New Rig 2500k + 7850 ?

tj223

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Hey guys, I am building a second gaming/work rig for my office and I need a little help.



Basically I have a 955BE + HD6870 rig at home that does a pretty decent job (It is Xfire Ready with a Lepa 850W PSU).

I am looking to build a second for my office and possibly upgrading my current rig.

I am thinking a 2500K + HD7850 build, but I am looking for the best performance for my $$ from both.

I will only be purchasing 1 GPU at this time.



I am considering a few options.

OPTION #1 - Build New rig nearly identical to my current one (955+6870). Then later have the option to put the two 6870's in one and upgrade the other with 7850's.

OPTION #2 - Build new rig with 2500k+6870. Then i can eventually have a 955 w/ (2) 6870's and a 2500k w/ (2) 7850's.

OPTION #3 - (Cheap Option) Build new rig without Xfire maybe an i3-2120? + 6870 (from my current system). Then upgrade my 955 rig with a new card.

OPTION #4 - My whole plan is terrible and my TH peers have a totally better option.



Assumption 1 - I see less than 2 fps average over all the games listed from the 955 underclocked @2.9ghz all the way to 4.2ghz, so the single 6870 is my current bottleneck.

Question 1 - Would the 955 become a bottleneck with a 7850? Xfired 6870's? Xfired 7850's?



Assumption 2 - The HD 6870 is the best deal under $200 atm. And the HD 7850 is the best deal under $300 atm.

Question 2 - Is there a better card for the money in my price range?



Any and all help/suggestions would be appreciated.






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Approximate Purchase Date: Within the next week or two.

Budget Range: $700 (Flexible)

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming - Mass Effect 3, WoW, Diablo 3, Witcher 2.

Parts Not Required: No Peripherals Needed. Only the Box.

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg, Tigerdirect, Amazon, etc

Country: USA

Parts Preferences: AMD, ASUS, WD, Antec

Overclocking: Yes

SLI or Crossfire: Yes

Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080

Additional Comments: Will be at my office mainly used for work. (Web Design, Some mild PHP and Py Coding)
 

tj223

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Ok well your single solution comment prompted more research on my part and now I have been introduced to microstuddering...

I have had CF in mind when planning my budget. So now I am considering a better single card.

What of the 7870? It seems incredibly popular.

Would a 2500k become a bottleneck with 1 7870? What about 7870 CF?

Recap: I am now considering a second 6870 for my current 955 rig and the new rig to be a 2500k+7870 w/ CF for future proofing?
Does that sound like the best plan?
 

tj223

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Ok well I have decided to basically go with my option #2.

Which basically means I am getting a second 6870 to put into this new rig, and when i want to upgrade i can put it into my 955 machine. Then I can buy the best GPU for my money at that time.

I will post what I have worked up in a few minutes. I need some help with MoBo and psu options.

 

tj223

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My Plan So Far:

ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157271
$122

Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072
$220 - $15 Code = $205

COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065
$30

G.SKILL Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2133 (PC3 17000)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231518
$70 - $15 Code = $55

SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102948
$170

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185
$110 - $30 Code = $80

Antec Three Hundred Illusion Black Steel ATX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129066
$60 - $5 Code = $55

OCZ ZT Series 750W Fully-Modular 80PLUS Bronze
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341052
$110 - $20 Code = $90

(Already have a DVD Drive and all peripherals)

TOTAL
$807 - $40 MIR = $767




Possible changes:

MoBo: I am only interested in ASUS or ASRock unless someone has a very compelling argument for performance vs price.

Other MoBo's I am considering
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100006654&IsNodeId=1&Description=asrock%20z68&bop=And&CompareItemList=-1%7C13-131-790%5E13-131-790-TS%2C13-131-792%5E13-131-792-TS%2C13-131-781%5E13-131-781-TS%2C13-157-264%5E13-157-264-TS



RAM: I have used G.Skill for my last 2 builds and have been very satisfied. I chose the 2133 memory mainly bc of the code i found which makes it only $55. Is there any reason I should not choose it over the 1866 which is $50 atm?

G.SKILL Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231460



Case: Last 2 builds were Antec nine hundred and CM HAF 922. I will gladly go back to either of these, but will the Three Hundred have enough room? Is it as good of quality as the Nine Hundred?

Antec Nine Hundred
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021

COOLER MASTER HAF 922
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119197

Also I wouldnt mind if someone could suggest a case that is more of an "understated" look since this will be in my office. But size, durability, and cooling take precedence over appearance.



PSU: I usually buy Corsair for my rigs, but I most recently used a LEPA PSU. No experience with OCZ, but have always heard good things.

Open to any suggestions here. No real preference, just want quality.



Thanks in advance!
 

tj223

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Well the idea is to get the 6870 now and upgrade later, hopefully getting more bang for my buck when i actually need it.


Then move the 6870 to my 955 rig.

So for all intents and purposes you can consider this a "no GPU build".

But I want 7850 CFX future proofing.


So will this mobo handle 7850's and possibly OCing the GPUs and CPU?

Will that PSU handle all that as well?

Would a SSD increase any of my performance?
 

tj223

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This build has totally changed to a 3570k z77. So I may make a new thread for it if I still need any help.

Thanks recon and azeem for your time and help!