First Build, Advice Appreciated

CptPlanet

This will be my 4th or 5th desktop and finally decided to build my own.

I expect high end performance for gaming and I will also be running at least one virtual OS (not while gaming!).

Here is what I have got so far(from hardwareversand)

• Intel Core i5-3570K Box, LGA1155 - €205.99
• Seagate Barracuda 7200 1000GB, SATA 6Gb/s - €56.74
• DVD±RW - €18.90
• be quiet! Pure Power L7 530 Watt - €57.69
• 16GB-Kit Corsair Vengeance Low Profile schwarz PC3-12800U CL10-10-10-27 - €118.92
• Zalman Z11 Plus Midi Tower - €57.46
• Samsung SyncMaster S27B350H - €238.45
• Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660Ti OC, 2GB GDDR5, 2x DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort - €264.62
• Gigabyte Z77-D3H, Intel Z77, ATX - €106.04
• TOTAL - €1124.81

I will probably pick up a 2nd monitor in a few months too, maybe the same one as above if it turns out alright.

Gumbi

Get a 7950 for that money. Also, 16GB is way overkill for gaming. 8GB should be plenty. Motherboard is perfect. Grab a nice cooler (might as well get a Macho HR-02 as it's a bit queiter than a Hyper 212, a bit better performing and only a few quid more).

CptPlanet

Extra RAM is for VM, for graphics card I was looking at some benchmarking here: http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html and 660Ti is a nose ahead of 7950, I admit I didn't dig much further though on that.

I'll have a look into a cooler.
Cheers Gumbi

Gumbi

CptPlanet wrote: »

Extra RAM is for VM, for graphics card I was looking at some benchmarking here: http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html and 660Ti is a nose ahead of 7950, I admit I didn't dig much further though on that.

I'll have a look into a cooler.
Cheers Gumbi

Old drivers. And not the best performance testing. The 7950 has come a long way since then. It is even, perhaps edging out the 660ti overall at stock speeds. But it has more advantages, too. A nice benefit is the 3GB vs 2GB of VRAM which may potentially come in handy with the new console generation. Plus, it overclocked like a beast, much better than a 660ti. It will crush it in any game by a lot when overclocked.

CptPlanet

I'll look into more recent performance stats for both these cards, if numbers can verify your comments then I'll switch in the 7950 into the build.

Cheers again Gumbi

Gumbi

CptPlanet wrote: »

I'll look into more recent performance stats for both these cards, if numbers can verify your comments then I'll switch in the 7950 into the build.

Cheers again Gumbi

It's definitely the better card Make sure you look at more recent reviews, and ones that include overclocked card stats.

BloodBath

The 7950 is a far better card than the 660ti. It's more around 670gtx - 680gtx performance when you clock them all to their average max.

Benchmarks are poor indicators for the most part. You don't know what clock speeds half the cards being tested are or how drivers have changed the results since.

I wouldn't go for a 27" monitor unless you are going 1440p as well. It's also a TN panel. Ips is the way to go. something like this would be a better option imo.

http://www.hardwareversand.de/60+cm+%2824%29+/74649/LG+24EA53VQ.article

You could use the money saved to get this board and 2 x 660 gtx for a lot more graphics perforamnce over a 7950 or 660ti. They would be more in line with a 780gtx in terms of performance.

CptPlanet

Great input BloodBath, I'm liking your suggestions!

27 inch monitor might be a little big anyway considering I'll probably be getting a 2nd in a few months.

You think the PSU I've selected should be upgraded to meet the extra power demands of a dual card setup ?

Gumbi

CptPlanet wrote: »

Great input BloodBath, I'm liking your suggestions!

27 inch monitor might be a little big anyway considering I'll probably be getting a 2nd in a few months.

You think the PSU I've selected should be upgraded to meet the extra power demands of a dual card setup ?

Depends on what cards you get, but 650 should be the lowest you have for dual 7950s. 750 to be safe and sound.

CptPlanet

Gumbi wrote: »

Depends on what cards you get, but 650 should be the lowest you have for dual 7950s. 750 to be safe and sound.

2 x 660 gtx looks pretty nice and is about as far as I'll go price wise.

Both you guys have been great help, gave me a few things to ponder, I'll post the updated build here after I get the time to properly review the potential changes.

Gumbi

A single GTX 660 will cause a system to use about 300 watts under load, so I'm pretty sure your 530 watt power supply is more than enough, but I'd wait for more expert members to confirm.

Dual 660s are very powerful and will last you a while )

BloodBath

Pity they went up by €9. I'd say that system would use 350w - 400w tops so the 530w would be fine. 660's don't use much power. You could go to the 600w system power 7 if you wanted a bit more headroom. It's a more efficient psu anyway and psus are generally most efficient at around 40-70% load.

You could even get the 700w system power 7 if you thought you may use 2 higher power cards in future or wanted to go with a single 7950 now and 1 later.

CptPlanet

With that price increase I think I will go with the 7950, its possible I could get a 2nd at some stage (not for at least year). You think 7950x2 would need 700 psu ? Seems a bit much to me.

BloodBath

They are power hungry cards. Overclocked they could pull 200w each. About 100w for the cpu and 50w for the rest of the system. That's 550w total max load. Probably closer to 400-450 average load.

You want to leave some headroom so the psu can run efficiently. The system power 7 has connections for 2 high end cards and more amps on the 12v rail unlike the weaker ones as well.