Enthusiast Build

[Dreamsickle]

My current PC is over 5 years old and it's about time I built a new one. I'm looking to build a high-end gaming machine that can run all the latest games at 60-70 FPS or better at 1920 x 1200 resolution now and for a year or so in the future. I understand that "futureproofing" in the technology sector is pretty much impossible, but I've gone above and beyond what I need just to have certain components that I intend to use for many years to come.

My budget is around $2,000 USD and I will be buying the parts in the states. As far as the general build is concerned I want to stick with Intel/nVidia and have the whole build air cooled. I also have no intentions of using any of my old parts save for an old 1TB HDD for storage. I've been doing a lot of research reading reviews, watching videos, and having discussions on forums such as this one, and seeing as I have read many reviews on this site I decided to see what excellent input I could get from this forum.

I plan to overclock my system, including (but not limited to) CPU, memory, and GPUs. As far as when I expect to build this system I'm currently in no hurry, and seeing as the Sandy Bridge technology is right around the corner I'm holding out hope that the price on the X58 components will drop. Now to the build I have so far:

Case: Cooler Master HAF X
Power Supply: Corsair AX1200
Motherboard: Asus Rampage III Formula
CPU: Intel Core i7 950
Cooler: Noctua NH-C14
Memory: Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 12GB DDR3 1600
Video Cards: 2-way SLI EVGA GeForce GTX 570
Storage: OCZ Vertex 2 120GB

After reading all that some of you may be crunching those numbers and realizing that adds up to over $2,000 and you would be correct. I want to aim for 2-way SLI, but one card right now is good enough to hold me over until my next paycheck. Also, many of you may be wondering why I might go so over-the-top with the power supply. Originally, I was undecided between the Corsair HX1000 and the AX1200, but I think I'm leaning more towards the AX1200 since it's just such an amazing power supply and an area that I hope to futureproof in.

Any further input would be greatly appreciated!

[SugarJ]

Nice parts. You'll never need 12GB of memory for gaming only, though. You could save a few dollars there by going with a 6GB kit.

[Eldonko]

Why not Sandy Bridge?

Personally I would go 2600k and a decent 1155 board. Plus NCIX is doing loads of bundle deals on Sandy Bridge boards and CPUs.

[matsta31]

+1 sandy.

Also, the 1200 watt is overkill. but you already know. It is a great PSU altough mine has a high pitch noise when I turn the rig off. If I want to stop it, I need to unplug it and tap the power button to completly silence it.

[_dangtx_]

you cannot ignore sandy bridge. i'd take it over any existing hexa core, unless you'll do hard core rendering where the difference will be felt, although not as much once

you clock the sandy to death and beyond.

good luck with the build, and 8 gigs of ram will be aplenty!

[agniray]

in addition to all good comments - if i were you in this case scenario i would've gone with Antec DF-85, it will save you a bit, if you like the DF style.definitely consider i7 2600k with 2x4gb ram.

[Dreamsickle]

There isn't a terribly wide selection of Sandy Bridge motherboards on the market yet. Are there any particularly good ones that are a grade above the rest? How about boards with PCI-E 2.0 slots that RUN at 16x bandwidth on both cards? Also, if they had an extra space in between the two cards that would be ideal (for extra fan or just extra airspace). I guess that would mean I have to go with the GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD7, although if I wanted both running at 16x bandwidth they would be right next to each other.

[SugarJ]

Sorry, I'll disagree with the SB proponents. The only way you can get a 2 PCI-E2.0 x16 slots with a P67 chipset is with a NF200 chip on board (like the Gigabyte model you mentioned), which has proven to decrease performance slightly. It introduces a bit of overhead when it splits the lanes.

Because you are looking at SLI'd 570's and are looking for the absolute maximum graphics horsepower/bandwidth you can get, I think you are making the right choice sticking with an X58 platform if you are building now.

To be clear, for any single graphics card builds, I'd absolutely look at P67 boards. For dual cards (or more), stick to X58 for now.

[Dreamsickle]

In the end, running at 8x or 16x bandwidth is only noticeable in highly synthetic benchmarks so it's probably not a big deal. When compared to the performance increase I'd be getting from an i7 2600K and SB motherboard, it seems totally worth it. So, here's a more conservative build:

Case: Cooler Master HAF X
Power Supply: Corsair HX1000 (Downgraded from AX1200 since it really is overkill)
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD7
CPU: Intel Core i7-2600K
Cooler: Noctua NH-C14
Memory: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB 1600
Video Cards: EVGA GeForce GTX 570 (Only single card)
Storage: OCZ Vertex 2 120GB (Preferably Mushkin Callisto Deluxe 120GB, when available)

Which brings me to another piece of hardware I'm missing, an optical drive. I'm looking for a DVD-RW/Blu-Ray combo player, any makes and models that come highly recommended?

[_dangtx_]

there you go. check out cf/sli benches at high resolutions on sb, beautiful numbers :)

you could still chop chop a little here and there but hey :)

even a good 850 will be wayy more than enough for a single card, ok with a second one. sb is kind on juice

consumption :)

for optical devices and media, take a peak at cdrinfo. cant help you but point you there :p



ps no love for thermalright hr-02 passive? :)