First Build

My laptop died and I decided it was time to build a desktop because that's what I ended up using the laptop as anyway and there are numerous advantages to desktops.

Here's what I'm interested in right now, from searches and looking at specs.

CPU: 3930k w/ H100 (or a 2500k, see below)
MB: ASUS Rampage IV Extreme or ASRock X79 Champion. (not really sure what the difference is between those; the ASRock seems a tad bit better and is 30 dollars cheaper but i've heard they have quality control issues. opinions? if i go with the 2500k i have a GIGABYTE G1.Sniper 3)
RAM: 16GB Ripjaws Z Series DDR3 1600
PSU: Thermaltake Toughpower XT TPX-1475M (1475W)
GPU: SLI 2x MSI N670GTX-PM2D2GD5/OC
Case: HAF X

the CPU i'm really unsure about. from what i've read the 2500k is a really solid gaming CPU, especially for it's price and power requirements with great flexibility. the 3930k on the other hand seems somewhat better, but i want to be solidly future proof and the cost of the 3930k and motherboard, while $500 more, doesn't deter me. actually it would be even less because i could get a smaller PSU, i'm not even sure i need the 1500 wats with the 3930k.

also, if anyone has any suggestions as far as ~~23in 1920x1080 monitors with fast response time and good colors go i'd be interested. so far i'm edging towards a 27in ASUS one or a similar 23in Samsung but i'm thinking 27in is going to be to big.

ud be fine with a 1kw but i like to have a little more than i need for overclocking etc so your choice 1000-1200w psu your choice, seasonic corsair some antecs- definitely go modular - also wouldnt u need a 25amp outlet for that, ie the same plug as on a fridge that has a T pin.

Future proof is not what tech is about lol but however whats gonna be able to work with programs 4-5 years from now would be the 3930k over that 2500k. edit* just because of sheer processing power but both will be dinosaurs then of course thats just the way it is*

ive heard abotu the QC issues from asrock too but i saw a vid where the motherboards.org guy said they were addressing those issues and were trying to establish their foothold in the gamers realm- interesting to note asrock is a spinoff of asustek. youll want to wait for the others opinion on that, but i will say that you cant go wrong with that asus RIVE thats what i just bought.

as for monitors check out amazon they have great selection no tax(most of the time) and free shipping

Asus/ASRock/Gigabyte are the board brands that most people will recommend here.

Honestly, 1000w PSU is still probably overkill. You can get by just well enough with an 850w and maybe even lower and still have headroom.

He would be fine with a 750W PSU with 2 670's and overclocking 3930k or 25/2600k... 1KW+ is a monumental waste of cash.

+1 to Yamitoko on the mobos.

Also note, X79 is socket 2011, like the 3930k. The 2500k/2600k are s1155 (Z77/Z68 based boards)

Hey, welcome to OCF!

When trying to recommend a build to you, there's some information that's extremely helpful for us to know. If you could answer these few short questions, we'd be happy to help!

• What are you planning to do with this compuer? Please be as specfic as possible.

• What is your budget?
  
  1. Does this include a copy of Windows?
  2. Does this include peripheals (a keyboard, monitor, mouse, speakers, etc.)?
• Are you from the United States or a different country? Are you ordering from your own country or from across borders?
  
  1. Wherever you may be from, does the store that you are planning to order from have a website? It's okay if it isn't in English, we can manage.

• Do you have any specific requests with the build?
  
  1. Do you plan on overclocking? If yes, do you have a specific goal in mind?
  2. Would you prefer the build to be particularly small?
  3. Would you prefer the build to be particularly quiet?
  4. In general, do you prefer this to be a computer that you can spend money on now and let it rest, or a box built for continuous upgrading?

Once again, thank you in advannce for taking the time to answer these, and I hope you enjoy your stay at OCF!

from the reviews on newegg the thermaltake uses normal wall power but comes with a european cord.

anyway, questions:
gaming computer but i also use photoshop and 3ds max.

budget started out at 1k and quickly grew to the ~~3.5k it is now. i don't really have one but something in that range and that does not include peripherals. i think i know what i want with those although suggestions are accepted.

US and buying off newegg. note that i don't get any sort of free shipping because Alaska isn't actually part of the US. (heavy sarcasm)

as far as overclocking goes, i'm interested but i've never done it before and it's not my highest priority. i would like to keep my options open though.

i don't care much about size or quietness although the quieter the better without getting to specialized.

i want something i can build and let it rest, hence the hardware in the first post, but i want to be able to upgrade it as simply as possible when i need to which is part of why i chose a lga 2011 socket; i figured it was more likely to be supported for longer in the future.

Just some info on the socket longevity. IMO, Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge is all we're getting on 1155. Maybe a few chips with a few hundred MHz bump, but nothing new. 2011 will be getting Ivy Bridge-E in the second half of 2013. Who knows what that will bring.

I'll probably post a full recommendation sometime tomorrow morning.

that's sort of what i figured.

as far as monitors go i was looking at these two:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824116513
turns out it actually viewsonic but i like the size and the specs seem nice.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236206
this one would be nice but i think it would be to big for my setup. plus 1920x1080 starts getting visible pixels when it goes to high. i really liked my 18in laptop screen but there doesn't seem to be anything that small with decent specs.

This is my reasoning. CPUs last way longer than GPUs. You could go with 2011 and upgrade to Ivy Bridge-E when it comes out, but more likely than not, Sandy Bridge-E to Ivy Bridge-E won't be a worthwhile upgrade. You'd probably want to wait until the next round of CPUs come out, at which point you'd need to replace your motherboard anyway. Might as go with Ivy Bridge now since it's a bit better at gaming and much cheaper.

If you do Photoshop design work, look into getting an IPS display monitor. That's what makes Apple displays look so good, they're high end LED LCDs that have WAY better color accuracy than normal TFT panels.

I'd go with these, plus this combo:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.939015
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.939230
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.917575
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.920853
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121637 x 2

You could probably knock off a good bit of money and not lose performance, but I went with a bit higher quality stuff (AX series PSU, UD5 series motherboard) because it seemed like money wasn't an issue.

so 1155. i'd read on tom's hardware that the E series, being based on a server processor, was slower in many aspects compared to previous generation processors. they recommended the the 2500k as the best processor for cost and the 3930k if you had extra money, which is where i got those two from.

at this point i don't want to sink more money into a different monitor because i don't do very much in PS and it's not very good for gaming; the response rates are way to low. i think my laptop might have an IPS monitor in it but i have no idea. i want a good gaming one in addition to the mid spec ASUS one i have, i don't like the color on it very much but it was pretty cheap, and so i'm looking for a new primary monitor.

That article was probably written before Ivy Bridge came out. It's somewhere around 8% faster than Sandy Bridge at the same clock speed.

The 3770K is the 2600K/2700Ks replacement. The difference between those and the 3570K/2500K is Hyperthreading, which doesn't help much in games but does help in Photoshop/3DS Max.

Personally, I don't have a clue about monitors, can't help you there.

any idea on motherboards then? i didn't put a huge amount of effort into looking at 1155 ones, apart from the one sniper.

also, how much of a difference does hyper threading make? i had that on my laptop and it just added four virtual processors, all at the same speed. i'm not sure i ever really utilized them all and it was a mobile @1.7GHz

I'd go with a decent 750W PSU, a Corsair TX750 will handle your needs and the price is right.

Likewise you can get a far far nicer 27 " Achiva Shimian QH270-Lite 2560x1440 S-IPS LED screen for $350 shipped. It will absolutely kill either of the screens you listed in terms of picture quality and colour reproduction.

It's 6ms instead of the 2ms screens you have listed, likewise limited to 60Hz however I've found that to me more than good enough for gaming. BF3 really loves running at that res Accurate colour reproduction and clear display offered would also be useful for photoshop.

Likewise this 27" Crossover 27Q 2560x1440 S-IPS LED uses the same panel, nicer stand on it however it hasn't been checked for no dead/stuck pixels.

The panels used in these are the same LG S-IPS panels used in the 27" Apple iMac. Same story with the 27" Yamakasi Catleap QH270 SE 2560x1440 S-IPS LED screen although I'd personally recommend either of the other two screens due to a better/more stand monitor stand.

the biggest issue i see with those to monitors is the resolution. it would be nice but going that high tends to halve frame rates. not as much an issue with the two 570s but i'm perfectly happy with 1920x1080 and if the monitors to big i'm going to have problems looking at all of it... i really wish there was a way i could test one out but i don't know anyone with one that size...

Well, all I can say is after going to my Catleap I'm never going back. It makes coming to work and using the Dell 24" screens here painful due to the drop in image quality.

yeah, i can certainly understand that.

A shame they haven't brought these screens out in 24" versions. Mind you, the value of these screens makes it a no brainer compared to those you're currently looking at. In BF3, leave the settings on auto and just crank the res all the way up. I've tested it and even on lower quality settings things look better at 2560x1440 than running my old 27" screen at 1920x1080 at Ultra in BF3. It would be a non issue when it comes to your photoshop work, and a definite advantage.

If you don't want to make the jump to 27", there's always the 24" Dell U2412M IPS LED screen. Only 1920x1200 screen res unfortunately.

Either way, if you really want to you can still run your games at a lower res anyway. You kind of have to with older games. I've run the original Unreal Tournament on mine and it still looked amazing. In fact its never looked better. I really do believe you're better off with the screens off eBay.

i still can't get over people actually wanting to buy dell for quality... i suppose i could get that dell and use my ASUS for gaming. although it has **** response time too... arg, i'm torn... i think right now i'll get a TN for the refresh rate and an IPS later when i'm doing more PS and Max... gaming is 70% of my time anyway. thanks for the information though.

Nuclear Arbitor said:

i still can't get over people actually wanting to buy dell for quality... i suppose i could get that dell and use my ASUS for gaming. although it has **** response time too... arg, i'm torn... i think right now i'll get a TN for the refresh rate and an IPS later when i'm doing more PS and Max... gaming is 70% of my time anyway. thanks for the information though.

Click to expand...

Pft, anything under 12ms is fine for gaming. 6ms is more than good enough with the IPS screens. No ghosting what-so-ever on mine.

Dell's no better than anything else, it's the panel inside that counts, and panels are all either made by Samsung or LG. Both are Korean manufacturers.

EDIT: I'd still recommend looking at one of the 3x Korean brands I linked to on eBay. Leaves everything else for dead picture quality wise and price wise. I'd suggest the Shimian and Crossover screens are the better choice simply due to the wobbly stand on the Yamakasi screen. I ended up buying a $165 stand to replace the one on mine.