Gaming/School BuildPost Date: 2012-02-12 |
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nmq01 
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Joined: 12 Feb 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 9 |
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 Topic: Gaming/School BuildPosted: 12 Feb 2012 at 4:41pm |
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My previous computer (hard drive) died over the weekend after 6 years of use. I'm now hoping to build a computer with a budget under 3300.00 dollars.
The majority of my use will be playing World of Warcraft, BF3, and SWTOR. I also will be using it for schooling and for Netflix. Having HD is a must. I will NOT be using 3D as I think putting on eye ware is just annoying. I also want it to be somewhat quiet so as not to disturb my studying and movie watching. Some of the key components I want to include are:
A few questions I have are: I was thinking of going with two hard drives. One SSD and one hard disk drive possbily. Can I get by with one SSD? What is the reasoning for having two hard drive systems? Is SSD a superior driver? What is a good Dell monitor for under say 500 dollars? This is my set-up so far and appreciate any comments. Chassis Model: Special Deal Hot Seller - Cooler Master CM 690 II Advanced |
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jmaster299
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Joined: 27 Aug 2011 Online Status: Offline Posts: 0 |
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Posted: 12 Feb 2012 at 5:45pm |
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I'll try to break things down for your build then answer some of your questions.
Case: Not a bad choice, the HAF X is a little over priced at the moment and if you are going to take this to school it's probably too big. The 690 II is a good choice. I'd recommend picking up some extra fans to go in the optional fan slots. Read more on the CM website. It will be much cheaper for you to pick up some 120mm fans to install in the open slots on the sides. CPU: The 2700k is a waste, it's just a 2600k with a slightly high stock clock. Go with the 2600k and the over clocking service from DS. MOBO: Perfect choice. RAM: 16GB is in no way needed, 8GB is way more then enough unless you are doing something like rendering but that would require an entirely different build anyways. PSU: The GS is not a good choice. Stick with the HX or Pro Series Gold from Corsair. For what your system is going to need you will need the 1050HX. Drive 1: Not bad but the 320 series from Intel actually has better performance. SATA III is far less important then the speed and reliability of the actual drive. SATA speeds are just the maximum speed at which the drive can send and receive information between the system and you will never ever come close to the 3GB/s of SATA II anyways. Drive 2: Perfect choice Opitcal: Perfect choice GPU: A waste of money and will not support what you need. The 7970 is over priced and for your set up you are going to need at least x2 GPUs. x2 SLI GTX 570 2.5GB will be exactly what your system requires. The 7970 alone is not enough and x2 7970's in CF will cost you over $400 more in your build then x2 570's and will not benefit you in any way. Cooling: Normally the Noctua D-14 would be a better choice but as this is a smaller case it more then likely will not fit. The H100 should be fine but you will need to call DS when placing your order and request to upgrade to the quieter R4 CM fans to keep the noise down. Take a look at this build #654428 Chassis Model: Special Deal Hot Seller - Cooler Master CM 690 II Advanced Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish Processor: Intel Core i7 2600K 3.40GHz (Unlocked CPU for Extreme Overclocking) (Quad Core) Motherboard: ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 (Intel Z68 Chipset) (Features Intel Quick Sync Technology) System Memory: 8GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested) Power Supply: 1050W Corsair Pro Silver 1050HX (Dual/Triple/Quad SLI Compatible) Expansion Bay: - No Thanks Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1x (160GB Solid State (By: Intel) (Model: 320 Series) Set 1 Raid Options: - No Thanks Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: 1x (1TB Western Digital Caviar (7200 RPM) (Model: Black Edition) Hard Drive Set 3: Backup\Misc.: - No Thanks Optical Drive 1: DVD-R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 24x / CD-Writer 48x) Optical Drive 2: - No Thanks Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections) Video Card: 2x SLI Dual (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 2.5GB (PhysX) (EVGA 025-P3-1579-BR) Add-on Card: - No Thanks Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio Extreme Cooling: H20: Stage 2: Corsair H100 Liquid CPU Cooler (240mm Radiator) (Extreme-Performance Edition) <b></b> H20 Tube Color:- Not Applicable, I do not have a FrostChill or Sub-Zero LCS Cooling System Selected Chassis Airflow: Standard Factory Chassis Fans Internal Lighting: - No Thanks Enhancements: - No Thanks Chassis Mods: - No Thanks Noise Reduction: - No Thanks LaserMark: - No Thanks Boost Processor: Stage 2: Overclock CPU 4.5GHz to 4.8GHz (Requires Pro or Deluxe Series Motherboard) Boost Video Card: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s) Boost Memory: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my memory Boost OS: - No Thanks, Please do not tweak the services on the operating system Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-Bit Edition) Recovery Tools: Windows Recovery Toolkit (Bundled with Windows 7 CD) Virus Protection: - No Thanks Office: - No Thanks Game: - No Thanks Display: - No Thanks Surge Shield: - No Thanks Speakers: - No Thanks Keyboard: - No Thanks Mouse: - No Thanks External Storage: - No Thanks Exclusive T-Shirt: - No Thanks Priority Build: - No Thanks, Ship Within 5-15 Business Days After Order Is Successfully Processed Warranty: Life-time Expert Customer Care with 3 Year Limited Warranty It will fit everything you need and want and is well with in your budget. Pair it with this 1080p Ultra Sharp monitor from Dell and you will be just under your goal of $3300. For your question on drive, a SSD is good for your OS and games. You want to use it for programs that will benefit from faster load times. You the large secondary HDD to for file storage like movies and music. The SSD I selected is slightly larger then the one in your build and should work very nicely. Edited by jmaster299 - 12 Feb 2012 at 5:46pm |
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nmq01
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Joined: 12 Feb 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 9 |
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Posted: 14 Feb 2012 at 3:07pm |
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Thanks for your help jmaster. The comments and suggestions you gave were quite insightful.
One question I did come away with from your review was the configuration of the SSD and HDD drives. Will I need to configure the SSD/HDD drives or will Digital Storm be able to do this?
Thanks again.
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jmaster299
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Joined: 27 Aug 2011 Online Status: Offline Posts: 0 |
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Posted: 15 Feb 2012 at 8:52am |
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Any drives you order will already be installed and formatted for you. The main SSD will have your OS installed on it and everything and that's what you are going to want.
Now that the 10th Anniversary sale is going on you can actually upgrade that build to a better case. The HAF X will give you better temps, especially for the GPUs. See this build 655682 for the HAF X, it's the same except for the different case. The current sale keeps right near your budget. |
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nmq01
Newbie
Joined: 12 Feb 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 9 |
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Posted: 21 Feb 2012 at 8:58pm |
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This is the current build I have: 657475
I have a few more questions that I'm hoping you can answer. With the 520 SSD series replacing the 320 series, is it worth getting the 520 series? I'm worried I may be sacrificing quality. Going with the HAF-X case doing I need to upgrade the fans? More importantly do I need to request any for additional installation? I'm thinking I don't need noise reduction and the system will be fairly quiet or may just hinder the set-up. Was curious what you guys think? CPU Boost: I've read on the forums that you want to stay below 1.45 v-core for overclocking the 2600k. Should I select the stage 2 CPU boost for this? Video boost: Would this be needed for my the system set-up? Thanks again for all your help. |
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jmaster299
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Joined: 27 Aug 2011 Online Status: Offline Posts: 0 |
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Posted: 21 Feb 2012 at 10:12pm |
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Several things to address here. I'll try to cover the stuff in your post then I'll link a revised build for you.
1. Yes for the 520 series. It's a direct replacement for the 320 and due previous drive shortages the 520 series is cheaper. The 320 series is just in shorter supply so it costs more and the supply is unlikely to change since it's replacement has now been released. 2. For the fans yes you are going to want to call DS after placing your order and ask them to install the second optional 200mm top fan. DS will have to quote you their exact price but I believe they charge about $30. On that same note skips the LED fan upgrade and skip the noise suppression package. They are both an added cost that will do nothing for you. The HAF X does not use any small 120mm fans so with the fan upgrade they would be removing the large fans and replacing them with smaller fans which is a very bad idea. The HAF X is a very quit case making the noise suppression pointless. That's the benefit of large fans, they already spin at a slower speed and make less noise. 3. For the CPU over clock you want to stay below 1.4v not 1.45v as 1.45v is way too high. You can select the Stage 2 OC and request in the notes that they stay below 1.4v on the vcore. 4. Never over clock your GPUs and avoid factory over clocked GPUs when ever possible. GPUs do not handle over clocks well like a CPU does and your performance gain from an over clocked GPU will be less then 10fps but it will make the cards burn out faster. You also do not need to tweak Windows any more. It was important back in the XP days to mess with Windows to free up as much RAM and CPU usage as possible so those resources can be used for your games instead but it's no longer necessary these days. You'll have more RAM and more CPU power then your system will know what to do with. Revised build #658287 Chassis Model: Special Deal Hot Seller - Cooler Master 942 HAF X Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish Processor: Intel Core i7 2600K 3.40GHz (Unlocked CPU for Extreme Overclocking) (Quad Core) Motherboard: ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 (Intel Z68 Chipset) (Features Intel Quick Sync Technology) System Memory: 8GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested) Power Supply: 1050W Corsair Pro Silver 1050HX (Dual/Triple/Quad SLI Compatible) Expansion Bay: - No Thanks Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1x (180GB Solid State (By: Intel) (Model: 520 Series) Set 1 Raid Options: - No Thanks Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: 1x (1TB Western Digital Caviar (7200 RPM) (Model: Black Edition) Hard Drive Set 3: Backup\Misc.: - No Thanks Optical Drive 1: Blu-Ray & DVD Writer/Reader (Burn + Play Blu-Ray & DVDs) (12x BD-R) (Lite-On iHBS112) Optical Drive 2: - No Thanks Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections) Video Card: 2x SLI Dual (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 2.5GB (PhysX) (EVGA 025-P3-1579-BR) Add-on Card: - No Thanks Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio Extreme Cooling: AIR: Stage 2: Noctua NH-D14 SE2011 Extreme Performance H20 Tube Color:- Not Applicable, I do not have a FrostChill or Sub-Zero LCS Cooling System Selected Chassis Airflow: Upgrade Chassis With LED Performance Fans (Red) (Up to 6 Fans) Internal Lighting: Internal Chassis Lighting System (Red) <b></b> Enhancements: - No Thanks Chassis Mods: - No Thanks Noise Reduction: - No Thanks LaserMark: - No Thanks Boost Processor: Stage 2: Overclock CPU 4.5GHz to 4.8GHz (Requires Pro or Deluxe Series Motherboard) Boost Video Card: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s) Boost Memory: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my memory Boost OS: - No Thanks, Please do not tweak the services on the operating system Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-Bit Edition) Recovery Tools: Windows Recovery Toolkit (Bundled with Windows 7 CD) Virus Protection: - No Thanks Office: - No Thanks Game: - No Thanks Display: - No Thanks Surge Shield: - No Thanks Speakers: - No Thanks Keyboard: - No Thanks Mouse: - No Thanks External Storage: - No Thanks Exclusive T-Shirt: - No Thanks Priority Build: - No Thanks, Ship Within 5-15 Business Days After Order Is Successfully Processed Warranty: Life-time Expert Customer Care with 3 Year Limited Warranty |
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