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New PC build - advice?


ungoliant

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Ok, so here's the lineup so far, some of this stuff has been purchased already:

 

intel i5 3570K - $189

Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H - $170 (ordered)

Corsair H100 self contained liquid cooling - $100

Gigabyte N670OC-2GD GTX 670 - $380 (ordered)

Corsair Vengeance C70 case - $135 [the h100 2x120mm radiators fit on this for sure]

Samsung 830 128GB SSD - $100 (ordered)

Hitatchi Deskstar 7K3000 2TB 7200RPM - $100 (purchased)

RAM - ???????????

Monitor - ??????????

*edit: PSU - ???????? haven't chosen one yet, but confident i can pick one out. advice can't hurt though.

 

I really don't even know how to shop for RAM, there's just so much conflicting advice everywhere. ud5h "supports" 1066 - 1600, i don't know if that is a hard cap for O/C or not. also XMP is supported, but i don't know if its really the best way to go, or just do the timings myself.

 

Similarly, i don't even know what criteria to look for in a monitor. I know for a fact that I want something low glare, with good quality at low brightness/low contrast (for TDM of course). my current monitor has a retardedly crappy viewing angle, no matter where i put my face, theres always a part of the monitor thats just total black when playing TDM in low ambient areas.

 

Could use some advice on the last 2 items, also comments welcome if you think i've screwed up on any of the other specs

Edited by ungoliant
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Looks like your build will be screaming fast without even getting 1600 MHz RAM. I say just look for a deal and grab whatever is on sale. Although considering you've got an Ivy Bridge quad core and an SSD, maybe RAM really is the weakest link?

 

I've noticed a lot more deals on 8 GB sticks in the last couple of months if you're into capacity.

 

I don't know much about the PSU but the CPU here has a max TDP of 77 W and a page for the graphics card recommends a "Minimum of a 550 Watt power supply."

Edited by jaxa
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Looks like your build will be screaming fast without even getting 1600 MHz RAM. I say just look for a deal and grab whatever is on sale. Although considering you've got an Ivy Bridge quad core and an SSD, maybe RAM really is the weakest link?

 

I've noticed a lot more deals on 8 GB sticks in the last couple of months if you're into capacity.

 

My thoughts so far are 2x4GB 1600mhz, beyond that, not sure. I could go 2x8GB but that would be giving myself too much credit as a 3D modeler, lol.

 

edit: oh trust me, that CPU will be running 125W at least when I am done with it :D

Edited by ungoliant
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Oi, why didn't you just PM re this mista!? :-P

  • intel i5 3570K - $189 - thats a bloody good price for an ivy bridge cpu (also its a waste of time overclocking, you'll gain maybe around 10% in only 'some' games)
  • Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H - $170 (ordered) - dont know much about the board, but the chipset is intels latest and greatest.
  • Corsair H100 self contained liquid cooling - $100 - these chips don't run that hot to warranty buying a water cooler (even a basic one like the corsair)
  • Gigabyte N670OC-2GD GTX 670 - $380 (ordered) - damn fine card, thinking of getting this one myself.
  • Corsair Vengeance C70 case - $135 [the h100 2x120mm radiators fit on this for sure] - nice case, roomy with lots of slots.
  • Samsung 830 128GB SSD - $100 (ordered) - I have samsung 64Gb in the media PC, the 128GB in my laptop and the 256GB in the main PC :-D
  • Hitatchi Deskstar 7K3000 2TB 7200RPM - $100 (purchased) - I assume your gonna use this as your data drive.
  • RAM - ??????????? - I strongly suggest DDR1333 Cas 8/9, absolutely no point going any higher or faster (I know as I have even (DDR-1600_CAS8-1.5v) I couldn't tell the difference) And the upside is you can then buy 16GB instead of 8 due to the cost saving of 1333 over 1600.
  • Monitor - ?????????? - now I have a lot of experience in this (see my ttlg threads) so what I can say with certenty is go for IPS and LED backlit, but do some research first (pm with yer choices)
  • PSU - I also know a lot about this as well, and I very strongly suggest a branded single 12v rail PSU of the 750w range for your configuration (similar to mine), the idle/load figures will be in the middle of the efficiency curve at that wattage. (I know as I have a 750 and 1000W PSU's)

And re the PSU, its the single most critical part in a PC and one that most people dont spend nearly enough time researching - a lot of BSOD, crashes, instability, reliability are the result of a poor or low quality and it being one of those useless multi rail unit PSU's - Trust me on this (Ive spent as mucy time researching this as the GFX, SSD, Monitor and Ram issues, being as puter dude etc)

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Oi, why didn't you just PM re this mista!? :-P

this was originally being written in a PM to you, but thought I'd make it public instead. I know that any thread tagged with "PC" in it usually sends you 35 email alerts to all your devices anyways :laugh:

  • intel i5 3570K - $189 - thats a bloody good price for an ivy bridge cpu
  • Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H - $170 (ordered) - dont know much about the board, but the chipset is intels latest and greatest.
  • Corsair H100 self contained liquid cooling - $100 - these chips don't run that hot to warranty buying a water cooler (even a basic one like the corsair)
  • Gigabyte N670OC-2GD GTX 670 - $380 (ordered) - damn fine card, thinking of getting this one myself.
  • Corsair Vengeance C70 case - $135 [the h100 2x120mm radiators fit on this for sure]
  • Samsung 830 128GB SSD - $100 (ordered) - I have samsung 64Gb in the media PC, the 128GB in my laptop and the 256GB in the main PC :-D
  • Hitatchi Deskstar 7K3000 2TB 7200RPM - $100 (purchased) - I assume your gonna use this as your data drive.
  • RAM - ??????????? - I strongley suggest DDR1333 cas 8/9, absolutely no point going any higher or faster (I know as I have even I couldn't tell the difference)
  • Monitor - ?????????? - now I have a lot of experience in this (see my ttlg threads) so what I can say with certenty is go for IPS and LED backlit, but do some research first (pm with yer choices)

yeah, the 3570K, AFAIK microcenter is the cheapest place on earth for intel cpu's. I've heard they have a deal cut with intel where they can sell it lower than anywhere else. theres also one 5 minutes from my house!!!

 

there are several good reviews for the ud5h out there, tomshardware and anandtech primarily, the anandtech review goes much higher in-depth, and it was also given a shout-out and recommendation in the first ever anandtech podcast put out yesterday.

 

that gigabyte gtx 670 is sweet as hell, good luck finding it under $400, i had to search for it. the one i ordered, was the very very last one in stock for $380, after 30 minutes of scouring the interweb.

 

the RAM, i will likely still use 1600 because i'm overclocking, and the price difference isn't large by any definition.

 

The monitor discussion, yea, i'll pm you on that :D

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I can't find any threads on TTLG about monitors, link please?

 

also for reference, the current monitor i'm running is an Acer AL2216W, which is indeed a TN panel. works fine for day to day usage, but is horrible for gaming, especially TDM and thief.

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A quick google search of bikerdude, ttlg, lcd -

 

- http://forums.thedar...s-for-dark-mod/

- http://www.ttlg.com/...ad.php?t=122056

- http://www.ttlg.com/...ad.php?t=128880

- http://www.ttlg.com/...ad.php?t=125263

 

But monitors have moved on since I did those threads, and IPS w/LED back lighting are much cheaper now. And the best website I know of where I started looking in the very begining is - http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/.

 

Here are just two examples:

  • Just did a quick search on that site for an IPS monitor w/LED B/L for the £200 mark and got - http://www.tftcentra...ll_u2312hm.htm. Its a 6bit panel, 0.24cd/m2 black level(average), some light bleed, so a fairly good but average "you get what you pay for" panel.
  • If you increase your budget to the £300 range - http://www.tftcentra...dell_u2412m.htm, this time its a simulated 8bit panel, 0.13cd/m2 black level(due to high contrast ration of over 1100:1 native), hardly any light bleed, so a good solid panel.

If you want to go beyond that, then I/we will have to do some research, as 27" panels vary wildly in spec, perf and price. Also its worth seeing how S-PVA/MVA monitors perform in the 24" size. as they have the absolute best black levels. And fyi I am running 2x NEC 20WGX2 pro's and 1x spare which are AS-IPS panels (each time one comes on ebay I snag it as they are so rare, and coz the cost of referbing them is a £100 a pop.

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I strongly suggest DDR1333 Cas 8/9, absolutely no point going any higher or faster (I know as I have even (DDR-1600_CAS8-1.5v) I couldn't tell the difference) And the upside is you can then buy 16GB instead of 8 due to the cost saving of 1333 over 1600.

 

I not agree with you for the ram advice. The sandy and ivi bridge are a lot depending from the ram frequences and not from the latency. Plus, this processors are NOT compatible with a voltage higher than 1.5 .

 

 

This are nice ram and nice price. http://www.amazon.co...sX+F3-14900CL9D

 

If you want 16gb take two of this. :)

 

EDIT: the difference is not iper-huge but the difference price is small.

 

----------------------------------

http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/graph4503/39731.png

http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/graph4503/39733.png

Edited by ECHELON
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I not agree with you for the ram advice. The sandy and ivi bridge are a lot depending from the ram frequences and not from the latency. Plus, this processors are NOT compatible with a voltage higher than 1.5v

I don't follow, your sorta repeating what I already said, 1333 at CAS8/9@1.5v is the officially recommended ram spec SB/IB CPU's. And fyi the voltage the ram runs at is not managed or limited by the CPU its managed by the chipset on the motherboard.

 

I don't recommend G.Skill above 1333 because I have 2* (1600/cas8/1.5v) kits die on me. If he sticks to official rec'd ram speeds 16GB(8Gb*2) would be very cheap. I have overclocked my 2500K upto 4.7Ghz, I didnt really see that much extra perf and the extra heat was unwelcome. In fact the only time I o/c is for benchmarking.

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Probably I did not explain very well.

 

I meaned that, in my opinion, it is better to take 8gb 1866 mhz at 1.5 than 16 gb 1333 mhz at 1.5, because in the first case you see (a little) improvement. in the second case, you can't see any (i mean exactly zero) difference from 8 to 16. And i don't think a mapper needs more than 8 gb of ram. In ten years of PC usage, the maximum quantity of ram i have used is 3,4 gb total (included windows) for a compression of a 10 gb file.

Edited by ECHELON
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I meaned that, in my opinion, it is better to take 8gb 1866 mhz at 1.5 than 16 gb 1333 mhz at 1.5, because in the first case you see (a little) improvement. And i don't think a mapper needs more than 8 gb of ram.

I have used both 1333-CAS9 and 1600-CAS8 in my i5 2500k based setup and even I as a computer engineer cant really notice that much of a difference, but each to thier own. And regarding mem useage, you would be surprised, I have work on 2 very large maps (part of the crucible campaign) and I got just over the 6GB mark while dmapping - I run DR and TDM at the same time. The other reason for having 16GB is if you like to run VMs (virtual machines) or a ram drive as an insanely fast scratch drive.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Added in the last 2 components before picking up the remainder of the build tomorrow:

PSU - Corsair TX650M - $93. Modular, 80+ Bronze, only one 12V rail @max 54A, 648W, only 2x6+2 PCIe, but this is not going to be an SLI upgradable build.

Memory - Corsair CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B - $50. 1600mhz CL9 1.5v 2x4GB Vengeance, blue heat spreader

 

I might switch out the PSU last minute if anyone can recommend a good blue LED themed modular PSU between 600-700W continuous power for < $130

 

edit: replacing C70 Vengeance chassis for a Cooler Master HAF X full tower, mostly because it can easily accomodate a fully internal push/pull upgrade with the H100, and its also totally badass. found one for $163, w00t.

 

Looks like heart and soul of this build is going to be Gigabyte driven, with Corsair filling in the rest of the details except for the chassis. Everything about this build works perfectly with a Blue LED theme except for the TX650M PSU and the default red LED fans that come with the HAF X case. Even got a blue plastic 2.5 to 3.5" bay converter for my Samsung 830 :D

Edited by ungoliant
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Did a quick search on NewEgg, found the following

 

Rosewill 800W, 80 plus gold, 66A@12v, quad pci-e, japanese caps, pfc+under/over current+temp, 3yr warranty - $149.(gold certification is worth the extra $20). The price and spec are similar to other branded PSU's, Silverstone, Seasonic, Coolermaster and Corsair but these dont have blue led fan you were after.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bm3L4lFA64w

 

And a review of the 1300w version if this unit

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Rosewill has a pretty good PSU reputation, Tom's has used some of them in benchmark builds, and was happy. I had just found jonnyguru about 30 minutes before i read your post, and their review of the 1300W rosewill is much better than the TX650M, which was actually pretty bland.

I might just order 1 of the Rosewill 800's, but i'm going to need something for today to start getting this show on the road.

 

I'm kind of torn now between the Rosewill 800, Corsair AX650, Seasonic X650. The Seasonic is probably the best of the 3, but the Rosewill is the wildcard, it has lights (and power for SLI upgrade), and the Corsair rock-solid, and has aftermarket blue modular cables, no LED's. All 3 are 80+gold modular. decisions...

Edited by ungoliant
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