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System build help

C

ChrisJohnson00TA

2[H]4U
Joined
Jul 28, 2005
Messages
2,836
My current i7 930 has become unstable and I'd rather buy something new than to dink with fixing what I have. It's been a long time since I've kept up with anything beyond my 930.

Here are my requirements:

Low heat load where possible, quiet.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc

Business - Lots of concurrent VMWare sessions (up to 8 or so), Photoshop, Acrobat, very lite video editing, word processing, web browsing, lots of RDP/remote support, light gaming - FPS type stuff.

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

I'll pay for what works - lets say max out at flexible 4k but reasonably expect to be sub 2k.

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.

San Antonio, Tx - Frequent Dallas area (Microcenter is an option as well as Fry's, etc - would prefer NE or Amazon where appropriate)

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.

I'm expecting processor(s), heat sync(s), motherboard, memory. I have the rest covered.

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

Not completely sure.

I have a Crucial C300 128gb SSD for my boot/OS drive and iSCSI for the rest of my storage needs.

Currently have dual 6950's that I want to re-use.

24gb of Corsair CMZ24GX3M6A1600C9 (6 Sticks x4gb) - if usable.

(Edit) Antec P183 case

Antec CP-850 PS

6) Will you be overclocking?

Would like to. Not balls out, but the most I can get being 100% stable, air cooled. My office is warm - 80* ambient or more at some times.

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?

3x Dell 30" u3011 2560x1600 each

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

ASAP.

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? etc.

Nothing special required other than Crossfire - and even at that, it's not necessary but a strong desire.

My SSD is SATA 6, that would be nice.

Minimum 2 PCI-e slots for dual port NIC and sound card.

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

I'll be running Windows 7 x64


Thanks!
 
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I am inclined to suggest you go towards the X79 LGA2011 platform, but that will QUICKLY chew through your budget. If you were to go towards the $4k budget limit, you could settle on a 2P 2011 setup.

Only issue you'd quickly run into with the 2P 2011 system is that you'd need a new case that would accept the form factor SSI EEB, however there are a few systems with that as an option (Silverstone makes quite a few).

Given that you do heavy usage, I would suggest 2P 2011. This may be my personal bias for already having one, but the cost can climb quickly. 2P 2011 will be at least $3.5k, with lower end processors, still true octo core chips though.

LGA1155 may be not sufficient for you in the end. So either 1P 2011 (X79) or 2P 2011 is the main choice to pursue. If you pick one or the other, I could quickly come up with a suitable setup for you, either route you choose.
 
I'll have to do a bit more research - but - looking at a 2P 2011 setup - I think that's more than what I need.

I'm fairly happy with the performance of my 4.2ghz i7 930 - but if it's time to upgrade, I'd like to buy what's current and last me another 2 years.

So.. I guess I'd lean more to the single processor, more cores more speed type setup vs brute force 16+ core setup.

I don't need that much brute force for what I'm doing - most of my VM's are test boxes - Win7, xp, ubuntu, OSX, etc with 2-4gb ram doing outlook migrations, ActiveDirectory testing or what have you. I'd get more benefit out of faster and more memory (say 32 or 64gb) than I will out of more, slower cores. Almost all of my disk i/o is iSCSI.

ASUS Sabertooth looks interesting - looks right down my alley with reliability and stability.

What say you going with a single X79 LGA2011 setup?

3930K? Xeon E5 2670? I'm fairly sure that core speed still trumps number of cores.

Edit - looks like I should stick with the 3930K or 3960X - they both hand the E5 2670+'s their asses in benchmarks.

I'm at the end of my knowledge base at this point.
 
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X79 setup, it is then! The K series processors will be able to easily surpass your i7-930.

Let me get this built, and linked up.
 
Ok.. thoughts?

Sabertooth X79:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131801

3930k:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116492

Memory - I'd like do to 4x8gb to start and have the ability to add another 4x8gb if I feel I need to go to 64gb of memory.

I'd like something good enough to keep up with a 5ghz overclock of the 3930. I need a suggestion here please. I'm currently running Ripjaw's at 2ghz and like the way that feels :p

Heatsink - I've always done Air cooled but the H80 and H100 interests me but not sure if it would fit in my (edit)P183. Any thoughts on that? Remember, I'm looking for stable over time (most important to me) and as quiet as possible. What would work for an air cooled setup? My office ambient temps are over 80* in the summer months.

Thanks again :)
 
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3930k is probably your best bet, they can be had for good prices these days. The Sabertooth board is very solid, I used the P67 version and it was great. If you want to do any overclocking with that chip, make sure you have good airflow and a decent heatsink. My last 3930k would do 4.2ghz at lower than stock volts so it stayed decently cool for a hex-core chip, ymmv though.

Also, you will need Windows 7 Professional to run more than 16GB of memory.
 
Thanks - I'm running 7 Pro - not an issue.

I guess I'm just looking for my final components - memory and cooling.

Memory - maybe Evo Corsa?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820144585

That looks like a solid option.

Still looking for cooling suggestions with my P182 case - Water looks appealing, but is it reliable/completely thoughtless once it's installed for 2-3+ years 24/7 at a time?

Also, will my Antec 850 PS be sufficient?
 
That Antec PSU will be fine, I have a P183 in the closet myself and its still a decent case for its age. I wouldn't feel bad about re-using them, although full water would be hard in that case. Something like an H80 might work well.
 
Ok.. here's where I am - I'm still questioning my cooling choice on water - mostly because I've never done it before. Anything special about the screws needed for the H80 and the x79 sabertooth? I was reading somewhere that the x79 Sabertooth has some nuts mounted to it...

Memory: GeIL Evo Corsa 32GB (4x8GB) 11-12-12-32
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820144585

Motherboard: x79 Sabertooth
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131801

Processor: 3930K
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116492

Cooling: Corsair H80
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181016

Dual Fans for the H80
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185058

Grand Total: $1,421.94 to my door.

Do I need thermal compound? What should I buy?


Ready to pull the trigger pending any other input on CPU water cooling vs air cooling and my fan choice to replace the stock fans.
 
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I think you'll be good. The 2011 mounting is really nice because it has nuts already on the board. For example, I use an H60 on mine and you just thread in some pegs and then put the cooler on it, and some thumbscrews hold it down. You don't need access to the back of the board or any mounting plates.

I would go with thw H80 because that case doesn't have a ton of fans/airflow to really help a big air cooler.

As far as that RAM, what a waste of cash. SB systems really don't benefit much past DDR3 1600, you could get 32GB for half that price. I'm trying to find a set but NE isn't working on my work computer, but I know for a fact you can get a quality brand 32GB 4x8 kit for ~$200 at 1600mhz with way better than those crap timings.
 
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ChrisJohnson00TA said:
Would my current DDR3 memory work?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004UPTEH6/ref=wms_ohs_product?tag=68656c7064757-20
Click to expand...

It would work great, you could grab another 4GB pair and have 32GB although you would use up all of your slots. You might see a small difference in synthetic benches between what you have and that 2400mhz kit but in every other use you won't notice anything but the hole in your wallet. I use the Vengance LP kits on my SB-E and its pretty nice, those regular Vengeance modules should OC decently as well.
 
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Not looking for a hole in my wallet ;)

I may grab another 4gb pair as you suggested - I often push it with what I have.

Thanks for all the input - I'll order shortly.
 
Sounds like it will be a beast of a system. Don't forget it is a 4-channel system so you'll want to either run 16GB (4x4) or 32GB (8x4), I know SB-E will work *ok* in dual channel mode but I don't know if it will run in triple-channel mode if you try to use 4x6.
 
ChrisJohnson00TA said:
Ordered another 8GB kit from Amazon - thank you.
Click to expand...

Great! I'm looking at ordering another 16GB myself, I would like to run a RAMdisk. The only thing that sucks about that RAM and socket 2011 is big air coolers hit the heatsink, but the AIO water coolers have no such problems.
 
Wish I had "room" for a ramdisk - only way I'd be able to do that is to go to 64gb. Would sure make some of my VM boxes haul ass though..

Hmmm :p

Thanks again for the help - if I'm lucky, I'll have all of this stuff this weekend - probably just in time for this one to crap out on me.
 
You want a "cheap" build for no more than $4k.... lulz

Anyway - I think the 3960 is overkill based on what you're going to need it for.

Just add i7 2600k and 1155 motherboard. Lga 2011 doesn't fit your needs, and you'll only spend 400-600 Max.

Everything else you have should swap perfectly.
 
Chaos744 said:
You want a "cheap" build for no more than $4k.... lulz

Anyway - I think the 3960 is overkill based on what you're going to need it for.

Just add i7 2600k and 1155 motherboard. Lga 2011 doesn't fit your needs, and you'll only spend 400-600 Max.

Everything else you have should swap perfectly.
Click to expand...


Are you even reading the same thread here? Where did he mention either "cheap" OR a 3960? If he wants the machine to last for 3 or 4 years and be running lots of VM's, a 3930k makes sense. Especially since he can re-use all of the RAM he already has.
 
Read post #3 from him.... (he talks about it at the end where it says EDIT) THAT'S where I get the 3960 from.... so YES I am reading the same thread.... are you?

My "cheap" statement is that he's looking for a new CPU, mobo, heat sink, and ram.... unless he's going for X class processors, he's not going anywhere close to $4k.

He's not building a server or looking to do heavy gaming or anything of that sort - which is why I said just spend $600 bucks and have a sweet system without breaking the bank.

His heaviest use will be VMWare? A 2500k would be sufficient, but since he has a first generation i7, it made sense to reccommend to him Sandy Bridge i7 to keep up the hyper threading.

I might be new to these boards and my recent PC build might be new, but I'm not a complete idiot.
 
Chaos744 said:
Read post #3 from him.... (he talks about it at the end where it says EDIT) THAT'S where I get the 3960 from.... so YES I am reading the same thread.... are you?

My "cheap" statement is that he's looking for a new CPU, mobo, heat sink, and ram.... unless he's going for X class processors, he's not going anywhere close to $4k.

He's not building a server or looking to do heavy gaming or anything of that sort - which is why I said just spend $600 bucks and have a sweet system without breaking the bank.

His heaviest use will be VMWare? A 2500k would be sufficient, but since he has a first generation i7, it made sense to reccommend to him Sandy Bridge i7 to keep up the hyper threading.

I might be new to these boards and my recent PC build might be new, but I'm not a complete idiot.
Click to expand...


He posted several builds including the 3930k, and just mentioned that the 3900 series outmatches the Xeon. He also said he might want to have 64GB of RAM at some point which IB/SB can't do, which was the big sticking point for recommending it if it will have to last for a few years. Might as well buy the 3930k and go big on RAM now than buy a SB rig and find out he has to upgrade again next year to get the features he needs. If he really wanted a cheap upgrade to processing power he could grab a 980/990x for the less than a SB build without changing anything else at all.
 
Chaos744 said:
Read post #3 from him.... (he talks about it at the end where it says EDIT) THAT'S where I get the 3960 from.... so YES I am reading the same thread.... are you?

My "cheap" statement is that he's looking for a new CPU, mobo, heat sink, and ram.... unless he's going for X class processors, he's not going anywhere close to $4k.

He's not building a server or looking to do heavy gaming or anything of that sort - which is why I said just spend $600 bucks and have a sweet system without breaking the bank.
Click to expand...

My statement was intended to be read: I'll buy what works best for me.

I wasn't really sure what would work from my current system in a newer system. My 4k price tag would have been dual proc's, new motherboard, likely a new case, memory, PS, etc.

The 3930 vs 3960 was more of an out loud thought - I don't see an extra $400 in 100mhz. Thats why I chose the 3930 over the 3960, and either of those over a Xeon processor.

In any case, I'm happy with what LigTasm suggested - after doing my own research on what Wyluliraven suggested as well, I mostly ended up with what LigTasm suggested before he suggested it - and I thanked him for not letting me dump $400 into memory that I didn't need.
 
Yeah, glad it worked out for you and saved you some money!

Chaos744 said:
Cool brother. Hope your new rig does all that you intend it to. Cheers!
Click to expand...

Also, I aplogize for getting snappy. I was having a very irritating day at work but I shouldn't take it out on folks trying to help in here. I have a bad habit of letting my temper do the typing :eek:
 
LigTasm said:
Yeah, glad it worked out for you and saved you some money!



Also, I aplogize for getting snappy. I was having a very irritating day at work but I shouldn't take it out on folks trying to help in here. I have a bad habit of letting my temper do the typing :eek:
Click to expand...

No problem dude. Appreciate the apology. I hope your work day is better today! :)
 
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