I've actually decided that I'll get the i7-3770K just so you know. I guess it is better than the AMD one I had picked out
Don Karnage
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- Oct 11, 2011
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3770k is a waste if you don't plan on using programs that utilize all 8 threads. For gaming a 3570k is fine
If it's not out of your budget, that's about as good as it gets.
You could save a bit and get the i5-3570K. Hyperthreading isn't important for gaming. I wouldn't get a generic power supply though. I'd get the Corsair CMPSU-750TXV2.
You could save a bit and get the i5-3570K. Hyperthreading isn't important for gaming. I wouldn't get a generic power supply though. I'd get the Corsair CMPSU-750TXV2.
blastingcap
Diamond Member
- Sep 16, 2010
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My $0.02:
CPU should be a Intel i5-3570K or 2500K or 2550K or you risk bottlenecking the highest-end present and future GPUs. Most games only use 1-2 cores, so 4 is just to get added smoothness. 6 is overkill. I'd rather have 2 very fast cores than 3 or more not-so-fast cores, and all of AMD's CPUs are well behind Intel's when it comes to speed-per-core.
Water cooling is unnecessary and in fact the best air coolers can nearly meet the performance of all but the highest end water coolers. This is for CPU. For GPU maybe more of a case can be made for water due to all that heat, but I still think it's wiser to save the money and simply get a new video card down the road if you need to.
Power supply - they didn't even give a brand name or model number? Not a great sign. Presumably they won't skimp too much here, but still....
No need to cool your HDD separately if you're already maxing out the case fans.
The rest looks fine.
CPU should be a Intel i5-3570K or 2500K or 2550K or you risk bottlenecking the highest-end present and future GPUs. Most games only use 1-2 cores, so 4 is just to get added smoothness. 6 is overkill. I'd rather have 2 very fast cores than 3 or more not-so-fast cores, and all of AMD's CPUs are well behind Intel's when it comes to speed-per-core.
Water cooling is unnecessary and in fact the best air coolers can nearly meet the performance of all but the highest end water coolers. This is for CPU. For GPU maybe more of a case can be made for water due to all that heat, but I still think it's wiser to save the money and simply get a new video card down the road if you need to.
Power supply - they didn't even give a brand name or model number? Not a great sign. Presumably they won't skimp too much here, but still....
No need to cool your HDD separately if you're already maxing out the case fans.
The rest looks fine.
Okay so I changed the Power Supply to a Corsair CMPSU-850TXV2 80, which is 850 Watts. The CyberPowerPC says that with the hardware I'm using, I should have 750. So is that good enough?
blastingcap
Diamond Member
- Sep 16, 2010
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That PSU can handle even the heaviest overclocking of your CPU/GPU. If you want to save a bit of money get the 3570K instead of the 3770K. 3570K is going to be almost as fast for gaming and most programs in general. Very few programs can take advantage of so many cores, and the 3570K is basically just as fast per-core.
For 1080P I would get whatever of those you could get the cheapest. Also throw the GTX670 into the mix. You aren't likely going to notice a difference between the 7970, 670, or 680. Especially at 1080P.
Also, consider a better processor from Intel. If I was building/buying a gaming system today, I wouldn't consider AMD's current lineup unless I could get one at a stellar deal. Even then it would be hard to not buy an Intel chip.
Also, consider a better processor from Intel. If I was building/buying a gaming system today, I wouldn't consider AMD's current lineup unless I could get one at a stellar deal. Even then it would be hard to not buy an Intel chip.
Well, the site actually has an offer right now where if you get the 3770K, you a free game,I think it's Dirt 3, or Mass Effect 3, but that's not the only reason I'm planning on choosing it. I want to have a fast, effective, and reliable PC that can game and basically stay with me for years. Of course, I might have to upgrade something in the near future, but I want to get as good as I can for a reasonable price. Altogether, with the 3770K and 24" Monitor, HDMI, etc it costs $1894. That includes 3 or 4 free games. With the 3570K, it would cost $1768, and no Mass Effect 3. So, should I really go with the 3570K? It's 4-Core right?
Also, do I have to get a GeForce card just because of the PhysX? Are there games that absolutely require PhysX?
No, and there is not. But it can be nice to have regardless. At the very least it's better than not having it.
blastingcap
Diamond Member
- Sep 16, 2010
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The 3570K is a quadcore, unlocked and you can clock it as high as a 3770K. VERY few applications can take advantage of the 3770K's extra thread ability. There will be no appreciable difference in games.
So there's no point in getting the 3770K for that kind of markup. Who cares if it comes with an old free game, just buy it on Steam or Amazon for a LOT less than that markup.
GPU-accelerated PhysX is nice for the very small number of games that supports it, but even in those games it's just a tacked-on feature that will not make or break the game experience. I'd get a GTX 670 or HD 7970 (whichever is cheaper). Yes the GTX 670 is slightly (less than 10% at 1080p) slower when both are overclocked, but it does have better software support in some cases, such as PhysX, and NVIDIA tends to do a better job of fixing driver bugs faster than AMD does.
Okay so I think I'll get the 3570K, Radeon HD 7970 because of the speed, a Thermaltake FRIO Overclocking Cooler Fan (CLP0564) instead of liquid cooling, the ASUS P8Z77-V LX Intel Z77 Chipset DDR3 ATX Mainboard IF it's good (thoughts?), 4x2GB RAM, the 850W Corsair PSU, a 1TB @7,200 RPM Hard Drive, 120MM Case Cooling Fans, 10% Overclock, an Intel Pro Gigabite 10/100/1000 Network Card, 802.11b/g/n 300Mbps PCI Wireless Adapter Network Card, Razer Keyboard and Mouse Combo, and a 6-Foot HDMI cable to use with this monitor http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236052
For only $30 more I could overclock up to 20%, if it's actually that useful.
For only $30 more I could overclock up to 20%, if it's actually that useful.
Also PhysX adversely effects FPS. Often, you have to choose between PhysX and some other IQ enhancement to maintain fluid gameplay. I wish they would include with and without PhysX in reviews. Rarely are benches done with PhysX on, though.
blastingcap
Diamond Member
- Sep 16, 2010
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Sounds like a pretty good system to me. You can just overclock it yourself so I'm not sure why there's a 10% Overclock in your list... with that level of cooling (a FRIO is pretty good) you probably don't even need to stress-test it, just boost the multiplier up by 10% in BIOS. Should take like a minute to do yourself and there are tons of threads about overclocking if you need help.
Edit: Also, you don't need a network card, since that's built into the motherboard, the specs of which you can see here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131824
The only other thing I might change is to have a decently fast SSD as your boot drive and the 1TB drive as your storage drive. It can be tiny, like 64GB Crucial M4 or something like that, since it just needs to house your operating system and a few commonly used programs like Firefox/IE/Chrome. Your other, bigger programs can live on the 1TB HDD.
Edit: Also, you don't need a network card, since that's built into the motherboard, the specs of which you can see here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131824
The only other thing I might change is to have a decently fast SSD as your boot drive and the 1TB drive as your storage drive. It can be tiny, like 64GB Crucial M4 or something like that, since it just needs to house your operating system and a few commonly used programs like Firefox/IE/Chrome. Your other, bigger programs can live on the 1TB HDD.
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Alright I took off the overclocking and it comes out to be $1521 plus the $180 for the Monitor, so about $1701! Thanks for all the help everyone
blastingcap
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Cool, if they overcharge you for the SSD then you can buy your own for like $50 these days and install Windows on it yourself. I would recommend a Crucial M4 64GB or larger. You WILL feel the difference. (See my revised post if you missed the edit re: the network card and SSD.)
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I don't know much about Solid State Drives. Why would I need one? Would I use it as a Data Hard Drive?
blastingcap
Diamond Member
- Sep 16, 2010
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SSDs make it so you are able to boot and launch programs much faster, you never have to worry about defragmentation (there is no seek time, so your drive won't slow down over time as much), and seek/write/read speeds are potentially much faster than a hard drive. They also use less power and are more reliable since there are no moving parts, although there are some low-quality SSDs out there so avoid those.
In general, Intel and Crucial make the most reliable SSDs, but Intel is expensive and Crucial is just as good, so I would rather get a Crucial M4 instead. Samsung also has a good reputation. If you have specific questions about SSDs you may want to ask them in the Memory and Storage forums instead of here in Video.
If you have them install a SSD, request that it's set up as an AHCI drive and to turn TRIM on. http://forum.crucial.com/t5/Solid-S...D-Drive-Guide-Here-Crucial-AHCI-vs/td-p/57078
http://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?t=86403
In general, Intel and Crucial make the most reliable SSDs, but Intel is expensive and Crucial is just as good, so I would rather get a Crucial M4 instead. Samsung also has a good reputation. If you have specific questions about SSDs you may want to ask them in the Memory and Storage forums instead of here in Video.
If you have them install a SSD, request that it's set up as an AHCI drive and to turn TRIM on. http://forum.crucial.com/t5/Solid-S...D-Drive-Guide-Here-Crucial-AHCI-vs/td-p/57078
http://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?t=86403
Alright well I think I'll just start out with the hard drive and when I get some more money I'll get an SSD.
blastingcap
Diamond Member
- Sep 16, 2010
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Lol you were ready to spend almost $1900 and we got you to toss the extra frills that weren't adding anything and now you're going to skimp on the drive? On the other hand, SSD prices are falling like rocks right now, so maybe you are doing the right thing and waiting till prices fall even more. For instance my M4 128GB cost me $185 last year, but it's already down to $99 less than 12 months later. 
Ahh yeah about that, I actually have to pay $400 dollars for drivers ed. So even if I'm going to buy the desktop that I currently have set up, I'll still have to work for almost the entire summer to get it.
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