Thoughts on new custom build PC?

[Reach]

I know there are a bunch of tech nerds on this forum, so let me know what you think about this build for a top of the line gaming pc.

I'm not looking to up the price of anything here really, unless absolutely necessary. If you see any flaws or suggestions on saving money, let me know.

Processor: 3.3Ghz Intel i5 2500
Video Card: HIS 6950 2GB Flashed to 6970
Ram: 8Gb G.Skill Ripjaw DDR3 1600 CAS8 (2 x 4gb)
Hard Drive: 1TB Samsung F3
Motherboard: ASUS P8H67
Power Supply: 650w Antec TruePower New
Case: CoolerMaster Storm Scout
CPU Cooler: CoolerMaster Hyper 212+
DVD/CD Burner: Asus DVD/CD Burner

It's about $1150

Question: What are your thoughts of upping to the 2500k and ASUS P8P67 and doing an OC to like 4.5Ghz? Anyone know about the stability of this overclock? It's not much more expensive, but I would opt not to depending.

[Reincarnate]

Re: Thoughts on new custom build PC?

4.5 OC not worth the money -- it'd be largely underutilized

[Zageron]

Re: Thoughts on new custom build PC?

Top of the line...
Processor: i7
Video Card: EVGA! Whatever floats your boat, but nVidia is better regardless that it costs more.
RAM: 12 (3x4) trichannel because of i7.
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB OR Corsair SSD @ 60GB and WD 1TB Caviar Black. For extra storage get WD 2TB Caviar green.
Motherboard: EVGA
Power Supply: NO! Don't skimp. 850W GOLD Caviar AT LEAST. (1000+ if you want Dual or Tripple SLI at some point. or crossfire)
CPU cooler to fit i7


Will cost you about 1400 if you do it right. (before monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, tax)

The computer you've got listed up there is somewhere between mid-hi.

[Reach]

Re: Thoughts on new custom build PC?

Top of the line...
Processor: i7
Video Card: EVGA! Whatever floats your boat, but nVidia is better regardless that it costs more.
RAM: 12 (3x4) trichannel because of i7.
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB OR Corsair SSD @ 60GB and WD 1TB Caviar Black. For extra storage get WD 2TB Caviar green.
Motherboard: EVGA
Power Supply: NO! Don't skimp. 850W GOLD Caviar AT LEAST. (1000+ if you want Dual or Tripple SLI at some point. or crossfire)
CPU cooler to fit i7


Will cost you about 1400 if you do it right. (before monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, tax)

The computer you've got listed up there is somewhere between mid-hi.

Well, I've already decided not to go with the i7. I realize I could, but it's mostly overkill as far as I'm concerned. The GPU will bottleneck any gaming performance before this processor ever does, so I don't see the point of upping it, and unless I XFire, which I probably won't, I don't know how I can get a better GPU for a reasonable price. Suggestions?

I guess I should have said 'nearly' top of the line :P

As for the PSU, I was worried that it was insufficient. Sources have told me this was good enough, but I guess I"ll look into it.

[LongGone]

Re: Thoughts on new custom build PC?

TBH 650W is sufficient; Any higher would just be extra safety margin should you overclock/add extra HDDs/XFire/etc. But it has to be a solid, reliable brand/make which I'm quite out of touch now, see what others say

[DJMAYYYNE]

Re: Thoughts on new custom build PC?

nVidia is better regardless that it costs more.

Please explain. All the stats from ATI's 6000 series beat nVidia's GTX 500 series in most tests...

[fido123]

Re: Thoughts on new custom build PC?

IMO Your setup is looking pretty good. Not over the top but just good enough to do you for many years to come. With regards to the power supply, it's not just wattage you should be concerned about. Although this statistic is often hard to find, make sure the PSU has independent rails for all your voltages. Most PSUs have one for 3.3v, 5v, and 12v, but some will have an extra 12v or something like that. When all those voltages are used on one rail it's going to be putting a lot of stress on your system. You don't have to go out and get the best PSU just don't cheap out unless you wanna be a little risky.

[darkshark]

Re: Thoughts on new custom build PC?

I just built a pc with the i7 2600k and the P8P67 board, and happen to be running at 4.2ghz base, 4.6 turbo boost.

Be careful with that P8P67, if you get it, you'll need to update your bios, otherwise it has a bit of trouble getting through POST sometimes. Once the bios is updated you shouldn't run into problems though.

Like what was said, make sure you have all of the appropriate rails on your PSU, you're running a huge graphics card which might require 2 power inputs, so do some research before committing to purchase in that regard.

I definitely recommend getting a SATA III Solid State Drive, even a smaller size one (64gb works perfect) as your disk drive will most certainly be your bottleneck. Any programs or games that you want to load instantly (as well as your operating system) then install it to the SSD. Windows 7 boots before the little colored lights even have time to come together on the screen. Photoshop boots up in 1 second. 3ds Max in 2.5. Can't recommend it enough.

@DJMAYYYNE: The specs on ATI cards are normally higher on comparative cards, but the drivers for ATI cards tend to eat up any and all performance gains that it could have utilized, and end up running more poorly than a card with a more stable driver build such as the ones from nVidia.

[fido123]

Re: Thoughts on new custom build PC?

Forgot about SSHDs. Get a small one IMO and install your OS, and disk intensive software (loading screens mostly) on it.

[DJMAYYYNE]

Re: Thoughts on new custom build PC?

@DJMAYYYNE: The specs on ATI cards are normally higher on comparative cards, but the drivers for ATI cards tend to eat up any and all performance gains that it could have utilized, and end up running more poorly than a card with a more stable driver build such as the ones from nVidia.

That's kinda true. But if you give ATI some more time, maybe their drivers could improve and they'll be better than nVidia's

I definitely recommend getting a SATA III Solid State Drive, even a smaller size one (64gb works perfect) as your disk drive will most certainly be your bottleneck. Any programs or games that you want to load instantly (as well as your operating system) then install it to the SSD. Windows 7 boots before the little colored lights even have time to come together on the screen. Photoshop boots up in 1 second. 3ds Max in 2.5. Can't recommend it enough.

Which one do you have? It all depends on brands and speeds too. Intel's gotten many good reviews lately.

http://www.fastestssd.com/featured/ssd-rankings-the-fastest-solid-state-drives/

[fido123]

Re: Thoughts on new custom build PC?

That's kinda true. But if you give ATI some more time, maybe their drivers could improve and they'll be better than nVidia's

Nope, completely true. ATI has shitty drivers. ATI cards also usually run a lot hotter and break a lot more often than NVidea. NVidea also tends to be ahead of ATI when it comes to new technology.

[Reach]

Re: Thoughts on new custom build PC?

Well, after some looking around and asking someone I know that builds, it looks like the PSU is more than enough for this particular set up.

I definitely recommend getting a SATA III Solid State Drive, even a smaller size one (64gb works perfect) as your disk drive will most certainly be your bottleneck. Any programs or games that you want to load instantly (as well as your operating system) then install it to the SSD. Windows 7 boots before the little colored lights even have time to come together on the screen. Photoshop boots up in 1 second. 3ds Max in 2.5. Can't recommend it enough.

I know essentially nothing about Solid State drives though. I've been out of the loop for awhile now because of school. Easy to install?

If it's really that good, I might consider a small one, since the number of programs I would opt to use it for would be limited. I could get a small one for a reasonable price, yeah? I'll have to look at my budget; I need a new monitor too, so I have to factor that into the cost.

[Calcium Deposit]

Re: Thoughts on new custom build PC?

Well, after some looking around and asking someone I know that builds, it looks like the PSU is more than enough for this particular set up.



I know essentially nothing about Solid State drives though. I've been out of the loop for awhile now because of school. Easy to install?

If it's really that good, I might consider a small one, since the number of programs I would opt to use it for would be limited. I could get a small one for a reasonable price, yeah? I'll have to look at my budget; I need a new monitor too, so I have to factor that into the cost.

Depends on the OS youre installing on the drive, 7/Vista should be gravy, XP on the other hand will probably need special drivers loaded during set-up.

I recommend getting a small (but cheap) SSD for the operating system partition, then get a cheap ass external 500 GB HDD for additional storage.

[ninjaKIWI]

Re: Thoughts on new custom build PC?

I know there are a bunch of tech nerds on this forum, so let me know what you think about this build for a top of the line gaming pc.

I'm not looking to up the price of anything here really, unless absolutely necessary. If you see any flaws or suggestions on saving money, let me know.

Processor: 3.3Ghz Intel i5 2500
Video Card: HIS 6950 2GB Flashed to 6970
Ram: 8Gb G.Skill Ripjaw DDR3 1600 CAS8 (2 x 4gb)
Hard Drive: 1TB Samsung F3
Motherboard: ASUS P8H67
Power Supply: 650w Antec TruePower New
Case: CoolerMaster Storm Scout
CPU Cooler: CoolerMaster Hyper 212+
DVD/CD Burner: Asus DVD/CD Burner

It's about $1150

Question: What are your thoughts of upping to the 2500k and ASUS P8P67 and doing an OC to like 4.5Ghz? Anyone know about the stability of this overclock? It's not much more expensive, but I would opt not to depending.

I would recommend getting the 2500k and a P67 based board, it isn't much more expensive, but never pay for factory overclocks. Especially since unlocked CPUs make overclocking so damned simple. The i7's are definitely overkill for gaming seeing as most games only make use of up to two cores (I believe), never mind eight. (Aside from Source games as far as I know)

If you upgrade to the P67 setup I would probably recommend upgrading your cooler. I don't have much experience in this area, but I have seen a few benchmarks with this cooler IIRC and it doesn't seem to be too great.

I don't really like AMD GPUs because of the ridiculous drivers, they also have this strange philosophy of MORE EVERYTHING, TEN GIGS OF VRAM ON EVERY CARD. Which is dumb unless you're running multi-monitor setups or something. I recommend getting the 560Ti instead, it performs at around the same pace as a 6950/6970 for 50-70 dollars less. And it's not made of dicks.

Case is subjective (I hate that case 8) ). I recommend getting something with cable management grommets (seen here in the Corsair 600t), it makes cabling a dream. They're getting pretty popular in the higher end cases. If you like flashier cases than the Corsair cases, the Coolermaster HAF cases have nice cabling holes as well.

Top of the line...
Processor: i7
Video Card: EVGA! Whatever floats your boat, but nVidia is better regardless that it costs more.
RAM: 12 (3x4) trichannel because of i7.
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB OR Corsair SSD @ 60GB and WD 1TB Caviar Black. For extra storage get WD 2TB Caviar green.
Motherboard: EVGA
Power Supply: NO! Don't skimp. 850W GOLD Caviar AT LEAST. (1000+ if you want Dual or Tripple SLI at some point. or crossfire)
CPU cooler to fit i7


Will cost you about 1400 if you do it right. (before monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, tax)

The computer you've got listed up there is somewhere between mid-hi.

A 650w is definitely sufficient, but I would always suggest getting a PSU above what you need as a little safety buffer. Not to mention that PSUs deteriorate over time. PSU is definitely not something to skimp on in a system, you always want nice clean power flowing through your components. I wouldn't recommend getting anything that isn't at least 80 Plus Bronze. My recommendations for PSU manufacturers are Cougar and Corsair.

Also Zag why would you ever even recommend getting one of the first gen i7s, they're not nearly as good for a higher price. EVGA boards also haven't exactly been my favourite, since ASUS and MSI have upped their game in the motherboard market.

hope I could help!

EDIT: SSDs are absolutely wonderful, everything loads in a snap. I can't justify spending that much money on one though. If you have the extra money for a 120GB (For primary games and programs, IMO any less than 120 for a boot drive isn't good enough) then it can be pretty worth it. There is some optimization you can do to up the performance, but I don't think I'd worry about that right away.

[darkshark]

Re: Thoughts on new custom build PC?

I have two of the Crucial C300 64gb SSD's running in Raid-0 in this computer at the moment. The speed is absolutely amazing, 698mb/s read speed.

I got each drive for about $125 from Newegg.com. Installation is about as easy as plugging in a thumb drive.

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