CPU and GPU for new PC build

[GreyBush]

It's not my scene. I prefer keeping this stock like I bought them. Same goes for just about anything I buy, including my cars and PCs.

I'm not saying do it straight out the box but a few years down the line it can be a welcomed performance boost... and if you research properly it poses no harm to your hardware at all.

[FarligOpptreden]

I'm not saying do it straight out the box but a few years down the line it can be a welcomed performance boost... and if you research properly it poses no harm to your hardware at all.

I'm the type of person that will rather buy new hardware when my old hardware has reached end-of-life status. So I'll save the couple of hundred now and rather buy a new processor in 2-3 year's time.

[GreyBush]

I'm the type of person that will rather buy new hardware when my old hardware has reached end-of-life status. So I'll save the couple of hundred now and rather buy a new processor in 2-3 year's time.

But if it only needs to last 2-3 years then why not overclock the hell out of it.

[ponder]

Wait until he finds out the cpu also adjusts it's clock speed up & down without his intervention

[FarligOpptreden]

*sigh* This is going nowhere. I know the CPU adjusts itself. I just don't want to pay the premium for overclocking if I'm not going to do it. I'd rather spend the extra cash on a better motherboard or PSU.

[NAG - Wesley]

Rebeltech doesn't seem to stock it. I've got just about everything I need on their site at the moment, so if you can suggest a good PSU from their site I'll take it. So far I'm looking at the following:

Chassis: Zalman Z9 Plus
PSU: Antec VP550 (500W)
Motherboard: MSI Z77A-G45
CPU: Intel Core i5-3570
GPU: KFA² GTX660 Ti EX OC 2GB
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3-1600
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200RPM, 64MB cache
Optical Drive: Doesn't matter, just chose something random...

My budget is R10k and this build works out to R9978, including VAT.

If I were you, for R10k...

Intel Core i5 3470 @ R1916
ASRock Z77 PRO4-M @ R1200 (a better and cheaper board than the MSI)
TEAM Elite Silver DDR3-1600 8GB @ R394
KFA² Geforce GTX660 Ti 3GB @ R3773 (will help when you pile on FXAA/SSAA later on in games)
LG GH24NS90 @ R169
Antec One S3 USB 3.0 @ R508
SilverStone ST70F-ES @ R784 (all the connectors for SLI later on)

Total: R8744

And then you decide between:

OCZ Agility 4 128GB @ R1181
or
OCZ Agility 3 60GB (cache drive) + Western Digital Caviar Green 500GB @ R1362

If you have extra system drives then maybe going for the 128GB SSD isn't a bad idea and you can always install less-played games onto another HDD to save on space. Otherwise, a HDD with a SSD for caching brings you the same speed benefits but without the worrying about space limits.

[GreyBush]

*sigh* This is going nowhere. I know the CPU adjusts itself. I just don't want to pay the premium for overclocking if I'm not going to do it. I'd rather spend the extra cash on a better motherboard or PSU.

Better motherboards are meant for overclockers... get a stock standard mobo.

[nakedpeanut]

If I were you, for R10k...
/snip
SilverStone ST70F-ES @ R784 (all the connectors for SLI later on)
/snip

I have an issue with you recommending that PSU for him to use.
660ti SLI has a power draw of about ~490w under load (Toms: 472w and Hardware.info: 489w)
Since that PSU only supplies 552w on the +12v rail, you left with 60w odd on the +12v? That's cutting it very close, and we haven't even taken into account the rest of the system.

[FarligOpptreden]

Some nice recommendations Wesley, thanks! I'm still in the dark regarding the mobo and PSU. Is the ASRock really better than the MSI? What about peanut's comment on the PSU?

I'm not convinced that the high prices of SSDs justify their benefits yet. I'll wait and see what happens next year, the supposed "year of the SSD".

[NAG - Wesley]

I have an issue with you recommending that PSU for him to use.
660ti SLI has a power draw of about ~490w under load (Toms: 472w and Hardware.info: 489w)
Since that PSU only supplies 552w on the +12v rail, you left with 60w odd on the +12v? That's cutting it very close, and we haven't even taken into account the rest of the system.

Tom's hardware setup was of two GTX660 Ti cards in SLI and they were accompanied by an overclocked Core i7 3960x, the six-core Extreme Edition Sandy Bridge-E chip, at 4.2Ghz. In their review of the chip, it had a nominal power usage of 170W and a max power usage of 253W when running Prime 95. In that same review, the Core i5 2500K equalled the i7 2600K's power usage because Hyper-Threading doesn't incur much more power usage. So that means on average, it should hover around 220W in games and most apps.

Each GTX660 Ti consumes about 140W at full load while boosted, the same as a Radeon HD6870 at stock speeds. Hot Hardware found that at the same load levels using Prime 95, the Core i5 3470 still dipped under the 100W margin. Since most games these days aren't CPU-limited, the total power usage of the hardware would be 140+140+90 = 370W. And then add in 40W for the rest of the system components. I'm sure that's easily enough for the PSU to handle, considering it is a dual-rail design. If OP had more money to spend, I'd rather go for this puppy instead.

Some nice recommendations Wesley, thanks! I'm still in the dark regarding the mobo and PSU. Is the ASRock really better than the MSI? What about peanut's comment on the PSU?

I'm not convinced that the high prices of SSDs justify their benefits yet. I'll wait and see what happens next year, the supposed "year of the SSD".

Its better because it has front-panel USB 3.0 support, is cheaper, will overclock to the same or better levels and looks like the poor man's Rampage Gene - it's based on the Extreme 4, which held up pretty well in reviews.

Should you choose to eschew the SSD and go for the TB drive and stronger PSU I linked, at least put the money left into a better chassis if you can.

[nakedpeanut]

Tom's hardware setup was of two GTX660 Ti cards in SLI and they were accompanied by an overclocked Core i7 3960x, the six-core Extreme Edition Sandy Bridge-E chip, at 4.2Ghz. In their review of the chip, it had a nominal power usage of 170W and a max power usage of 253W when running Prime 95. In that same review, the Core i5 2500K equalled the i7 2600K's power usage because Hyper-Threading doesn't incur much more power usage. So that means on average, it should hover around 220W in games and most apps.

Each GTX660 Ti consumes about 140W at full load while boosted, the same as a Radeon HD6870 at stock speeds. Hot Hardware found that at the same load levels using Prime 95, the Core i5 3470 still dipped under the 100W margin. Since most games these days aren't CPU-limited, the total power usage of the hardware would be 140+140+90 = 370W. And then add in 40W for the rest of the system components. I'm sure that's easily enough for the PSU to handle, considering it is a dual-rail design. If OP had more money to spend, I'd rather go for this puppy instead.
/snip

Ah I apologise I never read the full system specs of those test rigs.
But you'll see I already recommended that GX 750

[FarligOpptreden]

Ah I apologise I never read the full system specs of those test rigs.
But you'll see I already recommended that GX 750

...and here I kept reading GTX 750! Just as the GTX 660 was released I thought WTH, there can't already be a successor for it!

[nakedpeanut]

...and here I kept reading GTX 750! Just as the GTX 660 was released I thought WTH, there can't already be a successor for it!

Hahaha not yet..

But I agree with the majority of Wes' recommendations.

I do how ever not see the point of the 3GB card. The 192bit will bottle neck you before the 2GB of memory does.

I'd rather got for:
MSI N660TI PE 2GD5/OC @ R3500 and it includes borderlands 2. Confirmed with rebel tech. It is on special now.

Note that the AMD cards are dropping in price, I'm just not sure when we will see the benefits of that and to what extent we will see it. As with things in this industry. Things are always changing. If you always looking forward you'll never buy anything.

And do your self a favour and get a 128GB (minimum) SSD. You'll be very grateful
Maybe not now, but do it. You'll be angry for not doing it sooner.

[FarligOpptreden]

Ooooooh!!! Didn't see the MSI at Rebeltech. I'd much rather go for it... Borderlands 2 is a huge benefit - I absolutely LOVED the first one. The PhysX used in the second one looks real shiny-shiny.

Any idea until when the MSI will be on special? I can only buy it end of this month, sadly...

[nakedpeanut]

Best would be to contact them