Out of Pod Experience

that's a good build. I'm using http://pcpartpicker.com/p/CbYr

my roommate uses intel and your card, and it runs 3 screens stable and he's had 7 clients running

keep in mind it's 3+1... can run 3d on three of the four, the last one is strictly 2-d display

his only complaint is with 3 screens, there isn't enough room to put clients up.

Corsair H100 self-contained water cooling... they have a new version now, it's called the 110 or 120 something

For storage I'd recommend:

HDD: Seagate Barracuda EcoGreen F4 2000GB
SSD: Samsung SSD 840 Series 250GB, 2.5", SATA 6Gb/s

If you want to go crazy with VRAM (not sure that's needed though) take a look at the some HD 7970 Ghz editions with 6 GB GDDR5...

The cheapest 4GB GTX 680 goes for about 530$ right now.

This is one of the very few instances where I would actually advise FOR multiple video cards.
You can run them in SLI mode if you like, but frankly, you're better off with them in standalone mode.
That is, 3 separate cards each driving a single one of your 3 monitors, no SLI mode at all.
The main drawback is that you need a motherboard that can fit all three (but you seem to have that covered), and that the Windows display configuration will be a bit unfamiliar to most people (but don't let that stop you).
The hidden advantage is that in case either one breaks for any reason, you're still left with two functional cards (and two of them breaking at the same time is highly unlikely).

You don't even need to get the same model of video card - you can get a moderately powerful one (to use for most other games) and two somewhat weaker ones which would be just fast enough to reliably run 3 EVE clients each at max graphic detail.
I would say something along the lines of 2x 2 GB GTX 650 at ~130$ each plus a 2 GB GTX 660 for ~210$, a grand total of 470$, with a combined "power rating" about 40% higher than the single 4GB GTX 680 at 60$ less total cost (and more total VRAM).

P.S. Bonus points: you can scale up later on to 9 separate monitors if you like, and run each client fullscreen on a single monitor.

Or, you know, you could also wait a couple of months until the new 700-series start coming out, most likely in April or at most May.

Ya I guess I hadn't thought about it like that but maybe the 3 cards would best best. Not like eve asks for much graphically that one of those couldn't handle. Would probably need to upgrade to a 1000W or 1200W PSU though right?

So 1x http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130825

and 2x http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130840

It kinda weirds me out the 650 is smaller haha. Think there would be any point in doing 3x of the 660 over 1x 660 and the 2x 650. Honestly saving money sounds great to me as this rig is more expensive than I would really like to spend but I also don't wanna skimp on GPU when the MOBO/CPU is over 1k alone.

I had thought about doing the 680 and then adding on cards later as I only have about 2k US to build this machine right now. Definitely not waiting for the 700 series :P

Currently running on an Intel 2 Duo Core 6600 with 4GB of ram and an old GT 240 so this will be a big upgrade for me :P

And Rain that is a pretty sexy set up I can't deny it. I can always just swap it over to AutoCAD or MathLAB and make it look like I am working ;).

What kind of monitors are those? I got these 2 Viewsonic 24" LEDs and was going to buy 1 more but they have a really ****** bevel that wouldnt allow for me to turn them like you have them. I have half considered buying 3 new monitors and selling these. They perform well but the bevel is a PITA http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004KCPH84/ref=asc_df_B004KCPH842400946?smid=A3LJ5WMKNRFKQS&tag=dealtmp876923-20&linkCode=asn&creative=395105&creativeASIN=B004KCPH84

Saw this one on sale. looks pretty good to me :P http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236288&nm_mc=EMC-IGNEFL022113&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL022113-_-EMC-022113-Index-_-LCDMonitors-_-24236288-L0D

Haven't decided yet though on that end. Don't wanna be a poser ;) I had honestly thought about doing 3 screens for the new PC and keeping 1 or 2 monitors for the old one, or hooking up the old one to my 42" plasma which sits 5ft behind my desk.

And on your racing stripes, they look like they were built in with the chair. Well done.

PS Sorry if this post is all over the place I keep going back and adding stuff. First time I have really got to talk to others about my plan who are interested. :P

IPS panel is a must, TN panels suuuuuUUUUUuuuuck in comparison.

If you just HAVE to go with a TN panel, at least go with a 120 Hz one (there are no 120 Hz IPS panel consumer monitors yet)



A GTX 650 has a TDP of merely ~65W, while a GTX 660 has a TDP of 140W.
You generally want a PSU that provides between roughly 120% to 160% of the peak power your machine is likely to consume, to account for normal usage degradation in time and slow down the rate of that degradation (depending on how many years your want that particular PSU to last). Anything more than that is a waste of money IMO.

In my recommended setup, total video card TDP would be ~270W, for a system grand total of ~450W or thereabouts tops, probably even just around 400W, so a 650W PSU should already suffice, you don't even really need a ~800W one (but I guess it won't hurt THAT much).
With 3x GTX 660 that would go up to ~550-600W for the system, in which case, you just might want to get a 850W PSU, or maybe even 950W-1000W at most, but 1200W would be overkill IMO.
Of course, most of the time, you won't really get too close to those peak power levels, UNLESS you also decide to heavily overclock everything (which I would strongly advise against, for multiple reasons).

Going with the two 650s and a single 660 has multiple advantages over the triple 660 choice:
- no need for a beefy PSU, which means you can either get a cheaper one or a more efficient one
- noticeably lower electricity usage either way, which adds up in time
- lower heat generation, which also means lower noise levels due to less air volume movement needed
- smaller cards most likely means better airflow where it matters most in a multiple-card setup
- in fact, you can most likely skip the watercooling altogether, even using just the stock cooling already available for everything in the machine

...say the two who have just one monitor

it's also expensive, OP, and injecting such an elitist view into a discussion about multiple monitors and how to best spend money on a rig is bad form.

that figure varies by PCI-E gen and motherboard.

just saying, that's a blanket statement and it's worth verifying for a build. iirc it's a total wattage available across all PCI-E slots, and it's 150W or 300W.....

-verify-