Another build thread

[JackTFECow]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
This machine will be for gaming mostly, there will be some encoding with handbreak from time to time and I am going to use it for VM lab work on MS certifications as well.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
1500 with taxes and shipping. The number is flexable, but might end up making me wait for the next paycheck to pull more.
3) Where do you live?
Hudson Valley NY, close enough to make the trek out to the Patterson NJ MicroCenter if it is worth the gas.
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
CPU, RAM, Motherboard, Case, PSU
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Hard drives (SSD 120g OCZ and 1.5 seagage), video card (BFG 285 GTX OC)
6) Will you be overclocking?
Not at the moment. I am going to consider it if I ever get around to watercooling.
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
I game on a 40 inch Sharp AQUOS at 1920x1080
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
I would like to make the purchase by this weekend unless someone has a good reason to wait a month.
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
SLI needed (2 card). No RAID at this time. I was looking at getting something with USB3 and SATA6 so I dont need to but cards for it in a years time
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?
I have my 7 Pro license already in hand.



As you can see I have a pretty decent start on it with the SSD and other drives as well as the video card. The most important part of the build will be stability. The last 2 motherboards I have owned lasted forever and were considered some of the best ones out for the platform, and I dont see a reason to buck tradition now

I have an interesting situation with the video card that I need advice on. I bought the 285 GTX OC back when Best Buy cycled them out and my friend grabbed one as well. I have a choice to make today. Do I buy him a GTX 460 (Gigabyte one for 230) and get 30$ and his 285 GTX OC, or do I buy 2 of the GTX 460s and sell my 285? would I be better off just saying screw it and buying a 5870 instead?

For the power supply, right now I have a seasonic 700 from 3-4 years ago that has been rock solid. Unless there is a cheaper brand with high reliability and clean output I would be leaning more toward another Seasonic.

Casewise, I am open to pretty much anything right now. I am more a fan of simple looks then LEDs all over the place. I am going to have the machine in my bedroom until I purchase a house next spring so I would like minimal forward facing lights, or a rocker switch to shut them off when I need to sleep. If the case has enough features (USB3 outlets and such) I can always put painters tape over the LEDs until then as well.

Board and CPU is a toughie too. Is there really a perceptable difference between AMD and Intel in gaming? Would I be better off with the 930 i7 or a 6 core AMD? Like I said above the main reason for this machine to exist is for gaming, but there will be some VM environment work done for labs and such, as well as some converting shows/movies for playing on my phone. The game time is the most important thing to me. Thats how I blow off steam after work so that should be 90% of the consideration.

I finally saw a price and jumped on that OCZ SSD deal on newegg a few weeks ago, so I have a main OS drive with a few games installed. I also have my 150g Raptor X drive from the machine I have now for installing anything I dont want on the main drive. There are a few other 1.5tb drives sitting around the place, and they can be run externally if the case isnt big enough to toss them in. I was looking for an excuse to get one of those blacX esata drive docks anyway....

So what say you?

 

[Shadowssong]

Your definitely overbudgeting for this. Even top of the line mobo/cpu/ram + case/psu wouldn't run you as high as $1500. I would go with this:

$495 - i7 930 + Asus P6X58D-E Mobo

$135 - G.Skill DDR3-1333 6GB(3x2gb)

Case is pretty subjective, I'll let Danny post his giant list, and you can choose from there.

PSU wise I would definitely replace your old Seasonic especially if you are planning on running dual GTX285's.

I would suggest the:
$140 - Corsair CMPSU-950TX 950 W

And while almost 1k watts might be a bit overkill, it is only $10 more for 100 more watts of power (than the 850TX).

So thats around $770 for cpu/mobo/ram and psu. Give or take $150 for a nice case and you are still a good $500 under budget.

As for the GPU, I am confused by what you are saying about buying and getting blah blah. So you pay $230 for a GTX460 and get a GTX 285 OC + $30, so essentially you are paying $200 for a GTX285 OC?

Also I would suggest grabbing a cheap Samsung F3 1TB as your MAIN data drive (beside your SSD of course) and then use all the rest of your much larger drives in possibly a NAS or just external storage. I say this because the F3 would be much faster than any of those olders drives you have (yes, including the raptor) and its only $75.

 

[E4g1e]

PSU wise I would definitely replace your old Seasonic especially if you are planning on running dual GTX285's.

I would suggest the:
$140 - Corsair CMPSU-950TX 950 W

And while almost 1k watts might be a bit overkill, it is only $10 more for 100 more watts of power (than the 850TX).

I agree with that choice, especially since that extra $10 buys you a better-quality (and not just more powerful) PSU. The TX950 is based on the newer CWT DSG platform while the TX850 is based on CWT's older PSH platform.

 

[JackTFECow]

Your definitely overbudgeting for this. Even top of the line mobo/cpu/ram + case/psu wouldn't run you as high as $1500.

I know I overbudgeted. I wanted to make sure there was enough to make sure that I would be able to cover any oddball ideas people might have I also figured I would use the overflow to get the things I know I am forgetting, such as an H50 cooler. I wanted to leave the possibility open for an overhaul.

I would go with this:

$495 - i7 930 + Asus P6X58D-E Mobo

$135 - G.Skill DDR3-1333 6GB(3x2gb)

I figured most people would go with the 930 chip, so it looks like a trip to NJ this weekend is in order. I would save more cash buying the processor there then with the deal package. The board choice looks pretty solid as well. I was looking at that one earlier today and the gigabyte one. I had a few people tell me to look at the rampage board as well. The prices on these boards is crazy, but I understand you get what you pay for when it comes to this piece.

Case is pretty subjective, I'll let Danny post his giant list, and you can choose from there.

PSU wise I would definitely replace your old Seasonic especially if you are planning on running dual GTX285's.

I would suggest the:
$140 - Corsair CMPSU-950TX 950 W

And while almost 1k watts might be a bit overkill, it is only $10 more for 100 more watts of power (than the 850TX).

The corsair PSUs are of the same or very close to the quality of the seasonics? 140$ sounds great to me, my last one cost me 230$, LOL.

So thats around $770 for cpu/mobo/ram and psu. Give or take $150 for a nice case and you are still a good $500 under budget.

As for the GPU, I am confused by what you are saying about buying and getting blah blah. So you pay $230 for a GTX460 and get a GTX 285 OC + $30, so essentially you are paying $200 for a GTX285 OC?

You are correct on the video card options. it ends up being 200$ for the card, OR I can get 2 GTX460 to SLI, or a single 5870. I wasnt sure if the horsepower of 2 GTX285 OC would be better then the lower power SLI but DX11 hardware or even the single card (5870). Of the 3 choices it sounds like the 285 in SLI would trump it all by a decent amount, but I am not sure.

Also I would suggest grabbing a cheap Samsung F3 1TB as your MAIN data drive (beside your SSD of course) and then use all the rest of your much larger drives in possibly a NAS or just external storage. I say this because the F3 would be much faster than any of those olders drives you have (yes, including the raptor) and its only $75.

I had no idea that those F3 drives were so fast... Specwise it doesnt look any faster then any of the other 7500 RPM drives. I do see the F3 listed in a bunch of profiles for people. Maybe I should grab two to run in RAID0. I have a NAS with a few TB of space, so I can make network backups in case one of them blows up. 1 of these is really faster then a 150 Raptor X?

 

[Shadowssong]

If you can get the i7 at NJ that would be a great deal, didn't even think about that. The corsair PSU's are just as good as seasonics, if not sometimes better. I'm not sure where sli 285's stands but I would guess its more powerful than 460 sli and a single 5870. That being said, a single 5870 would run cooler, quieter and on less power.

I'll let e4g1e reply about the F3 drives, he knows all the specifics, I just know they are as fast, if not faster than the older raptor drives.

 

[JackTFECow]

If you can get the i7 at NJ that would be a great deal, didn't even think about that. The corsair PSU's are just as good as seasonics, if not sometimes better. I'm not sure where sli 285's stands but I would guess its more powerful than 460 sli and a single 5870. That being said, a single 5870 would run cooler, quieter and on less power.

I'll let e4g1e reply about the F3 drives, he knows all the specifics, I just know they are as fast, if not faster than the older raptor drives.

Cool beans, thanks! The information about the GPU is interesting as well. I was hesitant to stay with a DX10 part when I have the cash now to grab a DX11 part. I am not normally one to buy new cards every other year and I want to make sure whatever I use for this build is it for the next 2-3 years.

 

[Shadowssong]

Keep your GTX 285 for a few months and wait for ATi to refresh and then check out what they release. You can either 1) get a new card, or 2) buy a 58** for cheap on the FS/FT

 

[E4g1e]

I'll let e4g1e reply about the F3 drives, he knows all the specifics, I just know they are as fast, if not faster than the older raptor drives.

If anything, the average sequential transfer speed of the Samsung F3 drives is faster than that old Raptor X. In fact, the maximum sequential transfer speed of the Raptor X is no higher than a previous-generation 7200 rpm hard drive with 300-ish GB platters.

 

[bastage]

Board and CPU is a toughie too. Is there really a perceptable difference between AMD and Intel in gaming? Would I be better off with the 930 i7 or a 6 core AMD? Like I said above the main reason for this machine to exist is for gaming, but there will be some VM environment work done for labs and such, as well as some converting shows/movies for playing on my phone. The game time is the most important thing to me. Thats how I blow off steam after work so that should be 90% of the consideration.

For gaming it doesnt make a much if any difference. But look at it like this.. The i7-930 is about the same price as a 1055t (unless you have to drive far to get it), but the motherboard's are generally a bit more expensive & you need triple channel ram which means roughly 50% more for the norm. If it were me I would go with the i7 as long as its not much of a drive to get it (being both time & distance), but if its going to be a pain then save a few bucks & get the AMD..

 

[JackTFECow]

So I put off the final decision on this build until today. Not so bright, but due to issues at work I just didnt have the time to settle on anything. I took a look at everything again this morning and I am ready to pull the trigger tonight. I did have a few little changes and a question to add in. What I am going with so far is this:

Thermaltake Element G VL10001W2Z Black ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
CORSAIR HX Series CMPSU-850HX 850W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
CORSAIR Cooling Hydro Series CWCH50-1 120mm High Performance CPU Cooler


I am going with the i7 930, i am just waiting to see if anyone else I know wants anything from microcenter. If nobody wants anything I will just order everything from newegg. The cost to drive out there and to pay tax only ends up saving me 60$ fefore you factor in the trip time and frustration of travelling through the armpit of the nation (NJ).

With the ram, the suggested G skill kit has been getting some reeeeeeally bad user reviews thanks to what looks like a bad batch. Not sure I want to take a chance right now so I think I will go with:

CORSAIR XMS3 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TR3X6G1600C9

Is there any reason not to buy 2 kits and run 12g? I thought I saw somewhere that loading all your ram slots actually slowed down systems. I was thinking that with some VM sessions going the extra ram might be a good idea to grab now while I can get matched sets. I just need to confirm that I will not be slowing down the games with the extra ram. I dont believe that the jump from 6 to 12 will really speed anything up as far as games go.

The decision on the hard drives was a toughie. I was going to order a few of the F3 drives to RAID, but I think I will stick to the slower seagate 1.5 drives for the time being. I want to see what comes out for the SATA3 drives near the end of the year. The big SSD will cover my speed needs even if it means having to shuffle games between drives when I get bored of one, LOL.

The motherboard is the only other sticking point. The ASUS one mentioned earlier looks great, and so does the Gigabyte one as well as the new EVGA one. Given a choice of the 3, and ignoring the cash difference, which one do you think would end up being the most stable over time?

GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
EVGA X58 FTW3 132-GT-E768-KR LGA 1366 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
ASUS P6X58D-E LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Thanks again for all the help!

 

[Dangman]

I recommend this PSU instead:
$150 - XFX XPS-850W-BES 850W Modular PSU

Going 12GB will limit your OC but no other limitation. I'd flip a coin between the Asus and Gigabyte.