BestConfigs - High-End Intel Gaming PC

[steelbeast]

SteelBeast’s Build
Processor: Intel Core i5 2500k $220
Motherboard: ASRock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 $180
RAM: GSkill 8GB DDR3 1600 $55
Graphics Card: 2x EVGA SuperClocked GTX 580 $950
Hard Drive: OCZ Vertex 3 120GB SSD $180
Case: Cooler Master HAF 932 $140
Power Supply: 1000W Cooler Master Silent Pro $130
Cooling: Noctua NH-D14 $86
DVD Burner: Lite-On 24x DVD $20

Total: $2,041 BEFORE Rebates
Total: $1,961 AFTER Rebates

All are newegg.

Motherboard: $10 off w/ promo code EMCKAKA32, ends 9/15
Graphics Card: $20 Rebate ends 9/30
Hard Drive: $20 Rebate ends 9/15
Case: $10 Rebate ends 9/15
Power Supply: $30 Rebate ends 9/30

 

[steelbeast]

Made some quick updates so they're all from newegg.

 

[flong]

Guys, high-end RAM has dropped significantly - let's start looking at 1866 as a minimum. I have 1600 RAM and it does bottleneck the speed of your system. I saw Gskill 2 x 4GB 1866 RAM on sale at NewEgg for $65 - how much cheaper do you want? 2133 2 x 4GB was on sale for $75.

 

[steelbeast]

Guys, high-end RAM has dropped significantly - let's start looking at 1866 as a minimum. I have 1600 RAM and it does bottleneck the speed of your system. I saw Gskill 2 x 4GB 1866 RAM on sale at NewEgg for $65 - how much cheaper do you want? 2133 2 x 4GB was on sale for $75.

Can you show us some benchmarks so that we may come up with a price/performance comparison?

 

[steelbeast]

people around here use the term 'bottleneck' to loosely...
DDR3 1600MHz overclocked will not 'bottleneck' your system especially in dual channel mode.
hell, I've seen DDR2 667MHz (low latency) in dual channel mode score 7.4 windows 7 WEI for (a WEI) example.

Agreed on the misinformation part, my DDR3 1600 are 7.8 WEI, while my i5 2500k @ 4.7 Ghz is at 7.7 WEI.

 

[flong]

people around here use the term 'bottleneck' to loosely...
DDR3 1600MHz overclocked will not 'bottleneck' your system especially in dual channel mode.
hell, I've seen DDR2 667MHz (low latency) in dual channel mode score 7.4 windows 7 WEI for (a WEI) example.

Actually on my system I have Gskill 1600 CL9 RAM and Windows 7 lists it as 7.6 out of a possible 7.9. Everything else is 7.9 - therefore the 1600 RAM is the slowest part of the system - the bottleneck.

There is a around 3%-5% increase in speed by going to 1866 or 2133 RAM which for high use is significant. This is shown in several of the articles listed in this thread.

As far as a price Vs performance comparison - not the brightest question to ask respectfully. Again, 1866 2 x 4 GB CL9 RAM on Newegg is commonly available for $60-$65 on sale and I could not believe that 2133 CL11 2 x 4 GB Gskill RAM went on sale for $75. So you cannot save a whole lot of money by going to 1600 RAM (on sale around $55-$60 on Newegg, though drops into the $45 range sometimes).

A 5% increase for $20-$25 is a no brainer. Even if it was just 3%, the extra $20 would be worth it. Again several articles have been posted in this thread which substantiate these numbers. On by Bit-Tech and one by Tom's Hardware are particularly good as they test Sandy Bridge RAM sets.

Now if you go in to CL7 2133 or higher then your costs go way up and then it is worthwhile to look into the cost vs performance comparison.

I have a 2600K system and I am not talking about overclocked 1600 RAM. Why overclock your 1600 RAM and take a chance on destabilizing your system when 1866 and 2133 are available so cheaply? Also a lot of 1600 RAM will not overclock well.

 

[flong]

SteelBeast’s Build
Processor: Intel Core i5 2500k $220
Motherboard: ASRock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 $180
RAM: GSkill 8GB DDR3 1600 $55
Graphics Card: 2x EVGA SuperClocked GTX 580 $950
Hard Drive: OCZ Vertex 3 120GB SSD $180
Case: Cooler Master HAF 932 $140
Power Supply: 1000W Cooler Master Silent Pro $130
Cooling: Noctua NH-D14 $86
DVD Burner: Lite-On 24x DVD $20

Total: $2,041 BEFORE Rebates
Total: $1,961 AFTER Rebates

All are newegg.

Motherboard: $10 off w/ promo code EMCKAKA32, ends 9/15
Graphics Card: $20 Rebate ends 9/30
Hard Drive: $20 Rebate ends 9/15
Case: $10 Rebate ends 9/15
Power Supply: $30 Rebate ends 9/30

I have the AsRock Extreme 4 Gen 3 board and it is a very good board.

 

[steelbeast]

Actually on my system I have Gskill 1600 CL9 RAM and Windows 7 lists it as 7.6 out of a possible 7.9. Everything else is 7.9 - therefore the 1600 RAM is the slowest part of the system - the bottleneck.

There is a around 3%-5% increase in speed by going to 1866 or 2133 RAM which for high use is significant. This is shown in several of the articles listed in this thread.

As far as a price Vs performance comparison - not the brightest question to ask respectfully. Again, 1866 2 x 4 GB CL9 RAM on Newegg is commonly available for $60-$65 on sale and I could not believe that 2133 CL11 2 x 4 GB Gskill RAM went on sale for $75. So you cannot save a whole lot of money by going to 1600 RAM (on sale around $55-$60 on Newegg, though drops into the $45 range sometimes).

A 5% increase for $20-$25 is a no brainer. Even if it was just 3%, the extra $20 would be worth it. Again several articles have been posted in this thread which substantiate these numbers. On by Bit-Tech and one by Tom's Hardware are particularly good as they test Sandy Bridge RAM sets.

Now if you go in to CL7 2133 or higher then your costs go way up and then it is worthwhile to look into the cost vs performance comparison.

I have a 2600K system and I am not talking about overclocked 1600 RAM. Why overclock your 1600 RAM and take a chance on destabilizing your system when 1866 and 2133 are available so cheaply? Also a lot of 1600 RAM will not overclock well.

A 5% increase can mean absolutely nothing in real-world, so the extra $$ would be wasted, $20-25 or not.

 

[flong]

DDR3 1600MHz CL7 = 7.9 WEI

I have a:
i5-760 @ 3.4GHz / 8GB DDR3 1600MHz CL7 / SLI GTX 460SSC+ / Agility 2 90GB SSD
7.6 / 7.9 / 7.9-7.9 / 7.8

I do not have any problem playing any game or doing anything.
the i5 is the lowest point and it doesn't bottleneck...

I did have 1600MHz CL8 until recently, ran it at stock and then with no overclock it ran @ 1333MHz.
still got 7.6 WEI.

You are right but the CL7 1600 RAM is pricey and the cheaper 1866 out performs it. Also your numbers verify that your CL8 would bottleneck a Sandy Bridge system like mine.

 

[flong]

pricey yes, my kit cost $100 on sale..
Mushkin 996981 DDR3 UDIMM (2x4GB) 8GB PC3-12800 7-9-8-24 FROSTBYTE 1.65V

Probably your CL7 1600 RAM will also overclock better than CL9. Don't get me wrong, if someone can afford the CL7 1600, 1866 or 2133 they should get it - it is faster no doubt. You definitely have faster 1600 RAM than me. My CL9 RAM lowers my entire computer's speed according to Windows.

Here in this thread with the $2000 budget, probably the CL9 1866 or CL11 2133 are the best bang for the buck. The latency does not make that much difference on the faster RAM. I get a 7.6 WEI and my RAM is running at 1600.

 

[flong]

A 5% increase can mean absolutely nothing in real-world, so the extra $$ would be wasted, $20-25 or not.

I disagree with you. For heavy users there are some studies that show it can save them significant time. I am not a heavy gamer, but for some of the resource heavy games like Metro 2033, 5% is a lot. This is especially true with RAM because it affects nearly every action your computer does. So like a faster CPU, faster RAM speeds up your whole computing experience.

This is on reason that I am considering upgrading my RAM to 2133 if the price keeps going down. Time is money and I use my computer for my business.

I would like to hear from the serious gamers in this thread whether they would spend $20 for a 5% increase - my guess is that they would because many are already are spending $200 on a set of 2133 CL7 2 x 4 GB RAM to get the last ounce of performance their computer can supply for their resource hungry games.

When many people in this thread are recommending $1000 expenditure for two 580s, $20 really is chump change. So even if the faster RAM only provided a 3% benefit, it would be worth the $20 extra.

Remember, this is a high-end gaming computer and games are affected by the RAM speed.

Two 580s could be considered a "waste" for one screen, but I do not make that statement to those who are using them for their build because the 580 is a high quality card and will provide superior performance. Therefore it is not a "waste." It is more expensive than necessary for a single monitor when two 6950s will run almost any game at the highest settings, but they want the extra ummph of the 580s. That is their choice for their build.