Deciding on buying a new rig. Comment Please

[sgtTallies]

I want to buy a new rig in the next few months.
It will mainly be used for designing CG and gaming.

Intel Core i7 970 - 3.20GHz Six Core, Socket 1366
Asus Rampage III Extreme
Asus EAH6970 DCii/2Di4S/2GD5 2Gb 256bit 4 channel DDR5
CORSAIR DOMINATOR GT - 3 Module Kit 12GB KIT(4GBx3) DDR3-2000
Coolermaster RC-922M-KKN1 HAF922
Coolermaster RSA00-80GAD3 Silent Pro Gold 1000W Modular
Coolermaster V6 GT CPU Fan
Seagate Barracuda 500gb Sata6G 7200rpm 16mb cache 3.5" HDD
Seagate Barracuda Green 2TB HDD 5900RPM 64MB SATA 6GB/s
LITEON 24 Speed DVD Super All-Write SATA
Coolermaster megaflow / CM Storm force200
Coolermaster R4-XFBL-22PR-R1 Chassis Fan (x2)
Coolermaster/ Cm Storm Sentinel Advance
Microsoft Sidewinder X6

Please let me know what you think I should change, if so.
Also advise where to buy it from.

//Was thinking about Rampage-gaming//

 

[GeOgre]

X58 is dead!! X79 is launching in 3 months.

Get a 2600K just as fast as a i7 990 Xtreme CPU. End of next year get your self a Ivy bridge CPU.

Z68/P67 board either will do and be cheaper than the Rampage extreme
because it is sandy bridge get 16GB 1600 Vengeance 1.5V RAM will be beter than 2000 12GB.
Intel spec for Sandy bridge RAM is 1.5V not 1.65V

The Asus Direct CUII is IMO overpriced and overhyped.
The Cooler is way to heavy and cance of the cooler bending the card is garenteed, why do you think they have a metal back plate on the back not for cooling but for reinforcing the card.

HAF 912 Advanced or HAF X, the 922 is not a good choice.

Get a GTX 580 just for pure RAW Power. EVGA GTX 580 Superclocked will be available end of next week
MSI GTX 580 Lightning and Gigabyte SOC is beter.

As for the Cooler a H80 or H100 will do a beter Job.

 

[Pada]

+1 to what Ge0gre said.

It seems to me like you have a massive budget. Why not post your budget in Rand terms and we'll post suggestions?

I can testify as to what Ge0gre said about the Asus HD6970 DirectCU II, because I had one for a little while. The heavy cooler attached to the card isn't supported well enough, so it makes one heck of a noise when you set the fan speed to 50%+ and it bends the PCB quite a bit. Furthermore, my 2x GTX460's annihilated the card in terms of the framerate at 2560x1600 with 16xAA + 16x AF in BattleField:Bad Company 2.
The reason why I sold that card was because it didn't work with my Dell 3008WFP screen, which has a resolution of 2560x1600, and many other people all over the world complained about the exact same thing.

If you're considering buying a SLI/CrossFire setup, make sure that you buy a big case. Like the Coolermaster 690 II Advanced case, which is already a reasonable size, has very little space left between the PSU and the bottom graphics card if you're going for SLI/Crossfire. There are quite a few people with SLI/CrossFire setups using that case (me included) and we don't have any issues with it, except that the bottom card would run cooler in a bigger case.

Lately I'm favouring MSI & Gigabyte products over the Asus ones, especially when it comes to graphics cards and entry level/high-end motherboards.
The MSI GTX580 Lightening is one of the strongest single GPU cards available, with the HD6990 & GTX590 being more powerful since they're dual GPU cards.

With the Sandy Bridge setups, you should try and go for DDR3 1600/1866MHz RAM with low latencies and 1.5V ratings, rather than DDR3 2000MHz, because you can't run it at 2000MHz. The Sandy Bridge setups only allow you to run the RAM at 1333/1600/1866/2133MHz, and nothing inbetween.

Try to squeeze in a 120GB SSD, eg. OCZ Vertex 3.

 

[Zarratul]

This is what i have in mind for myself, when i eventually safe up the moola.

I constantly swap out components but at this stage im looking at the following.

Intel Sandybridge lga1155 i7-2600K
ASUS Maximus iV Extreme-Z
Corsair CMT8GX3M2A1866C9 , Dominator GT , with DHX technology + DHX Pro Connector + airflow II Fan , 4Gb x 2 kit (ddr3-1866) x 2

Asus ATI Radeon HD6870 1GB DDR5 x 2 (Already have one in my current setup)
Coolermaster Cosmos RC-1000-KWN1
Corsair HX1000 , EPS12V + Modular Cable Managemant , ATX 12V V2.2 - 1000w

OCZ 120GB Vertex 3 Series SATA III 2.5" SSD
Seagate Barracuda XT ST32000641AS - 2TB/2000GB, SATA6G - 7200RPM, 64MB

Asus DRW-24B1ST , 24x , Sata , Black
Microsoft Sidewinder X6
Microsoft Sidewinder X8

This will roughly equals R22k to R24k, which is 2 much for me.
Hopefully with the release of X79 some stuff will come down in price.

 

[AcidT]

CORSAIR DOMINATOR GT - 3 Module Kit 12GB KIT(4GBx3) DDR3-2000
Coolermaster V6 GT CPU Fan

Before you buy this combo of cooler and Ram make sure the ram will fit under the coolers fins. This cooler is quite big and hangs over the first two ram slots on the Mobo (depending on the size of your mobo). The dominators have quite a high heat sink and I found with the V6 and V8 that they will not fit under the coolers fins.

Coolermaster RC-922M-KKN1 HAF922

For the type of hardware I would go for the HAF X (Have the 942 and it is a pleasure working inside with all the space available). You are also guaranteed that the CPU cooler will fit with the hight it stands out of from the mobo.

Seagate Barracuda 500gb Sata6G 7200rpm 16mb cache 3.5" HDD

Have the money? Change this one to a SSD.

Seagate Barracuda Green 2TB HDD 5900RPM 64MB SATA 6GB/s

I would go for the Western Digital 2 or even 3TB (Personal choice)

Coolermaster megaflow / CM Storm force200
Coolermaster R4-XFBL-22PR-R1 Chassis Fan (x2)

No Need for these if you take the HAF X. They already have these inside the case on the front, side, top and back.

Coolermaster/ Cm Storm Sentinel Advance
Microsoft Sidewinder X6

X6 will not let you down. Considder the MS X8 as well.

There that is my 50c

 

[sgtTallies]

@ All thanks for all the advise I'll keep it in mind when rechecking my choice...


My budget limit is R21 000 that's why I decided on this rig.

X58 is dead!! X79 is launching in 3 months.

Yes but I won't buy straight up until they have fixed all the bugs and stuff. All good it will do me is lower the prices so I can maybe take the Rampage III Black and i7 990X

Get a GTX 580 just for pure RAW Power

I'm not really into navidia for they are way over charge for what you get out of it.

As for the Cooler a H80 or H100 will do a beter Job.

If 'n take the HAF X will there be space to outlet the H100?

@George & Pada
Thanks knew I would have to under clock the Dominator RAM to work better with the CPU, this solves that.

Get a 2600K just as fast as a i7 990 Xtreme CPU. End of next year get your self a Ivy bridge CPU.
Z68/P67 board either will do and be cheaper than the Rampage extreme

Is it really worth going for a Quad core insted of a Hexa? Where the i7 970 can o.c. to 4ghz.
I'm also no a fan of the Sabertooth series, the Rampage series just seems to have better specs.

If you're considering buying a SLI/CrossFire setup, make sure that you buy a big case. Like the Coolermaster 690 II Advanced case

I'm not planning on running SLI/Crossfire until the Gpu I'm buying gets a bit slow. The CM 690 would be a little to small ever the HAF 922 would be just big enough.

Before you buy this combo of cooler and Ram make sure the ram will fit under the coolers fins

Dam thanks I totally forgot about that lol. I didn't take the Ram because of the cooling anyway just because its the best that corsair has of a 12gb kit.

Seagate Barracuda 500gb Sata6G 7200rpm 16mb cache 3.5" HDD
Have the money? Change this one to a SSD.

I wish I could afford a SSD I really do.

Seagate Barracuda Green 2TB HDD 5900RPM 64MB SATA 6GB/s
I would go for the Western Digital 2 or even 3TB (Personal choice)

Seagate is more affordable and more reliable.

Coolermaster megaflow / CM Storm force200
Coolermaster R4-XFBL-22PR-R1 Chassis Fan (x2)
No Need for these if you take the HAF X. They already have these inside the case on the front, side, top and back.

The HAF X is my second choice I just prefer the 922 for the meshed side where the X has a window. (Personal)


If you have the time post a build of no more then R21 000 that resembles this one but I'm proves it.

 

[GeOgre]

I would go for this set up.

Coolermaster HAF X Chassis (Window, No PSU, E-ATX)
Intel Core i7 2600K CPU
Asus Maximus IV Extreme-Z Motherboard
Sapphire Radeon HD 6970 2GB
Corsair Force Series 3 120GB MLC SATA SSD
Antec TruePower Quattro 1200W
Seagate Barracuda Green 2000GB SATA 6Gb/s (64MB)
Corsair Hydro Series H100 Liquid CPU Cooler
Samsung 22x DVD Reader/Writer (Internal, SATA)
4x Corsair Vengeance 4GB DDR3-1600 - CL9 XMP

Sub-Total: R20,600.00

Please note that I did not include a Mouse and keyboard.

It is no use to go for the X58 cause the 2600K is just as fast as the 990X and the 990X will not sell for R3000.
The HAF X does have enough space for the H100

If you do not like the HAF X, check out the Corsair 400R/500R(Does come in Black), also have a mesh sidepanel an a brilliant case the HAF 922 does not have good build quality.
The 400R/500R(Does come in Black) also has space for the H100

 

[killadoob]

Why would he need a 1200w PSU unit? I run 3 6970's on a 750w so even if he went crossfire he would not need such an expensive PSU. How much is that 1200w BTW?

 

[GeOgre]

Because he has the cash for it.

The Antec True quaddro 1200 is the same price as the Silent Pro Gold 1000Watt.
Would allow him to upgrade in the future

 

[sgtTallies]

@George
I still just don't get why you would rather take:
Intel Core i7 2600K CPU
Asus Maximus IV Extreme-Z Motherboard

Instead of:
Intel Core i7 970 - 3.20GHz Six Core, Socket 1366
Asus Rampage III Extreme

And when the prize decrease happens due to the X79 the 990X will be almost the same prize as the 970.
The same for the Rampage III extreme then I will be able to get the Rampage III Black Edition.

How is that not a better combo?

Why would you take the Sapphire Radeon HD 6970 2GB, wouldn't the:
GIGABYTE ATI Radeon HD6970 2GB GDDR5 or
Asus EAH6970/2DI2S/2GD5 2Gb 256bit 4 channel DDR5 (without the big cooler) be a better choice?

 

[killadoob]

Because he has the cash for it.

The Antec True quaddro 1200 is the same price as the Silent Pro Gold 1000Watt.
Would allow him to upgrade in the future

So he has cash to blow on a big PSU and he should just blow it when he will never ever use the power available? That makes no sense to me in all honesty. I have never found sense in blowing money because we can. I can understand if he may use it in the future but the power requirements are dropping not going up so he may as well flush the money down the toilet

 

[GeOgre]

@ sgtTallies I still just don't get why you would rather take:
Intel Core i7 2600K CPU
Asus Maximus IV Extreme-Z Motherboard

Instead of:
Intel Core i7 970 - 3.20GHz Six Core, Socket 1366
Asus Rampage III Extreme

BECAUSE THE 2600K IS FASTER than the 970 and R2000 cheaper!!

Think of it this way, the 990X will only decrease in price after X79 is here.
a 2600K is just as fast as a 990X
the SB-E will absolutely trounce the 990X and that i7 3960K will go for R5000

Sapphire is a Good card, just as good as Asus and Gigabyte.
If you want to run crossfire i would recommend Reference card coolers.
Don't think it is a good idea to spend more for the same card.

If you intend to OC under LN, that will make a difference.

@ Killadoob

You never waste cash when spending it on a decent PSU. The Antec is one of the Best PSU's available and R200 over the Silent pro gold is worth it IMO.

 

[Pada]

+1 for Ge0gre's suggestion, but I don't agree with 2 things:

I also don't see a point in running a single GPU setup off a power supply bigger than 650W !
Sure, if you want to make your PC "future proof", then go ahead and get like a decent 750W modular PSU.
I'd rather recommend something like the Corsair HX650, which goes for around R1200 and it is modular with a 5 (or perhaps even 7 ?) year warranty.


I don't know why you'd want to go for such an expensive motherboard like Ge0gre suggested! Those motherboards going for R4k are the only Sandy Bridge ones with 2x 16x PCI-E slots running @ 16x, where as all the others would be only capable of 2x 16x running @ 8x.
I would recommend something like the Asus Maximus IV Gene-Z instead, which goes for around R2300.

 

[sgtTallies]

Thanks Pada and George...
I'll finaly deciede when the new X79 is out and then see what I can buy with the money...

I thought the 970 and rampage III extreme (or 990x and rampage III black) would work better for applications that needs alot of threads and brandworth...
I'm running programs like Maya, 3dsMax and Mudbox...

 

[Pada]

Generally it would help getting more cores/threads, but seeing that the Sandy Bridge CPU's are more effective per GHz, they are the way to go.

You can have a look at benchmarks here:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/...core-i7-2600k-i5-2500k-core-i3-2100-tested/17
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2011/01/03/intel-sandy-bridge-review/8
* The i7 990X costs about R9k in SA, so you should understand how good value the i7 2600k is at R3k.

Intel would hopefully release their X79 soon, and this is what you can expect of the new X990's replacement: http://www.techspot.com/news/44797-sandy-bridge-e-core-i7-3960x-performance-revealed-early.html

 

[sgtTallies]

Ok ya the new X79 series will be pretty insane...

But what will the running price be for the i7 3930K and a motherboard???

 

[GeOgre]

Ok ya the new X79 series will be pretty insane...

But what will the running price be for the i7 3930K and a motherboard???

If you look at what the i7 9xx series cost the 3930K should be about R5.5K.
Motherboards on the other hand I am still trying to figure out.
The Patsburg D(the one with the 14 SATA ports) looks like it will only release next year as their is a problem with the SB chip. Intel has release press statement of the intel X79 SI and X79 SO boards already as reference.
To me it looks like the first boards will literally be like a Z68-V Pro(in terms of specs) board with a LGA2011 socket on it, which is called Patsburg A/B.
Meaning that the look-a-like Z68-V Pro LGA 2011 etc boards should go for about R3k, than next year(hopefully not) the Proper X79 board will be released when the issue is fixed.
However I don't know if the RAM will be on either side of the CPU with the first boards.
That being said it doesn't even look at the moment if they are going to have USB3.0 port cause of Thunderbold.

 

[sgtTallies]

Well now that sucks....
Then its pointless in waiting for it to come out...
I cant wait for the X79 to bring out decent mobo's that's going to take almost another year...

 

[Pada]

I'd say just go for the i7 2600k Sandy Bridge setup, otherwise you'll never stop waiting for newer and better things to arrive on the market.

The X79 chipset is going to be aimed at "enthusiasts", just like the X58 chipset, so it's never going to be a cheap option.

 

[GreyBush]

I thought the 970 and rampage III extreme (or 990x and rampage III black) would work better for applications that needs alot of threads and brandworth...

I'm sure Sandybridge has just as much brandworth.