Another gaming rig ~$1700

[Jordanp1]

This is a slight upgrade of a build I did a couple months ago. Same concept, newer parts. Any suggestions?


CPU: Core i7-3820 Sandy Bridge-E 3.6 GHZ LGA 2011 Quad-Core
Mobo: BIOSTAR TPOWER X79
RAM: Patriot Viper Xtreme Series, Division 2 Edition 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
GPU: ASUS ENGTX560 DCII OC/2DI/1GD5 GeForce GTX 560 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 1600
SSD: Intel 520 Series Cherryville SSDSC2CW120A310 2.5" 120GB SATA III
HDD: HITACHI Deskstar 7K1000.D 1TB

[busher16]

I could be way off base here but since it is a gaming computer you are after you should probably be spending 300 on the video card and 190 on the CPU. no game that I have ever seen uses more than 2 cores.

you could probably get a good i5 for 200 and a 2gig vid card for 300ish. heck I use an I3 dual core and never have an issue on my gamming computer

[David M]

A few games can use more than two cores now and the number is growing. Given the price difference between a dual and quad and your budget, it makes no sense to get a dual core. I would pick an i-5 unless for some reason you want multi-threading, then you would want an i-7.

The system you designed is out of balance The graphics card you picked is way under powerd for your budget. With a $1700 budget, you should be getting one of the fastest graphics cards, in the $500 to $600 range assuming the cost does not include your monitor or any other peripherals. With newer processors that are relatively fast, the graphics card is typically your bottleneck for gaming.

Switch out your RAM for 8 gigs (two DIMM's) of Corsair low profile 1600 1.5 volt RAM. It is more compatible with more boards and will fit under an aftermarket CPU if you ever want to overclock.

Definitely get rid of the low end Biostar for a much more reliable ASUS board.

You are missing a PSU, optical drive, OS and case in your parts list. Almost all of the ATI cases out there work...those are mostly a matter of what looks good to you.

These two links will help in picking quality components...
What Power Supply should I get? How many Watts? Who made it? Guide Inside.

Look here for Khalil's guide to the best computer hardware brands.

[jdeb]

I have no issue with Biostar boards at all, I have had great success with them the last 4 or 5 years.

I am curious, why did you choose a X79 motherboard? The X79 boards are pretty temperamental and are very picky about the memory. They are definitely enthusiast boards and require a pretty good deal of BIOS knowledge to get thinks tweaked.

The Z77 boards are very stable and less finicky.

[Jordanp1]

Ok, I basically started over:

CPU: Intel Core i5-3450 Ivy Bridge 3.1GHz $200
Mobo: ASUS P8Z77-V LK LGA 1155 Intel Z77 $145
RAM: CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1600 $50
GPU: EVGA 02G-P4-2670-KR GeForce GTX 670 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 $400
SSD: Intel 520 Series Cherryville SSDSC2CW120A310 2.5" 120GB SATA III $180
HDD: HITACHI Deskstar 7K1000.D 1TB $100
PSU: PC Power and Cooling Silencer Mk II 950W High Performance 80PLUS Silver $150

Also, I included the PSU I had picked out above. And the budget does include the display, speakers, case, optical drive, OS, etc. which I've already dropped $600 on. The reason for the massive PSU is that I'd like to add more RAM, hard drives, and a second GPU later, and my friend for whom I'm building had a bad experience with a PSU and is now a little over-cautious with them.

[id10x]

if cheering is part of this thread it would look great with the i7 you picked
earlier

Newegg.com - Intel Core i7-3820 Sandy Bridge-E 3.6GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 2011 130W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80619i73820

going back to 3ghz from a 3.6 is a big loss

you call this a slight upgrade ? looks like a complete new system
or you mean you build the system on a purchasing list ?

btw this ssd is new to me . should it be used now for gaming ?
would it make a big difference in fps ?

[David M]

SSD's do not increase frame rates. They only affect load times (decreased read times) in games.

Processor clock speed is no longer all that big of a factor in a processors ability to grind data. There are other CPU architecture factors that make this determination.


ID10X, your yellow font is not very legible. Text needs to contrast well to be easily readable.

[glc]

I'd rather see a Seasonic or Seasonic-built Corsair PSU.

[id10x]

Originally Posted by David M SSD's do not increase frame rates. They only affect load times (decreased read times) in games. Processor clock speed is no longer all that big of a factor in a processors ability to grind data. There are other CPU architecture factors that make this determination.

still the i7 is better architecture and looking neat . i dont know i would just ram that 100 bucks on it without thinking . and eat beans all week

the yellow color has a purpose i dont know what it is . and i know you cant see it . ill give you a hint :

pale gold

btw haw is khalil ? dose he still read here ? you work with him david right?

[birddog_61]

Originally Posted by id10x still the i7 is better architecture and looking neat . i dont know i would just ram that 100 bucks on it without thinking . and eat beans all week the yellow color has a purpose i dont know what it is . and i know you cant see it . ill give you a hint : pale gold btw haw is khalil ? dose he still read here ? you work with him david right?

The I5 is the same architecture, it just has hyperthreading disabled. You will notice no difference in performance between these to processors while gaming.

[birddog_61]

Originally Posted by jdeb I have no issue with Biostar boards at all, I have had great success with them the last 4 or 5 years. I am curious, why did you choose a X79 motherboard? The X79 boards are pretty temperamental and are very picky about the memory. They are definitely enthusiast boards and require a pretty good deal of BIOS knowledge to get thinks tweaked. The Z77 boards are very stable and less finicky.

I like the Biostar boards also, I have built a few systems with them for friends on a budget and they worked well. However with this kind of money on the table I will take the asus.

[David M]

Maybe freakitchen's thread regarding motherboards needs to be updated? Perhaps all the hardware rating threads need to be reviewed and updated? It's been a while experts.

[jdeb]

Originally Posted by David M Maybe freakitchen's thread regarding motherboards needs to be updated? Perhaps all the hardware rating threads need to be reviewed and updated? It's been a while experts.

I am not sure about their customer service as I have never had to call them. Now I went and did it, probably will be getting calls on Biostar builds now

[Jordanp1]

Originally Posted by glc I'd rather see a Seasonic or Seasonic-built Corsair PSU.

Surprised to hear that. I thought pc power & cooling made good PSUs

[David M]

PC Power and Cooling used to be the top of the line a number of years ago.

[glc]

They used to be till OCZ bought them out. They are still good, but no longer top of the line. Seasonic has that part of the market sewed up now.

[Jordanp1]

We built the computer as listed above, except swapped the MOBO for p877-v pro. Put everything together and it didn't work. We did the out-of-case build and put things on one at a time, and everything seemed fine (I think the problem was RAM not seated).

Until we hooked up a monitor: no signal. The monitor works on another system with same cables but no signal from the new build. We tried HDMI from the on-board video and from the graphics card. We also tried using VGA from the onboard graphics. Stripped the system down to one stick of RAM, PSU, and CPU again and still no signal.

That's when we noticed the RAM light is on. Tried different sticks and different slots, to no avail. We used the MEM OK! switch to try to let the motherboard find the right settings to use the RAM with different sticks and different slots but we keep getting that same solid light near the RAM. Tried clearing CMOS and then through the whole process again but we can't make any progress.

Is it time to RMA the motherboard?

Edit: we also tried flashing the BIOS using the UEFI USB BIOS flashback niftyness. Very cool. Didn't fix the problem.

[jdeb]

You had the CPU power connector plugged in, right?

One stick in A1 ?

[Jordanp1]

yes and yes

[Jordanp1]

Also, one other question:
My buddy has an extra 4G stick of DDR3 1333 RAM. if I added that RAM in of the empty slots, would that grant any performance gains, or would the slower RAM end up bottle-necking things?

I mean, assuming I ever get this thing working.

[Dominic753s]

Originally Posted by Jordanp1 or would the slower RAM end up bottle-necking things?

All your RAM sticks would operate as fast as the slowest one.

[glc]

You would also take it out of dual channel mode.

Why not test it using his ram stick? You might have a defective pair.

[Jordanp1]

We did tests with all three sticks we had available

[glc]

Definitely sounds like time to RMA the motherboard.