Will This handle Battlefield 3 and Civ 5 on high settings?

[Paincm]

Hey guys,
I need some expert advice on my first computer build. I've been doing my best to learn the names and parts of the computer with the best of my abilities. Now before I show the parts, please understand that I saved up a lot for an outstanding (over achieving) computer. Any comments would be awesome!

Motherboard:
GIGABYTE GA-Z68XP-UD5 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128513

Memory:
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 12GB (3 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL8T-12GBRM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231406

CPU:
Intel Core i7-980 Gulftown 3.33GHz 6 x 256KB L2 Cache 12MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Six-Core Desktop Processor BX80613I7980
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819116402

Graphics Card:
EVGA 03G-P3-1584-AR GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) 3072MB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130655

Heatsink:
ZALMAN CNPS9900MAX-B 135mm Long life bearing CPU Cooler Blue LED
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835118074

Hard Drive:
Western Digital RE4-GP WD2002FYPS 2TB 64MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive -Bare Drive http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822136365

Optical Drive:
SAMSUNG Black 12X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM SATA Internal Blu-ray Combo Model SH-B123L LightScribe Support - OEM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6827151222

Power Unit:
Corsair Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 750W ATX12V v2.31/ EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC High Performance Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817139021

Case:
COOLER MASTER HAF X Blue Edition RC-942-KKN3 Black Steel / Plastic ATX Full Tower Computer Case with Black Interior and Four Blue LED Fans-1x 140mm rear fan, 1x 200mm top fan, 1x 200mm side fan, and 1x 230mm front fan http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811119239

After adding some software, mouse, keyboard. thermal paste, and sound blaster titanium card.
Total Price: 2,619.85

Did I make a great gaming computer or do I still have no idea what I'm doing?

 

[AdrianPerry]

Most of your links dont seem to work, i cant open them.

However from what i can see you have spent ALOT more than you need to.

1) Your CPU is a different socket type to your motherboard. 980x is Socket LGA1366, the Motherboard is SandyBridge Socket 1155.
2) i5-2500k is much cheaper, better option for a gaming PC, if you really want to spend more money, the i7-2600k is another good choice, however will perform the same as the i5-2500k for gaming. (i7-2600k is recommended if your doing lots of video editing/rendering/encoding because it makes use of Hyper Threading).
3) The motherboard listed uses Dual Channel not tripple channel RAM - you need to look for 8GB RAM 2x4GB sticks, 1600MHz recommended, CL9, 1.5v is the best value.
4) The motherboard listed is very expensive, and is set up really for SLI, if you plan to SLI (add another card in the future) I suggest looking at a 1000w PSU (good manufacturers include: Corsair, XFX, SeaSonic, Antec, Enermax). OR buy a much cheaper motherboard without SLI support for about half the price.
5) Your obviously on a pretty decent budget, get a 120GB SSD in there somewhere.

As for GTX 580 vs BF3.....it SHOULD run it maxed out but since the game hasn't been released, theres obviously no "Guarantee".


i7-980x vs i5-2500k comparison here:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/142?vs=288
As you can see it performs better and at about one third of the price.

 

[Zero_]

Close, but not quite.

Motherboard and CPU are incompatible, and the CPU is way overkill for a gaming rig. You'll get the same performance with an i5 2500k for 1/3 of the price.

If you have $2k to spend on a PC, check what the build in my sig offers. The only thing you could improve over that is to get 2x GTX580's for ~$300 more, which is still under this budget.

 

[AdrianPerry]

Close, but not quite.

Motherboard and CPU are incompatible, and the CPU is way overkill for a gaming rig. You'll get the same performance with an i5 2500k for 1/3 of the price.

If you have $2k to spend on a PC, check what the build in my sig offers. The only thing you could improve over that is to get 2x GTX580's for ~$300 more, which is still under this budget.

That's a nice $2k build in your sig SLI 570's will obviously out perform a single 580 as well and you could easily bring that build under 2k just by dropping to an i5-2500k and scrap the 3D kit (unless of course the OP wants to game in 3D).

 

[Paincm]

Most of your links dont seem to work, i cant open them.

However from what i can see you have spent ALOT more than you need to.

1) Your CPU is a different socket type to your motherboard. 980x is Socket LGA1366, the Motherboard is SandyBridge Socket 1155.
2) i5-2500k is much cheaper, better option for a gaming PC, if you really want to spend more money, the i7-2600k is another good choice, however will perform the same as the i5-2500k for gaming. (i7-2600k is recommended if your doing lots of video editing/rendering/encoding because it makes use of Hyper Threading).
3) The motherboard listed uses Dual Channel not tripple channel RAM - you need to look for 8GB RAM 2x4GB sticks, 1600MHz recommended, CL9, 1.5v is the best value.
4) The motherboard listed is very expensive, and is set up really for SLI, if you plan to SLI (add another card in the future) I suggest looking at a 1000w PSU (good manufacturers include: Corsair, XFX, SeaSonic, Antec, Enermax). OR buy a much cheaper motherboard without SLI support for about half the price.
5) Your obviously on a pretty decent budget, get a 120GB SSD in there somewhere.

As for GTX 580 vs BF3.....it SHOULD run it maxed out but since the game hasn't been released, theres obviously no "Guarantee".


i7-980x vs i5-2500k comparison here:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/142?vs=288
As you can see it performs better and at about one third of the price.

I was told that the i7 980x would be the best "lasting processor for a while.

And it seems like my biggest problem is the motherboard, however I do eventually want to create a crossfire with 2 gtx 580 sli.

How do I know which motherboard can handle all of this?

 

[AdrianPerry]

You can check the manufacturer website for motherboard details. It should list if it has Crossfire or SLI support in the Technical Spec/Details.

You can check the benchmark comparison yourself, the i5/i7 will out perform the 980x in gaming situations. The 980x is more aimed at the Enterprise end user doing lots of rendering and encoding (things like CAD and Engineering projects using lots of cores and processing power). For the home-user its just unnecessary and for gaming, its "pointless".

 

[Paincm]

You can check the manufacturer website for motherboard details. It should list if it has Crossfire or SLI support in the Technical Spec/Details.

You can check the benchmark comparison yourself, the i5/i7 will out perform the 980x in gaming situations. The 980x is more aimed at the Enterprise end user doing lots of rendering and encoding (things like CAD and Engineering projects using lots of cores and processing power). For the home-user its just unnecessary and for gaming, its "pointless".

So the 980x cpu wont display games as well or that its the same but just more expensive?

And i believe this motherboard would work with my set up....
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131666
ASUS Rampage III Formula LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

 

[AdrianPerry]

From the Benchmark scores on the link I posted, the 980x has a few less FPS than the 2500k/2600k on each game tested.

And yes that ASUS Rampage would work with the i7-980x. (Both are socket 1366).

The i7-2600k is very very close comparison to the 980x and is again, half the price.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/287?vs=142
The only benchmark score difference's are for multi-core processes, which obviously is to be expected since the i7-980x has 6, and the i7-2600k has 4 + hyper-threading. Games dont use this many cores, nor do they make use of hyper threading which is why the i5-2500k is usually the "gaming CPU of choice". Not to mention its affordable price, and huge OC potential.

Your trying to play a couple of video games, not run a business or start an engineering project that would require so much processing power. It seems a complete waste to sink $600 (980x) when you could spend $315 (2600k) or even $220 (2500k) giving the same and better gaming performance.

 

[Paincm]

From the Benchmark scores on the link I posted, the 980x has a few less FPS than the 2500k/2600k on each game tested.

And yes that ASUS Rampage would work with the i7-980x. (Both are socket 1366).

The i7-2600k is very very close comparison to the 980x and is again, half the price.
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/287?vs=142
The only benchmark score difference's are for multi-core processes, which obviously is to be expected since the i7-980x has 6, and the i7-2600k has 4 + hyper-threading. Games dont use this many cores, nor do they make use of hyper threading which is why the i5-2500k is usually the "gaming CPU of choice". Not to mention its affordable price, and huge OC potential.

Your trying to play a couple of video games, not run a business or start an engineering project that would require so much processing power. It seems a complete waste to sink $600 (980x) when you could spend $315 (2600k) or even $220 (2500k) giving the same and better gaming performance.

Well you talked me into switching the i7 980x for the i7 2600k sandybridge, but the problem im having now is finding a motherboard that handles LGA - 1155 z68 and that has triple channel memory. should i find a dual channel memory? and if so, which is the absolute best regardless of price?

 

[Paincm]

Actually I think I will get these.
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2133 (PC3 17000) Desktop Memory Model F3-17000CL11D-8GBXL

It says it is compatible with sandybridge and z68 motherboards so It should work well.

Unless you guys see anything wrong, thank you guys so much for your help!

 

[Zero_]

Sandy bridge dosent support triple channel memory. No big deal.

Some of the best Z68 motherboards you can buy. Make your pick.

ASUS Maximus IV Extreme-Z - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005584ZEO/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=banforbucga08-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B005584ZEO
GIGABYTE G1.SNIPER2 - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004ZQ6F54/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=banforbucga08-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B004ZQ6F54
EVGA Z68FTW - http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005G2U6HY/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=banforbucga08-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B005G2U6HY

 

[AdrianPerry]

Make sure you get a case than can handle E-ATX motherboards aswell

 

[Paincm]

Make sure you get a case than can handle E-ATX motherboards aswell

extended motherboards? it does. Im getting a master cooler tower, because of all the air flow and air filters to keep my pc cool and lint free.

 

[AdrianPerry]

I think you mean "Cooler Master". But yes there are lots of Full Tower ATX cases that offer these features as well.