New PC, Questions & Spec Help

NickM

NickM

NickM

Soldato
Joined
12 Dec 2003
Posts
2,588
Currently got a 4 year old system with a C2D E6600 (2.4 GHz), 4GB Ram, Nvidia 8800GTS, M-Audio 2496 PCI soundcard.

I've been doing most of my gaming on the xbox these last few years but I've decided to try to PC gaming again as the quality is just so much better. Not going to be doing heavy gaming (will still use my xbox as well) but I'd like to be able to run things like Battlefield 3 on high-ish settings.

Last time I tried a custom build (a long time ago) I melted the CPU (think the cooler was fitted wrong), this is my 2nd attempt so any tips and advice would be great!

Questions:
1. If I want to run games like Battlefield 3 on high settings what kinda price am I going to be looking at?

2. At the moment I have 2x 24" monitors but I'm considering getting a 3rd and maybe a decent sized TV as well. If I want all 3 monitors and the TV hooked up to the PC I assume I'd need 2 graphics cards?

3. Hard Drives:
-If I get an SSD, are there any disadvantages (apart from cost)?
-Would using TrueCrypt whole disk encryption on an SSD decrease its performance?
-Is it worth the extra money for the new OCZ Vertex 3 120GB SSD?

3. If I want to max out my gigabit network for file transfers am I going to need a dedicated PCI card or will the on-board NIC be fine?

4. Is there anything I can do to reduce the amount of heat generated from day-to-day (not gaming) use, as my room gets pretty hot in the summer with my current PC running.

5. Is it worth buying additional case fans?


Spec so far:

Motherboard: Asus P8P67 Deluxe

Processor: Intel i5-2500K

Graphics Card: Nvidia GTX560?
-- No idea really, thoughts? Does it need to be ATI eyefinity for triple monitor or does Nvidia have an equivalent?

Memory: Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel
-- 4GB enough?

Case: HAF912+ / CM690 II / Fractal Design R3
-- not sure which yet.

PSU: XFX Black Edition Modular
-- these seem quite well reviewed, how many Watts do I need? 750? 850?

CPU Cooler: ?
-- No idea, something easy to fit as I don't have much experience doing this.

Optical Drive: LG BH10LS30 10x BluRay-RW
-- seems good?

HDD: OCZ Vertex 3 120GB SSD

Soundcard: M-Audio 2496 (from current setup)


Thanks for looking, any comments?
 
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Apparently the 25nm flash 1 are slightly slower and degrade faster..

ram i say change kits and go for 8GB.

ddr3 is cheap so why not.

can i ask what screens you have because you need screens that take Display Port for EyeFinity.

i run dual monitors and its perfect.

the 570 is a nice card. that will max BF3 out i would asume.

also the 560Ti are nice cards.
 
Questions:
1. If I want to run games like Battlefield 3 on high settings what kinda price am I going to be looking at?

Battlefield games are CPU intensive aswell so a combination of a good CPU & GPU would run it fine. An i5 2500k processor would be perfect along with a 6950 or GTX 480 card for around £200.

3. Hard Drives:
-If I get an SSD, are there any disadvantages (apart from cost)?
-Would using TrueCrypt whole disk encryption on an SSD decrease its performance?
-Is it worth the extra money for the new OCZ Vertex 3 120GB SSD?

SSD's are expensive but they're a lot faster than hard drives, they use less power and are more quiet. The only downside is they only come in small sizes and are expensive.

4. Is there anything I can do to reduce the amount of heat generated from day-to-day (not gaming) use, as my room gets pretty hot in the summer with my current PC running.

Water cooling will be your best bet, along with a case with good air flow and multiple fans. Also a good CPU cooler would be needed and a graphics card with decent air cooling.

5. Is it worth buying additional case fans?

Yes if your room gets hot, they are cheap and effective. Make sure you have a case which can have fans installed.
 
Forerunner said:
Apparently the 25nm flash 1 are slightly slower and degrade faster..
Click to expand...
Is the Vertex 3 25nm flash 1?

ram i say change kits and go for 8GB.

ddr3 is cheap so why not.
Click to expand...
Does it matter which I buy as long as its DDR3 dual channel 12800?

can i ask what screens you have because you need screens that take Display Port for EyeFinity.
Click to expand...
Got 2 Dell U2410s which I'm pretty sure have display port.

i run dual monitors and its perfect.

the 570 is a nice card. that will max BF3 out i would asume.

also the 560Ti are nice cards.
Click to expand...
Do nvidia have an eyefinity equivalent or should I go for ATI?


Forerunner said:
also if you paying that for a SSD get the Corsair M4 range.

faster read good write and really nice 4k random speeds.

sata 6 aswell
Click to expand...
Do you mean the Crucial M4? From what I can see the Crucial M4 has a max sustained write of 175 MB/s but the Vertex 3 has 500 MB/s and almost twice the max IOPS (its also Sata6)?

Rossuk89 said:
Questions:
1. If I want to run games like Battlefield 3 on high settings what kinda price am I going to be looking at?

Battlefield games are CPU intensive aswell so a combination of a good CPU & GPU would run it fine. An i5 2500k processor would be perfect along with a 6950 or GTX 480 card for around £200.
Click to expand...
How does the naming scheme work the the Nvidia? For example the GTX 480s more expensive than 560 Ti s? Is it based on 5xx being the series (ie 2011 models) and x80, x70 etc being how high end it is?

3. Hard Drives:
-If I get an SSD, are there any disadvantages (apart from cost)?
-Would using TrueCrypt whole disk encryption on an SSD decrease its performance?
-Is it worth the extra money for the new OCZ Vertex 3 120GB SSD?

SSD's are expensive but they're a lot faster than hard drives, they use less power and are more quiet. The only downside is they only come in small sizes and are expensive.
Click to expand...
So if a use whole drive encryption on a SSD its performance wont be affected by this?

4. Is there anything I can do to reduce the amount of heat generated from day-to-day (not gaming) use, as my room gets pretty hot in the summer with my current PC running.

Water cooling will be your best bet, along with a case with good air flow and multiple fans. Also a good CPU cooler would be needed and a graphics card with decent air cooling.
Click to expand...

Think I'll stick to air cooling. Any particular CPU coolers in mind, preferably something easy to fit!

5. Is it worth buying additional case fans?

Yes if your room gets hot, they are cheap and effective. Make sure you have a case which can have fans installed.
Click to expand...

Thanks
 
So, what power PSU am I going to need, 750W? 850W?, and are the XFX black series any good?
Do nvidia have an eyefinity equivalent or should I go with an ATI card?
 
You only need 650W. nvidia's multiscreen equivalent isn't as good as eyefinity, so I'd get yourself a 6950 2GB (it performs better for the same money as a 560) and flash it to a 6970 (even better performance).
 
Always nice to have the option for a CF/SLI so I might opt for the 750w, would that be enough?
Any downside to using ATI? All my previous cards have been Nvidia so I dont really have any experience of ATI cards. Which of the 7 different 2GB 6950s would you recommend? :D
 
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NickM said:
The twin frozr one doesn't mention being flashable. Is the flashing easy to do?
Click to expand...

Hmm. I could've sworn I read something earlier on about being able to flash the twin frozr one, but I can't find it now so maybe stay clear until someone can give you a definitive answer.

How to.
 
From what I've read the twin frozr one is non-reference and therefore risky to flash (theres a thread where someone bricked theirs). Whats the difference between the cheaper MSI and the XFX, apart from £30? MSI seems to be on pre-order and the XFX out of stock now :(
 
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