Any Advice on this spec

[MonkeyBear]

Hello anyone have any advice for me on this build?

I'm looking to order a new rig (must be prebuilt) for gaming as well as all round use, that I can upgrade in the coming years by adding an SSD, better CPU, better graphics card or x-fire, hence the choice of higher rated power supply:

I am thinking of modifying one of SCAN's 3XS Velocity X79 set ups and have come up with the following:


Case: CoolerMaster HAF 932
Motherboard - Asus X79 Sabertooth Intel X79
CPU - Intel Core i7 3820 Quad Core Overclock - 4.4Ghz
CPU Coolers: Phanteks Premium Edition Performance CPU Cooler
Memory - Corsair Vengeance LP 1600MHz Quad 16GB
ATI Graphics - Gigabyte ATi Radeon HD 7950 Windforce 3X 3072MB
Power Supply: 1200W Corsair Pro Series AX Modular
System Drives: 1TB Seagate Barracuda SATA 6Gb s 7200rpm 64Mb Cache

I'm looking to spend around the £1500 mark but need to include O/S, on-site warranty & really need a new wireless keyboard & mouse but that can wait.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

For gaming get a socket 1155 based Core i5 CPU and motherboard or alternatively wait for the socket 1150 Haswell Core i5 CPUs. Socket 2011 can take six core CPUs,but for the amount they cost you could change over your CPU,motherboard and RAM at a later date anyway.

Also,anything more than a 650W to 750W PSU is OTT for pair of HD7950 3GB cards IMHO,and I would get an SSD too.

[Aexl]

Only think i'd ask is do you really need to go with the 2011 socket? Upgrades are rather expensive and that cpu isn't better than a 3770k, it overclocks but not quite as far. I have no idea how much you'll get for a 3820 in a year or so but unless you want to drop £400+ for an upgrade and really need more than 4 cores it's something to think about.

[MonkeyBear]

I want Socket 2011 because as far I can work out there will be no more 1155 cpu's whereas there will be new 2011's.

I thought Haswell would not include a 1155 cpu?

I thought at least with the set up chosen I can upgrade where if I choose a 1155 setup for the same price there will be little room for improvement.

[Aexl]

I want Socket 2011 because as far I can work out there will be no more 1155 cpu's whereas there will be new 2011's.

I thought Haswell would not include a 1155 cpu?

I thought at least with the set up chosen I can upgrade where if I choose a 1155 setup for the same price there will be little room for improvement.

Theres no way of telling whether there will be any more 1155 processors it's up to intel, nor will there be any way of knowing what sort of 2011 processors or what price point they'll be at in the future. For just gaming and general use I severely doubt pc gaming will progress in such a way that even in the next 5 years a major cpu upgrade would be needed, personally I won't be changing my build for at least 3 years by then there will probably be a completely new socket. Future proofing only works to a certain extent, you may as well get a 3770k (which is more powerful than the 3820) over clock it if you need more power unless you really want a 6 core cpu and are willing to spend a large amount to get one. (minimum of another £220 currently for a 3930k)

At a first glance haswell doesn't seem to be anything special, same clock speeds less power use but in a recent AMA an intel engineer mentioned they will be an overclockers dream, that tidbit is the only reason you may want to hold out for haswell or at least wait for more facts.

[MonkeyBear]

I found this link and remeber others where it seems there will definitely be more socket 2011's

Leak: Enthusiast-Grade IB-E CPUs Slated for Q3 along with SB-E Core i7-3980X 8 Core CPU for Q2
Another leaked Intel roadmap has hit the internet and brings some good news for extreme performance enthusiasts! There are two main upcoming product launches, with the more interesting one being the 4th generation Ivy Bridge-E CPUs for its HEDT platform, slated for Q3 2013. These will bring all the improvements found in the current Ivy Bridge CPUs such as 22nm Tri-Gate transistors and greater overall efficiency and performance to Intel's premium enthusiast platform. IB-E will feature 6-12 cores (IB-E/EP) large amounts of cache, quad channel memory controllers supporting 8 GB of DDR3-1066/1333/1600/1866 per DIMM slot, along with PCI-E 3.0 (40 lanes) and 4 lanes supporting PCI-E 2.0. It's believed that four CPUs will be launched, bearing the following names: Core i7-4930, Core i7-4960, Core i7-4970 and Core i7-4990.

The CPUs will be compatible with the Socket LGA 2011 and X79 chipset platform and while the clock speeds and TDP aren't known, the TDP is expected to be around the current Sandy Bridge-E level. One can only hope that the inferior heatspreader that current Ivy Bridge CPUs are saddled with causing them to run hotter and significantly reducing overclocking ability will be replaced for the extreme enthusiast grade IB-E CPUs by the superior soldered one found on the earlier Sandy Bridge CPUs. It would be a slap in the face to customers paying so much money for a premium product otherwise.



The other product launch will be better versions of the current Sandy Bridge-E chips, slated for Q2 2013. These are expected to feature higher clock speeds, but the most interesting part will be the first 8 core consumer CPU from Intel, the Core i7-3980X Extreme Edition. Expect to pay dearly for it.

The company would also give an update to its current Sandy Bridge-E lineup as the recently launched Core i7-3970X (higher clocked 3960X) isn’t enough for consumers. We are looking at faster variants of the Core i7-3930K, Core i7-3820 and a new Extreme Edition processor built to replace the Core i7-3970X. However this time, Intel plans to change the game with the launch of its first 8 Core consumer CPU – Core i7-3980X.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The problem is those six core CPUs will cost a lot of money,and you can essentially just get a new motherboard and CPU anyway less money.

[MonkeyBear]

The new 6 & 8 cores might be pricey when I come to upgrade but for a relative novice like me it seems to make sense (and be easier) that I will only have to spend maybe £450-700 on a new cpu to upgrade rather than £300-£450 on new cpu and then £200-350 on new mobo. and wqith the extra power my power supply will give me i will be able to x-fire 7970's or jump to a nvidia 690 when the price comes down.


EDIT: Looks like the new ivybridges will be aimed to laptops as far as I can tell by reading leaks.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The new 6 & 8 cores might be pricey when I come to upgrade but for a relative novice like me it seems to make sense (and be easier) that I will only have to spend maybe £450-700 on a new cpu to upgrade rather than £300-£450 on new cpu and then £200-350 on new mobo. and wqith the extra power my power supply will give me i will be able to x-fire 7970's or jump to a nvidia 690 when the price comes down.


EDIT: Looks like the new ivybridges will be aimed to laptops as far as I can tell by reading leaks.

£200 to £350 on a new motherboard?? £300 to £450 on a new CPU??

Sorry,but a decent socket 1155 motherboard is like £90 to £120. A Core i5 is around £130 to £180,a quad core with HT around £170 to £250.

Haswell is unlikely to be much different in price either.

Moreover,something like a overclocked Core i5 or Core i7 is going to be fine for years anyway.

Those socket 2011 six core CPUs are made for people doing work,not playing games,and moreover 99% of the gaming market is unlikely to have anything more than even a socket 1155 Core i7,and most will have Core i5 CPUs and below. 8 reasonably fast threads will be fine for a long time ,and with things like TCX which will arrive in newer quad cores in the next few years,there will improved efficiency in these cases too when it comes to multi-threaded applications.

[MonkeyBear]

Sorry Cat I didn't make myself very clear.

I am thinking of the new 1150 top spec motherboards and the new top spec 1150 cpu's

I don't know how much they will be. I'm guessing.

Thanks for your input though.

Gives me something to consider.

Forgot to add that I also want to get involved in some Folding@Home once I get my new rig.