Sandy Bridge-E or Ivy Bridge for gaming?

[Squishygiblets]

I'm getting ready to put together a new PC and I'm not sure which processor to go with now. This is the system I had picked out:


Case- Corsair CC600TWM-WHT Special Edition Graphite Series 600T Mid Tower
MB - ASUS P9X79 PRO
CPU - Intel Core i7-3820
CPU Cooler -Corsair Hydro Series H100 Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler
RAM - CORSAIR Vengeance 32GB (8 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
VC - XFX Double D Black Edition Radeon HD 7950 3GB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16




But now I'm unsure if I should switch to an i7 3770K CPU with the ASUS ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 MB. This is primarily a gaming system. Mostly playing things like Skyrim and Mass Effect 3 with some Starcraft II.

Also, Is there really any point to 32Gb of RAM? Would 8GB or 16Gb be enough for gaming for the immediate future?
I'm a bit concerned about spacing in the case for that MB and the H100 cooler. Has anyone used this particular combo?

I appreciate the help!

 

[gary1]

i5-3570k or 2500k will be just fine for gaming. You get using overkill parts. 8gb RAM is enough for gaming. You should get a Noctua NH-D14 instead of the h100.

 

[boiler1990]

None of the base components there make any sense. The CPU is wastefully powerful, 32GB RAM is useless, and a 7950 should not be the GPU of choice if you're spending that much on a PC.

You don't need such a beefy CPU, since you'll never actually use all of it. Go with an Ivy build and invest the extra in a GTX 680, SSD, and maybe some peripherals (sound system, mechanical keyboard, better mouse, etc).

 

[voodooking]

I'm in a similar boat as you. So I'm thinking that when deciding between the two processors, in our market, there is one big factor right now. Heat. IB is hotter than SB. So what is the temperature range you want to run at?

About the GPU let me guess. You want a card you can crossfire easily when you get the cash for another right? Because that's what I'm thinking as well.

PS. the corsair 500 series cases can fit all of those components as well.

 

[Squishygiblets]

I guess I should have added that this PC will be around for a while. I talk my wife into letting me build a new PC about every 5 years or so. I know I'm over buying in many cases, but I'm doing that for future proofing I think would be the term.

I'm fine with the peripherals I have at the moment (Keyboard, Mouse, Speakers, etc.) but I'm trying to buy the core components for the future as much as I can without spending an insane amount of cash.

I really appreciate the input you guys are giving!

P.S

I really have no interest in Crossfire or SLI, one video card is enough.

 

[pezonator]

Hi
I have to agree that Ivy Bridge - the 3570k will be more than enough for gaming. Boiler makes a very good point. you only need a motherboard that supports PCI-E 3, get the 3570k with the Coolermaster Hyper 212 EVO and spend the extra money on a GTX 680 and you are set for the future.

The 3570k will perform absolutely fine at stock speeds and you can always OC later on to an easy 4Ghz while staying cool n quiet on the Hyper 212. If all you need is 16 lanes of PCI-E for 1 card, don't go with SB-E

 

[Badelhas]

Hi
I have to agree that Ivy Bridge - the 3570k will be more than enough for gaming. Boiler makes a very good point. you only need a motherboard that supports PCI-E 3, get the 3570k with the Coolermaster Hyper 212 EVO and spend the extra money on a GTX 680 and you are set for the future.

The 3570k will perform absolutely fine at stock speeds and you can always OC later on to an easy 4Ghz while staying cool n quiet on the Hyper 212. If all you need is 16 lanes of PCI-E for 1 card, don't go with SB-E

I agree with him. And it will be future proof, dont worry See some benchs and you will see that sandy bridge-e is better for renders and such. For everything else the Ivi Bridge is on pair. And the gtx680 is much better than the 7950, IMO

 

[Squishygiblets]

I agree with you about the GTX 680, the problem seems to be getting one. Just about everyone is out of stock or the price has been super inflated.

I'm running back in forth in my head how I want to do a hard drive set up. This PC will be mostly for gaming so I'm thinking a small (128Gb or so) SSD for the OS, then a fast HDD for the games with a Seagate 3Tb drive for storage. Any thoughts?

 

[boiler1990]

If you can afford the SSD/HDD combo, go for it. You don't necessarily need a 'fast' HDD, just a standard 7200RPM drive.

 

[alucard400]

Definitely add an SSD to your build. and I agree that a 7200rpm drive is good enough. i would really go for a storage HDD and use the SSD as a boot drive. you'll get insane speeds. A slightly slower processor will still be many times faster than your current build if it uses an SSD and your build is off a raptor drive 10000rpm.
If you can't afford expensive SSDs, just go for a low memory one and use it as a cache for a 7200rpm HDD and it will still be about the same speeds. just make sure the motherboard supports it.

 

[icoltsfan94]

If you are keen to actually keep the 32GB of RAM though and have the money for it 32 would absolutley be worth it to create a RAMDISK. You will see read and write speeds upwards of 6GB/s even on stock 1366 clocked memory. As for the rest of the build, Yes, a 3570k will be plenty and quite future proof.

 

[dansgas1000]

i5 3570k should be enough. You can get to 4.6GHz with it or even more with the H100. Most games don't even use the extra threads. For the GPU i'd get a GTX 670 instead. EVGA has dropped their prices so see if you can find FTW edition.