First Attempt at Building a Gaming rig!

[Terano]

Hello All, I just wrote a giant introduction and paragraph earlier; took me 45 minutes, and i got all the parts and links posted on here and i THOUGHT i hit submit but i hit preview instead and i closed my window thinking i posted it...SO In lue of that, I'll give you the shorter version!

I'm building a gaming rig to play Diablo 3, Skyrim, Battlefield 3, Mass Effect 3, SWTOR as well as any games upcoming in the next 4 years.

I have a budget of $1200-1800 and i'm coming to this forum to see what other Gaming/Tech Enthusiasts have to offer!

 

Here's the build that I'm currently looking at:

 

- Corsair Special Edition White Graphite Series 600T Case

- CORSAIR Professional Series HX850 Power Supply

- Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz CPU

- MSI N580GTX Lightning Xtreme Edition GeForce GTX 580 Video Card

- CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 RAM

- ASUS P8Z68-V PRO LGA MoBo

- Corsair Force Series 3 CSSD-F90GB3-BK 2.5" 90GB SATA III SSD

- Asus VH238H Black 23" Full HD HDMI LED Backlight LCD Monitor w/Speakers Monitor

- Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB HD

- ASUS 24X DVD Burner DVD Burner

 

I have my own Raze Naga Mouse, as well as the Lycossa Keyboard.

Any suggestions would really be appreciated, and i will provide pics and updates when there's any updates!

[Fogel]

Hello All, I just wrote a giant introduction and paragraph earlier; took me 45 minutes, and i got all the parts and links posted on here and i THOUGHT i hit submit but i hit preview instead and i closed my window thinking i posted it...SO In lue of that, I'll give you the shorter version!

I'm building a gaming rig to play Diablo 3, Skyrim, Battlefield 3, Mass Effect 3, SWTOR as well as any games upcoming in the next 4 years.

I have a budget of $1200-1800 and i'm coming to this forum to see what other Gaming/Tech Enthusiasts have to offer!

 

Here's the build that I'm currently looking at:

 

- Corsair Special Edition White Graphite Series 600T Case

- CORSAIR Professional Series HX850 Power Supply

- Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz CPU

- MSI N580GTX Lightning Xtreme Edition GeForce GTX 580 Video Card

- CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 RAM

- ASUS P8Z68-V PRO LGA MoBo

- Corsair Force Series 3 CSSD-F90GB3-BK 2.5" 90GB SATA III SSD

- Asus VH238H Black 23" Full HD HDMI LED Backlight LCD Monitor w/Speakers Monitor

- Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB HD

- ASUS 24X DVD Burner DVD Burner

 

I have my own Raze Naga Mouse, as well as the Lycossa Keyboard.

Any suggestions would really be appreciated, and i will provide pics and updates when there's any updates!

 

Well, do you want a cheaper but still great build or are you going for the expensive part type build? I ask because all those parts you should be extremely happy with but you definitely could scale that back and go bigger in other areas.

 

Love the case, can't fault you there especially since I have the same one. You can get similar gaming performance from a 2500k. The gaming performance from 2600k definitely doesn't justify the extra cost. If you do other stuff, such as Rendering video, AutoCAD, etc.. then the hyperthreading boost will help justify the cost. I would recommend two video cards in SLI/CF instead of going with that $600 video card. Such as two 6950 or 570s. The power supply you have should power a SLI/CF rig no problem ...unless you stick with the 580/6970 route. I would get the Crucial M4 drive instead. WD Caviar Blacks are indeed nice drives but I have absolutely zero regrets so far going with the Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB - they typically go on sale for $50 (like almost every other week). Also 8GB of RAM should be fine for gaming. I render video and game and I haven't seen a need yet to go above what I currently have - 8GB.

[Terano]

Well, do you want a cheaper but still great build or are you going for the expensive part type build? I ask because all those parts you should be extremely happy with but you definitely could scale that back and go bigger in other areas.

 

Love the case, can't fault you there especially since I have the same one. You can get similar gaming performance from a 2500k. The gaming performance from 2600k definitely doesn't justify the extra cost. If you do other stuff, such as Rendering video, AutoCAD, etc.. then the hyperthreading boost will help justify the cost. I would recommend two video cards in SLI/CF instead of going with that $600 video card. Such as two 6950 or 570s. The power supply you have should power a SLI/CF rig no problem ...unless you stick with the 580/6970 route. I would get the Crucial M4 drive instead. WD Caviar Blacks are indeed nice drives but I have absolutely zero regrets so far going with the Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB - they typically go on sale for $50 (like almost every other week). Also 8GB of RAM should be fine for gaming. I render video and game and I haven't seen a need yet to go above what I currently have - 8GB.

 

Actually yes I'd like to go cheaper but still a great build, I'm not rich but i'd still like to be competetive in gaming. So if you have any more suggestions or possibly even post links on the final build that YOU would go for if you were in my position, i'd love you forever, and post pics when it's built in roughly 3 weeks!

 

So you would suggest getting the 2500k over the 2600k based on my needs, and would you recommend 2 6950's? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127575 ? these? and the crucial drive too? I'll swap out for the samsung pinpoint HD as well.

Thanks a bunch so far

[Black64]

I would recommend you stay with the one 580. One card is a lot easier to use then 2. Also I would recommend the 2600K for OCing.

[Fogel]

Well here we can get into:

- Get great performance now with option to upgrade to even better performance spending less money doing so

- Get top of line performance now knowing new architecture is on the horizon

 

You mention BF3. You should note that BF3 will eat two GTX 580s in SLI on HIGH settings. We don't know what ULTRA settings will eat up till tomorrow when the game releases. We know that SLI/CF scale very well in that game. SLI/CF however don't scale so uniformly in every game so you are taking a chance like Black suggests.

 

GPU Horizon:

ATI will be releasing its 7000 series graphics card either at the end of this year or early next. Nvidia will be releasing its new architecture in Q1 next year.

 

CPU Horizon:

Sandy Bridge-E releases this year and Ivy Bridge releases early-mid next year.

 

 

So you can either buy a GPU and CPU that offers great performance till both of these newer technologies are out and upgrade to them once they have settled in, bugs get worked out and performance is out to see if it is worth the cash or not.

 

Or if you prefer to just get great stuff now and not having to worry about upgrading in the near future ...than spending more on quality parts is the better approach. For example, I definitely would not buy that MSI Lightning until I got at least 3 years out of it. The problem is, I just don't see the benefit of the GTX 580 being that much to justify the price difference of what of a GTX 570 costs. At this point, I would rather see you pony up the extra $150 for a GTX 590 as the performance hike is definitely something to be behold. That said, you can get almost 590 performance from two 6970s in CF.

Edited October 24, 2011 by Fogel

[wevsspot]

If this is a "must have now" build the only things I'd change are;

 

Like Fogel - I'd splurge for the Crucial M4 128Gb drive.

 

And I'd get two HD6950 cards for Crossfire, instead of one big honking GTX580.

 

I guess another option would be to stick with a smaller 64Gb SSD and use the new SRT feature on the Z68 chipset and pair that up with a single 1Tb drive for games and apps, then keep another 1Tb drive for storage and backup.

[Stonerboy779]

If this is a "must have now" build the only things I'd change are;

 

Like Fogel - I'd splurge for the Crucial M4 128Gb drive.

 

And I'd get two HD6950 cards for Crossfire, instead of one big honking GTX580.

 

I guess another option would be to stick with a smaller 64Gb SSD and use the new SRT feature on the Z68 chipset and pair that up with a single 1Tb drive for games and apps, then keep another 1Tb drive for storage and backup.

 

Also halve your ram 16 really isn't necessary.

 

I also suggest this mono instead http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130611

Cheaper better features/support also ready for ivy when it comes as well as new gen cards when they come.

[Terano]

Well to be honest I won't be getting this system until november 25th, I'll order everything on november 25th and hopefully get everything by the 29th. Now By that time, will any of the newer stuff come out, i know you guys mentioned the ivy, what's the difference with what's available now? Basically i want a system up and running before christmas, so i'd like to have it all built by the first week of december, maybe the second..

[Stonerboy779]

Well to be honest I won't be getting this system until november 25th, I'll order everything on november 25th and hopefully get everything by the 29th. Now By that time, will any of the newer stuff come out, i know you guys mentioned the ivy, what's the difference with what's available now? Basically i want a system up and running before christmas, so i'd like to have it all built by the first week of december, maybe the second..

Ivy, sb-e and new gfx are all 2012

 

What you should do is keep an eye on marketplace deals here and buy things when they come on sale

[Terano]

Yeah I don't think i'm going to be able to wait until 2012, i'll do what you suggest, so if at all possible and if it's not exactly too much work for you, can you post a link of what you'd go with if you were in my situation? I'd really appreciate it.

[Fogel]

Well don't just do what we suggest - it's good to have an idea on your overall goal and future plans (if any) with the machine you are building. I know it is your first build so keep that in mind. I will give you an idea of my thought process and how it fits my needs, so that you can develop your own and figure out the best way to fit your needs.

 

For example, I went with the 2500k because the gaming speed is pretty much on par with the 2600k. I do render video but I don't think I render enough to justify the cost of the 2600k. Also Ivy Bridge releases next year and some of the IB chips will take advantage of the 1155 platform. So far reports are saying Ivy Bridge will be in the 4GHz range. So I figured I would buy the 2500k since it is a nice solid chip and then possibly upgrade to IB once it is out and I see performance numbers. If I knew I wasn't going to upgrade my PC for the next 5yrs I probably would have just gotten the 2600k.

 

If you are not so comfortable with upgrading the CPU than just go with the 2600k.

 

If you are comfortable with upgrading video cards than this is where I spend more of your time figuring out which strategy you want to take with them. I based my purchase on a single solid performing card that will last me a long time. If needed though I could upgrade to second one down the line, or if the next generation of video cards proves it is more advantageous I could upgrade to that without feeling like I spent too much money (SLI/CF) on what will be last gen tech. That said, there is nothing wrong with last gen as two 460s for example in SLI is still awesome performance. I am more comfortable with a single card solution so that is what I pick for myself, but the compatibility for SLI and CF is increasing greatly to where I don't think I can ignore it any longer.

 

 

If you want a nice compact list, this is how your build is shaping up so far:

 

- 2600k / 2500k

- MSI Z68A-GD65 (Stoner's rec)

- RAM you picked - just 8GB worth

- Crucial M4 SSD

- Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB - when on sale for $50

- Probably either 2x 6950 (if two cards) ...or 1x GTX 570 (if one card)

 

Or if you know you will upgrade to the newer video cards when they release, possibly 2x GTX 460 in SLI.

[Stonerboy779]

Yeah I don't think i'm going to be able to wait until 2012, i'll do what you suggest, so if at all possible and if it's not exactly too much work for you, can you post a link of what you'd go with if you were in my situation? I'd really appreciate it.

What you already have selected

M4 thats been recommended when on sale or look into benefits of Intel srt.

Mobo I linked. See if in the coming weeks any sales ect.

Ram vengence or g. Skill 1600MHz 8gb (not 16) whichever is cheaper/ comes on sale first.

If you can get to a microcenter get a cpu of them next time one comes on sale 2500k or 2600k you can decide if you will need hyperthreading ect

 

And just keep an eye on the marketplace deals section of this forum