1 last comparison of builds before its REALLY set in stone

[adayyum]

Hello all,
As always thanks in advance for your help and opinions. After receiving recommended builds and then further tweaking a few different parts as some have recommended I have 2 builds that I'm stuck between. I would like a final opinion from the community to help sway my purchase. I will be purchasing either at the end of March, or around mid- April. I'm aware of the keplar coming out and the price drops that will follow in its wake but I kinda want a "now" computer and down the road we always upgrade anyhow . So first off this is for School/Work first then gaming. I'm using programs like 3ds MAX, Visual Studio 2010, etc. working on game creation. Also your normal everyday things or Microsoft Office use and such. At this point as far as my gpu is concerned I'm thinking lower price radeon which for now saves me some money and then later I can crossfire a pair, and once the new "hot" cards have been out for awhile upgrade to a single gpu again. Anyhow here are the builds:

BUILD 1

CPU: Intel Core i7-2600K http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E1681911507

MOBO: ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157271

RAM: CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233198

PSU: CORSAIR Professional Series HX1050 1050W http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139034

HDD: Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB 7200 RPM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148697

SSD: Corsair Force Series GT CSSD-F90GBGT-BK 2.5" 90GB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233205

GPU: XFX HD-697A-CNFC Radeon HD 6970 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150517

CASE: NZXT Phantom PHAN-001BK Black Steel http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146068

CPU FAN: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 EVO http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099

BUILD 2 - Only a few changes

GPU: EVGA 025-P3-1579-AR GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) HD 2560MB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130687

CASE: COOLER MASTER HAF 912 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119233

Feel free to offer some choices if you see where I could benefit with different devices. I think in the end it kinda comes down to my wife wants a "more attractive case" since it'll be in view hence the NZXT, and the second is I'm thinking that with keplar coming out, I might as well get a lower priced radeon vs the more expensive slightly better nvidia.....and going from a PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139029, to my current choice gives me the option to SLI or Crossfire when I buy a second one down the road or depending upon how great the new cards are at that time just buy a single that would be on par with my 2 and be good and duo a pair of those in the future. Im kinda trying to justify my spending knowing price drops are coming but at the same time wanting to get a really solid system for my work. Thanks again all for the opinions

 

[striker410]

Hi! Welcome to the forums.

-First thing is, I think you need to identify your needs. Do you need a gaming GPU, like the GTX 570 or the 6970, or do you need a Quadro of FirePro? You mention mostly designing, not gaming.

-Second is, most definitely don't get the HX1050. It's quite overkill, unless you are running 4 very high dollar video cards you won't be coming close to that. 850w can power an overclocked Sandy Bridge CPU (like the 2600k) and a pair of GTX 580's without a problem. Go with a good 850w.

-Since this is going to be a fairly high dollar machine, you might consider spending $10 more and grabbing a Seasonic PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151108

-Change the SSD to a Crucial M4 128GB: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148442 For $18 more it gives you 38GB more storage, plus you have the reliability associated with Crucial's SSD's.

-Change the HDD to this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148681 $20 less and double the storage. Sure it's not as fast but it's bulk storage. You have the SSD for speed.

-Save some pocket change on RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104169

That's all the things I could find. Pretty damn good draft, though. I like it. Look at your needs and decide which GPU is best for you. Professional or gamer?

 

[sosofm]

Buy the 850W PSU is more than enough for your build even with Crossfire.
Buy this 7950 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102962

 

[g-unit1111]

Stick with the Phantom as your case. The HAF 912 is great for sure, but if you're going for a fairly high dollar build, why not show it off?

I'd definitely second the recommendation of Seasonic as your PSU. You don't need the HX1050. Invest the difference in upgrading to the EVGA 580 or get a Sapphire 7950 - it will be more than worth it.

 

[angaddev]

I think money would be better spent on a FirePro card, you can always make a gaming rig later

 

[JackNaylorPE]

I'd want a MoBo that provides at least an industry standard 3 year warranty.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131792

Almost all of the units in Corsair's HX series garner a 10.0 performance rating .... the 1050 however gets a rather pedestrian 8.5

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story5&reid=245

I'd get the HX850 (10.0 performance rating) which is more than enough oomph for your proposed builds even with CF 6970 / 570 SLI.

The Force GT 120 GB is a Tier 6 SSD and is costing ya $150 ... The patriot Wildfire is a 120GB Tier 3 (33% faster) for only $20 more ..... $20 off w/ promo code HARDOCPX2X8E, ends 2/14

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-review-benchmark,3115-6.html
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220599

Your application list indicates that you'd benefit from CUDA which both 3DS Max and Visual Studio use to greatly increase performance .... this technology is not available with the AMD / ATI GFX cards. Using the 570, make sure to get a vendor who uses a 6+2 VRM design if you are going to substantially overclock

http://www.overclock.net/t/929152/have-you-killed-a-570-no-recent-deaths-buy-some-570s/550

If money is an issue, the 900 MHGz 560 Ti is a lot cheaper for a marginal performance drop and is a extreme overclocker (30% over reference)

http://www.hardwareheaven.com/reviews/1104/pg19/asus-geforce-gtx-560-ti-directcu-ii-top-review-and-sli-performance-conclusion.html

In Gaming, twin factory OC'd 560 Ti's in SLI garner 862 fps in Guru3D's game test suite whereas twin factory OC'd 6970's ($100 more per card) get 825 fps. Gigabyte model is $205 .... Asus is $230 .... both have 7 phase VRM design which allows extreme overclocks.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&Description=900Mhz%20560%20Ti&bop=And&SecondSearch=1&Order=PRICE&PageSize=20

I'd switch the case to the 500R ....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&N=100006644&isNodeId=1&Description=Corsair+500R&x=0&y=0
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=767&Itemid=61&limit=1&limitstart=5

 

[adayyum]

Wow lol lots of info, always good to hear especially that bit about amd/ati not worth it in the programs I'll be using. Its probably good to mention that I am currently in school learning these programs so going with a pro card isnt really worth it yet. Besides I'll let the company do that , but while learning at school and through home use I'll go with a gamer card but I think Im good now on the build......shuffled some parts from recommendations but there was one thing that I wasnt sure of and thats the GPU.......would the combination of 2:
ASUS ENGTX560 TI DCII TOP/2DI/1GD5 GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130655
work better than a single
EVGA 03G-P3-1584-AR GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) 3GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130655
from the standpoint of the GPU memory......I've never ran dual cards before so I dont know if the GPU memories will combine for functions or split the load or what not.....but if they didnt combine and it was only 1gb vs 3gb for the programs and games Im going to use...would that effect performance greatly or not. Saving almost $100 for going dual cards if it wont hurt me is a good thing to me

 

[striker410]

from the standpoint of the GPU memory......I've never ran dual cards before so I dont know if the GPU memories will combine for functions or split the load or what not.....but if they didnt combine and it was only 1gb vs 3gb for the programs and games Im going to use...would that effect performance greatly or not. Saving almost $100 for going dual cards if it wont hurt me is a good thing to me

If you are going to play games at 1080p or below, 1GB Vram is certainly enough. In fact, a pair of GTX 560 Ti's outperforms the GTX 580 by far: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/441?vs=305 Keep in mind however that some of the professional apps you'll be using may not be able to use both cards, as I doubt all of them support SLI configurations. You'll be limited to the (still quite powerful) performance of a single card. In games however, it should fly.

 

[adayyum]

If you are going to play games at 1080p or below, 1GB Vram is certainly enough. In fact, a pair of GTX 560 Ti's outperforms the GTX 580 by far: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/441?vs=305 Keep in mind however that some of the professional apps you'll be using may not be able to use both cards, as I doubt all of them support SLI configurations. You'll be limited to the (still quite powerful) performance of a single card. In games however, it should fly.

Thanks,
Yes I did some research earlier (which I should have done ahead of the question and I do apologize) and read that it does not double the memory so I can assume it would be 2 cards working with 1gb when using the programs so I found a couple of these to use

MSI N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II 2GD5/OC GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 2GB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127608

That way I get the great performance of the SLI cards plus the benefit of having the 2gb per card to use for the programs
giving me the onboard memory recommended

 

[striker410]

Do the programs require 2GB of Vram?

 

[adayyum]

Do the programs require 2GB of Vram?

1gb or higher is recommended for high poly count

Operating system: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional x64, Microsoft Windows Vista Business x64 (SP2 or higher), or Microsoft Windows XP Professional x64 (SP3 or higher)

For general animation and rendering (typically fewer than 1,000 objects or 100,000 polygons):

Intel® 64 or AMD64 processor with SSE2 technology*
4 GB RAM (8 GB recommended)
4 GB swap space (8 GB recommended)**
3 GB free hard drive space
Direct3D 10, Direct3D 9, or OpenGL-capable graphics card† (256 MB or higher video card memory, 1 GB recommended)
Three-button mouse with mouse driver software
DVD-ROM drive††
Microsoft Internet Explorer 8.0 or higher or Mozilla Firefox 3.0 or higher browser
Internet connection for web downloads and Autodesk Subscription-aware access
For large scenes and complex data sets (typically more than 1,000 objects or 100,000 polygons):

Intel® 64 or AMD64 processor with SSE2 technology*
8 GB RAM
8 GB swap space**
3 GB free hard drive space
Direct3D 10, Direct3D 9, or OpenGL-capable graphics card† (1 GB or higher video card memory)
Three-button mouse with mouse driver software
DVD-ROM drive††
Microsoft Internet Explorer 8.0 or higher or Mozilla Firefox 3.0 or higher browser
Internet connection for web downloads and Autodesk Subscription-aware access

 

[striker410]

Sounds like you'd be alright with 1GB. I don't know what sort of performance gains you will get with more VRAM though. Might do a little research.

 

[adayyum]

I'd want a MoBo that provides at least an industry standard 3 year warranty.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131792

Almost all of the units in Corsair's HX series garner a 10.0 performance rating .... the 1050 however gets a rather pedestrian 8.5

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story5&reid=245

I'd get the HX850 (10.0 performance rating) which is more than enough oomph for your proposed builds even with CF 6970 / 570 SLI.

The Force GT 120 GB is a Tier 6 SSD and is costing ya $150 ... The patriot Wildfire is a 120GB Tier 3 (33% faster) for only $20 more ..... $20 off w/ promo code HARDOCPX2X8E, ends 2/14

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-review-benchmark,3115-6.html
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220599

Your application list indicates that you'd benefit from CUDA which both 3DS Max and Visual Studio use to greatly increase performance .... this technology is not available with the AMD / ATI GFX cards. Using the 570, make sure to get a vendor who uses a 6+2 VRM design if you are going to substantially overclock

http://www.overclock.net/t/929152/have-you-killed-a-570-no-recent-deaths-buy-some-570s/550

If money is an issue, the 900 MHGz 560 Ti is a lot cheaper for a marginal performance drop and is a extreme overclocker (30% over reference)

http://www.hardwareheaven.com/reviews/1104/pg19/asus-geforce-gtx-560-ti-directcu-ii-top-review-and-sli-performance-conclusion.html

In Gaming, twin factory OC'd 560 Ti's in SLI garner 862 fps in Guru3D's game test suite whereas twin factory OC'd 6970's ($100 more per card) get 825 fps. Gigabyte model is $205 .... Asus is $230 .... both have 7 phase VRM design which allows extreme overclocks.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&Description=900Mhz%20560%20Ti&bop=And&SecondSearch=1&Order=PRICE&PageSize=20

I'd switch the case to the 500R ....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&N=100006644&isNodeId=1&Description=Corsair+500R&x=0&y=0
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=767&Itemid=61&limit=1&limitstart=5

Hey first off thanks alot for your knowledge its very helpful and I have taken some of your recommendations but its still coming down to GPU's. Being that the money is no issue as im willing to go around 550ish I could go either way so any combo of 560ti's or a 570/580 as long as I can get around 1gb of ram on the card to play it safe with 3dsmax very high poly counts as they recommend 1gb or more for that.....and I've heard that running games like bf3 maxed on 1900 x 1080 the 1gb cards start to chug but as long as they are playable 50-60 fps Im happy but school/work is first then gaming and I want to wait til Im more efficient with the programs before going with a pro card. So I would like your opinion on a route to take with the $550 and with what I'm aiming to do.......once it comes to clock speeds, and processor cores I think of it as more is better....which is probably not the case once you add in overclocking.......which is something I've never done and I would np as long as it doesnt take the life of my card down to a year or 2 before it dies. So if you can guide me on a couple more setups It would be much appreciated.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130738 how about a pair of these
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127615 these 2 ( vs a single card )

 

[striker410]

I know my input wasn't asked for, but I'm giving it anyway
a pair of GTX 560-448's would rock. I mean, those are incredible when it comes to the price-performance ratio. I can't find any benchmarks because of their new-ness factor, but it should be around those of the GTX 570. With minimal overclocking it could go above and beyond a GTX 570 easily.

Overclocking is pretty safe as long as you're careful. Really the only thing that's going to kill your chip is by upping the voltage to unsafe levels. If you leave voltage alone, it's pretty damn hard to break them these days.

Secondly, I'll address the BF3 issue. It seems BF3 has very good resource distribution. It takes advantage of what is there. If you have a 2GB card you may see it use all 2GB but that doesn't mean there's any actual performance increase. It could affect it, I don't know. I'll look into it.

 

[adayyum]

I know my input wasn't asked for, but I'm giving it anyway
a pair of GTX 560-448's would rock. I mean, those are incredible when it comes to the price-performance ratio. I can't find any benchmarks because of their new-ness factor, but it should be around those of the GTX 570. With minimal overclocking it could go above and beyond a GTX 570 easily.

Overclocking is pretty safe as long as you're careful. Really the only thing that's going to kill your chip is by upping the voltage to unsafe levels. If you leave voltage alone, it's pretty damn hard to break them these days.

Secondly, I'll address the BF3 issue. It seems BF3 has very good resource distribution. It takes advantage of what is there. If you have a 2GB card you may see it use all 2GB but that doesn't mean there's any actual performance increase. It could affect it, I don't know. I'll look into it.

Hey thanks, by all means I'll always take more information JackNaylorPE just mentioned phase 7 on the gpu's and as I was searching for something on the specs that said phase 7 I was seeing the different clock speeds and core's......and reading some were overclocked and this and that and I just assume more cores and clock speeds are better lol. I know those last two pairings posted had 448 cores vs the 384 or w/e the other ones he was linking to me and while it would be close to $100 extra for a pair of the ones I posted (and a copy of Batman which is like a $50ish gift card imo) I can justify that and especially reading some of the reviews that they are like underclocked 570's and O.C. them would put me far above a single 570 and possibly a 580 which would cost the same. bang for buck is still the route I'd like to take but at the same time I'd like to avoid upgrading for a handful of years if I can

 

[adayyum]

Best answer selected by adayyum.