Sugestions to improvment of Build?

[Ookami]

hey, I am quite new to all this pc building and stuff but I feel quite confident in myself (have always been a computer geek and I am a philomath) i have seen and bin part of the building of a cuple of comuters and i have also read some opp on it

 

anyway on to topic, I am intending to build myself a new desktop computer and I want some advice. so far the build I have sett up is as follows:

 

PSU:---------------Corsair AX 850W

Motherboard:----ASUS P8Z68-V PRO, Socket-1155

CPU:---------------Intel I7 2600K

GPU:---------------EVGA GeForce GTX 570 1280 MB second card will be bought later for SLI

RAM:---------------Kingston DDR3 HyperX PnP 1866MHz 8GB DDR3, CL11-11-11-30

Storage:-----------Corsair SSD Force Series 3, 120GB OS Disc SATA 3 Support

-----------------------Western Digital Caviar® Green 2TB Storage Disk SATA 3 Support, 64MB cache

Optical drive: ---LiteOn IHOS104-37

Cabinet:-----------NZXT Phantom

 

total pricetag, 2685 USD (don't let this price get to you, I don't live in the US so the prices really don't match, most components are more expensive here)

 

first thing I want to know is what you guys think about the build as of above? good? bad? waste? any components that absolutely should be changed?

it will mostly be used for gaming but also for some 3D rendering

 

next is that I am uncertain of the motherboard, I want a good motherboard with good functionality, space and connections,

I feel the DP67BG has this (from one of OCC's reviews) although I know Intel isn't known for there good motherboards , but is there any better motherboards out

there which have the same types/amount of connections, and that is also easy to "manipulate" (OC and so on) of coarse additional features are a plus most of the time

 

Lastly its the cabinet I am slightly uncertain about,the main reasons I choose it is because of the integrated fan control, size and the look, but does any one

know how its airflow is, is it a good cabinet or is there any that are that much better?

 

 

Thank you in advance guys/gals for any help you may offer

 

 

EDIT: updated the build posted here to its final state (as purchased Also updated price tag)

 

Shin Ookami

Edited October 31, 2011 by Ookami

[Black64]

That mobo is great. I don't think you will have any issues with it.

 

Are you planning on going SLI right away or later on?

 

I know that the airflow in that case is excellent from reading reviews.

 

Only suggestion about the build would be you could save money on the build by getting G-Skill 1600 ram but Corsair does make the best ram out now. Other then that great build!

[cery25]

I can only tell you this:

1- you need to buy dual channel memory not three channel ( three channel only for mobos with socket 1136) sow loock for 8 or 16 gb kits

2- change that VelociRaptor with a good ssd

[Ookami]

thank you, Black6464 and cery25

 

@ Black6464

about the sli I am uncertain (atm I only have room for 1 screen) its mostly going to depend on my economy if I go sli right away

or after a while, but I do have the intention of sli yes,

 

also thank you for clarifying the cabinet question for me

 

@ cery25

the reason I run with the velociraptor is mostly due to the price I get 2.5 velo drives for the same price as 1 ssd of about the same size,

and last time I checked the SSD's loses space when deleting /overwriting content causing them to after some time being only "readable"

drives not "writeable"

 

also thank you for telling me about the RAM

 

- - - - - - -

 

although I am still uncertain about the motherboard, if you were to suggest a motherboard for a "power-user" with the components specified which would it be?

 

 

again thank you for the help so far and in the future

 

Shin Ookami

Edited October 17, 2011 by Ookami

[paulktreg]

@ cery25

the reason I run with the velociraptor is mostly due to the price I get 2.5 velo drives for the same price as 1 ssd of about the same size,

and last time I checked the SSD's loses space when deleting /overwriting content causing them to after some time being only "readable"

drives not "writeable"

 

I don't know were you got this from but it's definately not the case because they behave like normal HDD's (although probably best supported by Windows 7).

 

A decent brand 120GB SSD for the OS (and a few favourite programs) with a larger 1 or 2TB HDD for storage is the way to go in my opinion.

 

There are many great motherboard alternatives like the ASRock Z68 Extreme4, Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3H and Asus P8Z68-V Pro for example.

[wevsspot]

Ook - what country do you actually live in? That would help us make recommendations that might actually be available where you live.

 

While the Intel board you picked out is decent - nothing to really complain about - I wouldn't call it an enthusiast class board. Look for names like Asus, Gigabyte, MSI or ASRock. The 2600K is a great processor, especially if you need/want Hyperthreading. If not you could save some coin by going with a 2500K instead.

 

I'm a huge fan of most Corsair stuff - save their memory because often it is overpriced compared to the competition. Accordingly, I'd be looking at G.Skill (cost savings) or Mushkin/Patriot. And as pointed out by Cery - you need to be looking at 4, 8 or 16Gb memory kits. The 1155 socket only supports dual channel memory. For me 4Gb isn't enough unless you're planning on running a 32bit OS - which I think is a mistake in this day and age. Foot the bill for Win7 64 bit and go for 8Gb of memory. That should be a sweet spot.

 

I'd also question whether you really need DDR3 2000 speed memory. DDR3 1600Mhz is more than enough unless you want a lot of o/c headroom or the flexibility to really play with the primary memory timings at various memory speeds.

 

A decent brand 120GB SSD for the OS (and a few favourite programs) with a larger 1 or 2TB HDD for storage is the way to go in my opinion.

 

^^^^^^^ +1

This is similar to what I've done (except I've got a 128Gb SSD). I've got my OS on the SSD, all apps and games on a RAID0 array built from twin WD 640Gb Black drives short stroked down to 500Gb. Twin WD 1Tb Black drives for backup and storage.

[medbor]

I can only tell you this:

1- you need to buy dual channel memory not three channel ( three channel only for mobos with socket 1136) sow loock for 8 or 16 gb kits

2- change that VelociRaptor with a good ssd

1: not true, but it will not be optimal. 2 sticks will be in dual channel config and the last only single.

 

@op: Buy ram in pairs for socket 1155

 

2: definitely yes!

 

3: Get a motherboard with chipset z68 and 2 or 3 PCIe x16 slots

 

4: When going with 2 cards AMDs crossfire scales better, so even two 6950 will get faster at high resolutions than two gtx570 (three card setups have even more gains with amd and less power consumption than two gtx570tomshardware(also check for the [H]ard review))

[wevsspot]

Some weight on the video card decision should be placed on whether the OP will go multi-gpu right off the bat, or if he is going to wait six or more months before he pulls the trigger on SLi or Crossfire. For a single card the GTX570 is a clearly superior performing card when compared to a single HD6950. Whit that being said, you won't get any argument out of me that once you go above 1920x1200 resolutions, and start cranking up the AA - that a pair of HD6950s would be a better solution than a pair of GTX570s. The 6950s definitely scale better in multi-gpu setups at higher resolutions and higher AA settings - and then there is the cost savings to consider by going the AMD route.

[Ookami]

Ok.

 

@ paulktreg:

thank you for telling me about the SSD information , and thank you a lot for recommending the other Motherboard's and adding links to them.

 

@wevsspot:

you was asking me what country I live in, I live in Norway, we do have most of the components that exist in the rest of the world the only difference is the pricetag.

and of course I will be going 64bit win7, although I also intend to try Linux, see if I find a liking to it

 

about the memory speed I chose ddr3-2000 to be able to play with the primary memory timings if I wanted and to have some o/c headroom, but thank you for bringing

it to my attention (I think I will down scale it a notch). Also thank you for telling me in a bit more detail about the difference in performances between sli and Xfire and as

I stated in my previous post the choice about single or multiple GPU is totally dependent on economy, but if it do have the economy for it I will know now that I should

go for 2 AMD cards and not double Nvidia

 

and lastly

@ medbor:

regarding the SSD, I know that in performance it is better but I have the price to think about (a little at least) and the cheapest 60GB SSD on the market I can find here in

Norway costs almost the same as the 300GB VelociRaptor, this is what pulls me towards the Velo HDD rather than the SSD

 

and thank you for opening the SLI, Xfire scaling difference "discussion"

 

- - - - - - - -

 

now I will add an updated list of the components as it now stands, due to your help.

 

PSU:----------------Corsair AX 850W

Motherboard:----Asus P8Z68-V PRO

CPU:---------------Intel I7 2600K

GPU:---------------EVGA GeForce GTX 570 1280 MB / Asus Radeon HD 6950 DCII (if Multi GPU)

RAM:---------------Kingston HyperX PnP DDR3-1866MHz (16 GB, 4 modules)

Storage:-----------Western Digital VelociRaptor 300 GB

-----------------------Western Digital AV-GP 2TB SATA, 32 MB cache

Optical drive: ---LiteOn IHOS104-37

Cabinet:-----------NZXT Phantom

 

 

 

if there is anything anything you feel could be upgraded without a huge increase in price don't hesitate to reply

 

Shin Ookami

[wevsspot]

I like it

[Ookami]

thanks ill get my pay in 7 days so I hope its enough

 

and i want it to be a really good computer that I wont have to change in the next 3 years but that I can oppgrade instead

[wevsspot]

Your new computer is future proof for three years easy!

 

And you still have a couple upgrade paths if you get bored down the road. Adding an SSD later on is always an option. And of course if you start with a single gpu now, you can always add another later. Even if you opt for a single GTX570 now, they aren't slouches in SLi regardless of what TomsHardware or anyone else says. Remember, at the resolutions and frame rates they are talking about it's all pretty academic.