Looking for input on new build

[supremor]

1. What your PC will be used for?
Gaming, browsing and watching stuff. No rendering or photo/video editing.

2. What YOUR budget is?
~2500$ but keep in mind most parts are 20-30% more expensive here.

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.
Israel.

4. IF YOU have a brand preference.
I'm partial to ASUS boards and AMD graphics.

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
Mouse, Keyboard, HDD's, Monitors, Seasonic X750 PSU.

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
I will be OCing but nothing too hardcore.

8. What resolution will you be using?
5760x1200

9. WHEN do you plan to build it?
Within a month.

Also I will not be needing any additional software.

With all that out of the way what I had in mind was this:

CPU : 3570k
Mobo : ASUS P8Z77-V Pro
CPU Cooling : H100 but undecided on that as of yet
GPU : 2x GTX 670 2GB (probably Gigabyte Windforce cards)
RAM : undecided on brand but probably like 16GB of Corsair or G. Skill
SSD : 256GB M4
Case : HAF-X or Fractal Design XL

I'm really not sure about cases at this point. I like the HAF-X for its cooling capability because that's very important to me and I don't really mind the look but something more tame so to speak like the Define XL is also appealing but I'm not sure how that case would stack up vs the HAF-X cooling wise.

I know many people here love Corsair cases and while I admit they have some nice cases I don't know if I'm comfortable with their cooling ability when crammed with SLI and an OC'd IB. It gets very hot here during the summer and I cant always run the AC so cooling is the first and foremost priority however silence is always appreciated.

The other part I'm not 100% sure about are the GPU's. Mainly how will 2GB 670's cope with 5760x1200? As you may have noticed earlier in the thread I said I'm partial to AMD graphics but after hearing about so many issues with 7 series Crossfire and especially Eyefinity Crossfire I thought it would be wise to switch sides this time even though I could get a pair of 1Ghz 7950's for less money and they have 3GB VRAM.

I don't build often and I have been planning this rig for a while so I would really appreciate any help with my parts and mainly choosing a good case and the right GPU setup for my intended resolution.

 

[krnmastersgt]

Most of your build is decent, looks like a damn nice system!

But for the CPU cooler; there are more effective coolers for the price of that, however something this expensive is complete overkill if you're only going for a moderate overclock. If you're not shooting for higher than 4.8 I wouldn't think of spending more than $50 on a cooler.

As for the case, is there a reason why you're looking at such pricey cases? Unless you need a massive tower for tons of drive bays, there are smaller and cheaper options that will often times be better for cooling as there's less space in the case therefore you can get a more efficient airflow set-up going. Bigger case = more volume = need a lot more power to move all that air.

As for the GPU's, if 2 670's won't run whatever game you want at that resolution, the only change you can make is to add a third As far as 2 card solutions go though, if the 670's can't do it then nothing on the market currently can really. They're slightly weaker than the best of the best but they're quite a bit cheaper and in most games will perform pretty similarly.

 

[lehtv]

CPU Good (3570K)
Mobo Asrock Z77 Extreme4 or Gigabyte Z77X-UD3H should be fine, but you can get the Asus P8Z77-V if you want to have integrated wireless and Asus' fan control. I don't think P8Z77-V Pro is worth it.
Cooling Overkill, you said you won't OC too hardcore. You should be fine with a Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo, Hyper 612, Hyper 812, Scythe Mugen 3, NZXT havik 140, and other similar $30-$60 coolers.
GPU For that res and your budget, 2x 7970 3GB should perform better... I don't know if there's truth to crossfire or eyefinity issues you've heard of. 670 2GB SLI would work fine as well but 2GB of VRAM seems like it'd potentially max out in many titles - try to find 670 4GB?
RAM 2x4GB 1600MHz <1.5V is enough for your uses
SSD Good (m4 256)
Case For cooling dual GPUs I'd get the HAF X or XM rather than define XL.

670 Tri SLI is also an option but the board itself would cost an additional $150 (P8Z77 WS). And to run Tri SLI you can't have any space between the cards...

 

[supremor]

I guess I could downgrade to the vanilla P8Z77-V. As for GPU's I cant get 4GB cards here atleast not yet. I could fit the 7970's into my budget but would it really be that much better than a pair of 7950's at 1-1.1 ghz assuming my X750 can handle that sort of OC? 7950's are a good deal cheaper and I can get Sapphire dual fan 950mhz factory oc'd cards for basically the price of reference cards due some skewed pricing. But I still worry about CF issues like negative scaling and other issues people reported with some games and especially Eyefinity.

I haven't really considered Tri-SLI as it's too expensive and I would have to replace my X750 making it even more expensive. I also don't like the idea of 3 cards sandwiched together from a temps perspective.

 

[richaron]

GPU For that res and your budget, 2x 7970 3GB should perform better... I don't know if there's truth to crossfire or eyefinity issues you've heard of. 670 2GB SLI would work fine as well but 2GB of VRAM seems like it'd potentially max out in many titles - try to find 670 4GB?

As much as I want to have lehtv's babies with awesome computer smarts... I'm still not convinced the extra Video RAM of AMD cards had tangeble benefits in the foreseeable future (3GB card vs 2GB).

Otherwise, listen to the smarts.

Edit: AMD drivers seem to be getting better fast. Latest ones probly run better than most reviews available.

 

[lehtv]

7950's OC'd is a good idea as well and cheaper than 670's.

 

[lehtv]

As much as I want to have lehtv's babies with awesome computer smarts... I'm still not convinced the extra Video RAM of AMD cards had tangeble benefits in the foreseeable future (3GB card vs 2GB).

Otherwise, listen to the smarts.

I'm 99% certain that games like BF3, Crysis 2 and Skyrim (with tex mods) can use >2GB VRAM on 5760x1200. Even my 560 Ti 1GB maxes out the VRAM on 1080p.

The reason you don't see much of a difference in framerates in BF3 between cards with different amounts of VRAM is that BF3 dynamically adjusts texture LOD based on available VRAM, afaik.

 

[supremor]

The VRAM is the only thing keeping me from the 670's really. I have also heard good things about the latest Catalyst 12.7 (beta?) but I remain concerned even though I have had nothing but good experiences with AMD in the past. The problem is that if I do run into trouble I won't be able to return the cards unless something is physically wrong with them and then I'd either be stuck with a lackluster, expensive setup or end up reselling them and eating a loss.

Also a few things I forgot to mention in the op: would I run into cable length issues with my X750 and a HAF-X?
One other concern of mine is my timing, I realize there is always the next great thing to wait for and with that logic you can just wait forever for the next great thing. However I would hate to dump all this cash now only to have new gen parts out in 3-4 months. I haven't really been following any info on new releases but I gather haswell is more than 6 months away but what about the next batch of 28nm GPU's?

 

[mfenn]

As much as I want to have lehtv's babies with awesome computer smarts... I'm still not convinced the extra Video RAM of AMD cards had tangeble benefits in the foreseeable future (3GB card vs 2GB).

The OP is running at a really large resolution (7M pixels), which puts extra strain on VRAM. I can definitely see 3GB cards being warranted.

The VRAM is the only thing keeping me from the 670's really. I have also heard good things about the latest Catalyst 12.7 (beta?) but I remain concerned even though I have had nothing but good experiences with AMD in the past. The problem is that if I do run into trouble I won't be able to return the cards unless something is physically wrong with them and then I'd either be stuck with a lackluster, expensive setup or end up reselling them and eating a loss.

I honestly wouldn't worry about negative Crossfire scaling or anything like that. There hasn't been a case in a long time where either SLI or Crossfire is fundamentally unfixable in a game. It's almost always a driver issue which both sides have their fair share of. AMD always gets crap for their drivers, but most of that is undeserved these days. Heck, it took Nvidia over 4 months to fix the hideous performance bug in Shogun 2.

Also a few things I forgot to mention in the op: would I run into cable length issues with my X750 and a HAF-X?

I don't think so, but what is the attraction of the X over the 932 or XM?

One other concern of mine is my timing, I realize there is always the next great thing to wait for and with that logic you can just wait forever for the next great thing. However I would hate to dump all this cash now only to have new gen parts out in 3-4 months. I haven't really been following any info on new releases but I gather haswell is more than 6 months away but what about the next batch of 28nm GPU's?

Haswell is looking like 9 months or so, so no real news there. There will be new Nvidia GPUs coming out relatively soon, but those will be either midrange cards (GTX 660) or hideously expensive compute-oriented cards (GTX 685 or whatever they call it).

 

[supremor]

No real good reason why I prefer the X over the 932 really, I like that's its got a painted interior (I realize there's the 932 Advanced which also has this) and I actually prefer the looks of the X to the 932 even though they aren't that different. I also actually LIKE the fact that it's huge, I don't really share this enthusiasm when it comes to minimalism with things like mATX boards and tiny cases but that's just personal preference I guess.
I don't mind the price difference between the X and the 932 and I'm not even sure I can get the XM at all in my area. If I was going the mid tower route I'd probably get a Corsair case.

 

[richaron]

Originally Posted by richaron
Also a few things I forgot to mention in the op: would I run into cable length issues with my X750 and a HAF-X?

DON'T BE MIS-QUOTING ME, WOMANS

The OP is running at a really large resolution (7M pixels), which puts extra strain on VRAM. I can definitely see 3GB cards being warranted.

Yeh, for peace of mind I would probly side with more vram also. Tho I'm a believer that many parts are over-powered/featured for their use (a couple of 2G cards is a lot; no matter how you look at it).

 

[azeem40]

At 5760x1200 on a GTX 680, the framerates were in the 50s according to HardOCP's review of the card, so a GTX 670 should be good on high.

 

[lehtv]

Sorry, framerates in what game?

 

[supremor]

Sorry, framerates in what game?

Yes that would be good to know but the thing is I play all sorts of games and will probably play many of the popular FPS/RPG titles in the coming years as well.
I'm not worried about having to lower settings or resolution in a year or two but but the last thing I need is to be held back by VRAM with existing games.

Honestly though, outside of extensive texture modding is there anything that benefits from more than 2GB of VRAM?

 

[mfenn]

DON'T BE MIS-QUOTING ME, WOMANS

Lol, sorry about that. Bad copy and paste job.

Yeh, for peace of mind I would probly side with more vram also. Tho I'm a believer that many parts are over-powered/featured for their use (a couple of 2G cards is a lot; no matter how you look at it).

When you're talking about SLI or Crossfire, 2+2 doesn't equal 4. Instead 2+2=2 because all the game's data has to be replicated in each card's memory.

 

[azeem40]

Sorry, framerates in what game?

BF3. It also has Skyrim.
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/03/22/nvidia_kepler_gpu_geforce_gtx_680_video_card_review

If one of those is able to run at 50fps on ultra on three screens, a GTX 670 in SLI will be something amazing and will not be bottlenecked.

 

[Charlie98]

I don't mind the price difference between the X and the 932 and I'm not even sure I can get the XM at all in my area. If I was going the mid tower route I'd probably get a Corsair case.

Mid-tower there is the HAF922... which isn't a bad option. Plenty of room for 2 cards, decent airflow (although it would help if the HDD cage was removeable,) and room to add fans... big fans.

 

[lehtv]

BF3. It also has Skyrim.
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2012/03/22/nvidia_kepler_gpu_geforce_gtx_680_video_card_review

If one of those is able to run at 50fps on ultra on three screens, a GTX 670 in SLI will be something amazing and will not be bottlenecked.

That review shows 38.3 fps average in BF3, 45.9 fps in Skyrim. Not 50fps in either.

I wouldn't count 50fps average playable anyway. 50fps minimum is playable to me, but I suppose there's a degree of personal preference involved here

 

[azeem40]

That review shows 38.3 fps average in BF3, 45.9 fps in Skyrim. Not 50fps in either.

I wouldn't count 50fps average playable anyway. 50fps minimum is playable to me, but I suppose there's a degree of personal preference involved here

I was referring to the max fps, my bad, lol.

 

[supremor]

I find that 45 fps or so and higher is plenty smooth for me. I'm actually leaning towards Nvidia at little right now because of I'd need to OC the 7950's to match a stock 670 and that would increase power consumption and heat output which I don't like. I don't care much for power consumption in itself but the added heat is not welcomed at all. I'm also quite interested in NV's adaptive Vsync.
The question of whether the VRAM will limit me or not is basically the only thing on my mind right now and I still can't decide on favor of either with certainty.

 

[mfenn]

The question of whether the VRAM will limit me or not is basically the only thing on my mind right now and I still can't decide on favor of either with certainty.

You probably won't be limited by 2GB of VRAM right now unless you love Skyrim texture mods. It will limit you in the future though. I can't say ff that point of limitation is 1 year from now or 3 years from now, but I'd bet it's closer to the former.