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[Yohassakura]

So, i was thinking of building a new computer (not my first), and i wanted some advice / recommendations on the setup. It'll mainly be used for gaming / photoshop stuff / other "demanding" applications / processes on a relatively big screen.

Some "helpful" information may be:
Money isn't really that much of an issue.
Country - UK.

So far what i have planned is something like the following:

HDD: I was thinking of just opting for an 80gb or so boot-ssd and then maybe just a plain SATA-II (let's say Spinpoint F3) as the main document/game handler. - They seem awesome as i'm running one as my main hdd on my current system.

Motherboard: GA-X58 (Socket 1366, DDR3)

CPU: Intel Core i7 980X 3.33Ghz (Hexacore, Gulftown Extreme - 1366) - Might overclock it to 4Ghz as that seems to be the norm.

RAM: Corsair XMS3 12GB (6x2GB) 1333MHz DDR3 Tri-Chan

GPU: ATI HD 5970 2Gig I'm unsure of which brand to get, as the cards vary by £50, except for the "Black Edition" which comes with an overclocking tool.

O/S: Running Windows 7 Professional (64bit) atm so planning on sticking to it.

PSU: Unsure of the power supply, that i'd be needing really for this sort of desktop, probably 1000W or more?

Chassis: I'm also unsure of the case and that may be required for the components to fit into the case while also keeping the PC relatively cool :P

Additional Cooling: Not water based, otherwise additional fans to the chassis i guess.

I'd guess an ideal figure would be £100-200 for the psu + chassis (each) if they're particularly great / highly recommended / required.

(Don't have to use either of the sites that i have, but overclocker's is generally slightly more "expensive") but used them as information sources :P

However, i'm unsure of whether i should get a different motherboard for a higher RAM speed, and then have something like;

Motherboard: ASUS Rampage III (Extreme) X58
RAM: Corsair Dominator GT 12GB (6x2gb) 1866MHz DDR3 Tri-Chan

One main point is, i'm planning to get the build at around August/September time. Is there any period for which i should particularly look out for as in any new GPU's or CPU's being released? (So i know whether to wait another month or so for prices to drop or possibly grab something better - I know that i said money's not an issue but i'm not an idiot, if i was i'd just buy something from alienware :P ).

Thanks.

[Jiran]

I'd look at the UD5 or the P6X58D Premium / E by Asus for the motherboard, the Rampage 3 is an excellent board, it mainly just features a lot of enthusiast overclocking settings, and since you said you were not going water cooling, they would be a waste for you. The UD3 just lacks options imo, especially since you're dropping $1000 on that cpu.

the GTX 495 will be out in September, which will be faster than the 5970 by nVidia, but ATI is looking to have the 6000 series out by the end of the year as well. so if anything it may drive 5970 prices down.

whats funny is, I have a very similar build as my wife's pc, and it performs exceptionally well. Only issue is, gaming does not utilize the 6 cores just yet.

You won't need over 1000w unless you end up adding a second video card down the road. The new Corsair AX1200 is coming out at the end of July, it boasts a 90+ efficiency rating. But if you have no plans, go with a Corsair hx800.

The Corsair Dominator 1866 memory you selected is a good choice as well. I have that in my 980x pc, and its hitting 5ghz stable overclocks all day long.
Since you're not going water based (although the corsair h50 is a good choice for self contained water). I say go with the noctua d-14 heat sink. It'll get you to stable 4.4-4.6ghz overclocks.

Anoter note though, if you do not have a need for 6 core applications, then stick with the base i7, at the time you will be doing your build, the i7 950 will be the standard choice. It would save you a lot of money. Again if this is just for gaming then you won't see much benefit in this cpu unless you plan on playing some of the more advanced FPS style games that aren't out yet as a lot of current games don't even take advantage of quad core... I get a lot of flack for having a 12 core xeon that see's gaming time lol. Although you did say you do a lot of photoshop work, the 980X would chew through that pretty nicely.

As far as SSD's go, Intel is rumored to have their G3 SSD's out by end of Q3 2010, may want to wait and see what those offer. If not, the tried and proven Intel X-25M G2 is always a favorite.

My question to you is, why the need for Windows 7 Professional? If this is a gaming PC, you will not have a need for the advanced networking features, where Windows Home Premium 64 bit is more than enough for gaming. If this is more of a workstation hooked to a corporate network, then I understand.

My recommendation for a case, would be the Corsair 800D if you want a full tower, which is roughly $260 US, so it would be on your higher end budget, or the new Corsair 600T coming out in July.

[Yohassakura]

Hmm, so Gigabyte-X58-UD5 + I7.950 (3.06, quad H-T) with 1866 Dominators i'm starting to think then.

I'll definitely have to look into the cooling in further detail to make a defintive decision by the looks. The H50 certinately looks nice however, i'm still quite apprehensive on having water in a computer.

Fair point on the core utilization.

Professional, "In addition to full-system Backup and Restore found in all editions, you can back up to a home or business network."

The 800D certainately looks nice, absolutely huge though but that's sort of a plus. While the 600T looks a notch smaller height wise as far as i could physically see without looking at any detailed specifications.

I may decide to opt for 2xGPU's however, that will be looking at what it released in a few months from now, same goes with the SSDs/HDDs. I guess that this would also sort of depend on what display(s) that i choose too.

Thanks for your thorough reply.

[Jiran]

Hmm, so Gigabyte-X58-UD5 + I7.950 (3.06, quad H-T) with 1866 Dominators i'm starting to think then.

I'll definitely have to look into the cooling in further detail to make a defintive decision by the looks. The H50 certinately looks nice however, i'm still quite apprehensive on having water in a computer.

Fair point on the core utilization.

Professional, "In addition to full-system Backup and Restore found in all editions, you can back up to a home or business network."

The 800D certainately looks nice, absolutely huge though but that's sort of a plus. While the 600T looks a notch smaller height wise as far as i could physically see without looking at any detailed specifications.

I may decide to opt for 2xGPU's however, that will be looking at what it released in a few months from now, same goes with the SSDs/HDDs. I guess that this would also sort of depend on what display(s) that i choose too.

Thanks for your thorough reply.

I'm not going to push water cooling on you, because it can get complicated. I run custom loops in my machine, but I've been water cooling pc's for years. If you buy the Corsair H50, and put two scythe gentletyphoon ap-15 (1850) rpm fans in a push/pull config with it. It will beat all air coolers on the market by a few degrees, and probably still be less expensive. I'm not a corsair fan boy, but they don't slap their name on crap products. It is a self contained, zero maintenance water cooler. If you still decide against it, go with the Noctua D-14 air cooler, it is the current champ for air cooling at the moment.

If you do go with 2 GPU's, look at the GTX 480 from nVidia, SLI scaling right now for dx11 is working a bit better than crossfire. Although, that is not to say a 5970 or crossfired 5870 (which are almost essentially the same thing) is a bad buy either. I have both setups, and like them both. But performance numbers are performance numbers, and right now 2x GTX 480 > 5970 / 2x 5870. If you do go that route, look for a 1000w+ psu just for safety sake, because remember, the advertised number is their peak capacity, but they only guarantee 80% efficiency on average, or 90%, depending on your psu cert. That other psu i recommended, the corsair AX1200, will be roughly $330 US when it comes out, where its a quality 90+ cert psu at 1200 watts, it's going to be pricey.

The Corsair 800D is a big big case, but I recommended it because of it's features. Cable management like no other case out there, quality materials etc. If it is too big, get the 600T, or the 700D. They have the same features, just a bit smaller.

As far as motherboards go, your original pick of the Asus Rampage 3, is an awesome choice, but you said it yourself, you're probably not going to use a big overclock. So, it's extra enthusiast features would be a waste of money to you. My opinion, go Gigabyte UD5, or Asus P6X58D, either the premium or economy model.

Now you said you did do a lot of photoshop, this is actually where a 6 core CPU would shine well in. So the 980X is not a waste, but for gaming... you won't see a benefit for another year to three. But the i7 950 will drop to $290 US come August and be the new entry level socket 1366 chip in intel's lineup for the i7 replacing the current i7 930.

Another option on memory, where Corsair Dominator GT's are amazing dimms, you can also look at the OCZ Platinum DDR3 2000's, and cost about $210 for 6gigs if you can find them.

[meowmeowcat]

the GTX 495 will be out in September, which will be faster than the 5970 by nVidia, but ATI is looking to have the 6000 series out by the end of the year as well. so if anything it may drive 5970 prices down.

im sorry this is a little off topic but where was this news released? i really only watch toms hardware and i have been delaying upgrading my pc till they released a 495 or the 6000 series

[Hotsforyou]

If your going to aircool i would recommend a different case. Haf 932, Haf X or antec 1200 are your best options for air cooling. Corsair series is more suited for water cooling. And Corsair customer service is great, if the H50 leaks they will replace your components.

[Jiran]

im sorry this is a little off topic but where was this news released? i really only watch toms hardware and i have been delaying upgrading my pc till they released a 495 or the 6000 series

It's the 28nm 5000 series refresh. That a lot of people are dubbing the 6000 series. The GTX 495 has been announced on many sites, which is essentially 2x 470 with a slight clock bump.

Personally none of these options are 100% yet, and what dx11 options are out currently, should suffice for a long time.

[None]

It's the 28nm 5000 series refresh. That a lot of people are dubbing the 6000 series. The GTX 495 has been announced on many sites, which is essentially 2x 470 with a slight clock bump.

I think you're thinking GF104 which would be GTX460 cores? The Galaxy 470x2 was just their innovation and might not even hit retail.

[Jiran]

I think you're thinking GF104 which would be GTX460 cores? The Galaxy 470x2 was just their innovation and might not even hit retail.

You could be correct, but I am almost certain I had read somewhere nvidia was going to do a die shrink, and use a 32nm process for the gtx 495.

[None]

You could be correct, but I am almost certain I had read somewhere nvidia was going to do a die shrink, and use a 32nm process for the gtx 495.

TSMC isn't doing 32nm so it would be 28nm, and the 6000 series I believe is going to GlobalFoundries where they also scrapped their 32nm process, I could be wrong as well I just can't recall anything else.

[Junox]

If you do go that route, look for a 1000w+ psu just for safety sake, because remember, the advertised number is their peak capacity, but they only guarantee 80% efficiency on average, or 90%, depending on your psu cert. That other psu i recommended, the corsair AX1200, will be roughly $330 US when it comes out, where its a quality 90+ cert psu at 1200 watts, it's going to be pricey.

This is correct, efficiency is way better than top wattage. You'll probably want to find some 800+ watt power supplies and look up professional reviews of them. Many sites do real tests for efficiency on power supplies that can show some good info.

[Jiran]

TSMC isn't doing 32nm so it would be 28nm, and the 6000 series I believe is going to GlobalFoundries where they also scrapped their 32nm process, I could be wrong as well I just can't recall anything else.

what youre saying makes sense.

---------- Post added 06-23-2010 at 02:59 PM ----------

This is correct, efficiency is way better than top wattage. You'll probably want to find some 800+ watt power supplies and look up professional reviews of them. Many sites do real tests for efficiency on power supplies that can show some good info.

the new AX series from Corsair boasts 90+ efficiency. Due out in July. Hence the recomendation. If you're doing crossfire 5870, or sli gtx 480's, you should be looking at 1000watt 80+ cert psu's. Especially if theres cpu and gpu overclocking involved.