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What is your budget?
€2000 ish including 3 monitors.
What is your resolution?
3x 1920x1080 so 5760x1080
What are you using it for?
Mostly gaming. I want to play new games on high settings on a tripple monitor setup.
What is your upgrade cycle?
3 Years
When do you plan on building it?
Coming week
Do you plan on overclocking?
Yes
Do you need an Operating System?
No
Do you plan to add a second GPU for SLI or Crossfire?
No, starting with CF.
Where are you buying your parts from?
www.azerty.nl I live close to the Dutch border, so I'm buying in there since its a lot more expensive here in Belgium.
I had something like this in mind for my actual computer.
Few things I'm not sure about.
- Not quite sure about the PSU. It seemed a good price to me and I read XFX is a good brand for PSU's.
- Allso not sure about the motherboard. I feel most comfortable with Asus or MSI. Dont have a good experience with gigabyte.
- I allso heard you could flash your 6950 to (nearly) a 6970 with relative ease. Not sure how that works and if its a good idea when running CF. So any info would be appriciated.
- If there are any better/cheaper components I could or should take I'd gladly hear about it.
As for the 3 screens. I was looking into these LG IPS231P-BN, LG IPS236V-PN and the Dell UltraSharp U2311H.
I'm not sure what exactly the difference is between the two LG screens, besides that one has HDMI and the other doesn't. The dell is more expensive but is adjustable in hight and has displayport, which should work nicely in combination with Ati cards. Currently im leaning towards the dell since the adjustable hight is probably very handy for a tripple monitor setup.
Hope I didn't forget anything. Any tips and info to improve my build are appreciated.
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You're right--that's the only difference between the LG screens. The UltraSharp also has better responsiveness in practice, if you're concerned about ghosting. However, the difference isn't huge. Input lag is about 7ms for the LG and 10.5ms for the Dell.
See review (there's also one for the U2311H):
http://www.tftcentral.co.uk/reviews/lg_ips231p.htm
You can flash certain models of HD 6950s to HD 6970s, but they were sold as HD 6950s for a reason: maybe the transistors were too leaky or didn't pass certain specs. It's not guaranteed to work. Anyway, they're not going to be binned better than HD 6970s.
The XFX power supply is very good. All XFX power supplies are high-end Seasonic designs except the Core 450/550W models, which are budget Seasonic designs built to a high spec (so still pretty good).
I'd probably just take the Asus P8P67 (normal) or MSI P67A-G45 unless you really need the extra features of the P67 EVO. That's not a huge deal. Likewise, the huge heatspreaders on the RAM kit may be annoying for installing coolers, but so long as you don't need to put them in the closest slot, it should be okay.
I'd add an extra intake fan in the lower side panel slot, if you're running Crossfire. You may even want to consider a different case for better airflow. Usually I think people are overkilling cooling, but with Crossfire HD 6970s, that's in a completely different league.
edit: Fractal Design Arc is the same price. It also comes with a fan controller, though you again may want to add a side panel intake fan (140mm here) for getting fresh air to the cards for a Crossfire setup. You'd want a motherboard with a USB3 internal header though.
http://azerty.nl/8-1044-402046/fractal-design-arc-midtowermod.html
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Thx. I went for the MSI P67A-G45 and took some ram with smaller heatspreaders.
few more questions.
- My friend sais I should take a Corsair force series 3 120 gb SSD insdead of the vertex. Its 30 euro cheaper. My question is how do the two compare performance wise and how is the reliability.
- The case discription sais it has 3 fans installed (1 front 1 back 1 up). Any recomendations on where to put aditional fans? Moreover, does it matter what case fan I buy? For example, is this a proper case fan, or could I go cheaper?
[edit]
That case actually looks a lot cooler. I think i'll go for that one. What exactly is USB3 internal header, do I need to change my motherboard?
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Both the Corsair Force 3 and OCZ Vertex 3 use the same Sandforce controller so performance is similar / identical.
OCZ is generally considered the worse in terms of SSD reliability. Intel, Samsung, Crucial are at the top of reliability but their SSDs generally aren't as fast as OCZ's or another SSD based off of the Sandforce controller.
Having a USB3 header means that the front USB3.0 ports plug into the motherboard instead of being routed to the back of the case. Both the MSI P67 G series and ASUS P8P67 or higher boards have USB3 headers.
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http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/400?vs=350
here a bench and for realiability go to newegg and read the feedback in each product a make your own conclution
personaly i think the crucial m4 has the high realiability(less failure rate)
then is intel 510
intel 320 i read bad think about this but have 5 years of warranty
but the perfomance wins ocz vertex 3
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On August 08 2011 12:03 skyR wrote:
Both the Corsair Force 3 and OCZ Vertex 3 use the same Sandforce controller so performance is similar / identical.
Nah, Corsair Force 3 is similar to the OCZ Agility 3. They use the same SandForce controller with ONFI 1.0 asynchronous flash. The Vertex 3 uses ONFI 2.x synchronous flash, for superior performance. I'd be careful about overstating the difference, but it's definitely there. See this hardocp article (Anandtech has also talked about it):
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/08/07/nand_flash_faces_off_synchronous_vs_asynchronous
It's hard to say about reliability. Many are still wary about the reliability of SandForce drives in general, though that was mostly about the first generation drives and not these ones.
Maybe I overstated the importance of an additional fan for Crossfire, but the side panel intake really should be most important for those setups. Air from a front intake mostly just goes somewhere else, so it's not as effective. In fact, you could just move one of the other fans to the side, and that should be slightly better. In the Arc, a 140 or 180mm fan fits, though maybe a 180mm fan would conflict with a tall CPU cooler? In the CM 690 ii, a 120mm or 140mm fan will fit.
That Scythe model is a super-loud version. Maybe this (just one)?
http://azerty.nl/8-1088-367406/antec-truequiet-140-ventilat.html
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Thanks a lot.
One last question. What the difference between: this board and this board.
Only difference I see is that one is cheaper and sais P67 and the other one costs 14 euro more and sais iP67.
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On August 08 2011 12:11 HJG wrote:Thanks a lot. One last question. What the difference between: this board and this board. Only difference I see is that one is cheaper and sais P67 and the other one costs 14 euro more and sais iP67.
A typo maybe? That's weird.
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What is your budget?
$1000-$1200 ~
What is your resolution?
Dual Monitors 1920x1080 x 2
What are you using it for?
Gaming, Watching HD video's, movies
What is your upgrade cycle?
3 years~
When do you plan on building it?
Soon prob this month
Do you plan on overclocking?
not unless i have to
Do you need an Operating System?
wife can get it for like 70 bucks at her university
Do you plan to add a second GPU for SLI or Crossfire?
no
Where are you buying your parts from?
newegg, frys or anywhere that you guys can recommend
any help would be appreciated
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What is your budget?
$700 less is possible
What is your resolution?
1920 x 1080 if possible.
What are you using it for?
I only want this PC for SC II, I don't play any other PC games I just need a PC to play SC II as best as possible for as cheap as possible.
What is your upgrade cycle?
Not planning on upgrading
When do you plan on building it?
With the next 2-3 months
Do you plan on overclocking?
Maybe
Do you need an Operating System?
No
Do you plan to add a second GPU for SLI or Crossfire?
No
Where are you buying your parts from?
Newegg
I only want this PC for Starcraft 2 and that is it, would like to play on High but I understand my budget is pretty low, would like to spend <$500 but would go up to $700. I'm only talking about the Computer no hardware. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
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What is your budget?
$800-$1000
but cheaper is always better
What is your resolution?
N/A
What are you using it for?
Gaming (Diablo 3/SC2), Adobe Photoshop/Illustrator
What is your upgrade cycle?
4 years
When do you plan on building it?
2-3 weeks
Do you plan on overclocking?
yes
Do you need an Operating System?
yes
Do you plan to add a second GPU for SLI or Crossfire?
o.O no?
Where are you buying your parts from?
I live in Newfoundland, Canada. I'd like to order from Canada to reduce shipping as much as possible, Newegg.ca or any other Canadian retailers.
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On August 08 2011 18:59 LolaLA wrote:
What is your budget?
$800-$1000
but cheaper is always better
What is your resolution?
N/A
What are you using it for?
Gaming (Diablo 3/SC2), Adobe Photoshop/Illustrator
What is your upgrade cycle?
4 years
When do you plan on building it?
2-3 weeks
Do you plan on overclocking?
yes
Do you need an Operating System?
yes
Do you plan to add a second GPU for SLI or Crossfire?
o.O no?
Where are you buying your parts from?
I live in Newfoundland, Canada. I'd like to order from Canada to reduce shipping as much as possible, Newegg.ca or any other Canadian retailers.
You might wanna wait till Wend for NCIX weekly specials.(unless you will buy very soon)
SkyR suggested me this (add windows 7 to it unless you are a student)
obviosuly take out the SSD, if you dont need it and the gpu is dependent on your monitor resolution.
Alsmot came to newfoundland this summer when I was on the roadtrip to NB, PEI, NS, but realised there would be about 20 hours of driving once off the ferry :S. Have to fly there and rent a car after I hit 25 since car insurrance would be retarded otherwise.
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Hello guys,
waiting for the components and been looking at videos.
When installing the cpu cooler (hyper 212 plus), can I do it before putting the mobo in the case? and is the fan going to blow into the case?
I got a feeling Ill be asking alot of questions once the parts arrive 
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I've been noticing that in comparisson to a lot of other sites I've been reading, lower wattage psu's are being recommended for basically the same setups in this thread. Here the XFX 450 W is often recommended while it's often 600-700 W on other sites I've been reading. Are they just being careful? Is there any benefit of except the costs to lie closer to the real power consumption? If you are planning to have the computer for a long time isn't better to chose a larger power supply to leave room for future upgrades and (maybe?) some loss in efficiency? A quick google seems to suggest there isn't much downsides to having a larger psu than needed. Or is it more a matter of quality, like the XFX being able to deliver the right wattage, amps and such as worse psu's with higher wattage?
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Recently I posted on these forums with my budget of $2000 - $3500 for a gaming PC that would be able to play any game that is brought out in the next few years. I came across a cheaper version here: http://www.i-tech.com.au/products/87906_Altech_NRG_TYPHOON_i5S_Intel_Quad.aspx, however now that it is no longer for sale, I am looking for other options. I would preferably not like to build the PC myself, as I don't trust myself with building a computer from a fear of screwing it all up (its happened before). I am looking to purchase this computer towards the end of this year, and one of the main things i want is to be able to play games like starcraft 2 on the highest possible settings along with fast speeds and little to no problems with the running of anything on the pc itself.
Any help with this is greatly appreciated!
Paroxysm.
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nam nam, I went to both of the stores in your link, and both of them said the item could not be found . That looked almost identical to the one that I posted however. I was unable to find any other ones of it in my searching :S
EDIT: Scrolled down on the link :D
EDIT 2: Would that PC run SC2 on the highest settings, and would it be wise, seeing that I have a higher budget now, to purchase a slightly better PC that will last longer in terms of technical upgrades? E.G. The better computer will not be outdated by games as quickly?
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5930 Posts
No you cannot futureproof a computer. Do not even try doing so, buy parts with the best price/performance because regardless of how much you spend, it will be completely obsolete in two years.
To use an example, someone could have bought a Core 2 Quad Extreme and SLI 9800GTX for around $4000 or something stupidly high a few years ago. A $600 computer today outperforms that thing with like 1/4 the total power draw and noise.
Here is a sample build with parts sourced from pccasegear.com:
![[image loading]](http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/5274/computerdesktop.png)
If you want to have someone build it for you and give you somewhat decent warranty support, get a system from Scorptec. Prices are generally inline with most places in Australia and people tend to have good opinions of them.
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On August 08 2011 22:36 Paroxysm wrote:nam nam, I went to both of the stores in your link, and both of them said the item could not be found . That looked almost identical to the one that I posted however. I was unable to find any other ones of it in my searching :S EDIT: Scrolled down on the link :D EDIT 2: Would that PC run SC2 on the highest settings, and would it be wise, seeing that I have a higher budget now, to purchase a slightly better PC that will last longer in terms of technical upgrades? E.G. The better computer will not be outdated by games as quickly?
As an answer to you second edit, it would run sc2 on highest settings no problem.
As for you question about longevity I can't really say. It's really hard to know what hardware will be needed in several years but such a setup with an overclocked i5-2500k and a hd6950 will probably last quite a while and I don't think it's really worth it to invest more, at least from future proof point of view. If you have some specific need it might be different (like streaming hd content etc)
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On August 08 2011 20:49 gruff wrote:
I've been noticing that in comparisson to a lot of other sites I've been reading, lower wattage psu's are being recommended for basically the same setups in this thread. Here the XFX 450 W is often recommended while it's often 600-700 W on other sites I've been reading. Are they just being careful? Is there any benefit of except the costs to lie closer to the real power consumption? If you are planning to have the computer for a long time isn't better to chose a larger power supply to leave room for future upgrades and (maybe?) some loss in efficiency? A quick google seems to suggest there isn't much downsides to having a larger psu than needed. Or is it more a matter of quality, like the XFX being able to deliver the right wattage, amps and such as worse psu's with higher wattage?
What other sites?
Those other sites either dont know what they are talking about, are stuck in the past or are super mega ultra extra safe. The xfx core 450W has more A over the 12V line than most 500W or even some 550W PSU's. Besides that, its of good quality and its cheap.
A system these days with a single GPU doesn't even draw 400W(very high end system with a GTX 580 might draw more), so the xfx 450W does the job for most systems.
As for the upgrade path, newer components often use less power, so you dont need more Watt for that.
The downside of buying more wattage PSU is that you spent extra money that you dont have to. If you go way overboard you even lose in efficiency. Overall its better to buy a quality PSU with a lower wattage than a PSU of less quality with a higher wattage.
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EPT
