Description
I was looking for a system that would really allow me to work with several VM's as well run several monitors at the same time. Not specifically for gaming but to have full use of several VM (running Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Linux, and Mac OS). Originally was a bit apprehensive about the RAM to be used wanted to have a good performance and the G. Skill Ripjaws running at 2133mhz did the trick. Have a dual 500Gb Samsung SSD in Raid 0 for performance.
Got some of the Aerocool fans to replace the stock fans for a Black and Red look that cam out very well. The smaller 140mm (as compared to the 200mm) are not as quiet and the case did not allow for 200mm (which I would have preferred).
My video cards were not over the top but good performers. Not much of a gamer but I think they would do well if I decided to do so. The crossfire configuration was a little bit tricky since when enabled one card #1 displays output. This means that if you want to have Crosffire X enabled you have to get the appropriate cables for all your monitor (in this case 3) to be connected to the first video card (or the 4rd video card but not the middle video card).
Loaded it with Windows 8 Enterprise, which had to special UEFI boot. I actually had to do the OS installation twice the first time I booted from the CD and even though it installed every other reboot it would hang ad the BIOS/UEFI screen of the ASUS Rampage IV. I later read that to take advantage of Windows 8 you had to really create a bootable UEFI USB disk with Windows 8 and boot and install from that rather than the CD. Once I did this the install went flawless and the machine boots up in sub 30 seconds to the OS. No prblems and it works every time (as it should).
Overall extremely happy with build, please comment and I will be glad to answer any questions.
Comments