Gaming System: Advice wanted

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wicked_chicken

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 30, 2009
Messages
316
Hey everyone,

I'm currently in the process of putting together my build list for a new computer. I haven't owned a desktop in many years, and am pretty stoked about it. That being said, I'm pretty much out of date. (The last video card I installed was a GeForce 400, just to give you an idea...)

I've been doing lots of reading on new components, but that only gets you so far. I was hoping some of you tech-guru's here on [H]ard might be able to give me some input so I can maximize my performance/dollar ratio.

That being said, here's are the answers the the first questions...


1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Games/Photoshop/Games/HD Movies/Internet... and did I mention Games?
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Right now, I want to spend no more than $2500. That being said, I'm flexible.
3) Where do you live?
Utah, USA.
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
Everything that goes in the box. I've got speakers, mouse, keyboard, and a monitor. More than likely, I'll most likely be swapping monitors. That'll be on a different budget.
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
This is a new build. No existing parts.
6) Will you be overclocking?
Yes.
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
I currently use a LG Flatron w2361VG. I may be running two of these shortly. I WILL be running dual 24" monitors, minimum. I'd like to be able to run a HDTV as well, simultaneously. ( I like my real estate...)
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
30-60 days from now.
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
I want to run either raid 5 or 10. Firewire would be nice, but it's not a must. More on SLI/Crossfire later.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?
No. I'll need a license. Preferably Windows Ultimate 7.

That being said, the list...

Coolmaster HAF 932http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119160
EVGA E760 Classifiedhttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188048
MSI Geforce 9400http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127398
EVGA GTX 275 SC Edition 2x SLIhttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130503
Hauppauge WinTV Tunerhttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815116015
Corsair 1000HXhttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139007
Intel Core i7 920http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202
G.Skill DDR3 1600 (12 Gigs)http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231225
4x WD Caviar Black (1TB)http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284
LG Black Blu-Ray Reader / 16x DVD-Rhttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136174

A few notes:

I had another friend look at this. They suggested that I completely nix the GTX 275's in favor of the Radeon 5970.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150453&cm_re=5970-_-14-150-453-_-Product As it's DX11, vs DX10. They stated that while the DX10 cards would continue to get slower, the 5970 would get faster as drivers are released. Now, to me that makes perfect sense. The other bonus is it'd save me slots that'd otherwise be blocked by GPU's.

Also, most of you are probably wonder "wtf is that 9400 for?" I wanted a dedicated card to push the HDTV. I'm not sure if this is the best way to do it. I'm open to suggestions.

Thoughts?

My other concern is cooling. I know this isn't the cooling thread, but any information you guys could throw my way that's cooling specific for this build would be great. I'm not opposed to WC, I'm just curious/cautious.

Any input would be great.
 
I doubt you would ever need 12gb of ram, 6gb would be sufficient for most people. 5970 is the perfect card for your computer as DX10 will be slowly be phased out in favor of DX11.

On the cooling note you might want to try the TRUE rev C http://www.petrastechshop.com/thulhecpucos.html
or the Corsair H50 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181010&cm_re=h50-_-35-181-010-_-Product

A real watercooling build is not cheap depending on what you would want to cool besides the cpu. It can cost upwards of $200 but if you aren't put off by the price and would want to overclock your cpu to 3.8ghz or higher YMMV, I would recommend you read up the threads on the watercooling sub forum.
 
No need for a dedicated card for the TV unless you plan on watching 1080P WHILE gaming on the main vidcard. If you get two vidcards, keep the secondary card in the same family. Yes, the HD5970 or even HD5870 would be a better choice than the GTX275's.

If you go WC'ing, stick with the Classified. If not, save some money and get a much cheaper board, like the Asus P6T. Do you plan on breaking OC'ing records? If not, WC'ing isn't needed. Just get a good cooler, like the CoGage True Spirit 120mm. 4.2Ghz should be fine with the True Spirit or even the actual TRUE (both are made by Thermalright). Since most 920's are now D0 stepping, reaching 4Ghz shouldn't be a problem on good air cooling.

If you don't go SLI/CF, you don't need a 1kW PSU. For a primary/secondary vidcard system, stick with the Corsair HX620 instead.

For gaming, no need for 12GB of RAM. Unless you want to run a RAMDisk for other apps like photoshop, then drop it down to 6GB and upgrade to 12GB when 4GB sticks are cheaper than current 2GB sticks. :p

RAID5 with the onboard ICH10R would be a bad idea since it'll need your CPU to do all the parity calculations. RAID5 is best done with a discrete hardware RAID controller. Why do you want RAID at all? RAID is not a backup solution, its only fault tolerance -- minimizes downtime. Also, using the Caviar Blacks in RAID could be troublesome, as modifying the TLER is no longer possible, so the drives may drop out of the array if they take too long with error correction. Besides, the 500GB-platter drives are faster, such as the Samsung F3 and Seagate 7200.12 -- but again, those aren't meant for RAID arrays. Do you have a good backup solution?

Such a high end build and no SSDs? Well, at least you don't have a VRaptor in there, lol. Get one or two Intel X25-M SSDs for your OS/Apps drive (2 for RAID0, if you want uber speed). http://ssd.alphaq.org (my ssd page)
 
enginurd said:
No need for a dedicated card for the TV unless you plan on watching 1080P WHILE gaming on the main vidcard. If you get two vidcards, keep the secondary card in the same family. Yes, the HD5970 or even HD5870 would be a better choice than the GTX275's.
Click to expand...

Not sure if I'll ever do both. But I wouldn't mind having the option.

enginurd said:
If you go WC'ing, stick with the Classified. If not, save some money and get a much cheaper board, like the Asus P6T. Do you plan on breaking OC'ing records? If not, WC'ing isn't needed. Just get a good cooler, like the CoGage True Spirit 120mm. 4.2Ghz should be fine with the True Spirit or even the actual TRUE (both are made by Thermalright). Since most 920's are now D0 stepping, reaching 4Ghz shouldn't be a problem on good air cooling.
Click to expand...

Not planning on breaking any records. I was initially interested in the Asus P6T, but I'm hesitant due to all the CS issues I've heard about.

As far as cooling, I was considering something like the Corsair H50, as I've read good reviews on it. If I go air, I was thinking something along the lines of the Coolmaster Hyper N 520: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103057


enginurd said:
If you don't go SLI/CF, you don't need a 1kW PSU. For a primary/secondary vidcard system, stick with the Corsair HX620 instead.

For gaming, no need for 12GB of RAM. Unless you want to run a RAMDisk for other apps like photoshop, then drop it down to 6GB and upgrade to 12GB when 4GB sticks are cheaper than current 2GB sticks. :p
Click to expand...

The 1k was chosen due to the SLI setup. I may end up keeping it, just in case I upgrade to another 5970.

I can drop the ram down to 6G. Not an issue.

enginurd said:
RAID5 with the onboard ICH10R would be a bad idea since it'll need your CPU to do all the parity calculations. RAID5 is best done with a discrete hardware RAID controller. Why do you want RAID at all? RAID is not a backup solution, its only fault tolerance -- minimizes downtime. Also, using the Caviar Blacks in RAID could be troublesome, as modifying the TLER is no longer possible, so the drives may drop out of the array if they take too long with error correction. Besides, the 500GB-platter drives are faster, such as the Samsung F3 and Seagate 7200.12 -- but again, those aren't meant for RAID arrays. Do you have a good backup solution?

Such a high end build and no SSDs? Well, at least you don't have a VRaptor in there, lol. Get one or two Intel X25-M SSDs for your OS/Apps drive (2 for RAID0, if you want uber speed). http://ssd.alphaq.org (my ssd page)
Click to expand...

Can you suggest a controller? I realize raid isn't a backup. And while I don't have a backup solution YET, I DO have a NAS server in the works that'll be handling my future media/backup needs. If nothing else, I can relegate my laptop to backup duty until the NAS is built.

It looks like the X25-M is $550, which is way out of my range for what it is/does. I could buy another GPU for that :eek:

Really good info, guys. Keep it coming.
 
80GB was on sale for $215 for BF. Another option, if you read my SSD page, would be indilinx based drives. Read the page, I don't feel like typing more.

H50 would be better than the 520, but the True Spirit is much cheaper and would allow you the same OC'ing speeds.
 
enginurd said:
80GB was on sale for $215 for BF. Another option, if you read my SSD page, would be indilinx based drives. Read the page, I don't feel like typing more.

H50 would be better than the 520, but the True Spirit is much cheaper and would allow you the same OC'ing speeds.
Click to expand...

Reading now... :cool:
 
My suggestions:

HSF:
Xigmatek Dark Night
Scythe Mugen 2
COOLER MASTER Hyper 212

All three are (or will be soon 12/07) available at newegg at very good prices.
Some people here vouch for the CoolerMaster but I'm seeing some very interesting reviews from the Mugen 2. Dark Night looks very good but appears to be behind the Mugen 2 on performance. Hyper 212 also lags behind the Mugen 2 from what I'm reading.
The problem with the Mugen 2 though is that its hard to setup, whereas the Dark Night and the Hyper 212 are very easy to setup.


Video Card:
Radeon 5870 would be my choice for your budget.

Problem is that you cant find those anywhere it seems.


Memory:
12gb is way too much for what you want to do with it.

Go with 6gb.


HDs:
Go with the SSDs at your budget.
 
After doing some reading (Thanks, Enginurd!) I mocked up a revised list for the build. It's slightly more affordable (Slight being $200) than my original, but doesnt include a heatsink for the CPU.

That being said...

Case: Same as Before
Mobo: EVGA E758-A1 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188039
Ram: 6Gig G.Skill Ripjaw http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231304
OS Drive: OCZ Apex SSD 120G http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227411
Storage Drive: WD Caviar
Primary GPU: HIS Radeon HD 5970http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161311
CPU: Intel Core i7 920 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202
PSU: Corsair 850w http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139011
Secondary GPU: MSI Radeon HD 4650 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127417
SC: HT|Omega Striker http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829271001
Tuner: Hauppauge WinTV http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815116015
BD-Rom: LG Blu-Ray http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136162

Without a OS and CPU heatsink, this subtotals $2626.88, plus shipping.

Thoughts on this vs. original?
 
If you're close to a microcenter, I think they're still running that processor at $199.

Good call to read e's thread - I was salivating when I'd first read it.
 
No Microcenter here, just a Best Buy... which isn't really good for anything exept monitors (Newegg's dead pixil policy = Bleh)

The 1/8th speed of the Vrapter definately caught my attention, especially since it now sounds like the drives are implementing methods to knock out the blocks that need deleting.

Still open for feedback, folks!
 
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