Components in a gaming build

[focaner]

Hey, I'm building a gaming PC to go with the i5-2500k that I bought a while ago. Here are the components I'm thinking of getting for it. What do you think?

(I have a flexible budget, but not too flexible. Option to overclock, but honestly not much. I'm not really interested in SLI/CF due to the increased cost and particularly the noise/heat; I'd rather just get one really good card.)


CPU: i5-2500k (already purchased)
Mobo: ASUS P8Z68-V PRO or GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD4-B3 or MSI P67A-GD65 (B3)
RAM: G.SKILL Sniper or G.SKILL Ripjaws X or CORSAIR Vengeance DDR3 1600
PSU: COOLER MASTER Silent Pro Gold 800W
GPU: XFX Radeon HD 6870 or EVGA SuperClocked GeForce GTX 560 Ti or EVGA GeForce GTX 570

 

[jeremy1183]

if you just want a single card solution you will not need a 800watt psu...so you can save some money and get a 650 watt psu. Keeping the 800 will give you room future upgrades. Also non modular is cheaper but then you have to deal with more cables in your case. You could also save money by getting the gigabye or msi board you listed and put that towards a better graphics card if ya like. Either one of the memory you listed is fine as well.

So if it fits in your budget and you save money by getting a 650 psu and one of the p76 mobo's you could possibly get the gtx 570 which is the best of the ones you listed.

 

[geekapproved]

2-560ti would be the best bang for the buck, faster and a lot cheaper than a GTX580 for sure.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-560-ti-sli-review/17

I'd go with the Asus P8Z68 or the Asrock Z68 extreme 4. I like Gigabytes, they don't even have UEFI bios yet and MSI has really lost their quality lately, but they are ok.

You can't go wrong with Corsair or Gskill, I prefer Corsair memory myself. Get some 1.5v (or less) DDR3-1600. Cas rating is up to how much you want to spend, cas 9 is fine, cas 8 is better.

The CM Gold 800, it may be rated gold, but it's warranty is only 2yrs and the price is outrageous.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371049 This is good for your SLI/Xfire setup. 5yr warranty. $65 AR.

 

[abekl]

I have the UD4 Gigabyte board you are considering, and I love it. Works without a hitch, has a good port assortment, and overclocks like a dream.

 

[geekapproved]

I love Gigabyte boards. But they are behind the times. They are the only mobo manufacturer I know of that hasn't moved to UEFI bios. It's sweet. I moved onto Asrock for that reason only.

 

[jeremy1183]

2-6870 or 2-560ti would be the best bang for the buck, faster and a lot cheaper than a GTX580 for sure.

I'd go with the Asus P8Z68 or the Asrock Z68 extreme 4. I like Gigabytes, they don't even have UEFI bios yet and MSI has really lost their quality lately, but they are ok.

You can't go wrong with Corsair or Gskill, I prefer Corsair memory myself. Get some 1.5v (or less) DDR3-1600. Cas rating is up to how much you want to spend, cas 9 is fine, cas 8 is better.

The CM Gold 800, it may be rated gold, but it's warranty is only 2yrs. I'd suggest something else Antec, Corsair, XFX, Seasonic, PCP&C.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371049 This is good for your SLI/Xfire setup. 5yr warranty. $65 AR.

He is right...560ti's would scream...I just took mine out and replaced them with 580 sli. I never had any problem with them and there wasn't a game that I could not run. I was completely happy with them. Down side is that you will spend the exact amount of 560ti in sli as you would for just one 580....but its better performance. Two 6870 out perform the one 580 but you still spend just a little less than what one 580 cost. You could go to 6850 crossfire...but two 6850 pretty much equal one 580....so there would really be no point except that you would spend less money on two 6850's compared to a 580...but at that point you might as well just get a single card solution of a gtx 570 so you dont have to deal with heat and stuff.

The asrock z68 extreme 4 is also good...i have it...works very good.

 

[focaner]

Yeah, as mentioned, I kind of wanted to avoid SLI/CF in the first place for noise/heat reasons. There's also price: 2x560ti would be $500, whereas a single 570 is only $320. 2x6870 is a closer $400. I'm not having a lot of luck finding these kinds of single vs. SLI FPS comparisons though, to make a proper decision.

In any case, would a 750W PSU be enough for two cards, if I changed my mind down the road?

I actually posted the wrong PSU, I meant to say the SeaSonic X750 Gold 750W, which has a better warranty. However, the Antec GeekApproved mentioned is probably a better idea in any case.

By the way, anyone know what the difference is between these two Asrock mobos? I'll also look into the ASUS Sabertooth since the price has crept up there.

 

[jeremy1183]

750 is more than enough for one gtx570. what fps comparisons are you trying to find?

 

[jeremy1183]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157264
that mobo has the new pcie 3.0 slots...

 

[focaner]

Oh, sorry, for some reason I kept reading PCI-E 3.0 as USB 3.0. Couldn't figure out why they were talking about it. Oops.

I meant, would 750W be enough for two cards, if I went for a single GTX 570 now but decided to SLI later?

And I was looking for FPS comparisons between the 570 and various SLI configs: 2x560ti, 2x6870.

 

[jeremy1183]

750 is not good for sli 570's look at a 850 or better psu for 570 sli

use this for comparisons of different cards...use the drop down boxes on the right to select between different cards

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/298?vs=305

570 sli option doesnt work on that chart for some reason...just google gtx 570 sli review and you can read a few different ones from major web sites

 

[photonboy]

Some points:
1) do NOT SLI. read the Tomshardware recent micro-stuttering article

2) GTX560Ti or GTX570 (just comes down to budget. the 560Ti will max out most games but there are a few games that would run slightly better with the 570.)

3) Do NOT overclock the CPU. The graphics card is the bottleneck so a CPU overclock only adds heat and noise.

4) DO purchase a non-stock CPU heatsink for $30 to $50. (if CPU heatsink fan is stuck at 100% make sure it's plugged into the motherboard CPU FAN slot and that the BIOS is set correctly. I had to change my BIOS setting from AUTO to VOLTAGE.)

5) *PSU

*PSU:
- AMPS on the +12V rail or rails should be 1.25x or higher than your graphics cards requirement.
- WATTAGE. 650W or higher should be plenty with a single GTX560Ti or GTX570, however QUALITY (such as Antec) is important.

http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=56788&vpn=HCG-620&manufacture=Antec&promoid=1365

Canadian link. The above is a great value if it serves your needs. FYI, the next generation of graphics cards will use 2.5x to 3x less power so you can get a card 3x as good for the same power. In other words if you replace your current card in two years there should be no worries, but still remember to check the AMPS.

Graphics cards:
- AMD 2011 Q4 7000 series (2.5x to 3x less power for same performance)
- NVidia 2012 Q2 600 series (2.5x to 3x less power for same performance)
- NVidia 2014 (series?) will have cards with up to 15x the performance as current 500 series

I mention the above, because your PSU should not only be fine, but your CPU will become the bottleneck, even overclocked. For example, you likely can't handle more than 4x the performance of your GTX560Ti with an overclocked CPU even with better CPU usage in the future so a card with only 10x the performance and same power requirement of your card would be overkill for your system.

 

[focaner]

Thanks for the replies. I've been going over the options.

I was tempted to go for the ASUS Sabertooth P67 due to the 5 year warranty, but it seems to have some issues. I guess if it's going to fail, it's probably going to do so in the first two years. I'll probably go with the ASRock P67 Extreme4 (B3), since I don't really need Z68.

I like the Antec High Current Gamer PSU, but I made the mistake of going non-modular before; never again. Does anyone know a good modular 650W+ PSU that doesn't cost an arm and a leg? This new, review-less Corsair looks good; otherwise, the Silver HX750 is only $25 more with rebates and promos.

Does anyone know firsthand how the EVGA or MSI GTX 560 Ti compare with each other and the 570 for noise/heat? I keep reading conflicting reports, between people on Newegg and so on and official review sites.

 

[photonboy]

The MSI is a good card. The EVGA is unlikely any better.

The 560Ti will be less noisy but then the 570 has more processing power. It really depends on your budget, what games you play and how much noise is an issue. If in doubt I'd go with the 560Ti.

That seems like a good PSU for your needs.

There are "better" PSU's but once we get to this quality you're pretty safe. Differences are minor.

Voltage protection:
There's a good product from APC:
http://www.apc.com/products/resource/include/techspec_index.cfm?base_sku=LE1200

All power supplies have some sort of Surge Protection. This APC device adds much greater protection for voltage spikes. Some experts estimate that voltage spikes and failures due to them are much greater than people think.

I got my dad this device for his $2000 HDTV because he had power issues over the years causing several devices to fail. No issues.

I bought one for my computer and TV which are in the same room.

It does not contain a battery, so if the power fails your device will go out, however if there's a massive surge due to lightning, a blown transformer or other issue it could make the difference between life and death of a TV or computer.

***I should add that the light on the device turned YELLOW a few times in two years. I believe that means there are power issues that it's correcting (so those issues might have damaged a TV or computer without the APC.)

 

[focaner]

Interesting. I already have a fairly regular surge protector for my old computer (will need another for this); does this do anything it doesn't?

 

[focaner]

Anyway, final build probably:

CPU: i5-2500k
Mobo: ASRock P67 Extreme4 (B3)
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws X 8GB
PSU: Corsair HX750 (on sale)
GPU: Some kind of GTX 560 Ti, can't decide which.

 

[abekl]

I love Gigabyte boards. But they are behind the times. They are the only mobo manufacturer I know of that hasn't moved to UEFI bios. It's sweet. I moved onto Asrock for that reason only.

I wouldn't base my decision on what is essentially a window dressing issue.