around $2k budget

[Drmark]

Looking to build or buy a gaming rig to replace my Alienware from 3.5 years ago. Love the Intel I-7's and don't mind buying something already built.

Suggestions?

The 2nd Generation Intel® Core™ i7-3930K looks like fun, but if I go with the 3820 I can upgrade later if I want.
Thinking win 7 64 bit
SSD drive 256 or close SATA3 I have over 20 2tb-4tb drives in the house so don't need any more.
Invidia 660
8-16 gigs ram
case that can hold 4 drives or more.
full size case is fine, size does not matter, would love a window.
I don't really care about O/C'g.
Use my 2 27" monitors

[erocker]

What will you be using the computer for?

[d1nky]

you can buy mine lol ill even give you all boxes for every item

[Aquinus]

Originally Posted by erocker

What will you be using the computer for?

This. We can't give you any useful recommendation until you let us know what the computer is going to be used for.

As far as the platform itself, I have a 3820 and it's perfectly capable, so if you're at all interested in IVB-E down the road (later this year?), I wouldn't invest a ton of money in the CPU and go with the 3820.

For a gamer I would not recommend the 3930k, but I would recommend the 3820 if you had to go with skt2011 and if you can find a good deal on a motherboard. Otherwise you're just wasting money because the platform isn't going to benefit you and you would be better off going with an i5/i7 on skt1155 with some beefier video cards rather than investing more money in the CPU and motherboard with X79 and skt2011.

Unless your goal is to waste money to have something completely unnecessary, then by all means invest in the 3930k. Don't let me stop you.

Edit: You're not going to OC? What are you doing again? Definitely not skt2011 if you're not overclocking. I found it to be the best part of SB-E.

[EarthDog]

For most, that platform is a waste of cash, especially if you go with the 3820 instead of the hex. I hear the upgrade cry for IB-e, but by that time, Haswell will be out and may come close to that performance anyway... so... I dont buy that as a path in the first place.

That said, def. want to know your uses. If its for gaming, that GPU is anemic.

So instead of guessing...........

[Aquinus]

Originally Posted by EarthDog

Haswell will be out and may come close to that performance anyway...

Haswell isn't going to sport much in the way of performance improvements. Everything has been pointing to that. X79 is not a waste despite what you say, being an owner of one I definitely don't feel that my money has been wasted. It gives you a much different feel than a skt1155 rig even more so when you go to overclock it. Very different animal.

Either way, he isn't going to be overclocking so skt2011 shouldn't even be considered imho.

[Fourstaff]

He did say gaming, so I would suggest along the lines of:

3570
GTX680/ 7970Ghz
Samsung 840 Pro

The rest is pretty open, get 1866Mhz 2x4Gb ram

[EarthDog]

I like 4staffs 840 pro choice, or the OCZ Vector for an SSD. I wouldnt go over 1600MHz ram personally as there is really no reason for it unless the application you use actually saturates that bandwidth (i doubt it).

Haswell isn't going to sport much in the way of performance improvements.

Only time will tell. Ive seen the same things and the rumored 10-15% is still double to 3x that of IB over SB...

That platform though, to me is just a silly sauce for those that dont need 6 intel cores. To me, you paid through the nose for a X79 based mobo over Z68/Z77 (about $100 difference), got a SB chip and you paid the same price as a 2600K and still dont have IB-E almost two years after its released and that is the only upgrade to IB-e which, 'everything has been pointing to' similar IPC increases anyway. I have had that platform and got rid of it. No difference for me though I miss benching Vantage and 11 with moar cores! And quad channel memory is a joke. Those that own this platform paid more for that gimmick too.

[Fourstaff]

Originally Posted by EarthDog

Terrible GPU choice for gaming... (the OP). For 1080p I would go GTX670 or 7950 to save a few bucks... 7970 and 680 are overkill for that res.

Only time will tell.

That platform though, to me is just a silly sauce for those that dont need 6 intel cores. To me, you paid through the nose for a X79 based mobo over Z68/Z77 (about $100 difference), and you paid the same price as a 2600K and still dont have IB-E almost two years after its released and that is the only upgrade to IB-e which, 'everything has been pointing to' similar IPC increases anyway. I have had that platform and got rid of it. No difference for me though I miss benching Vantage and 11 with moar cores!

Where did he say he has 1080p monitors

[EarthDog]

Just caught that.. my bad... in that case, I would get a 7970 if he play games across both monitors. Thanks for catching that.

[qubit]

That GTX 660 is pretty weak and will bottleneck your CPU significantly. I say get a GTX 670 or 680.

[Drmark]

Looking to build or buy a gaming rig. Games, more games, rip HD movies, game some more. I normally use one monitor for gaming the other for browsing. I have an Invidia 570 in my rig right now.
This is what I'm using now
Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-975 Extreme 3.33 GHz 8MB Cache
Alienware P2 Chassis: Alienware® P2 Chassis with AlienIce™ 3.0 Video Cooling - Space Black
AlienFX®: Alienware® AlienFX® System Lighting - Plasma Purple
Alienware P2 Chassis Upgrades: Alienware® Approved CPU Liquid Cooling + Acoustic Dampening
Power Supply: Alienware® 1000 Watt Multi-GPU Approved Power Supply
Graphics Processor: Single NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 570
Video Optimizer: AlienAdrenaline v1.0: Video Performance Optimizer - More Info
Memory: 12GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz - 3 x 2048MB
Motherboard: Alienware® Approved Intel® X-58 Motherboard- Socket 1366 Core i7 Ready, Dual Triple Channel DDR3 Memory

[Fourstaff]

Don't see why you would upgrade from a 975, tech has not improved much since if you are only playing games. Come back in a year's time and we will take another look. The only 2 things which I can see worth upgrading is faster ram if your motherboard can support it, and also to GTX680. Also, pick up an SSD. Samsung 840 Pro is a good starting point.

[Drmark]

I got the SATA2 256 SSD with the system, would like USB3, maybe an eSATA port or 2.

[Aquinus]

Originally Posted by Drmark

I got the SATA2 256 SSD with the system, would like USB3, maybe an eSATA port or 2.

I wouldn't call that worth while for the amount of money you're going to need to put in to get at least the same performance. I would figure out what you need what what you would like and be very careful what route you decide to go. The 975 is not slow, so you would be best off investing in an SSD and maybe a new video card, but beyond that it looks perfectly fine.

[tokyoduong]

Originally Posted by Drmark

Looking to build or buy a gaming rig. Games, more games, rip HD movies, game some more. I normally use one monitor for gaming the other for browsing. I have an Invidia 570 in my rig right now.
This is what I'm using now
Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-975 Extreme 3.33 GHz 8MB Cache
Alienware P2 Chassis: Alienware® P2 Chassis with AlienIce™ 3.0 Video Cooling - Space Black
AlienFX®: Alienware® AlienFX® System Lighting - Plasma Purple
Alienware P2 Chassis Upgrades: Alienware® Approved CPU Liquid Cooling + Acoustic Dampening
Power Supply: Alienware® 1000 Watt Multi-GPU Approved Power Supply
Graphics Processor: Single NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 570
Video Optimizer: AlienAdrenaline v1.0: Video Performance Optimizer - More Info
Memory: 12GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz - 3 x 2048MB
Motherboard: Alienware® Approved Intel® X-58 Motherboard- Socket 1366 Core i7 Ready, Dual Triple Channel DDR3 Memory

Ummm...your system is still better than most.

the RAM part didn't make sense. It says 12 GB but 3 X 2GB = 6 GB.

The only thing I would upgrade is RAM to 1866 mhz. Then OC to match RAM speed. 12 GB is more than enough for pretty much anything you do at home unless you are video editing huge files or workstation stuff.

Upgrade the video card to 660ti, 670, 680. If you go with Radeon then 7950, 7970. Honestly, your current 570 will run every game out there.

If you want USB 3 then just get a card and stick it in your pcie slot. I'm surprised your motherboard doesn't have esata port/pins. Check it to make sure. I'm sure there's an adapter out there for these things that you can stick in the drive bays at the front.

SATA2 will hold back the new SSD but I'm sure the SSD you have is still much faster overall than any HDD on the market.

[RCoon]

Come on guys, he wants a new PC, not to be talked out of it
Without OC, 35/3770k is best for gaming, paired with a decent Z77 Mobo with 2 pcie 3.0 slots for your consideration, most of the $140+ boards are safe bets.
16Gb of 1600 mhz ram, of any kind, as ram is cheap these days, no need to limit yourself to 8GB.
I agree with the 840 SSD, they're pretty awesome, and then for gaming, 670/680 or 7950/7970. They're the top end card, and will max out most things in 1080p if thats the res you're using. If multi monitors, you may want to consider the 7970 or 680 with more priority.

[brandonwh64]

Originally Posted by Drmark

Looking to build or buy a gaming rig. Games, more games, rip HD movies, game some more. I normally use one monitor for gaming the other for browsing. I have an Invidia 570 in my rig right now.
This is what I'm using now
Processor: Intel® Core™ i7-975 Extreme 3.33 GHz 8MB Cache
Alienware P2 Chassis: Alienware® P2 Chassis with AlienIce™ 3.0 Video Cooling - Space Black
AlienFX®: Alienware® AlienFX® System Lighting - Plasma Purple
Alienware P2 Chassis Upgrades: Alienware® Approved CPU Liquid Cooling + Acoustic Dampening
Power Supply: Alienware® 1000 Watt Multi-GPU Approved Power Supply
Graphics Processor: Single NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 570
Video Optimizer: AlienAdrenaline v1.0: Video Performance Optimizer - More Info
Memory: 12GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz - 3 x 2048MB
Motherboard: Alienware® Approved Intel® X-58 Motherboard- Socket 1366 Core i7 Ready, Dual Triple Channel DDR3 Memory

I would leave the system as is and just upgrade the video card to a 7970 or 680. If you upgrade then you will most likely be disappointed with the small performance increase for the money you would spend.

[mlee49]

Lol at Invidia.... it's Nvidia brother.


Are you wanting to build your own, or just get suggestions? Cause it sounds like you just want hardware input and then to find it prebuilt.

Your 970 i7 and 570GTX really are still pretty strong. If your upgrading for longevity go socket 2011 and get a 3930k with a 680GTX and a couple 240GB ssds.

The NZXT Phantom, Phantom 820, or Switch 810 are all crowd pleasers. If you want to pay more and get a bit more check out Mountain Mods.

[Drmark]

Any idea when the 760's, 770's might be out? Have they made any other annoucements?

[tokyoduong]

Originally Posted by Drmark

Any idea when the 760's, 770's might be out? Have they made any other annoucements?

Not for a while. Since AMD is not launching anything for a long time, NVIDIA has no incentive to push an aggressive schedule. I have not heard much of anything about supplies for the new generation. You know when they're about to launch when rumors of chip shipments and EE are all over the net.

[cadaveca]

Originally Posted by Drmark

Any idea when the 760's, 770's might be out? Have they made any other annoucements?

I judge VGA releases by TMSC, the company that makes the chips for AMD and NV. TSMC doesn't have any announcements about a new fab, or new process, so I am doubtful that next-generation GPUs will be here for some time.

In the meantime, NVidia is about to launch their latest in the current series, and AMD is rumoured to not care.


As to your PC, as mentioned a new rig will only have minor improvements. If you were happy with the dell, and the warranty, get another Dell. That warranty cannot be beat, period. If you are keeping your old system, this might be the best bet.

To get a complete new PC that will outshine your current PC, is going to take all of your budget, if not more. You'll need new case, new PSU, new DVD drive, new HDD, new everything.

That said, your current VGA is good, but not the best. We have two users on our teamspeak that upgraded to a 670 fro ma 570, and were pretty happy. Both of these users do not overclock, either. So you might want to consider that advice about just getting a new VGA before going with a completely new system. Depending on your available slots, I might consider two....two GTX680's should work with the 100W PSU, if you have the slots available, would cost near $1k, and have a real healthy boost to your gaming graphics.

[Drmark]

I am thinking based on the recommendation here, to just get a 670 and call it a day. I can push my CPU to 4.2 or so and be stable. So might just put it at 3.7?
Thank you for the advice.

[MxPhenom 216]

Honestly I can't think of a reason to upgrade any parts in that system other then maybe upgrading memory to higher speed to like 1600 or 1866, SSDs, and maybe upgrading to a 670/680 or if you want to blow $1000 on a video card, get the new Nvidia Geforce Titan coming out this week or next.

[cadaveca]

Well, IvyBridge might offer a decent gain in gaming performance at stock, but I do question how things will be when overclocked between the two.

I know that from an i7-870 to a SandyBridge CPU was a nice boost for me, and Ivy is a bit faster yet. Not that the i7-975 is a slow CPU, but it's not a 6-core. There might be a 5=15% boost by changing CPU, depending on the app. Moving up to a 3930k would get two more cores and be faster for encoding and such work, for sure, but daily usage isn't going to see that much of a benefit. It depends on what your main focus is. SATA 6 Gb/s performance on X58 wasn't exactly the best, if I remember right. Might have been P55-only thing though.

Maybe waiting for Haswell or IVB-E might be the best bet. Hasn't quite been 3 years since the i7-975 launched.