~$2500 computer build - help please

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jackhinkley

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May 30, 2013
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Hi all, looking to build/buy a computer quite soon, main purposes being gaming and editing, and have just considered this build from jw.com.au:

Processor: Intel Quad Core i7-3820 Processor 3.6GHz (10M Cache Max Turbo Frequency up to 3.80 GHz)
RAM / Memory: Latest 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR III 1333 MHz Premium System Memory
Operating System: Genuine Microsoft Windows 8 64Bit
Motherboard: Asus P9X79 LE 8x DDR3, 3x PCI-E 3.0, GbLAN, 8CH, RAID, USB3, SATA3 Recommended Upgrade
Hard Drive: 3000GB (3.0TB) Serial ATA III Hard Disk Drive
Solid State Drive (SSD): 120GB Solid State Drive (SSD) Faster and More Reliable (Perfect for those who can not afford to have HDD fail!)
Graphics Card: Dual Crossfire 3GB AMD Radeon 7950 - 384Bit, GDDR5 PCIE3.0 Eligible for AMD Never Settle Free Games Coupon
Sound Card: Integrated High Definition Audio Chipset
Optical Drive: \"BluRay Rewriter - Burns Blu-Ray, DVD & CD \" may require motherboard or graphic card upgrade for
Case/Chassis: Coolermaster 922 -XM S/Panel Black Steel + Plastic and Mesh Bezel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case with USB 3.0 and Black Interior
Power Supply: Corsair 850W HX-850 ATX Power Supply, 140mm fan, Modular Cables, 6x 6+2 PCI-E, 12x SATA, 8x Molex , 80Plus Silver certified
Wireless Network Card: Wireless N150 Internal Card - 150MBPS
Processor Cooling Fan: Corsair Cooling Hydro Series H80i High-performance CPU Cooler, 2x 120mm Cooling Fans
System Warranty: Standard JW 12 Month RTB Warranty Including Parts and Labour

Cost is $2660
What recommendations would you give me: what is too good for build and what would you recommend me adding? Also what (roughly) would be the price if I built a similar computer myself?

Thanks in advance
 
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scopey86

scopey86

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Several things we'd probably like to know. First of all, what are you primarily using this for? Gaming only? Heavy multithreaded application use? Regardless, I'd ditch the 3820, it's not a paritcularly attractive CPU in any way. If you're going to use heavily threaded applications a lot (video rendering, audio etc) then you'd either go for the 3770k (on the lower end) or the 3930k (on the higher end). For gaming, a 3570k is the best bang for buck performance, and getting anything better will normally give you very little extra in terms of performance barring a few titles (Crysis 3 for instance).

Not sure what SSD you're getting, it would help to know what?

I would honestly wait on the GPU, the 770 is going to be announced very soon and it's going to probably be the leading bang for buck high end GPU (along with potentially the 760ti) until at least the 8950.

The powersupply is much more than you need for a single GPU configuration. You could very comfortably drop down to a 600-700W PSU.

As for the pricing, you'd have to do that yourself, unless someone has a good bit of time to kill :p. Just head over to newegg.com or pcpartpicker.com and put the parts in and it'll give you an idea.
 
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n1ghtr4v3n

n1ghtr4v3n

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Feb 27, 2013
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As the previous post said already; (I agree with most of his points)

1. Replace the cpu with either LGA2011-3930 or LGA1155-3770 or 3770K. Preferably wait for new series Haswell LGA1150. Replace also the motherboard accordingly if needed.

2. Replace the gpu with a single hd7970 or gtx780. And yea preferably wait for 770 and 760ti.

3. Replace the psu with 500-600W for a single gpu setup. It is more than enough. Unless higher psu comes for a cheaper price, there is no need to invest in that way. What you gotta look for is a premium brand (Seasonic for instance...) which provides stable voltage even under load.

4. Replace the memories, for sure, prefereably 1600MHz for LGA 1155/1150 or 1866/2133 for LGA2011 cpus. It would be wise to select at least CL9 or CL10 timings which is fast and reliable according to other setups. (CL7 or 8 usually less stable, CL11 or 12 is slower than usual). 1.5V memories is like a must for intel CPU's.

5. Since its a desktop machine probably you dont need a wireless board, you can ditch it totally unless you really have problems with ethernet cabling. Cables are much more reliable when it comes to internet connections and gaming.

6. for SSD's, a premium choice will be Samsung 840 PRO or OCZ Vector (since you didnt mention any brand or models you may want to look at those)

7. for HDD's, 7200rpm 64mb cache sata3 6g/s drives will be the best choice. Prefereably western digital or seagate.

8. for cpu cooling, if you are not aiming for extra/insane/crazy overclocking setup, there is no need to invest in a liquid cooler. A simple, effective CoolerMaster Hyper212Evo will work flawless and miraculous and keep you cool and silent.

Thanks for reading. I hope it helps.

Here is a reference high end gaming build for you to compare stuff easily; (investing more cash than listed below for strictly gaming would be an overkill and waste)
If you can provide more about what are you going to do with the system, more options and selections could be worked on it.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($169.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($22.98 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($139.20 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($124.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition 3GB Video Card ($449.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master Storm Scout 2 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic G 550W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($18.49 @ Amazon)
Total: $1217.60
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-05-30 04:57 EDT-0400)

Good luck.
 
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Marcopolo123

Marcopolo123

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gtx 770 is now a better choice
http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-Dual-Link-02G-P4-2773-KR-Graphics/dp/B00CZIQZ40/ref=sr_1_15?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1369930444&sr=1-15&keywords=gtx+770

http://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-GDDR5-2GB-WINDFORCE-Graphics-GV-N770OC-2GD/dp/B00CU9GOAE/ref=sr_1_12?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1369930470&sr=1-12&keywords=gtx+770

http://www.amazon.com/MSI-DisplayPort-DL-DVI-I-N770-Lightning/dp/B00CZ58WQ2/ref=sr_1_16?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1369930485&sr=1-16&keywords=gtx+770


take this motherboard
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-motherboard-gaz77xup4th
 
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n1ghtr4v3n

n1ghtr4v3n

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actually performance wise, 7970 is still slightly higher than gtx770. but since the gtx770 is 40-50$ cheaper.... that would be the choice, true.
 
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scopey86

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I'd love to see where you're sourcing that from, the reviews I've checked (toms, guru3d) have put the 770 squarely ahead of the 7970.
 
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n1ghtr4v3n

n1ghtr4v3n

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read again. check the bench's

here in Tom's;
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/geforce-gtx-770-gk104-review,review-32698.html

770 comes with low memory interface compared to 7970

770 is still gk104 not much different than 670 or 680 if you consider that 7970 is ahead of 680, it is for sure ahead of 770. I am talking about GHZ version by the way.

plus here is Anandtech benchmark results in comparison;
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/829?vs=768

it is clearly shown that AMD 7970GHZ is better in this two, also better than 680 too.

do you need another proof ?

well... just like I said before for 40-50$ difference I also would get gtx770.
but performance wise, 1 year old 7970 is outpacing gtx770. do not get confused by gtx780 since gtx780 is much superior to gtx770, the difference is not like how it was between gtx670 and gtx680.

your comment is totally pointing us nowhere...
 
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Marcopolo123

Marcopolo123

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scopey86

scopey86

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If you're not gonna provide constructive criticism or proof, or at least reference the op's questions, you're not really doing anything helpful here. Let's take a look at your reviews

Toms the final tally was 4 games were faster on the 770, and 4 were faster on the 7970. Dead heat with a difference of something like 0.5 frames average difference between them.

In Guru3d, the 770 trounced the 7970 7 to 2. Anandtech is the only review I've seen where the 770 consistently loses out to the 7970, which makes it incredibly questionable. PCPer also showed the 770 beating the 7970 with the conclusion even stating

"Compared to the Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition, the primary concern for both NVIDIA and AMD, the GTX 770 doesn't change the story too dramatically. While it varies with some games, I often saw a pattern with the GTX 770 having a slight performance lead at 1920x1080 testing and then matching performance (or falling ever so slightly behind) at 2560x1440. I saw that occur in Battlefield 3, Crysis 3, Skyrim and Far Cry 3."

Hardware.info said the same as well:

" If so [regarding 770 pricing], the GeForce GTX 770 is a very strong competitor to the AMD Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition. In most games the Nvidia card is faster, and while the framerates are only 5.3% better in Full HD, the difference is more significant for the frametimes."

Hexus also showed the 770 beating the 7970 in gaming benchmarks 5 to 1. The ONLY other review I found putting the 7970 ahead was the hardware canucks review, which put it at a measly 3% faster. So there is overwhelmingly more reviews indicating that in terms of game performance, the 770 does outdo the 7970, so long as you aren't looking at multimonitor.
 
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scopey86

scopey86

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I just showed that the majority of reviews place the 770 ahead of the 7970 for gaming at single monitors. Furthermore, the 770 isn't just a different bios compared to the 680. The increased power target is a result of differences in pcb layout and components. You can't simply flash a 770 bios onto a 680 and expect it to work the way you do with a 7970 vs a ghz edition. And before you reference the article that showed the leak bios, I hope we all know that was a fake.
 
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TheBigTroll

TheBigTroll

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i know its a fake. but still, there is almost no difference between the 680 or the 770. yeah its clocked higher out of the box and it is going to clock higher, but in the end its around the 5% mark, just like how the 670 and 680 were about the same after overclocking
 
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