2
4. How much money did you spend on the rig as it is right now?
I easily have $14K USD in the build as it is! Now that includes some re-work on it and such to get it perfect...but $14K nonetheless. I know that may seem out of bounds for most, but we aren't talking investment potential, we are talking total 100% going all out to build the best of the best.
5. How often do you update/buy a new rig?
I update almost monthly on some things, major upgrades usually come around every 6-8 months or so. I started out in February with dual ATI HD5970s and eventually migrated back to nVidia for GTX480s.
6. What components are used?
My current rig specs are the following:
- Dual Intel Xeon X5680 CPUs with Koolance CPU-360 CPU Waterblocks (Hexa-core processors @ 4.5GHz - 12 cores / 24 threads)
- EVGA SR-2 Classified HPTX Motherboard
- 4-Way EVGA GTX480 GPUs with Koolance VID-NX480 waterblocks with custom green LEDs
- Galaxy low profile GT240 1GB GPU for physX
- 12GB of Mushkin Redline DDR3-2000 (8-8-7-24) Memory
- Creative Labs X-Fi Fatal1ty Titanium Series Sound Card
- Crucial RealSSD C300 256GB SATA III SSD for the OS
- Western Digital 300GB 10000RPM Velociraptor HDD for Storage
- Dual ASUS DVD-RW Optical Drives
- Xigmatek Black Fans w/ white LEDs all around (120mm x 4 + 140mm x 2)
- Dual Mushkin Joule 1200W Power Supplies
- Scythe KAZE Master PRO Fan Controller
- All cooled by the Koolance ERM-2K3U External Cooling System
7. Why ATI or NVIDIA, why Intel or AMD?
I honestly like ATI and NVIDIA about the same. Ever since ATI came out with their 5XXX series GPUs they have been a force to reckon with. In actuality they are very well 'finished' hardware as they are very powerful when loaded and very good at power savings when at idle. I am very pleased with all the 5XXX series ATI GPUs that I have owned. The reason I chose NVIDIA is because they are pure unadulterated power!!!
There is no equal to the power they can unleash, and having (4) GTX480s in 4-Way SLI is unmatched! The negatives are they use a lot of power and get very, very hot! Hence, the reason I went with NVIDIA is due to their better driver support for games. That is what it came down to, plus I like physX support.
Intel or AMD, honestly??? There is no reason to buy an AMD rig right now unless you are very, very budget conscience. I went with Intel because they have no equal right now!