Looking for a powerful gaming Rig

[maverick786us]

I am planning to upgrade my back up rig by end of this year. So this is what I am planning to buy


1) CPU: Intel Core I7 950

2) Mobo: Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD5 (I always consider for good OCing Mobos with good stability as big form factor)

3) RAM: 6GB DDR-3 2000Mhz (either G-Skill or Corsiar whichever yealds better perfomance)

4) HDD: WD 1TB Black with 32 MB buffer (Always love faster HDDs still find veleocity raptor and SSDs too expensive)

5) GPU: GTX 460SLI or ATI HD5870 Xfire?

6) PSU: Corsair TX 750 (Has corsair launched any modular PSU above 700 Watts?)

7) Display: Dell 3007 or U3011 or HP ZR30 ?

8) Casing: CM 690-2 or Antec 902 or CM Storm??

9) Heat Sink: TRUE 120 or Corsair H70?

What is your suggestion?

 

[herfalerf]

try filling out the form at the top, also you may want to wait until you are actually going to buy to make any decisions because parts and prices change.

 

[avatar[djedi]]

Yeah, definitely use the form from up top (although I do appreciate the halloween colors!).

I'm in the same boat as you (wanting to buy at the end of the year), and I'm waiting for the SandyBridge intel CPUs to come out and see how they fare. I'm mainly concerned about the socket on the motherboard/future upgrade path, as well as any performance increases sandybridge offers...

At this point i'm just hoping that sandybridge gets released in time to get:
a.) thurough CPU reviews to make an informed decision on
b.) good selection to choose from on motherboards
c.) the 'K' edition of the CPUs to allow for overclocking

With the end of the year drawing nigh, these options are looking less and less likely...

***keeps his fingers crossed***

 

[Dangman]

While we wait for you to answer the stickied questions, my thoughts/answers on your proposed setup:

- Unless you're trying to aim higher than a 4.5Ghz OC, don't bother with DDR3 2000 RAM. You can easily get the same real world performance as well as similar overclocking performance with DDR3 1600 RAM

- Don't bother the WD 1TB Black drives as those are slower than this Samsung drive:
$70 - Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

- Don't bother with HD 5870 XFire as that still has some scaling issues that puts it equal to or worse than GTX 460 SLI.

- Yes Corsair has launched modular PSUs above 700W. There's six Corsair modular PSUs above 700W to date:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ption=&Ntk=&CFG=&SpeTabStoreType=&srchInDesc=

- Don't bother with the Antec 902. Poor choice for a case IMO since it's cramped yet costs more than roomier and equal quality counterparts

 

[maverick786us]

While we wait for you to answer the stickied questions, my thoughts/answers on your proposed setup:

- Unless you're trying to aim higher than a 4.5Ghz OC, don't bother with DDR3 2000 RAM. You can easily get the same real world performance as well as similar overclocking performance with DDR3 1600 RAM

- Don't bother the WD 1TB Black drives as those are slower than this Samsung drive:
$70 - Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

- Don't bother with HD 5870 XFire as that still has some scaling issues that puts it equal to or worse than GTX 460 SLI.

- Yes Corsair has launched modular PSUs above 700W. There's six Corsair modular PSUs above 700W to date:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ption=&Ntk=&CFG=&SpeTabStoreType=&srchInDesc=

- Don't bother with the Antec 902. Poor choice for a case IMO since it's cramped yet costs more than roomier and equal quality counterparts

Which forum?

In order to game at 2560 X 1600 resolution, I don't think there is no single powerful card. The reason why I dislike GTX 480 is because of its power consumption and heat issue. GTX 460 is a very cool and quiet card so in SLI it should perform atleast 15-20 better than single GTX 480. I thought at ATI has improved its Xfire with 68XX series cards.

 

[Dangman]

Which forum?

In order to game at 2560 X 1600 resolution, I don't think there is no single powerful card. The reason why I dislike GTX 480 is because of its power consumption and heat issue. GTX 460 is a very cool and quiet card so in SLI it should perform atleast 15-20 better than single GTX 480. I thought at ATI has improved its Xfire with 68XX series cards.

General hardware subforum. The sticky titled "Asking for Build Help?: ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS FIRST".

I've heard people say that the HD 68xx Crossfire scaling is improved but until I see a HardOCP review showing this is the case, I'm not recommending it right off the bat just yet.

 

[maverick786us]

try filling out the form at the top, also you may want to wait until you are actually going to buy to make any decisions because parts and prices change.

OK

1) Figure out your budget?.
A) Since gaming at 2560 X 1600 is always expensive so I can't think of a budget PC

2) Figure out which components you would need for your setup.?
A) Mostly same components that I've posted on my Orignal thread. My aim is to hit 4.5Ghz on Air or more

3) Determine what the computer is going to be used for.

A) 1) Gaming

2) Windows Application Development using VC++ and .NET

3) Entertainment, Movies

4) Virtual PC (thats why I want 8GB RAM). Actually I will use Windows 2008 Server as my virtual PC and will practice Sharpoint Server in it

5) Other advanced Multi Threading Application

5) Determine whether or not you are planning on overclocking any of the components.
A) In order to perform gaming at such a high resolution OCing of CPU and GPU is a need.

6) Determine how long you want your machine to last.
A) 5 Yrs

 

[Dangman]

Wrong sticky. It's the sticky titled "Asking for Build Help?: ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS FIRST". Similar questions but not quite

 

[maverick786us]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
A) 1) Gaming
2) Windows Application Development using VC++ and .NET
3) Entertainment, Movies
4) Virtual PC (thats why I want 8GB RAM). Actually I will use Windows 2008 Server as my virtual PC and will practice Sharpoint Server in it
5) Other advanced Multi Threading Application


2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
A) Since gaming at 2560 X 1600 is always expensive so I can't think of a budget PC


3) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
CPU, Mobo, and RAM
A) Mostly same components that I've posted on my Orignal thread. My aim is to hit 4.5Ghz on Air or more


5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
2x WD800JB, 1x WD6400AAKS, BenQ DW1640, Antec P160, Antec TruePower 2.0 550W, and 7800GT
A) Case CM 690, PSU Corsair HX 620


6) Will you be overclocking?
A) In order to perform gaming at such a high resolution OCing of CPU and GPU is a need.


7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
A) Right now I own a 22 inch display. So moving from 22-24 (1680 X 1050 to 1920 X 1200) won't make much difference in gaming. So I will prefer 30 inch display


8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
A) By end of this year I can wait upto Feb though


9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s?etc.
A) USB 3.0, and SATA 6 is modern day requirement so I need it in my present Build, RAID, Firewire is required But I don't know how I can use these 2 features
to my benifit, So single GPU is capable of playing games like Crysis, BFBC2 at 2560X1600 resolution so I have to either SLI or Crossfire


10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license?
A) I have a students license for Windows 7

 

[Dangman]

Wait till February then. Intel's Sandy Bridge CPUs are coming out around that time.

 

[maverick786us]

OK, although its my back up rig (not mentioned in my signature) that I have to upgrade. Thanks for the suggestion

Even I am excited about the OCing potential of these K Series processors, I will decide on its early benchmarks.