New Sandybridge Rig

[Kessian]

Greetings all,

Going to build a new rig and this is what i have come up with so far:



Please tell me your thoughts on this and whether or not i should change anything?

Cheers,
Matt

* I changed what i'm looking to purchase, see above. Also purchasing Caselabs M8

[Source]

As for PSU, it's way overkill for this setup.
As for Memory, could check out the G.Skill or GEIL, the Vengeance is not much more then a fancy heatspreader on Corsair TwinX.

[Kessian]

What cpu would you go with? Corsair 850W?
Will look into the RAM more.
So what graphics card would you go with?

[Source]

As PSU, a Corsair AX750 or AX850 or their HX-brothers are fine.
Or go with a Seasonic X760, but Newegg doesn't have those. (Where are you buying?)

For GPU, a nVidia GTX580 or HD6970, or a HD6950 if you have a smaller budget.
GTX580 ($470) is best of those three, where HD6970 ($320) is little behind but also a lot cheaper, the HD6950 comes around $210
You can refer to this.

For RAM, GSkill Ripjaw is fine memory, CAS9 is $15,- cheaper then the CAS8, and really, if the rig is just for gaming, you ain't gonna notice.
Or spend some more and upgrade those Vengeance to the Dominator series.
Also read nice things about the GEIL Evo Two, but those are little bit pricey.

[Kessian]

Buying from Australia.

So the 6970 would be fine for gaming (Im currently using a Dell3008wfp, running at 2560x1600 res)?

Would there be a clearance problem using the Noctua and the ram?

Also, i was thinking of changing the case to a Danger Den Torture Rack 2 for something different. What do you think?

[zanzabar]

for high rez amd is normally better, and i would think that u would want xfire. what do u need in the pci slot.

on the psu, if u go matx and u want 1 card then i would go for a single rail 600-750 and will still give u alot of room to oc even if u went with a power sucker like the 580 that will do 350-400W fully oced, but i dont think people run them that high for gaming. for 2x 69xx then i would go 750-850 and 2x580 i would go 950+

and for a case have u seen the mini fractal design
http://fractal-design.com/?view=prod...gory=2&prod=59

[zalbard]

So the 6970 would be fine for gaming (Im currently using a Dell3008wfp, running at 2560x1600 res)?

Depends on what games you play and how demanding you are... I have two and I would buy the third one if I had cash (same resolution).

[Kessian]

I have a creative fatality edition sound card i was going to take from my other rig and put it in this one. It uses a pci 1 slot but i think if i go crossfire i could use the slot at the bottom? Unless i can do without putting it in?

That case looks really good, so will look into it more.

[zanzabar]

I have a creative fatality edition sound card i was going to take from my other rig and put it in this one. It uses a pci 1 slot but i think if i go crossfire i could use the slot at the bottom? Unless i can do without putting it in?

That case looks really good, so will look into it more.

your onboard will most likely be the same or better quality wise

[Kessian]

So should i go 2 6970s or just go a 1 6990?

Also, what ram would you recommend zanzabar?

[zanzabar]

So should i go 2 6970s or just go a 1 6990?

Also, what ram would you recommend zanzabar?

ram dose not matter anything 1600 or 1866 is fine, and i would go 2x6970 unless u are going to get non stock cooling, and u have to make sure that the 6990 will fit if u get an matx case.

[Kessian]

Will 4GB be fine or would it be better to go 8GB?

That fractal case can support cards up to 400mm.

Is that SSD alright?

This is going to be an aircooled rig only. So not worth it going to 6990? Or would it be worth it with aftermarket air cooler?

[zanzabar]

i use 4GB of ram and its fine, u may want 8GB since its so cheap but whatever its not all that important now as things arnt going 64bit for a while so u wont have more than 3GB of usage for a game.

im not sure on the OZ prices but in the US u are looking at $300 for a 6970 2GB and 700for a 6990, so i would go 6970 on that alone, but to make the 6990 really sing u need liquid and since i dont see an air cooler from AC (i thought that they had one) i would just stick to the 6970.

the ssd is fine, u may want a crucial m4 if u plan to raid them latter but your loking good with the build.

[Kessian]

It's 399 for 6970, about 849 for the 6990. Then difference is we havent been able to get any 6990s for a while. So its hard for me to decide on which to go with, either 2 6970s or the 1 6990. Will more than likely buy from the US anyway as our dollar is quite strong. I have 2 5870s in my watercooled rig, so wanting to simplify it i was gonna go a single card in this system, but now i don't know.

[zanzabar]

u could go 1x6970 and see if u want another

[Kessian]

Would one 6970 be enough to run any game on fullspec though?

[Source]

Hmm, would wonder if you really see a big difference between HD5870 and the HD6970.

Yes you will get 10FPS more, no, you won't see the difference.
Or you must do GPU crunching or GPU-mining with those, but otherwise I would suggest to wait for the HD7-series.

[Kessian]

I have an air cooled and water cooled rig, reason for the replacement for aircooled is because its getting a bit on in age, and some componants are starting to fail.

[Kessian]

Looks like i will go a 6990... If i can find one. Apparently there will be more stock coming out towards the end of the month.

[Kessian]

For memory i was looking at these 2 kits:

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?...ducts_id=13032

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?...ducts_id=13033

What do people think?

I think i will definately go with that fractal case, looks the goods!

[TV Addict#2]

I would not hesitate to buy G.Skill ram dimms,very reliable in my usage and abusive history
the Fractal Design cases are quality although no front cover door is more appealing to me usually
the Thermalright HR-02 Macho cpu cooler is getting good reviews,maybe give it some consideration,will be available soon

[Source]

For memory i was looking at these 2 kits:

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?...ducts_id=13032

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?...ducts_id=13033

For the money of the last, I have no idea why you shouldn't get:

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?...ducts_id=16510
(..or with a lower heatspreader)
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?...ducts_id=13931

You have a lot more profit from 8GB>4GB then the difference in timings (7-8-7-24-2N vs 9-9-9-24-2N).


Also: http://www.clunk.org.uk/forums/overc...beginners.html
That memory goes pretty neat with the CPU.

[Kessian]

the Fractal Design cases are quality although no front cover door is more appealing to me usually
the Thermalright HR-02 Macho cpu cooler is getting good reviews,maybe give it some consideration,will be available soon

The mini arc which I would be choosing doesn't have a front door. For the cooler I'm going to change to thermalright silver arrow

[Kessian]

For the money of the last, I have no idea why you shouldn't get:

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?...ducts_id=16510
(..or with a lower heatspreader)
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?...ducts_id=13931

You have a lot more profit from 8GB>4GB then the difference in timings (7-8-7-24-2N vs 9-9-9-24-2N).


Also: http://www.clunk.org.uk/forums/overc...beginners.html
That memory goes pretty need with the CPU.

This rig is basically all for gaming, so was told dont need anymore than 4gb? I don't mind going 8GB, if it doesnt harm overall performance in anyway, seen as though sandy doesnt need much in the way of memory.

[TV Addict#2]

I have to agree,those Ripjaws are quality ram,got the blue ones in my gamer
8G for the same price for the intended gaming use would be my choice for certain
I looked at the full tower version,nice indeed,my 2004 Xasier III needs fan upgrades but still works nice
the silver arrow should be good,I have their coolers going back to socket 478 and socket 929,intel and amd,very nice quality products