New Core i7 build, your thoughts...

[johnvosh]

K, so I was able to get an Asus Sabertooth Z77 motherboard for $140. It is a RMA re-certified board. Original price was $250, then because it was an RMA re-certified was lowered to $200, then they had a 30% off all clearance items. I jumped on it, can't pass up a deal like this. Anyways I am going to start a new build with this board. Here is what I've got so far and what I plan on getting. Let me know what your thoughts are. I'm going to be buying the parts over the next 1-3 months or so as the budget allows. First thing will be the CPU/RAM..... Would like to go with the i7 as I already have an i5 system (in my sig). Buying parts from Canada, budget is approx $1,500 to $1,800 for the parts to buy. Figured I'd go with the water cooler as I am wanting to try overclocking. Going to be a gaming system, 1080p resolution for the most part.

Already Have:

MOBO Asus Sabertooth Z77
PSU Antec high current gamer 620 watt
CASE CoolerMaster 690 II Advanced nVidia Edition w/ USB 3.0 & SATA drive dock (already replaced the low flow fans with better ones!)
DVD LG SATA DVD Burner
HDD 500GB Seagate

Need to buy:

RAM RipjawX series 2x8GB PC3-12800 10-10-10-30
CPU Core i7 3770K @ 3.5GHz
COOLER Corsair Hydro H100 Extreme Performance liquid cooler
SSD Kingston HyperX 3K series 240GB
VIDEO 2X Geforce GTX 660 Ti+ 3GB

PICS:

 

[lehtv]

Please post answers to the questions in the sticky

 

[johnvosh]

Please post answers to the questions in the sticky

What?! What sticky are you talking about?

 

[CA19100]

What?! What sticky are you talking about?

http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=24043454&postcount=1

 

[johnvosh]

http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=24043454&postcount=1

0k, thanks

 

[lehtv]

Only three sticky threads on the top of the forum, not hard to find 🙂

 

[Ken g6]

Would like to go with the i7 as I already have an i5 system (in my sig).

Wait, why do you want two gaming systems?

RAM RipjawX series 2x8GB PC3-12800 10-10-10-30

Are you sure you need 16GB? If going with Win7HP, you can't use more than 16GB, so you could just get it in four modules, maybe 8GB at a time.

SSD Kingston HyperX 3K series 240GB

I wouldn't get a Sandforce drive. Unless it's Intel...then I'd still avoid it if possible. The Micron controller in a Crucial M4 or a Samsung 830 is more reliable. If the reads aren't fast enough for you, you could RAID0 two 128GB M4s.

VIDEO 2X Geforce GTX 660 Ti+ 3GB

Do you really need two of those for a single 1080P monitor? I see nothing in Bench below about 40FPS for a single 660ti.

 

[johnvosh]

Quote: Originally Posted by johnvosh View Post Would like to go with the i7 as I already have an i5 system (in my sig). Wait, why do you want two gaming systems?

The one is going to be going into my living room so I can use my 32" TV and then the other I will be using on my smaller 24". But more than likely the i5 system will end up going to my brother/sister-in-law since their system is getting quite old and slow and outdated.

Quote: Originally Posted by johnvosh View Post RAM RipjawX series 2x8GB PC3-12800 10-10-10-30 Are you sure you need 16GB? If going with Win7HP, you can't use more than 16GB, so you could just get it in four modules, maybe 8GB at a time.

Sorry, forgot to put that in my original post, I'll be using Windows 7 Pro.

Quote: Originally Posted by johnvosh View Post SSD Kingston HyperX 3K series 240GB I wouldn't get a Sandforce drive. Unless it's Intel...then I'd still avoid it if possible. The Micron controller in a Crucial M4 or a Samsung 830 is more reliable. If the reads aren't fast enough for you, you could RAID0 two 128GB M4s.

Oh. I've got the 120GB in my system right now and have a 60GB Vertex 3 in my older AMD system and haven't had a problem with either. I'm guessing with the Intel drives, the 520 series would be the one to get then.....

Quote: Originally Posted by johnvosh View Post VIDEO 2X Geforce GTX 660 Ti+ 3GB Do you really need two of those for a single 1080P monitor? I see nothing in Bench below about 40FPS for a single 660ti.

Probably not, but I've been wanting a SLI or Crossfire setup for quite a while since my last one bit the dust.

 

[lakedude]

Yeah, dual GTX 660 Ti not so sure about that. It is usually better to get one good card than 2 medium cards. That is going to be like $600 worth of video, is it not?

You could get a 670 or 680 or 7970 for that kind of money, and they will all be overkill @ 1080p...

 

[mfenn]

Yeah, dual GTX 660 Ti not so sure about that. It is usually better to get one good card than 2 medium cards. That is going to be like $600 worth of video, is it not?

You could get a 670 or 680 or 7970 for that kind of money, and they will all be overkill @ 1080p...

Agree wholeheartedly. The H100 and i7 3770K also fall into the overkill category. A midrange air cooler like the Scythe Mugen 3 and an i5 3570K are just what you need for a gaming build.

 

[johnvosh]

Agree wholeheartedly. The H100 and i7 3770K also fall into the overkill category. A midrange air cooler like the Scythe Mugen 3 and an i5 3570K are just what you need for a gaming build.

I guess I will go with the i5 then, since I think everyone seems to agree the i7 is overkill. And I was looking at the reviews and it seems the 3570k and 3770k are basically even with each other +/- a small bit.

How is the Hyper 212 Evo compared to the Scythe Mugen 3? I don't know a lot about the coolers, but have been using the Hyper in the last couple builds.

 

[mfenn]

The Mugen 3 is better than the Hyper 212 Evo but then again it usually costs about twice as much. Whether that's worth it depends on the clock you're trying to hit.

 

[johnvosh]

The Mugen 3 is better than the Hyper 212 Evo but then again it usually costs about twice as much. Whether that's worth it depends on the clock you're trying to hit.

I figure I would try and get to about 4.3-4.5 GHz. That's kinda why I was also thinking of that water cooler to help keep the temps down...

 

[mfenn]

I figure I would try and get to about 4.3-4.5 GHz. That's kinda why I was also thinking of that water cooler to help keep the temps down...

4.5GHz on IB is going to be hot no matter what cooler you use. The problem is that Intel cheaped out and used a TIM between the IHS and the die instead of solder like they have been doing. The only "solution" is to delid your processor so that you can strap the cooler directly to your die. The Mugen 3 will just handle the temps at a lower fan speed (ergo noise) than the Hyper 212+ will.