Building new computer, suggestions appreciated

[onigeorge]

Hey guys, I'm finally gonna build a new machine and get rid of my crappy computer. Here's the setup so far. Please let me know if you have any suggestions or improvements:

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Case ($59.99): Cooler Master RC-912-KKN1 Cooler Master HAF 912 Mid Tower ATX Case

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Power supply ($183.99): CMPSU-850AX Corsair Professional Series Gold 850-Watt 80 Plus Gold Certified High-Performance Power Supply - CMPSU-850AX

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CPU Cooler ($53.84): Cooler Master V6GT Cooler Master V6GT 220-Watt CPU Cooler RR-V6GT-22PK-R1

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Motherboard ($209.99): SABERTOOTH P67 ASUS SABERTOOTH P67 LGA 1155 SATA 6Gbps and USB 3.0 Supported Intel P67 DDR3 1800 ATX Motherboard

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CPU ($314.95): Intel Core i7-2600K Intel Core i7-2600 Processor 3.4GHz 8 MB Cache Socket LGA1155

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Memory ($159.99): DOMINATOR GT 8 GB PC3-15000 1866 MHz Memory Kit for AMD and Intel Dual Channel Processors CMT8GX3M2A1866C9

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I'm installing two Graphics Cards in SLI
Graphics Cards ($164.99 each) ASUS GTX460 ASUS GTX460 1 GB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card ENGTX460 DirectCU/2DI/1GD5

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I'm getting two SSDs and putting them in RAID 0

Solid State Drive ($129.99 each): VTX3-25SAT3-60G OCZ Technology 60 GB Vertex 3 Series SATA III 6.0 Gb-s 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive

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[Crazy Diana]

http://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc

[Hitshade]

You're going cheap on the video cards... just spend the $330 on a newer high performance card.

If you're not planning on overclocking you don't need to shell out the extra money on a cpu cooler.

Also, fuck running SSDs in a raid. Its just so unnecessary.

[onigeorge]

Hey Hitshade,

I'm gonna give overclocking a try, according to some reviews the MB and CPU are really good for that, that's why I'm going for the extra cooler.

What Graphic Card would you recommend instead of running 2 in SLI?


Crazyd, thanks for the link, I'm gonna check it.

[lawlerbation the hardcore squatter]

You should almost never start a enthusiast style build with sli. Especially a 460 sli grab a 560-570 and expand to another when they become cheaper. They will never become necessary as no games push the graphics that intensely.

[Hitshade]

If you go nVidia Id probably agree with Lawlers suggestion. Pick up a 570 for now and expand later if you really need to. I'm an AMDtard myself... no accounting for taste I suppose.

The mobo is super easy to overclock with, I just upgraded my rig and went with a Sabertooth board as well. (AM3+ though). For the most part you wont even need to fuck with things, the bios will do all the work for you.

[onigeorge]

Yup someone told me that MoBo was really easy to use for OC.

About the graphics card I'm checking prices, I'm seeing two options

GTX570 $339.99 1.280 GB DDR5 running at 742 MHz

or

GTX560 $227.99 1 GB DDR5 factory OCd at 900 MHz


Probably the best option would be the 560 and then get another one in a few months, or should I go directly for the 570?

[Crazy Diana]

ugh ati is the big thing now noobs

[jackslammer]

Some unnecessary and overpriced features and components, swap those components for better value and equally performing components, then spend more on the video cards instead since they are the most important performance influencing component(s) for a gaming system.

Cases are mostly personal preference, I have read a lot of good stuff about the Rosewill THOR V2 Gaming ATX Full Tower Computer Case is $130.

GOLD rated PSU isn't necessary, a BRONZE rated PSU from a reliable manufacturer is more than fine especially if recently updated. CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX850 V2 850W is $125.

Fuck that flashy CPU cooler, the Hyper 212+ is still the way to go and they are cheap. COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1 "Heatpipe Direct Contact" Long Life Sleeve 120mm CPU is $28.

That motherboard looks amazing as do all TUF boards with their thermal armor but you aren't SnowZz and you will want the newer Z68 chip-set over the P67 since you are using an SSD. ASUS P8Z68-V PRO LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS is $195.

2500K + Hyper Threading = 2600K, you really need eight threads? Because no games do now or in the foreseeable future. Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52500K is $220.

I found the same brand, capacity, latency, speed, timings, voltage, etc. as your RAM kit without the fancy RAM fan for cheaper. CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 15000) Desktop Memory Model CMZ8GX3M2A1866C9B is $80.

SSD RAID is overkill just use a single 120GB one instead. OCZ Vertex 3 VTX3-25SAT3-120G 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) is $230.

Other than that, the GPUs were the only parts you didn't seem to go overboard on, so take the money you'd save and change the two 460s into a single 580 or two 6950s. An EVGA SuperClocked 015-P3-1582-AR GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) 1536MB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card is $480. And the AMD alternative would be two of SAPPHIRE 100312-1GDP Radeon HD 6950 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity are $225 each and include Deus Ex.

Here is Tom's Hardware Graphics Card Hierarchy Chart

[jackslammer]

You should almost never start a enthusiast style build with sli. Especially a 460 sli grab a 560-570 and expand to another when they become cheaper. They will never become necessary as no games push the graphics that intensely.

460s and 560s are functionally identical, the GTX 560 is just newer and faster. They have the same number of stream processors, ROPs and SMs, and the same size L2 cache and memory bus. In fact, the only real advantage the 560 has over its predecessor is clock speeds: the core, at 810MHz, is 20% faster than the 460; the memory, at 1GHz, is 10% faster. This ramp up in clock speeds offer a minor performance increase as expected, similar to a simple overclock without even increasing the voltage. You are better off grabbing a factory overclocked 460 or just overclocking a 460 yourself. I don't know why somebody would recommend a 560 instead of a 460. :doh:

Several year old console hardware can play any game out too, but in 720p with blurry low ass settings, no AA, no AF and barely 30 FPS. An average of 60 FPS in a high resolution like 1920x1080, 1920x1200, 2560x1600, etc. with maxed settings, AA, and AF is considered acceptable for a PC game and plenty of games today won't perform acceptably on a single mid to high end GPU. Just browse around and let the benchmarks speak for themselves.