PC Build Advice/Review Thread

[kuronosan]

wow, really? I would deck that shit the fuck out. $2000 will get you a PC good for another 8 years, lol.

[KallenBlackwood]

Haha yeah... That's how I like to do it. Spend a lot, have it for a long time. I can see it finally start to not play things as well as I would like. Any help would be appreciated.

[Jojimbo]

What monitor setup do you use, need to include an OS, is it a gaming PC or video editing or something else? Assuming you live in US

[KallenBlackwood]

I'm currently using a monitor sometimes two. I think I want to start using two more. I'm in the US. mostly video editing and gaming here. Windows 7. Thanks!

[hey]

I'm currently using a monitor sometimes two. I think I want to start using two more. I'm in the US. mostly video editing and gaming here. Windows 7. Thanks!

The important information regarding monitors was the resolution, and quantity. It's important to know if you're planning to use 3x 2560x1600 or something, as if affects what video cards can be used, since cheaper ones are not going to be able to handle gaming at that resolution.

[KallenBlackwood]

lets say 1920x1200 x2.

[Jojimbo]

Very High quality components

Good quality high end video editing

Very Good quality components

Decent quality and Gaming Only


Personally I would lean towards the third build, top one is overkill on a few things quality wise and is mostly just me trying to spend the $2k on kinda worthwhile parts without resorting to multi-GPU/X79, second build was seeing if I could fit a 3930k in the budget which it can (only consider if you do a lot of video editing + care about it finishing quicker and/or want to add a third monitor and second GPU for eyefinity gaming later on). Normal 7970 just has to be OC'ed more than 7970 GE (which may have a slightly high max OC). Bottom two builds would probably work just as well for majority of things, CPU couldn't be OC'ed as far (although there's only like 200MHz clock different between OCs on Extreme4/EVO and P8Z77-V Pro/Phanteks with Ivy Bridge) + missing a few features from the high end asus MBs, could even use 7950 but with this budget there's little point. Could add a second GPU in bottom ones (after changing PSU to 800-850W), but I've found that it doesn't really scale well at 1080p on a Z77 and you only really need a single GPU for gaming at 1080p anyway. i5/8GB vs i7/16GB, i7 is only really effects video editing, HTing and 16GB RAM won't be used during gaming/general use so will perform the same as i5 + 8GB, 3930k is hex core so will out perform a 3770k in multithreaded programs (single thread performance of a 3770k is slightly higher).

Case is up to you, I just end up using those ones but there are plenty of alternatives.

[Ayuriae]

Not sure where to post this. Anyone know any deals on Graphic Cards for this Black Friday sale or what would be a good deal? Currently looking for anything between $100 to $200. I only play Starcraft 2, LoL, Gw2, etc. I'm upgrading from a Geforce 9600GT.

[DOGMA]

This is a little over 200 and I'm very tempted to get this.

Micro Center
EVGA 02G-P4-2662-KR NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Superclocked 2048MB GDDR5 PCIe 3.0 x16 Video Card

$229.99 Save $40.00 / Originally $269.99 + free 2 games :/

[Jojimbo]

HD 7870 GHz for $230 after MIR is better imo, or HD 7870 for $190 if you want to overclock it yourself and looking for something a bit cheaper.

[Deuce]

Looking to possibly get a 2nd GPU for my current rig, but I'm still trying to decide if it'd be worth it.

Basic Specs:

Core i7 2600k
ATI Radeon 6970HD
8GB 1833 Mhz DDR3
750W Gold Corsair PSU

I currently have a dual monitor setup and sometimes feel as though my one card has issues keeping up trying to run games near max settings. My main concerns about an additional card are cooling and power needs. Pretty sure I'd have to upgrade my PSU if I were to get a 2nd card and I'm not too confident my current case fans would be able to cool my tower with both cards. I currently have a water cooler for my CPU(Corsair H80), which works pretty well, but other than that the rest of the PC is cooled using stock case fans. The case is a Coolermaster HAF X.

Any suggestions/thoughts?

Edit: Just realized my current card was discontinued, so that means I'd probably have to purchase two new cards.

[Adajer]

I don't think you would need to upgrade PSU. While the 7xxx series and 6xx are far more energy efficient, I don't think you would have to. Having missed all the Black Friday deals. I would suggest you wait it out until Jan/Feb for the new 8xxx series cards.

[Deuce]

Good to know. Didn't know 8000 series cards would be arriving that soon, but sounds like a good time to upgrade. I was expecting to wait a month or so anyways, so that's probably the route I'd go. Now I just need to remember if my Mobo has PCI Express 3.0 expansion slots.

[Adajer]

I don't think the Sandy Bridge Processors support pci e3. It doesn't really matter though, video cards don't fully saturate 2.0's bandwidth yet. I do believe pci 3.0 cards are backwards compatible with pci 2.0 mobos.

[kuronosan]

I do believe pci 3.0 cards are backwards compatible with pci 2.0 mobos.

That is correct.

[Kellanved]

Very High quality components

Good quality high end video editing

Very Good quality components

Decent quality and Gaming Only


Personally I would lean towards the third build, top one is overkill on a few things quality wise and is mostly just me trying to spend the $2k on kinda worthwhile parts without resorting to multi-GPU/X79, second build was seeing if I could fit a 3930k in the budget which it can (only consider if you do a lot of video editing + care about it finishing quicker and/or want to add a third monitor and second GPU for eyefinity gaming later on). Normal 7970 just has to be OC'ed more than 7970 GE (which may have a slightly high max OC). Bottom two builds would probably work just as well for majority of things, CPU couldn't be OC'ed as far (although there's only like 200MHz clock different between OCs on Extreme4/EVO and P8Z77-V Pro/Phanteks with Ivy Bridge) + missing a few features from the high end asus MBs, could even use 7950 but with this budget there's little point. Could add a second GPU in bottom ones (after changing PSU to 800-850W), but I've found that it doesn't really scale well at 1080p on a Z77 and you only really need a single GPU for gaming at 1080p anyway. i5/8GB vs i7/16GB, i7 is only really effects video editing, HTing and 16GB RAM won't be used during gaming/general use so will perform the same as i5 + 8GB, 3930k is hex core so will out perform a 3770k in multithreaded programs (single thread performance of a 3770k is slightly higher).

Case is up to you, I just end up using those ones but there are plenty of alternatives.

Putting something similar to the top build together and I'd appreciate any input. I want a gpu solution for multi display use at high resolutions (2560X1600+) that's relatively future proof. I’m looking at 3X GTX680 or 2X GTX690?

It appears that nVidia makes the best top end cards at the moment, so I didn’t look seriously at AMD. I wonder what would provide the best performance for 1.2-1.5K

I think I’m set on the CPU/MB/RAM/Cooler. The microcenter’s deal for that CPU looks nice. The list so far includes items like the following:

Rosewill THOR V2 Gaming ATX Full Tower Computer Case, support up to E-ATX / XL-ATX, come with Four Fans - 1 x Front Red LED ...

Intel BOXDX79SR LGA 2011 Intel X79 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Intel Core i7-3930K Sandy Bridge-E 3.2GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 2011 130W Six-Core Desktop Processor BX80619i73930K

EVGA 04G-P4-2686-KR GeForce GTX 680 w/ Backplate 4GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card (X3 for 3-WAY SLI?)

Rosewill LIGHTNING-1300 1300W Continuous@50°C,80 PLUS GOLD Certified,Pipe-rock Modular Design,Single +12V Rail,ATX12V v2.3/EPS12V ...

SAMSUNG 840 Series MZ-7TD250BW 2.5" 250GB SATA III TLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

G.SKILL Ripjaws Z Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2133 (PC3 17000) Desktop Memory Model F3-2133C11Q-32GZL

LG Black 14X BD-R 2X BD-RE 16X DVD+R 5X DVD-RAM 12X BD-ROM 4MB Cache SATA BDXL Blu-Ray Burner with SW, 3D Play Back - BH14NS40

ZALMAN CNPS9500A-LED 92mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler

Any suggestions for decent monitors for use in multidisplay? Keep it at say 1K-ish for 3? Thoughts? Suggestions, recommendations? Any logically inconsistent choices?

[Jojimbo]

4 GPUs is a benchmarking rig (2GB vRAM on CF 690s would make them lol anyway), you want 3 GPUs max (even then some games don't see much of a boost from the 3rd GPU), you want 7970's for 2560x1600 eyefinity as well. They are on par with 680s when overclocked and often take the lead at higher res plus AMD has better multimonitor support. Also trying to future proof as well, it's impossible. If you have enough money to attempt to do so then just update your rig often.

What's your overall budget for this?

For gaming, 3820 will pretty much perform the same as 3930k (practically no games use over 4 threads).

Have no idea on intel MBs, never have seen them recommended anywhere. Not 100% on X79 boards but I see Extreme6 and Sabertooths a lot. For this budget could consider Rampage IV's though.

PSU got good reviews by the looks, there are alternatives though.

For this budget you might as well spring for a 840 Pro, 840 is a budget SSD and slower than a 830.

32GB only needed if you need it, 16GB minimum on X79 because it uses quad channel.

Haven't really heard good things about Blu-Ray on PCs, just make sure it includes software

Yamakasi Catleap's would be your only option for 3 1440p monitors, everything else costs $700-1000 per monitor. There are a few variations of these, some with a warranty (if in US).

So something like http://pcpartpicker.com/p/pkh4 depending on budget there are a few better things you could get.

Could get a 3820, but it looked kinda silly on a build of this budget and 3930k are only $150 more now. 840 Pro was $100 more than 830 so screw that. Samsung RAM best RAM (overclocks well, although I've heard issues with fast RAM on SB-E when using too many sticks of RAM). Kept the case you listed, there are alternatives though. Changed to a better PSU. Might as well get the best air cooler you can for this budget as well. ppp.com sucks for Blu-ray players so I ignored it.

Add in 3x catleap monitors at about $350-400 per monitor, maybe another $200-300 on a good triple monitor stand if you wanted

[hey]

Any suggestions for decent monitors for use in multidisplay? Keep it at say 1K-ish for 3?

If you don't mind ordering from korea, this is a 27" 2560x1440 IPS, that will run you $950 for three of them.

[Kellanved]

Thanks for all the input. That actually looks pretty good Jo. I'd like to keep a budget of ~4K max. Its annoying that you can't future proof much. From what I've seen online it does seem like AMD has better support for multidisplay and the cards are cheaper too.

Looking at benchmarks like this though makes it seem like nVidia cards are more powerful:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...mark,3193.html

from several months ago, looking at the 690/680SLI/7970Xfire.

Hey: any experience with that international purchase? I see you/someone mentioned it in another thread/Deals thread

[hey]

I just bought one myself recently actually from that seller. No problem at all with it, it was packaged well, and got here in 3 days, through a hurricane.

They use the same panel that dell sells for $700+. Now, it's worth mentioning that they do use lower rated panels, so you're more likely to get problems like backlight bleed, or dead pixels (probably around 80% or so are perfect, with most of the problems being minor backlight bleed. Dead pixels are rare, but do happen, and if you get one, there's nothing you can do). They also are missing some "features" which is probably more of plus really. Specifically, they have no scaler (it won't work with anything that can't output 2560x1440; your pc can still output other resolutions, since your video card can handle that though), and no inputs other than dual link dvi. Basically, it can't be used as a tv, but this is actually beneficial for a pc, since the response time is lower as a result. Could be a problem though if you wanted the option of using it for game consoles though. Also, although the seller will exchange it if it's doa, the warranty after that is probably not going to usable, unless you speak korean and can send it back there. The stand on the one i linked is also a bit shaky, but gets the job done.

Still, despite the risks, it's a damn great monitor, and there is absolutely nothing even comparable that can be bought in the US for less than $700, and something that's actually better would be even more.