Need advice before i buy

[xbotakx]

Hi guys, i need some advice if the below items are good enough to run games like BF3, Rift and Dead Island on High/Max settings on a 1920x1080. And also, is the GTX 580 alone good enough to run the games listed above and upcoming games or is it better to have a GTX 580 SLI or GTX 590. Thanks in advance.

CPU: Intel Core i7 2600K 3.4GHz

CPU Cooler: Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-GP

Motherboard: Gigabyte G1.Assassin (XL-ATX) - Gamer's Board

Memory: Kingston DDR3 1333 CL 9 KVR1333D3N9/4G (12GB) 4GB x 3

Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive $80

Video Card: Asus Geforce GTX580 1.5GB ENGTX580 DCII/2DIS/1536MD5

Case: Coolermaster HAF X

Power Supply: Antec High Current Pro 850W



Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer

 

[rolli59]

For gaming I5 2500K about equals the 2600K. One GTX580 should be enough but the other two options of course better, as well the third option that you did not mention GTX570 x 2 in SLI

 

[danraies]

*FIRST THING*: The G1.Assassin is an X58 board for socket 1366 processors and you have a socket 1155 processor. Sandy Bridge chips will not fit in the G1.Assassin. Switch to a Z68 board. If you're really banking on that theme, the G1.Sniper2 from Gigabyte is the Z68 equivalent. That board (and the Assassin, actually) are overpriced, though, and you should get something cheaper. I recommend the ASRock Extreme7 with better features for cheaper.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157269

Get 1600mhz memory (cas latency 9 and 1.5V). 3x4GB kits are for triple channel systems and your system is dual channel. A lot of motherboards will only run in single channel configurations when you're using three DIMM of RAM. Get a 2x4GB or 4x4GB kit instead. The Ripjaw X are at a good price right now
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231429

If you plan on an SLI of 580s or 590s you're going to want a bigger PSU.

The Samsung Spinpoint F3 is quieter and cheaper than the WD drives with the same performance. Newegg has a sale on them for $50 and free shipping until Thursday
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185

As already noted there will be no difference in gaming performance between the i5-2500K and the i7-2600k. Save yourself the $100.

 

[xbotakx]

Alright, but will this CPU work? Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3
Also, will i be able to upgrade my computer in future(graphic cards, rams and SLI), and how long will this computer roughly last before i need to make an upgrade.

 

[danraies]

The 2600K is a good choice, the 2500K is a better choice for gaming.

The Z68XP-UD3 is a good choice for the 2600K or the 2500K. You will be able to upgrade Ivy bridge, you will be able to upgrade graphics cards, and you will be able to SLI. Any Z68 board will support Ivy Bridge. To use SLI you need a mobo with two PCIe 2.0 x16 slots that support at least an x8/x8 configuration (which the Z68XP-UD3 does have). It might be better to get a board with PCIe 3.0 x16 slots (any board that says gen3 should have them), but that will only be useful with an Ivy Bridge processor and supported graphics cards (gtx6xx or hd7xxx).

You can always upgrade your RAM. There are four slots, so if you get a 2x4GB kit then you can add another 2x4GB later. If you get a 4x4GB kit then the only way to upgrade will be to throw away the 4x4GB kit and use a 4x8GB kit.

How long will it last? I don't know...a long time. It's too hard to say.

 

[xbotakx]

Ok so here is the new list, tell me what y'all think about it and please let me know if there are any changes to make.

CPU: Intel Core i5 2500K 3.3GHz

CPU Cooler: Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-GP

Motherboard: Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3

Memory: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9Q-16GBXL

Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive $80

Video Card: Asus Geforce GTX580 1.5GB ENGTX580 DCII/2DIS/1536MD5

Case: Coolermaster HAF X

Power Supply: Antec High Current Pro 850W

Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer

Btw which graphic card should i get.I want something that could last me for 3-4years before upgrading. GTX 580, GTX 580 SLI or the GTX 590.
I am hoping to max out most of the games like Metro 2033, RIFT, BFBC2, Dead Island and many more on 1920x1080 resolution with playable FPS (50 and above?)

 

[xbotakx]

Btw im getting my computer from an online shop that does custom computer http://www.googoo.com.sg/shop.asp?type=1&page=1 ( I am from Singapore ) Just putting it there maybe some of y'all might want to know. I have pretty much everything planned out, only having trouble deciding on my graphic card, one that could last me for 3-5years. See above post for more info. Thanks in advance.

 

[danraies]

Dual 580s will perform better than a single 590, but a 590 gives you the option to upgrade by adding a second 590, obviously. A single 580 is still a very good card if that's all you can afford. Maxing out 1920 is a tall order. I don't know if there exists a current setup that will be able to do that in four years. However, I will admit that I am not the most knowledgable person on this forum about gpu technology.

Again, if you want to sli 580s or 590s you will need a bigger power supply.

The rest looks good.

 

[xbotakx]

What if maybe in future i'll get SLI. Should i choose a bigger power supply now or upgrade it in future when i decide to get another card. Btw i have a budget of 4,000-4,500 SGD and my current set-up cost me about 2.1k SGD. What else can i upgrade with the extra 2k, save it or upgrade something?

 

[danraies]

You can upgrade your power supply later or buy a bigger one now - it doesn't matter - but obviously if you upgrade later you'll have a spare PSU and nothing to do with it. There's nothing wrong with having a PSU that's too big until you upgrade.

If you have money that you want to spend, you could obviously put it into more graphics or you could get the i7-2600K. It is conceivable that in the next few years games start using hyperthreading. An SSD is a good upgrade. It won't help your fps, but it will improve your boot times, improve application loading time, and improve windows tasks.

 

[xbotakx]

Is Corsair AX1200 1200W good enough for SLI + overclocking? Do i need a water cooling system? Btw is it worth to get a GTX 580 or 590 SLI for just 1 monitor?

 

[danraies]

1200W is definitely enough. It's probably more than you need, but a little overkill at that level probably can't hurt. SLI 580 or 590 will generate a lot of heat. It's not unreasonable to air cool them, but you need a good case, good fans, and good cable management to keep the air flowing and you also need to be in an air conditioned room. It doesn't have to be refrigerated, but if the room gets up to 90 degrees ambient then you'll have a problem. Water cooling would be good but it's difficult and expensive.

If you SLI 580s or 590s with one monitor you'll probably experience some micro stuttering or pixelation.

 

[rolli59]

A quality 850watt can even handle 2 x GTX580 Total system power consumption running Furmark 777watts less when gaming http://www.anandtech.com/show/4012/nvidias-geforce-gtx-580-the-sli-update

 

[danraies]

A quality 850watt can even handle 2 x GTX580 Total system power consumption running Furmark 777watts less when gaming http://www.anandtech.com/show/4012/nvidias-geforce-gtx-580-the-sli-update

The total system power consumption with two 580s is probably under 850W, but using an 850W PSU is a bad idea. Remember first that the 850W capacity on an 850W PSU is split over different rails, so there has to be enough power on the +12V rail. I understand that a "quality" PSU is usually defined as one that provides sufficient and consistent power on the +12V rail, but even still, an 850W PSU that is drawing 777W is going to be taxing the +12V rail pretty heavily and if you're gaming for 8 hours in a row, you don't want to be running near 100% of your PSUs capacity unless you want to burn it up. Also at 850W you won't have any room to overclock anything.

 

[rolli59]

The total system power consumption with two 580s is probably under 850W, but using an 850W PSU is a bad idea. Remember first that the 850W capacity on an 850W PSU is split over different rails, so there has to be enough power on the +12V rail. I understand that a "quality" PSU is usually defined as one that provides sufficient and consistent power on the +12V rail, but even still, an 850W PSU that is drawing 777W is going to be taxing the +12V rail pretty heavily and if you're gaming for 8 hours in a row, you don't want to be running near 100% of your PSUs capacity unless you want to burn it up. Also at 850W you won't have any room to overclock anything.

That number comes from an overclocked LGA I7 9xx system. A quality PSU like Corsair TX850 V2 has 840watts available on the +12 volt rail!
Look in the link gaming the load is only 620watts which is not close to 100% load on the 850watt PSU!

 

[xbotakx]

1200W is definitely enough. It's probably more than you need, but a little overkill at that level probably can't hurt. SLI 580 or 590 will generate a lot of heat. It's not unreasonable to air cool them, but you need a good case, good fans, and good cable management to keep the air flowing and you also need to be in an air conditioned room. It doesn't have to be refrigerated, but if the room gets up to 90 degrees ambient then you'll have a problem. Water cooling would be good but it's difficult and expensive.

If you SLI 580s or 590s with one monitor you'll probably experience some micro stuttering or pixelation.

Yeah i agree that 1200W is a bit overkill but that's the best i can find on the website that i'm buying from other than the Antec High Current Pro 850W. Is coolermaster haf x a good case? I only on my air-con at night and mostly using a fan. Will it affect my computer?

Even on a 2560x1440 monitor? Can those problems be fixed?
http://www.googoo.com.sg/shop.asp?type=1&page=1 if you need to have a look at the parts that are available.

 

[xbotakx]

The total system power consumption with two 580s is probably under 850W, but using an 850W PSU is a bad idea. Remember first that the 850W capacity on an 850W PSU is split over different rails, so there has to be enough power on the +12V rail. I understand that a "quality" PSU is usually defined as one that provides sufficient and consistent power on the +12V rail, but even still, an 850W PSU that is drawing 777W is going to be taxing the +12V rail pretty heavily and if you're gaming for 8 hours in a row, you don't want to be running near 100% of your PSUs capacity unless you want to burn it up. Also at 850W you won't have any room to overclock anything.

That number comes from an overclocked LGA I7 9xx system. A quality PSU like Corsair TX850 V2 has 840watts available on the +12 volt rail!
Look in the link gaming the load is only 620watts which is not close to 100% load on the 850watt PSU!

So what should i get? 850W or 1200W.

 

[danraies]

The Tom's staff recently built a system with dual 580s on an 850W seasonic PSU. Looks like I was wrong on that one - score it for rolli59.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/microatx-gaming-overclocked,3039.html

I will say that my own position was based on a previous SLI 580 build with an 850W PSU done by Tom's because when readers modeled their builds on the Tom's build they reported poor overclocking ability. So in short I guess I have changed my position to rolli59 was right all along, but 850W is probably as low as you would want to go.

 

[rolli59]

850watts but has to be good quality with most of the output available on the +12 volts like the Corsair TX850 V2 mentioned before.

 

[xbotakx]

Ok, thanks a ton guys! So everything that i have listed above is good except for the change of power supply?

 

[xbotakx]

Best answer selected by xbotakx.