New system suggestions

[tewyn]

I am in the process of part hunting for a new build and would like some input on what would be the better options for a gaming pc. The case will be nzxt phantom since I love the look of the case. GPU will be ati 6970 2gig unless the 7900s come down in price while in process of the build. My biggest concern is what cpu to go with. Would the i7 be the better option over the amd fx 8100 series? I may over clock but depends on the ease on which cpu will allow it. I would like the MB to be asus as I think the new gui bios will be quite nice and havent seen to many issues of the ease of use for the boads to help oc. So any suggestions on what my path for MB and CPU should be will be appreciated. Looking to be able to get nice framerates for mostly WOW, Tera, batmam arkam... etc. Thanks for any suggestions

 

[g-unit1111]

First off fill this out and we can better assist you: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261222-31-build-advice

In the mean time:

The case will be nzxt phantom since I love the look of the case.

The Phantom is an awesome case choice, when I got my new case last year I was having a hard time deciding between that or the Graphite 600T.

Would the i7 be the better option over the amd fx 8100 series?

Absolutely - the FX has so many problems associated with it both hardware and software that it's really difficult to recommend it. I'd heavily suggest reading this about the FX-8100 before considering it: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/windows-7-hotfix-bulldozer-performance,3119.html

However, you don't need an i7 for a gaming rig - you can drop that to an i5-2500k and invest the difference in either getting a 580 or a better cooling system for overclocking.

I would like the MB to be asus as I think the new gui bios will be quite nice and havent seen to many issues of the ease of use for the boads to help oc.

Having UEFI BIOS is definitely nice - Gigabyte includes a really nice graphical interface with its' boards too (called "TouchBIOS"). Asrock, ECS, MSI, and EVGA also include UEFI BIOS. I think only Intel and some Gigabyte models don't.

 

[xtremegamer2da-max]

get th i5 2500k

 

[tewyn]

Approximate Purchase Date: (within 3-5 months)

Budget Range: ($1500) Before / After Rebates

System Usage from Most to Least Important: gaming, surfing the internet, watching movies)

Parts Not Required:

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg.com

Country: United States

Parts Preferences: Asus MB(any solid MB with EUFI to make OCing easier), open to intel and amd cpu

Overclocking: Yes
SLI or Crossfire: Maybe

Monitor Resolution: looking for minimum 1920x1080 on a 32 in lcd

Additional Comments:

Some parts I originally had chosen:

ASUS Sabertooth 990FX AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
OCZ ZT Series 750W Fully-Modular 80PLUS Bronze High Performance Power Supply compatible with Intel Sandy Bridge Core i3 i5 i7 and AMD Phenom
AMD FX-8120 Zambezi 3.1GHz Socket AM3+ 125W Eight-Core Desktop Processor FD8120FRGUBOX
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9Q-16GBRL
NZXT Phantom PHAN-001WT White Steel / Plastic Enthusiast ATX Full Tower Computer Case

These were all molded around the FX-8120 of course. But if I can get better performance on a i5 and can throw the extra money on a SSD or upgrading the GPU then more than open to those suggestions

 

[tewyn]

Little bump So any other ideas? Was looking at possible water cooling ideas for this also? any recomendation to add to the build that woudl work well in the Phantom case?

 

[g-unit1111]

Little bump So any other ideas? Was looking at possible water cooling ideas for this also? any recomendation to add to the build that woudl work well in the Phantom case?

No - stick with air cooling. It's way too much risk for not a lot of payoff. Water cooling is for people who have the money to replace something if it goes wrong, and if something goes wrong - not only does it have the potential to fry your system, but most warranties will be completely voided as a result and you'll have to buy new hardware anyways.

Try something like this:

Case: NZXT Phantom - $129.99
PSU: Seasonic X750 Gold - $149.99
Motherboard: Asus P8Z68-V Pro - $204.99
CPU: 3.30GHz Intel Core i5-2500K - $229.99
Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo - $34.99
RAM: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB 1600MHz 1.5V - $44.99
SSD: Samsung 830 64GB - $119.99
HD: Samsung EcoGreen F4 2TB - $159.99
Optical: Samsung DVD Burner - $15.99
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 - $449.99

Total: $1,533.98

Now that doesn't include monitor/keyboard/mouse/OS. If you need those things I can adjust accordingly but with this setup you get the best gaming CPU on the market, an excellent cooling solution, a top-tier RAM maker, and one of the best new video cards on the market.

 

[tewyn]

Thanks g-unit that looks like a nice build that will last me for years. Only question I have is I did not see the RAM listed on MOBO support documents. Seems they only have the 6GB Crucial listed. Was confirmed this RAM would be supported on the MOBO?

 

[g-unit1111]

Thanks g-unit that looks like a nice build that will last me for years. Only question I have is I did not see the RAM listed on MOBO support documents. Seems they only have the 6GB Crucial listed. Was confirmed this RAM would be supported on the MOBO?

No 6GB chips exist. You must either have them in pairs for a dual channel setup (2 x 4GB) or three for a triple channel setup (3 x 2GB). What the QVL states is general guidelines to follow when selecting RAM. But the motherboard specifications will tell you what voltage and timing settings they require. When selecting RAM you want to match that with what the specifications recommend and you should be good to go.

 

[tewyn]

Thanks for all the advice and assistance. Now my wife is all jealous and wants me to build her a similar set up so she can have a "BAMF!" setup as she calls it lol. Just wanted one last clarification. With the SSD set up that will be used solely as the OS bootup disk right and use the HDD to for game storage/installs in a non raid set up correct?

 

[tewyn]

Thanks for all the advice on parts. Looks like I will be building the wife a pink version of this set up aswell lol. My biggest question now. Is the ssd and hdd set up. Will I just be installing everything onto the hdd and use the rst feature of the mb to cache to the ssd? Or will I install the os to the ssd and have to setup raid to hdd? Never ran a two drive system before so that part is new to me