Building a new pc.. Got the specs inside, opinions?

dreamache

dreamache

New member
Jun 26, 2006
4,393
130
0
I'm not great with hardware, so maybe the few of you who know their shit can chime in? I wouldn't doubt it if I made some poor choices.

PC Cost is around $2.3k.. With monitor it comes to $2,844.


Intended uses: Aside from being a designer, I also game + I also want to start doing game reviews for my upcominggames.com site (which requires using an app like FRAPS to screen record) + I do video work in after effects from time to time.

The wishlist:
Newegg.com - Once You Know, You Newegg


EVGA 141-GT-E770-A1 LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Extended ATX Intel Motherboard
$319.99

COOLER MASTER HAF 932 Advanced RC-932-KKN5-GP Black Steel ATX Full Tower Compucase Case with USB 3.0 and Black Interior
$159.99

Antec High Current Pro HCP-1200 1200W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
$279.99
(^ I chose the highest wattage possible, not really sure if that was necessary or what the pros/cons are to this)

Intel Core i7-960 Bloomfield 3.2GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80601960
$284.99

Crucial RealSSD C300 CTFDDAC128MAG-1G1 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
$249.99
(^ 128gb SSD will be adequate for my main operating system / apps / game install stuff, I have other standard drives for backup/storage)

(2 of these SLI) EVGA SuperClocked 012-P3-1572-AR GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support ...
$339.99 ($679.98 total)

Intel BXSTS100C Passive/active combination heat sink with removable fan
Model #:BXSTS100C
$34.99

Dell UltraSharp U2410 (464-7346) Black 24" 6ms HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor
$529.99
(^ I currently have 3 monitors, but the left 2 inches of my primary monitor just went completely black, need a new one.)

SONY Black Blu-ray Burner SATA BWU-500S
$139.99

(3 of these 24gb) G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL
$54.99 (total $164.97)

Subtotal: $2,844.87
 


Looks like a nerd boner computer, I approve. I always just head over to tomshardware.com and check out the recommended systems. Since they toy around with this stuff all the time it saves me from having to do all the research and stay current with this stuff. I would venture a guess that a few things on your list may be overkill if budget is at all an issue, such as the power supply and the mobo.
 
Graphics card is a good choice should keep you going top of the line for a while.

Memory, why 1333? Why not 1600? Gskill makes some good memory that is also cheap, get the 1600. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231314It's actually pretty over clockable stuff should be able to get it closer to Cas 7.

Only one SSD? Are you going to supplement with other non-ssd drives?

Besides that everything else looks good. Pretty wicked mobo.
 
ryanjm said:
Looks like a nerd boner computer, I approve. I always just head over to tomshardware.com and check out the recommended systems. Since they toy around with this stuff all the time it saves me from having to do all the research and stay current with this stuff. I would venture a guess that a few things on your list may be overkill if budget is at all an issue, such as the power supply and the mobo.
Click to expand...

I was looking for something like that.. recommended builds, but couldn't find shit from google searches.

Thanks.
 
ryanjm said:
I would venture a guess that a few things on your list may be overkill if budget is at all an issue, such as the power supply and the mobo.
Click to expand...

My thoughts initially also, but it's defiantly a high end rig. Two high powered video cards, I can see why you'd get such a large power supply. You could probably save a few bucks going with a lesser mo-bo but that one you picked is very well rated so I'd roll with it.
 
I've heard that SSDs aren't good for gaming because of the limited write cycles.

And $530 seems steep for a 24". I've seen IPS 24's for around $250 on Slickdeals.
 
Why not go with the i7 2600k I have heard great things about that processor. I just picked up the i5 2500k (the 2600k was overkill for what I wanted). Other than that looks pretty awesome!

P.S. Not sure you need that much ram though. Maybe just 16gb of the faster 1600 stuff.
 
Follow up to above post...

PassMark Intel vs AMD CPU Benchmarks - High End

The i2600k scored a 8924 on the benchmark while the i7-960 only scored 6863. It's only $30 more too.

Building PCs is kinda a hobby for me. I'm in no way an expert, but its something i mess with everynow and again.

Here is something you might want to check out:

System Builder Marathon, June 2011: Alternative $2000 PC : An Unexpected Turn

The nice thing about this is you can see how the parts perform together before you buy. Never know how a certain type of memory / mobo / cpu are going to work together till you try!
 
I built my own comp a few months ago for about the same budget you have, so I hope this helps:

- I agree with shayne, get the i7 2600k instead of the 960. It's superior in many ways (sandy bridge, better overclocking potential if you're into that kind of thing)

- CPU heatsink - I got this: Newegg.com - Scythe YASYA SCYS-1000 120mm Sleeve CPU Cooler - apart from being a biatch to install (wear gloves or you might cut yourself lol!), it's great. My CPU rarely gets any hotter than 60-70° with it at the lowest setting; I've never even had to turn it up.

- power unit: I got this Newegg.com - Cooler Master Silent Pro Gold (the 600w one) and I love it. Great piece - it's as quiet as can get for the power. I also don't think that you'll need anything more than 600w with your current setup - 1200w seems like overkill.

- GPU - the GTX 570 is cool for gaming, but if you want to prioritize graphic/motion design, look at the Nvidia Quadro series... optimized for this kind of work. The difference (as I understand it) is that the GTX series, which is optimized for gaming, is programmed to drop pixels in favor of speed/FPS, while the Quadro series does the opposite. Quadros are way more expensive though (like 3-4x more), and GTX works really great for graphic design too.

- Mainboard - if you're getting the i7 2600k, you'll need the LGA 1155 socket. I suggest this: Newegg.com - MSI P67A-GD65 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard - supports 32GB (instead of the EVGA's 24), has 4x SATA6 (instead of EVGA's 2), 2 eSATA ports (if your external HDs can use that).

- Dell Ultrasharp - great choice for an IPS panel monitor, I'd stick with it!

Just my 2c.
 
PSU is overkill 800-850 would be enough. First choice a Seasonic, second choice Corsair.

Dell Ultrasharp as a wide gamut monitor would be ok for designing - if you calibrate it properly, but for games that are not color managed you can end up with funky colors.
 
I would change the heatsink for a noctua or a Cooler Master V8 and if I was being picky I would grab a corsair psu but antec should be fine.
 
Pretty sick system IMO, 2x570's in SLI I heard are pretty beast and I'm definitely going Nvidia for my next build after my ATi xFire nightmares.

With the 1200w PSU, yeah it's probably overkill but there are practically no cons in having it besides the higher price and possibly higher power consumption.

Since I game a little too, I'd only consider getting 1200w+ if I was building something with the likes of 2-3way 580GTX in SLI, or even 2x590GTX...

I guess the PSU would probably be future proof if you wanted to go that route later on though, when the next generation of consoles come out and the graphics become beyond nuts within the next few years.
 
CPU: definitely switch to 2600k. This is a no brainer. You will need a 1155 motherboard.

Heatsink: forget the intel one and get something more substantial. I like xigmatek 120mm ones since they work great and cheap.

Power supply: do not get antec, get a corsair modular one. They are super reliable, clean power and modular means u only use the cables you need. Anything 750watts or more is fine for two cards.

SSd: get the vertex 3. Fast and latest tech.

Hdd: I would get one or two additional 1tb or 2tb drives for large storage (movies, documents, porn, etc). The smart move is two drives in raid 1 for redundancy. Then use something like dropbox to backup your crucial shit offsite.

Case: look at the antec 900 new or old version are solid and cost effective. I have two of them.

Video card: the general rule is get the cheapest model of the highest gpu spec card you can. Meaning, don't worry about how fast it's "overclocked" from the factory, you can do that yourself. All the extra bs is just making you overpay.
 
I've got a magazine from tigerdirect here with 24" monitors for 250ish. I also picked up a dell 24 inch at staples a few months ago for about 250.
 
Looks good to me, I would definitely buy a 24'' monitor for the new baby or even two for efficient multitasking.
 
Those specs look like something from a year ago..

Get the 2600k with a P68 or Z68 based motherboard. That c300 ssd drive was replaced with the newer c400 drive. anandtech.com has a recent review on DDR3 memory so don't overspend on memory. I'd probably put a pair of 2tb drives and mirror them for extra storage.
 
adamx12m said:
Those specs look like something from a year ago..

Get the 2600k with a P68 or Z68 based motherboard. That c300 ssd drive was replaced with the newer c400 drive. anandtech.com has a recent review on DDR3 memory so don't overspend on memory. I'd probably put a pair of 2tb drives and mirror them for extra storage.
Click to expand...

I updated it a lot, and just ordered it.. 2600cpu, Z68 mobo. decided if I'm going to SLI, do 580's instead of 570's.

New specs listed here:
Newegg.com - Once You Know, You Newegg
..also ordered a monitor from dell which isn't listed there.

Thanks for the help guys..
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom