Gaming build $3000 budget

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
L

Lapez89

Distinguished
Sep 10, 2011
78
0
18,630
Ok so i just wanted to get some feed back on this build. Putting a lot of money into it so want to get some second opinions.

Case:

COUGAR Evolution Black SECC ATX Full Tower Computer Case with Dual 12cm COUGAR TURBINE HYPER-SPIN Bearing Silent Fans
$94.99

Motherboard:

ASUS P8P67 WS REVOLUTION LGA 1155 Intel P67
$245.99

CPU:

Intel Core i-5 2500k 3.3Ghz (3.7 Ghz Turbo)
$219.99

Video Card:

HIS IceQ X Turbo H695QNT2G2M Radeon HD 6950 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 (Quad CrossfireX)
$1079.96 (269.99 each)

RAM:

G.SKILL Ripjaws Z Series 32GB (8 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
$169.99

Boot Drive:

SanDisk Ultra SDSSDH-120G-G25 2.5" 120GB (2 in RAID0)
$249.98 ($124.99 each)

Storage Drive:
HITACHI Deskstar 7K3000 HDS723020BLA642 (0f12115) 2TB 7200 RPM
$199.99

PSU:

PC Power and Cooling Silencer Mk II 950W High Performance 80PLUS Silver SLI CrossFire ready Power Supply
$149.99


Water Cooling:
Thermaltake CLW0211 Bigwater 760 Plus Dual Bay Drives Water Cooling Core i7 Compliant
$149.99

Blu-ray Drive:
LITE-ON Blu-ray Burner with 3D Playback Lightscribe Support
$109.99



So basically i just want second opinions on this build, what would you do different? Deffinitely want to know what you think of the water cooling system, had a lot of good reviews on Newegg.
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
L

Lapez89

Distinguished
Sep 10, 2011
78
0
18,630
Edit on the Motherboard:

ASRock Z68 Extreme7 Gen3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
$269.99

(Z68 motherboard instead of P67)


Total price: $3,003.84 after taxes and shipping
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
g-unit1111

g-unit1111

Titan
Moderator
Jul 27, 2011
42,545
819
104,940
This build definitely needs a lot of work - especially if you're going to be spending $3K on it:

G.SKILL Ripjaws Z Series 32GB (8 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
$169.99
Click to expand...

This RAM is quad channel and meant for X79 systems - it won't run on a Z68.

ASUS P8P67 WS REVOLUTION LGA 1155 Intel P67
$245.99
Click to expand...

That's a workstation board - it's not meant for gaming at all.

Water Cooling:
Thermaltake CLW0211 Bigwater 760 Plus Dual Bay Drives Water Cooling Core i7 Compliant
$149.99
Click to expand...

Not sure I'd recommend that solution - I'm not a fan of water cooling but if you must the Corsair H100 would be a far better solution and it's a lot less.

HIS IceQ X Turbo H695QNT2G2M Radeon HD 6950 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 (Quad CrossfireX)
$1079.96 (269.99 each)
Click to expand...

I don't think you'll be able to find any board on the market right now that supports quad Crossfire... most you'll be able to get is tri-SLI and that's even for like the highest-end boards that run - $300 - $400.

Boot Drive:

SanDisk Ultra SDSSDH-120G-G25 2.5" 120GB (2 in RAID0)
$249.98 ($124.99 each)

Storage Drive:
HITACHI Deskstar 7K3000 HDS723020BLA642 (0f12115) 2TB 7200 RPM
$199.99
Click to expand...

I would definitely say no to this storage solution. Sandisk SSDs are not the most reliable on the market, nor are Hitachi drives.

This would be a better setup for $3K:

Case: Corsair Carbide 500R - $139.99
PSU: PC Power & Cooling Silencer MKII Ultra 950W - $149.99
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X79-UD5 - $289.99
CPU: 3.2GHz Intel Core i7-3930K - $599.99
Cooler: Corsair H100 - $119.99
RAM: 16GB (4 x 4GB) G.Skill Ripjaw X Quad Channel For X79 1.6V - $89.99
SSD: 128GB Crucial M4 - $199.99
HD: 1TB Samsung Spinpoint F3 - $149.99
Optical: LG Blu Ray Burner - $59.99
Video Card: 2 x EVGA Geforce GTX 580 1.5GB - $489.99 each ($998.99 total)

Total: $2803

Alternately if you want to stick to Sandy Bridge (1155) instead of X79 (2011) try this:

Motherboard: EVGA Z68 FTW - $259.99
CPU: Intel Core i7-2600K - $319.99
RAM: 16GB (4 x 4GB) Corsair Vengeance PC12800 1600MHz 1.5V - $97.99 ($48.99 each)
Cooler: Noctua NH-U9B - $59.99

That drops the price down to $2412.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
g-unit1111

g-unit1111

Titan
Moderator
Jul 27, 2011
42,545
819
104,940


X79 is also Sandy Bridge-E, which is, when you compare it to past Intel platforms like X58, 975, and P55, is basically a glorified Xeon processor. I'd suggest reading these articles - it explains it better than I could:

Motherboards: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/p9x79-deluxe-g1-assassin2-x79-ud5-extreme9,3086.html
Performance: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/sandy-bridge-e-efficiency-core-i7-3960x,3075.html
Review: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-i7-3960x-x79-sandy-bridge-e,3071.html
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
g-unit1111

g-unit1111

Titan
Moderator
Jul 27, 2011
42,545
819
104,940


No problem - this is definitely the right place to ask questions, and I definitely suggest doing all the research you can before dropping $3K on a PC.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
L

Lapez89

Distinguished
Sep 10, 2011
78
0
18,630
deffinately... and I'm not buying it for a couple months yet, I'm just figuring out the build right now so i know what i'm getting myself into... and so that hopefully by the time i'm ready to buy I'd have everything figured out :p i was also wondering if i should wait until Ivy Bridge, since it's supposed to be out in April right?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
g-unit1111

g-unit1111

Titan
Moderator
Jul 27, 2011
42,545
819
104,940


Ivy Bridge isn't going to be that huge of an improvement over SB. What AMD proved with the FX series of CPUs is that the newer technology isn't going to always be better than what's out. CPUs have pretty much stabilized over the last couple of years, and having +-.2GHz and a couple of extra cores isn't going to make that much of a difference unless you're doing some incredibly intensive benchmarks. But even then running an SSD you don't want to put a lot of stress on your read / write rates, as an SSD will only be able to handle so much in the course of the drives' lifespan.

Where you'll really see a difference is in the GPUs. The 580s that are out now are amazing for the money, but they'll be easily eclipsed by the Radeon 7970's that will be out in the next couple of weeks. Of course you'll pay a premium for them but if you're running a $3K build you could get them setup in Crossfire and run circles around anything else the competition has... :lol:
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
L

Lapez89

Distinguished
Sep 10, 2011
78
0
18,630
awesome, so stick with SB and wait for the Radeon 7970's lol ok cool thanks you've helped out a ton... :-D I can't wait to build this thing lol It's going to be an amazing computer
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
C

cambrano

Distinguished
Jan 2, 2012
6
0
18,510
WOW, and i thought my skyrim looked pretty good on low quality, couldnt imagine to see it on highest everything on that computer ^ and my computer is like newborn baby to that machine
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
a4mula

a4mula

Distinguished
Feb 3, 2009
973
0
19,160
LGA2011 has natural PCI-e 3.0 support and 40x PCI-e lanes vs the 20 of 1155. While you can get around this by choosing a NF200 board like you did with the WS or the Extreme7 at this pricepoint you've eclipsed what can be had on a $215 Extreme3 X79.

Right now the major drawback to X79 is there are only two supported cpus, the 3960X with a 1059.99 pricetag, and the 3930K with a 549.99 pricetag. When compared to SB it doesn't really make a lot of sense.

By the time you're ready to buy however the 3820 will be available for X79 and it'll ship at 289.99. Lets do the math:

Z68 : 2500K $220 + Extreme7 $270 = $490
X79: 3820 $290 + Extreme3 $215 = $505

So, for $15 extra dollars you get native pci-e 3.0 support, 40 native pci-e lanes, and 4+4 hyperthreading processor versus the 4 core only 2500k. Not a huge deal in terms of cpu but with your intent on multiple gpus, the other two make a huge difference.

The 7970 will be a pci-e 3.0 card. Some people will dismiss this as not being a huge deal as we've yet to saturate pci-e 2.0 at typical resolutions. While that's true, if you look at multiple monitor resolutions you can clearly see bottlenecking on x8 lanes.

There's also past history to use as an example. LGA1366 vs LGA775 was in this same boat 4 years ago. While there are still plenty of 920s out there running strong, you don't see a whole lot of their Core 2 counterparts still being touted.

At this budget and your inclination to use multiple gpus, LGA2011 is the obvious choice.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
g-unit1111

g-unit1111

Titan
Moderator
Jul 27, 2011
42,545
819
104,940
By the time you're ready to buy however the 3820 will be available for X79 and it'll ship at 289.99. Lets do the math:

Z68 : 2500K $220 + Extreme7 $270 = $490
X79: 3820 $290 + Extreme3 $215 = $505
Click to expand...

But with X79 you'll have to factor in the price of quad channel RAM is more than triple what standard dual channel costs.

There's also past history to use as an example. LGA1366 vs LGA775 was in this same boat 4 years ago. While there are still plenty of 920s out there running strong, you don't see a whole lot of their Core 2 counterparts still being touted.
Click to expand...

Certainly true. It'll be a while before something comes along that will really replace Z68. X58 didn't replace 775, and P55 was somewhat of a replacement but X58 was clearly superior. It's just some things are better than others.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
a4mula

a4mula

Distinguished
Feb 3, 2009
973
0
19,160


That's not true at all. You can find quad channel kits for under $50 like these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145262

For $74 you can get 4x4 kits. It's all just a matter of what you want.

Certainly true. It'll be a while before something comes along that will really replace Z68. X58 didn't replace 775, and P55 was somewhat of a replacement but X58 was clearly superior. It's just some things are better than others.
Click to expand...

I never suggested 1366 was a replacement for 775. Just like today 2011 isn't a replacement for 1155. They both represent the enthusiast class of sockets that support higher bandwidth pci-e lanes.

1366 wasn't superior to 1156 as the ondie memory and pci-e lanes of 1156 clearly were more efficient and effective than the northbridge of 1366. So much so that it was adopted for both 1155 and the current 2011 standard. This wasn't to say that 1156 was a replacement, it was much more of a precursor for 1155. The only difference between 1156 and 1155 is the die shrink of SB and its IGP.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
mjmjpfaff

mjmjpfaff

Distinguished
Jan 1, 2011
3,051
0
20,960

what resolution will you be playing at?
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
L

Lapez89

Distinguished
Sep 10, 2011
78
0
18,630
atleast 1920x1080... more then likely with a multiple screen setup. Which i believe g-unit1111's build will work just fine... except i'll probably end up going for the HD Radeon 7xxx
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
mjmjpfaff

mjmjpfaff

Distinguished
Jan 1, 2011
3,051
0
20,960
with a multiple monitor setup you want to run both 7970's (you are getting 2 right? it would be around 1100$ or so.) at x16. for larger resolutions it will make a significant difference.

ASRock Z68 Extreme7 (270$) + i5 2500k (220$) + Long Crossfire Bridge (~10$)- it has to go from the 1st pcie slot to the 4th so that the cards actually run at x16 = 500$

ASRock X79 Extreme3 (215$) + i7 3820 (285$) no need for long crossfire bridge here. I don't even know if the one posted above will be long enough = 500$

you have to wait a little while until the 3820 comes out and you will have to wait if you go with the 7950's (you didnt specify which 7xxx series card) . both should be out in early February.

even though the cpu multiplier on the 3820 only goes to 43x it can still be overclocked way past 4.3ghz as shown in this article- http://www.anandtech.com/show/5276/intel-core-i7-3820-review-285-quadcore-sandy-bridge-e

So lets recap. at the same price you can get an z68 x16/x16 solution as you can a X79 x16/x16 solution. The X79 solution also comes with a more powerful processor. For X79 you need quad channel ram but since you think you will go with g-unit1111's build it lookss like it doesnt matter because it includes quad channel ram. Seems like the only downfall to the x79 solution is that the i7 3820 is coming out in February. a4mula is not crazy. ;)


 
Upvote 0 Downvote
L

Lapez89

Distinguished
Sep 10, 2011
78
0
18,630



I probably won't be building this untill late February, early March anyways... So that would work out very well, and i was aiming for the 7970, unless it's not worth the price jump from the 7950... by the time i build this both cards should be out so time isn't an issue
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
g-unit1111

g-unit1111

Titan
Moderator
Jul 27, 2011
42,545
819
104,940


The 7970 has been destroying 3-D Mark records left and right... it makes more sense to have one of those than Quad Crossfire does. I don't know what the 7950 will bring, but I'm sure the numbers will be pretty comparable.

atleast 1920x1080... more then likely with a multiple screen setup. Which i believe g-unit1111's build will work just fine... except i'll probably end up going for the HD Radeon 7xxx
Click to expand...

I really prefer Eyefinity for multiple monitor setups - AMD's control panel is way easier to work with than the NVIDIA one.

you have to wait a little while until the 3820 comes out and you will have to wait if you go with the 7950's (you didnt specify which 7xxx series card) . both should be out in early February.
Click to expand...

The 3820 isn't a K processor which means it can't be overclocked. The ones that are out now (3930K and 3960K) can be.

1366 wasn't superior to 1156 as the ondie memory and pci-e lanes of 1156 clearly were more efficient and effective than the northbridge of 1366. So much so that it was adopted for both 1155 and the current 2011 standard. This wasn't to say that 1156 was a replacement, it was much more of a precursor for 1155. The only difference between 1156 and 1155 is the die shrink of SB and its IGP.
Click to expand...

Ah, I guess I'm not that adept as to what CPU designs are and how they handle use of other hardware. I should probably read up more on this.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom