High end Gaming system

[infidus]

Well, I built my PC, made my brother jelous who is going to dish out some serious dough into building a new computer and I will be the lucky ( or if it doesn't post the first time of trying to turn it on, the unlucky one)) to build it, He would like to blow my build out of the water he says so I am attempting to offer him my best advice on what to get and whats the difference between say a 6950 and a gtx 580.


Approximate Purchase Date: This is a tricky answer, We have already started to gather the parts for it but the sooner to get it running the better.

Budget Range: Uhm, I think less than $3000 would be good

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Epic Minecraft FPS, Gaming, video editing, Lots of storage. Bragging rights!

Parts Not Required: We bought the Coolermaster 212+ as well as a 1 TB Barracuda HDD from Microcenter 3 weeks ago, as well as this weekend we picked up a Rampage III Formula Mobo for this build. so the Mobo, CPU cooler as well as a HDD will be taken care of. I will talk to him further later to see what he wants with a mouse keyboard and monitor, but I do believe he would like to get new of the three.

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg, and Microcenter. ( I love me some microcenter!)

Country of Origin: Minnesota, U.S.A

Parts Preferences: Nvidia, Intel, just basically the bigger the name the better for him, unless some kick ass small name has some large arguable specs on a piece of equipment. Future Proof is the name of this computer for him, he wants this thing future proof for 5-7 years at least.

Overclocking: Yes please!

SLI or Crossfire: Tri SLI is foreseeable in his future

Monitor Resolution: 1920 x 1080 + Will not be using multiple monitors however may go with a large screen, last time I checked he wanted a 32 inch TV

Additional Comments: The reason for buying this Motherboard is the fact that he wants this build to be up and running soon, I think possibly by the end of July or mid August. We will be using an Intel 930 for beginners, and then step up big time next year to the 990x or ( Saw this I think on the futuremark website) 995x.

I feel that 8 gigs would be a good starter for this build Would like to have 4gig modules so that he can upgrade to 24gigs if he so pleases in the future.

He did put the Microcenter Warranty thing on his motherboard and will do so on his processor(s) as well. If there is anything seriously powerful for very close or equal to the $1000 price tag on the 990x we can run down to Microcenter and trade in the Motherboard and processor for the equivalent of the processor and motherboard

Also, we are looking into possibly water cooling the processor and video card, Which would most likely be a GTX 580 Hydro.

Right now we have

Barracuda 1TB - http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0334293
Coolermaster 212+ - http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0315397
Rampage III Formula - http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0350747

Open for suggestions, and I will talk to my brother more about what he wants and will add it to this list of what he would like.

When looking for prices on the microcenter website and to see if they are in stock use the minnesota st. louis park option under "Shop your store"

- Infidus

P.S - I know you will look at this so, Hi in advance Striker410

 

[wrazor]

Ok, firstly the 990x 1000$ cpu you are talking about is not much better for gaming than the i7 930. Its definitely NOT worth 1000$. If you want the best processor for gaming that money can buy, go with the i7 2600k. Seriously. Can you return your motherboard(i am not sure if your cooler is commpatible with an lga 1155 socket, if not return that too)? If you can return, it would be great. If not, well, you are better off with an i7 950 or 930 no problems. And, for gpus, tri sli doesnt yield as good results. EVGA has just launched the 400$ 2.5gb 570gtx gpu. It should kickass in sli. Even i am waiting for its review. Lets see. Gl.

NVM, i see you can return your motherboard afterall. Do that please. And get a 2600k. But if i were you, I would still wait for the bulldozer to come. But it seems you wont be able to return the motherboard after waiting forever.

 

[Why_Me]

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/142?vs=287 <----- Intel Core i7 980X - 3.33GHz vs Intel Core i7 2600K - 3.4GHz

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-i7-990x-extreme-edition-gulftown,2874.html <----- $1,000 Intel Core i7-990X Extreme vs $330 Intel Core i7 2600K Sandy Bridge



*Sandy Bridge reviews down below

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/sandy-bridge-core-i7-2600k-core-i5-2500k,2833.html

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/the-sandy-bridge-review-intel-core-i5-2600k-i5-2500k-and-core-i3-2100-tested

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1501/1/

http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=622&Itemid=63

http://www.guru3d.com/article/core-i5-2500k-and-core-i7-2600k-review/

 

[kajabla]

Yeah, 3xSLI tends to work intermittently. 2x580 seems like the maximum possible choice imo.
The 2500K gives roughly equivalent performance to the 2600K in gaming, but the 2600K might be possible if games start having better multicore support in the future.

 

[jaguarskx]

With the Intel Core i7-990X Extreme at least your brother can brag about spending $1000 on a CPU instead of only a mere $330.

 

[infidus]

So 2600k is better because of the whole better architecture thing? He also changed his mind, He is going to go with either 2 GTX 580s or a GTX 590.

I will relay this info to him about it. The whole reason behind the 990x is that he was like its the best because its most cores and stuff and he was quite stubborn on the fact of it.

I will show him those links you showed me too as well Why_Me.