New Intel Ivy-Bridge gaming build

Ilnez

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Jun 20, 2012
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Hey guys,

Long time reader but new poster. I've recently got a new job and the first thing on my agenda is to build a new kickass gaming machine. I am a huge gamer and not being able to play thing like, for heaven's sake, World of Warcraft on Ultra (have to turn the shadows off or I run at like 12 FPS) has been bugging me for months. Here's what I am looking at so far:

MoBo: Asus Sabertooth Z77
http://ncix.com/products/?sku=69881&vpn=Sabertooth%20Z77&manufacture=ASUS&promoid=1205

For the SRT setup I plan to use the following:

SSD: Crucial M4 64GB
http://ncix.com/products/?sku=60444&vpn=CT064M4SSD2&manufacture=CRUCIAL%20TECHNOLOGY&promoid=1260

HDD: WD Black 1 TB
http://ncix.com/products/?sku=50895&vpn=WD1002FAEX&manufacture=Western%20Digital%20WD&promoid=1027

My OS will be loaded on the SRT setup along with any and all my games. I plan to put 2 more of those 1 TB drives in a mirrored RAID for data storage that is not linked to games (such as screen recordings, school related stuff and my IDE).

RAM : Corsair Vengeance DDR3 (16 GB 4x4GB)
http://ncix.com/products/?sku=57076&vpn=CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9&manufacture=Corsair

That's about as far as I've gotten with my build, here are a couple things I'm considering:

- Budget: 1400-1500$
- I want Ivy Bridge tech
- I want to have the option to overclock it when it starts getting less up-to-date
- I would like a 6-core unless it is double or more the price of the quad
- I want to run Crossfire AMD cards
- I have resigned myself to the fact that I will need a well cooled tower and probably water cooling due to the fact that I want to overclock it.

Other than that I'm kinda unsure of where to go from here. All the info I've been reading/looking at says that the 3930k from Intel is a pretty powerful little card but that it's aimed more towards workstations or servers than gaming rigs. I don't need to pay extra for that.

I'd love to hear your suggestions, thanks in advance!

Greg from Canada
 
Solution


You're talking about SSD caching yes - Ivy Bridge Z77 boards should support that, my board is very similar to that one and it doesn't, I don't know why it doesn't say on there.

Maybe try the UD5H: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128549

That one is a bit less expensive than the Asus but has a few extra nice features like dual LAN, 3 PCI...

g-unit1111

Titan
Moderator
That motherboard is kind of overkill for what you want it to to. But on a $1500 build you should go Ivy Bridge and the new GTX 670 as it's right now the best GPU on the market and will pretty much own any Crossfire AMD setup.

Try something like this:

Case: NZXT Switch 810 - $169.99
PSU: PC Power & Cooling Silencer MKII 750W - $109.99
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H - $144.99
CPU: 3.4GHz Intel Core i5-3570K - $249.99
Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 - $87.99
RAM: 8GB Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 1600MHz 1.5V - $56.99
SSD: 128GB OCZ Vertex 4 - $129.99
HD: 2TB Samsung Ecogreen F4 - $129.99
Optical: Lite On Bulk DVD Burner - $17.99
Video Card: EVGA Geforce GTX 670 - $399.99

Total: $1497.89
 

Ilnez

Honorable
Jun 20, 2012
122
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10,680
You think the 670 GTX beats out dual 6850's? They're roughly the same price.

I'll do some reading on the proposed CPU and Mobo combo, if you can answer: How's the Overclockability? Can I get it up to 4.1 - 4.2 with the right PSU?
 

g-unit1111

Titan
Moderator


Absolutely without question. Don't settle for two lesser cards when a single stronger one will give you far better results. Always put the money in getting the best single GPU solution you can get. I made that mistake once and I will never do that again. You should read these benchmarks - they will tell you all you need to know: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-670-review,3200.html

And yes - Gigabyte motherboards are really good, I like the 3-D BIOS - it makes overclocking and everything else among the easiest of any board I've ever worked with.
 

g-unit1111

Titan
Moderator


It doesn't really matter - with the Vertex 4 as your primary you won't notice any difference between secondary HD speeds.

Just snuck a look at that MOBO, it doesn't seem to support SRT. Is this correct?

I'm not sure what that is - are you referring to audio or something else?
 

Ilnez

Honorable
Jun 20, 2012
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SRT is the Intel tech by which it allows the use of an SSD as a cache for your HDD. This essentially brings a 7200RPM HDD within 10% of SSD speed, reportedly. I have seen this technology in effect first hand and it's quite frankly very impressive.

The Asus board I posted was one of the only LGA 1155 boards I found that supported it which is why it was used in my setup.
 

g-unit1111

Titan
Moderator


You're talking about SSD caching yes - Ivy Bridge Z77 boards should support that, my board is very similar to that one and it doesn't, I don't know why it doesn't say on there.

Maybe try the UD5H: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128549

That one is a bit less expensive than the Asus but has a few extra nice features like dual LAN, 3 PCI Gen 3 x16 slots, Bluetooth 4.0, and Creative audio built in.
 
Solution

Ilnez

Honorable
Jun 20, 2012
122
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10,680
I should have just said SSD caching, yeah =P My bad, I tend to lean towards Intel's acronym for it more out of habit from my workplace, sorry for the confusion.

All that being said I'll look into it those boards when I get home!

Thank you so much!