Advice/Critique my build

[Artunias]

Hi there! I'm looking to build a new comp and I just wanted to see if there were any thoughts on what I had going on. I also have a question or two.

So, a few notes. Don't worry much about talking about price with me. What I post is generally the price I'm going to spend, but that doesn't mean I'm not open to suggestions. Secondly, the rig is meant to be beastly...yes. Also, the goal is for this comp to also be able to play games pretty well 4+ years into the future. I feel like that's still pretty realistic.

OS: Windows 7 Professional (64 bit)

Case: Corsair 800D

PSU: Corsair HX750

CPU: i7-2600k

Heatsink: Noctua NH-D14 120mm & 140mm SSO CPU Cooler

Motherboard: EVGA P67

Ram: G.SKILL Ripjaws X + Turbulence II Series 8GB (2 x 4GB)

GPU: EVGA GTX 570

HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB

SSD: Crucial M4 (when it comes out)

DVD: Lite-On LightScribe 24X SATA DVD+/-RW

Monitor: Samsung PX2370

So just a few questions.

1. The case...o the case. So I have a friend having me help build this thing and this is the case he recommends replacing the stock fans with some of his own. I like the case, but I was pretty sold on the NZXT Phantom until he said using the phantom over the corsair was like painting a masterpiece and then tearing the corner. Just curious to see what opinions are out there on that one.

2. RAM. I think I'm going to back down to 4gb on this. However, with windows 7 I've read that having 8 over 4 leads to a pretty nice overall system performance increase if not necessarily gaming. Combined with this though, would my OS being on an SSD remove a lot of what that extra RAM do making it even less needed? Again just curious.

Everything else I'm pretty set on. Just observing what happens and comes along while I wait for the new SSD from Micron/Crucial. If you have advice on something besides the questions listed above please speak! I'm all ears. Thanks for the tips/advice/critique...or praise =P in advance

 

[Aurus_OC]

First, don't listen to your friend in regards of your case then dude

I really don't like the Obsidian, because it's priced quite and the airflow is just real sad. I would recommend the Phantom at an day over it.

regarding memory for gaming 4 gigs should be more than enough, so I would say buying 4 gigs with tight timings at 1600 mhz now and if you feel the need in 2-4 years to get more ram do it then. If you are doing extensive photoshopping or video editing, I would recommend using 8, but for gaming 4 is more than enough. Have a look at some Mushkin memory with CL6 timings at 1600 Mhz, those are great.

For SSD I would recommend the Kingston V+ 100 series or the Corsair Force series.

Just a few other comments on your parts,

I would recommend the Gigabyte P67A or the Asus P8P67 boards over that EVGA one, because I have not heard of the overclocking too well.

The graphics card, CPU cooler and heatsink are great choices.

Go with some Samsung Spinpoint F3 7200rpm drives for HDDs, those are cheaper and perform the same if not a little bit better.

That PSU is awesome, but you may want to check out the 850W version, if you plan on future upgrades.

Looking forward to seeing this rig come together!

 

[alicarve]

Go for the phantom if you want it you will not be dissapointed and the 800D is meant to run quite warm with air cooling, the phantom runs quiet and cool in my oppinion anyways.

Ram wise go for 8gb if you have the money if not it wont make that much of a difference, i have 6gb and i have never seen it maxed out, even when im running, itunes, firefox, word, steam, msn and a game all at once. Though for future proof of 4 years go with the 8gb, also as aurus said mushkin offer some good ram take a look at them.

Again with what aurus said take a look at the 850w version of the psu

 

[Artunias]

Go for the phantom if you want it you will not be dissapointed and the 800D is meant to run quite warm with air cooling, the phantom runs quiet and cool in my oppinion anyways.

Ram wise go for 8gb if you have the money if not it wont make that much of a difference, i have 6gb and i have never seen it maxed out, even when im running, itunes, firefox, word, steam, msn and a game all at once. Though for future proof of 4 years go with the 8gb, also as aurus said mushkin offer some good ram take a look at them.

Again with what aurus said take a look at the 850w version of the psu

Yeah I've thought upping to the 850HX. It's only ~20 bucks more and seems like it could be worth it. Also, on the RAM side. This is one of the few things I won't mind at all upgrading say in a year to year and a half. So if without a doubt 4gb would be good to go now and if I could save even 50 bucks but get some super high performance 4gb set I'd be ok with that.

Also...adding on here. I just need some help with the GPU choice. I have this post on a few other forums and a lot of people are reeming the gtx570. I mainly ended up choosing it because I like the EVGA Mobo, but they also say that the EVGA mobo is poor for overclocking. I'm not sure if I agree with that.

 

[Artunias]

Hm, another thing I've been reading on 8gb vs 4gb of RAM is it will allow me to prolong the life of my SSD by turning off virtual memory. Does that really have much of a difference? Taking care of the SSD is certainly a high priority.

Also, is turning off virtual memory automatic or...? Can't say I know much about how it works.

 

[Aurus_OC]

Hm, another thing I've been reading on 8gb vs 4gb of RAM is it will allow me to prolong the life of my SSD by turning off virtual memory. Does that really have much of a difference? Taking care of the SSD is certainly a high priority.

Also, is turning off virtual memory automatic or...? Can't say I know much about how it works.

For memory just make sure to get 2 sticks of memory so you can run them in dual channel. Look at the Mushkin's with 6-8-6 timings. Based in the US? Then this kit is for you http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...&cm_re=mushkin_redline-_-20-226-120-_-Product . If you are in the UK you can get them at Aria.

I don't think having more memory will benefit the lifetime of your SSD in any way. Just make sure to enable TRIM and you'll be alright.

 

[Artunias]

For memory just make sure to get 2 sticks of memory so you can run them in dual channel. Look at the Mushkin's with 6-8-6 timings. Based in the US? Then this kit is for you http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...&cm_re=mushkin_redline-_-20-226-120-_-Product . If you are in the UK you can get them at Aria.

I don't think having more memory will benefit the lifetime of your SSD in any way. Just make sure to enable TRIM and you'll be alright.

Thanks for the info Aurus.

Also, just out of curiosity, I was under the impression the Cas Latency was pretty insignificant outside of benchmarks and the faster ram would still be a better performer. For example say the 2200 gskill with a CL of 9 vs the Mushkin 1600 with a CL of 6. I'd just like more info on that really, I'm like a sponge

. If you have a good link to read, that would be just fine as well you don't have to explain it if you don't want!

Now a question to some of you who hopefully know more about overclocking than I

.

I want to ramp this thing up when gaming. One of the cool things I like about the EVGA board as long as I understand it correctly is I can have more than 1 BIOS setting and easily swap between them. If swapping between settings like this might be rough on the system please let me know.

But anyway, I was wanting to take the Sandy Bridge up to 5.0 Ghz when gaming. I would overclock the GPU and RAM as well if maybe not quite as much. Reading about the Phantom case it recommended adding another large side fan to keep things cool under load. Without going with some crazy SLI set up or anything and with newer/cooler technology...combined with the Noctua CPU cooler do you really think this will be necessary?

 

[Tortuga]

I THINK, with 1155 boards so far, you pretty much buy the ram speed that you want to run at. You wont really be able to up the base block at all, so just buy the freq and timings that you like. I love the redline that Aurus linked you.

 

[Aurus_OC]

I THINK, with 1155 boards so far, you pretty much buy the ram speed that you want to run at. You wont really be able to up the base block at all, so just buy the freq and timings that you like. I love the redline that Aurus linked you.

Yea the only kind of "overclocking" (wouldn't call it that, if I knew a better word

) would be tweaking the timings a little. Frequencies for 1155 are 1333,1600,1866,2133 I think.

 

[sotonswan]

Thanks for the info Aurus.

Also, just out of curiosity, I was under the impression the Cas Latency was pretty insignificant outside of benchmarks and the faster ram would still be a better performer. For example say the 2200 gskill with a CL of 9 vs the Mushkin 1600 with a CL of 6. I'd just like more info on that really, I'm like a sponge

. If you have a good link to read, that would be just fine as well you don't have to explain it if you don't want!

I found this an interesting read yesterday - lots of graphs:-

The Best Memory for Sandy Bridge

And here's the conclusion . . . .

If you're doing anything other than heavy multi-tasking - this goes for gamers in particular - then a 1,600MHz or 1,866MHz kit is plenty. You could opt for CL8, as we saw some advantage in the video encoding test, but we wouldn't obsess over this factor, especially if a CL9 kit is much cheaper.

HTH