How good is this build - What could I improve on

[adrennn]

Here ya go http://pcpartpicker.com/p/EPm

What could I improve on?

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been moved from the section CPU & Components to section Systems by Mousemonkey

 

[genghiskron]

2xhd6970's with a 20" 1600x900 monitor is a CRIME. please fill out the form linked in my signature so we have all the necessary information to help you. its a great build in general. if this is a gaming build youd be fine with an i5-2500k, as the i7-2600k is going to give you little to no performance increase in games.

i would recommend a 24" 1080p monitor. 22" (21.5") bare minimum.

 

[mjmjpfaff]

hp 1900x1200 24" monitor- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824176141 280$

windows 7 oem- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986 100$

i5 2500k- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072 220$

Gigabyte Z68 UD3- http://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-Intel-DDR3-Motherboards-GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3/dp/B00518M74I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1312817081&sr=8-1 160$

Hyper 212 Plus- http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-Hyper-Sleeve-RR-B10-212P-G1/dp/B002G1YPH0/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1312817143&sr=1-1 27$

Samsung Spinpoint F3 1tb- http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Spinpoint-Cache-Desktop-HD103SJ/dp/B001U3S5S0/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1312817193&sr=1-1 59$

EVGA GTX 570- http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-DisplayPort-PCI-Express-Graphics/dp/B004L9LT24/ref=sr_1_5?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1312817235&sr=1-5 290$ after m.i.r.

EVGA GTX 570- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130613 298$ after m.i.r. & shipping (get 1 one from each store so you can get 2 mail in rebates)

OCZ Solid 3 120gb- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227729 160$

Silverstone Raven- http://www.amazon.com/SILVERSTONE-RV02B-W-Steel-Tower-Computer/dp/B002M78KZG/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1312818072&sr=1-1 135$

GSKILL 8gb 1600mhz- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231428 60$

Silverstone 850w PSU- http://www.amazon.com/SilverStone-ATX12V-EPS12V-Silver-ST85F-P/dp/B00307RLZW/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1312818153&sr=1-1 150$

Asus DVD Burner- http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B0033Z2BAQ/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&qid=1312818349&sr=1-1&condition=new 21$

Total=1760$

 

[adrennn]

forget about the laptop, I wasn't even going to get that one, my friend put that on for no reason lol
anyway would this be able to play BF3?

 

[adrennn]

Also which is better, mjm's or mine

 

[IntelEnthusiast]

If you are building this as a gaming system I would advise that you step down to the Intel® Core™ i5-2500K. The reason why is that right now very few games can take advantage of more than 3 threads because of this the value of the hyper-threading on the Intel Core i7-2600K is very minimal for gamers. Without the hyper-threading the difference between Intel Core i7-2600K and the Intel Core i5-2500K comes down to 100MHz faster clock speed and 2MB more cache. So you need to ask yourself if these two differences are worth the extra $100 price. For most gamers the answer is that we would be better off speeding the money on something else.

Christian Wood
Intel Enthusiast Team

 

[mjmjpfaff]

Also which is better, mjm's or mine

well mine because it includes a decent monitor....

 

[adrennn]

I already said that I am not getting that monitor :/
@Intel how big of a difference can 100 Mhz make? Also will games in the future take advantage of hyper threading? I do have the future in mind

 

[mjmjpfaff]

even if you get a 1080p 60hz monitor you are wasting your money. look into 120hz monitors for 3d gaming (i dont recommend it, it hurts my eyes), multi monitor setups, or single high resolution setups. change the monitor in my build i posted to this- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824254052&Tpk=hanns%20g%2027.5

 

[adrennn]

I don't have much interest in 3D gaming, I could run multimonitor in the future, I want a single HiRes setup right now, should I use what you just posted?

 

[mjmjpfaff]

ya

 

[danraies]

You should really get a ~128gb solid state drive - they help a lot with gaming. Also, the 100Mhz and 2mb cache difference between the i5-2500K and i7-2600K is nothing - it's not really worth $100. Hyperthreading makes a difference in some applications but gaming is not currently one of them. Slowly more games will make use of hyperthreading, but it is my understanding that it will not be a prohibitive factor in the life of the i7s. I'm not an expert or a fortune teller, but that was also a significant concern of mine during my recent cpu research.

In terms of video cards, the gtx 570 that mjmjpfaff has better benchmarks than your hd 6970 in single card configurations and the 570s are, if anything, cheaper.
http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html

I understand the hesitation to spend an extra $300 on a monitor after buying an $1800 computer, but you do lose a lot of the benifits of $600 worth of gpu on a 1600 x 900 resolution.

You might also want to think about a motherboard that supports 2 PCIe 2.0 x16 slots in x16/x16 configuration, but that will be expensive. The one your list is only x8/x8 but that's pretty common. If you're going to stick with x8/x8 I recommend the ASUS P8Z68-V PRO. It's personal preference really, but ASUS is a solid company with great service. I don't know that my ASUS will be *better* than your ASRock, but that would be my recommendation.

 

[adrennn]

@danraies, does it benchmark better in duel card?

 

[adrennn]

what do you think of this build?

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/G06

 

[danraies]

I don't know about the duel card setup, it's harder to find benchmarks for that. Opinions between the two are just going to reflect personal preferences between red and green. I'm not a video card expert so I can't really weigh in, but if I had to make a decision I'd probably go with the cheaper option. You also might want to look up some of the specific games you play - some are better on SLI and some are better on CrossFire.

The build looks good; you should get a lot of performance out of that. You'll like the i5-2500K and it's really easy to overclock. The only thing I would revise is the PSU and that's only because it's not a brand name. Sometimes there's nothing wrong with them, but you are rolling the dice with the off-brand power supplies. Names like Corsair and Antec are reliable and have great customer service. The PSU below is an Antec model about the same price (with shipping):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371050
A single +12V rail is better (which is what your Seasonic model has) but with power supplies brand names do mean something. If you're willing to spend a little more, this is a good option:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139009

 

[mjmjpfaff]

ok well first off the monitor you just picked is smaller has a slower response time and costs more!

Hanns-g 27" 1920x1200 montior- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824254052&Tpk=hanns%20g%2027.5 270$ hanns-g makes great monitors if you dont know the brand....

windows 7 oem- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986 100$

i5 2500k- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072 220$

Gigabyte Z68 UD3- http://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-Intel-DDR3-Motherboards-GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3/dp/B00518M74I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1312817081&sr=8-1 160$ pretty much the same motherboard as the z68 extreme4 for less (they are both z68's have 8 phases has usb 3.0.....)

Scythe Mugen 3- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185168&Tpk=scythe%20mugen%203 50$

Samsung Spinpoint F3 1tb- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185&Tpk=f3%201tb 50$

EVGA GTX 570- http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-DisplayPort-PCI-Express-Graphics/dp/B004L9LT24/ref=sr_1_5?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1312817235&sr=1-5 290$ after m.i.r. the cards you listed are triple slot they wont fit on the motherboard you selected

EVGA GTX 570- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130613 298$ after m.i.r. & shipping (get 1 one from each store so you can get 2 mail in rebates you can only get 1 mail in rebate per store!!! it says in the restrictions!)

OCZ Solid 3 120gb- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227729 160$

Silverstone Raven- http://www.amazon.com/Silverstone-Extended-90-Degree-Motherboard-RV03B-W/dp/B004X19B02/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1312851978&sr=1-1 140$ this case cools better than the haf x thanks to its unique design

GSKILL 8gb 1600mhz- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231428 60$

Cooler master silent pro 850w psu- http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-Modular-Certified-RS850-AMBAJ3-US/dp/B002RWJGC2/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1312853487&sr=1-4 138$

Asus DVD Burner- http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B0033Z2BAQ/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&qid=1312818349&sr=1-1&condition=new 21$

Total=1937$ you can drop the ssd if you want it wont help you in game.... if you do i suggest getting the corsair h60 with 2 of the aftermarket fans- http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-120mm-Case-R4-C2R-20AC-GP/dp/B0026ZPFDE/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1312854251&sr=8-5

 

[genghiskron]

lol @danraies. this thread is fail.

 

[mjmjpfaff]

that lepa psu is great but it only has a 1 yr. warranty and hardocp reviewed it. they tested it and it barely missed out on a bronze rating

 

[mjmjpfaff]

What you could do is buy the single 6970 for right now, spend $199.99 on the ACER 24inch 2ms response time 1920x1080 resolution monitor.

When BF3 releases, pick up your second 6970.

You should look into getting a Crucial M4 128gb SSD its a beast @ $219.99

I plan on picking up a second msi 6950 tf3 for my pc when bf3 releases so yeah ^_^

The psu you should get to power the 6970's (great product)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817194093

If I hadn't purchased my TX850W corsair enthusiast psu already I would have bought two of these with the price I paid for mine + a few extra dollars lol >_>

for fps games people prefer 3 or 1 monitors to 2 because it splits it right in the middle

 

[mjmjpfaff]

oops! somehow i thought you said add another monitor when you said add another 6970. wow need to get my eyes checked.

 

[danraies]

lol @danraies. this thread is fail.

Heh, not sure what you mean. there have been worse.

 

[mjmjpfaff]

lol @danraies. this thread is fail.

try to bring some sense into it then....

 

[danraies]

no need to throw stones friends. sorry for any mistakes.

 

[adrennn]

genghis, instead of trollin', mabye you could actually help? :/

Is an SSD necessary? It seems like its paying tons more money, for less space, but faster loading times, amirite?

@p07head, could you get me a link to that monitor, I gtg right now