Finally going to do it....

capth4u

capth4u

New member
Hello everyone,

I have a few questions about my new build that I am thinking of doing. I am hoping you all can give me some insight on what I am doing right or wrong! It's been a while since I have upgraded my computer and it's long overdue for sure. I do a lot of Photoshop and After effects as well as play a number of games such as fary cry 3... COD.. A.VA.. and a bunch of others. I thought about dual Xeons but did some research and then I came across Tom's video about the duel Xeon boards. So I now see that the dual Xeons board is NOT in my best interest since I do enjoy the gaming as much as my video work. Here is what I am thinking but I wanted your opinion to make sure I'm getting the ideal components.



Here is what I was thinking...

Intel i7-3930k sandy bridge-e 3.2ghz
ASUS Rampage IV Extreme
G.SKILL Ripjaws Z 64GB (8 x 8GB ) or 32GB (4 x 8GB ) 240-Pin DDR3 2133
Nvidia 680 SLI or Radeon HD 7970 Crossfire
1st drive - SSD drive
2nd drive - Western Digital - Caviar Black
PSU - 925W based on PSU Calculators (Not sure which is solid)
COOLER MASTER HAF X RC-942-KKN1 OR HAF 932 OR COOLER MASTER Storm
Stryker SGC-5000W-KWN1



A few things... I am not sure about the best or proper setup for the drives.... I normally put my OS and programs the 1st drive and use the 2nd and 3rd for storage for videos and images but the SSD's are so small and pricey. I guess I will need to get two SSD's... 1st for OS and second for programs.

The video card... I know After effects and Photoshop does not rely heavily on the GPU but it does make a difference some what. The MSI N680GTX Twin Frozr 4GD5/OC and the SAPPHIRE Vapor-X 7970 GHz Edition 6GB both look nice...would SLI/Crossfire down the line. So another question is which would be best for what I need?

The case ... not sure which would be best to fit all this in and to keep it nice and cool. I will overclock the cpu some but not kill it... Not sure if I will need more than just air or if I will need another type of coolant?

Finally the power supply... I did a rough PSU Calculator and it said I needed a 925W... Any specific ones you would recommend?

Thank you soooooo much for taking the time to read over this dreadful
post :P I have been researching a lot lately but I am stuck on a few things and I hope you all can help me decide!
 
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You wont need a 900 watt power supply. A system with a pair of GTX680's wont draw 600 watts at the wall even. Get a good 750 watt from Seasonic, Corsair or XFX (my 3 personal favorite brands) and youll be set. The Seasonic Platinum line is considered to be the best on the market according to HardOCP. The 860 watt model would be more than enough for $200 (this is going to be my next power supply). A little cheaper would be their X series 850 watt model for $150.

For SSD's, you wont need a big one for OS and some programs. A 256GB would be more than enough for that. Im using 75GB of my OS/program drive so 256GB would be just right.

As for cases, well there are a ton of great ones out there. I really like just about anything from Cooler Master and I love Corsair's new line too. If youve got the room, go full tower. Nothing better in the world than having all that extra room to work in so long as youve got a place to set it when youre done.
 
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nice specs mate...
if i were you i´d change the 680 sli to a 670 sli.
get a corsair 860i psu it will be more than enough.
casewise i´d go for the stryker (got one myself:))
 
As above, go the cm stryker. A much nicer build and way better looking. Watch TTL's video review on the case. Very informative.
Throw a H100i on that cpu, a nice Corsair AX power supply. And a good branded SSD from Intel or the like. Please no OCZ.
The MSI cards will match the look of the board a little better than the sapphire I think.
If it was me though in terms of un-watercooled gpus in crossfire/sli I would look at something with the stock exhausting heatsink/shroud. Like from EVGA. It just that a fair amount of heat gets dumped into the case with a lot of those aftermarket coolers. Heat rises, then in intaked into and through for example the H100i. This isnt a big deal but its just what ive noticed in some of the builds I've done. As long as there is good fresh air feeding the cards temps should be ok
I personally rank evga the best in terms of service and build quality.
The rest of your components are very nice indeed.
I hope it all goes well.
 
Thanks fellas for the input so far! I was wondering if air cooling would be enough.. thanks for mentioning the H100i. As for a drive, I have 3 in my setup at the moment...
disk 1 = 1TB (154GB Used/OS/Programs)
disk 2 = 1 TB (127used/Videos/Photos)
disk 3 = 3TB (1.58TB Used/Downloads/Video/Photo backups)

So maybe a Intel 520 Series Cherryville180GB SATA III MLC (SSD) for the OS only on the new disk 1? Then a OCZ Vertex 4 - 512GB SATA III (SSD) for my programs and games on disk 2? Then my 3 TB as back up for disk 3 :)

About the video cards... (MSI N680GTX Twin Frozr 4GD5/OC and the SAPPHIRE Vapor-X 7970 GHz Edition 6GB)? I have seen a lot of benchmarks and reviews but some say the drivers for the AMD were not good in the beginning so the benchmarks might not be accurate/up to date... what do you all think? Anyone use or review these cards? I do use After Effects/Photoshop everyday as well as play games. Compared to what I run now I am sure I will love either one :)

Thanks again fellas for the help!
 
I'd rather go for the GTX680 myself especially if its the Twin Frozr edition. AMD drivers are not as good as Nvidias and are getting on my nerves (on my 3rd AMD card) so Nvidia will more than likely be my next card. The 680's were way over priced at $500+ for too long but now they're getting down around a more reasonable $400 which makes them worth it to me.
 
Which cpu cooler would you all go with? I was thinking the CM Seidon 120m or Corsair H100i. I would prefer not cut up the case (If I get the CM Trooper) Or is there a better one?

Video on the CM Seidon 120m - With a I5 3570k OC @ 4.6GHZ it hits a temp of 76 Avg. - This isn't minus the ambient room temp... its just straight temps from RealTemp GT 3.7
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnRCMkZpxS4

I have watched the review video that Tom did with the H100i. He received a score temp of 67.75 with the balanced setting running at 4GHZ. I wasn't sure if this is with the ambient room temp subtracted or not.. I think not... But this shows me that the CM Seidon 120m is a sold cooling system... what do you all think?
 
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MacLeod said:
I'd rather go for the GTX680 myself especially if its the Twin Frozr edition. AMD drivers are not as good as Nvidias and are getting on my nerves (on my 3rd AMD card) so Nvidia will more than likely be my next card. The 680's were way over priced at $500+ for too long but now they're getting down around a more reasonable $400 which makes them worth it to me.
Click to expand...

Thank you! I'm excited to piece this together along with all your help :)
 
Wow.. I just seen the Cooler Master Cosmos II Ultra.. that looks like a badass case! Anyone have this case or work with it? I like this and the cm storm trooper as well!

Also... MSI GeForce GTX 680 Lightning OR MSI N680GTX Twin Frozr 4GD5/OC and why?

Thank you
 
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capth4u said:
Wow.. I just seen the Cooler Master Cosmos II Ultra.. that looks like a badass case! Anyone have this case or work with it? I like this and the cm storm trooper as well!

Also... MSI GeForce GTX 680 Lightning OR MSI N680GTX Twin Frozr 4GD5/OC and why?

Thank you
Click to expand...

First off listen to Mac down to earth guy and knows more than me. Second the Cosmos is the case I have chosen the OC3D review on it is the best I have seen and though it has a huge price tag you could hide a body in it if you had to. The trooper is the best case if your moving about like LAN parties ect. If you don't want the Cosmos you can't go wrong with the HAF-X for a full/ultra tower. On the Stryker i have no data sorry. As for your GUP go green in a lot of reviews if not most the Nvidia cards have won over the AMD but some say if you are doing rendering the AMD is better but I am unsure.

Just one question have you thought about a monitor or do you have one already?
 
Mix said:
First off listen to Mac down to earth guy and knows more than me. Second the Cosmos is the case I have chosen the OC3D review on it is the best I have seen and though it has a huge price tag you could hide a body in it if you had to. The trooper is the best case if your moving about like LAN parties ect. If you don't want the Cosmos you can't go wrong with the HAF-X for a full/ultra tower. On the Stryker i have no data sorry. As for your GUP go green in a lot of reviews if not most the Nvidia cards have won over the AMD but some say if you are doing rendering the AMD is better but I am unsure.

Just one question have you thought about a monitor or do you have one already?
Click to expand...


Thanks for the help :) I do like the Cosmos II case for sure... I think that is the one I will get. I have a Asus vw246 that I bought a few years back... I have noticed its not the greatest with color correction on my photography so I would like to get one that is spot on with colors. Any suggestions?
 
capth4u said:
Which cpu cooler would you all go with? I was thinking the CM Seidon 120m or Corsair H100i. I would prefer not cut up the case (If I get the CM Trooper) Or is there a better one?
?
Click to expand...
h100i would be my choice...
look at toms orca build or my build log, you can do lovely things with the stryker/trooper
 
CPMFW said:
h100i would be my choice...
look at toms orca build or my build log, you can do lovely things with the stryker/trooper
Click to expand...

:) Thank you! I do like the look of the H100i... I just seen some reviews that have the CM Seidon 120m neck and neck with it... and its cheaper. Thanks for all the input!
 
capth4u said:
Thanks for the help :) I do like the Cosmos II case for sure... I think that is the one I will get. I have a Asus vw246 that I bought a few years back... I have noticed its not the greatest with color correction on my photography so I would like to get one that is spot on with colors. Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

I can't really help. I have chosen the Asus PB278Q but I have had a good history with Asus and think they get a bad rep some times. Do so research and talk to people is the best advice I can give you sorry.
 
Power supply is overkill. You'll be fine with a 850-Watt. Also, unless you're planning on doing video editing or rendering than I'd only get 8GB of RAM (4GBx2). Also, don't bother with the Caviar Black if you're just using it for storage. Get a nice WD Green drive.
 
ThE_MuFFin_MaN said:
Power supply is overkill. You'll be fine with a 850-Watt. Also, unless you're planning on doing video editing or rendering than I'd only get 8GB of RAM (4GBx2). Also, don't bother with the Caviar Black if you're just using it for storage. Get a nice WD Green drive.
Click to expand...

I do a ton of After Effects and Premier Pro.. So I am going to get more RAM then I think I need :) Do you think a 750watt would be ok?
 
capth4u said:
I do a ton of After Effects and Premier Pro.. So I am going to get more RAM then I think I need :) Do you think a 750watt would be ok?
Click to expand...

as everyone has said youd barely be peaking at 600w and you still give your self 150W to play with, i like the sound of the bits your gonna be grabbing :) will be a good build, also another thing with the h100i, if you want quiet invest in quiet fans but if you want to cool it and dont care about the noise set up push pull with their high performance static preasure fans, this will 1 help cool the rad a little better 2 can also be controled from the pc for speeds and 3 will draw out more air or suck more in depending on what orientation you have the rad.

and tbh you dont need two ssds you need 1 if you want fast boots times but all your programs dont need to be on an ssd i have a 1tb for games and software, and thats pretty much 3/4 full but i still boot and can game in seconds after pushing the on button which is the main reason for the ssd... unless you want to raid configure them
 
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