New Gaming System ~$2k *Looking for Advice/Feedback*

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Energy96

Energy96

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Aug 20, 2011
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Hi everyone, I'm looking to build a new high end gaming system in the next few months (2 tops, or possibly earlier if there is no reason to wait for a new product) with a budget around $2k. I have a list of parts picked out and am looking for some feedback or alternate suggestions on it from those who are more knowledgeable than myself. Please give reasons why you are suggesting one product over another. I'd consider myself pretty knowledgeable when it comes to PC hardware but not an expert.

I am looking to build a primarily high performance machine that is also high quality, efficient, durable, upgradeable and overclock-able. One thing I am on the fence about is the current SSD's, there seems to be rampant BSOD issues with the new sandforce and that has me concerned. 120gb is sufficient for me as I will only use it for the OS and 1 or 2 games at a time installed on it. If size ends up being an issue I will add another at a later date. The motherboard is also still under consideration but I like the 24phase power and the true dual 16x PCI exp offered with the selection since I will be running SLI. It also looks to be well constructed using high quality components. I chose the power supply for its efficiency, high quality build, power quality, as well as future upgrade-ability. The case I chose for its high reviews for cooling and quality construction.

One thing I am not sure about is the RAM, is 8GB enough currently? Could I add another one of these kits at a later date to bump up to 16gb without issues?

I prefer to play games at max settings and maintain smooth frames, in the near future I will mostly be playing BF3 and SWTOR.

I am in the US and prefer to purchase from Newegg.

Thanks in advance for any help, advice, or suggestions given!

Parts I currently have and will re-use:

1 Monitor- 27" 2560x1440 IPS panel.
1 EVGA GTX 580 superclock (will use this along with a new one in SLI)
1 TB 7200 rpm HD.
1 set keyboard/mouse/etc
1 copy Win 7


Current list of components chosen:

Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor $314.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115070

GIGABYTE GA-Z68X-UD7-B3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard $349.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128499

[strike]G.SKILL Ripjaws X + Turbulence II Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2133 (PC3 17000) $149.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231435[/strike]

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900) $149.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231456

EVGA SuperClocked GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) 1536MB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card $489.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130590

ENERMAX MAXREVO Series 1350W ATX12V / EPS12V v2.92, v2.8 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Power Supply $299.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817194092

SILVERSTONE RAVEN RV02B-EW Matte black ATX Full Tower Computer Case $189.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163173

OCZ Vertex 3 Series – MAX IOPS Edition VTX3MI-25SAT3-120G 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) $239.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227714

Possible alternative- Mushkin Enhanced Chronos Deluxe MKNSSDCR120GB-DX 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC $269.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226225

XIGMATEK Aegir SD128264 Mega Killer Double HDT 120mm Long Life Bearing CPU Cooler $67.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233087

LITE-ON 24X DVD Writer Black SATA Model iHAS424-98 LightScribe Support $25.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106335



Subtotal: $2,128.91
 
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P8P67 WS Revolution & Corsair 8gb 1866mhz- http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.704749 320$ the ws revolution has better spacing than the ud7 and is a better deal. 2133mhz ram is way overkill and not worth it at all

Corsair Force GT 120gb- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233191&Tpk=force%20gt%20120gb 225$ the max iops will give no discernible performance boost over the regular one and ocz's customer service sucks compared to corsair and you will probably need it with these new sandforce ssd's

Silverstone Raven RV03- http://www.amazon.com/Silverstone-Extended-90-Degree-Motherboard-RV03B-W/dp/B004X19B02/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1313878705&sr=8-1 140$ newer than the rv02 and it has worked out some of its problems

i5 2500k & Corsair H60- http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.697255 the i7 2600k offers no performance boost over the 2500k when playing games. the h60 is a great cpu cooler

aftermarket fans for h60- http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-120mm-Case-R4-C2R-20AC-GP/dp/B0026ZPFDE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1313879816&sr=8-2 17$

Corsair AX1200- http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Professional-1200-Watt-Certified-High-Performance/dp/B003PJ6QVU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1313881009&sr=8-1 280$ the corsair ax1200 is the best psu on the market jonnyguru gives it a 9.7/10 that is the best rating that site has given any psu.

EVGA GTX 580- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130587 480$ you dont need the sc version because you can use evga precision to sync the cards to run at the same

ASUS 24x DVD Burner- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204 20$ best rated dvd burner

 
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This board hit the shelves two days ago. These new Asrock GEN3 boards have the new generation PCI-E 3.0 slots for the next generation vid cards due out. That board has the NF200 bridge allowing dual cards to run @ x16 and tri cards to run @ x8. It has better slot spacing than the UD7 (which has horrible slot spacing imo), and it has UEFI bios which Gigabyte does not have yet at this time as far as I know.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157269 $289.99
ASRock Z68 Extreme7 Gen3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

If you plan on eventually running three of those gtx 580's then that psu you have is the way to go. If only two cards(no third card in the future), then this LEPA down below is manufactured by Enermax for LEPA and it's a steal at this price. LEPA is new on the market and these psu's are going to go up in price soon to match the price of Enermax.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817194083 $179.99 - $129.99 after mail-in rebate card
LEPA G900-MA 900W SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

This Scythe 3 h/s down below will get you as high as that chip and board will take you. It's on sale atm with this combo and it's a good one.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.710621
Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I72600K
Scythe SCMG-3000 120mm Heat Pipe CPU Cooler

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007998%2050002108%20600035590&IsNodeId=1&name=120mm <---- blow up the picture on the fan on the Scythe Mugen 3 link and match the fan with the one in this link for a "push - pull" effect to bring temps down even lower.

Top of the line thermal compound down below. Google reviews on it. It's non conductive (no frying your mobo) and there's no set up time with it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186038 $12.99 FREE SHIPPING
ARCTIC COOLING Arctic Cooling MX-4 AC-MX4 4 gram (g) All-Around Thermal Compound

That RAM cooler is a marketing ploy. With these 1155 boards the cpu multiplier is isolated so there is no reason whatsoever to o/c the RAM with these boards hence the reason CL9 is the choice for these boards. No o/c the RAM means no extra heat, which means the RAM cooler/fans is a total waste. Take a look at these two sets down below.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007611%2050008476%20600006050%20600006069%20600006130&IsNodeId=1&name=G.SKILL <--- Either of these will do great.

http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=Z68%20Extreme7%20Gen3 <------ Another look at that board

*Links in regards to that board.

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?273907-**Official**-Asrock-Z68-Gen3-Extreme7-amp-Extreme4-thread

http://www.legitreviews.com/news/11080/

http://www.techfresh.net/asrock-z68-extreme7-gen3-atx-motherboard/

 
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I won't deal with either ASUS or Corsair anymore, lets just say I had a lot of issues with both companies a few years ago and leave it at that. The rest of the stuff doesn't seem to offer any kind of improvement in performance or quality, just cost savings which is really a non issue for me as long as I stay within $2k or so.

The Silverstone RV03 is "newer" but it is a downgrade from the RV02 in terms of cooling, it also has an unpleasing look. The RV02 is the best case available in that price range in terms of cooling, layout, noise, and quality from everything I have read. The only thing it lacks is USB 3.0 support on the front, but many high end boards have "cards" that mount in the front slots so its a non issue. Most things I would plug in end up being plugged into the back directly to the board anyway.

Thanks for the suggestions and input though.
 
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Interesting MOBO, I will check it out a bit further. The only downside I see in its future upgrade-ability is that its PCI 3.0 will only work with a single card so it wont be much of an advantage for those running SLI. I assume later there will be boards that allow it with SLI. It also has about half the power phases of the GB board. I do like the spacing on the PCI-EX slots, it was one of my concerns with the Gigabyte board. Though most boards have that horrible spacing and other than 1 card running a bit hotter than the other I haven't seen people report many actual problems caused by it unless you are OC'ing the cards hard. In that case liquid cooling should probably be used anyway bc they run quite hot already on air. Given the case I plan on using with its 90 degree motherboard orientation and significantly better cooling characteristics over the standard orientation I'm not overly concerned about heat issues.

I may go to 3 GPU's in the future but not right away, most things I have read show that 2x is the way to go, due to minimal increase in performance from adding a 3rd. Mostly I'm just giving myself as much headroom (while still maintaining top quality) as I am willing to spend on a PSU for future upgrade-ability and efficiency. Its always better to have more than you need. Running a PSU at 50% will prolong its life as well as run a lot cooler than running one close to max all the time. It will likely be used through multiple builds in the future so that is a plus. The only real advantage of getting less is just to save money.

I read some comparisons on heat sinks and the Scythe had about a 2 degree edge over the Xigmatek, but at a cost of noise. It was noticeably louder, around 20db for the Xigmatek and 33db for the Scythe at load. The Xigmatek was also quieter at idle.

That thermal compound looks pretty good, and has a lot of positive reviews. I will check that out, good find.

Agreed, the RAM cooler is worthless and wouldn't be used, but I wasn't buying it for the cooler, its the only way they sell ram in that high of speed. They supply it for the people who have horrible cases and poor cooling to give the stuff a chance of surviving when OC'd. While I might not take it to the full 2133mhz, it will give me lots of headroom and likely be more stable at a lesser overclock since it is rated to go higher. From what I have read with the new sandy bridge speed is king when it comes to ram. It apparently makes even more difference than latency from most tests, though this is rated at 9 which is still really good for this type of RAM. It's a small increase in price over the normal speed ram so I'm not too concerned about the extra cost.

Would I be better off in your opinion dropping one notch on the speed and getting double the ram (16gb)? My only concern is that it is 1.5v instead of 1.65v. I thought I read somewhere that ideally you want the 1.65v ram with this kind of setup. If that is a non issue maybe these would be better for the same price as the 8gb kit.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231456

Any advice on the SSD? The Mushkin on paper looks better than the OCZ. Like others said BSOD is an issue with that generation and customer support will probably be used lol. OCZ isnt great in that department and I have no idea how Mushkin is.

Are there any other products due out in the next 2 months that I might want to hold off and wait for?

Thanks for the input, some good stuff there.
 
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i can see something happening with asus, but corsair really?
rv02- http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/rv02-e-lian-li-sonata-iv,2946-9.html
rv03- http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/dragon-rider-chaser-mk-i,2992-8.html not exactly a downgrade
they were using the same cpu cooler by the way

the rv03 can also fit bigger cards and it actually has space for watercooling which most people dont know.

even if the asus board does not work you can return it. newegg will have you covered. Corsair has the best cusomer service in the nusiness. one guy had a corsair force 3 120gb and saw that there was problems with it so he called corsair and they gave him the newer and more expensive corsair force gt for free.

2133mhz ram will give you 0 fps more over 1866mhz.

 
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You do not want 1.65v RAM for these 1155 boards. Every board manufacturer out there recommends low voltage (1.5v or less) for these boards. Also 8GB is way more than plenty of RAM.

SSD... Crucial M4 for the fact it doesn't use the Sandisk controller.

Nothing coming out in the next two months that I can think of...well nothing worth noting.
 
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I will not buy an ASUS product, way too many issues with that company in the past. Corsair I'm on the fence with but I had a few issues with them as well in the past, especially with RAM, the type of issues that are due to poor quality customer service and quality control. Maybe they are better currently but they burned me pretty bad a few years ago. If a product of theirs was significantly better than anything else out there I might consider it but otherwise id rather not give them more money. Do you have any experience with Mushkin service?

I haven't seen that review of the RV03 before, they are comparable in that review cooling wise, though the RV02 is still showing cooler temps in GPU's which is where most heat comes from anyway in these types of builds. I also dislike the location of the PSU in the RV03, it has much better placement in the RV02. Card length is a non issue for me, it easily fits GTX 580's and thats good enough for me. It's mostly personal preference, but those issues along with aesthetics make the RV02 the winner for me.

Agreed on the RAM, if anything it would only be 1-2 frames. Would you recommend the 16gb 1866 mhz kit instead? It's the same price.
 
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You are correct, I checked it out again and both recommend 1.5v RAM, not sure where I read 1.65v at. I will go with the 16gb 1866mhz 1.5v kit instead, its the same price and it's more than enough ram for anything I will throw at it in the next few years, RAM is dirt cheap right now and might not be in the future. Should I expect any compatibility issues with using 4 sticks in the 16gb kit over 2 sticks in the 8gb kit with regards to speed or anything?

I have heard great things about Crucial SSD's as far as reliability. The problem is they are nearly half the speed in most tests of the sandforce, which is my primary reason for picking one up anyway. 🙁

Maybe I will hold off on the build for another month or so and hopefully they will get the BSOD issues sorted out with firmware. People are reporting big improvements with the latest firmware updates, but still getting random BSOD. I wish they would get this BSOD issue sorted out, bc right now SSD looks horribly unreliable to me (especially considering the price) and making me want to hold off a while longer.

Also looking at this: OCZ Agility 3 AGT3-25SAT3-240G 2.5" 240GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) $399.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227727

It has 2x the space with about the same realistic speeds as the vertex3 with only about a $160 increase in price over the other.
 
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only 8gb's for sure. that is even future proof. i havent had any mushkin products adata makes a sandforce ssd too- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211551&Tpk=adata%20120gb i have never had an adata product also. i still recommend the corsair force gt. Corsair makes quality ram these days in fact they make everything well these days. i dont know about back then i just got into pc building. as for the psu again the ax1200 is the best psu on the market and it has an amazing 7yr warranty. the cpu cooler i posted with the push pull fans should give around the same temps as the noctua nh-d14, the best air cooler on the market. here is the rv02 for cheap- http://www.amazon.com/SILVERSTONE-RV02B-W-Steel-Tower-Computer/dp/B002M78KZG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1313952572&sr=8-1 or http://www.amazon.com/SilverStone-Steel-Computer-Window-RV02B-EW/dp/B004BDOGSO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1313952572&sr=8-2 i really have no idea what the difference is.
ram & motherboard- http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.714116
 
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Are you positive that 8gb is enough for the next few years? I mainly ask because a friend of mine is in a certain beta that I can't mention and at max settings he is using 90% of his 8gb, only because it is being limited to 90% of available memory. Some testers with 16gb are reporting it using about 75% of their available memory. You don't NEED that much to run the game, but it cache's data from the HD far less often the more you have. If there are no issues with speeds, timing, or anything else considering how cheap the ram is (the last time I build a rig a few years back an average 4gb kit was over $300) I might as well just overkill it for the hell of it and not worry about it. Essentially I am not sacrificing anything else in order to double it because the cost is so low that I don't see a reason not too I guess.

That is a great PSU and I will likely buy one or the other.

As for the cooler I don't really want to do liquid in this setup. If I was going to I would do it all out and do it on the GPU's and MB as well.

The difference in the 2 cases is mostly a change in the setup for the 3.5" bays and the use of higher grade "air penetrator" fans which do offer a slight improvement in cooling in tests without adding any noise.
 
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