Author Topic: Have Build, Need Comment  (Read 979 times)

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Offline (TLL)martinroshak

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Have Build, Need Comment
« on: May 24, 2011, 06:42:33 AM »
Howdy guys!

So, for a looooong time I've wanted to build a brand spankin' new machine myself, and up until now it hasn't really been an option.  But, in a few months time I get my tax return which will be quite sizeable, and I'm planning on treating myself to a new build.

I already have a case (Lancool PC-K62), PSU (Corsair HX-650), optical drive (Samsung Blu-Ray Combo) and will be using a Momentus XT that I already own for the hard drive.  So, essentially I just need Mobo, RAM, CPU and GPU.  I will probaby do it in stages, and start with the Mobo/RAM/CPU and add the GPU later, but here's what I have so far (links have been supplied to the store I'm using, just in case you know a juicy alternative).

Mobo: Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3R-B3 Motherboard (http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=138_711_1183&products_id=17327)
CPU: Intel Core i5 2500K (http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=16531)
RAM: Corsair Vengeance CMZ4GX3M2A2000C10 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 (http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=186_218_1125&products_id=17100)
GPU: Gainward GeForce GTX 570 1280MB Dual Fan: http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=16990

What you guys think?

I WILL be getting into overclocking, and as such have planned to get a Corsair H60 Cooler at some point down the road.  Is the motherboard I've got going to give me decent clocks?  Also, as the RAM is rated at 2000mhz, the chances are I will be overclocking that as well.  Didn't think I would need more than four gb and it's priced nicely for what it is. 

Will eventually do SLI for surround screens (120hz), so will upgrade the PSU in the future as well.  Would a Corsair AX-850 be enough for SLI'd 570s and overclocking?  Or better to go with a 1000W?

For the CPU/RAM/Mobo combo I'm looking to spend somewhere between 500-600 AUD (all pricings are on the site links), but obviously, the cheaper the better (provided it still does what I want).

Any input would be greatly appreciated, super excited for this!

Laptop | M11x R1 | C2D U7300 @ 1.6ghz | 4gb DDR3 | GT 335M 1gb | Seagate Momentus XT 500gb Hybrid | Razer Orochi | Razer Kabuto

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Offline GB-72AT Talon

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Re: Have Build, Need Comment
« Reply #1 on: May 24, 2011, 06:45:40 AM »
i think your dollars will go much further with an AMD video card or a pair in Crossfire.....and the multi monitor support on those is much better bang for the buck than SLI

i always run single nvidia cards so im not some AMD fanboy....but i was going to run multiple monitors today, i would be buying AMD cards not Nvidia



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Offline (TLL)martinroshak

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Re: Have Build, Need Comment
« Reply #2 on: May 24, 2011, 07:35:11 AM »
I do agree with you Talon!  Unfortunately the issue for me is that 120hz support with the AMD cards is atrocious, and I own two 120hz screens.  For some reason the 5000 series has two dual link dvi ports, but the 6000 doesn't, which is a deal breaker for me (want to utilise the tech I already have and all).  570 seems most comparable to the HD 6970, and it costs a little less (if using the Gainward ones) with a little less performance, although the 2gb would have been handy for multi-screens.

Cheers for the input!
Laptop | M11x R1 | C2D U7300 @ 1.6ghz | 4gb DDR3 | GT 335M 1gb | Seagate Momentus XT 500gb Hybrid | Razer Orochi | Razer Kabuto

Desktop | Lancool Dragonlord PC-K62 | Corsair HX-650 | C2D E7400 @ 2.8ghz | 4gb DDR2 RAM | 500gb Seagate 7,200rpm | XFX HD 5770 1gb | 2x Alienware OptX 23" 3D HD Monitor | Logitech X-540 Speakers | Alienware TactX Mouse | Alienware TactX Keyboard

Offline Ghogiel

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Re: Have Build, Need Comment
« Reply #3 on: May 24, 2011, 09:37:04 AM »
You can always add ram . I immediately thought similarly, redirect that extra 70$ it would cost for 4 more gb into other hardware. That avenue of adding extra ram will be open for a long time yet, and for a few months 4gb in there will certainly be tolerable. I have 4GB atm and I am doing high poly 3d modelling with millions of polygons... and slapping around 100mb photoshop files at the same time. though I did get out of mem error once, I wasn't being careful.. and on a 32bit OS.. So that might put you at ease about what can 4gb do. 8Gb is still pretty huge these days. I think most people with8gb plus are wasting it... and should just send me half of it, because I won't.  8)

Solid choices I think, dunno about the mobo.. but it looks good to me, surely a little google research would get you some better ideas of it's overclock potential..http://www.hardwareheaven.com/reviews/1173/pg6/intel-z68-chipset-launch-gigabyte-z68x-ud7-b3-and-asus-p8z68-v-pro-review-test-system-and-methodology.html
scroll through those next few pages. Looks promising...

Offline (TLL)martinroshak

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Re: Have Build, Need Comment
« Reply #4 on: May 24, 2011, 01:21:25 PM »
Thanks for that Ghogiel!  Yeah, I find with my level of multitasking, 4gb is plenty, and there's always room to upgrade!

Thanks for that link, your google fu must be stronger than mine  :P
Laptop | M11x R1 | C2D U7300 @ 1.6ghz | 4gb DDR3 | GT 335M 1gb | Seagate Momentus XT 500gb Hybrid | Razer Orochi | Razer Kabuto

Desktop | Lancool Dragonlord PC-K62 | Corsair HX-650 | C2D E7400 @ 2.8ghz | 4gb DDR2 RAM | 500gb Seagate 7,200rpm | XFX HD 5770 1gb | 2x Alienware OptX 23" 3D HD Monitor | Logitech X-540 Speakers | Alienware TactX Mouse | Alienware TactX Keyboard

Offline Ghogiel

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Re: Have Build, Need Comment
« Reply #5 on: May 24, 2011, 02:09:38 PM »
Well that isn't your exact mobo in that tech review, but it is in the same maker and series... so make of that what you will.

Offline Vanion2

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Re: Have Build, Need Comment
« Reply #6 on: May 24, 2011, 03:27:46 PM »
I do agree with you Talon!  Unfortunately the issue for me is that 120hz support with the AMD cards is atrocious, and I own two 120hz screens.  For some reason the 5000 series has two dual link dvi ports, but the 6000 doesn't, which is a deal breaker for me (want to utilise the tech I already have and all). 
I have the 6950 1Gb and it has two DVI ports so not sure what you are referring to in your earlier statement.  And issues with 120Hz screens?  Is this based on experience or something you read?  (Just curious as I have had no issue to date with mine).

And I 2nd the going for 8Gb RAM especially for MWLL.  More RAM means less OS reliance on hard drive cache means HUGE increase in system performance.  Invest in 2 x 4Gb of RAM now.  This leaves 2 empty RAM slots for later and consumes less power when compared to 4 x 2Gb of RAM.  It made a huge difference on my rig and I only did this recently.

To date I have had the best luck with Asus mother boards though I have had good Gigabyte and MSI (current) boards in the past.

Offline ~SJ~ Xarg Talasko

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Re: Have Build, Need Comment
« Reply #7 on: May 24, 2011, 03:50:44 PM »
He's meaning that instead of 2 DUAL link DVI, the card will have 1 DUAL and 1 SINGLE -link DVI. The difference being the resolutions they can support, iirc.


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Offline sleepysheep

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Re: Have Build, Need Comment
« Reply #8 on: May 24, 2011, 04:22:20 PM »
If your going to use those 120hz screens for some 3d movies or games, then nvidia is 100% the way to go. No questions asked, it's cheaper and easier to set up and get working. Hell I tried the red and blue 3d and all I have to do is press one button and done. It's a bit more time consuming setting up for the better 3d, but just as simple and easy. And when I looked it up a while ago, cheaper too!

If you are going to stick with two screens, you will not need SLI, but if you intend to get another sceen, then obviously SLI is a must.

Now, here comes the iffy part, if you are going to go triple screen, that 470 card is a terrible choice, nowhere near enough Vram, 2gb Vram or more is a MUST per GPU. If you intend to go 3d AND triple screen, then you need two of my cards, GTX 480 3gb, or two GTX 490. Nothing will come close to having the power to run triplescreen with 3d at any decent FPS otherwise or enough Vram to hold all those textures.

So duel screen, two 470 3d or not, will be fine, or single screen gaming it will be fine. Soon as you go triplescreen, the 470 is going to struggle horribly, more from the lack of Vram (Unless you get the 2gb version) than power though. Although the GTX470 2gb should be able to cope well with triplescreen without 3d and give good performance.


Oh and if you think 4gb of Ram is going to be enough when running games on screens like that, expecially when you crank up the settings, your going to be dissapointed. It's not hard to reach 4gb+ Memory usage on my PC playing just one game! And remember it's no good saying, ''oh but its only using 3gb currently'', because the more ram you have the more Win 7 will try to use for itself and applications. And this will speed up everything on your system.
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Offline Gaigebacca

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Re: Have Build, Need Comment
« Reply #9 on: May 24, 2011, 06:01:11 PM »
Also, you are paying a price premium on the Z68 boards, when they really do not perform any better than the P68 boards.  You will not be using the integrated gfx of the 2500k, so save yourself the money and get a good P68 board, the Asus P68 Pro is fantastic, have it myself.  Microcenter has been having sales on 2500k + P68 mobos for right at $300 combined.

Offline (TLL)martinroshak

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Re: Have Build, Need Comment
« Reply #10 on: May 25, 2011, 01:57:17 PM »
Wow, thanks for all the input guys!

He's meaning that instead of 2 DUAL link DVI, the card will have 1 DUAL and 1 SINGLE -link DVI. The difference being the resolutions they can support, iirc.

Spot on!  Need the dual link to support 120hz.

Super helpful information!

Sleepysheep, THANK YOU for all of that!  I thought I would run into problems with the 'low' vram, but you've confirmed it.  Will take a bit longer to do with a bit of extra work, but might as well do it properly.  You raise a valid point in regards to the RAM as well, so I've adjusted it somewhat, new details are now below.

Mobo: Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3R-B3 Motherboard (http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=138_711_1183&products_id=17327)
CPU: Intel Core i5 2500K (http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=16531)
RAM: Corsair Vengeance CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 (http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=186_218_1125&products_id=16437)
GPU: Gainward GeForce GTX 580 3GB Phantom (http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=17016)

Also, how do you get on with cooling for the GTX 580?  I can imagine with two of them it would get rather toasty.  As the Palit ones aren't easy for me to get, and the Gainwards have a huge heatsink, I thought they might do nicely, although that will mean the top card won't have as much clearance as the second would be directly under it with the mobo.  My study is quite cool normally...

Also, you are paying a price premium on the Z68 boards, when they really do not perform any better than the P68 boards.  You will not be using the integrated gfx of the 2500k, so save yourself the money and get a good P68 board, the Asus P68 Pro is fantastic, have it myself.  Microcenter has been having sales on 2500k + P68 mobos for right at $300 combined.

Unfortunately I'm working off Australian prices, and in general it's priced higher.  And the best store we have doesn't do such combo deals.  And, the z68s aren't really all that much more bizarrely enough.  Thanks for the input!
Laptop | M11x R1 | C2D U7300 @ 1.6ghz | 4gb DDR3 | GT 335M 1gb | Seagate Momentus XT 500gb Hybrid | Razer Orochi | Razer Kabuto

Desktop | Lancool Dragonlord PC-K62 | Corsair HX-650 | C2D E7400 @ 2.8ghz | 4gb DDR2 RAM | 500gb Seagate 7,200rpm | XFX HD 5770 1gb | 2x Alienware OptX 23" 3D HD Monitor | Logitech X-540 Speakers | Alienware TactX Mouse | Alienware TactX Keyboard

Offline GB-72AT Talon

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Re: Have Build, Need Comment
« Reply #11 on: May 25, 2011, 02:00:51 PM »
And I 2nd the going for 8Gb RAM especially for MWLL.  More RAM means less OS reliance on hard drive cache means HUGE increase in system performance.  Invest in 2 x 4Gb of RAM now.  This leaves 2 empty RAM slots for later and consumes less power when compared to 4 x 2Gb of RAM.  It made a huge difference on my rig and I only did this recently.

8Gb is wasted on MWLL, just FYI, even in a Windows 7 x64 environment, it uses a whopping 2.5Gb system ram roughly maxed out + 1.3Gb max vram.  MWLL does fine with 4Gb

just FYI.  While i do agree with a single pair of sticks being used as opposed to four



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Offline (TLL)martinroshak

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Re: Have Build, Need Comment
« Reply #12 on: May 25, 2011, 03:25:24 PM »
And I 2nd the going for 8Gb RAM especially for MWLL.  More RAM means less OS reliance on hard drive cache means HUGE increase in system performance.  Invest in 2 x 4Gb of RAM now.  This leaves 2 empty RAM slots for later and consumes less power when compared to 4 x 2Gb of RAM.  It made a huge difference on my rig and I only did this recently.

8Gb is wasted on MWLL, just FYI, even in a Windows 7 x64 environment, it uses a whopping 2.5Gb system ram roughly maxed out + 1.3Gb max vram.  MWLL does fine with 4Gb

just FYI.  While i do agree with a single pair of sticks being used as opposed to four

Duly noted.  Still on the fence about the RAM...  this PC won't be just for games either, so can see use in multi-tasking situations...

Price wise, it's a pity the ati cards don't support 120hz triple screen, otherwise they would have my service with the 6970 CF.

But a GTX 580 is just beastly, but will have to start with one...

Edit: spelling...
« Last Edit: May 25, 2011, 03:32:47 PM by (TLL)martinroshak »
Laptop | M11x R1 | C2D U7300 @ 1.6ghz | 4gb DDR3 | GT 335M 1gb | Seagate Momentus XT 500gb Hybrid | Razer Orochi | Razer Kabuto

Desktop | Lancool Dragonlord PC-K62 | Corsair HX-650 | C2D E7400 @ 2.8ghz | 4gb DDR2 RAM | 500gb Seagate 7,200rpm | XFX HD 5770 1gb | 2x Alienware OptX 23" 3D HD Monitor | Logitech X-540 Speakers | Alienware TactX Mouse | Alienware TactX Keyboard

Offline Vanion2

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Re: Have Build, Need Comment
« Reply #13 on: May 25, 2011, 03:36:01 PM »
And I 2nd the going for 8Gb RAM especially for MWLL.  More RAM means less OS reliance on hard drive cache means HUGE increase in system performance.  Invest in 2 x 4Gb of RAM now.  This leaves 2 empty RAM slots for later and consumes less power when compared to 4 x 2Gb of RAM.  It made a huge difference on my rig and I only did this recently.

8Gb is wasted on MWLL, just FYI, even in a Windows 7 x64 environment, it uses a whopping 2.5Gb system ram roughly maxed out + 1.3Gb max vram.  MWLL does fine with 4Gb

just FYI.  While i do agree with a single pair of sticks being used as opposed to four
True about the MWLL aspect (noting how I contradict my original post) but it does help over all system performance.  When I was running 4 Gb I would start up the task manager each time I wanted to play MWLL and kill a bunch of apps to get smoother performance.  Since I have recently upgraded to 8 Gb I no longer bother and MWLL runs smoother because the over all system runs smoother with W7 x64. 

Over kill on RAM is never a bad thing.  Especially if you do editing of any kind.  It will always be faster than hard drive caching. 

Offline «اك§» Trooper_Thorn

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Re: Have Build, Need Comment
« Reply #14 on: May 25, 2011, 03:37:43 PM »
I have the gigabyte ultra durable 3 motherboard and its da bomb huge copper heatsink and tubing I have I7 processor and 12g expandable to 24g I am using corsair dominator memsticks. check out Cyberpower PC www.Cyberpower.com and you config anyway you wish so you can get an idea of what you want and can afford I have an AZZA full tower steel case with 7 fans stays at a constant 27 to 30 degrees c. Cyberpower also throws in freebies such as the liquid cooling unit for the processor when i purchased. Their prices are reasonable and their warranty is good, 3 years full replacement for parts failure and lifetime support. I am pleased with them. But you can use their configurator to see what your machine would cost and what is the best combo.

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