4K gaming rig planning

[IFeaRZz]

I've already received my 4K monitor and building a new computer I have a reasonably good budget and I'm not sure if I should go 2011 socket or LGA1150, and if I should go with CrossfireX Toxic 7970s anyone got any good ideas?

[unidentical]

LGA 1150 will be the better bet, probably won't see any real gains going to X79 for this, unless you plan on using more than 2 cards.

 

The toxics would be an awesome choice if you can find them. That's buckets of vram.

[IFeaRZz]

I'm planning on running a multi GPU set-up with 4 possibly 3 on one motherboard but its finding one which supports it.

[Wats]

does a 7990 sound like a good idea? idk, does to me..

 

two 7990s is quadfire and you could save some money on the board and chip if you go 1155/1150.

[IFeaRZz]

That could be a viable option I suppose because I'm just doing some digging and the 7990 launched yet?

[Wats]

They're out, only $1,100 a card.

 

 

I think you can find some 4k gaming benchmarks if you're interested.

[IFeaRZz]

I shall have a look for some, I've seen they're powerful!

[wpirobotbuilder]

IMO the market isn't really ready for 4k gaming. The rig you'd need is extremely expensive (2-3 titans) so unless you can afford it right now it's probably best to just wait and stick to 1080p or 1440p in the meantime.

[MzCatieB]

for 4k u want more Gb on each GPU, you are better of SLI'ing 1-3 Titans together or getting a couple 6gb model of the 780 on launch

[alpenwasser]

Also keep in mind that, at least for now, Crossfire is still plagued by those pesky

frame rating issues. It might get fixed at some point, but if I sink several thou into

a build I don't think I'd be buying components that don't quite work yet.

And as Pixxie says, lots of RAM per card is desirable for 4k, the Titan or a 780 in its

6 GB version would probably be your best bet indeed. Provided the frame rating issues

get fixed, the Toxics don't look like a bad choice imho, you're certainly going into the

right direction. And they would most likely have much better price/performance than a

Titan setup (at least I'd think so, but that's just a guess, haven't read any reviews

on them ;)).

[Helltech]

Crossfire isn't working right now and AMD still hasn't released drivers to fix this. WIll they? Yes. Will they anytime soon? Who knows. 

 

4GB GTX 670s in SLI are your best bet if you want to stay on budget.

4GB GTX 680 in SLI are probably too overpriced.

Single/SLI Titans will preform ridiculously well but will be way overpriced for what you get

 

Personally I'd wait for 700 series.

[IFeaRZz]

Well currently my budget is just short of 4-way Titan SLI so I'm not sure which platform now LGA1150 or LGA2011

[alpenwasser]

Four Titans will give you awesome bench scores, however, for gaming you're unlikely going

to get much of an edge from 4-way over 3-way, so if you really want to blow that much money

on a rig I'd probably go 3-way with a socket 2011 M/B system (at least as things stand now).

Or you could wait for Haswell and see how that performs, it's not very long off by now. Waiting

a bit would allow you to base your decision on actual facts and benches instead of conjecture.

Any advice on 2011 vs 1150 at this point is pure guesswork, anyone else's guess is probably

as uninformed as yours (I know mine is), except for the few people who have already gotten

their hands on some samples. ;)

[IFeaRZz]

I'm not sure I want to spend the money on the titans because it'd leave me short of money for a CPU just worked it out.

[alpenwasser]

I'm not sure I want to spend the money on the titans because it'd leave me short of money for a CPU just worked it out.

Well you don't have to go for four Titans ;). With Haswell so close and the 700

series rumored to be around the corner, maybe this really is a decision best put off for

a little while to see how things stand once the new stuff has come out.

[IFeaRZz]

I suppose this decisions best put on hold until Haswell, it's something I need to get done soon, I've already got my eyes on a corsair 900D case I think it's called, so I shall wait for Haswell and have a look, I'd probably go with a 6core if Haswell is a let down, is their any real differences between the 3970x and the 3930k?

[alpenwasser]

is their any real differences 3970x and the 3930k?

None that could justify the humongous price difference IMO. 3970x is for when you

absolutely, positively need those last few bench points because you want to set

a new record or something. The 3930k will come very close to it while costing

a little more than half.

[IFeaRZz]

Well I'm not going for a record so ill probably go for the 3930k then, I'm just gonna be using it for 3D programming and some hardcore gaming.

[alpenwasser]

Be aware though that a 2011 system only really makes sense if you

• can make use of the extra PCI-E lanes
• and/or have software that can use those 12 threads
• and/or have software that can profit from the greater memory bandwidth

The first point depends on how many GPUs you have (although from what I've seen

even multi-SLI setups are not that much dependent on PCI-E bandwidth at the moment).

If you do 3d stuff, then the second point might be fulfilled, depending on your

software (same with point 3). I would definitely check this out more closely before

buying anything, maybe wait for some Haswell benchmarks.

But yes, if you go LGA2011, then go with a 3930k IMO.

[IFeaRZz]

I'm going to be using cinema 4D for personal projects but for work, I shall be using Maya and 3DSmax with custom software also, that's mainly the work aspect, would it be better for the graphics cards to have more lanes?

[orangecat]

4K = GTX Titan you need the VRAM and speed I would not recommend CrossFireX because of the current frame time issues.

[alpenwasser]

IFeaRZz, on 13 May 2013 - 02:19 AM, said:

would it be better for the graphics cards to have more lanes?

In theory yes, but I have so far found little concrete information on how much the

PCI-E bandwidth actually affects an SLI setup's performance. I shall post if I find

more info.

Last time I checked on how important PCI-E bandwidth was for SLI performance, it was

very little (this was some time last year), and I think that was even with PCI-E 2.0.

Since Haswell will have PCI-E 3.0 (twice as fast), I doubt this has changed much,

but as mentioned, I have no concrete info to support that statement at the moment.

[IFeaRZz]

I shall wait until I see has wells bench marks, hopefully Linus gets some up soon!

[josh_05]

IMO building a system of that caliber deserves 2011. Even if the Sandy Bridge-E chips do fall behind Haswell and i highly doubt they will. Ivy-Bridge-E is going to be released on 2011 as well so you have an option to upgrade down the track. 2 Titans and a 3930k should do very nicely imo.

[Hyydrah]

LGA 1150 will be the better bet, probably won't see any real gains going to X79 for this, unless you plan on using more than 2 cards.

 

The toxics would be an awesome choice if you can find them. That's buckets of vram.

I'm not sure about that, but I hope that it's true. From what I've seen, some CPUs can be a substantial bottleneck at higher resolutions.