Been a few years, looking for advice.

[Crosis]

Greetings,

Its been a few years since I've built a desktop (Moved to Laptops for my gaming as I travel a fair bit). I'm primarily a gamer who tends to use my personal computer for work, I want the graphics as maxed out as possible while raiding in WoW (yeah I'm one of those guys), or when kicking ass in Civ V.

My work involves a ton of memory and graphic intensive work, I easily bog down 8gb machines without even thinking about it.

I was looking for some advice on what you guys think.

I would prefer to spend as little as possible, that being said I already know what I picked out is killer (as in stab my eye expensive) in pricing. I would like to make the purchase as soon as possible, preferably over the weekend.

If you can find similar parts, for lower prices. Or you have better suggestions I would greatly appreciate it!

So here are the goods I picked out. (Case and W7 Ult. need not apply as I have them already)

Mother Board - 379
ASUS Maximus V EXTREME LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Extended ATX Intel Motherboard

Processor - 340
ntel Core i7-3770K Ivy Bridge 3.5GHz (3.9GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I73770K

Video Card - 480
1x EVGA SuperClocked 02G-P4-2682-KR GeForce GTX 680 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Memory - 200
2x for 32gb total - G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-1600C9D-16GXM

Primary Drive - 230
SAMSUNG 830 Series MZ-7PC256B/WW 2.5" 256GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

I have a 1000w Power Supply in my case now, but I might downgrade. Suggestions on an appropriate power supply, preferably a modular one would be appreciated.

(Current Case) - Cooler Master CM Stacker 830 ATX Full-Tower Aluminum Case with Vented Side and 1000-Watt Power Supply

Thanks.

 

[tsnor]

Not sure how to help. Seems you've put a lot of thought into the build.

You have tons of CPU. If you need it fine, else drop back to i5. You won't need the i7 CPU for gaming.

Overclocking MB. If you need it fine, else drop back to an H77 board. I wouldn't do work on an OC'd cpu with no ECC.

Applications that need a ton of memory tend to need a ton of disk. The SSD is nice, but only 256GB. Do you need a data drive or two? Perhaps in Raid 1 with the SSD backed up to the data driver.

You know the $$ and performance difference with the GTX680 vs. GTX670. Do you know if your application that uses GPU uses double precision float? If so then look at opencl benchmarks between the HD7970 and GTX680 (unless you need cuda). HD7970 much faster.

Power supply will depend on OC'ing. There are tons of reviews of OC and OV GTX 680 with Oc'd CPU that show peaks in the 350-450W range. A good quality 600W PSU should be plenty. Corsair, Seasonic, Antec are all solid brands.

 

[Crosis]

Not sure how to help. Seems you've put a lot of thought into the build.

You have tons of CPU. If you need it fine, else drop back to i5. You won't need the i7 CPU for gaming.

Overclocking MB. If you need it fine, else drop back to an H77 board. I wouldn't do work on an OC'd cpu with no ECC.

Applications that need a ton of memory tend to need a ton of disk. The SSD is nice, but only 256GB. Do you need a data drive or two? Perhaps in Raid 1 with the SSD backed up to the data driver.

You know the $$ and performance difference with the GTX680 vs. GTX670. Do you know if your application that uses GPU uses double precision float? If so then look at opencl benchmarks between the HD7970 and GTX680 (unless you need cuda). HD7970 much faster.

Power supply will depend on OC'ing. There are tons of reviews of OC and OV GTX 680 with Oc'd CPU that show peaks in the 350-450W range. A good quality 600W PSU should be plenty. Corsair, Seasonic, Antec are all solid brands.

The applications will be housed on a separate drive. the SSD is only for my OS and maybe a couple primary games. All other applications, games, etc will be on separate drives. I already have a couple 2tb drives I keep in my old setup that I upgraded from 750gb drives a few years ago.


I believe I would be capable utilizing the i7 when needed due to work requirements. I also went with the i7 Ivory Bridge as it is newer in the market and I feel with the games and workload, it will last me a while before needing another upgrade. The lack of need to upgrade the MB for a while is also the reason I chose this motherboard, figured if I was getting the IB processor, I should have a Z Board.

I honestly do not plan on OC, its not something I have become comfortable with after a failure that cost me a few pretty pennies.

I had not even considered the 7970. I had planned on picking up the 680 from a local Fry's, they have the EVGA 4gb model for $530. All of the 7970's in stock are brands with less than stellar reviews (ASUS & Diamond)

I would happily downgrade to a 600w PSU, thank you!

I appreciate the feedback so far.

 

[idroid]

Hey, buddy! check out the "Best builds for any budget here!" on my signature.

Edit: go here: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/forum1.php?config=tomshardwareus.inc&cat=prive&page=1&subcat=0&sondage=0&owntopic=0&trash=0&trash_post=0&moderation=0&new=0&nojs=0

 

[idroid]

You want to be cautious about the RAM. Filling up all 4 slots with the maximum amount the system can handle can be problematic.

Are you going to overclock the CPU or not?

Intel Xeon E3-1245 V2 Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117284

Not that you can use ECC memory with a Z77 board, but the CPU is compatible with any board that has the BIOS support.

Buddy, do you know if the Ivy bridge Xeons have the same "thermalpaste" connection between the die and the metal plate?

 

[Proximon]

You want to be cautious about the RAM. Filling up all 4 slots with the maximum amount the system can handle can be problematic.

Are you going to overclock the CPU or not?

Intel Xeon E3-1245 V2 Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117284

Not that you can use ECC memory with a Z77 board, but the CPU is compatible with any board that has the BIOS support.

 

[Proximon]

I don't. I have heard that they are less prone to heat issues though. None are unlocked of course. I have to think the memory controller is a bit more robust as well.

 

[Crosis]

You want to be cautious about the RAM. Filling up all 4 slots with the maximum amount the system can handle can be problematic.

Are you going to overclock the CPU or not?

Intel Xeon E3-1245 V2 Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117284

Not that you can use ECC memory with a Z77 board, but the CPU is compatible with any board that has the BIOS support.

With a stock cooler no.

If I did decide to OC the processor I would have to dig out my Liquid Cooling system, and pick-up the appropriate block for the processor, but that isn't all that difficult.

I appreciate the processor suggestion, I will look into it.

Memory wise, looking up ASUS Qualified Vendor List for this board, I found G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9Q-16GBXL

16gb is the recommended per ASUS for the RAM above, you think that is a better option to go with?

 

[Proximon]

Better yet:
Mushkin Blackline 2x8GB CL 10
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226316
I wouldn't worry too much about the QVL.

Then if I decided I needed another 16GB later I would get the same set and loosen the timings to 11, which would probably work.

Beyond 16GB you need the right OS though:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa366778%28v=vs.85%29.aspx#physical_memory_limits_windows_7

 

[Crosis]

Better yet:
Mushkin Blackline 2x8GB CL 10
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226316
I wouldn't worry too much about the QVL.

Then if I decided I needed another 16GB later I would get the same set and loosen the timings to 11, which would probably work.

Beyond 16GB you need the right OS though:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa366778%28v=vs.85%29.aspx#physical_memory_limits_windows_7

The original RAM I posted could easily be 2x8GB CL 9, could you explain why yours is a better choice?


Former Microsoft Engineer, I only have Win 7 64bit Ultimate in the house when it comes to windows products.

 

[Proximon]

I guess you could say it's just what I've gathered. G.skill has been my favorite brand for a while but lately I've heard of it (specifically low profile Ares kits) putting stress on the memory controller. I myself burned through a very moderately overclocked 2600K and suspect it might have been the 1600Mhz G.skill Sniper kit.
As well, I trust Mushkin even more when it comes to failure rates and consistency between RAM modules.
Either way, do get a 2x8GB kit. Oh, and Intel wants you to run 1600mhz RAM at 1.5V CL11. the PDF datasheet is very clear on that.

 

[tsnor]

...

For the video card -- check the benchmarks for the software you are using. The GTX680 is OK in most but really badly hurt in some GPGPU type benchmarks. e.g. http://www.anandtech.com/show/6025/radeon-hd-7970-ghz-edition-review-catching-up-to-gtx-680/14 "our final set of performance benchmarks is a look at compute performance. As we saw with the launch of the GTX 680, Kepler (GK104) just doesn’t do very well here, thanks in part to NVIDIA stripping out a fair bit of compute hardware and memory bandwidth on GK104 in order to focus on gaming performance. OpenCL performance is particularly bad with NVIDIA almost completely ignoring it, but even DirectCompute performance often swings AMD’s way. This isn’t to say that GK104 doesn’t have its moments, but when it comes to compute it’s typically AMD’s time to shine." If your application is CUDA (or openACC) based 680 will win. Anything else I'd double check.

edit 9/2 to remove bad ref to 4 channel memory on IB.

 

[Proximon]

That's the second time I have heard someone claim IB has quad channel memory. I can find no actual evidence of this anywhere.

Official Intel Data sheet, page 11
"Two channels of DDR3 Unbuffered Dual In-Line Memory Modules (UDIMM) or DDR3 Unbuffered Small Outline Dual In-Line Memory Modules (SO-DIMM) with a maximum of two DIMMs per channel"
http://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/datasheets/3rd-gen-core-desktop-vol-1-datasheet.pdf

 

[tsnor]

That's the second time I have heard someone claim IB has quad channel memory. I can find no actual evidence of this anywhere.

Official Intel Data sheet, page 11
"Two channels of DDR3 Unbuffered Dual In-Line Memory Modules (UDIMM) or DDR3 Unbuffered Small Outline Dual In-Line Memory Modules (SO-DIMM) with a maximum of two DIMMs per channel"
http://www.intel.com/content/dam/www/public/us/en/documents/datasheets/3rd-gen-core-desktop-vol-1-datasheet.pdf

Proximon, your are right. The 4 channel support in
Intel Core i7-3960X
Intel Core i7-3930K
Intel Core i7-3820
blurred in my head to include i7-3770.

It is very clear that only the Intel LGA 2011 platform has quad channel memory, and that LGA1155 does not.

My bad.

 

[Proximon]

Well, I'm glad I wasn't confused