My Rig, Finally Completed!

[Baasha]

Well, at long last, I have completed my rig which has been a work in progress since October, 2010.

I just finished setting everything up and arranged everything the way I like it and even ran a few benchmarks!

Without further ado, here are some pics of my rig and entire setup:

Benchmarks:

My system specs are as follows:

Case: Mountain Mods Ascension CYO
Monitors: 3x Dell U3011 @ 8100x1600
MoBo: Asus P6T7 WS Supercomputer
PSU: PC Power & Cooling 1200W
CPU: Intel i7 990X (OC'd to 4.41GHz @ 1.29V)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14
RAM: 12GB Corsair Dominator @ 1600MHz w/ Corsair RAM Fan
GPU: EVGA GTX-590 Classified Quad-SLI @ 630MHz (stock for EVGA)
SoundCard: Creative SoundBlaster X-Fi Titanium HD
OS Drive(s): 2x 32GB G-Skill SLC SSDs in RAID-0
Programs/Games Drive(s): 2x 147GB Fujitsu SAS (15k RPM) in RAID-0
Storage Drives: Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB, WD 300GB, WD 250GB, WD 150GB Raptor (10k RPM), LaCie Minimus 2TB (External HDD-USB 3.0)
Optical Drives: Pioneer Blu-Ray Burner BD-203, LiteOn DVD Burner
Fans: 7x Scythe Ultra Kaze 3200RPM (120mm), 3x Delta 5200RPM (120mm), 6x Xigmatek LED 120mm, 1x Noctua 120mm (Ultra-Silent)
Fan Controllers: 2x Lamptron FC5-V2 (30W per channel)
All-in-one Dashboard/Card Reader: Ultra MD2
SSD Bay: StarTech 4x1 SSD drive bay
Keyboard: Razer Black Widow Ultimate (mechanical backlit keyboard)
Mouse: Logitech Performance MX
MousPad: Razer IronClad
Webcam: Logitech C910
Speakers: Altec Lansing 2.1
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate SP 1

I played BF: BC2 vanilla & Vietnam and get about 85-115FPS and all settings are 'HIGH' with 2xMSAA, 16xAF, HBAO OFF, and V-Sync OFF.

The game play is buttery smooth and I have to tell you guys, SURROUND GAMING is so incredible I wish I had jumped in earlier. However, I am SUPREMELY HAPPY with my setup now and things are just that much more beautiful on ULTRA HIGH resolution settings.

The Quad-SLI setup took some time to setup and configure but once everything was said and done, it's incredible. I am new to Surround setups so I do have some questions about that so perhaps some of you could help me in that regard.

First thing is that when I do FULLSCREEN video (like on YouTube say 1080P), it only shows up on the middle screen and it kind of bleeds onto the left and right screens. Meaning, the video is NOT stretched across all three screens. I know 1080P would look quite awful at 8100x1600, but I still want to be able to watch videos/movies FULLSCREEN (meaning all three monitors). How do I configure this? The same thing happens to game menus but the actual game is fullscreen and stretches out over the three screens which is just fabulous.

The annoying thing when gaming is that the map (radar) on the left side and the HUD (ammo/nades etc.) on the right side also bleed behind the bezels with bezel correction or without it, they bleed onto the side monitors. How do I make it such that the radar/map and the HUD just show up on the middle monitor while gaming at these resolutions?

As you can see from the screenshots, Quad-SLI in BC2 is quite spectacular; GPU utilization is quite strong and the temps usually max out around 85C and my idle temps (for GPU) are less than 40C.

Anyway, I will be upgrading my SSDs (OS Drive(s)) towards the latter half of this year once the G3 drives are out and all the kinks have been fleshed out.

Until then, happy gaming!

 

[Baasha]

Here are a couple of quick pics of the widescreen gaming:

 

[JBDan]

That case is insane!! Sweet setup gaming must be super fun thanks for sharing

 

[Anomaly1964]

Awesome!!!!!!

 

[dmoney1980]

wow, nutty setup! nuttier than a payday bar

 

[goobernoodles]

Good christ.

God bless America.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

I wish I had your job..

 

[XLNC]

Build of the month. How quiet is that case with all those fans?

This rig deserves Ivy Bridge and Socket 2011 when they're out.

 

[mfenn]

First thing is that when I do FULLSCREEN video (like on YouTube say 1080P), it only shows up on the middle screen and it kind of bleeds onto the left and right screens. Meaning, the video is NOT stretched across all three screens. I know 1080P would look quite awful at 8100x1600, but I still want to be able to watch videos/movies FULLSCREEN (meaning all three monitors). How do I configure this? The same thing happens to game menus but the actual game is fullscreen and stretches out over the three screens which is just fabulous.

It looks like you have your display properties set so that Windows recognizes each screen independently. You need to set it so that Windows sees the screens as one large monitor (i.e. when you maximize a window it stretches across all 3). It'll look like ass though because the AR is going to be wrong for most content.

The annoying thing when gaming is that the map (radar) on the left side and the HUD (ammo/nades etc.) on the right side also bleed behind the bezels with bezel correction or without it, they bleed onto the side monitors. How do I make it such that the radar/map and the HUD just show up on the middle monitor while gaming at these resolutions?

Call the developer and ask them to give you a custom version of the game with the HUD positioning values changed. You apparently have enough money.

 

[Baasha]

Build of the month. How quiet is that case with all those fans?

This rig deserves Ivy Bridge and Socket 2011 when they're out.

the case with all those fans are somewhat loud but tolerable for daily use. I sit about 3 feet away from the case as well and most of the fans spin around 2000RPMs.. the Deltas are monsters and at 5000RPM, they sound like a vacuum cleaner. LOL..

 

[Baasha]

It looks like you have your display properties set so that Windows recognizes each screen independently. You need to set it so that Windows sees the screens as one large monitor (i.e. when you maximize a window it stretches across all 3). It'll look like ass though because the AR is going to be wrong for most content.

Hmm.. that's strange because in the NVidia CP, it does show as ONE monitor and whenever I open any app, it stretches across three screens. I have to minimze them and adjust the size of each window so that I can multi-task. It's kind of annoying actually. I wonder if there's a hotkey or something I could use to switch to Surround ONLY for gaming and at other times, use the "Activate All Displays" which shows 3 independent monitors.

Yet, the issue with the video is strange because the Chrome window (or whatever browser), stretches across all 3 screens but the video is only on the middle one and it bleeds a little onto the others. I'll try to take a screen shot and post it but I think you can understand what I'm saying.

Call the developer and ask them to give you a custom version of the game with the HUD positioning values changed. You apparently have enough money.

LOL! Get my own on-call programmer! That would be the day...

 

[mfenn]

Hmm.. that's strange because in the NVidia CP, it does show as ONE monitor and whenever I open any app, it stretches across three screens. I have to minimze them and adjust the size of each window so that I can multi-task. It's kind of annoying actually. I wonder if there's a hotkey or something I could use to switch to Surround ONLY for gaming and at other times, use the "Activate All Displays" which shows 3 independent monitors.

Yet, the issue with the video is strange because the Chrome window (or whatever browser), stretches across all 3 screens but the video is only on the middle one and it bleeds a little onto the others. I'll try to take a screen shot and post it but I think you can understand what I'm saying.

Very odd, I don't know how Flash video could "know" what the center screen is then. Maybe try turning off hardware flash video acceleration?

 

[jaydeee]

OMG!
your rig is like a dream rig for me

 

[XLNC]

the case with all those fans are somewhat loud but tolerable for daily use. I sit about 3 feet away from the case as well and most of the fans spin around 2000RPMs.. the Deltas are monsters and at 5000RPM, they sound like a vacuum cleaner. LOL..

With a case of that size, I'd be dying to throw some 250mm+ monsters on there. Then again, I'm kind of anal about noise. But man oh man, what a build. It's beyond a dream rig, more like a fantasy rig for most people. Enjoy it.

 

[pete1229]

WOW! Great rig! Now just add flight control hardware, joystick, foot pedals etc and you have a setup I saw at my local Fry's that I have been drooling over! Have fun.

 

[billyb0b]

very nice!

let's see some pics of the inside of that thing

 

[Athadeus]

That rig is the exact opposite of what I would like. I would have to put that thing in the basement and run the cables up to my computer room or go insane. I also hope you can host LANs there, cause that thing ain't going nowhere. Run some real game benchmarks and post results so you can show off the power of the beast!

 

[Zargon]

very nice and clean setup!!!

 

[XLNC]

very nice!

let's see some pics of the inside of that thing

:thumbsup:

 

[Weenoman]

Oh I just built this to play some minecraft n stuff...

 

[MisterJohnnyT]

Baasha,

Where did you find those black Lamptron FC5-v2 controllers??? I have been looking everywhere with no luck...

Thanks

 

[MisterJohnnyT]

No help for the noob?

 

[50]

How much did all that cost?

 

[Baasha]

some updated benchmarks: