Cali's new computer

[BTTW-DratsaB]

I'm really buying one this time! I'll be ordering parts next week, still looking to see what I'll get, but this is basically what I'm looking at. Money is in the bank, but leaving for a business trip June 4-13th and won't have time to start building til around June 16th anyway. Already put orders in with Newegg and Amazon and newegg is cheaper by about $40. Also thinking of getting a 32+ inch LCD TV to use as my main monitor. The price is under $1500 so far, not counting the new TV if I get one.

 

i5 3570k 3.4ghz

EVGA 670 2GB

8GB of ram

128GB SSD

500GB HDD

W76 64-bit

Antec 900

Gigabyte Mobo Ga-Z77X

750 Watt PSU

 

 

I'll post exact specs 1-2 days before I buy.

 

Nice upgrade. I'm curious as to how DCS A10 runs for you with your current rig? What kind of performance issues do you have, if any? And what GFX settings do you use?

 

I will definitely be interested to hear what difference the upgrade makes. And how much higher you can up your settings.

[Kuky]

Corsair = good PSU's

 

How much can you find this board for in the US:

ASUS P8Z68 Deluxe Gen3

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=138_711_1183&products_id=18610

 

I've read good comments about it and I like the availability of 10xUSB ports on the back I/O pannel

Edited June 2, 2012 by Kuky

[Cali]

Ivybridge.. nice!!

 

and a GTX 670 very very nice. I would go for MSI though, its a bit cheaper than EVGA and has better cooling.

 

EVGA has a very good warranty. The GPU I have now is EVGA 8800GT and I have had no problems with it. The 680 is about $100 more, I may opt for that instead...all depending on total price of the build. I'm trying to stay under $1500, but this system will last me for a long time......as you can see by my current system :D

 

Make sure your psu is modular. I didnt and that was a big mistake. Im pretty certain that you picked the exact same psu I did....and its a wiring nightmare.

 

The PSU I have in this build is modular. My current system is not and I have wires stuffed in open spots where ever I can put them, it is a mess.

 

Nice upgrade. I'm curious as to how DCS A10 runs for you with your current rig? What kind of performance issues do you have, if any? And what GFX settings do you use?

 

I will definitely be interested to hear what difference the upgrade makes. And how much higher you can up your settings.

 

I don't have DCS A-10C, but have BS2 and I was getting like 12fps on low settings, so I'm guessing A-10C would be around the same.

 

Corsair = good PSU's

 

How much can you find this board for in the US:

ASUS P8Z68 Deluxe Gen3

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=138_711_1183&products_id=18610

 

I've read good comments about it and I like the availability of 10xUSB ports on the back I/O pannel

 

I'll look for that mobo or something like it, wait, do I need a Z77 board for my CPU?

[Kuky]

no you don't need Z77 board (this is chipset type)... you need Intel 1155 socket, chipset can vary, I think there is also H77 chipset, I know Z68 chipset is previous generation, bit this is like 3rd review of it and I think this board was one of the better ones and I read only good stuff about it... I think it was about $350 when it came out last year

 

I can't find your Gigabyte board as there are different versions of it, can you specify exact model so I can see its features

Edited June 2, 2012 by Kuky

[Cali]

Here it is http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007R21JX6/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Edited June 2, 2012 by Cali

[Kuky]

I see, well for the money that one is not too bad also, equivalent Asus board are little more expensive and the one I noted earlier is top of the line previous chipset which is about double the price of your one and also doesn't have that on board VGA, DVI and HDMI port, don't know if you plan on using them?

[Cali]

I'll post the final specs 1-2 days before I buy. Items I had on both newegg and amazon have already increased and decreased in price and some aren't avilable anymore. Asus boards do cost more I have seen, but you get what you pay for.

[emenance]

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=138_711_1183&products_id=18610

 

 

Thats the ASus z68 board I got. Its GREAT. Generation 3 so all the bugs are out of this model. Asus has a Auto tune software that actually works. I let mine climb to 4.4 ghz and hit a button to lock it there. All the setting are made in the bios by the system for the overclocking. Mostly , so its real easy to turn up and stick a fork in, calling it done.

 

Newegg shows a video about the z77 chipset

http://www.newegg.com/Store/Category.aspx?Category=20&name=Motherboards

 

Want to save money , then get a P8 . Dont care get the Sabertooth.

[diveplane]

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=138_711_1183&products_id=18610

 

 

Thats the ASus z68 board I got. Its GREAT. Generation 3 so all the bugs are out of this model. Asus has a Auto tune software that actually works. I let mine climb to 4.4 ghz and hit a button to lock it there. All the setting are made in the bios by the system for the overclocking. Mostly , so its real easy to turn up and stick a fork in, calling it done.

 

Newegg shows a video about the z77 chipset

http://www.newegg.com/Store/Category.aspx?Category=20&name=Motherboards

 

Want to save money , then get a P8 . Dont care get the Sabertooth.

 

u have a similar mobo as me its a good board i like asus. ASRock Z68Extreme3 Gen3 Mobo

Edited June 4, 2012 by diveplane

[hitman]

I honestly dont see the benefit of having a more expensive board. All its supposed to do is complete a circuit. If it had more peripherals, lower resistance and electrical paths, and a higher bus speed, then maybe...but why go balls to walls when they all do the same thing anyways? You dont really get that much of a performance increase...

[McVittees]

Nice upgrade. I'm curious as to how DCS A10 runs for you with your current rig? What kind of performance issues do you have, if any? And what GFX settings do you use?

 

I will definitely be interested to hear what difference the upgrade makes. And how much higher you can up your settings.

 

I'm trying to find the thread where I posted the FPS but I've upgraded from what you're running (Q9550) to an Ivy Bridge, 8Gb of RAM and an SSD. Really the difference is instead of a juddery ride its now smooth (this is BS2) and is much, much easier to fly. I never found low FPS such a problem in A10C so the difference hasn't been as marked.

 

Probably worth mentioning that the SSD has dramatically reduced load times and the 8Gb RAM means alt tabbing is a snap and never get any noticeable texture loading when panning around the cockpit at mission start.

 

I will say though that I wished I'd gone for a i5 2500k instead of an i5 3570k. I think the higher clock speeds (for a given temp) that the 2500k can reach would've been more beneficial.

 

[edit] Here's the thread: http://forums.eagle.ru/showthread.php?t=83269

Edited June 4, 2012 by McVittees

[McVittees]

I honestly dont see the benefit of having a more expensive board. All its supposed to do is complete a circuit. If it had more peripherals, lower resistance and electrical paths, and a higher bus speed, then maybe...but why go balls to walls when they all do the same thing anyways? You dont really get that much of a performance increase...

 

A good board will have better capacitors giving better power regulation. This allows an overclocked PC to keep on trucking despite you pumping more voltage through it. Reliability is in my eyes what a more expensive board gives you. There is of course a tipping point of price/value (I never get the top of the line deluxe boards for example) but then I wouldn't buy the bottom of the line board either.

[104th_Maverick]

Just found this Cali... I hope it helps / maybe warns.

 

I do not pretend to even understand half of all the stuff you guys are talking about, I'm not very sharp on hardware... But I did want to look a bit more into the Ivy Bridge stuff and found this:

 

Heat issue when overclocked

 

Ivy Bridge's temperatures are reportedly 20°C higher compared to Sandy Bridge when overclocked, even at default voltage setting[20]. Overclockers[who?] speculate that this occurs because instead of using fluxless solder to transfer heat from the die to the Integrated Heat Spreader (IHS), Intel used Thermal Interface Materials (TIM) to cut cost. The cheap[21] thermal paste Intel used has much lower thermal conductivity, causing heat to build up on the die.[22][23][24] Impress PC Watch (Japanese) has proven that this is in fact true.[25][26]

 

Intel has said that overclocking the CPU will result in higher temperatures due to the fact that with the die shrink, there is an increased thermal density; Intel at the same time stated that this is as expected and will likely not improve in future revisions.[27] Similar phenomena occurred when Intel released the 90 nanometer Prescott core Pentium 4 processors - a die shrink of the 130 nanometer Northwood processors.

 

--------

 

I just noticed lots of chat about over clocking.. then thought I might mention this!

Like I said tho.. I'm a total hardware NOOB... I just thought it might help to keep this info in mind!

[cichlidfan]

I honestly dont see the benefit of having a more expensive board. All its supposed to do is complete a circuit. If it had more peripherals, lower resistance and electrical paths, and a higher bus speed, then maybe...but why go balls to walls when they all do the same thing anyways? You dont really get that much of a performance increase...

 

Sometimes, you get what you pay for. PSUs are the same way.

[Druid_]

If you have a Sandy bridge then it's not worth upgrading to ivy bridge in my opinion. Many ppl thought that the die shrink meant that they would be able to overlock even higher. Unfortunately ivy bridge uses a new tri-gate transistor technology which means more heat when over clocked.

 

Typical over clocks are 4.7 for sandy bridge and 4.5 for ivy bridge. Clock speeds don't tell the whole story of course and ivy bridge performs as well as (if not better than) sandy bridge at slightly lower clock speeds. It's all down to the chip design and compute efficiency.

 

As for the ASUS vs Gigabyte debate, I have owned both over the years and have been very happy with either. I even got a 3 year warranty on my current gig board. Cali I would look at the boards and decide what features you will use and what features you might want to use in the future. I do think the current z77 boards from ASUS have raised the bar though, mighty impressive but you do pay for it and do you really need to?

 

Link to ASUS's best valued z77 board here http://www.pcper.com/news/Motherboards/best-valued-model-ASUS-P8Z77-family-motherboards

 

And a good in depth Preview of the complete ASUS z77 range in the below YouTube vid, if you can sit through 90 mins.

 

Good luck with new build. I'm upgrading next month I think (whilst the wife is away on holiday).

Edited June 4, 2012 by Druid_

[Cali]

Thx for the info Mav, I did look around about both chips but didn't think of looking at the temps. Looks like I'll most likely be going with the 2500k then. As far as the boards go, I think I might try Asus out this time. I have seen some boards that aren't to expensive.

 

I leave tonight for North Dakota and I hope I have time within the next 2 days to put all the pieces together. I'll hopefully be ordering it by the end of this week and everything should be home when I get there!

[Moa]

Great to hear you'll finally be getting an upgrade Cali - it's about time :)

 

I recently switched from buying Gigabyte boards to an Asus board. The Asus is noticeably superior enough I won't be going back. The BIOS is much better and friendlier for overclocking, and coupled with a few reset buttons on the Asus board to help out if you get a setting wrong (like accidentally disabling the USB ports, doop!) then I'd say the Asus is the clear winner.

 

A 2500k is also a good choice. There isn't much point at getting anything more expensive at this stage.

 

Do try and get as fast RAM as you can, between 1600 MHz and 2133 MHz seems to be a good price point. I wouldn't get less than 8 GB these days - especially as you'll want to run a 64-bit operating system.

 

Don't buy a video card with less than 2 GB Video RAM (VRAM) on it. If doesn't matter how fast the rest of your system is, if you video card starts swapping excessively between RAM and VRAM then you will notice it. All that VRAM is needed if you crank texture quality, anti-aliasing, anisotropic filtering, high dynamic range (HDR) rendering, or Screen Space Ambient Occlusion (SSAO) up.

 

You're gonna love these sims with your new rig.

[Cali]

First post updated with the build, I forgot a sound card. Newegg was cheaper then Amazon by about 430.

[Sierra99]

Looks like I'll most likely be going with the 2500k

 

That's what I'm running and I'm very happy with it. Micro center had them n sale a few weeks back and Frys price matched it so it was less than 2 bills...

 

As far as the boards go, I think I might try Asus out this time. I have seen some boards that aren't to expensive.

 

Check out gigabyte boards too... Lots of value for the money.

[Cali]

That's what I'm running and I'm very happy with it. Micro center had them n sale a few weeks back and Frys price matched it so it was less than 2 bills...

 

As far as the boards go, I think I might try Asus out this time. I have seen some boards that aren't to expensive.

 

Check out gigabyte boards too... Lots of value for the money.

 

I looked at Gigabyte, my current system has a Gig board. Gonna try something new this time. The board I picked out makes it super easy to O/C, at least that is what a few reviews said. Buying it tomorrow!

[Druid_]

Personally I think if you go with either gigabyte or ASUS you won't be disappointed. I've had both. You cant compare mboards with different chipset versions though as each manufacturer will add something new each time e.g. Windows Bios control. I do think that ASUS has created something a little special with the z77 chipset this time around though.

 

Any particular reason you don't want to go with ivy bridge? Ppl keep going on about the heat as if it's a massive stumbling block. The main reason ppl are complaining is because they EXPECTED to clock it higher than sandy bridge. You should still be able to clock ivy to about 4.5 - 4.6 which is similar to clocks speeds on air for sandy. Also overclocking ivy is a LOT simpler too.

 

Have you read this? Always thought this was a good tech website.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-i7-3770k-overclock-geforce-gtx-680,3212.html

 

First post updated with the build, I forgot a sound card. Newegg was cheaper then Amazon by about 430.

You know that mboard has 8 channel realtek onboard sound already right?

 

Also if you,plan on overclocking (which I am sure you are) then you have a good custom cooler that is compatible with board and CPU?

Edited June 6, 2012 by Druid_

[Cali]

Crap, I had a Zalman cooler, guess I forget to add it to the cart....thx for reminding me!

 

I'll do some more research on the IB vs SB and will make the decision on which one I will buy when I order everything tomorrow.

[Pilotasso]

Cali, congrats for the build.

 

I52500K best and smarter choice indeed. Just overclock the sucker and let the Ivy bridge cry of shame! :evil:

I was to upgrade the CPU myself but realized Ivy bridge is not what the reviews wanted to show us for months.

[cichlidfan]

Crap, I had a Zalman cooler, guess I forget to add it to the cart....thx for reminding me!

 

I'll do some more research on the IB vs SB and will make the decision on which one I will buy when I order everything tomorrow.

 

I would change the cooler even if I wasn't overclocking, but that is just me! Zalman makes some good ones. I have one in my 'regular stuff' machine.

[Cali]

I would change the cooler even if I wasn't overclocking, but that is just me! Zalman makes some good ones. I have one in my 'regular stuff' machine.

 

Are you saying don't get the Zalman cooler? That's what I have in my cart now.