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conan666

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Aug 12, 2010
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i am building a new computer, ive never done this before but so far i have figured out most of what

i would like to see in it based on my own research. Please let me know what you think as im not

even sure how compatible all these things are with eachother. help me build the monster guys :)



i need some input from all you experienced builders out there how this would look?



1. Case (antec 900 two)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129058

2. Mother board (MSI Big Bang Fuzion LGA 1156 Intel

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130259&cm_re=big_bang_fuzion-_-13-130-259-_-Product

3. Graphics Card (Nvidia GTX 460 SS 1GB evga)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130568

4. Memory RAM ( Corsair XMS3 6GB ddr3 1600) 7 cas

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145286

5. Power supply Corsair AX850 850W

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139015&cm_re=corsair_psu-_-17-139-015-_-Product

6. HDD Western Digital 1TB Caviar Black 7200 RPM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136533&cm_re=1tb_wd_black-_-22-136-533-_-Product

7. drives dont matter to me yet but i may get a blu ray.

8. Processor/CPU Intel Core i7-950 Bloomfield 3.06GHz

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115211







Approximate Purchase Date:
(This Month or Next)

Budget Range:
around 1,500 Before / After Rebates

System Usage from Most to Least Important:

GAMING!! , watching movies, surfing the internet

Parts Not Required: (e.g.: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, OS) **Include Power Supply Make & Model If Re-using**

um this is seperate in my buget however i am in need of a good monitor looking for LED with high resolution.

Preferred Website(s) for Parts:
newegg.com, Amazon.com and Frys basically anywhere with best deals)

Country of Origin:
i am in the US

Parts Preferences: by brand or type
i would like to use Intel Corsair and Nvidia based products i am open to Radeon though
And i want to fit everything in a great mid tower case.

Overclocking: Yes / No / Maybe

i dont want to overclock it myself really as i am not experienced but i would buy a pre overclocked graphic card

SLI or Crossfire: Yes / No / Maybe

YES i am particularly interested in SLI of the geforce GTX460

Monitor Resolution:

the more the better, but at least 1080


Additional Comments:

i would like a quite PC and if possible a elegant or cool looking case. this computer has to run crisis on ultra 😀

and i believe that is all maybe i forgot somthing but please let me tell me your opinions and i will consider them. Build me a Monster Guys! 😀
 
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@Wolygon @sutek
Definitely not the wrong way, this is an open discussion and I enjoy debating and learning from what other people already know. With that said...
The reason that memory is not on the QVL is because its a triple channel kit. The XMS3 1600MHz C7 4GB is on the list. Though I prefer the Ripjaws anyway. This we agree on :ange:


"That dual core i5 would be a terrible CPU to get at this point. The unlocked multi means little to non extreme OCers and the OP was already looking at an unlocked i7".
But this however I believe to be incorrect. It's not terrible, for one thing it's architecture is built on the 32nm's while the 875k is built on the 45mn architecture making it a little quicker on the uptake. The 655k is equipped with two physical cores that use Hyper-Threading to address four threads simultaneously. I was mostly looking at price and a lot of people say, including you, that you don't need 4 cores and 4 threads for gaming. Again working on that I was making an economical suggestion for only $200 instead of the $330 for the i7 875K other people are suggesting. (All 3 Priced at Newegg for equal comparison) And as for the unlocked multi meaning little to non extreme OC'ers? Again, I disagree - The unlocked multi IS for the NON-extremist!! It means he only has to go into bios and up the multiplier, boom, overclock done from 3.46 (in turbo) to 3.8GHz or 4.0GHz, (with the right cooling of course). NOT having to adjust bclk + multi + timings and making sure the vcore is within .5 of dram and all those settings (just examples please don't correct it) :pt1cable: that are so important for a stable overclock.


"You say the i7 8XX has triple channel memory support and quote this as a bad thing. It is on a platform which only supports dual channel memory so I don't exactly see how you get to that."
Well, Yes :pfff: I did say "looking at the i7 875k it is also triple channel support so it's overkill for the board and memory" and that is an incorrect statement. What I meant to say was that the memory is triple channel, but both the motherboard AND the i7 875k are only dual channel capable so the memory is overkill for those. At least you actually read my post first :lol:

"The only benefit to the i7 9XX is that they run on X58 which supports 3 way SLI/CF. Though this can be had with a much cheaper NF200 P55 board. Also there are barely any upgrade options, same as P55. Though it is possible for it to receive SB CPUs though this is unconfirmed (last I heard)." The 9XX will not help the OP "not upgrade for quite some time", nor is it a "little overkill". It is the same as an i7 8XX but on X58.

Partially correct - the i7 9xx series (which will need the correct MOBO for), you can start with the i7 950 for only $300, (which is cheaper than the i7 875k), It has the fastest processor capabilities, (they're even on that score), support for 3 way SLI and CFX @ X16 X16 X16 (where the 875k boards only supports X16 X16 X4), AND it supports triple channel memory, (875k only supports dual channel), as well as the possibility, (your quote)- "possible for it to receive SB CPUs though this is unconfirmed (last I heard)" How is that the same? I believe it makes it top of the line for starting out, plenty of cores, memory and vid card support. Not all usable now as you stated but will be there in the future when/if games develop, and the engineering starts moving into 3D, Which means to me that you won't HAVE to upgrade "for quite some time to come".

Also there are barely any upgrade options, same as P55.
Sorry, but unless he starts out with the i7 980X and 24GB's of memory and all 3 (or possibly 4), Video graphics cards I see room for upgrades years down the road if he needs/wants them. (Not to mention the possibility of SB)

So much for the fun part, back to work :sol:
"i think its important that i also ask this question, If i do decide now to sell this board and start over, when should i expect to to have my computer by at the soonest?"
Well, if you sell it on ebay and give it a weeks air time it will be at least a week. You can start buying your other components right away. Of course you will need to pick everything you're looking at getting and put it on a list, checking to make sure it's all compatible. One of the things you will need to take into consideration is the video cards, If you're looking at getting the 2 6950s or 2 6970's that Wolygon suggested (and I do like them), then you will have to wait the 10 days till they come out. You might be able to even pre-order them so they come straight to you when they do. I wouldn't wait on the SandyBridge and all that before I did anything. The only waiting on those that I want to do is for other people, benchmarkers and reviews and the like to get them and test them and publish results and then wait for the corrections to be made the same as for any product comes out. You could have it in a month on the outside depending on the shipping. The longest part is figuring out exactly what you want to have in it. Checking out all compatibilities, keeping in mind any possible future upgrades, (like the video cards, do they need 1-6 pin and 1-8 pin each?, or 2-6 pin power connectors each, do you plan on getting a third card 6 months down the road?, so when you buy your power supply make sure it has all the appropriate connectors. So if you think on that and give us an updated list, or have any questions about parts you found or would like to find, we can help you some more. We all have our opinions and preferences and a good bit of knowledge to share and help you with and we don't always agree on it but that's good cause you get to see both sides and chose for yourself. I'm just thankful you're not asking about AMD's, I know nothing about those "things" :heink: :lol:
 
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@suteck
Thanks for not taking it the wrong way, I hate cry babies you can't debate :).

The reason I dissed the i5 is because the i3 530 is "almost" the same yet so much cheaper. The only advantages to the i5 is its "Turbo Boost" which no real OCer uses, and its hardware encryption acceleration (which is amazing, though not useful). So basically we can compare it to the i3 (i3 has HT). Here is a review which compares a stack of different CPUs in 5870 CF:
http://www.legionhardware.com/articles_pages/radeon_hd_5870_crossfire_cpu_scaling_performance_part_2,1.html
Basically it can be seen that the i3 is a bit limiting. Though take note that these restrictions are rather unrealistic as no one cares if they drop from 100fps to 80fps so it doesn't really matter. Where it starts to matter is where they crank the graphics and resolution right up so they're playing at 40fps, then they care if they go to 30fps. But also note that when they crank it up this high less load goes on the CPU and more on the GPU meaning this loss won't really happen...

I know thats a bit hard to understand. :). Bacially I said an i3 530 would make much difference, though I don't really think it would be appropriate. This is a bit of parroting as though there won't be much benefit it is generally advisable to go for a 7XX if your running a 5870+.

The i5 7XX will easily outperform an i3 in CPU intensive applications (engineering?), this is because HT <> real cores. Feel free to look up some carts.

Yes I agree with you on that unlocked multis are easier to OC. Though OCing standardly is pretty easy, a 4GHz clock can be achieved in a small amount of time. Your only really having to play with the VTT voltage and turn the RAM multi down. I have an i3 and it is not hard to OC. Also in reality the unlocked is for the extremist, notice Intel used to can them EE (extreme edition).

For example:
Clocked at 7137.47MHz NickShih used a 264MHz bclock with an i5 670
Clocked at 7140.30MHz CAL930 used a 204MHz bclock with an i5 655K
Achieving a 204MHz bclock is a bloody lot easier.

The i7 8XX is the same chip as the i7 9XX is what I was saying. On their platform is different. First of all triple channel memory is not required for basically anything:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/Intel-Core-i7-Nehalem,2057-13.html
X58 allows x16/x8/x8 whereas standard P55 allows x8/x8/x4. Adding a third card card to P55 actually decreases performance back down to single card levels.

Though I wasn't taking about standard P55 boards:
"Though this can be had with a much cheaper NF200 P55 board."
A NF200 board like below allows x16/x8/x8 on P55:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131594&cm_re=p55_board-_-13-131-594-_-Product

If X58 doesn't get SB then it really doesn't have any merit. Wow you can upgrade to more RAM, though no one needs more than 16GB which is what the P55 can supply. And also you can upgrade to a 980X!!! When the time comes to upgrade the CPU, it will be just as good to upgrade the board and CPU to an SB one. The 980X offers little over the 4 core i7s and thus is not much of an upgrade.

 
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Lol I was infact not drunk but sleep deprived and I kind of just browsed through and gave my two cents. Black Ops can take your sleep away. Anyway, I now understand why haha.

Sorry for my misunderstanding.

But... your not interested in overclocking. I don't think you need to spend the money on a Intel K processor, I mean since you aren't OCing (which is what the K series is really for, a better decision (if you don't want to wait) is a 870 which is about 40-50$ cheaper than the 875K. Plus even if you ever want to OC, the i3/i5/i7 all offer very good OCing, the only thing the 875K is worth is multi unlocked, and even then, unless you plan to get water cooling, you won't be able to OC it past the level you could a 870. Of course, this is just what I've seen from air cooling and a i7 875K.

Another thing is I strongly encourage you to take Wolygon's Cayman advice. It's coming out this month and your really haven't bought your GPU's yet so I think it's worth the wait to wait for the Cayman release. From a site called PowerCouler, they released a leak on the 6970, it's performance should be 50% above the 6870, which puts it at 580 level. Now the only thing is pricing, but I think that the 6950 would be a good card as that'll probably close to the 6970 like the 5850 to the 5870. So... I think you should wait out on the GPU.

 
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Oh by the by, here's some reasons you should wait for SB. And why you should get the XFX and save some cash. Btw if you do go with the 870 (instead of the 875K) and the XFX 850 or 750 (instead of the Corsair AX850) the money you save could get a 6970 or 6950 depending on pricing. ANYWAY to the proof.

SB Performance: http://www.anandtech.com/show/3871/the-sandy-bridge-preview-three-wins-in-a-row
XFX 850 review: http://www.hardocp.com/article/2009/12/10/xfx_black_edition_850w_power_supply_review/9
Cayman performance: http://www.donanimhaber.com/ekran-karti/haberleri/powercolor-ile-radeon-hd-6900-serisinin-performansini-ve-fusion-islemcilerini-konustuk.htm

(For the Cayman proof, use google translate to translate the page XD)
 
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so what im seeing is that the i7-875k thats out now can pretty much handle anything thats out at max . im not really the bench mark enthusiast i dont need the best if its not necessary.

after asking a few people i think i will be able to run any engineering program pretty well without SB

my main question is how well can i run crisis with the setup i chosen (assuming i go with the better graphic card Radeon)

and also how much of an improvement is the new radeon graphic card you mentioned over the GTX460? (the similar priced one)
what will the prices be?

I will go with xfx now thank you :)

Also i wanna ask is it really worth selling and rebuying a p55 board?, i mean isnt the one i have now extremely fast? it also has an oc genie and a great sound card.
 
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I think the i5 750 will be a better shot for you, it will be just as good in gaming and similar in CPU intensive stuff. But its a lot cheaper.

With a single 6970 you'd be looking at similar performance to a GTX480 or possibly a GTX580. Heres benchmarks in crysis:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-480,2585-10.html

A single 6970 should have similar performance to 2 GTX 460s.

You need to decide yourself whether its worth it. You will see no performance, no gain by keeping that board. If you resell it and get a nice NF200 board you will save around $100-$125. Is that worth it to you? Taking into account that the current board will be NO better. You decide.
 
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Well... Here is the thing LucidHydra is pretty sweet, I mean it's a great idea.... But... It's just not there yet, drivers are pretty fresh and the tech is pretty new. Tom's did a review on it, in things like MW2 and other COD games, Lucid performed better than crossfire bridges and such. But... In others like Stalker, it performed at the level of a single card. So... I mean NF200 is pretty sweet though.

Uh.... So like I said I think that the i5 760/750 or the i7 870 is good enough especially since you don't plan to OC. The i5 will give you great performance for the buck, plus save you 130$ from the 875K. In turn you could put that towards the Caymans. Um.... the 6970 is espected to run about on par with the 580, or 50% better than the 6870. However since AMD had some part shipping problems the delay is now until Christmas... So... If you want Cayman you'll hafta wait. But leaks are everywhere now, AMD is just trying to hype it up like the Barts.

Assuming with the Cayman, you'll run it as good as the 580 can run it, maxed out everything. With the 460 in SLI you'll run it as good as the 480 can run. So... either way, you'll get no slacking with that. Plus the i5 handles many GPU bottlenecks and games like Crysis just fine.
 
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i aslo want to ask how an SSD would work on the mobo i have now? i heard something about sata 3 or controllers being important for SSD

i have no clue if im missing something here. its very important to me that i will be able to use SSD in the future to their full potential .
 
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Jesus triple post, haha.

We don't know, it's all speculation, and as he said you'd see similar performance. The cayman reports 50% over a 6870 and that'd put it at 580 so thats why we say that.

As for your SSD, It'd be the same way an HDD works, you connect the SATA 3 cable from the SSD to the mobo, same way the HDD works. The controller is inside the SDD.
 
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sorry about that i was very sleepy and too lazy to edit my post to add questions lol.

so i guess ill wait for the caymans. i dont really want a hot and loud card thats why i origionally wanted to go with GTX460 in SLI

but if radeon is coming out with a card with similar performance/efficiency ratio but higher performance, then i would definitely consider it. so i guess its the waiting game for me.

i dont remember if i asked this before, but would most people go with the haf 922 over the antec 902 case? im interested mostly in a silent but very cool (temperature and aesthetics wise) case about mid size as i want to be able to transport it without to much difficulty (might attend 1 lan party a month or so)

also if someone can link me to the best 1TB HDD in their opinion. that would be helpful as i am having trouble finding one that i like.
 
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Both are defiantly not quiet, the thing that's good about the HAF is it's high air flow, however the 902 has good airflow (not as good as the 922 but still good) and it also has fan controllers on the edges of the intake fans, and a controller on the back for the exhaust fans. Another thing about the 902 that the 922 doesn't have is the 902 has Dust filters.

I really hate dust cleaning so I like the 902 because of the dust filters, plus you basically get free fan controller. Oh and don't worry about cable management as the 902 has cable management holes as well.

Umm the best 1tb is the F3 hands down, low cost, 500gb platter and always on sale at newegg.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185&Tpk=samsung%20f3%201tb

Review: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/storage/2009/10/06/samsung-spinpoint-f3-1tb-review/9
 
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"Both are defiantly not quiet,"

with respect. i know for a fact that this is not true. not only have many reviews said the opposite, but i was at my friends lan party last week and i heard for myself how quite the antec 900 is.


i also dont know how you can say that the samsung is better when in the very benchmarks you showed me, it rates exactly the same at the wetern digital caviar black .

aside from that is it even safe to buy harddrives from online retailers? i heard their packaging of HDD's are awful. and lead to drive failures
 
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Yes but look at the Caviar black's prices... They are more than the Samsung F3's. And look at that, it is a Caviar Black 2TB not the Caviar Black 1TB. They aren't the same design or drive.

And I haven't had any bad experience as Newegg has really improved their HDD packaging.
 
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no its not that. i just think its misleading when some people say that one item is better than another, only because of the price. if its the same quality, but at a cheaper price then thats definitely a valid reason to buy it.

do people usually put everything on one HDD? or do they separate the operating system and their games across 2 or more?
 
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Ermm... yes... and no... If you have money in your budget to buy an SSD (most enthusiasts fit it into their budget) then you would split your data in two. Since the SSD would be the boot drive, only used to store your OS and other programs you want to boot fast like Photoshop 5 or Adobe Premiere 5 and the SSD would store the more important thing you want to boot. Mainly because usually you'd only buy a 64gb-120gb SSD. Then the F3 or whatever your large size HDD is would store the rest you want to store. Like music, movies, pictures, the main stuff.
 
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Depends on the game if it takes a long time to start up like Crysis or BF2 then I'd store it on the SSD. But usually I just store my games on my main HDD... Sooo..

Here's an idea, umm the F3 1TB would store your games. And your SSD would store your main programs IE OS and CS5.
 
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I thought that in order to play a game it had to be installed in the running operating system? Meaning if your running win 7 on your ssd you have to install your game on the ssd. You can put it on the 1 TB but you have to install it in C://program files on the ssd. Is this not correct?
 
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