New PC Build

[prec1ze]

I have read these forums for a while but this is my first post. I am in the process of building a new pc and would like to hear any criticism and suggestions of the parts that I have chosen thus far.

Thermaltake Level 10 GT (VN10001W2N) Black SECC / Plastic ATX Full Tower Computer Case with Four Fans-1x 200mm Colorshift ...


Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000

ASRock Z68 EXTREME4 GEN3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

G.SKILL Sniper Gaming Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9Q-16GBSR

2 X EVGA DS SuperClocked 01G-P3-1567-AR GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support


Intel 320 Series SSDSA2CW080G3B5 2.5" 80GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

2 X(RAID 0) Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive


Thortech Thunderbolt Plus TTBPK00G 1000W ATX12V 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

LITE-ON Black 12X Blu-ray Burner with Blu Ray 3D Feature SATA IHBS112-04 - OEM


CORSAIR CWCH60 Hydro Series H60 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler

Lamptron FC Touch

Rosewill RCR-IC002 74-in-1 USB 2.0 3.5" Internal Card Reader w/ USB port / Extra silver face plate

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium - Retail

Im also considering buying a couple additional case fans but not sure if they are needed.

 

[OpenFriday]

Tell us a bit about your plans....obviously you have gaming on the cards it looks like. But what you plan to use the computer for will allow others to tweak your build in that way.

What about overclocking? If you plan on it I think your going to find the H60 a touch underwhelming. Better than a stock cooler though.

Thats a boatload of ram..... are you sure you will need all 16gb? If so go for it with prices as they are I understand. If you dont need 16gb you could go 8gb 2133. Real world probably no difference just something to consider.

Just my thoughts.

-OF

 

[prec1ze]

Tell us a bit about your plans....obviously you have gaming on the cards it looks like. But what you plan to use the computer for will allow others to tweak your build in that way.

What about overclocking? If you plan on it I think your going to find the H60 a touch underwhelming. Better than a stock cooler though.

Thats a boatload of ram..... are you sure you will need all 16gb? If so go for it with prices as they are I understand. If you dont need 16gb you could go 8gb 2133. Real world probably no difference just something to consider.

Just my thoughts.

-OF

Sorry I should of stated that it will be a gaming pc and also i can not stand a slow pc whenever im doing everyday tasks.

What would you recommend for a cooler I was under the impression that the Corsair hydro series was pretty good.

 

[Knufire]

Intel 320s are rather slow...more for SSD cacheing then use as a main SSD.

Case = overpriced.
PSU = Overkill wattage, underwhelming quality

For video cards, you're usually better off going with one high end card vs two lower end cards. That being said, there's a new generation of GPUs coming out very soon, so you might want to wait on the cards. Other then gaming, if you run off the onboard, it'll probably never slow down.

Are you ever actually going to burn Blurays? Or watch 3D movies?

Do you need that many USB 3.0 front panel ports? SB doesn't offer that many PCIe lanes, you should be able to find one that can just run off headers.

The Corsair H series is really only worth it if you get the H80 or H100, other models are throughoutly stomped on my air heatsinks. Both of those are rather overkill for Sandy Bridge though.

What's your budget?

 

[OpenFriday]

What are your overclocking goals? Ive got a H100 with a 2600k @4.7 with good temps. Ive also got it at 1.4V which seems to be seen as the upper end of safe voltage for 24/7 long term use.

The H80 has a thicker rad than the H60 and seems to be a great performer in the single rad category for about $15 more.

In reality the 2600k at stock with your cards should do well at most any game. Im not a gamer so those more inclined hopefully can comment on your video card setup.

These chips also have a lot of headroom, that 2600K i have @[email protected] does 4.2ghz@stock voltage. You could very well get a 1000mhz overclock with the H60 cooler and have more than good temps. A few bucks more gives you more headroom, you just have to decide if its worth it.

Maybe let us know too which games your interested in playing, theres a lot of people who can advise about real world experiences with dual 560's or a similar setup.

 

[prec1ze]

Intel 320s are rather slow...more for SSD cacheing then use as a main SSD.

Case = overpriced.
PSU = Overkill wattage, underwhelming quality

For video cards, you're usually better off going with one high end card vs two lower end cards. That being said, there's a new generation of GPUs coming out very soon, so you might want to wait on the cards. Other then gaming, if you run off the onboard, it'll probably never slow down.

Are you ever actually going to burn Blurays? Or watch 3D movies?

Do you need that many USB 3.0 front panel ports? SB doesn't offer that many PCIe lanes, you should be able to find one that can just run off headers.

The Corsair H series is really only worth it if you get the H80 or H100, other models are throughoutly stomped on my air heatsinks. Both of those are rather overkill for Sandy Bridge though.

What's your budget?

The main reason I got the intel ssd is because I was able to get it for $80 during cyber monday deal on newegg. I figured i would not find a better deal on an ssd for the storage it offers.

No I dont need the extra usb 3.0s i never even thought about it taking up pci slots. Thank you i will be changing my card reader to another one.

As for the PSU I figured I should get a bit of extra wattage in case I add more things in the future. Neweggs calculator recommended 750w so i figured a few hundred extra would not hurt. Can you please elaborate on the underwhelming quality part.

I know the case is overpriced but i have fallen in love with it for some reason I have not been able to find another full tower case that I would go with for cheaper I am still looking around though.

And yes i might be burning some blu rays in the future.

 

[prec1ze]

What are your overclocking goals? Ive got a H100 with a 2600k @4.7 with good temps. Ive also got it at 1.4V which seems to be seen as the upper end of safe voltage for 24/7 long term use.

Tee H80 has a thicker rad than the H60 and seems to be a great performer in the single rad category for about $15 more.

In reality the 2600k at stock with your cards should do well at most any game. Im not a gamer so those more inclined hopefully can comment on your video card setup.

These chips also have a lot of headroom, that 2600K i have @[email protected] does 4.2ghz@stock voltage. You could very well get a 1000mhz overclock with the H60 cooler and have more than good temps. A few bucks more gives you more headroom, you just have to decide if its worth it.

Maybe let us know too which games your interested in playing, theres a lot of people who can advise about real world experiences with dual 560's or a similar setup.

To be honest I am not sure. I have never overclocked before but I would like to try it out. As far as sepcific games I dont have any list just games in general.

 

[woboy]

Thorntech Thunderbolt Plus 1200 was reviewed by jonnyguru, 850 by hardwaresecrets, both found good build quality, noise and ripple, low voltage regulation was marginal, list price slightly high.
The reviews for the 1000 I found viewed it a little better, but are not (imo) equal to the two above.
Five year warranty from Geil, seems good.
Basically with the better/best power supplies (and we are in top company price territory) more is expected from them.
This unit is better than many out there, just a smidgen short for the picky. Nothing should be out of specification, ideally nothing should be close to out of specification.
Capacitors and temperatures were very good, as was efficency.

 

[OpenFriday]

The H60 will do fine, the H100 is great but the double rad can be a pain to mount if your case dosent have dual 120mm fan mounts.

Heres a chart comparing the H100,H80 and H60. Overclocked the H80 is 5C cooler than the H60. In their comparison 5C (52C vs 57C) isnt a big deal. But your circumstances will be different lets say your in the high 60's, having your cpu at 65 vs 70 could keep your mind more at ease.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5054/corsair-hydro-series-h60-h80-and-h100-reviewed/5

You'll be fine in any case.

-OF

 

[Daleon]

A corsair ax850 would be a good choice.

SLI is good for adding a second video card into an existing system to beef up the video performance or for when you want to build a benchmarking monster and stroke your epeen which can be fun to. Building a new system around 2 mid range cards to SLI is not where it is a good option.

So for $500 2x560 gtx ti's will typically out horse power a single 580 gtx in most games, not all but most. Its not by much though. In most games its 5-10 fps and that is when your already doing 80-90 fps up to 180+ fps in some games. Those extra 5-10 fps are gonna mean nothing. Also not all games will support SLI so you will have to deal with disabling a card sometimes and possible get stuttering. You will have to deal with searching game forums for sli fixes and tweaks. Where as my 580 gtx has never given me a single issue and I haven't had to modify a ini or cfg file for longer than I can remember.

The intel ssd, for $1 a GB its fine. I ran the previous gen intel 40 gb for quite a while and as far as windows boot and usage I can't tell much of a difference between it and either of my current 120GB SF drives. Unless your doing big file work its not a real problem.

 

[Mjolnir]

You're all over rating the required voltage.. 750? Not even required for GTX 560 ti's. A Quality 650W would run those with an 2600K OC'd.. But 750 is a good spot.

I'm not a fan of that case; but case is personal preference.

May I suggest; however; rather than going outright SLI, why not grab a single GTX 570 instead and throw in another later if required? And 750w would cover it if you get a quality unit.. Don't believe calculators for PSU's; they're never accurate.

If you plan to game at 1080p only, a single GTX 570 should be fine.

My personal SSD recommendation is the Crucial M4.. But that's me.

 

[Knufire]

Still wondering what the budget is...

 

[prec1ze]

Still wondering what the budget is...

Opps sorry about that im looking to spend around 1300-1500. However, the 2600k and 1 560 ti was given to me as gifts that is why im running sli and not 1 570.

So basically i have the 2600k, 1 560ti, and the 80gb intel ssd. I want to finish the rest of the system with 1300-1500 dollars.

 

[Knufire]

Gotcha, in that case, SLI is a pretty good option.

Do you need a copy of Windows included in that?

 

[prec1ze]

I am switching my card reader to http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820223109. If anyone has a better recommendation would love to hear it.


And yes i will need to buy windows forgot to add that, I think i am going with windows 7 home premium as i did not see any major differences from professional and ultimate.

Also I decided to change my fan controller to the Lamptron FC Touch.

Lastly I will be upgrading to the Hydro H80

 

[Mjolnir]

I am switching my card reader to http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820223109. If anyone has a better recommendation would love to hear it.


And yes i will need to buy windows forgot to add that, I think i am going with windows 7 home premium as i did not see any major differences from professional and ultimate.

Good choice. Home Premium is the best for 95% of people.

Perhaps instead of getting a second GTX 560 Ti, see how you go with a single one; then if you find the performance not up to par; grab another? But for now stick to a single one perhaps? Also with the new cards starting to roll out; perhaps a single card for now; and you could grab a more powerful single card later on? That'd be my route.

But it's your build; so naturally this is just a suggestion.

 

[Knufire]

This is what I would go with. The cooling stuff is from FrozenCPU.com. If you really want to get the H80 (overkill for Sandy Bridge), then you can, but GRAB THOSE FANS. Literally everybody wants them, and 75% of the time they're out of stock. They'll go quickly.

 

[prec1ze]

This is what I would go with. The cooling stuff is from FrozenCPU.com. If you really want to get the H80 (overkill for Sandy Bridge), then you can, but GRAB THOSE FANS. Literally everybody wants them, and 75% of the time they're out of stock. They'll go quickly.

So if I go with the H80 I can get those fans and replace the ones that come with it?

 

[Mjolnir]

^Yes.

 

[prec1ze]

How does the gentle typhoon compare to these, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185058

The reason I ask is because im trying my best to keep a black theme going.