My new gamer rig, final thoughts?

[mfj1985]

Ok so gonna order today most likely, would like some final thoughts on this.


Intel Core i5 2500K / 3.3 GHz - LGA1155 Socket
Corsair Carbide Series 500R - Miditower - ATX
Gigabyte GA-Z68AP-D3 (rev. 1.0) - ATX - LGA1155 Socket
SpinPoint 3.5" 500GB SATAII 16MB 7200rpm
Corsair Enthusiast Series TX650 V2
Corsair DDR3 PC1600 8GB CL9 kit VENGEANCE
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo - Processor-cooler
Sony NEC AD-7280S-0B 24x black SATA LS

I will add a 7970 later this month when price drops, or if they release some good custom ones.

I am at max of my budget, and dont plan to xfire/sli, I would if I had the money I guess buy extreme 3 gen 3 and bigger psu, but just cant find it in my budget. How does it look?

Also do you think im shooting myself in the foot not buying biger PSU + xfire/sli mobo if I plan to keep this for awhile? as I said I really cant afford it, but ill consider if it you guys really think its the way to go.

Mobo should support ivybridge + pci 3 graphic down the road right?

 

[mfj1985]

just standard ones,not low profile

 

[Hazbot]

Nice build, my only concern is that the PCIe 16x slots will slow down during crossfire, this will mean bad multi-GPU scaling so I'll stay clear of crossfire, overall it's a good rig with good overclock potential.

 

[Hazbot]

Oh and by the way, almost forgot, even if Ivy Bridge is socket 1155, it still needs a BIOS update to function properly, so it might not work with ivy bridge. That's okay though, OC'ing your current CPU and buying better cooling is probably going to save you a metric tonne of money.

 

[mfj1985]

Alright, and ya Hazbot if I go with this build I wont xfire, psu is also too weak for it really. It should be plenty for an OC 2500k and OC 7970 though. Once 7970 isnt cutting it anymore, ill probably just sell and switch to a newer single gpu. Any other last minute advice? think ill order this evening.

 

[Zero_]

Avoid that motherboard. Go for the Extreme 3 Gen 3. The $20 you pay extra will be worth it. If you really cant afford it get a 400R instead of a 500R.

 

[mfj1985]

#zero why avoid? does extreme 3 gen 3 bring anything other than proper xfire/sli? is it better in any other way?

And if I do buy that board, I feel I need to buy a bigger psu as well if i decide to sli/xfire

Oh and dont ask me why, but 500r is cheaper than 400r where I live apparently.

 

[brialona]

you really dont need a $140 case if you are on a budget. there are many $60 cases that can get the same job done.

 

[mfj1985]

I dont want to cheap out on the case, cause I will probably keep it longer than any of the hardware. This rig I am gonna play around with for the next years, and probably gonna buy hardware upgrades down the road.

 

[mfj1985]

I can get a crossfire 6950 system for the same price, with better mobo,psu, what do you guys think?

Intel Core i5 2500K / 3.3 GHz - LGA1155 Socket
Corsair Carbide Series 500R - Miditower - ATX
Gigabyte GA-Z68AP-D3 (rev. 1.0) - ATX - LGA1155 Socket
SpinPoint 3.5" 500GB SATAII 16MB 7200rpm
Corsair Enthusiast Series TX650 V2
Corsair DDR3 PC1600 8GB CL9 kit VENGEANCE
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo - Processor-cooler
Sony NEC AD-7280S-0B 24x black SATA LS
7970 3gb graphics

VS

Intel Core i5 2500K / 3.3 GHz - LGA1155 Socket
Corsair Carbide Series 500R - Miditower - ATX
ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3
SpinPoint 3.5" 500GB SATAII 16MB 7200rpm
Corsair Enthusiast Series TX750 V2
Corsair DDR3 PC1600 8GB CL9 kit VENGEANCE
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo - Processor-cooler
Sony NEC AD-7280S-0B 24x black SATA LS
2x 6950 2gb crossfire


The xfire system will cost me 50 dollars less

 

[jeremyp1979]

crossfire will give you better performance, in games that support it, The 2gb cards can also be flashed to 6970. You'll also get micro stuttering, and there are still quite a few games out that don't support CF or SLI.

Also, buying 2 cards now, means next time you want to upgrade graphics you would have to find one thats better than both, or go for a 3 way cf setup.

Generally speaking 1 card>2. I'd stick with the 7970, even though it's gonna have some bugs and issues as it's new technology.

 

[mfj1985]

Im pretty sure none of the 6950 on market anymore can be flashed to 6970?

With the xfire setup, I also get a better psu and mobo that supports xfire for the future, which I dont get in the other setup, and it is cheaper which matters some cause I am really stretching my budget. However, 7970 does seem like an awesome card, very low power use, great OCer, and will probably improve even more with drivers. hmmmm

 

[jeremyp1979]

Personally speaking, I would go with a single EVGA gtx 580, and get the reference model( the one listed on the EVGA Step Up programs' site), and then get the gtx 680 next month when it comes out. But I'm in a hardcore nVidia/EVGA fan.
http://evga.com/stepup/ some info on the step up program.

 

[mfj1985]

I kinda doubt 680 will come out next month, and its pretty bad money wise to buy a new gfx to sell in 1 month. Anyway, I did consider 580, it does cost less, but also uses alot more power, an d 7970 seems like such a good single gpu card with its extremely lower power use, very high oc potential etc, just the price right now I feel is 100$ too high.

I am thinking of buying mysetup without any GFX, and wait and see what the next month brings and just run with the 3000 intel hd integrated.

 

[jeremyp1979]

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Nvidia-Kepler-GTX680-GPU-geforce,14499.html
Whether this is true or not is up in the air, but we shall see.

 

[mfj1985]

Yep Doesn't sound like a better card than 7970 though, but we shall see.

 

[mfj1985]

Thinking of making some last minute changes, these few changes just means I have to wait a month or so for 7970 price drop before I can afford it, good thing I guess is by then there will be custom 7970 and maybe even gtx 680.

Changes made mobo to extreme 3 gen 3, psu to xfx core pro 850w (i was told same as tx850w v2) but it is a decent amount cheaper.

So final system:

Intel Core i5 2500K / 3.3 GHz - LGA1155 Socket
Corsair Carbide Series 500R - Miditower - ATX
ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3
SpinPoint 3.5" 500GB SATAII 16MB 7200rpm
XFX Core Edition PRO850W
Corsair DDR3 PC1600 8GB CL9 kit VENGEANCE
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo - Processor-cooler
Sony NEC AD-7280S-0B 24x black SATA LS

Then run with the intel hd 3000 integrated and see what happens next month.

 

[jeremyp1979]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814139046R Could always pick up something like this to use until you decide, at 40 bucks, its pretty cheap, and sometimes it's nice to have a spare card sitting around to help troubleshoot and what not.

 

[mfj1985]

I do have a 7900 gs, but Im kinda doubting its even better than the 3000 integrated. Anyway, either should be fine for some counterstrike I guess, gonna have to wait with swtor,bf3 etc. I just think it makes more sense to wait with gpu until next month since 7970 prices are pushed way up atm, and if 680 releases prices should drop. And with this setup I can always buy some cheap xfire cards if I decide to save some cash. like 6870 xfire.

 

[mfj1985]

Ok order has been placed for:

Intel Core i5 2500K / 3.3 GHz - LGA1155 Socket
Corsair Carbide Series 500R - Miditower - ATX
ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3
SpinPoint 3.5" 500GB SATAII 16MB 7200rpm
XFX Core Edition PRO850W
Corsair DDR3 PC1600 8GB CL9 kit VENGEANCE
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo - Processor-cooler
Sony NEC AD-7280S-0B 24x black SATA LS

Gonna buy gfx next month, thanks for the help all.

 

[jeremyp1979]

Great system! Enjoy it.

 

[Hazbot]

Agreed, nice system, similair to mine, well except your GPU is better, I couldn't wait and simply bought a 560, well, that's a plus for you!