My Config...

budget? res? when you say last five years do you mean its performance? cause parts will break and the highest part warranty you can get here is 4 years right now.

cory we can't really tell what he needs till we know his res, also the corsair a70 is a air cooler and a good one at that, its a tad louder then Noctua but just as good.

I think for that price range you get a SB system that gives you better performance for your money:

Here you go Ticket# 488580 --- $1856 (To see this build click here)

Copy of Specifications:
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 P8P67 (Intel P67 Chipset) (Features USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s)
System Memory: 8GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested)
Power Supply: 750W Corsair TX (Dual SLI Compatible)
Expansion Bay: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1x (1TB Western Digital Caviar (7200 RPM) (64MB Cache) (Model: Black Edition WD1002FAEX)
Set 1 Raid Options: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: - No Thanks
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: 1x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 1GB (Includes PhysX Technology)
Add-on Card: - No Thanks
Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio
Extreme Cooling: AIR: Stage 1: Noctua NH-U12P SE Dual 120mm Fans High Performance Cooler
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
Boost Processor: FREE: Overclock the processor between 3.6GHz to 3.9GHz
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
Benchmarking: - No Thanks
Install/Test 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

My build is more powerful then the AMD bulid, you sure you want to pay more/same and get less power? the 2600k even beats my cpu which is the 6 core 980x.

the 6950 is your choice but the 560 will give you more then you need at the res you mentioned and save you $100 over the 6950.

fan controller is a waste of your money, it won't control all your fan, and the temps are not accurate.

Well going by that thinking, doesn't that say that 2600k will stay powerful longer then the amd.

as for 6950, in 3 years no matter what you pick will feel weak, if your res stays at 1280x768 tho, I think a 560 or 6950 will stay plenty.

more cores = more multi tasking, not more power, that is why 6 cores do the same as 4 core counter parts ie, 950 vs 980x,. that will change in the future when apps/games take full advantage of all cores/threads.

if you look around the old quad cores are even weaker then the current quad cores. fore example in cs4 the 2600k is more then 50% faster then teh q6600.

check out encoding for the 2600k vs the Phenom II X6 1100t Black, notice the 2600k stock speeds beats the Phenom oced to 4.2:



look at stock 2600k beat the Phenom II X6 oced to 4.2:



OK lol I won't bug you anymore, if you still want to go amd let me know, but I have been in your shoes before and right now for the money, the SB is gonna take you further with more power then the amd will, with $150 under budget and more power.

Edited by DST4ME - 21 Feb 2011 at 10:09pm

I can show you site after site that will show you what a beast the 2600k is. here is the one the pic are from, I didn't post everything, you can see the rest yourself.

No boss that is not good. you are choosing parts that have nothing to offer you since you are not going sli, and you didn't even pic a cpu cooler, this config is better:

Here you go Ticket# 488783 --- $1856 (To see this build click here)

Copy of Specifications:
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 P8P67 (Intel P67 Chipset) (Features USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s)
System Memory: 8GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested)
Power Supply: 750W Corsair TX (Dual SLI Compatible)
Expansion Bay: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1x (1TB Western Digital Caviar (7200 RPM) (64MB Cache) (Model: Black Edition WD1002FAEX)
Set 1 Raid Options: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: - No Thanks
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: 1x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 1GB (Includes PhysX Technology)
Add-on Card: - No Thanks
Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio
Extreme Cooling: AIR: Stage 1: Noctua NH-U12P SE Dual 120mm Fans High Performance Cooler
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
Boost Processor: FREE: Overclock the processor between 3.6GHz to 3.9GHz
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
Benchmarking: - No Thanks
Install/Test 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

anything you change from that, at your res, you will zero improvement/gains.

add this fan to the top of the haf x for more airflow, it has 3 x 200mm fans in there now, but there is room to add a 4th to the top:
'
haf 200mm non led fan

whatever 6950 can do, 560 can do or even better, at the res you are talking about, like I said, the 560 can handle 1900 x 1200 right now, its gonna give you what you want and you can oc it too for more power and it saves you $100 over the 6950, so going from your low res to say 1900 x 1200 is fine for the 560, at that res whenever the 560 does not have enough power, you can rest assured that the 6950 would have the same problem.

You should upgrade your PSU to the corsair model.  There may be more minor tweaks, but that is the first one that I noticed.