70 replies to this topic

[Tweaks]

I just had an estimate done for the following build, which will be my next PC (planning on buying within a month). I'm not very up-to-date with PC hardware, and would like to have your input on the choice of parts. The total estimate of this build would be around 2500$ CND (including taxes and extended 1 year warranty). My budget is around 2600$ so this would be just right. I'm planning on keeping this rig for at least another 4 years, so no overclocking. (My current one is that old and is still doing fine, just very outdated).

Motherboard: Asus P9X79 (Socket 2011)
CPU: Intel Core i7 3930K 3.20G/12M (+ stock Intel active fan cooler)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Genesis 1600Mhz DDR3 16G
Video Card: EVGA PCIe GeForce GTX670 2048M DDR5
Sound Card: Sound Blaster Recon3D PCIe, or (more expensive) Asus Xonar Essence STX PCIe
OS: Windows 7 Pro 64bit English
Primary hard disk: 2.5 SATA3 120G OCZ SSD Vertex 3 Series
Secondary hard disk: SATA3 1T Seagate 7200.12 64M (ST1000DM003)
Case: (very standard and nothing fancy) ATX Antec One (Black)
Power supply: 700W ATX Cooler Master Extreme Power Plus
Optical drive: DVD+/-RW LG GH24NS90 SATA (pretty basic stuff...)

I'm planning on installing Windows 7 on the SSD drive, and probably install MWO on it too for optimal performance. How do you think that would run?

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EDIT: Based on all the recommendations I have read in my thread (thank you for that), I changed the build to the following:
########################################################

Case: ATX Cooler Master 690 II Advanced USB3 Black
Psu: 750W ATX Cooler Master GX
Motherboard: S1155 Asus Sabertooth Z77
Cpu: Intel Core I5 3570K 3.40G/6M/S1155
Fan: Noctua NH-D14
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 1600Mhz DDR3 16Gb Quad Cl9
Video Card: EVGA PCIe GeForce GTX670 2048M DDR5
Hard Drive: 2.5 SATA3 128.0 Crucial SSD M4
Hard Drive: SATA3 1.0Tb Seagate 7200.12 64M ST1000DM003
Optical Drive: DVD+/-RW LG GH24NS90 SATA DL 24X OEM Black
Keyboard: Razer Lycosa Gaming Keyboard Backlit
Os: Windows 7 Pro x64 DVD OEM EN SP1 1PK

The new price with taxes comes up to 2,092 $, which is a little over 400$ less than the original estimate.

To all the ones suggesting I order from an online store however, that's not gonna happen. I'm not savvy enough to build the PC myself without potentially breaking pins or missing something important somewhere. I need the PC to be built by a pro, so I'm shopping at Microbytes (www.microbytes.com), which has prices actually better than neweggs and directcanada for a lot of items (if not, equivalent or less than a 10$ difference).

I'm also not looking for water cooling, and massive overclocking. That said, the motherboard I picked is apparently able to self-overclock the CPU, so that might be an easy option for me (I'll have to read up on that though, cause I have no clue how that works). That's why I picked a better fan (which is not that expensive anyway).

About the memory, I do need 16Gb. Not for gaming, but to run multiple virtual machines (in VMWare Workstation) on my PC. I'm in IT and like to play around with virtual servers (learning, and work tool). I don't think I'll ever need to upgrade it past 16 though, at least not for a while, but the Z77 supports up to 32G, so it will be possible if I ever want to play with more virtual servers at once eventually.

If any one has any more recommendations about the revised build, let me know! Thanks again everyone

Edited by Tweaks, 08 July 2012 - 10:01 AM.

[Hayashi]

Thread moved on request.

[Rabid Monkey]

Why are you even asking? If they release a game that can't run on that rig, hardly anyone's going to be able to play it.

[Tweaks]

Okay... maybe I just wanna brag a little (hey, I've been sucking in my old outaded rig for 3 years now), but mainly, just wanted some hardcore gamer's input on my choice of parts (not the overall performance). Anyone see any cons with what I picked?

Do you think the Recon3D sound card would be plenty enough or is it worth spending a little more for the Xonar?

Edited by Tweaks, 07 July 2012 - 09:25 AM.

[Oderint dum Metuant]

Complete overkill, can save yourself alot of money.

Case (insert all cases here )
http://www.newegg.ca...N82E16811119196

PSU
http://www.newegg.ca...N82E16817139020

Mobo
http://www.newegg.ca...N82E16813131848

CPU
http://www.newegg.ca...N82E16819116504

HDD
http://www.newegg.ca...N82E16822136533

SSD
http://www.newegg.ca...N82E16820226237

RAM
http://www.newegg.ca...N82E16820231428

CPU cooler
http://www.newegg.ca...N82E16835106150

GPU
http://www.newegg.ca...N82E16814127672

Add on Windows 7 64bit OEM and the total was
$1661.40 CAD

Problem with your build is the 2011 socket CPU and Mobo, pointless extravagance that will net you no increase in gaming performance for quadruple the cost.

If your desperate to spend the money, you could SLI 2 http://www.newegg.ca...N82E16814127693

Note: Need more PSU grunt to do that and a massive case and it would make gaming better than that 2011 socket chip.

Edited by DV McKenna, 07 July 2012 - 09:33 AM.

[Tweaks]

Humm... but I want it to be upgradable and last me for another 4 years. And Core i5 is already getting outaded, why go with that?

[Oderint dum Metuant]

Tweaks, on 07 July 2012 - 09:32 AM, said:

Humm... but I want it to be upgradable and last me for another 4 years. And Core i5 is already getting outaded, why go with that?

Ugh thats a core I5 Ivybridge not long on the market. it will last you 4 years without breaking a sweat and won't need a CPU upgrade...gmaes do not even touch current CPU's and in 4 years we'll only just be getting to the point I5 Sandy/Ivybridge is becoming outdated...they are no where near outdated yet.

[Barbaric Soul]

DV McKenna, on 07 July 2012 - 09:29 AM, said:

Complete overkill, can save yourself alot of money.

Case (insert all cases here )
http://www.newegg.ca...N82E16811119196

PSU
http://www.newegg.ca...N82E16817139020

Mobo
http://www.newegg.ca...N82E16813131848

CPU
http://www.newegg.ca...N82E16819116504

HDD
http://www.newegg.ca...N82E16822136533

SSD
http://www.newegg.ca...N82E16820226237

RAM
http://www.newegg.ca...N82E16820231428

CPU cooler
http://www.newegg.ca...N82E16835106150

GPU
http://www.newegg.ca...N82E16814127672

Add on Windows 7 64bit OEM and the total was
$1661.40 CAD

Problem with your build is the 2011 socket CPU and Mobo, pointless extravagance that will net you no increase in gaming performance for quadruple the cost.

If your desperate to spend the money, you could SLI 2 http://www.newegg.ca...N82E16814127693

Note: Need more PSU grunt to do that and a massive case and it would make gaming better than that 2011 socket chip.

eh, not bad. I could do better.










































lol, jk DV

[Oderint dum Metuant]

Barbaric Soul, on 07 July 2012 - 09:37 AM, said:

eh, not bad. I could do better.

lol, jk DV

haha you could save alot more money of what i posted, that was a 40 second scout round newegg.ca

I would however like to see 2 of those MSI Lightnings SLI'd and some benchmarks

[Barbaric Soul]

Tweaks, on 07 July 2012 - 09:32 AM, said:

Humm... but I want it to be upgradable and last me for another 4 years. And Core i5 is already getting outaded, why go with that?

Sandy Bridge quad cores will be plenty as far as gaming goes for the next 4 years, ATLEAST. Hell, the Q9650 is still plenty good enough today.

DV McKenna, on 07 July 2012 - 09:39 AM, said:

I would however like to see 2 of those MSI Lightnings SLI'd and some benchmarks

You buy'em, I'll bench'em

[Oderint dum Metuant]

Barbaric Soul, on 07 July 2012 - 09:40 AM, said:

You buy'em, I'll bench'em

If i did, i'd be divorced and living in a basement somewhere..at least they'd keep me warm!

[Henchman 24]

I'd have to agree with some of the sentiments, LGA2011 is kind of a waste of cash in most cases. If you aren't taking advantage of all it can offer...then it's a waste, and the money would be better spent on a beefier video card/bigger ssd.

I'd go with either the suggested 3570 or i7-3770k, a nice Z77 board, the kingston ram seems ok to me, not my first choice but hey, it's stable at least.

I'd stay away from sandforce based controllers in ssds for gaming...they work best with compressible data, and not so much with things like compressed data paks games use, libraries, etc...they are a headache waiting to happen at best.

Unless you're into serious movie audio...I have yet to find a decent new motherboard's onboard audio to affect gaming at all(think less than 1% drop on frames vs dedicated audio card.) Games now seldom use proprietary algorithms such as EAX....so you really could save a bunch here too, just put it into the board and you will have good audio anyway.

I would suggest maybe the Samsung 830 series(lowest choice), the Crucial M4, or the Plextor M3 drives, I've installed many of each in gaming systems without issue, and without any stuttering complaints either(sandforce).

Although many love them, I run into too many problems with Antec designs in their cases to like them....just too many kitschy dumb ideas targeted at kids who like shiny things that don't work. That's up to you....get some good looks on the case innards, and make sure all your stuff fits is all.

Also bear in mind, from Sandy bridge-E and Ivy bridge....they do not come with heatsink/coolers....not sure if you plan to re-use one you have or not.


I'd say bare minimum, dump the 3930 in favor of 3770k, save some cash and put it toward the gtx680 instead.

Good luck though, either way, it will run nicely from the looks of it.

BTW: LGA2011, LGA1155 - both doomed platforms well before 4 years are out!

Edited by Henchman 24, 07 July 2012 - 10:12 AM.

[Madekatsu]

Wowsers, that's a mighty high price. As another poster already mentioned, to save a chunk of change, I'd go with a Z77 board rather than an X79. Do you really need up to 64GB of RAM space when you'll probably never put more than the 16GB listed in your build sheet? Model-equivalent boards from the same manufacturer generally cost around 35% more. Since you listed an Asus MB, I'll throw out there that a Z77 Sabertooth will automatically OC an unlocked CPU so you don't have to endlessly tinker with settings. They make an X79 Sabertooth board as well

Also, when it comes to gaming, the 3rd gen 3930k has shown to be only minimally better than it's 2nd gen 2700k during benchmark testing. In this test by Xbit labs, the 3930k didn't pull away in any game testing and only pulled away in 3DMark11 Physics testing. All this means is that while the newer technology components are faster, their current prices make the performance per dollar margin very high. I'm sure it'll come down in the next year.

However, if you're looking for near top-end performance, and the price your shop has given you is within your budget, then I say go for it

Edited by Madekatsu, 07 July 2012 - 09:34 PM.

[Black Mamba]

Don't get the Recon3D, its garbage. Get one of the Asus and get the unofficial drivers, Unified Xonar Drivers.

CPU: Also don't get the X79 its a waste of money IMO for gaming. The Ivy Bridge is much better value and very close in performance. I've had a i7 860 for 3 years now and its serving me well while overclocked and that was not the top end at the time.

Case: Get a nice case for good airflow with the saved money from CPU change. Cooler master is a good brand for cases.

Graphics card: GTX 670 is great, i recommend it over the GTX 680 (very close in performance for nice savings).

HDD : Swap the OCZ for an Intel series SSD, the new generation ones, very good.

PSU : Seasonic, Silverstone or Corsair i recommend, 750W - 850W.

Get yourself a CPU cooler, H80 is the one I have. Use it to OC your Ivy Bridge processor for a nice OC, 4-4.5GHZ.

[Vulpesveritas]

Well, here's my input for the high budget point.
Case: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16811139006
PSU: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817121092
Motherboard: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813131822
OR : http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813157322

CPU: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819116501
GPU: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814131471 (Catalyst 12.7 drivers made the Radeon HD 7970 much faster, above 1ghz it outperforms the Nvidia geforce GTX 680.)
RAM: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820148519
SSD: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820147164
HDD: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16822136798
ODD: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16827135204
Sound: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16829271007
OS: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16832116992
Heatsink; http://www.newegg.co...N82E16835106190
TIM: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16835426020
TIM remover: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16835100010

Just for a top budget idea.

[Hellgardia]

Case: Corsair Carbide Series 300R Black Steel - 89.99$
PSU: CORSAIR Professional Series Gold AX750 - 160.00$
Motherboard: ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 - 249.99$
CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K Ivy Bridge 3.5GHz - 349.99$
Cooler: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 EVO - 34.99$
Memory: Patriot Gamer 2 Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) - 43.99$
GPU1: MSI N670 PE 2GD5/OC GeForce GTX 670 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 - 429.99$
GPU2: MSI N670 PE 2GD5/OC GeForce GTX 670 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 - 429.99$
SSD: Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2CCA 2.5" 128GB SATA III - 119.99$
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB - 119.99$
Drive: ASUS 24X DVD Burner - 16.99$

Total - 2045.90$

You could go with dual GTX680 Lightning altough at their current price, i don't think they are worth it:

Case: Corsair Carbide Series 300R Black Steel - 89.99$
PSU: CORSAIR Professional Series Gold AX750 - 160.00$
Motherboard: ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 - 249.99$
CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K Ivy Bridge 3.5GHz - 349.99$
Cooler: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 EVO - 34.99$
Memory: Patriot Gamer 2 Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) - 43.99$
GPU1: MSI N680GTX Lightning - 599.99$
GPU2: MSI N680GTX Lightning - 599.99$
SSD: Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2CCA 2.5" 128GB SATA III - 119.99$
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB - 119.99$
Drive: ASUS 24X DVD Burner - 16.99$

Total - 2385.90$


And alternative around AMD videocards:

Case: Corsair Carbide Series 300R Black Steel - 89.99$
PSU: CORSAIR Professional Series Gold AX750 - 160.00$
Motherboard: ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 - 249.99$
CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K Ivy Bridge 3.5GHz - 349.99$
Cooler: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 EVO - 34.99$
Memory: Patriot Gamer 2 Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) - 43.99$
GPU1: MSI R7970 Lightning Radeon HD 7970 3GB 384-bit GDDR5 - 529.99$
GPU2: MSI R7970 Lightning Radeon HD 7970 3GB 384-bit GDDR5 - 529.99$
SSD: Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2CCA 2.5" 128GB SATA III - 119.99$
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB - 119.99$
Drive: ASUS 24X DVD Burner - 16.99$

Total - 2245.90$


Personally, i would get the one with dual GTX670 or the latter one with the dual HD7970s (thanks to the GTX680, the HD7970 are now at a great price for their performance).

EDIT: Ah Vulpesveritas beat me to it

Edited by Aniquilator6, 08 July 2012 - 12:21 AM.

[Oderint dum Metuant]

Those 2 680 Lightnings tho at this type of budget...would be calling me in my dreams.

[Vulpesveritas]

Dual 7970 option in Canadian currency: (seeing as you're not OCing)
Case: http://www.newegg.ca...N82E16811133176
PSU: http://www.newegg.ca...N82E16817121093
Motherboard: http://www.newegg.ca...N82E16813131821
CPU: http://www.newegg.ca...N82E16819116502
GPU: http://www.newegg.ca...N82E16814131471 X2
RAM: http://www.newegg.ca...N82E16820148518
SSD: http://www.newegg.ca...N82E16820148442
HDD: http://www.newegg.ca...N82E16822136798
ODD: http://www.newegg.ca...N82E16827106289
OS: http://www.newegg.ca...N82E16832116992
Sound: http://www.newegg.ca...N82E16829271007
Heatsink: http://www.newegg.ca...N82E16835226050

Should cover everything the OP wants I think.

[Webclaw]

The only time that getting a i7 Hex Core and a X79 motherboard is if you require that rig for video editing, 3D modelling and the like (hence why I have a i7-3930K and 32GB of Ram), not for games. Although it does kick *** at games but not any better than a quad core would.

[Adm Awesome]

Congrats I spent under 800 dollars on a Custom computer a few months ago and It can do everything yours can.

You only see people who think they have a huge epeen, or don't even know what they're doing, but want what they think is a nice PC spend that much just to play games.

Edited by Adm Awesome, 08 July 2012 - 04:26 AM.