Hey guys, just looking on some final opinions before I commit to a new gaming build I've been putting together (not physically, just a list of parts I plan to buy). So without further ado:
Mobo (option A):(I'm well aware of the SB chipset problem and intend to buy the mobo post-fix) ASUS P8P67 PRO LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard Link:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131682 (I think the price is around $180, not entirely sure)
Addition thoughts: First, I should probably point out that I am on a pretty loose budgest (around $1500 with a little breathing room) so I am open to any suggestions.
I don't know much of anything about OC, but I bought the i5 2500K in the ineveitable event that I do try OC.
Mobo, just really not sure which to get, is there much diffrence between the two? I read that the ASUS P8P67 does not support OC, is that for overclocking the mobo, or the CPU (I know, dumb-dumb question)
Graphics card wise, I intend to run two GPU in the future, probably around xmas time when I can a healthy cash boost . I am still torn between the GTX 570 SC and GTX 580 SC. Obviously the 580 would be better, but is it worth it? Also, maybe a dumb question but better to find out than to stay dumb, huh? Will there be any compatability issues with SC parts, or do they run fine with all other parts at stock?
Pretty confident in that RAM, but as always any input is welcome.
Hard drive, I am going with the regular hard drive vs the SSD just for price reasons, in the future I will probably snag a 64g SSD to put my OS and apps on, but for now I am fine with slower load times.
PSU, any room for improvment here? For what I can tell it seems like a solid and reliable PSU.
Case, not sure here, seemed like a good one to me. I have never self-built a computer before so not sure if it will be too small or anything like that.
I guess I am just looking for validation on my decisions as this is all new to me. Also, maybe if there are any newbie mistakes I made. And of course, as I mentioned, ANY and all input will be fully appreciated ! Thanks!
P.S: Games I intend to play in the near future are: Rift, SC2, Diablo 3(if it ever comes out), Crysis Warhead, maybe metro 2033
P.S.S: I was unsure if this was to be posted in the stickied thread or if this justifies its own topic. If not, I am deeply apologetic and would request it to be moved to the proper place.
How do you feel about the GTX 570 vs Radeon 6950/6970?
I am going to bump up the PSU to 950W or 1000W because I do intend to do SLI/CF in the future. Also maybe upgrading my Monitor size, right now a 570, 580, 6950/70 would be overkill, but I would like to be prepared for when I inevitably upgrade.
I am new to the OC world, but I am going to try a little bit, very modestly...for now.
The 580 vs 570 vs 6970?
580 beats both the 570 and 6970 by 10fps in most benchmarks (depending in the rig). Between the 570 and 6970 it's a straight drew, they are too close to call it on power consumption, noise, heat and even their overclocks.
Although the 570 actually performs worse over a extend period of time when overclocked then the 6970, it's probably the parts because temperature wise and power consumption on both cards are almost neck and neck (about 5c difference) even when overclocked.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121429
I was thinking of upgrading to that from my 480GTX since the temperature difference is almost 40c under load which is insane but I think I'll hold off a bit longer personally until the card drops in price or something better comes out.
The computer otherwise is nice and the ram is fine, between g.skill and corsair most people choose corsair.
Thanks for all the input guys, any tips on software for monitoring overclocking? I am a littler nervous about OC as I have never done it before. I have never even built my own PC before so the whole experience should be pretty good(I will be reading a few guides and I have a little help from my mom who has been building computers since early 90s).
The 570 requires 25% more Watts (100) under extreme load than the 6970. It is not something I'd call insignificant, especially since it will be pushed further and further towards this extreme as games get more and more demanding.
The 570 beats the 6970 in about half of all games. However, when the 570 wins it does that by quite a lot (10-20fps), but when the 6970 wins it does it barely (4fps). So the 570 is definitely more powerful, which is why it requires more watts. The 6970 wins at some thing because of its architecture, and the 570 can almost make up for that with pure power.
Keep in mind that you gain 10-15+ fps for switching from a 6970/570 to a 580 (completely overkill since 90% of all games can be maxed anyway), but you are also paying $200 more, or 70% more in other words.
A 570 under load should only be using 330watts (thats under normal loads), if what your saying is true a 570 under extreme load (OC I'd guess) would be using 430watts which is absolutely nuts because it would fry the card. From all those that have compared them across various sources the power difference fluctuates under load by around 13% (30 watts) with a 6970 using slightly less power then a 570.
Heck if the 570 had that kind of power difference something would be very wrong.
I recently OC'd my old rig, and I couldn't help but notice a lot of people mentioning Prime95 as a common method to 'burn-in' (stress test) your setup. I'm not really an expert on this stuff, but I was just wondering since it wasn't mentioned yet.
I know you mentioned you want to save up a bit more for the SSD which is fine, but if you can mange to sneak that in I would highly recommend it. I don't think I could ever go back after having one myself :x
CPU: Sandy Bridge i5 2500K
Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072
Mobo (option A):(I'm well aware of the SB chipset problem and intend to buy the mobo post-fix) ASUS P8P67 PRO LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131682 (I think the price is around $180, not entirely sure)
Mobo (option b): EVGA P67 SLI
Link: http://www.evga.com/products/moreinfo.asp?pn=130-SB-E675-KR
GPU (option A): EVGA SuperClocked 012-P3-1572-AR GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130595
GPU (option B): EVGA SuperClocked 015-P3-1582-AR GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) 1536MB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130590
RAM: CORSAIR DOMINATOR 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145295&cm_re=corsair_dominator_6gb-_-20-145-295-_-Product
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136533&cm_re=wd_1tb_black-_-22-136-533-_-Product
PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-850TX 850W ATX12V 2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply
Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139009
Case: Antec Dark Fleet DF-30 Black ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129085
OS will be Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
Addition thoughts: First, I should probably point out that I am on a pretty loose budgest (around $1500 with a little breathing room) so I am open to any suggestions.
I don't know much of anything about OC, but I bought the i5 2500K in the ineveitable event that I do try OC.
Mobo, just really not sure which to get, is there much diffrence between the two? I read that the ASUS P8P67 does not support OC, is that for overclocking the mobo, or the CPU (I know, dumb-dumb question)
Graphics card wise, I intend to run two GPU in the future, probably around xmas time when I can a healthy cash boost . I am still torn between the GTX 570 SC and GTX 580 SC. Obviously the 580 would be better, but is it worth it? Also, maybe a dumb question but better to find out than to stay dumb, huh? Will there be any compatability issues with SC parts, or do they run fine with all other parts at stock?
Pretty confident in that RAM, but as always any input is welcome.
Hard drive, I am going with the regular hard drive vs the SSD just for price reasons, in the future I will probably snag a 64g SSD to put my OS and apps on, but for now I am fine with slower load times.
PSU, any room for improvment here? For what I can tell it seems like a solid and reliable PSU.
Case, not sure here, seemed like a good one to me. I have never self-built a computer before so not sure if it will be too small or anything like that.
I guess I am just looking for validation on my decisions as this is all new to me. Also, maybe if there are any newbie mistakes I made. And of course, as I mentioned, ANY and all input will be fully appreciated ! Thanks!
P.S: Games I intend to play in the near future are: Rift, SC2, Diablo 3(if it ever comes out), Crysis Warhead, maybe metro 2033
P.S.S: I was unsure if this was to be posted in the stickied thread or if this justifies its own topic. If not, I am deeply apologetic and would request it to be moved to the proper place.
How do you feel about the GTX 570 vs Radeon 6950/6970?
I am going to bump up the PSU to 950W or 1000W because I do intend to do SLI/CF in the future. Also maybe upgrading my Monitor size, right now a 570, 580, 6950/70 would be overkill, but I would like to be prepared for when I inevitably upgrade.
I am new to the OC world, but I am going to try a little bit, very modestly...for now.
I have the modular model of the power supply you want and it works like a charm (also less cable mess).
As for the video card?
The 580 vs 570 vs 6970?
580 beats both the 570 and 6970 by 10fps in most benchmarks (depending in the rig). Between the 570 and 6970 it's a straight drew, they are too close to call it on power consumption, noise, heat and even their overclocks.
Although the 570 actually performs worse over a extend period of time when overclocked then the 6970, it's probably the parts because temperature wise and power consumption on both cards are almost neck and neck (about 5c difference) even when overclocked.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121429
I was thinking of upgrading to that from my 480GTX since the temperature difference is almost 40c under load which is insane but I think I'll hold off a bit longer personally until the card drops in price or something better comes out.
The computer otherwise is nice and the ram is fine, between g.skill and corsair most people choose corsair.
A 570 under load should only be using 330watts (thats under normal loads), if what your saying is true a 570 under extreme load (OC I'd guess) would be using 430watts which is absolutely nuts because it would fry the card. From all those that have compared them across various sources the power difference fluctuates under load by around 13% (30 watts) with a 6970 using slightly less power then a 570.
Heck if the 570 had that kind of power difference something would be very wrong.
I know you mentioned you want to save up a bit more for the SSD which is fine, but if you can mange to sneak that in I would highly recommend it. I don't think I could ever go back after having one myself :x