Suggestion on Build

[Ace9908]

What are you planning to do with this compuer? Please be as specfic as possible. Mostly gaming web browsing etc. I play a variety of games from RTS to FPS and Flight sims such as IL-2
What is your budget? I don't want to spend money just to spend money but I don't want to be cheap either. I am willing to pay a premium for better quality
Does this include a copy of Windows? Already have
Does this include peripheals (a keyboard, monitor, mouse, speakers, etc.)? Not needed
Are you from the United States or a different country? Are you ordering from your own country or from across borders? United states
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. Newegg, Amazon Etc
If you are from the United States, do you live nearby a Microcenter? Unfortunatly not.
Do you have any specific requests with the build? Just what is notated below
Do you plan on overclocking? If yes, do you have a specific goal in mind? Yes, Nothing too crazy especially now since the processor would be fairly new
Would you prefer the build to be particularly small? No, I already have a case i am going to use
Would you prefer the build to be particularly quiet? Quiet is good, the current case/fan combo I have seems to be meeting my needs
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? Spend money on now and let it rest. I don't mind upgrading graphics cards every 2-3 years though. I find myself playing games less and less though so actually wanting to spend the money to upgrade down the road will become less likely
Do you ever plan on utilizing NVIDIA's SLI or AMD's CrossfireX technologies? These features, with a compatible motherboard, allow a user to link multiple identical graphic cards together for added performance. In real world terms, this lets you buy a second identical graphics card down the line as a relatively cheap and easy way to gain a fairly large boost in performance. However, this requires buying a SLI/CFX compatible motherboard and PSU now, which may result in slightly higher initial cost. I would be interested in SLI. Not a "must have" at this point but would like the option to upgrade.




I am currently thinking about upgrading my 775 system to something a little bit more updated. I am partial to Corsair and Asus products as they have been solid for me in the past. The system is going to be an intel ivy bridge processor probably i7. I am pretty much set on Asus for the motherboard. I would prefer a corsair power supply and memory but am pretty flexible on that if need be.

I currently have a few parts from my system I will be carrying over.

The case is a corsair 500R
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139010

CPU Cooler is a Corsair H100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181017

I also currently have 1 Corsair Force GT 180gb SSD. I would probably purchase another and Raid 0 for more space
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233211

I currently have an enermax Galaxy 1000w power supply. It has been decent but the cable management sucks and sometimes the fan can be a bit noisy so I am open to replacing it.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817194008

Also I currently have a gigabyte 460 graphics card. I would probably keep this maybe just to run Physx. I am not sure if I want to run SLI or not but i definatly want to keep the option open. Not sure if it is possible to run SLI with 2 newer cards and keep the 460 just for physX or not.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125333

Also I have an ASUS Xonar DX soundcard. This is connected to an Onkyo TXSR604 receiver. Not sure if the motherboard I am looking at has better sound or not or if it is worth upgrading the audio card.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829132006

Processor choices I am looking at. Since I don't really have a budget to work with spending 100 for the I7 doesn't seem like that big of a deal but these are the two I am looking at
I7-3770 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116501
i5-3570 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116504

Motherboard
ASUS Maximus V Formula http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131854
ASUS maximus V Extreme http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131858

I am leaning at getting the formula. I am not sure if the soundcard on this would outperform my current card. Also if I planned on running 2 graphics cards in SLI and 1 for physX would that board handle it? Also I would assume running two solid state drives in Raid shouldn't be a problem? The H100 Cooler should fit that board also I would assume?

Power Supply Looking at upgrading to this since it is fully modular and should cover my power needs http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139039

Possible soundcard upgrade?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829132054

not sure if it is worth upgrading the soundcard since I run everything through the onkyo receiver.

Memory I would prefer corsair but can't find anything that specifically says it works with the motherboard from them that I was looking at. Not sure if I should run 16gb or 32gb.

Not sure if I am forgetting anything but I think this covers it. I would probably decide on the graphics card later but I am definatly going Nvidia. I had bad luck in the past with ATI and drivers.

 

[Knufire]

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.
  2. If you are from the United States, do you live nearby a Microcenter?

• 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?
  5. Do you ever plan on utilizing NVIDIA's SLI or AMD's CrossfireX technologies? These features, with a compatible motherboard, allow a user to link multiple identical graphic cards together for added performance. In real world terms, this lets you buy a second identical graphics card down the line as a relatively cheap and easy way to gain a fairly large boost in performance. However, this requires buying a SLI/CFX compatible motherboard and PSU now, which may result in slightly higher initial cost.

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

Note: I will probably ignore any sort of brand loyalties in my recommendation. I will, though, provide numbers and data to explain my choices.

 

[Ace9908]

Well after doing some research it looks like the Motherboard I was looking at is out. Might have some spacing issues with my case. I think I have it narrowed down to 3 more boards.

The first choice and the one that seems most likely I will go with is the

ASUS P8Z77-V Pro http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131819

This board seems like it will do everything I want. It is also the least expensive.

I was also looking at the ASUS Sabertooth http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131821

and the ASUS P8Z77-v Deluxe http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131818

The sabertooth's really only advantage seems to be the build quality. The other two boards seem to potentially offer higher performance.

I am not sure why I would need to upgrade to the Deluxe. If someone has a compelling reason I would consider it.

Also I noticed these boards have 2 PCI express slots 3.0 and 1 pci express 2.0 slot, would it be possible to run 2 nvidia cards in sli and run 1 additional for Physx so a total of 3 or would that be a waste/not needed or not even possible?

Any opinions on the 3 boards would be great.

Thanks,

 

[Knufire]

The DX is miles beyond anything that onboard sound has to offer. The Phoebus is nearly the same DAC, but throws in an okay onboard amp. Since you're connected to a receiver, probably won't make much of a difference.

I've heard the i7 helps in flight sims, so stick with that.

What kind of motherboard you need is directly related to how much you're pushing the OCs. For a typical gaming build, you don't really need anything more expensive than an ASRock Extreme4.

Physics is rather limited in its game support plus you have to deal with the heat and power consumption of another card, not really worth it.

Don't bother changing your PSU. What you're building could probably be run off a 500W PSU. 1000W is overkill as is.

Don't need 16GB of RAM in a gaming build either. Most can run on 4GB fine. 8GB is futureproofed enough.

What monitor/resolution setup are you running? Do you plan on upgrading that anytime in the future?

 

[Ace9908]

The current monitor I have is an HP 2710...27 inch 1080P resolution. I will probably stick with that for a while. If anything I would upgrade to a bigger screen but not really bump the resolution up much. I have a 42 inch panasonic IPS panel I run my computer on sometimes and I think it looks fine.

 

[Ace9908]

Also what speed RAM would you recommend? What voltage? I probably wouldn't do any crazy overclocking but I might do something mild.

 

[Knufire]

Here you go: