Some advice for an annantech lurker!

[kentor]

Hey everyone,

long time reader, first time poster.. you get the drill.

Anyway, I am looking to build a new system within the next few weeks. I will actually be building two (one for a friend) and I have a few questions for you guys, as you are most likely smarter than me! I am living in Australia, and my price point is around $1200. I will use this system for some gaming (bit over my 360), but also for my part time job, which is IT Admin.

Firstly, with regard to processor choice, I have found the Intel Xeon E3-1230 for around $230. Are there any disadvantages for using this chip as opposed to an i52500k.. I don't plan on overclocking, and I would like the vt-x support, as I intend to run VMware for work purposes. It is hard to find information comparing these chips without contradictory information. From what I can gather, it is basically a rebranded i72600 with the graphics disabled and a slightly slower clock speed... Will it make any difference with BF3?

I understand that it supports, but does not require ECC ram, also I understand that this chip works in S1155 boards even if the board doesn't specifically support the xenon chip as it is basically an i7. Is there anything I should be concerned about?

I will list the rest of my setup now:

Intel Xeon E3-1230 OR Intel i5 2500k
ASUS LGA 1155 - Z68 G3
Corsair Vengeance Blue 8 GB (2 X 4 GB) PC3-12800
EVGA GeForce GTX 570 HD
Corsair Enthusiast Series 750-Watt 80
Western Digital 1.5 TB Caviar Green
Cooler Master HAF 912 Mid Tower ATX Case

I can have these parts for around $1150 - perfect for my price bracket. Are there any glaring issues that you can see?

Thank you so much for your help! Please feel free to offer any suggestions as well!

Jorden.

 

[Ken g6]

For some reason, the non-k versions of processors do support VT-x. So the i5 2500 (non-k) would be the safest and cheapest choice, unless you really need hyperthreading, e.g. to run over 4 VMs at once.

 

[mfenn]

Agree with Ken. All i3's and up support VT-x, so you don't have to worry about that. I run my home VMWare ESXi server on an i3 2100.

As for your parts, they look, OK but not the best.
- CPU: Either is fine
- Mobo: Depends on which exact one it is. Update with the model number and we'll let you know
- RAM: Most likely more expensive than it's worth. Look for normal G.Skill DDR3 1333 or normal Corsair DDR3 1333 1.5V. There is minimal performance difference (1&#37.
- GPU: GTX 570 and EVGA combined tell me that it's not worth the asking price. A 6950 2GB performs similarly and costs much less
- PSU: Overkill on wattage, a good 650W is plenty. Corsair TX is fine, but XFX Core, Antec HCG, and Antec Neo Eco are all fine as well.
- HDD : You do not want a Green drive as your only HDD. It's like building a race car and then putting it up on blocks. I know that prices are crazy right now, but get a 7200 RPM drive.
- Case: Fine

 

[kentor]

Hey guys, thank you so much for your help!

The two motherboards that I am looking at are these (Links to amazon, just for reference):

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...=ATVPDKIKX0DER

http://www.amazon.com/MSI-Z68A-GD55-...1410667&sr=1-1

These should be fine with both the i5 or the xenon yeah?

The reasons why I am looking at these two is mostly from an upgradability perspective; socket 1155 will be around for a bit, and having pcie-3.0 is great because I can upgrade in a couple of years to a faster card.

The reason that I went for the Nvidia gtx570 was because I can get it pretty cheap from a local store (around $310). From what I have read, in general ATi cards are considerably faster than there Nvidia counterparts, however the drivers let them down. Plus, I have had to use the catalyst software at work, had a lot of issues with it. I think I would prefer to go the Nvidia route for simplicity; is there something wrong with EVGA cards that I don't know about? Correct me if I am way off base!

And I have an SSD already in my laptop, was just going to rip that out and reuse, that is why i went the cheap option with the 5200 drive, was going for space not speed.

Once again, thank you so much!

 

[mfenn]

Do not pay any extra for PCIe Gen3. PCIe Gen3 is beyond useless for several reasons:
- Upgrading from Sandy Bridge to Ivy Bridge will be dumb from a bang for buck point of view
- No PCIe Gen3 expansion cards exist yet, so it is impossible to determine whether or not current PCIe Gen3 implementations will work with them.
- Even if you did buy IVB and a Gen3 card and it worked, your performance gain would be 0%. Cards barely exceed Gen1 speeds, much less Gen2.

Look into something like the ASRock Z68 Pro3, Gigabyte GA-Z68A-D3H, or ASUS P8Z68-V LE instead, they should cost about $50 less.

There is nothing wrong with EVGA cards other than the markup. $310 is pretty much normal market price for a GTX 570. You should be able to get a 6950 2GB for about $70 less. The 6950 2GB will perform pretty much the same.