Graphics Question for a first time builder

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HpDarkman

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Jan 24, 2013
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Hi all, I am a first time builder looking for some advice… I am looking to build a very good gaming machine and looking for some friendly advice. I just made this account to ask this question, but I have been using this site for advice so far for the past couple of months… SO my question is, and I have decided on an AMD 7970 HD GHz edition card but I am trying to narrow it down. The two I have narrowed it down to is the HIS Radeon 7970 GHz IceQ 3GB and the Sapphire Vapor X 7970 Ghz 3GB. THis is because of the power of the cards and the relative price.. Im trying to stay under the 450 range. I know there are some Nvidia guys here and I am open to them too But so far the Nvidias are more expensive and i can get the same power out of a 7970 as a reference 680 GTX. ANyway plan on running two of these 7970s eventually just not at the initial build… and finally here is the build I am doing…

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/yXFY

the only thing left to buy is the mother board and GPU along with RAM… if anyone has any suggestions I would like to hear about my 2 cards i have picked but I am open to ideas…also would like to hear how you guys like the ASUS maximus V Formula, no thunder FX is? Thanks Guys

HIS Radeon 7970 GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161431
Or
Sapphire Vapor X 7970 GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202001
 
Solution
Vapor-X for the card. Superior cooling. Superior components.
Black Diamond Choke & Full Solid Cap Design

Choke is an important component of the graphics card. By working with the component engineer, Sapphire’s patent pending choke is 10% cooler and offers 25% more power efficiency than a normal choke. The graphics card will be more reliable and save energy.
Improved reliability and better overclocking are possible by using only high-polymer, aluminum capacitors which posses far superior characteristics than regular aluminum capacitor for a longer product life. When operational temperatures drop by 20°C, the product life span is extended by a factor of ten, when the operational temperature increases by 20°C, the product life span...
Vapor-X for the card. Superior cooling. Superior components.
Black Diamond Choke & Full Solid Cap Design

Choke is an important component of the graphics card. By working with the component engineer, Sapphire’s patent pending choke is 10% cooler and offers 25% more power efficiency than a normal choke. The graphics card will be more reliable and save energy.
Improved reliability and better overclocking are possible by using only high-polymer, aluminum capacitors which posses far superior characteristics than regular aluminum capacitor for a longer product life. When operational temperatures drop by 20°C, the product life span is extended by a factor of ten, when the operational temperature increases by 20°C, the product life span only decreases by 10%.

I also do not think you need a i7 unless you are doing rendering or editing of some professional kind. I'll mess with your build a little. Your total is $1753.00 with mine its $1443.63.

Things I changed motherboard. The motherboard is overkill unless you are seriously into overclocking. You don't get many things that are meaurably different between the cheaper and more expensive boards maybe more ports, and possibly thunderbolt ports but that's it.

I also, went with a different ram stick its the same brand and model went with black to match your motherboard and its cheaper then the color options as well.

I changed your SSD from non pro to professional because the professional version is faster and uses a better NAND.

I went with the Vapor-X because its the best Ghz card in my opinion.

And two other things I changed your power supply you didn't need a 1 kilowatt power supply. I selected a xfx 750 watt power supply which is enough to quite possibly crossfire two Vapor-X cards. As well as I placed a Noctua NH-D14 cooler in your build to give you some room to have fun and overclock your CPU. Even if you don't it will keep your system very cool and if it is something you don't want you can just take it off the list.



PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($80.76 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($124.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($46.98 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($99.98 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($219.99 @ Adorama)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition 3GB Video Card ($424.98 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Phantom (White) ATX Full Tower Case ($104.99 @ TigerDirect)
Power Supply: XFX 750W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($84.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Asus BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer ($55.98 @ NCIX US)
Total: $1433.63
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-01-24 17:55 EST-0500)

 
Solution








PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($80.76 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V LE PLUS ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($154.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Mushkin Blackline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($44.98 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($178.42 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card (CrossFire) ($297.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card (CrossFire) ($297.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: NZXT Phantom (White) ATX Full Tower Case ($104.99 @ TigerDirect)
Power Supply: SeaSonic Platinum 860W 80 PLUS Platinum Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($190.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer ($55.98 @ NCIX US)
Total: $1737.04
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-01-24 18:04 EST-0500)



BEAST gaming PC!!! No compromises, 7950 CF at the start, have your cake and eat it too!

 
Okay well I already bought the i7 because i work at a place that lets me get into intel retail edge, and their holiday deal was that CPU for 105 dollars… thats what sparked the build… the PSU i bought on sale for 69.99… the ram i just arbitrarily picked anyway but the mono i was kind of set on due to the great reviews and overviews I've read on it and i would like to over clock someday too, i want this thing to last for a good 5 years at least with minimal upgrades hopefully. I just bought an optical drive today for like 18 bucks on new egg with one of their sales so i will upgrade to a blu ray later as well. and why exactly did you choose the sapphire? everything I've read said the HIS matched it and has the better OC software along with superior cooling? and as far as cooling goes I'm gonna stay away from water cooling for a bit but that looks good.
 
I have heard not so great things about the Gigabyte GPUS and i was kinda wary of them.. Oh and another thing i forgot to mention was that the samsung has already been purchased got it on sale as well for about 120 so I'm sticking with that… and any other explanations on that build ?
 
Well the reason is the Vapor-X cooling its like a hybrid of water cooling plus you get the aftermarket heatsink and heatpipes. And normally I think its best to stay away from overclocking a graphics card. And with a 7970 ghz card you will find that there is very little overclocking headroom without the use of water cooling which would defeat the purpose of a expensive Vapor-X card. It's my personal belief you will be happier with the Vapor-X.

I wouldn't go with a CF configuration I feel for stability reasons getting the best single card you can get is the way to go. That is to say you stick with one screen. Otherwise you may want to consider adding cards.

I don't take issue with the motherboard if that is what you'd like. I really like the ROG boards red and black is sexy.

I would of preferred a different PSU but that is okay it will suffice.

And with your budget you wise as well get the 840 Professional 100%
 
Yeah the PSU may be out the door soon… i bought it on a sale and it was kind of impulse because i knew it would get my voltage job done… and I didn't know about that vapor x, I like that.

Yeah I only want to start with a single awesome card… I want the brutal power and the ability to upgrade later on and keep it powerful…

The Mobo i really like, the other one i was reading up on was the ASrock Fatality but the reviews weren't as good i don't think.. and some people said it was over priced for what you get with the fatality brand.
 



OP go with his build... Yeah go with the single 7970 that vapor-x is a monster.

That power supply though...



http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/08/30/topower_1000w_gold_power_supply_review/9



I would not trust it to run a lawnmower, if you could actually do such a thing... XD
 
If you were to go with a enthusiast board for me at least There are 3 you could go with.

1. Asus Maximus V Formula/ThunderFX EATX LGA1155 Motherboard: I like this board a lot because it has stronger audio then most other boards. I'm a sound card guy I like my nice motherboards but I also like my audio.

2.Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UP7: A absolute beast motherboard as well.

3. MSI Z77 MPOWER: Solid board with great Aesthetics.

I wouldn't pay for an enthusiast grade ASROCK board I would get one from a manufacture who knows how to do enthusiast like a boss! Not to say ASROCK can't I just wouldn't put 300 dollars into a Board without ASUS, MSI, or Gigabyte on it unless DFI raised itself from the dead 😛 or ABIT 😀
 
Hah i appreciate both of your guy's help, I will probably do the formula with the thunderFX I like good Audio too, I play BF3 and the audio on there is so good and i want to experience all of it. So that mobo with the vapor X it is decided then… Thanks a lot guys, one last thing…

What would be a good monitor to get if i want Full HD 1920 x 1080 is good enough for me and 3D for gaming and possible blu rays but i have a 3d tv so blu rays are whatever. Also good for running dual monitors later probably never 3… maybe wayyyyyy down the line.
 
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