Sorting out my build for when I return from Afghanistan!

[guitarjack87]

Greetings from Afghanistan! I am currently deployed over seas with the military, and am planning a build for when I return home in 4(ish) months.

Now that Ivy Bridge is out, all I really have to wait on is the rest of Kepler, and I will basically have everything I need to do a full comparison. But, until then, I can put together something and see what the community thinks about it!

CPU:
I5-2550K $236.34

GPUx2:
Gigabyte Windforce 7950 3gb $399.99ea

Case:
NZXT Switch 810 $169.99

Mobo:
Asrock z77 extreme6 $169.99

RAM:
Corsair 4x4 GB $96.99

**EDIT**
SSD:
Mushkin Enhanced Chronos Deluxe 240gb $249.99

PSU:
NZXT Hale90 80 Plus Gold $160.00

Cooling:
XSPC Rasa RS360 (water) $149.99

Misc:
NZXT Sentry fan controller $24.99

Samsung external USB DVD $31.19

Total: $ 2179.45

Notes-

I am worried about the overclocking potential (or lack thereof) of IB cards, as my build was originally planned for a 3570k, however until I see some benches on water I think the tried and true 2550k and its stable 5.0ghz overclocks are more fitting.

The reason I chose two 7950s in CF instead of something better, is I am trying to keep this close to 2k, and because the non ref windforce cards are as cheap as ref 7950s, It wont hurt my feelings as much if I decide to include them in my water loop in the future.

I already bought a few extra case fans (cooler master sickeflows and some scythes), but how do those of you who know water cooling suggest I control them all? Can I somehow control multiple fans on each switch with the fan controller? With a push/pull on the rasa plus the 4 extra fans I have for the case, I have 10 fans to somehow figure out how to gain some type of control over and it has me stumped.

Any other suggestions or comments would be appreciated!

Edit-
I have a WD Caviar blue 500gb hard drive to supplement the SSD as well

 

[Why_Me]

I've posted this a few times on here and I'l post it again. IB doesn't o/c as high as SB but that doesn't matter in regards to gaming seeing how SB doesn't net you anything worth while in FPS after 4.4 - 4.5Ghz. Take into account IB nets you more FPS than SB it's pretty much a no brainer imo.

 

[guitarjack87]

Edited my origional post, adding an SSD as well, which pushes me over my 2k limit, but it is necessary so oh well.

hmm so a 3570K is a better deal then? From what I have read they should come in a few dollars cheaper than the 2550k as well. I have yet to see any performance reviews for it, all the sites seem to have gotten i7's but not the i5's.

 

[g-unit1111]

hmm so a 3570K is a better deal then? From what I have read they should come in a few dollars cheaper than the 2550k as well. I have yet to see any performance reviews for it, all the sites seem to have gotten i7's but not the i5's.

The 3570K would be better than the 2550K because with the 2550K you lose a diagnostic tool with the onboard video. I wouldn't waste money on the fan controller or things like RAM fans and that sort - it's just a waste of money and not really necessary to the build.

If I had $2200 to spend on a build here's what I would get:

Case: NZXT Switch 810 - $169.99
PSU: PC Power & Cooling Silencer MKII 950W - $149.99
Motherboard: Asrock X79 Extreme 6 - $279.99
CPU: 3.6GHz Intel Core i7-3820 - $309.99
Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 Socket LGA 2011 Edition - $89.99
RAM: 16GB Mushkin Enhanced Blackline Quad Channel 1600MHz 1.5V - $134.99
SSD: 128GB Crucial M4 -$159.99
Optical: LG BD-R Burner - $79.99
Video Card: EVGA Geforce GTX 680 - $499.99

Total: $2,004.90

A bit less and you can argue that X79 is overkill blah blah blah, but you run PCI Gen 3 out of the box which won't water down your 680, and with a D14 the 3820 will overclock better than the 3770K will. You can use the difference to get some nice peripherals or a nice monitor, what have you.

 

[Why_Me]

Edited my origional post, adding an SSD as well, which pushes me over my 2k limit, but it is necessary so oh well.

hmm so a 3570K is a better deal then? From what I have read they should come in a few dollars cheaper than the 2550k as well. I have yet to see any performance reviews for it, all the sites seem to have gotten i7's but not the i5's.

To my knowledge all the reviews have been down with hand me down engineering chips. This site along with others should be getting the retail chips sometime this weekend. Then your going to see some real reviews.

I'm not sure what your resolution is, but you can drop the 7950's for a single 680 and pick up another one later on. That way you still fit your SSD in there. Also by the time you plan on building the price of SSD's should have came down along with the release of the gtx 670. You have awhile to build yet and the longer the better seeing how prices on hard drives and SSD's just keep going down. Throw in the new cards that are still due out and that build of yours is certain to change by July.

 

[guitarjack87]

hmm so a 3570K is a better deal then? From what I have read they should come in a few dollars cheaper than the 2550k as well. I have yet to see any performance reviews for it, all the sites seem to have gotten i7's but not the i5's.

The 3570K would be better than the 2550K because with the 2550K you lose a diagnostic tool with the onboard video. I wouldn't waste money on the fan controller or things like RAM fans and that sort - it's just a waste of money and not really necessary to the build.

If I had $2200 to spend on a build here's what I would get:

Case: NZXT Switch 810 - $169.99
PSU: PC Power & Cooling Silencer MKII 950W - $149.99
Motherboard: Asrock X79 Extreme 6 - $279.99
CPU: 3.6GHz Intel Core i7-3820 - $309.99
Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 Socket LGA 2011 Edition - $89.99
RAM: 16GB Mushkin Enhanced Blackline Quad Channel 1600MHz 1.5V - $134.99
SSD: 128GB Crucial M4 -$159.99
Optical: LG BD-R Burner - $79.99
Video Card: EVGA Geforce GTX 680 - $499.99

Total: $2,004.90

A bit less and you can argue that X79 is overkill blah blah blah, but you run PCI Gen 3 out of the box which won't water down your 680, and with a D14 the 3820 will overclock better than the 3770K will. You can use the difference to get some nice peripherals or a nice monitor, what have you.

-Why the D-14 as opposed to a Silver Arrow or an H-100?

-I thought the 3820 was a partially locked CPU?

-Doesn't a z77 board run PCI-3 as well?

-I purposely avoided the 680's at this time because of the lack of availability, and plus I think the 7950's, especially that Gigabyte model, are a damn good deal atm. I like your build, just some of the selections confuse me a bit

 

[g-unit1111]

-Why the D-14 as opposed to a Silver Arrow or an H-100?

I'm not a fan of liquid cooling which is why I usually don't recommend it. The Silver Arrow is a decent choice - I like Noctua the best out of all of those.

-I thought the 3820 was a partially locked CPU?

No - it has a fully unlocked multiplier. I don't know why Intel didn't give it a "K" designation - I can see where that would get confusing. But it's part of the enthusiast line - which is why it's geared toward the higher end market, and why Intel doesn't include a CPU fan with it.

-Doesn't a z77 board run PCI-3 as well?

Yes but you need a CPU that supports it - the IB CPUs will run PCI Gen 3, but if you use say a 2500K it won't.

-I purposely avoided the 680's at this time because of the lack of availability, and plus I think the 7950's, especially that Gigabyte model, are a damn good deal atm. I like your build, just some of the selections confuse me a bit

Yeah lack of availability is getting frustrating but give it a month and you'll start to see stock coming back in.

 

[guitarjack87]

To my knowledge all the reviews have been down with hand me down engineering chips. This site along with others should be getting the retail chips sometime this weekend. Then your going to see some real reviews.

I'm not sure what your resolution is, but you can drop the 7950's for a single 680 and pick up another one later on. That way you still fit your SSD in there. Also by the time you plan on building the price of SSD's should have came down along with the release of the gtx 670. You have awhile to build yet and the longer the better seeing how prices on hard drives and SSD's just keep going down. Throw in the new cards that are still due out and that build of yours is certain to change by July.

This is true. Like I said, I am eagerly awaiting the release of the rest of the Kepler line up, and by the time I build, the 680's availability will most likely be much better. I know there is also a GK110 Chip that Nvidia still has to release that will be better than the 680, so there's that.

My res is 1900 by 1080, I typically run two monitors, one for gaming, one for everything else

What do you guys think of that watercooling kit? I have read alot of reviews on it and from what I have read it typically holds about an 8 degree delta difference over most air coolers, which will be nice. I eventually plan on including my GPU's in a water loop as well.

This is how I spend my free time. Lol

 

[guitarjack87]

-Why the D-14 as opposed to a Silver Arrow or an H-100?

I'm not a fan of liquid cooling which is why I usually don't recommend it. The Silver Arrow is a decent choice - I like Noctua the best out of all of those.

-I thought the 3820 was a partially locked CPU?

No - it has a fully unlocked multiplier. I don't know why Intel didn't give it a "K" designation - I can see where that would get confusing. But it's part of the enthusiast line - which is why it's geared toward the higher end market, and why Intel doesn't include a CPU fan with it.

-Doesn't a z77 board run PCI-3 as well?

Yes but you need a CPU that supports it - the IB CPUs will run PCI Gen 3, but if you use say a 2500K it won't.

-I purposely avoided the 680's at this time because of the lack of availability, and plus I think the 7950's, especially that Gigabyte model, are a damn good deal atm. I like your build, just some of the selections confuse me a bit

Yeah lack of availability is getting frustrating but give it a month and you'll start to see stock coming back in.

Well I certainly wasn't aware that SB-E had all of those extra benefits. I will def consider looking into that. Like I said to Why Me, I would love a 680, and I do have a bit of time before I actually build this beast, so I can watch the market mature a bit more before pulling the trigger on anything.

 

[g-unit1111]

This is true. Like I said, I am eagerly awaiting the release of the rest of the Kepler line up, and by the time I build, the 680's availability will most likely be much better. I know there is also a GK110 Chip that Nvidia still has to release that will be better than the 680, so there's that.

My res is 1900 by 1080, I typically run two monitors, one for gaming, one for everything else

What do you guys think of that watercooling kit? I have read alot of reviews on it and from what I have read it typically holds about an 8 degree delta difference over most air coolers, which will be nice. I eventually plan on including my GPU's in a water loop as well.

This is how I spend my free time. Lol

Like I said I am personally not a fan of water cooling - I may try it some time - even buying an H100 just to ease my tensions about it, but at the same time if you want to go full on liquid cooling I won't stop you.

 

[guitarjack87]

Best answer selected by guitarjack87.

 

[taxableabe]

I hope you make it back from Afghanistan ok!

I didn't get too lucky in Iraq, came back with a missing limb and other calf gone from an RKG-3 Anti Tank Grenade attack.

If your overclocking, isn't the 2500k just as good as the 2550k?

Just get one GFX card for now, you can always buy another later. But it's more annoying to get an SSD card later, as you have to re install your OS.

I've been through this before, and would rather just start with the SSD, decent 1 graphics card, and room for improvement later!