My killer gaming rig dream machine

[fuzzykiss]

Antec P193 advanced case
Asus AMD Sabertooth 990fx am3+ mobo
AMD Bulldozer FX-8130P
Asus Matrix GTX580
WD 1TB 64 mb cache, kingston 96gb ssd for os
16 GB Corsair Vengance DDR3
Coolit Systems Eco C240 CPU water cooling system
Corsair Professional Series Gold High-Performanc​e 850-Watt Power Supply CMPSU-850AX
Acer HN274H BMIIID 3D 27-Inch LED Monitor - Black
Nvidia Gforce 3D vision kit

Questions, comments or advice is appreciated. working towards killer gaming and 3D setup. Thanks!

If dis ain't da chit, I'll kiss yer @ss!

 

[geofelt]

1) GTX580 is very good.
2) X6 cpu is a poor gamer. The clock rate is low. Intel 2500K is as good as it gets.
3) Do you really need a sound card? I suggest you try integrated HD sound first. Add one later if you must.
4) Ram is cheap. 8gb is usually plenty for gaming. Is there another use for 16gb?
5) Don't know about physx. Will you run games that can make use of it?
6) Water cooling is not necessary today. A quality air cooler is less expensive, simpler, and cools about as well in a good cooling case.
7) A GTX580 only needs a quality 600w psu.
8) I don't think a discrete network card has much to offer over onboard lan.
9) Velociraptor is good as a OS drive, but a SSD is about 10x better. For storage, a VR is not as fast as a 1tb drive like the WD black.

 

[fuzzykiss]

thanks for the quick reply,
as far as the x6 goes..the mobo recognizes it and i was told more is better over all
I think the sound card suggestion is sound advice..pardon the pun.
16 gb ram..back to more is better..its cheap at 4g a card
from what i understand a physx card will significantly increase fps, freeing up the gpu
water cooling..well 6 core..thought it would help keep things copacetic, quieter and slimmer profile versus huge cpu fan/heatsink
1000w, same thing... better to have it and not need it than need it later..am I wrong?
network card..well..still not sure on that one. But it's kinda sexy
and you kinda lost me on the velociraptor stuff
and I am an AMD/nvidia gpu fan.. plus nvidia has the best 3d pc solution
thanks

 

[geofelt]

Is this already built, or is it a proposed build?

More cores are better, but not at the price of slow cores, particularly for gaming. That is because very few games use more than two or three cores. Half of a 6x cpu is wasted.
I think you got some bad, or at least incomplete advice.
Do some looking for benchmarks of the games you play. In general, the 2500K is the gamer's choice.
Here is one comparison:
http://www.hardcoreware.net/intel-sandy-bridge-performance-review/6/

But, since you are a amd fan for the cpu, you would do better with a highly clocked X4.

The velociraptor is a 10k rpm drive. That means that you get to find the block of data you want faster, by perhaps 25%. But you must also transfer the block you found to the cpu. Newer 1tb drives are denser than the velociraptor, and they will transfer data faster.
Since the os mainly does small random reads and writes, the velociraptor is good for that. It might be 25% faster than most 7200rpm drives in random access.
But... A SSD is at least 10X faster, so the velociraptor is not nearly as good as a os drive as a ssd. Unfortunately, a ssd costs $2 per gb, much more than a conventional hard drive. You will need 60gb to 80gb ssd for a good os drive.

The cm 1000w psu is rated only so so by jonnyguru.
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=166

You can do better.

 

[mortonww]

I want to second geofelt's recommendations. The AMD 6 core isn't even better "overall". It has more cores, but they are all so much less efficient than Intel's cores, that the quad core i5 2500k beats the x6 even in some heavily-threaded productivity and creative applications. The i5 2500k is the all-around better choice. You won't be losing anything by switching to it.

See: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/203?vs=288

This PSU is fantastic. Fully modular and will reliably deliver all the power you'll need for your system: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139016&Tpk=Corsair%20AX750

Corsair AX750. If you want something a bit cheaper without sacrificing quality (but sacrificing full-modularity), you can get the XFX 750 Watt here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207016&Tpk=XFX%20750

 

[cbrunnem]

i want to third everyones advice. if you have the money to spend go intel.

also why buy a boat when you live no where near water? you dont need 16gb of ram you dont even need 8gb of ram. 4gb is enough but some go for 8gb because sometimes in some games 4gb is close to not enough.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007603%2050001077&IsNodeId=1&name=SAMSUNG this is a better hard drive.

a ssd is a viable option

 

[JKatwyopc]

water cooling..well 6 core..thought it would help keep things copacetic, quieter and slimmer profile versus huge cpu fan/heatsink

Just so you know, Water cooling is not necessarily quieter, just much more effiient at removing the heat. To get quieter you need bigger fans and fewer fans. Water cooling may actually add fans because you need one or two(push-pull) for the radiator at 120mm. And unless you decide to cool All of the heat generating components with water(CPU, GPU NB, SB, maybe memory) your going to need case fans anyway. The better way to go is with a good CPU Cooler And just make sure you have enough fans in your case to ensure good airflow through all of the components.

 

[fuzzykiss]

Thanks everyone, gives me much to think about.
as far as 16 gig ram and 6 core cpu, i was thinking it might be needed in future..
and the water cooling does use 2 120mm fans which would replace the ones included in the P193 case top. so i think it would be quieter versus adding a cpu fan, plus the slimmer profile makes for better airflow, making the case even more efficient.

 

[fuzzykiss]

Is this already built, or is it a proposed build?

Its a proposed build..i'm making sure of everything i get before i buy. BIG investement

 

[legendkiller]

I Recommend waiting for SandyBridge-E unless your an impatient person who just need spend it all like me building a retarded x58 gaming rig even tho SB came out like 2 months 'Before" i bought it... Either Wait for X3920($300) OR 2500k now... and also get 8GB because it is seriously cheap these days, my 4GB Kingston 1800MHz is still $80 which is a rip off from those other 8GB at $40-$60.... What's your Monitor's Resolution? A GTx 580 is a overkill for 1920x1080, it can probably or maybe max everything on 1920x1200(On High-End games like Crysis 2 DX11)... IF your gaming at 1920x1080 than go with a GTx 570 because a 560Ti can/almost max everything on 1680x1050... If i was you, i'd rather get custom water cooling instead of pre-build, think of it as pre-build computers and custom build so Pre-build water cooling is pretty much not good... You dont need PhysX because it does not do anything but accelerate only PhysX games which isn't even popular because only probably less than 20 games that have it like batman and ME(Mirrow Edge), those games sucks anyway... Sound Card are not needed if you ganna buy a cheap 20-80 dollars on it, any sound card over $100 is good or delivers awesome sounds, best sound work with 7.1 speakers... Your Onboard LAN is good enough because another LAN is kinda useless if it's not WLAN or something like that... You do not need 1000Watts PSU, a 750Watts is good enough because you ain't getting two 580s, even if you do or in the future, get a 850Watts which should be enough... I Would Recommend getting WD 64MB Cache 1TB 6gb/s and a SSD vertex 3 120GB, dont get a SSD under 120GB unless your playing 1-2 game...

 

[fuzzykiss]

Dumb question..too much ram won't hurt it will it? trying to future proof as much as i can..6 core and 1000 watt.. just seems we'll be there before we know it to where it will be the standard. may not be much need for 6 core right now..but what about next week? next year it might be..you only have 16 gig ram?

 

[fuzzykiss]

The velociraptor is a 10k rpm drive. That means that you get to find the block of data you want faster, by perhaps 25%. But you must also transfer the block you found to the cpu. Newer 1tb drives are denser than the velociraptor, and they will transfer data faster.
Since the os mainly does small random reads and writes, the velociraptor is good for that. It might be 25% faster than most 7200rpm drives in random access.
But... A SSD is at least 10X faster, so the velociraptor is not nearly as good as a os drive as a ssd. Unfortunately, a ssd costs $2 per gb, much more than a conventional hard drive. You will need 60gb to 80gb ssd for a good os drive.

.

I added a 96gb ssd for os and a 1tb hd for data, thanks for the suggestion

 

[ps3hacker12]

if you want a more future proof system, then why are you buying an outdated 8XX series chipset mobo, i would highly reccommend going with a 9XX series atleast:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128510

and as other have said, a 2500K would work out better in the long term than a 1100T....

 

[mortonww]

The AMD Phenom II x6 is not future-proof. It's already outdone by the competitor's mid-range quad in almost all applications (even highly-threaded ones), so your software is not going to grow into your processor; you're already limited. If you want to build a future-proof AMD system, you will need a motherboard with an AM3+ socket like ps3hacker12 suggested. Even then, there are no performance numbers for Bulldozer and you would end up having bought two processors for one system.

If you want performance, buy parts that perform well now. An i5 2500k with a decent CPU cooler is more muscle than you can use now, and will probably carry you decently far into the future. Or splurge and get the 2600k and be lightyears ahead of AMD.

 

[cbrunnem]

i suspect that it will be a very long time before 16 gb of ram is needed. reason being is that windows 8 is supposed to have less of a footprint the windows 7 and if windows 8 is going that direction i cant see games and programs going in the direction.

i have 8gb and do some heavy rendering at times and that is the only time i max out my ram and you will not be doing any rendering so you will be ok at 8gb.

 

[geofelt]

No games I know of use more than 2gb or 3gb to run. That is because of the 32bit limitation on which games are designed. Developers want to maximize their market.

There is some value today with 8gb vs. 4gb. Here is a study on that.
http://blog.corsair.com/?p=65

If you have an app that is 64 bit enabled, like photoshop, then get all the ram you can.

Still, I see no performance negative with 16gb, and it is better to get a 16gb kit up front than to try to add 8gb later.

One nice thing with lots of ram is that windows will cache your most frequently used code in ram for instant access.

 

[cbrunnem]

No games I know of use more than 2gb or 3gb to run. That is because of the 32bit limitation on which games are designed. Developers want to maximize their market.

There is some value today with 8gb vs. 4gb. Here is a study on that.
http://blog.corsair.com/?p=65

If you have an app that is 64 bit enabled, like photoshop, then get all the ram you can.

Still, I see no performance negative with 16gb, and it is better to get a 16gb kit up front than to try to add 8gb later.

One nice thing with lots of ram is that windows will cache your most frequently used code in ram for instant access.

i see a peformance hit. the performance hit that come from spending extra money on ram when it could be spent on a better cpu or gpu.

 

[fuzzykiss]

i see a peformance hit. the performance hit that come from spending extra money on ram when it could be spent on a better cpu or gpu.

i'm getting the best gpu, and as far as AMD goes..the best cpu
my first pc was AMD and i suspect my last pc will be AMD. i will never be an intel guy, no matter how much more their cpu might be able to do, i will be satisfied with the best AMD has to offer.

 

[ps3hacker12]

i'm getting the best gpu, and as far as AMD goes..the best cpu
my first pc was AMD and i suspect my last pc will be AMD. i will never be an intel guy, no matter how much more their cpu might be able to do, i will be satisfied with the best AMD has to offer.

then atleast go for a 900-series chipset mobo.

 

[fuzzykiss]

then atleast go for a 900-series chipset mobo.

your right, so now i'm getting the sabertooth mobo and going to get the zambezi cpu when available (8 core!) lol

 

[ps3hacker12]

your right, so now i'm getting the sabertooth mobo and going to get the zambezi cpu when available (8 core!) lol

the 9-series chipset does support AM3 processors too you know.

 

[fuzzykiss]

I know but the fx cpu is supposed to be released in late august or soon thereafter..I'll wait instead of buying 2 cpu's

 

[fuzzykiss]

I really appreciate all the help in fine tuning this system. I really do believe it will be a killer machine.

 

[fuzzykiss]

Best answer selected by Fuzzykiss.

 

[cbrunnem]

ok fair enough. sorry if i have been confrontational. been a bad week.

i just hope a 1100t is enough to feed 2 580's