Custom computer build, will it work?

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Banana

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Hello, im into extreme gaming and after hours and hours of research this is my system, i wish to OC to 4.0 on air cooling:

Thermalright ULTRA-120 Trueblack REV.C 6 Heatpipe Cooler LGA1366 775 AM3 Heatsink *Fan Not Included*

ASUS Rampage II Extreme ATX LGA1366 X58 DDR3 3PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 PCI CrossFire SLI Motherboard

Cooler Master Haf 932 Full Tower Black EATX Case 6X5.25 1X3.5 5X3.5INT No PSU USB eSATA 1394 Audio

Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate Edition 64BIT DVD OEM

OCZ Vertex 120GB 2.5IN SATA2 Solid State Disk Flash Drive SSD

LG BH08-LS20 Black BLU-RAY Writer 8X BD-R 16X DVD-R SATA Lightscribe Internal Drive

ASUS Xonar Essence STX PCI-E1 SPDIF Sound Card 124DB SNR W/ Headphone AMP
PC Assembly and Testing with 1 Year Limited NCIX System Warranty (PRE-CONFIG WIN. OS If Purchased)

NZXT Sentry LX High Performance Aluminum Fan Controller Black W/ LCD Dual 5.25IN

2x Noctua NF-P12-1300 120MM Ultra Quiet Cooling Fan 1100-1300RPM 63-92M3/H 12.6-19.8DBA Molex

Western Digital WD2001FASS Caviar Black 2TB SATA2 7200RPM 3.6MS 64MB 3.5IN Dual Proc Hard Drive OEM

Corsair XMS3 Dominator GT CMD12GX3M6A1600C8 12GB DDR3 6X2GB DDR3-1600 CL8-8-8-24 Core i7 Memory Kit

Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping Quad Core Processor LGA1366 2.66GHZ Bloomfield 8MB LGA1366 -SLBEJ-

Corsair HX1000W CMPSU-1000HX 1000W ATX 20/24PIN ATX 80A 12V Afc Modular Power Supply W/ 140MM Fan

2x XFX Radeon HD 5870 850MHZ 1GB GDDR5 4.8GHZ 2XDVI HDMI Display Port DIRECTX11 PCI-E Video Card

2x Thermalright 120MM Fan Holder for U120E Series Heatsinks

I've got a few questions though, is 12GB of corsair dominator ram really needed for extreme gaming? or should i switch to 6? Should i change my motherboard from ASUS Rampage II Extreme to EVGA x58 classified(I heard its easier to OC with the EVGA classified)? can i safely OC my CPU to 4.0 GHz and be within the safe temperature range? is this computer too loud? any other suggestions, improvements? Thanks again :)

Forgot to mention, total cost with tax+shipping+1 year warranty is about $4,500 canadian, does that seem to be a good price for such a system?
 
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That build looks pretty well thought out. I would probably swap to Gskills for memory as the Corsair stuff is over priced. I would look close at he SSD situation as it's pretty fluid right now. As for your Mobo plan it's really personal. I swear by ASUS for my personal builds, so the evga even with any hypothetical OC benefits would be a no go with me. Th sound card is a question for me, what are you driving with it? If your running can's I'd think twice and probably just use the onboard sound. If anything grab yourself a amp if you feel the need.
 
I'm a sound person, im using Sennheiser PC350 headphones and ive read reviews about the xonar essence, gives me the edge in FPS :D
 
Even for extreme gaming, 12GB of RAM is not needed. Drop it down to a 6GB set like this:
$140 - G.Skill F3-12800CL8T-6GBRM 3 x 2GB DDR3 1600 RAM

Dominator RAM are NEVER worth the added costs for it.
 
Alright, will i have any problems OC this system to 4.0 GHz and be within the temperature range? Is it worth 4500 canadian dollars? Thanks again, i want to get my order processed today, cant wait :p
 
Banana said:
Alright, will i have any problems OC this system to 4.0 GHz and be within the temperature range? Is it worth 4500 canadian dollars? Thanks again, i want to get my order processed today, cant wait :p
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No problems with OCing or temperature issues.

7) What size monitor do you have or plan to have?
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
 
I have a 22 inch samsung SyncMaster P2350, dont plan on changing it quite yet. I need crossfire (tri in the future) on the motherboard, and im getting the rampage II Extreme for 480$ meh, i can get the EVGA Classified for 480$ aswell..I'll also probably use RAID 0 in the future aswell, but not quite yet..
 
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which would you recommend? and can a single 5870 run all games on the highest graphics settings on a 22 inch samsung?
 
Banana said:
which would you recommend? and can a single 5870 run all games on the highest graphics settings on a 22 inch samsung?
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A single HD 5870 is overkill for a 22" monitor so yes it will be enough.

For a tri-crossfire setup to be almost worth it, you will need at least 30" monitor with 2560x1200 res.
 
Danny Bui said:
A single HD 5870 is overkill for a 22" monitor so yes it will be enough.

For a tri-crossfire setup to be almost worth it, you will need at least 30" monitor with 2560x1200 res.
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QFT. Seriously, sell all old parts and stick with your build, then add a 30" monitor... thats the [H]ard truth.
 
Thanks for the replies, i placed my order, waiting on an ETA on the 5870 though.. if its too long i might aswell get a GTX 295 CO OP FTW, i cant really wait :p.. well this is my semi-extreme build i guess.. I'll wait a bit for the core I9s, advanced graphics cards to go really extreme with watercooling and everything sometime in 2010-2011, i saved 2500$ with this build, and it delivers everything i want :D..
 
... except that you could have spent half that and got the same performance on a 22" monitor. :( Use that $2500 savings for a new monitor!!! 30-incher! gogogo! Stimulate the economy! :D
 
enginurd said:
... except that you could have spent half that and got the same performance on a 22" monitor.
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yeah but if we tell the kid its a total waste of resources he'll whine that we're being closed minded :rolleyes:

honest truth for you kid:
your build is utter and complete overkill in every sense of the word, "extreme" gaming or not, even with a single 5870 you'll be pushing 8x into that 22" at 100FPS+ in everything (except probably Crysis, but who cares, its Crysis), in other words MASSIVE overkill

you don't need 6GB of RAM, let alone 12GB, for any modern game, or anything in the future that this system will handle (you can't future proof), 4GB is good, 6GB is more than enough (but given triple channel means 3 or 6, 6 makes sense), if you're doing DCC, 12GB makes sense, otherwise, waste of cash

motherboard is a total waste at $500, you can get crossfire for much less money (buying the absolute most expensive thing doesn't mean its somehow "better"), including tri/quad CF (which is utterly worthless even with a 30", unless you want 24x or higher AA)

honestly either slim it down with the 22 (like a 5850 and less expensive mobo), or get a 30" and keep the second 5870, drop half the RAM, less expensive mobo, and personally I'd get a better looking case for such a monster build
 
He bought all the parts, except for vidcards, so no slimming down. All he can do now is give those HD5870's/GTX295's something to do... with a 22" monitor, they won't even break a sweat. :p

@OP: get a 30" monitor! hell, or even a 37" monitor, but that would most likely only be 1920x1080 instead of 2560x1600, so it wouldn't give those vidcards as much a workout. So really, get the 30" instead.
 
enginurd said:
He bought all the parts, except for vidcards, so no slimming down. All he can do now is give those HD5870's/GTX295's something to do... with a 22" monitor, they won't even break a sweat. :p

@OP: get a 30" monitor! hell, or even a 37" monitor, but that would most likely only be 1920x1080 instead of 2560x1600, so it wouldn't give those vidcards as much a workout. So really, get the 30" instead.
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he could get that Barco 56", that'll give them a workout :cool:
 
I'm not a kid, just new to custom built computers and what not, a typical NEWBIE.. anyway this is what i ordered and why:

Thermalright ULTRA-120 Trueblack REV.C 6 Heatpipe Cooler LGA1366 775 AM3 Heatsink *Fan Not Included* (Trying to OC to 4.0 GHz on I7 920 d0, and i wont use watercooling yet, maybe for my next build with the i9s)

Cooler Master Haf 932 Full Tower Black EATX Case 6X5.25 1X3.5 5X3.5INT No PSU USB eSATA 1394 Audio (I like the looks, great airflow, huge case)

Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate Edition 64BIT DVD OEM (Yes i know this is not different from microsoft windows 7 professional, but its 30 extra $ and meh.. whatever :p)

OCZ Vertex 120GB 2.5IN SATA2 Solid State Disk Flash Drive SSD (SSD to store my OS, primary games etc)

LG BH08-LS20 Black BLU-RAY Writer 8X BD-R 16X DVD-R SATA Lightscribe Internal Drive (Dont have a blu-ray reader and i'm guessing its the future, although i could probably cut costs here aswell)

ASUS Xonar Essence STX PCI-E1 SPDIF Sound Card 124DB SNR W/ Headphone AMP (I play FPS online and sound is REALLY important with finding the enemy)

NZXT Sentry LX High Performance Aluminum Fan Controller Black W/ LCD Dual 5.25IN (Looks and a fan controller)

Sennheiser PC350 Gaming Stereo Headset 10-26000HZ 150OHM 10FT Black Noise Cancel Mic(Great gaming headset)

Western Digital WD2001FASS Caviar Black 2TB SATA2 7200RPM 3.6MS 64MB 3.5IN Dual Proc Hard Drive OEM (Storage for other games,movies , songs, etc and its quite fast aswell)

Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping Quad Core Processor LGA1366 2.66GHZ Bloomfield 8MB LGA1366 -SLBEJ- (Can OC to 4.0GHz and get the same performance as an extreme 975 on air)

Corsair HX1000W CMPSU-1000HX 1000W ATX 20/24PIN ATX 80A 12V Afc Modular Power Supply W/ 140MM Fan (Great PSU for future builds, even though i dont really need it for my system yet, its on sale and has great reviews, why not?)

2 x Noctua NF-P12-1300 120MM Ultra Quiet Cooling Fan 1100-1300RPM 63-92M3/H 12.6-19.8DBA Molex (For quiet cooling)

Corsair XMS3 Dominator TR3X6G1600C8D 6GB DDR3 3X2GB DDR3-1600 CL 8-8-8-24 Core i7 Memory Kit (I agree i could of went with another brand and non dominator to save around 50$, but the improved airflow kinda got me)

EVGA X58 Classified EATX LGA1366 DDR3 4PCIE-16 1PCI SLI SATA2 eSATA Dual GBLAN 1394 Motherboard (Best X58 motherboard? Great for overclocking? however its 'overkill' for my system but i think its a good investment, how often do you change motherboards anyway?)


All that costs $3400(canadian if it matters) with tax and shipping and a 1 year warranty on all parts, however i didnt put the graphics card into the cost, I have 2 options and i'm not sure which would be the better investment since according to you guys, both are overkill for my 22 inch monitor but i will however get a better monitor in the future(maybe real soon seeing as my current comp wont have a monitor if i take the 22 inch, i might aswell keep the 22 inch on my current comp and get a 26?28?30? inch monitor for my new comp, however its not certain yet so..)

1) Radeon 5870 HD (460$-500$ with tax)
*I could go crossfire in the future
*Supports direct X11
*Not in stock and I dont know when it will be in stock
*I'm impatient


2) EVGA GeForce GTX 295 CO-OP FTW (570$~600$ with tax)
*I could go dual slot in the future(which i guess supports 30" monitors as well)
*Takes alot of power
*In stock and i can get my comp ready in a week
*A little better than the 5870s in performance

And thats about it, my summary :p
 
BTW, you'll want a 2nd Vertex for RAID0. A single Vertex was underwhelming for me, but two in RAID0 really improves small random write speeds, making up for the deficiency of a single Vertex. RAID0 scales well with SSDs, so it brings the performance of small random writes to comparable speeds of the Intel X25-M.

http://www.alphaq.org/enginurd/hdd/ocz_vertex.html
 
Banana said:
textwall I'm not reading
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part I will read:
All that costs $3400(canadian if it matters) with tax and shipping and a 1 year warranty on all parts, however i didnt put the graphics card into the cost, I have 2 options and i'm not sure which would be the better investment since according to you guys, both are overkill for my 22 inch monitor but i will however get a better monitor in the future(maybe real soon seeing as my current comp wont have a monitor if i take the 22 inch, i might aswell keep the 22 inch on my current comp and get a 26?28?30? inch monitor for my new comp, however its not certain yet so..)

1) Radeon 5870 HD (460$-500$ with tax)
*I could go crossfire in the future
*Supports direct X11
*Not in stock and I dont know when it will be in stock
*I'm impatient


2) EVGA GeForce GTX 295 CO-OP FTW (570$~600$ with tax)
*I could go dual slot in the future(which i guess supports 30" monitors as well)
*Takes alot of power
*In stock and i can get my comp ready in a week
*A little better than the 5870s in performance

And thats about it, my summary :p
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points you're complaining about that don't matter:
DirectX 11 (At least currently) - doesn't matter for ANY game (I don't care what fanbois say), in 6-8 months, maybe this changes, who knows, nVidia still has a card to release, and DX11 still has market share to gain (no developer writes code that only .5% of their userbase can run)

Power consumption on GTX 295 - seriously, look at the rest of your build, you care about power consumption now? seriously?


also you've apparently got this belief that you need GTX 295 SLI/5870CF in order to run a 30" monitor with games, this is total crap, a single GTX 295 will handle a 30" with modern games (and don't even start with that "I'm a gamer I see 900 FPS" nonsense, the monitor is 60hz, it cannot display anything higher than 60 hz)

honestly neither the 5870 nor the GTX 295 is a bad choice, the 5870 saves you around $100, but you have to wait (and like a kid, you're whining about being impatient because (to quote a very excellent 1970's musical) "daddy I WANT IT NOW"), and is a bit more modern than the 295 (And at this price level, why not?)

as far as what monitor to get:
a 24", 26", or 28" will have the same resolution, and thus be the same demand on the graphics adapter, the only thing changing is PPI/dot pitch, doesn't mean a thing to the gfx adapter
a 30" on the other hand is about twice the resolution, which does increase the load, and you want more power behind that, GTX 295 is a fine choice, so is GTX 285 (for most titles), HD 5870, HD 4870X2, and HD 4850X2, as well as a number of dual card solutions, anything "higher up" is just to let you enable 24x or 32x AA and run at higher than 10 FPS, in other words: frivolous

so back to what you should do:
honestly I'd just wait for an HD 5870 to come in stock, if it looks like its going to take ages (as in a few months), perhaps a GTX 295 might not be a bad idea (its not like DX11 is going to come out and make the thing entirely outmoded, think about this: how many DX10 titles are there that you actually play? how many are DX10 only?)

monitor wise, thats personal preference, since it seems like blasting money is your bag, Dell's 3007WFP is a very nice display

however, if you toned things down to earth a bit, and grabbed another 22" or 24" for this new build (I'd suggest a 24" (and from what you learned above, that could also be a 26" or 28" or anything else that = 1920x1200 (or 1920x1080)), and get something a bit more "logical" as a graphics card, like HD 4870/90 or HD 5770/5850, its a lower resolution monitor meaning that you'll get better performance (because you aren't rendering into 2560x1600), you save money because you don't need as much processing power, and the monitor itself costs quite a bit less
 
Gotta disagree w/ alot of Obobski's response:

This guy (the OP) seems like a serious gamer (audio, headphones, and his comments), so the 30" monitor, the 5770, no DX11, high video card power demand/heat, etc. is all bad advice.....sorry. Take a look @ what competitive gamers are using, then customize it to your preferences..done!


Edit: Ok, Obobski says I'm flaming him, and that his advice is not bad. I could see that he might take it that way. I didn't realize that making 1 post disagreeing w/ another post was flaming.....So, I retract all disagreements and advice; although, he did it again... :)

Except this: "Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate Edition 64BIT DVD OEM"; get the Upgrade disk, not the OEM disk....and do the double install hack. W/ the OEM version, the "key" will not allow you to change the hardware much (even though I've never really had this problem, if you don't change hardware often), but the Upgrade disk will install the full, unrestricted version that can be moved (reinstalled) to other computers later, if wanted.

Here's what I'd buy "now" (I own them!): a 5870 (or wait for the dual gpu version; skip the crossfire), a good 23"-26" monitor w/ 1920x1200, and an Upgrade 7 disk....all other hardware looks good.

.
 
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dekruyter said:
Gotta disagree w/ alot of Obobski's response:

This guy (the OP) seems like a serious gamer (audio, headphones, and his comments), so the 30" monitor, the 5770, no DX11, high video card power demand/heat, etc. is all bad advice.....sorry. Take a look @ what competitive gamers are using, then customize it to your preferences..done!

.
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- I suggested he not get a 30" based on the high resolution and price (although honestly, theres nothing wrong with a 30" for gaming, assuming you aren't buying a model with scaling hardware, the 3007WFP is going to be about on-par with most other S-IPS based displays in terms of latency, so aside from the massive cost and processing load (which can be handled, its just a matter of dollars, and it seems that OP has no issue in that regard) there is no issue, most "gamers" don't have a 30" because its a $1000-$2000 monitor and requires a top shelf graphics card to run any modern game)

- Name one game that uses DirectX 11 (also you'll notice that the 5770 does support DirectX 11, and I suggested he wait for the 5870 if he can, based on it being more modern, although if he can't stand to wait, it won't "ruin" his equipment to have a GTX 295 (honestly name one DirectX 10 game thats DX10 exclusive that people play competitively....))

- What are you trying to say with "high video card power demand/heat"? The point was that a complaint regarding GTX 295's power consumption seems a bit late in the game, if the goal was ultimate silence/power efficiency, he'dve needed to make a number of changes to the design before buying, and given that he's got a 1kW PSU, GTX 295 is nowhere near a problem for his system to handle, so its a moot point either way, heat is another issue entirely, which I didn't really touch on (because I'm fairly sure his system won't have an issue with respect to cooling, aside from OC'ing (and he seems to have an idea of what he's doing there))

- Whats the issue with the HD 5770 and a 22 or 24 inch monitor? If it handles the games he's playing, what else does he need? (and he didn't mention what he's actually playing as "an extreme gamer", which could mean anything from CS:S or TF2 (which require next to nothing in terms of processing power) to L4D or CoD (which a 5770 or 5850 would handle easily on a 22 or 24 incher), the only games that really crush modern systems are generally single player, so you don't need that "competitive edge" (when you're playing against the computer, does an extra ms really matter?))

Honestly, where did I give bad advice? Really, please don't just flame to flame, especially when the person you're flaming mostly agrees with the points you've made
 
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kent said:
Corsair has great support. Keep it.
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I just had some G.Skill go bad. The RMA process was much easier than when I had to RMA Corsair.

G.Skill is cheaper and still has an extremely painless RMA process if there is a problem. As others have said, Corsair Dominator is never, ever worth the extra cost.
 
brom42 said:
I just had some G.Skill go bad. The RMA process was much easier than when I had to RMA Corsair.

G.Skill is cheaper and still has an extremely painless RMA process if there is a problem. As others have said, Corsair Dominator is never, ever worth the extra cost.
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Unless you also like the aesthetics of it. And have used their memory almost exclusively for years. And prefer their stuff to others.

Although, at the moment, I will concede that Dominator is quite a bit overpriced when compared to Mushkin :D
 
dekruyter said:
Gotta disagree w/ alot of Obobski's response:

This guy (the OP) seems like a serious gamer (audio, headphones, and his comments), so the 30" monitor, the 5770, no DX11, high video card power demand/heat, etc. is all bad advice.....sorry. Take a look @ what competitive gamers are using, then customize it to your preferences..done!


Edit: Ok, Obobski says I'm flaming him, and that his advice is not bad. I could see that he might take it that way. I didn't realize that making 1 post disagreeing w/ another post was flaming.....So, I retract all disagreements and advice; although, he did it again... :)

Except this: "Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate Edition 64BIT DVD OEM"; get the Upgrade disk, not the OEM disk....and do the double install hack. W/ the OEM version, the "key" will not allow you to change the hardware much (even though I've never really had this problem, if you don't change hardware often), but the Upgrade disk will install the full, unrestricted version that can be moved (reinstalled) to other computers later, if wanted.

Here's what I'd buy "now" (I own them!): a 5870 (or wait for the dual gpu version; skip the crossfire), a good 23"-26" monitor w/ 1920x1200, and an Upgrade 7 disk....all other hardware looks good.

.
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i've read that OEM windows 7 is saved on the motherboard of the comp, and i got a pretty overkill motherboard that i think will last me a long time, so its alright i guess :) according to the EVGA team, a single gtx 295 can handle 1900x1200 at the highest graphical detail and maintaining 50+ FPS on almost all games, however it cant do so with a 2560x1800 resolution screen, so i might stay with my 22 inch LCD at 1900x1080 which isnt too bad and performance is guaranteed...
 
Banana said:
i've read that OEM windows 7 is saved on the motherboard of the comp, and i got a pretty overkill motherboard that i think will last me a long time, so its alright i guess :) according to the EVGA team, a single gtx 295 can handle 1900x1200 at the highest graphical detail and maintaining 50+ FPS on almost all games, however it cant do so with a 2560x1800 resolution screen, so i might stay with my 22 inch LCD at 1900x1080 which isnt too bad and performance is guaranteed...
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according to the eVGA team you should buy more stuff so they make more money, sad but true

http://www.techspot.com/review/139-geforce-gtx-295/page5.html

it has 2560x1600 benchies at the bottom of each set of charts, across a few pages (just linked the first one)

not seeing one issue at 2560x1600, and these are all modern games (you haven't stated what you're playing, this heavily influences things, especially if you're using older games (like CS:S, would not even require GTX 295 to do 2560x1600, probably not even GTX 285))

and for future reference:
2560x1600
1920x1200
1920x1080

CanesVenetici said:
Wait.... WAT?
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I'm thinking he's referencing the OEM licence implication, that you need to keep the matching piece of hardware for your OEM licence
but he's probably heard some rumor that it somehow "burns into the board", you know like "hard drives have an IP address" kind of facts

honestly I agree with the suggestion for retail version, Win7 is brand new, and likely to be here for at least a few years, it'll easily outlive the X58 (overkill or not (which was the point I was making earlier, just because it has insane features doesn't mean it has any sort of leg-up over any other LGA 1366 board in terms of future-proofing or performance, and will be outdated just as quickly)), as the retail licence lets you install on a different machine (one install at a time please), vs being tied to a box
 
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