Ultimate 8-core mATX Powerhouse: Xeon E5-2690, R4G, 7970DCii and more!

[siopao1984]

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Introduction:

Previously at CES, we came across a similar mATX based rig huming along discreetly in a hotel suite without anyone noticing. Since then, we have been obsessed with building a similar setup, specced out with some of the best hardware from around our lab, to see how much compute power we could squeeze in a small form factor. The following is a list of parts that we've used...CPU (Intel Xeon E5-2690 2.9GHz)

A hercules among CPUs, this top of the line Sandy Bridge-EP Xeon packs 8-cores/16 threads at 2.9GHz (turbos to 3.8GHz), providing up to 152GFLOPs per socket and has 40 PCIe 3.0 lanes for ambitious multi-GPU builds. In well threaded applications, our behemoth of a processor behaves like a 4.6GHz Core i7-3960X, making it an excellent choice if you don't overclock (which you currently can't). You can read our full review on it here.Quick search on Newegg shows it retailing for US$2039, and if you are on a tighter budget the entry level 8-core 2.2GHz (Xeon E5-2660, 95W) is not too far behind performance wise and goes for a more palatable US$1329.Motherboard (ASUS ROG Rampage IV GENE X79)

The X79 mATX scion of the acclaimed ASUS Republic of Gamers Rampage IV series, this small form factor motherboard still boasts of the same extreme overclocking-oriented engineering (like the Digi+ II VRMs and 10K Black Metallic Capacitors) as its larger siblings, coupled with Intel gigabit ethernet for no-frills low latency networking and dual PCIe 3.0 x16 multi-GPU support. Also, the onboard 8-channel SupremeFX III audio solution is rated at an above average 110dB SNR, doing away the need for a discreet sound card.One of the main reasons that we prefer using ASUS ROG X79 boards is the excellent UEFI BIOS, which has a clean and functional layout for overclockers, and it recovers well during unstable runs. Frequent bios updates by the ROG team to squeeze out every drop of memory and graphics performance is also a huge plus.The Rampage IV GENE can be purchased for US$289 on Newegg.CPU HSF (Thermalright Silver Arrow SB-E edition)

To take care of the CPU cooling (135W TDP on the 2.9GHz 8-core E5-2690), we used the recent announced Thermalright Silver Arrow SB-E, which is a updated version of the original Silver Arrow that we did a review on last year. Featuring eight nickel-plated 6 mm copper heatpipes and 2 * 154mm*120mm of heat dissipation area, it is bundled with an efficient pair of TY-150 & TY-141 ultra low noise PWM fans (clips for an optional third fan is included) for best-in-class cooling.We will update our readers about the pricing when it is publicly available.

Read more: Ultimate 8-core mATX Powerhouse: Xeon E5-2690, R4G, 7970DCii and more! by VR-Zone.com

[siopao1984]

Memory (Kingston HyperX Genesis 2133MHz CL11 16GB Kit)



While clocked at relatively high latencies (11-12-11-30), the Kingston HyperX Genesis 2133MHz CL11 16GB Kit nevertheless remains one of the least expensive (US$159.99) quad channel kits in the market and comes with Kingston's industry leading lifetime warranty. The attractive looking blue heatspreaders are also low profile which avoids height clearance issues with larger CPU heatsink towers.

Graphics (ASUS HD7970-DC2T-3GD5)



AMD's Radeon HD 7970 is the undisputed king of the hill when it comes to raw pixel pushing power (or until later this year when the Green Globin joins in the fun) and is the standard bearer of power efficiency and overclocking world records thanks to its innovative 28nm Graphics Core Next architecture. ASUS is one of the first AIB vendors to use a custom PCB design with improved power circuitry, slapping on their mammoth DirectCU II cooler to cool the sucker down. The GPU clock is also pre-overclocked to 1GHz, 75MHz higher than reference designs.



At the back of the card, we have voltage monitoring and offset adjustment points (VGA Hotwire) for those who are into hardcore overclocking. Dual CrossfireX connectors also allow for up to 4-way multi-GPU, which ironically cannot be achieved because of the triple slot cooler (typical enclosures only have 7-8 slots).



On the PCB, we see the revamped 12 phase "Super Alloy" power design driven by their proprietary DIGI+ VRM and 2 x 8-pin PCIe power, providing extra juice needed during extreme scenarios.



At the I/O Panel, the card has four DisplayPort and two DVI (single and dual link) connectors for six display Eyefinity operation. The ample 3GB GDDR5 framebuffer onboard also allows for hitch free HD3D gaming across all the screens.

The ASUS HD7970 DirectCU II 3GB commands a premium price of US$599.99.



SSD (OCZ Revodrive 3 X2 480GB)



Finally, rounding up our parts list is the OCZ Revodrive 3 X2 480GB (our review) speed demon, which is one of the fastest workstation class PCIe based SSDs for the discerning power user. With lofty specifications like 1.5GB/s of bandwidth and 230,000 4KB random write IOPS, it breezes through large file transfers and gives near-instant game level loading times.

[siopao1984]

Benchmarks

From the Cinebench score, we can see that our E5-2690 at stock speeds performs around that of a 4.5GHz i7-3960X and double the typical Core i5-2500K desktop





Strong memory and cache performance





Nefarious RAR password cracking usages - posessing 16 strong threads to call upon, the CPU can process up to 1483.5 password hashes/sec





In the X264 FHD Benchmark, the E5-2690 turned in a strong 33.24 fps for 1080p encoding, which is 50% faster than the average i5-2500K system





Turning our attention to graphics performance, the processor and gpu combined to produce a strong X2923 3DMarks, which is very impressive considering nothing was overclocked





Battlefield 3 (DX11) 1080p Ultra Preset





Going Hunting Single Player Level Fraps Runthrough

Min - 66fps
Avg - 80.198fps
Max - 103fps

Here is a chart to help our readers interpret fps results (Vsync off):

FPS Range Comments
>100 Excellent / Ownage
60-99 Acceptable
30-59 Playable, with occasional lags/slowdown
20-29 Not enjoyable and No for fast paced action
10-19 It's bad mkay
0-9 Slideshow / Waste time

Averaging 80 frames per second and not dipping below 60, our 8-core mATX powerhouse will give gamers a smooth fragging experience even on the highest ultra detail setting



Thermals of the Thermalright Silver Arrow SB-E revealed - When running the Prime 95 Small FFTs Torture Test for 30mins, the CPU temperature did not exceed 57 degrees on any of the eight physical cores (rated at 135w TDP), which shows that there is still a lot of headroom for any overclocking





OCZ Revodrive 3 X2 480GB's smoking fast storage performance





In conclusion, we hope that our readers liked this mini wonder that we've put together. We would like to give this award to all the components involved in our Ultimate 8-core mATX Powerhouse

[lloyd_joy]

so far, ang asus HD7970 DCU2 ang pinaka mahal dri ug price for the "non-reference design" na HD7970... kani ang pinaka barato nko na kit-an sa online shops... priced at 4,950 rmb (roughly 32.1K php). ang uban kay more than 5K rmb man... share napud ko ha... pero, mahal ra gyud dri compared sa SRP sa online shops sa US... grabeh ni'g pang jack-up ug prices ang mga intsik dah... tsk tsk tsk... salig ni sila na daghan mamalit labi na bag-o ang mga gadget or pc components... dri ra man unta ni gi pang manufacture sa main land china.. basin dako ang tax pag balik ug entry sa main land market kay mga premium products man ni sila... or mahal lang gyud baligya sila dri... hhhaaayyy...

again, price is not in USD but in RMB...

[albert967]

jaw-dropping performance ani nga setup oy...
and also 'bulsa-pwning'

grabe pa's shabu ning bisyoha dah! HAHA!

[lloyd_joy]

kaning SSD on PCIE card kay hagbay ko nag lungot2x ani nila. kaso, pwerte man mahala. wla gud mo ubos ang prices... kani kay 240GB ra gani (sa 360buy)... sakit kaayo'g presyo... hhhaaayyyy... kun ma affordable ni for the masses, mao ni atoang paliton para magamit ning pcie 1x na slots sa atoang mga mobos...






then kani kay hybrid (1TB)... SSD & HDD... sakit lang man gihapon...