New System Review 2-3k

[Smirkingone]

Well it is time again to upgrade my computer, and of course I gotta stop by Tom’s to make sure my choices are solid.

So here is what I am looking at:

Intel Core i7-3930K 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor
Corsair H100 92.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler
ASRock X79 Extreme6/GB ATX LGA2011 Motherboard
Corsair Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Mushkin Chronos Deluxe 240GB 2.5" Solid State Disk
Western Digital Scorpio Black 250GB 2.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
EVGA GeForce GTX 680 4GB Video Card (2-Way SLI)
>>or<<
Asus GeForce GTX 690 4GB Video Card
Corsair 500R Black ATX Mid Tower Case
Corsair 850W 80 PLUS Silver Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/hlPy

Approximate Purchase Date: Before 10/01/12

Budget Range: $2000 - $3000 usd

System Usage Most Important: Gaming (EVE, Planetside 2, COD: MW3, etc…) and to a lesser extent photo processing/manipulation (Lightroom/Photoshop).

Are you buying a monitor: No

Parts to Upgrade: Building complete system except Win7pro(64bit), optical drives, mouse, and keyboard

Do you need to buy OS: No

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg

Location: Seattle, WA

Overclocking: Maybe. If Tom’s has the specs, or someone knows good settings.

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe. GTX690 (future SLI) or GTX680 in SLI?

Your Monitor Resolution: Starting at 1920x1080. Plan monitor upgrade to 2560x1440. Suggestions?

Why Are You Upgrading:

I usually replace my gaming computer every 4-5 years. The last one was golden until recently (Asus Striker II Formula MOBO, Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650, 2x Gigabyte GeForce 8800GTX SLI, Crucial Ballistix DDR2 800 PC2-6400 - 4 GB, 2x Western Digital Caviar WD7500AAKS RAID 0, Case: Silverstone Temjin TJ09B).

Additional Comments:

I’m looking for your opinions on making this build last me another 4-5 years. My lucky wife will be inheriting the old one.
The main reason is because the MOBO is starting to have problems starting up and increased crashing during games. The start-up problem may have something to do with USB because when it happens I just have to: Unplug the Keyboard/Mouse - Shut down - re-plug and it starts fine. Not OC’d anymore and not really worth diagnosing/upgrading IMHO.

Questions for the pro's:

1x GTX690 with SLI added later, or 2x GTX680 now.

Reuse one of my Western Digital Caviar WD7500AAKS instead of the Western Digital Scorpio Black 250GB 2.5" 7200RPM? Old vs. New.

Your monitor suggestions for future 2560x1440 resolution.


Thanks in advance for considering my build & commenting.

--Smirkingone

 

[spaceace1014]

The 690 is pretty nifty but this is a case of 6 of one and half a dozen of another.

I would get a new hard drive. If your old one is really that old and you really do plan on keeping this machine for the next 4-5 years you probably would do well to avoid the increased risk of drive failure.

My current choice for a 1440p monitor is the Dell u2711. It has good connectivity options, accepts a monitor arm, is matte, and of course is Adobe RGB. I do some photography as well and you'll want to get a color calibration tool like the Spyder 4 or Eye1 as well.

Good luck.

 

[nsouter853]

You don't need that many CPU cores. Drop down to a quad i5, it has all the power/cores you will need for gaming. If you really must down more money get a 4/8 i7, which will be overkill by itself.

 

[azeem40]

Photoshop doesn't require a 6 core CPU nor will it give you a significant boost in performance for your tasks.

I recommend something like this:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($314.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($142.86 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($40.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Mushkin Chronos Deluxe 240GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($184.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 670 2GB Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($417.86 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 670 2GB Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($417.86 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($104.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Enthusiast 750W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($24.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $1919.49
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-09-14 01:05 EDT-0400)

 

[Smirkingone]

Thank you all for the input so far.

I'm on-board with azeem40 on everything except these questions/changes:

I have already purchased the Corsair 500R Black ATX Mid Tower Case and Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB (Got a deal buying both on Newegg).

I have been digging through many other forum posts and I can see spaceace1014 had it right that people go either way with the 690 and the 670 in SLI. I still don't have a good answer if over the long term it would be better to go with the single 690 and SLI later or 2x 670 in SLI and upgrade to better card(s) later if needed.

As for cooling. Is there a reason not to go with the Corsair H100? On my old system I have been running a Swiftech H20-120 Compact Cooler Kit with a secondary Swiftech MCR220 2x120mm Radiator (3x 120mm fans pushing through two radiators). Should I move it over or go with the H100?

nsouter853 said

Drop down to a quad i5, it has all the power/cores you will need for gaming.

Does this mean Lightroom/Photoshop would not use the downgraded i7-3770K?


BTW, nice monitor spaceace1014. Since I see no reason to go with three monitors this looks to be a great option. Other suggestions still welcome.

Please keep the input coming in.