new rig

buzzlightweight · 17 Jul 2011 at 13:57

Ok my plans for a new rig looks like it is going ahead in a month's time so I just wanted to ask your opinions on the spec I'm looking at ie are there better parts coming out soon I should wait for, should I consider a different component etc?

I will be using this rig for gaming, graphic design, video editing and web design

2x Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 6970 2048MB
1x Gigabyte Z68X-UD7 Intel Z68
1x Intel Core i7-2600K
1x Corsair Obsidian 800D
1x Corsair Professional Series HX1050
2x OCZ Agility 3 60GB 2.5" SATA-3 Solid State Hard Drive
1x Corsair Hydro H80
1x Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-15000C9 1866MHz
1x LG BH10LS30 10x BluRay-RW / 16 x DVD±RW Drive

That is the core of what i will be buying, there are a few cosmetic items and peripherals that i will make my own mine up about.

I chose two OCZ 60gb SSD's to put into raid for my primary HDD.

many thanks

Jony27 · 17 Jul 2011 at 14:16

mobo ott
psu ott
cooler ott
ram ott

mobo - z68 extreme4
psu - quality 850w
cooler - silver arrow/antec 620
ram - 8gb xms3/8gb hyperX grey
SSD get a 128gb Crucial M4

Jordan97 · 17 Jul 2011 at 14:17

IIRC, there isn't much of a performance increase of any RAM above 1600MHz, but I may be wrong.

Maybe change the SSD for something like an M4? The Sandforce controller used in the Vertex 3's are causing frequent BSOD's. Also, I think I read somewhere that TRIM cannot be enabled if the SSD's are in a RAID array.

The Gigabyte board does not have a graphical user interface BIOS by the way as well, so if that is something you want, I would recommend changing the board for an ASRock Extreme4.

buzzlightweight · 17 Jul 2011 at 14:23

Jony27 said:
mobo ott
psu ott
cooler ott
ram ott

mobo - z68 extreme4
psu - quality 850w
cooler - silver arrow/antec 620
ram - 8gb xms3/8gb hyperX grey
SSD get a 128gb Crucial M4

i was thinking about just one ssd but for performance i wanted to put them in raid i will have another look, thanks buddy

buzzlightweight · 17 Jul 2011 at 14:24

Jordan97 said:
IIRC, there isn't much of a performance increase of any RAM above 1600MHz, but I may be wrong.

Maybe change the SSD for something like an M4? The Sandforce controller used in the Vertex 3's are causing frequent BSOD's. Also, I think I read somewhere that TRIM cannot be enabled if the SSD's are in a RAID array.

The Gigabyte board does not have a graphical user interface BIOS by the way as well, so if that is something you want, I would recommend changing the board for an ASRock Extreme4.

ah ok cheers dude

Randomface74 · 17 Jul 2011 at 14:27

The rig is good but it's not necessary to spend that much to get a cracking rig.

Jordan97 · 17 Jul 2011 at 14:33

You might want to tone down a bit on the PSU as well. For that build, even with Xfire, 1050W is completely unnecessary. 850W would be ample.

buzzlightweight · 17 Jul 2011 at 14:43

Jordan97 said:
You might want to tone down a bit on the PSU as well. For that build, even with Xfire, 1050W is completely unnecessary. 850W would be ample.

even with three monitors?

buzzlightweight · 17 Jul 2011 at 14:45

would i notice any difference if i changed the i7 for an i5?

Jordan97 · 17 Jul 2011 at 14:47

Monitors don't draw power from the PSU since they are plugged into the mains.

The only difference you would see by changing the i7 for an i5 would be hyper-threading which is only available in the i7.

buzzlightweight · 17 Jul 2011 at 14:48

Jordan97 said:
Monitors don't draw power from the PSU since they are plugged into the mains.

The only difference you would see by changing the i7 for an i5 would be hyper-threading which is only available in the i7.

ok 850w psu and i7 it is, thankyou everyone for your input iv now made some changes to the config

Jordan97 · 17 Jul 2011 at 14:51

buzzlightweight said:
ok 850w psu and i7 it is, thankyou everyone for your input iv now made some changes to the config

No problem

buzzlightweight · 17 Jul 2011 at 14:56

ok iv now gone with

1x Asus P8Z68-V PRO Intel Z68
1x Corsair HX 850W ATX Modular SLI
1x Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz
1x Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s

i think thats a little better

buzzlightweight · 17 Jul 2011 at 14:58

is there much of a difference between p67 and z68 chip sets?

Jordan97 · 17 Jul 2011 at 14:58

All looks good!

However, the only difference between the Pro and the normal P8Z68-V is that the Pro has firewire.

The Z68 chipset has the ability to use a small SSD as a cache and switch to the Sandybridge onboard graphics if your card is idle. This will save a lot of power.

buzzlightweight · 17 Jul 2011 at 15:01

Jordan97 said:
All looks good!

However, the only difference between the Pro and the normal P8Z68-V is that the Pro has firewire.

The Z68 chipset has the ability to use a small SSD as a cache and switch to the Sandybridge onboard graphics if your card is idle. This will save a lot of power.

thanks buddy