Take a look at my build ideas

[Slayersc2]

Good day,

I am after a new build:

Approximate Purchase Date: Within a week

Budget Range: $2000 (not including monitor, keyboard, mouse, headset, sound card, microphone etc.)

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, web surfing, programming, video editing.

Are you buying a monitor: No

Do you need to buy OS: No (will be using Windows 7)

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Amazon/newegg

Parts Preferences: Intel, Nvidia (AMD close behind).

Overclocking: Yes

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe. Had many problems with crossfire in the past (R6950)... Not sure if SLI is any better.

Your Monitor Resolution: 2560x1440 + secondary 1920x1080 monitor

Why Are You Upgrading: Offloading current rig to a family member and in need of a new one. Crossfire 6950's are not powerful enough to run 1440p games at max settings. Heat problems with 6950s even after applying new thermal paste.
I want this build to be as 'future proofed' as possible. Don't want to upgrade for at least a few years.

Current list of parts:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/n78Z

CPU: 99% sure I want the one listed
MOB: Feel free to suggest an alternative in similar price range
RAM: High speed, good timings, 16GB. Feel free to suggest alternatives meeting those criteria.
SSD: Ignore vertex 3 it should say vertex 4. $200 price range for the SSD I am open for alternatives. (250GB capacity)
GPU: I want to future proof my system; hence why I have put 690. The card apparently runs relatively cool and quiet (big plus). I would be open to 670, 680 or 7970 (SLI/Crossfire). But I feel that the 690 would be the better choice in the long run.
HDD: Already have a 2TB storage drive
PSU: Taking the 900w Antec PSU from my current build
Case: Antec 1100 looks great to me. Don't really think I can go wrong with it.

Please put in your input on any components I have listed

 

[excella1221]

Get this motherboard isntead. You can't OC with the P67.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157293

You will see no difference in real life performance between 1600MHz and 1866. Also, you'll have a hard time installing the CPU cooler with the tall heat spreaders that particular RAM has. Get this instead.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231606&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

Here's an alternative SSD suggestion.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147164
The Vertex 4 has slightly higher read speed and relatively higher write speed though.

690 is great, but overpriced; and a 7970 GHz in 2-way Crossfire would outperform it at a much cheaper price. If you get dual Vapor-X, you can be sure of the low noise.

Cases are personal preference and I usually leave that to the end user. That Antec Eleven Hundred looks good though!

 

[ckholt83]

^ Excella is pretty much always right.

I think you can do better for 2k. The i7 will give you basically no performance gain over an i5 3570k. If your video editing needs are not extreme, then it should be able to handle anything you can throw at it without breaking a sweat. If you're absolutely dead set that's fine, a $100 difference in a 2k budget isn't that big a deal, but I put the i5 in my example build regardless.

The 690 is sexy card, but unfortunately overpriced for the performance it brings to the table. You could do a 3way of 7970s for only a little more money. Take a look:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($169.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme9 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($342.48 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 830 Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($188.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Asus Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card (CrossFire) ($352.00 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Asus Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card (CrossFire) ($352.00 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Asus Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card (CrossFire) ($352.00 @ NCIX US)
Case: Antec Eleven Hundred ATX Full Tower Case ($96.83 @ NCIX US)
Total: $1949.27
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-11-09 22:42 EST-0500)


This unholy monstrosity should be able to devour any game you can throw at it for many years to come.

Alternately, you could just do a 2way CF and get a cheaper motherboard, and just pocket the extra $550.


Edit: If you did the 3way, you'd probably need to bump up your PSU to 1k+ W.

 

[excella1221]

+1 to ckholt. I forgot to address the difference between the i5 and i7 in terms of gaming. He's absolutely right there.

The build is great, but you forgot to account for the PSU. 😛

EDIT: Nvm, forgot he already had one. :lol:

 

[Slayersc2]

Thank you very much for your suggestions.
My main concern with crossfire is that I have had quite a few problems with my current crossfire rig (2 6950's). They have both had heat problems, are loud under load, and hate having a 2nd monitor hooked up (idle temps raise by 15 degrees for some reason...). Already tried applying new thermal paste and it didn't make much of a difference.
As long as I don't have any heat/noise problems I am totally fine with two 7970s or 670s. What are the experiences of you guys/girls with a two or three card set-up?

In regards to the MOB linked by ckholt: My sound card uses a PCI slot while all the slots on that are PCI-E. Are they backwards compatible?

And why would you recommend the Samsung SSD if the Vertex 4 has higher speeds?

 

[excella1221]

The Vertex 4 is $20 more, I was just offering a cheaper alternative if you didn't mind the performance decrease.

Did your 6950s before have reference cooling? They are known to be loud and have bad performance in terms of temps. It's the same as getting a reference-cooling nVIdia card.

Just make sure to get the good custom ones like Gigabyte Windforce x3, Sapphire Vapor-X, HIS IceQ, MSI Twin Frozr, and XFX Double Dissipation, and you'll be fine.

And no, PCI-E and PCI aren't backwards compatible. What exactly is your sound card? Most sound cards that are made for PCI are more or less just good as onboard sounds from modern motherboards as of late.

 

[ckholt83]

Ah, didn't know you needed to carry over a legacy PCI card, that would necessitate a motherboard change. In general, the build I put together is more than a bit overkill, I was mostly just pointing how you could get a whopping 3 7970 cards for the price of a 690.

I actually prefer to game on one large screen, so I've never needed to use an SLI/CF setup. My 680 (should have waited and bought a 670) can handle anything on a single screen. 3 cards would definitely generate a lot of heat, and while the ASUS cards have great coolers, I realized on a second glance that they are each 3-slots and might not all fit together. Also they are currently out of stock.

I changed up the build to be a little more reasonable, and using 2 GE 7970s instead of 3 vanillas, so that way you wouldn't have to replace your existing PSU and you wouldn't be generating as much heat overall. A pair of these would still be more than powerful enough.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($319.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($80.77 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($134.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($269.00 @ B&H)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition 3GB Video Card (CrossFire) ($409.66 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition 3GB Video Card (CrossFire) ($409.66 @ NCIX US)
Case: Antec Eleven Hundred ATX Full Tower Case ($96.83 @ NCIX US)
Total: $1790.89
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-11-09 23:47 EST-0500)


I also swapped the CPU back to the i7, though I'd still advocate the i5 if you're not too serious with the editing. I traded up for an even better SSD, and also picked out a beefier air cooler, though there's room in the budget you could get a watercooling kit to address both the CPU and the video cards (obviously you would drop the noctua if you wanted to go this route).

Also, if you want to see how a 7970 GE pair in crossfire stacks up to a 690, check out these benchmarks:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-7990-devil13-7970-x2,3329-7.html

There is also info later in that article about a 3rd party software solution that helps remove the CF micro stuttering issue.

 

[Slayersc2]

The graphics cards you just linked are also out of stock 😛

The CPU cooler looks very beefy indeed.
I have never attempted watercooling, is this something you would recommend?

 

[Slayersc2]

Best answer selected by Slayersc2.