New High-End Gaming Build

[Contortion]

This is the first time I've decided to build a high-end computer from parts, I've only dealt with like light gaming PCs and I don't know if the following build is good. Any thoughts on the build?

CPU: Core i5 2500K

Motherboard: Gigabyte Z68X-UD7-B3

RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws 1600Mhz 8GB (2 x 4GB)

Graphics Card: Sapphire AMD Radeon 6950 Dirt3 Edition in Dual Crossfire

Cooling: Noctua NH-D14

Case: NZXT Phantom

Power Supply: Corsair AX1200 (Decided to get it because I don't want to keep changing Power Supplies everytime i Upgrade)

Storage: Old SATA 3Gbps 1TB HDD and OCZ Vertex 3 60GB SDD

DVD Drive: Samsung SATA Optical Drive

OS: Win 7 Professional 64 Bit OEM

Keyboard: Logitech G110

Mouse: Logitech G500

Monitor: Acer 24" LCD LED Full HD

Thanks for your help

 

[FederaL]

That's a pretty good system. It will run ANYTHING you throw at it. But you can go with ud4, you don't "need" ud7 motherboard.

 

[dugdiamond]

that is going to be a nice rig

it makes me very happy when people post nice specs like this... it shows that you have done a bit of homework before asking questions

show pics when built

 

[Contortion]

Thanks for the help. Oh yeah, I spent a lot of time researching. And I do come from Australia

I'll post up some build pics when it all comes together

 

[Rastalovich]

That's a pretty good system. It will run ANYTHING you throw at it. But you can go with ud4, you don't "need" ud7 motherboard.

It'll 'run' ANYTHING, but if you happen upon a game sporting physx, it won't include it. And if you're fortunate that the games you play like xfire, you will benefit from 2x cards - otherwise not.

I'd suggest a single gpu GTX580. If you're spending big cash on a rig, why leave possibilities out and possible/probable driver headaches of 2x cards.

1200W will do more that cover future options - thing it won't guard you against is future connection changes. You'd never use 1200W even if you paired 6990/590 cards. 850W, of similar quality, is a really happy place to be.

 

[alienware]

Once again ^

It would be a shame to base such an expensive system around something that is flakey at best.

A 580 would be awesome, no headaches. If you want to go all out then get a 590. Yes, in theory it's SLI but the drivers are pretty awesome so you will have less problems. You won't be completely problem free, but you will have less problems.

Edit. DO NOT use the Phantom with the NH-D14. With a hot gpu/s in there you can not fit a regular side fan and trust me, with those GPUs you will need one. Unless you are prepared to get modding or ghetto rigging then I would think again about your case choice.

 

[Contortion]

Once again ^

It would be a shame to base such an expensive system around something that is flakey at best.

A 580 would be awesome, no headaches. If you want to go all out then get a 590. Yes, in theory it's SLI but the drivers are pretty awesome so you will have less problems. You won't be completely problem free, but you will have less problems.

Edit. DO NOT use the Phantom with the NH-D14. With a hot gpu/s in there you can not fit a regular side fan and trust me, with those GPUs you will need one. Unless you are prepared to get modding or ghetto rigging then I would think again about your case choice.

Oh. I didn't know about the NH-D14 not being able to fit. Will the CM690II Adv. work with it? That was my backup choice of case, and still looks quite good. Or are there any other cases you would recommend?

And, thanks for the help

 

[sheroo]

You can ghetto mod a side fan on the Phantom - the tolerances are sooo small though - there's a thread on here some where...

I would go for a HAF 932 Advanced with a full side windows panel, good cooling and lots of options - can even go water cooling with it if you want...

 

[tinytomlogan]

I wouldnt use the phantom for one.

I also wouldnt use ATI cards and tbh that spec is far away from running anything you throw at it.

Id honestly be looking at a pair of GTX570's and case wise the Revn RV02 white or maybe even the Corsair 600T both have much better build quality than the NZXT for around the same money.

60GB is a bit tight for an =SSD tbh, youll be kicking yourself inside a month wishing you had got a bigger one

 

[alienware]

Oh. I didn't know about the NH-D14 not being able to fit. Will the CM690II Adv. work with it? That was my backup choice of case, and still looks quite good. Or are there any other cases you would recommend?

And, thanks for the help

It'll fit mate, but you can't fit a fan to the side... sort of..

Basically due to the size of the NH-D14 you can not fit NZXT's fan to the side as it's a 30mm thick fan (the depth). It will not clear the Noctua.

So, that leaves you in a quandary. NZXT have made the fan screw holes on the case odd, so that they only fit THEIR fans. The absolute tit is that their fans only come in 30mm depth. So, that leaves you looking for a 20mm deep fan. Xigmatek make some, so do Bitfenix. The problem is you can not fit them on as the holes don't line up. So you are left to either take off the mesh and drill new holes or find a way to botch the fan in.

It's not just NZXT "trying" this crap, it's starting to become common place. The thing is it doesn't make people happy or want to go and buy more NZXT stuff all it does is piss them off.

There's a reason that companies like Compaq and Apricot failed. It was due to odd shaped hardware and horrible locked down bioses. You buy their PC for an extorionate amount and then you go to them for a lovely £250 PSU should yours fail as you can't put a £30 part in there.

All things like this do is piss people off.

The Phantom also has other short comings. Air flow is muddled and confused and they seem to have put more cooling in for the hard drives than they have for the GPUS

The Raven 02 as Tom pointed out is pretty much the best air cooling case on the market. They also do a ltd white one if that tickles your fancy.

 

[GODuk]

Will that ram fit under the Noctua?

Im in work, so cant check for you.

 

[Deathtrip2k]

i don't know if you can buy Xigmatek 200mm fans where you live. But if you can, you can fit one on the side panel in the phantom together with the NH-D14 without any modding by just using the rubber fan mounts included with the fan.

http://forum.overclock3d.net/index....14-no-modding-req/page__p__401399#entry401399

 

[Nathlm]

As others have said go for Nvidia because they use tricks to make their cards run better in certain games!

 

[Ya93sin]

As others have said go for Nvidia because they use tricks to make their cards run better in certain games!

Tbf a lot of game developers use nVidia cards.

This is the first time I've decided to build a high-end computer from parts, I've only dealt with like light gaming PCs and I don't know if the following build is good. Any thoughts on the build?

CPU: Core i5 2500K

Motherboard: Gigabyte Z68X-UD7-B3

RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws 1600Mhz 8GB (2 x 4GB)

Graphics Card: Sapphire AMD Radeon 6950 Dirt3 Edition in Dual Crossfire

Cooling: Noctua NH-D14

Case: NZXT Phantom

Power Supply: Corsair AX1200 (Decided to get it because I don't want to keep changing Power Supplies everytime i Upgrade)

Storage: Old SATA 3Gbps 1TB HDD and OCZ Vertex 3 60GB SDD

DVD Drive: Samsung SATA Optical Drive

OS: Win 7 Professional 64 Bit OEM

Keyboard: Logitech G110

Mouse: Logitech G500

Monitor: Acer 24" LCD LED Full HD

Thanks for your help

CPU-Fine

Motherboard-Do you need the UD7? I wouldn't recommend Xfire, but I'll get onto that.

RAM-Those are OK, Mushkin are very good though, reliable, and the Blackline 8GB 1600MHz are what I have.

CPU Cooler-Nice

Graphics Card-A single GTX 580. I know everyone says it, but its the best thing to do. No hassle, it performs well under max settings for just about every game out there, pumps out 60+fps avg. for 95% of games out there. Xfire doesn't always have great scaling in games not supporting it properly, and you are so much better off with the better compatibility, lower heat, and lower price of a single GPU.

Case-I got the BitFenix Colossus Window Blue/White, the Phantom is OK I guess.

PSU-Corsair AX850. Going along the single GPU only path, this is going to last you, if you want, the AX1200 is still a great PSU.

Storage-Western Digital Green 1TB-virtually silent, and its got 110MB read and write for me.

SSD-128GB. Why buy a gaming rig and get a small SSD? A Crucial M4 128GB, or a Corsair equivalent (120GB) will do nicely.

DVD drive-Why not try an external DVD-RW? I did, I guess its less cable hassle, your machine looks less cluttered too.

OS-I'm hardly going to tell you to get Mac OS X Lion or Ubuntu for gaming am I?

Keyboard-Logitech G510 if you can afford it, its just better

Mouse-That's OK, the Razer Deathadder is tried and trusted, but mice are terribly subjective to judge.

Monitor-OK, dependent on model.