New rig advice

[t1melapse]

Greetings from Australia.

I'm planning on upgrading from my old Core2Duo/Geforce 9800GTS rig to something that will hopefully knock my socks off and keep me playing the newest games for many years to come. Although I haven't built one before, I am keen to jump in the deep end with enthusiast building/OCing. After many hours of online research/talking to more knowledgeable mates/watching youtube clips (Thanks TTL), I have come up with the following shopping list...

Asus Rampage 4 Formula
i7 3930K
Silverstone Raven RV02-E Usb 3.0
Silverstone Strider 850W Gold 'Evolution'
Evga GeForce GTX 670 2GB FTW
Nzxt Havik 140
Corsair 12gb DominatorGT
W7 Pro 64 BIT
OCZ Vertex 3 128gb x2 in RAID 0

So, I'll start by saying two things. I'm wanting to stick with the ASUS MOBO/ EVGA GPU combo as it has served me well (although I'd consider a different model). Also, after putting this off for years I'm totally willing to spend this much (about $2500 AUD), So cutting costs is really not an issue for me. Beyond that I do have a few questions...

-Is 12gb of RAM enough? Is this likely to become a bottleneck down the track (I heard an urban myth that 3 sticks are better than 4, is that bollocks?)
-The reviews on OCZ SSDs online are a mixed back ranging from phenomenal to unreliable. Would I be better off with a Corsair/Intel/Samsung/Other (I will say that reliability is more important than speed to me)
-Will I have any issues fitting the RAM around the cooler (I've heard the R4F is a tight squeeze) Also, would the Noktua N14 fit (TTL tells me it's larger but has better cooling)
- Is 850w enough? Are Silverstone PSUs any good?

Also any other advice/suggestions would be great.
Cheers

 

[AverageNinja]

Is the rig only used for gaming?
If yes:
-Swap the 3930k for a 3570k better than this you wont get for gaming.
-Get 8gb RAM, 2 sticks of 4 gb.

Swap the SSD anyway.
Get a reliable brand and get a 256GB SSD instead of 2 128GB SSDs. RAID'ing SSDs isn't worth it.
And don't use a ram cooler. It's completely useless.

 

[jamesriley94]

Drop the 3930k to a 3770k with MSI Z77a-G65,
Drop the PSU down to a 650w, if you want to SLI, drop to 750w
Drop the RAM to 8gb 1866mhz speeds
Dont ever buy OCZ SSDs, and you dont need to RAID them as it makes no difference - and you're twice as likely to have one break, so just get 1, 256gb Crucial M4...

Questions:
1)12gb of RAM is easily enough, drop it down to 8gb and that's still enough. Save the money, if you really feel you need more, then add another 8gb in a couple of years, but I promise you you wont need more.
2) OCZ are very unreliable. Dont even go there, just get the Crucial M4.
3) As said, 850w is overkill, so drop to a 650, or 750 if you have plans to SLI - and yes Silverstone PSUs are good.

 

[yassarikhan786]

Why are you buying 12GB of RAM? The 2011 socket uses quad-channel ram so you should be looking at 16 GB of RAM minimum. Where did you hear that using 3 sticks is better than 4? This is the first I've heard of such a thing.

As for the SSD, avoid OCZ at all costs. They have the worst reputation when it comes to SSDs (and PSUs for that matter). You would definitely be much better off with another brand. Crucial are known to be the most reliable, but you can't go wrong with any of the other brands you've mentioned. I have the Corsair Force 3 so I can recommend that personally.

I'm sure the RAM will be fine with the Havik 140, but if you want to use the NH-D14 you will need Low Profile RAM like the Corsair Vengeance LP or the Mushkin Blackline.

850w will be more than enough. You could get away with a 750w or 650w PSU as well. If you are looking to buy another 670 in the future, than a 750w PSU should be sufficient.

 

[Master&Puppet]

Yea, you only need a 3570K for gaming, not an i7 and you definitely don't need a 3930K. Games just don't use all the cores and threads.

Motherboard wise, on z77 you only need to get something cheap like a MSI g45/GD55 to get everything you need from your CPU. These motherboards will take your cpu higher than you will ever be able to get on air or water cooling.

If you really want to spend your money then SLI and get 2x670s. That will be a lot better than a more powerful CPU.

8GB (2x4) of 1600MHz RAM is perfect.

650W PSU is fine for a single GPU with an i5. 850W for SLI.
If you decide to stick with the 3930K and single GPU but will be heavily over-clocking then I'd go with a 750w.

 

[CPMFW]

3570k + msi z77a-g65 + nh-d14
8gb of corsair vengeance lp
corsair ax650 (if you want to go sli ax750)
corsair 256gb force gt (got one myself... never had problems with it)
670 is a good choice

 

[t1melapse]

cheers

Thanks for the advice guys. I guess what I read about RAID 0 was overrated, might just get one Crucial M4. As it's only $12 difference I might keep the 850 just to give me a bit of leeway for future upgrades/sli/overclocking etc. Might also get the 16gb kit instead. Good to know it should all fit so I guess I'll stick with the NZXT cooler. I'll post some pics of the finished product.
Cheers

 

[VengeanceUK]

3570k + msi z77a-g65 + nh-d14
8gb of corsair vengeance lp
corsair ax650 (if you want to go sli ax750)
corsair 256gb force gt (got one myself... never had problems with it)
670 is a good choice

i'm with this, except i can rave about the 256gb samsung 830 series, they're epic in daily usage

 

[t1melapse]

wish me luck

well parts are on there way. going to now attempt my first build. has anyone build with this case, any advice on the cable management? wish me luck and thanks for your help

 

[Josh Weston]

Seems as though you've ignored everything that was advised, and have ended up with 32GB of overpriced memory...
-sigh-
You also picked a 670 which is good for watercooling, if you were thinking about it for the future, but it uses a reference cooler, and shall not be as quiet/good performing as a non-reference model such as the KFA2, Asus, Gigabyte or MSI non-reference models.

You've wasted a whole lot of money, but if it makes you happy...

Good luck with your rig.

 

[SnW]

But BUT you are not taking the advise or did you first order it , then aks what is best(good) ?

that's pretty useless to me , sorry !

 

[jimbo32]

Honestly, people buying EVGA is something I find to be mindboggling. They put out a million different near-identical models which is completely needless, and as Josh said, their coolers are basically reference blowers with the odd small tweak. The only time they might make sense is for watercooling and even then you can usually find other reference gpu's for less money than an EVGA.

Most of your components aren't what I'd choose, but whatever floats your boat I suppose.

 

[PetrolHead247]

Yeah there's quite a lot i'd change in that list, no.1 being where's your mobo?
2. 32GB way way overkill, 8GB is fine
3. 850W PSU is overkill, 650W is fine
4. Why an RV02 when the RV03 is out if you go down the Silverstone route?
5. A 3570K is all you need for gaming
6. EVGA FTW is kinda pointless unless you watercool it as you can get a cooler, quieter card for the same or even slightly cheaper.

They're not exactly bad, far from it, but you could've taken the advice given to you and do a lot better

 

[Master&Puppet]

Yea, I'm a little bit confused now. I thought this was a gaming rig?

All the cash has been wasted on the platform (3930K + 32gb RAM) and then there's the GPU with an off-the-shelf cooler. Even if it is just tweaked all they've done is turn the fan down to keep it quiet which means it runs hotter.

Could have been better imo but it is your rig so enjoy it.

M&P

 

[t1melapse]

thanks for the feedback. i'm sorry if i created the impression this would only be for gaming, that's not the case. it's just the first priority. i did take everything on board you said, but some suggestions just weren't what i was trying to do. overkill was kind of the intention. i am totally happy to "waste" money just to have something that's way more than what i need now, and in however many years time still cuts it. to address a few things specifically...
-saw videos/reviews of the rv03, didn't like it (also ttl's review of the rv02e swayed me)
-i spoke to the guy at the shop and he gave me an $80 discount off the memory because it was in a display shelf, which put it on par with some of the 16gb kits, so why not
- down the track i could easily have a setup that is powering 2-3 gfx cards, sound card, wireless card and multiple hard drives, so i wanted a bit of breathing room with the psu

probably the one thing i'm having second thoughts about the graphics card (the one thing that wasn't suggested in the advice, lol ), but some people rave about it so if it sucks i guess i'll have had learned the hard way.
again....thanks for everyone's contribution

p.s. the mobo is rampage iv formula, but got it elsewhere for the free bf3

 

[Master&Puppet]

That's ok dude. We just didn't know where that decision suddenly came from. If you are looking at 3 or more gpus and all the other stuff then you need 2011 for the pcie lanes.