Want to build ONE Best PC from 3 different PCs

[hzrai]

Greetings all,

I have a kind of puzzle. I have 3 PCs in my home, and I would like to create one with the best components from all of them. That will be my main use. The others are not so important.

I'm using this PC mainly for Photoshop as well as gaming and 3D software.

Here are the specs:

Note: I didn't list HDDs because it’s a no brainer.
-I don’t have sound card in any of them.
-None are overclocked. And no plans so far as I know nothing. But could learn if it will be a big boost.

-----------------------
PC 1 (My main one)

-Intel i7-930 (Socket LGA 1366)
-ASUS P6X58D-E (X58 chipset)(Triple channel memory supported)
-12 GB G.Skill PC3-12800 – 1600 (3x 4GB)
-GTX 470
-TX850W CORSAIR Power Supply

*Intel website says the 930 supports memory types DDR-800/1066 – So is my 1600 useless?

Mobo http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131641


PC 2

-Intel i5-2500 (Socket LGA 1155)
-MSI P67A-GD53 (b3) (P67 chipset) (Dual Channel memory supported)
-16 GB Samsung 1333MHz PC3-10600U (4x 4GB)
-SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6990
-PURE 950W Sapphire Power Supply

*Intel website says the i5-2500 supports memory types DDR-1066/1333

Mobo http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813130572


PC 3

-Intel i5-3570K (Socket LGA 1155)
-ASUS P8Z77-V (Z77 Chipset) (Dual Channel Memory supported)
-8 GBBallistix SportPC-1600 Memory (2x 4 GB)
-No Video Card
-TX650W CORSAIR PowerSupply

Mobo http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131820
----------------------------

So I read a lot about these components and googled the comparisons but im getting conflicting opinions on which is better.

Since my i7 is a different socket, I cannot do much with it. Should I move the best parts to my i7-930? Or put the best on the i5-3570K ? Then which is the better mobo, the ASUSP8Z77-V or the relatively unstable MSI P67A (Ive had sudden constant restarts on it as many complained. Resolved it by disconnecting the reset cable!)?

I also noticed that my i7-930 does not take 1600 MHz RAM. So they are not being used to their full potential.



I don’t want to upgrade until 2015 when ill get a totally new system.

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[Regz]

I5 3570k
Asus p8z77-v
G skill 12gb and buy one more stick of 4gb g skill
HD 6990
Tx850w psu

 

[lehtv]

Agree with the above except for the RAM. You could combo two of the g.skills wih two of the crucials. Also there's the question of age regarding the PSUs... using the newest one would probably be the best

 

[hzrai]

Thanks for the feedback guys!

I bought these power supplies in :

-TX850W CORSAIR --- 2010
-PURE 950W Sapphire Power Supply ----- 2012

Why did you chose the 850 W instead of the 950W ? I thought the HD 6990 sucks up a lot of power, 700W from what I read.

I bought PC2 from a friend for 200 euros. It also came with 125 GB SSD, and 2x 1TBHDD, and a 27" LED screen. Couldn't pass on it, that's why I have all these pcs!

@lehtv, I love Mass Effect!

 

[Charlie98]

I5 3570k
Asus p8z77-v
G skill 12gb and buy one more stick of 4gb g skill
HD 6990
Tx850w psu

^^^ that's what I came up with, too. Add an aftermarket CPU cooler if you want to try to overclock... the chip and mobo are capable.

 

[Ken g6]

Why did you chose the 850 W instead of the 950W ? I thought the HD 6990 sucks up a lot of power, 700W from what I read.

Probably because the Corsair is a well-known brand. But the PURE looks like a good unit.

Also, the 6990 does not take 700W. Even the most power-hungry card doesn't take more than 575.

So I generally agree with Lehtv. But what are the voltages on that RAM?

 

[hzrai]

But what are the voltages on that RAM?

How do I find that out?

 

[lehtv]

How do I find that out?

Find the memory part number in the SPD tab of CPU-Z, then post that here or google it to find out the rated voltage at 1600Mhz. Or go to BIOS and see what the DRAM voltage is set to.

 

[hzrai]

Ok, installed CPU-Z, but I wish that you warned me about all those programs installing themselves. Now my browser is over taken with their search engine.

Anyways, voltage is 1.5V

And of course, max bandwidth is 800 MHz.

 

[It's Not Lupus]

Use the zip file next time.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Ok, installed CPU-Z, but I wish that you warned me about all those programs installing themselves. Now my browser is over taken with their search engine.

Next time get it from the official site. And if you did, then select "Custom" and deselect the add-ons.

I've gotten the .exe download from the official site on several of my computers recently, and I didn't have my search hi-jacked.

 

[Torn Mind]

Next time get it from the official site. And if you did, then select "Custom" and deselect the add-ons.

I've gotten the .exe download from the official site on several of my computers recently, and I didn't have my search hi-jacked.

I installed version 1.66 on my Win8 comp a few months ago. No search hijack.

Anything downloaded from download.com though, is likely a disaster waiting to happen.

 

[DigDog]

hello.

it seems it to be my mission to provide alternative proposals, so here it goes.

sell the 3570k ; overclock it first, it's not hard. sell the 6990 as well. use the corsair psu.
use the 2500 as your pc. keep the shapp psu.
grab a L56xx xeon and put it in your 1366 build. overclock the life out of it. sell it, with the 470 in it.

buy whatever gpu you need for diablo.

top dollah, newer gpu, reasonable power from the 2500. keep the better ram for yourself.

 

[hzrai]

Next time get it from the official site.

I did, but I know what happened. There was a big fat link saying "CPU-Z Download" and in fine print, portalux.com That was an obvious ad. The official ZIP and EXE files links are on the top right. I didn't see them. I fell for it!

It's ok, I'm going to format everything soon anyways.


@DigDog: Hmmm, that seems to be a lot of work for little savings, am I wrong? I also need to keep 1 of them for our home server/itunes/movies for our TV. So I can only get rid of 1 PC really. My knowledge in PC hardware is little, so people like me tend to pay the price for it!

I can however, overclock the one leftover pc to make it more attractive to sell. Because from what I see on ebay, it will be hard selling all the parts individually.

I don't play diablo. But I do play warthunder when I got the time. I mainly use photoshop heavily, and 3DsMax and Maya.

My next upgrade is going to be in 2015 (i hope!) for Star Citizen. So I already have a nice budget for it. For now, i just want to de-clutter my office.

So what does the voltage of RAM tell?

 

[VirtualLarry]

I mainly use photoshop heavily, and 3DsMax and Maya.

I would consider, then, upgrading to one of those L5xxx chips that are cheap on Ebay. Hex-core, with hyperthreading. Put that one where the 930 is. Then take the 6990 video card and put it in that one. (Unless 3DS and Maya favor NVidia cards, I don't know.)

 

[OBLAMA2009]

those all look pretty decent. id just take the last one and make it my primary and go out and buy any components i wanted upgraded, like more memory. im not a gamer so i wouldnt bother getting a card

 

[hzrai]

Ok, So.. what if i take PC3, buy the i7-3770K with the money i'll get from selling one of the pcs? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116501

Its going for $339 right now. And it seems to have a good performance/$ based on this site : http://cpubenchmark.net/cpu.php?cpu=Intel+Core+i7-3770K+@+3.50GHz&id=2

Would that work with ASUS P8Z77-V? Or is anything bottle necking it?

The i7 should be very good for my photoshop and 3D modeling work right?

Another thing I remembered, PC3 is what we use occasionally for movies and backup storage, and since day one it has been freezing, or hanging up, then returning to normal. It doesn't crash. It just freezes for a minute then goes back to normal. Did I mess something up?

If I messed up the hardware when i build it, then I can't use this as my main PC. What a headache.

 

[Blue_Max]

-Intel i7-930 (Socket LGA 1366)
-ASUS P6X58D-E (X58 chipset)(Triple channel memory supported)
-12 GB G.Skill PC3-12800 – 1600 (3x 4GB)
-GTX 470
-TX850W CORSAIR Power Supply[/color]

PC 2
-Intel i5-2500 (Socket LGA 1155)
-MSI P67A-GD53 (b3) (P67 chipset) (Dual Channel memory supported)
-16 GB Samsung 1333MHz PC3-10600U (4x 4GB)
-SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6990
-PURE 950W Sapphire Power Supply

PC 3
-Intel i5-3570K (Socket LGA 1155)
-ASUS P8Z77-V (Z77 Chipset) (Dual Channel Memory supported)
-8 GBBallistix SportPC-1600 Memory (2x 4 GB)
-No Video Card
-TX650W CORSAIR PowerSupply

Make the i5-3570k your main machine, it's a newer class of i5 and faster overall than your old i7.
Steal 2x of the 4GB DDR3-1600 sticks from the i7 and add them to the 2x4GB 1600's already in the 3570k.
Move the Radeon 6990 and 950W power supply to the 3570k rig as well.

Then overclock it for even more performance!

This is now the best from the pile of parts you have.

NEXT:
move 2x 4GB-1333 from the i5-2500 to the i7 rig so it's back to triple-channel mode. It's a great workhorse.

The i5-2500 will still have 8GB remaining which is plenty for 99% of users. This will also be the rig with no video card - the Intel video is good enough for non-gaming.


That's my two bits!

 

[mfenn]

Another thing I remembered, PC3 is what we use occasionally for movies and backup storage, and since day one it has been freezing, or hanging up, then returning to normal. It doesn't crash. It just freezes for a minute then goes back to normal. Did I mess something up?

That sounds like a failing disk.

Anyway, the i7 will be faster in your productivity applications by ~20% or so (being generous). Whether that's worth the time investment of selling off some of the old parts is up to you.

 

[Blue_Max]

That sounds like a failing disk.

Anyway, the i7 will be faster in your productivity applications by ~20% or so (being generous). Whether that's worth the time investment of selling off some of the old parts is up to you.

According to the Anandtech benches, the 3570k wins every single time, even over the faster i7-940.

http://anandtech.com/bench/product/46?vs=701

 

[DigDog]

i would sell the 3570 over the 2500 because more money can be had for it. same for the 6990, it looks impressive on eBay.

getting a xeon for that 1366 is a must.

ram is probably all 1.5v. the 1.65v models if you have any are basically pre-OC models, nothing special about that. also, 8Gb is plenty even for video editing unless insane projects.

 

[Blue_Max]

...those Xeons are so expensive though... you guys finding big deals somewhere so that $1000+ chip is half price or something?

 

[mfenn]

According to the Anandtech benches, the 3570k wins every single time, even over the faster i7-940.

http://anandtech.com/bench/product/46?vs=701

In the post that I quoted, the OP was talking about buying an i7 3770K.

 

[mfenn]

...those Xeons are so expensive though... you guys finding big deals somewhere so that $1000+ chip is half price or something?

Old Westmere Xeons are not that expensive used. It's a reasonable upgrade from a Nehalem i7 if you can benefit from the extra cores.

 

[lehtv]

Old Westmere Xeons

Nice name for a band, haha..