My First Gaming/Render PC Build

[walnutman21]

Hey all!

This is my first build so let's keep this simple. I have done A LOT of reading but do not have anyone to actually discuss this build with, so I was hoping I could get some general reactions to my potential build.

Goal: A powerhouse PC for both gaming and video editing/graphics rendering (Final Cut, After Effects, Cinema 4D eventually) with future proofing/room for upgrades (possibly second video card).


(I tried to add links, but I am too new)

Intel Core i7-3770K Ivy Bridge 3.5GHz (3.9GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I73770K $330

ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard $250

GIGABYTE GV-N660OC-2GD GeForce GTX 660 2GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card $240

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-1600C9D-16GXM $90

Seagate Momentus XT ST95005620AS 500GB 7200 RPM 2.5" SATA 3.0Gb/s with NCQ Solid State Hybrid Drive -Bare Drive $99

Antec Twelve Hundred V3 Black Steel ATX Full Tower Unbeatable Gaming Case $160

SeaSonic G Series SSR-550RM 550W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply $90

Total ~ $1240

+ Seagate Barracuda 2TB + Keyboard + Mouse + LED LCD x2 + Windows 7 = Greatness?

A couple of key questions:
1) Where can I pinch a few pennies without compromising the power I need/want?
2) Are the i7-3770/Sabertooth/Antec Twelve Hundred (too big?) overkill?
3) Is 550W enough room for future upgrades?
4) Do you recommend the Momentus XT hybrid drive over a SSD for price?

Any help would be wildly appreciated. Thank you.

[jim]

Are you hoping to buy them all from the same retailer? If so, which one? Might help when we're recommending parts.

[walnutman21]

I mostly buy everything online as fluorescent lights burn my fair troll skin, so Newegg. But I do live very close to a Fry's.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Either wait for Haswell or get a socket 2011 based system.

[walnutman21]

The main reason for the 1155 base is the price point of the processors: maybe the Core i7-3930K is attainable but the 'X' editions are too expensive (they cost almost as much as my whole build).
Waiting for Haswell is a good idea and it's relatively close to release (June 2nd rumored?), but there's always going to be a new release relatively soon and we're kinda in the middle of the cycle currently.

Edit: But I also just read that the 1155 socket will not continue for Haswell (1150 socket), while the 2011 will be continued with new Ivy Bridge - E processors in Q3 of 2013 (i7-4930, i7-4960, i7-4970 and i7-4990, also Xeon E5 V2) so your recommendation is definitely on the money, I just don't know if I can shell out the cash for 2011, or how expensive Haswell will be.

[kompukare]

As well as S1155 / S2011 / Haswell, the other thing you should consider is your choice of GPU. I assume you have done some research on this but for Adobe After Effects CS6 Ferni is faster than Kepler:

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/2127/1/

That was only for those test in After Effects so no idea if this holds true for Final Cut or Cinema 4D but it does stress that it's important to search for actual benchmarks of those and that newer is not necessarily better.

[very deli reef]

If you're planning to add a second video card in the future, then you should consider a power supply with more wattage, perhaps around 700W.

There's a handy calculator that can help: http://www.extreme.outervision.com/p...ulatorlite.jsp

[kalniel]

If you're planning to add a second video card in the future, then you should consider a power supply with more wattage, perhaps around 700W.

There's a handy calculator that can help, google for "power consumption calculator pc".

Shouldn't need that much for two 660s, they're very efficient. Online power calculators are notoriously inaccurate too, so apply some scepticism.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

The main reason for the 1155 base is the price point of the processors: maybe the Core i7-3930K is attainable but the 'X' editions are too expensive (they cost almost as much as my whole build).
Waiting for Haswell is a good idea and it's relatively close to release (June 2nd rumored?), but there's always going to be a new release relatively soon and we're kinda in the middle of the cycle currently.

Edit: But I also just read that the 1155 socket will not continue for Haswell (1150 socket), while the 2011 will be continued with new Ivy Bridge - E processors in Q3 of 2013 (i7-4930, i7-4960, i7-4970 and i7-4990, also Xeon E5 V2) so your recommendation is definitely on the money, I just don't know if I can shell out the cash for 2011, or how expensive Haswell will be.

Haswell also has TSX too - I am not sure whether that will be useful for the software you use in the near future,but is still something nice to have.

As well as S1155 / S2011 / Haswell, the other thing you should consider is your choice of GPU. I assume you have done some research on this but for Adobe After Effects CS6 Ferni is faster than Kepler:

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/2127/1/

That was only for those test in After Effects so no idea if this holds true for Final Cut or Cinema 4D but it does stress that it's important to search for actual benchmarks of those and that newer is not necessarily better.

The current Nvidia mainstream parts are depreciated in regards to compute performance when compared to the GF110 based SKUs.

[very deli reef]

Shouldn't need that much for two 660s, they're very efficient. Online power calculators are notoriously inaccurate too, so apply some scepticism.

Yeah, maybe 700W is overkill. Would you recommend that OP is safe to stick with a 550W one?

[jim]

I would, personally.

[kalniel]

Same, with those specs and quality of PSU.

[walnutman21]

This is all great stuff, especially the benchmarkng in CS6 kompukare: I actually had no idea (2 x GTX 570's killed the GTX 690!). I just assumed that the upgraded/newer line of graphics cards with more cores from the same company would be better... but this benchmark graphic is for 3D Ray Tracing Rendering. Although Ray Tracing will get you better quality and is slightly faster, classic rendering utilizes the CPU (hence my willingness to jump onto the S2011 bandwagon).

Looks to me like the GTX 570 is a much better Double Precision GPGPU (rendering) while the GTX 660 (ti) is a better card at Single Precision (gaming). But it does not make sense to me to buy last generations video card, especially when they are basically the same price, so will the GTX 570 suffice for gaming with only 1.25G VRAM? I doubt it. Seems to me like the 660 will not Ray Trace well and the 570 will not game well.

I like the alignment of opinions on my PSU choice (550W is fine for 2 x GTX 660ti because of their efficiency) but for 2 x GTX 570's I am going to need that 700W.

I wish there was a way to run both a GTX 660 and a GTX 570. Other than 2 different computers...

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Scan sell a refurbished EVGA GTX580 with a one year warranty for around £204:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/1536m...-mini-hdmi-2x-

[dacads]

Get a SSD and will 500GB HDD be enough?

[walnutman21]

I like that EVGA GTX 580 CAT THE FIFTH, and its got just a little more VRAM than the 570.

dacads: The Seagate Momentus XT 500GB is a hybrid drive (Solid state cache and spindle) so that is instead of an SSD, which IMO are too expensive still and will be only slightly slower.
Plus I have a couple Seagate Barracudas lying around, if you look closely I listed a 2TB one.
What I am wondering is if "4) Do you recommend the Momentus XT hybrid drive over a SSD for price?"