Racing rig & gaming

[kriwad]

Any reason they couldn't stick another 8GB RAM in this? Looking at getting it or better within the next 2 months from pcspec - the laptop I bought from them dispatched today so we'll see how that is first
I'll be using it as an all over general use/HD media/gaming PC hooked up to my racing simulator rig. (The plan is 3x 50" 3D HDTV on a custom [not yet] built corner unit, with the new PC sharing the unit with a retired gaming PC to run 3/4 of the 24" LEDs)
Don't need a HDD; my mirrored QNAP NAS handles backup of my network, but I was tempted to get the ~500GB HD as an in-case semi-live mirror to the SSD. Seems like a decent idea but means two things to upgrade instead of one eventually (and that is kinda the point of the NAS).
Don't think I've missed anything? Only thing I'm a bit dumb on is the soundcard, I don't think I need one to HDMI out to my surround system these days?

Case
CORSAIR OBSIDIAN SERIES™ 650D GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
AMD PHENOM II X6 1100T (3.30GHz/9MB CACHE) - BLACK EDITION
Motherboard
ASUS® CROSSHAIR IV EXTREME: DDR3, USB 3.0, SATA 6.0Gb/s, R.O GAMERS
Memory (RAM)
8GB KINGSTON HYPER-X GENESIS DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (2 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
4GB AMD RADEON™ HD6990 - 1 DVI,4 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 5 Capable
2nd Graphics Card
4GB AMD RADEON™ HD6990 - 1 DVI,4 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 5 Capable
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
240GB OCZ VERTEX 3 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1200W PRO SERIES GOLD (AX1200) 80+ MODULAR PSU (£208)
Processor Cooling
COOLIT ECO C240 A.L.C (ADVANCED LIQUID COOLER) (£99)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
USB Options
6 x USB 2.0 PORTS @ BACK PANEL (MIN 2 FRONT PORTS) AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£146)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Monitor
IIYAMA E2473HDS 24" LED WIDESCREEN, 2 x HDMI/DVI-D HD 1920x1080 (£169)
2nd Monitor
IIYAMA E2473HDS 24" LED WIDESCREEN, 2 x HDMI/DVI-D HD 1920x1080 (£169)
3rd Monitor
IIYAMA E2473HDS 24" LED WIDESCREEN, 2 x HDMI/DVI-D HD 1920x1080 (£169)
4th Monitor
IIYAMA E2473HDS 24" LED WIDESCREEN, 2 x HDMI/DVI-D HD 1920x1080 (£169)
Eyefinity / GeForce 3D Vision
2 x Active Display Port to DVI Adapter (EYEFINITY 4 MONITOR SETUPS) (£37)
Keyboard & Mouse
LOGITECH® G19 GAMING KEYBOARD WITH GAMEPANEL™ LCD (£126)
Mouse
LOGITECH® G700 WIRELESS LASER GAMING MOUSE (£68)
Headsets (VOIP)
Logitech® G35 Gaming Headset with 7.1 surround sound (£89)
Warranty
3 Year Platinum Warranty (3 Year Collect & Return, 3 Year Parts, 3 Year labour) (£135)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 11 to 13 working days

£3,794.00

 

[LFFPicard]

All I can say is, cane I come live at yours?

I will pay some rent and play on your Racing Sim.. I can feed myself so no issues there.

 

[kriwad]

No you can't

Ok well the laptop arrived today and I'm pleased with the quality, so I'm pretty much going to go ahead and buy this as soon as I'm certain on the sound card issue.
Going to give live support a shout and see what they say about that and the extra 8GB RAM. Decided to upgrade to the 12x BLU-RAY RE-WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW because I'll want one eventually.

edit: support says the sound is fine, the 8GB @ 1600MHz is max, but you can go to 16GB with the 1333MHz. Figure I'll stick with the 8GB @ 1600MHz but have a look to see if there's anything better coming out soon motherboard wise to get around the 8GB cap before I spend any money

 

[Teaz]

Thats a beastly eyefinity setup you have there.

I think 8gb is plenty for the years to come. no need for 16gb down the road in my view

 

[LFFPicard]

To get around the CAP you could switch to a Intel setup, I have the pro board with 16GB @ 1600MHz

 

[kriwad]

I saw your spec earlier and commented before my second post, LFFPicard but I don't think I submitted it.
I usually alternate between Intel/AMD when I build* a new PC and it's the turn of AMD... but this 8GB limit is annoying
* I didn't build my last one either

I'd dual GTX 590 instead, but the Eyefinity solution is awesome.
I should have a few screen layouts but I think they'll all be variations on 3x1 + 1.

I'll explain the 24GB RAM as overkill future proofing but I really do think I'd have to upgrade from 8GB within 12-18 months.
This is the "last" upgrade to my racing rig - the one I always dreamed about since I saw Daytona USA in the arcades as a teen (sans chewing gum on the floor and a row of Street Fighter II and Virtua Fighter cabinets) - and the seating (F1 cockpit and a "GT" set up) is as expensive as this PC on its own so £500 to max the RAM out isn't an issue.
The only thing I really want to be upgrading on this thing in 5 years is the SSD, assuming it hasn't ripped open a hole in space time and sent me back 20 years to a life of Midwinter and 2 player Lemmings with a broken mouse on my mates Atari ST.

Here's the Intel that's tempting me away from AMD:

Case
CORSAIR OBSIDIAN SERIES™ 650D GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Processor Extreme Edition i7-990X (3.46GHz) 6.4GTs/12MB Cache
Motherboard
ASUS® RAMPAGE III EXTREME: 3-Way SLI & CrossFireX, SATA 6.0GB/s, USB 3.0
Memory (RAM)
24GB KINGSTON HYPER-X TRI-DDR3 1600MHz, X.M.P (6 x 4GB KIT)
Graphics Card
4GB AMD RADEON™ HD6990 - 1 DVI,4 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 5 Capable
2nd Graphics Card
4GB AMD RADEON™ HD6990 - 1 DVI,4 mDP - DX® 11, Eyefinity 5 Capable
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
240GB OCZ VERTEX 3 SERIES SSD, SATA 6 Gb/s (upto 550MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
12x BLU-RAY RE-WRITER DRIVE, 16x DVD ±R/±RW (£89)
Power Supply
CORSAIR 1200W PRO SERIES GOLD (AX1200) 80+ MODULAR PSU (£208)
Processor Cooling
COOLIT ECO C240 A.L.C (ADVANCED LIQUID COOLER) (£99)
Sound Card
ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Network Facilities
ONBOARD 10/100/1000 GIGABIT LAN PORT - AS STANDARD ON ALL PCs
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£146)
Monitor
IIYAMA E2473HDS 24" LED WIDESCREEN, 2 x HDMI/DVI-D HD 1920x1080 (£169)
2nd Monitor
IIYAMA E2473HDS 24" LED WIDESCREEN, 2 x HDMI/DVI-D HD 1920x1080 (£169)
3rd Monitor
IIYAMA E2473HDS 24" LED WIDESCREEN, 2 x HDMI/DVI-D HD 1920x1080 (£169)
4th Monitor
IIYAMA E2473HDS 24" LED WIDESCREEN, 2 x HDMI/DVI-D HD 1920x1080 (£169)
Eyefinity / GeForce 3D Vision
2 x Active Display Port to DVI Adapter (EYEFINITY 4 MONITOR SETUPS) (£37)
Keyboard & Mouse
LOGITECH® G19 GAMING KEYBOARD WITH GAMEPANEL™ LCD (£126)
Mouse
LOGITECH® G700 WIRELESS LASER GAMING MOUSE (£68)
Headsets (VOIP)
Logitech® G35 Gaming Headset with 7.1 surround sound (£89)
Warranty
3 Year Platinum Warranty (3 Year Collect & Return, 3 Year Parts, 3 Year labour) (£135)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 11 to 13 working days

£5,058.00

 

[LinearHD]

I'd go with intel, as anything above a single 6970 will bottleneck at the 1100T (apparently).

 

[kriwad]

Well that put the brakes on Linear haha... had a look around on that subject, it seems anything over 2 becomes a bottleneck on the 1100T. Given the easy upgrade option of going to 3 cards in the future it'd be silly to discount it though.

The more I look at this the more I'm thinking the Intel is the more expensive (as usual) but safer option. I'll think on it some and maybe wait for more opinions, but it looks like I'll be shelling out £5k after I run the spec by a few overclocking forums and have them pounce on it without mercy

Thanks all who've replied so far

 

[LinearHD]

Haha yeah I'm in the same position as you (but on a smaller scale ). I think waiting would be the smart thing to do as the AMD Bulldozer is around the corner (a few weeks) and it'd be silly to spend £5k+ (or £1.5k in my case lol) on a PC for it to be instantly outperformed by a new product

 

[kriwad]

Good save Linear... I'm so out of the loop these days. Definitely going to wait on Bulldozer especially as it's so close.
Nice timing too AMD, the first full on gaming rig (2x 19" @ 1280x1024 flat panels!) I ever built myself was when A64 came out in 2003 and it was one of the best machines I ever owned (took it out of retirement and gave it to a colleague last year after I had to fix his crappy Dell for the 6th time, had a downgraded graphics card though as the original one fried itself years ago).

Edit: http://tomorrowsgaming.com/industry-news/4101.htm
"Launch dates of AMD Bulldozer Processors and also Fusion LIano processors confirmed by official roadmap. According to document, Bulldozer based next generation FX processors and Socket AM3+ motherboards will be launched at June 7th. But before that AMD will launch 900 series new chipsets during Computex 2011 with new platforms based on Fusion LIano processors."