The Gigantic Pc Build Thread

[AireTamStorm]

I've got a new job. A very damn good job at that.
I'm building a PC. When I last built a PC, I had $1,000 to work with. Now I've got probably as much as I need. I ran around on NewEgg, Xoxide, and Tigerdirect for a while, and assembled what would be my little dream rig. Now as my last PC I built has lasted me up till now, I've got a few questions, and I'm sure others here, lurking or registered have been building or have built PCs, and have similar questions. Maybe entirely different questions. Who knows?

Since this is by far the most civilized forum around that I know, I figured I'd start here for questions, comments, and suggestions. So if you are currently building a PC, or built a PC and have questions regarding hardware, or simply bought a PC off the shelf and are looking for a good, cheap upgrade path, this is the thread for you.

As for me, I've got a good build so far:

OpenSuSE Linux 11.0
Foxconn Destroyer Motherboard
AMD Phenom X4 9850
Lian Li PC-P80 PC-V2110 : )
8GB Patriot DDR2 RAM
4x XFX GeForce GTX 280s
8x Acer 22" LCDs

I'm not really building this for gaming, I really want a flawless experience for watching video and using compiz. I'd like to dip my hands in CUDA development too, but I'm up for other options regarding video cards at this point. I want a system that'll make my friends drool and give me plenty of desktop space to work with. I figured going slightly overboard in that department would be a good idea.

However, Ive got a few bumps on the road. I don't know how much about the power requirements regarding the four cards. I know I'm going to need at least 1000W, but I need the amperage on the rails to back that. I however doubt I will be maxing all of the equipment simultaneously. Problem is, I'm going to be pulling alot of power when X initializes and when the computer first powers on, so I want a decent safety net. So I'm really looking for one of two things:

-A full tower case with room for multiple PSUs and 8x PCI expansion bays (each card takes up two)
-A really good PSU that scales well across multiple rails or has a ton of amperage on a single rail

Any other suggestions would be good as well.

 

[sam fisher]

I know nothing useful about this sort of thing so forgive my ignorance but since when do we still use PCI for Graphics cards? Or do you mean PCI Express?

 

[craigix]

If you are going over 1000W at least it's also going to heat your room for you too! How much will the whole thing pull with the monitors? Are you installing a new ring main for it?

 

[waffles]

Im pretty sure he means PCI-E, its just that PCI is a little easier to type out. New cards out now probably support pci-e 2.0, which has double the data carrying capacity.
also, does 8x Acer 22" LCDs mean you have EIGHT monitors?
if so, prices have reaaaly dropped since i built my computer.
As far as PSUs go i would probably reccomend PC power and cooling, as they use a single high quality and efficent (85%, i think) rail.
if you wanted to go ridiculously overboard you could try running 4 HD 4870 X2s, bringing you to a total of 8 graphics cards, and 8gb of video memory. If i remember right they outperform the 280s.
Personally any of those graphics cards would seem like slightly oveboard to me, but i have no idea what your using your computer for.
Also, what are you planning for cooling?
It seems like with that much stuff watercooling might be a good idea.

 

[senquack]

You can watch video just fine on a used Athlon-XP 1.8ghz machine, save your money for retirement and also help save the environment.

 

[Chip]

I'm not really building this for gaming, I really want a flawless experience for watching video and using compiz.

Then you've gone overboard on video cards by several orders of magnitude. You'd need two large PSUs to power four GTX280s - that's about 1300W just for the video cards. The Lian-Li PC80 ain't gona cut it in that department. You need something that supports two PSUs, like the PC-V2110.

Now, since each GTX280 needs 1 6-pin and 1 8-pin connector, you need a total of 4 6-pin and 5 8-pin connectors (counting the one on the MB. Newegg only lists one PSU that (if you buy two of them) will fit the bill.

Honestly, I think what you're planing is serious overkill. But hey, it's your money.

 

[Rollo]

8x Acer 22" LCDs :blink: Seriously?
4x XFX GeForce GTX 280s

I might be able to give you some advice. I've been building PC's for a living for half a decade now. You should look for a PSU with high amperage on a single 12V rail from what I've heard they should be more efficient in your case. The Silverstone Decathlon DA1200 should do the job, but a high end graphics card can easily draw 100W, even more under load.
I haven't seen or heard of any cases that support multiple power supplies, outside of server cases. You can look around at some server case. Many of them have 900W and 1000W redundant power supplies (if money's not a concern, why not go for it).
If you're seriously gonna build it, you should also pick up a half decent UPS maybe a server class UPS.

 

[dsraa]

Figured I'd add my two cents. If you are planning to put all of this in one case...then I would suggest this.Mozart

or....

Cube Case

and if you dont plan to use this for gaming, then i would dial down the vid card specs a bit. I currently have a ATI RADEON 1900XTX, running 2 22' Widescreens, and it runs most of my games fine. Granted, that card is VERY dated, but it still gets the job done until my next upgrade.


DSR

 

[sehs33]

He needs the cards for the 8 screens...

 

[sam fisher]

I do think it seems a bit ridiculous in many respects. It makes my humble laptop with its 8400M look like a pentium mmx machine...

 

[yaustar]

8 screens. WTF?

 

[Javacat]

Maybe he's really into flight sims and wants to build a virtual cockpit with all the screens?

 

[Titcher]

Maybe you should stick with two graphics cards and get something like this http://www.matrox.com/graphics/en/products/gxm/th2go/. I imagine that would work better.

 

[hessiess]

QUOTE
I figured going slightly overboard

slightly...
QUOTE
watching video and using compiz

compiz is useless, end of story.

why the hell do you need such a powerful system for watching video? even my 2 year old 1.66 ghz(locked in 1000mhz mode), GFGO 7200(underclocked), minimal Arch Linux install plays 1080p h264 flawlessly. its even downscaling to 1280*800, which would be using even more processor power.

monitors... you may as well just get a big plasma/LCD HDTV.

 

[Sphinxter]

Still pushing 'Senor Beavis' but since I've lost the rubber tire treads, dumped the bt878 tv card along with the ide raid card and mirrored drives for a single sata drive and a hdtv card Did a complete new install with the gentoo minimal network cd, went smooth, very smooth, have a new ait2 turbo sony usb external tape drive for backups hooked to it working great and an epson 4490 usb photo scanner currently giving me driver fits. E17 is so much easier to manage and update with the overlays now.

 

[craigix]

There is a very real chance this set up would need a new ring main on your power supply, you are risking overloading the current set up. The average house house isn't designed to cover such a pull on the supply.

 

[schnitzelboy]

if you are really gonna do this, try running crysis with wine and PLZ post a video of the outcome, (with that sort of power, it should run flawlessly in dx9 mode, IF wine can emulate every api that crysis uses)

 

[sam fisher]

There is a very real chance this set up would need a new ring main on your power supply, you are risking overloading the current set up. The average house house isn't designed to cover such a pull on the supply.

What about 1000w microwaves and kettles etc?

 

[Goity]

There is a very real chance this set up would need a new ring main on your power supply, you are risking overloading the current set up. The average house house isn't designed to cover such a pull on the supply.

What about 1000w microwaves and kettles etc?

They only run for a short amount of time.

 

[sam fisher]

Microwaves can last a fair while?