mobo memory standard question

[LondonOnt]

I am trying to decide between the following mobo’s but have concern/confusion that only Gigabyte natively supports memory standard to 2133 while the others require oc when sticks are higher than 1600?

 

GIGABYTE GA-Z68X-UD7-B3

ASUS Maximus IV Extreme-Z LGA 1155 Intel Z68

ASUS P8Z68 Deluxe LGA 1155 Intel Z68

ASRock Z68 Extreme4 LGA 1155 Intel Z68

 

Scenario:

I am replacing my old build (Asus p5q – E8400 oc’d to 3600) which, “like myself, is getting long on the tooth”.

 

As a game designer/modder/player and a 3d graphics artist, my normal usages is both Cpu/Mem and graphics intensive Especially when rendering and/or animation testing.

 

My budget is around 2,500 CAD.

 

What I have chosen to date:

 

Mobo - one of the above

Case - Corsair Obsidian Series 650D Mid Tower Case

(air cooling , I’m 55, “Old School” liquids and electronics do not play well together)

PSU - Corsair Professional HX1000W 1000W ATX 12V 80A 24PIN

Ram - G.SKILL Ripjaws X + Turbulence II Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2133 (PC3 17000)

Processor - Intel Core i7-2600K

Cpu Cooler - Thermalright Venomous X-RT

SSD - OCZ Vertex 3 VTX3-25SAT3-120G 2.5" 120GB SATA III (boot/os)

HD -Seagate Barracuda XT 7200.12 2TB SATA 6.0GB (data)

GPU - EVGA GeForce GTX 580 DS Superclocked Fermi 797MHZ

 

(I like the 6990’s but reviews read show it to be noisier, hotter, and power eater? Correct me if I am wrong as it does seem to outperform the 580’s)

 

And input is greatly appreciated as this “old goat” is by no means a high tech wiz.

Edited June 30, 2011 by LondonOnt

[ir_cow]

its just marketing. anything over 1600 is overclocked on the board side. gigabyte says it more of less "guarantees" those speeds when using the right memory sticks that they have given the A-OK on.

 

I personally like gigabyte the best for quality and being simple to users. ASUS would be a overclockers choice with Asrock being run of the mill.

 

as for parts you don't need 2100 memory and a 1000watt PSU. both are overkill and more of less a waste of money. As for a video card you may benefit more from a Quadro or FireGl than a gaming card when it comes to modeling and other 3d work. you won't see anything crash every again, but you can't really game on them past the medium settings if you are trying out your work. i found Unreal Engine 3 games run on max settings with no AA/AF just fine which is all i'm concerned about when loading models for test runs.

 

 

what type of 3d apps and games are you working with?

Edited June 30, 2011 by hornybluecow

[wevsspot]

London,

 

Frankly (based on your usage description) you might actually benefit from a socket 1366 based build with triple channel memory capability........... just food for thought.

 

Regardless - I agree with HBC concerning your choice of memory. DDR3 2133Mhz is overkill and a booger to get running correctly any way.

 

In fact the only reason I could even recommend DDR3 2000Mhz memory is if you want to overclock and need the flexibility of tweaking memory timings and speed.

 

Otherwise you would be just as well of with a nice kit of DDR3 1600Mhz memory with tight timings and low voltage.

[Boinker]

Agreeing with web on that one. I'm my experience between 1600 and 2000 memory 1600 is easier to run and performs closely if not in some cases better. Then you run into just the pain of trying to get it up there and then its REALLY not worth it.

 

My 2 cents.

[LondonOnt]

Thanks greatly to all responders. The old man needs all the help I can get

 

I usually run Max11 and PhotoshopCS3 and sometimes FlashCS3 concurrently during development, with side "daily activity" programs such as office, outlook, EI Explorer. My current system does still do what I need, just very slow at rendering and especially disk I/O (OLD IDE and First Sata).

 

Engine and other tools, such as World Builder, 3dCoat, 3dPaint, BodyPaint, Unity3d, DxStudio,etc, I tend to run alone.

 

Games working on are Ovlibion, Dragon Age, Fallout, GTA, and some of the older RPG/TPS. I am also colaborating/subdeveloping with a couple of local game developers, so delve into Torque, Gamestudio, Unreal, DxStudio, and of course, Gamebryo, (looking forward to release of Skyrim )

 

I was thinking that 1600 would do fine but concerned that it would bottleneck the graphics card. Most reviews have recommended it, and they compliment your great input.

 

As for graphics card, I understand the 680 might be overkill, but I doooo sooo enjoy playing the games as much if not morre than modding them

 

As for motherboards, I have enjjoyed excellent success with Asus since the p1 / p2 days and would love to stay with them.

 

If the 68 series is overkill, I was also impressed with the P8P67 as a valid solution. I do a limited (safe sorta) overclocking )

 

The only reason I look at a 1000w PSU was I thought I would need it for the GPU, and 3/4 stroage drives as I will be adding 1 or 2 more sata 3/6 drives for the large amount of graphic files I work with. Also considering furture upgrade to waterCooling. I amd still 'old school' but always open to change .

 

I would be happy both from heat and cost, to use a lesser power.

 

Again, I thank you all and I am re-configuring my choices as the input comes in,

 

Your a great bunch of perople for helping me.

Edited June 30, 2011 by LondonOnt

[LondonOnt]

Thank you all for the excellent advice based on which, I revisited my configurration, and after checking reviews on each product, I think I have come up with a good package.

 

And the advisors to my post have saved me over $700 in the process,

 

Thank you Thank you Thank you. You are great.

 

Here it is, Am I good to go?

 

 

Case - Coolermaster Storm Sniper Black Edition Mid Tower

Power - Corsair Professional HX750W 750W ATX

Storage - Corsair Force Series GT 120GB SSD SATA3 Solid State Disk (OS)

Western Digital WD20EARS Caviar Green 2TB SATA2 3Gbps 64MB Cache (data)

MoBo - ASUS P8Z68-V Pro

Cpu - Intel Core i7 2600K

Cooler - Coolermaster V6 CPU Heatsink

Ram - G.SKILL Ripjaws X F3-12800CL8D-8GBXM 8GB 2X4GB DDR3-1600 CL8-8-8-24 1.5V Memory Kit

GPU - MSI GeForce GTX 580 Twin Frozr II OC 800MHZ

[IVIYTH0S]

Looks like an excellent system!!

 

Though I'd personally pick dual 560 ti's over a single 580 any day of the week

[wevsspot]

Though I'd personally pick dual 560 ti's over a single 580 any day of the week

Yep me too.

 

I like the small form factor (well compared to the 580 anyway).

Low heat output even in SLi

Plenty of partner boards with tons of cooling and clocking options

[LondonOnt]

Thanks for advice on 560 sli.

 

For my usages I found that cost//PowerDraw/Heat loads, of dual sli is not significant enough for to warrant sli...... yet. But if that changes, I can always add then sli the 580

 

Due to my high use of 3d graphic development, I am looking more at which technology/card offers the best solutuion in terms of stream processors, rasterisers, texture units, memory speed/bandwidth, etc.

 

Many benchmarks and comparison tests I've found show the single 580 actually outperforms sli 560's and acutally SLI causes problems for some games, thus why buy 2 - 2 generation old cards rather than 1 currrent generation card?

Edited July 3, 2011 by LondonOnt

[IVIYTH0S]

Why not got for a 570, and overclock it?? It is pretty much a 580.

 

I just don't think the 580 is worth the money over the others

[ir_cow]

3d apps like maya and 3ds max does not make use of SLi for consumer cards, even runs slower than 1 card. so SLI or crossfire is out of the question for you if your are doing intense graphical work. if that is the case i still suggest a quadro or firegl. if you just mean your fiddling with the programs and mainly playing games than no point in wasting money.

[LondonOnt]

Thanks to last post.

 

I actually develop game graphics/media about 75 percent of the time. I was looking at a workstation configuration but the prohibitive costs for the mobo, cpu, and graphics cards, over $3000, for entry levels, is not in my "snack bracket".

 

I understand that sli is not utilized, especially with 3dsMax 12, and that is why I was not kean on such a solution.

 

Thank you for keeping my needs in your thoughts, just wish I couold go the worksatioon route.