Long time coming... PC buildin' time!

LinkedKube

Posts: 3,385   +55
Building a new pc. Its been since 2009 since I did a brand new overhaul.

Things to consider:

-I have a tj07 and a mountainmods ascension case, capable of holding 2 quad rads on front lower panel
-Yes I will liquid cool the monster
-I have an Areca raid controller capable of running 12 sata II drives
-I have 8x60GB vertex first generation ssds
-I have 27" asus led monitors(two of them but I will be picking up a 30" high res monitor soon)
-I have a black widow ultimate keyboard
-Yes I play mmo's and no I'm not saying which ones.
-I have a 1200 watt gold silverstone psu
-I know what I currently have is good but I plan to piece the machine off and sell/give away most of it(at least the things that aren't listed above)
-I leave for the USAF in a month.

Budget is $4750usd

Any questions just ask. Have at it! Excited to see what contractions my fellow techies come up with!
 
You don't need anywhere near $4-5k to play MMOs even on a 2560x1600 screen. The most demanding games are FPSs and some RPGs. If you're doing a lot of CPU intensive work then go with an X79/3930K build but otherwise a 3570K will be fine, and you'll have a lot of your budget left over.
 
I don't think left over budget is a concern for LK... IIRC you are SSDB, correct? You're probably looking for a machine that is overkill in every sense based on your starting components and working budget. Might be good to know if you need to include the cooling costs into that budget. I won't be much help with this build as I know very little about liquid cooling, but I too am curious to see what this build ends up looking like. I like overkill.

P.S. - Do your 8x60GB SSDs exist in a single array? Do they already saturate that lane? Do we need to consider newer/faster SSDs or increased capacity? Can you have 12 drives on a single array/volume? Does the cost of the 30" need to be considered?
 
I don't think left over budget is a concern for LK... IIRC you are SSDB, correct? You're probably looking for a machine that is overkill in every sense based on your starting components and working budget. Might be good to know if you need to include the cooling costs into that budget. I won't be much help with this build as I know very little about liquid cooling, but I too am curious to see what this build ends up looking like. I like overkill.

P.S. - Do your 8x60GB SSDs exist in a single array? Do they already saturate that lane? Do we need to consider newer/faster SSDs or increased capacity? Can you have 12 drives on a single array/volume? Does the cost of the 30" need to be considered?


I do work from my computer and I'm told I'll need it once I transition into the Air Force(Cyber Security.) My ssds are in a single array currently. I will probably keep them that way and for games, an 1.0 array would be nice for windows startup. I can add 4 more ssds to the array, haven't found any of the old drives for sale to do that. Maybe populate the onboard sata ports with mechanical drives for storage.

I definately don't want a manufactured closed liquid cooling loop like the h100. This doesn't need to be factored into the budget as I already have a butt load of water cooling stuff.

The cost of the 30" doesn't need to be included in the final budget cost but it does need hdmi port(s)
 
You don't need anywhere near $4-5k to play MMOs even on a 2560x1600 screen. The most demanding games are FPSs and some RPGs. If you're doing a lot of CPU intensive work then go with an X79/3930K build but otherwise a 3570K will be fine, and you'll have a lot of your budget left over.


I'm not concerned about budget atm. I've been saving $100usd+ a month for the passed 3 for this build. Yes I know it will be overkill but this is why I only overhaul every 2-3 years.
 
I'm not concerned about budget atm. I've been saving $100usd+ a month for the passed 3 for this build. Yes I know it will be overkill but this is why I only overhaul every 2-3 years.
It's never a good idea to buy the absolute top end hardware on the premise that it will come in useful in 2-3 years time. For example GTX 690 SLI will cost $2k now and will be sitting at something like 30% usage for your current MMOs. In a few years time when games require that power an equivalent setup will probably cost $500. For example 3 years ago the top card was the GTX 295 and the 680 today just makes it look irrelevant.

An X79 build is probably justifiable, given that the 2011 platform isn't dead yet unlike 1155. But I don't see how you can spend anywhere near $5k just on the CPU, mobo, RAM and GPU since you have everything else already and you're only running a single screen.

If I were you I'd invest in 3x 27in or 30in monitors and a big desk (if you don't have one already). Maybe even 120Hz 27in monitors which you can ask Papa about. Running 7680x1440... now that would require some GPU power, and I'd sure love to see pics of that setup ;)
 
I've spent 2500 in my head already and still going. I was curious to see what someone else could come up with.

Another 27" monitor isn't a bad idea either.
 
I personally couldn't contribute to the thread as I have no experience with high priced gear.

I am curious though as to the items you have on your build list. Could you share this list or was you hoping not to influence the comments?
 
I personally couldn't contribute to the thread as I have no experience with high priced gear.

I am curious though as to the items you have on your build list. Could you share this list or was you hoping not to influence the comments?


Wasn't thinking about influencing the comments or not. I've had a discussion with a few friends. Some suggested going nuts on the gpu setup, or a toned down sli gpu setup with some great 30" monitors.


I wouldn't touch a 590 by itself or even sli. I've had enough experience with some 295 sli that I don't want to deal with dual gpu's on a single pcb.

I was thinking of tri sli...something. with dual 27" leds and the 30" for CAD and mmo's.

I'm trying to figure out ram configurations because I don't want to inhibit my oc'ing too much. Still much reading and looking around to do on that front though.
 
Blatantly overkill.


[FONT=Arial] Intel Core i7 3930K $585.00 [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial] EVGA GeForce GTX 680 4GB FTW+ with Backplate Quad SLI $719.00 [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial] Corsair Dominator Platinum CMD32GX3M4A1600C9 32GB (4x8GB) DDR3 $349.00 [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial] MSI Big Bang X-Power II Motherboard $439.00 [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial] LG E2750V 27in LED Widescreen Monitor $279.00 [/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]Sub-total: $4,528.00[/FONT]


Processor and gpu's look good. Never owned a MSI motherboard though.
 
I agree, I suppose you could take the bullets heatsink out and put a thin coat of paint on them. A thin coat so you are not insulating the surface and keeping heat from escaping the heatsink.


lmao that was over the top.

I really am looking for some help here, maybe some practicality to my insanity.
 
Here's some other viable options:

1. ASUS Sabertooth X79 - $359

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2. ASUS Rampage IV Formula - $355

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3. ASRock X79 Extreme 9 - $365

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4. Gigabyte GA-X79S-UP5-WIFI - $365

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Those motherboards are all intel X79 mobos, if that was your concern. If not, then yeah I agree. Intel has better high-end processors, whereas AMD tends to be more bang-for-buck with their lower-end CPU's.
 
I'm trying to figure out ram configurations because I don't want to inhibit my oc'ing too much. Still much reading and looking around to do on that front though.
Unlike before, RAM on Sandy/Ivy Bridge systems have nothing to do with OCing because the CPUs are unlocked and you just increase the multiplier. There's pretty much no real world difference between 1600Mhz and faster RAM. This low voltage Samsung kit is one of the best out there, overclocks really well if you want it to.

You definitely want 4GB 680's if you're thinking of going SLI, especially at 2560x1600. Do some reading on voltage unlocks for the 680, you'll want one which can be unlocked to make the most of the watercooling. The MSI Lightning edition has this feature but unfortunately it only comes with 2GB VRAM afaik. I think there's some hacks for other cards which will let you overvolt but I don't have any first hand experience so can't advise you there.
 
Those motherboards are all intel X79 mobos, if that was your concern. If not, then yeah I agree. Intel has better high-end processors, whereas AMD tends to be more bang-for-buck with their lower-end CPU's.

Yeah I noticed they were all x79 based. Know anything about NIC cards? Do they really help or give a noticeable different in ping?
 
Unlike before, RAM on Sandy/Ivy Bridge systems have nothing to do with OCing because the CPUs are unlocked and you just increase the multiplier. There's pretty much no real world difference between 1600Mhz and faster RAM. This low voltage Samsung kit is one of the best out there, overclocks really well if you want it to.

You definitely want 4GB 680's if you're thinking of going SLI, especially at 2560x1600. Do some reading on voltage unlocks for the 680, you'll want one which can be unlocked to make the most of the watercooling. The MSI Lightning edition has this feature but unfortunately it only comes with 2GB VRAM afaik. I think there's some hacks for other cards which will let you overvolt but I don't have any first hand experience so can't advise you there.


I've gotten into a "supposedly" locked nvidia card before to change voltages. Voids the warranty if you do that but I'll wind up taking the stock heatsink off anyway so warranties will be gone regardless.
 
Yeah I noticed they were all x79 based. Know anything about NIC cards? Do they really help or give a noticeable different in ping?
I assume you're referring to Network Interface Controllers. Unfortunately, my knowledge on that subject is limited to the acronym.
 
Yeah I noticed they were all x79 based. Know anything about NIC cards? Do they really help or give a noticeable different in ping?
From the reviews I read they provide little to no difference unless you're on a low power system (which you're definitely not...). The biggest impact on pings is always going to be your ISP and the location of your house.
 
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