Yet another new PC discussion

[dthompson32]

It's time to upgrade. My 4 year old Dell XPS is showing it's age, even with an nvidea 570 something something in it. Kind of funny, when I bought it, quad core was such an advanced concept and it was lightning fast. But software has a way of chewing up even the most advanced hardware, and this machine predates the i7. Heck, the processor in my Macbook Air is more powerful.

 

So I'm pretty much done with Dell, and am looking at gaming specific companies. I spent some time on the CyberPower site and came up with the following configuration, which seems good for my needs at first blush:

 

CAS:Cooler Master Elite 431 Mid-Tower Gaming Case w/ Side-Panel Window [-8]

CD:24X Double Layer Dual Format DVD+-R/+-RW + CD-R/RW Drive (BLACK COLOR)

COOLANT:Standard Coolant

CPU:Intel® Core™ i7-3820 Quad-Core 3.60 GHz 10MB Intel Smart Cache LGA2011 (All Venom OC Certified)

CS_FAN:Maximum Enermax 120MM Case Cooling Fans for selected case (Maximum Silent Operation) [+29] (1,000 RPM Black Color with No LED Enlobal Magnetic Barometric Bearing 17 dBA)

FAN:Asetek 510LC Liquid Cooling System 120MM Radiator & Fan (Enhanced Cooling Performance + Extreme Silent at 20dBA) (Single Enermax Enlobal Silent High Performance 120MM Fan [+15])

HDD:240GB Corsair Force Series SATA-III 6.0Gb/s SSD - 550MB/s Read & 510MB/s Write [+152] (Single Drive)

HDD2:2TB (2TBx1) SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 64MB Cache 7200RPM HDD [+124] (Single Drive)

IEEE_CARD:IEEE 1394 CARD AND DRIVER [+19]

IUSB:Internal USB 3.0 4-Port Hub [+29]

KEYBOARD:(Keyboard & Mouse Combo) Logitech MK200 USB Keyboard & Mouse Combo [+16]

MEMORY:8GB (2GBx4) DDR3/1600MHz Quad Channel Memory (Corsair or Major Brand)

MOTHERBOARD:(3-Way SLI Support) ASUS P9X79 LE Intel X79 Chipset Quad Channel DDR3 ATX w/ UEFI Bios, Remote GO!, 7.1 HD Audio, GbLAN, USB3.0, SATA-III RAID, 3 Gen3 PCIe X16, 2 PCIe X1 & 1 PCI (All Venom OC Certified) [-10]

NETWORK:Onboard Gigabit LAN Network

NOISEREDUCE1:Sound Absorbing Foam on Side, Top And Bottom panels [+29]

NOISEREDUCE2:Power Supply Gasket [+5]

NOISEREDUCE3:Anti-Vibration Fan Mounts [+9]

OS:Microsoft® Windows 7 Professional [+135] (64-bit Edition)

OVERCLOCK:No Overclocking

POWERSUPPLY:800 Watts - Standard Power Supply - SLI/CrossFireX Ready [+21]

SOUND:* ASUS Xonar DS 7.1 Channels 24-bit 192KHz PCI Audio Card [+49]

TEMP:Aerocool Touch 1000 5.25" Touch Screen Fan Control [+25]

VIDEO:NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 2GB 16X PCIe 3.0 Video Card [+369] (Major Brand Powered by NVIDI

WNC:802.11b/g/n 300Mbps PCI Wireless Adapter Network Card [+26]

 

So a couple points/questions:

 

1) I know nothing about cooling or noise abatement, other than I want better than the single noisy fan I've been stuck with in the past

 

2) I'm on the fence regarding the quad core 3.6G and the six core 3.2G processor. I'm leaning toward the quad core on the theory that multi core use is still spotty, but faster always works

 

3) On the hard drives, I'm sold on using an SSD for my primary drive and I need at least a 2 Tb secondary for all my video files (I use this machine for games and video rendering). I really like the SSD in my Mac Air

 

4) Firewire is a must have for attaching my video camera

 

5) I know nothing about motherboards. I've heard people talk about ASUS. I know I want SATA 3

 

6) They are recommending Windows 7 Pro, but I don't know of a single feature that I don't get with 64 bit Home

 

7) I want nothing to do with overclocking, call me a prude

 

8) Xonar vs Audigy, I'm using headphones so I have no clue if one or the other is better, or if I use the built in sound

 

9) Video is the big cost driver. I know I want nvidea. I'm sure I want to move into the GTX 670+ range. I'm sure I want at least 2 Gb of RAM. But do I bite the bullet and get a GTX 690? Or will I be happy with a GTX 670? That is a $500 question. With my current system, I had to rework all my Skyrim textures down to <1K in order be be able to play the game in anything close to smooth motion.

 

10) I saw quite a few posts that more than 8Gb of RAM is a waste of money

 

Opinions welcome, I'm pretty much a noob at how to select gaming components.

[Erik005]

Socket 2011 is overkill for gaming. Look for a pc with the core i5 3570k.

 

The gtx570 that you apperently have now is enough to run most games.

 

The case you picked will not be able to cool this system.

 

The z77 configuration looks good start from there.

Edited August 16, 2012 by Erik005

[kalikka]

I built 2 new rigs few months ago for me and my twin. Did a lot of research/etc. and still havent stopped.

 

CPU: i5-3570k (1st @ 4,5ghz and 2nd @ 4,4ghz. 3570k/2500k is the best gaming CPU in the market, 2011 socket is useless without at least 2x GPU)

Motherboard: Asrock z77 extreme4 (dirty cheap when ordered from germany, I live in Finland)

Cooler: Kühler h2o 620 water-cooler with 2x Arctic Cooling F12 PWM fans in push/pull (air coolers are cheaper and better option for casual gamers, HR-02 Macho, True Spirit 120, etc.)

GPU: HD7950 windforce 3x (1st @ 1200mhz core/1600mhz memory, 2nd @ 1150mhz/1600mhz, pure beasts!)

-GTX670 is more than enough for your needs. I recommend Windforce 3x or DirectCu II.

RAM: Corsair Vengeance 2x4gb 1600mhz (8gb is overkill, 16gb is plain silly if you dont do HEAVY video-editing.)

SSD: Kingston HyperX 128gb (I would recommend something else now, maybe Samsung 830. Depends on price)

HDD: Caviar Blue 750gb/1Tb (fast and trusted)

Fans: F12, TY-141, spectre pro, etc... You should aim for Gentle Typhoon/Slip Stream/etc. low RPM versions if you want a silent system.

 

Cases are Bitfenix Shinobi and Rosewill Blackhawk. Blackhawk runs cooler with side-fan. The most respected ATX-size cases in Finnish OC community atm are: Define R4, Shinobi and Blackhawk. I recommend R4 if you aim for silence.

Soundcards are Xonar DX and DG. Both are extremely good soundcards, Im using 145€ DT-770 pro(80ohm) headphones on DG because it has a headphone-amplifier. I recommend DG(X) if you use headphones, DGX is new PCI-e version of DG.

PSU: Super Flower Golden Green 750W which is super-overkill for single-GPU systems, and strider essential 600w. (A good 550W PSU is more than enough for ANY new single-gpu systems)

Windows: Im using W7 ultimate. But go for home as pro is only useful with 32gb RAM (RAM limits based on OS)

 

I use those rigs for (HD)3D gaming with S23A700D monitors. 3D Skyrim runs easily with 50-60fps (drains whooping 2,5gb of vram from graph card).

BF3 ultra (2D) runs solid ~70fps. Lowest fps I have seen was 50, and that was with a tank shooting directly into my face.

Edited August 17, 2012 by kalikka

[FMod]

Cooler: Kühler h2o 620 water-cooler with 2x Arctic Cooling F12 PWM fans in push/pull (air coolers are cheaper and better option for casual gamers, HR-02 Macho, True Spirit 120, etc.)

For pretty much everyone. These cheap sealed water coolers perform somewhat worse than best air coolers, not a good value. They're mostly good for aesthetics or small cases.

 

GPU: HD7950 windforce 3x (1st @ 1200mhz core/1600mhz memory, 2nd @ 1150mhz/1600mhz, pure beasts!)

How do you crossfire them at different clock rates?

 

RAM: Corsair Vengeance 2x4gb 1600mhz (8gb is overkill, 16gb is plain silly if you dont do HEAVY video-editing.)

Samsung RAM is better. Corsair o/c's less and also interferes with coolers.

[kalikka]

The list I posted was the 2 PCs I built few months ago. A good reference on which parts to choose. Most of the parts are identical (including the graph cards, 1st for my rig and the 2nd for my brothers) I listed the non-identical parts in the lower section.

 

Water Cooler is nice if your case isnt large enough for side-fan + large air-cooler. Mine wasnt (blackhawk), and the side-fan allows higher clocks for GPU. 10-20C difference in GPU temps when comparing my rig and my brothers rig (he doesnt have a side-fan on his Shinobi, and the side-panel is HOT during gameplay).

Also, I got the kühlers dirty cheap from a sale that only certain finnish OC-forum readers can get their hands on^^

But as I said, casual gamers should stay away from water...

 

RAM was the cheapest 1600mhz I could find in Germany (under 40€). Can only recommend the cheapest 2x4gb 1333-1600mhz RAM you can find if you arent benchmarking.

 

In finnish OC community the best cooler for ivy seems to be the macho (easily available, cheap, ect.) as the voltage/temps skyrockets around 4,5ghz. Not even silver arrow can keep up with the temps.

Edited August 18, 2012 by kalikka