PC build help needed.

[Glory]

Sup everybody in lala land, though I doubt many of you would remember me as I joined the ranks of L2 cata long after many of you had bowed out. Just wondering if any of you super gamers could assist me with my upcoming pc build project in preperation for the new release games soon to come out BF3 / Guildwars2 / blade and soul.

Basically looking to get the best build I can get from the current market and any suggestions from you guys would be appreciated. Taking into account my pc noobness and lack of overclocking knowledge I would need some tips after the purchase too....

The following is what my current "wishlist" consists of:

Gigabyte G1 Assassin motherboard (1366)
Intel I7 extreme 990x gulftown 3.46 ghz 12mb (6core)
Asus GTX590 3gb gddr5 graphics cards x 2 running in SLI

Corsair dominator ram 12gb (3x4 ddr3 1600 cl9)"cmp12gx3a1600c9" Tri channel ram though i dont know what the difference between the 2 is performance wise(dual / tri).

Corsair ax1200 watt gold modular power supply
asus bw-12b1lt 12x bluray writer
corsair force series 3 120gb sata3 6gb/s SSD (for OS)
Seagate barracuda 2TB 64mb sata3 harddrive (storage)
samsung s27a950d 27" 2ms 120ghz 3d led monitor
Coolermaster Haf-x tower case
Sennheiser pc360 headset
Logitech g510 gaming keyboard
logitech g700 gaming mouse
Razer ironclad gaming mousepad
Win7 ultimate
Coolermaster V10 cpu /ram cooler

im trying to stay clear of watercooling system (noobness) so i got the biggest "fuck off" air cooler unit i could find....

Thats pretty much as far as i can stretch my budget at the moment cause i also just got my learners bike licence so i need to buy a 250cc bike to learn on/sit my other licence classes...

As i mentioned above any tips or suggestions you guys may have please feel free to fire them my way.

Thanks in advance and I hopefully look forward to gaming with you all in the future on my new rig.:ork2_4:

[thedeathnote]

get http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811815012 for Coolermaster Haf-x tower case will not fit your motherbord.

and

get a http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227744 or http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227745 for they read all most x2 faster than corsair force series 3 120gb sata3 6gb/s SSD (for OS) and you have the room for it in your pc.

and

have not kept up to date on monitor but you may want to look at a http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=224-9949&baynote_bnrank=2&baynote_irrank=0&~ck=baynoteSearch (http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=dhs&cs=19&sku=224-9949&baynote_bnrank=2&baynote_irrank=0&%7Eck=baynoteSearch) last i herd it was the best on the market.

i am sure i mist some stuff but that is what i see off hand

[LianLi]

Hey Glory -

That setup is good but why 990x over the i7 2600K? Yeah the 990x with trip memory is fast but it's not much faster than the 2600K. The price diff is huge between the two.

CPU: Intel i7 2600K
Cooling: Corsair H80 (amazing)
Case: I like Corsair cases 650D <3 it. I have the 800D which is overkill but I like big cases. :)
Motherboard: EVGA P67 FTW
Memory: 8 to 12 gigs dual channel Corsair Vengeance
PSU: Corsair TX850 or TX950
Graphics: 2x ATI 6970 Crossfire Sapphire
SSD: Corsair Force 3 256 GB or Cruical M4 256 GB or Adata 256 GB

Don't do 120 MB SSD if you can help it. Games are getting so big. You want that extra space. Managing a 120 is a pain in the balls.

This system is a realistic system if you compare your setup vs this setup. Performance wise it's very close.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-i7-990x-extreme-edition-gulftown,2874-5.html

I hate tomshardware but 990x is okay but 2600 for 700 bucks less is a no brainer.

[Glory]

Thx deathnote for the info, I was considering the OCZ revodrives pci ssd but was worried that it would affect the gaming performance as when you use the next 8x pci slot it drops the bandwidth of one of the 16x GPU to 8x as it is shared.

That is a badass 30" monitor with a awsome 2560x1600 resoultion but unfortunately doesnt come in under budget atm (costs $2200 NZD compared to the 27" 3d samsung at $1100), I could hold off and use my old monitor until i can afford the dell but can anyone else vouch that it is worth the extra effort?

The haf-x case is supposed to support the G1 assassin as it is the same size as the EVGA 4 way sli board ( which ive seen a youtube vid profile of them together) but the case you linked does have 3 more expansion slots which would be good.

[Glory]

Lian, i didnt actually do much research into the sandy bridge 2600k tbh, is this processor able to be overclocked? I knew that the 990x was able to be and I was looking to tweak it a little to gain more performance. Im trying to keep to nvidia GPU if I can as I dont know anybody who uses them irl.

[LianLi]

Well that's fine you can stick to Nvidia...I use ATI and I <3 them. :) I have the u3011 DELL it's worth every penny. That monitor will change your life. HAHA The 2600K can be overclocked and run cooler than the 990x. I bet you could get more out of the 2600k with the Corsair H80. After I do my reinstall this weekend I will post the specs of my PC. I run the i7 - 920 @ 4.0Ghz with Trip Corsair Dom and Single ATI 6970. I beat most 990x stock speeds with ease. :) The only game I can see needing SLI for in the near future is BF3 for me at least.

[Glory]

Cant really see any evga p67 ftw motherboards on my local pc websites, what do you think about the gigabyte g.1 sniper 2 Z68?
and no im not obsessed with gigabyte g.1 series >.> they just seem to have the most accessibility to me atm.

[LianLi]

I'm not a fan of gigabyte but from what I can tell they're okay. I just like EVGA support. It's worth a shot. You gotta go with what's available.

[LianLi]

http://puu.sh/5mxA

Here is a build done in Newegg for others if interested. This box is a damn beast.

[Zippys]

FYI, most 256 GB SSD's also run a good amount faster than their 120gb counterparts so that's another reason not to get 120.

[Glory]

What powersupply would i even need for a OC cpu and 2 graphics cards anyway? 1200 would obviously cover everything but would a 850 / 950 be enough?

[LianLi]

Yeah it would depending on the BRAND.

[hoschi]

i7-2600 (8MB Cache) 3.9GHz
16GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz
Dual 1GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon™ HD 6870
256GB Solid State Drive - SATA 3Gb/s
1TB SATA 3Gb/s (7,200RPM) 32MB Cache

How does that sound ??

[DeciMate]

Well that's fine you can stick to Nvidia...I use ATI and I <3 them. :) I have the u3011 DELL it's worth every penny. That monitor will change your life. HAHA The 2600K can be overclocked and run cooler than the 990x. I bet you could get more out of the 2600k with the Corsair H80. After I do my reinstall this weekend I will post the specs of my PC. I run the i7 - 920 @ 4.0Ghz with Trip Corsair Dom and Single ATI 6970. I beat most 990x stock speeds with ease. :) The only game I can see needing SLI for in the near future is BF3 for me at least.
wtf did you do with your old computer? I want it.

[Glory]

TO SKIP THE BORING DETAILS GO TO THE BOTTOM PARAGRAPH..............

Ok guys, need your help once again. I need a new SSD harddrive... I got myself a 60gb corsair force 3 to act as a cache with the intel smart response software when I built my gaming rig. Unfortunately I found this to be too unstable, after a crash it took forever to repair itself so instead reinstalled my OS onto my small SSD, this has since filled up beyond 80% which is not good so i need to go bigger.I will probably go for a corsair force 3 GT 240gb on Lians recommendation instead of the OCZ revodrive3x2 240gb i was considering.

The other issue im having is my pc is far too noisy because i play with speakers and a mic. I know headphones would block out the noise but I just cant game for long periods wearing them as they are far too uncomfortable. My corsair H80 cpu cooler seems to produce the majority of the noise but I also want to reinstall a scythe typhoon 5400rpm fan in front of my gtx590 sli to keep them cool but this also makes a considerable amount of noise.

So I've decided to add a fan controller to my setup because my motherboard (asus maxmimus iv extreme z) has terrible fan control and seems to only make the fans much louder ( compared to after a reformat when i dont change any fan settings).
Im running 2 top 200mm fans (up), 1 side 200mm(in), front 230mm(in), 140mm rear of drive bays(out), H80 2x120mm (in) and adding the 120mm(5200rpm) behind the end of graphics cards but havent decided if its better to blow cool air onto the gpu's or away from (too noob to know if gpu fan blows onto or away from card). Total 8 fans.

Im wanting to get both the SSD and the fan controller at the same time so I can to a install / reformat all at once. My options come from my following local websites: http://www.computerlounge.co.nz/components/componentlist.asp?parttypeid=111&t=3
http://www.pp.co.nz/Cooling-FanControllers.php

I'm tossing up between the aerocool V12XT, NZXT Sentry LX, Zalman ZM MFC2 and the Scythe Kaze pro KM03-BK-3.5 fan controllers as they are all black finish to match my case. Have read mixed reviews about these products so if anyone has had personal experience with any of these products or can HAND TO GOD recommend something that blows these all of these away.. I would very much appreciate your feedback.

[kitiara]

Hey Glory -

That setup is good but why 990x over the i7 2600K? Yeah the 990x with trip memory is fast but it's not much faster than the 2600K. The price diff is huge between the two.

CPU: Intel i7 2600K
Cooling: Corsair H80 (amazing)
Case: I like Corsair cases 650D <3 it. I have the 800D which is overkill but I like big cases. :)
Motherboard: EVGA P67 FTW
Memory: 8 to 12 gigs dual channel Corsair Vengeance
PSU: Corsair TX850 or TX950
Graphics: 2x ATI 6970 Crossfire Sapphire
SSD: Corsair Force 3 256 GB or Cruical M4 256 GB or Adata 256 GB

Don't do 120 MB SSD if you can help it. Games are getting so big. You want that extra space. Managing a 120 is a pain in the balls.

This system is a realistic system if you compare your setup vs this setup. Performance wise it's very close.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-i7-990x-extreme-edition-gulftown,2874-5.html

I hate tomshardware but 990x is okay but 2600 for 700 bucks less is a no brainer.

Also thinking of buying a new PC setup...this stuff that's written is really helpful, but i have a question on the graphics card...would 1x ATI 6990 Crossfire be equivalent or maybe even better than 2x ATI 6970? Or would it be better to stick to 2x ATI 6970 setup?

And Glory, you mentioned that the Corsair H80 produces alot of noise? How's it with the cooling? Is it effective? Would you recommend it?

[missalaire]

Also thinking of buying a new PC setup...this stuff that's written is really helpful, but i have a question on the graphics card...would 1x ATI 6990 Crossfire be equivalent or maybe even better than 2x ATI 6970? Or would it be better to stick to 2x ATI 6970 setup?

And Glory, you mentioned that the Corsair H80 produces alot of noise? How's it with the cooling? Is it effective? Would you recommend it?

2x ATI 6970s are more powerful than 1x ATI 6990. If you have the budget for 2x 6970s you might as well just get a 7970 or wait for the nvidia 6xx to come out.

[Glory]

As Lian told me the Corsair H80 is awsome at keeping the cpu cool. Mine originally started off quiet but went very noisy after a while, the first time it happened I figured out it was drawing too much power cause it was sharing a power feed with my motherboard. Not sure what happened the next time after I fixed that but I couldnt run it for long play times cause it gave me a headache. Think it had something to do with my motherboards fan speed control, basically they were running flat out at over 2400 rpm but were still plugged and controlled directly by the corsair unit itself. Very confusing for a noob like me so to fix it once and for all I brought a Scythe Kazemaster fan controller and lowered the rpm to 1500 by plugging the fans for the H80 into it. This still keeps the cpu nice and cold and spares me the brain pain.

[Malakar]

i got the 7970 and love it, you can pretty much max the sliders just by using the catalyst thing and overclock pretty damn high without even changing the voltage.
With regard to the H-80, doesn't having a loud fan defeat the purpose of water cooling anyway? lol

Funny thing is, i got the noctua NH-D14 air cooler for the cpu and love it.. keeps the processor at basically room temp no problem, never seen it go above 40 degrees and its not really loud at all.

The big thing that makes noise of course is the video card but even that isn't too bad. I currently have the GPU clock at 1075 mhz and the memory clock at 1475 MHZ and have yet to see the fan go over 40% even under full load running furmark with a max temp of 80 degrees (the max is 1125/1575 on the sliders but i haven't bothered since i don't have a game that would need it atm).

I actually run my case fans at the minimum speed since i haven't really noticed a difference in component temps either way. (good ol THOR V2 ftw!)

[kitiara]

i think im gonna go for a fan solution and not a liquid cool solution. i'm not going for such a power force gfx card anyway. i've settled for the evga's geforce 560ti. i reckon that's good enough. as for fan's i'm just gonna get the sharkoon silent eagle 1000 120mm, put it on top bottom side. think that should be fine.