(Gaming Rig) Assembling PC, Parts Chosen but need suggestions...

[chaztin]

Hey,

I have narrowed down to following components for my Gaming rig.

Budget is of around 95k +/- 5-10k and will be going for OC.

PSU - XFX Black Edition 850W Power Supply (P1-850B-NLG9)

Processor - Intel Core i7-2600K 3.40GHz Processor

MoBo - Asus Maximus IV Extreme-Z 32GB DDR3 Intel Motherboard 1

OD - Samsung 22X DVD RW Sata Black 1

Wireless-N Card - D-link Wireless N 150 Desktop Adapter

Cabinet - NZXT Phantom Crafted Series Cabinet

RAM - Gskill F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL

HDD 1 - Seagate Barracuda Green SATA 6Gbs 2TB

HDD 2 (SDD) - OCZ 120 GB AGILITY 3 SATA III 2.5 inch SSD

Graphics Card - Sapphire HD6950 2GB GDDR5 PCI-E

Will be buying "Noctua NH-D14 120mm & 140mm SSO CPU Cooler" a little later from now.

This is the first PC that I would be assembling myself (thats why confused even after narrowing down to almost a complete rig). Researched online a bit about different parts and narrowed down to the above rig. Now seeking all sorts of suggestions and comments.



Chaztin

 

[Liveware]

The PSU looks like a little overkill. You don't need such a high wattage PSU unless you are going for a dual GPU setup i.e. crossfire or sli.

 

[myth]

Go for a Seasonic SS-850AT/SS-850HT, it'll probably be the same as your XFX as XFX does use Seasonic as it's OEM supplier, you'll save tons of cash too.

The OCZ Agility 3 based on the Sandforce 2281 chip is known to cause BSODs on ASUS boards, so if you want to put that off for later purchase then it'd be better.

You can cross-flash the 6950 with the firmware from a 6970 and unlock the card.

 

[varunversion1]

Everything seems fine, if your monitor is more than 1080p then i would suggest a GTX580 instead of the 6950, also if ur planning on 3d better stick with nvidia.

Also the noctua is good but is very very big, why not try the water cooling a H80 or H100 would do nicely with better performance as well.

 

[chaztin]

Thanks for the reply guys .

Go for a Seasonic SS-850AT/SS-850HT, it'll probably be the same as your XFX as XFX does use Seasonic as it's OEM supplier, you'll save tons of cash too.

The OCZ Agility 3 based on the Sandforce 2281 chip is known to cause BSODs on ASUS boards, so if you want to put that off for later purchase then it'd be better.

You can cross-flash the 6950 with the firmware from a 6970 and unlock the card.

Didn't knew XFX is backed by Seasonic itself :S, I will check out Seasonic models as well now.

I was willing to get one SSD as of now itself, any other suggestions thats compatible with Asus Motherboards?

6970 unlocking was one of the reasons I was going for 6950 .

Everything seems fine, if your monitor is more than 1080p then i would suggest a GTX580 instead of the 6950, also if ur planning on 3d better stick with nvidia.

Also the noctua is good but is very very big, why not try the water cooling a H80 or H100 would do nicely with better performance as well.

3D doesn't matter much as I prefer 2D gaming to it but yes even I was willing to pickup nVidia over Radeon but didn't find similar model in similar prince range ( around 17-20k) in nVidia , also I am going to use this rig with my Samsung 46" 3D Led TV. So 6950 won't be enough for it?

Ya this particular Noctua model is pretty huge. I absolutely don't have any idea regarding water cooling systems. Will they give equivalent/better result? I read in a review that NZXT Phantom has a pretty good outings and spaces for water cooling system.

 

[myth]

The 6950 card should be enough for any monitor that supports it's max resolution. Though cards from AMD are quite power hungry, this particular one does allow you to upgrade via firmware and get a card that costs 19-21k. Nvidia on the other hand fuses the unwanted cores so they can't be unlocked in anyway.

Water cooling is great, but the chances of incurring leaks are also existent. Maintenance also increases likewise. If the fans are configured properly then you can throw the CPU heat outside and reduce the overall temp in the case but there is no incidental airflow in this scenario. Air-coolers do have incidental air-flow which helps to cool the VRM and RAM by a little bit. Closed liquid cooling systems are present like the Corsair H series which are noisy and require no maintenance but they perform similar to the NH-D14 except for the H100 which has been released recently.

 

[chaztin]

Oh, so I shall stick to 6950. Even I am planning the same now as I have heard new range of geforce would be out soon.

Bro, you clarified a lot of stuff and confused me equally . I am still confused regarding which cooling system shall I choose . I am ready to spend upto 9k on it. But want it to be efficient and cheap. Also even I am a bit hesitant to go for water cooling system.

Also all the SSDs show up issues with Asus MoBos?

--- Updated Post - Automerged ---

The PSU looks like a little overkill. You don't need such a high wattage PSU unless you are going for a dual GPU setup i.e. crossfire or sli.

Missed your post previously. Yes actually I will be adding more stuff soon and so the 850w PSU .

 

[ALPHA17]

Okay for your needs [I factored in over-clocking] I feel this RIG will also make the mark [and the same time be a little cheaper]

Intel Core i5 2500k ~ 11500/- + Noctua NH-D14 ~ 4800/-

ASUS P8P67-V PRO ~ 14500/-

Corsair XMS3 1600 MHz CL9 (4GB x 1 module) ~ 1550/- [the lower profile heat-spreaders help that you can populate all your RAM slots inspite of the massive cooler sitting on your CPU and overhanging onto your RAM slots, performance is good too]

Sapphire HD 6950 2GB ~ 15500/- [The extra RAM comes in handy for the resolutions you'll game at, as well flash it and you might be lucky -- AMD Radeon HD 6950 to HD 6970 Mod | techPowerUp] OR for nVidia you can get the GTX 570 ~ 21500/-

Cooler Master Silent Power Pro M800 ~ 8500/- [modular SMPS with all the connectors you'll need later, also Bronze certified]

Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB x 2 ~ 4900/- [go for a green edition drive and you'll slow down the system, no point getting an SSD then]

SSD -- no particular model as such but get atleast a 120GB drive and here are a few articles on the same about newer NAND [25nm fabrication processe] causing several customer related issues -- http://www.ssdfreaks.com/content/552/the-side-effects-of-moving-to-25nm-nand-in-ssds / http://ssdtechnologyforum.com/threads/1244-SSDs-Shifting-to-25nm-NAND-What-You-Need-to-Know

NZXT Tempest EVO should suit your needs as well and will be cheaper too ~ 6000/- [here are a few articles on the same -- NZXT TEMPEST EVO Computer Case Review - Overclockers Club / NZXT Tempest EVO Review - Page 1/6 | techPowerUp]

Audio can be taken care of the Corsair SP 2500 [not aware of street prices though] -- Corsair SP2500 Review | bit-tech.net / Corsair SP2500 speaker review ~ 14500/- seems to be the pricing. Source -- Review: Corsair SP 2500 2.1 speakers - NDTVGadgets.com.

Hope this helps Sire and some other articles which will help --

Guide - How TIM Works & How To Apply It Correctly | bit-tech.net -- TIM and other DIY information for over-clocking.

I don't think any Corsair H-series unit will deliver the cooling capability of the Noctua line-up [within budget that is] -- Noctua NH-D14 Review - Page 1/6 | techPowerUp / Noctua NH-D14 Review - Overclockers Club

AMD HD 6950 2GB vs. nVidia GTX 570 -- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 Review / GeForce GTX 570 review / AMD Radeon HD 6970 and HD 6950 Review.

Price / performance of Intel Core i5 2500 vs. Core i7 2600 -- http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/287?vs=288.

The 6950 card should be enough for any monitor that supports it's max resolution. Though cards from AMD are quite power hungry, this particular one does allow you to upgrade via firmware and get a card that costs 19-21k. Nvidia on the other hand fuses the unwanted cores so they can't be unlocked in anyway.

Says who it sucks a lot less than nVidia Fermi based card -- http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/293?vs=306.

Oh, so I shall stick to 6950. Even I am planning the same now as I have heard new range of geforce would be out soon.

No new nVidia cards are coming until March next year, Kepler got delayed to Q1-Q2 2012 [seems they did not want the Fermi fiasco repeating itself, walking on stage with a dummy card -- http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/news/video/nvidia-fermi-gt300-video-cards-vaporware/ / http://www.techpowerup.com/105052/NVIDIA_Fermi__Tesla_Board_Pictured_in_Greater_Detail_Non-Functional_Dummy_Unveiled.html -- http://www.tomshardware.com/news/nvidia-gpu-kepler-fermi-update,13188.html / http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/nvidia_confirms_kepler_gpu_delayed_until_2012.

On the other hand AMD Southern Island GPU's should be out in force around the December 2011 time frame -- http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=346294 / http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/graphics/display/20110614234623_AMD_Reaffirms_Plans_to_Introduce_Next_Generation_Radeon_Graphics_Later_This_Year.html.

Hope this helps.

 

[Infected]

Also all the SSDs show up issues with Asus MoBos?

Well most of them with the SF 2200 controller I suggest to get the earlier gen or wait to invest there ...

or get the intel ones...

 

[Gannu]

Get a Corsair HX850 power supply. It has a 7 year warranty. And stick with RAM modules with low-profile heatspreaders. Something like the Corsair XMS 3/G.Skill Ripjaws. Anything higher and your heatsink/fan will interfere with the heatspreaders.

Sorry if I missed it but with what display is this system intended to be used?

 

[ALPHA17]

Get a Corsair HX850 power supply. It has a 7 year warranty. And stick with RAM modules with low-profile heatspreaders. Something like the Corsair XMS 3/G.Skill Ripjaws. Anything higher and your heatsink/fan will interfere with the heatspreaders.

Sorry if I missed it but with what display is this system intended to be used?

also I am going to use this rig with my Samsung 46" 3D Led TV. So 6950 won't be enough for it?

Sire, OP will use his LCD panel.

 

[chaztin]

[/COLOR]

Okay for your needs [I factored in over-clocking] I feel this RIG will also make the mark [and the same time be a little cheaper]

Intel Core i5 2500k ~ 11500/- + Noctua NH-D14 ~ 4800/-

ASUS P8P67-V PRO ~ 11500/-

Corsair XMS3 1600 MHz CL9 (4GB x 1 module) ~ 1550/- [the lower profile heat-spreaders help that you can populate all your RAM slots inspite of the massive cooler sitting on your CPU and overhanging onto your RAM slots, performance is good too]

Sapphire HD 6950 2GB ~ 15500/- [The extra RAM comes in handy for the resolutions you'll game at, as well flash it and you might be lucky -- AMD Radeon HD 6950 to HD 6970 Mod | techPowerUp] OR for nVidia you can get the GTX 570 ~ 21500/-

Cooler Master Silent Power Pro M800 ~ 8500/- [modular SMPS with all the connectors you'll need later, also Bronze certified]

Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB x 2 ~ 4900/- [go for a green edition drive and you'll slow down the system, no point getting an SSD then]

SSD -- no particular model as such but get atleast a 120GB drive and here are a few articles on the same about newer NAND [25nm fabrication processe] causing several customer related issues -- http://www.ssdfreaks.com/content/552/the-side-effects-of-moving-to-25nm-nand-in-ssds / http://ssdtechnologyforum.com/threads/1244-SSDs-Shifting-to-25nm-NAND-What-You-Need-to-Know

NZXT Tempest EVO should suit your needs as well and will be cheaper too ~ 6000/- [here are a few articles on the same -- NZXT TEMPEST EVO Computer Case Review - Overclockers Club / NZXT Tempest EVO Review - Page 1/6 | techPowerUp]

Audio can be taken care of the Corsair SP 2500 [not aware of street prices though] -- Corsair SP2500 Review | bit-tech.net / Corsair SP2500 speaker review ~ 14500/- seems to be the pricing. Source -- Review: Corsair SP 2500 2.1 speakers - NDTVGadgets.com.

Hope this helps Sire and some other articles which will help --

Guide - How TIM Works & How To Apply It Correctly | bit-tech.net -- TIM and other DIY information for over-clocking.

I don't think any Corsair H-series unit will deliver the cooling capability of the Noctua line-up [within budget that is] -- Noctua NH-D14 Review - Page 1/6 | techPowerUp / Noctua NH-D14 Review - Overclockers Club

AMD HD 6950 2GB vs. nVidia GTX 570 -- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 Review / GeForce GTX 570 review / AMD Radeon HD 6970 and HD 6950 Review.

Price / performance of Intel Core i5 2500 vs. Core i7 2600 -- AnandTech - Bench - CPU.

Says who it sucks a lot less than nVidia Fermi based card -- AnandTech - Bench - GPU11.

No new nVidia cards are coming until March next year, Kepler got delayed to Q1-Q2 2012 [seems they did not want the Fermi fiasco repeating itself, walking on stage with a dummy card -- NVIDIA Fermi GT300 Video Cards A Fake? | Hardware Canucks / NVIDIA 'Fermi', Tesla Board Pictured in Greater Detail, Non-Functional Dummy Unveiled | techPowerUp -- Nvidia's Kepler to Arrive in 2012 / Maximum PC | Nvidia Confirms Kepler GPU Delayed Until 2012.

On the other hand AMD Southern Island GPU's should be out in force around the December 2011 time frame -- AMD's Southern Islands on Track for Release in 2011 - Guru3D.com Forums / AMD Reaffirms Plans to Introduce Next-Generation Radeon Graphics Later This Year - X-bit labs.

Hope this helps.

Hey, thanks for the reply .

First of all I want to ask that just 4 GBs of RAM from a gaming rig would be enough? I can rather use some other heatsink or stuff?

Also thanks for the rig that you prepared for me. Out of that I am totally going for two things i7 2600k and Radeon HD6950.

I am still confused between Seasonic and Cooler Master that you suggested as both of them are having good reviews.

My biggest confusion now is HDD. SSDs are a nono reading lot of issues with them, but then as Infected suggested, Intel ones might be good at the same time Seagate Cavier green was appearing pretty cheap but its quite slower as compared to Barracuda XT. If I install a 40GB Intel SSD + 1 TB Barracuda XT and Cavier greed as kind of secondary HDD, how would that be? I was looking for a cheap solution for higher capacity HDD but slower HDDs ofcourse would kill the whole purpose of good gaming rig with SSD.

--- Updated Post - Automerged ---

Well most of them with the SF 2200 controller I suggest to get the earlier gen or wait to invest there ...

or get the intel ones...

I think I will hold the idea of getting an SSD as I have heard equal amount of good and bad reviews for them. I hope intel is a savior, will check its reviews now ( didn't even knew intel is into SSDs ).

Get a Corsair HX850 power supply. It has a 7 year warranty. And stick with RAM modules with low-profile heatspreaders. Something like the Corsair XMS 3/G.Skill Ripjaws. Anything higher and your heatsink/fan will interfere with the heatspreaders.

Sorry if I missed it but with what display is this system intended to be used?

Hey Gannu,

First of all I want to ask where in Surat can I find good Computer hardware shop? Or shall I just get them from ITDEPOT/ITWARES/PRIMEabgb?

Yes, I have change of plan regarding RAMs, as I would need a heatsink soon.

Also I would be using a 46 inch 3d led tv with that rig.

 

[quixand]

@OP Are you going to use the 46" LED TV 24x7 sitting 2 or 3 feet away?

 

[chaztin]

Not exactly 24x7 as I spend more time Xbox or Job . Also distance is about 9-10+ feet. I would be using Xbox controller/Wireless KB & Mouse.

 

[quixand]

^^ Ok. Guess you'll need a jumbo sized bean bag now

 

[Gannu]

Hey Gannu,

First of all I want to ask where in Surat can I find good Computer hardware shop? Or shall I just get them from ITDEPOT/ITWARES/PRIMEabgb?

Yes, I have change of plan regarding RAMs, as I would need a heatsink soon.

Also I would be using a 46 inch 3d led tv with that rig.

Chances of finding a good h/w shop here in Surat is zilch! Stick to online retailer such as eBay, Prime ABGB, dvdstoredelhi etc.

No issues regarding the display front - was just curious.

 

[ALPHA17]

[/COLOR]

Hey, thanks for the reply .

First of all I want to ask that just 4 GBs of RAM from a gaming rig would be enough? I can rather use some other heatsink or stuff?

Also thanks for the rig that you prepared for me. Out of that I am totally going for two things i7 2600k and Radeon HD6950.

I am still confused between Seasonic and Cooler Master that you suggested as both of them are having good reviews.

My biggest confusion now is HDD. SSDs are a nono reading lot of issues with them, but then as Infected suggested, Intel ones might be good at the same time Seagate Cavier green was appearing pretty cheap but its quite slower as compared to Barracuda XT. If I install a 40GB Intel SSD + 1 TB Barracuda XT and Cavier greed as kind of secondary HDD, how would that be? I was looking for a cheap solution for higher capacity HDD but slower HDDs ofcourse would kill the whole purpose of good gaming rig with SSD.

I think I will hold the idea of getting an SSD as I have heard equal amount of good and bad reviews for them. I hope intel is a savior, will check its reviews now ( didn't even knew intel is into SSDs ).

Look for an over-clocking RIG the Core i5 2500k is more than enough and as you are not going to use anything like Autodesk MAYA OR productivity applications then you will not be exploiting Hyper-Threading OR the 200 MHz speed increment provided by the Core i7 2600k. For gaming RIG even the Core i5 2500 is more tha eough for all current games.

RAM I gave you indicative pricing of a single XMS3 1600MHz CL-9 4GB module ~ 1550/-, add as many modules as you need, I think 8GB right now should be more than enough for all purposes [dual-channel RAM configuration, gaming and over-clocking] also I'm telling you to get these RAM modules as they have a low-profile heat-spreader so it will not interrupt population of all your RAM slots even after you add a moster heat-sink-fan like the Noctua NH-D14 which overhangs the first two RAM slots.

The Western Digital Caviar Green model is the most unreliable drive in my view, have seen four of them crash due in 3-4 months of purchase [along with all the data in them]. So definitely I will recommend you get the slightly more expensive Seagate Barracuda 7200 RPM 1TB x 2 as a data dump [single platter density makes it a highly efficient disk-drive when talking about power guzzling + when you couple them you can get basic data redundancy without even setting up RAID]

Get minimum 120GB SSD for setting up OS as a 40GB one can't even take up Windows 7 [Windows 7 + Service Pack 1 ~ 49 GB total and you keep giving it patches it keeps burgeoning in size]

Rest I think your configuration is fine, hope this helps.

 

[chaztin]

Ok, RAM and HDD plans changed...will postpone the purchase of SSD. Going for Barracuda XT 2 TB as of now. Btw is it possible to install SDD later and making present HDD as Raid 0 without loosing any data or installed programs?

 

[chaztin]

Also 2 TB XT vs 2 x 1 TB barracuda?

Chaztin

 

[ALPHA17]

^^ Here is a review on the same, as well as the final conclusion drawn from the same,

When it comes to performance, the Barracuda XT is hands down the fastest hard disk drive money can currently buy. However, the larger improvements are mainly seen in synthetic benchmarks. In real-world applications, you aren't likely to notice the difference. Yes, the Barracuda XT is the first drive to use the latest SATA 6 Gbps interface, but, no, it doesn't benefit from it other than from a marketing standpoint.

Seagate Barracuda XT 2TB Review - Page 7 - Conclusion / Seagate Barracuda XT 6Gbps SATA-III HDD Preview | Seagate Barracuda XT,ST32000641AS,Hard Drive,6Gbps SATA-III,Seagate Barracuda XT 6Gbps SATA-III Hard Drive ST32000641AS Desktop Storage Performance Preview.

Why don't you get the 2TB Barracuda 7200.12 [standard edition] drives.