Build Advice Looking for advice on new build

Hmm... Will look into it further - dependent on "where" you look, apparently the 6950 does scale well in xfire, but we'll see in time.

In the meantime, kit has been purchased, due to arrive tomorrow (Woohoo!), sans the secondary card. Some minor changes in the end...

3.3GHz Intel Core i5-2500K
ASUS Sabertooth Intel P67
Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C
1x MSI HD 6950 Twin Frozr III
Be Quiet BN174 Dark Power Pro 750W (Due to its alleged 80+ Gold certified 93% efficiency and quietness)
Be Quiet! Dark Rock Pro
Silverstone Raven 2 RV02B-EW Evolution
1TB Samsung HD103SJ SpinPoint F3
Samsung SH-B123L/RSBP 12x BD-ROM & DVDRW
Dell Ultrasharp U2311H-S

Will look at adding bits over the next couple of months, such as:
Xonar DX
"Maybe" a second card
"Maybe" an SSD (Want to do more research on this as that was more of a snap decision)
The Panasonic TX-L37DT30B

In the meantime, get a feel for what I have and upgrade the bits from there!

Once again, I'd just like to thank everyone for their help, advice and input here, it's definitely been beneficial and I think what I've got (so far!) will shine as a direct result!

Regards,
Subv3rse

 

Any evidence to back up that throwaway statement??

On Topic: Big +1 for the RV02/FT02 if you're going for an internally exhausting card (especially if you're gonna sli/xfire them!) The directional airflow should go a long way to venting the hot air in the case

edit: too slow. Looks like a very solid build!

 

That was my thought, looking at the exposed PCB / heatsink, figured that air-flow would do more to cool it and thus keep it quieter

 

Take a look at Xfire and Sli comparisons. The Sli setup scales much better especially when moving from one card to two.

% increase in performance is greater when using SLI then Xfire.

 

@Donok: Agreed on that front, but there have been a number of reviews I've read (and as I've said I do NOT have first hand experience with either xfire or sli), that have said that whilst SLI is perfectly fine, for some reason or another the perceived playability of the xfire seemed more comfortable... I'm no way inclined really to either company, nVidia or ATI - my preference was nVidia from the start, and I WOULD have gone nVidia, but with the energy consumption of the things I'm just concerned.

Granted, no one in their right mind build a "gaming rig" based on "energy efficiency" - that would be something of an unholy union, heh, but I didn't want to throw the idea out the window entirely. At the same time I know the 2Gb will have an impact where "I" want it to, which is nice.

I've always been a fan of the perceived benefits of the fermi architecture, especially the advanced tessellation features, but I'm also a realist that there aren't "that" many titles out there that support it.

Historically I've had my own issues with AMD, and as a result I've always gone straight for nVidia as my first choice, but sometimes the raw benchmarks aren't the full story.

So, end result, I'll give ATI another chance, see how it goes. If worse comes to worse then I've got a decent enough rig that's flexible enough that I could ditch the card in the future, keep the rest, and slap a or a couple of nVidia cards into it. Would I lose money? Maybe, but I've probably lost less due to the saving made on the electricity bills.

Subv3rse

 

/sigh

..BUT! Not about to start an irrelevant debate on a completely off topic subject. Just be happy Subv3rse in the knowledge that you probably won't need to x-fire, BUT 'IF' you do, 2x6950's will work superbly

 

Of course, the real question here, I think, is:

"But will it play Minecraft?"

 

Ah glad to see you got it all sorted, let us know how it all goes! Should keep you busy for a while, as to xfire vs sli....by the time you need to do either with one monitor it will probably be better to sell the HD6950 and grab a newer card. But thats a concern for another day!

 

The difference between 6950 and the gtx570 is 75w at full load. At idle there's a 10watt difference.

So 4 hours of full load everyday which is unlikely under normal use (but we'll use as an average) is 0.3kw extra per day.
Which is 110kw extra a year - that's usage everyday but it'll average out.
At a max of 10p per KW your looking at an additional £11 a year for using a gtx570 instead of a 6950.

Also when choosing a graphics card for my 30in dell I did some research on memory required and it was only at 2560x1600 that gtx580s moved over using 1.5gb.

I like being the opposing force. Just opinions. Nothing personal
I use alot of image rendering software and CAD so nvidia wins the deal everytime for me

 

I'm sure you'll enjoy what ever you choose. Keep us updated.

 

@Donok - Re: the res, true enough - one reason for the card was to cater for (at a later date) the possibility of surround or, in this case, eyefinity - not convinced yet whether this is a gimmick or not, or rather, for the games I play. Agreed also on the energy that it isn't "that" much of a difference, but as the addage goes "every little helps" Finally, and actually this is the biggest reason for the 2gb - from what i've read, which is likely by no means gospel, it should help with higher levels of aa/as - granted, we're talking fairly rediculous levels here, but again it comes down to options.

And opposing viewpoints are never a bad thing! I may well concede yours and say "Damn, i wish I'd bought the other"... but for the moment I'll give ATI a go, with their apparently "slightly better" AA options (quality at high end, morphological etc), and besides "hell, why not" plays a factor in here too

Had confirmation from both outlets (Scan and Aria) this afternoon that both orders have been dispatched to arrive tomorrow (Oh yes, holiday HAS been booked ). Will definitely keep the status posted, whether to say "woohoo", "damn it's broke" or "damn you're right"

Subv3rse

PS: Just twigged something in the back of my mind, another reason why I was looking for 2Gb - may, or may not make a difference, proof will tell, but used to play around with a lot of LARGE texture pack replacements for things like Oblivion etc - Be interesting to see whether this has a positive impact as well.

 

TOUCHe

Rep added for the debate. Good luck with your build.
Remember to take your time and not rush. - easier to say especially when the amount of high calibre hardware is like this.

 

Maybe video it and chuck it on YouTube. Would love to see it or picture stages. Like the postman and the amount of boxes you have.

 

LOL! Pic #1 Caption: This is the postman dropping my delivery due to the flash going off in his eyes at point blank range. Forgive the blurring, that's the excitement of myself jumping up and down.

Pic #2 Caption: This is the postman while he waits for the ambulance, which I finally managed to call once I'd calmed down, having tripped and dropped the packages due to the flash going off in his eyes.

Pic #3 Caption: This is me on the way to the police station. Weather isn't great. Haven't finished building rig. Update after bail.



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Subv3rse

 

A typical british standpoint. My hat is off to you sir.

Video blogging or Vlogging is best left to Americans/Canadians. Nothing personal just feel there more excitable, less pesomestic and alot funnier. seen 3dgameman or motherboards.org on YouTube. However there are exception such as timetolivecustoms also on YouTube.

Let's compromise picture after the postman has left And is a reasonable distance away. Did you get scansafe or scan smart? The insurance that replaces anything if you break it no questions from scan.

I'm sure I'll be taking pics of my brothers build which should be ready to order next week. I feel your excitement and Im nOt getting any components tomorrow. Wait a minute ! Where do you live ??? Lol

Have a good one

 

I've never quite gone into the stage-by-stage vlogging, or pic by pic builds, but I'll likely add a few here (most likely when I get stuck and need a suggestion or two).

I'm... hmm.. keen is probably a better word. More to the point, I've dropped £1,270 on this rig and haven't got that "oh hell, what have I done" sinking feeling to having spent it. Reassured that I've got the right bits for the right spec that I want, through the advice given here and the exhaustive (and exhausting!) research online.

It's been about 18months since I owned my own rig, a core2 duo wolfdale, which I sold due to finances being a little tight, and probably over 5 years since I built one. Prior to I had an Athlon which served me well. I remember well enough that the changes between the architectures meant I was careful enough to take time with what I was doing, as the setup was quite different.

Not really looking forward to the build, per se, as aside from the hardware I'm one of those people who DO tend to format their machines pretty much every 6 months - beats ccleaner any day - and I'm a perfectionist, so it's going to take a fair while. Once it's done, then I'll be happy. Have a fair few steam sales games that I've taken advantage of, but haven't played yet (or, at least, in their full glory). That part I am looking forward to!

Heh, stopped by Tesco's earlier on the way home from work to pick up necessities for tomorrow. Ciggs, coffee, bread and bacon. Bacon sarnie to start the day, sitting in wait for DPD to arrive <grin>. Sods law if I didn't, they'd turn up while I was out for all of 5 mins. I dare say come tuesday I'll walk outside thinking "Oh right, so this was the world... Forgot about that!"

I did get Scansure, yes, but I got the components from both Scan and Aria - Breakdown as such:


3.3GHz Intel Core i5-2500K £154.99 Aria
ASUS Sabertooth Intel P67 £145.19 Aria
Corsair XMS3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C £69.79 Scan
MSI HD 6950 Twin Frozr III £203.63 Scan
Be Quiet BN174 Dark Power Pro 750W £129.58 Scan
Be Quiet! Dark Rock Pro £51.59 Aria
Silverstone Raven 2 RV02B-EW Evolution £129.58 Scan
1TB Samsung HD103SJ SpinPoint F3 £35.99 Aria
Samsung SH-B123L/RSBP 12x BD-ROM & DVDRW £49.58 Scan
Dell Ultrasharp U2311H-S £239.98 Scan (Don't know if the -S means anything, couldn't find reference, got it anyway over the cheaper non-"-S" from Aria. Probably fail.



Actually main reason for scansure was in the event of any ESD failure, or issues with the Dell screen as Scan was, arguably, the most expensive element of the purchased kit.

Hertfordshire, btw.

Subv3rse

 

Dell monitors have a great warranty direct with dell and evenmore so with scan. I got a 30" from scan for my business and it arrived perfectly but did read many cases of displays with a single dead pixel being exchanged.

I would gone with scan for CPU and mobo as there scan assure allows you the liberty of placin the CPU in the microwave for Afew minutes to rid it of the cool feeling. Also allows you to place your CPU anyway in the socket as they would replace any accidental mistake lol

I find it a nice comfort to know any damage caused by personal incompetence is covered.

I built my first ever computer with an i7 920 and it cost around £1500. With the excitement I got it built in 2-3hours. Less then a year later it was stolen from my appartment on my birthday while I was in London celebrating.

Again Im sure you'll enjoy it. But remember you have plenty of time and if your unsure on anything just hang on and ask someone. Even if it takes you until late Saturday morning. Much better to get it right then be kicking yourself or someone else.

 

The Rig Assembled

Well! That was fun! .... .........

So all the bits turned up between 1100 and 1300h yesterday (Friday), all in working order, thankfully!

Credit to both Scan and Aria - their service, efficiency and basics such as notification of the status of your order are all top notch, don't have a single gripe with either vendor.

Mind, the Citylink courier turns up at my door with the boxes and says "Hey, I know you don't I?" "Mmm, yes, work down the road where you deliver to" "ahh yeah <starts conversation>" - Meanwhile I'm standing there thinking, as politely as possible, just give me my package and sod off dammit! Still, friendly service is a bonus

So, everything is sprawled out across my living room. First thought that comes to mind "Oh... that's a bit bigger than I thought it was going to be", while staring at the box with the case in it.

That same thought went through my head, with a few expletives, when I un-boxed the CPU cooler too....

You see, I never actually bothered to look at the actual dimensions of the various products. Not that it was a problem, fortunately, but I went purely by guesstimation with various photo's I'd seen around the web. Of course, all things being relative, when you only see a small element of a picture, you can't really gauge size accurately....



See that? That's enormous...

To put it into a bit of perspective:



My hand is actually quite large, and that to the left is one of a pair of Creative T40 series II's. Those themselves are "quite large" in terms of 2.0 desktop speakers....

Another example:



.... There really are no words... I'll admit, although I've build my own machines in the past, numerous times, I've never bothered with custom coolers. This was a first. More on that in a bit.

So anyway, 5hrs later and after a fair amount of cursing and one initial failed start (where although I connected the 3 lower case fans up with the 3-way molex, I'd forgotten to actually connect the molex to a power source) and the end result is this monster....








DeadStar01 is born!



Ferret Approves!


Mini reviews and impressions to follow...

... Of the components and rig, not the ferret....

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Subv3rse

 

Congrats It's not as often as i would like, personally, that people show off the rigs which they've received advice on so kudos for that. Also kudos for ferrets, they're awesome (unless it happens to be an extremely large one called Darth who decides your finger looks tasty )

Looks nice dude

P.S. I told you the dark rock was huuuuge!

 

Looks tasty. I'm sure you've done it since but I'll say it just in case, it would be worth tidying up the wires! Push the graphics cards ones down behind the back plate and up by the psu, as you prob know those wires are smack bang in the way of the fans blowing air onto you cooler, the whole point of air penetrator fans is that they provide a controlled directed air flow, the wires will ruin that. As I said you prob have done it, but if you haven't its seriously worth doing!

Also can you do me a favour and post a pic of the front of your build with that bluray drive in? I was thinking of getting one myself but I want to see how it would look?

You starting with the graphics card oc/flash or the cpu oc?