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Best Gaming Rig Option Now that i5 Is Out?

U

UpstartXT

Senior member
1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.

GAMING at 1680x1050 maximum details all modern games (Modern Warfare 2, Operation Flashpoint 2, Arma 2*****)

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread

Kind of complicated since I have so many of my own parts already

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.

USA

4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc.

DEFINITELY EVGA fanboy for both GPUs and motherboards, Intel CPUs, Nvidia graphics

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.

Yes:

Cosmos S case

1x GTX 260 (EVGA 896-P3-1260-AR)

1x Lite-On DVD drive

2x Intel X-25M SSD 80GB


6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.

Yes, although my situation is a little more unique due to several parts already being owned

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.

Yes for overclocking because of the high CPU requirements of Arma 2. I was hoping to acheive at least a 4.0ghz OC.

8. What resolution YOU plan on gaming with.

1680x1050

9. WHEN do you plan to build it?

ASAP

_________________________________________________________________


Hey guys, so I recently was on here asking about a WHS as well as a HTPC. I already had an E8400 gaming system which I will be converting this to a HTPC to stream ripped movies from my WHS. I will then be building a new gaming rig, and this is what this thread is about.

I think I have finally decided to go with the i7 920 as I will be overclocking (where I think the 920 is still ahead of its 870/860 competitors) and want to be able to SLI future GPUs that come and not be bottlenecked by the P55's x8 SLI (an issue once you use cards better than a GTX 260 or equivalent). I also will be able to upgrade to the i9 if I feel that's necessary when it comes out without having to buy a new motherboard. I also get tripe channel RAM.

As stated, I already have the case, one GTX 260 (192 core), and two intel X-25M SSD drives I plan on RAID 0'ing. I think I will purchase another, old core 192 GTX 260, in order to SLI.

_________________________________________________________________

Gaming Rig: (components I already have are in italics and underlined, and do not have a price, although I have linked them on NewEgg for easy reference)

Case:
COOLER MASTER COSMOS S RC-1100-KKN1-GP Black Aluminum ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/..._-11-119-150-_-Product

+

COOLER MASTER RA-1100-KWN1-GP Transparent Acrylic Side Window Panel - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/..._-11-999-186-_-Product
$31.99

CPU:
Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920 - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16819115202
$279.99

Motherboard:
EVGA E758-A1 3-Way SLI (x16/x16/x8) LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?ItemList=Combo.251035
$299.99

RAM:
G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9T-6GBNQ - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?ItemList=Combo.251047
$124.99

GPU:
BFG Tech BFGEGTX260896OCE GeForce GTX 260 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814143140
$164.99

+

EVGA 896-P3-1260-AR GeForce GTX 260 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814130370

PSU:
Antec TruePower New TP-750 750W Continuous Power ATX12V V2.3 / EPS12V V2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE ... - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817371025
$94.99

HD: TWO in RAID 0
Intel X25-M SSDSA2MH080G1 80GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid state disk (SSD) - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/..._-20-167-005-_-Product

DVD:
SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA DVD Burner - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/..._-27-151-187-_-Product

OS:
Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit for System Builders w/ Tech Guarantee - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16832116677
$109.99

Heatsink:
THERMALRIGHT TRUE Black 120 REV C CPU HEATSINK
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISA...PageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT
$62.95

Heatsink Fan: 2x in PUSH/PULL
Scythe S-FLEX SFF21F 120mm Case Fan - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16835185006
$33.98

Case Fans: (1 intake, 1 rear exhaust, 2 top exhaust)
Scythe S-FLEX SFF21E 120mm Case Fan - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16835185005
$55.96

Fan Controller:
Scythe KM02-BK 5.25" Bay Fan Controller - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?ItemList=Combo.249936
$39.99

TIM:
Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16835100008
$17.99

________________________________________
Change Log:
RAM changed from http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820145224
CPU Fans changed to quantity of 1 (push config) from 2 (push-pull config)
PSU changed from http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817139007
PSU changed from http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817139010
 
Hello,

Do you want to up grade or do you need to because of some upcoming and or current games you'd like to play?

Maybe you don't have to with your current setup. What is it?

 
Originally posted by: BTRY B 529th FA BN
Hello,

Do you want to up grade or do you need to because of some upcoming and or current games you'd like to play?

Maybe you don't have to with your current setup. What is it?
Click to expand...

Well I am turning my current computer in HTPC, so while I do have some parts, I am basically building from scratch because I won't have a computer to play games on.

I mainly want to play the games I listed above; Modern Warfare 2, Operation Flashpoint 2, and Arma 2.

Arma 2 is really the big performance hog as it requires a huge amount of CPU power to run.
 
Originally posted by: UpstartXT
Well now I am hearing that the 860 is not a great overclocker. What are people's thoughts?
Click to expand...

They are made on the same 45nm so generally they will hit the 4Ghz range but the inclusion of the PCIe and it's effect on overclocking is something to be seen first. I too am feeling the upgrade bug with these new chips but it's something I'm looking at as a precaution.

Get the other parts first like the PSU, HD, CASE, etc before you get the RAM GPU CPU MOBO and maybe in that time things will start showing up to give you a more educated decision on your cpu choice. If you want, you can go ahead and get the ram first, but make sure you can test it out as some vendors allow short periods of time for RMA's My last few RAM purchases have been 2 out of 4 that were stable at 1:1 (DDR2)
 
How much RAM do you think I will need? And what type? Also, I looked at the P55 FTW from EVGA and it can actually fit LGA 775 heatsinks so I think I'm going to go with a True Black.
 
BTW, as I suggested, I am planning on buying a new GTX 260 for about $115 and using it in SLI with the one I already have. Will the fact that the P55 boards only have 8/8 PCI Express with dual video cards affect that decision?

Also, for Arma 2, noticed that CPU still bottlenecks performance as opposed to all other games. Perhaps I should go 870?

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...id=28&threadid=2332309
 
Hmm, interesting. This is getting pretty specific to my own build. But I am only planning on SLI'ing GTX 260s, not crazy GPUs. I think they will not be limited in this case. If I were to upgrade my graphics down the road, I would probably go with a single, high-end card, and be getting the full 16x. Any upgrade past that point would be very far down the line and require a CPU upgrade, which would be on a different motherboard anyway. Therefore I think this is still the way to go.
 
That's very good thinking. I wasn't sure on how long you were going to keep your rig. 775 lasted pretty long so, i was sorta considering that but excellent thinking!
 
Yeah, I used to build monster rigs every 4 years until I came to this site. Now I build a bang for the buck rig every 2 years. Everybody at overclock.net thinks 920 is still the way to go, but I really disagree. Especially for a game like Arma 2, which requires so much CPU power, you are limiting your CPU speed just to get another x16 pipe for SLI, which a 260 is just shy of getting bottlenecked by. I think this is the real sweet spot here.

What do you think about RAM type to get with the 870, as well as the EVGA p55 FTW board?
 
Here's a good article that I think shows P55 is the way to go if you're only going to SLI GTX 260s or below. Your next GPU upgrade will be a single 300 series card that will have full use of a 16x slot. Meanwhile you are getting a much cheaper motherboard and processor for same performance.


http://techreport.com/articles.x/17513/8
 
Cheaper, lower voltage ram - http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16820231225

Cheaper, better PSU better fit to your load requirements - http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817371025

To be honest I'd sell one of the SSDs and skip the raid. A single SSD is already blisteringly fast as it is, I think you'd appreciate the cash more. I'd also only use one fan on the TRUE, last I heard push/pull only had like a 2-3c gain over just push. with that case I'd set the front fan intake, rear fan intake (supplying fresh air to CPU cooler which will be blowing backwards from normal) and top two for exhaust. Otherwise you'll have tons of negative pressure, with 4 fans exhausting and only one intake.


Wait and buy Win 7
 
As always, great info yh!

Ok so screw the push pull just go normal push fan.

Really interesting about rear intake fan combined with flipping the push CPU fan, I can see what you're saying, that's ingenious I will do that.

I went for the dual SSDs because I found a deal where I could get the 80gb version for 200 bucks instead of the 339 or whatever new egg had them at, and I wanted more than just 80gb to play with. So instead of buying 1 160GB for like 600 bucks I bought two for 400 bucks. Figured I might as well RAID 0 them if I have two of em, because now that I have a WHS (as per your component selections) I am not really worried about increased exposure to HD failure.

I am a fan of G.Skill and also of not overspending so I will go with that RAM since you give it your seal of approval.

As for the PSU, I am scared to buy anything but Corsair lol. I had some bad run-ins with cheap PSUs that screwed up my computers in the past, so nowadays all I buy is Corsair. Is the 750HX a decent one? I like modular designs and I want to have enough juice to dual SLI the next-gen Nvidia GPUs. 750 will be enough right? I put that one in there for the time being until I hear back.

The Vista link I gave says they give you a free coupon for Windows 7? Doesn't this mean I essentially am buying Windows 7, but get Vista 64 in the meantime? I am worried about driver issues and glitches, so I wasn't planning on upgrading soon anyway. Is that not smart?

You already saved me like $150 bucks so far LOL
 
That Antec is actually better quality than the corsair TX750, but the HX750 isn't a bad alternative at all



And yeah I keep forgetting they extended the upgrade offer to OEM license purchases
 
Well wait, the one you linked me is modular as well, which is what I thought the difference between HX and TX was for Corsair PSUs? HX being a modular Corsair, TX being regular. So why do you say the Antec is only better than a TX? Or am I reading it wrong? If you say its better quality, I will take your word for it, and it is modular, and cheaper, so I have already changed it above.
 
The TX750 is a slightly older design than the antec and the HX750 so it's a little less efficient/stable. In terms of quality (reliability, efficiency, stability) TX750 < Antec 750 < HX750. Either way though, all three are very good PSUs and there's not a huge difference between the three (except the modularity on the last two)
 
Well I think I am going to go ahead and execute on this thing! Thanks for your help as always yh, I will take some pics of my whole setup once I add this final piece!
 
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