I7 875K Photoshop/Final Fantasy 14 New Build

[redmoon]

In my Newegg.com Wishlist:

(edited: thanks WR2) ASUS Maximus III Formula
(X2) GIGABYTE GV-N460OC-1GI GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 SLI
Intel Core i7-875K Lynnfield 2.93GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Unlocked Desktop Processor
Corsair Obsidian Series 700D CC700D Black Aluminum / Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case
CORSAIR DOMINATOR-GT 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
CORSAIR Cooling Hydro Series CWCH50-1 120mm High Performance CPU Cooler - Retail
Corsair Force CSSD-F60GB2-BRKT 2.5" 60GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
CORSAIR CMPSU-850TX 850W ATX12V 2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply
WINDOWS 7 64-Bit


I'm looking to build a new system that can substantially handle Adobe Photoshop CS5 but ALSO run Final Fantasy 14 with full settings (current PC Benchmarks at 2021 points). I'm starting from scratch, not using any of my older parts except the 1TB Seagate 72,000RPM and 150G Velociraptor 10,000RPM.

My budget is at $2000 USD, but don't want to spend that much if I don't have to. I've always built AMD systems, this is my first Intel Build. I can't ignore what all the Benchmarks show when you put an i7 Core Vs. AMD's Hexacores.


-GTX 460 1G Fermis seem to be one of the best price/performance Videocards. I Plan to SLI them. OR should I get one of the 5XXX ATI cards?

-This will be my first attempt at Overclocking my CPU, is it a good choice? Is my mobo's Bios easy to use/OC for a first timer?

-Do I have enough RAM, is my 850W PSU good enough to handle the load, are SSD's really that good, to help overall performance?

-I Like the Case, I know it's big, is there a Case as good with wire management? Do I have enough proper cooling to Overclock?

-Could you recommend an AMD build that is just as good?

-Is this Future Proof enough?

-Did I miss anything? Is there other parts that are better that are releasing soon and worth waiting for?

Tell me what you think? I appreciate any help I may get, thank you in advance.

 

[WR2]

Hello Redmoon;

The socket 1366 X-58 motherboard is a mis-match with the socket 1156 CPU.

 

[WR2]

Asus P55 socket 1156 motherboards: ASUS P7P55D-E Pro / ASUS P7P55D-E Deluxe
would be good options. (edit to list the 'right' motherboards.

For P-55 boards you use RAM in sets of two sticks. CORSAIR DOMINATOR-GT 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)

Did you plan on three GTX 460s sometime in the future?

 

[redmoon]

Depends, how beneficial is it? Will I need better water cooling, it can get hot.

 

[WR2]

I have a few ideas that can save quite a bit but not impact the overall performance.
NewEgg combo deals for example:Corsair Obsidian Series 700D and CORSAIR HX CMPSU-650HX modular PSU The combo discount is $50 and then you the two rebates of $40 and $10.

 

[WR2]

What screen resolution will you be using?
Anything up to 1920x1200 - 2x GTX 460s should be all you need. If you're going to beyond that - up to a 30" 2,560 x 1,600 resolution then maybe 3x GTX 460s is something you might want to plan for - which is about what that Corsair 850TX PSU would power.

 

[redmoon]

I have a 3 year old Antec Trio True Power 650W PSU, should I just stick with it? Only reason I selected a 850W PSU in my new build is because I want to make sure I have enough for the new CPU and dual GPUs, with Harddrives and Future upgrades.

 

[cjl]

Dominator GT RAM? Really?

That's unnecessary, and extremely expensive. Unless you plan on running lots of RAM benchmarks, you can get much cheaper RAM and not sacrifice any performance.

If you really want Dominator (which is understandable, since Corsair Dominator has build quality second to none, and runs very cool), I'd get this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145303

That's the RAM that I have in my system, and even with 6 DIMMS, it runs rock solid with better-than-rated timings at below rated voltage.

 

[redmoon]

1920 X1200 preferably. Eyefinity set up by next year.

 

[redmoon]

To Cjl: I didn't see these, they're excellent. I might be misled very easily on newegg.com forums, as I tend to avoid items with little/low customer ratings or several reviews of having difficulties.

 

[WR2]

This is where it gets tricky. @ 1920 X1200 a 2x GTX 460 SLI is nearly perfect and a 650W PSU is fine.

For Nvidia Surround (Eyefinity is ATI only) you're looking at quite a few more pixels than 1920 X 1200. If we can nail that down - we can get the right video cards to support that... and from there get a PSU sized correctly.

 

[redmoon]

What would you suggest for a three screen set up?

 

[WR2]

Here is an article on Nvidia 3D Surround: NVIDIA Surround and 3D Vision Surround

Final Fantasy XIV Beta - FFXIV - NVIDIA SURROUND video

 

[WR2]

3 monitors, like ASUS VH242H Black 23.6" 1920x1080 $180 ea would have a combined resolution of 5760 x 1080 (3x 1920x1080 in landscape mode)

The same resolution of monitor that works in portrait mode (tilt) would have a combined resolution of 3240 x 1920 (3x 1920x1080 in portrait mode). That would require a more expensive monitor like the Acer B243H AJbdr 1920x1080 with pivot mode

I've been trying to track down some Final Fantasy XIV performance benchmarks for those types of higher resolutions but not been having any luck. So far.

 

[redmoon]

These are nice, I am going to have to take both of these into great consideration.

 

[WR2]

If you're serious about wanting the Nvidia Surround setup with 3 screens...
My thinking is getting a GTX 480 now - the after rebate price is about the same as 2x GTX 460s. EVGA GTX 480 $480 and $30 rebate.

That would get you GTX 460 SLI performance with just 1 card, leaving open a 2nd GTX 480 and 2 more monitors for a full Surround Setup.
Match the PSU for 2s GTX 480s and we're looking at a bit more than the Corsair 850TX. The Corsair 950TX or similar class PSU should get the job done according to SLIzone PSU recommendations.

This surround upgrade would cost your - minimum - two more LCD monitors, ~$360 or so.
Depending on how Final Fantasy XIV runs on the higher resolution you might not need a 2nd GTX 480 - but you should probably plan on it.

 

[WR2]

There are other options - like using smaller monitors, lower resolutions for your Surround setup.
And of course - you need the desk space for the monitors. That requirement has killed a few prospective Surround/Eyefinity setups.

If you see some Final Fantasy XIV performance benchmarks toss them in here if you get a chance.

 

[redmoon]

Now that you mention that, I might stick with 1650X1050 res.

I'm also considering changing my CPU to http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115225,
using a 1366 X-58 Mobo that supports X2 PCI-e 16X slots.

I'll be on the look out for those benchmarks.

 

[WR2]

Core i7 930 2.8Ghz CPU & ASUS P6X58D-E X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Motherboard $505
Corsair Hydro Series H50 CPU cooler $80
Mushkin Enhanced Redline 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 CL6 RAM $190
(your WD Raptor 150GB HDD and 1TB Seagate HDD)
Asus DVD Burner $22
EVGA GTX 480 $480 and $30 rebate
Corsair Obsidian Series 700D & Corsair 950TX PSU $320 -$50 combo discount plus $40 and $10 rebates
~$1597 before $80 in available rebates

with 60GB SSD
Corsair Force CSSD-F60GB2-BRKT 2.5" 60GB $165
~1762 before $80 in available rebates

There are some 21.5" 1920x1080 LCD monitors that might fit a Nvidia Surround setup on your desktop workspace:
ASUS VH222H Black 21.5" 5ms HDMI 1920x1080 LCD Monitor $180 plus $10 rebate

 

[redmoon]

+This is enough PSU to SLI the GTX 480.

(CAS 6) 6-8-6-24 1.6V, I always here people refer to "Tight Timing" with RAM, I don't yet understand what they mean. I've been out of the loop for some time.

I like this set up. I looked at everything, and it seems solid. You just might of decided everything I might be ordering.

 

[redmoon]

Still think this will take on FF14's requirements, I believe these settings are on High with a 1280x720 Res and X4 Multi sampling anti-alias


This is the website I grabbed the image from: http://www.ffxivcore.com/topic/8808-26-new-screenshots-rec-system-requirements/?s=9ffeb9b9beeffe39378f0815a5f6b121

 

[WR2]

Those are some pretty amazing hardware requirements - I7 CPU & GTX 460. It looks like FF14 is going to be hard on hardware.
Going to be heck on all the laptop players.

Yes, a Corsair 950TX should handle 2x GTX 480s in SLI and allow a reasonable amount of CPU overclocking and a few extra upgrades.
Corsair 950TX PSU review @ JonnyGuru

You could get a $30 less set of excellent Cas7 RAM: CORSAIR XMS3 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMX6GX3M3C1600C7 $160 after rebate Corsair also has a $200 set of CORSAIR DOMINATOR Cas7 that looks really good.
I doubt you could actually tell the difference yourself between the Cas6 and Cas8 RAM sets.
As RAM bandwidth (PC3-12800) / speed (1600Mhz) increases it comes with increased Cas Latency (amount of cycles needed to 'read' the data). You can manually tweak the settings (overclock and loosen timings for example) and a premium RAM set like the Muskin Redline just gives you more options.
You'd probably get a bigger boost in overall performance by boosting the CPU speed an extra 100mhz than any RAM tweaking you could do.