i7 2700k, 560 ti, and...

[noname2020x]

Components bought: i7 2700k (got it for cheap), 560 ti SC, Antec Earth Watts 750W PSU

(FTR: I will be using the stock i7 cooler for a couple of weeks before I buy a 3rd party cooler)

Here's my problem, I have $300 cash and $65 in Best Buy gift cards.

My two major considerations:

1.
Sandisk 120gb SSD

CM Storm Scout

Ripjaws

ASrock E3 G3

2.
OCD Agility 3 SSD

Antec 900

Ripjaws

ASrock E3 G3

WD 500GB 7200rpm 6gbps


My main questions:

1. Does my motherboard support future IVY Bridge CPU's?
2. Does my motherboard support Sata2 and Sata3 Hard Drives (namely the SSD's above)
3. Does having a 3gbps internal hard drive effect the speed of a raid SSD?
4. Does my motherboard support future graphics cards?
5. Your opinions/suggestions.

Thanks!!

[Sagath]

We need your motherboard model to answer most of those questions ;)

[noname2020x]

Originally Posted by Sagath

We need your motherboard model to answer most of those questions ;)

As posted "ASrock E3 G3"

[Grandizer]

Originally Posted by noname2020x

As posted "ASrock E3 G3"

Z68 boards should be compatible with the upcoming Ivy Bridge. As for the i7-2700k, I seriously hope that it cost less than an i7-2600k. Otherwise, you just threw money away for no real benefits/gains considering one can OC a 2600k to match a 2700k.

It has both SATA 2 and SATA 3 ports. I know nothing about RAID.

It will support future graphics cards but SLI/Xfire will only be a 8x/8x. Though from what I've heard, doesn't really make a difference.

Edit: As for HDD, try to repurpose an older drive if you can. Due to the flooding in Taiwan, we're paying a premium for storage (more than 3x the previous cost for storage). Hopefully, prices will go down in the new year.

[noname2020x]

So would you suggest the single 120gb SSD? Did the flood raise SSD prices? By raid I mean simply using the ssd with the hdd.

[Grandizer]

SSD prices are stable (in fact, some have dropped due to sales, etc). The flooding hasn't affected them, only HDDs. I was able to get 2x WD Caviar Blue SATA3 1TB HDDs (at $60Cdn each) a few months ago before the flooding... Should give you an idea of how inflated HDDs prices are now.

As for RAID, I haven't worked with it so I can't honestly tell you. Though I would think pairing an HDD with an SSD wouldn't be a good idea. Considering a mechanical drive might slow things down compared to an SSD. I think you could do SSD caching with the Z68 board, but I don't know much about that either (I have a P67 mobo). I have very little knowledge in this.

[Adzsask]

I'd go for option two in OP, I just got the agility 3 60GB drive for x-mas and no problems at all. I did an hours reading before install and did all updates and tweaks and am very impressed with the little drive.

[Dzzope]

Raid needs 2 identical drives to work..

You cannot raid the ssd with a hdd but you should be able to run more than 1 raid at once if you choose to (2 of same ssd, 2 of same hdd).

Can't remember the Ivybridge socket, but it shouldn't matter as that chip (especially when oc'd) will do you for at least the gen after Ivy.

[Dragonstongue]

Z68 and any 68 moniker are claimed to be supported for Ivy.

I would go for second one, I have an Agility 3 60gb using Sata 3 with Firmware 1.13 and its a snappy little drive, I have it paired with my caviar black 640 as my storage/game/junk drive, which is partitioned to have a paging file, I have a paging file set for both drives, beyond having the Agility in AHCI and a couple things on/off such as TRIM and such, I am very happy with its speed.

Far as I know, Raid over sata 2 with a sata 3 drive you will lose speed, and unless the drive has BGG and TRIM as default you may lose this advantage when you put the SSD into raid.

You apprently have 2 sata 6 connectors, one of which is shared with Esata3, by connector it may mean on the backpanel I am unsure.

All pci-e are backwards compatible for the GPU themselves, so yes, it is compatible with future cards in a very simple sence, some cards you will not get the best of thier speed though, as pci-e x8x8 can bottleneck some dual card configs, however for a single card pci-e x16 you will be ok, its highly doubtfull AMD or Nvidia will release any gpus that are at least I would say 4 times as fast as what is out there currently to saturate the pci-e bus to the point that it needs more then pci-e v2.1 x16 bus width.

Ripjaw/RipjawX/SniperSE/ECO from Gskill are all very good memory kits, funcitonal heatspreaders that are not that tall, have good overclocking headroom, and very helpfull staff if you have any issues.

For the case, have you looked at HAF 922/932 or one of the various NZXT, Corsair, or coolermasters other cases? I have quite a few buddies that had 900 case, and most of them got rid of it a long time ago, but to each their own afterall :P Just make sure you have around 160mm cpu cooler height spacing and at least 11.5 inch or so gpu length clearence, this will let you use any single card, for dual cards I believe length goes to 12.5 inch or so if you really wanted to make sure spacing will never be an issue.

Hard drive wise, if you can find them, Caviar Black 640 AALS model, I have 2 of them, still going strong pushing on 3rd year for the one and a little over 2 for the other, quite fast, and easy to manage its partition sizes/speed.

Also, if you have not gotten a cpu cooler, or had an eye on a specific one, I use a Hyper 212+ in push/pull with 2 of the stock bladmaster fans with MX4 paste, I love it, take the time, do a good install on it, and make sure you get as much downpressure as you can out of it, excellent cooler for its price. My Phenom II x4 955BE clocked and overvolted 4.2Ghz 1.44v is sitting happy at below 46c even with heavy benching, this is in a Raven 3 case. There are better coolers, yes, but they are also far more expensive and only marginally better, and only if you are pumping the heck out of the voltages, or if you are using a very large die cpu such as Sandy-E, which would require a HSF that has a larger footprint, but for LGA1155/56, and any current AMD chip, Hyper 212+ is probably the best cost/performance cooler available in push/pull ($30 for cooler, $10 for extra fan, and another $10 for paste if you want)

[noname2020x]

Awesome answers guys, really helps!

Here is where I am at now. I had a plan layed out to get the following:

ASrock Extreme3 Gen3

G Skill 8gb 1600

NZXT LEXA S LEXS (I am in love with this case)

and the SanDisk - Ultra SDSSDH-120G-G25 (at Best Buy for 127!)


THE PROBLEM: Newegg.com - Corsair Force Series 3 CSSD-F120GB3A-BK 2.5" 120GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

If I get the Corsair SSD then I have to get the case at Best Buy which I am not a fan of. Will there really be a great difference in SSD performance? Also, the sandisk has better reviews than the corsair. Thoughts?

ps: will this ram work with my mobo: Newegg.com - G.SKILL Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2133 (PC3 17000) Desktop Memory Model F3-17000CL11D-8GBSR

hmm... and people seem to dislike the latter ssd Corsair Force Series 3 CSSD-F120GB3A-BK 2.5" 120GB $165 + FS - [H]ard|Forum


I'm also a bit tempted to just get a 7200rpm 3gbps 500g-1tb hdd.