Looking for some opinions

M

mg712

New Member
Never built a custom PC before, so I need some input from more experienced people.

As far as monitor, keyboard, mouse, printer, etc., I already have that stuff. This is pretty much a replacement for a PC that bit the dust recently.

Case: Corsair Special Edition White Graphite Series 600T Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Motherboard: ASUS P8B75-V LGA 1155 Intel B75 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Processor: Intel Core i7-3770K Ivy Bridge 3.5GHz (3.9GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I73770K

RAM: Crucial Ballistix sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model BLS2KIT4G3D1609DS1S00

Graphics: XFX Double D HD-695X-CDFC Radeon HD 6950 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity

SSD: Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

Disk Drive: ASUS Black 12X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM SATA Internal Blu-ray Drive Model BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS - OEM

I know I need a PSU but I'm not sure where to go there. Any suggestions would be great.
 
Antec Neo Eco and Corsair CX series are pretty good for PSUs, but I'm not a guru, someone might have better suggestions. Anyway, are you planning to overclock? If not, don't get a 3770K for the processor, get a non-K version. The K version simply has unlocked multiplier (for overclocking) and IIRC better graphics - not sure if this true any more, used to be with Sandy I think, but anyway since you seem to be looking to buy a separate graphics card what GPU the processor comes with is irrelevant. Alternatively, you could get a Xeon E3-12x0 V2 - these are basically the same as i7, but usually way cheaper and but no IGP (again, irrelevant if you get a graphics card) and they're multiplier locked like non-K iSeries processors.

What are you using the computer for, by the way? For a gaming build, everything seems good to me.
 
I didn't even look at overclocking. Was just looking at what I could get for the money with the i7 and it seemed like the best value.

I'm not a hardcore gamer but I do play some RTS type of games. I also do some graphic/web design. Mostly looking for longevity out of it.

What wattage should I look for?
 
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mg712 said:
I didn't even look at overclocking. Was just looking at what I could get for the money with the i7 and it seemed like the best value.

I'm not a hardcore gamer but I do play some RTS type of games. I also do some graphic/web design. Mostly looking for longevity out of it.

What wattage should I look for?
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Don't listen to him, an i7 is totally different then a Xeon. It's a different architecture.
Ok, do you have to do heavy rendering or is it not very intensive what you're doing? Because for gaming and other stuff an i5 is good enough. Even for rendering it's good. You won't see a difference in game and normal use between an i7/i5.
Also replace the motherboardchip with a z77 chip.
I recommend this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128544R
Take a CX600 (600W) as psu. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139028

And for your videocard, you don't need that much power I think. What is the suppose of your graphic things?
If you want to stay in that price range, I would take the hd7850 over the hd6950 (better and newer). It's a bit cheaper, it got 2 fans, not oc. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102998

If you don't need the gpu that hard in your work. Then take this card (good enough to game and it does already good video rendering): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102948
 
With the design stuff I can have as many as 6 programs running at once and the more accurate the colors and all that the better. I wanted to keep the computer around $1000 so I thought this worked out for the most part.

What's the major difference between the motherboards?

I'm hoping to build something that won't need major upgrading for a few years.
 
I didn't even look at overclocking. Was just looking at what I could get for the money with the i7 and it seemed like the best value.
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Fair enough - the K version gives you nothing, so you'd probably be better off dropping to the non-K version if you got an i7.

Don't listen to him, an i7 is totally different then a Xeon. It's a different architecture.
Click to expand...
What the hell are you on about? It's the exact same architecture, except it has support for server/workstation technologies (like ECC RAM). The E3-12x0 series just happens to be cheaper since they have no IGP.
 
So, should I go for Windows 7 or wait for 8? I know that's kind of hard to say right now, but I've been using XP.
 
So, should I go for Windows 7 or wait for 8? I know that's kind of hard to say right now, but I've been using XP.
Click to expand...
I would just get Windows 7, no real reason waiting. I haven't personally even tried 8 but the general consensus seems to be that it's going to be a disappointment - in any event, though, Windows 7 is pretty good and 8 won't have anything particularly revolutionary that would be worth waiting for.
 
mg712 said:
With the design stuff I can have as many as 6 programs running at once and the more accurate the colors and all that the better. I wanted to keep the computer around $1000 so I thought this worked out for the most part.

What's the major difference between the motherboards?

I'm hoping to build something that won't need major upgrading for a few years.
Click to expand...

K, first of all. You don't need that expensive case. I recommend getting this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811235027

So now you got some money to spend on an i7, if you're using that much things on the same time then it's handy to have more threads aviable.
Like hackapelite said, a non-k version is good enough. You won't be able to oc , but thats no problem for you.

For the gpu, take the hd7850. It's newer better and cheaper then the hd6950. I don't think you'll need that much power, but it will give you at least 6 years smooth gaming.

Do you want another hdd? Because, you won't have enough with only 120gb.

So I recommend this changes (add them and say me how much it costs until now):

i7 3770 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116502

GIGABYTE GA-Z77-D3H LGA 1155 Intel Z77 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128543

SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 7850 2GB - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102998&nm_mc=OTC-pr1c3grabb3r&cm_mmc=OTC-pr1c3grabb3r-_-Video+Cards-_-Sapphire+Tech-_-14102998

corsair CX500 (500W is enough to power your system) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139027

Zalman Z9 PLUS - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811235027

Say me what this build costs and I can do some changes.
 
I know I can't shut up about how great this CPU is, but if budget matters and you come just a tiny bit short, I'd still recommend a E3-12x0 Xeon over an i7, they're only a bit slower - a few hundred megahertz and their clock-for-clock speeds are identical since they're essentially the same CPU, Xeons just have workstation features enabled and are generally better binned, but they're a lot cheaper since they come without an IGP.
 
hackapelite said:
I know I can't shut up about how great this CPU is, but if budget matters and you come just a tiny bit short, I'd still recommend a E3-12x0 Xeon over an i7, they're only a bit slower - a few hundred megahertz and their clock-for-clock speeds are identical since they're essentially the same CPU, Xeons just have workstation features enabled and are generally better binned, but they're a lot cheaper since they come without an IGP.
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Do you mind running my benchmark? There is already an i7 3770 in the scoreboard.
I'm very curious what your xeon does. It's single and multithreaded, it takes a while because it does different passes.
See my sig to go to the thread.
 
Don't have Windows installed, I can run it in a VM but I have no idea how much of a difference the overhead will make. That'll take me a bit, though.
 
hackapelite said:
Don't have Windows installed, I can run it in a VM but I have no idea how much of a difference the overhead will make. That'll take me a bit, though.
Click to expand...

That would be awsome, I want some xeons on the table ;p.
I want to know how they perform compared to others.
 
SmileMan said:
K, first of all. You don't need that expensive case. I recommend getting this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811235027

So now you got some money to spend on an i7, if you're using that much things on the same time then it's handy to have more threads aviable.
Like hackapelite said, a non-k version is good enough. You won't be able to oc , but thats no problem for you.

For the gpu, take the hd7850. It's newer better and cheaper then the hd6950. I don't think you'll need that much power, but it will give you at least 6 years smooth gaming.

Do you want another hdd? Because, you won't have enough with only 120gb.

So I recommend this changes (add them and say me how much it costs until now):

i7 3770 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116502

GIGABYTE GA-Z77-D3H LGA 1155 Intel Z77 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128543

SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 7850 2GB - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102998&nm_mc=OTC-pr1c3grabb3r&cm_mmc=OTC-pr1c3grabb3r-_-Video+Cards-_-Sapphire+Tech-_-14102998

corsair CX500 (500W is enough to power your system) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139027

Zalman Z9 PLUS - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811235027

Say me what this build costs and I can do some changes.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'll get a 1TB hard drive as well, but I didn't think that was really important to include here.

As far as the case, I was looking for something that looked nice, I guess. It is about twice the price of that one, but I like the look of it way more.

I've been looking at the i5s again and I can probably make do with the 3.4 GHz one.
 
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mg712 said:
Yeah, I'll get a 1TB hard drive as well, but I didn't think that was really important to include here.

As far as the case, I was looking for something that looked nice, I guess. It is about twice the price of that one, but I like the look of it way more.

I've been looking at the i5s again and I can probably make do with the 3.4 GHz one.
Click to expand...

Yeh, I don't think an i7 is needed in your use.

Look at this picture, this is multithreaded. The higher points, the better.
The ivy bridge i5 is already pretty good multithreaded. That's an improvement of the sandy bridge.
benchmarktable.jpg


Also some results of my newer version, it's single+multithreaded. This is their total performance.
benchmarktablev2.jpg


An i5 3570k scores only 100 less then an i7 3770
851 <-> 955
I would take the K version since it clock speed is higher. And after some years you maybe want to oc, so unlocked would be handy.

Also, why do you want that case really bad? There are many cases as nice as that one, but they are much cheaper. Zalman is a good brand with cheap cases.
 
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OK, so I went with this:

Case: Corsair Special Edition White Graphite Series 600T Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UD3H LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Processor: Intel Core i5-3570 Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 2500 BX80637i53570

RAM: Crucial Ballistix sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model BLS2KIT4G3D1609DS1S00

Team Xtreem Dark Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model TXD38192M1600HC9DC-D (come free with the motherboard)

Graphics: SAPPHIRE 100355L Radeon HD 7850 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card

Power Supply: CORSAIR Builder Series CX600 V2 600W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply

SSD: Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

Disk Drive: ASUS Black 12X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM SATA Internal Blu-ray Drive Model BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS - OEM


So, when a buy my OS, which version do I go with?
 
I wouldn't recommend the NZXT Lexa S (second case from the bottom on Smile's list, above the Corsair). I have that case and it looks nice but cable management can be an issue and there isn't much room for graphics cards longer than about 10.5".

The Corsair is much better than all of those cases Smile listed. If you wanted to look around for another, I'd look for a Fractal Design Define R3 (you can get them in white) or the Define XL, or an NZXT Phantom (which can be had in black or white).

As for the OS, it looks to me like you're going to have 16GB of RAM there (mismatched though, get the same sticks if you can, they'll work better together), so you need Windows 7 Pro or Ultimate. As Pro is cheaper and Ultimate doesn't offer much more, I'd go Pro.
 
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