New Gaming Rig - Mid Level AUS$1500

[Guest]

Hi, I am a regular pc builder and I'm in the process of making a new gaming rig, just need a little help with how my system is turning out. Full details below:

Approximate Purchase Date: December-January

Budget Range: AUS$1500 but there's a little room to move.

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Home, gaming, web development (wordpress, dreamweaver, photoshop, illustrator), surfing the internet, downloading, watching movies (Blu-Ray)

Parts Not Required: mouse, speakers, OS

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: PC Case Gear

Country: Australia

Parts Preferences: I would like to use an Intel sandy bridge CPU, future proof mobo (gen 3, ivy bridge, pci-e 3.0), 24" led LCD and mid tower case with no doors and decent cooling.

Overclocking: Maybe (would prefer the option if needed later on)

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe (One for now but will add another within 3 months. But I would much prefer one gpu that can handle high to max settings with ease.)

Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080p

Additional Comments: I would prefer to have a quiet PC if possible with option to turn off led lighting on case. Excellent cooling capacity is a must. Not too keen on water cooling.

Here is what I'm looking at so far:

CPU: Intel Core i5 2500K

Keyboard: Gigabyte K8100 Aivia Gaming Keyboard Black

CPU Cooler: CoolerMaster Hyper 212 EVO CPU Cooler

SSD: Corsair Force Series 3 120GB SSD

RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3

PSU: OCZ Technology ZX Series 850W Power Supply

Case: NZXT Tempest 410 Elite Case

HDD: Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000 500GB 7200RPM

Blu-Ray: LG CH12LS28 12X BD-R Blu-ray DVD Combo Drive

MOBO: ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 Motherboard

GPU: Sapphire Radeon HD6950 2GB [11188-05-41G]

Please let me know what you think.

 

[hellfire24]

looks good to me.

 

[Emelth]

Very good build, its build that alot of us advise on a daily bases. I would change the PSU down to a 750W (it will be bale to handle CF and OCing with enough headroom left over).

 

[Guest]

Thanks guys, good to know I'm on the right track.

I understand what you're saying 'Emelth' so I changed the PSU to this one:

Silverstone Strider Plus 750W ST75F-P

Complete cost so far is AUS$1,433. That leaves me with a bit of room now to possibly change the GPU to a better one, any ideas would be great thanks.

 

[hellfire24]

msi twinfrozer is popular for better overclocking and cooling.if you can find one,go with it.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

With one card, it's a tossup as the two cards score almost identical, but the nvVidia cards scale much better so since you are getting a 2nd card in 3 months I'd get two of these:

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=193_1193&products_id=17207

The factory OC's 6950 gets 484 fps in Guru3D's game test suite compared with teh Asus TOP's 495 .... call it a wash ..... but in SLI, the TOP gets 862 fos to the 6950's 759.....that's 103 fps or 14% more and ya save $10 pe rcard to boot. Not to mention, the 900MHz clock "outta the box" easily goes over 1000MHz with the TOP's cooling solution.

RAM - At the same price, I'd take the Corsair's
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=15938

PSU - The 850 Z series was only able to garner an 8.5 performance rating.

Save some money and get a better PSU...this Corsair garnered a 9.5 rating
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story5&reid=218
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=15_354&products_id=17210

And while a 750 is fine for twin 6850's, or 560's ..... I'd use an 850 watter for overclocked versions of either of those GFX cards.....besides PSU's are most efficient at 50% load so no harm in having some headroom, it saves money. Not to mention, it's not about just providing the power, it's about providing stable voltages while doing so and the closer you get to the max power rating, the harder it is for the PSU to deliver that. The more voltage wavers under that load, the harder it is to maintain stable OC's on both the GPU and CPU.

MoBo - Not a bad performer but, personally, I won't support a company that doesn't offer an industry standard 3 year warranty.

Finally the extra headroom will server well as capacitor's age. If ya wanna go with the Strider, it also gets a 9.5 but I'd cut back on the OC a bit.

 

[Formata]

@ JackNaylorPE

a) What do you think about 1.65v RAM for this system?

b) For what ever reason... here in Aus... we get 3 years on AsRock boards (Lucky us )

 

[Guest]

@Formata

That's why I picked AsRock board.

@JackNaylorPE

1) I was tossing up between the 560ti and the 6950. I'll grab the 560ti now, I have seen the reviews and this card does offer the grunt I need. The types of games that I will play with this system are Skyrim, Fallout: New Vegas, GTA5, CS: S & GO and the Mass Effect trilogy. How will they do?

2) Nice catch with the ram.

3) I prefer fully modular psu's for better cable management but I'm leaning towards the psu you chose as it is a better quality one. I knew 850 would be better.

4) I'm trying to keep overclocking to a minimum, if the system can handle most games without lag then that will be great for me. The cpu and gpu will be overclocked as a last resort to achieve that goal.

What 24" monitor will provide the best experience?

 

[mazchazo]

Get the 1GB Radeon hd 6950, it won't make that big of a difference. Then later on, buy the second one for a crossfire. If you want to crossfire this 6950, a 750 watt good quality psu is sufficient. get the 850 watts if you feel more comfortable and you don't mind using more money. New cards should be coming in soon, so get a 1 gb radeon hd 6950, use it up then buy a new card to replace it, BUT IF the new cards aren't that great, buy a second radeon hd 6950 for crossfire.

You could also consider that new gtx 560 ti 448 cores. Very nice performance.

 

[Guest]

@Mazchazo

The gtx 560 ti 448 core gpu is not sold down under unfortunately.

I think the best thing to do for me is get one good gpu that can handle most games at least for the next two years. I know I have been way too fussy but I have narrowed it down to a few Nvidia cards:

ASUS GeForce GTX 560Ti DirectCU II TOP 1GB

ASUS GeForce GTX 570 DirectCU II 1280MB

MSI GTX 570 Twin Frozr III PE/OC

Two 560ti's are equivalent money-wise to a 580 so here are a three options:

MSI GeForce GTX 580 Twin Frozr II Overclocked

EVGA GeForce GTX 580 SuperClocked

ASUS GeForce GTX 580 DirectCU II

I am also wondering if it's actually a good time to buy since the new gen is just around the corner. I don't have to worry about micro-stuttering with sli do I?

So far thanks for your help guys.

 

[Guest]

Bump.

 

[mazchazo]

the micro-shuttering depends on what games you play I believe. Im going with a 560 ti SLI set up or a 6950 xfire set up myself. There's a controversy on the micro-shuttering issue. Some people say it's worth it, some people say 1 card is better so you do not run into issues at all.

 

[Guest]

@mazchazo

Thanks for clearing that up, I have done a bit more research and have finally settled on a asus 560 ti (sli in a month) setup. I should be building this within two weeks or so.

Thanks everyone for your help, much appreciated.

 

[Guest]

Best answer selected by Super-Blur.

 

[mazchazo]

np. sounds good to me.