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Help with building a tower

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datora:
.
The specs for the cards list 2560 x 1600 as max resolution.  I generally don't trust hardware that's right at the edge of it's supposed capacity, but I think this applies to the resolution per single monitor.  If I tried to run two 1920 x 1080 monitors side by side that'd be 3840 x 2160 total, but it's not the same thing, if I understand it correctly.

Like I mentioned, it turns out there are some games out there that load over 1 GB into VRAM (if it's available) and it is required for top performance.  That won't affect me (either).  So, the 40408 1GB card looks pretty much where I'm going, and should kick my future needs to the curb for three or more years to come.  *crossesfingers*


heh.  Speaking of monitors: I can't buy in on this deal, but check this sweetie out:

 - HP LA2405wg 24" Height/Pivot/Swivel adjustable 1920 x 1200 LCD

With promo (EMCKCHD25) can be had for $260 right now.  It's a recert, but looks like a very solid bet.  Not sure if it's the best option for a gaming system, but for the graphics & workspace I want it for, it's most impressive real estate.  Almost can't find 16:10 aspect or pivot monitors anymore, and this has both.

Gaddammit, but I hate being poor!   :-\ >:( :'(

kitamesume:
running multiple monitor only is like increasing your screen resolution but you got the part where 1920x1080 x2 = 3840 x 2160 wrong, because the height does not increase so thats 3840width x 1080height. its like paper, you got one paper with a size of 1920x1080, two papers makes it 3840x1080 or 1920x2160, depends on what setup you choose.

btw a GTX 560 Ti struggles to play games at 2560x1600 res(even the HD6970 struggles!), that makes your GTX 460 less viable at that res, making the 2GB less worth it.

well anyway, i found a juicy laptop for 500$, but i`m dry atm, maybe next year [499.99$] {Amazon} Toshiba Satellite L755D-S5279 15.6-Inch LED Laptop

datora:
.
Hmmm.

I was looking at the total pixels being managed:

1920 x 1080 = 2,073,600 per monitor, so dual monitors = 4,147,200

2560 x 1600 = 4,096,000

However, dual monitor setups are expected with a card like this, so it really has to be a limit per monitor.  Nothing that's going to affect me for quite some time ... maybe during 2013, if I am lucky.   ;)


More on-topic for build informations.  While looking at cooling blocks & such, ran across a current deal on case fans, good through 31 July (about another 36 hours).

Go to newegg and use the search for XigmaTek fan, and they have a $10 rebate for a number of their 140 mm case fans, as well as a couple 180 & 200 mm.  Supposedly you can get one rebate per item.  So, with free shipping, I should end up with two ultra-silent 140 mm fans for $2.99 each:

 - XIGMATEK Crystal Series CLF-F1455 140mm Purple LED
 - XIGMATEK Cooling System XLF-F1455 140mm White LED Black Case Fan

They're rated at <16 dBA noise ... about as dead-silent as fans get, even though some comments claim they don't meet these standards completely.  They push 60.46 CFM and 63.5 CFM respectively, so I intend to mount one directly on or next to the CPU cooling block and another directly over the GPU ... all heat issues should be a non-issue.

I'd rather not have the lights on them (the cooling block I ordered has white LED on the fan, too) ... but, for these prices I'll tolerate it & find a hack to dim/hide them if they're too annoying.  For folks interested, there are other models with green, blue & red lights; I just picked the most neutral I could take a guess at.

I hadn't mentioned it much earlier, but all the parts I looked at were specifically chosen to be as silent as possible whenever the options were available ... even the Zotac GPU cards listed above are markedly quiet (supposedly) for what they do.

When I listen to my music or watch my anime, I'm hoping that I won't be listening to a small turbine factory grinding away nearby.  ;) :)

kitamesume:
you could insta mod those led by inserting/replacing the resistors in series with the led, 10k ohm(12v running it on 1mA) would make it as if its a glow-in-the-dark light, if its too dim then around 5k ohm would be enough.

a simple rule of thumb, standard round 3mm,5mm or 8mm led lights are usually rated 20mA(15-30mA to be precise) and 40mw @ 2volts, usually should run at a specific voltage BUT you can run it on higher voltages so long as you keep the ratings in tact.
so dividing voltage by 0.02(Ampere) you get your resistance.
Example:
12V / 0.02A = 600ohms
going for lower values will increase the current and thats a little bit dangerous.

or maybe just use this calculator, much much more accurate, i think.
http://led.linear1.org/1led.wiz

datora:
.
Well, just got my last critical component delivered:

 - GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3

Picked it up for $145 this week.  I gave up waiting for a better price.  The GIGABYTE GA-990XA-UD3 has been $140 w/ free shipping for close to a month and I was going to get that, but on last Sun I decided to go one more week and get either that or the next best deal ... so, for $5 more I get 2 x PCIe x16 slots + 2 x PCIe x4 slots and two 6 Gbit eSATA III external ports on the back panel.  The expansion slot layout is about as optimal as can be expected with current market offerings, so I'm comfortable I got about the maximum capability and future-"proof" expansion flexibility possible for an under-$200 mobo.

Slight disappointment: no screws or insulator grommets for attaching the mobo to the case.  Gonna have to buy a small pack of those now and add ~$15 or so to my final cost.  Fucksticks.  Goddamned lame way to fuck your customer ... this item wouldn't cost a $1 wholesale on the manufacturer's end, maybe even $0.20 to include with the board, but it really gouges the end-customer in time wasted and additional, stupidly high mark-up expense.

I won't use the 2nd 16x PCIe slot for a 2nd video card ... with the current card I have.  In the future, maybe circa 2013-ish, I might upgrade the CPU to Bulldozer (or equivalent) & get a pair of modern GPUs to ramp this board up near its maximum limits.  Probably have to upgrade the PSU then, also, but maybe not.  If I need a system with those capabilities.  Might make one helluva linux home media server by then, something I can use for as a headless intermediate system for various local network and internet tasks.

First impressions: looks like a hot board with two flaws that I've seen reported.  First, users have reported significant problems booting from USB.  Others haven't, so I need to investigate and see if that's something I have control over (by being literate on how to use my board) or if it's a Russian roulette game with this product.  The problem seems particularly pronounced with booting linux from USB, something I have plans to be doing both for installation and for running an alternate OS for various reasons.

Second is that it limits the RAM speed to 1600 MHz if you are not using an AM3+ CPU.  WTF??  Those CPUs aren't even available yet, but they prominently advertise 1866 & 2000 native  support.  Need to play with that a bit to see what/if workarounds exist.  I was kind of counting on pushing my RAM to 1833, even if just doing it temporarily for a burn-in and functional test of capacity.  That was a disappointing bit of obscure/hidden info I just found out about this morning.

Anyway, busily reading & downloading manuals, BIOS flashes, utilities, drivers etc. etc. for my little pile of tech booty before I proceed to Assembly.

I've not bought an SSD, and will continue to hold out as previously mentioned.  If I can find a second Western Digital 750 GB Caviar Black @6Gbit SATA III for that magic $50 price I got before, I'll probably snag one of those.  Again, as mentioned previously, most likely as a complete mirror drive to swap every ~10 days.

So:

(click to show/hide)$49.99 - LIAN LI Lancool PC-K57 Black Steel ATX Mid Tower
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112318

$19.99 - ASUS 24X DVD Burner - Black SATA Model DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204

$59.99 - ($39.99 w/ rebate) Antec NEO ECO 620C PSU
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371031

$59.99 - G.SKILL Sniper 8GB DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) F3-12800CL9D-8GBSR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231416

$119.99 - AMD Phenom II 965 Black Deneb 3.4GHz/125W HDZ965FBGMBOX [OEM] [C3 stepping]
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727

$43.99 - ($23.99 w/ rebate) XIGMATEK SD1283 CPU Cooler ACK-I5361 [120mm fan]
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233040

$157.55 - ($117.55 w/ rebate) ZOTAC ZT-40408-10P GeForce GTX 460
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500202

$144.99 - GIGABYTE GA-990FXA-UD3 AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX rev. 1.0
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128514

 * $49.99 - Western Digital Caviar Black WD7502AAEX 750GB SATA 6
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136794

 * $14.99 - Rosewill RKV-2UC 2-Port USB KVM Switch
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182157

 * $12.99 - ($2.99 w/ rebate) XIGMATEK CLF-F1455 140mm fan
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233057

 * $12.99 - ($2.99 w/ rebate) XIGMATEK XLF-F1455 140mm fan
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233037

* not part of original estimate: replaces keyboard + mouse + monitor by sharing with one existing system; unusual hard drive deal for very fast application/storage - possibly instead of SSD----
total:

$747.44 ($647.44 w/ rebates)

I'm totally impressed with myself that I managed free shipping on every single item; it could have easily added ~$50 to the total budget if I hadn't been smart a complete cheapskate about it.  ;D 8)

I originally estimated a budget of $800-$820, including an SSD but without the *'d extras.  Assuming all my rebates come through, and I (eventually) find a decent SSD for ~$80, I can still come in at a total of ~$725-$730.

Also, I had copious storage capacity already taken care of before attempting this build, so I may just place both those Samsung drives directly into this build for extremely rapid data management and keep the external housing on the shelf until needed, like visiting friends.  My network transfer speeds are gigabit hardwired LAN inside my house, so should beat out USB 2 for nearly all situations.

I'm giving up on the sound card for now; that will be a future upgrade "someday" when I can generate an extra ~$150 or so.  I'm planning for a fairly premium one that may require a PCIe x4 slot.  One of the reasons I was looking at the mobos that I shortlisted was specifically for the onboard sound.  Not as premium as I would like it, but still very substantially good for most practical purposes.  This board comes with the Realtek ALC889 chipset/codec, which has received excellent reviews.  It's probably better than many sound cards I've had in the past, and is actually a little bit better than the Realtek ALC892 for less-than 7.1 systems.

I'm hoping the KVM switch solves my keyboard/mouse/monitor situation.  Downside: it only works when the two systems are near each other, and only works for a single monitor.  Upside: those two conditions are unlikely to affect me with my two primary systems.  A second monitor was never part of my possibilities.

With some luck, I'll have a working build within a few days.  Will take time for proper research on all parts first (registering an Overclock.net account, finally, and be spending time there) and have to work it in between several other projects.  I'll post back with anything interesting, maybe even with pix.  Eventually look for a post in the Lounge > Computer Setup Pictures when things get stable.

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