Hi there guys and girls, I am new to this community. I would greatly appreciate some help on my build. I will do my very best not to ramble and keep my questions short if there are any to follow up on your comments.
This build is to accomodate my love of gaming and to be possibly used for 3d animation/multimedia design for a potential course coming up this year.
The build. What I have already and what I am on the verge of purchasing.
Case - Coolermaster stacker 832 - PURCHASED
Case fans - Noctua nf- p12 * 2/ nf - s12 800rpm * 3/ nf-s12 1200rpm *1 - PURCHASED
Cooler - noctua nh-d14 - PURCHASED
Ssd - ocz vertex 2 60gb * 2 (to be setup in raid format) - PURCHASED
Cpu - Sandy Bridge i7 2600k - NOT YET PURCHASED
Mobo - Asrock p67 extreme 4 or msi p67a-gd65 - NOT YET PURCHASED
Ram - Mushkin Enhanced Redline Ridgeback 8GB 2X4GB PC3-12800 DDR3-1600 7-9-8-24 Dual Channel Memory Kit - NOT YET PURCHASED
GPU - Sapphire vapor-x HD 5870 (it's my oldie from another pc)- PURCHASED
PSU - Corsair AX 1200 - NOT YET PURCHASED
Things to note here:
I will be doing a gpu upgrade later (obtaining to gtx 470's for free or buying a gtx580)
I picked that psu for future proofing myself, if this is to much wasted power then I am open to suggestions, keeping in mind that I will eventually have a dual gpu setup and the CPU will be overclocked to at least 4.2,4.5 - Suggestions for PSU need to be of a very high rating (safety if the psu blows etc. and a good efficiency at low/idle voltages and all that jazz)
The Ram is a tricky one, I need something to fit under the noctua dh-14 and from watching all of the youtube vids by tom I can't stop thinking about mushkin - yet I can't find any compatbility listed with both motherboards I am considering on their websites for mushkin??? But I may have read that any dual ddr3 ram should be compatible with the new p67 system. Googling provides some scarce information about mushkin/sandy bridge combos and there is something about sandy bridge processors being designed to run with ram at 1.5v whereas the specs on the mushkin is 1.65v? 1600mhz is selected to obtain lower cas latencies. So I suppose I will have to look at alternatives if necessary.
Finally, the motherboard options are driving me up the wall!!! MSI perhaps has a higher build quality than asrock and a better gaming edge to it whereas the asrock seems to be the board for everything and sets itself up there against asus and gigabyte - yet does the small gains over each of these boards in performance benchmarks really effect real game time experience? Will they both do well for gaming and running metro 2033/crysis 2/brink/rage/far cry 2 etc and more cpu heavy games out there. I think at the end of the day I will either need kick ass gpu (perhaps a single gtx 580,680) to make my gaming rig complete.
On to the other matter of the boards....I have read through forums that users of the msi board have problems fitting their gpu's into an sli/crossfire setup without blocking off some parts of the board. I haven't looked at the asrock for build design issues.
Looks are not the most important part here so please don't judge each board on how pretty it is. I don't really care when it comes down to the best choice out of the two.
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I want to make a choice soon as these chips are diminishing quickly in Australia and I know the price is going to go up in demand soon so I wish to make a choice by tomorrow or the next day.
If there is anything else I should be taking into account then please tell me. I think what I have here so far will be a great pc for 2011 and 2012 and I will probably use it in 2013 also. Unless ivy tantalises me into spending money but I doubt it as of yet.
The idea is to have a really solid system that is running efficiently and overclocked, not to stressed on temps with all the air I have going into it and the ability to upgrade selected components in the future without having to change to much of the build. (hence the big ass psu unit and massive case)
Anyway thanks for reading this and as promised I will make sure not to be indecisive in nature when new parts are suggested. I HOPE EVERYTHING IS COMPATIBLE ALSO!!!!
Thanks a bunch guys/girls and to Tom for all his hard work in making reviewing an enjoyable experience with the solid link to this site to read full reviews of products and their capabilities. It really makes someone like me who is new to building pc's and overclocking a chance to start learning the ropes of it all. I will have a hand building this rig from a friend incase anyone was worried!
The end.
This build is to accomodate my love of gaming and to be possibly used for 3d animation/multimedia design for a potential course coming up this year.
The build. What I have already and what I am on the verge of purchasing.
Case - Coolermaster stacker 832 - PURCHASED
Case fans - Noctua nf- p12 * 2/ nf - s12 800rpm * 3/ nf-s12 1200rpm *1 - PURCHASED
Cooler - noctua nh-d14 - PURCHASED
Ssd - ocz vertex 2 60gb * 2 (to be setup in raid format) - PURCHASED
Cpu - Sandy Bridge i7 2600k - NOT YET PURCHASED
Mobo - Asrock p67 extreme 4 or msi p67a-gd65 - NOT YET PURCHASED
Ram - Mushkin Enhanced Redline Ridgeback 8GB 2X4GB PC3-12800 DDR3-1600 7-9-8-24 Dual Channel Memory Kit - NOT YET PURCHASED
GPU - Sapphire vapor-x HD 5870 (it's my oldie from another pc)- PURCHASED
PSU - Corsair AX 1200 - NOT YET PURCHASED
Things to note here:
I will be doing a gpu upgrade later (obtaining to gtx 470's for free or buying a gtx580)
I picked that psu for future proofing myself, if this is to much wasted power then I am open to suggestions, keeping in mind that I will eventually have a dual gpu setup and the CPU will be overclocked to at least 4.2,4.5 - Suggestions for PSU need to be of a very high rating (safety if the psu blows etc. and a good efficiency at low/idle voltages and all that jazz)
The Ram is a tricky one, I need something to fit under the noctua dh-14 and from watching all of the youtube vids by tom I can't stop thinking about mushkin - yet I can't find any compatbility listed with both motherboards I am considering on their websites for mushkin??? But I may have read that any dual ddr3 ram should be compatible with the new p67 system. Googling provides some scarce information about mushkin/sandy bridge combos and there is something about sandy bridge processors being designed to run with ram at 1.5v whereas the specs on the mushkin is 1.65v? 1600mhz is selected to obtain lower cas latencies. So I suppose I will have to look at alternatives if necessary.
Finally, the motherboard options are driving me up the wall!!! MSI perhaps has a higher build quality than asrock and a better gaming edge to it whereas the asrock seems to be the board for everything and sets itself up there against asus and gigabyte - yet does the small gains over each of these boards in performance benchmarks really effect real game time experience? Will they both do well for gaming and running metro 2033/crysis 2/brink/rage/far cry 2 etc and more cpu heavy games out there. I think at the end of the day I will either need kick ass gpu (perhaps a single gtx 580,680) to make my gaming rig complete.
On to the other matter of the boards....I have read through forums that users of the msi board have problems fitting their gpu's into an sli/crossfire setup without blocking off some parts of the board. I haven't looked at the asrock for build design issues.
Looks are not the most important part here so please don't judge each board on how pretty it is. I don't really care when it comes down to the best choice out of the two.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I want to make a choice soon as these chips are diminishing quickly in Australia and I know the price is going to go up in demand soon so I wish to make a choice by tomorrow or the next day.
If there is anything else I should be taking into account then please tell me. I think what I have here so far will be a great pc for 2011 and 2012 and I will probably use it in 2013 also. Unless ivy tantalises me into spending money but I doubt it as of yet.
The idea is to have a really solid system that is running efficiently and overclocked, not to stressed on temps with all the air I have going into it and the ability to upgrade selected components in the future without having to change to much of the build. (hence the big ass psu unit and massive case)
Anyway thanks for reading this and as promised I will make sure not to be indecisive in nature when new parts are suggested. I HOPE EVERYTHING IS COMPATIBLE ALSO!!!!
Thanks a bunch guys/girls and to Tom for all his hard work in making reviewing an enjoyable experience with the solid link to this site to read full reviews of products and their capabilities. It really makes someone like me who is new to building pc's and overclocking a chance to start learning the ropes of it all. I will have a hand building this rig from a friend incase anyone was worried!
The end.
