My New Build Plan - What Would you Change ?

[DNorth]

As Topic says. Here is my new Build Plan.

UPDATE 1
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Corsair 800D - Obsidian Case
Corsair HX 850W ATX2.2
ASUS MAXIMUS IV EXTREME
INTEL i7 2600K
Asus GeForce GTX 570 742MHz 1280MB PCI-Express 2.0 HDMI
G.Skill Ripjaw 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3
Western Digital Caviar Green Power 2TB
ZM-F3 LED + ZM-F1 LED 7 Total
Noctua NH-D14 Dual Radiator and Fan CPU Cooler

Additionally I may swap out to a WCing setup. But ill be waiting for OC reviews on the 2600k before I do that.

The STICKY.


1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.
Gaming. Video Editing. 3D Rendering. Dual or Triple 24 wide monitors.

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread
2000GBP

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

4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc.
Intel/ASUS/OCZ have never let me down.

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
Nope. Clean Build

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.
Had a good sniff abot at other builds. But not many SB builds up yet ( that I could find )

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
Yes.

8. What resolution YOU plan on gaming with.
1920*1080 mainly

9. WHEN do you plan to build it?
Jan 2011

10. Don't ask for a build configuration critique or rating if you are thin skinned.
Ive had my cup of cement.

 

[MisterDonut]

I would do everything differently (no offense).

What is this for? Fill out the sticky on the top of the forum topics. You have extreme overkill in almost every category. If it's for gaming, you'll get equal performance on 1/3 of the budget...Just because parts are priced higher doesn't mean you'll get better real world performance. When the day comes that 1333 vs. 2133 can be felt in anything outside of benchmarks, pigs will fly. Why two 570's or even 1 580 when a 6970/5870 will destroy anything within 1080p (hell, even 1920x1200 to a certain extent)? 8GB is excessive for anything other than heavy photo/video editing and the likes. I do not put Seagate on my list of reliable HDD's. WD or Samsung is the better option here. I love the 800D. I think it's a sweet case, but it's also way too expensive. Money is better put elsewhere. 1200W is overkill. 'Nuff said.

I don't mean to be rude, but it's a pet peeve when people select parts based on price and not performance. The XDK is very outdated in my book. VenX is a nice HSF, but I haven't kept up too well with air cooling (I'm moving into h2o ). I'd hold off on the SSD until SF-2000 or Intel G3 releases. SF-2000 is blazing fast! G3 not so much, but I'm sure the $/GB will be very appealing to many.

FILL OUT THE STICKY.

 

[DNorth]

To Be honest, I haven't even looked at the prices of any of these parts yet.

The 1200 PSU is in there as ill probably going h20 post release, but im holding out for the reviews post release.

I guess I could drop the SSD and run the OS off of the 2TB ( Ive never had any issues with the Barracuda myself ) and grab a SF-2000 upon release.

Thanks for your feedback though. Although I don't see how i would go about matching this for half the price ?!?

Re the price of the 800T - yeah I know its not cheap. But it looks sexy as hell.

This full build would probably get to my door for £1300-£1600 all in, add in 2x 42inch monitors and some new speakers keyboard and mouse, and i am near enough to my 2k Budget.

My focus is not the cost at all, Ill pay what it costs. This for me is a nice system that I can play all my games on. get all my video editing done with nice rendering times, and not have to wait around on.

But if I can get similar results for half the price. Sounds great. But I don't see how

 

[MisterDonut]

How much of the time will be put into 3D rendering/gaming? You'll definitely want 8GB if you're looking at heavy video editing and 3D rendering. I'd probably go with G.Skill DDR3-1600.

I really wish I could help a little more in that department, but I don't know too much about requirements on 3D rendering rigs. If it's going to fall under the professional department, maybe a CAD card? Not sure, other people will know more about it.

Personally, I use a WD Green 2TB for my storage, but you can go with the Samsung equivalent. T

he motherboard really just has to have the features you want (SATA/USB3, PCI-E slots, etc.). You can probably find cheaper alternatives to the ASUS MAXIMUS. MSI, Gigabyte, ASRock are all reputable motherboard makers. If you want to build your own h2o setup, I say go for it! Otherwise, the Venomous X/Noctua NH-D14 will handle top-end, air-cooled overclocking.

@1080p GAMING, a 6970 is one sweet card, but keep an eye out for deals on the 5870. I saw it drop to ~$220, which, IMO, is an incredible steal for that card. Put two in CFX, and watch the grenades explode.

As for case suggestions, it's really up to personal preference. It doesn't look like you need more than a mid-tower (but I could be wrong), and the CoolerMaster 690 II is one of the easiest cases I've built out of. Of course, there are other options, such as Corsair's 600/700, CM HAF series, etc.

Your PSU selection would mostly have to depend on your choice of the GPU, but you have a fine PSU maker picked out .

Again, most of my advice goes towards the gamer side of things . There are more knowledgable people on the forum that will answer your 3D rendering questions in time!

 

[DNorth]

The Video Rendering is 3 to 4 times a week at 720 and 1080p.

the CAD/Maya work Is hobby related and probably spend 3 to 4 hours a week. This is not a priority.

I like the ASUS for the easy OC'ing I have used the Rampage boards for years, and I have never had a problem with them.

On the water-cooled front, I was planning on holding off until I see what you guys are able to get out of the 2600k on water. I dont want to throw 4-500 notes into a nice WC setup for unnoticeable results.

I have seen good reviews of the G.Skill RAM, but I guess you could call me a bit of a Corsair fan boy. What is it everyone loves about them so much ?

Additionally I also went for the 800 Case due the water cooling potential. And the cable management is AWSOME !

 

[DNorth]

No one else ?

 

[DNorth]

UPDATE 1
-----

Corsair 800D - Obsidian Case
Corsair HX 850W ATX2.2
ASUS MAXIMUS IV EXTREME
INTEL i7 2600K
Asus GeForce GTX 570 742MHz 1280MB PCI-Express 2.0 HDMI
G.Skill Ripjaw 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3
Western Digital Caviar Green Power 2TB
ZM-F3 LED + ZM-F1 LED 7 Total
Noctua NH-D14 Dual Radiator and Fan CPU Cooler

 

[mfenn]

This is a lot better, but you really don't need an "EXTREME!!!!" motherboard. It's just going to be a waste of money. A quality midrange board that costs half as much will do just as well.

Other than that, I would say to go ahead and get a Sandforce based SSD today. If you install the OS on that Green drive, it will be both (a) slow as molasses and (b) a PITA to reinstall everything on an SSD.

Since you will be doing rendering and memory prices are what they are, I'd go ahead and get 2x4GB of Ripjaws (1333 is fine).

 

[DNorth]

To be honest, I LOVE the look of the ASUS board and the BIOS is great with awesome boot times. But I will keep the MB options open util we actually see the release day lineup.
What board would you recommend ?

Re the SSD - I work for a Datacenter, so I have PXE Network boots that install my entire os + all updates and apps, games, bookmarks, settings in less than an hour

And I have Fibre SAN to backup all my docs on So that is really not an issue.

Re Memory - I was going to get 4GB now and see how I got on with it, as adding another 4GB later will be easy as pie.

thanks a lot for the feedback.

 

[DNorth]

noob bump

 

[MisterDonut]

Might as well follow mfenn's advice on the 8GB of DDR3 and SSD. Using that HDD as a boot drive is like riding a turtle when you can ride a cheetah...


WC is always going to have better results than air (or I would expect), usually in the range of ~10c from the top air coolers. It's up to you whether you want that slight speed bump. For me, it's more of a want than a need (My TRUE is keeping my 3.8 930 @ 30c - 33c idle most of the time). I don't push my computer like I used to anymore.

I believe the Corsair XMS3 runs at 1.65v, while the G.Skill's run at 1.5v. AFAIK, 1.5v is better for the controller, no?

I've always liked the Corsair Force over the OCZ SF-controlled SSDs.

 

[mfenn]

I'm not going to recommend a specific Sandy Bridge board until we see the initial reviews come out from reputable sites. That being said, the lower-midrange options from the Big 3 (ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI) should all be solid and well within your needs. The Maximus and Rampage line of boards is going to be about twice as much as what you really need.

 

[DNorth]

Thanks a lot for your feedback.

Not that I by all means clued in on these things,

But if im using the top of the range CPU, with 2x high end gfx cards, and potentially clocking on water ( depending on reviews )

and i have no use for the high end board.

Who is it that should be using the high end boards lol.

No agrument, just interested.

 

[MisterDonut]

Who, you ask? People who don't come on AT first asking for advice . Same gimmick that gets a lot of people going CFX when their needs don't justify it at all...

And those who pick RAM because they want a fan over it...

 

[DNorth]

Who, you ask? People who don't come on AT first asking for advice . Same gimmick that gets a lot of people going CFX when their needs don't justify it at all...

And those who pick RAM because they want a fan over it...

Thankyou for the only completly useless post ive ever read on here.

 

[mfenn]

Thanks a lot for your feedback.

Not that I by all means clued in on these things,

But if im using the top of the range CPU, with 2x high end gfx cards, and potentially clocking on water ( depending on reviews )

and i have no use for the high end board.

Who is it that should be using the high end boards lol.

No agrument, just interested.

This is the first mention of SLI that I've seen in this thread. Your build only specs out a single GPU (unless I am blind). Even so, an upper midrange board with the SLI license is still all you need.

 

[mfenn]

Thankyou for the only completly useless post ive ever read on here.

I'm not quite sure what your problem is. Donut answered your question 99% correctly. :awe:

1% of the people who buy ultra-high end boards use them for their intended purpose, which is extreme overclocking. The other 99% are fools with more money than sense.

 

[DNorth]

My apologies, I thought I mentioned the SLI with the Watercooling.

I usually to an upgrade to my machines every few months.

I only buy one graphics card initially to see how well my games play.

If everything is fine I dont bother with the second card.

If I start seeing the card struggle I go ahead and grab a second card for it ( or upgrade + sell ) so I usually end up SLI/XFIRE after a few months.

Ive had a hunt about for information on justifying a high end board, but have come up a little short.

And good information on what these " top end boards " are capable of that the mid/high end boards are not.

What i dont want to happen is find out that I can air clock this new chip to 4.5 on air, but I could take it to 5 on WC, but I now need to replace the board.

 

[Brutus04]

SSD?

 

[Davidh373]

I would get 8GB RAM with the money I save from the "Extreme" Motherboard. Youre build deserves it

 

[DNorth]

Holding off for the next gen SSD, but will reinstall on release.

and 8GB is on the cards depending on how my video editing/rendering takes to the 4GB.

Again always stuff I can throw in later is i need it.

But the board is something im glad you pointed out before I built. But no real hard info to go on yet