Critique My September PC Build

[Durvelle27]

750w is plenty for two 670s or even two HD 7970s ? the ASRock is pretty good without spending an arm and a leg ?

check out my build ?

 

[thm1223]

The 3570K can overclock as well, it just doesn't have HyperThreading which I agree isn't necessary for only light video editing. Unless you professionally use Photoshop you really don't need an 8 thread rig.

That motherboard, and the RAM actually, are gigantic wastes of money. The motherboard doesn't really give you anything over the Extreme4 but costs twice as much. The RAM is quite overpriced even for 8 GB DIMMs, but also has very tall heat spreaders which will interfere with almost any air cooler as they have a lot of mass typically.

How did you manage to come up with a total of 2,427?

That's was the total of the items as they were sitting in my cart with a few peripherals I want to get as well. However, here is an updated items list (its completely changed since the first post:

Case: Corsair Obsidian Series 650D (CC650DW-1) Black Steel structure with black brushed aluminum faceplate ATX Mid Tower Computer ...

PSU: CORSAIR HX Series HX750 (CMPSU-750HX) 750W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular ...

Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I53570K

CPU Heatsink: Scythe SCMG-3000 120mm Heat Pipe CPU Cooler

RAM: CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 Desktop Memory Model CMZ16GX3M2A1600C9

Video Card (x2): EVGA 02G-P4-2678-KR GeForce GTX 670 FTW 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

HD: Plextor M3 Series PX-256M3 2.5" 256GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

CD/DVD Burner: ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM

Keyboard: Logitech G510 Black USB Wired Gaming Keyboard

Webcam: Logitech C310 USB 2.0 HD WebCam

Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM

Grand Total: $2,110

 

[thm1223]

750w is plenty for two 670s or even two HD 7970s ? the ASRock is pretty good without spending an arm and a leg ?

check out my build ?

I was thinking more about the next gen of cards. For an extra $40-$50 it seems like it may not be too bad of an investment, especially since we've taken the price of my build down from ~$3,100-$3,200 down to $2155! 😱

 

[Durvelle27]

I was thinking more about the next gen of cards. For an extra $40-$50 it seems like it may not be too bad of an investment, especially since we've taken the price of my build down from ~$3,100-$3,200 down to $2155! 😱

😵 if you've ever noticed video cards are getting more power efficient not more power hungry so 750w is good ? and FYI you don't have to spend more than 1500 for a good build ?

 

[thm1223]

😵 if you've ever noticed video cards are getting more power efficient not more power hungry so 750w is good ? and FYI you don't have to spend more than 1500 for a good build ?

Oh I didn't notice that trend. I've tended to simply look at the performance increase. Definitely good to know though!

 

[DSF]

I was thinking more about the next gen of cards. For an extra $40-$50 it seems like it may not be too bad of an investment, especially since we've taken the price of my build down from ~$3,100-$3,200 down to $2155! 😱

The current industry trend (and this is always subject to change) is toward lower power use. This generation of cards (the NVIDIA GTX 6-series) actually uses less power, even at the high end, than comparable parts from a year or two ago.

Check out AnandTech's own review of the GTX670, which includes power consumption data:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5818/nvidia-geforce-gtx-670-review-feat-evga/17

At load, their test system used 317W with a GTX 670 installed, and that's to power the entire system. The card itself is a fraction of that. (Probably about half.) So two 670s running in SLI will cause the whole system to pull a little under 500W from the wall. That's very safely under 750W.

You could certainly buy an 850W PSU if it will make you feel more comfortable, but it's not mathematically necessary, even if you upgrade cards down the line.

As far as the overclocking ability of the Asrock board, or any other basic Z77 board, they're all about the same. They will do just fine. (And again, if you're worried about the Asrock, there are other inexpensive options from Gigabyte and MSI.) Most of the advanced overclocking gizmos that you get on a high-price board don't translate to real performance, at least not for the kind of overclocking you're doing. If you're like AT user Don Karnage who overclocks aggressively and sells off CPUs that don't meet his overclocking goals, you might be interested in all that. For your uses though, I don't think it's necessary.

 

[Durvelle27]

That's was the total of the items as they were sitting in my cart with a few peripherals I want to get as well. However, here is an updated items list (its completely changed since the first post:

Case: Corsair Obsidian Series 650D (CC650DW-1) Black Steel structure with black brushed aluminum faceplate ATX Mid Tower Computer ...

PSU: CORSAIR HX Series HX750 (CMPSU-750HX) 750W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular ...

Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I53570K

CPU Heatsink: Scythe SCMG-3000 120mm Heat Pipe CPU Cooler

RAM: CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 Desktop Memory Model CMZ16GX3M2A1600C9

Video Card (x2): EVGA 02G-P4-2678-KR GeForce GTX 670 FTW 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

HD: Plextor M3 Series PX-256M3 2.5" 256GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

CD/DVD Burner: ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM

Keyboard: Logitech G510 Black USB Wired Gaming Keyboard

Webcam: Logitech C310 USB 2.0 HD WebCam

Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM

Grand Total: $2,110

Drop that SSD for this one

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...&SID=u00000687

and if your really stuck at that budget you can get two of these ?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202001

 

[thm1223]

The current industry trend (and this is always subject to change) is toward lower power use. This generation of cards (the NVIDIA GTX 6-series) actually uses less power, even at the high end, than comparable parts from a year or two ago.

Check out AnandTech's own review of the GTX670, which includes power consumption data:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5818/nvidia-geforce-gtx-670-review-feat-evga/17

At load, their test system used 317W with a GTX 670 installed, and that's to power the entire system. The card itself is a fraction of that. (Probably about half.) So two 670s running in SLI will cause the whole system to pull a little under 500W from the wall. That's very safely under 750W.

You could certainly buy an 850W PSU if it will make you feel more comfortable, but it's not mathematically necessary, even if you upgrade cards down the line.

As far as the overclocking ability of the Asrock board, or any other basic Z77 board, they're all about the same. They will do just fine. (And again, if you're worried about the Asrock, there are other inexpensive options from Gigabyte and MSI.) Most of the advanced overclocking gizmos that you get on a high-price board don't translate to real performance, at least not for the kind of overclocking you're doing. If you're like AT user Don Karnage who overclocks aggressively and sells off CPUs that don't meet his overclocking goals, you might be interested in all that. For your uses though, I don't think it's necessary.

Cool. Ya then I think I'll stick with the 750w. I also took out the fan controller since the 650D has one. So I guess my last two issues are:

1. Whether I should spend the extra $110 on a 3770k, since the processor is the least likely item I'd ever upgrade without having to build a new rig. I understand that it lacks hyper threading and has half the L2 cache, but I really don't know how that translates in terms of gaming performance.

2. Whatcha think of my RAM?

3. Is the release of the 660 Ti expected to push down the price of the GTX 670 or 680?

 

[thm1223]

Drop that SSD for this one

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...&SID=u00000687

and if your really stuck at that budget you can get two of these ?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814202001

Isn't my Plextor rated for a higher # of both reads and writes? Or do manufacturer specs not really matter when it comes to these two facts?

Also, I briefly read @ overclock.net that the 670 performs better unless you're going to be gaming at very high resolutions (such as what I intend to do). Is this why it would be worth the extra $80 to get two 7970s instead?

 

[Durvelle27]

Cool. Ya then I think I'll stick with the 750w. I also took out the fan controller since the 650D has one. So I guess my last two issues are:

1. Whether I should spend the extra $110 on a 3770k, since the processor is the least likely item I'd ever upgrade without having to build a new rig. I understand that it lacks hyper threading and has half the L2 cache, but I really don't know how that translates in terms of gaming performance.

2. Whatcha think of my RAM?

3. Is the release of the 660 Ti expected to push down the price of the GTX 670 or 680?

1. No its not worth it the i5 is plenty for the next few years
2. Not really needed for gaming but its fine
3. no because the 660 Ti is a mid range card not high end

 

[Durvelle27]

Isn't my Plextor rated for a higher # of both reads and writes? Or do manufacturer specs not really matter when it comes to these two facts?

Also, I briefly read @ overclock.net that the 670 performs better unless you're going to be gaming at very high resolutions (such as what I intend to do). Is this why it would be worth the extra $80 to get two 7970s instead?

i find the crucial to be more reliable and it cost less ? yes and also after the 12.7 beta drivers released it game the AMD HD 79xx series a good boost of performance so the HD 7970 is better than an GTX 670 and overclock pretty good ?

 

[lehtv]

i find the crucial to be more reliable and it cost less ?

Yes.

yes and also after the 12.7 beta drivers released it game the AMD HD 79xx series a good boost of performance so the HD 7970 is better than an GTX 670 and overclock pretty good ?

Probably.

Does that help?

 

[thm1223]

Yes.



Probably.

Does that help?

Yeah I also noticed it has 3GB of memory instead of 2.

 

[Durvelle27]

Yeah I also noticed it has 3GB of memory instead of 2.

3GB of VRAM and 384bit bus which makes it perfect for resolutions higher than 1920x1200 ?

 

[lehtv]

http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/verbs-questions_structure.htm

 

[Durvelle27]

http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/verbs-questions_structure.htm

who's that for lol ?

 

[DSF]

who's that for lol ?

I suppose he's wondering, as I am, why all of your posts end with a question mark.

When you're giving advice it's probably confusing to people you're trying to help. Sometimes it's not clear whether you're asking or declaring.

 

[Durvelle27]

I suppose he's wondering, as I am, why all of your posts end with a question mark.

When you're giving advice it's probably confusing to people you're trying to help. Sometimes it's not clear whether you're asking or declaring.

oh ok sorry

 

[thm1223]

Hey Durvelle27, could you or really anyone explain what the differences between these cards are:

1. SAPPHIRE 21197-00-40G Radeon HD 7970 3GB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

2. SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 7970 OC 3GB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card (11197-01-40G)

3. SAPPHIRE Vapor-X 100351VXSR Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition 3GB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

Also, what about just getting a single one of these and going SLI with them once it can't max out games in the future?:
SAPPHIRE Toxic 100351TXSR Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition 6GB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

Edit: Oops I mean Crossfire obviously not SLI

Also, I decided to change my RAM to the following (is DDR3 1333 ok?):
CORSAIR XMS 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 Desktop Memory Model CMX16GX3M2A1333C9

 

[Durvelle27]

1. is a non-reference HD 7970
2. 2 is a reference model which could be loud and hot
3. is a non-reference HD 7970 GHz edition that has an great cooler and is factory overclock

also that 6GB model isn't worth the money unless you're using 5+ or more monitors and want HIGH settings

 

[thm1223]

1. is a non-reference HD 7970
2. 2 is a reference model which could be loud and hot
3. is a non-reference HD 7970 GHz edition that has an great cooler and is factory overclock

also that 6GB model isn't worth the money unless you're using 5+ or more monitors and want HIGH settings

I don't want high I want ultra! 😀

But I will trust your advice that the extra $40/card is worth it between option #1 and option #3

 

[thelastjuju]

.. and yet again, a big spender enthusiast who completely neglects the audio aspect of the PC. You have this big of a budget, why not make room for a higher end sound card and some studio monitors or headphones or something?

 

[Durvelle27]

.. and yet again, a big spender enthusiast who completely neglects the audio aspect of the PC. You have this big of a budget, why not make room for a higher end sound card and some studio monitors or headphones or something?

good point ?

 

[Durvelle27]

I don't want high I want ultra! 😀

But I will trust your advice that the extra $40/card is worth it between option #1 and option #3

yep the Sapphire Vapor-X HD 7970 GHz Edition will be great and you could play games like BF3 on ultra with no problem ?

 

[krnmastersgt]

Cool. Ya then I think I'll stick with the 750w. I also took out the fan controller since the 650D has one. So I guess my last two issues are:

1. Whether I should spend the extra $110 on a 3770k, since the processor is the least likely item I'd ever upgrade without having to build a new rig. I understand that it lacks hyper threading and has half the L2 cache, but I really don't know how that translates in terms of gaming performance.

2. Whatcha think of my RAM?

3. Is the release of the 660 Ti expected to push down the price of the GTX 670 or 680?

1. Most games will not be able to fully utilize a quad core for a while as game engines are coded to scale off 2 or 4 threads, while Hyper Threading is great for some productivity software, the gaming industry is more or less ignoring the existence of 8 thread machines because they need to sell a lot of units, and very few have those at their disposal. So I would say no, it's not worth the extra bit of cash.

2. The RAM as I said before is overpriced, and the heat spreaders will interfere with almost any cooler around. 16 GB is also quite a bit too much for a gaming rig, even 4 GB would be sufficient if you didn't run anything on the side, 8 GB will be plenty. As for RAM, the frequencies and timings do make differences in benchmarks, but for the most part with modern systems they operate so fast no matter what that you won't really notice the difference between them unless you're doing something insanely memory intensive. This Patriot Gamer 2 8 GB set for $37 AR will be fine for your system.

3. The 660 Ti will not affect the prices of its bigger brothers as it of the same generation and not meant to compete with them in any way. The 660 Ti will likely cause a drop in the price of the 560 Ti and possibly the 7850 depending on what price it launches at.

Isn't my Plextor rated for a higher # of both reads and writes? Or do manufacturer specs not really matter when it comes to these two facts?

Also, I briefly read @ overclock.net that the 670 performs better unless you're going to be gaming at very high resolutions (such as what I intend to do). Is this why it would be worth the extra $80 to get two 7970s instead?

The numbers for most SSDs in terms of max read/write throughput is usually done in the most perfect circumstances that the manufacturer can come up with. I don't quite remember which SSD it was but around a year ago there was a drive boasting the highest throughput of any SSD on the market (I think it was an earlier SF controller) but when it came to certain tests in Anandtech's tests it fell flat on its face with speeds barely matching mechanical drives (like random writes).

As both drives utilize Marvell controllers I don't see much issue with either though, personally I can recommend the M4 as a great drive. According to Anandtech's benchmarks the Plextor is indeed better in almost every way, and as it utilizes the same controller the reliability aspect is likely close to the same unless they've botched their firmware somehow. At the end of the day though, both drives will handle your data so fast that they'll both seem of roughly the same speed so I'd suggest going with whichever you can get cheaper.

yep the Sapphire Vapor-X HD 7970 GHz Edition will be great and you could play games like BF3 on ultra with no problem ?

According to AT benchmarks either card will be able to handle BF3 with the 670 edging out a bit. Overall the 7970 GHz edition seems to average out better, but either card will be able to handle almost any game you can throw at it.


Edit: I'd also like to once again add that I still don't see how this build is coming out to be so expensive, as others have stated spending more on computer hardware isn't always better. Your system costs more than twice mfenn's mid-range system build but will only edge out in performance a tiny bit. With a single GTX 670, not the crazy 690 you're looking for, you can play any modern title even at 2560x1600. If you want EVERY modern title at highest settings possible then look into 670 SLI or 7970 GHz CF set-ups, both cost less than a single 690 and will likely outperform it in most circumstances.

Why are you aiming for 2 256 GB SSD's? If you need storage space SSD's are still nowhere near the cost efficiency of mechanical drives, just pick up a single 128 or 256 GB SSD and a 1 TB + mechanical drive to use as storage for non-essential/commonly used programs.