Z97 chipset. Yarrgh...

[chalsall]

Originally Posted by TheMawn

Alternatively, you can try to wait for X99, which will give you juicy quad-channel RAM and a whole bunch of other goodies.

Hmmm... Looks like the release date is still unknown, beyond "2H". Besides, I tend to try to avoid the "bleeding edge", and I'll want to take delivery of the kit by the end of July.

[TheMawn]

Originally Posted by chalsall

Thanks VERY much. That board looks like it will do nicely.

I'm so new at this (or, perhaps, so stupid) that I completely missed the "Narrow your Choices" option!

More likely it's a case of knowing what to look for. I do, but I didn't three years ago when I really started getting into this. It takes maintenance. I have enough interest in computer hardware that I keep myself up to date out of interest. I'm pretty much able to suggest a full build in less than thirty minutes given a framework of what the person needs.

Originally Posted by chalsall

Hmmm... Looks like the release date is still unknown, beyond "2H". Besides, I tend to try to avoid the "bleeding edge", and I'll want to take delivery of the kit by the end of July.

This is exactly what I just referred to. The key is to build a computer TODAY for what you need TODAY as opposed to six months from now. It sounds like building a 2011 socket is a good idea.

If you need a hand with the rest of the hardware, let me know. The scariest thing is the price-tag on the cheapest six-core processor.

[kracker]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128562
$242.99 here(US site). I'm not sure how things in Barbados works...

[tServo]

Originally Posted by chalsall

Hmmm... Looks like the release date is still unknown, beyond "2H". Besides, I tend to try to avoid the "bleeding edge", and I'll want to take delivery of the kit by the end of July.

It depends on what's important to you, Chris. I believe no current LGA2011 cpu supports AVX2 instructions. I believe George's code uses AVX2 instructions quite effectively. OTOH, the LGA2011 cpus have the most PCIE lanes for supporting more GPUs. The Haswell-E refresh might be just the ticket, since it may include both. I'm @ work now so I can't research the details but you may want to wait for that cpu.
I remember reading a review in Tom's or Anandtech of 3 or 4 motherboards that use a special "switch" chip so that current Haswell cpus can address 4 GPUs. Without the chip, they can only address 2 or 3, and somewhat poorly at that.
I'll try to find it later.

[Cruelty]

Originally Posted by tServo

It depends on what's important to you, Chris. I believe no current LGA2011 cpu supports AVX instructions. I believe George's code uses AVX instructions quite effectively. OTOH, the LGA2011 cpus have the most PCIE lanes for supporting more GPUs. The Haswell-E refresh might be just the ticket, since it may include both. I'm @ work now so I can't research the details but you may want to wait for that cpu.

AVX is supported in current LGA2011 CPUs from both i7-3xxx and i7-4xxx families. What's not available yet is FMA3.

[chalsall]

Originally Posted by tServo

It depends on what's important to you, Chris. I believe no current LGA2011 cpu supports AVX2 instructions. I believe George's code uses AVX2 instructions quite effectively. OTOH, the LGA2011 cpus have the most PCIE lanes for supporting more GPUs. ... I'll try to find it later.

Thanks for your thoughts...

To put on the table, what is most important to me, in order, is:

1. Reliability -- being in Barbados means RMAs are *very* slow, and *very* expensive.
2. Ability to support 64 GBs of RAM.
3. Being able to support four GPUs (two to drive three 4K/UHD displays (I love lots of "real estate") and two for compute (mostly SIFTing)).

Further to the analysis:

A. I am not a "gamer"; I haven't played a video game in over a decade.
B. I am not into overclocking. I always run at stock speeds and voltages.
C. This machine is not intended to be a GIMPS powerhouse, although it will of course contribute when it's not doing "real work".

Because of this, I'm pretty sure I'm going to go with a 2011 solution, rather than wait.

[kracker]

Originally Posted by tServo

It depends on what's important to you, Chris. I believe no current LGA2011 cpu supports AVX2 instructions. I believe George's code uses AVX2 instructions quite effectively. OTOH, the LGA2011 cpus have the most PCIE lanes for supporting more GPUs. The Haswell-E refresh might be just the ticket, since it may include both. I'm @ work now so I can't research the details but you may want to wait for that cpu.
I remember reading a review in Tom's or Anandtech of 3 or 4 motherboards that use a special "switch" chip so that current Haswell cpus can address 4 GPUs. Without the chip, they can only address 2 or 3, and somewhat poorly at that.
I'll try to find it later.

Prime95 does not use AVX2.

[Cruelty]

Originally Posted by kracker

Prime95 does not use AVX2.

It uses FMA3 (if available) and it is a part of AVX2, at least according to Wikipedia

[TheMawn]

Stock speeds sounds like a very, very good idea considering the amount of hardware you're looking at. With the thermal package you have, you don't want to be adding a couple hundred watts on top of everything.

Have you got a case in mind? It is going to need a lot of size and a lot of airflow, regardless of how your GPUs are configured.

[chalsall]

Originally Posted by TheMawn

Have you got a case in mind? It is going to need a lot of size and a lot of airflow, regardless of how your GPUs are configured.

I don't, yet, have a case in mind. I've looked at a few on the "Egg", but they all seem to insist on glowing blue or red (using LEDs) in their fans. In my mind, that just consumes additional energy (although, admittedly, very little) without any benefit beyond the "look, my computer glows!".

Once I have converged on the MB, CPU(s) and memory, I will definitely seek your assistance for the cooling solution(s), PSU, and case.

[henryzz]

You could make a case for waiting for DDR4 if you are going to want to have the option to upgrade the memory at a later date.