[Bloodmyst]

Bloodmysts Gaming Build


Case - $129.00 CoolerMaster CM 690 II Advanced NVIDIA Edition USB3.0

Motherboard - $169.00 ASRock Z77 Extreme4 Motherboard

CPU - $332.00 (Intel Core i7-3770k Ivy Bridge)

Memory - $175.00 G.Skill Ripjaws Z F3-17000CL9Q-16GBZH (4x4GB) DDR3

Hard Drive;

1. $95 - OCZ Agility 3 60GB SSD

2. $79.00 - Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB WD5000AAKX

Graphics Card - $279.00 Sapphire Radeon HD7850 2GB OC

PSU - $159.00 - CoolerMaster Silent Pro M2 850W Power Supply

DVD/CD ROM - $22.00 LG GH24NS90 24x SATA DVD-RW Drive OEM

Operating System - $23.99 Windows 7 Home Premium - 64bit

Total: $1462.99

In summary, for those wishing to purchase a new computer and like this set up. You can quite easily downgrade on the RAM and PSU to take off another $100 - $150 without really forfeiting much speed at all. Also, if you truly want to leave this system completely open for upgrades/overlocking in the future, I'd recommend purchasing the exact same system provided above but purchase the unlocked multiplier version of CPU instead (Core i7-3770k). This way if you decide to go for water cooling later on, you can practically overclock every component necessary.

On a side note, the M'board is ErP/EuP ready, so as long as the PSU is ErP/EuP certified you will be saving that little extra cash on the electricity bill. Also great for those who are conscious about the environment Thankfully, the PSU included in my build is ErP certified.

Thanks for you suggestions everyone.

EDIT: Please don't close this thread mods, using it as a reference for when I buy it next week. lol.

Quick Comments

nirvAnA:

[MazEi]

IMO that VelociRaptor HDD is not needed. Just a WD Blue 500GB will do for now, or get an SSD if you want speed, then get more capacity when the prices go back to what it was.

I always find that people usually need 10GB of RAM maximum, the most maximum I feel, as well as performance RAMs don't actually gain much, but I'm sure someone will have counter arguments about that.

With those cuts you can pour that money back into GFX card for a faster card I guess.

[Baldie]

I have the G-Skill snipers and they work a treat. With everybody I have spoken to who has them there has never been an issue and they are affordable too for what they offer.

I got 2x 4GB which including my initial 3GB which came with my computer makes it 11GB. I agree with MazEi in that 10GB is more than sufficient.

Numbers like 16GB really only comes into play when you are using 3D modeling and CAD drawing programs etc.

[FaDeHellfyre]

I don't personally have a problem with G.Skill but my thoughts on RAM is that you should always go for the cheapest one out there. Reliability isn't usually an issue with ram, it's all about performance and my 16GB of DDR3 that i've got in my PC only cost me $75. I run some pretty hardcore games and my computer takes a beating, yet i have noticed no difference in swapping to a home brand RAM rather than actual brand name.

Good choice on cutting costs for the CD drive, because be honest, who actual uses CD's any more except for their older games? Any good game nowadays you can buy over steam or origin (which is crap) or something like that, so having a good drive isn't essential.

Switched over from Geforce gfx cards recently and my two Crossfired 6850's are working perfectly. See if you can't get two cheaper cards and crossfire them for the same performance. Cooling shouldn't be an issue, and it can save you some bucks as well.

Other than that i love the case, and know little to nothing about motherboards

GL with the cpu as well.

[Bloodmyst]

Originally Posted by ESLHellfyre

I don't personally have a problem with G.Skill but my thoughts on RAM is that you should always go for the cheapest one out there. Reliability isn't usually an issue with ram, it's all about performance and my 16GB of DDR3 that i've got in my PC only cost me $75. I run some pretty hardcore games and my computer takes a beating, yet i have noticed no difference in swapping to a home brand RAM rather than actual brand name.

Good choice on cutting costs for the CD drive, because be honest, who actual uses CD's any more except for their older games? Any good game nowadays you can buy over steam or origin (which is crap) or something like that, so having a good drive isn't essential.

Switched over from Geforce gfx cards recently and my two Crossfired 6850's are working perfectly. See if you can't get two cheaper cards and crossfire them for the same performance. Cooling shouldn't be an issue, and it can save you some bucks as well.

Other than that i love the case, and know little to nothing about motherboards

GL with the cpu as well.

You'll find with RAM, more often then not the latency timings aren't actually synced up right in the BIOS despite having that "auto detect" feature many boards have these days. Once synced up and running at speeds they should be running at, I've found that I've gone through a few sticks of RAM in my time at work... lol. Not sure what it is that causes it, cheap parts? I dunno... But you will also find the latency timings on the more expensive RAM is "usually" much better than the el'cheapos you see getting around.

The motherboard, I just like it because of the nice heatsinks on it, seems like it will do the job keeping it cool. But the other reason I like it is because of the gold capacitators = longer lasting and also mainly it supports PCI-E 3.0 and the new Ivy Bridge CPUS. Recently, I've heard good reports about ASRock M'boards as well, so may as well give them a try. The only thing I don't like about it is the fact it's a tiny bit smaller then the standard ATX board, apparently you need to be that little bit extra careful inserting your memory sticks and main power connector since how it sits on the case chassis.

@Mazei - I only have a 250GB drive on my current computer and it isn't even full lol. Most of my work, music and movies are on my laptop. So the size doesn't really matter much to me. Also, iirc SSD's only have a limited Read/Write limit.... I'll have to confirm this, but I'm pretty sure that is how the older ones were...

I completely agree with the whole 10GB maximum limit thing as well. TBH I was originally only going to get 4GB of RAM... but considering how cheap RAM is these days, why not get 16GB?.... lol

[TCPLemminks]

Comparing your prices to the ones I found for my PC (construction delayed), a few of your parts seem pretty expensive.

I'm currently considering an Asus P8Z68 for a motherboard, it's a little more expensive than yours. Also a $200 hard drive is pretty expensive no? The one I'm looking at is 1TB for $105.

Not knowledgeable to comment on the rest though. If you curious about my build it's here.

Quick Comments

Bloodmyst:

How much are all those parts in shipping? Their all from different stores lol. Or is the shipping included in the price?

[FaDeHellfyre]

Originally Posted by TCPLemminks

Comparing your prices to the ones I found for my PC (construction delayed), a few of your parts seem pretty expensive.

I'm currently considering an Asus P8Z68 for a motherboard, it's a little more expensive than yours. Also a $200 hard drive is pretty expensive no? The one I'm looking at is 1TB for $105.

Not knowledgeable to comment on the rest though. If you curious about my build it's here.

I have that motherboard, it works brilliantly, but has few USB ports. I'd check the version you're getting to make sure it has enough for you. Mine only had 6 instead of 8, and now I have to choose between headphones and printer...

You can find terrabyte HD's for $100 but it all depends on the speed you want it to run at.

[Fraser]

it will definatly run like a boss!

[FaDeHellfyre]

Also, $200 is a little steep Lemminks, i got mine for $200 about four months ago... Should be able to pick one up now for ~150

[TCPLemminks]

Originally Posted by TCPLemminks

Bloodmyst:
How much are all those parts in shipping? Their all from different stores lol. Or is the shipping included in the price...

I believe those prices are for pick up. No idea about shipping but it'll probably be cheaper than pcasegears which is Melbourne based while umart and MSY have branches in Queensland.

Originally Posted by ESLHellfyre

Also, $200 is a little steep Lemminks, i got mine for $200 about four months ago... Should be able to pick one up now for ~150

$200 for what? The Motherboard? It's at $170 now from umart, I'll update prices when I plan to actually build the damn thing (no internet = no reason to get a new computer)

[FaDeHellfyre]

Originally Posted by TCPLemminks

I believe those prices are for pick up. No idea about shipping but it'll probably be cheaper than pcasegears which is Melbourne based while umart and MSY have branches in Queensland.



$200 for what? The Motherboard? It's at $170 now from umart, I'll update prices when I plan to actually build the damn thing (no internet = no reason to get a new computer)

yea, the motherboard. that's pretty expensive, considering the speed at which they drop price and that i even got the deluxe version for $200 4 months ago. I'd be looking to get it at $150 or less.

[Bloodmyst]

Originally Posted by ESLHellfyre

yea, the motherboard. that's pretty expensive, considering the speed at which they drop price and that i even got the deluxe version for $200 4 months ago. I'd be looking to get it at $150 or less.

You guys realise that M'board still runs on the Z68 Chipset? The ASRock Motherboard in my OP is running on the newer Z77. If your getting an Ivy Bridge CPU, believe me... you WANT to have the Z77 chipset The main reason being because of the new gpu feature the CPU's have. I still need to do a little more reading on it, but from what I can tell your normal GFX card can run in like "SLI/Crossfire" with the onboard GPU (new feature of Ivy Bridge). Although it's not called sli/crossfire, just a poor analogy of mine ><

I've been comparing both of these boards against each other, I cannot see why I would purchase the ASUS M'board over the ASRock one.... Is there something I'm missing here?

[FaDeHellfyre]

Originally Posted by Bloodmyst

You guys realise that M'board still runs on the Z68 Chipset? The ASRock Motherboard in my OP is running on the newer Z77. If your getting an Ivy Bridge CPU, believe me... you WANT to have the Z77 chipset

I've been comparing both of these boards against each other, I cannot see why I would purchase the ASUS M'board over the ASRock one.... Is there something I'm missing here?

I didn't say get it, i know next to nothing about motherboards. I'm just saying he could get it a lot cheaper, because he's buying one.

Quick Comments

Bloodmyst:

Whoops, quoted your quote coz I thought lemminks previous post would be included :(

[|Erasmus|]

750W is overkill for almost any single GPU build. Spend your money better on something like a 650W Corsair or Seasonic (better construction and warranty, and t hey are modular so no cables lying everywhere).

[Tonsh]

Originally Posted by Bloodmyst

Hard Drive - $228.00 Western Digital VelociRaptor 600GB

imo, this should be;
1x OCZ Agility 3 60GB SSD - $95
1x Western Digital Green 2TB WD20EARX - $125

prices both from www.pccasegear.com

Set it up by having the OS and your most played games on the SSD e.g. sc2? this will make boot times and load times instant... And then you have 2TB of space for everything else... SSD's are really worth it and is the best upgrade for any system.

[Bloodmyst]

Originally Posted by |Erasmus|

750W is overkill for almost any single GPU build. Spend your money better on something like a 650W Corsair or Seasonic (better construction and warranty, and t hey are modular so no cables lying everywhere).

I could probably even run the system on a 450W lol. I don't really bother looking at the Watt rating of power supplies anymore. It's more the Amp ratings on the 12V rails that matter. I actually learned my lesson from this when I first bought the current PC I have. I also forgot PSU's these days come with the whole modular cable thing, thanks for reminding me.... I think this one may have that feature though... brb checking.

Originally Posted by Tonsh

imo, this should be;
1x OCZ Agility 3 60GB SSD - $95
1x Western Digital Green 2TB WD20EARX - $125

prices both from www.pccasegear.com

Set it up by having the OS and your most played games on the SSD e.g. sc2? this will make boot times and load times instant... And then you have 2TB of space for everything else... SSD's are really worth it and is the best upgrade for any system.

I actually have no experience with SSD's whatsoever.... How do you set them up? Do you just simply use them as two seperate units or can you set it up in RAID? Or maybe there is some particular feature I don't know about? Also, don't SSD's only have a limited life span with the whole number of Reads/Writes they have? It's been a while since I've checked these out.

[Trusty]

If 1500$ is your budget ----

--- take $$ out of some where (probably ram.. you don't need 16gb....)
--- put it into extra disk space. Grab some 1TB wd black's, don't need to be ultra fast yo.

[JAFF3R]

Looks pretty good, but maybe go for the i7-3770k. Main difference will be that you can overclock it AFAIK so the extra money it will be worth it.
750w is overkill. My HD 6950 2GB card runs off a 550w PSU, and the HD7850's are recommended for 500w from what I can see on PcCaseGear, but if you're planning on going SLI/Crossfire then 750w is a must. $200 sounds expensive though? I've heard about the Antec TP-750w being not bad at all, and is only $140.
Go with what Tonsh said regarding hard drives. SSD's make your computer A LOT faster. I can turn my computer on and be in Starcraft II all in about 1 minute.

I guess it also depends on what you want to do with it, if its just for casual gaming then 16GB RAM is excessive. 4GB here and running BF3 and SC2 (not at the same time) fine. Though I'd probably recommend 8GB ram since it's cheap enough these days.

Just my 2c.

[Bloodmyst]

Originally Posted by Trusty

If 1500$ is your budget ----

--- take $$ out of some where (probably ram.. you don't need 16gb....)
--- put it into extra disk space. Grab some 1TB wd black's, don't need to be ultra fast yo.

Yeah, I'm actually looking into the Hard Drive set up Tonsh posted. This way it only costs a few bucks more whilst keeping the 16GB of memory. There is actually an advantage of having that extra memory, but for the life of me I can't remember now (there is some nifty thing you can do with it). Argggghhh sh^t, I just realised I have to get a 64-bit OS now lol.

Originally Posted by JAFF3R

Looks pretty good, but maybe go for the i7-3770k. Main difference will be that you can overclock it AFAIK so the extra money it will be worth it.
750w is overkill. My HD 6950 2GB card runs off a 550w PSU, and the HD7850's are recommended for 500w from what I can see on PcCaseGear, but if you're planning on going SLI/Crossfire then 750w is a must. $200 sounds expensive though? I've heard about the Antec TP-750w being not bad at all, and is only $140.
Go with what Tonsh said regarding hard drives. SSD's make your computer A LOT faster. I can turn my computer on and be in Starcraft II all in about 1 minute.

I guess it also depends on what you want to do with it, if its just for casual gaming then 16GB RAM is excessive. 4GB here and running BF3 and SC2 (not at the same time) fine. Though I'd probably recommend 8GB ram since it's cheap enough these days.

Just my 2c.

Yeah I looked at the unlocked multiplier version of the CPU. But to be honest, I'm not really keen on overclocking my system since overclocking = more cooling "if not" computer blows up. lol. And really, apart from wanting a damn decent CPU for SC2 streaming I don't think I'll really ever have to overclock it. So I've just settled for the former.

The whole SLI/Crossfire setup, personally I don't like due to past experiences with overheating. I'd rather just spend the money you would spend on both cards and put it into 1 damn good card. If I was going to purchase a decent water cooling system I'd definately go for it. But for what speeds this PC will operate at stock standard, I don't really see any reason I'd need to overclock it.... unless it's another 3 - 4 years down the track when my comp gets so old again, but I'd just buy another PC anyway.

Not to mention, I'm not sure about anyone else. But I really don't see why you would want to overclock a brand new PC. If I knew I was going to do that, I'd rather just spend the extra money on faster gear without having to do that. However, I guess for those who are really on a tight budget that want a fast system but can't exactly afford it, I can see why overclocking would play a part.

If anything with the PSU, I'd probably go bigger. Simply because of the amount of problems I've had with my currrent PC (Shi^^y PSU). I'm not going to skimp on the PSU, more cleaner power is always better then "just" having enough.... since I've learned the hard way lol.

So far so good though guys, looks like I'll be changing my HDD set up to what Tonsh recommended (it seems more smart and logical to go for this option instead considering the small price difference).

Also, does anyone have an ASRock M'board? Do you find them fairly reliable? I was also going to ask if anyone had a 7850, but no point asking just yet since the current Sandy Bridge CPU's are bottlenecking em' :s

[mGGDrGooSe]

Can I ask why you are getting an i7 3770? or that case for that matter if you arent running mutliple gpus and overclocking (IMO a case is only for cooling, and that has masses of cooling that you wont be needing). Even my i7-860 was not being used anywhere near capacity for any kind of gaming, so an Ivy bridge is just bling for 90% of users out there not doing cpu intensive work. Also the ram is expensive, I got 16gb hyper-x blue for $100. It's certainly a wicked system, but not good bang for buck unless you are overclocking everything and doing intensive work like streaming, encoding, 3D work, etc, etc.
Anyway, just for reference I'll list my system below for comparison (from ARC in sydney - about a month ago?).

RAM: Kingston Hypex-X blue 4x4GB $113
Case: Coolermaster HAF RC212 $105
i7 2600k $313
CPU cooler: Coolermaster RR212E universal $39
MB: ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z (mATX) $204
Gcard: MSI GTX560 Ti Hawk $262
PSU: Antex 650W Green $99
Total: $1135

already had a cavier black 1TB, think it was about $100 mark?
my benchmarking shows that its only about 10-30% faster than my 3+year old i7-860 system depending on the application (both completely factory default). Tested the cooling by running some quantum mechanics calculations, it was about 12% faster and the cpu never got over 50C (100% for 2 hours). Havent tested prime95 stability yet, but Ive no doubt it will be cool.

Just saying, if you arent certain that you need extra power, dont get it, cos you wont use it.
Edit: my plan for system lifetime is generally to keep them for 4-5 years, with buying a gcard about half way through, that way you actually get money value in that the next system will be about 50-80% faster than the old IME, and you will only just be coming up to games that you cant play on high anymore.

Quick Comments

FaDeHellfyre:

Told ya's the RAM looked too expensive

[Bloodmyst]

Originally Posted by Drgoose

Can I ask why you are getting an i7 3770? or that case for that matter if you arent running mutliple gpus and overclocking (IMO a case is only for cooling, and that has masses of cooling that you wont be needing). Even my i7-860 was not being used anywhere near capacity for any kind of gaming, so an Ivy bridge is just bling for 90% of users out there not doing cpu intensive work. Also the ram is expensive, I got 16gb hyper-x blue for $100. It's certainly a wicked system, but not good bang for buck unless you are overclocking everything and doing intensive work like streaming, encoding, 3D work, etc, etc.
Anyway, just for reference I'll list my system below for comparison (from ARC in sydney - about a month ago?).

RAM: Kingston Hypex-X blue 4x4GB $113
Case: Coolermaster HAF RC212 $105
i7 2600k $313
CPU cooler: Coolermaster RR212E universal $39
MB: ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z (mATX) $204
Gcard: MSI GTX560 Ti Hawk $262
PSU: Antex 650W Green $99
Total: $1135

already had a cavier black 1TB, think it was about $100 mark?
my benchmarking shows that its only about 10-30% faster than my 3+year old i7-860 system depending on the application (both completely factory default). Tested the cooling by running some quantum mechanics calculations, it was about 12% faster and the cpu never got over 50C (100% for 2 hours). Havent tested prime95 stability yet, but Ive no doubt it will be cool.

Just saying, if you arent certain that you need extra power, dont get it, cos you wont use it.
Edit: my plan for system lifetime is generally to keep them for 4-5 years, with buying a gcard about half way through, that way you actually get money value in that the next system will be about 50-80% faster than the old IME, and you will only just be coming up to games that you cant play on high anymore.

In regards to the CPU, the Sandy Bridge equivalent is only around $10 - $15 less. Not to mention, with the PCI-E 3.0 interface you need to be running the new Ivy bridge to get somewhat close to the full bandwith available from the card. If your going to to run a PCI-E 3.0 card with a sandy bridge CPU, you may as well just get a PCI-E 2.1 card. Considering there is hardly any price difference between PCI-E 2.1 and 3.0 ranges and hardly any price difference between the Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge ranges, there is no reason why you wouldn't "currently" purchase the newer technology.... unless of couse you couldn't afford the extra $20...

I'd like to add, I'm interested when the NBN upgrade hits my town... I think the extra CPU power will play a part in streaming future games....

So I guess you could say, taking into consideration the price difference and also trying to somewhat future proof the system it's not bad taking this route.

Also, when building systems I like to leave room for upgrading for if for some reason in the future I decide to. This case is well equipped with necessary holes ect if I wish to install a water cooling system. It already has fairly decent cable managment. The HDD dock at the top is great for people like me who are constantly fixing PC's, and not to mention for the price... it's feels like Coolermaster is giving this case to me considering the amount of cooling options you have. Some cases which are even $200 more expensive don't even offer the amount of features this case has. I feel it's great value for the buck, you can't deny this case is great damn value. This is also another reason I don't want to skimp on the PSU size, if I'm going to add another GFX card, water cooling system, etc I don't want to have to purchase another PSU later on.

In regards to the RAM, my budget was $1500 .... being only a few dollars over I don't really have any reason downgrade in that department. However, I do agree it's overkill... but meh the budget allows it whilst being happy with the rest of the components "at the moment."

Whilst that is a decent system you provided, it's now old technology. If you can purchase the newer up to date hardware for pretty much the same price, there is no reason why you would fall back on the expired.

Errrrmm, I'm still curious about the new ASUS Sabertooth M'boards though... but don't want to take the risk :s Is anyone planning to purchase one of these or already has one?

EDIT: God damn you! Now I'm debating with myself if I should get the extra memory or not. Since I could use the money for a new monitor........

[FaDeHellfyre]

How big a monitor do you have now? The bigger the better, and if you can save money in certain areas and get a bigger (and better of course, no use going a low-res piece of crap when it's huge) monitor, then do it!

[ToRsupapower]

what quality do you play sc2 on , what quality can you stream it on (sorry for going off topic, want to build a comp that can play, stream sc2 on 60+ fps minimal on any setting )

[FaDeHellfyre]

streaming is ridiculously cpu heavy. My computer specs are as follows

CPU: Core i7-2600K 3.4GHz
RAM: 16.0 GB DDR3
GFX: 2x Radeon HD6850's (running in crossfire)
MOBO: Asus P8Z68 Deluxe

My screen is 1920x1080 (the one i have sc2 on), and to stream in a reasonable quality while still having non-lag filled gameplay i had to;

Reduce graphics settings to medium (high is pointless anyway).
Put the stream on lowest HD setting possible. (1920x1080 was impossible, it wouldn't even move off the first frame, let alone 60fps).

All in all it worked alright, though I had mine set to 39.95 frames per second. You shouldn't need to go 60fps. It's a video game, and human eyes can only see around 24fps, so any more than that is just an increase in quality. If you're looking to stream at that, in a HD quality, you're probably looking at a hardcore PC worth a lot of money.

[Trusty]

Originally Posted by ESLHellfyre

It's a video game, and human eyes can only see around 24fps, so any more than that is just an increase in quality.

The whole 'human eye 24fps/30fps' statement is very very misleading. read the following for more info on why it 24fps is 'bad' for gaming.

http://www.100fps.com/how_many_frame...humans_see.htm

Quick Comments

	Bloodmyst:	Interesting read.
	FaDeHellfyre:	Interesting. I have been learned

[Bloodmyst]

Originally Posted by ESLHellfyre

How big a monitor do you have now? The bigger the better, and if you can save money in certain areas and get a bigger (and better of course, no use going a low-res piece of crap when it's huge) monitor, then do it!

I only have a 19 inch monitor atm running at 1440 x 900 res. I think I'm only the minority who actually prefers the smaller screens. However, I'm now thinking of going bigger to maybe a 22 inch max. I'm not really update to date with what monitors are good and which ones are bad, what to watch out for etc. But I know in the past, the main thing I've paid attention to is the MS rating. The one I currently have is 2ms, but I think the newer monitors these days run at like 1ms?

Any particular ones you recommend?

Originally Posted by ToRsupapower

what quality do you play sc2 on , what quality can you stream it on (sorry for going off topic, want to build a comp that can play, stream sc2 on 60+ fps minimal on any setting )

Currently, I don't stream at all because my current CPU is soooo out of date and just utter crap to be undertaking such tasks. I have an Intel Core 2 Duo and even tried playing around with DXtory. I did get it up and running, but the quality of the stream was herrendous. But once I get my new set up, I'm going to be streaming 1080P for MLG god damnit! Woot Woot! lol. But seriously, I will be able to stream easily with this new set up, however the only bottleneck for me will be my upload speed which is currently only 0.63 MB/s ... HURRY UP NBN!

The first thing I'm doing with my new system is installing SC2 and setting up my stream. So be sure to check out my stream in future to see the results. Plus I wanna use dat sexy overlay TADel made for me! :P

Originally Posted by ESLHellfyre

streaming is ridiculously cpu heavy. My computer specs are as follows

CPU: Core i7-2600K 3.4GHz
RAM: 16.0 GB DDR3
GFX: 2x Radeon HD6850's (running in crossfire)
MOBO: Asus P8Z68 Deluxe

My screen is 1920x1080 (the one i have sc2 on), and to stream in a reasonable quality while still having non-lag filled gameplay i had to;

Reduce graphics settings to medium (high is pointless anyway).
Put the stream on lowest HD setting possible. (1920x1080 was impossible, it wouldn't even move off the first frame, let alone 60fps).

All in all it worked alright, though I had mine set to 39.95 frames per second. You shouldn't need to go 60fps. It's a video game, and human eyes can only see around 24fps, so any more than that is just an increase in quality. If you're looking to stream at that, in a HD quality, you're probably looking at a hardcore PC worth a lot of money.

Errr, I'm not entirely sure how true that is. Maybe with RTS games the human eye can only see around 24 fps.... but I know for a fact with FPS games you play with those kinds of frames, you will definately see the choppiness when playing. I can't remember where I read it from now, but I'm pretty sure the human eye can see up to 60fps but no more.

Quick Comments

ToRsupapower:

awesome :)

[FaDeHellfyre]

Originally Posted by Bloodmyst

I only have a 19 inch monitor atm running at 1440 x 900 res. I think I'm only the minority who actually prefers the smaller screens. However, I'm now thinking of going bigger to maybe a 22 inch max. I'm not really update to date with what monitors are good and which ones are bad, what to watch out for etc. But I know in the past, the main thing I've paid attention to is the MS rating. The one I currently have is 2ms, but I think the newer monitors these days run at like 1ms?

Any particular ones you recommend?.

I have a 23" AOC monitor. Now I know it's not a high branded product, but i've had no issues, didn't have a single dead pixel on it (unlike my old ASUS monitor), and they're ridiculously cheap. i don't know what models they have out at the moment, but i'd take a look.

Also, Trusty that post is very informative. My friends studying media have misled me -.-.

Quick Comments

Bloodmyst:

I hadn't even heard of AOC until you just mentioned it lol. I know a few years ago it was BenQ and Samsung who were taking the lead.

[JAFF3R]

Sigh just lost all my writing so I'll just do dot points I guess

-7850 will most likely not bottleneck with pcie2.1 Only possibly if you overclock (which you aren't keen on). Still, Z77 is around the same price. ASRock is pretty decent in my experiences, but you get what you pay for (as in they don't whack on all these extra pieces you don't need, just what you need so pick the right model for you) which is why it's priced so well. I'll use them again and recommend them, more than likely use it in my next build.

-As others said, that RAM is expensive especially if you're getting it just because you can.
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?...ducts_id=17933
That's 16GB of Corsair RAM @1600mhz. 1600mhz vs 2133mhz is well documented that you will only see benefits in benchmarking.

Originally Posted by Bloodmyst

If anything with the PSU, I'd probably go bigger. Simply because of the amount of problems I've had with my currrent PC (Shi^^y PSU). I'm not going to skimp on the PSU, more cleaner power is always better then "just" having enough.... since I've learned the hard way lol.

Wasn't saying skimp on the PSU at all. It's better if you go closer to the amount of power you will be using (which is why 550w would be better). You've also said you don't want to run 2 gpu's at the same time, and you're limited by budget. So anything that will use more than 550w is pretty much ruled out (even the 7970 is 550w recommended, and with your budget you wont be getting dualGPU cards which would use a bigger PSU)so there isnt any point in going higher.
Any excess power will just go to waste, not be fed to the card to get more performance.

Ultimately though, it's your choice but with your budget I wouldn't be wasting money here and there (not saying skimp though, just get what you need).

[Bloodmyst]

Originally Posted by JAFF3R

Sigh just lost all my writing so I'll just do dot points I guess

-7850 will most likely not bottleneck with pcie2.1 Only possibly if you overclock (which you aren't keen on). Still, Z77 is around the same price. ASRock is pretty decent in my experiences, but you get what you pay for (as in they don't whack on all these extra pieces you don't need, just what you need so pick the right model for you) which is why it's priced so well. I'll use them again and recommend them, more than likely use it in my next build.

-As others said, that RAM is expensive especially if you're getting it just because you can.
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?...ducts_id=17933
That's 16GB of Corsair RAM @1600mhz. 1600mhz vs 2133mhz is well documented that you will only see benefits in benchmarking.



Wasn't saying skimp on the PSU at all. It's better if you go closer to the amount of power you will be using (which is why 550w would be better). You've also said you don't want to run 2 gpu's at the same time, and you're limited by budget. So anything that will use more than 550w is pretty much ruled out (even the 7970 is 550w recommended, and with your budget you wont be getting dualGPU cards which would use a bigger PSU)so there isnt any point in going higher.
Any excess power will just go to waste, not be fed to the card to get more performance.

Ultimately though, it's your choice but with your budget I wouldn't be wasting money here and there (not saying skimp though, just get what you need).

A PCI-E 3.0 card will only ever always run at 2.1 speeds if you are utilising a Sandy Bridge CPU. Not to mention, I'm not sure if many people know this but in many cases the Sandy Bridge CPU's are still actually a bottle neck even for the 2.1 cards! Quiet rediculous how far ahead GFX cards are from current CPU's.

While your completely correct about the power supply. It's more of less just having that extra power there for if I wish to upgrade in the future.

Yeah, I'm looking at other memory now. Tying to balance out price/speed to see if I can also afford a monitor. Yes, you've all convinced me to downgrade in that department...... :P

[JAFF3R]

Originally Posted by Bloodmyst

A PCI-E 3.0 card will only ever always run at 2.1 speeds if you are utilising a Sandy Bridge CPU. Not to mention, I'm not sure if many people know this but in many cases the Sandy Bridge CPU's are still actually a bottle neck even for the 2.1 cards! Quiet rediculous how far ahead GFX cards are from current CPU's.

You're 100% correct there, but ignoring CPU bottlenecks, a 7850 in a 2.1 pcie lane will not bottleneck. AFAIK only the super high end cards (maybe 7970's but probably GTX690 and 7990) will bottleneck in a 2.1pcie lane.
Doesn't even matter anyway, Z77 is definitely favored for Ivy Bridge, but I don't think there is a huge problem with Z68. Z68 seems to be being phased out now too.

Overall, your build sounds great. Should make for a killer SC2 rig, best of luck with it and don't forget to buy an OS

[Tonsh]

Originally Posted by Bloodmyst

I actually have no experience with SSD's whatsoever.... How do you set them up? Do you just simply use them as two seperate units or can you set it up in RAID? Or maybe there is some particular feature I don't know about? Also, don't SSD's only have a limited life span with the whole number of Reads/Writes they have? It's been a while since I've checked these out.

Pretty much you plug them both in, you'll have to set it as primary boot drive in BIOS to the SSD. And you install windows on the SSD leaving your other harddrive for your documents/downloads/etc... Your page file and stuff is all on the SSD so you're system just runs so fast... Install all programs etc on the SSD and your set. Just change the default locations of my documents and downloads etc to the other drive... Also 16gb ram might be overkill... 4gb would be enough, max 8gb to be safe.

After the initial OS install you'll have to go into computer management and formate the 2TB harddrive with the tool there takes 2 seconds.

[mGGDrGooSe]

Originally Posted by Tonsh

4gb would be enough, max 8gb to be safe.

IME 4GB is kind of a minimum these days. Generally I will have 3-4 word docs, 3-4 excel files, 3-10 pdfs, itunes, 3-6 webpages and maybe a database or some other technical software open plus the obligatory almost 1gb ram required just to run win7, and I'll being sit at 3-3.5 GB ram in use. with the cost of RAM and the stable emulation of 32-bit under win7 64-bit, I cant see a reason why someone wouldnt get 8gb as default these days.

Quick Comments

NOM:

Allot of games now like to use more than 4GB. If you're going to use 64 bit. Don't bother with 4GB.

[Bloodmyst]

So I have updated the OP changing out my HDD setup. I'm now sitting at a total cost of $1442.00. So well under my budget and I haven't even changed my memory or PSU yet

It's funny actually, with this HDD set I have changed to.. it's much quicker while being much cheaper then what I was going to get. Thx for that suggestion Tonsh.

I've actually decided to stick with the 16GB or RAM now for 2 reasons;

1. Looking at the Motherboard memory compatibility list, I can't find any others on PC case gear. I simply cbf ordering it from somewhere else, it's simply just more of a convenience thing for me to get everything from the same place and have it all arrive at the same time.

2. After doing a bit of research, this post by Wamphryi on "Toms Hardware" pretty much sums up the benefits of having 16GB of RAM;

" RAM Drive is a program that takes a section of RAM and presents it to the system as a Hard Drive. You choose the size and it RAM drive installs a driver and assigns a drive letter. You can configure it to start a RAM drive on start up. You point your swap file and application temp folders to the RAM drive and Windows starts swapping to the RAM drive. RAM drive is very fast compared to any mechanical hard disk drive and many SSD's. My RAM drive hits speeds of 383 MB a second write. Essentially there is no more swapping to the HDD. With 16 GB of RAM you can do without a swap file but some applications demand a swap file. That is where RAM drive comes in because you still have a swap file but it is running on RAM. So with 16 GB you have 4 GB for your GPU's, 4 GB for your applications and 8 GB for a scratch drive or swap file drive. If you only have 8 GB you are far more limited."

To view the rest of this discussion here is the link to the post on Toms Harware

Now to check out the PSU..........

[Bloodmyst]

Errr, so I've changed the PSU..... however it's larger and CHEAPER! lol.

$159.00 - CoolerMaster Silent Pro M2 850W Power Supply

This now sets my system to cost me $1401

Thanks for the help guys. Just need to purchase the bugger once the Ivy CPU is released next week

The OP has been updated with the finished product!

[TACeeSerps]

Where did you find Aussie pricing for Ivy Bridge?
I've been keeping on an eye on it waiting to see what is happening and whether I will incorporate it into my build, but haven't noticed it pop up, even 7 days before release.

[Bloodmyst]

Originally Posted by TheCSerps

Where did you find Aussie pricing for Ivy Bridge?
I've been keeping on an eye on it waiting to see what is happening and whether I will incorporate it into my build, but haven't noticed it pop up, even 7 days before release.

Ivy Bridge Price Range


Of course you never know what the actual price will be until it's released. But this is a pretty good indication.

[TheGentleman]

I believe your computer system is OP and requires nerfing in order to be more balanced

Shame hard drives are still expensive.

[Bloodmyst]

Originally Posted by TheGentleman

I believe your computer system is OP and requires nerfing in order to be more balanced

Shame hard drives are still expensive.

I was thinking of taking out the normal 500G HDD and adding a 2nd SSD instead. This way I could run both SSD's in RAID 0 which is much faster again! lol. But I'm not so sure just how reliable SSD's are at this stage. It would only be 120GB of storage space. However if they turn out to be reliable and you don't need much storage space like me, you're definitely better off going for the 2 x SSD RAID 0 configuration.

Whats so funny about what I said in the above, is that configuration is STILL cheaper then that Velociraptor HDD whilst running faster even AGAIN due to RAID 0. lol.

Quick Comments

TheGentleman:

fair enough :)

[TheGentleman]

It depends what you want to get out of a hard drive. For me space is my largest concern so I have 5.5 TB worth of storage as HDD. The differences being a 3TB HDD for $186.50 or for similar money an a $179 for a 120GB SSD. More simply put: $0.062166 per MB vs. $1.625 per MB primarily for a difference in speed (granted a large speed difference).

Of course the decision is going to be heavily impacted by what the purpose is for your system. The real question you need to ask yourself is... is the speed difference really that important. Consider: In a lot of games you will end up waiting for people with HDD's/less powerful computers anyway.

I consider the SSD a luxury item, in saying that if I was to include it in my own system I would still have a hybrid set up.

Sources:
OCZ 120G Vertex II E Series SSD: http://umart.com.au/pro/products_lis...id=2&sid=59287
Western Digital 3TB Green 64MB SATA 3 WD30EZRX : http://umart.com.au/pro/products_lis...id=2&sid=76412

+ [Battlefield 3 - SSD vs. HDD] +

[Statix]

how do you run dual monitors with only 1 dvi 1 hdmi and then 2 minis if you have 2 vga monitors with this card?

[Bloodmyst]

Originally Posted by Statix

how do you run dual monitors with only 1 dvi 1 hdmi and then 2 minis if you have 2 vga monitors with this card?

You can purchase a splitter cable. Just google something along the lines of DVI splitter cable. I know you can definitely get them as we have heaps of these at work. I have a lot of my work colleagues on dual monitor set ups.

[Bloodmyst]

OK, so now I'm stuck between CPU's. The ONLY thing I have in mind when choosing between the two is streaming games. Trying to decide between the Core i7-3770 and the Core i5-3570k.

First of all, for those who do stream. Do you use the 2500k and what is the quality of stream like? Are you able to use overlays plus have other programs such as Skype and SC2gears without causing interference in game? Or do you have to overclock the CPU to be able to do this comfortably?

If there any current streamers who can answer the above questions... that would be great

I know that Xsplit does utilise the extra threads the i7 offers, however speaking of "gaming" those extra threads can sometimes be detrimental to gaming in some cases. Now with the i5, it is the version with the unlocked multiplier, so there is more room for overclocking. So I'm kinda torn between both CPU's atm......

[NOM]

I don't stream but deth has pretty much the same specs as me (2500k) and he usually has other programs as well as streaming with overlays and its fine. he has it over-clocked, not sure how much though something over 4ghz from memory (with a nocturna d14). Don't think he tried streaming with it before he overclocked.

[Bloodmyst]

Ah screw it, decided to just get the Core i7-3770K Ivy Bridge. Definitely won't have any problems with that CPU lol.

Instead of buying the W7 OS with the Media, I decided to just get the CD-Key and get the .ISO.

I'm now VERY happy with this system. Beast of a system whilst keeping it under my $1500 budget