94 replies to this topic

[HeroicTofu]

Here's my long awaited (or is it?!) build:

CPU: Intel Core i5-2500k http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819115072

Motherboard: MSI P67A-G45 http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813130582

Memory: G. Skill Ripjaws X http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820231428 (x2)

Video Card: SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 7970: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814102982 (I'm partial towards SAPPHIRE brand from personal experience)

SSD (For System Startup and Most Common Programs): Crucial M4 128GB http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820148442

HD (For storage of silly things like lolcats pictures and anime music videos): Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16822136284

PSU: Cooler Master Silent Pro Gold Series 800W: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817171057

Case: Rosewill Ranger: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16811147061

This Brings us to 1458.91 so far in terms of cost. (I'm running out of time before work so I've got to make this last bit short!)

Since we have a 7970... We also have Eyefinity. So my next cost....

Monitor: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16824236154 x3. Yes, 3 of them.

That brings us to 2103.88. You can follow the keyboard/mouse/etc for the other people, they have chosen wisely.

[Vincent Vascaul]

Sabertooth will overclock just as well as the Asrock in my experience. TO the OP I would recommend AMD for your situation for one simple reason, longevity, if you buy say the Asus Sabertooth 990FX Mobo you get at least a couple of generations fo support (where as the 1155 socket will be replaced by next year) In fact thats what I am planning on doing in my big desk build (that or a 2011 board) as my 2700k processor OC'ed to 5.0 has proven that the 1155 is simply not up to my needs. If i were you I would build the following with your budget.

FX 8120
Asus Sabertooth 990fx Mobo (By the way new egg has a combo special at the moment for these 2 items) http://promotions.ne...1%2f696x288.jpg

The 16 gb Pack of OD Corsair Vengence Designed to go with this mobo http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820233247

2 Gigabyte Triple Fan 7950's they will power anything you want and be cool and quiet at the same time. (I would recommend 2 aus DUII's but they would pretty much take up all of your PCI slots and thats no good) http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814125414

SeaSonic Platinum 860 watt PSU (This is important! The higher quality PSU you get now the more money you save in the long run a PSU like this could save you up to $70+ a year just by being more efficient plus it is going to help increase the longevity of the rest of your hardware) http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817151111

Thermaltake Frio CPU cooler (it takes normal 120mm fans so down the road you can replace them thus getting even longer life out fo this part) http://www.newegg.co...N82E16835106150

Patriot Pyro 120Gb SSD (Super Fast and from a very good brand)http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820220603


Lian Li PC-A70F All aluminum PC tower (dont go with these "gamer" cases these are incredibly well made cases with top notch cooling and tooless interios that are a dream to build in. they are classy and understated and will last a very long time. Heck I broke a world record overclocking my videocards with this cases smaller brother.
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16811112342

A WD 1 terabyte drive if you want a starage drive (stay away from seagate) http://www.newegg.co...N82E16822136782

Win 7 64 bit

Then three 23 inch 1080p monitos (these can be had for $110 a piece) so $330 there

2 of these dual monitor mounts for another $110 total http://www.amazon.co...I/ref=pd_cp_e_0

After rebates and everything that comes to about $2,610 and that will give you a PC setup that belongs in the top 0.5% of PC setups that you wont have to upgrade for years and when you do it will prolly just be the SSD and Proc. By the way I have hands on experience with pretty much all of this hardware so when I recommend it its not just be making a wish list. Pm me if you have any questions or need help or if you would like to have someone like me build something like this for you oh and here is the Lin Li rig I broke that record with (she was stripped down so I could keep my eye on temps with a thermal gun http://ninjalane.com.../ln2_party_2/13 http://ninjalane.com.../ln2_party_2/14

[Vincent Vascaul]

Also for accessories I would go razer Naga (have one my self) it has mappable buttons on the side for your thumb so you can rig up each weapons group right there. THen a Good mech keyboard from Rosewill ect something with Cherry MX reds or Blacks.

[Vulpesveritas]

@Barberic I don't know why the hate for thermaltake with their toughpower PSUs. They are rather efficient and have good amperage.

Other than that, I opted to suggest what I figured would be the best all-around build.

And I agree with Vincent on almost all he said. While that RAM may match it isn't low profile which may cause issues with the heatsink (I haven't looked at the frio much so I don't know whether it interferes with the RAM slots.) so you might consider looking for some low profile RAM that matches, or like the AMD low profile RAM I suggested which is black which goes with about everything.
Also that AMD RAM is manufactured by Patriot (which some is manufactured in USA) and goes through a second set of quality control via AMD.

Peripheral-wise that Corsair M90 is similar to the Razer Naga, however it has an aluminium construction so may last longer. The K90 is mechanical and has extra buttons you can program as well for more quick grabs. Then the joysticks were there in case you wanted to play with joysticks.

Then I do recommend Eyefinity if you do go with dual 7970s. It's a tossup with a single one. Though you may consider using reference cards as they will exhaust out the back of your case. Just a thought.

[Barbaric Soul]

Vulpesveritas, on 17 March 2012 - 08:01 PM, said:

@Barberic I don't know why the hate for thermaltake with their toughpower PSUs. They are rather efficient and have good amperage.

It's not that I hate Thermaltake power supplies, it's just that I trust Corsair power supplies more than Thermaltake. $104 for the TX750 compared to $200 for that 850 TT, yeah, I'll take the Corsair. To be honest, I'd take my current power supply (XFX PRO750W *** Edition Semi-Modular 80Plus Silver 750 Watt Power Supply ) which run around $138 over that TT. Even $65 more for the additional 100 watts isn't worth it IMHO, especailly considering all the builds suggested only need 750 watts, if that much. And if the computer did need 850 watts, there are ALOT of very good single rail power supplies in that range that are considerably less expensive then that TT.

Edited by Barbaric Soul, 18 March 2012 - 03:16 AM.

[Chas]

Okay, honestly, I'd say go after the Intel rig proposed by Barbaric Soul.
However, I noticed you said something about possibly doing video editing?
If so, spring for the extra dross and go with the 2600K. You'll see better performance out of your editing app(s) with the i7.

As for why not the AMD?
8 cores and it gets beat by an i5.
Worse floating-point performance than an i5 and don't get started on i7.
125W chip.

Maybe AMD's next refresh of the platform will help repair things.
But it's really hard to recommend their platform to anyone who's looking to spend serious cash on a serious system right now.

[Vincent Vascaul]

I have a 2700k overclocked to 5.0 and I can honestly say, while its a great Proc it just does not have enough PCI-e lanes if you are going to run dual cards and/or other accessories, so if you go triple screens go with a 2011 socket or AMD.

[Vulpesveritas]

And given you can get a better all-around system by going AMD, save your CPU, although you get a longer upgrade path on AM3+, and therefore in the long run may get a much better CPU without having to upgrade your motherboard in time.


Which means you save money in the long run, and as it stands Piledriver is expected to be a rather decent upgrade and be what Bulldozer was supposed to be.

[Chas]

Yeah. No.

I don't ever (EH-VUR!) recommend buying now in the hopes that something in the future will magically upgrade it and make it "finally better".

Not needing an upgrade path is the best upgrade path.

Build the best computer you can NOW if you have the budget for it.
Don't build half-*** and wait on the Next Best Thing.

Because you're ALWAYS going to be waiting.

Edited by Chas, 18 March 2012 - 10:30 PM.

[Beaker]

However if you buy a computer, and expect to give it an upgrade in 18 - 24 months then buying Intel has been a hefty Fail for years now unless you buy JUST as the new CPU Socket arrives.

With AMD you have the opportunity to upgrade your CPU at a later date, even if it is a few years between upgrades, and provided you don't buy form a crappy manufacturer. Asus and Gigabyte issue regular BIOS updates for their major boards, and MSI while nowhere near as good does it for a few of theirs.

On my last Midlife update I wouldn't have been able to do it with Intel due to the change every 2 generations of Intel sockets. Also on Piledriver, I'm "waiting" for it, I just built an FX-6100 rig. in use these are actually faster than the reviews would let you think, especially after the hotfixes are applied to Win7.

[Barbaric Soul]

Vincent Vascaul, on 18 March 2012 - 10:42 AM, said:

I have a 2700k overclocked to 5.0 and I can honestly say, while its a great Proc it just does not have enough PCI-e lanes if you are going to run dual cards and/or other accessories, so if you go triple screens go with a 2011 socket or AMD.

what motherboard do you have? It's not the CPU that has the PCIe lanes or lack there of your talking about.



And there is a upgrade for socket 1155 beyond the 2600k, it's called Ivy Bridge and is about the be available for sale. There are just too many AMD fanboy's here

[Beaker]

Barbaric Soul, on 19 March 2012 - 02:59 AM, said:

what motherboard do you have? It's not the CPU that has the PCIe lanes or lack there of your talking about.



And there is a upgrade for socket 1155 beyond the 2600k, it's called Ivy Bridge and is about the be available for sale. There are just too many AMD fanboy's here

2006 - Kentsfield & Conroe LGA775
2007 - Conroe/Wolfdale - LGA 775
November 2008 - Nehlem - LGA 1156/1366
January 2010 - Westmere - LGA 1156/1366
January 2011 - Sandy Bridge - LGA 1155
May/June 2012 - Ivy Bridge - LGA1155 - Late to clear back stock.
March-June 2013 - Haswell - LGA 1150
????? - Broadwell - LGA 1150

Following the way they are working that means SKylake and Skymont will change socket again, and your Ivy Bridge purchase will mean buying a new Motherbaord as well as a CPU. Doesn't matter if you the manufacturer can make the board work, it'll still need to be swapped as it's mechanically incompatible.

AMD however I had a AMD 740 board in one of the server boxen I was playing with that took everything from AM2 to AM3.
Link :: http://uk.gigabyte.c...p.aspx?pid=3490

Not a great board, but useful as a home server, and shows the difference in approaches to compatability.
Almost all the AMD Athlone/Phenom/Phenom2 Range including processors from 2006 - 2011 are covered.

I considered Intel, rather seriously when I did the upgrade, but opted for the FX-6100 because it was Good Enough, and I would have an upgrade path in 18 months rather than buying a new rig again.

[Seth Deathstalker]

Barbaric Soul, on 19 March 2012 - 02:59 AM, said:

what motherboard do you have? It's not the CPU that has the PCIe lanes or lack there of your talking about.



And there is a upgrade for socket 1155 beyond the 2600k, it's called Ivy Bridge and is about the be available for sale. There are just too many AMD fanboy's here

I am not an AMD 'fanboy'. But undoubtably you will have a much longer upgrade path concerning CPU with AM3+ than with 1155/2011, will you not? After Ivy Bridge you will need a new motherboard because of the new socket architecture. Of course, if you don't mind changing mobo every two years then no problem. I thought with a good mobo/socket you only need to get newer CPU's and GPU's over the years.

[Chas]

Beaker, on 19 March 2012 - 02:41 AM, said:

However if you buy a computer, and expect to give it an upgrade in 18 - 24 months then buying Intel has been a hefty Fail for years now unless you buy JUST as the new CPU Socket arrives.

I look at it this way. If you buy with the intention of massive upgrading later, you're settling for a sub-par system now and probably not seeing the best performance out of the newer components later on.

More, like people who buy with the "intent" of going SLI "later on", few actually do. The majority of SLI systems are built as SLI from the get-go.

While a lot of hardware junkies are gamers, the reverse isn't necessarily true. So many of them are looking to get the best possible system NOW, and not have to fart with upgrading in a year and a half if the system they build remains acceptable (barring simpler things like video card upgrades and more memory) for a 2-3 year time-span.

As I said earlier, the best upgrade path is one where the system remains in the "acceptable" range so long that you don't NEED to upgrade it before it would make better economical sense to just replace it.

Quote

With AMD you have the opportunity to upgrade your CPU at a later date, even if it is a few years between upgrades, and provided you don't buy form a crappy manufacturer.

Even if the majority of users never EVER partake of this. And, as I said, it means settling for a sub-par system now and buying more equipment later on instead of being able to coast on what you've already got.

Quote

On my last Midlife update I wouldn't have been able to do it with Intel due to the change every 2 generations of Intel sockets. Also on Piledriver, I'm "waiting" for it, I just built an FX-6100 rig. in use these are actually faster than the reviews would let you think, especially after the hotfixes are applied to Win7.

You're making the assumption I'm going off a bunch of "I'm going to throw a clean Windows insteall on it and run a bunch of synthetic benchmarks" reviews.

I work with this hardware on a daily basis and game across multiple systems.

While performance on the Sledghammer series isn't "bad", even patched to a fare-thee-well, it's still not on par with the older i5 and i7 on a clock-for clock basis and only still excels in integer crunching functions and VERY highly multithreaded apps. For gaming, it's still won't beat out marginally more expensive processors that have been on the market over a year.

I have exactly zero loyalty to any given brand. My loyalty resides in how much performance can they give me within my price range or if you're delivering features I want that others can't (as was the case in AMD's initial movement to 64-bit computing). Arguments of "good enough" and "you can spend MORE money and upgrade to something that MIGHT be better at some nebulous point int he future" fall on deaf ears.

I want maximum bang for my buck. And I want it NOW. Not "maybe...sometime down the road".

Edited by Chas, 19 March 2012 - 10:40 AM.

[Barbaric Soul]

You guys can have your AMD processors that are out performed by the last two gennerations of Intel's I5 and I7 processors. That's fine by me. But to sit here and say it's worth it for future upgrading when it's not even equal to todays performance levels given by Intel is rediculous.I mean dang, the Q9650 OC'ed to 4ghz/EP45-UD3P MB combo is just upgraded from would still be equal to any of AMD's quads, and be able to match the 6 and 8 core CPUs in programs that only use 4 or less threads. I'm currently using a 2600k OC'ed to 4.2ghz in a MSI Z68A-GD80(G3) motherboard, and unless I just get the itch to play with something new, I don't see me upgrading this in the next 3 years(about the same amount of time I had my Q9650).

Just because a new socket is released does not mean what you have looses it's performance. I stayed with 775, completely skipped 1156 and 1366, and when I did upgrade, went to 1155. I'll be skipping 2011, 1150, and probably the socket after 1150.

Edited by Barbaric Soul, 19 March 2012 - 12:33 PM.

[Vincent Vascaul]

I am using a p67 Asus deluxe mobo and it doesn't matter the 1155 socket supports 16 PCI-E lanes period just like the 1156 before. If I want to get more lanes with intel I have to go to 2011 (which I have been considering) but the cost to performance ratio just isn't there. However with pretty much everything AMD at the moment i get plenty of PCI-E lanes and great heavy threading performance. Also theres no "massive upgrade" with the build I specced. Just replacing your proc when you outgrow it. I am no AMD fanboy out of the last 6 systems i have built in the last 23 months 4 were intel 2 were AMD (and one of those was a Llano web/media box so thats really here nor there) Of my own personal systems right now 3 are Intel and 1 is AMD but the fact is after putting tons of money into Intels Lineup they do no better for me than my 1090T and in sever cases worse (these have been 2 2600k systems a 2700k system and a 2500k system and thats not even including the i5 750 I have for a office system which I am actually very pleased with) The fact of the matter is I am tired of having stupid limits imposed on me as a hardware enthusiast where intel makes all of these superficial hardware differences that dont need to be there. If I go AMD I know that I am getting a product that is at least going to be supported long term. So yes I am seriously considering going back to AMD because at the premium I have payed for my Intel products I expected more. I may give it one last hurrah and go 2011 but I feel like I will only be dissapointed yet again in the performance for price area. The only complaint I have about AMD at the moment is their lack of implementing pci-e 3.0 but as of right now it shouldnt be a bottleneck with current tech and if it becomes one then I will cross that bridge when its in front of me.

[Seth Deathstalker]

@Chas: so what is your recommended build for a rig to last four to five years without needing to rip out the intel board after Ivy Bridge because of a new socket? I am not trolling. I am just curious.

[Barbaric Soul]

Seth Deathstalker, on 19 March 2012 - 12:34 PM, said:

@Chas: so what is your recommended build for a rig to last four to five years without needing to rip out the intel board after Ivy Bridge because of a new socket? I am not trolling. I am just curious.

personally, I don't think you will actually need an upgrade from Ivy Bridge in the next 4 years

[Gremlich Johns]

If you are going to be doing video processing, go for 16GB RAM, it just makes things easier when rendering, etc...

[Catamount]

I will give a LOT of props to AMD as a company for keeping sockets around the way they do, but Chas is right; it's something to take advantage of when it presents itself, NOT something you buy an inferior CPU for, in order to plan to possibly take advantage of it later, if substantially better CPUs come out.

The advantage to this is that, in line with AMD constantly being the more budget-constant choice, you can usually extend old systems with new generations of CPUs, and it does usually work out to your advantage. Socket 939 had Athlon 64 X2s, Socket AM2+ had Phenom II access, and while older AM3 boards didn't get the jump to Bulldozer, it was originally planned, and AM3+ boards have been available for awhile anyways, giving access to a system that might plausibly go all the way from a Phenom II To Steamroller (awesome?).

It's always nice having someone with a socket two generations back (AM2+), and being able to tell them they can upgrade to a Phenom II X4 940 and have a still-decent gaming machine.


However, if you have the money for an i5 or an i7 (assuming there's a reason to get the i7), there is absolutely no reason to buy an AMD system in hopes of Piledriver being awesome and/or Steamroller being AM3+ and being awesome. Piledriver isn't out right now, so there's little sense to, in essence, building a Piledriver PC right now.

Edited by Catamount, 19 March 2012 - 02:44 PM.