First build concerns???

[paulblundall]

Hello all...

I'm fairly new here but have been browsing this website for months, trying my hardest to research my new PC that I'm putting together (my first) for my Uni studies (yes, Im a mature student, but still in full time work), and am unsure so far of the compatibility of my components, and my question to you all would be, "Can anyone foresee any concerns with compatibility issues so far for the components that I have purchased before I go ahead and assemble it?". The components I have so far are:

1 - Asus P9X79 Deluxe mother board.
2 - Intel I7 3820 CPU.
3 - Sapphire Radeon HD 6970.
4 - Intel 60GB 520 SSD. (Boot drive)
5 - Sandisk Extreme 120Gb SSD. (Was origionally going to use a HDD for main drive, but have decided to go the SSD route and will purchase further storage space as and when I need it as I do not need massive amounts of storage. Although I am unsure if its a good idea to have a seperate SSD boot drive now I have decided to go the SSD main drive route???)

I am not looking to over clock anything and would also appreciate recomendations for a suitable PSU and fan/heat sink. I've also yet to figure out what speed memory to slot into the Mobo.

I believe that I have some pretty good (all brand new) components lined up and have amased these through shrewed eBaying and shopping on the internet. I'm only a week or two away now from assembling it all, and just know, come the time, I'm going to be biting my nails, with my fingers crossed hoping that it works??!! It's all a learning curve though!!!

Any advice/pointers would be greatly appreciated, and I look forward to some helpful replies.

Regards,

Paul.

 

[slicedtoad]

you said that you have all those components already, right?

Everything is compatible. For the ssd, install windows on it and buy a larger hdd to store data.

cooler: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181011
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099
with
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103432

PSU: it's kind of up to your preference. Do you care about efficiency, upgradeability, looks? Here is a very high quality one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151098
A much cheaper but still high quality one is:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371044

For memory, you want 8GB of 1600mhz. If you are doing large video/photo editing, then go for 16GB. Games get no performance boost from anything over 8GB. Anything past 1600mhz yields nearly no gains and just costs a fortune.
for 8GB: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231314
for 16GB: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231315

 

[g-unit1111]

PSU: it's kind of up to your preference. Do you care about efficiency, upgradeability, looks? Here is a very high quality one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817151098
A much cheaper but still high quality one is:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817371044

Those are good suggestions but they will not only be way underpowered for a 3820 setup running a 6970 - they will also hinder any efforts for an SLI / Crossfire setup in the future.

This article has lots of ideas for good cooling solutions (I really like the Akasa Venom Voodo and will be using that as my next CPU cooler) : http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/LGA-2011-i7-3960X-Air-Overclocking,3130.html

PSU: This is the PSU I just purchased - I upgraded from a Corsair TX750 and couldn't be happier with the purchase:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703028

As far as RAM goes - this is one of the best quad channel RAM kits from the reviews I've been reading:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226282

 

[paulblundall]

Hi there,

Thanks for reply. Yes, I have all those components I listed already. The first cooler you listed I think will do the job and I think the second PSU you listed suits my system better.

I want to stick with the SSD main drive. The PC I'm currently typing this reply on only has 150 GB HDD and I've had it 5 - 6 years and it has only ever been 2/3's full so I'd prefer to stick with a small SSD upto 200GB maybe.

Anyway, thanks for reply. Any advice on buying a PC case for it too. There's so many options out there???!!!!

 

[paulblundall]

PSU: it's kind of up to your preference. Do you care about efficiency, upgradeability, looks? Here is a very high quality one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817151098
A much cheaper but still high quality one is:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817371044

Those are good suggestions but they will not only be way underpowered for a 3820 setup running a 6970 - they will also hinder any efforts for an SLI / Crossfire setup in the future.

This article has lots of ideas for good cooling solutions (I really like the Akasa Venom Voodo and will be using that as my next CPU cooler) : http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/LGA-2011-i7-3960X-Air-Overclocking,3130.html

PSU: This is the PSU I just purchased - I upgraded from a Corsair TX750 and couldn't be happier with the purchase:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703028

As far as RAM goes - this is one of the best quad channel RAM kits from the reviews I've been reading:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226282

Good point with the PSU. Something I had though about, but have no intention of doing right away. Maybe in future. You think 8 - 900W minimum???

 

[slicedtoad]

PSU: it's kind of up to your preference. Do you care about efficiency, upgradeability, looks? Here is a very high quality one:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817151098
A much cheaper but still high quality one is:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817371044

Those are good suggestions but they will not only be way underpowered for a 3820 setup running a 6970 - they will also hinder any efforts for an SLI / Crossfire setup in the future.

You are right about sli/cf for most cards but without two cards, those psus are fine. Read this article. It shows total power draw from the system using dual 5850s on a 3960x. Dual 5850s use about 100W more power at full load than a 6970 (150W tdp each compared to 250W tdp of 6970). [strike]The 3960x has a 40W higher tdp than the 3820[/strike].

For sli/cf a 750W would be best.

 

[g-unit1111]

Good point with the PSU. Something I had though about, but have no intention of doing right away. Maybe in future. You think 8 - 900W minimum???

Yeah if your long term plans include SLI / Crossfire you'll want 850 minimum - that one I linked to covers all the bases and is a steal for the price.

You are right about sli/cf for most cards but without two cards, those psus are fine. Read this article. It shows total power draw from the system using dual 5850s on a 3960x. Dual 5850s use about 100W more power at full load than a 6970 (150W tdp each compared to 250W tdp of 6970). The 3960x has a 40W higher tdp than the 3820.

Link?

My PSU wattage calculator recommends 950 minimum for a dual 6970 setup w/ 2 x drives, 1 x optical, i7-3820, and 4 x DIMM, and it's usually right on the money: http://support.asus.com/PowerSupply.aspx?SLanguage=en

 

[azeem40]

PSU Calcs overshoot by 30% usually.

 

[g-unit1111]

PSU Calcs overshoot by 30% usually.

True - but it's always better to be on the safe side I feel then to get a crap PSU and have it blow up in your face.

 

[slicedtoad]

PSU wattage calculators have to account for crap PSUs and give lot's of overhead room just to be safe. Also wattage is only have the story. It's far more accurate to do the math yourself.

Most of the power is consumed on the 12v rail.
-i7-3820 130W tdp (it can never go over this without overclocking)
-6970 250W tdp
380W @ 12v = 31.6 Amps

The Seasonic I linked has 46 amps on it's 12v rail and the Antec has two 38 amp rails (a single rail at a much higher ampage that has been "split" with ampage limiters). Both are more than sufficient.

Once you know the 12v rail is good, you need to make sure the total wattage is under the psu's rated wattage.
Let's estimate the non-12v components at a very generous 100W (it's much lower in reality). 100W + 380W is 480W. Both PSUs are fine.

My rule of thumb is that a 20 percent overhead is ideal. With a gold rated psu, less is fine. Your system will very rarely use max power anyway (unless you fold/bitmine)

 

[g-unit1111]

PSU wattage calculators have to account for crap PSUs and give lot's of overhead room just to be safe. Also wattage is only have the story. It's far more accurate to do the math yourself.

Most of the power is consumed on the 12v rail.
-i7-3820 130W tdp (it can never go over this without overclocking)
-6970 250W tdp
380W @ 12v = 31.6 Amps

The Seasonic I linked has 46 amps on it's 12v rail and the Antec has two 38 amp rails (a single rail at a much higher ampage that has been "split" with ampage limiters). Both are more than sufficient.

Once you know the 12v rail is good, you need to make sure the total wattage is under the psu's rated wattage.
Let's estimate the non-12v components at a very generous 100W (it's much lower in reality). 100W + 380W is 480W. Both PSUs are fine.

My rule of thumb is that a 20 percent overhead is ideal. With a gold rated psu, less is fine. Your system will very rarely use max power anyway (unless you fold/bitmine)

My rule of thumb is go by what the GPU manufacturer says is the minimum for any given GPU. If Sapphire says, that - say the Radeon 7950 requires 550W minimum, I then add 50W for overclocking (depending on number of fans used) and 150W in case if the OP on any given build thread wants to add a second video card.

With second video card - 550W + 50W + 150W = 750W

Without second video card - 550W + 50W = 600W

 

[slicedtoad]

The reason it says 550w minimum is because of PSUs like this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817170027 that only have 25 amps on the 12v rail despite their "600W" rating. The 550W minimum is also guessing about the cpu and other components. We have the luxury of knowing the exact maximum power usage (ocing make it a bit tougher but still doable).

Also the 7950 is a 200W card, not a 150W card. By your method the dual card config would be 800W (though 750W is fine for cf 7950s). An arbitrary 150W estimation for any card will cause problems. Gaming cards range form 66W to 250W.

I don't have a problem with people using stronger than necessary PSUs, heck, mine is 750W with a single 6950 (plus a ton of oc and wc). What I don't like is that the majority of builders think they need 30% to 40% headroom, when a smaller, more efficient psu would be better.

Hmm, a cool idea would be to build my own calculator that does an actual lookup of each psu, checking the 12V rail and somehow determining the quality...