Gaming Build Advice

[VF12]

Hi All,

I am planning to build a new gaming machine, not done a build for a good few years, just upgrades on my current PC. Please could you run your eyes over the parts to see if i have choosen something which could give me potential problems, or just some advice on better parts.
I have choosen the I7 2600K, is this the best chip to get or would the i5 2500K be a better choice? When this is built it will have to last a good few years so i need it as future proof as possible. Overclocking is a possibilty at some stage as well.
Total cost is £1050 so i need to get it right.
Only other decision is what case, i have shortlisted 2...again any comments would be appreciated.

Thanks for looking

Forgot to add an Optical drive....not that critical probably just a £20 part.

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o298/GR1M1/PCSPECCheck.jpg

[A Ginger Sheep]

ok first off, wait a while until the new sandy bridge boards are out so all of the problems are fixed with the current ones. for the case, both are good, personally I would have the cm 690 so up to you. i would change the hdd for a normal 7200rpm hdd something like the samsung f3 1tb. I would also go for a nice air cooler personally but the corsair is fine if you want to go that route. the graphics I would go for a named one rather than a 'novatech' card as they can be oem a lot of the time just so you know what your getting for the sake of a bit extra or simply inquire whats in stock when you go to order by ringing them up. psu would probably be fine too but your not intending to go for an sli setup in the future is more than you need as a nice 500w would power that pc without any problems.

[randommagik6]

Why are you getting 2 cases? drop the CM690 and get 6/8GB of that RAM instead! :cool:

[Omnu]

ok first off, wait a while until the new sandy bridge boards are out so all of the problems are fixed with the current ones. for the case, both are good, personally I would have the cm 690 so up to you. i would change the hdd for a normal 7200rpm hdd something like the samsung f3 1tb. I would also go for a nice air cooler personally but the corsair is fine if you want to go that route. the graphics I would go for a named one rather than a 'novatech' card as they can be oem a lot of the time just so you know what your getting for the sake of a bit extra or simply inquire whats in stock when you go to order by ringing them up. psu would probably be fine too but your not intending to go for an sli setup in the future is more than you need as a nice 500w would power that pc without any problems.

The new boards are out, notice how it says "B3 Revision" next to it.

[LiamJ]

I prefer the 690 over the 912. Bigger, cheaper, and better looking IMO.

The only other thing I would change is the PSU. The GX series got pretty poor reviews. The Antec TP 750, Corsair TX750/HX650, or if NT stock them, the new XFX Pro series are very good.

Edit: This will be perfect - http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/components/powersupplies/corsair/cmpsu-650txv2uk.html#sp2

[VF12]

ok first off, wait a while until the new sandy bridge boards are out so all of the problems are fixed with the current ones. for the case, both are good, personally I would have the cm 690 so up to you. i would change the hdd for a normal 7200rpm hdd something like the samsung f3 1tb. I would also go for a nice air cooler personally but the corsair is fine if you want to go that route. the graphics I would go for a named one rather than a 'novatech' card as they can be oem a lot of the time just so you know what your getting for the sake of a bit extra or simply inquire whats in stock when you go to order by ringing them up. psu would probably be fine too but your not intending to go for an sli setup in the future is more than you need as a nice 500w would power that pc without any problems.

Thanks for the input, i see what you mean about HDD, it will be only for storage as the SSD will be the boot drive and main game drive so i could save a few quid there. the Novatech Card shows on thier site as a Gainward one...Would this be the one i would get? rather than a generic Nova card?

With regards to the PSU, i might want to go SLI at a later date when the crads come down in price, will prelong the system life.

The new boards are out as already said REV3 :)


Why are you getting 2 cases? drop the CM690 and get 6/8GB of that RAM instead! :cool:
Not getting two cases, those were the two to choose from :)



I prefer the 690 over the 912. Bigger, cheaper, and better looking IMO.

The only other thing I would change is the PSU. The GX series got pretty poor reviews. The Antec TP 750, Corsair TX750/HX650, or if NT stock them, the new XFX Pro series are very good.

Edit: This will be perfect - http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/components/powersupplies/corsair/cmpsu-650txv2uk.html#sp2 (http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/components/powersupplies/corsair/cmpsu-650txv2uk.html#sp2)

This is the sort of thing i need to know, i can trawl through reviews and forums and still miss stuff like this, will look at a diff PSU but dont want the costs to go up too much....
Reason for the choice was that i can get either of the two cases complete with the PSU for a better price than Novatech.....will take another look though.


Thanks for the input and keep the suggestions coming, i need to make sure this will be right as i dont want to be spending more and more due to poor choices.

[wuyanxu]

i don't think you will need such a powerful cooler for sandy bridge, i read they run pretty cool even when overclocked. any average sized and sub £30 cooler should do.

[system7]

i don't think you will need such a powerful cooler for sandy bridge, i read they run pretty cool even when overclocked. any average sized and sub £30 cooler should do.
Wuyanxu, have you seen any sign of hyperthreading doing anything in gaming yet using Task Manager?

I remember Unigine didn't use it, but I think 3DMark Vantage and probably 3DMark11 CPU/Physics tests do.

I can't find any Task manager testing on the net at all, which is why I ask a bright guy like you. Battlefield BC2 seems an ideal candidate to test. Just benching here and that may be GPU limited:
http://www.overclock.net/intel-general/671977-hyperthreading-games.html

[wuyanxu]

nah, i7 HT are not needed for gaming. those benchmarks are pretty much correct for my experience moving from i5 750 to i7 860. you can find a lot of those task manager screenshots for BFBC2 in the EA UK BFBC2 PC forum section, i've seen a couple, showing only the 4 physical cores are loaded.

however, there is a huge plus if you do other stuff while gaming. i was trancoding a 11GB bluray video last night while gaming, BFBC2 or SupCom2 didn't notice any FPS drop while the video transcoder completed faster than i thought. (less than 3 hours, started before 8, finished before 10:30, while playing BFBC2, and some SupCom2)

for this build, where CPU may never get upgraded over 4 or 5 years, i think buying i7 makes sense. more and more application will be moving to take advantage of as many cores as possible. so having those extra logical cores will no doubt help. while fast single thread performance makes sure today's games are not bottlenecked.

[VF12]

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o298/GR1M1/NovaPCBits.jpg
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o298/GR1M1/scanpcbits.jpg

Think this is my final selection, not getting the whole lot from Novatech as i can save a bit buying from another supplier....

It might appear to be a little over-spec on some items but i would like this to last.

If no-one can find any hardware conflicts then i think i may go and order this lot.

Thanks for your input

[LiamJ]

A 6950 would be better value than a 570. The 6950 can have some shaders unlocked through the use of a modded BIOS (very easy to do), which gives 6970 performance.

You've also got triple channel RAM, which is only supported by X58 chipsets, not your P67. I suggest 4Gb of dual channel, or 8Gb if you really need it.

Id also swap the data drive to a Samsung F3 as it's faster, but probably slightly louder too, so that's your decision.

The rest is a brilliant system, you'll love it. :thumbs:

[Peeej]

That's not completely true, the shaders can be unlocked on the original reference design 6950 but there have been problems unlocking to 6970 as there are voltage issues causing, in some cases permanent damage. I've unlocked the shaders using a modded bios rather than a 6970 one and its worked fine then used afterburner to OC 840 1325 and it runs beautifully. Sock for a 6970 is 880 1425. I have read of many people achieving a similar OC but the performance is still under that of a 6970.

What I can say is that unlocking does give you a free performance boost in real world gaming when oced too.

The other problem is that manufacturers are now locking them down more so it is more of a lottery as to whether they'll unlock at all. Its worth some research before taking the plunge.

I'd also look at the new Antec H20 620 which is cheaper than the H70 and is getting some very favorable reviews when the two are compared.

[wuyanxu]

tripple channel RAM is not designed for P67 motherboard. buy the 8GB dual-channel.

the cooler is a HUGE overkill, sandybridge doesn't run hot anyway. is there any reason you must have that beast?

[system7]

I notice a lot of cheap old 1.65V RAM around these days. I think this may be because you should get 1.5V RAM for Sandy Bridge. It won't tolerate more than 1.57V on DRAM by all accounts.

I think I am right in saying the 1155 boards only use DDR3-1333 speeds in dual-channel too. So no point going crazy on RAM speed. For all that, P67 seems picky with memory.

[VF12]

tripple channel RAM is not designed for P67 motherboard. buy the 8GB dual-channel.


http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/components/memory-pc/ddr3-pc3-12800/1600mhz/CMZ6GX3M3A1600C8.html

Under Product Description it says that it is for Dual channel Systems?

Is the description wrong?

[wuyanxu]

it says
"High-performance 8GB Vengeance kit for dual channel systems, 1600MHz, 8-8-8-24, 1.5V"
but the kit is clearly 6GB Vengeance kit for triple channel systems.


everything is contradicting, including the page title and the text immediately under it:

" Corsair Vengeance 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Triple Channel Kit
1600MHz RAM Speed, CAS 8-8-8-24 Timings, 1.5v VDIMM, Lifetime Warranty with Corsair. "

sloppy Novatech.....

for dual channel, you want 2/4/8/16 GB kits.

[dave8691]

Wuyanxu is correct, you need dual channel RAM for Sandybridge:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/components/memory-pc/ddr3-pc3-12800/1600mhz/corsair/cmz8gx3m2a1600c9.html

I think the product description refers to the type of memory chips used in Corsair Vengeance RAM as it is the same description for dual and triple channel varieties.

Edit: Whoops, wuyanxu beat me to it!

[VF12]

thanks for the confirmation, this is great info cos i would have gone and bought it without realising....

Also checked out the Antec H20 cooler, seems a very similar item for far less money.....

Thanks