i7-2600K Build for gaming and work

[Xochielt]

Heyho mates!

Due to problems with my current computer I am going to upgrade.

I put together a list of items I want to put in, now I want your opinion

about them.

CPU: Intel Core i7-2600K

RAM: Mushkin Enhanced Blackline Ridgeback 4x4GB DDR3-2000 CL9-11-9-27

MB: Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD7-B3

GFX: 2xEVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti FPB (SLI), MSI nGTX260 TwinFrozr II (PhysX)

CPU-Cooler: Indeed. Noctua NH-D14

Case: NZXT Phantom Black

HDD: 2xHitachi Ultrastar 7K3000 2TB SATA-III RAID (Data), 1x 500GB SATA-III (OS)

I already have the Case, the 500GB HDD and the nGTX260.

Some info:

I need the rig for playing games like Metro, Crysis, Battlefield 3, MW2/3, ...

I also have to work with it. Main focus on video-editing/compositing

(AfterEffects) and 3D-animations (3ds Max, AutoCAD, Maya).

Sometimes some photoshop-work and audio-editing (audition).

Often the rig will be used for programming (C/Java and some CUDA), but

this won't need this much resources.

Budget is somwhere at 1500€, maybe up to 1700€.

The color-scheme is black/gold. The case is black, the MB black/gold,

the GFX black/gold and a Corsair AX-Series is gold too. So these

would fit perfectly. RAM is black too, and the Noctua-fans quite

matches the scheme.

And the last one: The items should be available in Austria. I think this

is going to be a hard one. Especially with Mushkin RAM, Austria completely

fails!

Now some questions...

First of all: which PSU should I choose? Indeed Corsair and modular, but

how much W?

Second question: Does the MB feature uEFI or not? I really can not figure it

out. I really want uEFI, simply because it is more 'future-proof' and quite

needed for the W7-successor. If the MB does not feature uEFI, which other

MB supporting at least 4xSATA-III, 4xSATA-II, 1xPS/2, SLI, 3xGFX-Support

and uEFI should I buy?

Q3: Some suggestions on hardware? Maybe another GFX? Something

else you'd completely change? Tell me!

So - if you have some suggestions or any comments - please answer ;-)

-Xoh

 

[nothingspecial]

The Gigabyte boards aren't fully uEFI yet. They have the uEFI app to change settings via Windows, but a normal BIOS via the usual "Press Del to enter Setup" at POST.

Rumour has it there will be a BIOS update in the future to upgrade to full uEFI. Unless you're going to be tweaking settings a lot, it won't make much difference. Definately won't make any difference to the next version of Windows (guessing that's what W7 is).

As for the rig, you don't need to RAID the data drives really, as they'll just be storage, and you'll definately want an SSD for the boot drive.

16GB of memory might seem a good idea, but I'd start with 8GB to save a bit on the initial cost, and if you find you need it later it's easy to whack another pair in there. Spend that extra on a bigger SSD.

I would go for something like this:

CPU: Intel Core i7-2600K

RAM: Mushkin Enhanced Blackline Ridgeback 2x4GB DDR3-2000 CL9-11-9-27

MB: Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD7-B3

GFX: 2xEVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti FPB (SLI), MSI nGTX260 TwinFrozr II (PhysX)

CPU-Cooler: Indeed. Noctua NH-D14

Case: NZXT Phantom Black

HDD: 2xWD Caviar Black 2TB SATA-III (Data), 2x 500GB SATA-III RAID (Scratch), 120GB SATA-III SSD (OS)

 

[Xochielt]

The Gigabyte boards aren't fully uEFI yet. They have the uEFI app to change settings via Windows, but a normal BIOS via the usual "Press Del to enter Setup" at POST.

Rumour has it there will be a BIOS update in the future to upgrade to full uEFI. Unless you're going to be tweaking settings a lot, it won't make much difference. Definately won't make any difference to the next version of Windows (guessing that's what W7 is).

Thanks for the information. Yeah - W7 is Windows 7. I read, the successor

of Windows 7 recommends uEFI. Fact or Fake?

As for the rig, you don't need to RAID the data drives really, as they'll just be storage, and you'll definately want an SSD for the boot drive.

16GB of memory might seem a good idea, but I'd start with 8GB to save a bit on the initial cost, and if you find you need it later it's easy to whack another pair in there. Spend that extra on a bigger SSD.

According to experience it is quite nice using striped diskarrays when

you work with multiple (5-15) files, each 4GB sized.

This is also the reason for 16GB memory, and not 8GB. Already thought

about it.

Indeed - a 128GB SSD would be really kick-ass for OS and maybe some

applications (the mentioned ones). Maybe even copy the current 1-2

games on it. Rethinking this part again

SATA-III SSD or SATA-II?

Oh, and I do not need an additional disk (500GB) for scratch. Therefor I

have the SAN/NAS. Too slow for using it as main disk, but fast enough

for media (audio/video) and even some pieces of software.

Thanks for your response!

-Xoh

 

[kilobravo]

For reliability ,intel 510 series ssd,they are sata III.

The msi gtx580 twinfrozzr III for faster rendering.

But do buy the mobo,have one myself.Its amazingly build and plastered with features for your needs

 

[Celticbattlepants]

I would also suggest you go for the i5-2500K and overclock it. The difference in performance between the 2600k and the 2500k is not huge compared to the difference in price, here in the UK at least.

I am wondering why you want the UD7 board as well, is it some particular feature or just the colour; it is very expensive? You could get an asrock extreme 4, asus z68 pro or deluxe or a lower specced gigabyte board and save probably 50-100 of your euros and it will do all you need.

Plus, with the extra money you save from the MB and CPU, you could put that towards an even bigger ssd. I have also heard there are problems with the sandforce controllers on corsair ssd, dont know about any others. But they are fast!

one other thing, you have the gtx260 listed as well as the two 560tis, is that a typo or is there some feature of the UD7 that lets you use disparate cards together (lucid Hydra or similar)?

 

[nothingspecial]

Thanks for the information. Yeah - W7 is Windows 7. I read, the successor

of Windows 7 recommends uEFI. Fact or Fake?

Haven't seen anything, but can't really see how it makes any difference to Windows either way. uEFI is just a replacement BIOS with clickable icons to replace the typical blue screens, and an app in Windows to alter settings from there.

Come to think of it, I suppose they could add settings to the control panel to do BIOS/uEFI stuff, but I haven't heard anything about them doing that so far.

According to experience it is quite nice using striped diskarrays when

you work with multiple (5-15) files, each 4GB sized.

This is also the reason for 16GB memory, and not 8GB. Already thought

about it.

Indeed - a 128GB SSD would be really kick-ass for OS and maybe some

applications (the mentioned ones). Maybe even copy the current 1-2

games on it. Rethinking this part again

SATA-III SSD or SATA-II?

Oh, and I do not need an additional disk (500GB) for scratch. Therefor I

have the SAN/NAS. Too slow for using it as main disk, but fast enough

for media (audio/video) and even some pieces of software.

Thanks for your response!

-Xoh

I'd go SATA-III for the SSD, as it's always going to be faster than SATA-II. And when I say "scratch" I was more thinking current projects on the 500s and archived stuff on the 2TB ones, but if you've got the NAS then I suppose you don't need that.

 

[nothingspecial]

I would also suggest you go for the i5-2500K and overclock it. The difference in performance between the 2600k and the 2500k is not huge compared to the difference in price, here in the UK at least.

In this case I would stick with the 2600k, as the extra 4 threads will help with encoding, even if they are Hyperthreaded.

 

[Ya93sin]

CPU: Intel Core i7-2600K

RAM: Mushkin Enhanced Blackline or Copperhead 1600MHz

MB: ASUS P8Z68 V-Pro, Gigabyte P67-UD4 (for black colour), ASUS Sabertooth P67

GFX: Maybe GTX 570 or 580 if budget allows? MSi Twin Frozr II, or for black, go for Gainward Phantom GTX 570/580 (THIS MIGHT BE TOO SEXY)

CPU-Cooler: Indeed. Noctua NH-D14 , or BeQuiet Dark Rock advanced CPU Cooler (Black)

HDD: Western Digital Green

PSU: Corsair AX850 W (for the build above)

I'd go for that mate, plenty options there to keep the black/gold theme going.

Also an SSD investment is definitely worthwhile, maybe 120GB or so?

(Bolded are going to match black/gold scheme)

 

[Xochielt]

First of all - thanks a lot for your answers!

For reliability ,intel 510 series ssd,they are sata III.

The msi gtx580 twinfrozzr III for faster rendering.

I thought Corsair and OCZ are the way to go with SSDs. Thanks

for that information.

I think two GTX560Ti are better, because I mainly need the GFX

for accelerating the preview, so I do not have to wait until a long

period of test-render finished. And for quite high-quality previews

most applications support multi-GPUs. The job of final rendering

is not my rigs work

Indeed I need the GFX for gaming, and I think two 560Ti are more

powerful.

I would also suggest you go for the i5-2500K and overclock it. The difference in performance between the 2600k and the 2500k is not huge compared to the difference in price, here in the UK at least.

I am wondering why you want the UD7 board as well, is it some particular feature or just the colour; it is very expensive? You could get an asrock extreme 4, asus z68 pro or deluxe or a lower specced gigabyte board and save probably 50-100 of your euros and it will do all you need.

Plus, with the extra money you save from the MB and CPU, you could put that towards an even bigger ssd. I have also heard there are problems with the sandforce controllers on corsair ssd, dont know about any others. But they are fast!

one other thing, you have the gtx260 listed as well as the two 560tis, is that a typo or is there some feature of the UD7 that lets you use disparate cards together (lucid Hydra or similar)?

The i7-2600K seems to be the better choice, due to the four

additional threads for rendering.

There are many reasons for the UD7 and yeah - the color is one.

But also that there are full waterblocks available, because I may

want to watercool it later.

And when I select just MBs that fit my needs (PCIe-count, SATA-III,

SLI, availability, ...), there are just two ones available. The

Gigabyte UD7 and the ASUS Maximus IV Extreme-Z which costs about

50€ more

There is no special feature with which the GTX260 is supported

additional to the two GTX560Ti. SLI supports a different card for

PhysX-only since... uh... since they own PhysX?

I'd go SATA-III for the SSD, as it's always going to be faster than SATA-II. And when I say "scratch" I was more thinking current projects on the 500s and archived stuff on the 2TB ones, but if you've got the NAS then I suppose you don't need that.

You see... It works as following:

I have to define a partition (part of a disk, whole disk, RAID, external

storage, whatever). Each day 6.00 a.m. all data from this partition

gets copied to the SAN/NAS. Most of us use the partition with the files

we currently work on. Applied on 'my' system, I would choose the two

2TB SATA 6Gb/s as RAID (resulting in 4TB) for that (only changes are

saved, so maybe 30-100GB per update). So there is no need for an

additional 500GB HDD.

Yeah... I think I will go for a SATA-III SSD. Maybe OCZ Agility 3? Your

opinion?

In this case I would stick with the 2600k, as the extra 4 threads will help with encoding, even if they are Hyperthreaded.

Exactly what I thought.

GFX: Maybe GTX 570 or 580 if budget allows? MSi Twin Frozr II, or for black, go for Gainward Phantom GTX 570/580 (THIS MIGHT BE TOO SEXY)

CPU-Cooler: Indeed. Noctua NH-D14 , or BeQuiet Dark Rock advanced CPU Cooler (Black)

HDD: Western Digital Green

PSU: Corsair AX850 W (for the build above)

I'd go for that mate, plenty options there to keep the black/gold theme going.

Also an SSD investment is definitely worthwhile, maybe 120GB or so?

(Bolded are going to match black/gold scheme)

GFX: Yeah - sorry... forgot to say, that I want reference design

CPU-Cooler: NH-D14 is quite unchangeable. no - not quite... definitely!

HDD: 5400rpm? *cough* no - thx! Currently working with 10K and 15K ;-)

Oh yeah - and my HDD-choice is made for 24/7 use, and my rig at least

works 18/6 (working, gaming, few frames pre-rendering, preprocessing, ...)

PSU: Thanks for the first PSU-suggestion.

What I forgot to say!

Reference PCB is quite important for my choice of GFX, because

I really think about building a WC. One of my old ones had a WC, and

I enjoyed it a lot. This WC is way to low for current hardware, but was

quite nice and I want to have one again. Unfortunately the NZXT Phantom

does not support 4x120mm or 4x140mm radiators.

 

[Ya93sin]

You shot me down

Twin Frozr II GTX 560/570/580 are reference PCB, Twin Frozr III Is non-reference, but then if you wanted to watercool your money is wasted, but the coolers are very good.

And Corsair PSUs are deffo one of the best, if not the best way, to go

My mate has a Silverstone TJ01 for his WC setup, but I'm not sure about how its rated, just he has it. Expensive stuff though.

 

[Xochielt]

You shot me down

Twin Frozr II GTX 560/570/580 are reference PCB, Twin Frozr III Is non-reference, but then if you wanted to watercool your money is wasted, but the coolers are very good.

And Corsair PSUs are deffo one of the best, if not the best way, to go

My mate has a Silverstone TJ01 for his WC setup, but I'm not sure about how its rated, just he has it. Expensive stuff though.

Ok... I ain't know that the TwinFrozr II are reference...

Is the nGTX260 TwinFrozr reference PCB too?

I do not want to talk about anything but Corsair (except

Enermax, but the price!). There is quite no alternative.

 

[GoldenbanjoDJ]

Hey pal,

I was thinking, I know you have your base spec already in mind but perhaps a suggestion would be to leave SLI for now by dropping the second card and pick up a SSD and a fresh install of windows 7 for around the same price

I honestly believe that a Solid State Drive is the best upgrade for any system, as mechanical hard drives will almost always be THE major bottleneck of any system with a high end CPU, especially a 2600k!

Just a suggestion from personal experience