First homebuilt system - starting point

[urielsynthesis]

Hey, I'm going to be builsing my first dedicated gaming pc soon and have some questions. I haven't really examined the gaming pc component scene in a couple of years so its become a whole new world for me (Ram in threes? Thats insane!)

My evetual goal is to have a system that will be able to play Crysis maxed out at 1920x1200 at a constant 60fps. It seems to me that that will mean a Core i7 system with dual GTX 295s. The Core i7 will also help drive my current hobby, World of Wacraft, being so processor-hungry.

Now of course I don't want to dive into that right off the bat. I like spending small amounts to add things over time, and minimize the necessity of replacing components. A rough outline of where I want to start is:

-a good ATX Full Tower (easier to work in with my inexperience, and I assume more easily cooled)
-Asus P6T mobo
-Intel Core i7 920 processor (I don't generally see people recommending the higher end i7's)
-6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 1600mhz ram (haven't researched brands yet)
-a single GeForce GTX 295
-1TB 7200rpm hard drive
-DVD-RW drive
-850w power supply (to support upgrades in the future)


My questions are:

1. What would you change in this build? I don't mind spending a little more now if it means that I don't have to replace the component in the near future.

2. When I add a second GTX 295 in SLI, will I need liquid cooling? Will i need it with a single card and an i&, for that matter? Having never built my own rig I'm kind of scared of doing it. I will be using the built-in overclokcing of the processor and don't know yet if it will be worthwhile to overclock the gpu(s)

3. Will I need something higher than an 850w power supply?

4. These "dual gpu in one card" things are a bit alien to me. is there a concern for the space between the cards when looking at mobo's and their PCIE slots?

5. If i decide later to upgrade to a better i7 processor, what does that upgrade entail? Do you just pop in the new processor and boot it up?

6. Does anyone have any suggestions for more specific selections for the list above? A specific model of the GTX 295? Specific brand of memory? A better mobo than the Asus P6T? Power supply? A case with built-in water cooling?


Thanks in advance.

 

[Proximon]

1. After market CPU cooler, and I would get one or two GTX 285s as SLI is a better value, or just get a 4870X2 and add a second, as quad crossfire is a better value than quad SLI:
http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.aspx?i=3520&p=9

2. Water cooling can help when you pack in that much heat, but it's expensive and time-consuming. You'll need to buy the parts after careful research and will need to think about your case as well.

3. For quad SLI/Crossfire? Yes. Perhaps a Corsair 1000HX or more.

4. Yep. You need a very well cooled case or water cooling, but really, do you understand what you are building? It's strictly bragging rights. You'll have to measure the difference between one and two cards with a benchmark, because you will never actually notice a difference.

5. Yes, unless it requires a BIOS flash. No way to predict about the next gen of i7.

6. As above.

 

[raybob95]

Hey, I'm going to be builsing my first dedicated gaming pc soon and have some questions. I haven't really examined the gaming pc component scene in a couple of years so its become a whole new world for me (Ram in threes? Thats insane!)

My evetual goal is to have a system that will be able to play Crysis maxed out at 1920x1200 at a constant 60fps. It seems to me that that will mean a Core i7 system with dual GTX 295s. The Core i7 will also help drive my current hobby, World of Wacraft, being so processor-hungry.

Now of course I don't want to dive into that right off the bat. I like spending small amounts to add things over time, and minimize the necessity of replacing components. A rough outline of where I want to start is:

-a good ATX Full Tower (easier to work in with my inexperience, and I assume more easily cooled)
-Asus P6T mobo
-Intel Core i7 920 processor (I don't generally see people recommending the higher end i7's)
-6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 1600mhz ram (haven't researched brands yet)
-a single GeForce GTX 295
-1TB 7200rpm hard drive
-DVD-RW drive
-850w power supply (to support upgrades in the future)


My questions are:

1. What would you change in this build? I don't mind spending a little more now if it means that I don't have to replace the component in the near future.

2. When I add a second GTX 295 in SLI, will I need liquid cooling? Will i need it with a single card and an i&, for that matter? Having never built my own rig I'm kind of scared of doing it. I will be using the built-in overclokcing of the processor and don't know yet if it will be worthwhile to overclock the gpu(s)

3. Will I need something higher than an 850w power supply?

4. These "dual gpu in one card" things are a bit alien to me. is there a concern for the space between the cards when looking at mobo's and their PCIE slots?

5. If i decide later to upgrade to a better i7 processor, what does that upgrade entail? Do you just pop in the new processor and boot it up?

6. Does anyone have any suggestions for more specific selections for the list above? A specific model of the GTX 295? Specific brand of memory? A better mobo than the Asus P6T? Power supply? A case with built-in water cooling?


Thanks in advance.

The main thing that I see could benefit you is this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822116058

Or perhaps even this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227396

 

[Shadow703793]

World of Wacraft, being so processor-hungry.

Not by a long shot.

Any ways, +1 to what Proximon said.

 

[urielsynthesis]

thanks for the responses.

Going by these benchmarks:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-295,2123-4.html

Two GTX 295's will give the best performance when running Crysis at high resolution/settings. The next best solutions (two HD 4870X2's, or 3 GTX 280's) cost roughly the same when you add it all up yet fall behind noticeably in the benchmarks.

Scaling down some, a single GTX295 comes within a few frames of dual GTX 280's and costs a fair amount less.

That's why I'm leaning towards a gtx 295. its likely i'll get get the single GTX 295 and decide there is no reason to buy another. But when the day comes in the future that I want to upgrade, I'll be able to simply add another and not be replacing what I've already spent money on.


Also, what do you guys think of this case? It is piquing my interest:

http://www.antec.com/Believe_it/product1.php?id=NzA0

 

[xthekidx]

That case has the best cooling you can possibly get, but its way overpriced. Just screw your mobo and PSU onto a piece of plywood and you get the same thing. Ok, not exactly, but you get the idea. I don't really see how they can justify charging that much for that case though. And you will have a rough time putting a heatsink on your mobo, the top fan doesn't give it enough clearance for a good heatsink for overclocking. I wouldn't get it. If you want an open case, just leave the side panel off of your case and you get the same effect for less.

 

[urielsynthesis]

Thanks, I didn't think about that!


I'd actually be happier if I could just configure and order something from a vendor and not have to worry about all the ways I could screw it up. The hard part is not overpaying.

Anandtech recently reviewed a midrange Cyberpower system close to what I want (http://anandtech.com/systems/showdoc.aspx?i=3524) and were pleased with it, stating that the cost was roughly what the components were on newegg. On the other hand, there is a long history of negative views about Cyberpower. Anyone have any insight on whether I should consider them? Here's a build I made on their website:

(I plan on upgrading the HDD and Optical Drive with something better when I have the cash, as well as add gigabit ethernet)

CASE:CoolerMaster Centurion 590 RC-590 Mid-Tower 420W Case
MOTHERBOARD:(3-Way SLI Support) Asus P6T Intel X58 Chipset SLI/CrossFireX Mainboard Triple-Channel DDR3/1600 SATA RAID w/ eSATA,GbLAN,USB2.0,IEEE1394a,&7.1Audio
CPU:Intel® CoreT i7-920 2.66 GHz 8M L3 Cache LGA1366
VIDEO:NVIDIA GeForce GTX295 X2 1.7GB 16X PCIe Video Card (EVGA Powered by NVIDIA)
MEMORY:6GB (2GBx3) PC1333 DDR3 PC3 10666 Triple Channel Memory [+59] (Corsair Dominator)
CD:(Special Price) LG 20X DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW DRIVE DUAL LAYER (BLACK COLOR)
FAN:CoolerMaster V8 Gaming CPU Cooling Fan (Extreme Silent Operation at only 22dBA + Overclock Proof)
HDD:Single Hard Drive (500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD)
OS: Microsoft® Windows Vista™ Home Premium w/ Service Pack 1 (64-bit Edition)
KEYBOARD: Logitech Deluxe 250 USB Keyboard (Black Color)
MOUSE: XtremeGear Optical USB 3 Buttons Gaming Mouse
NETWORK:ONBOARD 10/100 NETWORK CARD
POWER SUPPLY:850 Watts Power Supply (Thermaltake W0131RU ToughPower 850 Watts- NVIDIA GTX 8800 Certified)
SERVICE:STANDARD WARRANTY: 3-YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY PLUS LIFE-TIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT

total: $1745.00

 

[Shadow703793]

^Everything except PSU looks good. Try and get a PC Power & Cooling or a Corsair PSU.

 

[urielsynthesis]

i went back to the configurator (http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/saving/show.asp?id=1849287) and changed to the only PSU I saw matching one of those two brands ("Corsair CMPSU-750TX - Quad SLI Ready"). I'm sure 750w is plenty.

This lowered to total to $1612.00

If this is a good price compared to what I would pay for parts myself then I'll pull the trigger. I'm sure Cyberpower isn't extremely reliable in their build quality but I would have to assume they would create less problems than I would!


EDIT: By typing "REPEAT" into the promo code field I got 5% off, bringing the total to $1531.00

 

[xthekidx]

^Everything except PSU looks good. Try and get a PC Power & Cooling or a Corsair PSU.

Thermaltake toughpower series are very good PSU's, you wouldn't have a quality issue there, but they are overpriced so you can get better for the money.

 

[Proximon]

Yeah the knee-jerk reaction is to avoid TT for power supplies, but that one happens to be fine.

I didn't pull out a calculator or look up exact prices, but I got around 1400. I would say it's not bad.