High-End Gaming Rig

[Solomize]

Here are my current choices, if you have any advice, or would like to remark on something, please do so. (3000$ Budget)

The place I can get my items from: - http://www.newegg.ca/

-System-

Case: Cooler Master HAF X Tower Case

Processor: Intel Core™ i7-2600K Processor, 3.40GHz w/ 8MB Cache

- Cooling: Antec KUHLER H2O 920 Liquid Cooling System

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-Z68X-UD7-B3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Memory: G.SKILL Ripjaws X + Turbulence II Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2133 (PC3 17000)

HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" SATA 6.0Gb/s Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive (2x)

SSD: OCZ Vertex 3 Series – MAX IOPS Edition VTX3MI-25SAT3-120G 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

DVD/Blu-ray Drive: SAMSUNG Black Blu-ray Drive SATA Model SH-B123L LightScribe Support

GFX Card: MSI GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) N580GTX Lightning Video Card (2x SLI)

PSU: CORSAIR Professional Series AX1200 1200W Power Supply

Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional

OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate

Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster P2770H 27in Widescreen LCD w/ HDMI

Thanks once again for the help.

 

[Solomize]

Debating over getting 2x 580s in SLI instead of the 590.

 

[ahboyhan]

Debating over getting 2x 580s in SLI instead of the 590.

2x 580

 

[DavinTan]

Just pure gaming? Get the 2500k. 2x MSI GTX 580 Lightning(OC them). There are better RAM out there, like those Kingston 2133Mhz RAM Tom reviewed. I'd go with Lian-Li or Silverstone for the case. And the money spent on the H100 might be better off spent on a custom CPU only waterloop. Just my 2cents.

Cheers m8!

 

[FunkyMonkey90]

I would change the ssd to an OCZ revodrive x2 for much better speeds

The gfx to 1 evga superclocked gtx580 (add another when needed)

Ram to 8gb mushkin ridgeback because its only a gaming rig you don't need 16gb heck you don't really need 8gb lol

and psu to a corsair.

 

[DragonPC]

If you rae only gaming then the i5 2500k is equal to the 2600k in performance and 16 gb of ram for what? 8 gb is cheaper and is even overkill for your system!

Instead of a 590, two 580`s would be a better choice.

I would say:

i5 2500k

Corsair dominator 1600mhz 8gb 2x4 sticks

And two 580`s in sli

The motherboard you have chosen will run the cards at 16x 8x so performance will suffer if you are planning on running multiple screens but if you choose the ud7 it will be 16x 16x.

Not hating, just stating

 

[DavinTan]

Get the 1200W Corsair, or the 1000W CM Silent Pro Gold. Overkill, but its better to play safe since you're OCing. Oh, just get a Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit and use the extra cash to buy a sound card and headset. The ASUS Xonar Xense bundle is a pretty good deal to start off with imo.

 

[Rastalovich]

For 3k I would suggest holding onto your cash for a while.

I'd not normally say this, but since you're gaming, there is about to be a revolution in how gfx can be supplied to the user.

PCIe 3.0 mobos are about to hit the scene, as are the new Intel offerings and with their memory benefits etc, spending 3k now would be a genuine waste.

Imo, it could be the difference between spending 3k on an AGP mobo, top end agp gfxcard with a single core cpu and single rate memory, a handful of months before C2D, DDR2, and PCIe comes out.

The AMD 7xxx series, and nVidia 6xx series, *could* eclipse current offerings.

However, if trends go the way they have of late, the manufacturers may cripple their kit purposely to squeeze the user. But on the face of it, buying stuff for a rig at the end of 2011 could have it's major, major benefits.

If you were spending less than 3k, I probably wouldn't bother butting in.

 

[ruthless_villain]

get the D14 that h100 will not be all that

 

[Ya93sin]

I'm not really sure about what to think of your build mate

With all that hardware, why not get a very good 3D monitor, or a 2D monitor if 3D don't float your boat? After all how a game looks to your eyes is important as well as how fast the frames are rendering...

Also the PSU is probably better off being a Corsair AX1200 W or something similar.

A Blu-Ray re-writer?

And Caviar Black is good, but if its just storage you need, a WD Blue or Green is very good, or a Seasonic.

16GB RAM is absolute overkill for gaming, unless you want to run Crysis on a Virtual Machine or two.

Noctua NH-D14 would serve you very well in a case where good airflow and cooling is a priority, especially with SLI and an Overclock.

Speaking of which, you could always kit the case out with powerful fans for good airflow, that would be sweet. Noctua ones to go with the D14

It really depends on whether this is an indulgence build or for a specific function

As it is its a decent build though.

 

[kilobravo]

Here are my current choices, if you have any advice, or would like to remark on something, please do so. (3000$ Budget)

The place I can get my items from: - http://www.memoryexpress.com/

-System-

Case: Cooler Master HAF X Tower Case Silverstone raven rv-02-e

Processor: Intel Core™ i7-2600K Processor, 3.40GHz w/ 8MB Cache i7-2500k

- Cooling: Corsair Hydro H100 CPU Cooler noctua nh-d14

Motherboard: Asus MAXIMUS IV Extreme Rev 3.0 w/ Dual DDR3 1600, 7.1 Audio, Dual Gigabit Lan, PCI-E, CrossFireX / SLI gigabyte z68x-ud7

Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB DDR3 1600MHz CL9 Dual Channel Kit (4 x 4GB) ripjaws 2133 or 1866

HDD1: Western Digital 2TB Caviar Black 7200rpm SATA III w/ 64MB Cache 2x samsung f3-r 1tb

HDD2: Intel SSD 510 Series SATA III Solid State Drive Kit, 120GB w/ Adapter

DVD Drive: Asus 24x DVD-RW Drive, SATA w/ LightScribe, Black, OEM

GFX Card: eVGA GeForce GTX 590 Classified 3GB GDDR5 PCI-E w/ Triple DVI, mini-DisplayPort 2x msi r6970 lightning

PSU: Antec TruePower Quattro 1000W Power Supply corsair hx 1050 or ax 1200

OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate

Monitor: Samsung SyncMaster P2770H 27in Widescreen LCD w/ HDMI 3x benq 2220 hdl

Thanks once again for the help.

 

[Solomize]

I decided to go with 2 N580GTX Lightning by MSI instead of the 590, and I was wondering if they would fit on the motherboard.

Also, is memory cooling worth it? Was looking at this (http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181008)

Also edited the main post with the current changes.

Thanks again for the help

.

PS: Also wondering if everything fits, even though it should.

 

[Pat123]

Again as said previously get rid of that H50 and get a Noctua NH-D14, and swap the motherboard for a Gigabyte Z68 UD7 for its x16 x16 sli capabilities, might aswell make full use of the 580's.

 

[Solomize]

Isn't liquid better than air?

 

[Pat123]

Not in the form of a H50 or any other low end water single unit vs against a high end air unit. To see the benefits of water you're gonna have to build you're own loop and should be looking to spend around £150+ to see any big drop in temps.

But to answer your question, yes liquid is better than air but only when done properly

 

[Solomize]

Alright thanks for the advice

. Switched the motherboard to the Z68.

Also switched RAM to G.SKILL Ripjaws X + Turbulence II Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2133 (PC3 17000)

Now just to figure out what CPU cooling to get and I think I'm set.

 

[DavinTan]

Remember to find the RipjawsX that are 2133MHz CL7 alright You don't really need RAM cooling other than to look cool, it doesn't get that hot anyway. For air cooling, I would go with the D14, but since your RAM are so tall they might not fit. I'd still stick to my previous recommendation, get a custom CPU loop!

You can fit a triple rad in the top of the HAF X.

 

[Solomize]

Alright, I believe I'm finished, if you would like to change anything to the current build, feel free to post

. Original post edited.

 

[DavinTan]

I've heard Creative has a bad reputation for sound card drivers. They don't update them after a while. That's why I went with the ASUS Xonar range of sound cards.

 

[Pat123]

The antec KUHLER will be no better than the h50 if you're trying to overclock you CPU, sandy's don't run that hot but a decent air cooler like the NH-D14 will last many generations of CPU. And as for the RAM im pretty sure the G Skills will fit under the D14. If it's liquid you're wanting, do it properly.