Jimbo

Early reports on ivy bridge desktop processors are decidedly less than encouraging, the 3770 appears to be a much hotter chip than the 2600. If that translates into mobile versions it's possible that the 2920/2960 will remain the top dog due to thermal throttling.

Well, Pursuit and I already live in the same city, I think you should come to us.

Ahhhh, you really need those GPU blocks. And more rads.

Insane scores indeed! ~15-20% more than my rig with two extra cores and two extra GPUs though! Higher OC would help stretch out your lead though I understand it's not a priority. Either way, I don't think you'll struggle to play anything for a while. EDIT: Just realised it's dropped ~2K points on 3dm11 P score from an earlier bench you posted, any idea what's up with that?

1. I think one big drive is likely to be less hassle, I would be looking at an M4 or one of the new Vertex 4 drives. You should avoid previous generation Sandforce controlled drives. 2. A better CPU will help everything and is a highly worthwhile upgrade. Taking several small steps can be appealing in terms of $, however I believe it is a false economy overall, better to jump straight to the top of the tree IMO. If this is not a priority then you should look at the upcoming ivy bridge CPUs, gains are debatable at this point but should become clearer when they are released. 3. If the M17X has the same slot loading system as the M18X then I believe it's difficult to find bluray drives (could be totally wrong though ). An external sounds perfect for your needs as the desktop size drives are substantially cheaper as a rule. As for brand, Lite-on, Pioneer, Sony and Samsung are brands I've had good experiences with. 4. No idea, but lots of pics if you manage it. 5. See above. 6. 8gb is a bunch of RAM already, 16 is huuuuuuuge. As noted, using 8gb to create a RAMdrive would give big speed gains for certain programs. 7. Killer wireless is a great option for the price as mw86 said. I think you covered pretty much everything else, except to say the price of the best thermal compounds available is one of the cheapest upgrades you can do, dropping a few degrees can make all the difference. Just my thoughts but I hope it's helpful.

^^^ Everything here is pure win.

Gratz mate, I tell everyone they need an IPS dell in their lives.

Agree about the stress levels, I can never get Vantage to pass on 3dm11 clocks. My guess is there will be a new 3dm??? released for windows 8.

Ooops, always just assumed from the scores they were lower end chips, I don't pay attention to anything that doesn't light the world on fire. Can't see any problem with the idea of 580 + 590 or 6990 + 6970, though I can't say for sure.

IMO Vantage assigns far too many overall points to faster CPUs (especially when overclocked), this is also a problem in 3dm11 and every other benchmark I'm aware of, but particularly with vantage.

Gigabyte!! Inno3D are stealing your horribly coloured PCBs!

590 is two 570s IIRC?? But yes, two 580s DEMOLISH one 590, my scores with 580 SLI have beaten some people with dual 590s and dual 6990s (with half the GPU count!).

That makes a bit more sense.

1. Pay extra for accidental damage cover. 2. Find high bridge over concrete..... 3. :D :D

On a tech focussed website with only two poll options (EA or BOA) that was pretty much a foregone conclusion.

I am a desktop freak (take a look at my sig). I just find you posts confusing and occasionally inflammatory. The main problem with watercooling a MARS II is the lack of available waterblocks, though I agree that the Xigmatek may start to struggle trying to cool 4x580s and a 3960X. I would consider 2 x 360mm rads the bare minimum for such a setup, and that's with very high speed fans. As far as Mountain Mods cases go, they've always reminded me of a high school kids shop project. I love the cube format, but take a look here to see how well it can actually be done.... CASELABS On-Line Store

Let's just forget I ever posted this.......

Hey guys, so I'm sure I've seen this info around, but I just can't seem to find it. My desktop is in pieces for the near future while I sort out a new case and do a ground up rebuild on the watercooling (it blew everywhere ). Wanting to use my U3011 with my M18X but the biggest resolution my current HDMI-DVI cable seems to support is 1600x1200, which looks shit on a 30". I'm guessing I need a mini DP to DVI-D but all the ones I can find only suport 1080p (or 1900x1200 at best). Clearly I am suffering from google retardation, can anyone help with links/bricks thrown in my direction?

How do you guys stop the forum thumbnailing everything so radically? Sometimes aggravating.

10char

WTF do firefighters want with technical info about laptops? I was using the 2920 overclocking guides last night & about to post topic asking for help diagnosing issues!!! F.U.C.K. Not aimed at anyone, sometimes shit happens but the more I think about this the more I realise what a big deal it is. Feel like a loved one is dying. Also emotional because my desktop just blew a hose, I have no idea how much of it is FUBAR and can't find out for at least a week. And I have exams this week and I'm freaking out about them. I'm just going to go calm down for a while before I do something to fuck things up worse.

So... does this mean T|I will become a firefighting site? What are we supposed to do, go back to NBR?? Don't mean to sound harsh, just shocked. Apologies if I've misunderstood something. EDIT: What about all the great info here? Will it be retained somewhere at least?

I know - fantastic isn't it? I think my favourite is "This route includes tolls". Well that route would probably cost you $10k+ to drive, but I guess it's nice to know you also need loose change.

3dMark11 P mode please, I think it's the most consistent of the DX11 benchmarks (although CPU speed is still far too much of a determining factor).