A lasting gaming and multipurpose rig?

[dlf]

This seem like a decent rig to play most current and forthcoming PC games? I have gotten plenty of suggestions for parts in previous threads . .

• Purpose of System: Gaming, browsing internet, watching videos. But mostly for gaming. I also do want to use Folding@home as well.
• Budget: Within about 1500 American dollars
• Country: USA
• Re useable parts: Except for mouse, keyboard & monitor, nothing.
• Monitor: Currently 1680 x 1050 (22 Inches) - I eventually want HD (Between 23 - 27 inches)
• Features of Motherboard: Firewire, USB 3.0, SATA 6 Gb/s, eSATA, UEFI
• OS: Windows 7 64 bit (I have the discs for 32 & 64 bit)

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($299.55 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.90 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H-WB ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($217.52 @ Mwave)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($93.99 @ NCIX US)
Hard Drive: OCZ Agility 3 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($109.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: MSI Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card ($459.98 @ NCIX US)
Case: Corsair 500R White ATX Mid Tower Case ($124.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 750W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG GH22NS90B DVD/CD Writer ($22.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $1608.88
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-05-04 16:19 EDT-0400)


And what I wanted in a new system:

Hardware

• USB 2.0 speeds that are minimum of 30 MB a second (although faster is good)
• USB 3.0 speeds that are at lest 300+ MB/s [I will get / use an SSD]
• Firewire (and or eSata port) --- because I have a external hardrive that has both along with USB
• Several (e)SATA ports
• At lest a solid terabyte (1.5 TB)
• Supports VGA, DVI (@ first). Eventually HDMI
• Multi card reader (although I mainly need SD and Memory Pro Stick Duo)
• Able to use a PS3 controller AND A XBOX 360 controller (yes I know 360 is native support . . .)
• I would like a quad core.

Software

Windows 7 Ultimate (64 bit) (Main OS) -- Mostly for languages
May first run Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit - as I have both 32/64 bit discs now)
Windows XP (May run through a virtual machine)
Folding@home

Gaming Software:

- Will use steam:

Elder Scrolls (Morrowind -> Skyrim)
Portal 1 & 2
Batman Arkham (Asylum/City)
Sonic Generations
Quake (all)
Doom (all)
Wolfenstein (all)
Commander keen (all)
Bioshock (1/2) (perhaps infinite)
L.A. Noire
Bejeweled 2/3
Peggle
Various COD's
anything else that interests me
- CD/DVD'S I have:
Warcraft 2 - Tides of Darkness & Beyond the Dark Portal
Warcraft 3 - Reign of Chaos & Frozen Throne
Diablo 1 - 3 (when it comes out)
The Sims 1 - And all expansions
The Sims 2 (probably)
Simcity 4000 & Rushhour
May use emulation (to run up to the PS2/Wii)

Other Thoughts

Eventually a dual monitor setup (and one be HD resolution)
I will wait for some parts (hard drives, GPU, etc) to drop in price.
Will wait for IvyBridge. . . . (as if I have a choice)
I WANT UEFI, NOT regular old BIOS (that this slimline has)

Power Supply Thoughts:

ABSOLUTE MAX Watts: 750w
Efficiency: AT LEST 80+ Silver
Modular - semi or fully

Monitor Thoughts:

Screen: Full HD & Widescreen
Supports: HDMI, DVI, Displayport (if the motherboard of the computer does)
Within 1 - 2 MS response time (current monitor is 5 MS response time) [if I'd notice a real difference and price]
Screen size - 25 to about 27 inches


Q:

1. What use (if any?) would I have for the dual 10/100/1000 Mbps?
2. How well does the Intel 4000 work with a Radeon 7970 (and other GPU's)?

[Rookie1986]

The build looks nice, if your wanting to make it sub $1500 then why not drop your RAM down to 8GB and swap the i7 3770 for an i5 3570?

I'm not sure about the 10/100/1000, my motherboard also has this, anyone able to give us an answer?

Other then that all I can say is you guys get it good on the other side of the pond, my system is costing around £1500 ($2400) and is almost part-for-part the same as your build with the i5 and 8GB mentioned above.

[dave87]

Dual NIC is useful if you are virtualising anything, or if you need to connect to two networks (sounds obvious, but say Public & Private networks?), that are otherwise separate.

[dlf]

Dual NIC is useful if you are virtualising anything, or if you need to connect to two networks (sounds obvious, but say Public & Private networks?), that are otherwise separate.

I doubt I'll have use for it than.

[kalniel]

To answer no. 2: It doesn't really work with any other GPU, but the motherboard can switch between it and the dedicated GPU (the Lucid virtu stuff) so the 4000 can be used for quick sync or 2d work, spooling up the dedicated GPU when needed for 3d games. This apparently works better for the Z77 motherboards than it did for the older Z68s. With the AMD cards and the right setup this might enable zerocore to power down the GPU completely except in games.

There's also some fancy V-sync stuff (virtu MVP): http://www.anandtech.com/show/5728/i...-and-biostar/2

But I've not heard much about it in the wild.