Building new rig soon. Would like to hear both opinions and recomendations

[Dokratos]

Hi everyone, I will very likely start a new build early next year and so far these are the specs I am, currently, targeting:

SSD: OCZ Vertex 4 - SSD 2.5 SATA III 128GB
Motherboard: MSI Z77A-GD65 Intel Z77 SK1155
CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K (Unlocked) 3.5GHz (3.9GHz Turbo) 8MB BOX
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 64MB SATAIII (6GB/s)
Ram: Corsair Vengeance Red 4x4096MB (16GB) DDR3 2133Mhz CAS11 1.5
Case: Fractal Design Arc Midi
Graphic Card:Sapphire Radeon HD7870 GHZ Edition 2GB GDDR5
PSU: Corsair TX650M Modular - 650W 80PLUS Bronze

I would be lying if I said this was to be my first build or mod but the fact is that my last mod was 6 or 7 years ago and stuff like liquid cooling was still very new and only a handful of people were doing that (plus, back then I was very budget limited and was improvising a lot of stuff on the go).

I have little or no knowledge of liquid cooling so if I aim for that I would like to know how to setup a good, yet affordable, cooling system. And where would I find good tutorials on how to do so?

Spec wise, what do you guys think?

The value of this system specs is about 1.190€ (1.540$) in my country. I wouldn't want to drift away too far from this value.

Would like to get feedback from both the community and Guru3d staff.

[XBEAST]

If this rig is going to be used for gaming:

Switch i7 3770K to i5 3570K.

Swtich HD 7870 to GTX 670/HD 7970 or GTX 660 Ti/HD 7950.

16GB 2133 MHz RAM won't make a noticeable difference over 8GB 1600 MHz.

If you plan to add a second video card, get a 850W PSU.

Samsung 830 is a bit better than Vertex 4 and can be found for the same price. If you can't find one, Vertex 4 will be fine. Or Plextor M5.

[Dokratos]

Originally Posted by XBEAST

If this rig is going to be used for gaming:

Switch i7 3770K to i5 3570K.

Swtich HD 7870 to GTX 670/HD 7970 or GTX 660 Ti/HD 7950.

16GB 2133 MHz RAM won't make a noticeable difference over 8GB 1600 MHz.

If you plan to add a second video card, get a 850W PSU.

Samsung 830 is a bit better than Vertex 4 and can be found for the same price. If you can't find one, Vertex 4 will be fine. Or Plextor M5.

Hi, thanks for you input.
Besides gaming I do work with video composing and editing so the added ram and is actually useful to me.
Why do you recomend the i5 over the i7?
I will check out the Samsung 830 as you recommended.

[XBEAST]

i5 3570K offers better overall price/performance ratio and is near-identical to i7 3770K in gaming. But since you're working with videos, i7 should cut down rendering times a bit. That is if your video software supports HT.

[Dokratos]

Originally Posted by XBEAST

i5 3570K offers better overall price/performance ratio and is near-identical to i7 3770K in gaming. But since you're working with videos, i7 should cut down rendering times a bit. That is if your video software supports HT.

I'll look into that, but HT should offer 35 - 45% gain in performance on video editing/composing software.
What about cooling, be it heatpipe/fan based or liquid, what are your thoughts on that matter (if you have any)?

[XBEAST]

Many options here. Decent air cooler should keep overclocked i7 3770K fairly cool. There are Silver Arrow, Archon, True Spirit, Macho from Thermalright, CNPS14X/12X/11X from Zalman. NH-D14 from Noctua, Frio Extreme from Thermaltake and many more.

If you want an AIO liquid cooler kit, there are Zalman LQ, Corsair Hydro, Thermaltake Water 2.0, Antec H2O, Cooler Master Seidon and some others.

[Dokratos]

Originally Posted by XBEAST

Many options here. Decent air cooler should keep overclocked i7 3770K fairly cool. There are Silver Arrow, Archon, True Spirit, Macho from Thermalright, CNPS14X/12X/11X from Zalman. NH-D14 from Noctua, Frio Extreme from Thermaltake and many more.

If you want an AIO liquid cooler kit, there are Zalman LQ, Corsair Hydro, Thermaltake Water 2.0, Antec H2O, Cooler Master Seidon and some others.

Could you point out your personal favorites if possible?

[naike]

The most popular ones seem to be the Corsair Hydro (h100i for example) and the Antec H2O 920, these are the all-in-one things he was talking about, if you want a custom thing with the fancy tubing and stuff you're looking at 2x the price.
I would only get the i7 if you need HT, check if your software supports that.
What resolution are you using?

[Dokratos]

Originally Posted by naike

The most popular ones seem to be the Corsair Hydro (h100i for example) and the Antec H2O 920, these are the all-in-one things he was talking about, if you want a custom thing with the fancy tubing and stuff you're looking at 2x the price.
I would only get the i7 if you need HT, check if your software supports that.
What resolution are you using?

The software supports it. Currently my resolution is 2560 x 800 with 2 monitors.
I'm also thinking about purchasing a 2560 x 1400 IPS 27" monitor further into the future.
I checked the h100i but I fear it might not fit the case I am thinking of buying but the Antec H2O 920 might fit.

A custom built tubing might look and preform better but I don't think I have the know how to pull it off without help.

[Dokratos]

Anyone else would care to give me their input?

[naike]

I assume you are going to be gaming since Radeon cards don't have cuda, and a 7870 is a pretty nice card, I think you'd be better off with the 3GB version.
Maybe someone can confirm that, I'm guessing a little here, but at that resolution some games might really like that extra GB.
Also have you considered cuda since you mentioned you do photo/video editing or something?

Edit:

Well, BF3 at 2560x1440 on ultra is definitely >2GB usage. And again, it's not just Vram. In 5 years? All our cards will be dust.

Seems 3GB would really be more suitable for that resolution.

[Dokratos]

Originally Posted by naike

I assume you are going to be gaming since Radeon cards don't have cuda, and a 7870 is a pretty nice card, I think you'd be better off with the 3GB version.
Maybe someone can confirm that, I'm guessing a little here, but at that resolution some games might really like that extra GB.
Also have you considered cuda since you mentioned you do photo/video editing or something?

Edit:

Well, BF3 at 2560x1440 on ultra is definitely >2GB usage. And again, it's not just Vram. In 5 years? All our cards will be dust.

Seems 3GB would really be more suitable for that resolution.

I don't know how big of an impact CUDA has on video editing/composing, since I never used it. I know both Radeon and Nvidia are supported for rendering, but maybe CUDA hardware supports more video formats? Or preforms better?

[naike]

What software are you using?

[ESlik]

Originally Posted by Dokratos

Anyone else would care to give me their input?

Go with the 3770K,and cool it with the Antec Kuhler h20 920 Liquid cooler. Best,and most quiet liquid cooler I have ever owned. And believe me,I've gone through quite a few of them. The Antec is also less money than the H100. Should you ever want to do some over clocking,the 3770K will handle pretty much everything you throw at it. Good luck!

[sverek]

Good build.

I agree with what others mentioned.

The only input I could provide is mobo. I had really bad experience with MSI motherboards.
I'd rather pick Asus, Asrock or gigabyte brands for their durability and reliability.
But again, its just mine experience.

As for cooling, I really enjoy CNPS9900 MAX from Zalman. I installed it my folding machine (Duo E8400, 100% CPU usage 24/7). Temps never gone higher than 40C. So if you consider air cooling for cpu, I highly recommend it. Its huge and take some time to install, but outcome is really good.

[Dokratos]

Originally Posted by naike

What software are you using?

I usually use Adobe Premiere CS6. I know it supports CUDA and from what I managed to gather CUDA associated to the Mercury playback engine makes realtime playback easier on the system. So I'll have to consider that. I've always had ATI/AMD graphic cards on my systems, the few Nvidia I had always gave me grief or simply died short after the warranty expired...
And another thing is I always found ATI/AMD's color quality to be a bit superior to Nvidia's.
But this might be the thing that makes me change unless until when the time comes for me to buy the parts something changes. With this in mind... what Nvidia card should I buy (within the same price range as the Sapphire Radeon HD7870 GHZ Edition 2GB GDDR5, about 220€/285$ USD)?

Radeon does support some features but Nvidia simply has more.
http://blogs.adobe.com/premierepro/2...e-pro-cs6.html

[Dokratos]

Originally Posted by ESlik

Go with the 3770K,and cool it with the Antec Kuhler h20 920 Liquid cooler. Best,and most quiet liquid cooler I have ever owned. And believe me,I've gone through quite a few of them. The Antec is also less money than the H100. Should you ever want to do some over clocking,the 3770K will handle pretty much everything you throw at it. Good luck!

I think I'll go with your suggestion and get the Antec Kuhler h20 920. Thanks for the feedback.

[Dokratos]

Originally Posted by sverek

Good build.

I agree with what others mentioned.

The only input I could provide is mobo. I had really bad experience with MSI motherboards.
I'd rather pick Asus, Asrock or gigabyte brands for their durability and reliability.
But again, its just mine experience.

As for cooling, I really enjoy CNPS9900 MAX from Zalman. I installed it my folding machine (Duo E8400, 100% CPU usage 24/7). Temps never gone higher than 40C. So if you consider air cooling for cpu, I highly recommend it. Its huge and take some time to install, but outcome is really good.

I never owned anything MSI before, I chose that particular mobo based on reviews. Though I do have a soft spot for any of those other brands you mentioned. I've had mobos from every one of them and I was never disapointed. I'll take your input under consideration. If it was up to you which one would you buy (for around 170€/220$ USD) and why?

[Pill Monster]

Originally Posted by Dokratos

I never owned anything MSI before, I chose that particular mobo based on reviews. Though I do have a soft spot for any of those other brands you mentioned. I've had mobos from every one of them and I was never disapointed. I'll take your input under consideration. If it was up to you which one would you buy (for around 170€/220$ USD) and why?

Another vote against MSI here.... Where are you buying from?

[Dokratos]

EVGA GTX660Ti +SuperClocked 3GB GDDR5 PCI-E 320€/415$ USD. It's about 100€ more expensive than the Radeon I initially picked... but it might be worth the extra effort to pay it, what do you guys think?
Though prices usually drop a bit after Christmas, so I might pick it up a bit cheaper then (let's hope so).

[Pill Monster]

Originally Posted by Dokratos

EVGA GTX660Ti +SuperClocked 3GB GDDR5 PCI-E 320€/415$ USD. It's about 100€ more expensive than the Radeon I initially picked... but it might be worth the extra effort to pay it, what do you guys think?
Though prices usually drop a bit after Christmas, so I might pick it up a bit cheaper then (let's hope so).

Can you link to the site you're looking at? TBH a 7950 is better value...

[Dokratos]

Originally Posted by Pill Monster

Can you link to the site you're looking at? TBH a 7950 is better value...

Yes, but it doesn't have CUDA, and in my line of work that's a plus...
Here's the site, it's in portuguese, so I dunno if you'll make any sense of it.
http://www.chiptec.net
If you have chrome you might try to get it to translate...

[naike]

I would definitely go with i7 and nvidia in that case. 660ti, can't go wrong there.
Might not be the best bang for the buck in games but it has cuda.

[Dokratos]

Originally Posted by naike

I would definitely go with i7 and nvidia in that case. 660ti, can't go wrong there.
Might not be the best bang for the buck in games but it has cuda.

Thanks for your feedback, naike.