Simulations and Gaming PC.

[TMan-]

Hello, I am putting together a PC build after a long time (almost 12 years). This will replace my 6+ year old MacPro. Primary use for this is to run experimental simulations for work, some pet projects and gaming. After some initial research I have put together this build (see below). I am looking to buy in early January. I have flexible budget and will add SSD, more memory, and probably another 680 in SLI as/if needed in the future. For now, I would like to limit spending to £1000-£1200. Any feedback &/ suggestions will be much appreciated.

Many thanks!

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£247.96 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Enermax ETS-T40-TA 76.0 CFM CPU Cooler (£34.08 @ Scan.co.uk)
Motherboard: Asus SABERTOOTH Z77 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard (£171.98 @ Dabs)
Memory: Corsair XMS3 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£55.39 @ Scan.co.uk)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£70.55 @ Scan.co.uk)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 680 2GB Video Card (£372.82 @ Scan.co.uk)
Case: Fractal Design Arc Midi Tower ATX Mid Tower Case (£68.94 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: Corsair Enthusiast 650W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (£70.16 @ Ebuyer)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-222BB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer
Total: £1091.88
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-12-06 13:02 GMT+0000)

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

How multi-threaded are your simulations?? Do you have any preference for graphics card brands??

Edit!!

You need to include a copy of Windows 7 or Windows 8 too. Windows will cost you the less as you can do an upgrade from the Release Preview for £24.99,although of course you will need to check how software will cope.

However,are you using Linux too??

Remember with 20 relevant posts you get free postage from Scan:

http://forums.hexus.net/scan-care-he...tup-guide.html

Scan also does special offers every weekday too:

http://www.scan.co.uk/todayonly/



The build uses a six core Intel SB-E CPU which would be great for simulations which are multi-threaded.

Although,one thing though. Unlike your Mac Pro both your build and the build I suggested do not use ECC RAM,so you might also need to consider this too.

[Willzzz]

Sounds like you could afford to save a little on that build and still end up with an extremely powerful PC.

A 7970 is much better value for money than a 680 atm and probably faster in most situations.
Is it really necessary to spend that much on the MB? What features do you need from it?

I'd save a bit on the components mentioned above and start off with a nice SSD.

[TMan-]

Hi there, no preferences for brands but would prefer to stick with well known brand/company for after sales support and service.
Simulations vary greatly but almost always built on top of core scalable framework. In 90% of cases max system threads can be utilised to speed up the results. I am also looking to experiment with GPGPU architecture. I briefly looked into i7 Extreme series for 6 cores, but not worth the price I think.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I edited my previous reply. You can fit a six core SB-E if you are prepared to pay some more and get a less powerful gaming graphics card.

Moreover,with GPGPU you need to consider what you are going to use. CUDA runs only on Nvidia cards and OpenCL tends to run better on AMD cards AFAIK.

Also,remember the consumer Kepler cards you buy ATM are based on the GK104 and hence can be matched or beaten in many compute benchmarks by the previous generation GF110 based cards. The equivalent Kepler GPU,ie,the GK110 has still not been releases to the consumer market.

What operating systems do you intend to use BTW??

[Willzzz]

CAT, the 7950 you picked doesn't appear to have the games bundle, might be better to pick the MSI model.

[TMan-]

Interesting build and quite tempting. So for OS, work will provide me with Win 7 64bit Ulitmate, and also have choice of Win 8 upgrade for future. No enterprise licensing issues either, we have some sort of deal with MS. I will certainly dual boot with Linux.

For graphics card, I will stick with Nvidia. I started with 670, but I guess 680 will be more future proof for £70 more. Crysis 3 system requirements even list that although for max settings only. Also Unreal Engine 4 demo was on GTX 680.

For Motherboard, Z77, SLI, 4 RAM slots were basic requirements. It was a tie between Asus Sabertooth and Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H. I liked the 'thermal armour' (it's just a plastic cover) on Sabertooth. Better protection from dust etc.

[Willzzz]

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/asus-...dvi-d-hdmi-atx

Considerably cheaper and offers everything you need.
You should be avoiding dust getting in, and there are far worse places to get dust than your MB.
Dust cover on a MB is like wearing leg armour, but not a chest piece or helmet. It doesn't actually protect the important bits.

A 680 is really not much more powerful than a 670. I mean if you want the best Nivida have to offer then go for it, but it isn't great value.
It would be very hard to tell the difference between the two without taking careful measurements.

[TMan-]

Agreed. Over £40 cheaper!

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Yeah,your right it seems other retailers have better games bundles with the Gigabyte HD7950. I think it comes with at least one game as part of the promotion,I think.

My main worrying is for GPGPU though with the GF104 - I really think the OP needs to look at how well the GF104 does for those sorts of things. From what I gather,a GTX580 can be stronger than a GTX680 in a number of circumstances.

I would second the GTX670 over a GTX680.

For graphics card, I will stick with Nvidia. I started with 670, but I guess 680 will be more future proof for £70 more. Crysis 3 system requirements even list that although for max settings only. Also Unreal Engine 4 demo was on GTX 680.

The same goes with a GTX670 against a GTX680. If a game does not run on a GTX670 well,the GTX680 is hardly going to be better. Moreover when UE4 is released better cards will be out.

Moreover,what brands run on what engine first doesy does not mean much. Its more a case of companies probably paying a bit more for a dev to say they use their cards,etc. Both AMD and Nvidia have extensive relationships with companies. You only have to look at the three next generation consoles which will use AMD GPUs,and those engines are multi-platform. That includes CryEngine3,UE4 and all the others. They hardly going to stab themselves in the back by not optimising for two major companies in the market.

Moreover things can change. BF3 used to do better on Nvidia cards by a decent amount and now AMD has caught up. Metro2033 was a title Nvidia used to show of its graphics cards and AMD ended up doing better overall in it. Likewise DiRT3 was an AMD sponsered title and Nvidia for a long time has been better in it,etc. It only takes one driver revision to shift things from Nvidia to AMD and from AMD to Nvidia,etc.

[TMan-]

GTX 670 it is. Thanks for talking some sense into me.
Also GPGPU exploration is just a pet project to learn bit more about architecture. Actual servers at work where real systems run, don't need this.

[TMan-]

I updated my build as recommended. http://www.scan.co.uk/savedbasket/6f...cb452d0877485e
£100 over the budget I set out initially. Buying in early January so it may come down in price by at least £10 I hope.

I had no prior dealings with Scan, not sure what to expect.

[Willzzz]

Might be worth looking at this card instead:
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2gb-m...79mhz-plusfree

It won't be as fast as the EVGA FTW out of the box, but has more potential for over-clocking and is cooler and quieter.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

X79 uses quad channel memory,so you should be using 4X4GB or 4X8GB.

GTX 670 it is. Thanks for talking some sense into me.
Also GPGPU exploration is just a pet project to learn bit more about architecture. Actual servers at work where real systems run, don't need this.

Remember,the GTX670 might not be as fast as a GTX570 or GTX580 in all instances. Remember,it is CUDA which will run on this,any OpenCL stuff tends to run better on AMD cards.

[TMan-]

Ah, I wondered why you used 4x4GB in your build. Think 6 cores should be enough for majority of simulations. 670 is primarily for games but the fact that it can aid risk simulations (with cuda), is a massive plus.

Willzzz, not looking to overclock now but may do in future. Also MSI one has twin fans, are you sure it's quieter than FTW?

[Willzzz]

Two fans are usually quieter than 1 because they don't need to spin as fast to move the same amount of air.

http://www.kitguru.net/components/gr...-iv-review/18/
"The MSI GTX670 Power Edition OC is a very quiet card"

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum...review-19.html
"it has the competition beat when it comes to acoustics"

This is compared to the EVGA SC which will have very similar acoustics/temps to the EVGA FTW.