$1500 i7-2600k Build for 3D Modeling/Gaming

gyrik_22

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Alright, finally got the funds and the research done to nail this sucker down in the next week. Here's what I'm working with, looking for a sanity check and advice on a few last details.

Approximate Purchase Date: Next week


Budget Range: $1500 maximum, closer to $1000 is better


System Usage from Most to Least Important: 3D Modeling/rendering (Maya 2011), Gaming


Parts Not Required: Speakers


Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg or tigerdirect, microcenter (there's one in town)


Country of Origin: USofA


Parts Preferences: Word of mouth has me sticking with an Nvidia GPU and i7 CPU.


Overclocking: Maybe, but down the line


SLI or Crossfire: Maybe


Monitor Resolution: 1680x1050 or 1920x1080 (my current monitor will turn into a secondary monitor and it's only 1680x1050)


Additional Comments: One thing I'm worried about is rumors of Maya/Nvidia throttling down their video cards in Maya. Not sure if the GTX 500 series line has this as a factor or not. I've thought a little bit about SLI with two 560 Ti cards, but a single 570 seems like a more cost effective option.


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Parts!

Case: Antec 300 ($60) OR COOLER MASTER HAF 912 ($60) OR HAF 932 ($150)

Processor: Intel i7-2600k ($280)

Motherboard: Asus P8P67 ($150) OR Asrock Extreme4 P67 ($150) (can't seem to find a link for the ASRock)

Cooler: CM Hyper 212 ($30) OR CM V8 ($60)

Memory: CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory ($100) OR equivalent

SSD: Nothing OR Corsair Nova 32gb 2.5" SSD ($75) OR OCZ Vertex 2 64gb ($120)

Storage HD: 2x Samsung Spinpoint F3 500GB 7200 SATA 3.0Gb ($100) OR 1Tb ($65)

Optical: $20 DVD-RW of some flavor, probably a LITE-ON Black

Video Card: GeForce GTX 560 Ti ($260) OR 570 ($360)

PSU: XFX 750w Black Edition 80+ Silver ($130) OR 850W ($150)

Monitor: ASUS VH238H Black 23" Full HD HDMI LED Backlight LCD Monitor ($170) or similar

Keyboard: Logitech G110 ($65)

Mouse: Not sold on one yet. We'll placehold with a Logitech G518 ($40)

Other:

Thermal Paste ($10)

Totals (without any deals applied)
Low Price - $1390
High Price - $1740 (a bit over budget, but that's with ALL the highest price options)
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So, any last touch ups, suggestions on getting the price down, etc. would be really helpful. I thought about trying to rearrange things to manage dual 560 Ti cards in SLI, but I'm not sure it's worth it.
 
Solution
http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-P67X4B3&title=ASRock-P67-EXTREME4-B3-LGA1155-Intel-P67-B3-DDR3-Quad-SLI-Quad-CrossFireX-SATA3-USB3-0-A-GbE-ATX-Motherboard $153.99
ASRock P67 EXTREME4 B3 LGA1155/ Intel P67 B3/ DDR3/ Quad SLI & Quad CrossFireX/ SATA3&USB3.0/ A&GbE/ ATX Motherboard

If going with a 570 then this is the set up I would recommend....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.604447 Combo Discount: -$15.00 Combo Price: $434.98
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL
EVGA 012-P3-1570-AR GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card...
The reason to get the GTX 570 would be CUDA.

- If you want to keep the SLI option open you will want the ASRock board. The regular P8P67 is not a true SLI board, as the second PCI-E slot would only run at x4.

- As stated in the most recent SBM article, the Hyper 212+ is adequate for overclocking.

- I personally feel that a small SSD on a desktop machine is not very useful. You should not have to reboot or cold boot so often that it is needed. Now, if the SSD is large enough to accommodate everything you use frequently, then it makes some sense.

- The 850W PSU might be the safer choice if you end up with two GTX 570s at some point. If you aren't going to SLI then this Antec TP-650 would be a fine choice and save you some cash:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371021

If you want to buy some TIM other than what comes with the Hyper 212+:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186038
 

gyrik_22

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I'm really pushing for the hyper-threading that goes with the i7 series, it helps a ton with render times in Maya.

- If you want to keep the SLI option open you will want the ASRock board. The regular P8P67 is not a true SLI board, as the second PCI-E slot would only run at x4.

From what I can tell, however, the Pro version of the board has two slots for x8 in each? Correct me if I'm wrong.
 
http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-P67X4B3&title=ASRock-P67-EXTREME4-B3-LGA1155-Intel-P67-B3-DDR3-Quad-SLI-Quad-CrossFireX-SATA3-USB3-0-A-GbE-ATX-Motherboard $153.99
ASRock P67 EXTREME4 B3 LGA1155/ Intel P67 B3/ DDR3/ Quad SLI & Quad CrossFireX/ SATA3&USB3.0/ A&GbE/ ATX Motherboard

If going with a 570 then this is the set up I would recommend....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.604447 Combo Discount: -$15.00 Combo Price: $434.98
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL
EVGA 012-P3-1570-AR GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151100 $124.99
Seasonic SS-850HT 850W ATX12V v2.31,EPS12V v2.92 80Plus Silver Certified, Active PFC Power Supply - OEM

or....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207011 $119.99 - $109.99 after mail-in rebate
XFX Core Edition PRO850W (P1-850S-NLB9) 850W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply

For a 560 set up...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.604446 Combo Discount: -$15.00 Combo Price: $329.98
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL
GIGABYTE GV-N560OC-1GI GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371025 $89.99 FREE SHIPPING
Antec TruePower New TP-750 750W Continuous Power ATX12V V2.3 / EPS12V V2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC "compatible with Core i7/Core i5" Power Supply



 
Solution


The pro versions do indeed. The micro ATX version that you have linked doesn't appear to have the voltage regulation that the full sized version has. At least, when I checked all the documentation I could find last week, that's the conclusion I reached.

The full ATX version, which I have right here, is the P8P67 Pro
http://www.asus.com/product.aspx?P_ID=HMMvTCuBcZLfu2YL
This is not even listed at newegg or Amazon right now. Some B3 boards became available briefly at Amazon 2 weeks ago, and I got mine then.
 

gyrik_22

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Just a question, what's the difference between Bronze Plus and Silver Plus, so far as power supplies go? Thanks for the links to the deals as well!

Proximon, thanks for pointing out my link error =) I'm pretty sure the local Microcenter has the Asus P8P67 Pro, but I'm unsure about the ASRock; I can call tomorrow and see what's in stock.
 
For a full explanation of the 80 plus program and what the different levels are, you can review the PSU guide linked in my sig.
The short answer is that they are different levels of efficiency. And, while efficiency is an important criteria (criterion?) when choosing a PSU there are other more important things to consider. Voltage regulation, ripple, and reliability come to mind as more important.

The two linked PSUs from Why_Me are both made by Seasonic, and are similar.
 

gyrik_22

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Thanks for the brief explanation, I'm reading through your guide at the moment. I find myself at a bit of a stand-still now due to some issues with the video cards I'm looking at and 3D modeling software (Maya for me personally, but the issue crops up elsewhere). Specifically, this is the OpenGL read issue that's already being looked at on a number of forums I frequent; I'm waiting for some thoughts going-forward as to whether or not it's going to influence my choice of GPU. Sadly, it looks like ATI/AMD cards have similar issues (plus lack of CUDA), so other then buying a Quadro card or an older GTX 2xx card, I'm not really sure what to do.
 
That's not too surprising, as both companies would want to protect the driver investment they have into the workstation cards. The most economical solution would be to have both types of cards (gaming/workstation) and swap them out, swapping out operating systems at the same time configured to the different hardware and usage.

Not very elegant and hard on the PCI-E slot as well, that is not designed for frequent swaps.
 

gyrik_22

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Also rather hard on the budget, as reasonably performing workstation cards (the Quadro series) cost quite a bit more then the equivalent GeForce gaming cards. Buying a workstation card just isn't in the cards (heh) right now, I don't think. Which means either a) trying an ATI card, b) buying an older GTX 295 or such, or c) getting a 5xx and just dealing with slow downs in a few specific areas.
 

vikramchopda

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I m too looking to built a Same kind of Machine with same Budget of $1500
But what is better choice core i7 960 or core i7 2600k sandybridge or XEON
And In Graphic Card NVIDIA Quadro 600, 1GB DDR3 or GeForce GTX 560Ti
 
If you are going to be video editing, audio or heavy multi-tasking work then the Intel® Core™ I7 2600K is most like the best processor for you, for gaming the Intel Core I5 2500K is the best choice. Unless you are doing professional video work or running very high level multi-threaded software then the Intel Xeon® processors most likely shouldn’t be your choice.

Christian Wood
Intel Enthusiast Team