November 2012 - My Planned Build - Suggestions please.

[JayGB1982]

Hi everyone,

Firstly I'd like to start by saying this is my first post on this forum, I've visited it from time to time but decided to register to get some expert advice!

I am currently planning out my Build which I am about to undertake and would like some feedback on the components that I have been considering.

What will I be using this machine for? I would mainly be doing gaming / livestreaming / some video transcoding and a bit of lightroom / photoshop

I have already purchased the Motherboard. I went for the Gigabyte Z77-UD5 Thunderbolt. I chose this board mainly due to it being Hackintosh friendly should I ever decide to go down that route and the 2 Thunderbolt ports included on the board.

So I've basically got it down to 2 options on the other components.

Processor - I was just planing on using the i7 3770k but then realised that the i5 3750k is basically the same but does not have Hyper Threading. But the i7 costs ~ £70 more. Your thoughts? I hear that the i7 would be about 15% quicker at Video encoding etc. But HT does nothing for gaming. I'm starting to think the i5 would be the better for price v performance. But ideally I would like this rig to be built to a high "ish" spec

Video Card - I'm pretty much settled on the Gigabyte 6700 GTX Windforce 3. Again I was considering the 6800 but that card is like £80 more for only about 5% increase in performance.

Memory - Now this is the latest stumbling block for me. I was going to get 16Gb in 2x8Gb sticks leaving room to dump another 16Gb in at a later date. The memory I was looking at was the Corsair Vengence 1600Mhz Low Profile. This is available for round £60. But I was concerned that 1600Mhz is pretty much standard at the moment and wouldn't give me much head room for overclocks? I have been looking at 2400Mhz Ram but have trouble finding low profile RAM. It's also about double the price. But is 2400Mhz worth it? I've heard in the past that memory timings etc dont make much difference in compared to CPU / HD IO performance?

CPU Cooler - I've pretty much decided on the Noctua D-14 but also have seen the Cooler Master TPC 800 which looks very similar. Any one had experience with the TPC 800?

Case - Now I have always wanted to make a build using the Antec 1200. I built a Q6600 for a friend of mine about 4 years ago using the Antec 900 and it was an awesome case to work with. But now I have seen 2 other cases after doing some digging around which I also like. The first of which is the Cooler Master 690 2 Nvidia Edition and the Corsair Vengence Case in Gun Metal. It's really going to come down to which case is quiter / cooler. Although I'm siding towards to Corsair Vengence purely on looks at the moment.

Drives - I was just going to get another Samsung 830 256Gb and a 2Tb Western Digital Green.

Power Supply - I have literally no idea which one to get? I think I would need around 750w as I may want to SLI and add more drives in. I want it to be modular. The only PSU i recall which I did like was the Dark Power series I think? Only because they kept the system fans on for like 2 mins after shutdown? If possible I would like a power supply which offers this feature.

So I think that's about it. Please do comment on the above, Give your suggestions and even feedback regarding the above.

Many Thanks

[JayGB1982]

Anyone got any thoughts / suggestions?

[sassyjay]

I am not very experienced my apologies, there are other people on here who can help you more but I will give you my 2 cents worth. From the little reading I have done yeah your right the 3750k is the best price performance ratio for Gaming however if you wanting to do more than that then maybe the i7 is right for you.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...ck,3106-4.html
The ram I dont know, I guess 1600 is enough and as you say its not so important to get the ram speed any higher, however I could be totally wrong so hopefully someone else will help you with that one.
the graphics card, yeah the GTX 670 is more than good enough to max games at 2500 resolution so its should last a while.
hope thats something !

[JayGB1982]

Thanks for the response.

I'm leaning towards the i7 3770k again now :O Kepp flip flopping between the two. Anyone got any real life / benchmarks between the two?

Reason I'm thinking of maxing out to the i7 is because just me knowing I bought an inferior chip will lead me to upgrading anyway.

Also I've heard that transcoding etc will be about 15% quicker on the i7, It will also help with live streaming apparently?

I would like to overclock this machine in 12 months or so to give me a bit of a performance boost and headroom in the future, Thats why I am considering better RAM? Would I be able to hit 4.4 - 4.6Ghz with 1600Mhz RAM? Would 2400Mhz RAM give me a significant improvement?

Think I'm settled on the Corsair Case now I really do like the look of it. Just not sure about the intake? The fans are behind the HD cages, Anyway to mount 2 fans on the front? Anyone used this case?

I also see that the Gigabyte 6700 comes in two windforce flavours, 2 + 3. Windforce 2 is about £20 - £30 cheaper. Anyone got a benchmark between the two? Windforce 3 is the better overclocker but by how much?

Anyone else got any input on this build? Where can / should I improve things?

[najiro]

yes that i7 3770k will help you a lot with your transcoding stuff. Gaming is not really a multi-core kind of application unlike transcoding and graphics related software, you really need more cores and threads for those. Some experts would even suggest intel xeon processors and building a workstation for hardcore video transcoders. But I think i7-3770k is already more than enough
See benchmark list for video creation and encoding below:
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/CPU/26

In terms of overclocking, there's a lot of experts and users saying ivy bridge processors are bad overclockers due to heat issues. 4.4-4.6Ghz is attainable but it would be hotter than an overclocked i7-2600k. You would also need hardcore cooling for that.

About graphic cards, I'm not really sure but based on my friend's experience who is a CAD user, he told me having CUDA cores is really important. I don't know the difference between CAD and video transcoding but they are graphics related applications right? Also, im wondering why you are not investing much on high-end graphics card since you are using applications that require relatively high-end graphics card. Others would even be aiming for a nvidia quadro for such demands. What are you currently using anyway?

[JayGB1982]

Hi najorio

I'm currently using a Lenovo G570 i7 with 8Gb of RAM which is a Laptop. Got rid of my desktop years ago.

The i7 looks the way to go considering gaming is only one aspect of my usage. Will there be anymore i7's which come out and support socket 155 which the Gigabyte z77-up5 th has? If there is a higher end CPU on the cards then I could drop in the i5 and get the best CPU for this socket at a later date.

I know that the Ivy-E's are due out soon, Any news one which socket they support?

Anyone know when the new Big Kepler is due to drop? I could hold of getting a GPU if that's only 8 weeks or so away.

The 6700 looks like the best for price / performance to me, I don't need a Quadro card, That's way outta my league in terms of cost but also they are architecturally build for CAD etc. Cuda cores do help with transcoding though

Thanks for the replys for far, Keep em coming. I really need to hone in the spec as soon as. My motherboard is due soon and ideally I'd like the CPU, Case, RAM and PSU all sorted.

Drives and the GPU can be added at a later date, I have a momentus xt hybrid which I ripped out the laptop when I bought a Samsung 820 for my laptop and I can use that for a short while.

PSU? I have no idea at all. Do all the PSU's these days keep the system fans on after shutdown for 2 mins? Or was that a feature just to the Dark Power series?

[JayGB1982]

Bump, anyone else got any thoughts?

[whatup0000]

If you have got your pc tell us how it went I am building a machine around the same price and would love some feedback.

If not I been looking into the 7970 ghz edition and it looks so attractive compared to the 670.