New Photo/Video/Gaming Rig

C

cchankhour

New member
Hello Everyone,

After 4 years and new work load, I think its time to upgrade. I deal lots with graphics and RAW photos and 1080p video. Also I do some gaming and I would love to get better FPS. My current computer can't handle the load that I giving it.

Current Rig:

CPU: Q6600
Motherboard: Asus P5Q Pro
RAM: 8GB G.Skill
GPU: EVGA GTX 260
HDD: Samsung 1TB, WD Black 1TB, Seagate 2TB(Will be used again)
PSU: 700 watts

As you can see it needs a little upgrade.
I will be upgrading the whole rig next month. I have been researching what works best for my situation. I would really appreciate any advice or suggesting's you guys may have for me.

This is what I have in mind:

Theme: White,Black,Red

Case: CM Storm Stryker
I Love white cases!

CPU: Intel 3770k
I need the extra threads and I heard Ivy bridge controls the RAM better than Sandy.

Cooling: H100
I would be doing water cooling in the very near future, so this will be temporary. Also I don't want air because I want good temps at full load.

Motherboard: Asus Rampage Formula V
It was this or the sabertooth, but what sold me on this MB is the features and also the thermo fusion. Like I said before I will be water-cooling in the near future. Also it works with my theme :).

RAM: Corsair Dominator Platinum 16GB 1600/1866(Depends on cash remaing)
Sexy ram.

GPU: ASUS GTX670
The 680 and 690 I think will be an over kill for me, and if I need and extra video card Ill get another 670

PSU: Corsair AX750
I think this will be enough for near future of and extra video card and water cooling? Also I like modular.

SSD: Any Suggestions?
With ssd I like them to be fast and have enough space to have all my software and a couple of projects. And also price/gig.

HDD: I will reuse my current HDD and may buy another 2TB in the future if needed.

As you can see I like Asus products and I am very comfortable with them. Also I will be getting some corsair fans for the H100.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Also this will be my second build that I have done for myself.
 
Last edited:
AX850 is overkill, you only need AX750 max, even for SLI.

Don't get the OCZ drive - get a Crucial M4.

Asus Maximus V formula* :p
The board is over priced, and I wouldn't use the watercooling features since it has irregular hose diameter and doesn't really need to be watercooled anyway. You'd be better off with the MSI Z77 mPower or Z77a-GD65 (but this may be against your colour scheme. You'd get the same performance pretty much, so you'd basically be paying £100 extra for it to be red
 
Thanks James for the advice. Will the 750w handle and SLI, WC, and a couple more HDD and SDD? I am just thinking for later on.

Also I know the MB is over priced, but all the features meet my needs like the number of 6gb/s sata connection and audio. And idk I just like asus products because I have had a good run with no problems with last build. Also they seem to always bring top notch quality.
 
Unless you game one a higher resolution than 1080p, a single gtx670 will be enough and then I'd get an AX650.
Imo the h100 is very expensive for a temporary solution, there are very good aircoolers that are cheaper
 
cchankhour said:
Thanks James for the advice. Will the 750w handle and SLI, WC, and a couple more HDD and SDD? I am just thinking for later on.

Also I know the MB is over priced, but all the features meet my needs like the number of 6gb/s sata connection and audio. And idk I just like asus products because I have had a good run with no problems with last build. Also they seem to always bring top notch quality.
Click to expand...

I agree - Asus products are very good quality - but the marketing for ROG puts the price up way too much for me. That's the same with all their lines IMO. Not really much difference between the P8Z77-v ****** lines - just a lot of money between them for getting 'Deluxe' instead of 'Pro'.

Still - it's a great board, and you'll be happy. Just think you'd get exactly the same from the mPower at nearly half the cost.

As for the audio, what do you mean? I'd go for the non-thunder FX version and get an aftermarket soundcard as it will perform a lot better.
 
850w PSU is fine also because he might add a second GTX670 (future rig) this overkill BS is really weird.....
 
If the money's an issue, go with a lower wattage PSU. If not, it doesn't matter. You can't buy a PSU with too many watts. I know when I purchased the AX850 it had a greater warranty period over the 'lesser' models.

Also, I know that Tom has issues rendering with his green cards, and has much better luck with AMD.
 
Josh Weston said:
If the money's an issue, go with a lower wattage PSU. If not, it doesn't matter. You can't buy a PSU with too many watts. I know when I purchased the AX850 it had a greater warranty period over the 'lesser' models.

Also, I know that Tom has issues rendering with his green cards, and has much better luck with AMD.
Click to expand...

I do agree with that.

Nowadays though, looking at ebuyer, the AX750 is £125 and the AX850 is £157...
When I bought mine, the AX650 (all I needed) was £126, AX750 was £125(?!?!) and the AX850 was £138.
So for the sake of £13 I was hardly bothered, so I just went for the AX850 in the hope it would last me for the next few rigs I build, regardless of what I put in them
 
Josh Weston said:
Also, I know that Tom has issues rendering with his green cards, and has much better luck with AMD.
Click to expand...

as he is using Sony Vegas Pro 11. as a user of Premier and After Effects with
Photshop its CUDA. rendering/editing on 580SLI is a dream. 6970 XFire is a
bust. the newer CS6 suite can utilize the Open GL that AMD offers and
works well from some review huts.

airdeano
 
Ok guys, I have set on the AX750w, I was always told to leave a little head room so I believe this would work great. This can handle a WC system with an SLI?

As airdeano said, the cuda with nvidia works really good with the adobe suite, which I will be using. Also I will run an SLI in the future because I will be getting 2 monitors @ 120hz and I will play games at higher res.

As for the ssd, you guys said to stay away from ocz, so I will. But what is good brand/model? I need to be 256gb and have fast w/r speeds.

I am also sticking with asus formula, I just love that board and its features, and I am willing to spend a little more in this area :).

Thanks again guys for the advice.
 
You should be able to get a Samsung 830 SSD on sale somewhere, since the 840 and 840 Pro are due to be released soon.
 
Josh Weston said:
If the money's an issue, go with a lower wattage PSU. If not, it doesn't matter. You can't buy a PSU with too many watts. I know when I purchased the AX850 it had a greater warranty period over the 'lesser' models.

Also, I know that Tom has issues rendering with his green cards, and has much better luck with AMD.
Click to expand...
This,
it seems people foget that a PSU will only draw what it needs to draw !

Then i'd rather be on the safe side then its going to be close with a PSU...
i know i am rather picky on this, if i go to far.. just :stickpoke:POKE me :lol:
 
cchankhour said:
Ok guys, I have set on the AX750w, I was always told to leave a little head room so I believe this would work great. This can handle a WC system with an SLI?

As airdeano said, the cuda with nvidia works really good with the adobe suite, which I will be using. Also I will run an SLI in the future because I will be getting 2 monitors @ 120hz and I will play games at higher res.

As for the ssd, you guys said to stay away from ocz, so I will. But what is good brand/model? I need to be 256gb and have fast w/r speeds.

I am also sticking with asus formula, I just love that board and its features, and I am willing to spend a little more in this area :).

Thanks again guys for the advice.
Click to expand...

Crucial M4 for he SSD. Ignore the listed read and write speeds, it's actually one of the fastest drives out there in real world performance.

2 monitors at 120hz? Can't really game nicely on 2 monitors as the crosshair / middle of the screen is interrupted by the bezzle.

If you do go for 3, it's pointless wasting money on 120hz since no combination of cards will realistically get over 60 FPS
 
Hi i see alot of guys here say that your mobo is overkill so have you thought of using the z77 sabertooth? would go with your colour scheme its asus quality but cheaper?
 
Hey there, I have thought of the sabertooth, actually it was the first board I picked to be in this build. But I don't think it's an Overkill. Like I said before I am willing to pay for this board, and I like the features it has. Although I also like the sabertooth, but it doesn't have the same amount of features as this does. Also, which I forgot to mention, is that this rig will come with me on location for few jobs, so the wifi helps a little I guess. ( what I mean on location, I mean other studios)
 
cchankhour said:
I think I am gonna go with corsair 240GB GT, what do guys think of this drive?
Click to expand...

What I think is that there are better options. The Samsung and the Crucial (both are non-SandForce) would be at the top of the list, and the Intel 520 would be a better choice for a SandForce drive.

For pure blazing speed, the Samsung 840 Pro will apparently blow everything else away, but it'll also be considerably more expensive (more than $100 more than the 830 for 256gb, according to NCIX where they're available for pre-order). The vanilla 840 might be worth checking out if you're willing to wait a few weeks for the launch.
 
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