building a 2000$ gaming rig. Need a lil help.

[Drazn]

I am building a new gaming rig and wanted to see what you guys think.

CM Storm Trooper
ASUS P8Z68 pro/gen3
Intel Core i7-2600K
MSI R6950 Twin Frozr III Radeon HD 6950 2GB x2
Corsair 16mb Vengeance 1600
CORSAIR Professional Series 1050w
HITACHI Deskstar 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s
Crucial M4 256GB (SSD)
Noctua NH-D14 120mm & 140mm SSO CPU Cooler

SO what you guys think? Any suggestions or critiques would be very appreciated.

[zanzabar]

for a gaming rig 16GB of ram will make it slower, 8GB should more than enough and it will clock better and be more stable since it will only be 2 sticks. and in the $200 range i think that u could do a better case like an 800d or CM 932 or antec df-85 or fractal design.

[Drazn]

What don't you like about the CM Storm Trooper? The Reviews I have seen make it really look good.

[3lfk1ng]

A 1200watt PSU is completely overkill for your system. Get something like a Corsair HX750 instead, you will still have plenty of headroom for overclocking.
Also, I know case choices are complete subjective, but I would still suggest getting a case that isn't made out of steel and cheap plastic. Get something that will last you many years, something make of aluminum and steel with even higher reviews like the Corsair Obsidian 650D.

[Drazn]

A 1200watt PSU is completely overkill for your system. Get something like a Corsair HX750 instead, you will still have plenty of headroom for overclocking.
Also, I know case choices are complete subjective, but I would still suggest getting a case that isn't made out of steel and cheap plastic. Get something that will last you many years, something make of aluminum and steel with even higher reviews like the Corsair Obsidian 650D.

Yeah I first was going to get a 800D. I heard the air flow in them was no good so then I looked at the 650D and it looked really nice but the CM strom trooper looks so sweet. as for the PSU I want something that will last me in case I plan to buy another 580 and SLI them.what do you guys think about the 580 3gb? Im still one the fence between nvidia and Radeon. Im been a Nvdia guy for years due to horrific driver issues ATI had back then.

[zanzabar]

What don't you like about the CM Storm Trooper? The Reviews I have seen make it really look good.

it just looks gimmicky compared to the 932 that its based on, and it dose not have the ability for you to go liquid if u wan to latter. it trades the liquid cooling ability and relative sleekness for a fan controller nob that u wont use since your MB has temp based fan controls built in.

and since u want to have the ability to sli 580s u will want to also go liquid cooling so u can oc them so they perform better than the single card.

[Drazn]

it just looks gimmicky compared to the 932 that its based on, and it dose not have the ability for you to go liquid if u wan to latter. it trades the liquid cooling ability and relative sleekness for a fan controller nob that u wont use since your MB has temp based fan controls built in.

and since u want to have the ability to sli 580s u will want to also go liquid cooling so u can oc them so they perform better than the single card.

Why doesnt it have the ability to go liquid? Its able to hold 240 mil Rad and another Rad in the base of case from what I have found. Am I misinformed?

[3lfk1ng]

ok oh, that makes sense.

The GTX 580's are great cards, they are really expensive though. You could just purchase an EVGA Superclocked GTX 570 that almost matches the GTX 580's performance for $349.99. Or you could get something like the MSI R6950 Twin Frozr III for $289, flash it to the 6970 bios (6970's are around $350), and then overclock it to almost match the performance of a GTX 580 ($500).

Please, just keep in mind that the new generation of graphics cards are only 2-3 months away and are supposed to be approx 40% faster than the current generation of video cards. On this fact alone I cannot recommend purchasing two GTX580's and running them in SLI.

[squishee]

Dont listen to opinions on looks of a case .If it looks good to you and will do what you want of it then get it.Looks are different for everyone. Take a look at the corsair 850 enthusiast psu .I just purchased one and am amazed at it ability to hold constant voltages.Im running 9 fans and 2 pumps plus 590 gtx and 6 ssd plus an overclocked 2600k . I am very pleased with it.I have had lots of good psu from pc/power antec/ silverstone etc .Not sure about the recommendation on ram either.I run 16 gb gskill @1600 on a 4.9 overclock and see no speed issues.

[Drazn]

Dont listen to opinions on looks of a case .If it looks good to you and will do what you want of it then get it.Looks are different for everyone. Take a look at the corsair 850 enthusiast psu .I just purchased one and am amazed at it ability to hold constant voltages.Im running 9 fans and 2 pumps plus 590 gtx and 6 ssd plus an overclocked 2600k . I am very pleased with it.I have had lots of good psu from pc/power antec/ silverstone etc .Not sure about the recommendation on ram either.I run 16 gb gskill @1600 on a 4.9 overclock and see no speed issues.

Do you have 8x2 or 4x4?

[zanzabar]

Why doesnt it have the ability to go liquid? Its able to hold 240 mil Rad and another Rad in the base of case from what I have found. Am I misinformed?

i thought that it had the handle on the top and had no space up there like the haf-x but with a handle, but affter looking at reviews your right and it will fit a 2 fan on the front and a 2 fan on the top so it will do what u need

ok oh, that makes sense.

The GTX 580's are great cards, they are really expensive though. You could just purchase an EVGA Superclocked GTX 570 that almost matches the GTX 580's performance for $349.99. Or you could get something like the MSI R6950 Twin Frozr III for $289, flash it to the 6970 bios (6970's are around $350), and then overclock it to almost match the performance of a GTX 580 ($500).

Please, just keep in mind that the new generation of graphics cards are only 2-3 months away and are supposed to be approx 40% faster than the current generation of video cards. On this fact alone I cannot recommend purchasing two GTX580's and running them in SLI.

i would agree on not getting sli 580 but going for the 570 makes no sense IMO, the 2.5GB cards are almost the price of the normal 580 1.5GB,and the 570 gets memory starved. so if u wanted to go cheaper than a 580 i would go with a 69xx

[Drazn]

i thought that it had the handle on the top and had no space up there like the haf-x but with a handle, but affter looking at reviews your right and it will fit a 2 fan on the front and a 2 fan on the top so it will do what u need



i would agree on not getting sli 580 but going for the 570 makes no sense IMO, the 2.5GB cards are almost the price of the normal 580 1.5GB,and the 570 gets memory starved. so if u wanted to go cheaper than a 580 i would go with a 69xx

Yeah i was looking at the 6950 Sapphire. how do you know if you update it to the 6970? Man AMD has come along ways since I had one.

[zanzabar]

Yeah i was looking at the 6950 Sapphire. how do you know if you update it to the 6970? Man AMD has come along ways since I had one.

only reference cards and they are not made anymore for the 6950 so its hard to find

[squishee]

4x4...

[shazza]

I built a similar system a few weeks ago - same mobo, CPU, GPU, 16GB RAM (G-Skill 1600). I'm running a 1000W PSU, but only because that is what was in my previous setup. 850W would be fine even for SLI, but get the one you want, if you feel you need more headroom.

I haven't done any OC'ing so can't comment on whether 16GB vs 8GB is a problem. I've been immersed in Skyrim since the day the build was finished, so haven't done any benchmarking - it plays everything at 1920x1200 on the highest settings with no problems.

Note - I went with the 3GB EVGA vid card because of some of the Photoshop work I do (add on filters, etc.) - same reason for 16GB of memory. These are overkill for my gaming needs.

As for cooling - this setup runs very cool. I'm actually running the stock heatsink right now - deciding whether to go under water or stay with air. I'd buy the case you want now, and not worry about room for liquid cooling (unless you know that's what you'll be doing).

Enjoy.

[Drazn]

Well im rethinking the EVGA 580 3gb. The 6950 AMD cards are really impressing me.

[Bobsama]

My thoughts...

Core i7-3930K
G.Skill Ripjaw Z 4x4GB DDR3-1600
Gigabyte GA-X79-UD3
XFX Radeon HD 6950 2GB
Antec KUHLER H20 920
OCZ Vertex 3 Max IOPS Edition 120GB
Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB
Corsair Professional AX850
Lian-Li PC-9F

$1969.91 subtotal; $10.40 shipping (at least to the Northeast); $1980.31

[3lfk1ng]

^ I like Bobsama's build.

[Drazn]

Ok, guys I have revised my build.

CM Storm Trooper
ASUS P8Z68 pro/gen3
Intel Core i7-2600K
EVGA 508 GTX 1.5gb
Corsair 16mb Vengeance 1600
CORSAIR AX850
HITACHI Deskstar 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s
Crucial M4 256GB (SSD)
Corsair H100

what do you think?

[Bobsama]

Still think you should go with Sandy-E, but that's just me. Strictly in gaming, the 2600K performs a touch better.

[zanzabar]

Still think you should go with Sandy-E, but that's just me. Strictly in gaming, the 2600K performs a touch better.

intel killed/delayed the sub $600 2011 part until late q1 so i dont see why he would go for that

[Bobsama]

intel killed/delayed the sub $600 2011 part until late q1 so i dont see why he would go for that

I don't think the <$600 part would do much good--it's just another 4c/8t chip except for X79.

[zanzabar]

I don't think the <$600 part would do much good--it's just another 4c/8t chip except for X79.

i thought that they were going to have a $400 hex core, if its a quad then i dont see the point for the desktop 2011 to exist

[buradd]

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l2...210_003956.jpg

http://i97.photobucket.com/albums/l2...210_003933.jpg

my $2k rig

case: corsair 500r
psu: corsair hx1050
mobo: asus m5a99x evo (ready for that piledriver because bulldozer blew)
cpu: phenom ii x6 1100t @ 4.21ghz
mem: some kingston crap, it works, 1333mhz
cooler: corsair h100 modified / add xspc 5.25" reservoir
storage: 120gb kingston hyperx ssd / 1tb western digital 7200rpm sata
dvdrw: hp w/ lightscribe
video: two gigabyte 6950 1gb OC w/ unlocked 6970 shaders
flair: hawaiian hula dancer dashboard accessory

[s4pphire]

You can't really go wrong with a 2500K/2600K build along with 8GB of ram. 16GB is unnecessary, so find an 8GB kit in the 2133 range instead.

Buying 6950s could be considered a waste at this point, though, in my opinion. Their resale value will drop drastically once the 7000 series is released and in terms of performance will most likely be left behind by a larger margin too. I'd suggest you wait for the 7000 series, or settle for a single GTX 580 which will be sufficient at 1080p. The GTX 580 will maintain more of its value because of the smaller performance gap and due to the fact that certain people simply don't want AMD cards, so if you chose to upgrade in a few months, the chances of selling the GTX 580 would probably be higher compared to your chances of selling 6950s. Plus, why bother with Crossfire and all its issues, when the performance isn't actually needed; and if you so desperately want the additional performance, you can look into picking up another GTX 580 in the future.

Besides that, the choice of components looks good.