Creating A Gaming Pc. I really need help.

[jordanecmusic]

I was on ibuypower.com, because it seems to cost more on digital storm and all of the other websites. I refuse to build a custom gaming pc with my own barehands due to my excessive ocd and because I buy power has a 3 year warranty on everything.

Anyways, I was just needing some help on shaving a couple of dollars on the total price.

1. The Case. I am thinking of getting the Thermaltake Armor+ Full Tower. I like it because it looks beautiful. I was originally going to go with the Level 10, but that is about $750 going to waste on stupidity. I am choosing this case but if anyone has any doubts about it, please mention it.

2. The Processor. The two processors I am debating on are the Intel i7 980 and the Intel i7 990x. Is the $500 addition on the 990x really that noticable? Note, I am not an overclocker.

3. The RAM. Three choices: 24GB of ddr3-1600mhz (Corsair Vengance), 12GB of ddr3-1800mhz ($200 cheaper than the 24GB), or 6GB of ddr3-2000mhz ($309 cheaper than the 24GB). This I am really confused on. Note that the 1800 and the 2000 are not corsair vengance sticks, only the 1600mhz are. I will not mind paying the price for the 24GB if they are truly worth it.

4. The Video Card(s). I really really want the Nvidia Geforce gtx590. I am willing to pay the price to get two of those to run side by side, but is it too early to do so? Should I wait for later to pay another $800 to get it later, or should I just get it right from the get go?

5. The Motherboard. Asus Sabertooth X58 (2 way sli) or for $60 more, Gigabyte G1.Guerrilla w/ Killer Network Technology (3 way sli)? Is it even possible to run 3 GTX590's to run side by side? As of what I've read the advantage is on the G.1 Guerilla because it has the Killer Network Card ($89 to get it seperately) in it. Also it has 3 way sli. But is it truely worth the extra money? Which one is truely more reliable?

6. The PSU. Should I match the brand name of the case to avoid any hassle with a Thermaltake 1200Watt PSU? or should I max out the PSU potential by getting a 1500 Watt Silverstone PSU for $150 more?

7. The Harddrive(s). I was looking at solid state drives. Do I really need a solid state drive? If I dont get the 2 60gb ssd's I wanted I save about $150 to $200 if I just buy a 1tb HDD. If I get the 2 60Gb ssd's, I will still get the 1TB HDD. With the set up I am creating, should I even bother getting the ssd's? What are the advantages of SSD vs HDD anyways?

8. The Optical Drive. DVD RW drive or Blueray/DVD RW Drive (for $41 more). Is blueray going to take over pc gaming or do I even need a blueray drive on my pc? I use steam alot for the record but since I am joining the military, I will not always have access to the internet. Should I jump the gun for $41 or just save the money?

9. The Meter Display. A Touch Screen Fan, Temp, and HDD monitor. I do not overclock, like I stated before. I can grab one of these for $60. The question is do I really need it? Has the enticement of wanting a stronger system chained me to creating a headquarters of temperature monitoring and fan fail-safe-ing?

10. The Soundcard (or not?). I am a musician. I mix, edit, record, and master. Although I do these things, I have not yet heard the differences of integrated and dedicated sound cards. On both motherboards I am choosing from, they both have 8 audio channels (lets stick 8 things in my computers butt shall we?). Do I really need a dedicated sound card? Would I really notice a difference? Would the 2x gt590's process the audio work load or would the integrated sound card?

This is the first time I am ever creating a custom computer (or having a company do it for me). Also, the pc comes with a 3 year warranty. anything goes wrong, they have to replace it! muahahhahaha its like...RROD replacement...but for pc's haha got you microsoft.


Moved from PC Gaming

Anandtech Moderator
KeithTalent

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Please ask the mods to move your thread here.

 

[KaOTiK]

I have a bit of a headache so not going to go too indepth and just touch on a few things.

1. Case. Reallly just get something with some space and that you like the look of. Since you aren't going to be overclocking or doing other stuff, it isn't an issue. Just pick what you like.

3. RAM. Unless you are doing some memory intensive things, you have no need for 24 or ever 12GB of ram. 8 is a solid number and more then enough that is needed now.

4. This is my personal opinion, but SLI/Crossfire isn't really worth it. You have to troubleshoot so many games to get them working right, if they will even work at all together for that game. People with sli/crossfire always seem to have a problem with a new game where as someone with a single card doesn't. This is just my observation and opinion on it. I say just get one, save the money. If you feel you need more performance later on, you can always buy whatever the newest series/top of the line card is for the price you are willing to pay now and get more bang.

6. PSU, I haven't looked into them in awhile, but don't just go by watt, a shitty psu with high watt will under perform a good psu with less. You also don't need to go that high, 1k is more than enough even with sli/crossfire iirc.

7. They are nice. Get an SSD for your boot drive and for whatever you heavily use. Sure games take advantage of it and such, but the only place it really makes a difference for a game is multiplayer with loading levels and then you still have to wait a set amount of time as everyone else is loading up anyways. Either way you can go on this one.

9. no, a waste for you

10. For you, yes

 

[RebelCapitalist]

2. I'd do some benchmark checking out. I'm rocking the I5-2500k and can't imagine needing more. Sure, if you have the cash, move up, but the dollars to performance value doesn't seem to be there.

3. Your game will at most be using 4GB. Realistically, it will probably use about 2-3GB. Having more than 8GB is pointless for games and normal computing. Now, if you're doing video editing, Photoshop, etc, then having more is fine. But don't do what most people do and think more ram automatically equals faster, better performance.

4. Always get the best single card you can IMHO. Of course, make sure it's even needed. I have a OCd HD 5770 still. I want the HD 6950 2GB, but first I need to game to kill my card. Skyrim sure isn't going to do it. Get whatever card best matches the stuff you do a majority of the time.

5. I just dropped about $200 on my MoBo. Mainly make sure you're getting what you actually need. I don't skimp on MoBos ever, but that's me. I'll gladly replace a CPU, GPU, ram, HD, etc, but replacing the MoBo sucks.

7. I don't have a SSD yet and don't think I need one. Yeah, sure popping open stuff faster is great, but I like my money more. My games run great on my mechanical drives (7200 rpm, 32mb buffer).

8. I have a BLU drive but that's because I also have a 3D projector sitting here. For normal computers, I just use whatever is cheapest.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

you want to shave a couple dollars off the total price? every part you described is as big a ripoff as possible. i suggest doing more research on anandtech.com and these forums before spending several thousand dollars.

1. i'll get back to the case. my favorites are silverstone and lian li.

2. get a 2600k cpu for $300. you can spend more, but it won't run any faster or better than this.

3. 8 gb of ram. that's 4 2gb sticks. $200 if you're feeling spendy.

4. multiple vid cards are mostly for suckers. get the best single card you can, unless you want problems and disappointments.

5. most lga 1155 boards will be very similar. go for a z68 board with usb 3.0. i like gigabyte and asus. the killer network card is the biggest ripoff out there, bar none.

6. those power supplies are just ridiculous. 1200-1500 watts? yeah right. the power supply has to be correctly sized to the power draw, plus some extra. not 1500 watts. i like the seasonic x-series.

7. you want 1 intel 120-160 gb ssd for os and programs and 1 big hard drive, like a western digital green, for everything else. no raid or anything silly.

8. i doubt games will ever be on blu-ray, so if you don't have a bunch of movies it will never be used. however, the price difference is among the smallest things you listed.

9. i think displays and fan controllers are useless and ugly. you're not going to have the cpu or video fans plugged into that for sure.

10. if you're using the analog outputs you won't see much improvement no matter what. if you're using digital outputs, the only difference will be dolby digital or dts processing, which is great for surround in games. many motherboards now do 1 of those. if you're using the computer for serious music, you'll want an m-audio card, which doesn't do games at all.

 

[bononos]

....
7. The Harddrive(s). I was looking at solid state drives. Do I really need a solid state drive? If I dont get the 2 60gb ssd's I wanted I save about $150 to $200 if I just buy a 1tb HDD. If I get the 2 60Gb ssd's, I will still get the 1TB HDD. With the set up I am creating, should I even bother getting the ssd's? What are the advantages of SSD vs HDD anyways?

....

SSDs are solid state drives (all electronics) vs disks/actuator arms of the usual harddrives so the performance is much higher.

 

[bononos]

.....

3. 8 gb of ram. that's 4 2gb sticks. $200 if you're feeling spendy.
....

Any reason for 4 sticks vs 2 4Gb sticks?

 

[The Boston Dangler]

last time i checked, the 4 gb sticks were slower and more expensive. also, you won't see any improvement with anything higher than ddr3-1333.

 

[bononos]

Do you mean to say that a 2Gb stick with the same timings as 4Gb will still run faster? Do you have a link to the article/test?
As far as cost goes 2x2Gb/4Gb differences are now very very small.

 

[nobot]

In many cases using 2 dimm's per channel will hurt your cas latency.

I would go with 1x4g vs 2x2g per channel personally.

p.s. you can likely find this info if you download the motherboard manual from the manufacturer.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

well, if you have sticks at the same price and timings, then that concern is addressed. life has moved on without me, and not for the last time.

i did not find 2 dimms per channel to effect performance in any way on my p55 board. the xmp settings fail to kick in automatically when activated in bios, just like with 2 sticks.

ymmv and rtfm.

 

[Aikouka]

You want to spend a bit of cash on the extreme edition processor (that's not even a Sandy Bridge), but you want to skimp on a SSD? A SSD won't necessarily do as much for the gaming aspect of your PC, but it will make it feel very speedy with the other tasks.

 

[marmasatt]

You are choosing the wrong architecture from the get go. X58 chipset, triple channel are a generation behind. Look for a Z68 chipset motherboard. Don't waste all of that money on SLI. While money is no object to you, with that much memory you are planning, and a blazing processor, a single video card will do you fine.

 

[dfuze]

^^ I agree with the above post about getting a single video card, but the OP also did omit what monitor resolution he will be using. Requirements will be vastly different if gaming on a 19" vs 27" screen.

 

[Shmee]

What resolution do you game at and what games will you be playing? This will determine how much video power you need. Also, I would recommend a 2500 or 2600. An SSD is a must IMO, but get a GOOD one, not just any. Check SSD reviews thread. Then get a good 1TB+ HDD for storage.

To clarify, crossfire and SLI can help, but again, it depends on games and resolution.

 

[jordanecmusic]

^^ I agree with the above post about getting a single video card, but the OP also did omit what monitor resolution he will be using. Requirements will be vastly different if gaming on a 19" vs 27" screen.

well i was thinking of getting that alienware curved screen. I think its pretty but it is seriously expensive. i can get 3 1440x900 19in screens for 600$ which i believe is going to be much cheaper than the alien ware screen. or I can probably just get 3 screens at a higher resolution but nothing over 25 inches...Screens too big are too intense for me lol...

 

[KaOTiK]

1440x900 screens? D:

 

[jordanecmusic]

1440x900 screens? D:

alienware curved screen resolution=2,880x900
thats 2 1440x900 screens but curved in a ... curvey like fashion.

thats the problem with that screen. its low rez.

 

[Zap]

I'll copy/paste from your locked thread.

My budget is $5000. I'm going Army so I believe I will have enough time to save up that much money by the time I get out or even before then. I will probably get a gaming laptop before I get the rig just in case I get deployed to somewhere, but thats a different story.

Wait, you are planning this build to buy at a much later time? By the time you save up the money, this build will already be outdated!

How long are you planning to keep such a computer? Really though, you can get 95% of the gaming performance at under 1/2 the cost, and in 2 years buy a new PC with the remaining money and end up with much BETTER performance.

I want to have a future proof computer.

No such thing.

Are there any games that make use of the hex-core processors yet?

No. Games are barely starting to use more than two cores, so very unlikely that they make use of a hex core for many, many, many years to come.

 

[mfenn]

You want to spend a bit of cash on the extreme edition processor (that's not even a Sandy Bridge), but you want to skimp on a SSD? A SSD won't necessarily do as much for the gaming aspect of your PC, but it will make it feel very speedy with the other tasks.

That's what made me really go WTF when I read the OP.

OP, please update this thread with the answers to the questions in the sticky.

 

[mfenn]

I'll copy/paste from your locked thread.

Wait, you are planning this build to buy at a much later time? By the time you save up the money, this build will already be outdated!

How long are you planning to keep such a computer? Really though, you can get 95% of the gaming performance at under 1/2 the cost, and in 2 years buy a new PC with the remaining money and end up with much BETTER performance.

No such thing.

No. Games are barely starting to use more than two cores, so very unlikely that they make use of a hex core for many, many, many years to come.

Also, listen to the Elite Mod, he knows what he is talking about.

 

[mfenn]

1440x900 screens? D:

Yeah, seriously. A build with this kind of budget should be rocking a 30" at the minimum.

 

[jordanecmusic]

Yeah, seriously. A build with this kind of budget should be rocking a 30" at the minimum.

Im one of those gamers that have to play at least 5 inches away from my screen. 30" screen are not meant for that. The most I'll deal with is a 24" screen, which I can find some that have a nice resolution.

Well maybe, I can try that. I want to have at least 3 screens to hook up to this rig...It would be pointless to play that close up to the screen and have all of those screens too...

 

[lehtv]

Why do you have to play 5 inches away from the screen...? With a bigger screen, you don't have to.

 

[jordanecmusic]

I'll copy/paste from your locked thread.



Wait, you are planning this build to buy at a much later time? By the time you save up the money, this build will already be outdated!

How long are you planning to keep such a computer? Really though, you can get 95% of the gaming performance at under 1/2 the cost, and in 2 years buy a new PC with the remaining money and end up with much BETTER performance.



No such thing.



No. Games are barely starting to use more than two cores, so very unlikely that they make use of a hex core for many, many, many years to come.

What I meant by future proof is relative to gaming console advancements compared to computer advancements. Console Gaming is ALWAYS going to limit the advantages of Computer Gaming due to the relatively cheaper price on systems and ease of use. All us pc gamers really get now a days is a poorly ported console engine on pc with some extra features.

The trick to me saving all the money to purchase such a system is to stay hyped up about it. Then, when there comes a better system I can build, I can get that instead.

Now that people are actually telling me that 2600k (4core)>990x (6core), I did some googling and actually found out that there are NO games making use of the 5th or 6th core. By the time I save up the money though, there may be a 990x sandybridge version...or better.

I cannot seem to find a different place to buy the geforce gtx590 anywhere seperately...thats why i wanted to get two of them.