Time to build a serious gaming rig that will last: Critique this build, please!

I

I3eyond

Gawd
Joined
Jan 14, 2006
Messages
934
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
100% gaming. Then the usuals: music, web browsing, etc.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$2500, everything included

3) Where do you live?
NC

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.
Everything except hard drives (let me know if I have missed something): Case, PSU, Motherboard, CPU, Thermal Compound, Memory, Graphics Cards, CD/DVD Drive

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Hard drives: Raptor, and 500GB Secondary Drive, X-Fi Fatalty Soundcard

6) Will you be overclocking?
Never.

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
Have: 2 23" LG LEDs @ 1920x1080

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Probably after Sandy Bridge releases to hope for price drops, so probably the end of January.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? etc.
Everything would be nice, but I need SLI, USB 3.0, and SATA 6GB/S for later

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Yes, 64-bit 7 Professional
-------------------
Now to the fun stuff! Hardware:

Case: Antec P183 Black Aluminum / Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case $144.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129061

Power Supply: CORSAIR HX Series CMPSU-1000HX $229.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139007

Will this PSU fit in the case? It seems longer.

Mobo: ASUS Rampage III Formula LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard $299.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131666

CPU: Intel Core i7-950 Bloomfield 3.06GHz LGA 1366 $294.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115211

Memory: CORSAIR XMS 12GB (3 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2000 (PC3 16000) $299.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145326

Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound $9.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100007

Graphics Cards: MSI N580GTX-M2D15D5 GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) 1536MB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card (x2) $1,049.98

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127542 (x2)

CD/DVD Drive: LITE-ON CD/DVD Burner - Bulk Black SATA Model iHAS124-04 - OEM $19.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106289

Been saving for a while, plus I'm selling two of my old LCD monitors as well as my old system for about $500. By January, I will be ready to take the plunge.

I want a rig that is going to last for quite some time, thus why I'm spending a lot up front.

Any comments appreciated!
 
Last edited:
Spending a lot of money up front is foolish considering the constantly evolving technology cycle. There's a good chance that you'll want to replace (at the very least) the video card at least once during your system's lifespan. It's better to have a good base of the motherboard, processor, and memory in place -- you don't have to grab "the best of the best" in those areas -- so you could upgrade the rest as needed.

But you should definitely wait for Sandy Bridge to arrive before you finalize your decision on any particular parts. For one thing, you don't need a Core i7 processor or an Intel X58 motherboard for gaming (though the possibility of SLI somewhat justifies your choices). And the initial "previews" on Sandy Bridge indicate that the platform will outperform the current Intel Core i5/P55 platform in various areas. Additionally, you don't need 12GB of RAM for gaming -- hell, even 6GB is overkill for most games -- and you definitely don't need DDR3 2000 RAM if you don't plan on any overclocking.

If you want the best performance possible, sell your hard drives and go with an SSD and a new HDD based on a 500GB (or faster) drive platter. (One example: the Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB HDD.) While Arctic Silver isn't bad, you should choose some thermal compound that doesn't require any curing time, like the Arctic Cooling MX-2/MX-3.

But before I get ahead of myself, revisit this thread after the second week of January. By then, we should have enough reviews on Sandy Bridge to determine whether that should be the path that you take.
 
Honestly you are leaving out one of the best speed boosts of all. An SSD drive will make your system feel significantly faster than ANY regular HDD can deliver. It won't help in FPS on games, but it will boost your load times. So whatever you do I would put part of your budget towards an SSD drive. You won't regret it.
 
Siryak said:
Honestly you are leaving out one of the best speed boosts of all. An SSD drive will make your system feel significantly faster than ANY regular HDD can deliver. It won't help in FPS on games, but it will boost your load times. So whatever you do I would put part of your budget towards an SSD drive. You won't regret it.
Click to expand...

They are just so dang expensive! And I heard that around Summer 2011 they will be dropping in price.

I have been told here on the forums that an SSD will greatly help with WoW, which is one of my main games. Problem is, to get a drive big enough for Windows 7 + WoW, I'm going to spend quite a bit of money for a drive large enough. Part of me wants to wait for the price drops...

But, you're right, I'm sure I would see a big boost....
 
I concur with Siryak and tiraides 100%: The build is not a good choice for the money at all and has a few deficiencies: the lack of a SSD at that high of a budget and the improper case. As much I love the P18x series and despite the fact that I own one, I still cannot recommen the P183 case for GTX 580 SLI considering that there's a significantly better cooling but still relatively quiet case out there for only $5 more than the P183:
$160 - Silverstone RV02B-W ATX case

My reasons for recommending the RV02:
http://hardocp.com/article/2010/09/30/my_quiet_galaxy_geforce_gtx_480_sli_build/
http://www.silentpcreview.com/Silverstone_Raven_Two

Also, thermal paste wise, ditch the AS5 as these two other thermal pastes do not have that 200 hour curing time or any curing time in fact but provides the same cooling performance:
$10 - Arctic Cooling MX-2 Thermal Compound
$10 - Noctua NT-H1 Thermal Compound

Now the big issue is really the overspending on the CPU, mobo, and RAM that totals up to $900 for those parts alone. Especially considering that Sandy Bridge CPUs will be out soon enough and the fact that Intel will not be doing a price drop on their current CPU lineup.

And don't complain about SSDs being expensive considering that you're willing to foolishly overspend on parts that won't provide anywhere near the performance increase that a SSD will provide.
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
Yeah you really need to go ssd or you're going to be creating a huge bottleneck for your experience
 
Danny Bui said:
I concur with Siryak and tiraides 100%: The build is not a good choice for the money at all and has a few deficiencies: the lack of a SSD at that high of a budget and the improper case. As much I love the P18x series and despite the fact that I own one, I still cannot recommen the P183 case for GTX 580 SLI considering that there's a significantly better cooling but still relatively quiet case out there for only $5 more than the P183:
$160 - Silverstone RV02B-W ATX case

My reasons for recommending the RV02:
http://hardocp.com/article/2010/09/30/my_quiet_galaxy_geforce_gtx_480_sli_build/
http://www.silentpcreview.com/Silverstone_Raven_Two

Also, thermal paste wise, ditch the AS5 as these two other thermal pastes do not have that 200 hour curing time or any curing time in fact but provides the same cooling performance:
$10 - Arctic Cooling MX-2 Thermal Compound
$10 - Noctua NT-H1 Thermal Compound

Now the big issue is really the overspending on the CPU, mobo, and RAM that totals up to $900 for those parts alone. Especially considering that Sandy Bridge CPUs will be out soon enough and the fact that Intel will not be doing a price drop on their current CPU lineup.

And don't complain about SSDs being expensive considering that you're willing to foolishly overspend on parts that won't provide anywhere near the performance increase that a SSD will provide.
Click to expand...

That's a pretty nice looking case. I really like Antec's layout though, being that I'm familiar with them, and I really like their overall build quality. Will the P183, or even the P193 for that matter, be terrible options for an SLI build?
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
I3eyond said:
That's a pretty nice looking case. I really like Antec's layout though, being that I'm familiar with them, and I really like their overall build quality. Will the P183, or even the P193 for that matter, be terrible options for an SLI build?
Click to expand...

Terrible options for a high-end SLI rig like yours.
 
Seconding what others have suggested.

Not having a SSD and using Antec P193/P183 would be inappropriate for this build/budget. If you want a more traditional layout consider the Haf 932 or the Lian Li PC-B25F. They'll have superior cooling, more room, and equivalent if not better build quality.
 
Last edited:
Again, you don't need 12GB of RAM; just stick with a 6GB tri-channel kit.
 
Is a 850 PSU even going to power his system with TWO 580s?

Edit: I also recommend a SSD even if its just for the boot.
 
No go with the psu you have, corsair 600T is a good case and look for an SSD
if you need to skimp on anything right now then ditch one card for now or down the ram to 6GB.
 
I3eyond said:
I have been told here on the forums that an SSD will greatly help with WoW, which is one of my main games. Problem is, to get a drive big enough for Windows 7 + WoW, I'm going to spend quite a bit of money for a drive large enough. Part of me wants to wait for the price drops...
Click to expand...

I have windows 7 and WoW installed on a 40 GB intel SSD (3.7 GB free).

You can pickup a decent 64 GB SSD for about 1 benjamin. Don't skimp out here. get an SSD.
 
canna said:
I have windows 7 and WoW installed on a 40 GB intel SSD (3.7 GB free).

You can pickup a decent 64 GB SSD for about 1 benjamin. Don't skimp out here. get an SSD.
Click to expand...

Cata(clysm)* included?
 
Last edited:
If the SSD doesn't have one, the motherboard packaging should have a few available.

Again, hold off on this build (and this thread) until after the Sandy Bridge parts arrive.
 
Heebs said:
Is a 850 PSU even going to power his system with TWO 580s?

Edit: I also recommend a SSD even if its just for the boot.
Click to expand...

From the reviews I have seen the entire system power usage with 580SLI is aroung 700W, so a good quality 850W PSU should have no problem powering the system.
Then again extra headroom can't hurt, won't deny that. Just giving options.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top