New rig advice needed.

Quotey

Quotey

Quotey

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12 Aug 2011
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45
Hello there boys & girls.

After purchasing my first ever personal computer back in 09' (... I know), I feel it's about time I updated from my Q6600 to a modern number crunching machine.

I will be attempting to assemble this rig myself, which will be my first hands on experience and will therefore be methodically reading over every instruction manual which come with components :D.

I come here seeking advice on my current basket, and on what memory kit I should get (Mobo is DD3 Dual Channel). Please be critical regarding my options, as it will benefit me in the long term.


Case: Antec 1200 Twelve Hundred V3 Full Tower Case
GPU: Sapphire HD 7970 3GB GDDR5
SSD: Crucial 256GB 2.5" M4 SSD SATA-III
Storage HDD: WD 2TB 3.5" SATA-III 6GB/s Caviar Green Hard Drive - 64MB
PSU: Corsair 850W AX850 Modular
Mobo: MSI Z68A-GD80 G3 Socket 1155 8 Channel Audio
CPU: Intel Core i5 2550K 3.4GHz Socker 1155 6MB
CPU Cooler: Corsair H80 Hydro Series

Memory = ? (8GB || 16GB)​

Primary use of this PC will be gaming and programming - on a daily basis (Linux & Win x64).
I've tried to set-up the basket as to avoid any bottlenecks, but I can't be sure if I've succeeded.

I do need the PC to be "future-proof" in the sense that I won't need to upgrade any components for easily 4+ years; but I don't want to go mental either :D.

If anyone can suggest any changes and a good memory module for this build, I will be ever grateful.
Thanks.
 
First, drop the 2550K IMO. It's just a 2500K with the onboard GPU disabled, whereas with the 2500K at least you have the onboard GPU to help with video processing if you ever do that. The 2550K has an extra 100Mhz on the clock but that means next to nothing since the K's overclock so easily.

Get a 2500K instead, four years may be a bit of a stretch, but you can always overclock it to extend its useful lifespan and squeeze every bit out of it.

As for the RAM, anything above 1600Mhz really sees no benefit on Sandy Bridge, so go for 8GB or 16GB 1600Mhz kits.

This is decent stuff:
8GB kit http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-299-CS&groupid=701&catid=8&subcat=1517 Just get two of them if you want 16GB.

You can either start off at 8GB, and if you need more in future you can always add in another pair of sticks - it's cheap. Or go for 16GB which is overkill for most people right now but of course would be future proof and may be the best option since the prices of DDR3 could rise - who knows. It's up to you.

If you need the system to last four years or more, getting a socket 2011 based system may be a better option, but at the moment they cost quite a bit more.
 
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2550K and 2500K are the same price at present (weekly offer).
You say with the on-board GPU disabled, does that mean the 2550K has a disadvantage over the 2500K? or is it completely meaningless with a separate GPU?

In terms on Dual Channel architecture, doesn't using 4 RAM modules pose any drawbacks? in latency or whatnot? Not quite clued up on these things yet ;p
 
The 2500K is the better one to got for imho since the graphics core is still usable (on the 2550K it is disabled).

Having a working on-board graphics core can be very useful, first as a backup graphics output (if your GPU dies for example or you need to investigate possible faults) and also because the special "quick sync" technology implemented by intel to allow for big performance improvements in video transcoding tasks that make use of the technology. Considering there isn't much price premium going for a 2500K and the 2550K's 100MHz stock clockspeed bump is pretty meaninless on these unlocked multiplier CPUs then I would strongly recommend going for the 2500K.

Also, I would suggest going for a CPU cooler other than the H80. This may be a liquid cooler - but in comparison modern tower heatsinks perform just as well, are quieter, more reliable and cost less. For example the Noctua NH-D14, Thermalright Silver arrow, Thermalright Archon and Phanteks PH-TC14PE are really good options for tower coolers. Here is a review which compares the H80 with the Thermalright Archon.

Also, unless you need all the features on the MSI GD80 board then you may want to save some money and drop down to the GD65 or GD55 board. They offer almost the same features and overclocking ability at a much lower price.

As for RAM, this is a good 8GB kit and two of these kits would be good if you want 16GB. These are low-profile RAM sticks, so you won't have any issues with clearance with large CPU heatsinks.
 
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Quotey said:
2550K and 2500K are the same price at present (weekly offer).
You say with the on-board GPU disabled, does that mean the 2550K has a disadvantage over the 2500K? or is it completely meaningless with a separate GPU?

In terms on Dual Channel architecture, doesn't using 4 RAM modules pose any drawbacks? in latency or whatnot? Not quite clued up on these things yet ;p
Click to expand...

I'd say the 2550K is worth *less* than a 2500K.

It's just another marketing ploy by Intel to sell off 2500K's that had faulty GPUs, so they just disable it entirely, bump the clock speed up (which as I mentioned means nothing), add an extra 5 to it's name, price it slightly higher, and most everyday customers will think its a better chip because it has a higher clock speed.

So the 2500K is definitely the better choice.

As for four sticks of RAM, it won't cause latency issues, if all the sticks are rated at the same speed, they will all run at that speed.

Running 4 sticks can sometimes limit the systems ability to hold an overclock stable, but only at the higher end of the scale, so I wouldn't be worried about it unless you are trying to break clock speed records :p
 
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Now I am surprised.
I never realised heat sinks were as good as liquid coolers :D

My concern with things like the Noctua is the size. Is there any risk the weight would warp any of the suggested motherboards, or obstruct graphics cards / sound cards / memory modules?

Thanks for the input.
 
Quotey said:
Now I am surprised.
I never realised heat sinks were as good as liquid coolers :D
Click to expand...

Well, to be clear a real custom water cooling system with a triple/quad radiator and such will usually beat even the best heatsink for cooling performance and be as quiet or quieter. However, one of these system costs £200+ for the parts and requires some know-how to get working and keep maintained.

Liquid coolers like the H80 are quite different beasts. They are fully sealed systems which come ready to use and don't require any special skills/knowledge or need to be maintained. They are also cheaper than a custom kit. However, the trade-off is they don't cool as well as a "proper" water cooled system and due to the use of small single (or sometimes dual) radiators and high speed fans they are quite a bit noisier too. Because of these trade-offs, large, efficient heatsinks like the ones I mentioned are usually better than these sealed liquid coolers (as demonstrated in that review) - hence the recommendation.

Quotey said:
My concern with things like the Noctua is the size. Is there any risk the weight would warp any of the suggested motherboards, or obstruct graphics cards / sound cards / memory modules?
Click to expand...

I really wouldn't worry about the motherboard - modern boards are made to use these kind of heatsinks (the boards even come with very solid metal backplates around the socket area these days) and many of use have been running large coolers (such as the TRUE and Tuniq Tower) for many years already without problems.

These coolers don't go down to the area of the PCIE ports - so there is no obstruction with sound or graphics cards.

These coolers often do go over the area where the RAM modules are. This is only a problem if you use RAM with large (and unnecessary) heatsinks (like the corsair vengeance). If you go for low-profile memory (like the kingston kit I mentioned above) then you won't run into any issues.
 
Thanks a ton, to both of you.
I've decided to pay £3 extra for black corsair low profile kit, just so it looks better in the case /shame :D.

I assume low profile simply means good performance, but not specifically overclockable as they would overheat?

Aside from that, I think the last piece of advice I would like to pick your brains over is the 2 different types of noctua heat-sinks.

I see there are two types, a top down one, and a 'standard one' (horizontal). Is there a big difference between them? I would imagine the horizontal one is best as it would probably exhaust the heat further away.

Thank you :D
 
A lot of RAM with high heat spreaders, have them just for looks and not for heat dissipation. Low profile will work just as well, without anything to get in the way of the CPU cooler.

Now the CPU Cooler. The horizontal one lines up with the rear exhaust fan, taking the hot air out that way.

The-top flow ones are designed to make it less tall, to fit better into smaller cases.

I'd get the horizontal version, the Antec 1200 will have enough room for it. I think they are both pretty similar performance wise, it's just a matter of height (or width when you have it installed). Most people use the horizontal as it vents the hot air out through the rear exhaust case fan.
 
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As reddev says, with a large case the horizontal cpu coolers are better. The best performing noctua is the NH-D14 - it is a real beast and one of the best heatsink cooler available and it also costs less than the Corsair H80.

The low-profile corsair RAM you mentioned is actually very good stuff, good choice. As for overclocking, I wouldn't get hung up on that since 1600MHz is plenty fast enough for memory to run on a sandy bridge system (see here for the performance advantage of running faster RAM) - hence why the vast majority of enthusiast users of Sandy Bridge systems leave their 1600MHz RAM at stock speeds. With sandy bridge the way CPU overclocking works (by increasing the unlocked CPU multiplier) means that you can overclock the CPU as far as possible (4.5GHz+) but the memory frequency can remain at stock settings - since you don't need to change the common bus (BCLK) to overclock the CPU.
 
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Thanks for all the info guys, I've taken it on-board and modified my basket.
Now I was just wondering if you guys think the graphics card is actually a bit of an overkill, as what I want to be able to do while gaming, is play games like BF3 (or future max payne 3) on ultra with a maximum resolution of 1920 x 1080.

Would any other card suffice just as well at these settings, or is the 7970 the way to go?
Thanks :D
 
Yea, for that usage a 7970 may be a bit overkill - it certainly isn't the best valua card in terms of price/performance. Instead you may want to consider going for a £240 card like the HD 6970 2GB which is ~£200 cheaper than the 7970 but will still game well at 1080p and should achieve your performance aims. Then you could put the money you saved in the bank and spend £200-240 again in two years on a brand new mid/high-end card that will keep you going for another couple of years and will be much more powerful than a 7970.
 
Agreed. For you I think the 7970 would be slightly overkill. For 1080p the 7950 or even a 6970 will provide awesome performance at that res.

With that motherboard and PSU, you could also add a second card at a later date if you wish, if and when future games become more demanding.
 
Thanks to both of you.
Your advice has been both top-class and has saved me hundreds of pounds :D
After looking at benchmarks, I went for Sapphire 6970 2GB card, as It seems to perform pretty darn well.
Thank you :D
 
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