My Custom Build Specifications

[mcole254]

If you are really serious about building this for game development/ 3D graphics. Look into quality IPS monitors like this: http://accessories.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=320-8277&~ck=baynoteSearch&baynote_bnrank=1&baynote_irrank=0

Also when I mentioned water cooling earlier I was talking about a full custom loop, not a prepackaged unit which don't out perform air cooling. However if you are set on that cooler I would recommend the Corsair H70, its the same thing with a bigger radiator and if it leaks Corsair will replace any damaged parts no questions.

With the SSD again look at the Crucial C300. It utilizes the SATA III or wait for these to be released: http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2010/12/20/a-data-launches-sata-6gbps-ssds/1

As said above, look into building a workstation instead of a ridiculous gaming rig if you want to go with your college path. Get a workstation graphics card and I would also recommend getting a Xeon processor instead of an i7.

Finally ask on overclock.net for extra advice, it is a great site and the members are very knowledgeable and very helpful.

[urbex]

IBP? I've never heard of that. Why not just use newegg?

 

I'm just getting the most out of IBP's website, plus I won't be getting the my wish until february or so, so I will be updating the specs when they add more powerful machinery to the list. I'm going to get as much as I can out of this computer seeing as its completely free and provided by make a wish foundation, so why not have 24 gb of memory. I can understand your concerns, but money isn't a problem and to me I prefer to have more than less in a computer.

Just because you're getting it for free doesn't mean you should. No need to waste a charity's money.

[stealtrecon]

You've never hear of I Buy Power website? Unfortunately I'm limited to what I could buy on there and of course I don't know enough about computers to build them on newegg.com. And I don't want to buy graphic cards from anybody but ATI/AMD. If I have a motherboard or processor or whatever it is that you hook the GPU into... sorry for my lack of knowledge on computers... I may consider adding more than 3 GPU if its supported.

 

Actually, I see what you mean when saying I should go with a workstation. I just watched a video on the Intel® Xeon® 5600 for Workstations at http://www.intel.com/itcenter/products/xeon/5600/workstation.htm and it sounds very astounding. So I'll start by building my workstation around this particular processor.

 

Motherboard: Intel® Workstation Board S5520SC

CPU: Intel® Xeon® 5600 for Workstations

GPU: ATI FirePro™ V9800 Professional Graphics

• Crossfire: Yes
  
• Eyefinity: Yes
  

Memory: Kingston DDR3-1333 8GB ECC Reg. (12x8 GB - 96 GB Total)

Sound Card: Creative X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Champion PCI-E

Controller: Intel RS2BL040 RAID Controller

Networking: Asus PCE-N13 Wireless 802.11b/g/n PCI-E Adapter

Hard Drive: Crucial RealSSD C300 256GB SATA 6 Gb/s 2.5inch SSD

• Dual Drives: Yes
  

Data Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black 2.0TB

CD / DVD ROM: ASUS 12x Blu-ray Burner Lightscribe SATA (black) w/ Software

Removable Drive: ATech PRO-35U USB 2.0 Internal/External Card Reader

Case: Cooler Master HAF 932 w/ Liquid Cooling Package

Power Supply: Silverstone ST1500 1500W Power Supply

CPU Cooling: Koolance CPU-360 CPU Water Block

Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit OEM

 

Just because you're getting it for free doesn't mean you should. No need to waste a charity's money.

 

So are you saying I should ask for more and then I won't be wasting their money?

Edited December 22, 2010 by stealtrecon

[urbex]

You've never hear of I Buy Power website? Unfortunately I'm limited to what I could buy on there and of course I don't know enough about computers to build them on newegg.com. And I don't want to buy graphic cards from anybody but ATI/AMD. If I have a motherboard or processor or whatever it is that you hook the GPU into... sorry for my lack of knowledge on computers... I may consider adding more than 3 GPU if its supported.

 

Actually, I see what you mean when saying I should go with a workstation. I just watched a video on the Intel® Xeon® 5600 for Workstations at http://www.intel.com/itcenter/products/xeon/5600/workstation.htm and it sounds very astounding. So I'll start by building my workstation around this particular processor.

 

CPU: Intel® Xeon® 5600 for Workstations

 

Just because you're getting it for free doesn't mean you should. No need to waste a charity's money.

 

So are you saying I should ask for more and then I won't be wasting their money?

I still have a few questions...

Why ATi only? Nvidia is generally higher quality and has drivers that actually function. I really don't know enough about workstation cards to know if they're better than their nvidia counterparts though.

It also seems pretty silly to get such an extreme rig and not build it yourself. It's trivial, really. There's tons of guides and you'll have more control over customization.

Like I said, hold off on the CPU/Motherboard decisions for a few weeks. We'll have a new intel socket.

 

So are you saying I should ask for more and then I won't be wasting their money?

What? No. I was saying you shouldn't waste the money on something useless. (24GB of RAM in that case)

[stealtrecon]

Actually, for game design its not useless. AutoCAD and Animation programs require lots of memory, especially if you plan on using 6+ screens each running its own program. I've updated the computer to have 96 GB now. And this isn't a "lets not waste their money" topic, its a "lets build the most powerful and extreme computer possible for gaming and design" topic. :P

[urbex]

Actually, for game design its not useless. AutoCAD and Animation programs require lots of memory, especially if you plan on using 6+ screens each running its own program. I've updated the computer to have 96 GB now. And this isn't a "lets not waste their money" topic, its a "lets build the most powerful and extreme computer possible for gaming and design" topic. :P

Sorry sir, you have no idea what you're talking about.

First of all, you wouldn't we running 6 instances of the program. You'd have a few render windows up and tools on another. The strain on the system would increase, but not exponentially as you imagine.

Secondly, the CPU/GPU would bottleneck AutoCAD way before you hit your insane "96GB of ram"

Thirdly, where exactly are you going to get a motherboard with 12 channels? A server?

 

Honestly, you sound like a 14 year old that wants to "work for video games". Go ahead and get your $10,000 computer that will be completely redundant by the time you're able to properly use it.

[stealtrecon]

The motherboard I chose has 12 channels. I'm using server hardware for workstations. I gave you links to all of the hardware.

 

Intel® Workstation Board S5520SC offers 12 high speed DDR3 memory DIMMs

 

http://www.intel.com/products/workstation/processors/demo/demo.htm

Edited December 22, 2010 by stealtrecon

[prandiningrat]

The motherboard I chose has 12 channels.

This motherboard using i5520 chipset with Tripple Channel memory not 12-Channel only 12DIMMs slots. The all I know from Intel, when they released new chipset for Desktop they will update for workstation too. Maybe in the next year, the new Intel Chipset will be revealed.

Intel® Xeon® 7500 is better than Intel® Xeon® 5600 which you choose.

[stealtrecon]

Well, goes to show I don't know the difference between terms. Too much stuff out there to know, still so young. I'm seventeen by the way, so I have the right to be a little incompetent when it comes to hardware specs.

[urbex]

Well, goes to show I don't know the difference between terms. Too much stuff out there to know, still so young. I'm seventeen by the way, so I have the right to be a little incompetent when it comes to hardware specs.

I'm actually fourteen :3