New PC Build...Any Thoughts Welcome

[Thesurgeon]

Here goes:

1.  CASE:        HAF X 942
2.  MOBO:       P67 UD 7
3.  CPU:          SANDY BRIDGE 2600K
4.  RAM:         G.SKILL RIPJAWS or KINGSTON HYPER X T1 8GB (2X4GB) 1866 OR 2133
5.  SSD:          CORSAIR PERFORMANCE 3 SERIES 128GB X2  IN RAID 0
6.  HDD:         WESTERN DIGITAL SATA 3 320GB 7200RPM
7.  GPU:          GIGABYTE SOC (950MHZ) 560 TI X 2 IN SLI
8:  PHYSYX:      NVIDIA GTS 450
9.  PSU:           CORSAIR 1200W ATX        
10.CPU COOLER: ARCTIC COOLING ACFZ 13 92MM FAN
11. OS:            WINDOWS 7 PRO 64BIT

 AND OF COURSE THE STANDARD OPTICAL DRIVES OF A BLUE RAY BURNER READER AND DVD BURNER READER.

I have some concerns/questions about a couple things on the list.

1. regarding the RAM I am undecided on the company, both seem to be excellent choices probably just a matter of experience with the company. I have never used either company for RAM in the past. THe bigger issue is 1866 or 2133. If I cant tell the difference between 1866 and 2133 why bother throwing money down the shoot with nothing to show for it..any thoughts?

2. The Physyx card idea, the reason I am throwing that in there is because I have that card in my old system and I didnt want it to go to waste. But if its not going to be helpful then forget it. I am not sure though, will the dedicated GTS be a help or a hindrance..any thoughts?

3. The HDD, It was only 50 dollars and I have never used an SSD system before, so I feel a bit leary about putting all my eggs in the SSD basket, I thought I would use the HDD to back up important things.

4. SSD in RAID 0, I have been trying to read as much as I can regarding this issue ( my head hurts) It seems that windowS 7 does not support trimm in RAID 0, from what I gather TRIMM is an important factor in the longevity of my SSD's, but there is also "GARBAGE COLLECTION" which I think it is like TRIMM or works with TRIMM, anyways I think I am a bit confused on this issue. Is trimm that important that I should not RAID or does the added speed of RAID is just that much better.

5.This  CPU Cooler I picked because it got good reviews and didnt seem like a monster. Since this is my first Build I feel a bit intimidated by the huge coolers out there. You know, issues with inteference with RAM slots, hard to attach and so on...any thoughts??

This is a gaming RIG, FPS muliplayer. Somewhat budget minded. I dont think I want to SLI GTX 580's. Or buy one GTX 580 and upgrade to second card in 6 months.  This is how it is, My wife is an absolute anti gamer and sees no point in it    I convinced her that my old RIG (DELL XPS GEN5 from 2005 )was making me the laughing stock in mutliplayer circles LOL. This new RIG has to stay close to budget, so I shouldnt go HOG wild ( thats how it goes when your married, compromise)  So what I buy now its gotta be it for awhile. ( SHe may do something to me while I am sleeping if I convinced her on $3,500 budget then asked to add another $500 in 6 months  LOL)

My other concerns are all the cables that need to be plugged into the MOBO, seems a bit intimidating, I want to make sure I plug everything into the right spots. I am going to have a Lap top next to me watch " HOW TO" videos and I will read the MOBO instructions3-4 times over, but still kinda antsy about it.

Sincerely,

SLEEPLESS IN L.A
http://

[Dark Mantis]

Well the first thing and most important for a decent build of any great gaming computer is to kick out the wife!

Ok back to reality then. Make sure that you take anti static precautions. We can cure most other problems but not dead components.

1. Unless you are planning to do a massive overclock then really the memory speed doesn't matter. I just OCed my UD5 with the 2500K to 4.6Ghz stable with 1600Mhz memory.  I found the Corsair Vengeance to be good value but obviously it might be differnet where you are.

2. Yes add your old card for PhysX. Just as well.

3. As long as your motherboard is the B3 version it makes sense to use one of the other ports for a backup drive.

4. You are correct TRIM doesn't work through RAID so you have the option of RAID/no RAID. The SSDs  are about twice as fast as magnetic drives anyway so either way you will see a good speed increase. Garbage Collection is an option but it is seconbd best and you will find that you will have to manually break your RAID and change the contoller mode before doing a Secure  Erase every so often to bring the drives up to speed again.

5. I think that the cooler will be fine as these chips run at lower temperatures than the previous chips.

Everyone has budget restrictions in one way or another and so none of us can have the systems that we would ideally like. You just have to set you price limit and get the best you can for that money.

[Thesurgeon]

So DM,  do you think the advantages of RAID outweigh TRIMM support, or does TRIMM outweigh the benefits of RAID?

[Dark Mantis]

Personally unless you have a special reason to require super fast disk access I would advise you to go with the AHCI mode and keep TRIM. You are still going to be running at faster than double the speed of read/write that you are used to so I don't think there will be any complaints.

[w_tanoto]

may i just add, that you might be better off with Windows 7 Ultimate. The price and functionality difference is not significant, but I consider it an investment.

I think your PSU is too high. I use 750 Watt to power my computer. It has GTX465 (just one though), X58 board for i7. All the RAM slots are filled, and I use 7 SATA ports out of 10 provided.

To be honest, 1000Watt will do. (A GTX465 requires 550 Watt - that is, also includes all standard components to run), but if you are a gamer, then probably stick with your choice of 1200 Watt. It will give you more room to expand if upgrades needed. Probably consider a modulated PSU. You can connect only the required cables, and avoid lots of cables in your case. I am struggling with my corsair 750W PSU cables. The cable is attached to the PSU permanently.

About the cables, nearly all the cables need to be plugged are fool-proof.

[Dark Mantis]

If I can just comment on what w_tanoto just said especailly regarding Windows 7 Ultimate. It depends on what yhou intend to use hte system for primarilly. If it is business use then your choice is probably best but if you ar egoing to be using it mainly for home use and gaming then there is not much point paying a hefty premium for the Ultimate version as unless you need a multi-ligual platform there is not much difference between that and the Home Premium version.

Your PSU is large but there again it will only use the power it requires so that isn't really a problem and it does give you headroom for future expansion. I use a Gigabyte ODIN Pro 1200W just for my test-bench and that has negligable power draw most of the time.

[w_tanoto]

DM is correct....
For me, Professional edition is definitely out of the picture. It's either Home Premium or Ultimate (with only adding £10-£20 to professional edition, you get ultimate - I am sure the pricing in the US is not much different). And one more thing, which I might think won't apply to the majority of you living in the UK or US: do not buy Home Basic. This edition is so pointless. I got one installed in my laptop. No transparency, difficulty in changing the wallpaper directly from desktop.

[Dark Mantis]

Yes I would totally agree there. Home Basic is really designed for netbooks etc and is a very cut down version of the OS.

[bytheway_r]

I'd think about going for a less powerful build and replacing it in ~2 years. That way you'd have a better PC later on. Considering that your wife isn't too willing to let you spend money on PCs it could be a better idea. You wouldn't be running max details, at least not for long, though.

About the PSU, 900-1000W will be plenty for this system. I'm not sure how much power these SOC cards require but a reference GTX 560 Ti uses 200W in Furmark and only about 120-150W during gaming. A GTS 450 is even less hungry. Really, during gaming you probably won't exceed 500-600W most of the time.

Lastly, something that I noticed reading about 4870x2 GPU. Remember to clean your PC case ( most importantly, all heatsinks ) about twice a year. Especially if you plan on using this PC for longer than 2 years. It's surprising how many problems out there are caused by overheating of components.

If you're curious about why I mentioned the 4870x2, there's a lot of topics of that card being broken and I have an inkling that a good deal of these died thanks to overheating ( as reference cooling there is already running very hot when it's clean ).

[Thesurgeon]

Hey all,

   Well Windows 7 ultimate is a bit overkill for my usage needs.

   The ATX 1200 is fully modular, I purchased some of the components already, like the PSU and case and optical drives. I installed the PSU and Optical drives and connected the power to the components.  JUst kind of twiddleing my thumbs until the motherboard becomes available.

   THis build is head and shoulders above what I have been using (XPS Gen5 almost 6 years old now) I have changed the GPU several times but never the CPU, its a socket LGA 775 Pentium D 3.2 ghz. I think this build should last me for more than a couple years. But, the way technology advances especially in computing, I know I may be in wishful thinking mode. I can be realistic and make it last for several, several years. 

[Dark Mantis]

The thing is with your components like the PSU, they will be fine for years yet as even with a bit of deterioration they will still be going strong for ages. The same with most of your other components and there is always the option of minor upgrades like adding more memory etc.

[w_tanoto]

Yup, for example, I took wifi network card, floppy disk drive (might be weird, because people think it is dead, but trust me, I (and many) still use this a lot) off my old PC. I chopped my Blu-ray/HD DVD drive off my notebook (installed it externally using enclosure).

[Dark Mantis]

Whenever I do a build I always try and specify components that will do me for more than just the current setup and try to design in a bit of future proofing. Quite often specs change and you end up having to swap a device out because it no longer has the required new connection or something rather than being not powerful enough etc any more. You can but try.

[w_tanoto]

may i be the first to congratulate you on 10000 posts

[Dark Mantis]

Thank you very much. Just doing what I'm not paid for!