Building a gaming computer

[Effektz]

Hi, currently I have a 4 years old computer and I'd like to get a new gaming computer since I want some Ultra settings with a budget that I'd like to keep under $1500 CAD if possible but it can go over a little bit. The price does not include software, monitor, mouse and keyboard which I already have.
Here's the build I've been looking at for the past couple days and I wonder if there's anything I can improve in term of price and performance. I also want to overclock my parts if possible.

Case : Antec 11Hundred
CPU : Intel Core i7 2600K
CPU Heatsink : Noctua NH-D14 // COOLER MASTER V10 (Not sure which one to pick)
MB : ASUS P8P67 Deluxe // [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]ASUS Sabertooth P67[/FONT] (Not sure which one to pick)
RAM : Corsair Vengeance Black 16GB 2X8GB
SSD : Intel 520 Series 120GB SSD
HDD : Seagate Barracuda 3TB (Can be a WD Sata3 1-2TB)
PSU : OCZ ZX Series 80+ Gold 850W
GPU : Gigabyte GeForce GTX 580 Fermi
LG DVD Burner Sata (or BlueRay)

I forgot to mention that I will be running dual Samsung 27" 550 series at 1920x1080
I consider on further expansion such as second GTX580 and more harddrives if needed
Thank you

 

[lehtv]

Hey Effektz, could you list answers to all of these questions so we can help you better: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=80121.
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=80121

 

[Effektz]

Hi, currently I have a 4 years old computer and I'd like to get a new gaming computer since I want some Ultra settings with a budget that I'd like to keep under $1500 CAD if possible but it can go over a little bit. The price does not include software, monitor, mouse and keyboard which I already have.
Here's the build I've been looking at for the past couple days and I wonder if there's anything I can improve in term of price and performance. I also want to overclock my parts if possible.

Case : Antec 11Hundred
CPU : Intel Core i7 2600K
CPU Heatsink : Noctua NH-D14 // COOLER MASTER V10 (Not sure which one to pick)
MB : ASUS P8P67 Deluxe // [FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]ASUS Sabertooth P67[/FONT] (Not sure which one to pick)
RAM : Corsair Vengeance Black 16GB 2X8GB
SSD : Intel 520 Series 120GB SSD
HDD : Seagate Barracuda 3TB (Can be a WD Sata3 1-2TB)
PSU : OCZ ZX Series 80+ Gold 850W
GPU : Gigabyte GeForce GTX 580 Fermi
LG DVD Burner Sata (or BlueRay)

I forgot to mention that I will be running dual Samsung 27" 550 series at 1920x1080
I consider on further expansion such as second GTX580 and more harddrives if needed
Thank you

Most of the questions are there I think...

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.
A. Gaming
2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread
1500$
3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.
A. CAD = Canadian Funds

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.
A. Intel / Nvidia

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
A. I already have my mouse, keyboard monitor and softwares

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
A. Will be overclocked

8. What resolution will you be using?
A. dual 1920x1080

9. WHEN do you plan to build it?
A. As soon as possible. Most likely within a month

 

[lehtv]

Thanks.

The GTX 680 is nearly out, wait for it to be released. It'll use a lot less power than GTX580 and will perform a lot better, I think it's set at 500 USD. If you want, you can buy the rest of the PC in advance and use it with the IGP or your 4-year old graphics card. EDIT: Almost forgot, here's the Tweaktown review of GTX680.

Intel Ivy Bridge may also be released within a month, I'm not sure. It's not really necessary to hold out for that though, it's not going to be a big upgrade over Sandy Bridge. Most of the benefits are in power consumption and IGP performance.

dual 1920x1080

I'd recommend running your gaming monitor off of the discrete GPU, and the other via the motherboard (using the CPU 's IGP). This will avoid ramping up the graphics card clocks/volts to 3D more while on the desktop. You'll need a Z68 board to use the IGP.

Now let's go over the parts:

Case
Good, only $80 in CC!

CPU
2600K won't be needed for gaming, as games don't use enough threads to make a difference between 2600K and 2500K. -> i5-2500K $233. Compare.

Heatsink
D14 and V10 are both overkill for Sandy Bridge. You just don't need such immense cooling to achieve a reasonably high overclock; the money is better spent elsewhere. This heatsink will perform close to the above at less than half the price: Scythe Mugen 3 $39

Mobo
As mentioned, buy Z68. Gigabyte Z68X-UD3H-B3 $150 AR is better value than Asus boards. SLI/Crossfire, internal USB3 for the case, four SATA 6gb/s, DisplayPort etc. etc. features you may or may not need.

RAM
Make sure you buy low profile RAM. For gaming, you won't need more than 2x4GB for a long time. Mushkin Blackline 1600MHz $45

SSD
Decent choice. It's still Sandforce though, but given that it's Intel, it may be more reliable than other manufacturers' Sandforce drives. However it's still a very new release, I'd let others do the beta testing. Samsung 830 128GB $180. Compare.

HDD
3TB drives used to be less reliable, and that may still be true, maybe someone else can chime in. Personally I'd stick to max. 2TB per drive. Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM $140.

PSU
XFX 750W ($80 AR) is enough for two stock clocked 680's in SLI. May allow for some OC as well. Still, you're very unlikely to ever SLI this card for 1080p.

GPU
GTX 680 $550?

DVD or Bluray $20-60

Total a bit over $1500

 

[Effektz]

Thanks.

The GTX 680 is nearly out, wait for it to be released. It'll use a lot less power than GTX580 and will perform a lot better, I think it's set at 500 USD. If you want, you can buy the rest of the PC in advance and use it with the IGP or your 4-year old graphics card. EDIT: Almost forgot, here's the Tweaktown review of GTX680.

Intel Ivy Bridge may also be released within a month, I'm not sure. It's not really necessary to hold out for that though, it's not going to be a big upgrade over Sandy Bridge. Most of the benefits are in power consumption and IGP performance.

I'd recommend running your gaming monitor off of the discrete GPU, and the other via the motherboard (using the CPU 's IGP). This will avoid ramping up the graphics card clocks/volts to 3D more while on the desktop. You'll need a Z68 board to use the IGP.

Now let's go over the parts:

Case
Good, only $80 in CC!

CPU
2600K won't be needed for gaming, as games don't use enough threads to make a difference between 2600K and 2500K. -> i5-2500K $233. Compare.

Heatsink
D14 and V10 are both overkill for Sandy Bridge. You just don't need such immense cooling to achieve a reasonably high overclock; the money is better spent elsewhere. This heatsink will perform close to the above at less than half the price: Scythe Mugen 3 $39

Mobo
As mentioned, buy Z68. Gigabyte Z68X-UD3H-B3 $150 AR is better value than Asus boards. SLI/Crossfire, internal USB3 for the case, four SATA 6gb/s, DisplayPort etc. etc. features you may or may not need.

RAM
Make sure you buy low profile RAM. For gaming, you won't need more than 2x4GB for a long time. Mushkin Blackline 1600MHz $45

SSD
Decent choice. It's still Sandforce though, but given that it's Intel, it may be more reliable than other manufacturers' Sandforce drives. However it's still a very new release, I'd let others do the beta testing. Samsung 830 128GB $180. Compare.

HDD
3TB drives used to be less reliable, and that may still be true, maybe someone else can chime in. Personally I'd stick to max. 2TB per drive. Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM $140.

PSU
XFX 750W ($80 AR) is enough for two stock clocked 680's in SLI. May allow for some OC as well. Still, you're very unlikely to ever SLI this card for 1080p.

GPU
GTX 680 $550?

DVD or Bluray $20-60

Total a bit over $1500

Thanks for the input. As you mentioned in the post above, the price difference between the 2 CPU is only 67$ (300$ on Kijiji Montreal) so it's not a big difference in prices so might as well get the 2600K. Also, why does it have to be low profile RAMs?

 

[DSF]

Thanks for the input. As you mentioned in the post above, the price difference between the 2 CPU is only 67$ (300$ on Kijiji Montreal) so it's not a big difference in prices so might as well get the 2600K. Also, why does it have to be low profile RAMs?

Some motherboards have the RAM slots in places that can be slightly obstructed by a large heatsink. Low-profile RAM should fit, RAM with fancy heatspreaders might not.

 

[lehtv]

As DSF said, low profile RAM will not have trouble fitting under any CPU coolers. In addition, big RAM heat spreaders don't really give you any more reliability.

the price difference between the 2 CPU is only 67$

If you don't use the PC for anything intensive apart from gaming, there's no need for 2600K even if the price is good. In my opinion, it'd be better to spend the difference on something else or save it towards the next upgrade. Or to put it another way, the extra $67 would make it a $1600 PC, meaning if you want to stay within budget you have to spend less on something else, possibly the video card. At this budget, and with a requirement for Ultra settings, I wouldn't back away from GTX 680.

The comparison link I gave you shows a couple of percent difference in games, and that small difference can be explained by the 100Mhz gap in stock clock speed.

 

[lehtv]

Newegg.ca has GTX 680 for $500: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...rder=BESTMATCH

 

[GoStumpy]

Shows Out of Stock for me

 

[mkmitch]

The silliest thing that we can buy for our puters is ram with those goofy heatspreaders. It just shows how gullible we are to marketing hype. Oh yeah ram coolers are another great idea too.

 

[mfenn]

Thanks.

The GTX 680 is nearly out, wait for it to be released. It'll use a lot less power than GTX580 and will perform a lot better, I think it's set at 500 USD. If you want, you can buy the rest of the PC in advance and use it with the IGP or your 4-year old graphics card. EDIT: Almost forgot, here's the Tweaktown review of GTX680.

Intel Ivy Bridge may also be released within a month, I'm not sure. It's not really necessary to hold out for that though, it's not going to be a big upgrade over Sandy Bridge. Most of the benefits are in power consumption and IGP performance.

I'd recommend running your gaming monitor off of the discrete GPU, and the other via the motherboard (using the CPU 's IGP). This will avoid ramping up the graphics card clocks/volts to 3D more while on the desktop. You'll need a Z68 board to use the IGP.

Now let's go over the parts:

Case
Good, only $80 in CC!

CPU
2600K won't be needed for gaming, as games don't use enough threads to make a difference between 2600K and 2500K. -> i5-2500K $233. Compare.

Heatsink
D14 and V10 are both overkill for Sandy Bridge. You just don't need such immense cooling to achieve a reasonably high overclock; the money is better spent elsewhere. This heatsink will perform close to the above at less than half the price: Scythe Mugen 3 $39

Mobo
As mentioned, buy Z68. Gigabyte Z68X-UD3H-B3 $150 AR is better value than Asus boards. SLI/Crossfire, internal USB3 for the case, four SATA 6gb/s, DisplayPort etc. etc. features you may or may not need.

RAM
Make sure you buy low profile RAM. For gaming, you won't need more than 2x4GB for a long time. Mushkin Blackline 1600MHz $45

SSD
Decent choice. It's still Sandforce though, but given that it's Intel, it may be more reliable than other manufacturers' Sandforce drives. However it's still a very new release, I'd let others do the beta testing. Samsung 830 128GB $180. Compare.

HDD
3TB drives used to be less reliable, and that may still be true, maybe someone else can chime in. Personally I'd stick to max. 2TB per drive. Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM $140.

PSU
XFX 750W ($80 AR) is enough for two stock clocked 680's in SLI. May allow for some OC as well. Still, you're very unlikely to ever SLI this card for 1080p.

GPU
GTX 680 $550?

DVD or Bluray $20-60

Total a bit over $1500

:thumbsup::thumbsup: to this. If the past is any indication, the GTX 680 is likely to be in and out of stock for the next month or so.

The GTX 680 is very fast, but the difference between it and an overclocked 7870 pretty much never the difference between playable and unplayable at 1080p.

The lower price will also help you fix your overall problem of only upgrading every 4 years. In general, it is better to build a reasonable base and then upgrade it every 12-18 months instead of building an uber rig and hoping that it will last 4 years.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

^+!

 

[lehtv]

The GTX 680 is very fast, but the difference between it and an overclocked 7870 pretty much never the difference between playable and unplayable at 1080p.

That's true at the moment, but may change later on. Not saying 680 is "future proof" but naturally it should offer more longevity and thereby decrease the likelihood of ever needing SLI/crossfire. Also, surprisingly, the 680 is nearly as good price/performance as 7870 - it costs 40% more and performs 30% better (techpowerup).

I think one shouldn't be comparing overclocked vs stock, unless one card overclocks a lot better than the other.

The OP did also express a preference for NVIDIA.

 

[mfenn]

I think one shouldn't be comparing overclocked vs stock, unless one card overclocks a lot better than the other.

I agree, but in the case if the 7870, most every card is "stock overclocked". Basically, all I'm getting at is that just looking at the reference card benchmarks is a little disingenuous because you can get a card with a 10% factory overclock for $360.

 

[lehtv]

It'd be easy to achieve a 10% overclock on a reference 680, so that's still only a valid point if the 7850's overclock a lot better... in this case, maybe they do, given the superior cooling compared to a reference 680

 

[mfenn]

It'd be easy to achieve a 10% overclock on a reference 680, so that's still only a valid point if the 7850's overclock a lot better... in this case, maybe they do, given the superior cooling compared to a reference 680

Sure, but they don't ship from the factory that way. I'm talking about "stock overclocked" cards here. The Radeon 7800 series is somewhat of a unique case because you cannot buy the the reference card, so it's not a very good "reference".

 

[MoxJr]

you dont need 2600k

get the 2500k

 

[T_Yamamoto]

you dont need 2600k

get the 2500k

already been stated many times :\