BestConfigs: High-End Intel Gaming PC

[burritobob]

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($169.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-L12 37.8 CFM CPU Cooler ($59.98 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme6 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($159.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($93.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: OCZ Vertex 4 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($109.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition 3GB Video Card (CrossFire) ($449.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition 3GB Video Card (CrossFire) ($449.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master HAF X ATX Full Tower Case ($168.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Cooler Master Silent Pro Hybrid 850W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($203.72 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B3ST/BLK/G/AS DVD/CD Writer ($29.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $1946.59
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

 

[boulbox]

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($169.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-L12 37.8 CFM CPU Cooler ($59.98 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme6 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($159.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($93.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: OCZ Vertex 4 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($109.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition 3GB Video Card (CrossFire) ($449.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition 3GB Video Card (CrossFire) ($449.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master HAF X ATX Full Tower Case ($168.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Cooler Master Silent Pro Hybrid 850W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($203.72 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B3ST/BLK/G/AS DVD/CD Writer ($29.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $1946.59
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

Nice build but the stores are limited to amazon and newegg only.

 

[blazorthon]

Blazor's Intelivore
Processor: i5-3570K $214.99 (Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock Extreme4 Z77 $134.99 (Newegg)
RAM: G.Skill RipJawsX 2x4GB DDR3-1600 9-9-9-24 1.5V F3-12800CL9D-8GBSR $38.99 (Newegg)
Graphics Card: SAPPHIRE 100352-2L Radeon HD 7950 $299.99X2=$599.98 (Newegg)
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar blue 1TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB cache WD10EZEX (Newegg)
Solid State Drive: Samsung 840 250GB MZ-7TD250BW $169.99 (Amazon)
Case: Cooler Master HAF XMRC-922XM-KKN1 $113.98 (Amazon)
Power Supply: Kingwin LZP-1000 80+Platinum 1000W $172.49 (Amazon)
CPU Cooler: TUNIQ Tower 120 Extreme $64.99 (Newegg)
VGA Cooling:Arctic Acclero Hybrid 7970 $189.99X2=$379.98 (Newegg)
DVD Burner: Samsung SH-224BB DVD/CD Writer $15.99 (Newegg)

Total: $1991.36 w/o shipping/$1993.35 w/ shipping

The i5-2500K really doesn't have a noticeable advantage over the i5-3570K despite the 3570K's technically slightly lower overclocking potential at stock, so I don't see the point in going for the i5-2500K over the i5-3570K. If someone cares enough to argue over the lower single digit percentage increase in performance, then that someone might as well get an i7-2700K instead of an i5-2500K.

ASRock's Extreme4 Z77 is an exceptionally high bang for your buck board. It's can keep up with most of the more expensive boards just fine and even better, Ivy's lower sensitivity to board quality compared to Sandy (less power needs generally means less usual VRM needs for a given frequency, assuming that you don't get an i5-2570K with crap binning quality which can just as easily happen to an i5-2500K) decreases the advantages of higher end boards.

Most people here already know that going beyond 8GB of RAM isn't going to help a gaming build (going beyond 4GB hardly helps) and that going beyond dual-channel DDR3-1600 9-9-9-24 isn't going to help much for an Ivy Bridge gaming build either since going even to it from single channel DDR3-1333 9-9-9-24 doesn't help Ivy much.

The Radeon 7970 and 7970 GHz Edition don't have a significant advantage over the Radeon 7950 when it comes to overclocking with overvoltage, especially when given the same cooling capability such as the hybrid air/water coolers will do for these two 7950s. Crossfire with Catalyst 12.7 and 12.8 was already great overal, but some of the Catalyst 12.11 betas made significant improvements from there anyway and the micro-stutter-free tool that's been circulating for a while now gives Crossfire a significant edge over SLI when it comes to stutter and variable FPS (that's saying something considering the fact that SLI already has this done to an art form). Two 7950s with excellent overclocks will also generally beat any Nvidia competition with similar pricing except maybe something like three cheap GTX 670s in three-way SLI in situations where three-way SLI scales excellently.

This Western Digital Caviar blue's pricing was low enough for a 1TB hard drive with good reliability and performance. Samsung 840s aren't my favorite SSDs because I think that their NAND endurance is nearing the point of being unacceptably low, but it's not quite past that point IMO and the price for such a reliable and fast non-SandForce SSD is too low to ignore, especially since the next best option is a Samsung 830 256GB that's a $20 more expensive. I'd have preferred the 830, but the budget was a little too tight for it. Another good option for anyone willing to cope with the performance loss is an Agility 4 256GB a little cheaper than the 840 256GB. Reliability isn't too different and honestly, for a gaming build's SSD, the performance difference is probably going to be negligible and the NAND endurance improvement is possibly worth it.

The Cooler Master HAF XM is an excellent case for the job here with a decent price.

Something that many members here seem to be unaware of is that Ivy Bridge doesn't need a cooler with a lot of cooling capacity. Ivy needs a cooler with high thermal conductivity to get its small load of heat away as quickly as reasonably possible. That makes Direct Touch heatpipes or similar technology almost necessary and most high-end air coolers lack that. The Tuniq Tower 120 Extreme may technically be inferior to stuff such as the top Phanteks and Noctua coolers, but for Ivy Bridge, it can still manage lower temps simply because it is not built just for high thermal loads, it's also built for getting low thermal loads as cool as reasonably possible.

I just went for the cheapest decent DVD/CD burner.

 

[CoronaBuzz]

f

 

[bardacuda]

Ok I edited my post for you blaze.

 

[ty0620]

Processor: [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116504&Tpk=3570k]Component Name and Component Price[$215]
Motherboard: [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130660&Tpk=mpower]Component Name and Component Price[$200]
RAM: [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145345]Component Name and Component Price[$41]
Graphics Card: [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127685]Component Name and Component Price[$391] SLI
Graphics Card: [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127685]Component Name and Component Price[$391] SLI
Hard Drive: [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148844]Component Name and Component Price[$160]
SD: [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227801]Component Name and Component Price[85]
Case: [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&AID=10446076&PID=4176827&SID=hzz95adivmhf]Component Name and Component Price[$100]
Power Supply: [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139022&Tpk=corsair%20tx]Component Name and Component Price[$140]
Cooling: [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181016]Component Name and Component Price[$99]
DVD Burner: [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151256]Component Name and Component Price[$16]

Total: $1838

 

[blazorthon]

ty0620, I think that you didn't understand how the URL codes work. The price doesn't go in the [/URL] box. You need that to say [/URL] for the URL to work. The price and name of the component goes where Tom's put "Component Name and Component Price".

 

[ojas]

Most people here already know that going beyond 8GB of RAM isn't going to help a gaming build (going beyond 4GB hardly helps) and that going beyond dual-channel DDR3-1600 9-9-9-24 isn't going to help much for an Ivy Bridge gaming build either since going even to it from single channel DDR3-1333 9-9-9-24 doesn't help Ivy much.

I wanted to talk to SOMEONE about this, since Don ignored my email completely

Specifically regarding PlanetSide 2.

Apart from that game being hugely CPU bottlenecked, i've found suggested here:
http://www.planetside-universe.com/showthread.php?postid=861845#post861845

that the game may respond to memory bandwidth and amount.

I'm running 4GB for the time being (one stick went bad) and i have 3.6GB filled up while PS2's up, about 1.3GB without. I kind of feel that the 8GB thing is true. When i was trying to isolate the bad ram stick, i found PS2 to be helpful. It crashes pretty easily when their's bad ram in the system.

My Core 2 Quad Q8400 + 4GB of DD3-1333 RAM pushes me down to around 20 fps (even went to 12 once) during heavy firefights. And in PS2, almost every firefight is HUGE.

So yeah. 8GB is recommended for PS2 and for Crysis 3, although i think their (Crytek's) requirements were a bit messed up.

I suspect that all games released now will require more/faster RAM...unfortunately Tom's is content on benchmarking generic, tired, unimaginative and iterative man-shooters these days...so i think we'll have to do this stuff on the forums.

I'm in the middle of exams right now, so i'll probably post my PS2 benchmarks after the 18th...a friend of mine's built a 3570K/670 rig, will test on that too.

 

[blazorthon]

I wanted to talk to SOMEONE about this, since Don ignored my email completely

Specifically regarding PlanetSide 2.

Apart from that game being hugely CPU bottlenecked, i've found suggested here:
http://www.planetside-universe.com/showthread.php?postid=861845#post861845

that the game may respond to memory bandwidth and amount.

I'm running 4GB for the time being (one stick went bad) and i have 3.6GB filled up while PS2's up, about 1.3GB without. I kind of feel that the 8GB thing is true. When i was trying to isolate the bad ram stick, i found PS2 to be helpful. It crashes pretty easily when their's bad ram in the system.

My Core 2 Quad Q8400 + 4GB of DD3-1333 RAM pushes me down to around 20 fps (even went to 12 once) during heavy firefights. And in PS2, almost every firefight is HUGE.

So yeah. 8GB is recommended for PS2 and for Crysis 3, although i think their (Crytek's) requirements were a bit messed up.

I suspect that all games released now will require more/faster RAM...unfortunately Tom's is content on benchmarking generic, tired, unimaginative and iterative man-shooters these days...so i think we'll have to do this stuff on the forums.

I'm in the middle of exams right now, so i'll probably post my PS2 benchmarks after the 18th...a friend of mine's built a 3570K/670 rig, will test on that too.

Keep in mind that Core 2 gets crap bandwidth and latency because it's memory controller is on the motherboard compared to most modern systems which have the controller integrated right into the CPU. You might notice a difference in memory performance between say DDR3-1333 9-9-9-24 and DDR3-1866 9-9-924, but a good LGA 1155 system generally won't. Some games will probably focus on this a lot, but the vast majority do not.

Going from 4GB to 8GB usually doesn't help much, at least with a 32 bit system. If you have a 64 bit system, then going to 6GB or 8GB may help noticeably. If you like to multi-task, then going to 6GB or 8GB may help noticeably. I'm a firm believer in that 4GB is not enough for a proper build anymore because it is getting near the point of being too little regardless of the situation (many games push a 32 bit system near 4GB of memory consumption in normal circumstances) and multi-tasking can be significantly hindered by only 4GB of RAM. There are a few games where 4GB of system memory capacity can be an issue even if you're not multi-tasking in some situations and such games will undoubtedly get more common as time goes on, but the majority still run fine with 4GB so long as you're not doing too much at once.


Basically, games technically shouldn't respond much at all to memory capacity just like they shouldn't respond much at all to GPU memory capacity other than if you don't have enough, you get a huge bottle-neck. It's not a gradual slope like bandwidth and latency can be.

Memory bandwidth for the CPU usually isn't important in systems running LGA 1155 CPUs unless you're going really far down in the memory frequency range. For modern AMD systems, it's a bigger deal, but usually still not a huge deal. For older Intel systems that have an LGA 775 CPU/motherboard socket, memory bandwidth and latency can be much more important because of the on-board memory controller.

Also, if you have so close to 4GB filled during gaming with PS2 and about 1.3GB even when not gaming, then I suggest looking into what's consuming so much memory. Even my several years old and poorly-maintained Vista system isn't quite that bad about memory.

New games might start to like more memory bandwidth more than most current games, but I think that most will still be mostly agnostic about it so long as you have a good memory controller such as that of the LGA 1155 CPUs. Memory capacity, bandwidth, and latency needs do go up over time, but very slowly.

 

[AcidElement]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($314.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Gigabyte G1.Sniper 3 EATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($260.01 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($35.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($84.04 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 680 2GB Video Card ($469.99 @ Best Buy)
Power Supply: Enermax 1200W 80 PLUS Platinum Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($291.72 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Asus BW-12B1ST/BLK/G/AS Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Other: Mushkin Enhanced Atlas Series mSATA 120GB SATAIII MLC SSD ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Other: Thermaltake Level 10 GT Battle Edition ($299.99 @ Thermaltake)
Total: $1976.69
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-12-05 16:34 EST-0500)

The mSATA is the greatest thing ever invented. This is essentially a wishlist for 2013 unless something new comes out.
And don't worry. This is just to get me started, I will be upgrading things along the way.

 

[bardacuda]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($314.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Gigabyte G1.Sniper 3 EATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($260.01 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($35.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($84.04 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 680 2GB Video Card ($469.99 @ Best Buy)
Power Supply: Enermax 1200W 80 PLUS Platinum Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($291.72 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Asus BW-12B1ST/BLK/G/AS Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Other: Mushkin Enhanced Atlas Series mSATA 120GB SATAIII MLC SSD ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Other: Thermaltake Level 10 GT Battle Edition ($299.99 @ Thermaltake)
Total: $1976.69
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-12-05 16:34 EST-0500)

The mSATA is the greatest thing ever invented. This is essentially a wishlist for 2013 unless something new comes out.
And don't worry. This is just to get me started, I will be upgrading things along the way.

What's the other 700W for? To power the nuclear reactor in that case? j/k

Here I built a system worthy of that case.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/r6fC

:lol:

 

[itzsnypah]

All the Frills
Processor: Intel i7-3770K ($319.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASUS Maximus V Gene Z77 mATX ($199.99@ Newegg)
RAM: G.Skill Ares 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3-2133 ($49.99 @ Newegg)
RAM: G.Skill Ares 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3-2133 ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Graphics Card: MSI HD 7950 Blower Style ($319.99 @ Newegg)
Graphics Card: MSI HD 7950 Blower Style ($319.99 @ Newegg)
OS Drive: Samsung 840 250GB SSD ($169.99 @ Newegg)
Storage Drive: Western Digital RED 1TB SATA3 HDD ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Storage Drive: Western Digital RED 1TB SATA3 HDD ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Silverstone Temjin TJ08B-E ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Rosewill Capstone 750-M 80PLUS Gold Modular 750w ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Cooling: Cooler Master Hyper 212+ ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Second HSF Fan: Cooler Master Blade Master 120mm ($10.99 @ Newegg)
DVD Burner: Blu-Ray Burner ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Intake Fan: Silverstone Air Penetrator AP-182 180mm 60-170CFM ($27.99 @ Newegg)
Exhaust Fan: Cooler Master Blade Master 120mm ($10.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1984.84

Sales Pitch
You get it all! 16GB of fast RAM, Crossfire HD7950's! A large SSD and 2TB of Raid Storage! High efficiency PSU that's also Modular and a Push-Pull HSF Set-up! And you can't forget the Blu-Ray Drive!

The Temjin comes with the Air Penetrator AP-181, which is only rated for 80-140CFM and No exhuast fan. Ditch the AP-181 in favor for the 182.

Edit: Upon blazothons request I went with a different SSD.

 

[blazorthon]

All the Frills
Processor: Intel i7-3770K ($319.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASUS Maximus V Gene Z77 mATX ($199.99@ Newegg)
RAM: G.Skill Ares 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3-2133 ($49.99 @ Newegg)
RAM: G.Skill Ares 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3-2133 ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Graphics Card: MSI HD 7950 Blower Style ($319.99 @ Newegg)
Graphics Card: MSI HD 7950 Blower Style ($319.99 @ Newegg)
OS Drive: Samsung 840 Pro 128GB SSD ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Storage Drive: Western Digital RED 1TB SATA3 HDD ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Storage Drive: Western Digital RED 1TB SATA3 HDD ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Silverstone Temjin TJ08B-E ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Rosewill Capstone 750-M 80PLUS Gold Modular 750w ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Cooling: Cooler Master Hyper 212+ ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Second HSF Fan: Cooler Master Blade Master 120mm ($10.99 @ Newegg)
DVD Burner: Blu-Ray Burner ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Intake Fan: Silverstone Air Penetrator AP-182 180mm 60-170CFM ($27.99 @ Newegg)
Exhaust Fan: Cooler Master Blade Master 120mm ($10.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1964.84

Sales Pitch
You get it all! 16GB of fast RAM, Crossfire HD7950's! A large SSD and 2TB of Raid Storage! High efficiency PSU that's also Modular and a Push-Pull HSF Set-up! And you can't forget the Blu-Ray Drive!

The Temjin comes with the Air Penetrator AP-181, which is only rated for 80-140CFM and No exhuast fan. Ditch the AP-181 in favor for the 182.

Like I said above, there's no point in getting Samsung 840 Pro because of its pricing. You'd be better off getting a 256GB Samsung 840 or 830 or a Marvell-based 256GB SSD from Crucial, Plextor, or OCZ. That would be a "large" SSD. I'd give your build a thumbs up if it had a proper SSD for a gaming rig because everything else is good.

 

[AcidElement]

What's the other 700W for? To power the nuclear reactor in that case? j/k

Here I built a system worthy of that case.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/r6fC

:lol:

HA! That is just way too much, and I'm guessing that's the point. But the extra wattage is because that system is upgradable to a fully watercooled system, with over clocking capabilities. Never be shy about your powersupply.

 

[blazorthon]

HA! That is just way too much, and I'm guessing that's the point. But the extra wattage is because that system is upgradable to a fully watercooled system, with over clocking capabilities. Never be shy about your powersupply.

When it's overkill to that extreme, it can be unsafe for the power supply. Computer power supplies and many similar power supplies shouldn't be so overkill because like being insufficient, being far to much can significantly increase wear on the power supply over time (although not for the same reasons).

 

[ojas]

@Blazorthon

Yeah Core 2's get shitty bandwidth, but they respond well to it. Saw that with JC2, going from DDR2-800 to DDR3-1333.

What's eating so much memory? I think it's mainly Itunes (rather its allied processes services), "integratedoffice" which is related to the Office 2013 preview, MSE, the HiRez patch service, explorer and DWM. These are the only ones with above 20MB of mem used, i have about 55 processes running, stock windows usually has about 40 running (i think i'm counting drivers too). So i'm not sure there's really much wrong, it might just be the nature of what i have installed, since for as long as i remember, it's been 49 processes without itunes and 54-55 with it. This is between formats. So i don't really think there's anything wrong in particular... :O

Another interesting PS2 fact: you can record video from within the game, and i believe it records to RAM first and then writes to disk, since i got a message saying that you're out of memory to record any more footage, and the file size was about 300MB, which is what i have left.

 

[TechyNoobz]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($214.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100 92.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($104.90 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($134.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($82.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($179.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial M4 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: HIS Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card (CrossFire) ($389.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: HIS Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card (CrossFire) ($389.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Cooler Master HAF X ATX Full Tower Case ($169.98 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Rosewill Lightning 800W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($127.50 @ Newegg)
Total: $1885.31
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-12-06 14:58 EST-0500)

 

[blazorthon]

@Blazorthon

Yeah Core 2's get shitty bandwidth, but they respond well to it. Saw that with JC2, going from DDR2-800 to DDR3-1333.

What's eating so much memory? I think it's mainly Itunes (rather its allied processes services), "integratedoffice" which is related to the Office 2013 preview, MSE, the HiRez patch service, explorer and DWM. These are the only ones with above 20MB of mem used, i have about 55 processes running, stock windows usually has about 40 running (i think i'm counting drivers too). So i'm not sure there's really much wrong, it might just be the nature of what i have installed, since for as long as i remember, it's been 49 processes without itunes and 54-55 with it. This is between formats. So i don't really think there's anything wrong in particular... :O

Another interesting PS2 fact: you can record video from within the game, and i believe it records to RAM first and then writes to disk, since i got a message saying that you're out of memory to record any more footage, and the file size was about 300MB, which is what i have left.

They respond well to it because of how inefficient their controller is That was actually one of Pentium 4's biggest problems, that is a huge memory bandwidth bottle-neck compared to Athlon 64.

IDK what's eating so much memory, but on my computer right now, I have 62 processes running and 24 of them are Google Chrome, four of them are Firefox, one of them is Notepad, one for Task manager, one for calculator, and one for my PDF reader, so I'd be only a little over 30 not including that stuff. That's also including like five or six processes for VMWare and a few other things. If you're at around fifty even just on your desktop, then you might want to do some maintenance.

 

[Xlerator]

What's the other 700W for? To power the nuclear reactor in that case? j/k

Here I built a system worthy of that case.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/r6fC

:lol:

No mine is alot better its a more update version XD

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/rjaq

 

[ojas]

They respond well to it because of how inefficient their controller is That was actually one of Pentium 4's biggest problems, that is a huge memory bandwidth bottle-neck compared to Athlon 64.

IDK what's eating so much memory, but on my computer right now, I have 62 processes running and 24 of them are Google Chrome, four of them are Firefox, one of them is Notepad, one for Task manager, one for calculator, and one for my PDF reader, so I'd be only a little over 30 not including that stuff. That's also including like five or six processes for VMWare and a few other things. If you're at around fifty even just on your desktop, then you might want to do some maintenance.

Lol i'm closer to 80 with a few chrome tabs and maybe steam and a few more. But even then i don't see more than 2GB used. I'm not sure...because i've gone through stuff and there are things like some auto updates that i could remove but hten they take like 1MB or less, so i just leave them on. And they must be like, flash, java and google uptade. So i'm not sure. i've read the list many times, i've used msconfig to disable stuff i'm sure of, so don't know what else to do. It's never caused problems, really. I have a few nvidia processes running too so they might be contributing to it, though user mode processes are less than 10 in total. Two processes for logitech's setpoint...meh.

 

[Kamen_BG]

Kamen_BG's Damn Good Build

PCPartPicker part list

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($214.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master TPC 812 86.2 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UP4 TH ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($180.48 @ NCIX US)
Memory: Mushkin Blackline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($164.99 @ Adorama)
Storage: Western Digital WD Green 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card (CrossFire) ($366.97 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card (CrossFire) ($366.97 @ Newegg)
Sound Card: Asus Xonar Phoebus 24-bit 96 KHz Sound Card ($195.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Cooler Master CM690 II Advanced ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic X Series 850W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Sony AD-7280S-0B DVD/CD Writer ($18.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1967.33
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-12-07 15:49 EST-0500)

 

[blazorthon]

Kamen_BG's Damn Good Build

PCPartPicker part list

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($214.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master TPC 812 86.2 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UP4 TH ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($180.48 @ NCIX US)
Memory: Mushkin Blackline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($164.99 @ Adorama)
Storage: Western Digital WD Green 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card (CrossFire) ($366.97 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card (CrossFire) ($366.97 @ Newegg)
Sound Card: Asus Xonar Phoebus 24-bit 96 KHz Sound Card ($195.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Cooler Master CM690 II Advanced ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic X Series 850W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Sony AD-7280S-0B DVD/CD Writer ($18.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1967.33
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-12-07 15:49 EST-0500)

Only Newegg and Amazon are allowed for the Best Configs threads.

 

[Potential]

Potential's High End Gaming PC Build

PCPartPicker

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570k 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($214.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASUS Sabertooth Z77 Motherboard ($239.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: ASUS GTX680 DC2T 2GB 1137 MHz Core Clock Video Card ($539.99 @ Newegg)
HDD Storage: Western Digital Black 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache Sata 6.0 Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive ($109.99 @ Newegg)
SSD Storage: Samsung 840 Pro 128GB Solid State Drive ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Rosewill Thor V2 White Edition ATX Full Tower ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair HX750 80 PLUS Gold Certified Modular Power Supply ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: ASUS DRW-24B1ST 24X DVD BURNER ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Mircosoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1760.51
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available)
(Freebies include Assassin's Creed 3, Borderlands 2 and $45 dollars in Mail-in Rebate Cards)

 

[blackhawk1928]

I don't see how $2,000 is *high-end*. If you want to run modern games in 3D and surround displays...you're going to need some ridiculous power.

I bet overclocked Quad SLI GTX 680's with a 5th GTX 680 for physx paired with an overclocked 3970X or Dual Xeon 4650's would struggle pulling most most games in 3D at 7680x1600 at maximum settings and that is the highest resolution current surround really does and the highest I've seen on youtube.

Considering that the resolution is 6 times greater than regular 1080P and 3D basically slices your FPS in half...I doubt any graphics configuration exists to power that yet.

And a computer that would run games would currently be $5,000+ minimum if not much more.

I think there should be yet another category for "Ultra" high end PC.

 

[blazorthon]

I don't see how $2,000 is *high-end*. If you want to run modern games in 3D and surround displays...you're going to need some ridiculous power.

I bet overclocked Quad SLI GTX 680's with a 5th GTX 680 for physx paired with an overclocked 3970X or Dual Xeon 4650's would struggle pulling most most games in 3D at 7680x1600 at maximum settings and that is the highest resolution current surround really does and the highest I've seen on youtube.

Considering that the resolution is 6 times greater than regular 1080P and 3D basically slices your FPS in half...I doubt any graphics configuration exists to power that yet.

And a computer that would run games would currently be $5,000+ minimum if not much more.

I think there should be yet another category for "Ultra" high end PC.

I doubt that dual Xeons would be able to compete with a well-overclocked LGA 1155/2011 i5/i7 CPU.

Furthermore, high-end doesn't mean what you seem to think it means AFAIK. High-end doesn't mean absolute top of the line, it's simple far above average. Any system with more than a Radeon 7850 or thereabouts is arguably high-end and any system around $2000 with dual 7950/670 or better graphics is arguably very high-end. Sure, they're not necessarily the best, but they're pretty close in most situations and you don't need to be the best to be great.

Also, I don't think that a $5000+ PC would really fit in the purpose of the Best Configs threads.