Intel New build advice

[easypickingsere]

Its been a couple of years since I last built a machine and getting into helis so Im pretty out of touch with whats hot/ not in the pc world. What I want is a machine that will play games "nicely". I given up on the building trade and going back to school to do a degree in IT so it will also have to be upto the job of doing my school work (writing up, M/S Office, programming C, C#, C++ and any other student type stuff. Id like it to be good for 2 or 3 years if possible maybe adding new GPU's further down the line and a SSD for Boot.

PC Im running at the mo may get by but in all honesty I want somthing good for the upcoming release of ArmA3 and BF3. Of course aswell as taking me through school :)

Never built an Intel rig before and after the last 3 AMD rigs I built kept changing their sockets for a past time I decided Im gonna go for Intel for a change.

The rig I priced up so far is:-

Asus P8Z68-V PRO
Intel i7 2600k
Asus GTX 570 DirectCUII 1280mb
Corsair Vengance 4x4GB 1866MHz
Novatech PSU@600W (modular gaming psu)
Seagate 1Tb SATA 6Gbs
Liteon 22x DVD burner
Utilise gaming case I already have
Maybe add a large CPU cooler for potential OC later on

What do you think? Overkill, underkill? Go ATI instead of Nvidia? Get two cheaper cards and run in either SLI or Crossfire? I did read that an i5 CPU would be fine for the gaming side of things just not sure on writing code requirements.

Cheers

Mark


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[Toolman]

Personally I am done with SLI or Crossfire, I have just got a GX570 card as well which is really quiet.

The only other thing you may consider is a small SSD to load your OS and software onto.
They are the big (actually very small) thing at the mo, approx 5x faster to read & write than a HDD.
I have just got an OCZ Agility 60GB, which is expensive at around £75 but worth it.

And yes it probably is overkill!

Tim.

[callum]

Looking good, However.. Do not cheap out on a Novatech branded PSU. The efficiency and reliability is not worth the risk. Have a look at the ToughPower series 850 - 1K Watt range.

Since your going with a Z68 chipset you should be able to utilise SSD Caching using a 30GB SSD drive. Once your files have been used a few times they will be cached onto the SSD.

with regards to cooling for the future, certainly check out the Noctua NH-D14 the best air cooler to date. Or if that's a bit over budget check out the CoolerMaster Hyper 212 Plus. Then clock to 5Ghz ;)

[Lynx.1677]

Yeah agreed, PSU should be top notch, Corsair or something like Callum mentioned. I do 3d graphics and video editing on my rig so your new one should be fine! Also, I have bought a Zotac Nvidia GTX560 Ti Amp edition and it's only 8fps slower on most games over my previous GTX580!! For £200 less you just can't go wrong. It plays all games at Max at 1920x1080 and not yet found a game that really taxes it other than Metro 2033 and that game struggled even on a GTX 580 Sli rig (so badly coded).

My rig below:
Asus Rampage LGA775 motherboard
Intel Q9650 Core2Quad @ 4 Ghz
8Gb DDR2 Corsair Ram
Zotac GTX560Ti Amp Edition
Corsair 650W silent PSU

[mark_w]

[QUOTE=easypickingsere;710520] I did read that an i5 CPU would be fine for the gaming side of things just not sure on writing code requirements.

[/QUOTE]

Thats more than enough for writing/compiling code. Our work machines are only Core 2 Duo's and we don't have any problems. Its the memory side that Visual Studio will eat up, but you have plenty in your spec.

[sacko]

Isnt much more advice to add than what has already been given.

What are you studying? I have all my Uni books at home in the loft that you are more than welome to if needed. Range from; Vb.net, SQL, Java, C#, C++, ASP.net and prob a couple of other languages.

[LaurenceGough]

Asus P8Z68-V PRO - Get a Gigabyte board instead, Asus have a history of lying in their advertising. Gigabyte also has Dual BIOS and Ultra durable design. GA-Z68XP-UD3P or similar.
Intel i7 2600k - Might as well get i5 2500k and save some dosh, unless you do intense video editing. My 2500k is at 4.5GHz easy and runs cool, nothing stresses it at all.
Asus GTX 570 DirectCUII 1280mb
Corsair Vengance 4x4GB 1866MHz - I would prefer to use Crucial Ballistix as Corsair's service I haven't found to be great. 4GB should be plenty too, unless you're programming takes up a load. I've never maxed my 4GB out at all.
Novatech PSU@600W (modular gaming psu) - The Cooler Master Silent pro series are amazing
Seagate 1Tb SATA 6Gbs
Liteon 22x DVD burner
Utilise gaming case I already have
Maybe add a large CPU cooler for potential OC later on -Noctua nh-d14 is the ultimate heat sink, but you need a big case, great for overclocking, my temps never go above 50C at 4.5GHz 100% load. It comes with top end fans which have like a 7 year warranty, some of the best thermal compound and massive dual heatsink.

ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro is one of the best cheap options.

[easypickingsere]

Thanks for your thoughts so far.

Well reading this Im starting to think ditch the i7 and get an i5 and clock it. With the money I save on that it covers a better PSU, and the money I was going to use for the novatech psu can go towards a noctua. With that thought in mind can either of you which have them please give me the measurement from the mobo to the top of the cooler so I can check if it will fit in my case please.

With regards to Gigabyte mobos, no thanks. I have been through two of their mobo's before now and swore I wouldnt go back, tho this was some time ago now. Asus on the other hand to date I have had no probs with so am happy to stick with them. Once bitten twice shy n all that.

Thanks for the offer Paul, I may well get in touch if I need any once I find out exactly what Im doing and discuss a price for them. The first year is computers and networks, IT applications and programming basics (been told mainly C# for first year) website development and related. Games development, multimedia dev, database dev, network OS's, application development software engineering, security. Then from years 2 and 3 it gets more in depth and you can choose which way your wanting to specialise in. SH@T!!!! now as I wrote it down it seems a hell of a lot to take on:s

Reason I stuck in a slightly cheaper PSU and no SSD is purely down to being on a grant, think Im pushing it a bit as it is with this pc tho my thinking is get it built now then there shouldnt be much BIG I need to get to see me through. Was hoping to get another heli tho that may have to wait for a while now.

[Randall]

Dont bother with the i7 unless your a bencher, Get a i5 2500k, If your not into overclocking get a MSI board or alike with OC genie at the press of a button you will end up with a extra GHZ im running a i5 2500k and a GTX480 graphics card and i can tear any game into bits i get over 100fps in most games including crysis 2 @1080p

DO NOT use a novatech psu !!! your better off using a car battery to run your pc lol, Get a Corsair or alike they mainly use seasonic Designs (one of the best PSU's you can get) if you on a Budget get the XFX range of PSU's from overclockers they are a seasonic PSU and goot prices even there modular ones are a good price.

[LaurenceGough]

I wouldn't touch the XFX PSU's weren't they one ones who went up in smoke when reviewed lol... Castle cremations of the pc world ;).

Gigabyte, I also used to hate them until I sore some dodgy ads from Asus and the new features of the Gigabyte boards, anyway both will be good these days.

Noctua NH-D14 specs here:

[url=http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=productview&products_id=34&lng=en&set=1]Noctua.at - sound-optimised premium components "Designed in Austria"![/url]

[Randall]

[QUOTE=LaurenceGough;710619]I wouldn't touch the XFX PSU's weren't they one ones who went up in smoke when reviewed lol... Castle cremations of the pc world ;).

Gigabyte, I also used to hate them until I sore some dodgy ads from Asus and the new features of the Gigabyte boards, anyway both will be good these days.

Noctua NH-D14 specs here:

[url=http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=productview&products_id=34&lng=en&set=1]Noctua.at - sound-optimised premium components "Designed in Austria"![/url][/QUOTE]


only the Low end XFX PSU's the 700Watt and above are all Seasonic PSU's and some of the best PSU's in the world. but there real cheap bottem end are cheapys (same as corsair infact) but the Big XFX's are very very good psu's and as good as the market leaders. Asus have slipped behind lately a little with there boards but TBH again unless your benchmarking and extreme overclocking you wont notice too much difference, Personally i have a Cosair 850Watt psu and that is more than enough for most setups including Sli or Xfire

[Sieze2]

Get a i5 not a i7. The extra money is not worth it. Also maybe downgrade the graphics card?

[Planehazza]

Grab a corsair HX620W modular PSU. Very stable and great for OCing :)

I need a new system myself, but I'm too skint.

Currently running:

E8400 @ 3.6Ghz
680i SLi Mobo
6GB DDR2 OCZ RAM
2x GTX260 in SLi
2x 7200 HDDs
60GB SSD
Blu Ray
XFi Fatal1ty Sound Card (My favourite part :D)
HAF X Gaming Case

All from 620W :)

I'd love a decent i5 system, but I just can't justify it. I game at 1920x1080p and my system manages Deus Ex at 30-60 FPS, but my other favourites such as STALKER: Call of Pripyat struggle to maintain a constant 20FPS :(

Still can't bring myself to spend all the money :(

That GTX570 is meant to be awesome, but I've heard the 6xx series are due out soon. I guess then you could argue not getting one of those because the 7xx series will be out - always the same with PCs! Have you considered AMD/ATi? I usually use nVidia, but I'm tempted to try AMD next time as they are much more competitively priced.

[bolders]

I would also say go for the i5 2500K as opposed to the 2600

Also the corsair PSUs are very good - I have also had very good results from Enermax PSUs but I have not seen many about recently. Also a 1KW PSU is a bit overkill imo (especially if you are only going to run 1 gfx card) - a 650Watt PSU would be fine.

For coolers it may be worth considering the corsair H60 water cooling system (about the same money as the Noctua)

[url=http://www.ebuyer.com/264011-corsair-hydro-series-h60-high-performance-liquid-cpu-cooler-cwch60]Corsair Hydro Series H60 High Performance Liquid CPU.. | Ebuyer.com[/url]

This is a fit and forget factory sealed unit so no worries about leaks etc and it is very easy to install.
I have the H50 in my media PC where noise is an important factor. Its performance is so good that I have been able to throttle it right back and now the PC is practically silent.
A friend has the H60 in his gaming rig which replaced a large after market cooler (similar style to the Noctua) and he has seen a drop of about 8 - 10 degrees.

[easypickingsere]

Just been looking at numbers and now I see why the "novatech" PSU's are so cheap. 18A vs 56A just to mention one rail, (if I read it correctly which I think I did). Thinking of going between 650W and 750W Corsair, pref the 750W for future consumption. I take it the "bronze" units arent even worth looking at?

Mind is made up with going the i5 route, get that and clock it straight away I reckon. Noctua should "just" about squeeze in my case I am happy to say. As for water :O no way I really dont like the idea of it. I got a mate who has a water cooled rig and yes its very nice and performs very well but for me I cant risk ANY possibility of a leak n fried components. A lad I did my cisco course with ruined a 2 grand set up down to a leak and said he knew another lad who lost his to so really not for me.

Swap GPU? Nah. I never had a really good GPU and granted this isnt the latest and greatest but Im gonna stick with it. I did however consider ATI tho the only benefit I can see is multi screens which doesnt matter to me being as I am limited for space and money so one monitor suits me fine. Also does the old proverb still not apply, Intel chip=Nvidia, AMD chipset= ATI? Alot changes when you turn away for a short time and building a new machine has made me realise how out of touch I was to new hardware, last dogs danglies GPU when I was into gaming in a big way was GTX4xx series. HDMI on GPU's, any real benefit over DVI? After all HDMI was designed to carry both video and audio wasnt i

Another thought. This rig ATM has a X-FI Extreme Gamer sound card in, is it worthwhile putting this in the new rig or does the onboard sound chips these days match up or even surpass it?

Cheers

Mark