Need high end gaming rig help

[kirbynathan]

I am new to the site, looking for some help to build a new high end gaming system.


APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: ASAP

BUDGET RANGE: $2000-$4500 (Don't want to spend the max if its overkill and not going to make a difference)

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming, running multiple clients and or games at once.

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Mouse, Display (will be using a Casio LED 1080p projector)

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg.com (open to suggestions)

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA

PARTS PREFERENCES: NONE

OVERCLOCKING: Yes

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Yes

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1080 Casio LED projector

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: I need to be able to multitask a tremendous amount. When playing an MMO, I often tab and run other games or multiple mmo's while waiting for raid etc. I'm tired of using multiple computers to run 5 or 6 programs without delay.


My Build Version 1.4

CPU/MB Combo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.437350

CPU Cooling: Spire TherMax Eclipse II http://www.frozencpu.com/products/11423/cpu-spi-28/Spire_TherMax_Eclipse_II_Five_DT_Heatpipe_Universal_CPU_Cooler_Sockets_775_1156_1366_939_AM2_AM2_AM3_SP984B1-V2_.html

Memory: CORSAIR DOMINATOR 12GB (3 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMP12GX3M3A1600C9 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145321

Hard Drive: Crucial RealSSD C300 CTFDDAC256MAG-1G1 2.5" 256GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148349

GPU: 2 x GIGABYTE GV-N480D5-15I-B GeForce GTX 480 (Fermi) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125319

OS: Windows 7 Ultimate

PSU: ???

Case: ???

Could use advice on Case (HAF 922 perhaps), thermal grease (any particular kind best)

 

[marios50]

nice build man.the 980x is beast in a gaming rig.
3 gtx 480s are overkill. 2 are more than enough.
stick with 2nd memory option.
good choice of ssd.
as for the network card stick with onboard.

 

[marios50]

24gb is huge overkill unless you are going to have 10 games running at the same time trust me.

 

[kirbynathan]

When I play Warhammer or WoW, I do multi when I grind. So I could be running 5 or 6 games at the same time.

Right now I can run 4 copies on my laptop but they lag somewhat. The laptop has 6gb so I figured I'd need 12gb minimum to run what I wanted.

I could always try the 8gb and if I need to upgrade do so.

 

[marios50]

ok then go for 12 its what i have and im happy about it.

 

[marios50]

are you interested in liquid cooling?
its great.

 

[coldsleep]

For the network card should I stick with Onboard or go with a Killer Xeno Pro? Is it worth the $99.

Not going to be able to get to a full build right now, but here are a couple of thoughts.

The 980X is probably overkill, even for multi-boxing. I would expect that you could get by just fine with an i7-930 and overclocking it. The UD9 is also overkill, unless you plan on doing some really high-end overclocking. The UD3 or UD5 is more than enough for most people.

I would start off with one 480. I currently run 30 fps in Dalaran (at primetime, graphics on Ultra at 1920x1200) with an AMD Phenom II X4 + ATI 5870. 10 man ICC averages about 50-60fps, though it will drop if there are enough effects going off. I'd leave the option open to SLI another 480 later, but starting with 2 will probably be overkill, especially for your multiboxing.

Similarly, 24 GB is overkill. Since you're multiboxing, I'd get 12 GB, but not 24. Get 3 sticks of 4 GB each so that you can upgrade to 24 GB later if you find that you're really hurting. Socket 1366 uses triple-channel memory, so you want 6 GB, 12 GB, or 24 GB (sets of 3 sticks), not 8 GB...that would drop you to single-channel mode and could impact gameplay a little. Clock speed and CAS Latency are of about equal importance on Intel builds.

At 120-128 GB, the current best SSD is either the OCZ Vertex 2 or the Crucial C300 - excellent sale price right now.

Some "light" SSD reading:
Anandtech's SSD Relapse - a good overview of the technology, but a few months old, so the product recommendations are a bit dated.
bit-tech SSD Buyer's Guide - pretty recent, good overview of the various controllers
techreport article on SSD value - recent, includes comparisons vs. traditional HDDs.

Most people are finding modern onboard sound is fine for gaming. I'd go without the sound card, if you find it's really not working for you, you could always add one later.

The network card is absolutely not worth it. At best, it will decrease your ping by a couple of ms, which won't be noticeable to your eye/reflexes. When I say a couple, I mean 1ms-2ms. All it can do is affect the traffic on your LAN. It can't do anything to the signal once it hits your router and is on the internet. You would be much better served by spending that money to upgrade your internet connection. The only situation in which you might consider buying one of those is if you lug your rig around to LAN parties with a dedicated server, where a couple of ms might actually make the difference between fragging your buddy or not.

 

[kirbynathan]

Any thoughts on this for cooling

Thermaltake CL-W0075 Liquid Cooling System
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835106077

or

ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2 92mm Fluid Dynamic CPU Cooler
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186134

Or should I just put a lot of fans in?

 

[coldsleep]

Unless you're shooting for a bragging-rights overclock, air cooling is easier and cheaper.

If you're looking for a good watercooling setup, you can easily expect to pay a few hundred for it. I wouldn't buy an off-the-shelf solution that's under $100...look at frozencpu.com for ideas on a good water-cooled setup...or possibly check out the overclocking forum here for discussion.

For ideas on air cooling, look at frostytech.com's top "5" list. The Noctua NH-D14 is widely regarded as very good. I have the Tuniq Tower 120 Extreme and have no complaints.

 

[Somebody_007]

if you buy that thermaltake WCS I will come and smack you lol. It has trouble beating the intel stock cooler which is very sad. The minimum IMO is some coolit built in system or an h50. And if you want a complete system with waterblocks for cpu/gpu be ready to shell out 500 or more. It'll perform like a monster but at a cost.

I own a d14 and am very content with it .

The ud9 as already mentioned is quite an overkill. The only thing that makes it out stand out IMO is the 64lanes which is very very good. but other than that why on earth does it cost mor than an sr-2?

So unless you want to go 3-way/4-way and have lot's of addon cards I wouldn't consider it. I'd get an ud3r or ud5/ud7(ud7 if you watercool otherwise ud5 because of the waterblock).

as for the cpu. I consider a 980 being around twice as good as a 930. And it costs 4 times as much. So if you wouldn't OC the 980 forget it and get a 930 and OC it heavily, beacause a 980 goes to waste if it isn't OC'd. If you'd OC it however well then it's up to you to decide if a better cpu is worth that cost.

as for the GPU as mentioned a 480 will handle most games very well at 1080p.

The network card isn't worth it IMO, but it will make quite a difference if you have a lot of background network activity going on. From what I've understood the network card will block out ll that activity and improving connection greatly. However you could just close the background activity before you start the game lol.

And then the case. IMO pick the one you like because you'll be looking at it for a very long time. And you'll have to brag about it so it better not look ugly.

any of the are good choices

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119225&cm_re=haf_x-_-11-119-225-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112244&cm_re=lian_li_pc_a71f-_-11-112-244-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163162&cm_re=silverstone_fortress-_-11-163-162-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129043&cm_re=antec_1200-_-11-129-043-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112159&Tpk=lian%20li%20pc%20p80

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119187

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119138

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119150

hope that was enough

 

[kirbynathan]

So even for multiclienting (running 6 copies of WOW, Warhammer, etc) at the same time I shouldn't go for UD9 with 980x setup? I thought the UD9 provided more upgradability than and the others? Initially I'll have 2 video cards, but thought I might end up with 3 or 4 if

I want a system that performs well and can handle multiple clients/copies of games running without a huge drop in framerate.

 

[Somebody_007]

The ud9 does provide more upgradeibilty than the rest due to the 64lanes. So if you are planning on getting 4 GPUs you will see quite a performance difference.

Seeing as a single 8lane bottlenecked card decreases performance by around 5percent. You should mathematically see a 20percent improvement in GPU performance with a ud9 over any other mobo that supports 4 GPUs. BTW the ud3r and ud5/ud7 don't even support 4-way. So if you want to upgrade heavily later on then an ud9 may be a good option.

Also how do you run 6 instances of wow. I've been wanting to play with 2 people seperately on a single system but how is that done?

 

[coldsleep]

So even for multiclienting (running 6 copies of WOW, Warhammer, etc) at the same time I shouldn't go for UD9 with 980x setup? I thought the UD9 provided more upgradability than and the others? Initially I'll have 2 video cards, but thought I might end up with 3 or 4 if

I want a system that performs well and can handle multiple clients/copies of games running without a huge drop in framerate.

If you're concerned about it, I'd suggest checking around on multi-client/boxing sites. I only run a single instance on my machine, so I can't really say for certain. I'm assuming you're either grinding or pvp-ing in this setup, and not trying to run that many clients in a 10/25-man raid (where the graphics would be more intense).

I expect that 4-way SLI is going to be unnecessary. If you want to shell out for it, go ahead, but a large portion of people who build machines with the intention of adding more video cards later end up not doing so, as they find out that their initial build was more than adequate. If you're running multiple windows on one screen, 2 480s is overkill. If you're running on 3 screens, that's probably still going to have more than sufficient fps.

Since people have been multi-client/boxing well before the i7-980X came out, I'm pretty sure that it's also unnecessary. Again, you can spend for it if you want, but my expectation is that it's not going to provide a massive boost in gaming over the i7-930.