Need solid reivew before buying this rig

[KraXed112]

I'm ready to jump the gun and buy this after much research and review sites.

http://amzn.com/w/144RR9BHTIBJK

Anyone else care to add any advice or suggestions on additions or changes?

 

[KaizerDan]

Will you hate yourself if it goes on sale around black friday?

 

[KraXed112]

Will you hate yourself if it goes on sale around black friday?

Not really, I only do upgrades once every 3-4 years. If I dont upgrade now i'll just end up upgrading in 6months with a diff build just as expensive

Just noticed, I need spell check on subject line.

 

[Dangman]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
6) Will you be overclocking?
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?

 

[defaultluser]

Holy shit that's an overpriced build.

Unless you're running SLI GTX 480s you don't need that much power (I only see one there).

I would not buy that gimmicky Corsair Dominator memory because it requires 1.65v (right on the edge of compatibility with i7 processors), and it's overpriced.

See this Corsair memory set for $140 less with only 1.6v required, which gives you a little breathing room in case you need it. Yeah, the CAS latency is slightly higher, but you won't notice. And don't worry about the less-massive heatsinks - desktop DDR3 memory does not use a lot of power.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...145235&cm_re=ddr3_1600-_-20-145-235-_-Product

Finally, your motherboard is UNGODLY overpriced. There's nothing that motherboard can do that this can't (since you elected to just go with DDR3 1600), and it's $160 less. It also has a 5 year warranty (versus 3 year on the ROG board), for some strange reason.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131665

 

[KraXed112]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
6) Will you be overclocking?
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?

1. Gaming and longevity
2. Budget is about $2250 - $2500
6. Possibly later on
7. Dell u2410
9. SLI is 1st, then RAID later on
10. WIn 7 Pro 64bit

Holy shit that's an overpriced build.

Unless you're running SLI GTX 480s you don't need that much power (I only see one there).

I would not buy that gimmicky Corsair Dominator memory because it requires 1.65v (right on the edge of compatibility with i7 processors), and it's overpriced.

See this Corsair memory set for $140 less with only 1.6v required, which gives you a little breathing room in case you need it. Yeah, the CAS latency is slightly higher, but you won't notice. And don't worry about the less-massive heatsinks - desktop DDR3 memory does not use a lot of power.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...145235&cm_re=ddr3_1600-_-20-145-235-_-Product

Finally, your motherboard is UNGODLY overpriced. There's nothing that motherboard can do that this can't (since you elected to just go with DDR3 1600), and it's $160 less. It also has a 5 year warranty (versus 3 year on the ROG board), for some strange reason.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131665

I do plan on possibly getting another 480 in there possibly later on.
But the decision to get such a high psu is the fact I will also be popping in 4-5 2tb internal hds

This computer will almost be never off

As for the ram, i did consider getting the XMS3's over the dominators due to price. But seeing some reviews I took the dominators since I "might" overclock the pc later on.
But if I need to save a few bucks then I will go the XMS3 route. thanks!

The mobo was chosen since if I do get another 480 I will need the space since I still have to put in my Soundblaster X-Fi sound card in still.

Thanks again, awesome advice I will need to seriously re-think if the extra cost of the ram and mobo are worth it.

I'm mainly looking for a really nice pc to hold me over for the next 3 to 4 years with the only upgrade to do is possibly just the video card.

 

[E4g1e]

As for the ram, i did consider getting the XMS3's over the dominators due to price. But seeing some reviews I took the dominators since I "might" overclock the pc later on.
But if I need to save a few bucks then I will go the XMS3 route. thanks!

Actually, the higher stock voltage of the Dominators might actually hinder overclocking because the CPU's IMC would then be at the upper limit of its recommended voltage range. And any attempts at overclocking with the IMC voltage that high would actually significantly increase the potential for overheating at even modest overclocks. Put it this way, the RAM might not overheat, but the CPU definitely would.

 

[KraXed112]

Actually, the higher stock voltage of the Dominators might actually hinder overclocking because the CPU's IMC would then be at the upper limit of its recommended voltage range. And any attempts at overclocking with the IMC voltage that high would actually significantly increase the potential for overheating at even modest overclocks. Put it this way, the RAM might not overheat, but the CPU definitely would.

Wow ok, I'll get the XMS3's instead =) thanks

 

[Dangman]

defaultluser is right: The RAM and motherboard is completely overpriced.

In addition, E4g1e's post, even if you overclock the PC, again, zero reason to get the Dominator RAM at all. Considering that ANY cheap set of DDR3 1600 RAM will allow you to hit 4.2Ghz with the Core i7 950 or 930 CPUs, you won't be needing highly overclockable RAM unless you're actually planning on going past a 4.2Ghz OC. Even then, going higher than 4.2Ghz is not provide a noticeable performance increase to justify the extra $140 to $280 for the Dominators. So yeah, get the XMS3 sets.

For just gaming, there's zero reason to get 12GB of RAM or even 8GB of RAM UNLESS you're planning on running multiple MMORPG clients or do extensive game modding/map making (i.e SC2's Map Editor easily takes up to 2GB of RAM on my system when I'm editing SC2 maps). For your typical FPS, RTS, RPG, or other game types, 4GB of RAM is more than enough. 12GB of RAM is not gonna make your system last that much longer unless your usage habits happen to change later on. Go for either 4GB or 6GB set of RAM.

But if you have to have 12GB of RAM, go for the XMS3.

Is your Soundblaster X-fi sound card PCI or PCI-E?

 

[KraXed112]

defaultluser is right: The RAM and motherboard is completely overpriced.

In addition, E4g1e's post, even if you overclock the PC, again, zero reason to get the Dominator RAM at all. Considering that ANY cheap set of DDR3 1600 RAM will allow you to hit 4.2Ghz with the Core i7 950 or 930 CPUs, you won't be needing highly overclockable RAM unless you're actually planning on going past a 4.2Ghz OC. Even then, going higher than 4.2Ghz is not provide a noticeable performance increase to justify the extra $140 to $280 for the Dominators. So yeah, get the XMS3 sets.

For just gaming, there's zero reason to get 12GB of RAM or even 8GB of RAM UNLESS you're planning on running multiple MMORPG clients or do extensive game modding/map making (i.e SC2's Map Editor easily takes up to 2GB of RAM on my system when I'm editing SC2 maps). For your typical FPS, RTS, RPG, or other game types, 4GB of RAM is more than enough. 12GB of RAM is not gonna make your system last that much longer unless your usage habits happen to change later on. Go for either 4GB or 6GB set of RAM.

But if you have to have 12GB of RAM, go for the XMS3.

Is your Soundblaster X-fi sound card PCI or PCI-E?

I'll change the ram over to the xms'3.
I'm getting 12gigs of ram since everything priced out is still around my budget. I haven't hit a hard cap yet. But I like where the price is at so far

The Soundblaster is a PCI card

Since I'm saving on the ram and possibly the mobo, I might spring for the soundblaster xfi PCI-E card instead.

 

[E4g1e]

I'll change the ram over to the xms'3.
I'm getting 12gigs of ram since everything priced out is still around my budget. I haven't hit a hard cap yet. But I like where the price is at so far

The Soundblaster is a PCI card

Since I'm saving on the ram and possibly the mobo, I might spring for the soundblaster xfi PCI-E card instead.

Actually, unless you have really good speakers I wouldn't purchase a discrete sound card at all. In fact, I wouldn't even use that PCI Sound Blaster since the available Windows 7 drivers are still buggy (they sometimes caused the sound to go completely staticky and then pop quite loudly just restarting the system after the static). Stick with the motherboard's onboard audio unless you have a reason to buy a discrete sound card (I would not buy an X-Fi sound card nowadays especially since there are better discrete sound cards for the same price as the PCI-e X-Fi). Today's Intel HD on-motherboard audio is much better than the onboard AC'97 solutions of a few years ago.

 

[fochkoph]

Like everyone said and as much as I love ASUS, those ROG boards are a huge waste of money for the average user. It's amazing how many people suck up these pretty black and red themed products and don't even utilize their features. You really are only paying for the flair and unless you plan on going tri-SLi + PhysX you don't need them at all. I was going to recommend the X58 Sabertooth as well, but since defaultluser got it in first I'll throw in the ASRock X58 Extreme 3 as another fantastic board for its price. If for whatever reason you can't stomach the colors of the Sabertooth or don't feel comfortable using ASRock then the ASUS P6X58D-E is an amazing alternative too. Both are equipped with the necessary SATA 6GB/s for your Crucial SSD. I wouldn't recommend EVGA based on their extremely weak 1 year warranties alone, even if they have an infallible reputation.

As E4g1e said, unless you have superb shelf speakers or extremely high quality headphones don't bother with a sound card if you're using run-of-the-mill PC speakers by Logitech and others...not worth it as it'll make little difference and even if you did go with a card get the ASUS Xonar DX. It's still one of the best cards you can get for that price. I think cutting back on the RAM to save a bit more money would be a good idea because now if you take all our advice you can probably squeeze in a second GTX 480! That would really send your rig through the roof in terms of sheer power (and heat ). Other than that you look set.