Graphic Design/Gaming PC Build - Any Advice?

[pcoombe85]

I am building a PC for design and gaming use. I will be doing a lot of 3d rendering and graphics design, as well as computer gaming. I'm looking to spend under $2000. Is this a good setup I have? I will be running Windows 7 Ultimate

*CPU* - Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000

*MB* - ASUS P8P67 DELUXE (REV 3.0) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

*GPU* - EVGA 025-P3-1579-AR GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) HD 2560MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

*PSU* - CORSAIR Professional Series HX750 (CMPSU-750HX) 750W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

*RAM* - CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9B

*SSD* - Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive

*HDD* - Seagate Barracuda ST2000DM001 2TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

*BD-RW* - ASUS Black Blu-ray Burner SATA BW-12B1ST/BLK/G/AS

*Sound Card* - Rosewill RC-703 7.1 Channel PCIe Sound Card (in order to have an optical output for audio.

*Case* - NZXT Crafted Series Tempest 410 Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case


Extras

*KB/M* - Microsoft CSD-00001 Black USB 2.4 GHz Wireless Ergonomic Comfort Desktop 5000

*Case Fans* - COOLER MASTER R4-S2S-124K-GP 120mm Case Fan 4 in 1 pack

*CPU Heatsink* - ZALMAN CNPS9500 AT 2 Ball CPU Cooling Fan/Heatsink

 

[neal0790]

I would go for a p68 series mobo. Newer and supports ivy bridge/ pci 3.0

With the ram just make sure you pick up low profile. The tall heatsinks wont work with alot of after market coolers.

You can get rid of the sound card, and use that towards upgrading your mobo. Theres really no need for it, unless your in the music industry. Mobo have great intergrated sound.

Also dont know if your planning to SLI 2 570's together later but i would pick up a 850w PSU if you are.

 

[pcoombe85]

Also dont know if your planning to SLI 2 570's together later but i would pick up a 850w PSU if you are.

I was wondering about that as well, I do want a PSU that can support a 2nd GTX 580. So I should replace with this?

CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX850M 850W ATX12V v2.31 / EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular High Performance Power Supply

 

[JackNaylorPE]

If ya can justify spending an extra $100 for the 2600k over the 2500k, it oughta be easy to justify spending an extra $40 on the 2700k.

The Deluxe MoBo ya picked is $15 less than the Asus WS Revolution which has the NF200 chip which gives ya x16 16 graphics instead of x8 x8 graphics. Whielk the xtra bandwidth won't help ya at all w/ low end GFX cards , the effect begins to be noticeable once ya pass the $175 mark.....with most games, it's only a few % but in some games like STALKER it's 10% more average fps. As you might expect, the effect is a bit more pronounced on minimum fps.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131714

I have found it to be among the best boards I have ever used....and wow on efficiency / thermal fronts.

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/3795/asus_p8p67_ws_revolution_intel_p67_express_motherboard/index12.html

Ya might wanna think about Z68 instead of P67 but if ya read this, I think you will find it real hard to find something there that reaches out and grabs ya saying .... ooh I need that feature.

http://www.ukgamingcomputers.co.uk/difference-between-h67-p67-z68-and-h61-chipsets-a-22.html

As for Ivy Bridge compatibility....yawn .... how many times have ya said to yaself .... I'm gonna spend an extra $50 for upgrade ability and then never done it. In building over a dozen boxes a year since the early 90's, I have upgraded a processor exactly one time.

If ya decide ya do need Z68, I'd use the Asus P8Z68 Pro
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131790

As for the EVGA 570, I'd call that a no-no

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

EVGA uses the reference PCB design on all the 570's except for the "Classified" model. The VRM is a bit weak on the reference design leading bto quite a few failures when users tried to boost the voltage to overclock them a bit. The Asus, Gigabyte and Gainward models all have beefed up VRM's if ya decide to stick w/ the 570 get one of those.

Guru3D uses the following games in their test suite, COD-MW, Bad Company 2, Dirt 2, Far Cry 2, Metro 2033, Dawn of Discovery, Crysis Warhead. Total fps (summing fps in each game @ 1920 x 1200) for the various options in parenthesis (single card / SL or CF) are tabulated below along with their cost in dollars per frame single card - CF or SLI:

$ 240.00 6950 Frozr OC (484/759) $ 0.50 - $ 0.63
$ 205.00 560 Ti (455/792) $ 0.45 - $ 0.52
$ 320.00 6970 (526/825) $ 0.61 - $ 0.78
$ 205.00 560 Ti - 900 Mhz (495/862) $ 0.41 - $ 0.48
$ 340.00 570 (524/873) $ 0.65 - $ 0.78
$ 500.00 580 (616/953) $ 0.81 - $ 1.05
$ 725.00 6990 (762/903) $ 0.95 - $ 1.61
$ 750.00 590 (881/982) $ 0.85 - $ 1.53
$ 450.00 7950 (603/NG*) $ 0.75 - ERR
$ 550.00 7970 (675/NG*) $ 0.81 - ERR

* Did not complete test, expected to be resolved w/ future driver updates.

I have a hard time justifying anything more than twin 900Mhz 560 Ti's..... gets 862 fps ($0.48 per frame) for $410 whereas twin 580's gets a measly 10% more fps (at $1.05 per frame) for more than twice the price !

Twin 560's or 570's even overclocked to the gills will do fine on an 850 watter. Twin 580s' needs 900w - 1000w

Skip the tall, toothy heat sinks ...their only cooling function is to "look cool" ....and interfere with ya CPU cooler.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233198

Skip the sound card, it's redundant, already on MoBo

Suggest case alternate

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&N=100006519&isNodeId=1&Description=500R&x=0&y=0

Cooler - SCythe Mugen 3 or Hyper 212 PWM at $50 ..... Silver Arrow or Phanteks at $80
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835709001

 

[twistedvintage]

Hey guys I jumped in on your thread through a Google search for "best graphic design computer setup".

I am a graphic designer myself and in the process of researching a new computer.

Would you make any changes since the post was made?

Thanks in advance!

Doug "TwistedVintage"

 

[twistedvintage]

Your reply was very informative and I am using it for my research. Since the time you posted it would you do anything different? New I7 CPU's etc......

I don't have much (broke designer) but I would happily compensate you some beer money through PayPal for your time.

Thanks,
Doug
"TwistedVintage"

If ya can justify spending an extra $100 for the 2600k over the 2500k, it oughta be easy to justify spending an extra $40 on the 2700k.

The Deluxe MoBo ya picked is $15 less than the Asus WS Revolution which has the NF200 chip which gives ya x16 16 graphics instead of x8 x8 graphics. Whielk the xtra bandwidth won't help ya at all w/ low end GFX cards , the effect begins to be noticeable once ya pass the $175 mark.....with most games, it's only a few % but in some games like STALKER it's 10% more average fps. As you might expect, the effect is a bit more pronounced on minimum fps.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131714

I have found it to be among the best boards I have ever used....and wow on efficiency / thermal fronts.

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/3795/asus_p8p67_ws_revolution_intel_p67_express_motherboard/index12.html

Ya might wanna think about Z68 instead of P67 but if ya read this, I think you will find it real hard to find something there that reaches out and grabs ya saying .... ooh I need that feature.

http://www.ukgamingcomputers.co.uk/difference-between-h67-p67-z68-and-h61-chipsets-a-22.html

As for Ivy Bridge compatibility....yawn .... how many times have ya said to yaself .... I'm gonna spend an extra $50 for upgrade ability and then never done it. In building over a dozen boxes a year since the early 90's, I have upgraded a processor exactly one time.

If ya decide ya do need Z68, I'd use the Asus P8Z68 Pro
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131790

As for the EVGA 570, I'd call that a no-no

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

EVGA uses the reference PCB design on all the 570's except for the "Classified" model. The VRM is a bit weak on the reference design leading bto quite a few failures when users tried to boost the voltage to overclock them a bit. The Asus, Gigabyte and Gainward models all have beefed up VRM's if ya decide to stick w/ the 570 get one of those.

Guru3D uses the following games in their test suite, COD-MW, Bad Company 2, Dirt 2, Far Cry 2, Metro 2033, Dawn of Discovery, Crysis Warhead. Total fps (summing fps in each game @ 1920 x 1200) for the various options in parenthesis (single card / SL or CF) are tabulated below along with their cost in dollars per frame single card - CF or SLI:

$ 240.00 6950 Frozr OC (484/759) $ 0.50 - $ 0.63
$ 205.00 560 Ti (455/792) $ 0.45 - $ 0.52
$ 320.00 6970 (526/825) $ 0.61 - $ 0.78
$ 205.00 560 Ti - 900 Mhz (495/862) $ 0.41 - $ 0.48
$ 340.00 570 (524/873) $ 0.65 - $ 0.78
$ 500.00 580 (616/953) $ 0.81 - $ 1.05
$ 725.00 6990 (762/903) $ 0.95 - $ 1.61
$ 750.00 590 (881/982) $ 0.85 - $ 1.53
$ 450.00 7950 (603/NG*) $ 0.75 - ERR
$ 550.00 7970 (675/NG*) $ 0.81 - ERR

* Did not complete test, expected to be resolved w/ future driver updates.

I have a hard time justifying anything more than twin 900Mhz 560 Ti's..... gets 862 fps ($0.48 per frame) for $410 whereas twin 580's gets a measly 10% more fps (at $1.05 per frame) for more than twice the price !

Twin 560's or 570's even overclocked to the gills will do fine on an 850 watter. Twin 580s' needs 900w - 1000w

Skip the tall, toothy heat sinks ...their only cooling function is to "look cool" ....and interfere with ya CPU cooler.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233198

Skip the sound card, it's redundant, already on MoBo

Suggest case alternate

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&N=100006519&isNodeId=1&Description=500R&x=0&y=0

Cooler - SCythe Mugen 3 or Hyper 212 PWM at $50 ..... Silver Arrow or Phanteks at $80
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835709001