~1200$ gaming build, few questions.

[Minox]

Hello everyone,

As the title says, I'm here to build my first gaming computer for 2012. My budget is around the 1200$ mark (I have it right now) but i could extend to 1300$ or a bit more. So here goes:

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Approximate Purchase Date: 1-2 months

Budget Range: ~1200$ after rebates

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, hosting servers, surfing the Internet, watching HD movies.

Parts Not Required: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, optical drive ( I'm not sure for the OS )

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: directcanada.com (preferably for free shipping), newegg.ca

Country: Canada, Montreal.

Parts Preferences: Nothing really, whichever's better.

Overclocking: Yes

SLI or Crossfire: Whichever's a better value

Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080

Additional Comments: Nothing fansy, just a good airflow because I'm gonna be overclocking alot.

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Parts that i chose:

CPU - Intel Core i5 2500K - $219.69 +tx

GPU - Gigabyte GeForce GTX 570 Fermi Windforce 780MHZ - $342.88 After rebate

MOBO - ASRock Z68 EXTREME3 GEN3 ATX LGA1155 DDR3 2PCI-E16 2PCI-E SATA3 USB3.0 SLI CrossFireX Motherboard - $146.88 +tx

Power Supply - XFX 750W PRO750W XXX Edition - $122.19

RAM - Corsair Vengeance 12GB 3X4GB DDR3-1600 CL9-9-9-24 XMP - $69.69 +tx (I just chose 12gb because the 8gb Rams were below 50$= shipping fee)

SSD - Crucial M4 SSD Micron C400 128GB - $189.69

HDD - I'll see once the prices drop down (damn floods)... Probably gonna be a Samsong Spinpoint f3 1TB - ~ $50

Case - Coolermaster Haf 922 Mid Tower - $79.69 after rebates

CPU Cooler - COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus - $29.99

This build sums up to $1200.7

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Now, my questions (from most to least important):

1. Is it worth to wait for new parts to come out to make this build better?

2. Is it better if I buy 2 Radeon HD 6950 in Crossfire or just one GTX 570?

3. Is there a better motherboard price/value? Because i just picked one randomly

4. Is the power supply an overkill? And if not is there a better option of power supply?

5.I picked 12gb because the price is over 50$= free shipping. Is it worth to upgrade to a 16gb for just 20$ for more future proofing?

6. Is the Crucial brand a trustworthy brand, did any of you have bad experiences with it?

7. Will a SSD card make a huge differences (in ex: a ~200$ difference)

8. The HAF series doesn't look to good to me, but i took it because the price is acceptable. Do you guys know any better case at around the same price?

9. Is there any way to make this build any better?

10. If i added another 100$, how could this build be any better?

Thanks in advance for all your help

 

[r0aringdrag0n]

1. Yes! The Radeon 7970 is around $550 (when released) and the performance should be better than the gtx 580, but just a little lower than the Radeon 6990. The 7950, which is coming out February should sell for around $350 and should have amazing performance too...it is worth waiting

2. 2 6950's are way better performance wise than a single gtx 580, infact it's not too far off from a single gtx 590...
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/299?vs=305
However, if you go with 2 6950's right away, you won't have the ability to upgrade and SLI for better performance in the future. However the gtx 580SLI is only marginally better than the CF of 2 x 6950's
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/299?vs=308

3. Not really...I would recommend that board to anyone who's building a rig with a 2nd gen i5/i7.

4. 750W is not overkill for a powersupply (especially if you're going to overclock and CF gfx cards, personally, I would stick with that PSU since anything cheaper would probably be unreliable...This is also a good PSU:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371049

5. No, 12GB is overkill already...I would not go with that memory though. It's triple channel DDR3, the motherboard (all 2nd gen i3/i5/i7's) are dual channel memory. That means the RAM will perform at its highest capacity when there are either 2 sticks or 4 sticks of RAM in the system...triple channel was suggested for 1st gen i3/i5/i7's. I would get 8GB of RAM, since games only need 3GB at most (most only use 2GB) and we'll be nice and give the other programs 1GB of memory...total: 4GB used, another 4GB for head room and we're golden. Something like this is perfect:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220570
or
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820178333
or
http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=15380BD5211&vpn=F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL&manufacture=G.SKILL

6. Crucial, OCZ, Kingston, Intel, and Samsung are pretty reliable brands for SSDs...I believe Patriot is too, but I'm not totally sure.

7. Nope, it'll speed your boot time by maybe 10seconds at most. Then it'll run programs only 5seconds faster...at most.

8. Rosewill Challenger:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147153

or HAF 912:
http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=11130AC0700&vpn=RC-912-KKN1&manufacture=COOLERMASTER

9. Not really...other than SLIing gtx 580's and adding the i7 2600k, but the increased performance is negligible and it's only for bragging rights.

10. Get yourself some ice cream for having and awesome build...then BF3 to game on Ultra at 60FPS on a 1080p monitor...no, I'm serious too...other than the case, which you can upgrade to a full tower (if you want, but i don't recommend) nothing really can increase the performance...maybe if you changed to a intel i7 2600k? I know some people (me including) will be like "You'll SEE ABSOLUTELY NO PERFORMANCE INCREASE", you can upgrade for a more "future proof" system and faster speeds if you're video editing
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147053&Tpk=Rosewill%20Thor

 

[g-unit1111]

1. Is it worth to wait for new parts to come out to make this build better?

Not on CPU or anything of that sort. If you're waiting for Ivy Bridge that's not going to make too much of a dent in CPU performance. Neither will SB-E, but the CPUs are outrageous for the money.

2. Is it better if I buy 2 Radeon HD 6950 in Crossfire or just one GTX 570?

Actually neither. Wait a couple of weeks and get the 7970 - it has been owning 3-D Mark records and will continue to for quite a while.

3. Is there a better motherboard price/value? Because i just picked one randomly

This would be better: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128506

Asrock is fine though but there's lots of mixed reviews on them.

4. Is the power supply an overkill? And if not is there a better option of power supply?

You need at least a 700W for those cards, maybe 850 if you plan to overclock so that's fine.

5.I picked 12gb because the price is over 50$= free shipping. Is it worth to upgrade to a 16gb for just 20$ for more future proofing?

12GB is made for X58 systems and those are in the process of being discontinued. Upgrading to 16GB really won't make that much of a difference.

6. Is the Crucial brand a trustworthy brand, did any of you have bad experiences with it?

I have the 64GB model - it's excellent.

7. Will a SSD card make a huge differences (in ex: a ~200$ difference)

Depends on what size you want.

8. The HAF series doesn't look to good to me, but i took it because the price is acceptable. Do you guys know any better case at around the same price?

Try these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139008
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352007

9. Is there any way to make this build any better?

Like I said - if you're going to spend the money on dual 6950s, wait for the 7970 - it's quite an amazing card and it has been destroying benchmarks left and right, every other card looks pale in comparison right now, even the 580.

10. If i added another 100$, how could this build be any better?

I'd recommend getting a better CPU cooler, a better motherboard, and a nicer case. See the suggestions I've made above.

 

[Raiddinn]

Correct me if I am wrong here, but isn't the extreme 3 capable of PCI Express 3.0 (like the ATI 7000 series cards) and the suggested Gigabyte board is not PCI Express 3.0 cabable?

The HAF series of cases gets a lot of mentions from people all along the range. Those with little money often take the 912 and those with infinite money often take the HAF X.

None of them are actively bad, I would say. Just I think that a lot of people should skip right over them for a $100 case that will last them for many many builds without any problems.

 

[ebola28]

the gigabyte board is pci-e 3.0, and i'd take the fractal design case over a HAF 912, but not a HAF X. Both offer great cooling. OP didn't like the look of the HAF so g-unit posted some alternatives.

And yes, the 7000 series is pci-e 3.0, and both the asrock and gigabyte board would support them

 

[residentdean]

wait for ivy bridge!

 

[azeem40]

Correct me if I am wrong here, but isn't the extreme 3 capable of PCI Express 3.0 (like the ATI 7000 series cards) and the suggested Gigabyte board is not PCI Express 3.0 cabable?

The HAF series of cases gets a lot of mentions from people all along the range. Those with little money often take the 912 and those with infinite money often take the HAF X.

None of them are actively bad, I would say. Just I think that a lot of people should skip right over them for a $100 case that will last them for many many builds without any problems.

PCIe 3.0 is backwards compatible with 2.0.

 

[g-unit1111]

Correct me if I am wrong here, but isn't the extreme 3 capable of PCI Express 3.0 (like the ATI 7000 series cards) and the suggested Gigabyte board is not PCI Express 3.0 cabable?

No - there's only two or three Asus and Gigabyte boards that are capable of PCI-e 3.0.

The HAF series of cases gets a lot of mentions from people all along the range. Those with little money often take the 912 and those with infinite money often take the HAF X.

The 912 is an awesome case. I have one and it's been really great so far - cable management, fan placement, air flow - it's far superior to a lot of cases in its' class for the money.

wait for ivy bridge!

I'm going to say not really. Ivy Bridge is just going to be some new i5's and i7's with higher clock speeds. It's not going to be the dramatic improvement everyone is expecting.

And yes, the 7000 series is pci-e 3.0, and both the asrock and gigabyte board would support them

Really? I thought it was going to be 2.1, there's like only a small handful of boards right now that support 3.0, and AMD would tick off a lot of users if it released a card that was supported by only a handful of boards.

 

[Raiddinn]

What is "supported" can mean a lot of different things.

The 3.0 specifications say this standard has double the bandwidth of 2.0.

If the card is 3.0, it could potentially be bottlenecked by a 2.0 slot, even if it is completely functional in that slot.

I haven't studied all this stuff in detail, but from what little knowledge I do have I would think it would be ideal to differentiate between a board that lists 3.0 in its specifications and one that doesn't.

That is why I asked for someone who knows more than me to correct me on that point.

As of yet I don't really feel corrected. I would still suggest that if someone seriously intends to get a 7000 series card (especially a 7900 series) that they look for a board that specifies 3.0 at this point.