Build a sicker rig for 2500 (monitors included)

[jayrhouston]

1
Intel Core i7-2600K 3.4GHz LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor
Item #:N82E16819115070
Return Policy: CPU Replacement Only Return Policy
$319.99

x2
XFX Radeon HD 6970 HD-697A-CNFC Video Card with Eyefinity
Item #:N82E16814150517
Return Policy: VGA Standard Return Policy
$699.98 (350 each)

1
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit
Item #:N82E16832116986
Return Policy: Software Standard Return Policy
$99.99

1
Thermaltake Frio Universal CPU Cooler support Intel lastest 6-core Processors - Retail
Item #:N82E16835106150
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
$57.99

1
XIGMATEK HDC-D802 Aluminum Hard Drive Cooler for HDD Bay
Item #:N82E16835233080
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
$10.00

1
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound
Item #:N82E16835100007
Return Policy: Consumable Item Refund Only Return Policy
$12.98

1
Thermaltake Level 10 GT Snow Edition VN10006W2N White&Black Computer Case
Item #:N82E16811133192
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
$289.99

1
ASUS Black Blu-ray Drive SATA Model BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS
Item #:N82E16827135247
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
$68.99

2
ASUS VH242H Black 23.6" 5ms HDMI 1080P Widescreen LCD Monitor W/Speakers
Item #:N82E16824236052
Return Policy: Monitor Standard Return Policy
$358.00

1
CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory
Item #:N82E16820233143
Return Policy: Memory Standard Return Policy
$99.99

1
Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" SATA 6.0Gb/s Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Item #:N82E16822136533
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
$149.99

1
ASRock Z68 PROFESSIONAL GEN3 ATX Intel Motherboard
Item #: N82E16813157263
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
combo'd with
1
Mushkin Enhanced MKNPSJL1000 1000W Power Supply
Item #: N82E16817812012
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
$369.98

Grand Total: $2,527.87



let me know your thoughts or if you have a better build, thanks

 

[hellfire24]

what's your budget,use,preference etc.???
by the way-
you don't need hdd cooler it's a complete waste.
level 10gt is a not a good case IMO.corsair obsidian 800D is hell better than it.
you don't need 16gb but no problems.it's okay/
i am not sure about the mushkin PSUs.no offence but i would suggest anything like coolermaster silent pro 1000w gold(i am using it ATM) or corsair 1050w PSU.
and with that much money you are not getting a SSD????why????they worth the cost.a 240gb kingston hyperX should fit in your budget i guess.plz provide some more details.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

The components are kind of a mish mash in that some are really kick arse and others .... well not so much.

Case / PSU - The case is an absolute dream......full SATA backpla, inlet filters, hot swap drive bays, great cooling, hinged doors, superb cable management.... but that's too much money for a PSU that just isn't 1st tier.. A Corsair 850HX (10.0 performance rating) is a better PSU and has more power than you need. The HX1050 is a disappointment (8.5 performance rating).

Snow Case Review - http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=843&Itemid=61
HX850 PSU review - http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story5&reid=153

MoBo / CPU - I don't see the 2600k if its a gaming box.....the 2500k does everything the 2600k does where HT isn't needed...... using apps (i.e. video editing, CAD etc) that do hyperthreading, then OK, keep the 2600k. The MoBo choice I just don't get. Asrock is a great choice for a build on a tight budget.....but I don't see basing a $2500 build on a MoBo with a puny 2 year warranty. I'd be looking at the the Pro or the Deluxe here:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&N=100006519&isNodeId=1&Description=Asus+GEN3&x=0&y=0

RAM - Vengeance provides fine performance at a great price.....but dump the tall heat sinks. The only cooling effect of these big coolers is that they "look cool". While they served a purpose (when they were effective) w/ DDR2, they are absolutely useless on DDR3.

http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=773&Itemid=67&limit=1&limitstart=1

At more than 2" tall in certain areas the Corsair Vengeance could pose a problem for users like me who use large coolers such as the Scythe Mugen 2. I was able to use the Corsair Vengeance only after I mounted the fan on my cooler on the backside. Size is definitely a concern with heat spreaders of this size and therefore I encourage users to check that they will have enough space under their heatsinks before purchasing the Corsair Vengeance kit.

http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=773&Itemid=67&limit=1&limitstart=6

The problem I have with the Corsair Vengeance is the same I have with many kits of RAM on the market. Companies insist on putting large coolers on their RAM and it limits the choice in CPU heatsinks that can be used within users system. DDR3 does not require these elaborate coolers with its lower voltages which translate to lower temperatures then RAM saw during the DDR, and DDR2 era. Corsair is correcting this with low profile versions of its Vengeance line but ultimately I would like to see the average size of coolers drop instead of having to look for specific low profile versions of a memory line.

Grab these (color matched to ya case), and again, unless doing CAD, Rendering, large photos, stick with 8GB:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233199

Cooler - Frio's a great cooler but it's big bruddah is the champ. Not the absolute top performer but much quieter than anything in its class

http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=674&Itemid=62&limit=1&limitstart=4

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/11676/cpu-tri-77/Thermalright_Silver_Arrow_Dual_160mm_x_140mm_Fan_Universal_CPU_Cooler_Sockets_775_1156_1366_AM2_AM2_AM3.html

TIM - Ya read the AS5 web page ?

http://www.arcticsilver.com/as5.htm

Due to the unique shape and sizes of the particles in Arctic Silver 5's conductive matrix, it will take a up to 200 hours and several thermal cycles to achieve maximum particle to particle thermal conduction and for the heatsink to CPU interface to reach maximum conductivity. (This period will be longer in a system without a fan on the heatsink or with a low speed fan on the heatsink.)

The necessary thermal cycling period (hourrs at constant temp don't count towards the total), estimate it could take almost a year of normal use to do that. Sin Etsu has same exact thermal properties but no curing issues and it tops the charts here for that reason (actually best at bottom of chart)

http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=150&Itemid=62&limit=1&limitstart=12
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835150080

HD cooler - unnecessary and prolly won't even fit in the Snow's hot swap drive bays.

HD - 1 TB for $149 ? The Barracuda XT is what ya wanna look at .... but somebody at newegg made a typo.... I bought 3 so far at under $150 ($129 - $149)

http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=708&Itemid=60

For a hard drive, the Barracuda XT series offers the best performance available from a 7200 RPM mechanical storage device. It's not quite as fast as the Seagate Momentus-XT Solid State Hybrid Drive, but then again that product series doesn't offer storage capacities beyond 500GB.

last week it was like $129 on newegg, this week $249 ...... more reasonable prices elsewhere
http://shopper.cnet.com/internal-hard-drives/seagate-barracuda-xt-st32000641as/4014-9998_9-33864233.html?info=write#info-3

SSD - Two choices .... M4 was the fav for reliability, Vertex 3 Max IOPS for performance ... with the occasionally occuring SF problem having been resolved by a firmware update, the Vertex3 making a strong push ... it's the highest performing 120 GB drive on THG's charts

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-nand-reliability,3021-6.html

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148448
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227714

BR Drive - Have 3 of em, they work great

GFX - Not sure how ya gonna use the monitors....not many 2 monitor gaming set ups....on 3 monitors I'd do the twin 6970's....and prolly if gaming on 2, I'd go the same way. If it's gaming on one and the 2nd for "other", then I'd go w/ twin 560 Ti's ..... in SLI they substantially top the 6970's in CF (19200 x 1200) at 2/3 the price....Also app wise, if Im putting in a 2600k for app performance under HT, I also generally am putting in nVidia for CUDA.

http://www.studio1productions.com/Articles/PremiereCS5.htm
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121425

 

[flong]

Hi, what an interesting build . I have some options for you to consider:

1. I don't think that the combined motherboard Mushkin PSU is really a good deal financially when you consider performance. For a $2500 build you should have the best and get the best bang for your buck.

For your motherboard, your choice is excellent. I also would suggest that you look at the AsRock Extreme 7 Gen 3. It has a PCI bridge that will allow 16 x 16 bandwidth from both of your expensive video cards. This N200 bridge is included only in the more expensive motherboards but you can get the Exrteme 7 for $275 right now on Newegg. It overclocks the 2600K to over 5 Ghz to 5.2 Ghz. In one review that I read, it spanked the Asus Maximus in most categories which is amazing as the Maximus is the gold standard of gamer motherboards.

Either board right now will be a great choice.

2. To move on to the PSU, for your setup I think the best PSU BY FAR is the Corsair AX1200. Why? There is a whole list of reasons:

* It will run your system at nearly 93% efficiency. It runs at 92%-93% up to about 800W. For the wattage you will require, it will run at Platinum levels of performance
* The above means it will be nearly silent in your case - some PSUs are very noisy and irritating
* The first point also means that the AX1200 will run cool - it will not heat up your case
* It is one of the most stable PSUs in existence - this means it will nto damage your expensive components by power fluctuations
* It is fully modular - you will not have a tangled mess of cords in your case
* It has a 7-year warranty from a company that has legendary customer service. It will still be under warranty for your next build and the one after that
* It allows plenty of headroom for you to overclock. It also will maximize your overclocking because of its stability
* It comes with nearly every cable known to man

It was just on sale at Newegg for $240 after rebates. Here is a review by Kit Guru that calls the AX1200's performance "off the charts," and calls it the best PSU made. It was so efficient they could not believe their test results.

http://www.kitguru.net/components/power-supplies/zardon/corsair-ax1200-power-supply-review/

They call the AX1200 a "modern work of art"

3. OK I think the 6970 is a very good video card but they it is expensive. In normal circumstances I would say go for it, but PCI-E 3.0 video cards will be out in less than a year and your $700 worth of cards will be outdated. PCI-E 3.0 is MUCH faster than PCI-E.

My suggestion is to go with a single 6950 or if you want to crossfire go with two. They can be purchased for around $200 each. This will allow you $500 to upgrade to the new PCI-E 3.0 cards when they come out and that is a substantial chunk of change. Think of the 6950 as a temporary card to get you by until the Gen 3 cards come out.

The 6950 is a very capable card and you will be able to game very well with it for a few months while you wait for the Gen 3 cards. If you have money to burn then you won't miss the $500 you will save. But most people don't have money to burn.

4. You are spending way too much on your HDD. Get a Samsung F3 Spinpoint 1 TBor a Seagate Barracuda 1 TB. they frequently go on sale for $50-$65 on Newegg.

5. The Frio cooler you list is a very good cooler but professional reviews state it is very noisy. I would suggest that you go with the Corsair H100 or the Noctua NH-D14. These are probably the best two coolers on the market right now. Gamers and overclockers swear by them. More importantly they both cool better than the Frio (the D-14 is about equal) and they are MUCH more quiet.

6. I would suggest that you go with 1866 RAM 2 x 4GB. It frequently goes on sale at Newegg for $65 and it gives you a 3% - 5% performance advantage
over 1600 RAM

7. With a good case you will not need a HDD cooler. My HDDs temps never get over 30C (about 90F) in my Corsair 650D case

8. You don't list an SSD and nearly every serious gamer that can is running their operating system off of an SSD because it greatly increases the speed of your computer. I just built my 2600K system with a Corsair GT Force 3 120GB and it is startling how fast an SSD makes your computer. I will never go back.

Probably the fastest 120GB SSD on the market is the Mushkin Chronos Deluxe. It beats several 240GB SSDs which is phenomenal performance. It also has the higher quality 34 nm NAND flash memory chips which are the gold standard in SSDs.
A close second is the Patriot Wildfire and the OCZ Vertex 3 MAX IOPS. The Kingston Hyper X Extreme and the Corsair GT Force 3 (emphasize the GT) are third

Running your operating system and most important programs off of an SSD is seriously the best way to go. Get a 120GB minimum size - don't go lower.

9. The Thermaltake Level 10 is a very good case but it is expensive. You might want to look at the Corsair 800 Obsidian for a full-size case and the Corsair 650D for a midsize case. The 650D is a superb case (I own it) and it is over $100 cheaper. It also has a hot-swap SATA III drive port and several other advantages over the Level 10.

10. Stay with the 2600K, it is a phenomenal CPU. Check Amazon for pricing. I got mine for $292 on Amazon

11. Right now I think you should go with this Asus blu-ray burner:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135252

Right now it is $80 after rebates on Newegg and you can burn blu-ray disks with it. It is only $12.00 more.

12. With your budget you may want to consider an IPS (also called HIPS) monitor. They have a superior picture to the TN panel monitors, but they are more expensive (about twice as much). Some good ones to look at are the HP ZR24W, the Dell U2410 and the HP 2475W. Asus also makes an IPS monitor that is about $500. These monitors will have a superior picture to the TN monitor. The ZR24W is around $350 and is the cheapest option.

13. You might want to consider a DVD optical drive. The Asus drives are only about $20 and they are faster for CDs and DVDs than the Blu-ray drives. I put the Asus DVD burner in my build and I have a blu-ray burner also.

Hope this helps, good luck with your build

 

[flong]

".but I don't see basing a $2500 build on a MoBo with a puny 2 year warranty. I'd be looking at the the Pro or the Deluxe here: "

Great Post Jack Naylor.

However I disagree with the above statement. The Asus boards you recommend will shortly be out of date when Ivy Bridge and PCI-E 3.0 comes out. GPUs will quickly go to the PCI-E 3.0 standard and they will be MUCH faster than the PCI-E GPUs because 3.0 is so much faster than the standard PCI-E slot. The Asus boards you recommend will not run the PCI-E 3.0 compliant GPUs and so the motherboard will be out of date and very slow compared to the AsRock boards.

A Gen 3 motherboard is a must have right now.

"but that's too much money for a PSU that just isn't 1st tier.. A Corsair 850HX (10.0 performance rating) is a better PSU and has more power than you need. "

I also disagree with the above statement considering this is a $2500 build. For a build this level the Corsair AX1200 is the only PSU to consider. I say that and I actually own the HX850. You are right it is a superb PSU and it will power a CF and SLI build, however it will not do it as efficiently, as quietly and as well as the AX1200. Heck I am just running one GPU (XFX 6950) and I tried to find a reason to buy the AX1200 ha, ha.

If you spec your PSU as 50% of its maximum load you will by far get the best performance AND it doesn't cost that much more. In this case you are looking at $100 - $120 to upgrade to the AX1200 however, this is a $2500 build and the AX1200 is probably the best PSU on the planet right now. With the power requirements of this system, the AX1200 will operate at nearly 93% efficiency. The HX 850 will drop down to the high 80s. So you will save money each year on power (probably around $15 - $25 a year at least) and so you are getting a rebate each year which will more than pay for the cost difference over the seven year warranty and beyond.

Yes he HX850 will work, but it is not the best choice.

 

[flong]

I forgot to mention that Seagate is coming out with its single table 1TB HDDs which will be much faster than any HDDs out right now. So it is smart to just get some cheap 1 TB drives in the meantime. The single table HDDs are supposed to get around 160 - 175 mb/s, which is almost as fast as a second generation SSD.