Building a new rig

[Gravatrax]

So I am going to be building a rig. I probably wont have all the money for a while but Im planning now so I can budget later. I intend to spend 1500 total.

 

First off I should note Im planning for the long haul, so I decided to go out all out with a Core i7 2700K (maybe a 2600K)

 

For a motherboard I was considering this motherboard, it has a lots of room for expansion,

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=684814&CatId=7212

 

For a graphics card I am sorta stuck on Im willing to spend anywhere from 200-400$, however obviously I am wanting the most bang for my buck.

I was considering this MSI Radeon 6970

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=253065&CatId=7005

or the MSI Frozr II Radeon 6950

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7192166&CatId=7005

 

I cant help but wonder how much detail and fps am I really going to notice between the two. Thoughts? Alternatives? Im not above using Nvidia chipsets however I've always seemed to sway towards ATI because they seem to be slightly more dependable.

 

I am still considering Ram, case and psu.

 

Ive also wanted some testimonials about how using crossfire/sli has been beneficial to pc gamers experience, because I have never dabbled with that kinda stuff. I want to blaze games away on a substantial frame rate. And If I have to spend some money to do so, so be it :)

[PowderdToastMan]

FIrst off, i diddnt know they made a i7-2700. News to me.

 

You have chosen a mobo with precisely what you need but definitely top of the line.

Whatever mobo you get, make sure its a z68 northbridge and dont stray from that 1155 socket to go with a lynngate cpu. The ivy-briges coming out next quarter use the 1155 socket and they will probably mean the death of all clarkdales and lynngates.

The nf200 pci-e that comes on that board is what makes it so expensive. It is for running crossfirex and sli at 16x16x16 true without the bottleneck. If you have no plans to run that, save yourself 100 bucks and get this one: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813128513

 

As far as gpu's go, you can see what to expect here: http://www.tomshardw...siast,2660.html

 

 

The biggest bottleneck you are leaving off though is your hard drive. That board supports raid and sata 6gb/s but you have not mentioned a wicked ssd. This will be the biggest clog on your system.

[Paxan_1]

Hi,

 

i have had a look for a setup like this for myself :thumbsup: , okay this components are very expansive and you can only buy them, if money doesnt matter. For the CPU i would go for a K version, 2700 or 2600 doesnt really matter, because i think i want to overclock it. The Maximus is the best overclocking board you could buy, i have seen a test where a 2600k was overclocked to 5GHz with a maximus, aircooled.

For the craphic card, the 6950 is a bargain, but mind to buy the 2GB version, because this one will have two bios and "maybe" you can unlock it to a 6970. But please mind that amd is lasercutting the newer ones, so if you want to have the power of a 6970 and you can afford it go for this.

 

Btw, at the moment i'm using the maximus 2 and this board is great. I have overclocked my Q9450 to 3.6GHz without any trouble.

 

Sarah

[Nysba]

As far as I know, the difference between the 2600k and 2700k is only 100MHz, or 0,1 GHz. Nothing else.

Though I did read something about them being hand-picked 2600Ks that overclock well and stuff, but is it worth the extra 50€ (dunno about dollars and other countries)?

 

About the graphics card, the 6950 is very adequate and if you don't want to spend that extra moneyz on the 6970, the 6950 just fine. It's all up to you, really.

And there's also the unlocking that Paxan_1 mentioned

Edited November 5, 2011 by Nysba

[hoofhearted4]

i also didnt know about the 2600k :P.....honestly, you wont find any better performance between the two, so just get the 2600k. hell, you could even go with the 2500k. the only thing th 2600k has over it is hyper threading, but its not like the 2600k is going to be any more "future-proof" then the 2500k.

 

as for your mobo, yep top of the line. my budget for my PC is the same as your, but i dont plan on spending that much on a mobo. i think the one im picking out will be around $170. and im putting the money i saved into a better GPU....a higher end GPU will always out perform two lower end GPUs in SLI. so your better off getting one 6970 (or GTX 580) then two of another card. and it will be a little cheaper as well i think.

 

as for case. you want something big. the HAF 932 or HAF X are both very good, and my friend has an Antec 1200 and loves it. but deff a full tower case, lots of room, lots of air flow.

 

RAM, 8gb, (1600) will do you what you need

 

HDD, get a nice big 2tb HDD, or get the nice 500gb Hybrid Momentous XT. faster then a 10k RPM drive, just barely slower then a SSD. but you could get either of those, and i would maybe also get a 128gb SSD (Crucial M4 are good ones i hear)

 

as for PSU, i have a great one picked out for my build:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817152043

 

850W, 80 Plus Gold, Modular, Crossfire/SLI ready. good company as well.

 

and might i also suggest a 3rd party heatsink if you plan on over clocking. a great air cooler is the Hyper 212+ (or the new Hyper 212+ EVO) or a nice closed loop water cooling system like the H60 (or any other H series)

[Gravatrax]

Wow guys! Thanks for the speedy replies :) And helpful links. So I think I think based on what I heard I'll save myself an extra couple of dollars and go with 2600K (maybe even the 2500K) Im not entirely sure if I want to overclock, I here it voids warranties and the like, but I've read up on it and it seems like a fun process. I haven't mention an HDD Because Im probably going to use the hard drive I have right now.

 

Western Digital 7200 RPM, 64MB Cache, 6 gb/s, and 1.5 TB bought it for around 110$ to replace my 80 gb hard drive :P

 

@hoofhearted4 Im not really a huge fan of the Seagate brand we've had problems with several hard drives over the years, but Ill look into that anyways

 

Corsair well everyone knows that Corsair is good!

 

I was planning on an H60 myself, I guess I do intend to overclock it anyways.

 

I wouldn't mind using that board mentioned a little cheaper and has the same core feature important to me. However overclocking and crossfire/sli are definetly future possibilities.

 

 

As for gpu I think Im pretty sold on the 6970, however if I don't have the money together I expected settling with 6950 wouldn't be a horrible option either. What are the Nvidia equivalents and how do they stand up? I saw a link where a website compared the performance of video card however I was wanting some more personal testimonies.

And if I plan on doing crossfire Id have to get two identical card so two 6970s will outperform two 6950.

 

For a case I was actually thinking about this beauty right here

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1409814&CatId=1510

 

Not necessarily from td but a bundle like this would be ideal

 

**Edit: Not entirely sure about that PSU its not modular and it does not officially support SLI/Crossfire**

 

Ram I need some suggestions however I Was thinking along the lines of....

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=40739&CatId=4534

Maybe another set, also how well would "dual channel" and "tri channel" accompany my gaming experience?

Edited November 5, 2011 by Gravatrax

[Gravatrax]

By the way I guess some games I wanting to run at their highest setting with 50+ frames would be BF3, Shogun 2. And I highly doubt it would be an issue but also Skyrim at its highest settings as well.

[hoofhearted4]

the equivalent nVidia are the 570/580. and the difference between ATi and nVidia isnt much. splitting hairs really. you arent going to be going wrong either way you go. however i do hear it is better to keep nVidia with Intel and ATi with AMD. but that could just be superstition.

 

yup, your HDD is fine, and your case is great (one of the ones i suggested, and the one i plan on getting for my build)

 

no warrenty voids for overclocking 2500k or anything with a k. thats what they are made for. the difference between a k and a non k version is only like $20, so just better off getting a k version. as for 2500k vs 2600k, honestly i would go with the 2500k. no difference when it comes to gaming. however the 2600k is ideal for video rendering, modding, and stuff like that because of the hyper threading.

 

the mobo, im still gunna say your over paying. you can get a $160 mobo, that can SLI and whatnot.

 

as i said for the GPUs, a single high end GPU will beat out two lower end GPUs. for example, a GTX 580 will do better then two GTX 560s in SLI.

 

and RAM is RAM. 8gb (1600) and youll be fine. doesnt matter what kind. just make sure you put them in the right slots on the mobo for the best performance.

 

i still stand behind the PSU i listed. best bang for your buck. and the H60, get it anyways. it cant hurt.

[Nysba]

the equivalent nVidia are the 570/580. and the difference between ATi and nVidia isnt much. splitting hairs really. you arent going to be going wrong either way you go. however i do hear it is better to keep nVidia with Intel and ATi with AMD. but that could just be superstition.

the GTX 580 is more powerful than the 6970. The 6970 pretty much the equal to the 570, if not just slightly worse, but usually does better in high resolutions (2560x1600).

the mobo, im still gunna say your over paying. you can get a $160 mobo, that can SLI and whatnot.

It's all personal preference, really. Some motherboards can have qualities and stuff that make them better than others. There's also some performance difference between some motherboards, but rarely enough to matter. Though that Maximus IV Extreme is one of the best LGA 1155 motherboards out atm. and is definitely not required to have a good computer.

as i said for the GPUs, a single high end GPU will beat out two lower end GPUs. for example, a GTX 580 will do better then two GTX 560s in SLI.

No it wont

But if you're deciding whether you should get 1 powerful card or 2 not so powerful ones, it's probably better to go with the single powerful one, unless you already have a weaker one that you could use alongside another one.

Edited November 5, 2011 by Nysba

[Gravatrax]

Im more or less wanting to make sure Im spending money on a product that will last if that makes sense. Essentially I want to feature my computer for 4 years and may replace the graphics card in two, but for the most part I want everything else to be the same. I doubt it will be a big deal running games 2 years from now. Imo there are very few games that would truly take advantage of cards such as a 6990 (drools).

 

Did you have any specific recommendations on a cheaper mobo? Im looking into powertoastmans suggestions.

 

I would consider a GTX 580 except I really don't want to spend anymore than 400$ for a card, but If I save money on the mobo and cpu side I guess it would still fit comfortably into my budget, but rest assured I get what you're saying.

 

So only 8gb of Ram? I was thinking 12-16 but I suppose that total overkill. This computer will also be what I use for college when Im not around campus on my laptop.

 

As for the PSU I've made the mistake of spending money on some high wattage for but in all reality a piece of junk, so I'll definitely be spending more on one this time around

Edited November 5, 2011 by Gravatrax