Advice Required: Gaming Rig

[vanthus]

I would stick with what you have,an SSD would save you a few seconds on boot time
& load applications faster,It's not that difficult to install one later if you want.
DVI & HDMI are much the same connection really,HDMI can carry sound if you
want to use the monitor speakers,but with DVI you can do the same thing using an audio cable.

 

[Vinyl Richie]

Thanks, I think I'll leave the SSD and maybe get one a little further down the line.

Two things I just spotted on other threads that worried me a little, and relate to my previous post:

if you never plan to upgrade to SLI then just drop to the corsair 650w PSU, that will still let you pop in the best available card at a later date should you wish.

I'm not sure whether I plan to SLI or not in the future. I'll either SLI with another GTX 570 OR upgrade to the best available card at that time. So should I just leave the PSU I selected which is the 850W Corsair, or will that take up too much room and hamper future upgrades? Maybe I mis-interpreted the above quote wrongly..

if you want to future proof it, be best to get an I7 2600 (more cores you see)

Is this correct? I always thought that the i7 2600 was more for high powered software / design tools etc. Would I be better off getting the i7 or will the i5 be fine for the next 3+ years?

 

[vanthus]

I would keep the 850W PSU,the 750W would probably suffice,but no harm
in having a larger PSU & it could only be advantageous for future upgrades.
In my opinion you will be fine with the i5 for a few years.

 

[Vinyl Richie]

Thanks man, rep for the help. Thinking about it this morning and almost tempted to just go all out, guns blazing so to speak. :gun_bandana: Considering going for the GTX580 instead of the 570 as it appears to be on special offer. If I did that would you recommend getting the i7 2600 instead of the i5 and upping the RAM to 16GB? it would be a beast then, right? Or is that overkill?

So that would be:

Case: COOLERMASTER CM690 MKII ADVANCED CASE
Processor: Intel® Core™i7-2600 Quad Core (3.40GHz, 8MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard: ASUS® P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3: PCI-E 3.0 READY, SLI, CROSSFIREX***SPECIAL***
RAM: 16GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (4 X 4GB)
Graphics: 1.5GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 580 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP (Special Offer)
Hard Drive: 1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
PSU: CORSAIR 850W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX850 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE
Cooling: SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE INTEL CPU COOLER
Sound: ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Warranty: Silver

 

[bg92]

You would be fine with an i5. 16gb of ram is overkill, 8gb is more than enough already.
Also you could go for ASUS® P8Z77-V motherboard instead of ASUS® P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3.

 

[Vinyl Richie]

Ok, I'm thinking i'll go with the spec I posted the other day, except get the 580 instead of the 570. stick with i5 and 8gb ram. Why do you suggest changing the motherboard? Isn't the P8Z68-V kinda future proofing by being GEN 3? It's only 8 quid more than the P8Z77-V?

 

[keynes]

I believe one of the differences between the P8Z77-V and the P8Z68-V is the possibility to SLI with the GEN 3 and PCI 3.0 ports. New cards support PCI 3.0 , the GTX 580 supports PCI 2.0, if you planning to add another card then go with the GEN 3 mobo.

 

[bg92]

P8Z77-V is a motherboard that has been released just recently, it's actually newer tech than the P8Z68-V. But both provide almost exactly same features, both support pcie 3.0 and sli

 

[Vinyl Richie]

Oh nice one, i'll take that as well then if it's newer.

 

[keynes]

P8Z77-V is a motherboard that has been released just recently, it's actually newer tech than the P8Z68-V. But both provide almost exactly same features, both support pcie 3.0 and sli

The LX is not SLI supported? but the P8Z77-V is?

 

[Vinyl Richie]

Now you're confusing me! Not sure which motherboard to get now. :sweatdrop:

 

[keynes]

Sorry, didn't mean to. I am just trying verify the capabilities on those motherboards, checking the ASUS website the ASUS P8Z77-V LX seems not to support SLI but the ASUS® P8Z77-V does.

 

[Vinyl Richie]

So for my build (listed below), the motherboard is fine? Or should I stick with what I originally had -ASUS® P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3: PCI-E 3.0 READY, SLI, CROSSFIREX***SPECIAL***

I don't mind paying the 8 quid extra for the P8Z68-V if it's a better choice.. although you'd assume the P8Z77-V would be better as it's newer.. but why is it cheaper? Are either of these mb's fine for my build and are future proof? Thanks

Case: COOLERMASTER CM690 MKII ADVANCED CASE
Processor: Intel® Core™i5-2500 Quad Core (3.30GHz, 6MB Cache) + HD Graphics
Motherboard: ASUS® P8Z77-V: PCI-E 3.0 READY, WIFI, SLI, CROSSFIREX
RAM: 8GB SAMSUNG DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (2 X 4GB)
Graphics: 1.5GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 580 - 2 DVI, HDMI, DP (Special Offer)
Hard Drive: 1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
PSU: CORSAIR 850W ENTHUSIAST SERIES™ TX850 V2-80 PLUS® BRONZE
Cooling: SUPER QUIET 22dBA TRIPLE COPPER HEATPIPE INTEL CPU COOLER
Sound: ONBOARD 6 CHANNEL (5.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Warranty: Silver

 

[bg92]

Either one of these will be fine, P8Z77-V or P8Z68-V as both have very similar features but the p8z77 is newer tech and it supports ivy bridge cpu's which are a replacement for sandy bridge. These new cpu's should be released in the near future.