Need input on new build.

[Tomash]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming, overclocking, video processing.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
~$2,500 for the hardware, another grand or so for cooling.
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
US, TX
4) 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.
Completely new system except hard drives, which I'll reuse.
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
WD Black 6401AAKS (I think) 640GB
6) Will you be overclocking?
Hell yeah. Shooting for 5GHz for benches, ~4.8Ghz daily.
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
1080p panel, 50".
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Next 4 to 6 weeks, as I finalize the build, and the specifics of the cooling system.
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? etc.
Excellent overclockability, and subdued, "minimalist" appearance.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Yup. 64bit.

HARDWARE:
CPU:
Intel Core i7-3930K - $550
Motherboard:
ASRock X79 Extreme 9 - $340
RAM:
CORSAIR Vengeance 32GB (2x 4x4GB) DDR3 1600 - $180 (2 x $90)
Storage:
Crucial M4 256GB -$364
WD Black 640GB - reused
GPU:
Sapphire HD7970 - $550
PSU:
Seasonic Platinum-1000 1000W - $260
Case:
Silverstone FT02B - $250

 

[hossdaddy]

what is the purpose of this post?

 

[Tomash]

what is the purpose of this post?

Requesting input on my choice. Especially the RAM, and PSU.
I'd like to take this CPU to 5GHz, will the choice of components suffice? The whole thing will be watercooled.

 

[Forceman]

What do you intend to do with the build? Unless this is going to be a high-end workstation, there are some questionable choices there.

 

[Tomash]

What do you intend to do with the build? Unless this is going to be a high-end workstation, there are some questionable choices there.

Gaming and video processing. Also, I intend to overclock it as far as I can (currently have a 4.2GHz Q9550). I'm hoping for 5GHz daily, with about a grand worth of watercooling in it.

 

[Tomash]

Damn, no love for a noob.
I wish my 03 account hadn't been deactivated - maybe then I'd have gotten more attention.

 

[Dangman]

Damn, no love for a noob.
I wish my 03 account hadn't been deactivated - maybe then I'd have gotten more attention.

It would help if you answered the stickied "ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS FIRST!" so that we can help you better.

Also the price for the PSU is a bit off: How are you getting that PSU for $200?

 

[tiraides]

Damn, no love for a noob.
I wish my 03 account hadn't been deactivated - maybe then I'd have gotten more attention.

It's the weekend. Many of us have lives outside of this place.

I'm with Danny and Forceman: I see quite a few flaws. But please answer the sticky questions so we know how to tailor our recommendations to fit your needs.

 

[Tomash]

It would help if you answered the stickied "ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS FIRST!" so that we can help you better.

Also the price for the PSU is a bit off: How are you getting that PSU for $200?

It's the weekend. Many of us have lives outside of this place.

I'm with Danny and Forceman: I see quite a few flaws. But please answer the sticky questions so we know how to tailor our recommendations to fit your needs.

My bad.
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming, overclocking, video processing.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
~$2,500 for the hardware, another grand or so for cooling.
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
US, TX
4) 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.
Completely new system except hard drives, which I'll reuse.
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
WD Black 6401AAKS (I think) 640GB
6) Will you be overclocking?
Hell yeah. Shooting for 5GHz for benches, ~4.8Ghz daily.
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
1080p panel, 50".
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Next 4 to 6 weeks, as I finalize the build, and the specifics of the cooling system.
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? etc.
Excellent overclockability, and subdued, "minimalist" appearance.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Yup. 64bit.

 

[Dangman]

Motherboard:
ASRock X79 Extreme 9 - $340

I'd wait for HardOCP's review of that mobo before I'd think about getting it. While the Extreme4 did do really well in the quality department as shown in this HardOCP review of it, there were concerns that it was a cherry picked model meant for reviewers. Hence why they're buying an actual retail mobo to see if the quality matches. Also mentioned in that review towards the end is that Kyle is testing the Extreme 9 right now.

Sapphire HD7970 - $550

Main issue here is Sapphire's two year warranty and relatively poor customer support. I'd look for an Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, or XFX card instead.

PSU:
Seasonic Platinum-1000 1000W - $200

Assuming that you can't get that PSU at $200, while that Seasonic is an excellent PSU, it seems a tad overpriced when a good quality 1200W PSU costs the same:
$270 - Antec High Current Pro HCP-1200 1200W Modular PSU

 

[Tomash]

The $200 price of the Seasonic is indeed a typo. It retails for $260, and is lauded as baby Jesus of power supplies.

 

[Dangman]

The $200 price of the Seasonic is indeed a typo. It retails for $260, and is lauded as baby Jesus of power supplies.

It's an excellent PSU no doubt. But IMO, not a good value considering the that you can get a little more power for the same price. With that said, that Seasonic is still a good PSU to buy.

 

[Tomash]

It's an excellent PSU no doubt. But IMO, not a good value considering the that you can get a little more power for the same price. With that said, that Seasonic is still a good PSU to buy.

Full shopping list goes like this:
http://i.imgur.com/kqPsd.jpg
so you can see I'm kind of geared toward temp control and quiet running. I think the semi-passive cooling feature of it is interesting as well, could definitely shave a few decibels off the overall noise produced.

 

[Tomash]

I'd wait for HardOCP's review of that mobo before I'd think about getting it. While the Extreme4 did do really well in the quality department as shown in this HardOCP review of it, there were concerns that it was a cherry picked model meant for reviewers. Hence why they're buying an actual retail mobo to see if the quality matches. Also mentioned in that review towards the end is that Kyle is testing the Extreme 9 right now.

The Extreme 9 is getting excellent notes everywhere I look, but it will be a few weeks before I'm ready to buy, so in the meantime I'll definitely be keeping up with new developments on relevant fronts.

Main issue here is Sapphire's two year warranty and relatively poor customer support. I'd look for an Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, or XFX card instead.

Thanks for the heads up about warranty. I've been buying Sapphire cards for good 10 years now (8500LE, 9500NP, 9500Pro, 9700Pro, X1900XT, HD4870 (x2)... All Sapphire). I've ado ne DOA, though RMA was handled promptly by Newegg.
Since I will be watercooling it, manufacturer's of reference cooler designs become irrelevant, which manufacturer's cards which I be looking at, as far as getting best bins goes? I'm sure they all engage in the practice of binning, so should I just be looking at the one with highest advertised clocks?

Assuming that you can't get that PSU at $200, while that Seasonic is an excellent PSU, it seems a tad overpriced when a good quality 1200W PSU costs the same:
$270 - Antec High Current Pro HCP-1200 1200W Modular PSU

It's not fully modular, and at 1200W, kind of an overkill.

 

[Dangman]

I'm sure they all engage in the practice of binning, so should I just be looking at the one with highest advertised clocks?

Yes

It's not fully modular, and at 1200W, kind of an overkill.

Fair point on the modular spect. However, to be fair on the overkill aspect, your PSU choice is also overkill: A good 850W PSU would be enough

 

[Tomash]

Yes

Fair point on the modular spect. However, to be fair on the overkill aspect, your PSU choice is also overkill: A good 850W PSU would be enough

I've gone through so many PSUs before settling on this one... A Coolermaster (yeah, I know...) various Corsairs, Antecs, Silverstones... I've even had this very Seasonic on the list before.
In the end I think this 1000 is going to be a great choice for several reasons:
1. Stellar reviews.
2. Quiet.
3. Finish fits the rest of my components.
4. Fully modular.
5. Cables that look easily sleeved. Especially compared to some other competitors.
6. Numbers:
4.8-5GHz SB-E draws what, 200-230W? Add another 50W for the motherboard, another 100-120W for my hard drives, ~80W for three 180mm fans, one 120mm, and two MCP35X pumps, 230W per (overclocked) 7970, and I'm looking at 820W. I wouldn't want 820W worth of hardware running off an 850W (or 860W, in case of the smaller Seasonic Platinum) unit. Or am I off with my numbers?

 

[Dangman]

Unless you have 11 extra hard drives that you didn't mention, I'm fairly sure your hard drive estimates are a bit off. And I was basing my 850W statement off a single GPU config since you didn't mention at all that you were planning on doing Crossfire.

In any case, the Seasonic is still a good PSU and at the end of the day, you're really not going to regret getting it. That is unless you're planning on a tri-Crossfire setup

 

[Tomash]

Unless you have 11 extra hard drives that you didn't mention, I'm fairly sure your hard drive estimates are a bit off. And I was basing my 850W statement off a single GPU config since you didn't mention at all that you were planning on doing Crossfire.

In any case, the Seasonic is still a good PSU and at the end of the day, you're really not going to regret getting it. That is unless you're planning on a tri-Crossfire setup

Doesn't an average HDD draw like 20W of power?

 

[Dangman]

Doesn't an average HDD draw like 20W of power?

For a second or two when powering on. After that, most drives idle around 6 to 8W and have read/write power usage of around 8 to 10W.

 

[Tomash]

For a second or two when powering on. After that, most drives idle around 6 to 8W and have read/write power usage of around 8 to 10W.

Yeah, there's going to be 4 of them. That's still dangerously close to an 850W PSU's ceiling.