Gaming Build Critique

[fstime]

I mostly followed the Holiday 2011 mainstream high end buyers guide found here:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5196/holiday-2011-mainstream-high-end-buyers-guide

I have not decided on a monitor so any recommendations there would be appreciated, do people usually stay away from 27 inch monitors due to them having the same resolution as 24 inch monitors? Either way, I would choose one of these two sizes with pricing around $300-400.

I am open to light overclocking (speeds which are safe and are almost guaranteed to get by anyone and do not require extreme cooling and other accessories.)

I plan on using my old hard drive and peripherals.

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Antec P280 Black ATX Mid Tower Computer Case $139.99


EVGA 015-P3-1580-AR GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) 1536MB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card - $479.99

*OR AMD 7950 OR EVGA's GeForce GTX 560 Ti 2Win


SeaSonic X Series X-850 (SS-850KM Active PFC F3) 850W ATX12V v2.3 / EPS 12V v2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD - $210.99

*While I have a feeling this PSU is overkill, the author states "SeaSonic's X850 is an extremely well-built 850W power supply capable of powering this impressive system whether you decide to go with a single GTX 580 or two Radeon HD 6950s. That said, the Bench test system hit 850W with two GTX 580s in SLI under Furmark—so if you plan to go with one GTX 580 initially and add a second card later, you will want to upgrade to a more powerful PSU."


G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL - $46.99


GIGABYTE GA-Z68XP-UD3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard - $154.99


Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000 - $224.99


ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM - $20.99


CORSAIR H80 (CWCH80) High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler - $89.99

*What does AT think about this CPU cooler? Anything you guys prefer?

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Total: ~~~~$1350 w/out a monitor


Please note, if you guys think anything here is overkill and really not worth the additional cost over another component, I would love to save some money but do not mind spending it where it makes a big difference! I would like to stay around $1500 with a monitor but like I said, if I can save money somewhere without taking a significant hit, I an open to it. Also, if something here is on the brink of being replaced very soon (i.e. Ivy Bridge?), I would have no problem waiting.

Thanks

 

[Mike Gayner]

Wrong forum there, Einstein.

 

[fstime]

Wrong forum there, Einstein.

Yes, I already noted that in the first sentence of the OP (and notified the mods), Einstein.

 

[Vic Vega]

...

 

[T_Yamamoto]

An air cooler will be much better than a h80. I'd rather get a noctura than spend as much as you would on a h80. Also make sure the ram is 1.5v and the chepaest set of 2x4gb ram will do.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

While Seasonic is top tier in the PSU arena I think you can do better. 210$ is alot while you still can get that good a quality PSU for a lower price. Maybe even better performance.

 

[biostud]

definitely go with a 7950 over a 580gtx

 

[Charlie98]

An air cooler will be much better than a h80.

I would tend to agree, if you are only going to go 4.0-4.1GHz on your OC with the 2500k, a standard aftermarket air cooler will be fine without all the complexity of water.

Nice PSU, just waaay expensive and probably overkill if you are not SLI'ing or xFire'ing. Modular would be nice, though...

 

[Zap]

Please note, if you guys think anything here is overkill and really not worth the additional cost over another component, I would love to save some money but do not mind spending it where it makes a big difference!

Ivy Bridge may (or may not) be delayed.

For monitors, there are $1000 27" monitors at higher resolutions. Otherwise, people often go for high resolution at low price, hence the popularity of smaller 1080p monitors. Up to you. You can get a 22-24" 1080P monitor for cheaper than a 27" 1080p monitor. How's your eyesight? Some people would rather have the pixels closer together for everything to look nice and sharp. Some people would rather have everything larger to be easier to see.

Corsair H80 is complete overkill. Very nice choice however. Just pointing it out since you wanted "overkill" to be pointed out. A 2500K can hit 4GHz with the stock cooler (if you don't spend all day torture testing) and can hit maximum overclock using a $30 air cooler. A $90 water cooler won't get it to magically run any better. Well, unless you are getting socket 2011 and overclocking...

If you aren't absolutely, positively, 100% certain you are going dual graphics cards before the next gen cards come out, 850W is overkill. Get something like an XFX Core 550W or Corsair TX series or something lower wattage and lower priced.

 

[fstime]

Ok, I will swap out the PSU for someless less like a Corsair 650W and CPU cooler for an air cooler.

What about the AMD 7950 or EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 2Win rather than the 580?

Thanks

 

[lehtv]

I would tend towards a 7950, consumes a lot less power than a 580, overclocks better. Easier to keep it cool and quiet inside a P280, provided it has a good cooler on it (asus triple-slot or gigabyte triple-fan would be best). And more VRAM can't hurt. However... for 1080p gaming, you would be just fine with 6950/7850/7870. Maybe you'd have to make some quality sacrifices in the most demanding titles, but the extra cash needed for a 7900 series card won't have much of an effect on your enjoyment of games. Would rather spend the difference on an SSD (Crucial M4 128GB $175).

(As for 560 ti 2win, it's more like 2fail. Like all dual GPU solutions, it can suffer from possible driver/compatibility issues in new or less popular titles. But it is also limited to only 1GB VRAM and consumes a ton of power. Even gtx590 is better and i'd never recommend that to anyone. If you want two GPU's, go with 6950 or 7800 series crossfire.)

And the rest of the components - P280 I approve, +1 on a 550-650W non-modular but good quality unit, low profile RAM e.g. this or this or this. The mobo is fine though you'd save $50 with an Asrock Z68 Pro3 Gen3 if you don't need SLi/crossfire or front panel USB3.0. For quietness on the CPU cooler front (to go with your P280) I'd strongly recommend a Scythe Mugen 3. (I'm very happy with my Mugen 2 inside a Fractal R3. 500RPM idle speed is bliss.)

Edit I'd grab this in an instant, it's enough for any single GPU: www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207013 $45 AR AP

 

[thelastjuju]

Yet another beast of a gaming rig.. yet absolutely no concern for a sound card or audio quality..

I'll never understand this. Are you guys really satisfied with maxed out graphics, full blown AA/AF, highest resolutions, etc.. yet onboard sound quality?

 

[lehtv]

I'll never understand this. Are you guys really satisfied with maxed out graphics, full blown AA/AF, highest resolutions, etc.. yet onboard sound quality?

+1000

Amazing how it's so easy for me to forget this, even though I'm very satisfied with my sound not coming from a crappy integrated chip. Maybe I'm just lulled into thinking it doesn't matter to most people as they never mention sound in their build critique requests. But it should matter.

 

[Zap]

Not all of us are born with golden ears.

For the rest of us mere mortals, we are content with what we don't obsess over. I don't obsess over audio quality (ever since "HD Audio" replaced AC'97) so I'm using onboard audio.

On the flip side, I love manual transmissions in cars and can't understand why anyone would want to lose out on the involvement with the pleasure of driving by crippling a car with an automatic transmission. I don't understand why most people think I'm wonky?

 

[thelastjuju]

Not all of us are born with golden ears.

For the rest of us mere mortals, we are content with what we don't obsess over. I don't obsess over audio quality (ever since "HD Audio" replaced AC'97) so I'm using onboard audio.

On the flip side, I love manual transmissions in cars and can't understand why anyone would want to lose out on the involvement with the pleasure of driving by crippling a car with an automatic transmission. I don't understand why most people think I'm wonky?

I guess I always figured those with golden eyes would also have golden ears

As far as transmissions.. I too thought automatics were inferior.. until I got the chance to drive BMW SMG and Mercedes AMG transmissions.. and that all changed forever. :wub:

 

[Charlie98]

As far as transmissions.. I too thought automatics were inferior.. until I got the chance to drive BMW SMG and Mercedes AMG transmissions.. and that all changed forever. :wub:

Well, I went with an auto in my newest Super Duty... big mistake. I miss my 5-speed... :'''(

 

[Fire&Blood]

S/PDIF outs are on virtually every mobo out there, if not on I/0, then at least there is a header out somewhere on the board.
And yes, auto transmissions caught up, I have a manual 6 speed myself but these double clutch setups shift lightning fast.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Yet another beast of a gaming rig.. yet absolutely no concern for a sound card or audio quality..

I'll never understand this. Are you guys really satisfied with maxed out graphics, full blown AA/AF, highest resolutions, etc.. yet onboard sound quality?

I have over 1,000 CDs stored in lossless FLAC format, that I play through an Onkyo receiver connected via optical digital. Music sound quality is very important to me.

For games, I have an $80 Logitech 5.1 setup connected to the analog out of my gaming PC and am happy with it. Sound quality in games just doesn't matter as much to me as smooth frame rates and a decent resolution :shrug:

 

[Zap]

I guess I always figured those with golden eyes would also have golden ears

Maybe that's why I don't use a discrete card? I wear glasses.

As far as transmissions.. I too thought automatics were inferior.. until I got the chance to drive BMW SMG and Mercedes AMG transmissions.. and that all changed forever. :wub:

I also thought onboard audio was inferior, until I decided to ditch my VIA Envy24T PCI sound card... and that all changed forever.

I have over 1,000 CDs stored in lossless FLAC format, that I play through an Onkyo receiver connected via optical digital. Music sound quality is very important to me.

Right. And SPDIF from a discrete card sounds different than SPDIF from onboard?

 

[mfenn]

I would tend to agree, if you are only going to go 4.0-4.1GHz on your OC with the 2500k, a standard aftermarket air cooler will be fine without all the complexity of water.

You can take an i5 2500K to any reasonable OC you want with a $50 cooler like the Mugen 3 or HR-02 Macho.

 

[mfenn]

I would tend towards a 7950, consumes a lot less power than a 580, overclocks better. Easier to keep it cool and quiet inside a P280, provided it has a good cooler on it (asus triple-slot or gigabyte triple-fan would be best). And more VRAM can't hurt. However... for 1080p gaming, you would be just fine with 6950/7850/7870. Maybe you'd have to make some quality sacrifices in the most demanding titles, but the extra cash needed for a 7900 series card won't have much of an effect on your enjoyment of games. Would rather spend the difference on an SSD (Crucial M4 128GB $175).

(As for 560 ti 2win, it's more like 2fail. Like all dual GPU solutions, it can suffer from possible driver/compatibility issues in new or less popular titles. But it is also limited to only 1GB VRAM and consumes a ton of power. Even gtx590 is better and i'd never recommend that to anyone. If you want two GPU's, go with 6950 or 7800 series crossfire.)

And the rest of the components - P280 I approve, +1 on a 550-650W non-modular but good quality unit, low profile RAM e.g. this or this or this. The mobo is fine though you'd save $50 with an Asrock Z68 Pro3 Gen3 if you don't need SLi/crossfire or front panel USB3.0. For quietness on the CPU cooler front (to go with your P280) I'd strongly recommend a Scythe Mugen 3. (I'm very happy with my Mugen 2 inside a Fractal R3. 500RPM idle speed is bliss.)

Edit I'd grab this in an instant, it's enough for any single GPU: www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207013 $45 AR AP

Agree with this. A $1300 build with no SSD just seems wrong to me. Luckily, cutting the PSU to something reasonable easily pays for an SSD.

 

[Fire&Blood]

A discrete sound card is far from a must have if you use S/PDIF, either optical or coaxial out to a (hopefully decent) A/V receiver with a matching speaker setup. If you already paid for a good sound setup, it makes perfect sense to have it handle PC sound as well. For pro audio creation and edit, a dedicated card makes sense.

Some berate motherboards without PS/2 and computers without dedicated sound cards "because USB peripherals and on board audio steal CPU cycles", I wouldn't spend time arguing with them.

 

[fstime]

Are the Dell UltraSharp monitors still popular around here for a nice IPS display?

I was looking at the U2312HM for $240 or U2412M for $330.

Is IPS good enough for gamers yet or should I stick with a different type of panel?

Any recommendations here, looking at the $200-350 price point. It doesn't have to be the best in any specific category just good all around.

- Oh and I was planning on using the SPDIF out for you guys talking about sound.

 

[Zap]

Are the Dell UltraSharp monitors still popular around here for a nice IPS display?

I was looking at the U2312HM for $240 or U2412M for $330.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5550/dell-u2412m-16-10-ips-without-breaking-the-bank

 

[fstime]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5550/dell-u2412m-16-10-ips-without-breaking-the-bank

Nice, the reviewer seems to put it perfectly as to what I am looking for. "After using it, the Dell U2412M comes out with a lot of positives and no big negatives." " It’s certainly not perfect, but it’s good enough for most people."

Settled on these parts after everyones much appreciated help:

-Fractal Design Define R3 -$110
-Intel 2500K - $225
-ASUS HD7950-DC2T $490
-Gskill Ripjaws 8 GB - $47
-Scyth SCMG-3000 - $50
-Crucial M4 128 GB - $174
-OCZ ZS 650W 80 PLUS + Liteon DVD burner combo - $75 ($50 after MIR)
-ASRock Z68 PRO3 - $105
-Dell U2412M - $340
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$1621 shipped

My only question left is, lehtv mentioned the ASRock Z68 PRO3 GEN3 as an option at $105, will this motherboard be limiting my overclocking potential. I do not mind losing the SLI/CF capability for the added savings.