New comp recommendations

[mussafry]

I've been out of the game for a while, Don't know whats new and good. I'm building a new PC and its going to be a mid tower. The only thing i don't think i need is a PSU (Corsair 1000 watt, buts it pretty old, is it sill good?)
I have a couple TVs lying around (a 52" samsung, and a 42" samsung) that i have no use for and was thinking of using the 52" as my monitor.
I will be gaming on this PC but im not looking to overclock, or watercool, i want to keep it simple, small, and preferably light.


Case: Lian Li PC-B25FW-B ($215)
(http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...ducts_id=27764)

Motherboard:MSI Big Bang Fuzion LGA 1156 Intel P55 - ($270)
(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813130259)

Video Card: EVGA 012-P3-1472-AR GeForce GTX 470 (Fermi) SuperClocked - ($270)

CPU - Intel Core i5-760 Lynnfield 2.8GHz - ($200)

Ram: CORSAIR DOMINATOR 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 - ($170)
8GB too much?

With the hard drives, i've never used or read about these SSD's so i have no clue where to go for these. But other than that, am i missing anything?

Overall, will this setup be efficient enough? (I mainly play CoD and WoW) And is the 52" TV too much? Should i go down to the 42"?

-Mussafry

[zalbard]

You could just got for mATX board in your case. Also, X58 as a platform is better than P55 for about the same $$$.
And this board is overpriced either way...
And Sandy Bridge is coming out in less than a week... Wait for that.

[mussafry]

Just read up on the Sandy bridge... The release is on January 5th which is perfect. Just a couple questions...

Will there be a variety of motherboards out when they get released? (eVGA, Asus, MSI, etc.) And is it worth it to pick them up straight away?

Im trying to get this PC built before the start of my semester (January 10th)

[boris_37]

Just read up on the Sandy bridge... The release is on January 5th which is perfect. Just a couple questions...

Will there be a variety of motherboards out when they get released? (eVGA, Asus, MSI, etc.) And is it worth it to pick them up straight away?

Im trying to get this PC built before the start of my semester (January 10th)

It's up to you really. I have never known release chips to be that extrodinary.

As for Sandy Bridge... it is yet to be seen if they will be as easily overclockable as the I7's/I5's currently are. I will not speculate, but you can wait, people will have reviews up within weeks and then decide then. No one is really sure at this point as most of the information about Sandy Bridge is under NDA.

Lastly, you do know with the Big Bang board you are paying for the Lucid Hydra technology on it. Granted cool, it is expensive to boot. There are better newer options if you plan on doing some overclocking(not that it isn't good). However if you want the lucid theres only 2 boards that do it, that is one of them .

Don't know i suggest you wait and see some Sandy results. If you are on the fence don't make any decisions until later next week.

[ferrari_freak]

Is there a specific reason you're going with an nvidia GPU? A 6950 is only $30 more (can save that from getting a cheaper mobo), and has generally better performance. Furthermore you can flash the BIOS and unlock shaders and essentially have a 6970 which is by far superior to the GTX470.

[zanzabar]

what is your goal with this system, is it for workstation, gaming, video conversion, workstation or what. that will answer if u need 8GB of ram as unless u do alot of 64bit workstation stuff u will be much better off with 4GB.

on storage, i would go with a 120GB ssd and a 2TB samsung f4 (thats what i have), it gives u more than enough for games, windows and apps on the SSD and bulk storage and media on the f4 (it is 5400rpm but the through put is awesome so its great for bulk storage)

and for gods sake get a good case, the one u picked has to be one of least lianli of the lianli. look at the p80 or v102 or a71 or go else ware.

You could just got for mATX board in your case. Also, X58 as a platform is better than P55 for about the same $$$.
And this board is overpriced either way...
And Sandy Bridge is coming out in less than a week... Wait for that.

were do u get that the 1366 is better, the 1156 is faster clock for clock core for core than the 1366, the 1366 has more pci-e lanes but u only need that for 3 or 4 gpus and he is clearly not doing that. i do agree on the wait and dont get that board.

[mussafry]

I'll be casually gaming on the PC, nothing more. I have 4GB on my current laptop and desktop and don't feel like its enough however i've never used DDR3.

About the VGA, i've decided to go with the 570GTX instead of the 470.

How about this for the SSD: Crucial RealSSD C300 128GB SATA III (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820148348)

Also, about the case... I don't want a full tower. I'm using the PC-P80 armorsuit and its gigantic. I really would like a mid-tower... didn't think i can go wrong with lian-li.

[ferrari_freak]

Can you give us an idea of your budget for this? It will help a lot if we know what we're working with. Also you can save quite a bit of money on your RAM. If you're not overclocking, then why the Dominators? Just get a solid 8GB set of G.Skill for $110 or Corsair XMS for $115.

By the way Zanzabar I had the same idea for hard drives for my next build, but 128GB SSD and 2TB hard drive comes out to over $300 in just storage... I don't know his budget but that's a lot no matter how you look at it.

[mussafry]

I wouldn't like to go over $1500 (But its not a strict budget, i can go over it if i need to). Remember, i already have the a PSU. Arn't the dominators a better set then those G.Skills? The price between them is just $50...

What about this case?
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catal...ducts_id=27159

So this is what i have so far:
CPU + Mobo: Waiting for Sandy bridge
Video Card: GTX 570 eVGA Superclocked ($370)
Memory: 8GB (2x4gb) Corsair dominators ($160)
HDD1: Crucial RealSSD C300 128GB ($260)
HDD2: WD Caviar Black 1TB ($80)
Case: Lian Li midtower ~ $200
Thats around $1000 without the CPU/Mobo. That should fit my budget even if i go over.

only thing im worried about is whether or not the VGA will fit in the case.

Is the above setup solid enough? Can i run high settings on a 52" TV?

[ferrari_freak]

A 52" TV can only do 1920*1080. A lot of people here run 1920*1200 on their 24" monitors, and some even higher so don't worry about the graphics card not being enough. As for the case it's completely up to you. I (and a lot of others on this forum) prefer a clean look like the Corsair 700D, Lian Li PC-A71, or Antec P183. Either way it's your choice. The card should fit in any full tower comfortably. The Corsair is a huge case and you shouldn't have any problems for space with it. However it goes against your preferance for a light build. I don't know how long it is, but just for comparison my friend managed to barely fit a 5850 into a CM Centurion. Judge according to that.

Regarding the RAM... The Dominators and the G.Skill are both rated DDR3 1600, and both have same latency therefore are the same speed. The only place where there might be a difference is overclockability, but you've already stated you don't want to mess around with that. Also, ram that runs at 1.35V is popping up now, and there's a bit of speculation that it might be because Sandy Bridge is coming out (so sandy might prefer low voltages). But it's only speculation at the moment and we won't find out until it's actually released. Finally $50 is a decent sum of money, and I would prefer to save it if it wasn't going to do anything for me...

[445533]

There's no need to buy a dual channel DDR3 kit. You can save money and buy single sticks of single channel ram. In most cases dual channel give you like a 2% boost in speed, for some memory intensive applications.... sometimes. Don't believe me? Look at some benchmarks and tests. You can save lots of money here.

1000W power supply? Overkill. Way overkill. Waste of money too.

LianLi is nice, I'm looking at a nice compact case for $100. It takes a full ATX board, and the things is TINY!! I like that LianLi uses nice thick metal.

GTX570 you don't need a "superclocked" or any of that placebo nonsense. Get a default clocked card, if you want more performance you can clock it yourself.

I would recommend you go with a 2TB hard drive for storage. You'll be glad you did in the future.

Can i run high settings on a 52" TV?

What?? What does that mean? Do you mean 1080p?

[zanzabar]

if u buy 2 single channels that gives u dual channel. and the 4GB sticks clock like crap.

@FF the 1.35V is jdec low voltage, alot of OEMs are moving to it and its a selling point for ram companies as u dont need the stock 1.5V or the higher spec 1.65V, also that stuff normally clocks bad from the looks of people with it.

on the HDD get the f4, sure its 5400 but its got similar seek to my older 2x500 raid 0 array and almost the same bandwidth with more than a single f1 (the fastest 333GB platter drive) so the 5400 makes no difference for bulk storage

[mussafry]

About the PSU... I already have it, even though its overkill, its just sitting in the closet.

I checked up the dimentions on the VGA card and its ~ 265mm and the case can take upto 290mm so I have the room i guess.

What i mean by high settings is mainly like will i be able to run games like CoD and WoW on max resolution,highest quality, etc. and still get a solid FPS?

Im confused by what you mean when you say buy two single channels. Im not looking to overclock the memory at all and just want decent RAM.

[445533]

Dual channel means the memory sticks are matched in performance. The computer can see the two sticks like one larger stick. Performance wise, this might give you a 2-3% boost in performance for some applications, mostly the memory hungry ones. For games, some games might run faster... sometimes. Personally, I don't see the point given the price premium.

Yeah you can overclock dual channel memory better than single channel. But overclocking the memory is the last thing you do when you're searching for performance.

I can run CoD and WoW on my computer too. You don't need anything high end for that. If that is all you want to play then I suggest either the new GTX560 that's coming out or the older GTX460 which is fantastic value for the money.

I hope that's a brand name power supply you have there. Never run with a cheap power supply. I learned this the hard way when I bought a cheap one that fried the plastic connectors going to the motherboard. Also screwed my video card. Both ruined. I was cheap on the PSU and I paid the price.

[zanzabar]

Dual channel means the memory sticks are matched in performance. The computer can see the two sticks like one larger stick. Performance wise, this might give you a 2-3% boost in performance for some applications, mostly the memory hungry ones. For games, some games might run faster... sometimes. Personally, I don't see the point given the price premium.

Yeah you can overclock dual channel memory better than single channel. But overclocking the memory is the last thing you do when you're searching for performance.

I can run CoD and WoW on my computer too. You don't need anything high end for that. If that is all you want to play then I suggest either the new GTX560 that's coming out or the older GTX460 which is fantastic value for the money.

I hope that's a brand name power supply you have there. Never run with a cheap power supply. I learned this the hard way when I bought a cheap one that fried the plastic connectors going to the motherboard. Also screwed my video card. Both ruined. I was cheap on the PSU and I paid the price.

do u have any idea what u are talking about, running dual channel is based on having 2 sticks (or 4 sticks) with the same storage size plugged into the different channels that the memory controller sees. so it dose not matter if u buy a dual channel kit, you can order 2 single sticks and run one in each channel and u get dual channel. on performance dual channel and running better than jdec makes a huge difference, now if u get something like 2000mhz cas7 and compair it to 1600mhz cas7 u wont see of feel a difference, but if u have some jdec 1066mhz cas9 and u compare it to 1333cas7 or 7 or 1600cas7 or 8 there will be a huge difference. then if u raise the memory controller frequency so it can keep up with the ram (NB on amd, QPI on intel) the ram timings and speed make an even larger difference. with single channel kits you also have to make sure that u dont run them together when they have different chips in them, if u buy them at the same time its unlikely but if u buy one now one in a few months your cold get 2 different kinds of ram ICs and even with JDEC crap there is a good chance your will be unstable so i fail to see why you would buy single channel when there is no premium for 2x2GB 1x4GB or a kit of 2x2GB, now if u were saying some normal oced ram instead of some dominator GT i would agree that the performance difference will be almost nothing, but risking having different chips or getting ty high density ICs (a single sided 2GB stick or double sided 4GB stick) is not worth the couple of bucks u might save


the 560 is not new its a rebadge/unlocked 460, should be nice though but the price point should not be competative with amd

[ferrari_freak]

I hope that's a brand name power supply you have there. Never run with a cheap power supply. I learned this the hard way when I bought a cheap one that fried the plastic connectors going to the motherboard. Also screwed my video card. Both ruined. I was cheap on the PSU and I paid the price.

Corsair HX is by no means a cheap PSU. It's one of the best you can get.

[445533]

running dual channel is based on having 2 sticks (or 4 sticks) with the same storage size plugged into the different channels that the memory controller sees. so it dose not matter if u buy a dual channel kit, you can order 2 single sticks and run one in each channel and u get dual channel.

Ok, and then you answer your own question on why it doesn't always work:

with single channel kits you also have to make sure that u dont run them together when they have different chips in them, if u buy them at the same time its unlikely but if u buy one now one in a few months your cold get 2 different kinds of ram ICs and even with JDEC crap there is a good chance your will be unstable

the 560 is not new its a rebadge/unlocked 460, should be nice though but the price point should not be competative with amd

I disagree. If the rumors are right the GTX560 will be faster than the GTX 460. If they price it lower than it might be a better deal than AMD. Right now it seems that the GTX 570 is the better deal given the performance per dollar.

The HD6970 is overpriced and the HD6950 also. $300 for a HD6950? Screw that.

[zanzabar]

the 560 will be faster than the 460, it will be an unlocked part, but it has to be weaker than the 570 so with the reference it will be clocked low and have a weak PWM so u cannot clock it to high, and the 69xx are beasts right now, and other than the 460 NV is way over priced. maybe the 560 will drop prices but i dont see it happening right away as the 460 is EOL (or will soon.) i would expect a price increase to right under the 5950 to like $260-275.

and i dont see you point on ram still, corsair vengeance 1600mhz cas9 is $60 and corsair xms 1600mhz cas9 is also $60, kingston and crucial are both the same way. so i dont see why you would buy the single channel when its slower (from being 1 stick so only using 1 channel and higher density) for the same cost. the rule of thumb since multi channel ram came out was if possable to buy the number of stick u need to put 1 in every channel and get the storage u want so if u want 4Gb get (2x2GB) if u want 8GB then (2x4GB.) ram is a commodity its sold per GB, the number of sticks dose not really affect the price.

[445533]

The 69xx series are nice. If you overclock. Stock speeds not so much.