by Seekerfinder » Sun Jun 08, 2014 7:34 pm
Seekerfinder
Sun Jun 08, 2014 7:34 pm
Hi Lanois,
I have the same PSU, RAM & CPU on a P9X79-E WS which I built last Dec. I also have an Samsung 840 Pro but the 512MB version. I use 1 Titan and one GTX460SE for Octane & a Quadro K2000 for CAD work & monitor. I am very happy with this setup.
I'm by no means a pro builder but here's my take:
a. CPU COOLER: The Corsair H105 rad is very thick. I'd recommend the H110 if space might be an issue.
b. CASE: I got the Haf XB from Coolermaster. I really like this case since it splits HHD / SSD / OPTICAL drives etc / PSU from mobo / CPU / RAM & of course GPU's. There are other cases that do this too of course. I also like that the mobo is horizontal which means graphics cards are vertical & adjacent to each other which makes for better heat management between cards. Airflow is very good in this case. You can get a massive fan in the top cover but with my H110 and the separate compartments I really don't need it. Instead I opted for the windowed top so I can see my Titan crunching Octane bits in an iridescent green glow. Only downside to the XB case is that it's really designed to sit on top of your desk. You don't have to, but it's got a bigger footprint than a regular ATX case.
Regarding XL-ATX boards, I have not seen any board that spaces PCIe slots any further than the standard 20mm. Specialist backplanes sometimes employ double spacing.
Two final comments.
1. I am not sure if the ACX coolers are as good as the Nvidia reference coolers. The latter work effectively by pulling in air from the back of the card. Those ACX babies draw air from the face of the card & push it out both ends. My view is that this is not great for 2 reasons: a) unintuitive airflow in the case since it blows air out the front end of the card, typically toward other components and b) pulling in air when cards are stacked this way means you're trying to create airflow in that tiny crevace betwix the cards... Sorry, I know you already got them.
2. I saw no mention of your 'monitor card'. Basically, if Octane uses all three your 780's, your monitor will be laggy & slow to respond. One of the great things about Octane is its ability to continue with other work while your GPU's renders away at your Octane scene in the background. If you don't need a good card for CAD / other graphics intensive work, just get an entry level display card so that you can dedicate your 3 780's to Octane.
Hope that helps.
Best,
Seeker
Win 8(64) | P9X79-E WS | i7-3930K | 32GB | GTX Titan & GTX 780Ti | SketchUP | Revit | Beta tester for Revit & Sketchup plugins for Octane