New Gaming Build

[CKJackson]

Hey all,

Looking for advice on the following:

Existing outdated build:
Intel Q6600 - OC'd
Asus P5kE
4850 crossfire - OC'd
RAM - 4GB 800Mhz Kingston
Antec 600W
WD 1TB 7200 RPM

Looking for your advice on the following potential build:
1) Motherboard - ASUS P8P67 DELUXE /w UEFI

2) CPU - Intel 2600K

3) RAM - 2x Dominator® GT — 1.5V 8GB DDR3 Memory Kit with DHX Pro Connector and AirFlow II Fan (CMT8GX3M2A2133C9)
or
2x Vengeance™ — 8GB Dual Channel DDR3 Memory Kit (CMZ8GX3M2A1866C9)

4) Power Supply - CORSAIR Professional Series Gold AX1200 (CMPSU-1200AX) 1200W ATX12V v2.31 / EPS12V v2.92 SLI Certified 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

5) Hard Drives - OCZ Vertex 3 120GB

6) Video Card - Crossfire 6950 (upgraded shaders)
or
Crossfire 6970
or
Other?

7) Case - Corsair 650D-Mid Case
or
Corsair 800D-Full Case

Thoughts on Liquid Cooling?
1) Full CPU / MB / Graphics (this would be my first install - thoughts? - Overclocking potential?)
or
2) Corsair H100 (CPU only)

Other input?

I appreciate your criticism and thoughts in advance,

Cheers

Chris

 

[jackspeed]

This is in the prebuilt section where are you buying this from and what price? IF you are building this you don't need the i7 2600k the i5 saves about $100 and gets you virtually the same performance. I like air cooling because eventually water and parts will mix. whats your budget? crossifred 6950s would be better than the 6970 but it would cost more.
Edit sorry thought I read that it was a single 6970. you really odn't need more than 2 6950s 2GB version but if you want go big.

 

[CKJackson]

Apologies,

This will be a build myself - $2000 is my budget.

Looking for the best build at this price-point. Planning to move from the Projector to 3x 1080p Displays.

Flight Simulator / FPS's / Racing Simulators - are the 3 types of games I enjoy most

 

[tsnor]

Sweet. It's a monster. People will argue i5-2500k vs. i7-2600k. i7 has larger cache, but arguably it is not worth the extra money. (I went with i7 anyway)

MB. P67(B3 stepping) is great. if you think the SSD caching technology of the z67 MB will become useful then look at getting a z67. Google z67 vs. p67. I think your approach of using a dedicated SSD boot drive vs. caching SSD is right for now.

Hope you have a/c for your room. You'll have a nice 500 watt heater going.

Assume you have 2nd or 3rd hard drive to go with the SSD to hold game data. If most of your disk wait time is waiting for game levels to load, and they will be on the spinning drives, then consider two spinning drives in raid 0 instead of or in addition to the ssd. Go for fast spinning drives vs. green ones.

I prefer air cooled to water. Some of the closed loop water systems work well. Gvien your video, I'd focus on how to cool them vs. CPU unless you plan on a 4.xGhz overclock.

 

[CKJackson]

What about the Z68 asus board as a replacement?

Should I look at faster Ram?

Anything you notice as the bottleneck in the setup?

Do you feel the Corsair H100 is a safe option for the CPU - while focusing on air movement for the GPU's?

Could the H100 allow for less heat radiated near the video cards?

Thanks again!

And yes - the setup will be in the basement - the Projector and Receiver kick out alot of heat as well! Winter in Canada is chilly - Summer has the A/C going!

 

[AbdullahG]

Forget a z68 MoBo. They are only good if you are going to both OC and use the Intel graphics in the CPU, and if you are using an SSD and a HDD (z68 MoBos feature SDD caching; though you are only using an SDD). Your RAM is fine. I would just get a great CPU air cooler (Noctua NH-D14 for about $90). The mid-tower would be good enough. For your GPU, get the 6950 CrossFire (if you plan on getting a single card, get the GTX 580).

 

[CKJackson]

I've been looking up the noctua NH-D14 - and i'm sold this is the unit for me! my only concern is that it will not fit above the RAM?

 

[AbdullahG]

Unfortunately, your RAM probably will not fit under your CPU cooler. You can either:

A) Get low-profile RAM (RAM with smaller heat spreaders or no heat spreaders at all)

or

B) Get a different cooler. Your best option for this would be water cooling. You can get this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181010

 

[CKJackson]

How about the following: RIPJAW - 16GB Ram?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231473

Or could I look at a better 8GB option?

I've looked at watercooling - H100 or possibly Blackice GTX 360 - with Corsair 800D

Or should I simply go Air cooling with the 650D

Doing my final research - looking to purchase the gear start of next week

 

[AbdullahG]

4GB to 8GB is more than enough. Having 16GB of RAM is overkill. The H100 is fine. I would get the 650D rather than the 800D.