Thoughts About A New Rig

malakai789

malakai789

malakai789

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9 Nov 2010
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18
Hi all,

Im going to upgrade my PC for the first time in 5 years, as it's the first time i actually have the money/need to do so. I'm a bit of a gamer, i wouldn't say a hardcore gamer, but i like to run things at 1920x1200. I also want my PC to handle CAD stuff and 3ds Max rendering. Now below is what i was thinking of getting. What are your thoughts on the matter? I haven't kept up to date with things and processors/compatible DDR3 RAM are my biggest concerns as my old PC had issues accepting anything other than 1 stick of RAM. Anyway, here's the components selected so far.

CPU: Intel Core i7 950
MB: Asus P6X58D-E
RAM: Patriot Viper 3x2GB DDR3 12800C8
HDD1: Patriot Inferno 120gb SSD
HDD2: 3xSamsung F3 1TB in a RAID 5 array
GPU: XFX HD 6870
PSU: Be Quiet! Darkpower 650W Modular PSU
CD/DVD: LG BH10LS30 Blu-Ray
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate

Now it's a beast so far, i realise that (seeing as teh CAD/Rendering needs a beast to perform well), but are there any suggestions you guys can make as to changes here and there to the system? I'm toying with getting a new case, but the majority of cases i've seen are these horrible "gamer's" cases that look like arse. I'd want something professional looking.

Anyway, any help/thoughts would be much appreciated.
 
you might want the cuda side of things in the GPU if you're rendering...I may be wrong though but if I'm right then it's a Nvidia card for you.

looks a good setup though :D
 
Professional cases, look at Lian Li and Silverstone lots of brushed aluminium and simple designs that dont compromise on cooling or quality. I'm a Lian Li fan myself, but horses for courses. Depends if you want to add watercooling in future as well!
 
Cheers Benihana.

Lian Li aren't exactly cheap cases are they? I'm not massively into overclocking/watercooling i must say, i just like things to work well with the minimum amount of fuss. I used to love overclocking... guess i'm just getting older eh?

Also, this CUDA stuff... will it make that much of a difference? I looked at the nVidia website and it made no mention of autodesk products using this CUDA stuff. I'm wary of getting an nVidia card because they're so damn massive, power hungry and loud. And really, the HD 6870 seems to be a great value for money card compared to say the 470 or even 480.
 
malakai789 said:
And really, the HD 6870 seems to be a great value for money card compared to say the 470 or even 480.
Click to expand...

6870 is great - about on par with 470 in performance terms. But at current prices 470 is a much better buy - there are some amazing prices on 470s right now. you also get your CUDA which might be of benefit to you given what you plan to use the rig for.
 
I'm concerned about heat and power consumption of the 470 cards. If i opted for one, would i need to get a more powerful PSU to take the load? Also, with regards to heat i'm 99% sure i'd need a new case as my current case isnt great (my 8800GTX runs at 55 celcius idle, and about 90 under load), and if i got a new case, would i need to buy after-market fans to aid in the cooling of the 470 beast?

Also, is the Be Quiet! PSU one of the better PSUs of that wattage, or could i make a saving by switching to another brand?
 
Upon looking to see if any of the programs i'm going to be using support CUDA, it looks like the majority don't and won't for quite some time yet. As such, i think i'll stick with the 6870. Never had an ATI card before, so it'll be a nice change from nVidia. If it turns out to be the wrong decision, oh well i'll just wait until the GTX 6xx series to come out.

So with that looking resolved, are there any other comments as to the other components i'm looking at? Better performing RAM, PSU etc etc?
 
I think your view of nvidia cards is slightly exaggerated, to be honest! A 650W PSU would run a single 470 with ease. What case have you got?

I hadn't realised a 6870 can now be had for £190, which is half reasonable, but then you can get a 470 for £165. Up to you if you want to pay the extra for better power consumption or just to try ATI. You can't really go wrong with either. If you really think your case is so terrible you couldn't keep a 470 cool, go for a 6870. But if that's true you ought to consider a better cooled case.
 
i just got an asus 460 for a pc im building for my sons christmas and i have to say im mightly impressed by it....it was running my 30" apple cinema hd at 2560 x 1600 playing black ops with it....it ran really nice....makes me wonder now why ive got a 5970 danger den cooled at £600 when i could have had one of these for £120!!!!
 
Decided to go for a Silverstone FT02 case (curse you Benihana for maing me look at Silverstone!) and was just thinking about something.

Is it worth going for an after-market CPU cooler? If so, what would you guys recommend for the i7 950?

Also... *bump* :D
 
I would probably go with an after market cooler for your 950. If you plan to overclock, it is completely mandatory. But I think that I would get a budget one even if leaving it at stock; for 20 pounds or so it is a worthwhile investment for a variety of reasons; longevity, noise and temperature will all benefit from this.
 
Have a look at the ASUS Sabertooth, according to the OC3D review it performs at least as well as the P6X58D-E and is a bit cheaper the last time I checked.

I agree with you on the AMD (?!) graphics card, and was not surprised that you learned that your programs did not make use of the CUDA or particularly benefit at this time from a graphics card and are more on the CPU and RAM.

I have not read a review of the BeQuiet P8 Dark Power Pro, but it is one of the few 80Plus Silver rated PSUs I've seen, which is probably one of the reasons why it's so expensive. Everything else at best would be 80 Bronze.
 
Cheers for the advice guys.

Decided to go for the Sabertooth motherboard instead of the P6X58D-E, but i've just noticed that the RAM i was going to use (the Patriot Viper 6GB) is no longer being sold!

It's been replaced by the Viper 2 RAM. The Viper 2 RAM isn't on the qualified vendors list given by ASUS for their Sabertooth motherboard... is this an issue? I don't want to buy RAM just to find out it doesnt work right!

So the setup is now as follows:

CPU: Intel Core i7 950
*MB: Asus X58 Sabertooth TUF
*RAM:
HDD1: Patriot Inferno 120gb SSD
HDD2: 3xSamsung F3 1TB in a RAID 5 array
GPU: XFX HD 6870
PSU: Be Quiet! Darkpower 650W Modular PSU
CD/DVD: LG BH10LS30 Blu-Ray
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate
*Case: Silverstone FT02B

(Stars being items that have changed)

Oh and a smaller thing, is there any advantage of buying W7 Ultimate retail over W7 Ultimate OEM 64-bit?
 
Unfortunately it's not possible for motherboard vendors, nor memory vendors to test and certify every kit out there. So just because a set is not on a list, does not mean that that set is incompatible. As long as the Viper 2 set isn't more expensive than another set from another brand with the same or better specs then I don't see a reason not to get it.
With RAM from good quality and well known brands, like Viper, Corsair, Crucial, Kingston, G.Skill, the list goes on, I think the chances of there being problems are quite insignificant and would have to be pretty unlucky to have problems.

With a retail edition of windows you are much more easily able to transfer your licence to a new motherboard, with OEM it is still possible, but more hit and miss.
 
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