Q9550 Retirement

X

XHair

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 27, 2008
Messages
181
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc

I plan to game @2560x1440[Civ 5, League of Legends, maybe Skyrim, occasional D3, GW2 upon release, occasional TOR when it beomes F2P] . I have a secondary monitor that I stream TV/Movies on @ 1920x1200 - Netflix, HDD, other on demand,et cetera. I am planning on buying two more 2560x1440 displays for the pixel real estate(7680x1440/ 2560x4320) - and possibly gaming.

I also occasionally run one Virtual Machine, 20+ tabbed browsing, various lower resource programs(Skype, Thunderbird, Excel, Steam, League of Legends), VNC into my media server.


2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?

~ $1300. I'm budgeting out some more for a new desk, triple mount LCD arm, 2x Catleaps and some speakers. Somewhat flexible.

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Minneapolis, US.
Microcenter 15 minutes away.

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer.



CPU -$249.99 i7 2700k @ Microcenter
RAM -$90 2x 8GB G.Skill DDR3 1600
CASE - $130-$12.50 Corsair 500R
HSF - $30 Coolermaster HSF

PSU - $145 - $12.50 Corsair HX750
Video card - $369 7970 from Tigerdirect 1x 7970
LCD Arm - $75 +$25 shipping here same thing here

PSU+RAM+HSF+CASE = $369.96 shipped
LCD ARM = $99.45 shipped
Video Card = $382.47
Mobo+PSU from Microcenter(approximating with tax) = $410
--------------------------------$1162.43 or $1261.88 with LCD Arm
+$15 for displayport cable

Future:2x $399 Displayport Korean Monitor (Auria)




5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.

OCZ Agility 60GB boot drive, Samsung HD103SJ 1TB media, 500GB SATA, 160GB PATA dump drive. (3x sata, 1 pata)


6) Will you be overclocking?
Yes please on the CPU - I'll start with an overclock without upping voltages. I've never been into GPU OCing.

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
Currently 1x 2560x1440 Catleap + 1x 1920x1200 LG
End of the road 3x 2560x1440 catleaps (Portrait or landscape, jury is out).
AT the very least 1x 2560x1440 Catleap + 1x 1920x1200 LG + 1x 22" Portrait when I get my mounting arms and desk.


8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Within the month.

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)? UEFI?

Crossfire for future upgrades...2x 8x lanes? Need to discuss. SATA 6GB/s. Whatever on USB 3.0. 1x Gigabit LAN is fine. Not up to date on UEFI. Need decent board for OCing.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?

-- Windows 7 Professional x64. Although I don't know where my DVD went and I'm going to keep the same SSD for the moment, anyway.

Current build for below, recently the CPU has been at stock.
 
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Why do you have a motherboard link with the CPU?

If you live within' 15 minutes of a Microcenter, no reason at all to buy a motherboard/cpu from anywhere online when nothing can beat the price that Microcenter will offer with a combo.
 
Skillz said:
Why do you have a motherboard link with the CPU?

If you live within' 15 minutes of a Microcenter, no reason at all to buy a motherboard/cpu from anywhere online when nothing can beat the price that Microcenter will offer with a combo.
Click to expand...

Because I made a mistake.

I've never shopped at Microcenter. I post here to get constructive criticism such as your suggestion to shop at Microcenter.
 
Okay. Well if you are ready to order this month we'll get a build put together for ya. However if you wanna wait till october to order parts then bump this toilpic then.

Something new and better is always coming out, up to you if you wanna wait.
 
I should clarify that the only reason I would wait until October is a bonus paycheck. My budget can handle the listed price.
 
Okay if no one posts a build, ill put one together for ya when I get home tonight.
 
Here's a prelim build:
$385 - Intel Core i7-2700K CPU + Asus P8Z77-V Intel Z77 ATX Motherboard Microcenter Combo
$90 - G.SKILL Ripjaws Series F3-12800CL10D-16GBXL 2 x 8GB DDR3 1600 RAM
$400 - eVGA 02G-P4-2670-KR GeForce GTX 670 2GB PCI-E Video Card
$250 - Corsair HX750 750W Modular PSU + Corsair Carbide Series 500R ATX Case Combo
$30 - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus HSF for LGA 1366 and LGA 1156
---
Total: $1155 plsu tax and shipping.
 
Well first and foremost, get this combo from Microcenter:

$385 - Intel Core i7-2700K CPU + Asus P8Z77-V Intel Z77 ATX Motherboard Combo

This modular PSU using promo code SSPSU15 to get an additional 15% off. Ends 8/13

$109.99 - SeaSonic M12II 650 SS-650AM 650W

Not sure if you just like that RAM set or what, but here is a cheaper set. Do note that you wont notice a difference between DDR3 1333 and DDR3 1600 in terms of performance with Intels latest CPUs. Well worth saving the $22 on the cheaper set.

$42.99 - G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333
 
Danny Bui said:
Here's a prelim build:
$385 - Intel Core i7-2700K CPU + Asus P8Z77-V Intel Z77 ATX Motherboard Microcenter Combo
$90 - G.SKILL Ripjaws Series F3-12800CL10D-16GBXL 2 x 8GB DDR3 1600 RAM
$400 - eVGA 02G-P4-2670-KR GeForce GTX 670 2GB PCI-E Video Card
$250 - Corsair HX750 750W Modular PSU + Corsair Carbide Series 500R ATX Case Combo
$30 - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus HSF for LGA 1366 and LGA 1156
---
Total: $1155 plsu tax and shipping.
Click to expand...


I'm liking the 3GB of VRAM on the 7970 vs GTX 670 for the amount of pixels I might try to push in the future, and the possibility of dabbling in triple monitor. Thoughts?

Also, how is 750W going to hold up if I Get another GTX 670/ AMD 7970 and OC the CPU?
 
Its possible to use three displays on the 670 as well, however if the VRAM is an issue for you then get the 4GB version of the 670.

They have a promo right now.

$490 - Galaxy 67NQH6DN6KXZ GeForce GTX 670 GC 4GB

Use promo code HARDOCPX8X8B to get an additional $30 off making it $460...
 
Crosshair said:
I'm liking the 3GB of VRAM on the 7970 vs GTX 670 for the amount of pixels I might try to push in the future, and the possibility of dabbling in triple monitor. Thoughts?
Click to expand...
As Skillz said, the GTX 670 can handle triple monitors. The deal that Skillz linked to is a pretty good deal since you get Nvidia's slightly better drivers.
Crosshair said:
Also, how is 750W going to hold up if I Get another GTX 670/ AMD 7970 and OC the CPU?
Click to expand...

Very well. The current generation of GPUs are relatively low power compared to older generation GPUs.
 
IS there a cost effective active display port to dvi dual-link adapter?

Can the HDMI slot on this GTX 670 push 2560x1440 if I get an HDMI input on my monitor??
 
I believe the cheapest DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI adapters can be found for ~$50. Higher quality ones obviously cost more. I've heard a lot of recommendations for Accell branded ones, but that one costs $90.

The HDMI port on the 670 should be 1.4a and will support up to 4K resolutions, but not at 60Hz. It certainly has the bandwidth to do 1440p at over 85Hz, but HDMI is a funny spec that I have had horrible experiences with with.

If I were buying 2 more 27" screens, I'd try real hard to get ones with DisplayPort.

I also would like to mention that 7970's have a wider memory bus that handles 3x1440p significantly better. That isn't to say 670's can't do that, just that 7970s are better equipped. 4GB 670's still have a 256bit bus. At any single monitor res, stick with the 670. At 3x1440, I recommend 7970, especially since they are significantly cheaper than 4GB versions of the 670.
 
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I think I'll go with the 3GB 7970 unless there's a better 7970 choice.
 
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