fund by taking a hammer to the old piggy-bank, but by scrimping a lottle here and a lottle there, who knows?

PS: In case you haven't recognised it, it's the Asus MARS II

PPS: As far as fast SSDs go, you could always try RAID 0 with two SATA 6G Vertex 3 MaxIOPS drives (except you'll lose any TRIM capability)

Anyway, until Mr Lotto rewards me with a very broad grin, I'll stick with what I've got...

PCFormat Forum Archive

Project: Overkill

Project: Overkill

Re: Project: Overkill

Re: Project: Overkill

Re: Project: Overkill

Re: Project: Overkill

Re: Project: Overkill

Re: Project: Overkill

Re: Project: Overkill

Re: Project: Overkill

Re: Project: Overkill

Re: Project: Overkill

Re: Project: Overkill

Re: Project: Overkill

Re: Project: Overkill

Re: Project: Overkill

Re: Project: Overkill

Re: Project: Overkill

Re: Project: Overkill

Re: Project: Overkill

Re: Project: Overkill

Re: Project: Overkill

Re: Project: Overkill

Re: Project: Overkill

Re: Project: Overkill