[pandaboy]

Originally Posted by ScumLord

MOr RAMS!! I never intended on getting 16gb I bought 12gb and discovered I needed to fill the other slot or I'd have to make do with 8gb. Just make sure you get the right combination of sticks.

A Nvidia geforce gtx460. I only went with Nvidia because of the cuda support in premiere, it renders out effects on the fly using the card.

Nvidia have experience with commercial grade cards for use in CAD design and some of those features are in their consumer cards too.

And do you game with the 460? I've been thinking of getting a short term graphics solution and the 460 sli might be a good solution. Single card for editing and sli for gaming. Or would I be wrong?

[Procrastastudy]

Originally Posted by pandaboy

Thanks mate. From what I can see though with the 600 series is that they're PCiE 3.0 so I will probably have to go with Ivybridge.

So single card set up needs PCI-e 3.0 the cards are backwards compatible with PCI-e 2.x.

People, mainly me, make the argument that PCI-e is worth it because an 8 lane PCI-e 3.0 slot is the same bandwidth as a PCI-e 2.x 16 lane slot. That said if you are looking for performance ant any cost then you'd go for a 40 lane socket2011 platform.

[ScumLord]

Originally Posted by pandaboy

And do you game with the 460? I've been thinking of getting a short term graphics solution and the 460 sli might be a good solution. Single card for editing and sli for gaming. Or would I be wrong?

Yeah, I game with that. I haven't ran into any problems. It plays batman arkam city at full whack and of course that game gets extra visuals using a Nvidia card. I can Max out Max Payne 3. The only problem from my point of view is that I use 3 screens and the card only supports two. It's a minor annoyance the 3rd screen is a projector and isn't on all the time anyway.

The other problem I've had is also with the projector it's a 3d one and I could never really get the 3D working to it's full potential Nvidia don't seem to have a universal 3d solution.

In my own mind I have a feeling the card is a bottle neck but gaming wise it's managed everything I've thrown at it. I always go in and put everything up to the max settings and haven't noticed any problems.

[pandaboy]

Originally Posted by GCDLawstudent

So single card set up needs PCI-e 3.0 the cards are backwards compatible with PCI-e 2.x.

People, mainly me, make the argument that PCI-e is worth it because an 8 lane PCI-e 3.0 slot is the same bandwidth as a PCI-e 2.x 16 lane slot. That said if you are looking for performance ant any cost then you'd go for a 40 lane socket2011 platform.

I would like to have something that is future proof and especially if I'm considering the 660ti when it's released. Though I think the 2011 series would set my budget back, processor wise anyway. Would you have an example of a good processor & mobo in the 2011 series? Personally, especially considering budget. I'm stuck between the i7 2700k or the i5 3570k. Both would adequately do the work for me I believe.

Mobo wise I was considering the Asus Z68 series. I'm looking for firewire and nice HD audio. Toslink would be perfect, as I will be looking to go through possibly a pre-amp and studio speakers.

Originally Posted by ScumLord

Yeah, I game with that. I haven't ran into any problems. It plays batman arkam city at full whack and of course that game gets extra visuals using a Nvidia card. I can Max out Max Payne 3. The only problem from my point of view is that I use 3 screens and the card only supports two. It's a minor annoyance the 3rd screen is a projector and isn't on all the time anyway.

The other problem I've had is also with the projector it's a 3d one and I could never really get the 3D working to it's full potential Nvidia don't seem to have a universal 3d solution.

In my own mind I have a feeling the card is a bottle neck but gaming wise it's managed everything I've thrown at it. I always go in and put everything up to the max settings and haven't noticed any problems.

Yeah, I'm thinking as a short term solution I would use these. The only thing though is would an SLI bottleneck? With the news of the 660ti coming out I think I could hang on, as a I probably won't have my machine before then.

[Procrastastudy]

Z68 chipset doesn't support PCI-e 3.0 (AFAIK). That said by the time single cards start pushing the bandwidth of PCI-e3.0 an i5 or i7 will be in the bin.

I do qualify my remarks by saying I went for PCI-e 3.0 support for future proofing because I may go down the SLI route in the future.

In all honesty right this minute, if I needed to by a cooler as well, and I knew I was going to be on a single card set up - I'd go 2500K tray for €182.

The 660ti even two of them wont push hit the bandwidith of 8 lane PCI-e 2.x. Two GTX690s might but you'd be on the socket 2011 platform if you can afford them. Don't go for socket 2011 btw I'm just giving an example.

[pandaboy]

Originally Posted by GCDLawstudent

Z68 chipset doesn't support PCI-e 3.0 (AFAIK). That said by the time single cards start pushing the bandwidth of PCI-e3.0 an i5 or i7 will be in the bin.

I do qualify my remarks by saying I went for PCI-e 3.0 support for future proofing because I may go down the SLI route in the future.

In all honesty right this minute, if I needed to by a cooler as well, and I knew I was going to be on a single card set up - I'd go 2500K tray for €182.

Hmmm, that's a shame. Though there are some nice Z77 boards which support 3.0. A lot of the cheaper ones have feck all slots though.

[Eboggles]

Actually, a few P67 and Z68 boards are PCIe 3.0, just look out for "Gen 3" in the title.

[pandaboy]

Nice one. So we're pretty much looking at mid August for the 660 release? I'm hoping to have myself sorted by around then.

Say if I was to have a budget of €1000 - €1200 with a new for 2 monitors. Which set up would anyone recommend? GFX wise I think I'll have to minus some cash from the above budget as my heart is set on a 660ti. So maybe minus €300-€400. And with regards to future proofing I will be most definitely considering PCiE 3.0.

[Procrastastudy]

I assume you'll game on just one monitor?

[pandaboy]

Yup, I'll prob purchase a proper gaming monitor in a few more months. Once I'm set up for editing I'll be happy enough. Gaming wise will prob be pro evo and MMOs for a short while and then onto the likes of Skyrim and BF3. I have to ease myself into the gaming side of the machine or else I'll find myself hooked up to it.

[pandaboy]

Any recommendations on this as a 120hz screen?

BenQ XL2420T