High-end gaming desktop

[Vaporz]

Looking to spend 12000-16000 NOK on a system that can handle gaming at 1920x1200 and maybe some video editing/encoding for the next 3+ years.

Putting together a list and budgeting through www.komplett.no before i find the cheapest shops here in Norway. Prices are like 40-60% higher here than in the US, so Newegg prices don't really translate.

Features: no RAID, one GPU, maybe modest overclocking, air cooling, USB 3, firewire

Keeping: Dell 2407WFP 24" (1920x1200), headphones, some internal and external storage HDDs, D-Link DWA-547 RangeBooster N650 for wireless, MX518

Buying: CPU, mobo, GPU, RAM, sound card, SSD for OS and some programs/games, case, CPU cooler, PSU, keyboard, and possibly a Blu-ray reader

CPU: Intel Core™ i5 Quad Processor i5-2500K --- 1650 NOK
OR i7-2600K --- 2450 NOK (48% more expensive, worth it? How big is the difference between them after a basic overclock using air?)
Mobo: ASUS P8P67 EVO B3, Socket-1155 --- 1449 NOK
GPU: ASUS GeForce GTX 570 1280MB PhysX CUDA --- 2795 NOK
RAM: Corsair Vengeance™ DDR3 1600MHz 12GB CL9 --- 1099 NOK
Sound: ASUS Xonar Essence STX --- 1349 NOK
SSD: around 128GB with decent speeds http://www.komplett.no/k/kl.aspx?bn=11126
Case: Smart cabling, easy to work with, good cooling, a good number of expansion slots. Maybe a big tower?
Cooler: whatever that comes recommended and fits.
PSU: Corsair HX 650W PSU --- 999 NOK (If it's not too much/little power for a one-GPU system with several HDDs). I built a system for a friend a year ago with a modular Corsair, and loved it.
Keyboard: would it be stupid to continue using generic keyboards in 2011?
Blu-ray: Samsung DVD±RW/Blu-Ray Reader SH-B123L -- 690 NOK

♥ in advance for any input

 

[jojo69]

Not a big fan of 1155, but I'm a guy that went for 1366 late in its life so maybe that is just jealousy. Was me I would seriously consider waiting for socket 2011.

I have that exact RAM and it will not overclock much at all for me...don't know if that is important to you.

I have the big Corsair PSU...pleased as hell with it.

Not sure what the exchange rate to USD is now...I lived there for a year in the 80s and beer was 26.50/ .5l

 

[tnt3k]

Exchange rate: 1USD = 5 NOK
I suggest if you're on a budget:

CPU: 2500k (the 2600k has HT and 8 mb cache but OCed the 2500k performs very well)
GPU: gtx 560 or ati 6950 (maybe you can unlock to 6970)
SSD: OCZ vertex 3 ( at 128gb i doubt it'll be a budget)
Cooler: Corsair h70, noctua, hyper 212, zalman 9900max

 

[Dangman]

Remember that the biggest difference between the 2600K and 2500K is the fact that the 2600K has HT. In gaming, there's no difference between the 2600K and 2500K since many current and future games don't take advantage of HT. However it is with video editing/encoding where the 2600K really outperforms the 2500K since those kind of apps do take advantage of HT. Also note that any OC that you can get with the 2500K can be reached with the 2600K as well. If you do a ton of video editing/encoding, yes the 2600K is worth it.

Motherboard wise, stick with your current mobo choice. No reason to go higher.

GPU wise, AMD drivers are fairly decent these days. Unfortunately Nvidia cards are often overpriced for the performance they offer in games. In other words, AMD currently holds the crown for best bang for the buck performance. For your resolution, I'd aim for the HD 6950 1GB at the least but aim for the HD 6950 2GB for some future proofing. However if you are planning on using Adobe Premiere Pro CS5, which takes advantage of Nvidia's CUDA tech, then the higher price of Nvidia cards are justified. Look at the GTX 560 Ti or GTX 570.

RAM wise, I recommend getting this RAM stick instead since there is little to no difference in real world apps and games between DDR3 1600 and DDR3 1333 RAM:
http://www.komplett.no/k/ki.aspx?sku=605846

So get two or four of that RAM stick and you'll be set.

SSD wise, go for the Crucial C300 or M4 series SSDs or Intel's 320 or 510 series SSDs.

Case wise, I recommend any of these cases:
$60 - Cooler Master HAF 912 RC-912-KKN1 ATX Case
$70 - Lian Li Lancool PC-K58W ATX Case
$90 - Lian Li Lancool PC-K56 ATX Case
$90 - Cooler Master CM690 II Advance ATX Case
$100 - Cooler Master HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$90 - Lian Li Lancool PC-K7B ATX Case
$106 - Lian Li PC-7B Plus II ATX Case
$110 - Fractal Design Define R3 Black ATX Case
$110 - NZXT Whisper WHI - 001BK ATX Full Tower Case
$120 - Velocity Micro GX2-W Silver Classic Aluminum Case with Side Window
$140 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-001WT White Full Tower ATX Case
$140 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-001BK Black Full Tower ATX Case
$140 - Cooler Master HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$165 - Corsair Graphite Series 600T ATX Case
$160 - Silverstone RV02B-W ATX case
$220 - Corsair Obsidian Series 650D ATX Case
$220 - Cooler Master ATCS 840 RC-840-KKN1-GP Full Tower ATX Case
$230 - Silverstone FT02B ATX Case
$220 - Lian Li PC-A71F Black ATX Case
$290 - Corsair Obsidian Series 800D CC800DW Full Tower ATX Case
$330 - Silverstone Temjin SST-TJ07B Full Tower ATX Case

Keyboard wise, visit your local computer store and try out the keyboards first hand.

 

[Vaporz]

Looking to build this ASAP, and I'm not really on a tight budget.
Exchange rate doesn't really tell the whole story since wages and prices are both higher here.

OCZ vertex 3 120GB (2000 NOK) seems to out of stock pretty much everywhere, but it looks impressive. I could grab one from Crucial or Intel, but they seem to have quite a lot lower read/write speeds for the same cost?

Good point on the 1333 RAM, but the price totals out to the same for three of those.

ASUS GeForce GTX 570 1280MB -- 2795 NOK seems pretty OK judging by the benchmarks.
Identical prices between the various producers (Gainward, MSI, EVGA, etc.), any particular brand preferable?

 

[Dangman]

OCZ vertex 3 120GB (2000 NOK) seems to out of stock pretty much everywhere, but it looks impressive. I could grab one from Crucial or Intel, but they seem to have quite a lot lower read/write speeds for the same cost?

The OCZ Vertex 3 is prety fast but I don't recommend it due to OCZ's past track record with SSDs and their poor level of customer support. If you're willing to overlook those, then go for the OCZ Vertex 3 then.

ASUS GeForce GTX 570 1280MB -- 2795 NOK seems pretty OK judging by the benchmarks.
Identical prices between the various producers (Gainward, MSI, EVGA, etc.), any particular brand preferable?

eVGA, MSI, Asus, Gigabyte and XFX are all good brand choices.

 

[Vaporz]

How about Corsair SSD Force Series™ F120, 120GB --- 1750 NOK ?
Unless there's a giant downside the positive reviews don't reveal, it seems like a good enough choice.


ASUS GeForce GTX 570 1280MB PhysX CUDA PCI-Express 2.0, "DirectCU II", GDDR5, 2xDVI, native-HDMI, DisplayPort
ASUS P8P67 EVO B3, Socket-1155 ATX, P67, DDR3, 3xPCIe(2.0)x16, CFX& SLI, SATA 6Gb/s, USB 3.0, FW, BT, EFI
ASUS Xonar Essence STX PCI-Express 1x, 124 dB SNR / Headphone Amp card for Audiophiles
492649 Corsair HX 650W PSU ATX 12V V2.2, 80 Plus Bronze, Modular, 4x 6+2-pin PCIe, 9x SATA, 120mm Vifte
Corsair SSD Force Series™ F120, 120GB SATA2, 2,5", 285MB/275MB/s read/write, incl 2,5" to 3,5" bracket
Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1333MHz 4GB CL9 XMS3, CL9-9-9-24, for Phenom II and Core i3/i5/i7, 1.60v
Intel Core™ i5 Quad Processor i5-2500K 3,3GHz, Socket LGA1155, 6MB, Boxed
Samsung DVD±RW/Blu-Ray Reader SH-B123L SATA, 12x BD-ROM Read, DVD±R: 16x, DVD+RW: 8x, DVD+RW: 6x, Bulk, BLACK

Current total: 11.729 NOK

All I need now is a case and some cooling.

Lian Li PC-P50B --- 1275 NOK
This one seems to have everything I want and more. Last year's model, but I can live with that.

 

[Dangman]

How about Corsair SSD Force Series™ F120, 120GB --- 1750 NOK ?
Unless there's a giant downside the positive reviews don't reveal, it seems like a good enough choice.

It's based off the Sandforce SF-1200 controller. As such its real world performance is actually slower than stated. In fact, it's gonna be significantly slower than the SSDs I recommended. So definitely avoid.

Lian Li PC-P50B --- 1275 NOK
This one seems to have everything I want and more. Last year's model, but I can live with that.

Not a good choice since it's fairly cramped and have relatively poor cable management.

 

[Vaporz]

It's based off the Sandforce SF-1200 controller. As such its real world performance is actually slower than stated. In fact, it's gonna be significantly slower than the SSDs I recommended. So definitely avoid.

http://www.komplett.no/k/ki.aspx?sku=590488
or
http://www.komplett.no/k/ki.aspx?sku=626523

Not a good choice since it's fairly cramped and have relatively poor cable management.

So, the Lian Li PC-A71FB then I suppose.
Alternatively Cooler Master HAF X Big Tower

 

[Eldest_One]

This is a good case with good cable management and it is made by Lian LI.

http://www.netshop.no/Avdelinger/Da...med-sidevindu-Produsert-av-Lian-Li-37781.aspx

 

[Vaporz]

This is a good case with good cable management and it is made by Lian LI.

http://www.netshop.no/Avdelinger/Da...med-sidevindu-Produsert-av-Lian-Li-37781.aspx

Thanks for the tip, this one looks like great value/cost.

What kind of CPU fan should i get for good airflow? Some sources recommend a fan that blows straight upwards.

Lastly, is there any significant difference between Crucial RealSSD C300 and Intel® SSD 510 Series 120GB 2,5" ?
There's talk about firmware issues with the Crucial C300.

 

[Tiporaro]

Lastly, is there any significant difference between Crucial RealSSD C300 and Intel® SSD 510 Series 120GB 2,5" ?
There's talk about firmware issues with the Crucial C300.

Both are very good drives. I believe the c300 had firmware released last week that supposedly would fix remaining issues. Pretty sure there's a thread on that very topic in the storage section.

 

[Vaporz]

Zalman CNPS9900 MAX
or
Noctua NH-C14

Would i be right in thinking the Noctua will provide a better airflow for the Lancool PC-K62 case? Blowing air upwards towards the 2 exhaust fans on the top?

 

[Dangman]

Thanks for the tip, this one looks like great value/cost.

What kind of CPU fan should i get for good airflow? Some sources recommend a fan that blows straight upwards.

I personally recommend this HSF:
$35 - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus HSF for LGA 1366 and LGA 1156

Zalman CNPS9900 MAX
or
Noctua NH-C14

Would i be right in thinking the Noctua will provide a better airflow for the Lancool PC-K62 case? Blowing air upwards towards the 2 exhaust fans on the top?

Well the Zalman HSF should be dropped from consideration since it's overpriced. Haven't researched that particular Noctua HSF. Though you're not right in thinking that the Noctua will provide better airflow: Those fans are suppose to pushing air towards the HSF, not pulling air from the HSF. So not a good choice there actually.

 

[Vaporz]

I personally recommend this HSF:
$35 - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus HSF for LGA 1366 and LGA 1156



Well the Zalman HSF should be dropped from consideration since it's overpriced. Haven't researched that particular Noctua HSF. Though you're not right in thinking that the Noctua will provide better airflow: Those fans are suppose to pushing air towards the HSF, not pulling air from the HSF. So not a good choice there actually.

Cheers!



Intel Core i7 2600K
ASUS GeForce GTX 570 1280MB
Lancool PC-K62
ASUS P8P67 EVO B3
Corsair HX 650W
Samsung DVD±RW/Blu-Ray Reader SH-B123L
4x Corsair XMS3 DDR3 1333MHz 4GB CL9
ASUS Xonar Essence STX
Intel® SSD 510 Series 120GB 2,5"
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus

Totaling at 13 855 before shipping.

Looking good? I'll probably put the order through in a couple hours.

 

[Dangman]

One minor issue: Is that Xense really worth the extra cash over the Xonar DG for you? I recommend reading this review if you haven't already:
http://techreport.com/articles.x/19997

So after reading that review, is the cost of the Xense justified over the DG for you?

 

[Vaporz]

One minor issue: Is that Xense really worth the extra cash over the Xonar DG for you? I recommend reading this review if you haven't already:
http://techreport.com/articles.x/19997

So after reading that review, is the cost of the Xense justified over the DG for you?

You're right.
Only one shop has the DG in stock, but at the ridiculously low price of 189 KR (compared to 500-600 on the other sites) I'm just going to go for it. Maybe I'll invest the saved money in a Sennheiser PC350 or something at a later date.

 

[jeremyshaw]

yeah, I'd go for better cans over better source, especially if you are just starting down this other money draining road of high end audio equipment (at least for PCs)

 

[Vaporz]

Orders sent and fingers crossed!

Thanks for the excellent replies.

yeah, I'd go for better cans over better source, especially if you are just starting down this other money draining road of high end audio equipment (at least for PCs)

Better watch myself before I start sliding down that slippery slope