November 2012 - My Planned Build - Suggestions please.

[JayGB1982]

Hi,

Came across the YouTube Channel tonight for the review of the Vengeance Case, Really liked the length of the review and watched a few others as well..

I am currently planning out my Build which I am about to undertake and would like some feedback on the components that I have been considering.

What will I be using this machine for? I would mainly be doing gaming / livestreaming / some video transcoding and a bit of lightroom / photoshop

I have already purchased the Motherboard. I went for the Gigabyte Z77-UD5 Thunderbolt. I chose this board mainly due to it being Hackintosh friendly should I ever decide to go down that route and the 2 Thunderbolt ports included on the board.

So I've basically got it down to 2 options on the other components.

Processor - I was just planing on using the i7 3770k but then realised that the i5 3750k is basically the same but does not have Hyper Threading. But the i7 costs ~ £70 more. Your thoughts? I hear that the i7 would be about 15% quicker at Video encoding etc. But HT does nothing for gaming. I'm starting to think the i5 would be the better for price v performance. But ideally I would like this rig to be built to a high "ish" spec

Video Card - I'm pretty much settled on the Gigabyte 6700 GTX Windforce 3. Again I was considering the 6800 but that card is like £80 more for only about 5% increase in performance. I've also recently seen the 7850's are pretty much the best bang for the buck and overclock really well around 30% overclocks are common. I might just get the 7850 for the moment as next GPU's are due in the next 6 months or so anyway. Thoughts?

Memory - Now this is the latest stumbling block for me. I was going to get 16Gb in 2x8Gb sticks leaving room to dump another 16Gb in at a later date. The memory I was looking at was the Corsair Vengence 1600Mhz Low Profile. This is available for round £60. But I was concerned that 1600Mhz is pretty much standard at the moment and wouldn't give me much head room for overclocks? I have been looking at 2400Mhz Ram but have trouble finding low profile RAM. It's also about double the price. But is 2400Mhz worth it? I've heard in the past that memory timings etc dont make much difference in compared to CPU / HD IO performance?

CPU Cooler - I've pretty much decided on the Noctua D-14 but also have seen the Cooler Master TPC 800 which looks very similar. Any one had experience with the TPC 800?

Case - Now I have always wanted to make a build using the Antec 1200. I built a Q6600 for a friend of mine about 4 years ago using the Antec 900 and it was an awesome case to work with. But now I have seen 2 other cases after doing some digging around which I also like. The first of which is the Cooler Master 690 2 Nvidia Edition and the Corsair Vengence Case in Gun Metal. It's really going to come down to which case is quiter / cooler. Although I'm siding towards to Corsair Vengence purely on looks at the moment.

Drives - I was just going to get another Samsung 830 256Gb and a 2Tb Western Digital Green. Or Get a Momentus Xt 750Gb with a mSata SSD?? Whats the Intel Rapid Storage like?

Sound Card - I just purchased a X-Live Titanium HD PCIe card.

I had a momentus in my laptop then upgraded to a SSD and didnt notice as big as an improvement as I thought the SSD would bring. The momentus was a lot faster than the 5400 rpm laptop drive booted in around 30 secs the SSD does in about 20. Would a combination of Momentus and mSATA work well?

Power Supply - I have literally no idea which one to get? I think I would need around 750w as I may want to SLI and add more drives in. I want it to be modular. The only PSU i recall which I did like was the Dark Power series I think? Only because they kept the system fans on for like 2 mins after shutdown? If possible I would like a power supply which offers this feature.

So I think that's about it. Please do comment on the above, Give your suggestions and even feedback regarding the above.

Many Thanks

 

[airdeano]

first off, welcome to the forums of OC3D.
next you have been doing your research and tha is very good, because knowledge
is priceless.

your tasks display gaming as priority and others are secondary...
your assumptions are 80% correct on the CPU selection, with some exception
depending on application whether the HT function is viable. thats usually explained
in the requirements of the app. so your best option would be the i5-3570k
for the gaming and lighter secondary tasks.

GPU - not bucking the options, but all new tech and throwing a 2-yr tech GPU
into the mix isn't processing forward.. use a new model card.

Memory - ivey bridge (as its older brother sandy) are complete speed demons.
the 1600 is a great gaming speed. but venturing into rendering, photo touch-up,
and other tasks the speed is helpful. and since RAM pricing is dipping, the faster
1866/2133 could be candidates. the 2x 8GB is a overkill for gaming, but again
your other apps could benefit.

CPU Cooling - no faults to the NH-D14, awesome long-time king-o-hill HSF.
another to look into would be phanteks 14PE or even the Corsair H100.

Case - this is personael preference, but the C70 would be a yummy choice from
the three. the CM 692 is a good case (owned several).

Drives - the second SSD is a fast option. the IRST is more noob tech. i hadn't
found any more "speed" by just using the SSD as boot/OS and a mech storage
drive. i can see that the lower capacity drives to "use them" instead of sitting in a
closet.

PSU - if there is SLI/X-Fire in the future, the 750w would be ample. and with the
tech tomorrow, that might soon to be overkill. i prefer the Corsair or SeaSonic
to be easy to deal with and pretty straight PSU.
dunna know if i'd care for a cool-down cycle on my PSU. the efficiency of the PSU
now, i wouldn't think this is necessary any longer.

again welcome to the forums of OC3D.

airdeano

 

[Bang]

Welcome mate, I'm new too and I think youll find lots of helpful threads. Just rading them will provide lots of insight as to what you might want to get.

I find myself in the same boat: planning a new build. I too have decided on the 3570k and I think I'll go with the ASRock Z77 Extreme4 Intel Mainboard. Which last night listed at $145aud, and now that I look at it again the price has dropped to $109!!!! WEWT!!

I'm sick of mATX boards, not enough options on them.

RAM also is the big question for me.

 

[airdeano]

RAM on the bridges platform is a fast subject. in gaming, not noticable, but in
other appz, can be amazingly quick over the 1600 speeders.

airdeano

 

[Bang]

So if he is doing video transcoding something faster like 2133 or 2400 might help?

 

[cchankhour]

Welcome,
I am too about to build a new system for the same type of use as you. Although I am going with the 3770k because I know I will be doing rendering, also in the case of memory I know that photoshop/lightroom loves them but I don't think it matters that much with speed only how much you have. Also with those apps having a good SDD will make them run faster (loading effects, Saving, Load up time, etc).

I would look at samsung 830's as they have really good reviews and they are the most reliable/fast combination out there.

For video cards, you are absolutely right that between the 670 and 680 there isn't that much of a difference, so if you are looking to do an sli later on, I hear two 670 can be the same as one 690. Also I know adobe loves cuda cores.

That is my two cent.

Good luck

 

[SPS]

Don't get the Antec 1200, I've regretted it...

 

[airdeano]

So if he is doing video transcoding something faster like 2133 or 2400 might help?

yes

airdeano

 

[Master&Puppet]

I think the extra 0s on the 6700 were mistakes. The windforce GTX 670 is a very capable card - highly recommendable. AMD GPUs are also very good with a more competitive range overall. If you can't afford or don't want to get a 670 then go with an AMD solution.

I agree with Airdeano that the 3570K suits your purpose the best - although the hyper-threading would be useful for you but only after you have chosen the rest of your parts. I would not sacrifice the quailty of any other component for the threading. Only go i7 if you have the £70 spare after making the other decisions.

RAM wise - for the video editing a higher speed would help but it would have no effect on gaming. For that I would consider 1866-2133 as the target range depending on the price. There isn't much price difference between buying 8gb or 4gb sticks so getting 2x8gb looks sensible. As for price - well the market is pretty evenly spread between 1600-2133. I'd suggest getting 1866 because it will help with the video rendering but not be too must of a wasted cost for the gaming. 2133 is viable at the right price though (although I'd spend the cash on upgrading to the 3770K before getting the faster RAM personally).

From what I have seen of the TPC 800 it is roughly comparable in both performance and price (once you buy decent fans for the TPC 800) with the NH-D14 and the Dark Rock Pro 2. All of the above would be ideal coolers for the 3570K/3770K. I would go with what looks the best.

I'd agree with Airdeano again on the PSU choice. The new corsair AX range looks excellent and they have a 760W version which is more than enough for twin GPUs and the 1155 platform.

 

[Mark3Max]

Welcome JayGB1982, you picked a good place , there are some nice people here that are willing to help . I am doing the same thing , planning a build , getting info and referrals on components.