General Gaming Article

General Gaming Article

Build It: Three Radeon HD 7970s—One Monster PC

Posted: 16 Apr 2012 12:44 PM PDT

X79. CrossFireX. XMP. This month I'm going to build a gaming rig that tears our benchmarks a new one. Or several new ones

Editor's Note, 4/16/12: When I built this rig for the April 2012 print edition, the Nvidia GTX 680 had not been released. Also, all prices listed were accurate as of the time this rig was built; many have now dropped. 

My first X79 build, back in November 2011, was pretty modest. Well, as modest as a PC with a 1,000-dollar processor can be. It performed well in CPU-intensive benchmarks, but it had only a single GTX 580, so it did about a third as well as top-tier systems in graphics tests.

Back when I built that PC, the Core i7-3960X was the only Sandy Bridge-E CPU available to us, and the GTX 580 was the fastest single-GPU card on the market. Well, this time I'm going to build a Sandy Bridge-E system with the new quad-core Core i7-3820 and the new fastest single-GPU videocard on the market: AMD's Radeon HD 7970. 

Wait, just kidding. I'm not going to use a 7970. I'm going to use three of 'em!


Update: Fixed hard drive name and capacity

Triple Your Video Power, Triple Your Fun

Since I know I want to use three Radeon HD 7970s in CrossFireX configuration, I'll need an X79 motherboard that supports CrossFireX. Gigabyte's X79-UD5 has three x16 PCIe 3.0 slots, as well as a nifty backup BIOS that (spoiler alert) totally saves my butt later. It also supports the DDR3/2133 XMP profile of my G.Skill Ripjaws Z RAM. 

The Core i7-3820 isn't an unlocked part, but I can still get an easy Turbo Boost overclock to 4GHz with it, and it has to share a chassis with three Radeon HD 7970s, which put out a lot of heat. So I'm using Noctua's NH-D14 SE2011, an exceptional air cooler.

All these beefy components need room, air, and power. For the first two needs I'm going with NZXT's Switch 810 chassis. It's big, roomy, good-looking, and has plenty of fan support. I especially like the pivoting drive-bay fan mounts that can aim cool air directly at the videocards, and I'm going to add a fan to the lower one.

I'm also going to need a powerful PSU with enough juice for my rig; Silverstone's Strider Gold 1200W is fully modular and can support all three GPUs and my slightly overclocked proc, too. 

A speedy 256GB Samsung 830 Series SSD makes for a good Windows drive, and a 3TB Seagate Barracuda will sit in the Switch 810's hot-swap bay. 

Hardware Highlights

Aside from a few steps, this is a pretty standard build, so I'll skip the complete step-by-step and just call out a few interesting steps on the way. For the most part, you'll be fine following the case and motherboard instructions. 

Installing the Cooler

Thanks to the integrated backplate on the LGA2011 socket, it's not necessary to preinstall the CPU cooler before you install the motherboard. I put the CPU and RAM in my board and installed it in my case before I put in the cooler. One word of caution: If you're not using the RAM I used, make sure the heat spreaders aren't too tall; the Noctua NH-D14 cooler overhangs some of the RAM slots and can conflict with oversized RAM heat spreaders. 

To install the NH-D14, first mount the four double-ended thumbscrews into the screws on the socket, then install the crossbeams and secure them with the included nuts.

Once the mounting bracket is in place, apply a dot of thermal paste the size of a small pea to the center of the CPU. Remove the cooler's center fan and place the cooler on the heatsink such that the spring screws line up with the posts on the crossbar. Tighten the spring screws, alternating screws each few rotations until the screws stop turning. Reattach the fan, making sure it's pointing the same direction as the front fan, plug both fans into the Y-cable, and plug it into the CPU_FAN header.

Next up: Installing the fans and video cards!

 

 

Adding a Fan

The Switch 810 has a decent array of stock fans, but I have three GPUs super-heating the air and I want to make sure they're adequately ventilated. I really like the pivoting fan mounts on the backs of the two hard drive cages, but only the top one has a fan preinstalled, so I'm going to add one to the bottom cage, as well. 

Remove the thumbscrews at the top and bottom of the drive cage and pull it out of the chassis. Use fan screws to install the fan into the mount—only the top two mounting holes will be used.

Adjust the fan so that it's pointing up where the GPUs will be and reinstall the cage into the case. Run the fan cable behind the motherboard tray and plug it into the fan controller there. 

Installing all the GPUs

Because they take up so much room in the case, I installed the GPUs last—after I installed the DVD burner, hard drive, and SSD, after I mounted the PSU and connected all the power cables, even after I connected the case's front panel connectors. 

Install the topmost GPU into the topmost x16 PCIe slot, then the other two in order. You should have three PCIe power cables from the PSU, with an 8-pin and a 6-pin power connector on each. Connect one cable per videocard, making sure to power both the 8- and 6-pin connectors on each card.

Use one CrossFire bridge to connect the first and second videocards, and another to connect the second and third, as shown.

Next up: Benchmarks and conclusion!

 

 

Joining the One Percent

Once the machine was built and the wiring tidied up a bit, I fired it up and installed Windows and all the drivers, then I updated the BIOS to the latest version and did a bit of overclocking. Well, my first attempt at updating the BIOS corrupted it. Fortunately the Gigabyte board automatically restored the BIOS from its backup, and I was able to successfully update that. A simple multiplier overclock brought the proc to 4GHz—not very ambitious, but very safe. I also made sure my RAM was set to its XMP profile timing of DDR3/2133. These efforts gave me modest improvements over the stock-clocked state in the CPU- and memory-bound benchmarks. 

So how does my CrossFireX rig stack up? Against our aged zero-point it's a slaughter: anywhere from 15 to 32 percent faster in CPU-bound benchmarks, and a whopping 238 percent improvement in STALKER: Call of Pripyat and 92 percent in Far Cry 2. So to make things interesting, I also tested it against our 2011 Dream Machine. 

In CPU tests, the Dream Machine clearly has the edge—namely, a 20 percent clock advantage. With its unlocked 2600K overclocked to 4.8GHz, it crushed the i7-3820 in this month's rig, which was a whopping 23 percent slower than its older rival in MainConcept Reference and 12 percent slower in Vegas Pro 9.

In graphics-bound tests, though, the Dream Machine is dethroned. The triple Radeon HD 7970s proved their mettle against even Superclocked GTX 580s, with 13 percent gains in Stalker and 24 percent in Far Cry 2. The triple 7970s are so powerful, actually, that they edge out the dual overclocked GTX 590s found in the CyberPower Fang III reviewed in this issue (page 76). That's triple CrossFireX beating quad SLI! 

As if that weren't impressive enough, this rig puts out the second-highest 3DMark 11 Extreme score of any machine we've tested, at X7,619. That's just a tiny bit below the X7,785 set by the Maingear rig we tested in February 2012. And Unigine Heaven 2.5? Try 75.4fps with all settings maxed out. That's 5fps more than the dual Asus Mars II cards (quad GTX 580s) in the Maingear. For reference, the mighty Dream Machine's three 580 cards came in at X5,863 in 3DMark and 43.4 fps in Heaven.

True, the rig I've built lacks water-cooling, a Blu-ray drive, or scads of storage. It's also got a CPU with a modest overclock. But thanks to the extraordinary performance of its three Radeon HD 7970s, it's a hell of a lot of rig for under $3,400. 

 

 

AMD Slashes Radeon 7900 Series Prices, Tosses In 3 Free Games

Posted: 16 Apr 2012 10:40 AM PDT

A handful of things in life are certain: death, taxes (you better hurry!) and, after seeing the Nvidia GTX 680 drop for just $500, the eventual lowering of AMD Radeon 7900 series prices. That was the common theory, anyways, but several weeks have passed with nary a word from AMD. Could conventional wisdom be wrong? Nope! AMD was just biding its time. Today, the company slashed the prices of not only the 7900 series GPUs, but the low-end Radeon 7770, too.

Rumors about the impending price drop popped up last Friday, and this morning, LegitReviews reported was the first to report that AMD officially launched its new "Three for Free" advertising blitz. WTF is that, you ask? AMD is tossing in copies of Nexuiz, Deus Ex: Human Revolution and DiRT Showdown with every 7900 series graphics card sold "through select etailer and retailer partners." Not too shabby, especially when paired with a price cut.

Said price cuts were fairly substantial, too; going forward, the Radeon 7970 will cost $480, while the 7950 "is now an impulse buy away" (according to AMD) at $400. The Radeon 7770, meanwhile, got tossed into the sub-$150 bin with an MSRP of $140. It looks like the 7800 series is staying put at $250 to $350, at least for now.

Lower prices, free games and much more widespread availability is a heck of a combined punch to throw at Nvidia. Do you think the trio of benefits will sway would-be GTX 680 buyers back into AMD's corner?

Intel Officially Announces Budget-Priced 330 SSD Line

Posted: 16 Apr 2012 10:11 AM PDT

Remember back in the beginning of the month, when etailer leaks suggested that the low-price Intel 330 SSD was supposed to drop on Friday the 13th? Those leaks were wrong -- but only slightly. Intel took an extra weekend to put its products in place and today -- that's the 16th, not the 13th -- Chipzilla announced that the budget priced SSDs are now available. One even breaks the $100 MSRP barrier.

The date might've been off, but the pricing and size details of the leaks proved to be spot on: the 330 SSD line includes a 60 GB drive for $89, a 120 GB drive for $149 and a 180 GB drive for $234. All are backed by a 3 year warranty and are based off of Intel's 25nm MLC NAND tech. Spec-wise, we're looking at a 6Gbps SATA 3.0 interface, 500/450MBps sequential read/write speeds, and 22.5k/33k random read/write IOPS.

Any takers?

Western Digital Resurrects VelociRaptor Hard Drive Line with Beastly 1TB Model

Posted: 16 Apr 2012 07:22 AM PDT

Back in the day (as in, before solid state drives), Western Digital's VelociRaptor line was the cat's meow in terms of high speed storage. Fast and expensive, VelociRaptors were the tool of choice by power users willing to drop a bit of extra coin for better performance. Flash forward to today and you'll find SSDs are the popular option among power users, but just like billionaire InGen CEO John Hammond brought back dinosaurs in Jurassic Park, Western Digital has injected new DNA into its VelociRaptor line and is now shipping its most capacious mutation to date.

The new VelociRaptor 1TB features a 10,000 RPM spindle speed that remains the fastest of any consumer level hard drive. It also boasts a SATA 6Gbps interface and 64MB cache buffer, and consumes less idle power and uses similar active power as previous generation VelociRaptor models.

"WD is committed to providing customers with the best performing and most reliable SATA hard drives and our WD VelociRaptor family of drives underscores that promise," said Darwin Kauffman, vice president and general manager of WD's enterprise storage. "With ever-increasing demand for greater capacity, the new 1 TB WD VelociRaptor drive delivers the ultimate combination of speed and storage for the power user."

The updated VelociRaptor drives are 2.5 inches and ship in an IcePack enclosure with a 3.5-inch mounting frame and built-in heatsink. WD's 1TB (WD1000DHTZ) is priced at $320, while 500GB (WD5000HHTZ, $210) and 250GB (WD2500HHTZ, $160) models are also available. All three are backed by a 5-year warranty.

Image Credit: Western Digital

Space Quest Creators Reunite for Another Run at Intergalactic Adventure Gaming

Posted: 16 Apr 2012 07:00 AM PDT

Could it actually be that adveture gaming is seeing a resurgence in an era where first person shooters and MMORPGs reign supreme? In actuality, adventure games have always been available, including continuations of classics picked up by Telltale Games, but let's face it, the genre doesn't enjoy the same mass market appeal that it once did. Regardless, familiar faces in the adventure gaming industry are starting to pop up, including those Two Guys from Andromeda who created the Space Quest series by Sierra On-Line.

Otherwise known as Mark Crowe and Scott Murphy, these two gaming legends are teaming up once again "after a brief 25-year hiatus" to build a new space adventure (or "Spaceventure") title with the "same style of comedy, wonder, and excellence you expect from a Two Guys adventure."

The end result won't be another Space Quest game, but a whole new sci-fi themed adventure, according to a somewhat awkward video the Two Guys posted. Aside from that, details are nearly non-existent, possibly because it's all still being fleshed out. In the meantime, Mark and Scott are hiring for a number of positions, most of which have already been filled, though openings still remain for a 3D Character Artist, Senior Game Developer, and Sound Designer.

Old school adventure gamers unwilling to let go of the past have a lot to be excited about. In addition to Sierra's Space Quest creators teaming back up, Al Lowe, creator of Leisure Suit Larry, another Sierra title from yesteryear, is trying to raise $500,000 via Kickstarter to build a reloaded Larry 1 game with updated graphics and humor.

If you'd like to stay updated on the new Spaceventure title, you can bookmark this website Scott and Mark put up.

Google Stares at $25,000 Fine for Impeding Street View Privacy Probe

Posted: 16 Apr 2012 06:30 AM PDT

Google's market capital is over $200 billion, and shares of the search giant sell for about $625 a pop. Why is this relevant? Well, let's just say that a $25,000 fine wouldn't exactly be painful to Google. In fact, it would barely register as a prick, yet it's the amount the Federal Trade Commission is seeking after accusing the sultan of search of acting like one, or more specifically, for 'impeding' an investigation into how it collects personal and private data, including emails and text messages, through its Street View service.

The FCC filed a 25-page report on Friday in which it said Google "willfully and repeatedly violated commission orders" while the probe was going on.

"For many months, Google deliberately impeded and delayed the bureau's investigation by failing to respond to requests for material information and to provide certifications and verifications of its responses," the report said.

It's the latest in what's becoming a long line of privacy complaints against Google. According to Bloomberg, just last year the search giant agreed to two decades of independent privacy audits to settle a suit by the FCC over its privacy policy violations related to its Buzz social network.

For this go-round, Google admits to handling things poorly, but says it never ran afoul of the law.

"It was a mistake for us to include code in our software that collected payload data, but we believe we did nothing illegal," Google told Bloomberg in an email. "We have worked with the relevant authorities to answer their questions and concerns."

As far as the FCC is concerned, Google acted like a jerk during the probe by delaying its search for emails and for refusing to identify the employees involved. However, rather than push for action against Google's Street View service, the FCC will seek a $25,000 fine, the maximum allowable for not cooperating with an investigation.

Image Credit: Flickr (sanchom)

Netflix Chief Blasts Comcast on Data Caps and Net Neutrality Shenanigans

Posted: 16 Apr 2012 05:40 AM PDT

At this point in the game, Netflix Chief Executive Officer Reed Hastings puts little effort into hiding his disdain for Comcast, the largest cable operator and Internet service provider in the U.S. He's complained about Comcast before and the favoritism the ISP gives its own Xfinity Streampix service over Netflix, and he decided to dole out a mini rant over the weekend using Facebook as his soapbox.

Hastings' issue with Comcast is that, in his opinion, the ISP is "no longer following net neutrality principles." He explains it like this.

Comcast no longer following net neutrality principles.

Comcast should apply caps equally, or not at all.

I spent the weekend enjoying four good Internet video apps on my Xbox: Netflix, HBO Go, Xfinity, and Hulu.

When I watch video on my Xbox from three of these four apps, it counts against my Comcast Internet cap. When I watch through Comcast's Xfinity app, however, it does not count against my Comcast Internet cap.

For example, if I watch last night's SNL episode on my Xbox through the Hulu app, it eats up about one gigabyte of my cap, but if I watch that same episode through the Xfinity Xbox app, it doesn't use up my cap at all.

The same device, the same IP address, the same Wi-Fi, the same Internet connection, but totally different cap treatment.

In what way is this neutral?

Comcast only recently launched its competing Xfinity app for the Xbox 360 and Hastings isn't the only one to question the ISP's data cap exception. in a related FAQ, Comcast likens the streaming service to that of a traditional cable television service, saying the combination of an Xbox 360 and the Xfinity app essentially act as an additional cable box, therefore its data cap doesn't apply. It's a weak excuse, but it is what it is.

The issue here, at least for Comcast, is that Netflix accounts for most of the traffic that flows over its content delivery network, Level 3. At one point, Comcast wanted Level 3 to pay a fee for sending all this traffic over Comcast's network, a move that prompted Level 3 to accuse Comcast of wanting to set up a "toll booth."

When asked about the pressure cable companies are under to cope with Netflix's growing traffic, Hastings earlier this year scoffed at the notion.

"That 92 percent Comcast operating margin is really under a lot of pressure... There is no financial pressure on ISPs," Hastings said, according to CNet. "They are making a fortune."

Do you think Hastings has a legitimate beef with Comcast, or is this what competition is all about?
Posted by Shri Krishna

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