[Solved] My next Gaming Rig for the next several years!

Hey All,

I'm building a new gaming rig and putting around 3k into it. My goal is to have it running all the current games and the games for the next several years on high to ultimate settings.

Here's the setup:

SAMSUNG 830 Series MZ-7PC256D/AM 2.5" 256GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) Desktop Upgrade Kit

HITACHI Ultrastar 7K3000 HUA723020ALA640 (0F12455) 2TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

(DUAL) EVGA 012-P3-1571-KR GeForce GTX 570 HD w/Display-Port (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support

COOLER MASTER Silent Pro Gold Series RSA00-80GAD3-US 1000W ATX 12V v2.3 / EPS 12V v2.92 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS

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

ASUS Maximus IV Extreme-Z LGA 1155 Intel Z68 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Extended ATX Intel Motherboard

Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor

Noctua NH-D14 120mm & 140mm SSO CPU Cooler

Pioneer Black Blu-ray Burner SATA BDR-206DBKS

NEED to find a good case.

I'm looking for any advice or tweaks anyone may have.

Reply to churry

The Cooler Master Silent Pro Gold series is ok from a build quality, voltage regulation, fan noise and functionality perspective. Its major downside is that ripple and noise suppression isn't very good. At full load it will just about be in spec on the 12V and 5V rails. For that reason I would not want to buy. If that also puts you off then I would recommend this:
Antec High Current Pro HCP-850W 80Plus Gold Modular $165 ($15 rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817371053

Message quoted 1 times
Message edited by Silvune on 11-11-2011 at 11:13:18 PM

Reply to Silvune

Silvune wrote :

The Cooler Master Silent Pro Gold series is ok from a build quality, voltage regulation, fan noise and functionality perspective. Its major downside is that ripple and noise suppression isn't very good. At full load it will just about be in spec on the 12V and 5V rails. For that reason I would not want to buy. If that also puts you off then I would recommend this:
Antec High Current Pro HCP-850W 80Plus Gold Modular $165 ($15 rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817371053

You think 850W is enough for my build? I was told by several people I'd need more than that for sure.

Reply to churry

What's your monitor's resolution? That's bad mentality though....you can build a superb system for 1000$ and keep the rest for being up to date whenever you need

Reply to michxymi

I think you would have to want to run very power intensive programs (furmark, BOINC, etc) on a regular basis to need more than 850W.
Or basically if you don't want any restrictions on what you could upgrade to in the future.

This review shows a system with two GTX 570s using 556W at the wall running Furmark.
http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] 65-11.html
They were using a fairly efficient unit so I'm only going to take 10% off that number, which means that their system consumed 500W. That kind of load would only stress an 850W PSU to ~58%. Furmark is an unrealistic load, so not many programs will cause a system to draw as much. Typical power consumption is going to be much lower. A 60% load on a high quality PSU should not be a cause for concern.

If you still want a ~1000W unit then here are some others which don't have such high ripple:
Cougar GX-1050 80Plus Gold Modular $170 ($20 rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817553008

Rosewill Lightning 1000W 80Plus Gold Modular $180
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817182239

Silverstone Strider Gold 1000W 80Plus Gold Modular $195
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817256068

Enermax Revolution85+ 1020W 80Plus Silver Modular $205 ($6 shipping)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817194081

NZXT Hale90 1000W 80Plus Gold Modular $210 ($6 shipping)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817116013

Corsair HX1050 80Plus Silver Modular $220 ($20 rebate, $6 shipping)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817139034

Picking up on what michxymi said you could save a lot of money on this build and not notice any immediate drop in performance or any decrease in performance in the future IMO. For instance 16GB is overkill for gaming atm and I can't really imagine this changing soon. Even if it does then it would would be easy and should be cheap enough to buy and install more RAM.
The motherboard could probably be downgraded unless that is the cheapest one with all the features and performance that you need.
Atm clock speed is more important than more than 4 cores, and by the time this changes surely the i7-2600K won't be up to much.

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to Silvune

just wait for Ivy bridge

Reply to madchemist83

1k for SLI 570? If it were tri-SLI 570, i would understand.

Wait a sec. It's only a single 570. Will the OP SLI?

Message quoted 1 times

Reply to cutebeans

Best answer

Here would be my advise:

1) Dont got SLI right off the back a single 570 will max out everything right now (I would even bump it up to a 580) Once you need a performance boost hit it up with another GPU (if you do the 580 it will be cheaper and make it even better)

2) Cases are always the hard part to choose, go with one you like or describe what you would want to see in it or on it (i.e. blue leds, black case, spacious room for upgrades, yada yada yada)

3) the build below is just below 2k save the rest of the money for future upgrades (which sould only be adding a new GPU)

4) Monitor? do you need one or do you have one already and whats the resolution

Rosewill BLACKHAWK Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - $100.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811147107

Intel Core i5-2500K - $225.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115072

ASRock Z68 Extreme4 - $175.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813157250

ZALMAN CNPS9500A-LED 92mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler - $48.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835118223

2 x EVGA SuperClocked 012-P3-1572-AR GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB - $720.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130595

Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200 RPM - $150.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822148697

LITE-ON Black 18X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM DVD - $20.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6827106344

Crucial M4 128 GB SSD - $210.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820148442

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 - $45.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231428

PC Power and Cooling Silencer Mk II 950W High Performance 80PLUS Silver - $150.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817703028

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - $100.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6832116986
Total $1943

Case:

Mid-Towers
Corsair Obsidian Series 650D
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811139006

Corsair Graphite Series 600T
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811139007

Corsair Carbide Series 500R
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811139009

Full Towers:
Corsair Obsidian Series 800D
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811139001

COOLER MASTER HAF X Blue Edition
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811119239

Antec Twelve Hundred V3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811129100

COOLER MASTER HAF 932
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811119160

Thermaltake Chaser MK-I
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811133191

Message quoted 1 times

------------------------------ Casualties many; Percentage of dead not known; Combat efficiency: we are winning!
-Colonel David M. Shoup, USMC

Animated videos of how to build your own computer!
Reply to Emelth

cutebeans wrote :

1k for SLI 570? If it were tri-SLI 570, i would understand.

Wait a sec. It's only a single 570. Will the OP SLI?

Yes, my original intention was to SLI

Reply to churry

Silvune wrote :

I think you would have to want to run very power intensive programs (furmark, BOINC, etc) on a regular basis to need more than 850W.
Or basically if you don't want any restrictions on what you could upgrade to in the future.

This review shows a system with two GTX 570s using 556W at the wall running Furmark.
http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] 65-11.html
They were using a fairly efficient unit so I'm only going to take 10% off that number, which means that their system consumed 500W. That kind of load would only stress an 850W PSU to ~58%. Furmark is an unrealistic load, so not many programs will cause a system to draw as much. Typical power consumption is going to be much lower. A 60% load on a high quality PSU should not be a cause for concern.

If you still want a ~1000W unit then here are some others which don't have such high ripple:
Cougar GX-1050 80Plus Gold Modular $170 ($20 rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817553008

Rosewill Lightning 1000W 80Plus Gold Modular $180
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817182239

Silverstone Strider Gold 1000W 80Plus Gold Modular $195
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817256068

Enermax Revolution85+ 1020W 80Plus Silver Modular $205 ($6 shipping)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817194081

NZXT Hale90 1000W 80Plus Gold Modular $210 ($6 shipping)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817116013

Corsair HX1050 80Plus Silver Modular $220 ($20 rebate, $6 shipping)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817139034

Picking up on what michxymi said you could save a lot of money on this build and not notice any immediate drop in performance or any decrease in performance in the future IMO. For instance 16GB is overkill for gaming atm and I can't really imagine this changing soon. Even if it does then it would would be easy and should be cheap enough to buy and install more RAM.
The motherboard could probably be downgraded unless that is the cheapest one with all the features and performance that you need.
Atm clock speed is more important than more than 4 cores, and by the time this changes surely the i7-2600K won't be up to much.

Wow, thanks for that input. I'll be sure to consider a 850W. I was just worried because a lot of people I've been talking to make it seem like I need a lot more.

Reply to churry

Emelth wrote :

Here would be my advise:

1) Dont got SLI right off the back a single 570 will max out everything right now (I would even bump it up to a 580) Once you need a performance boost hit it up with another GPU (if you do the 580 it will be cheaper and make it even better)

2) Cases are always the hard part to choose, go with one you like or describe what you would want to see in it or on it (i.e. blue leds, black case, spacious room for upgrades, yada yada yada)

3) the build below is just below 2k save the rest of the money for future upgrades (which sould only be adding a new GPU)

4) Monitor? do you need one or do you have one already and whats the resolution

Rosewill BLACKHAWK Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - $100.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811147107

Intel Core i5-2500K - $225.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6819115072

ASRock Z68 Extreme4 - $175.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813157250

ZALMAN CNPS9500A-LED 92mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler - $48.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6835118223

2 x EVGA SuperClocked 012-P3-1572-AR GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB - $720.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130595

Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200 RPM - $150.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6822148697

LITE-ON Black 18X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM DVD - $20.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6827106344

Crucial M4 128 GB SSD - $210.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820148442

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 - $45.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231428

PC Power and Cooling Silencer Mk II 950W High Performance 80PLUS Silver - $150.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817703028

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - $100.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6832116986
Total $1943

Case:

Mid-Towers
Corsair Obsidian Series 650D
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811139006

Corsair Graphite Series 600T
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811139007

Corsair Carbide Series 500R
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811139009

Full Towers:
Corsair Obsidian Series 800D
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811139001

COOLER MASTER HAF X Blue Edition
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811119239

Antec Twelve Hundred V3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811129100

COOLER MASTER HAF 932
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811119160

Thermaltake Chaser MK-I
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811133191

Thanks for the tips man! I've been debating over this for a while now since I realized that the Kepler cards are around the corner....might drive the prices of the GTX 5 series cards down. So I was considering a single 570 for now.

As for the monitor, I have a SyncMaster220WM....it's alright...but I've been wanting an upgrade for a while. The resolution is : 1680 x 1050
I've wanted a 1080P for a while. Currently I'm debating between dual 24" or a single 27". Any suggestions on which setup/monitors to go with would be appreciated.

Reply to churry

I prefer small monitors so I would go with two 24" monitors, but it all depends on what type of games you play.

Here are two different Asus monitors for $200
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6824236121

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6824236049

If you cant ge those two there is an Acer Monitor for $178
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6824009245

I would stick to the Asus if you can pocket it I trust them a lot more than Acer

Message quoted 1 times

------------------------------ Casualties many; Percentage of dead not known; Combat efficiency: we are winning!
-Colonel David M. Shoup, USMC

Animated videos of how to build your own computer!
Reply to Emelth

Emelth wrote :

I prefer small monitors so I would go with two 24" monitors, but it all depends on what type of games you play.

Here are two different Asus monitors for $200
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6824236121

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6824236049

If you cant ge those two there is an Acer Monitor for $178
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6824009245

I would stick to the Asus if you can pocket it I trust them a lot more than Acer

I like those asus monitors a lot. But I just realized dual monitors isn't the best for gaming unless you don't mind the frames in the middle.

Reply to churry

Use one for gaming and the other for web surfing and what not

Message quoted 1 times

------------------------------ Casualties many; Percentage of dead not known; Combat efficiency: we are winning!
-Colonel David M. Shoup, USMC

Animated videos of how to build your own computer!
Reply to Emelth

Emelth wrote :

Use one for gaming and the other for web surfing and what not

This is my first SLI build and I'm kind of a nub as to how it would work. Does SLI force me to use both monitors or can choose to play games on only one monitor?

Reply to churry

it only offers higher FPS .. no matter how many monitors u playing on

Reply to madchemist83

also getting 570 sli and gaming at 1080p resolution is kind of a waste
go for 2560*1440 or something like that

Reply to madchemist83

Best answer selected by churry.

Reply to churry

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