Hi everyone! I'm looking for some advice on my build i've been putting together (duh ) Usage: for this rig will be gaming and image processing (photography). Resolution: 2560*1440 Budget: not really a problem, i'm looking for power and performance, not excessiveness. Mind you, i'm in Belgium, so no need to really go quoting prices, i'll be able to figure them out myself Monitor Dell Ultrasharp u2711 I've been trying to decide on a monitor for a while now, the Dell u2410 or u2711, and the forthcoming pricetags. I currently have a 24" screen (1920*1200), but really want better quality. The 27 stole my eye, so i'm going with that. Motherboard ASUS P8P67 (with 2 pcie 2.0 slots of course) CPU Intel® Core™ i5-2500K CPU cooling Corsair Cooling Hydro Series H50-1 I'm considering this cooler to not have an enormous tower of fins in the case. Also, neat temps. Memory Corsair 8 GB DDR3-1600 Kit (2 sticks, vengeance) Graphics AMD MSI R6950 twin frozr III 2gb * 2 (Crossfire) A bit expensive, but i want to be able to power games with plenty of options as high as possible. I don't want to be running in 0 AA or 2x. This should lend me the overhead required to do so. But damn, they use up a lot of space. dvd/rw Samsung SH-S223C HDD (already have 2 1Tb Samsungs, so this i have covered) SSD Intel® SSDSA2CW160G310 160Gb, 320 series. Good enough balance between price, performance and capacity. Sound ASUS Xonar D2X/XDT Well, i do like my audio... Might downgrade this to the DS. PSU Antec TruePower New Series TP-750 This seems like enough. I'm not sure i need 850W. 80% of 750 is 600, which is about the amount things should use if i'm correct. Case Fractal Design Fractal Design Define R3 Black Pearl It's a nice case, it's minimalistic and i like it, i don't like my cases jammed with rosters and windows. I'm only concerned with usage of space. If i put the 2 graphics cards in, the bottom one will sit almost on top of the PSU, or so it seems on pictures. Do i have enough room, or if not, what case should i be looking at? CM ATCS840 was on my mind for a while, but this case seems so abundantly large... Total sum is a bit much, but damn it, i work for my money and i intend to enjoy it Thanks!
You've made an error with the way your calculating PSU. They provide their rated wattage to the comp.
Are you absolutely certain that xfire is the way to go? I'm presuming the choice of 2GB 6950's means you'll be unlocking them to 6970's. Are there any xfire issues when doing that? I'll be honest and say i haven't seen any discussions about it here. To my mind with that amount of money you could probably find a top line GTX580 or, with some luck and shopping around, a GTX590 or R6990 either of which would be a solution to your space usage conundrum.
I agree with both of the replies above. 80% efficiency does not mean it puts out 80% of the rated wattage. It's a measurement of how much power the PSU draws from your wall vs how much it puts out for your system. High efficiency means that the PSU draws almost as much power as it puts out meaning a lower electricity bill for you and a cooler PSU in your case (excess voltage is usually let out in the form of heat). I also agree that a 580 sounds better. I haven't run numbers up, but a single graphics card would also be more stable than dual. The 580 is pretty universally acknowledged as the best single GPU card in the market right now :3.
I stand corrected on the wattage stuff I didnt think it'd only output 600w, rather that it'd be most efficient at it. I'm not sure i like the gtx590 or amd6990 though, and the 590 seems to be nowhere in stock anyway. Would i really need these though, they seem just a bit too much overkill. I could be wrong though, just wanting to make really sure, it's all still a lot of money
@ above That's why u go 580 . Although that resolution is gigantic and you might just need dual graphics cards. A lot of reviews I read when the 590 came out didn't seem to favor it much, so I'm recommending the 6990 over it.
nVidia update their drivers so the GTX 590 has better performance than the 6990. You can also go for SLI 580s of course if you wish. Although some games are not enhanced for SLI so you will have negligible increase in performance.
