My new system plan

[jwalker150]

I have finally made some decisions. I was thinking of holding off for the Sandybridge E processors but have decided to move ahead. Next year once Ivybridge is out I will then go ahead and upgrade again at that point.

Case: Thermaltake Take 10 GT (bought). Moved from an Apevia Midtower.

Processor: Intel Core i7 2600K Moving from a Core 2 Quad Core Q6700

Motherboard: AsRock Z68 Extreme7 Gen3. Moving from a ASUS P5N-T Deluxe

Memory: Kingston Hyper X 8GB (2x4GB) (x2) (16GB total)

Power Supply: Enermax MaxRevo EMR1350EWT. Moving from Apevia 675W

Monitor: Acer HN274Hbmiiid Black 27" 3D (Hope to end up with 3 at some point)

GPU: This one is still in the air. Will either be 2-3 580's or 2 590's. Starting with one and will build up. Moving from a XFX Geforce 285 Black Edition. Will hold on to the 285 and use it as PhysX in short term.

Cooling: Water cooling on the CPU. Still unsure which one.

Probably the hardest thing at this point is what order do I start buying the rest of it. I may just start with the monitor just so I can get out of my 22' Phillips and start doing 3D since my current GPU supports 3D as well.

I am planning on overclocking. Hoping I get a good draw and get 5 on the CPU.

I am set on GTX 580's/590's so it is what it is.

Would love to hear thoughts on this and if you have an opinion on order of purchase throw it out as well. I do know this, the power supply has to come before the GPU's.

 

[mjmjpfaff]

what is your budget? and i assume you will be using this for gaming.

 

[jwalker150]

The budget in the short term is $2400.00 give or take with what I need to buy. The additional GPU and Monitors are as able but kick the total up to over $4000.00 when done. The monitors are $660.00 each give or take. GTX 590 are about $750.00 right now and GTX 580's are about $500.00. The decision I make on the GPU will lock me in for a while. it has even been suggested and I am listening to go with GTX 570's. 3-way SLI would be pretty cool even with those.

Primarily gaming yes, but want to do some overclcocking as well. Mostly CPU but will do some on the GPU as well.

 

[Why_Me]

ok I can see it's been awhile for you. A few things here.

1 ) Great choice on that Asrock board...it's set up for the new Ivy Bridge and the new generation PCI-E 3.0 cards. Ivy Bridge is due out this April/May, and those new cards should start hitting the market sometime around holiday season...or so they say but I won't believe it until I see it.

2 ) No on the 2600K seeing how the only game that takes advantage of hyper threading is FSX. By the time Ivy Bridge comes out...maybe a few more games will take advantage of hyper threading.

3 ) No on the Kingston RAM seeing how Kingston is having one h*ll of a time getting their RAM to run @ 1.5v and it's 1.5v or less that is recommended for these 1155 boards. The old school 1.65v RAM plays h*ll on the controllers and it ends up buggering up the board. Look at the G.SKill, Corsair and Mushkin 1.5v RAM for these boards.

4 ) No on 16GB unless this build is for video editing, CAD, photo shop, etc... 2 x 4GB so you don't have all four slots filled up and that RAM sitting side by side creating heat.

5 ) Any more than dual cards is a complete hose job. Google the reviews/benchmarks.

6 ) That Thermaltake case says ...; "bend me over and hose me." Better cases for cable management, airflow, size, ease are Cooler Master HAF-X and Corsair Graphite Series 600T...they come in white or black. Twice the case as that Thermaltake and for less money.

7 ) Water cooling for a Sandy Bridge cpu? These cpu's hit above 5.0Ghz on air. Hybrid water cooling maybe like the Corsair H50 or Antec Khuler. But the old school water cooling with the tubes and pumps...those days are over with. These chips run cool.

8 ) If you plan on eventually going with three monitors then look at the gtx 580 3GB cards for the extra V-RAM. Those cards are made for multiple monitor set ups...the MSI Lighting 3GB is the king of the hill in that regards atm and goes for around $600 on newegg.

9 ) Monitor. If your going to go 3D then do it right. Samsung has those new 3D capable 120HZ LED monitors now and they are bad to the bone. They are new on the market and they are as good as it gets in regards to gaming.

http://www.asrock.com/microsite/PCIe3/overview.html <---- That's the new PCI-E 3.0 for Ivy Bridge and that Asrock board is ready for it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139005 <----- Corsair case in white

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139007 <----- same case but in black

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119225 <----- HAF-X in Black/Red

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119239 <----- HAF-X in Black/Blue

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231468 <---- That RAM is king of the hill atm. It's 2133 and 1.5v.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127589 <---- there are 5 or 6 gtx 580 3GB cards on the market atm...that one has the best cooling and o/c the best. They are made specifically for multiple monitor set ups/super high resolution.

These Samsung monitors are fairly new on the market and there's not a lot of reviews out on them yet but they are as good as it gets atm for gaming monitors.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001475 $469.99
SAMSUNG S23A750D Black 23" 2ms Full HD 3D LED BackLight LCD Monitor 250 cd/m2 DCR 1,000,000:1 (1,000:1)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001473 $579.99
SAMSUNG S23A950D Black 23" 2ms Full HD 3D LED BackLight LCD Monitor 250 cd/m2 DCR 1,000,000:1 (1,000:1)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001474 $599.99
SAMSUNG S27A750D Black 27" 2ms Full HD 3D LED BackLight LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 DCR 1,000,000:1 (1,000:1)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001472 $699.99
SAMSUNG S27A950D Black 27" 2ms Full HD 3D LED BackLight LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 DCR 1,000,000:1 (1,000:1)


A psu that will push two of those cards with ease and leave you plenty of juice left over...these two down below...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817194081 $209.99
ENERMAX REVOLUTION85+ ERV1020EWT 1020W (Peak 1120W) ATX12V / EPS12V v2.92 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

or...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139034 $219.99
CORSAIR Professional Series HX1050 1050W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Modular Power Supply

 

[mjmjpfaff]

well you can get a tri monitor setup and a whole rig that can run it easily for 2400$ i do not reccomend 3d gaming because like a lot of people it hurts my eyes. as for fps. you will not tell a difference in 60fps to 120fps.

i5 2500k- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072 205$ after promo code EMCKAJG23 get this today or tomorrow. like Why_me said the 2600k is not worth it

Asrock Extreme7 Gen3- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157269&Tpk=asrock%20extreme7%20gen3 280$ after shipping and promo code EMCKAKA32

Corsair AX1200- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139014&Tpk=Corsair%20ax1200 252$ after promo code EMCKAKA24 best psu on the market

Corsair XMS3 8gb 1600mhz- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233202 50$ finally they got it to 1.5v

i am guessing you have some mechanical hard drives you will reuse. do you have an ssd for your os ans most used applications.

EVGA GTX 590- http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-Classified-Mini-Display-Lifetime-03G-P3-1596-AR/dp/B005CQQLNM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1315968263&sr=8-1 750$ this card will give you an upgrade path and will be easier to cool than 3 580's. add one gtx 580 and you have tri sli gtx 580's

Gateway 21.5" 2ms 1080p- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824113023 x3=420$

Silverstone Raven RV03- http://www.amazon.com/Silverstone-Extended-90-Degree-Motherboard-RV03B-W/dp/B004X19B02/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1315968569&sr=1-1 140$ if you can return that case get this one it cools better than the HAF X with the fans on high and it is still quieter. it can hold the gtx 590

 

[jwalker150]

Thanks all but you failed to read things.

I already own the Themaltake case and I like it otherwise I would not have bought it. I think it has solid cable management and solid cooling options. it stacks up with all that you have recommended on cases.

The Kingston Ram is the same ram that they used from this: http://www.asrock.com/news/index.asp?cat=News&ID=246
Plus I want 16GB. My preference is 24GB or 32GB but I can't have everything.

SSD: Undecided on getting a cache drive or a full 256GB. Will make that choice after I get the motherboard.

CPU: Say what you want about how I am better off with the 2500K etc... I want the 2600K. It is worth it to me. In fact only reason I will change was if the 2700K was out and then I would get it instead. I want the high overclocking.

Monitor: The Acer is the only 27 inch monitor certified for Nvidia 3D. I want 27 inches and I will get 3 of them in time. It also has 2ms response time and 120 mhz 2d is still a very solid monitor.

Power supply I could be flexible on but at the same time I have been reading reviews like crazy. I din't just select them out of the blue.

GPU: As you said, the 580's or 590's all have great options and paths. That makes it one of the most difficult choices of all.

 

[mjmjpfaff]

Thanks all but you failed to read things.

I already own the Themaltake case and I like it otherwise I would not have bought it. I think it has solid cable management and solid cooling options. it stacks up with all that you have recommended on cases.

The Kingston Ram is the same ram that they used from this: http://www.asrock.com/news/index.asp?cat=News&ID=246
Plus I want 16GB. My preference is 24GB or 32GB but I can't have everything.

SSD: Undecided on getting a cache drive or a full 256GB. Will make that choice after I get the motherboard.

CPU: Say what you want about how I am better off with the 2500K etc... I want the 2600K. It is worth it to me. In fact only reason I will change was if the 2700K was out and then I would get it instead. I want the high overclocking.

Monitor: The Acer is the only 27 inch monitor certified for Nvidia 3D. I want 27 inches and I will get 3 of them in time. It also has 2ms response time and 120 mhz 2d is still a very solid monitor.

Power supply I could be flexible on but at the same time I have been reading reviews like crazy. I din't just select them out of the blue.

GPU: As you said, the 580's or 590's all have great options and paths. That makes it one of the most difficult choices of all.

no you failed to read what I said.

i said "if you can return the case". i read your post thoroughly.

16gb's of ram for a gaming computer is rediculous. perhaps you did not read through Why_me's post thouroughly. all games right now use a max of 4gb's of ram. 8gb's is future proof for sure. what you want is enough ram for decades of gaming. as for the ram why_me is right the 1.65v is not recommended for sandy bridge. what asrock did was make a sweet deal with kingston to show how there ram was "faster" than others. not true.

the 2600k is not worth it to anyone unless they are doing this like movie editing. you can overclock the 2500k just as high as the 2600k. and btw the extreme version of sandy bridge is not called the 2700k, 2800k, etc. Here is a review- http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-i7-3960x-x79-performance,3026.html

caching an ssd is a great waste of performance. any ssd over 40gb's is not worth being cached.

you will not see a difference in smoothness between 120hz and 60hz monitors. the human eye cannot catch things that fast. again 3d i dont think is that great. i would try it out before you buy because it may hurt your eyes making 3d gaming unbearable

if you read reviews (i suggest jonnyguru) you will find that the corsair ax1200 is the best psu on the market- http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story5&reid=189

well if you figure that 3d does not hurt your eyes go for the gtx 590 and later get another in sli (once you get 3 screens). if not 2 gtx 580's in sli or a single 590 will be fine (for 3 1080p screens @60hz).