New Gaming Rig I am Thinking of Building...

[spacewaster]

Hi, im thinking of building a new gaming rig, want anyones opinions on it.

Just to let everyone know im not going for Intel, I know there a bit better but in my opinion there not worth the money for the non "K" editions really, as you can only OC them by about 5% if that, thats what I like about Bulldozer and Piledriver, yes they kick out a fair amount of heat when pushed over stock clocks, same with Ivy Bridge cpus, but I dont mind that as im new to OC'ing cpus and wont be pushing it very far.

Here are my current specs of the rig i have at the moment:

AMD FX-4100 3.60 GHz (non OC)
Gigabyte 78LMT-USB3
4GB Avexir Blitz Series Ram (2x2Gb 1333MHz)
Sapphire HD 6570 1GB DDR3
XFX PRO550W PSU
2x SATA HDD's (1x 80Gb and 1x 250Gb)
1x 250Gb IDE HDD (soon to be gotten rid of)
1x bog standard ODD (thinking of going with an external disk drive, not decided yet)
and a cheapo case which i will be modding, which i found in a charity shop i am currently volunteering for, will put pics up when its finished, my personal project.

This is what i will be upgrading to:

AMD FX-4100 3.60 GHz (gonna OC it or upgrade it, not sure yet) (want anyone's opinion whether or not to upgrade it depending on my upgrade list and if any bottlenecks will occur)
Asus Crosshair V Formula 990FX
Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Gen 3 8Gb (2x4Gb 1600MHz)
HIS HD7950 3GB GDDR5 (possibility of getting 2 of them if they still do them when i get it, if not, thinking of getting 2x HD 7770 2Gb or 2x HD7850 2Gb or something else, depends on whats out when i get my video cards...)
Windows 7 OS
Seagate Barracuda 1TB 64MB cache
Corsair Force GT 60Gb
BeQuiet! Shadow Wings 80mm PWM fans (1x fan at rear and the other at front of the case)
Corsair H100i with 2x Corsair SP120 Quiet Series Fans
Corsair AX760 PSU
and a BitFenix Red LED lighting strips to light up the case (as im going with a Black and Red Theme for my build)

Had a few comments in my intro post i did on the 18 dec (http://forum.overclock3d.net/showthread.php?t=48949) about keeping my current PSU as it will be enough for the new rig im gonna be getting, but not sure if to get that corsair PSU now that someone said that about my current PSU, also someone suggested that i get a new case, any opinins on a new case would be greatly appreciated. Will put pics up, in progress and when finished to share what i have achieved.

But might not be for a while yet though as have to get money together to buy them........just thought i'd post and get peoples opinions about the upgrades.

 

[Feronix]

- Drop the Seagate drive, get a WD or Samsung one

- Your PSU is fine for a single card set-up though you don't have the headroom to go crossfire in the future.

- Pleaaase get a decent case. Does the H100i even fit in your curent one?

 

[spacewaster]

im afraid to say it doesnt, thats why i said to give suggestions on a new case for me otherwise i will have to mod my current case for the H100i to fit...

and my current PSU in fully wired and i dont want a "cable octopus" really with all the cables.......prefer a semi-modular or fully modular PSU really to make cable tidying easier......

 

[grassman]

Upgrade the CPU get at least the 8320.

Chassis look at Corsair, Fractal Design, NZXT and Bitfenix don't even bother looking at other brands there pretty horrendous tbh.

GPU I would recommend waiting for spring Radeon hd 8xxx should be out then.. Don't even bother with the 77xx cards.

 

[jamesriley94]

Upgrade the CPU get at least the 8320.

Chassis look at Corsair, Fractal Design, NZXT and Bitfenix don't even bother looking at other brands there pretty horrendous tbh.

GPU I would recommend waiting for spring Radeon hd 8xxx should be out then.. Don't even bother with the 77xx cards.

I'd say upgrade to a 3570k, and get off AMD asap

As for other brands, there's a few out more out there tbh... Some coolermaster, silverstone depending on budget...

Agreed about not bothering with the 7700 series, go for one card instead of crossfire/SLI. Should be able to get a 670/7970 or something out of that. Maybe wait for the 8xxx series, depending on when you're buying. But there's always new tech round the corner, and you'll just end up putting it off forever

 

[spacewaster]

I'd say upgrade to a 3570k, and get off AMD asap

As for other brands, there's a few out more out there tbh... Some coolermaster, silverstone depending on budget...

Agreed about not bothering with the 7700 series, go for one card instead of crossfire/SLI. Should be able to get a 670/7970 or something out of that. Maybe wait for the 8xxx series, depending on when you're buying. But there's always new tech round the corner, and you'll just end up putting it off forever

What sort of Ram speed would be decent on a 3570k with an MSI Z77 MPower board?

Thinking of going with Corsair Dominator PLATINUM Memory or maybe sticking with the Patriot "Black Mamba" Ram just want to know a decent enough speed for that 3570k cpu (around 8Gb of it, may add more at a later date)

(if i decide to go with Intel........)

 

[jamesriley94]

Anything over 1600mhz really. Don't go spending the world on it as it doesn't make a massive difference - but if for example it's £5 more to go from 1866 to 2133mhz, then you may as well get the 2133mhz.

Just look at decent brands (Corsair, Mushkin, G-skill) and see what you have left to spend.

I don't think you'll really notice a difference unless you're using very RAM heavy applications like video rendering.

What case and do you have? If it only takes 80mm fans I can't see it being much good tbh?

You'll be happy with the 3570k and mPower though!

 

[spacewaster]

Anything over 1600mhz really. Don't go spending the world on it as it doesn't make a massive difference - but if for example it's £5 more to go from 1866 to 2133mhz, then you may as well get the 2133mhz.

Just look at decent brands (Corsair, Mushkin, G-skill) and see what you have left to spend.

I don't think you'll really notice a difference unless you're using very RAM heavy applications like video rendering.

What case and do you have? If it only takes 80mm fans I can't see it being much good tbh?

You'll be happy with the 3570k and mPower though!

erm...tbh i dont really know, all i know is when i found it in a charity shop i work for, it has a few missing bits (like ODD covers, PCI blanking plates, Motherboard standoffs and case feet) apart from that its a complete case, has a removable motherboard tray.

Any suggestions for a new case?

Prefer a full window (not one with a fan grill in it)
I dont really see the of the fan grills in side panel windows, i just dont see the point, I can on a non windowed panel but a windowed panel, it just ruins the look of the case in my opinion....

 

[jamesriley94]

What's the budget?

 

[spacewaster]

around £100, will stretch to £120 if need to but has to support a H100i atleast.

was thinking about the 500R but it has a mesh panel for a window with fan mounts, if i get the 500R i might be able to mod a window panel in it.

 

[jamesriley94]

Most will tbh.
CM 690, Bitfenix Shinobi (if you wanna save money), Corsair 600T, Corsair C70, NZXT Phantom 810, CM HAF series (if you like that styling) to name a few...
Plenty more out there though

 

[spacewaster]

Most will tbh.
CM 690, Bitfenix Shinobi (if you wanna save money), Corsair 600T, Corsair C70, NZXT Phantom 810, CM HAF series (if you like that styling) to name a few...
Plenty more out there though

ok thx for the suggestions

I will give it some thought about the case, but not too much though.........might hurt my head if i think too much and thinking is always a bad idea..........

EDIT: Might go for a Corsair Vengeance C70 Gun Metal Black, would this be a decent enough case for my build?

If so its definitely goona look sweet when its finished.

This is what im gonna be like when i see it every night when i come home from work.....:dribble::drool:

 

[Lystfiskern]

C70 will do u just fine. Here is the link to TTL´s YouTube-review

 

[Bang]

I was going to suggest the C70 also, but it looks like its been taken care of

As for AMD, their biggest problem appears to be memory bandwidth. I jumped off the AMD boat 2 weeks ago and I'm now on the Intel bandwagon. I have to say the 3570k is a pretty sweet cpu. If only I could take it out for dinner and a movie, I would propose to it

If you are determined to stay with AMD I would say the only cpu worth having would be the 8350, at least IMO. The 3570k still seems to smash it on about 60% of benchtests. If gaming is your goal, I would say you dont need the extra 4 cores and will get better performance from the 3570k, which pwns anything AMD. In rendering/encoding the AMD is slightly faster.

 

[spacewaster]

Would Kingston be a decent brand for ram?

sorry bout all questions......

 

[Feronix]

Would Kingston be a decent brand for ram?

sorry bout all questions......

Questions are what the build advice forums are for mate! Plus it's the best way to learn

Kingston is a pretty good brand, but if you can, grab some Corsair Vengeance memory. Generally can't go wrong with Corsair

 

[Christoi]

Would Kingston be a decent brand for ram?

Most memory is usually fine these days, though do note that Kingston themselves don't actually manufacture the memory, but they just rebrand OEM units (which is the case with most memory).

Just make sure that it's rated at 1.5v or lower and it should be fine, whatever is cheaper/ looks better. Speeds really don't matter for gaming, so don't worry about that either. Also, heatsinks are usually recommended as they can get rather hot without them.

 

[iBeInspire]

Would Kingston be a decent brand for ram?

sorry bout all questions......

If you care about looks, go with whatever looks best, if not, go as cheap as possible within a reputable brand
Memory speed doesn't matter much if all your doing is gaming ~ As long as you've got enough, you're safe

 

[Spiderz]

80mm case fans? Damm that's going to get noisy real quick. Case budget of £100-120 is in CM Storm Trooper territory, corsair 500r as you mentioned (£97 on Scan), silverstone raven rv03b, etc etc etc.

Graphics advice- don't bother with the SLi/crossfire and with the money it takes to get 2 cards you could get 1 better card and not have concerns about the scaling and drivers.

 

[Feronix]

^Don't think the RV03 supports a 240mm rad?

And yes, all memory works as long as you keep an eye on the timings (in your case 1866/2133) and the CAS latencies. Lower is better, so preferably a CL9 kit. And as other people said, 1,5 volt. Best not to go higher than that.

It's mainly about what heatspreaders you like (though you won't really need them as RAM doesn't get that hot anyway) and what would suit the rest of the components better

I personally prefer Corsair cause of their warranty, but for my upcoming build I'll be using Patriot as it's much cheaper