Wich system is better for a 280x crossfire build?

[Dutchraccoon]

Hello everyone,
I'm going to make a gaming rig with two r9 280x cards in crossfire but i'm not shure wich "base" system will be the best.

I have to choose between
System 1:
Cpu: Intel core i7 2600k
Mobo: Asus P8P67 deluxe rev3
Ram: 8gb corsair vengeance 1600mhz (2x4gb)
Psu: coolermaster silent pro 850w
Ssd: crucial m100 60gb
Hdd: western digital raptor 300gb 10.000rpm
Case: coolermaster centurion 5

Or
System 2:
CPU: Intel core i7 3770
Mobo: Asus P8H77-V LE
Ram: 8gb hyperX fury (2x4gb)
Psu: corsair rm1000
Ssd: none
Hdd: 1000gb seagate baracuda 7200rpm
Case: earocool xpredator x1

Both systems will be around 400 dollars but system 2 might become slightly cheaper.
The 280x cards i'll be using are the ones from powercolor.
I do want to overclock the graphicscards a little.

I also am going to craft my own case if i have enough time for it (i'm in my Finals right now).

 

[Diox55]

The 2600k might be better because it a beast of an overclocker. With a decent cooler you can get it up to 4.5-4.7 ghz and have even better performance.

 

[Dutchraccoon]

The 2600k might be better because it a beast of an overclocker. With a decent cooler you can get it up to 4.5-4.7 ghz and have even better performance.

it has an Coolermaster 412S cooler, but will the rest of the system be good enough, especially the psu of system 1 has my doubts, is it good enough?

 

[nucolos]

I have a couple of things to say

1. Both cpu's are very similar at stock, and the 3770 doesnt bottleneck any gpu/gpu's on the market, so its almost the same, only difference in power consumption, and that goes to the 3770.
2. The second psu is better, but you wont have any problems with the silent pro, maybe high noise at full load, but nothing else.
3. I would say an ssd in a system like this its practically essential, even a small one for the OS.
4. The first case doesnt have good airflow, and its a terrible idea to put two 280x's in there, and the second one is a mid-tower, so it isnt a good option either, but better than the first one.

And last and most important, i had 2 280x's in cfx, and i wouldnt recommended to anyone, a lot of heat, tons of noise, and not much performance increase because not many games are well optimized for cfx. Get a 290, 290x or 970, trust me, much better choice.

 

[Dutchraccoon]

I have a couple of things to say

1. Both cpu's are very similar at stock, and the 3770 doesnt bottleneck any gpu/gpu's on the market, so its almost the same, only difference in power consumption, and that goes to the 3770.
2. The second psu is better, but you wont have any problems with the silent pro, maybe high noise at full load, but nothing else.
3. I would say an ssd in a system like this its practically essential, even a small one for the OS.
4. The first case doesnt have good airflow, and its a terrible idea to put two 280x's in there, and the second one is a mid-tower, so it isnt a good option either, but better than the first one.

And last and most important, i had 2 280x's in cfx, and i wouldnt recommended to anyone, a lot of heat, tons of noise, and not much performance increase because not many games are well optimized for cfx. Get a 290, 290x or 970, trust me, much better choice.

i understand the cons about a crossfire setup with 2 r9 280xs but i'm sort of upgrading from an gtx 770 and i love the idea of having 2 graphics cards. I know it would be wise to go with a single more powerful gpu but i can buy those 2 cards for just 280 dollars so it would be a fun kind of project for me and if I regret my decisions, i'll just sell the system and make a new one lol.

tnx for the reply though

 

[Dragos Manea]

I advice u for 3770 because of pcie 3.0 which is very usefull in a crossfire setup, better performance, for a single card the pcie 2.0 it was enough but for a crossfire setup i would recommend the 3770 for the pcie 3.0 as someone said that u can overclock the 2600k, dont worry the i7 is powerful enough at stock speeds to handle any sli/cross setup.

 

[Tarci]

If you wish to overclock the i7 2600k is the answer, but if not you should get i7 3770 because it is simply better Cpu WITHOUT overclock, and second one has 1TB drive you could always particion the C drive to 65 GB and install your system on that for faster booting time and of course using Win8.1 for the same reason and that way it could be even compared to a SSD, so yeah my answer is System 2 😀

 

[Andrei Pasca]

you should buy system 1 because mobo and cpu are better for overclocking

 

[Dragos Manea]

you should buy system 1 because mobo and cpu are better for overclocking

I dont understand why evreything resumes to overclocking, the cpus in this days are way over the demands of the games, he doesnt do particle simulation or matlab compilations to need huge frequencies, yes in this situations overcloking would be a benefit but for gaming? For goodnes sake modern games doesnt load an i7 more then 30-40% so why in the hell would he need an overclock, just to show off what a useless overclocked CPU he has? Help me understand how an overclock will help an already very powerfull cpu.

 

[Krister Arvesen]

what will you be doing with the system? I mean an i7 is not really needed for gaming so you could save a few bucks and get an i5... also I personally have a 280X and I honestly think you should go for a 4GB R9 380... then my second advice get a 128GB or higher SSD and rather just expand later when you have the budget...
if you give me a budget and a description of what usage the PC will be for it will make it alot easier to give good advice...