GPU Selection Advice

[rwiuviberwVFIUBER]

Also, what is your price range?

EDIT: I just made up your system on PCCG, came to $1304. That includes the case, mobo, gpu, cpu, and a cpu cooler.

 

[Senator]

my range can go to 2500-3000.

 

[rwiuviberwVFIUBER]

my range can go to 2500-3000.

Hot damn! I can make some suggests if you'd like?

EDIT: Ima do it anyway because it's so fun!

 

[preolt]

I think your best bet would be a 560 ti and may be sli at at some point. The card can play metro 2033 which is debatably the most graphically intense game one the market right now (no crysis no longer holds this title). They scale better then 570s or 580s do in sli (I can give you numbers and sources if you want just didnt take the time to xD). Dont get me wrong they are al great cards, but I am also one for bang for the buck along with future proofing. The thing you want to think about is you usually want to upgrade you gpu every 2-3 years if you want to be able to play the newest games.

Right now i am building my own rig and putting a gtx 560ti in it. My brother and I have always been huge endorsers of eVGA because of their customer service and quality construction but I am liking the looks of some of the after market coolers for the gtx 500 line.

The twin frozr from msi is rated as one of the best after market coolers on the market. But Gigabyte holds the claim of fastest 560. But I have been hearing about some artifact issues and that they might recall or deactivate it. I am choosing though between these three. All are cards you cant go wrong with (though I would watch gigabytes a little).

 

[rwiuviberwVFIUBER]

Hey Senator,

Sorry for the late reply. I just had a shop around PC Case Gear, and you can get a system for $2,493 in total, that will generally dominate anything you throw at it. Here are some benchmarks, and keep in mind this isn't SLI, just one 570: BENCHMARKS

Basically you'll be running 60 FPS + at 1920x1200 all the time.

With a budget of 2.5k - 3k, I didn't understand honestly why you would be getting that motherboard, so I went for something a little more... enthusiastic

CASE: NZXT Phantom White - $189

MOBO: MSI Big-Bang Marshal - $549

CPU: i7 2600k - $369

COOLER: Thermaltake Frio OCK - $89

RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws X (2x4GB @ 2133Mhz) with cooler - $215

GPU: MSI Twin Frozr II 570 - $399

OS/GAMES DRIVE: Corsair Force 120GB SSD - $289

STORAGE DRIVE: Western Digital RE4 1TB - $139

PSU: Corsair AX850 Gold - $255

Honestly, that motherboard, will make you love life. I even tried making a theme for it, keeping with red highlights on the CPU cooler and RAM. ANYWAY, this is what I'd purchase if I was building a rig for 2.5k. I left it at 2.5k in case you wanted to add something with the left over $500, or even put it towards a nice new mouse/keyboard/headset.

Hopefully my 2 cents helped. If you need any more help just give us a bell and I'll gladly shop around for you, I love making rigs to a budget, been fine tuning mine for a week just seeing where I can save!

 

[preolt]

Hey Senator,

Sorry for the late reply. I just had a shop around PC Case Gear, and you can get a system for $2,493 in total, that will generally dominate anything you throw at it. Here are some benchmarks, and keep in mind this isn't SLI, just one 570: BENCHMARKS

Basically you'll be running 60 FPS + at 1920x1200 all the time.

With a budget of 2.5k - 3k, I didn't understand honestly why you would be getting that motherboard, so I went for something a little more... enthusiastic

CASE: NZXT Phantom White - $189

MOBO: MSI Big-Bang Marshal - $549

CPU: i7 2600k - $369

COOLER: Thermaltake Frio OCK - $89

RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws X (2x4GB @ 2133Mhz) with cooler - $215

GPU: MSI Twin Frozr II 570 - $399

OS/GAMES DRIVE: Corsair Force 120GB SSD - $289

STORAGE DRIVE: Western Digital RE4 1TB - $139

PSU: Corsair AX850 Gold - $255

Honestly, that motherboard, will make you love life. I even tried making a theme for it, keeping with red highlights on the CPU cooler and RAM. ANYWAY, this is what I'd purchase if I was building a rig for 2.5k. I left it at 2.5k in case you wanted to add something with the left over $500, or even put it towards a nice new mouse/keyboard/headset.

Hopefully my 2 cents helped. If you need any more help just give us a bell and I'll gladly shop around for you, I love making rigs to a budget, been fine tuning mine for a week just seeing where I can save!

Don't spend the money for the marshall, msi screwed up big time on this one. This board has awesome features and has every thing you need, just one problem, you can not utilize all of those lovely pci slots fully because they used a lucid hydra chipset instead of a NF200 controller. That means only 2 way sli and crummy 2 way sli at that compared to other offerings. They had such an awesome product I don't understand why they would use hydra...

Now I don't rag on a product with out giving what I think might be better alternatives. I would go for the Gigabyte UD7 or the ASUS M4G before I used the MSI board. a few reasons, first what I mentioned earlier with lucid hydra, next is that it is priced way above the other two I listed by around $50-$100, my final reason is a completely personal view and that is that ASUS and Gigabyte are the two largest mobo providers and I have personally never bought a board from a different company both are USUALLY rock solid.

The way I would decide between the two would be feature set, for instance if you want UEFI bios go with ASUS, aesthetically I love the Gigabyte mobo buts that opinion again.

Also just because you have a large budget doesn't mean you always want to spend it on the most expensive products available. Even when I am building rigs for people with budgets of $5000 or more I still try to get them the best deals possible. Instead of dumping $360+ into your motherboard may be you want to put money towards new peripherals: monitors, mouse, speakers, etc.

ps. here are the links to the products I would use.

GPU: eVGA gtx 570

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=16253

The reason for choosing the eVGA card is because eVGA life long warranty, 90 trade up option (so for instance if the 580 drops in price in the next 3 months then you can send your current card into eVGA and pay the difference between your card and the 580 and they will send you a brand new 580, also I know very few people who have ever had problems with eVGA gpus.

mobo: http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=16800

Every thing else that endzy chose I agree with, he set up a good build.

 

[rwiuviberwVFIUBER]

It would appear you're right about the MSI board. But on note with the EVGA card, we don't get that program. It only applies to US and EU residents. So basically, I'd definitely go with the MSI GPU

 

[jonowee]

CASE: NZXT Phantom White - $189

MOBO: MSI Big-Bang Marshal - $549

CPU: i7 2600k - $369

COOLER: Thermaltake Frio OCK - $89

RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws X (2x4GB @ 2133Mhz) with cooler - $215

GPU: MSI Twin Frozr II 570 - $399

OS/GAMES DRIVE: Corsair Force 120GB SSD - $289

STORAGE DRIVE: Western Digital RE4 1TB - $139

PSU: Corsair AX850 Gold - $255

I did type a longer post, but I lost it, so I've lost any motivation to type in proper english.

MSi BBM: XL-ATX willn't fit in the NZXT Phantom, Single card lost in all those 16x PCI-e slots, wasted. MSi GD65/80, ASUS Sabertooth, or Gigabyte UD4 all make better sense.

Thermaltake Frio: 2100 RPM max fans, lacklustre performane, Do Not Touch.

Corsair AX850: Does not make sense when paired up with the BBM.

 

[rwiuviberwVFIUBER]

I did type a longer post, but I lost it, so I've lost any motivation to type in proper english.

MSi BBM: XL-ATX willn't fit in the NZXT Phantom, Single card lost in all those 16x PCI-e slots, wasted. MSi GD65/80, ASUS Sabertooth, or Gigabyte UD4 all make better sense.

Thermaltake Frio: 2100 RPM max fans, lacklustre performane, Do Not Touch.

Corsair AX850: Does not make sense when paired up with the BBM.

I didn't know the Phantom couldn't fit XL-ATX, that's my bad. Either way, I don't get your take on the cooler? How is it lack luster performance when it comes in close to the NH-D14? I also clearly stated it was to fit a theme. The way I go about building is themes. You can have the best PC on the market, but if it looks like trash I wouldn't touch it, one of the reasons I wouldn't touch anything made by Noctua with a 10 ft. clown pole. Brown is real cool in PC's, JK it looks terrible. I'm sure there are a lot better options out there even if it was for a theme, but I only quickly chose out some parts. It wasn't a direct BUY THIS OR GTFO post.

 

[Grizzly]

I didn't know the Phantom couldn't fit XL-ATX, that's my bad. Either way, I don't get your take on the cooler? How is it lack luster performance when it comes in close to the NH-D14? I also clearly stated it was to fit a theme. The way I go about building is themes. You can have the best PC on the market, but if it looks like trash I wouldn't touch it, one of the reasons I wouldn't touch anything made by Noctua with a 10 ft. clown pole. Brown is real cool in PC's, JK it looks terrible. I'm sure there are a lot better options out there even if it was for a theme, but I only quickly chose out some parts. It wasn't a direct BUY THIS OR GTFO post.

If theme is an issue then it would be better to get a good performing heatsink like the Prolimatech Megahalems or Genesis and add fans of his preferred theme.

I've heard about the Frio being a screaming banshee under heat so it would be preferable to avoid it.

 

[jonowee]

Here's the problem with most coolers; sure one could advertise "21dBA" and "121CFM" in the same sentence; but the big problem is they need to run at full 12V speed in order to keep up with the heat, and that mean 2100RPM and 43dBA.

This is what 39dBA sounds like in a case fan http://www.youtube.c...h?v=MiHRbVGN39M

(test results and full review).

If you slow down the fan to the quiet 1000RPM range, the heatsink temperature start climbing and climbing under load then BSOD. For air coolers; Thermalright and Noctua are the kings of cool and quiet, and sensible bang for buck; without the leaf blower BS.

If you are still keen on the Frio, here's the OC3D review for the older Frio with less plastic bits and bobs thrown on. You have been cautioned.

 

[preolt]

Sorry I forgot eVGA's trade in plan only was US that was my terrible train of thought. May I just say quick if you are going to knock a build or tell people a product isnt good may be you should try to replace it with a different product you think will do the job.

As for cpu cooler I have never bought frio, if you want my opinion scythe mugen sleeve cooler is an awesome piece of hard ware. It is huge and a pain in the a$$ to install but it looks nice, gives awesome results, and on top of that comes with scythe fans. (Whole thing is 30-40$ in US I have to check Australia)

Corsair ax850 is a fine power supply, why do you say it shouldnt be paired with that mobo? Explain please. Last I checked you want between 600+ Watts for duel sli or higher. So haveing 850w is in my opinion a good way of future proofing the system. Also I love modular power supplies. I cant give a ton of advice though because in my rig I use a dreaded 1000w rosewill psu, which is rated well by every site you check and on newegg give 4.5 eggs with over 100 reviews, but its a terrible psu waiting to explode... not.

But under fear of being flamed i dont recommend buying it because you should buy from a "reliable company." Half the big name companies people buy from dont even make their own psu they out source them to companies that make multiple cookie cutter psu's. OK, done ranting sorry ha. (btw disclaimer some rosewill are complete crap, always check the id lists before buying make sure they are up to code, but you should do that if you buy any psu)

 

[jonowee]

Corsair ax850 is a fine power supply, why do you say it shouldnt be paired with that mobo? Explain please. Last I checked you want between 600+ Watts for duel sli or higher. So haveing 850w is in my opinion a good way of future proofing the system.

Putting the specs through eXtreme PSU Calculater for:

Single 570:

2-Way SLi 570:

Yes 100% load all round, and you'd better be overclocking the 2600K if you're scraping out dough for it.

The AX850 is fine with a single 570; but with two 570s, it's cutting it close. It will boot, it will even comfortably survive stability tests (F@H), but do you really want a noisy PSU fan once under load?

 

[preolt]

It wont be, those tests are good for ball park estimates but you need to remember that most corsair psu are rated far lower then when they are actually capable of, not that you should push these limits.

I tend to go to people who actually own and run systems rather then using simulators. I know of people who run duel 580s in sli off of 850W psu, For triple I would recommend buying 1000W for sure. Also how much wattage do you think is going to be consumed in the oc process? Last I checked it the processor doesnt really consume that much more wattage, the real power eater is yours fans to keep the oc's cool.

I think you will be fine with that psu. If you are really worried about it, which you dont need to be. You can up the psu to a 1000w one, I know antec and corsair have 1000W bronze rated psu available in the ball park of 150-250.

 

[murphy7801]

I don't know where Australians shop, but a Gigabyte SOC Gtx 560s will give you 570 ish performance for a bill cheaper.

I find they come up a little bit short on the shader front.

 

[murphy7801]

Hey Senator,

Sorry for the late reply. I just had a shop around PC Case Gear, and you can get a system for $2,493 in total, that will generally dominate anything you throw at it. Here are some benchmarks, and keep in mind this isn't SLI, just one 570: BENCHMARKS

Basically you'll be running 60 FPS + at 1920x1200 all the time.

With a budget of 2.5k - 3k, I didn't understand honestly why you would be getting that motherboard, so I went for something a little more... enthusiastic

CASE: NZXT Phantom White - $189

MOBO: MSI Big-Bang Marshal - $549

CPU: i7 2600k - $369

COOLER: Thermaltake Frio OCK - $89

RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws X (2x4GB @ 2133Mhz) with cooler - $215

GPU: MSI Twin Frozr II 570 - $399

OS/GAMES DRIVE: Corsair Force 120GB SSD - $289

STORAGE DRIVE: Western Digital RE4 1TB - $139

PSU: Corsair AX850 Gold - $255

Honestly, that motherboard, will make you love life. I even tried making a theme for it, keeping with red highlights on the CPU cooler and RAM. ANYWAY, this is what I'd purchase if I was building a rig for 2.5k. I left it at 2.5k in case you wanted to add something with the left over $500, or even put it towards a nice new mouse/keyboard/headset.

Hopefully my 2 cents helped. If you need any more help just give us a bell and I'll gladly shop around for you, I love making rigs to a budget, been fine tuning mine for a week just seeing where I can save!

Three other things I would like to point out

1. Why such large SSD because a boot disc doesn't need to be that costly and a 2TB hard drive can be something less expensive like a WD green drive if its just storage

2. Why have got ram with cooler ram doesn't need coolers really unless have case with no fans.

3. i7 2600k I mean the i5 2500k is a better price to performance ratio also with this sort of budget I would be looking at an X58 system with something like rampage extreme black and a I7 970 but that's my mind set(mainly because 970 its amazing).

 

[murphy7801]

I had look at the site you mentioned at the beginning so I made my own list! Though guess if shop around Australian sites you could get a better deal.

Intel Core i7 970 $726.85

ASUS Sabertooth X58 Motherboard $264.90

Corsair 60GB 2.5" Solid State Disk, MLC, SATA-II (CSSD-F60GB2-BRKT) Force Series $179.85

Western Digital 2000GB (2TB) Intellipower Serial ATA-II-300 HDD w. 64MB Cache (WD20EARS) Caviar Green $132.45

Gainward GeForce GTX570 - 1280MB GDDR5 - (800MHz, 4000MHz)$479.45

Noctua NH-D14 CPU Cooler $117.70

Mushkin Enhanced 6GB (3 x 2GB) PC3-16000 2000MHz DDR3 RAM - 9-10-9-24 - Blackline Series $174.30

Enermax 1250W Revolution 85+ $309.95

NZXT Phantom White - $189

Total $2,574.45

Now in regards to the price you could get another gtx 570 of a different brand and be in budget or go slightly over since the gtx 570 GS GLH has been found to touch gtx 580 perfomance with a mild OC. Also the 970 can be overclocked alot probably 1 ghz plus.

 

[rwiuviberwVFIUBER]

Three other things I would like to point out

1. Why such large SSD because a boot disc doesn't need to be that costly and a 2TB hard drive can be something less expensive like a WD green drive if its just storage

2. Why have got ram with cooler ram doesn't need coolers really unless have case with no fans.

3. i7 2600k I mean the i5 2500k is a better price to performance ratio also with this sort of budget I would be looking at an X58 system with something like rampage extreme black and a I7 970 but that's my mind set(mainly because 970 its amazing).

1. Because SSDs don't just make your OS run faster, but also help with loading games? Hence the spare space to install the games on.

2. Because with RAM sticks like that, I'd assume most people would OC a bit, and it never hurts to have a cooler. Plus, it comes with it?

3. I don't get what you're trying to say? You think the 2600k isn't as good as the 2500k in price to performance, which it isn't for gaming, but for encoding or anything really core intensive, it's a lot better. Secondly, you're saying it isn't worth it for the price, then you went and said you'd rather get a 970? I'd hate to burst your bubble but the 2600k out performs the 970 in some benchmarks, most notably gaming. So when comparing price to performance, the 970 really isn't worth any of the money, what so ever, unless you really want a 6 core system and quad sli. But to be honest, that definitely isn't worth another 750.

 

[tinytomlogan]

get the twin fzer 560 by msi

They are noisier than std 560's.....

1. Because SSDs don't just make your OS run faster, but also help with loading games? Hence the spare space to install the games on.

2. Because with RAM sticks like that, I'd assume most people would OC a bit, and it never hurts to have a cooler. Plus, it comes with it?

3. I don't get what you're trying to say? You think the 2600k isn't as good as the 2500k in price to performance, which it isn't for gaming, but for encoding or anything really core intensive, it's a lot better. Secondly, you're saying it isn't worth it for the price, then you went and said you'd rather get a 970? I'd hate to burst your bubble but the 2600k out performs the 970 in some benchmarks, most notably gaming. So when comparing price to performance, the 970 really isn't worth any of the money, what so ever, unless you really want a 6 core system and quad sli. But to be honest, that definitely isn't worth another 750.

Ram coolers are TOTALLY pointless.

SSD's make the whole system snappier, I cant use mechanicals as an OS drive anymore, just drives me nuts. Just dump your game install onto a stroage drive if you are on a budget. a 60GB SSD should be condidered the smallest for most people though.

In reference to the 2500 to 2600 argument compaired to a 970 it is pointless, mainly because X58 is for people who know and want to overclock properly. Its a niche now but Im one of the people who can/could use anything and still uses X58.

2500k > 2600k for gaming - 2600K > 2500k for rendering and folding.

 

[rwiuviberwVFIUBER]

Ram coolers are TOTALLY pointless.

SSD's make the whole system snappier, I cant use mechanicals as an OS drive anymore, just drives me nuts. Just dump your game install onto a stroage drive if you are on a budget. a 60GB SSD should be condidered the smallest for most people though.

In reference to the 2500 to 2600 argument compaired to a 970 it is pointless, mainly because X58 is for people who know and want to overclock properly. Its a niche now but Im one of the people who can/could use anything and still uses X58.

2500k > 2600k for gaming - 2600K > 2500k for rendering and folding.

I thought RAM coolers saw a performance of 5 degrees on some OC'd units? I also find them more aesthetically pleasing

Yeah I definitely agree on the X58 point. But like he said, it's to be mainly used for gaming, so I just saw the SB as a much better option for price, especially since it opens up more money on a bigger SSD, better memory, and a better GPU.

I'm currently on a budget which makes me real sad for my SSD. It's only going to be a 60gb which leaves me room for WoW, HoN, and a few other bits and pieces.