raidflex

Unless you are using software that is heavily multi-threaded then moving to another CPU for X58 platform like a 980X is pointless. The upgrade to a 4790K/5820K would bring a good 40% more IPC performance to the table and and along with the new features like SATA III and USB 3 on the motherboard side. When it comes to gaming the upgrade to a 4790K/5820K would make MUCH more sense due to many games not utilizing multiple threads and would greatly benefit from the increased IPC. As someone who came from a i7 920 @ 4.2GHZ and went to a 5820K this is coming from first hand experience. I would still recommend if you go with an X99 system is to at least OC it to 4.0GHz to get the most out of your CPU. In its time the X58 platform was a beast, but its starting to really get long in the tooth at this point.

I have to say after owning corsair cases and moving to the Casleabs S5 with pedestal, this case is in a different league from pretty much anything out there. The ability to access basically any part of the case with ease in water cooling is huge. I can pull out radiators/fans without touching any other component. Currently I have 2 Alphacool Nexxxos UT60 in the pedestal and I could add two more 240mm in the main case if I wanted, but even with everything overclocked the system is basically silent. This is with a 5820k @ 4.5GHz and SLI 780 Ti's also overclocked. I would say you would be hard pressed to find a better case for water cooling then what Caselabs offers, not to mention the build quality is excellent. The cost was tough to swallow, but after using one for water cooling I wouldn't choose anything else currently. If you are not watercooling then there are many more options. I have mine even setup so all I have to is turn a valve to drain the entire system.

I would say you are fine with that setup. If you purchased a second 980 and then overclocked everything, I would recommend a 1Kw PSU to be on the safer side. The X99 CPU's can draw a lot of power when overclocked.

Thanks for the giveaway! Stratford, CT

Here is my setup. Long time vistor of the site, just don't post much. Keep up the great reviews and news and thanks for the contests! CPU: Intel Core i7-920 Motherboard: EVGA Classified X58 RAM: Corsair 3x4GB(12GB) DDR3 1600 GPU: EVGA GTX 580 SSD: Gskill Phoenix 60GB & Intel 520 180GB HDD: 300GB WD Raptor ODD: Asus DVD-RW Chassis: Corsair Obsidian 800D PSU: Corsair AX1200 Display: Westinghouse 37w3 Audio: Sennheiser HD 350 headset Sound Card: Creative Audigy XFI Keyboard: Logitech G15 Mouse: Mad Catz Rat 9 Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 Pro Watercooling Setup: CPU: Switchtech Apogee GTZ GPU: EK GTX 580 WB Tubing: 1/2in + Bitspower Compression Fittings Radiator: Alphacool NexXxoS UT60 360 Pump: Swiftech MCP35X Reservoir: FrozenQ Helix Red USA

I would recommend putting it on a different HDD but since you do have a raid that will be able to handle multitasking much better. Despite what many ppl think raid does not improve preformance of loading programs/ games much but when it comes to lets say doing a network transfer and copying and loading a program all at once you will be able to handle it easily.

The main problem with the game is memory usage when using high settings not video card. I have a X850 and i get average of 60-70FPS only dipping below that on big explosions. But the game still runs choppy as hell in beginning or with more then 45ppl. Yet my FPS are not low. I noticed it was using 850MB of mem after exiting.

Windows x64 is actually more stable then xp because it is built off of 2003. ANd i have it installed currently and have noticed a lot more stablity with windows x64 despite the lack of driver support.

I would try some G.skill 4400LE i have some myself and i run 300+ 24/7 with 2.7V. Its great RAM but a tad expensive.

It seems the chipset voltages can help stability, do nothing or actually create instability in my case raising it seemed to do nothing if not make it more unstable. I believe it has to do with the type of memory used and possible the unique processor that you have. I usually just keep both the LDT and Chipset at stock with no problems despite my high HTT/mem speed.

I would also recommend using a UPS not just for power loss but because you are running off a battery therefore it is clean power.

Well I’m not saying go out and buy a 350W and run SLI, but you also don’t have to go out and buy a 520W PSU unless you are actualy using SLi then maybe it would be a good idea to do so. I think 480W should be the reccommend wattage for a PSU not the minimum. We all know the Wattage is a factor but not nearly as big of one as stable rails and enough amperage. There are many more factors to a stable PSU.

Considering the speculated speed of ATI's new GPU which is said to be probbaly around 2x the performance of an x850 then SLI wouldn't be worth it. But until the release of the actual specs of the R520 we will not know.

You do not need 480W as a minimum, what is needed is a good quality PSU i currently have a 420W OCZ Powerstream and my rails do not budge under prime95 load and OCd. If anything my rails are a tad overvolted which is right where you want them. And the heat coming out of the PSU under load is only warm not even hot.

Sorry about the long post wanted to included everything I have tried. I have had my current setup (look in sig) for about a month and a half with those settings and it ran great no lockups or restarts and prime, memtest and 3dmark stable and all of my games were stable. Then about a week and half ago I started encountering random restarts first they were far apart and would happen mostly when the comp was idle and then they happen a lot more frequently and even when running games. At first i thought windows was the culprit so I started reformatting and half way into the Windows XP sp2 install it froze with a blue screen. So then I thought it was the OC so I put everything at stock it came up with the same blue screen at the same place during the install. After that I tried a different CD with no luck. So then I decided to just rebuild the comp. Took everything out reseated the processor and applied new artic silver and everything and then attempted to reinstall windows and the installation went without a hitch. It was running great for a couple of days when all of a sudden it started restarting again and then got worse and worse. Next I changed a couple of windows settings and turned off the option to restart on error. I have gotten a couple driver error blue screens but the main one was the win32K.sys file more recently that came up. My temps are cpu-27C and NB/PS 36C. I cannot figure out what is causing the problem if you have any input it would be appreciated.