Need some good intelligent advice

[evgarunner]

Welcome.

I am currently overseas, about to make it back home after being gone for about a year. As sort of a Christmas present to myself, I am going to build another computer. Make sure to keep the SLI and 3-monitor set-up please. Below is everything you need to know to help.

My current budget: $5,000 (Looking for all the bang for my buck. So, if I can save but keep the same specs, I'm all for it)

Current Build

CPU: Intel Core i7-2600K 3.4GHz Quad-Core --- $279.99
CPU Cooler: CoolMaster Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing Cooler --- $29.44
Motherboard: Asus Maximus IV Extreme-Z EATX LGA1155 --- $337.99
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3-1600 --- $99.98
Hard Drive: 2x Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 64MB Cache 3.5" 7200 RPM --- $202.98
SSD: Crucial M4 128GB 2.5" SSD --- $203.99
Video Card: 3x SLI EVGA GeForce GTX 580 1.5GB --- $1493.58
Case: XClio A380COLOR ATX Full Tower --- $109.98
Power Supply: Corsair 1200W ATX12V --- $276.57
Optical Drive: Sony AD-7260S-OB DVD/CD Writer --- $19.99
Monitor: 3x Samsung P2770FH 27.0" --- $779.97
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (64-bit) --- $99.99
Keyboard: Microsoft SIDEWINDER 4x --- $49.95
Mouse: Gigabyte GM-M6880 Wired Laser --- $22.98

Total Cost: $4008.38

Any suggestions? I would like to keep the 2600K build and honestly would like a good SSD as well as around 6TB of HDD space. The case has (6) 3.5" Internal Bays, so the SSD will need to have the 3.5" tray if it is a 2.5" drive. Again, I want to keep a 3-Way SLI setup and a 3-montior setup for this, but willing to look at other video cards as well as monitors, as long as I'm not losing quality.

Thanks, any help would be appreciated greatly.

 

[Emelth]

CPU: It is good but for gaming a better one would just be to go for the i5 2500K
Cooler: Hyper 212+ is a beast and would work perfectly
Mobo: god damn man which I could see a link to it to judge it cant really tell
RAM: for gaming 16GB is way too much 8GB will be alright
HDD: no complaint
GPU: no complaint
hell no other complaints with the rest of it except for the OS do you really need that? Wont the $99.99 W7 64 bit be good enough

Just a few places to save money thats all besides that your build is a beast and goes way past the bar of performance/price

 

[FinneousPJ]

You could save a couple of hundred here and there without noticing any difference in performance, but then again if you're willing to spend 5k and you're now at 4k who am I to judge

For the SSD I suggest Crucial m4 256 GB.

 

[Emelth]

You could save a couple of hundred here and there without noticing any difference in performance, but then again if you're willing to spend 5k and you're now at 4k who am I to judge

For the SSD I suggest Crucial m4 256 GB.

+1

 

[FinneousPJ]

I recommend 16/10 displays, i.e. 1920 by 1200. Are you going to be running in landscape or portrait mode?

 

[evgarunner]

Thanks for the suggestions. But why the i5-2500K? Btw, I plan to overclock obviously.

Here is a link to the mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131760

 

[Emelth]

the 2500k is OC'able as well and the difference between gaming power is very little, I should have read the rest of your post more slowly else I would have remember that you wanted to keep the i7

 

[evgarunner]

I recommend 16/10 displays, i.e. 1920 by 1200. Are you going to be running in landscape or portrait mode?

Most likely Landscape. My plan is to use the 3 monitors in order to have a wider gaming surface as well as a way to multi-task with graphical work, etc.

 

[evgarunner]

the 2500k is OC'able as well and the difference between gaming power is very little, I should have read the rest of your post more slowly else I would have remember that you wanted to keep the i7

Yeah. Haha. There isn't much a difference in specs or price of the two, so I will keep the 2600k for the moment. Do you happen to know a stable OC range for the 2600K?

 

[Emelth]

I do not sorry might want to jump over to the OC'ers forum and ask them I am really new to the OC part of computers

 

[evgarunner]

Yeah, I think I might do that. Btw, I will be editing my original post with the updates I've made off of your suggestions here in a minute .

 

[bennaye]

If you're primarily gaming, then i5 2500k wil do just fine.

An i7 2600k will only benefit you if you're doing video editing or CAD, or something like that. Was this because i7's have hyperthreading? Can't remember off the top of my head.

Also, get an SSD. It's hard to go past an SSD with 5k waiting to be spent. Crucial M4 256 GB, as Finneous said, is recommended. I would check out the airflow of that case as well, because 580 x3 can generate quite a bit of heat.

 

[evgarunner]

Alright. Updated.

I added:

Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3-1600
Sony DVD/CD Writer
Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (64-bit)

Honestly, thanks for the suggestion on the RAM, because I prefer the Vengeance cards over the XMS3 due to the out-standing heat sink built into them . I decided I really didn't need the Blu-Ray player, so I settled for a low end Optical Drive and just got the 64-bit Windows 7 .

Thank you all for your suggestions. Btw...

FinneousPJ ---- I like the idea of the Crucial M4, but is 256GB a bit much? I know they have smaller SSD's and I was also looking at the OCZ Vertex 3 series SSDs. I know very little about SSD's besides that they have faster read/write times, better performance specs and less moving parts than HHDs

 

[Emelth]

OCZ has had a lot of issues recently cant remember where I saw the article the Crucial M4 is the best way to go for now

 

[evgarunner]

If you're primarily gaming, then i5 2500k wil do just fine.

An i7 2600k will only benefit you if you're doing video editing or CAD, or something like that. Was this because i7's have hyperthreading? Can't remember off the top of my head.

Also, get an SSD. It's hard to go past an SSD with 5k waiting to be spent. Crucial M4 256 GB, as Finneous said, is recommended. I would check out the airflow of that case as well, because 580 x3 can generate quite a bit of heat.

I do a lot of video/graphics editing actually. I am huge on making gaming videos in my free time and love to keep the camera rolling in case something spectacular happens. I also enjoy making video guides in order to help others through certain games, so the i7-2600K is still staying .

Oh and yes, the i7-2600K has both Turbo Boost and Hyper-threading.

Any more suggestions on the SSDs? Again, if I don't have to spend the $5,000, then great. Also, any suggestions on HDDs? I hate having the settle for 3TB HDDs at 5400 RPMs. Do you think that is plenty or should I move up to 7200RPM?

 

[evgarunner]

OCZ has had a lot of issues recently cant remember where I saw the article the Crucial M4 is the best way to go for now

Alright, so the Crucial M4 series is obviously rocking the market judging by the suggestions. With the M4 series, can someone explain to me why the 256GB is recommended? Would the 120GB or even the 90GB do? Cause the OS should only take up roughly 9-10GB.

EDIT: The case I've picked to use has (1) 120mm Rear Fan, (1) 250mm Side Fan, and (1) 250mm Front Fan. The case was made for excellent ventilation. And if I must, I can find another 120mm fan in order to help relieve some of the heat.

 

[Emelth]

Go with the 120 if funds are avilable put your most used games and addons on it

 

[evgarunner]

Go with the 120 if funds are avilable put your most used games and addons on it

Haha funds are available for the 256GB. I am just trying to figure out why all that space if a 120GB SSD would be sufficient. . So that is what I need explained.

 

[Emelth]

it depends on what you want to fit on there (OS, games, apps, addons, etc..) I would only have the OS and 1 game to put on there for me so a 64 GB will do great.

 

[evgarunner]

Well I am thinking that the 128GB SSD should be fine. I'm looking at 111.56GB left after OS is installed, which should be more than enough for the few games I play and all the video/graphic editing software I need. The HDDs can hold the rest of the games, pictures, media, etc.

EDIT: Do you know if the Crucial M4 comes with the 3.5" Drive Tray assembly?

 

[Emelth]

I dont not but now that I know your doing video/graphic stuff get the i7

 

[evgarunner]

I dont not but now that I know your doing video/graphic stuff get the i7

Haha yeah sticking with the i7 definitely.

Here is an update on the things I added:

2x Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 64MB Cache 7400 RPM HDD
1x Crucial M4 128GB 2.5" SSD

Total is still just under 4K .

 

[Emelth]

It will be a beast and last you 3-4 years just add more GPUs as needed

 

[evgarunner]

Thanks for all the help. I'm quite satisfied with the outcome so far. If I have any more concerns, I will bring them back up .

 

[sceen311]

if you do video editing you might want 16gbs of ram, I know for Premier pro they recomend something like 2gb/core so 4cores in the i2600k = 8gb but with HT it's 8 cores x2 =16 gb being a sweet spot.

Also I'd look at a different case. Something with a bottom mount psu, for greater stability and some type of cable management and a cpu knockout. Something like

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119160

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139005

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129097

The bottom 2 even have dust filters.

Hardware that good deserves a good case imo.