New gaming computer - need some input!

[Andynor91]

Hey there!

Budget: 2000$ +/- 200$ (keep in mind that I'm living in Hungary and the prices of electronics here are quite high because of high VAT)

As most of the people out there, I'm setting together a computer for BF3 and newer games. I would really appreciate if you guys could tell me if all the components fit together or if I should change something. Hopefully this setup will manage BF3 at high settings with 1680x1050 or 1900x1200 resolution.

So far I've got:
Motherboard: ASUS P8Z68-V Pro*(Intel s1155)
CPU: Intel Core i7-2600K 3.40GHz BOX
CPU Cooler: SCYTHE Ninja 3
GPU: 2x XFX ATI Radeon HD6950 2GB crossfire
PSU: Corsair 850W CMPSU-850TXV2EU SLI (maybe change this?)
RAM: CORSAIR DDR-3 16Gb/1600 KIT Vengeance
HDD: Seagate 2TB Barracuda SATA 3 6Gbps
CASE: Cooler Master CM 690 II Advanced

Other:
DVD-RW SAMSUNG 22x SH-S222*(SATA) (don't need blue ray)
3x SCYTHE Kaze Slip Stream 140mm
1x Case fan 80mm

[TacoTown]

Looks good enough, I might for for a 1000 Watt psu thought, and I would go with the 2700k it's only a few bucks more, enough to justify the extra 100mhz... That is if you're getting it new. What kind of CPU cooling are you gunna use?

[cheesy999]

Originally Posted by Kevinheraiz

Looks good enough, I might for for a 1000 Watt psu thought, and I would go with the 2700k it's only a few bucks more, enough to justify the extra 100mhz... That is if you're getting it new. What kind of CPU cooling are you gunna use?

depends on how things are like where he lives, in the UK there's a £30-35 difference between the two, which isn't worth 100mhz in any situation

[TacoTown]

Originally Posted by cheesy999

depends on how things are like where he lives, in the UK there's a £30-35 difference between the two, which isn't worth 100mhz in any situation

Woah, lol noo that's not even close to worth it. I was just saying if it's like $10 might as well go for it...

[MustangGT2142]

If you are going to use the pc only for gaming, save some money and get i5 2500k. There is very little difference in games between i5 2500k and i7 2600k.

[Shihabyooo]

Cool rig. Wouldn't need that much ram for a pure gaming rig though. Settle for 6GB for RAM. And if you're not in a dire need for disk space, get a 1TB one, and get a 120GB SSD (doesn't have to be a super speedy one) for system and most played games. Or, up those 6950s to a 6970s (or get unlockable 6950s, if you find any).
+1 for the 1000w PSU. Though I think the TX can easily handle the load. Might pose a prob if you plan an upgrade though.
Edit: If you're not planning on doing any CPU overclocking, I suggest you nix the cooler. Unless you live in a desert. In which case it would be better to get a water cooling kit.

[Andynor91]

Originally Posted by Kevinheraiz

Looks good enough, I might for for a 1000 Watt psu thought, and I would go with the 2700k it's only a few bucks more, enough to justify the extra 100mhz... That is if you're getting it new. What kind of CPU cooling are you gunna use?

Was thinking about SCYTHE Ninja 3 as the CPU cooler. I would go for the 2700k, but I live in Hungary and there's unfortunately not that many options here when it comes to electronics There's only 2 real options then when it comes to the power supply. Either the 1200W Gigabyte
Odin Pro GE-D1 MK20A which is priced at 285$, or one called the SuperFlower 1000WSF1000P14HE which is priced at 180$. The one I have listed in my original setup is priced at 150$. What do you think?

Edit: Here's a link to the page with the different SSD's I can choose from; http://www.hardverker.hu/catalog.php...=Alkatr%E9szek
Any specific recommendations? Btw, 10000HUF is about 45$.

[thebluebumblebee]

Originally Posted by Shihabyooo

Cool rig. Wouldn't need that much ram for a pure gaming rig though. Settle for 6GB for RAM.

Would you please explain this? On a dual channel system?

[phanbuey]

The corsair PSU is more than fine... ive run massively OC'ed and overvolted SLI GTX260's on the TX750 for 1.5 years (PSU is now 3 years old) - along with a 4 hard drives, a watercooling system with 6 fans. Thats the PSU I still have in my rig.

There is no way that setup will pull anywhere near 850W, not to mention, that PSU is quality and can put out more than 850W anyways. Plus that is a single rail PSU - way better for stable power delivery. Unless you are gonna go quadfire or tri sli 580s (which is almost never worth it) I would not waste money on a 1000W.

Things I would change if you can find them around:
Get 8GB of 2133Mhz ram - Ram bandwith is good for CFX - get a 2x4GB kit if possible for a move to 16GB later.
Get a 2500K instead of 2600K and spend savings on upgrading to 6970s (preferably with after-market coolers for some OC love).

Otherwise that is a pretty killer system.

[Andynor91]

Originally Posted by phanbuey

The corsair PSU is more than fine... ive run massively OC'ed and overvolted SLI GTX260's on the TX750 for 1.5 years (PSU is now 3 years old) - along with a 4 hard drives, a watercooling system with 6 fans. Thats the PSU I still have in my rig.

There is no way that setup will pull anywhere near 850W, not to mention, that PSU is quality and can put out more than 850W anyways. Plus that is a single rail PSU - way better for stable power delivery. Unless you are gonna go quadfire or tri sli 580s (which is almost never worth it) I would not waste money on a 1000W.

Things I would change if you can find them around:
Get 8GB of 2133Mhz ram - Ram bandwith is good for CFX - get a 2x4GB kit if possible for a move to 16GB later.
Get a 2500K instead of 2600K and spend savings on upgrading to 6970s (preferably with after-market coolers for some OC love).

Otherwise that is a pretty killer system.

So I can OC the system without any problems in regards to the PSU? If so, I guess I'll stick with the 850W PSU then, will save me quite some hassle. Regarding the ram, the only 2133Mhz ram I can find in the shop I'm buying from is Kingston
DDR-3 4Gb /2133 KIT HyperX or CORSAIR DDR-3 4Gb/2133 KIT Dominator GT. These are all 2x2gb's though, so that's no good.

The listing with ram: http://www.hardverker.hu/catalog.php...=Alkatr%E9szek
The listing with SSD: http://www.hardverker.hu/catalog.php...=Alkatr%E9szek

Got any SSD suggestion or other ram suggestion? You're a big help!

[Fishymachine]

6(or 12 actually) GB of RAM is bad for LGA1155, but I do agree, even with today's prices 16 is a bit overkill for gaming

[Andynor91]

Also, is it worth it to invest in a motherboard that's PCIe 3,0 compatible? I want this PC to last me at least a couple of years and having the possibility of upgrading later on when needed.

[theeldest]

On the memory: It's cheap and projected to get not-cheap. I'd stick with 16GBs (hey, I *did* do 16GB).

If this is actually primarily for gaming dropping to the i5-2500k saves $100 to spend on something else. Try to fit an SSD in the system. If that's right at your budget get the Intel 311 20GB SSD and use the Z68 caching. It works pretty well (I'm using it on my system).

If you can add about $100 more to that you can get the Crucial m4 or OCZ Agility/Vertex 3 120GB. The faster drives definitely add that zip and pep that makes a $2k system feel like a beast of a machine.


PCIe 3.0 is nice but it's not really a limiting factor. The main cards that would suffer from the lack of bandwidth would be the dual-gpu cards on the 8x PCIe 2.0 slots.

If you're sticking with single GPU cards then you shouldn't see an impact to performance for the next 3-4 years with single GPU cards in crossfire.

[theeldest]

Originally Posted by Shihabyooo

Settle for 6GB for RAM.

Just to clarify, you recommend 6GB for this dual channel platform and you run 4GB in your tri-channel platform?

[phanbuey]

Originally Posted by Andynor91

So I can OC the system without any problems in regards to the PSU? If so, I guess I'll stick with the 850W PSU then, will save me quite some hassle. Regarding the ram, the only 2133Mhz ram I can find in the shop I'm buying from is Kingston
DDR-3 4Gb /2133 KIT HyperX or CORSAIR DDR-3 4Gb/2133 KIT Dominator GT. These are all 2x2gb's though, so that's no good.

The listing with ram: http://www.hardverker.hu/catalog.php...=Alkatr%E9szek
The listing with SSD: http://www.hardverker.hu/catalog.php...=Alkatr%E9szek

Got any SSD suggestion or other ram suggestion? You're a big help!

Yes, you can go crazy all day long OCing that system with that PSU with no problems... Mine is rated 100W less and I cant even begin to tell you what ive done to it: http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/sh....php?p=1426542 (if you look carefully you can see it there, crying in the corner)

i dont run SSD bc i have too many games (400GB Steam folder) so I unfortunately I am no help here.

As far as ram...
http://www.hardverker.hu/catalog.php?product_id=335841


If you decide to OC, since you have CFX, turning off C-states when you OC will give you a bit of a frame rate boost as well (2-4%).

[theeldest]

Originally Posted by phanbuey

You can go crazy all day long OCing that system with that PSU with no problems... Mine is rated 100W less and I cant even begin to tell you what ive done to it (poor PSU) here is a link for some reference: http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/sh....php?p=1426542 (if you look carefully you can see it there, crying in the corner)

i dont run SSD bc i have too many games (400GB Steam folder) so I unfortunately cannot help here.

As far as ram... Personally, I would go for 2 of these:
http://www.hardverker.hu/catalog.php?product_id=321578 (Better value)
or
http://www.hardverker.hu/catalog.php?product_id=307434 (Better OC-ability)
These are nice, fast sticks for the price, and will give your system a bit more kick than 16GB of slower memory. You can prolly get them to 2000 at 9-10-9-24 timings, prolly at 1N.

If you decide to OC, since you have CFX, turning off C-states when you OC will give you a bit of a frame rate boost as well (2-4%).

There's a trend of people who've had CPU problems when running 1.65v on the memory. Granted, this is really only anecdotal but you can probably find some 1866 memory at 1.5v (or lower) at a pretty darn good price.

[phanbuey]

Originally Posted by theeldest

There's a trend of people who've had CPU problems when running 1.65v on the memory. Granted, this is really only anecdotal but you can probably find some 1866 memory at 1.5v (or lower) at a pretty darn good price.

in that case:
http://www.hardverker.hu/catalog.php?product_id=335841

are the best... 1st post modded. Now that you mention it, i remember i've seen a few threads about it...

those timings will still give some headroom and speed... at 1.4-1.5v those sticks have a good chance of 2000 with cl9 - since they are cl7 1600 at 1.35

[Shihabyooo]

Originally Posted by thebluebumblebee

Would you please explain this? On a dual channel system?

A mistake on my part. I keep forgetting that there are no 3GB RAM sticks >_>

Originally Posted by theeldest

Just to clarify, you recommend 6GB for this dual channel platform and you run 4GB in your tri-channel platform?

Me running only 4gigs is irrelevant. Many reasons lead to that, first of all a single 2GB DDR3 ram that's not even a decent brand costs ~50 USD around here.
Still, I stand corrected, 6GB is a wrong choice. Settle for 4Gigs or up to 8.

[Andynor91]

Originally Posted by theeldest

On the memory: It's cheap and projected to get not-cheap. I'd stick with 16GBs (hey, I *did* do 16GB).

If this is actually primarily for gaming dropping to the i5-2500k saves $100 to spend on something else. Try to fit an SSD in the system. If that's right at your budget get the Intel 311 20GB SSD and use the Z68 caching. It works pretty well (I'm using it on my system).

If you can add about $100 more to that you can get the Crucial m4 or OCZ Agility/Vertex 3 120GB. The faster drives definitely add that zip and pep that makes a $2k system feel like a beast of a machine.


PCIe 3.0 is nice but it's not really a limiting factor. The main cards that would suffer from the lack of bandwidth would be the dual-gpu cards on the 8x PCIe 2.0 slots.

If you're sticking with single GPU cards then you shouldn't see an impact to performance for the next 3-4 years with single GPU cards in crossfire.

I'll skip the PCIe 3.0 then.

They don't have the Agility/Vertex 3 120gb in stock, only the agility/vertex 2. I found some quite cheap 60gb ssd's though, the OCZ 60Gb Vertex 2 or the Corsair 60Gb Force F60; their both nearly identical in price. Any preferences over the two?

Originally Posted by phanbuey

in that case:
http://www.hardverker.hu/catalog.php?product_id=335841

are the best... 1st post modded. Now that you mention it, i remember i've seen a few threads about it...

those timings will still give some headroom and speed... at 1.4-1.5v those sticks have a good chance of 2000 with cl9 - since they are cl7 1600 at 1.35

Says that the one you posted to takes up 4 slots as it's 4x2gb, so that might be sad if I wanna upgrade to 16gb later on. Also, the ones you linked to are a bit more expensive (not noticably at all tho, 10$) so is it really not worth it to invest in the 16gb instead? Any ideas?

[entropy13]

If you're going to buy an SSD might as well get one with SATA III/SATA 6.0 Gbps. Those you've mentioned that you found are SATA II/3.0 Gbps.

Also, why go with 2 GPUs? In most cases one of them is more than enough.

[Andynor91]

Originally Posted by entropy13

If you're going to buy an SSD might as well get one with SATA III/SATA 6.0 Gbps. Those you've mentioned that you found are SATA II/3.0 Gbps.

Also, why go with 2 GPUs? In most cases one of them is more than enough.

Is the OCZ 60GB Vertex 3 sufficient in terms of performance? It's SATA III as far as I can tell. Im going with 2 GPUs since I simply want to run everything at the best graphics with a resolution of 1920x1200. Hopefully 2 of them will do the trick.

Oh, and I'm currently looking to change my HP W2207H 22" monitor for a 24". It will be used for watching tv shows, movies with HD quality and quite a lot of gaming. The base for my W2207 seems way to big as it's about 11,5 inches in length and my desk isn't sufficiently long enough to give me enough comfortable disk space, though it's wide. So if the base of the monitor could be somewhat compact it would benefit me a lot when it comes to my disk space. Budget is about 200$. Any suggestions?

Really nice of you all to help me out here!

Edit: I've come across a series of Asus monitors that looks quite interesting. Only problem is that there's 3 different of them with not that much price difference.
ASUS 23" monitor ML238H
ASUS 23" monitor ML239H
ASUS 24" monitorML249H
If anyone knows, which of these three are the best?

[theeldest]

Originally Posted by Andynor91

I'll skip the PCIe 3.0 then.

They don't have the Agility/Vertex 3 120gb in stock, only the agility/vertex 2. I found some quite cheap 60gb ssd's though, the OCZ 60Gb Vertex 2 or the Corsair 60Gb Force F60; their both nearly identical in price. Any preferences over the two?

If I recall correctly, the Force and Vertex 2 use the same sandforce controller and are very similar drives. Either would be pretty good.

If you're only doing 60GB I think I'd recommend *not* installing the OS on it but just using it for specific applications. It'll really help control how much storage you have available on the SSD. This may be contrary to what most other members here would suggest but I had enough problems with capacity when I installed the OS on my 120GB. Steam takes up quite a bit as do my other games/apps.

Originally Posted by Andynor91

Says that the one you posted to takes up 4 slots as it's 4x2gb, so that might be sad if I wanna upgrade to 16gb later on. Also, the ones you linked to are a bit more expensive (not noticably at all tho, 10$) so is it really not worth it to invest in the 16gb instead? Any ideas?

Definitely do 2x4GB if you stick with only 8GB. (strange that we're saying 'only' with 8GBs. 8GBs is a ton).

I did do 16GB in my current system mostly because it was really cheap to do so. You don't need it and you probably won't have programs that take advantage of it for the next 2-3 years.

But it won't hurt performance and it's easier to get a matched 16GB kit than to try and get two 8GB kits to work together perfectly.


Additionally, speed is more important than timings with memory on SandyBridge. With 4GB modules you're looking at CAS of 9 at 1600MHz or 1866MHz. There is a very small increase in performance to go from 1866MHz to 2133MHz.

The difference between 1866 and 2133 is quite a bit bigger than the difference between CAS7 and CAS9 or 10.

This will be a pretty fantastic kit if you want 16GBs: http://www.hardverker.hu/catalog.php?product_id=340448

Not sure how that currency converts to your budget, though.

[brandonwh64]

Looks like a solid build except too much ram. honestly, 2x2gb would work fine.

[theeldest]

Originally Posted by Andynor91

Is the OCZ 60GB Vertex 3 sufficient in terms of performance? It's SATA III as far as I can tell. Im going with 2 GPUs since I simply want to run everything at the best graphics with a resolution of 1920x1200. Hopefully 2 of them will do the trick.

At 60GBs you're actually better off with the Vertex 2. The Vertex/Agility 3 series uses chips made on a smaller manufacturing process. This means that the SSD can use fewer chips at the same capacity.

This has the unfortunate effect of reducing the number of chips the 60GB drives can simultaneously access giving it reduced performance over the prior generation.

If you go 120GB or more, go current gen. Around 60GB past gen will often out perform.


On this page you can compare the Vertex 3 120GB with the Force F40: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Produ...71.72.73.74.75

The Vertex gives better total sequential throughput but the Force F40 gives better random small file performance on reads. So good level load times on a cheap drive.

http://www.hardverker.hu/catalog.php?product_id=354646

The F60 is a bit bigger/fuller/faster than the F40. So That's a good drive for game installs.

[theeldest]

Originally Posted by brandonwh64

Looks like a solid build except too much ram. honestly, 2x2gb would work fine.

I really don't understand suggestions like this. If you're going to spends lots of money on something why would you suggest the bare minimum? Why not look to the future? And it's cheap right now. Dirt. Cheap.

Literally, I had to buy dirt for plants last week and spent just as much on dirt as on 16GBs of memory.