Core i7 Gaming System

[cc2002cc]

Hey Guys,

Your advice on this new system I'm building would be greatly appreciated. I've been working 60-hour weeks in the middle of the desert for this and other things, so I really don't want to screw this up! What do you think of the following build for a gaming system?

NEW COMPONENTS
Core i7 2.66GHz w/XIGMATEK Dark Knight 120mm cooler (I plan to OC)
ASUS P6T Deluxe v2
1x EVGA GTX 285 (I plan to do SLI later)
CORSAIR DOMINATOR 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
ABS DARK BERET 850W PSU (Newegg combo deal w/CPU)

EXISTING COMPONENTS
2x Seagate 250GB 7800RPM Sata HDs, raid 0+1 (for OS and games)
1x Seagate 1.5TB 7800RPM Sata HD (media)
Creative X-Fi Fatality w/front panel
Thermaltake Armor full-tower case
1x DVD burner IDE
1x DVD reader IDE
27.5" HansG 1920x1200 monitor

Please share your thoughts! Any advice will help.

Thanks!

 

[Guest]

i'd get sata dvd drives and i'm not familiar with that abs psu but i'd get the cosair 850 which is cheaper and should work great for your set up.

 

[jbakerlent]

You may prefer this RAM, it has lower latencies and is a little cheaper... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227381.

Also that PSU is pretty expensive, if you don't plan on SLI then this one will suit your needs just as well for about 1/4 the price: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341018&Tpk=modxstream%20pro.

Other than that your build looks good!

 

[kamel5547]

Doesn't 0+1 require 4 drives? I'm fairly certain it does, I would consider an SSD instead, you can get speed and reliability, sure it'll cost a bit more, and you'll ahve less drive space but I think this is a better idea than RAID (especially MoBo RAID).

 

[waynec121]

hey I would not get the gtx 285. I would get a gtx 275 which is actually very similar in terms of performance to the 285 but is much cheaper.

So if you are playing on a 1680x1050 or 1900x1200 monitor, I would definitely get the 275 and if you feel like you need more performance SLI another later on.

edit: This 275 is a fine choice.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130475

 

[atomicWAR]

i think the over clocked gtx275 is a better buy then a stock gtx285. however if you get an OC card like evga's gtx285 ftw for 379.99 with clocks (702mhz core/ 1584 mhz shaders/2646 mhz memory) you'll get a small but noticible gain in some of the most graphically intensive games.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130483

or faster clocked bgf gtx285 for 389.99 (712mhz core/ 1620mhz shader/ 2664mhz memory)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814143201

for raw power you can't beat em. i have 3 of the gtx285 ftw's sli'd myself. they are wonderful cards. i can play anything maxed out at 1080P with physx (when applicable)... even when i have tried just one card in most games you really don't need the sli unless you like your frames well above 60fps or your playing crysis.

all that said a 275 can be had for under 300 dollars depending on what brand/clocks you want. the EGVA gtx275 FTW (713mhz core/ 1512mhz shader/ 2520mhz memory) is only 289.99 and is probably very close to its big brother gtx285 FTW in performance for a hundred less and surely its faster than a stock 285. it only has a narrowing memory bus (448bit to the 285's 512-bit) and a hair less ram at 896 instead of a full gig.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130479

i urge you get the fastest clocks you can find and still afford for your build regardless of which card you get. that and i would also get a ssd for your primary disk. its the best thing i have done to my PC since i have been building them...period. personally i raid 0 a couple of intel's mlc 80 gigers. now they have even bigger capacitys hitting the market with similar performance unlike earlier SSD that had problems cause of the JMicron controllor chips that were in use in most models besides intel's. Its a fix long over due and i encourage you to enjoy!! though some disks still have them on newegg so read the reviews and specs to make sure you avoid any trouble with hangs or stalls in windows.

 

[redgarl]

If you don't buy 2 graphic cards, a core i7 will not gives you a noticeable gain over a Phenom II.

You need to do SLI or crossfire with at least 400$ of graphic cards to see a marginal gain.

So in clear, if you don't see a bargain somewhere, just stay away from the i7. With the money you could spare, you could buy overall better hardwares which I find to be rather more important than a sole investment on a cpu, motherboard and memory.

 

[gkay09]

+1 for NO GTX 285

I would do this...
CPu + Mobo
920 + P6T
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.213700

PSU - Corsair 750TX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006

Graphics card -
For the price of 1 GTX 285, I would suggest you get this...
2x XFX GTX 260 Core 216
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150329

A good set of RAMs...
OCZ XMP Ready
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227388

So for less money, you get more performance...
2x GTX 260 can easily hold on till next gen cards arrive and SLI scales well on the X58 mobos...

 

[cc2002cc]

i'd get sata dvd drives and i'm not familiar with that abs psu but i'd get the cosair 850 which is cheaper and should work great for your set up.

SATA DVD drives are cheap - about $20 - but there's no point in buying one unless the IDE port would create a bottleneck. Do you know if that's the case?

 

[cc2002cc]

Doesn't 0+1 require 4 drives? I'm fairly certain it does, I would consider an SSD instead, you can get speed and reliability, sure it'll cost a bit more, and you'll ahve less drive space but I think this is a better idea than RAID (especially MoBo RAID).

I've never set up a 0+1 raid array, but as far as I know it is mirroring and stripping and only requires two identical drives. I thought the performance speed would be decent considering both drives are 7800RPM and both are SATA.

 

[cc2002cc]

hey I would not get the gtx 285. I would get a gtx 275 which is actually very similar in terms of performance to the 285 but is much cheaper.

So if you are playing on a 1680x1050 or 1900x1200 monitor, I would definitely get the 275 and if you feel like you need more performance SLI another later on.

edit: This 275 is a fine choice.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130475

waynec121 / atomicWAR / redgarl / gkay09,

Thanks for your advice. I am going to go with the GTX 275 in SLI rather than one single 285. This will max out the slots on the mobo, but this seems to be the best way to go.

I will make an updated post with the new build. Thanks SO much for your help!

 

[croc]

Hey Guys,

Your advice on this new system I'm building would be greatly appreciated. I've been working 60-hour weeks in the middle of the desert for this and other things, so I really don't want to screw this up! What do you think of the following build for a gaming system?

NEW COMPONENTS
Core i7 2.66GHz w/XIGMATEK Dark Knight 120mm cooler (I plan to OC)
ASUS P6T Deluxe v2
1x EVGA GTX 285 (I plan to do SLI later)
CORSAIR DOMINATOR 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
ABS DARK BERET 850W PSU (Newegg combo deal w/CPU)

EXISTING COMPONENTS
2x Seagate 250GB 7800RPM Sata HDs, raid 0+1 (for OS and games)
1x Seagate 1.5TB 7800RPM Sata HD (media)
Creative X-Fi Fatality w/front panel
Thermaltake Armor full-tower case
1x DVD burner IDE
1x DVD reader IDE
27.5" HansG 1920x1200 monitor

Please share your thoughts! Any advice will help.

Thanks!

Unless ABS has seriously changed their ways recently, I'd put them right next to the Rosewills that I routinely chuck in the rubbish bins. Seasonic, Corsair are my preferred PSU's ATM. Both offer good stability, PFC correction, and great effeciencies. And for your build, you really only need 750 to 800 W max, even those are overkill. 650 should really suffice.

Nice monitor, BTW... but two 285's will not give you much if any improvement in framerates.