$3000 3D Gaming Build

[Drolyt]

Hi. I'm looking to build a PC to play 3D games and watch 3D movies (among other things) with a budget of about $3000 and I would like some advice. I'm interested in TriDef's drivers which I have heard can convert 2D video files and DVDs to 3D in real time with some success and also in NVidia's 3D Vision. I plan on getting a nice 3D TV at some point, but in the mean time I'll settle for a good 3D Monitor, probably somewhere in the twenty some inch range depending on price. It has been a long time since I've built a system but I know what I'm doing. I mostly play strategy and 4X games (I'm really looking forward to Civ V) but I occasionally play FPSs and I would like to see Crysis on full settings in 3D if possible.

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: August 2010 BUDGET RANGE: $3000 (Not a hard limit, but I'm not going over unless I absolutely have to). After Rebates is fine.

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming, Work/School, Programming, Graphic Design, Home Theater, Browsing the Internet, Music, Other Stuff.

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Everything needs to be included in the price, including Monitor, Keyboard, Speakers/Headset, Operating System, 3D Software (but no other software), and anything else needed to build the system and run 3D Games/Movies (except the games/movies themselves obviously).

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Anythings fine, I always liked Newegg but if I can get better deals elsewhere that's cool. COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: US?

PARTS PREFERENCES: Don't particularly care as long as it all works well. I'd like two GeForce 480s in SLI if possible, though I would go for a single Radeon HD 4970 if you could convince me iZ3D and/or TriDef would work just as well as NVidia's 3D Vision. I've always used AMD processors, but I'm open to opinions.

OVERCLOCKING: Yes, the Processor at least, maybe the Graphics. SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Maybe (see above)

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1080 preferably (for HD movies) (that's the same as 1080p right?).

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Quiet PC would be nice if we can fit it into the price, interested in what you guys think of liquid cooling.

 

[carnedude]

Here is a copy of my build for you. Its a start , Maybe swap out the 470's for the 480's and a get rid of my monitor and grab a 3d one and you sound like you want blue ray? The video cards are supposed to go live in a few weeks

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Late August-Early September

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming, Cad, Modeling, Internet

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Speakers, Mouse, Keyboard OS)Windows 7 premium

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg.com, Amazon.com, or really whatever is cheapest COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:USA

PARTS PREFERENCES: Intel CPU, Nvidia GPU

OVERCLOCKING: Yes SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Yes

MONITOR RESOLUTION:1920x1080

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Just need good air flow, noise is not a issue.

Case/OS combo- http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.437505.11-133-178

Mobo/PSU Combo- http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.436334

CPU- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115225 Curious to see where this goes in price once the 950 drops?
or- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115211 might wait and get this one when the price drops?

Ram- Two sets for 12gb http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104190

HDD- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185

HSU- i would like to see a stable 4.0 Ghz overclock so we will see? http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002VKVZ1A/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&seller=

GPU- 2 for sli when they come out http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127513

Optical- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106335 want the light scribe

Monitor- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236049

Wireless pci card- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833320048

TIM- Gonna get the MX-3 http://www.arctic-cooling.com/webshop/product_info.php?cPath=39_&mID=274

Extra fans for the case- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835168013

This all ads up to $2659

 

[Drolyt]

Your links are missing the middle, weird. Still, thanks for the example build.

 

[carnedude]

sorry about that links are fixed

 

[Drolyt]

sorry about that links are fixed

Sweet, thanks. Do you think Intel offers good advantage over AMD?

 

[carnedude]

Yeah Intel offers 8 logical cores, triple channel ram, and overclocks a lot better than AMD. Also if you look at this link too they show the Intel's chips are the leaders right now.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-phenom-ii-corei-i5,2647.html

 

[blackhawk1928]

Hi,
So for a 3D gaming build with a $3,000 budget, this is the configuration that I would assemble. I'll explain some reason for each part at the end.

Central Processing Unit: Intel Core i7 930
Power Supply Unit: Corsair 1000HX
Graphics Processing Unit: 3x Nvidia Geforce GTX480
Random Access Memory: G.Skill PI+Turbulence II (6GB) Tripled
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD5
Optical Disk Drive: LG WH10LS30
Case: Antec 1200
Storage: Crucial Real SSD C300 64GB
Storage II: Samsung Spinpoint 1TB

For $3000 you can easily get the Intel i7 980X and a Gigabyte UD9, however you will have to pay for it when it comes to graphics. For my $3000 i'd rather have a fraction of the graphics power but rather get the better MB/CPU simply because it my preference. However since Gaming is your main concern, you can easily get the i7 930 and cheaper UD5 while getting top end RAM and a top end graphics configuration with 3 GTX 480's which should slaughter Crysis with ease on resolutions of 1080p and over with 16xAA/16xAF and full settings.

 

[carnedude]

Quick Note those MSI gtx 470's just went for sale on newegg!

 

[Drolyt]

Hi,
So for a 3D gaming build with a $3,000 budget, this is the configuration that I would assemble. I'll explain some reason for each part at the end.

Central Processing Unit: Intel Core i7 930
Power Supply Unit: Corsair 1000HX
Graphics Processing Unit: 3x Nvidia Geforce GTX480
Random Access Memory: G.Skill PI+Turbulence II (6GB) Tripled
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD5
Optical Disk Drive: LG WH10LS30
Case: Antec 1200
Storage: Crucial Real SSD C300 64GB
Storage II: Samsung Spinpoint 1TB

For $3000 you can easily get the Intel i7 980X and a Gigabyte UD9, however you will have to pay for it when it comes to graphics. For my $3000 i'd rather have a fraction of the graphics power but rather get the better MB/CPU simply because it my preference. However since Gaming is your main concern, you can easily get the i7 930 and cheaper UD5 while getting top end RAM and a top end graphics configuration with 3 GTX 480's which should slaughter Crysis with ease on resolutions of 1080p and over with 16xAA/16xAF and full settings.

Wow, that's almost exactly $3000, you're good. Gonna be about $4000 once I add in everything else though. One question, is the SSD really worth it? I mean, does it improve anything other than load times? How much does it improve? Anyways thanks for the advice.

 

[blackhawk1928]

An SSD is one of the best upgrades you'll ever do. It makes everything simply run faster. It doesn't increase FPS in games or anything, however everything is snappier. Applications open instantly, windows boots in a fraction of the time. There is no stuttering like there is on hard drives. It might not feel that much, but once you get the SSD, you'll feel your computer just flies. Trust me, I didn't believe it was worth until I got one, and now I feel as it was my most important upgrade.

 

[carnedude]

Yeah totally! after the prices drop this fall I am considering grabbing one. Do you have yours in a Raid 0 Blackhawk? Just wondering how much in any difference there is in setting it up compared to a standard drive?

 

[totallystubby]

An SSD is one of the best upgrades you'll ever do. It makes everything simply run faster. It doesn't increase FPS in games or anything, however everything is snappier. Applications open instantly, windows boots in a fraction of the time. There is no stuttering like there is on hard drives. It might not feel that much, but once you get the SSD, you'll feel your computer just flies. Trust me, I didn't believe it was worth until I got one, and now I feel as it was my most important upgrade.

Interesting. I'm just coming back into the "custom-building" scene after a loooooong break so excuse me if I sound like a total noob. Three questions that come to my mind:

1) Does the performance of these devices downgrade overtime? Like in 1-2 years?
2) I know that they are supposed to be more reliable since they have no moving parts but are there other perks about SSDs that one should know about?
3) Is it a good idea to have an SSD as the primary drive (with the OS installed) and a regular HDD as a larger secondary storage? Is it a good combination?

Thanks

 

[Drolyt]

Interesting. I'm just coming back into the "custom-building" scene after a loooooong break so excuse me if I sound like a total noob. Three questions that come to my mind:

1) Does the performance of these devices downgrade overtime? Like in 1-2 years?
2) I know that they are supposed to be more reliable since they have no moving parts but are there other perks about SSDs that one should know about?
3) Is it a good idea to have an SSD as the primary drive (with the OS installed) and a regular HDD as a larger secondary storage? Is it a good combination?

Thanks

For 2) they are faster and I believe they use less electricity. For 3) I think so since that's what Blackhawk recommended I do. The only reason for it seems to be that SSDs are expensive though, it would be optimal to just have a ton of SSD storage. The middle ground most go for seems to be put operating system and important programs on the SSD and other stuff on a larger HDD. For 1) I have no idea.

 

[blackhawk1928]

Carnedude Wrote:

Yeah totally! after the prices drop this fall I am considering grabbing one. Do you have yours in a Raid 0 Blackhawk? Just wondering how much in any difference there is in setting it up compared to a standard drive?

No, I only have a single Intel X25-M 80GB. No raid 0. However, SSD's are designed to be literally drop in replacements for HDD's so raiding them will be just like HDD's.

totallystubby Wrote:

Interesting. I'm just coming back into the "custom-building" scene after a loooooong break so excuse me if I sound like a total noob. Three questions that come to my mind:

1) Does the performance of these devices downgrade overtime? Like in 1-2 years?
2) I know that they are supposed to be more reliable since they have no moving parts but are there other perks about SSDs that one should know about?
3) Is it a good idea to have an SSD as the primary drive (with the OS installed) and a regular HDD as a larger secondary storage? Is it a good combination?

Thanks

1) It really depends. What happens is that when you erase something from the drive, the operating system thinks its gone, however really the file is still there on the physical disk and next time it writes over it, it needs perform a lot of extra work to erase the cell and write new data. So once all your fresh formatted cells are used up, it beings to write over them. The OS thinks its free space but it really isn't. This was a huge problem for SSD's years ago but now most major SSD manufacturers have developed systems in the drive that "Truly" delete files. Therefore it will take longer to delete them, however it will keep the SSD running top speed...all the time! For intel, this is called Trim, it quietly deletes and wipes cells while the drive is running constantly and keeps it top speed. HOwever its only supported by windows 7, there is a manual tool you can use if you have Vista/XP but it takes a long time and you need to run it often to keep top speed. With trim, you never even know its running, it just does it job. Now, even if there is no tools for this on an SSD, if you fresh format it, everything will be top speed again. It doesn't actually damage the drive. Other major SSD manufacters like OCZ, Kingston, crucial, corsair...etc have I think created thier own deleting tools.

2) Well, there really is no perks, just tweaks for performance in windows. SSD's are better then HDD's in every capacity.
-Less power consumption
-Smaller
-Quieter
-Faster
-More reliable
-Longer life
-Efficient
-Non mechanical
...etc the list goes on and on.

3) Yes, SSD is best used as the drive for the OS and applications, data and storage can also be stored but seeing how its very expensive for space, people usually put it onto HDD's. If money isn't really an object, you can buy a huge SSD, a couple hundred GB's or maybe even a TB. which cost thousands and use it for storage.

Hope I answered all your questions, if you have more post them up!

 

[totallystubby]

Thanks Drolyt and blackhawk1928. I'm really thinking about getting an SSD now. Will do some more research and if I have more questions, I'll bother you guys again!

Thanks!

 

[Drolyt]

Best answer selected by Drolyt.

 

[xxgamxx]

Carnedude Wrote:

Yeah totally! after the prices drop this fall I am considering grabbing one. Do you have yours in a Raid 0 Blackhawk? Just wondering how much in any difference there is in setting it up compared to a standard drive?

No, I only have a single Intel X25-M 80GB. No raid 0. However, SSD's are designed to be literally drop in replacements for HDD's so raiding them will be just like HDD's.

totallystubby Wrote:

Interesting. I'm just coming back into the "custom-building" scene after a loooooong break so excuse me if I sound like a total noob. Three questions that come to my mind:

1) Does the performance of these devices downgrade overtime? Like in 1-2 years?
2) I know that they are supposed to be more reliable since they have no moving parts but are there other perks about SSDs that one should know about?
3) Is it a good idea to have an SSD as the primary drive (with the OS installed) and a regular HDD as a larger secondary storage? Is it a good combination?

Thanks

1) It really depends. What happens is that when you erase something from the drive, the operating system thinks its gone, however really the file is still there on the physical disk and next time it writes over it, it needs perform a lot of extra work to erase the cell and write new data. So once all your fresh formatted cells are used up, it beings to write over them. The OS thinks its free space but it really isn't. This was a huge problem for SSD's years ago but now most major SSD manufacturers have developed systems in the drive that "Truly" delete files. Therefore it will take longer to delete them, however it will keep the SSD running top speed...all the time! For intel, this is called Trim, it quietly deletes and wipes cells while the drive is running constantly and keeps it top speed. HOwever its only supported by windows 7, there is a manual tool you can use if you have Vista/XP but it takes a long time and you need to run it often to keep top speed. With trim, you never even know its running, it just does it job. Now, even if there is no tools for this on an SSD, if you fresh format it, everything will be top speed again. It doesn't actually damage the drive. Other major SSD manufacters like OCZ, Kingston, crucial, corsair...etc have I think created thier own deleting tools.

2) Well, there really is no perks, just tweaks for performance in windows. SSD's are better then HDD's in every capacity.
-Less power consumption
-Smaller
-Quieter
-Faster
-More reliable
-Longer life
-Efficient
-Non mechanical
...etc the list goes on and on.

3) Yes, SSD is best used as the drive for the OS and applications, data and storage can also be stored but seeing how its very expensive for space, people usually put it onto HDD's. If money isn't really an object, you can buy a huge SSD, a couple hundred GB's or maybe even a TB. which cost thousands and use it for storage.

Hope I answered all your questions, if you have more post them up!

An SSD isn't mead for games to be installed on right? I assumed it would be since one of the views I have about SSDs is to load games extremely fast.

 

[blackhawk1928]

Yes it is...you can do whatever your do on your HDD on an SSD...except defragmentation which is uneeded. Games should be installed on the SSD for decreased load times.