• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

new i7 build assistance

C

Corporal79

Gawd
Joined
Oct 28, 2004
Messages
889
I've got the upgrade bug and with some changes to my home setup I'm building a dedicated gaming machine. My current rig is in my signature, I feel a bit out of the game so I'm looking for some assistance. I saw another thread for a 2600k build and I'm copying a lot off of that and DannyBui's recommendations. I am however making this a crossfire or SLI rig and not sure what to go with for cards and a powersupply to power them. This will be my first dual video card machine. I'll be gaming on a Dell u2412m at 1920 x 1200 resolution

As mentioned this will be a strict gaming machine as all other daily computing tasks will be done on a mac mini.

CPU: I've seen some discussion about the benefits of the 2600k over the 2500k, about $200 difference. I won't say money is no object but if the argument is strong enough for the 2600k, I'll go that route.

Mobo: Open to suggestions here,, not really into overclocking as I don't really understand how it all works and haven't really read about it to understand it. I'm open either way

Memory: one or two sets of the following
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL8D-8GBXM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231445

SSD: No data other than games will be saved on this machine so I think this would be big enough?
Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148442

Video Card: Open to suggestions here

Power supply: I've used corsair PS's in my last two builds so I'm comfortable with them as a brand but unsure of my power needs to run the two cards.
CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 750W ATX12V v2.31/ EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC High Performance Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139021


all help is greatly appreciated
 
for current games the 2500k is a better bargin, however with new games who knows if they will scale well with more cores. battlefield 3 may, there generally pretty cutting edge. i would go with the 2600k, its less than a $100 more and way more future proof. i keep stuff for years however and i fold. if you upgrade all the time than its more of a waste.

whatever you get please use it for folding at home, team 33 is us.
 
mrbigshot said:
whatever you get please use it for folding at home, team 33 is us.
Click to expand...

Some people do pay for the electricity.

OP, I would recommend you get cheaper 1333 1.5V memory, they're usually $20 per 4GB stick. As for video card, a single 6870 will probably be enough.
 
The 2500 vs 2600 argument on here has been beat to death. Hyper threading causes a slowdown in games, and the 2500k is faster clock for clock in games. If that is the machine's intended use, the general consensus, and my personal vote is to go with the 2500k and put the extra money toward something else.

Some input on your other questions:

Motherboard - If you aren't overclocking (or not heavily) and just need basic features, there is no harm in going with a well-reviewed biostar or asrock p67 or z68 board that has the features you need. I've used lots of both in client machines and had no more troubles that I've had with the big name brands.

GPU - For your resolution a single 6950 would probably be a great place to start. If you are on the green team, a gtx 560 ti is great bang for the buck right now.

PSU - Can't go wrong with the Corsair 750tx, or 850tx for more headroom. If you seriously plan to do sli or CF, the 850 would be another $10-20 well spent.
 
Last edited:
Corporal79, I am in a very similar situation as yours, perhaps my thread (http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1630802) was the one you are referencing in your first post. I am still trying to come up with a finalized parts list, so I will keep an eye on this thread for insight as well. Keep us informed and good luck!
 
get the 2600k. Should u decide to overclock it will make a difference. And besides that its more future proof with ht.
 
You didn't really mention money is a priority to build around so I would say...something like my rig plus watercooling lol. No really, grab the 2600k and a P67 motherboard with an NF200 controller. From what I remember, the difference in fps due to hyperthreading is like 5 frames or something and thats for current gen games (if i read right). I think this next generation that is being spearheaded by Battlefield 3 is going to be more multi-core aware and happily gobble it all up. I say a P67/NF200 chipped board because your wanting to go crossfire/SLI and currently, the Z68 chipset has a limited number of PCIe lanes and your gonna gimp your video cards if you go tri-fire/sli in the future.

Of course, if your not planning on moving on to NvSurround/Eyefinity then a single 6970 would be more than sufficient to drive a single monitor at 1900x1200 and at that point your motherboard options open up pretty wide.

PSU is also something you need to think of in terms of where you want to go with the rig. If you want to move onto tri-fire/sli with eyefinity then you'd be best going with a high efficiency 1000-1200w PSU while and 800w is sufficient for dual cards.

With as hella cheap as memory is right now, there is absolutely no reason to skimp on it, grab the fast stuff and lots of it.
 
iconiK said:
Some people do pay for the electricity.

OP, I would recommend you get cheaper 1333 1.5V memory, they're usually $20 per 4GB stick. As for video card, a single 6870 will probably be enough.
Click to expand...

i have no problem paying for the power bill. its on anyways, may as well be doing somthing productive like finding a cure for cancer.
 
I'm going to disagree with USMCGrunt and say that unless you know for sure you are going tri-sli, don't worry about getting a NF200 board. The x8x8 configuration of SB is plenty fast enough to run SLI/CrossFire without causing any performance loss, while the boards with the NF200 may have latency issues (you can probably search and find some posts Dan_D made about it in some other threads, if you are interested). The 128GB SSD is a good size.
 
Forceman said:
I'm going to disagree with USMCGrunt and say that unless you know for sure you are going tri-sli, don't worry about getting a NF200 board. The x8x8 configuration of SB is plenty fast enough to run SLI/CrossFire without causing any performance loss, while the boards with the NF200 may have latency issues (you can probably search and find some posts Dan_D made about it in some other threads, if you are interested). The 128GB SSD is a good size.
Click to expand...

No, dont get me wrong, I completely agree with you but if a triple card setup is a possibility in the near future then it would be best to get an NF200 chipped board. x8x8 is fine sure, but adding a third cards drops you down to x8x4x4 and disables a lot of other stuff on some of the boards.
 
USMCGrunt said:
No, dont get me wrong, I completely agree with you but if a triple card setup is a possibility in the near future then it would be best to get an NF200 chipped board. x8x8 is fine sure, but adding a third cards drops you down to x8x4x4 and disables a lot of other stuff on some of the boards.
Click to expand...

Very few people use two cards, LET ALONE THREE OR FOUR.

This is 1920x1200, not 7680x1600.
 
iconiK said:
Very few people use two cards, LET ALONE THREE OR FOUR.

This is 1920x1200, not 7680x1600.
Click to expand...

True, but this is omeone who has stated he is interested in using two cards and not said what his future intentions are in regards to multimonitor gaming.
 
alright, I think I've got just about everything finalized here.

https://secure.newegg.com/WishList/MySavedWishDetail.aspx?ID=17223085

I made the wish list public so I think you guys can see it.

After mulling it over I think I will actually go down to a one video card setup. After getting the monitors and all the hardware my budget is pretty much blown.

I just need a motherboard now and I can pull the trigger unless someone has a tweak for my wish list.

ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM
SILVERSTONE Fortress Series FT02S Silver Aluminum / Steel Computer Case
CyberPower CP1500AVRLCD 1500VA 900W UPS
CORSAIR Enthusiast Series CMPSU-850TX 850W ATX12V v2.2
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9Q-16GBXL
Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I72600K
COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1 "Heatpipe Direct Contact" Long Life Sleeve 120mm CPU Cooler
Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
 
Last edited:
Corporal79 said:
alright, I think I've got just about everything finalized here.

https://secure.newegg.com/WishList/MySavedWishDetail.aspx?ID=17223085

I made the wish list public so I think you guys can see it.

After mulling it over I think I will actually go down to a one video card setup. After getting the monitors and all the hardware my budget is pretty much blown.

I just need a motherboard now and I can pull the trigger unless someone has a tweak for my wish list.
Click to expand...

Can't see anything on the link, it just takes you to a login screen.
 
USMCGrunt said:
Can't see anything on the link, it just takes you to a login screen.
Click to expand...

I listed the items sin my post above now.

slightly off topic but I see you have the FT02 case as well, I fell in love with it after seeing it and have been debating water cooling (like you) with a corsair prebuilt unit or just sticking with the cooler master 212+

Are you satisfied with the h50?
 
lmnop said:
Corporal79, I am in a very similar situation as yours, perhaps my thread (http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1630802) was the one you are referencing in your first post. I am still trying to come up with a finalized parts list, so I will keep an eye on this thread for insight as well. Keep us informed and good luck!
Click to expand...

you're correct that was the thread I referenced. I've picked some parts from that build recommendations and am just trying to finalize now. I admit I'm at a loss for a motherboard now, prices are all over the place and I'm not really sure if I would benefit from some features the higher priced motherboards offer. Good luck with your build as well!
 
actually now the powersupply is out of stock as is the SSD I choose, this build is going down the tubes. You snooze you lose lol
 
Corporal79 said:
I listed the items sin my post above now.

slightly off topic but I see you have the FT02 case as well, I fell in love with it after seeing it and have been debating water cooling (like you) with a corsair prebuilt unit or just sticking with the cooler master 212+

Are you satisfied with the h50?
Click to expand...

H50 does a great job and is pretty quiet along with the three AP-181s. If your going to go WC then dont get an FT02. The FT02 is a great case but its not really watercooling friendly...least not as much as other cases are.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top