New Gaming build, any suggestions/changes?

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BMAC6324

n00b
Joined
Dec 7, 2010
Messages
9
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
-Mainly Gaming
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
-Willing to pay what it takes to have a long lasting desktop
3) Where do you live?
-California
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.
So far just a specific Monitor, small cards like Wireless, Audio, etc. and a CD drive
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
New Desktop
6) Will you be overclocking?
Plan to OC CPU, never done but want to learn how
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
20-22"
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Started to build online with Newegg on the Dec 2nd
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? etc.
Want to have a MOBO that will last a few years due to this is going to be a Desktop i want for some time. USB 3. SLI supported.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
No but want to use a 64 bit Windows 7 (Have on my laptop and enjoy it)

I'm forward deployed with the Marines and have nothing better to do but build a Desktop at the moment. Never have but want to learn how to OC, RAID, SLI...all that fun stuff. I know a moderate amount on computers and have done some research on the listed items below. All seems pretty high end due to i want to keep this for some time and still be able to grab some stuff later on. Any suggestions/advice for the items below. Thanks for the help. All shopping being done on Newegg due to deployment status.

So far this is what I have put together
Case: CoolMaster Haf-X RC 942
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119225
MOBO: EVGA 141-GT-E0770-A1
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188069
CPU: Intel i7 950 (plan to OC)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115211
Heatsink: Thermalright Venomous X-Black w/ 1 or 2 Themalright X-Silent 120mm Fans
(depending on fit)
http://www.thermalright.com/new_a_p...us-x/product_cpu_cooler_venomous-x_black.html
PS: CoolMaster Silent Pro Gold 1000W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171056
Ram: Corsair Dominator 6GB (3 x 2gb) Triple Channel Kit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145295
GPU: x2 EVGA 460 (Ferm) SC 1GB (planned SLI)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130568
HD: WD Caviar Black 1TB 7200rpm and x2 Velociraptor 300GB 10000rpm (were a gift)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284
Fans: Swapping case fans with 4 CoolerMaster Magaflow 200mm Red LED
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103072
 
Forget the Corsair memory. Mushkin Redline Ridgeback.

Forget the Silver Arrow. Noctua NDH14

Depending on the resolution you can get away with one 460. See how it goes and add a second one if you need to.

Also, that 1000W PSU is overkill unless you plan on upgrading to more power hungry cards later. An 850 is plenty of power.
 
I looked at the Noctua but i wasn't sure at first if it would fit but then i realized it might, just liked the looks and review on the Venomous

Seems like the Mushkin Redline Ridgeback have a good heatspread but not a whole lot on the review side, new product?

I'm planning to play on high res settings to get the most out of games, right now it's mainly Starcraft 2, COD (all versions really), and C&C.

Planning on upgrading later down the line so i just decided to grab the 1000, or would it be easyer to just get the 850 and by the time i want a better GPU set-up the 1000's will be cheaper

I guess it's just hard to get away from the brands you normally go with but change is always a good thing, people know more then me on builds and parts so thanks for the suggestions.
 
Corsair memory will be fine. It will be fine as long as it is reputable brand.
But the PSU at 1KW is an overkill indeed. Even 650 - 750W good quality would suffice for GTX460 SLI.

Also you should consider GTX580.

Any reason for that particular mobo? Another EVGA but 160 less, with SLI support, SATA III and USB3.

Edit: Unless you plan to upgrade to GTX580 SLI 1KW PSU is an overkill.
 
I liked the idea of spending a little less to get 2 GPU's instead 1 and for what im doing the SLI will be perfect

I'll look more into getting a 750W, i had it down then thought i needed more...like i said, kinda new

I was always a fan for the classified MOBO, ill have a look at the suggested one, i just dont want to get an outdated desktop after a month if you know what i mean

Money is not a giant factor but i dont want to spend a ton if you know what i mean, im not a huge fan on the new new but of the recent so to speak
 
Eh, I'd go for 470s if you dont want to spend a ton of graphics cards, they are going to better long run than the 460s and they are cheap(er) compared to what they debuted at.

Mushkin is just as good as the corsair and its cheaper. 175 for triple channel 6 gig kit.
 
I thought about it, just wasn't sure if it was a good move or not, i found fights with 460 SLI and a 580 and the 460's kept up a little, i just couldn't find the 470 SLI vs 580.

I'm not sure about the Mushkin, just never heard of them really...

The only thing that im having a hard time with is the Heatsink, i do like both but not sure what to go with, i like the mounting idea of the Venom. Any comments?

Any ideas on any other hardware?
 
Take a look at the Megahalems :p no reason its not good anymore. I like mine, but its facing up to exhaust into the massive 200mm fan on my antec 900, so no trouble with the ram.
 
In terms of motherboards, there is high end and mainstream. But the main underlying hardware is the same so the difference being that high end uses better components and has much more extra features. But fact is that most likely all the extra features will not be used by average user. Those are small tweaks for power users. There are lot of good and not expensive boards with SLI support, same amount of SATA III ports, same amount of USB3 ports as high end. So there is not that much point overpaying unless you know that you will need those features or you will push the system really hard.

Cosidering you have 2 velociraptors, you might wanna look into raid support.

In terms of cooling. How about Corsair h70 or a CoolIT (I think) closed water loop cooling? easy instalation and good cooling.
 
I highly recommend waiting until Intel's Sandy Bridge CPUs are available on January 5th. It's only a few weeks away. Those Sandy Bridge CPUs will be faster clock for clock than Intel's current Core i7 lineup while being able to OC very high. In fact, it's been shown that a Sandy Bridge CPU can hit 5Ghz on AIR. Granted that may not be a common thing and the average OC will probably be around 4.3Ghz to 4.5Ghz. If the price leak is true, you can get the i5 2500K for around $253. That's cheaper than the i7 950 and you can get a significantly higher OC on top of the faster clock for clock speed.

So all in all, you're better off waiting until then for an expensive PC build.

But if you have to buy the PC now, I would not recommend a Core i7 setup at all for just a gaming setup:
The i5 750 is just as fast as the Core i7 950 in gaming as shown here:

The 2.8Ghz Core i7 930 only provides about a 2 to 5FPS difference over the Core i5 750 as shown in this review:
http://www.legionhardware.com/articles_pages/gaming_the_core_debate,1.html

Additional proof: The $1040 3.3Ghz Core i7 975 Extreme Edition CPU is only 15% to 30% faster than the Core i5 750 with only a specific set of games and video cards:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/cpus-and-games-2010.html

So considering the the i7 975 is faster than the i7 930 and i7 950 and yet only provides 15% to 30% under the most ideal conditions, the Core i7 930/950 is definitely not gonna be that much faster than the i5 750 or i5 760. At least fast enough to justify the higher costs anyway. In addition, there's very little real world difference between triple channel and dual channel RAM in real world apps and games.

So platform wise, you can save around $150 to $200 if you switch to the Core i7 750/760 route and still get very similar performance in games. Dunno about you but $150 to $250 is too high for minimal gains in gaming. It'll only extend the life of your PC by 2 months at most.

In your case, that price difference is $381:
$365 - Intel Core i5 750 CPU + Asus P7P55D-E Pro Intel P55 ATX Motherboard Combo
$59 - G.Skill F3-12800CL9D-4GBNQ 2 x 2GB DDR3 1600 RAM
---
Total: $424 plus tax and shipping.

$381 cheaper and you're gonna get very similar performance in games. Two extra months of usage is not worth $381. In addition, 4GB of RAM is more than enough for most gaming setups. That motherboard has USB 3.0 support and SLI support.

Also note that SLI is really only worth it if you're playing at a resolution of 1920x1080 or higher. So if you want to make your SLI worthwhile, make sure that whatever monitor you get has a resolution of 1920x1080. If the res is lower than that, you're better off with a single GPU like the GTX 470, HD 6870, or GTX 570.

Now if you do get a 1920x1080+ res, go for GTX 470 SLI. I recommend this monitor:
$160 - Acer G235HAbd Black 23" Widescreen LCD Monitor

HDD wise, ditch that Black drive and go with this faster Samsung drive instead:
$70 - Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
 
Thanks Danny for the good links

For the SB CPU's, how comfortable do you feel about the 'forcasted' prices? And yes im willing to wait only thing is will they be compatible with the MOBO's that i have selected and or the one you suggested?

Hybry-
I only really intend on using what i need to get a good gaming station that can still be upgraded componant wise down the line. So if there are better recommandations on components as stated by Danny Bui then by all means, post a link and share your thoughts.

For the raid aspect, i have no idea how and or what raid accomplishes, i have tried to understand but at the moment my brain is fried with all the electronics i have to work with in my Military occupation.

For the H70 HS, i hear alot about it but it just looks weird to me, im trying to keep away from watercooling due to i dont want something to happen and next thing i know im looking at a wet box.
 
Sandy Bridge processors and motherboards aren't compatible with older (LGA1156/1366) versions of the Core i5/i7 platform. In other words, you'll need to buy a Sandy Bridge processor and pair it with an LGA1155 motherboard.

As for RAID, take a look at a couple of Wikipedia articles explaining what RAID is and what its levels are. One caveat: RAID is NOT a backup solution; it's designed to increase HDD uptime (except in RAID 0, where its primary purpose is HDD performance improvement).

The Corsair H70 is a self-contained CPU watercooling block that's designed to minimize (if not eliminate) the possibility of leaking. For the first-time overclocker, however, try using a cheaper, air-based CPU cooler. (I'm holding off on recommendations until after Sandy Bridge arrives.)
 
I take it that since the SB CPU's haven't come out yet that there will be no MOBO's current on the market, or that i haven't seen any on Newegg. Thanks for the reassurance on the prices Danny Bui.

For the heatsink i'll just stick with an Air style, there will be plenty of air going throught the case that i feel comfortable with this idea. But thanks for the input on the H70.

I looked at the WIKI links and read about the RAID options and classes, if anything i would get x2 1TB HDD's and use a in a RAID 1, only thing is it sounds like a Back-up but as you stated it is not, would you be able to break it down in a little more understandable way. I like the idea of 2 HDD's working as 1 with faster exchange rates but it sounds alot like a back-up/recovery type RAID. Is there other hardware you have to purchase to make a RAID system?

Now that you mention the whole spending too much on a MOBO from many people i realized that there are cheaper MOBO's that do the same thing, i'll keep my eyes open on a LGA1155 but ill keep a seperate list for a i5/i7 set up.
 
BMAC6324 said:
I looked at the WIKI links and read about the RAID options and classes, if anything i would get x2 1TB HDD's and use a in a RAID 1, only thing is it sounds like a Back-up but as you stated it is not, would you be able to break it down in a little more understandable way. I like the idea of 2 HDD's working as 1 with faster exchange rates but it sounds alot like a back-up/recovery type RAID. Is there other hardware you have to purchase to make a RAID system?
Click to expand...
Most forms of RAID just simply guarantees uptime or making sure that your PC still runs despite a drive failure. It is not a backup by itself

This thread covers exactly what is a backup and what isn't:
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1566301

But basically, it's multiple copies of your data stored on different sources (external hard drive, NAS, DVDs, file server, online storage, tape, etc) and preferably in different places (your work, car, other family home, fireproof safe, etc) where they cannot directly affect one another.

For example, a RAID 1 array does not protect against accidental or malicious deletion, corruption, or infection of your data. Any data change made in one of the hard drives in a RAID 1 array will immediately be copied over to the other drive. However, having that same data copied to an external hard drive that's not kept connected to the PC at all times does provide some protection against accidental or malicious deletion, corruption, or infection of your data.

For a RAID 0 or RAID 1 or even RAID 10 array, the onboard RAID controller of most motherboards that have them will be enough. For RAID 5 and RAID 6, you will need to buy a seperate RAID card.
 
So im thinking about using the 2 Velociraptor HDD's in a RAID 1 set-up for gaming and using a 1 or 2 TB HDD for my OS/Main HDD. Then getting a fast 1TB HDD external and using as a Back-up for all the important docs etc.
 
BMAC6324 said:
So im thinking about using the 2 Velociraptor HDD's in a RAID 1 set-up for gaming and using a 1 or 2 TB HDD for my OS/Main HDD. Then getting a fast 1TB HDD external and using as a Back-up for all the important docs etc.
Click to expand...

No. Use the Velociraptor drives are your OS/main hard drive. They're still gonna be faster than a single 1TB or 2TB drive. Having your OS on the Velociraptor drives will make the OS more responsive and help load games faster. Use a fast 1TB drive for additional storage and such. Your plan for the fast 1TB external HDD sounds fine to me.
 
Get Sandybridge please. iMacs will even probably have it in spring 2011. Lol.
 
Sorry Haiku214, im not all into the iMacs, just not my style, but im sure ill go with the SB CPU.

And for the Velociraptor HDD's, should i keep the games and such on that same HDD as the OS? and should i still raid them?
 
BMAC6324 said:
And for the Velociraptor HDD's, should i keep the games and such on that same HDD as the OS? and should i still raid them?
Click to expand...

Yeah the vRaptor drives are big enough where installing a few games on them is a good idea. Yeah RAID them if you want
 
In terms of CPU sockets and future upgrades, Intel has not been that good lately, so what you see now is what you will get (limited upgrade path). Not sure about SB socket 1155 plans, but it would be a good thing to wait and see how it stacks up anyway.

In terms of RAID, you really have to look at vs you want RAID 1 or RAID 0. RAID 1 will double your data, so you will only get half of total disk space, but piece of mind if one disk goes down. But as stated above it is not backup. RAID 0 will give you all the disk space and improved both read and write speeds. But if one goes all goes. But cosidering it will be main HDD with mostly software, it should be nothing that can't be reinstalled :)
 
Get yourself a 570. It's plenty fast for any single monitor and you can always ski down the road.
 
So in a RAID 1 if one of them drops then the other will be able to jump in and take over? And i see what you mean by the fact of you get only half the memory due to your copying everything to both.

One of my good friends brought up a valid point. Most of the stuff that im getting should be able to fit into either a SB setup or a i7 setup, the only thing i should have to change is the MOBO and CPU. Received alot of good info on what i should change and i was expecting nothing less, this is a great sight to get great feedback. Expecially for Danny Bui, i noticed you go around and help alot of people. I'm still looking for further suggestions on audio cards, cd drives, and small stuff im overlooking.
 
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