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When using this resource, please read FragKrag's opening post. The Tech Support forum regulars have helped create countless of desktop systems without any compensation. The least you can do is provide all of the information required for them to help you properly. |
I want to buy a new high-end system in the coming month or so.
This is what I have for now:
CPU: Intel Core i7 3820
GC: EVGA GTX 680
Mem: 16 GB Kingston HyperX 1600MHz
MB: Asrock X79 Extreme 3
and some other stuff (see here for the full list)
I have three questions about the list:
1. What kind of PSU would I need, is 650W enough or do I need 700W? Any recommendations?
2. When I was researching 2011 socket motherboards I discovered a difference in Power Phase between the Asrock X79 Extreme 3 and 4 (the first has Power Phase 5+1 and the other has Power Phase 6+2).
Could someone tell me the what it is and if it really matters which one of the two I take.
3. If I would consider the i7 3770K as my CPU, is it possible to get a MB with PCIe 3.0 and quad memory channel support as well? Does the i7 3770K support quad channel? And how much more or less would this cost me (difference preferably in Euro's  )?
I hope someone will be able to answer these questions :D
[EDIT]: Do I plan on overclocking or upgrading in the near future?
No, and if I decide to do so I will buy a new PSU ^^
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Don't build on LGA2011. Get an H75 motherboard if you don't want to overclock and something like the i7-3770 or i5-3570. Although if you want a "high end" system, you really do need to overclock.
I'm pretty sure a 500W PSU would be more than fine with that, as long as it was a good once.
What are your uses? X79 will have practically zero benefits over normal mobos for gaming and probably streaming. (Except for having a hexa core I guess, but you can stream fine on a 3770k).
I can't answer the other questions though.. sorry. Someone else will.
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First things first: What are you gonna use the PC for?
This is a very expensive machine you plan on buying and to be honest you can easily save 1000$ and still have something that will abosolutely kick ass in every single game you throw at it. If you want a highend model but dont want to pay a billion I recommend:
i7-2600K or i7-2700K (overclock it to 4.5 GHZ and it will match/outpreform the 3770K@Stock)
16GB 1600mhz RAM (though 8 is more than enough, but W/E RAM is cheap)
Geforce GTX 670 or Geforce GTX 580 (buy a overclocked version, not reference model)
This system will be cheaper and just as good or 95% as good. The GTX 670 preforms the same as the GTX680 and is cheaper. The GTX 580 is even a little cheaper and still a VERY good card
I will reccommend a 600+ Watt PSU and Z68 chipset with those CPU's
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On May 22 2012 12:06 iTzSnypah wrote:Show nested quote +On May 22 2012 09:22 Nabutso wrote:+ Show Spoiler +This turned out pretty well but I actually don't need a DVD/CD drive, and I think I can grab a cheaper GPU aswell, like a 6770 or something, thoughts? Also, I've switched out the CX430 for a Neo Eco 520c, not for the wattage but the reliability and the coil whine and usually comes with the CX430 bothers me. As for the case I can't really change it, it's up to her to decide that so I'd rather just let her use what she wants. The total with the case is currently $510 with case and without GPU (Including shipping and tax.. fuck living in NJ) There is this thing called an on/off switch on the back of the PSU that will eliminate the coil whine issue while the computer is off. You don't need to worry about it while the computer is one because the case/psu fan's generate more noise (I have the CX500). Any GPU you can get for less than $100 is not going to be able to max games. To be honest, with her case selection I would just save another month to buy the computer as then the hardware wouldn't be gimped.
Just responding back to this,
I managed to fit everything into a budget under $600. Infact, with tax and shipping it came to 599.90 without rebates,
6770 for $99 + $30 MIR http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125396
She ended up picking up this $99 case ($20 rebate) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163181
And her choice of mouse, $29 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826570014
CPU + HDD Combo with I think $17 savings? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115077 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136769
Cheapass mobo http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138332
Picked up one of these http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833704045
Ended up going for a 400c to save a bit of cash http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371029
I just felt better getting another Neo Eco and spending $5 extra.
All in all, we'll also be getting a $50 rebate back
The best part is? We sold a 2 year old Alienware Laptop for $600 (i3 M330 and gt 240m) for this.
Thanks for the help, guys.
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with spending the least amount of money possible. what build could you do to max out sc2? also, what build could you do to run sc2 on the lowest settings?
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On May 23 2012 01:22 orc145626 wrote:
with spending the least amount of money possible. what build could you do to max out sc2? also, what build could you do to run sc2 on the lowest settings?
Look at my computer on last page. That is proberly close to the computer you need to max out SC2. I can run starcraft 2 with everything on ultra and still have a very good framerate.
Least amount of money is hard to say, how fluently? A good, but very cheap Computer would be something like
AMD Phenomom X4 965 Quad core
XFX AMD Radeon HD 6870 (1 GB)
4GM 1333 Kingston Value RAM
Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3 (Socket AM3)
You could ofcause also buy a Dualcore Athlon X2 with a GTX 550 Ti, and it would be OK, but that system would be sooo outdated and it would proberly still cost 350$
This system would proberly cost you around 500$. I dont care to go find the items now
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On May 23 2012 01:37 Chillypill wrote:Show nested quote +On May 23 2012 01:22 orc145626 wrote:
with spending the least amount of money possible. what build could you do to max out sc2? also, what build could you do to run sc2 on the lowest settings? Look at my computer on last page. That is proberly close to the computer you need to max out SC2. I can run starcraft 2 with everything on ultra and still have a very good framerate. Least amount of money is hard to say, how fluently? A good, but very cheap Computer would be something like AMD Phenomom X4 965 Quad core XFX AMD Radeon HD 6870 (1 GB) 4GM 1333 Kingston Value RAM Gigabyte GA-970A-DS3 (Socket AM3) You could ofcause also buy a Dualcore Athlon X2 with a GTX 550 Ti, and it would be OK, but that system would be sooo outdated and it would proberly still cost 350$ This system would proberly cost you around 500$. I dont care to go find the items now
Ya it's a dumb question overall but I just wanted to see what builds other people would/have done in both situations and how much each build would cost.
Thanks for the response though!
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On May 23 2012 00:23 Alryk wrote:
Don't build on LGA2011. Get an H75 motherboard if you don't want to overclock and something like the i7-3770 or i5-3570. Although if you want a "high end" system, you really do need to overclock.
I'm pretty sure a 500W PSU would be more than fine with that, as long as it was a good once.
What are your uses? X79 will have practically zero benefits over normal mobos for gaming and probably streaming. (Except for having a hexa core I guess, but you can stream fine on a 3770k).
I can't answer the other questions though.. sorry. Someone else will.
Ok, I think I will change to the i7 3770K then. Have done some research and seems like it is a bit cheaper indeed. Thank you for the advice
On May 23 2012 00:34 Chillypill wrote:
First things first: What are you gonna use the PC for?
This is a very expensive machine you plan on buying and to be honest you can easily save 1000$ and still have something that will abosolutely kick ass in every single game you throw at it. If you want a highend model but dont want to pay a billion I recommend:
i7-2600K or i7-2700K (overclock it to 4.5 GHZ and it will match/outpreform the 3770K@Stock)
16GB 1600mhz RAM (though 8 is more than enough, but W/E RAM is cheap)
Geforce GTX 670 or Geforce GTX 580 (buy a overclocked version, not reference model)
This system will be cheaper and just as good or 95% as good. The GTX 670 preforms the same as the GTX680 and is cheaper. The GTX 580 is even a little cheaper and still a VERY good card
I will reccommend a 600+ Watt PSU and Z68 chipset with those CPU's
I want to be able to run the latest games on the highest settings. Record and stream those games and have a computer ready for the future (next 3 years, maybe longer)
I will keep the 680 for now. Maybe it doesn't really make sense now, but that I don't plan on overclocking right now doesn't mean I won't in the future and with the 680 I can get more than with the 670 that is already OC'ed.
For the CPU I will get the i7 3770K as they are a bit less power consuming and only a bit more expensive, while the MB is a lot cheaper.
I think I will get the Corsair TX650W v2
Thanks for the advice 
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On May 23 2012 04:28 yosata wrote:+ Show Spoiler +On May 23 2012 00:23 Alryk wrote:
Don't build on LGA2011. Get an H75 motherboard if you don't want to overclock and something like the i7-3770 or i5-3570. Although if you want a "high end" system, you really do need to overclock.
I'm pretty sure a 500W PSU would be more than fine with that, as long as it was a good once.
What are your uses? X79 will have practically zero benefits over normal mobos for gaming and probably streaming. (Except for having a hexa core I guess, but you can stream fine on a 3770k).
I can't answer the other questions though.. sorry. Someone else will. Ok, I think I will change to the i7 3770K then. Have done some research and seems like it is a bit cheaper indeed. Thank you for the advice On May 23 2012 00:34 Chillypill wrote:
First things first: What are you gonna use the PC for?
This is a very expensive machine you plan on buying and to be honest you can easily save 1000$ and still have something that will abosolutely kick ass in every single game you throw at it. If you want a highend model but dont want to pay a billion I recommend:
i7-2600K or i7-2700K (overclock it to 4.5 GHZ and it will match/outpreform the 3770K@Stock)
16GB 1600mhz RAM (though 8 is more than enough, but W/E RAM is cheap)
Geforce GTX 670 or Geforce GTX 580 (buy a overclocked version, not reference model)
This system will be cheaper and just as good or 95% as good. The GTX 670 preforms the same as the GTX680 and is cheaper. The GTX 580 is even a little cheaper and still a VERY good card
I will reccommend a 600+ Watt PSU and Z68 chipset with those CPU's I want to be able to run the latest games on the highest settings. Record and stream those games and have a computer ready for the future (next 3 years, maybe longer) I will keep the 680 for now. Maybe it doesn't really make sense now, but that I don't plan on overclocking right now doesn't mean I won't in the future and with the 680 I can get more than with the 670 that is already OC'ed. For the CPU I will get the i7 3770K as they are a bit less power consuming and only a bit more expensive, while the MB is a lot cheaper. I think I will get the Corsair TX650W v2 Thanks for the advice
Don't waste your money on a TX650W. ANY SINGLE GPU BUILD only needs a quality 450w PSU as components have gotten very efficient in the past 5 years. Rosewill Capstone 450w 80Plus Gold is a high quality PSU and I suggest that.
For the Motherboard I would suggest an ASRock Z77 Extreme4. It performs better than some more expensive models.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5793/intel-z77-motherboard-review-with-ivy-bridge-asrock-asus-gigabyte-and-msi/
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how come GPU fans idle at around 1000rpm or higher? I was forced into buying a Sapphire 7950 OC from the german store, and I don't know if it'll be too loud for my computer.
While sites generally praise it for being more silent than other cards;
Hexus
The SAPPHIRE HD 7950 Overclocked Edition video card performed excellent in audio testing. We knew the card sounded quieter, but with the sound meter data we can see a huge difference. At idle the SAPPHIRE HD 7950 OC Edition came in at 41.9dB, which is 4.3dB quieter than the XFX R7950 Black Edition Double Dissipation card. At full load in Furmark, the SAPPHIRE card was 8.4dB quieter! Fan speed was obviously the culprit. The Sapphire branded card had the fans at 1200 RPM at idle and 1765 RPM at full load. The XFX cards fans were running much faster, 1480 RPM at idle and 2175 RPM at full load.
It sounds pretty high, 41db when the rest of my fans are rated at 5db. What the fuck? Can you adjust the fan curve to lower than that? Or is the voltage kicking in at 1100rpm immediately? I'm pretty much a noob when it comes to adjusting fan curves so someone please help me.
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On May 23 2012 05:25 Shauni wrote:how come GPU fans idle at around 1000rpm or higher? I was forced into buying a Sapphire 7950 OC from the german store, and I don't know if it'll be too loud for my computer. While sites generally praise it for being more silent than other cards; Show nested quote +The SAPPHIRE HD 7950 Overclocked Edition video card performed excellent in audio testing. We knew the card sounded quieter, but with the sound meter data we can see a huge difference. At idle the SAPPHIRE HD 7950 OC Edition came in at 41.9dB, which is 4.3dB quieter than the XFX R7950 Black Edition Double Dissipation card. At full load in Furmark, the SAPPHIRE card was 8.4dB quieter! Fan speed was obviously the culprit. The Sapphire branded card had the fans at 1200 RPM at idle and 1765 RPM at full load. The XFX cards fans were running much faster, 1480 RPM at idle and 2175 RPM at full load. It sounds pretty high, 41db when the rest of my fans are rated at 5db. What the fuck? Can you adjust the fan curve to lower than that? Or is the voltage kicking in at 1100rpm immediately? I'm pretty much a noob when it comes to adjusting fan curves so someone please help me.
Because cheapass fans don't idle well below certain speeds, because users do stupid shit, because silent computing is more than what fans you use, and if you're serious about it, you have a case that can muffle that pretty effectively, and if you're REALLY insane, you can buy an aftermarket passive cooler.
But most people buying a gaming card don't have a use for a quiet cooler. So they go for performance or cost.
If you're serious about getting a silent build, you should really go do some reading at silentpcreview.com.
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yo d00dz, wanna help me out? I hope I put this in the right place.
What is your budget?
$1000-1100.
What is your resolution?
I currently have a Dell XPS M1530 at 1200x800 but I'll be getting a new monitor obv.
What are you using it for?
Gaming, normal stuff. No editing or other stuff.
What is your upgrade cycle?
I could do either, what would you recommend with hardware trends nowadays? 1 or 2 years?
When do you plan on building it?
ASAP.
Do you plan on overclocking?
Nah, brah.
Do you need an Operating System?
Nope.
Do you plan to add a second GPU for SLI or Crossfire?
Is it worth it? I really only play Starcraft and Steam games. Prolly not.
Where are you buying your parts from?
Newegg. I live in Brooklyn. Fast shipping.
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I find it hard to believe all your fans are rated 5db considering even 10db fans have ridiculously low cfm, you might as well blow in the direction of your case once a day and give it more airflow than you'd get from a '5db fan'
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On May 23 2012 05:29 JingleHell wrote:Show nested quote +On May 23 2012 05:25 Shauni wrote:how come GPU fans idle at around 1000rpm or higher? I was forced into buying a Sapphire 7950 OC from the german store, and I don't know if it'll be too loud for my computer. While sites generally praise it for being more silent than other cards; The SAPPHIRE HD 7950 Overclocked Edition video card performed excellent in audio testing. We knew the card sounded quieter, but with the sound meter data we can see a huge difference. At idle the SAPPHIRE HD 7950 OC Edition came in at 41.9dB, which is 4.3dB quieter than the XFX R7950 Black Edition Double Dissipation card. At full load in Furmark, the SAPPHIRE card was 8.4dB quieter! Fan speed was obviously the culprit. The Sapphire branded card had the fans at 1200 RPM at idle and 1765 RPM at full load. The XFX cards fans were running much faster, 1480 RPM at idle and 2175 RPM at full load. It sounds pretty high, 41db when the rest of my fans are rated at 5db. What the fuck? Can you adjust the fan curve to lower than that? Or is the voltage kicking in at 1100rpm immediately? I'm pretty much a noob when it comes to adjusting fan curves so someone please help me. Because cheapass fans don't idle well below certain speeds, because users do stupid shit, because silent computing is more than what fans you use, and if you're serious about it, you have a case that can muffle that pretty effectively, and if you're REALLY insane, you can buy an aftermarket passive cooler. But most people buying a gaming card don't have a use for a quiet cooler. So they go for performance or cost. If you're serious about getting a silent build, you should really go do some reading at silentpcreview.com.
Uh, I have, and I have done a lot of reasearch. I even have an aftermarket heatsink I was planning to use, but can't now because 79xx cards need special cooler designs. So it's hopeless trying to adjust the card to be silent? I guess I'll have to give that one away to my dad then and get another graphics card...
On May 23 2012 05:30 Nabutso wrote:
I find it hard to believe all your fans are rated 5db considering even 10db fans have ridiculously low cfm, you might as well blow in the direction of your case once a day and give it more airflow than you'd get from a '5db fan'
http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=productview&products_id=26&lng=en&set=1
ULNA = 5db
Chassi fans doesn't need high CFM to ventilate well. They only need good CFM to penetrate heatsinks and other things...
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On May 23 2012 05:41 Shauni wrote:Show nested quote +On May 23 2012 05:29 JingleHell wrote:On May 23 2012 05:25 Shauni wrote:how come GPU fans idle at around 1000rpm or higher? I was forced into buying a Sapphire 7950 OC from the german store, and I don't know if it'll be too loud for my computer. While sites generally praise it for being more silent than other cards; The SAPPHIRE HD 7950 Overclocked Edition video card performed excellent in audio testing. We knew the card sounded quieter, but with the sound meter data we can see a huge difference. At idle the SAPPHIRE HD 7950 OC Edition came in at 41.9dB, which is 4.3dB quieter than the XFX R7950 Black Edition Double Dissipation card. At full load in Furmark, the SAPPHIRE card was 8.4dB quieter! Fan speed was obviously the culprit. The Sapphire branded card had the fans at 1200 RPM at idle and 1765 RPM at full load. The XFX cards fans were running much faster, 1480 RPM at idle and 2175 RPM at full load. It sounds pretty high, 41db when the rest of my fans are rated at 5db. What the fuck? Can you adjust the fan curve to lower than that? Or is the voltage kicking in at 1100rpm immediately? I'm pretty much a noob when it comes to adjusting fan curves so someone please help me. Because cheapass fans don't idle well below certain speeds, because users do stupid shit, because silent computing is more than what fans you use, and if you're serious about it, you have a case that can muffle that pretty effectively, and if you're REALLY insane, you can buy an aftermarket passive cooler. But most people buying a gaming card don't have a use for a quiet cooler. So they go for performance or cost. If you're serious about getting a silent build, you should really go do some reading at silentpcreview.com. Uh, I have, and I have done a lot of reasearch. I even have an aftermarket heatsink I was planning to use, but can't now because 79xx cards need special cooler designs. So it's hopeless trying to adjust the card to be silent? I guess I'll have to give that one away to my dad then and get another graphics card... Show nested quote +On May 23 2012 05:30 Nabutso wrote:
I find it hard to believe all your fans are rated 5db considering even 10db fans have ridiculously low cfm, you might as well blow in the direction of your case once a day and give it more airflow than you'd get from a '5db fan' http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=productview&products_id=26&lng=en&set=1ULNA = 5db Chassi fans doesn't need high CFM to ventilate well. They only need good CFM to penetrate heatsinks and other things...
I wasn't actually being a dick, I was suggesting a resource.
SPCR may have some articles regarding flashing custom BIOS for your card, I've seen stuff like that for Nvidia. You're not guaranteed to be screwed, but generally there's very few sane options. Uhm, as a bizarre method you could try, if you have a fan control panel, you could use a couple of fan extension cords to the controller panel, just don't forget to turn the GPU fan on before gaming.
You could also try downvolting the fan with an inline resistor, but that would definitely affect thermals while gaming.
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I don't claim to be very knowledgeable on the topic but from my limited understanding...
Hexus does not have, for example, an anechoic chamber with an ambient SPL of 10 dBA like SilentPCReview does (and Noctua probably has one even lower).
Their equipment is also far lower quality. I bet their Sound Level Meter does not even catch anything below ~25-30 dBA, maybe even more (I haven't checked their article/reviews/methodology in detail). I just tried to find that review, and it seems to me they don't even report ambient dBA. That could mean that at idle, their cards barely, if at all, register any noise over ambient on the SLM.
I mean they say "A PCE-318 meter is used to record noise levels when idle and whilst playing Batman: AC". That does not tell us enough. And you certainly can't compare their numbers to the numbers you see on a spec sheet for Noctua fans.
Coolers like Sapphire Dual-X and Asus Direct CU II and most Gigabyte Windforce 3x have been reviewed by many places which described them as being so quiet that they were inaudible at idle. I highly doubt you'll be bothered by the ~1000 RPM fans.
Look at X-Bit's review for example:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/graphics/display/sapphire-radeon-hd-7950-oc_3.html#sect0
29.8 dBA ambient, and the card is at ~32 (edit: correction) when at the lowest fan speeds of 1100 RPM. I think you'd have to be the most extreme of silent freaks to actually notice and be bothered by that.
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Clearly 41 dB SPL ratings at idle (A-rated or not?) are with a microphone pretty close to the card. Some type of 5 dB SPL rating on a 120mm fan at 500 rpm is probably at 1m distance, maybe not in free air, maybe optimistic.
It shouldn't be way too difficult to rig your own fans to the GPU cooler if you really wanted, or downvolt the current fans (however, on idle, the fans downvolted on top of the original fan control, may be too low to get them to spin up at all). Underclock and undervolt the GPU if possible, to reduce power consumption.
edit: btw, ~1100 rpm idle on 90mm fan of that type blowing on a GPU heatsink should be clearly audible in quiet home environments, if you're close enough. You can always move the tower further away or to a different room though.
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I was wondering if anyone here could tell me if Intel Core i7-950 3.06ghz 8MB LGA1366 processor would be near equally good to i7-2600K LGA1155 - I simply don't have a fitting motherboard for the 1155 type and as such it would be suit my wallet better if I'd just get the 1366 version.
I'm primarily (and almost solely) using my computer for video games (sc2, diablo III, dota2) and I want to begin streaming whilst I play (as it stands, I receive far too much lag/hiccups while streaming).
At the moment I'm using Intel Core i3 540 @ 3.07ghz (1156).
I just don't want to make the mistake of buying that processor (1366) if it ends up being insufficient for my streaming purposes.
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On May 23 2012 06:15 Wabbit wrote:I don't claim to be very knowledgeable on the topic but from my limited understanding... Hexus does not have, for example, an anechoic chamber with an ambient SPL of 10 dBA like SilentPCReview does (and Noctua probably has one even lower). Their equipment is also far lower quality. I bet their Sound Level Meter does not even catch anything below ~25-30 dBA, maybe even more (I haven't checked their article/reviews/methodology in detail). I just tried to find that review, and it seems to me they don't even report ambient dBA. That could mean that at idle, their cards barely, if at all, register any noise over ambient on the SLM. I mean they say "A PCE-318 meter is used to record noise levels when idle and whilst playing Batman: AC". That does not tell us enough. And you certainly can't compare their numbers to the numbers you see on a spec sheet for Noctua fans. Coolers like Sapphire Dual-X and Asus Direct CU II and most Gigabyte Windforce 3x have been reviewed by many places which described them as being so quiet that they were inaudible at idle. I highly doubt you'll be bothered by the ~1000 RPM fans. Look at X-Bit's review for example: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/graphics/display/sapphire-radeon-hd-7950-oc_3.html#sect029.8 dBA ambient, and the card is at ~32 (edit: correction) when at the lowest fan speeds of 1100 RPM. I think you'd have to be the most extreme of silent freaks to actually notice and be bothered by that.
Yeah that review seemed a bit more throughout on the noise test, I just pulled from Hexus since I got them first while googling around for reviews of the card. I still think that's way too high though and I'm not really a silent freak, I just thought it'd be dumb to go for a clearly audible graphics card (even at idle, severe under load) when all the other components are planned for a ventilated case with a passive cpu and psu. Like Myrmidon said, I could mount on some other fans, but I think the 670 which I originally planned will fit a bit better for the purpose, the card apparently is better on the performance/watt ratio so should be able to run silent even under load if i underclock it.
I still don't understand why hardwareversand didn't allow removal of parts in an order though, pretty terrible to force me buy a graphics card I don't even want.
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EPT
