Finals Parts List - Cost $999.37

ncasolo

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Aug 7, 2012
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About half of the parts were purchased from Microcenter. The CPU and Motherboard were $280 combined at Microcenter. At newegg those two together would have been $365. There's not a single mail-in-rebate I have to deal with amongst these parts either. I signed up for that 2-day shipping program at Newegg so hopefully I get all the rest of this stuff Friday or Saturday. I've since cancelled that 2-day shipping program so it doesn't auto-renew me for $80.


Case: Cooler Master HAF 912
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119233&Tpk=Cooler%20Master%20HAF%20912

Power Supply: SeaSonic 620W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151096

Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157293

CPU: Intel i5 3570K
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116504

RAM: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3-PC1600
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148544

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099

SSD: Samsung 830 Series 128GB SSD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147163

Video Card: HIS IceQ Turbo 7950
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161415

Optical Drive: Samsung OEM Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151244

If anyone sees a really stupid thing I've done please let me know. I can still return anything unopened.
 

renny1994

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Aug 9, 2012
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You Graphics Card, it seriously clashes with your motherboard color scheme, Blue PCB GPU and Black PCB board!!! going to look ugly in your awesome case, try going for a GPU with a Black PCB, i would spend a bit more to get it to look great.
 

ncasolo

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Aug 7, 2012
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For my purposes the performance of the AMD cards destroys the NVidia cards currently. I'm going to be running iRacing which is currently a DX9 based racing sim. The current NVidia performance just does not match up unfortunately.
 

ncasolo

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Aug 7, 2012
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If there was a side window on the case that would be important to me. With no side window I'm thinking no big deal.
 

renny1994

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Aug 9, 2012
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Got a point there, but still you've got a case with a black interior, Black Mobo, Black Ram, then Suddenly Blue Card.
 

renny1994

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Aug 9, 2012
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i would go for something like this (http://216.52.208.185/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121490)
it may have a slow core clock, but i am sure with a huge cooler like that, you can probably clock it up past 900 no problem. and not only that, theres a mail in rebate, saving you $20. Oh and it has a 3year warranty, 1 more than the HIS card.
 

ncasolo

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Aug 7, 2012
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Well black and blue is probably appropriate as i beat the crap out of all my opponents leaving them feeling bruised and beaten.
 

renny1994

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Aug 9, 2012
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consider this than (http://216.52.208.185/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121490)
it may have a slow core clock, but i am sure with a huge cooler like that, you can probably clock it up past 900 no problem. and not only that, theres a mail in rebate, saving you $20. Oh and it has a 3year warranty, 1 more than the HIS card.
 

ncasolo

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Aug 7, 2012
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Couldn't find what I would consider a quality 7970 to squeeze into my budget. I actually went about $50 more on the Video card than I intended to due to some unexpected savings in other areas. Like paying $90 for a $135 motherboard.
 

ncasolo

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Aug 7, 2012
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I gave that card some serious consideration. It is probably 6 months past the recall so I'm sure that issue is resolved. Ultimately the Tom's Hardware review results from those 2 cards swayed my vote to the HIS card.
 

:non: Holds well, but still inferior, and more expensive. Why pay more for the lesser product?

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6025/radeon-hd-7970-ghz-edition-review-catching-up-to-gtx-680/18

Don't worry, I won't take em, you can have all of the GTX 680s for yourself. lol

Sapphire 7970 GHZ edition $469

GTX 680 Asus $540
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121634

BTW, newegg is messing up today. They seem to be updating their site.
 

ncasolo

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Aug 7, 2012
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I've created I think 5 threads trying to narrow down parts for this build. Intel is dominating the CPU market and nobody has told me to go AMD (I would have rather gone AMD), but I think this is now the 3rd thread that has had a bit of an argument about video cards where it appears neither party even cares what the other party says.

I wonder what would happen if I said everyone just needs to realize AMD is the best bang for your buck right now and nothing else is even remotely worth considering because it'll end up in the trash.
 
You'd start an argument of epic proportions. :lol:

Its true, in terms of gaming CPUs, Intel dominates the market.

I can't speak for everyone else here, but I'm not here to win a popularity contest. My goal is to help you find something that fits your budget constraints that you'll be happy with. I understand that you and others I attempt to help are here looking for sound advice on how to invest hundreds (and in some cases thousands of dollars) of your money. In the end, I can type until my fingers go numb, its your money and its you that has to be happy with the end-result.

Now, I will say on the topic of video cards. I think a lot of people assume that because AMD is lacking in the CPU department, that this means their video cards are inferior as well. This simply is not true. For months now, AMD has beaten Nvidia's GTX 5 series at nearly every price point. And this is so far to a degree still unchanged with Nvidia's GTX 6 series releases.

Now, if you want my candid opinion about whether to get a GTX 670 or a 7950. I say you'll be very happy with either one. Both of the rigs in my sig are running Nvidia cards, almost every computer I've bought in the last 12 years has had an Nvidia card in it. So, as far as my bias on video cards, I have none. I'm doing my best to call it as I see it.
 


OC vs stock? not fair!
the bad thing is that AMD has *killed* the overclocking potential of the original 7970,once overclocked,680 will easily beat 7970(maybe 3GB will help 7970 on ultra high resolutions) the main reason for backing up 680 is -
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/forum2.php?config=tomshardwareus.inc&cat=33&post=364945&page=1&p=1&sondage=0&owntopic=1&trash=0&trash_post=0&print=0&numreponse=0&quote_only=0&new=0&nojs=0
 
I'm not sure how that thread really backs up your point though.

AMD hasn't killed th overclocking potential of the original 7970. The merely reserve the better binned chips for the GHZ editions, and Toxic. I agree the Toxic is a ripoff, I wouldn't consider it either. The GHZ editions however, are still priced cheaper than the GTX 680s.

I also don't really understand your comment about GTX 680 SLi > any single 7970. Well of course lol, its 2 GPUs vs 1. The Vram is irrelevant. But what about Crossfire 7970 GHZ editions against SLi GTX 680s? Which btw, a single GTX 690 is 2 GTX 680s in one card. If one 7970 GHZ edition can outperform a GTX 680, what do you think the result of a 2 vs 2 fight would be?

As far as Mal's links. BF3 is optimized for Nvidia cards, I know this, nor do I dispute it.

This is the whole article he cherry picked screenshots from:
http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphics/42489-sapphire-radeon-hd-7970-toxic-6gb/?page=5

I don't know what nonsense he was talking about by saying "Main games", as if somehow Batman, Alien vs Predator, weren't "mainstream" games.

The bottom line is, at least as I interpreted the benches in their entirely breaks down to this:

Price to performance:

GTX 670 has a better price to performance ratio than a 7970
7970 has a better price to performance ratio than a GTX 680 (yes, even when its overclocked)
 


the main point is that the 7970 GHZ is just the factory overclocked version of 7970.if nvidia does the same thing,680 will beat 7970.i just want to clear the point that-
overclocked 680>overclocked 7970.
here's something interesting-
Through all of our gameplay testing the ASUS GeForce GTX 680 DirectCU II TOP lead the field. ASUS is one of the first companies to do away with weak factory overclocks and delivered a video card with some real muscle in its stock operating frequencies. We found that the ASUS GeForce GTX 680 DC II TOP had a noticeable performance advantage compared to both the reference GeForce GTX 680 and the Radeon HD 7970. Not only that, it drew less power during testing and was much cooler and quieter than both video cards.
source-
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/05/21/asus_geforce_gtx_680_directcu_ii_top_gpu_review/10
 

odiervr

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May 1, 2012
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Great build and great choice of Microcenter for the combo. Best prices if you can go to one of their stores.

One note: Ram 1600? - you may be able to get a faster set if you do some shopping.

You'll love the MOBO and CPU !

Good luck !
 


Theres a couple things you missed in this article:

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/05/21/asus_geforce_gtx_680_directcu_ii_top_gpu_review/2

Pay attention to the driver version used to bench the 7970. They used Cataylst 12.4. 12.7 is the current version, and it is the one responsible for making the standard 7970 as well as the GHZ editions outperform the GTX 680s and 670s. If HardOCP didn't re-run the benches with 12.7 Cataylist, their results are not accurate comparrisons to the 7970 reference, GHZ editions, nor OC'd cards.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-7970-ghz-edition-review-benchmark,3232-19.html

Also, from your link:

The ASUS GeForce GTX 680 DirectCU II TOP is currently out-of-stock at Newegg due to demand, but usually sells for $539.99.

The Sapphire GHZ edition 7970 is $470 from Newegg. Now, if you have a bench with an overclocked 680 with its most current drivers against 7970s running Catalyst 12.7 drivers, I would interested in seeing them. The Hexus article btw, did indeed run Catalyst 12.7, so those are more accurate.

http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphics/42489-sapphire-radeon-hd-7970-toxic-6gb/?page=3

he main point is that the 7970 GHZ is just the factory overclocked version of 7970.if nvidia does the same thing,680 will beat 7970.

Isn't that what the Asus Top 680 is? I'm not going to speculate about what Nvidia could or should do, if they haven't done it or announced plans to do so lol.