New PC build - Review

[Dreamer102]

I've put together a listing of the components that I have selected for my 2012 PC build. I would like the LL community to critique my selections as they will have to run Oblivion on "ultra" graphics and Skyrim on "high" graphics.

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

 

I haven't selected the power supply yet because I need to get an idea of how many Watts provided will be good for all of these components.

 

Please let me know what you think.

 

[Jerbsinator]

Go with an i5 or i7 if you can. Even with 6 cores the Intel cores are still better. Here's a benchmark http://www.cpubenchmark.net/common_cpus.html

 

Most games don't use 4 cores, let alone 6. i5 is good for gaming, i7 is good if you do a lot of rendering. Just make sure you get the unlocked versions if you want to Overclock. An example of this is i5 2500K, the K means it is unlocked.

 

This is a good one, it's out of stock at the moment but I'm sure it will be restocked by 2012. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072

[Mashi]

The i5/i7's are indeed good, though if you're wanting to stick with amd. The 965x4's are better bang for your buck, including in raw speed per-core. And for overclocking they're really good, especially since you can pick up a Antec KUHLER H2O 620 closed loop water cooler for around $49. The problem with the amd x6's is that they seriously underperform the x4's.

 

I'd also consider picking up a cheap SSD if you don't have one, a small 40gb or 60gb drive just to run windows off of. You will notice the difference, and there are a bunch of sales on right now, you can pick them up for as little as $69/60gb(corsair), sometimes cheaper with rebates, mir and then mail-in.

 

I have the M4A87TD/USB3, infact I liked it enough that when I built myself one. I built my sister her PC exactly the same. M4A87TD/USB3+965x4+g.skill eco(twin paired kits 8gb of ram) with 560's. Video cards are always a personal preference and I flip flop every other generation. Nvidia cards have a serious TDR problem right now, and are power hungry, and run hot, but have good 3d support, and good sli support. ATI cards have mediocre TDR problems and can run between hot and super hot, with okay sli support and excellent 3d support. So it's a toss one way or the other, like I said personal preference.

[Dreamer102]

Great suggestions gentlemen. I'd prefer to stick with AMD chips. I know Intel may be faster for cheaper but I haven't had the best experiences with intel chips.

 

I believe I will shelve the AMD x6 chip and get the AMD Phenom II x4 955 Black Edition.

It will cost a little less too lol...

 

The suggestion for using an SSD for the OS is genius. I will definitely look into that as well. As long as any programs don't have an insane requirement to be located on the main OS drive...things should be great!

 

Thanks!

[Mashi]

I'd get the 965 over the 955 if you want to OC, the 965 handles the stress better, and can even take lower voltages with a higher bump in clock speed(3.8-3.9ghz isn't uncommon from a OC'd 965 with stock, or a slight undervolt). The difference in price is about $10, but a lot of places have the 965 on sale with a $10MIR making the 965 the same price as the 955. At least they do up here in Canada. The SSD? 60GB is enough for the OS(20-25GB for windows), and a game. If you use steam, you can move one over using steam mover, or one of the other programs.

 

I've had no problems with either of the SSD's I use. Both are OCZ, agility's. One is a first generation, the other is an agility III, the first SSD has been going strong for over a year now, with an active swap file on it, and it's nearly as fast as the day I bought it with 78% of the estimated life on it still. Probably more since it hasn't used any reserve blocks yet.

 

Steam mover: (Win7/vista only) - important, XP doesn't support proper junctions for this.

http://www.softpedia.com/get/File-managers/Steam-Mover.shtml

 

What it does is it makes an active junction point between two directories. Meaning if something is listed in say d:\steam\steamapps\etec\crapitycrap\gamename and you want to put it on your ssd, it'll make a virtual link between the steam folder and the new location and move everything over for you.

[Dreamer102]

I refuse to use steam or buy games that require it.

My oblivion is on a DVD as are all of the games I play.

 

I liken steam to dry cleaning.

It's bad enough having to buy clothes as expensive as they are.

Having to pay for a maintenance agreement to keep wearing them is unacceptable.

 

I know steam works for others, but Steam just rubbed me wrong way back when half-life-2 came out and I couldn't play my game because I didn't have an internet connection.

 

I will shoot for the 965 series then, thank you for the information. It's been so long since I built a new home PC. I spec out VM servers, file servers and laptops at least once a month for work, but never my home stuff...so my knowledge of what's best for gaming is far behind my business application knowledge.

[Jerbsinator]

I liken steam to dry cleaning.

It's bad enough having to buy clothes as expensive as they are.

Having to pay for a maintenance agreement to keep wearing them is unacceptable.

 

I know steam works for others' date=' but Steam just rubbed me wrong way back when half-life-2 came out and I couldn't play my game because I didn't have an internet connection.

[/quote']

 

You're not going to like Skyrim then...

[Dreamer102]

I liken steam to dry cleaning.

It's bad enough having to buy clothes as expensive as they are.

Having to pay for a maintenance agreement to keep wearing them is unacceptable.

 

I know steam works for others' date=' but Steam just rubbed me wrong way back when half-life-2 came out and I couldn't play my game because I didn't have an internet connection.

[/quote']

 

You're not going to like Skyrim then...

 

Oh crap...tell me that Skyrim doesn't require Steam.

:mad:

:mad:

:mad:

 

[Jerbsinator]

http://www.loverslab.com/showthread.php?tid=3263

 

Sorry but ya, it does. I think there is a work around but it sounds iffy.

[Dreamer102]

Ah damnit...

 

Well, by the time xLovers comes out for Skyrim, someone will have come up with a way around Steam for the game.

 

I can wait.

[Ryanhabs]

I'm also doing a new build, granted my current pc runs skyrim on beyond ultra settings with the tweaks implemented but I would like to use my current pc for only 3d applications and my attempts at animations and mod construction. here's my list of components.

 

 

 

 

I prefer to stick with evga and intel when I can.

[Mashi]

The evga 560Ti-448 is very "meh" in terms of cooling and the quality of the cooler. If you're looking at getting one, you might want to buy a arctic cooling or thermalright, or zalman replacement for it.

 

And when I say crappy I mean the heatpipes don't fully touch the card and it's gappy, over 2mm across the pipes. It's a very poorly designed cooler. But I've heard zotac's isn't much better either.

 

Crappy cooler:

 

 

Pulled from thread here: http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.aspx?m=1344502&mpage=3

 

 

 

Everything else looks pretty nice to me, the last while I've been using g.skill I've really come to like them. Though one thing, if you think you'll want to run your box a bit cooler, look at their eco line. It's undervolted(usually 1.25-1.3v) instead of 1.5v, and does help.

 

Oh and order yourself some 6" or 10" sata cables from monoprice if you're going for pretty. I think the mobo comes with the standard 18-24" jobs which can make for cable clutter hell.

 

edit: Oh and if you are going to get one of the 560ti-448's, order fast. They're selling out everywhere really fast. I think newegg is the only supplier with stock left.

[Jerbsinator]

Does anyone here have a HD6950 and can you confirm if it has better cooling the the 560 Ti? I hear lots of complaining about the 560 and I'm wondering if 6950s are any better. I was thinking about this http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161372 ya it's pretty pricy but it looks like an amazing card and maybe the price will go down in 2 months or so....you never know.

[Ryanhabs]

I don't actually order anything, I just need to stop by the shop and take what I want. I chose the 560ti because I already have my current machine running 2 gtx 590 classifieds. I will most likely get a liquid cooling system for just the gpu's. I tend to find that most cards with the built on fans (all of them that is) are a bit lack luster unless you have very good air flow through the case.

 

I'm going to SLi 2 of the 560ti-448's. I checked and we have a couple coming in on monday or tuesday.

[Mashi]

Does anyone here have a HD6950 and can you confirm if it has better cooling the the 560 Ti? I hear lots of complaining about the 560 and I'm wondering if 6950s are any better. I was thinking about this http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161372 ya it's pretty pricy but it looks like an amazing card and maybe the price will go down in 2 months or so....you never know.

Well my 560 that just baked itself ran around 65C under 100% load' date=' in skyrim. My new 560ti runs around 55-58C under 100% load, whether it's a better cooling design or what I can't say. So I guess take that as it's worth.

 

The card prices on the top-end stuff will drop in the new year, but probably not for another 3-4 months. Because nvidia and ati delayed their next flagship cards until early to late next year, depending on which report you read.

 

I don't actually order anything, I just need to stop by the shop and take what I want. I chose the 560ti because I already have my current machine running 2 gtx 590 classifieds. I will most likely get a liquid cooling system for just the gpu's. ...

Well the liquid cooling will work, but the cards are new enough you might not find a cooler that fits it. I have heard from a few people that the 560ti-448 uses a 570 reference board.

 

[Ryanhabs]

Well the liquid cooling will work' date=' but the cards are new enough you might not find a cooler that fits it. I have heard from a few people that the 560ti-448 uses a 570 reference board.

 

[/quote']

 

I own / run a high-end custom pc build shop. If we don't have something that will fit we make something to fit. Seeing I don't actually work anymore, coming up with different gaming pc builds and such is sort of like job related research. The best part is all the stuff I use is just a company write-off.

 

[Jerbsinator]

Well my 560 that just baked itself ran around 65C under 100% load' date=' in skyrim. My new 560ti runs around 55-58C under 100% load, whether it's a better cooling design or what I can't say. So I guess take that as it's worth.

[/quote']

 

Hmm that is odd, that is what my 4850 runs at under load and it runs perfectly fine. I've heard of people having their cards in the 80s and still run fine. I don't see how yours baked from 65....did it actually literally fry itself or did it just stop working?

[Mashi]

I own / run a high-end custom pc build shop. If we don't have something that will fit we make something to fit. Seeing I don't actually work anymore' date=' coming up with different gaming pc builds and such is sort of like job related research. The best part is all the stuff I use is just a company write-off.

[/quote']

Nice. I used to work at a shop building custom PC's back around 12-15ish years ago, I still get teary eyed at some of the oc mods we could do back then, old intel(celery's crunchy with a bland taste) slot1 300's and 333's running at double and triple speeds. Weee! Really fun to play with the lack of cache really made for easy overclocking on those things. But it was always nice when you could "write" something off, or claim it as an expense. Well that, and it was sure a hell of a lot cheaper. Hah!

 

And it was always fun popping P90's and shattering P75's off motherboards when you got bored.

 

Hmm that is odd' date=' that is what my 4850 runs at under load and it runs perfectly fine. I've heard of people having their cards in the 80s and still run fine. I don't see how yours baked from 65....did it actually literally fry itself or did it just stop working?[/quote']It went right out and fried itself. Oddly enough the card never broke 68C even at the hottest days of summer. By the looks of it, one of the heat pipes has a small hole in it and lost whatever was in it, since there's a stain from the upper side of one of the tubes along the heatsink, and it slowly baked out on one side. It was also on the same side as the voltage regulator, so it's possible that it could have baked instead of the GPU. Though the card itself looks clean. But since it's under warranty it's no biggie to me. If I get ambitious before I RMA it out I'll yank the cooler off to check.

 

 

[matisaac]

Hi all,

 

I also recently got an upgrade for myself. i5 2500k and a MSI HD6950 Twin Frozr III oc edition, the later of which I can really recomend. It runs crysis II high res texture pack and DX 11 settings at a min of 30fps -I game at 1920x1080- (but for some reason on one of the erlier missions there is this sewer system and if i go near it my computer just packs up and leaves the room get like 14fps).

 

As far as its temps go, i've never seen it exeed 63 degrees celcius. As for it running skyrim, well it just laughs at this graphicaly dated console port, ^.^ easily maxed everything at 1920x1080. (I say graphically dated because I view the texture quality to be the most important graphical setting and one that skyrim dosnt achieve too well.)

[cyb3r]

for psu wise i personally prefer the corsair higher end series the reason : anything below the 1200w version is made by a different company that actually has less watts in the psu than advertised on the box tho the main thing to watch out for when going sli is amperage since you need a fair amount of it on the 12v rails

[wtfzz]

I recommend you getting better RAM than that. Otherwise you would only regret it in like a year or two when every new game is barely playable.

[Dreamer102]

I'm also doing a new build' date=' granted my current pc runs skyrim on beyond ultra settings with the tweaks implemented but I would like to use my current pc for only 3d applications and my attempts at animations and mod construction. here's my list of components.

 

 

[img']http://i.imgur.com/mqq80.png[/img]

 

 

I prefer to stick with evga and intel when I can.

 

Too rich for my blood.

You must either be single or independently wealthy lol...

 

EDIT: Confirmed...lol

 

I own / run a high-end custom pc build shop. If we don't have something that will fit we make something to fit. Seeing I don't actually work anymore' date=' coming up with different gaming pc builds and such is sort of like job related research. The best part is all the stuff I use is just a company write-off.

 

[/quote']

 

[Dreamer102]

I recommend you getting better RAM than that. Otherwise you would only regret it in like a year or two when every new game is barely playable.

 

What ram would you recommend, I'm way out of the game of knowing what is best for....gaming currently. I only selected that corsair ram package on a Newegg.com recommendation.

 

 

[Ryanhabs]

Ocz, G.skill, Crucial are some of the seemingly most popular when it comes to gaming. I can also say I have never had any issues with Mushkin either. Your best bet is to check your mobo manufacturer site and see if they have a suggested ram list for your specific motherboard. While I like the Asus boards, (i don't know if they have changed in this at all since my last one) they are very picky about what ram will work without issues.

[Mashi]

They are indeed picky as hell. Though most OCZ, G.Skill and Crucial memory will work. Mushkin, and Kingston seemed to be the ones that give my buddy grief when he's building new boxes on the evo boards. And it's not just a particular spec, it can be just one stick.