X79 vs z77 and raid vs room to fit hard drive in case

[storm rider cm]

Hi All,

I am faced with an tricky decision or two, which I need your help with.

I want an upgrade from my gaming pc to a new one and as my flatmate is wanting to build a file server out of the left over parts, emphesis is on making the decisions quickly :/

So, first the requirements:

Gaming.

Yup, that's about it..

Now here is the thing; I already have 2 ssd's with windows on (raid 0), 2 hdd's with the games and movies on (about 1gb total) and I want windows 8

I am taking out most of my hdd trays for a huge graphics card (i think a 680?). So, I'm thinking of ditching the hdd raid and just getting one big hdd (big mistake?)

Next decission is to be about processers. Is it worth getting an x79 chooser or is an 2770k going to be fantastic? I'm thinking of the new msi mpower motherboard..?

That's basically it guys, any input would be really appreciated.

Thanks,

Charlie

 

[g-unit1111]

You don't need an i7 for gaming. Period. And spending the money for the X79 - you will be overpaying for probably ZERO performance increase. Go with an i5-3570K for gaming, that's the defacto CPU of choice right now. Most modern games are far more dependent on the GPU and less dependent on the CPU than ever before. Put your money in a killer SLI or Crossfire GPU setup, that's where the money should be going.

I'm taking a wait and see attitude on Windows 8 - the general consensus from programmers, developers, and MSDN members is that it sucks big time. Before I pay the money I want to know what additional benefits it's going to offer vs. Windows 7.

 

[geofelt]

Good comments from g-unit1111 ^

A 2500K would perform just as well as a 2700K for games(with a normal OC). The 3570K is even a bit better.

If you are gaming on a single monitor, one great graphics card will be good.
I like the GTX680. But, it does not give you that much more than a factory overclocked GTX670.

For windows and gaming, I would use a single largish ssd. 180-240gb. Raid-0 does not improve performance.

If you need to store large files like video's, then add a large hard drive for that purpose. Up to 2gb is good. Larger hard drives may not be quite as reliable.

Today, I have no interest in windows 8. With a SSD and using sleep to ram startup speed is no issue.
Past that, it seems to be hard to remove the metro interface.

We are also assuming that there will be no issues with windows 8. Who knows there.

 

[g-unit1111]

Good comments from g-unit1111 ^

A 2500K would perform just as well as a 2700K for games(with a normal OC). The 3570K is even a bit better.

If you are gaming on a single monitor, one great graphics card will be good.
I like the GTX680. But, it does not give you that much more than a factory overclocked GTX670.

For windows and gaming, I would use a single largish ssd. 180-240gb. Raid-0 does not improve performance.

If you need to store large files like video's, then add a large hard drive for that purpose. Up to 2gb is good. Larger hard drives may not be quite as reliable.

Today, I have no interest in windows 8. With a SSD and using sleep to ram startup speed is no issue.
Past that, it seems to be hard to remove the metro interface.

We are also assuming that there will be no issues with windows 8. Who knows there.

Knowing the way Microsoft works we'll probably have to wait at least until SR-1 before we start seeing any improvements and being able to remove Metro. :lol:

 

[majestic1805]

I'm taking a wait and see attitude on Windows 8 - the general consensus from programmers, developers, and MSDN members is that it sucks big time. Before I pay the money I want to know what additional benefits it's going to offer vs. Windows 7.

Being an MSDN member and programmer I'll stand out as one with a differing opinion. I enjoy it. Nothing of import was taken away in Win 8. As long as you can get used to the Metro screen at boot (which, to be honest, really really isn't a huge deal and there are several ways to disable it) then it's pretty much the same. Along with having more capabilities set up for future support of new platforms and its taking a step toward the mobile space of things it's actually a smart platform as you can easily live in both worlds (mobile experience vs desktop). Anyway, this isn't really helping the thread so I won't rattle on much. Just wanted to provide a differing opinion.

 

[g-unit1111]

Being an MSDN member and programmer I'll stand out as one with a differing opinion. I enjoy it. Nothing of import was taken away in Win 8. As long as you can get used to the Metro screen at boot (which, to be honest, really really isn't a huge deal and there are several ways to disable it) then it's pretty much the same. Along with having more capabilities set up for future support of new platforms and its taking a step toward the mobile space of things it's actually a smart platform as you can easily live in both worlds (mobile experience vs desktop). Anyway, this isn't really helping the thread so I won't rattle on much. Just wanted to provide a differing opinion.

It's definitely good to know that the metro interface can be disabled. I don't want to have an app store on my desktop, I may get an OEM license to check it out.

 

[storm rider cm]

Hi all and let me start by saying thanks

firstly, a few pointers said "if you don't OC". That is one thing I do really want to include spec for . Do your advices change in light?

About the RAID - for anyone reading this thread know that the 2 ssd's do have a little better performance than one ssd of half the size, but don't follow in my footsteps and buy the largest ssd you can and stick to just the one. You loose features with raided ssd's and i really do regret my decision of getting 2.

From the general consensus here and common sence realised... I won't be getting Windows 8 unless I have already used up my licenses for 7. The only real benefits I can see so far are for touch screens... That said, I haven't had much of a read into it.

Any thoughts on an msi MPower BigBang z77 mobo and a GTX Lightning 680? can i do better for the same price or less? is there something much cheaper with similar performance?

Thanks again and a good evening to all

 

[g-unit1111]

Any thoughts on an msi MPower BigBang z77 mobo and a GTX Lightning 680? can i do better for the same price or less? is there something much cheaper with similar performance?

You'd need a monster case to power that Big Bang as it's XL-ATX form factor and that can get really costly. Get a standard ATX board and case instead.

 

[storm rider cm]

I hate to contradict, but I just looked it up and I think you're wrong? :x

http://www.techpowerup.com/mobile/reviews/MSI/Z77_MPower/1.html

 

[geofelt]

When you use a single great graphics card, ANY Z77 based motherboard will do.
The cpu can be overclocked to the same sane levels. If you are looking for record overclocks and nitro cooling, then the more expensive enthusiast motherboards might be in order.
Games are not usually cpu bound, so do not see a big advantage there.

As to the graphics card, the GTX680 is as good as it gets for a single gpu card today.
The Lightning GTX680 is very good. It has been overclocked to have a boost performance of 1176MHz.
But, is it worth it?
The EVGA Superclocked, Signature 2 has been overclocked to a bost clock of 1173MHz.
At $450 after rebate, I seriously doubt the value of the $600 lightning.

 

[g-unit1111]

I hate to contradict, but I just looked it up and I think you're wrong? :x

http://www.techpowerup.com/mobile/reviews/MSI/Z77_MPower/1.html

I must have had that confused with a different motherboard then. :lol:

 

[storm rider cm]

Phew 😛 I must admit to being a bit geared towards that board already. It's got two bios, charges my phone whilst being off v(a big one for me) and has wifi which frees up a slot... Think I might be sold :/

When I saw that extended atx post I was quite crestfallen :3

I'm still in debate about an I7 VS an I5. Can anyone help me choose? please :/

You say the cas should go into a GPU, but since i'm already considering the 680, will an OC'd I7 show a noticable performance increase over the I5?

 

[g-unit1111]

Phew 😛 I must admit to being a bit geared towards that board already. It's got two bios, charges my phone whilst being off v(a big one for me) and has wifi which frees up a slot... Think I might be sold :/

That's kind of a gimmick - I had an Asus board that ran dual BIOS (can't remember what it was called), I wound up disabling the other one because I got really annoyed by the boot times.

You say the cas should go into a GPU, but since i'm already considering the 680, will an OC'd I7 show a noticable performance increase over the I5?

If you're gaming - no. There's no noticeable difference between the i7 and the i5, get the i5 and put that money elsewhere - maybe into getting a bigger SSD.

 

[geofelt]

The difference between a i5 and i7 cpu is the hyperthreading on the i7.
a hyperthread uses residual cycles from the main core to dispatch another thread(hyperthread).
A hyperthread has the processing power of perhaps 1/4 of a full core.
Since few games use more than 2-3 cores, there is little advantage to more.
the extra $100 spent on an i7 is better sed elsewhere.
If anything, the i5 should be able to oc a tad higher without needing to manage hyperthreads.

Ultimately, your gaming performance will be dictated by the graphics card, more than the cpu.
Your GTX680 is as good as it gets today. At least until the "son of kepler" GTX780 shows up, perhaps next year.

 

[storm rider cm]

A big thanks again to all. I think I need to read up on hyperthreading and the hardware usability of next gen games. At the moment I am geared towards that board with an I5 like you suggest.

This has been a great help ( especially the words on hyperthreading and multiple core use, or lack of)

 

[majestic1805]

There was an article in Game Informer this month with a few studios saying they're starting to develop engines from the ground up to start really taking advantage of multi-core CPUs. Given the approximate 4 year lag for engine development that's about how long you'll wait before you see games really taxing multiple cores. By then, I think 4 cores will be quaint if not simply considered low end.