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Building new gaming rig next week...what to look out for?

T

TheFamilyMan

Golden Member
Giving my kids my current gaming rig (Phenom X4 Deneb-based AM3 with 2x 8800GT) and building a new one with the following:

- i5-4670k 3.4gHz CPU w/ CoolerMaster Hyper 212 EVO hs/fan
- GAZ87-X-D3H motherboard
- 16gb Crucial Ballistic DDR3 1866 RAM
- EVGA superNOVA 750W gold power supply
- 2 x GTX770 vid card.

Keeping current 256GB SSD, hybrid data drive, DVD-R, and BoosterX 450W graphics power supply for vid card.

As I haven't built or overclocked an Intel-based system since my Q6600 (living it's days out as a re-purposed WHS), is there anything I need to be aware of once I get it setup default and stable? I'm comfy in a BIOS and overclocking but know there are idiosyncrasies between AMD and Intel-based setups. I've already downloaded the MB manual and have begun reading through the BIOS screens to get familiar as well as doing some due diligence on the AT CPU forum.

I know all overclocks have more variables than you can shake a stick at and my overclock will vary from what everyone else is getting, but what do you guys think I could reasonably be looking at in terms of o'clock? The PC will be in a media closet 5' x 10', cooled with 1 vent from A/C system but very well-ventilated to where it isn't that much warmer than rest of house.
 
Unless you are getting a killer deal on the EVGA power supply, I would recommend you go with a more reputable PSU brand like Corsair, Seasonic, or even Rosewill's top bracket offerings. To add, you may not need 750w as a quality 600w+ unit will provide more than enough juice for that CPU+GPU, unless you plan to SLI in the future?

Edit- derp! did not see that you had QTY 2 of the GTX 770. That said, I would still recommend a better brand PSU. EVGA makes quality GPU's but their PSU's are not known to be quality
 
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If memory serves me correct (at work now), I'm running an OCZ ModXStream Pro 600W for the system components and the BoosterX for the vid cards.

I can use either power supply in this rig and just use the other in the kid's rig. I will keep an eye out on any anomalies and upgrade the power supply if needed.

Thanks for that input!
 
It seems your question is specifically an overclocking question, so perhaps this belongs in the CPU forum. Overclocking Haswell depends completely on the chip you get. You could be as low as 4GHz or as high as 4.7GHz, but you won't know until you try it. If you wanted to push the system to the max regardless of the silicon lottery, you'd need a bigger cooler, because you could end up needing a lot of voltage.

Do you already have the parts you listed? Just to be clear, even for GTX770SLI, you only need a 750W PSU, so using that booster PSU is needlessly complex. Just get a high quality 750W unit like the Corsair HX750.
 
I have an eVGA 500B PSU and I love it. If you ask me, the build quality is higher than Corsair CX and Thermaltake TR2 (both of which I have in the 600W version). I run 2x7870 + i5 3570k @ 4.3GHz, HDD, SSD, optical drive, Asus deluxe mobo with built in wifi+bluetooth, usb charger +, etc... I use it for mining 24/7 on both CPU & GPUs and I'm surprised that I am able to run it on a 500W PSU.

Also, evga offers 5-10 year warranties on their supernova PSUs... So that right there should tell you enough about their build quality
 
nwo said:
I have an eVGA 500B PSU and I love it. If you ask me, the build quality is higher than Corsair CX and Thermaltake TR2 (both of which I have in the 600W version). I run 2x7870 + i5 3570k @ 4.3GHz, HDD, SSD, optical drive, Asus deluxe mobo with built in wifi+bluetooth, usb charger +, etc... I use it for mining 24/7 on both CPU & GPUs and I'm surprised that I am able to run it on a 500W PSU.

Also, evga offers 5-10 year warranties on their supernova PSUs... So that right there should tell you enough about their build quality
Click to expand...

Here's a review of the 500B:

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2013/12/16/evga_500b_500w_power_supply_review/

It's definitely decent. The bigger issue for EVGA was marketing a number of "high-end" PSUs that had extra features but performed poorly. That's what earned them their reputation. I personally wouldn't select a Supernova PSU due to the use of an older split-rail design, but for the right price, it might be worth buying over other brands. For the same price as an HX750, however, it isn't compelling.
 
What resolution and refresh rate is your monitor? Unless you have a 2560-wide or 120Hz monitor, that GTX 770 SLI is going to be wasted.

Agree with ditching the supplementary power supply, it's simply not needed. The GTX 770's are not extremely high wattage cards, and driving two power supplies at low utilization is much less efficient than driving a single power supply at high utilization. I think the SuperNova is fine, especially at the current price of $65 AR. Not spectacular, but it will certainly get the job done.
 
mfenn said:
What resolution and refresh rate is your monitor? Unless you have a 2560-wide or 120Hz monitor, that GTX 770 SLI is going to be wasted.

Agree with ditching the supplementary power supply, it's simply not needed. The GTX 770's are not extremely high wattage cards, and driving two power supplies at low utilization is much less efficient than driving a single power supply at high utilization. I think the SuperNova is fine, especially at the current price of $65 AR. Not spectacular, but it will certainly get the job done.
Click to expand...

I'm running dual Dell 30" monitors. I don't span games across both, but will be running at high resolution for games.

I'll pull the BoosterX out and run them both on the SuperNova at first and see what I get. If it doesn't pan out, I've already arranged to return it for the Corsair (or other).
 
Termie said:
I was referring to the Supernova Gold which the OP either already has or wanted to buy. It is too expensive.
Click to expand...

Yep, I would also go with Corsair HX 750 in that case, but since you can get the Bronze version for nearly half the cost, there is no reason to get the Gold version.
 
750 watts is enough for 770 SLI. The cards have a hard limit of 250 watts, so you will not be pulling more than 500 watts at most via the graphics cards, and Haswell has difficulty going over 200 watts DC unless you have a golden chip on your hands.

Also, BoosterX is made FSP, a good company, so you should not have to worry about any disasters occuring through normal use of it.
 
Looks like I'm passing the SSD and data drives down as well. Kingston HyperX 240gb SSD and a hybrid drive are being added to the build as upgrades

Still haven't decided if I'll migrate the BoosterX to the new build to drive the cards or if I'll just load everything on the 750w power supply.

Parts are incoming today and tomorrow and OS is downloaded (Windows 8.1) and waiting. Fun times this weekend.
 
A high-priced SSD based on the old and notoriously buggy SF-2281 controller isn't my idea of a good upgrade. I'd swap that out for a consistent performer like the Crucial M500 240GB.

As for a hybrid drive, it's not really worth the extra cost. You end up paying $30-40 for a paltry 8GB of NAND. Looking at a 2TB drive, that NAND can cache at most 0.4% of the drive's total capacity, which is pretty underwhelming when you consider that most data on the drive is bulk data like media (otherwise it would go onto the SSD in the first place). My advice would be to stick with a normal 7200RPM drive, avoiding 4TB drives due to their poor cost per GB.
 
I'm getting the SSD at basically 1/3rd of going cost and the hybrid drive is coming from co-worker who originally bought it for a video editing machine he put together. Long story short, he's gotten more into video editing (and sound editing as well) and has some SSD's in RAID now. Him having more money than gumption or planning = fairly newer hardware at really cheap prices for me. I basically was talking to him about upgrading last week and came in the other day to find the hybrid drive on my desk with a note that read, "A couple lunches and we're even. Enjoy."
 
Finished everything up this weekend. Everything went together very smoothly and installation was a breeze. Ended up going Windows 8.1 as I had a key already. New system is so much more responsive and 'snappier' than my old system. My only issue (as detailed in a post in Memory and Storage) is that my writes on the SSD seem a bit below par. Reads are good and feedback from the thread is that it's not that big of an issue but I'll keep digging to see if there's any 'configuration' issue I may have overlooked.

I've got both GTX770's on the Booster X but may end up moving them to the power supply at some point. I've read that each GTX 770 at max draw pulled around 19A so both would be around 38A fully loaded. The Booster X only has 37.5A on the 12v available at max draw.

Haven't overclocked anything yet as I'm going to run it stock for a couple weeks. Current temps are 33C at idle and around 50C while gaming.

Kids are loving their 'new' PC and I ended up putting 2 5850's in their system.
 
Good to hear that system went together without a hitch. That's a very nice upgrade!

That BoosterX may be at its limits with two 770s in SLI, so I'd probably just move them over to the 750W unit.
 
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