Rate My i7 Gaming Setup Please

[behelit54]

Hey, when I set out to build my comp I was looking for something future ready, reasonably priced, awesome, capable of playing all the newest games at pretty high settings, and hopefully able to last me the next 3-4 years with minimal upgrades. This is what 3 days of research and effort have given me. My perfect computer. All parts have been ordered already but I would still appreciate any input and opinions.

Case: Tempest Evo Enthusiast Steel Tower (TEMPEST EVO NO POWER BLACK INTERIOR), Black

Processor: Intel Core i7 Processor i7-930 2.80GHz 8 MB LGA1366 CPU, Retail BX80601930 (will overclock to hopefully a stable 3.8ghz)

Motherboard: Gigabyte LGA1366 SATA3 ATI CrossFireX ATX Motherboard GA-X58A-UD3R

CPU Cooling: Cooler Master V8 Nickel Plated Copper Base Aluminum Fins 8 Heatpipes Core i7 1366 CPU Cooler - (RR-UV8-XBU1-GP)

Thermal Paste: Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound, 3.5 Grams

GPU: EVGA 01G-P3-1373-AR GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) Superclocked EE 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Ram: G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9T-6GBNQ

Power Supply: Corsair CMPSU-750TX 750-Watt TX Series 80 Plus Certified Power Supply compatible with Intel Core i7 and Core i5

OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit System Builder 1pk

Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500 GB Bulk/OEM Hard Drive 3.5 Inch, 16 MB Cache, 7200 RPM SATA II WD5000AAKS (500 GB in addition to all the external hard drives I already have is plenty of room)

Dvd Drive: Lite-On LightScribe 24X SATA DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Drive IHAS424-98 - Retail (Black) (already have a blu-ray player hooked up to my tv)

Total Price: $1375 shipped.

I'll be honest, I think this is a bad ass system that has everything I need for a great price. Will this have any issues playing SC2, FF14, Diablo 3, SWTOR, etc at a pretty high setting? Thanks

 

[Sp12]

Hey, when I set out to build my comp I was looking for something future ready, reasonably priced, awesome, capable of playing all the newest games at pretty high settings, and hopefully able to last me the next 3-4 years with minimal upgrades. This is what 3 days of research and effort have given me. My perfect computer. All parts have been ordered already but I would still appreciate any input and opinions.

I'll be honest, I think this is a bad ass system that has everything I need for a great price. Will this have any issues playing SC2, FF14, Diablo 3, SWTOR, etc at a pretty high setting? Thanks

Future-ready is a very difficult requirement, as you could spend thousands on a system and still not be futureproof. It's already been ordered, but the components look to be very good. The only consideration I may have had is that you could've gone with a P55/i5-760/4GB of ram and used the money on a nicer video card or SSD.

 

[behelit54]

Thanks for the advice. Another questions I had is what should I be expecting in terms of CPU and GPU temperatures? How high would the temperatures have to be for me to be concerned? especially since I plan to overclock my system.

 

[mfenn]

Why did you ask for advice after you bought the parts? Sorry if I'm about to sound super-cynical, but did you come in here for a pat on the back and a slap on the butt?

If so, congratulations! Your build is super awesome!!!

Spoiler

If you wanted real advice, here's the ugly truth. I would return the CPU, HSF, RAM, Mobo, GPU, and HDD if you can. You would be far better off with a 955BE, Hyper 212+, GA-870A-UD3, 4GB of G.Skill RAM, a Samsung F3 500GB and a 5870 or GTX 480 for about the same total expenditure.

 

[wtmjake]

^^ lol.

While there are some things you could have switched around to save more money/buy better components don't worry...you'll be fine. There's nothing you can do now so just enjoy it when it arrives.

 

[mfenn]

^^ lol.

While there are some things you could have switched around to save more money/buy better components don't worry...you'll be fine. There's nothing you can do now so just enjoy it when it arrives.

Yeah, I wasn't being totally serious. It kinda grinds my gears when people ask for advice after the fact because honest advice really isn't going to help them enjoy or not enjoy their rig.

 

[WaitingForNehalem]

Why did you ask for advice after you bought the parts? Sorry if I'm about to sound super-cynical, but did you come in here for a pat on the back and a slap on the butt?

If so, congratulations! Your build is super awesome!!!

Spoiler

If you wanted real advice, here's the ugly truth. I would return the CPU, HSF, RAM, Mobo, GPU, and HDD if you can. You would be far better off with a 955BE, Hyper 212+, GA-870A-UD3, 4GB of G.Skill RAM, a Samsung F3 500GB and a 5870 or GTX 480 for about the same total expenditure.

You could stop recommending AMD on every build and realize that they compete with Core 2, not the Core i series.

OP, don't get a GIGABYTE board, they have electrical noise issues. Also, the Corsair TX series is outdated. Get the Caviar Black instead. If you aren't overclocking you can drop the RAM to DDR3 1066 since the IMC only uses 800/1066 at stock. Look at the Hyper 212+.

 

[fffblackmage]

The CPU+mobo is nice, but I don't think you're getting the most out of them unless you're at least running SLI/xfire....

I'm not a fan of the Caviar Blue 500GB since it's probably outdated. Not that that's a bad thing, but you're most likely not getting the best deal in terms of $/GB compared to a 1TB HDD.

 

[mfenn]

You could stop recommending AMD on every build and realize that they compete with Core 2, not the Core i series.

OP, don't get a GIGABYTE board, they have electrical noise issues. Also, the Corsair TX series is outdated. Get the Caviar Black instead. If you aren't overclocking you can drop the RAM to DDR3 1066 since the IMC only uses 800/1066 at stock. Look at the Hyper 212+.

Show me where I recommend AMD on "every build." I regularly recommend Intel for builds with a primary focus other than gaming. You could also realize that given limited resources (e.g. money), an AMD build with a better GPU will perform much better for gaming than an Intel build that must necessarily sacrifice GPU horsepower. A 1366 build with a single midrange GPU is a pretty poor gaming value IMHO.

As to your other concerns (in order): No more or less than any other mobo, sure it's not the new kid on the block but a quality build at a good price trumps, an F3 is just as fast and cheaper, use XMP, agree (which is good since I recommended it).

EDIT: Cause I'm bored at work, here's some threads where I don't recommend AMD
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2094734&highlight=760
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2094157&highlight=760
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2093665&highlight=760
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2092740&highlight=760
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2092798&highlight=760
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2090618&highlight=760

There's just a few since the 760 came out.

 

[RaistlinZ]

Forget that AMD 955. It's yesterday's news. You'll enjoy the i7-930, trust me. It's lightning quick. Everything looks decent except that WD Caviar Blue. Get a small SSD at least for your OS and main apps.

I also considered getting that Gigabyte board but decided against it due to issues I've read about over at [H]. I don't regret it one bit. I'm very satisfied with the ASUS board and it handles high FSB very well.

 

[Sp12]

You could stop recommending AMD on every build and realize that they compete with Core 2, not the Core i series.

For the record, K10.5 actually surpasses core 2. And AMD isn't recommended on the basis that it trumps Nahalem, it's recommended in that it's a competitive price/performance, but at a lower price. As such, an AMD build can often be better for gaming on a limited budget.

Additionally, the AMD 1055t hexacore is a better value than the i5-760 (same price) in multithreaded environments.

 

[Davidh373]

Show me where I recommend AMD on "every build." I regularly recommend Intel for builds with a primary focus other than gaming. You could also realize that given limited resources (e.g. money), an AMD build with a better GPU will perform much better for gaming than an Intel build that must necessarily sacrifice GPU horsepower. A 1366 build with a single midrange GPU is a pretty poor gaming value IMHO.

As to your other concerns (in order): No more or less than any other mobo, sure it's not the new kid on the block but a quality build at a good price trumps, an F3 is just as fast and cheaper, use XMP, agree (which is good since I recommended it).

EDIT: Cause I'm bored at work, here's some threads where I don't recommend AMD
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2094734&highlight=760
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2094157&highlight=760
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2093665&highlight=760
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2092740&highlight=760
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2092798&highlight=760
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2090618&highlight=760

There's just a few since the 760 came out.

This is why I like mfenn, he provides proof when all WaitingForNehalem does is make broad statements and brash claims like he's the only one that doesn't need to prove himself here.

The truth is The Phenom II series (even though not meant to compete with the Core series) does a great job. There is a difference between what is meant to be, and what is. Considering the AMD chipsets are about half the price and have 95% of the performance of the equivalent Core chipsets I'd have to say today it's an overall win to get 2 AMD Phenom II X4 machines and buy games twice so you can provide a great experience for a friend who comes over also than waste your money on one o' them 980X machines... of course I'm making a point that Intel is more money, not that the 980X is equal to the X4. There is a definite performance difference, you just don't notice much when you are getting 60 fps over the 55 fps you'd get with the COMPETING Phenom II X6.