List of Components for a new rig. Also need to figure out GPU setup.

[Dayon]

Hello again,


I am seeking an evaluation on a rig I want to build. I have just put together a list of the components I had my eye on. I am not experienced in selecting parts for a PC, I have had minor experience in putting one together. I can afford to throw a lot of money into this, and I'm trying to build it before about March of next year for the release of some PC games I've been looking forward to.


The dream is to have a rig that is powerful enough to run three 1080 displays in surround gaming. HD and 3D are a plus, if I can swing it. I want it to run like a hot knife through butter. Game of choice? Mass Effect 3.


I've not including things like sound cards, speakers, displays, or extra cooling. Any input on those would be fantastic, I know I"m going to need a lot of cooling.

What I want from this rig:

• To last for a few year and have the capability to be upgraded for future hardware requirement needs.
• Overclocking not necessary. Might be nice if I decide to try.
• Play high-end graphically demanding games without missing a beat.
• Play on three 1080 displays in Surround Gaming. HD and 3D are a plus.

The list
Chassis:
Cooler Master HAF X
Why? Looks beastly, huge, seems to easily keep everything within organized.

CPU:
Intel Core i7-2600k 3.4 GHz LGA 1155
Why? Because I can afford to be faster than i5, but can't afford the more expensive processors.

Motherboard:
GIGABYTE GA-Z68XP-UD3P LGA 1155 Intel Z68
Why? Has lots of features, two PCIe2.0 x16 slots, room enough for memory. Might be interested in another board if I can find one that has a third PCIe2.0 x16 slot, though.

Doing a little more searching. In the interest of choosing a motherboard that will allow maximum upgrading potential, I'm looking at CPUs with a 1377 socket because of this thing: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128423

Would want to squeeze in more USB 2.0s in there, though. That's about it.

GPU:
EVGA nVidia GeForce GTX 580 in dual-SLI

-or-

Asus nVidia GeForce GTX 590

-or-

EVGA nVidia GeFoce GTX 590


PSU:
Corsair Professional Series Gold 1200W


Memory:
Vengeance (4 x 4GB) 240-pin DDR3


Drives:
For Boot Drive and Game Storage:
Corsair Force Series GT 120GB Internal SSD
For other storage (Music and documents and whatever)
Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 7200 RPM 64 Cache Internal HDD




My Indecisiveness Toward my GPU Selection:
I know that the GTX 590 is basically two GTX 580s baked into one card. I also know that it's a little underclocked in comparison. Here's what's keeping me from making a decision:
Noob's comparison of two proposed setups:
GTX 590

• Cheaper on its own than two GTX 580s.
• Takes up one PCIe2.0x16 slot (I think)
• More bandwidth than a single GTX 580.
• Higher Pixel Fill Rate
• Higher Texture Fill Rate

GTX 580 in Dual SLI

• Individual GPUs are cheaper, able to spread the price of the rig over a longer period of time (Buy one now, buy one later).
• Two GPUs would take up two PCIe2.0x16 slots (I think)
• Higher Core Clock
• Higher Memory Clock
• Higher Shader Clock

My concerns about GPUs:
-I do not know the factors of what truly makes a GPU powerful. I don't whether or not there is more value in higher Memory Clock speeds or in more bandwidth. I know one definitive fact about GPUs and three-display gaming, and it's that I want memory, and lots of it.
-I've heard that when you SLI GPUs, its speeds and values are not doubled, they are mirrored. I don't know which gets mirrored and which gets doubled.
-Assuming the GTX 590 uses one slot, and the GTX 580 in Dual SLI would use two slots, then going with GTX 580 would mean I can't add anymore GPUs to my current selected motherboard (which right now I'm in love with, unless I'm told there's some massive glaring flaw with it). Going with the GTX 590 means I'd be able to add another GPU. Going with two GTX 580s means that's about as much as I can fit, unless I get a bigger motherboard.


My concerns about PSU:
-Don't know if I have too much or too little power to operate this thing.

[Hilson8]

If this PC is for aiming to be Built by March, then It might be worth waiting for Ivy Bridge and PCIe 3.0 to come out.

[Nellah]

There are a few fallacies and unresearched items in here. First off, you can't really have "too much" power for something, unless you're trying to get close to 90% load on average for efficiency reasons. 1200W is fine.

LGA1366 CPUs are dead. No more are being launched, ever. Without supreme overclocking, they're slower in games anyway.

The 2600K is a fast CPU, but the i5-2500K is as fast or faster in games due to a lack of Hyperthreading, which in the best cases gives zero performance boost in games and in worst case scenarios actually decreases performance. You won't go wrong with the i7, but if you're strictly building for games, get an i5-2500K, perhaps one that has already been used and tested at a high overclock.

16GiB RAM for a gaming machine is overkill by half. I have 8 gigs, and I have to try - really hard - to fill it up.

Two GTX580s in SLI will be more powerful than a single GTX590. Two GTX590s in SLI will about max out that power supply, but will be the fastest setup out there AFAIK.

And yes, if the target build date is next March or thereabouts, then any research done today is officially bull-pucky, because new GPUs and CPUs will be released by both sides of each major hardware battlefront.

[Dayon]

Definitley some good info here, but I can't sit down at the moment to process it and do more research. Will return shortly.

[llDemonll]

US Configuration (using newegg.com)
CPU: Intel Core i7-2600K 3.4GHz
MB: [Z68] ASUS P8Z68-V Pro ATX
GPU: 2x MSI Twin Frozr II GeForce GTX 570
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws X 8GB (2 x 4GB) 1600
HDD: 2x Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA III
SSD: Crucial M4 64GB SATA III
PSU: Corsair Professional HX850 850W 80 PLUS Gold
CPUHS: Noctua NH-D14
CASE: Cooler Master HAF X Full Tower
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium OEM (64-bit)
Total Price: $2163 USD
Configure More

IMO. You don't need 16GB of RAM, and RAM is very easy to add at a later date. Two Caviar Black in Raid0 for storage and speed, 64GB SSD for Intel SRT (You can go with a 120GB for games and such if you want). either way go with crucial m4 or c300 ssd's

Two 580's will eat through most anything in the coming years; if you decide later you want better GPU's get something new and pretty, but two now will let you skip at least next generation of GPU's

Stuck with the 2600K because you don't seem to have a budget and it may help with a bunch of multiple things running.

Motherboard I've tended to stick with ASUS and MSI, just haven't had the best experiences with gigabyte in the past

850W PSU will be fine for two 580's. if you decide to go with a 590 then get a 1000W so you can SLI them later if you get another

[Arslay]

You can't really argue that the i5 2500k is faster in games... benchmarks put them within 5%, i5 wins some i7 wins some. Where is your aftermarket cooler?

[Nellah]

You can't really argue that the i5 2500k is faster in games... benchmarks put them within 5%, i5 wins some i7 wins some. Where is your aftermarket cooler?

The i7 isn't $100 faster in games is kinda the point.

[Arslay]

That is arguable. The i7's hypertheading will be extremely useful for next-gen games, even quoted by one of our own posters here at MMO about BF3 using hyperthreading at very good efficiency. (I can't find the exact post, but w/e) Do not doubt that other games will catch on... SWTOR, Skyrim, D3...

[Deleted]

If you are building a PC for march and are going for a high end build then stick with he 16gb. Your spending extra on the GFX setup you might aswell spend a measly amount in comparison to keep 16gb.

[conqq]

If you are building a PC for march and are going for a high end build then stick with he 16gb. Your spending extra on the GFX setup you might aswell spend a measly amount in comparison to keep 16gb.

Highly unnecessary is the point.. Why waste money when you don't need to. GFX deals with most of the load anyways.

[Cyanotical]

get the gtx 590, it's not as good as two 580's but it uses less power, partially why i have two, the other reason is dual gpu cards are cool, and not very common

also you list the EVGA 590 classified, GL with that, afaik they are a limited edition, so newegg will be out of stock forever, however, by march you may be able to pick up a pair used

[ispano]

The other factor is that using dual GPU cards to get 4 GPUs allows you to have open slots for other things if you so desire.

[conqq]

get the gtx 590, it's not as good as two 580's but it uses less power, partially why i have two, the other reason is dual gpu cards are cool, and not very common

also you list the EVGA 590 classified, GL with that, afaik they are a limited edition, so newegg will be out of stock forever, however, by march you may be able to pick up a pair used

Only $200 more than the 580... Not worth it.

[Dayon]

Hi.

Once again, great stuff in this thread. Let me offer a few things to keep this thread going in the right direction.

• This computer is being built to be good for more than just current generation games.
• This computer is being built to last me a long time.
• This computer is being built with the capacity to be upgradeable.
• I do not have a strict budget. Money is no object, essentially.

So far I'm hearing that two GTX 580s will eat through things for a while. That's fantastic, that's what I want to hear, and I'm also hearing that they'll smoke a GTX 590 together. However, if two GTX 590s are going to be as powerful as can be, it's making me wonder what the smarter investment will be. Unless there's going to be some game in the next year or so that two SLI'd GTX 580s can't tackle then I think I'll be fine with those.

Also I think I'll be sticking with the i7 2600k. Because why not, if I don't notice a difference now I'll probably notice later. I don't want to spend $200 now, and then $300 in the near future because something that uses a lot of nice threading came out. The bulk of this list is about getting things that might be pricey now, but are worth it for tomorrow.

Keeping my eye on this thread.

---------- Post added 2011-08-17 at 12:09 AM ----------

Only $200 more than the 580... Not worth it.

If I get the GTX 590, I'd get just one GPU. If I get the GTX 580, I'd get two and SLI them together.

GTX 590 ~$750
GTX 580 ~$400 x2 = ~$800

From what I saw on Newegg, anyway.

---------- Post added 2011-08-17 at 12:31 AM ----------

Oh, also about the motherboard:

Would two GTX 580s eat up all the available real estate? Would one GTX 590 take up just the one? 'Cos if I don't have room to upgrade I might just look for a larger mobo. I wonder how long it'll be for there to be a game that the GTX 580s can't take to three monitors. That's another factor.

[Nellah]

Two GTX580s would eat both your X16 slots, of course. One GTX590 would only eat one. If money is not much of a concern, getting a 590 now and another later is a good idea if you're running a tri-monitor set up that you want to run for a long time.

[Dayon]

Hrm. So I'm thinking GTX 590 for now, and get a board capable of getting a second.

Rockin'.

[conqq]

590s are still new, might want to hold off buying them until after the winter holiday season

[Cyanotical]

2 580's don't "smoke" a 590, they are roughly 3-6% better, up to 10% in some situations, but 2 580's cost 45% more then 1 590, and draw nearly twice the power

[Dayon]

590s are still new, might want to hold off buying them until after the winter holiday season

I won't be buying these tomorrow or anything. I'm going to see what happens in the winter but right now I'm saving up the funds and then I'll go from there.