51 replies to this topic

[Pgoodwin1]

Don't underestimate the effect of the monitor on your experience. They are not all created equal in terms of brightness, contrast, linearity, speed, color accuracy. I haven't researched them for a few years so I don't have any recommendations.

[RyanS]

im defnitely already ahead of you about the SSD. for some reason i had corsair on the mind, not crucial. not sure what happened there haha. must have been thinking of the RAM i had in my old laptop. Also, what about the A-DATA SSD? i've had ram from that brand, and it was some beastly stuff. never had a problem with that brand.


and as the psu, i went ahead and changed it also. it was a bit more $$$ but worth it. then again i've had psu's by choice that people hated and i loved them. such as my Hipro 500W psu in my old desktop build. lol.

not trying to argue with anyone, i am glad for the help, im just also throwing in my 2 cents. but then again something this expensive i'd rather trust someone with more experience than i have.

and as for the monitor choice, i definitely research those as much as the other components. i've been in the boat where i've bought a crt monitor (when lcd's were expensive as hell) and it was fuzzy and the colors were horrible even after adjusting. it was most likely a defect, but still. i check the amount of RMA's and low reviews and compare them to the high reviews.

i'll test my settings with some other parts, then post up one more build and see if i get the thumbs up

[RyanS]

Configuration

• *BASE_PRICE: [+1289]
• BLUETOOTH: None
• CARE1: Ultra Enhanced Packaging Solution - Protect Your Dream System During Transit [+19]
• CARE2: CoolerMaster Thermal Fusion 400 Extreme Performance CPU - Thermal Compound Optimized for Thermal Dissipation [+10]
• CAS: NZXT Black Tempest 210 Mid-Tower Gaming Case [-20]
• CASUPGRADE: None
• CD: 24X Double Layer Dual Format DVD+-R/+-RW + CD-R/RW Drive (BLACK COLOR)
• CD2: None
• COOLANT: Standard Coolant
• CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-2600K 3.40 GHz 8M Intel Smart Cache LGA1155 (All Venom OC Certified) [-20]
• CS_FAN: Maximum 120MM Case Cooling Fans for your selected case [+9]
• ENGRAVING: NONE
• FA_HDD: None
• FAN: * Thermaltake FRIO Overclocking Cooler Fan (CLP0564) [+20]
• FLASHMEDIA: INTERNAL 12in1 Flash Media Reader/Writer (BLACK COLOR)
• FREEBIE_VC1: FREE Game Coupon Batman: Arkham City [+0]
• GLASSES: None
• HDD: 120 GB Intel 510 Series SATA-III 6.0Gb/s SSD - 450MB/s Read & 210MB/s Write [+155] (Single Drive)
• HDD2: 500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD [+94] (Single Hard Drive)
• IEEE_CARD: None
• IUSB: Built-in USB 2.0 Ports
• KEYBOARD: Xtreme Gear (Black Color) Multimedia/Internet USB Keyboard
• MB_SRT: None
• MEMORY: 8GB (2GBx4) DDR3/1600MHz Dual Channel Memory (Corsair or Major Brand)
• MONITOR: None
• MONITOR2: None
• MONITOR3: None
• MOTHERBOARD: [CrossFireX/SLI] ASRock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 Intel Z68 ATX Mainboard w/ Lucid Virtu, Intel SRT, UEFI & 7.1 THX TruStudio Audio, GbLAN, HDMI, USB3.0, SATA-III RAID, 3 Gen3 PCIe X16, 2 PCIe X1 & 2 PCI [+68]
• MOUSE: XtremeGear Optical USB 3 Buttons Gaming Mouse
• NCSW: None
• NETWORK: Onboard Gigabit LAN Network
• OS: Microsoft® Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit Edition)
• OVERCLOCK: No Overclocking
• POWERSUPPLY: 850 Watts - Raidmax RX-850AE 80 Plus Gold Power Supply [+59]
• RUSH: NO; READY TO SHIP IN 10~15 BUSINESS DAYS
• SERVICE: STANDARD WARRANTY: 3-YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY PLUS LIFE-TIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT
• SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
• SPEAKERS: 600Watts PMPO Subwoofer Stereo Speakers [+15]
• TEMP: None
• TVRC: None
• USB: None
• USBFLASH: None
• USBHD: None
• USBX: None
• VIDEO: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 Dual GPU SLI 3GB 16X PCIe Video Card [+543] (Major Brand Powered by NVIDIA)
• VIDEO2: None
• VIDEO3: None
• WNC: None
• XWNC1: Asus USB-N13 802.11b/g/n USB 2.0 300Mbps Wireless USB Adapter [+22]

when all is said and done (including my newegg purchases for this beast) its around 2300$

[RTB]

im defnitely already ahead of you about the SSD. for some reason i had corsair on the mind, not crucial. not sure what happened there haha. must have been thinking of the RAM i had in my old laptop. Also, what about the A-DATA SSD? i've had ram from that brand, and it was some beastly stuff. never had a problem with that brand.

Sadly, they run sandforce controllers.

and as the psu, i went ahead and changed it also. it was a bit more $$$ but worth it. then again i've had psu's by choice that people hated and i loved them. such as my Hipro 500W psu in my old desktop build. lol.

Just be aware that it's a cheap PSU, and will not do the "80 plus gold" advertised.

and as for the monitor choice, i definitely research those as much as the other components. i've been in the boat where i've bought a crt monitor (when lcd's were expensive as hell) and it was fuzzy and the colors were horrible even after adjusting. it was most likely a defect, but still. i check the amount of RMA's and low reviews and compare them to the high reviews.

I'm of the opinion that there isn't such a thing as a quality TN screen. It's just absurd that in almost a decade there has been so little progress for monitor technology. Given that the manufacturers received fines for price fixing yet continued on their merry way after that, I doubt we'll be seeing good progress from them ever.

[RyanS]

for everyone who has posted in here, thanks for the help. here is what im currently going with. (content is subject to change). im still iffy on the psu but hey, its got great reviews and i like the brand. any other suggestions available to me are nice as well.

here is the beast so far.

• BLUETOOTH: None
• CARE1: Ultra Enhanced Packaging Solution - Protect Your Dream System During Transit [+19]
• CARE2: CoolerMaster Thermal Fusion 400 Extreme Performance CPU - Thermal Compound Optimized for Thermal Dissipation [+10]
• CAS: NZXT Black Tempest 210 Mid-Tower Gaming Case [-20]
• CASUPGRADE: None
• CD: LG UH12LS28K 12X Blu-Ray Player & DVDRW Combo Drive [+41] (BLACK COLOR)
• CD2: None
• COOLANT: Standard Coolant
• CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-2600K 3.40 GHz 8M Intel Smart Cache LGA1155 (All Venom OC Certified) [-100]
• CS_FAN: Maximum 120MM Color Case Cooling Fans for your selected case [+15] (Blue Color)
• ENGRAVING: None
• FA_HDD: None
• FAN: * Thermaltake FRIO Overclocking Cooler Fan (CLP0564) [+20]
• FLASHMEDIA: INTERNAL 12in1 Flash Media Reader/Writer (BLACK COLOR)
• FREEBIE_VC1: FREE Just Cause 2 Game Coupon [+0]
• FREEBIE_VC2: FREE Game Coupon Batman: Arkham City [+0]
• GLASSES: None
• HDD: 120 GB OCZ Vertex 3 SATA-III 6.0Gb/s SSD - 550MB/s Read & 500MB/s Write [+57] (Single Drive)
• HDD2: 500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD [+94] (Single Hard Drive)
• IEEE_CARD: None
• IUSB: Built-in USB 2.0 Ports
• KEYBOARD: Xtreme Gear (Black Color) Multimedia/Internet USB Keyboard
• MB_SRT: None
• MEMORY: 8GB (2GBx4) DDR3/1600MHz Dual Channel Memory (Corsair or Major Brand)
• MONITOR: 24" Widescreen 1920x1080 Asus VS247H-P LCD [+157]
• MONITOR2: None
• MONITOR3: None
• MOTHERBOARD: [CrossFireX/SLI] ASRock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 Intel Z68 ATX Mainboard w/ Lucid Virtu, Intel SRT, UEFI & 7.1 THX TruStudio Audio, GbLAN, HDMI, USB3.0, SATA-III RAID, 3 Gen3 PCIe X16, 2 PCIe X1 & 2 PCI [+68]
• MOUSE: Logitech Optical Wheel Mouse [+2] (BLACK COLOR)
• NCSW: None
• NETWORK: Onboard Gigabit LAN Network
• OS: Microsoft® Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit Edition)
• OVERCLOCK: No Overclocking
• POWERSUPPLY: * 1,000 Watts - Thermaltake TP-1000M ToughPower Modular, 80 Plus Silver Certified, Quad SLI Ready, CrossfireX Ready & Active PFC Power Supply [+208]
• PRINTER_CABLE1: 6-FT HDMI Cable HDMI to HDMI mini, Male to Male Cable, v1.3 [+14] (1 piece)
• RUSH: NO; READY TO SHIP IN 10~15 BUSINESS DAYS
• SERVICE: STANDARD WARRANTY: 3-YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY PLUS LIFE-TIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT
• SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
• SPEAKERS: 600Watts PMPO Subwoofer Stereo Speakers [+15]
• TEMP: None
• TUNING: Intel® Core™ i7-2600K Performance Tuning Protection Plan by Intel [+29]
• TVRC: None
• USB: None
• USBFLASH: None
• USBHD: None
• USBX: None
• VIDEO: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 1.5GB 16X PCIe Video Card [+259] (EVGA Superclocked [+20])
• VIDEO2: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 1.5GB 16X PCIe Video Card [+515] (EVGA Superclocked [+20])
• VIDEO3: None
• WNC: PCI Wireless 802.11n 150Mbps Network Interface Card [+19]

[RyanS]

I would really love to try out the 7970 crossfire but ive heard a few bad things. But benchmarks blow awaysome competition. So my question is this...im not a huge fan of having to max out AA and stuff in games. Just want a high setting or max settings without much hassle. So two 1.5gb 580s in sli should do the trick for a 1920x1080 monitor right? Im assuming they will be fine for quite some time, or am i wrong?? Keep in mind i dont want to have to upgrade for a few years

[RTB]

HDD: 120 GB OCZ Vertex 3 SATA-III 6.0Gb/s SSD - 550MB/s Read & 500MB/s Write [+57] (Single Drive)

Why this change?

MONITOR: 24" Widescreen 1920x1080 Asus VS247H-P LCD [+157]

What would a Dell U2312HM cost there? Feature comparison here.

POWERSUPPLY: * 1,000 Watts - Thermaltake TP-1000M ToughPower Modular, 80 Plus Silver Certified, Quad SLI Ready, CrossfireX Ready & Active PFC Power Supply [+208]

Seems to be a fairly decent PSU, for SLI 580 you'll need 1000 watts too.

PRINTER_CABLE1: 6-FT HDMI Cable HDMI to HDMI mini, Male to Male Cable, v1.3 [+14] (1 piece)

What is this?

TUNING: Intel® Core™ i7-2600K Performance Tuning Protection Plan by Intel [+29]

Afraid to fry it?

VIDEO: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 1.5GB 16X PCIe Video Card [+259] (EVGA Superclocked [+20])
VIDEO2: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 1.5GB 16X PCIe Video Card [+515] (EVGA Superclocked [+20])

For 1080p gaming this is way overkill, so again it's the question if you want to fold 24/7 at huge speed/cost or you want the power for gaming. Note that a single 580 is enough for now, and that it's cheaper to keep the 500 dollar and buy a new videocard when it's no longer sufficient. Of course, the only reason to get a 580 at this point is for folding, because the 7970 is plainly better (and still overkill for 1080p).

[RyanS]

Lol oops. The ssd is the intel 510 (i had multiple tabs open fir builds)
The monitor is gone as well...its actually a 139$ 1080p from newegg.
No friggin idea ehere the cable came from as i didnt select one.
Its always nice to get a free replacement when ocing haha. Im sure ill be careful but its insurance.
And sli for the reason of me being the person who upgrades now and saves later. But im currently trying to keep my budget around 2500 and still get crossfire 7970. Same reason. Although i may get one 7970 and upgrade to crossfire later. But i want want dual cards for

[RyanS]

ok here's one for ya. from my research if i want to get 2 7970's (...which i do....its a guy thing haha...plus i cant upgrade for quite some time, so im doing it all now) i need to make some cuts here to meet budget...now i know how much better the SSD is. and if i install the main game or 2 i'd be playing on the SSD i know (or at least i assume) that the level load and save times will be quicker, but it wont really improve my performance other than that, and windows load/powerdown times. except small things like waiting one second less for firefox or something like that. but still, would i really actually NOTICE THE CHANGE other than load times...if not i think im gonna skip the ssd until later...of course, who the hell knows.

or stick with the ssd and get something smaller such as a single 7970...which i dont want to have to upgrade my card later. because it would be less of a pain to just pop in a new graphics card than reformat the OS and stuff onto an SSD later on....
but like i said, i want the best i can get now so no upgrading for a while. or stick with the 2 gtx 580s? cause i'll do folding, but still i'd put my present gaming/future gaming ahead of folding if im paying this much.

any ideas?


on a seperate note, i know the difference between 80+ gold and bronze...but would i really notice it on the electric bill....hell more importantly will i really notice it on the lifespan or anything of my components being powered by an 80+ bronze compared to a gold....stupid question yes. but my head is spinning while im currently researching literally enough tabs to slow down nasa haha. (multiple projects going on and what not)

[Blako]

Would the solid state drive help the windows page file? Why Samsung says you need a SSD.

2 GTX 580's would give you the option to fold on the better cooled card while gaming on the other. A single 580 would let you play most 2011 games on highesh settings. Um in the past sli had to be disabled. But it appears that nvidia created drivers allowing us to fold SLI enabled, with 2 clients on 2 cards.

Here are the multi-GPU specific requirements:

• The current multi-GPU installation guide requires more than a basic knowledge of Microsoft Windows, and of the FAH software.
• SLI or Crossfire does not have to be disabled to run the GPU client. However, SLI and CF cannot be used to make a dual GPU card or cards perform like one super GPU. The SLI and CF link does not have enough bandwidth to support that functionality. Run one FAH GPU client for each GPU chip.
• If you are running multiple GPU cards with SLI or Crossfire, you may need to extend the desktop for the client to recognize multiple GPUs.
• If Windows prompts for a new driver, hit CANCEL. The default Windows driver may not be the best driver to use. Allowing Windows to install a driver automatically runs the risk of having sub-par performances and/or client installation issues.
• If you run Windows Vista or Windows 7, you may need to have each GPU connected to a monitor (a KVM can also work but not all models of KVM will provide a signal when it is not the active monitor). Another alternative is to use VGA dummy plug.

Tomshardware GPU charts
3D Guru gtx 580

[RTB]

If option 1 is "SSD, single card" and option 2 is "no SSD, SLI/crossfire", then you really want option 1. You will notice the speed of the SSD on everything you do on that computer, as opposed to better average fps at the cost of higher energy consumption, which you won't even notice if the fps is over 60ish to begin with.

As for 80 gold versus 80 bronze:

label    Load->	20% 	50%	100%
80 PLUS Bronze 	82% 	85% 	82% 
80 PLUS Gold 	87% 	90% 	87% 

650 watt, single 580

idle: ~130 watt
load: ~400 watt

bronze idle real wattage: 130 / 0.82 = 158.5
bronze load real wattage: 400 / 0.84 = 476.2 (84% assuming graph is linear for about 61% load, which it is not, but close enough)
gold   idle real wattage: 130 / 0.87 = 149.4
gold   load real wattage: 400 / 0.89 = 449.4 (61% load -> 89% efficient assumption)

difference at idle: 158.5 - 149.4 = 9.1 watt
difference at load: 476.2 - 449.4 = 26.8 watt

if kept on 24 hours a day, difference at idle: 9.1 * 24 = 218.4watt = 0.2184 KWh
thus yearly, the difference is at least 0.2184 * 365 = 79.72 KWh
which is roughly 79.72 * 0.15 dollar = 11.96 dollar a year
likewise for full load 24/7/365 it's 26.8/1000 * 24 * 365 * 0.15 = 35.22 dollar/year

Note that a 7970 is more efficient at idle and at load, so you won't even need a 650w PSU for it.

[RyanS]

that clears up everything i had questions about. now on to my next idea....
the SATA II intel 320 i think its called SSD models are obviously a bit slower. but in order to hit a budget i chose it.
now, as far as the folding goes. i'd still rather be able to play games now and in the future better than building a monster system to make folding my primary concern. not saying folding isnt important, i just would put it a slot lower than what i intended on building the system for lol. if that makes sense.

i also opted for a 80+ bronze psu as compared to the gold.

MAIN CHANGE is that i went for the i5 2500k and just plan to OC it to the low to mid 4ghz range....hell the only real difference i found was the Hyper Threading between the 2500k and 2600k. correct me if im wrong.

here is the current idea...and hell its right on budget!!!....welll ok we all know "right on budget" is like a hundred bucks over lol...
Gamer Xtreme 1000 SE (NO MONITOR)

• *BASE_PRICE: [+999]
• BLUETOOTH: None
• CARE1: Ultra Enhanced Packaging Solution - Protect Your Dream System During Transit [+19]
• CAS: Corsair Carbide Series 400R Mid-Tower Gaming Case [+22]
• CASUPGRADE: None
• CD: LG UH12LS28K 12X Blu-Ray Player & DVDRW Combo Drive (BLACK COLOR)
• CD2: None
• COOLANT: Standard Coolant
• CPU: Intel® Core™ i5-2500K 3.30 GHz 6M Intel Smart Cache LGA1155 (All Venom OC Certified)
• CS_FAN: Maximum 120MM Color Case Cooling Fans for your selected case [+15] (Blue Color)
• ENGRAVING: Custom Message - Max 35 characters (including spaces) [+0] (Times New Roman Italic [+0])
• ENGRAVING_MSG: Tcepsusredruma
• FA_HDD: None
• FAN: * Thermaltake FRIO Overclocking Cooler Fan (CLP0564) [+20]
• FLASHMEDIA: INTERNAL 12in1 Flash Media Reader/Writer (BLACK COLOR)
• FREEBIE_VC1: FREE Game - Deus Ex: Human Revolution [+0]
• GLASSES: None
• HDD: 120 GB Intel 320 Series SATA-II 3.0Gb/s SSD - 270 MB/s Read & 130MB/s Write [+82] (Single Drive)
• HDD2: 500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD [+94] (Single Hard Drive)
• IEEE_CARD: None
• IUSB: Built-in USB 2.0 Ports
• KEYBOARD: Xtreme Gear (Black Color) Multimedia/Internet USB Keyboard
• MB_SRT: None
• MEMORY: 8GB (4GBx2) DDR3/1600MHz Dual Channel Memory [+3] (Kingston HyperX [+16])
• MONITOR: None
• MONITOR2: None
• MONITOR3: None
• MOTHERBOARD: [CrossFireX/SLI] ASRock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 Intel Z68 ATX Mainboard w/ Lucid Virtu, Intel SRT, UEFI & 7.1 THX TruStudio Audio, GbLAN, HDMI, USB3.0, SATA-III RAID, 3 Gen3 PCIe X16, 2 PCIe X1 & 2 PCI [+68]
• MOUSE: XtremeGear Optical USB 3 Buttons Gaming Mouse
• NCSW: None
• NETWORK: Onboard Gigabit LAN Network
• OS: Microsoft® Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit Edition)
• OVERCLOCK: No Overclocking
• POWERSUPPLY: 1,000 Watts - CoolerMaster Silent Pro Gaming 80 Plus Power Supply [+98]
• RUSH: NO; READY TO SHIP IN 10~15 BUSINESS DAYS
• SERVICE: STANDARD WARRANTY: 3-YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY PLUS LIFE-TIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT
• SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
• SPEAKERS: None
• TEMP: None
• TUNING: Intel® Core™ i5-2500K Performance Tuning Protection Plan by Intel [+24]
• TVRC: None
• USB: None
• USBFLASH: None
• USBHD: None
• USBX: None
• VIDEO: AMD Radeon HD 7970 3GB GDDR5 16X PCIe 3.0 Video Card [+414] (Major Brand Powered by AMD)
• VIDEO2: AMD Radeon HD 7970 3GB GDDR5 16X PCIe 3.0 Video Card [+629] (Major Brand Powered by AMD)
• VIDEO3: None
• WNC: None
• XWNC1: Asus USB-N13 802.11b/g/n USB 2.0 300Mbps Wireless USB Adapter [+22]
• _PRICE: (+2525)
• _view_: {2B458457-86DF-4423-BF28-41F6443B0F60}
• _load_: 1/27/2012 5:58:46 PM