Optimizing new Sandy Bridge build

[hobo_crew]

Hey Guys,

I am a long time reader first time poster. Hoping you guys can help me optimize my new build I want to do. So to start with my budget is around $2000. What I am looking to do with this computer is over clocking, multi screen gaming (possibly 3D), maybe some folding.
So I need some help optimizing this build. I need to make sure the parts are compatible and any bottlenecks/problems I might run into. I want a mean air cooled over clock, fast as possible startup and as quite as possible. I do really like Silverstone rv02b-ew case so unless you can convince me it’s really loud I am going to keep it.

I own 24” benq screen and 42” sharp
Also I am reusing ocz vertex 120gb ssd and my cd/dvd drive.

SILVERSTONE RV02B-EW Matte black reinforced plastic outer shell, 0.8mm Steel body ATX Full Tower Computer Case
COOLER MASTER Silent Pro Gold Series RSA00-80GAD3-US 1000W ATX 12V v2.3 / EPS 12V v2.92 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I72600K

GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD7-B3 LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

G.SKILL Ripjaws X + Turbulence II Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2133 (PC3 17000) Desktop Memory Model F3-17000CL9D-8GBXLD

Western Digital Caviar Black WD5002AALX 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

(2X SLI)Palit NE5X56TS1102-1140F GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) SONIC 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card (I like the hdmi)

Prolimatech Genesis cpu cooler


Please let me know your thoughts any advice especially about the mother board would be great. I am not too worried about saving $10 here and there.

[dma0991]

I would suggest getting some other PSU than the CM Silent Pro Gold. You could try other brands like Corsair, Silverstone, Antec or Seasonic. They have far superior PSUs compared to Cooler Master. You don't need a 1000W to power that rig either. You could do well even with a 650W PSU with GTX560 Ti SLi. But if you want some extra headroom to play with I would suggest a 850W is more than sufficient.

A Gigabyte P67A-UD4-B3 would be a better choice if you are not intending to SLi more than 2 cards. The GTX560 Ti cannot be triple SLi. Another choice of heatsink is the Noctua NH-D14, Scythe Ninja 3 and Thermaltake Frio OCK.

[Luay79]

Originally Posted by dma0991

I would suggest getting some other PSU than the CM Silent Pro Gold. You could try other brands like Corsair, Silverstone, Antec or Seasonic. They have far superior PSUs compared to Cooler Master. You don't need a 1000W to power that rig either. You could do well even with a 650W PSU with GTX560 Ti SLi. But if you want some extra headroom to play with I would suggest a 850W is more than sufficient.

A Gigabyte P67A-UD4-B3 would be a better choice if you are not intending to SLi more than 2 cards. The GTX560 Ti cannot be triple SLi. Another choice of heatsink is the Noctua NH-D14, Scythe Ninja 3 and Thermaltake Frio OCK.

Agreed. I would also opt for DDR3 1600.

GTX 560 SLI for 5670x1080, for that money I would add a bit and get HD6950 CF, and the performance is leaps and bounds above the Nvidia cards. As for 3D, Nividia is ahead of AMD.

[JJThomp]

Originally Posted by Luay79

Agreed. I would also opt for DDR3 1600.

GTX 560 SLI for 5670x1080, for that money I would add a bit and get HD6950 CF, and the performance is leaps and bounds above the Nvidia cards. As for 3D, Nividia is ahead of AMD.

yeah but if he wants to fold nvidia is a must.

[hobo_crew]

Thanks for the quick responses.

Ok for the PSU I am going to stick with a modular but take your advice and take it down to 850w

CORSAIR HX Series CMPSU-850HX 850W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

For the motherboard I really want to stay with the GA-P67A-UD7-B3 because it is the only board that does 2x PCIE @ 16. Unless someone can tell me that this board isn’t good for overclocking or other issues.

I know 2133 is a bit of over kill but so is most of this stuff. Anybody have any experience overclocking the 2133?

I am going to stick with Nvidia cards it’s just my preference and I am tempted to add a projector and some glasses to get some 3d gaming.

[dma0991]

The performance gain from a 16x16x is not much compared to a 8x8x. There is only 16x of shared PCIE bandwidth to the processor. So in actual fact it can only support till 8x8x. 16x16x8x most probably it goes through a 3rd party controller. I don't know about you but 16x16x is not worth the money anbd performance gain is negligible.

What do you mean by overclocking the 2133?

[hobo_crew]

yeah i had heard that about PCIE @8x8x being almost extactly the same as the supposed PCIE @16x16

i was just asking if anybody had overclocked their 2600K with ddr3 2133 memory and how it went.

[francisw19]

Good suggestions above...agreed with the comments about the PSU and the motherboard.

The GTX560Ti's in SLI are really nice...I have a pair just pushing a single 24" display (1920x1200) and they seem to have plenty of power for that. You might want to see if there is anyone running 3 displays with these...I've heard from some people that 1GB VRAM isn't quite enough for 3 displays. No experience with this myself though...just passing along what I've heard.

Also, have you considered running a SSD? The Caviar Blacks are good drives, but you can usually snag a 100-120GB SSD for a reasonable price. If you can work one into your budget, it would make your system feel a bit more "snappy". Just put your OS, programs, and maybe a few of your favorite games on there and keep the mechanical disk for your data and other big files.

[hobo_crew]

hey good to hear you like the sli 560s do you have them overclocked?
I already have a 120gb ocz vertex ssd that i bringing into this build.

[francisw19]

Yeah...I'm really liking them. I have them at 900MHz Core, 1800MHz Shaders, 2200 MHz on the memory so far...they are still quite new, so I'm slowly pushing the overclock further. Some people have been able to get to 1000MHz on the core. So, with any kind of luck, I may be in that terrirory too.

The ones I have are the Asus branded GTX560Ti's...so, they are a non-reference design. But, the build quality of them is great and the fans are reasonably quiet - they aren't audiable until about 60% fan speed. I was running the Heaven 2.5 benchmark and the warmest they got was ~65°C with 95-100% GPU usage. Under gaming, they usually sit around 50°C...granted I have vertical sync on, so the GPU load isn't maxed out. Something else to consider is the Asus design uses a 7-phase VRM setup instead of the 4-phase that the reference design uses...so, it should beable to handle a bit more power to the GPU when overclocking them.

Also, my bad missing your 120GB Vertex SSD...my mind got stuck on the new parts you were considering.