Digital Foundry vs. the ultimate gaming PC

[BoyBettaKnow]

OK, so perhaps there's just a certain level of exaggeration to the title of this article. After all, the strength of PC technology is its astonishing level of scalability, from the humble Intel Atom found in Windows 8 tablets, through dual CPU server set-ups all the way up to the Cray XK7 super-computer with 18,688 16-core AMD Opterons and an equal measure of Nvidia Tesla K20 graphics cards. But if money were no object and you were looking to construct an absolute top-end PC based on consumer level parts, the chances are that the system you'd create would be very similar indeed to what we have here: an Intel Sandy Bridge-E hex-core processor working in concert with three Nvidia GeForce Titans in SLI. That's what Nvidia thought when it commissioned this particular PC, sending it to Digital Foundry to assess what all that power translates into in terms of an actual gameplay experience.


We've covered the Titan before of course. At around £850 it is one of the most expensive graphics cards money can buy, and it's the most powerful single-chip GPU on the market. Computational metrics are difficult to translate into game performance, but the Titan offers a tangible 50 per cent performance boost over Nvidia's previous flagship, the GeForce GTX 680. The fact that it is based on a single processor (rather than two like the GTX 690 or AMD's Radeon HD 7990) allows for additional flexibility and scalability via SLI - the process of adding multiple graphics cards together and combining their power. In theory there's nothing stopping you adding a fourth Titan to the mix, but it's at this point that the laws of diminishing returns kick in savagely - three of these behemoths in parallel should do the job quite nicely.


The Titan SLI PC - full spec
For those interested in a full technical readout worthy of R2-D2 himself, here's how the Titan SLI PC stacks up in terms of each major component. We ran the Titans at stock speeds, but overclocked the i7 to a mouth-watering 4.8GHz.Processor: Intel Core i7 3970X, 3.5GHz Hex Core + Hyperthreading, 15MB Cache
Graphics: 3x 6GB EVGA GTX Titan, 837Mhz GPU, 2688 Cores, 6088Mhz GDDR5
System RAM: 32GB Total (4x8GB) Corsair Vengeance LP, 1600MHz
Motherboard: Asus Rampage IV Extreme, Intel X79 Chipset
Sound Card: Asus Xonar Essence STX, Audiophile Sound Card
Chassis: Silverstone Fortress SST-FT02B-W Black Aluminium Case USB 3.0 with Side Window
CPU Cooler: Phanteks Premium Edition
Power Supply: 1200W Corsair Professional Series Gold 1200AX
Storage: 240GB Corsair Neutron GTX, Read 555MB/sec, Write 511MB/sec
Optical Drive: LG 16x Blu-ray Writer
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Source

really good read, makes my build I'm planning look puny! Wish there were 120Hz 2560x1440 monitors out, they sound beautiful.

[F34R]

I'd be ok with that PC.

[Centurion]

Replace that 6 core i7 with an 8 core Xeon.

[BoyBettaKnow]

It would be a nice machine to own. 150w under idle though. Crazy.


BBK. Tapatalking

[HellsJester]

Source

really good read, makes my build I'm planning look puny! Wish there were 120Hz 2560x1440 monitors out, they sound beautiful.

Wish Granted
http://overlordcomputer.com/collecti...x270oc-grade-a

[BoyBettaKnow]

Don't really fancy overclocking a monitor lol. I'll wait until Asus bring out their own.

Games sound amazing in such a high resolution not sure if it is worth going back to 60Hz though


BBK. Tapatalking

[HellsJester]

Don't really fancy overclocking a monitor lol. I'll wait until Asus bring out their own.

Games sound amazing in such a high resolution not sure if it is worth going back to 60Hz though


BBK. Tapatalking

Its super easy to do but whatever. Yes it would be nice if Asus made them.

[BoyBettaKnow]

It's not the difficulty that bothers me, it's from what i've read about overclocking monitors that puts me off of it. With something like a monitor i want it to be perfect out of the box, i don't want to overlcock it and fiddle around until I have the perfect picture. For the time being, if i want big resolutions i need to opt for 5760x1080@120HZ

As soon as ASUS release a 2560x1440 120Hz version of the screen that I have currently, i'll be jumping all over that.

I'm surprised they hadn't gone for watercooling and faster RAM on that build. Two of which i'll be doing in my build (along with a better case too)

[Cyn]

Do not use in an igloo

[BoyBettaKnow]

Keeping that thing on full load for too long would probably melt the ice caps anyway so no need for an igloo

[keefy]

So HDMI cannot handle 4k at more than 30FPS yet? What a slap in the face seems tech is progressign faster than the standards.

I would be more impressed if it ws 120FPS vsynced, 60 is so last generation.

[keefy]

Fark this forum and its supid double posting carp!

[HellsJester]

It's not the difficulty that bothers me, it's from what i've read about overclocking monitors that puts me off of it. With something like a monitor i want it to be perfect out of the box, i don't want to overlcock it and fiddle around until I have the perfect picture. For the time being, if i want big resolutions i need to opt for 5760x1080@120HZ

As soon as ASUS release a 2560x1440 120Hz version of the screen that I have currently, i'll be jumping all over that.

I'm surprised they hadn't gone for watercooling and faster RAM on that build. Two of which i'll be doing in my build (along with a better case too)

Let me know if you hear anything because i want one as well.