9 replies to this topic

[Penti]

Hi guys,

 

I'm out to build yet another gaming PC to replace my 6 year old one.

 

CPU   i7 3820 lga2011

Motherboard   ASUS Rampage IV Extreme

Chasis   Thermaltake TT Level 10 GT

RAM   G.Skill Trident X Dual 2 x 8GB DDR3 2400 CL10

PSU   Corsair AX1200i 80Plus Platinum Digital

GPU   Asus GTX 680 DirectCU II 4gb/256bit ddr5  x  2

CPU Cooling   Corsair H100i Hydro Series CPU Cooler

Fan Controller   NZXT Sentry LX bay

SSD   OCZ Vertex 4 256GB

HDD   Seagate 2TB 64MB SATA

 

Just got some concern about compatability and bottlenecks:

 

1. Is the Rampage IV E too much of a motherboard for a 3820 CPU? MB nearly costs twice as much as my CPU.

2. RIVE with the 2400 RAM needs to be overclocked. RAM in my current rig also needs to be overclocked, but it also OCs the CPU. Anyone have issues with this? Had to change to a lower freq RAM for some stability.

I could go with a Corsair Dominator Platinum 2x8gb 1866 CL9 ( CMD16GX3M2A1866C9 ) instead and go with Corsair for most components.

3. Level 10 GT is a sexy case, with good airflow, but is it not enough in this build? Also, anyone know if the H100i will fit with this case? How about in a push/pull configuration?

 

Thanks!

Edited by Penti, 14 February 2013 - 12:49 AM.

[El_Capitan]

No need for the RIVE unless you're going to try for the highest possible overclock and custom watercooling imo.

 

Using 4x4GB of the Samsung Extreme Low Voltage, I could overclock them to 2400MHz. However, once I put 4 more sticks in there, couldn't do it at those frequencies any longer. Speed and timings really don't matter much, really. Go with whatever's cheapest.

 

I'm not familiar with the Level 10 GT, I'm sure someone else could help you out there.

 

Really no need to get expensive RAM or that 1200W PSU. You could save quite a bit toning things down and go with a 550W PSU if you're sticking with one card, or a 750W PSU if you're thinking about getting a 2nd GTX 680.

[ComputerEd]

 

1. Is the Rampage IV E too much of a motherboard for a 3820 CPU? MB nearly costs twice as much as my CPU.

2. RIVE with the 2400 RAM needs to be overclocked. RAM in my current rig also needs to be overclocked, but it also OCs the CPU. Anyone have issues with this? Had to change to a lower freq RAM for some stability.

I could go with a Corsair Dominator Platinum 2x8gb 1866 CL9 ( CMD16GX3M2A1866C9 ) instead and go with Corsair for most components.

3. Level 10 GT is a sexy case, with good airflow, but is it not enough in this build? Also, anyone know if the H100i will fit with this case? How about in a push/pull configuration?

 

Thanks!

The Rampage is massive overkill, Asus and Gigabyte both have very solid X79 motherboards for about half the price of the Rampage, I would go with one of them. As for the RAM I would settle into a nice 1600 set and be happy, that is what I have on my 3820 system and it works great.

 

The Level 10 GT is awesome for this build, it is what I am running my system in right now. There is plenty of room if you remove the top fan for an H100 to go in nicely.

 

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

 

This is my current system setup, so this should give you some idea of how it will fit.

[wevsspot]

Frankly, I'd be hard pressed to choose the X79 platform for a rig intended primarily for gaming.  Do you have some real need for quad channel memory support or six core Intel processors in the future?  Please understand that I'm not criticizing your hardware choices.  Everything you've picked is top end stuff - but to me it seems like a huge overkill for even an ultimate gaming rig.  With that in mind I'll share with you some parts I've been thinking about;

 

Motherboard LGA 1155 Z77

Gigabyte G1 Sniper 3

 

Processor

Intel i7 3770K

 

Memory

G.Skill Sniper Series DDR3 1866Mhz 9-10-9-28 (2 x 8Gb)

 

SSD

OCZ Vector Series 256Gb

 

Video

XFX Double D / HD 7970 Black Edition (x2 Crossfire)

 

Power Supply

PC Power & Cooling Silencer MK II 950W

[ComputerEd]

Wev you are dead on but you did not go far enough. Dropping the Hyper threading on the i7 and I have not seen a game that suffered any performance hit that effected playability at all. As for the dual cards, unless you plan to push a multi-monitor display there is just no need. With a 1080 display anything past a 7870 or a 660Ti is purely for bragging rights and makes no real difference in the game experience. Moving up to 2560x1404 my own experience has shown that the 7970 and GTX 670 or 680 give amazing performance.

[wevsspot]

Agree with all your points.  I'm just a whore for multi-gpu setups      Even though I'm not much into bragging rights any more.  I just figured since he was originally talking about dual 680s, that the 7970s might make more sense if for no other reason than a bit better pricing.

 

And the multi-gpu arrangement was (is) a prime consideration when I picked the Sniper board with the PLX chipset.  Ultimately though, if the OP wanted to go with a single card then another board like the Gigabyte UD3, UD4 or UD5 would do the job too.

[Penti]

I might have forgotten to indicate that I already have three (3) 1080p 3D monitors that barely runs on my current set-up, thus this set-up. Running 3 in 3D is like running 6 1080p monitors (I assume) coz each monitor needs to output 2 different pictures simultaneously for the 3D effect, thus the SLI. and space for tri/quad-SLI..

 

And I'm looking to future-proof this build a bit, maybe add/replace the following:

 

1. i7 3930k in the future, or whatever new CPU comes out

2. Adding another one or two GTX 680s when the current SLI doesn't hold up.

 

The choice for the RIVE against other X79 motherboards is that other X79 are only cheaper by 20-25%, so I thought why not just jump the gun..

 

As for the RAM, might just change to a 1600 or 1866 so I don't have problems if I don't OC..

 

Any more inputs whould be helpful.

[vandreadstriker]

I won't really recommend anyone to get an X79 system for gaming. Massive overkill really.

 

IMO for a gaming system, right now you have two good (wise) option: IvyBridge or wait for Haswell.

It's the only thing you'd need for a gaming system, really. As far as 'future proofing' is concerned, my old Phenom II X3 720 at stock can still do everything I need without problems after 4 years. (Occasional rendering, Video ripping, gaming, photoshop, office, etc.) Today, you can get a Z77 system which is 'leaps and bound' ahead of an AM3 system. I dare say you'll likely "Just want to replace cause I can" a Z77 system before its actually made obsolete. (Also, based on leaked info, the only real benefit you'd get from Haswell is lower power consumptions.)

Your main concern should be on the GPU side of things, not your CPU IMHO. I'm not sure if you'd need more than 2x680s or 7970s but I'd take the G.1 Sniper board like wevspot said, just in case you need more PCI-E lanes.

 

Also, I doubt you'd get to put those RAMs to good use. Anything higher than 1600 only provides negligible performance boost in real performance IMO, especially on a Gaming system.

 

[Penti]

Well, I'm in the point in life that I only get to buy a PC every 6 years with barely any upgrading other than adding extra fans, RAM, accessories, that I wanted to go all out on this one since it fits the current budget.

 

Might go lower with the RAM, or use my old 1600 and buy another pair later for a total of 16GB. I checked out the Sniper3 and found that the difference is merely $80, and since I'm spending close to $400 on the board, it doesn't seem that bad to shell out a couple more bucks (plus, from past experience, I'm more comfortable with ASUS than Gigabyte)..

[ComputerEd]

You might be surprised how easy that is to do today. Doug, my shows co-host is still using the original Phenom II 940 for the AM2+ platform with 4 gigs of DDR2 RAM. With this system he games with such titles as Skyrim, Borderlands 2, Witcher 2 and many others and only recently upgrade his video card from his 5830 to a GTX 600. That processor BTW for those that do not recall released at the end of 2008.  He has not overclocked it or tweaked it in any way and still happily games on it despite the fact we have all the parts for him to upgrade to an i5 sitting on the bench.

 

Now do not get me wrong the i7 and especially the Extreme models are awesome chips but the simple truth is there is no need for them in the consumer market. Part of the proof of that can be seen from Intel itself with it's releases. Notice with the Sandybridge Intel released a couple of i7 models and yet with Ivybridge only 1. Even in the Extreme chips Intel has ramped back hard and my sources says that there is no plans currently for an Ivybridge refresh beyond what has already been done.

 

These are high end muscle chips that work great for the specifics work environments were their horsepower can be harnessed but in the real world those scenarios are few and far between. I have a 3820 sitting next to me and I am working on it right now. For some testing I was doing I turned off the Hyperthreading and then forgot about it, for about a WEEK. During that time I gamed as I had before and never once notice the difference. In fact the way I found the difference was when I went to make a BIOS change for a different test and walked through all the settings. At no point in all my gaming did I ever see a difference.

 

I understand your desire to get a good lead on the tech so you can let it set, I really do. However getting a lead on the tech and throwing money into something with little return are two different things. Personally I would get an i5, you do not even need the K model, with a good motherboard and 8 gigs of RAM. Used the money saved for a nice SSD.