New Gaming rig

[Kirunlol]

SO im trying to make a new rig around 1500-1800, and i want to know how can i tweak this / what graphic card to go with and if everything else is good for a hardcore gaming computer, so far i got


Processor: Intel Core i7 2600k

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

Video Card: CF 6970 or sli 570 or CF 6950 or 3x6950

Power Supply: Silencer Mk II 950W or any 1000 watts for dual cards.

Motherboard: ASUS Z68 Extreme7 Gen3

Operating System: Win 7 Home Premium

Desktop Memory: CORSAIR DOMINATOR 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 Desktop Memory Model CMP16GX3M4A1333C9 (OVERCLOCK TO) 1600 mghz

Hard Drives: Corsair Force Series 3 CSSD-F120GB3A-BK 2.5" 120GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
Secondary would be a Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive

Optical Drive: LITE-ON Black 18X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM IDE DVD-ROM Drive Model iHDP118-08
(Or any other)

Case: Cooler Master HAF X ATX Full Tower

 

[sosofm]

It's a great build.

 

[vitornob]

- For gaming there's no need for i7-2600k, stick with i5-2500k

- There's no Asus Z68 Extreme7 Gen3, only Asrock

- Keep in mind that even Win7 Home Premium is 64 bits, it handles 16GB memory at max if you intent to use more ram memory in the future, consider the Win7 Professional X64 (handles 192GB max)

- Cpu Cooler you selected is SWEET

- No need to OC the memory, you won't gain any real performance, do some tests if you want to check it through.

- Which resolution is your monitor? Do you intent to play 3D games?

 

[Kirunlol]

- For gaming there's no need for i7-2600k, stick with i5-2500k

- There's no Asus Z68 Extreme7 Gen3, only Asrock

- Keep in mind that even Win7 Home Premium is 64 bits, it handles 16GB memory at max if you intent to use more ram memory in the future, consider the Win7 Professional X64 (handles 192GB max)

- Cpu Cooler you selected is SWEET

- No need to OC the memory, you won't gain any real performance, do some tests if you want to check it through.

- Which resolution is your monitor? Do you intent to play 3D games?

Im going to record / edit videos, so i heard i7 was best.

I don't know why i'll even need 16 ram, its a little overboard, so its fine like that

And for resolution, no im not playing 3d games, and screen resolution (I still havent bought it, but i am going for one of the 1080 . Not sure )

Also since, you mentioned my cpu cooler is good, if you know any other better piece about anything let me know

 

[vitornob]

Im going to record / edit videos, so i heard i7 was best.

I don't know why i'll even need 16 ram, its a little overboard, so its fine like that

And for resolution, no im not playing 3d games, and screen resolution (I still havent bought it, but i am going for one of the 1080 . Not sure )

Also since, you mentioned my cpu cooler is good, if you know any other better piece about anything let me know

With your new info:

- Yes, I agree, the i7-2600k is the best option.

- If you won't go for rendering, 16GB is good enough, so it's ok too, keep the Win7 Home Premium x64

- If you go for 1080P monitors. 2* GTX 570 COULD be a bit overkill (unless you go for multi-monitors), what kind of games you play?

 

[Guest]

stick with 8gigs of ram there is no performance gain when you double to 16 unless you have a program that can utilize that much.

i suggest you take a look at crucial m4 drives, they are the best on the market when it comes to price/performance ratio. do you need 120gigs of space on an SSD? you basically only install programs on them, not games or data. if you use something that benefits from the extra space in a more beneficial way than using a traditional HDD then go for it, but 64gigs is normally enough.

if you save some cash on both of those and other things you can upgrade GPUs

 

[Guest]

unless you need the better performance of the corsair

 

[Kirunlol]

With your new info:

- Yes, I agree, the i7-2600k is the best option.

- If you won't go for rendering, 16GB is good enough, so it's ok too, keep the Win7 Home Premium x64

- If you go for 1080P monitors. 2* GTX 570 COULD be a bit overkill (unless you go for multi-monitors), what kind of games you play?

Wasting more money on graphic card, would be stupid with the new ones coming out, i was thinking of going dual 6950 or 560 actually, and man tbh, im going to be playing all different types of game, since i post gameplay on youtubes. Crysis, MW3, BF3, WoW, SWTOR, and so on.

 

[Kirunlol]

stick with 8gigs of ram there is no performance gain when you double to 16 unless you have a program that can utilize that much.

i suggest you take a look at crucial m4 drives, they are the best on the market when it comes to price/performance ratio. do you need 120gigs of space on an SSD? you basically only install programs on them, not games or data. if you use something that benefits from the extra space in a more beneficial way than using a traditional HDD then go for it, but 64gigs is normally enough.

if you save some cash on both of those and other things you can upgrade GPUs

Thanks i will change it for the crucial m4, and when to upgrade GPU's, Which one you got in mind?

 

[JackNaylorPE]

I thot I answered this one already

The Noc was always in the top 5 on LGA 775 but the reviews seem to be mixed on 1155. Here's what I use:

$30 budget - Hyper 212
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065

$50 budget - Hyper 612 PM or Scythe Muhen 3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103103
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185168

$80 Budget - Thermalright Silver Arrow
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/11676/cpu-tri-77/Thermalright_Silver_Arrow_Dual_160mm_x_140mm_Fan_Universal_CPU_Cooler_Sockets_775_1156_1366_2011_AM2_AM2_AM3.html

http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=797&Itemid=62&limit=1&limitstart=4

TIM - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835150080

CPU - Save the $100 on the 2600k and get the 2500k if ya just gaming.....with the Video editing, Id keep the 1600k or move to 2700k.

PSU - only 850 watter needed for all but twin 580s....sugegst pairing case and PSU

Case - $ 165 - Antec DF-85 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129087
PSU - $ 115 - Antec CP-850 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371024

Case - $ 180 - HAF-X Blue http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119239
PSU - $ 150 - Corsair HX850 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139011

Both of the above have 10.0 performance rated PSU's and are superb cases...personally I prefer the Antec combo.....built about a dozen of them this year (4 with the HAF) and it's easier and also quieter than the HAF-X

Wanna save some money ? This is only a slight dropoff w/ a 9.5 performance rating

Case - $ 115 - Corsaie Carbide 500R http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139010
PSU - $90 - XFX Core Edition-850 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207011

GFX - With the video editing, cross ATI off the shopping list.... lotta video apps use CUDA and ya certainly wanna avail yaself of that if you doing video editing. Only the 570 and 580 officially support the mercury playback engine in CS5 however . The cards ahve support per nVidia GeForce GTX 590, GeForce GTX 580, GeForce GTX 570, GeForce GTX 560 Ti, GeForce GTX 560, GeForce GTX 550 Ti within the current generation card lineup.

For gaming, here's my thinking...

-Two 580's get ya 953 fps in Guru3D's game test suite for $1,000
-Two 570's get ya 873 fps in Guru3D's game test suite, for $680 .... that's 92% of the 580'S performance for 68% of the money.
-Two 900Mhz 560's get ya 862 fps in Guru3D's game test suite, for $430 .... that's 90% of the 580'S performance for 43% of the money.

Given those numbers, it's hard for me to recommend spending more especially when the 560's are OC beasts able to go as hi as 30% over reference speeds:

http://www.pureoverclock.com/review.php?id=1201&page=17

Son No. 3 is running two of these upstairs on a 120MHz monitor......I just clocked them back a bit to 980 Mhz (was at 1020) to lower temps a bit just cause at 15 he doesn't pay attention to those kinda things and nothing he has needs the frames...he's playing BF3, Metro 2033, Fallout and a few others, all on ultra and hasn't been able to get a lag or stutter as yet. BTW, also clocked back his CPU from 4.8 to 4.6 Ghz ..... again, no problems just cut down as nothin was lacking and now have CPU temps in hi 60's. (HT on)

RAM - Forget the tall toothy heat sinks and the fan, they not gonna fit wit a CPU cooler. On top of that, about the only cooling effect is that the tall toothy heat sinks is they "look cool". It's a design left over from a bygone era that has become totally unnecessary.

These are $78 and don't need any OC'ing for DDR3-1600
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233198

If ya want something faster, these will provide significant performance impact in video editing (less so in gaming), these are the same price as the ones you picked
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226276

SSD - http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-price-ssd,3070-6.html

Here's how the 120 / 128 Giggers shake out

The chart has been structured so that each tier represents a 10% difference in performance.

Tier 3
Mushkin Chronos Deluxe 120 GB
OCZ Vertex 3 Max IOPS 120 GB
Patriot WildFire 120 GB
Samsung 830 SSD 128 GB
Other 120 GB second-gen SandForce SSDs with Toggle NAND

Tier 4 (10 % slower than Tier 3)
All larger models
40 GB second-gen SandForce SSDs with Async ONFi NAND

Tier 5 (21 % slower than Tier 3)
Intel SSD 510 120 GB
Crucial m4 128 GB

Tier 6 (33 % slower than Tier 3)
Adata S511 120 GB
Corsair Force GT 120 GB
Kingston HyperX SSD 120 GB
OCZ Vertex 3 120 GB
Other 120 GB second-gen SandForce SSDs with Sync ONFi NAND

Tier 7 (46 % slower than Tier 3)
All larger models

Tier 8 (61 % slower than Tier 3)
Corsair Force 3 120 GB
Intel SSD 320 300 GB
OCZ Agility 3 120 GB
OCZ Solid 3 120 GB
Patriot Pyro 120 GB
Samsung 470 SSD 128 GB
Other 120 GB second-gen SandForce SSDs with Async ONFi NAND

Tier 9 (77 % slower than Tier 3)
Kingston SSDNow V+100 128 GB
Other 60 GB second-gen SandForce SSDs with Async ONFi NAND

Tier 10 (95 % slower than Tier 3)
Intel SSD 320 80 GB
OCZ Agility 2 120 GB
OCZ Vertex 2 120 GB
OCZ Solid 3 60 GB
Other 120 GB first-gen SandForce SSDs

At this time, I'm going with the Tier 3 Mushkins

HD - If it fits ya budget, these rock for video editing
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=708&Itemid=60&limit=1&limitstart=10

Again, son no. 3's box has a 2 TB model.....it boots to windows in 21.2 seconds....the Vertex 3 MAX IOPS boots it in 15.6 seconds

As for the optical, I'd go with a BR capable unit and seems there oughta be a card reader in there given ya intende dusage

DVD Writer - $ 58 - Asus Model BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135247
Card Reader $ 50 AeroCool FP-01 55 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820314001

If ya gettin a monitor.....for gaming I can give a strong recommendation to this 120 Hz job....Im usually grabbin one of these of the Dell or Asus IPS model's if the user is a photo buff

Game - 120Hz Asus http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236104
Photo Buff - IPS - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236119

 

[Kirunlol]

Best answer selected by kirunlol.