New Gaming Rig

[Aitch]

Hi All,

First time PCSpecialist customer, most impressed so far with your setup.

I'd appreciate some advice on my new rig before I purchase. In particular I'd appreciate your views on:

- whether I would be better getting two cheaper graphics cards and using them with SLI
- whether my power supply and cooling is adequate (or overkill?)
- any problems you foresee with these specs

Any other advice welcome....

Case: COOLERMASTER HAF 922 MID TOWER GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU): Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-960 (3.20GHz) 4.8GTs/8MB Cache
Motherboard: ASUS® P6X58D PREMIUM: DDR3, USB 3.0 & SATA 6.0GB/s, 3-Way SLI
Memory (RAM): 8GB SAMSUNG DDR3 DUAL-DDR3 1333MHz (4 X 2GB)
Graphics Card: 1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX465 GDDR5 PCI EXPRESS - DirectX® 11
1st Hard Disk: 1TB WD CAVIAR GREEN WD10EARS, SATA 3 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE
2nd Hard Disk: 1TB WD CAVIAR GREEN WD10EARS, SATA 3 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive: 24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
2nd DVD/BLU-RAY Drive: 4x BLU-RAY ROM DRIVE, 16x DVD ROM
Power Supply & Case Cooling: 800W Quiet 80 PLUS Quad Rail PSU + 120mm Case Fan
Processor Cooling: COOLIT ECO A.L.C (ADVANCED LIQUID COOLER)
Sound Card: Sound Blaster® Audigy™ SE
Operating System: Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence
Anti-Virus: KASPERSKY ANTI-VIRUS 2010 - 1 Year Licence for 1 PC
Keyboard: Logitech® G15 Gaming Keyboard with Gamepanel LCD Display

Cheers,

Aitch

 

[Gorman]

Hi Aitch, Welcome to the forums!

- whether I would be better getting two cheaper graphics cards and using them with SLI

In my opinion and experience you are always better going for one higher end card over 2 mid range cards in SLI / Crossfire. 2 cards does not mean 2x performance, more like 1 1/3 in real world terms.

- whether my power supply and cooling is adequate (or overkill?)

800w is fine, if your going for a high end gpu i would recommend a corsair. The Cpu cooling is great too.

- any problems you foresee with these specs, Any other advice welcome....

All i would add is that you have selected a mainboard which supports SATA 6GB but have selected a system drive which is only 3GB.

 

[Maestro]

Hi Aitch,
Agree with Gorman, it is better to get the best single GPU you can afford. It gives you better upgradability down the line, when you can add another card, and they'll probably be cheaper by then.
I would also go with Corsair, 650W would be fine, unless you do plan to add another GPU, then go for 750w upwards.
Your motherboard does support SATA 6 Gb/s, so you might want to think about making use of it. If the budget is a problem then go for the P6X58D-E, this board just has a few less bells and whistles, which you probably will not notice, or do away with the sound card. The onboard sound on these modern Motherboards is sufficient for all but the most demanding music buff.

Should be a nice rig though, be sure to show it off in the forum if you get it.

 

[Aitch]

Thanks for the advice and your very speedy response!

Taking on board your comments I've tweaked the spec as follows:

Case: COOLERMASTER CM STORM SNIPER - NEXT GEN GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU): Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Processor i7-960 (3.20GHz) 4.8GTs/8MB Cache
Motherboard: ASUS® P6X58D PREMIUM: DDR3, USB 3.0 & SATA 6.0GB/s, 3-Way SLI
Memory (RAM): 8GB CORSAIR XMS3 DUAL-DDR3 1600MHz (4 x 2GB)
Graphics Card: 1GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX465 GDDR5 PCI EXPRESS - DirectX® 11
1st Hard Disk: 1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
2nd Hard Disk: 1TB WD CAVIAR BLACK WD1002FAEX, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64MB CACHE (7200rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive: 24x DUAL LAYER DVD WRITER ±R/±RW/RAM
2nd DVD/BLU-RAY Drive: 4x BLU-RAY ROM DRIVE, 16x DVD ROM
Power Supply & Case Cooling: CORSAIR 750W PSU (TX750) 80+ ULTRA QUIET
Processor Cooling: COOLIT ECO A.L.C (ADVANCED LIQUID COOLER)
Sound Card: ONBOARD 8 CHANNEL (7.1) HIGH DEF AUDIO (AS STANDARD)
Operating System: Genuine Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence
Keyboard & Mouse: Logitech® G15 Gaming Keyboard with Gamepanel LCD Display

What do you think?

Cheers,

Aitch

 

[Gorman]

looking good!