First build, long time coming

ieatrazorz · Feb 25, 2012

Cooler Master RC-942-KKN1 HAF X ATX Full Tower Computer Case

Intel Core i7-3930K 3.2 1 LGA 2011 Processor

ASUS Rampage IV Extreme X79 Motherboard

Sapphire 21197-00-40G Radeon HD 7970 Video Card

Those are the components I have chosen so far. My goal is to build a machine that I can apply a massive upgrade to when the time comes. I'll keep my laptop for browsing the web, this baby is gonna be for 3d design and minor gaming for now. If I don't like what I see with the new consoles I should be able to adapt with these core parts.

I need to look at ram. I'm thinking 32gb to start. A blue ray drive and a dvd burner for optics. One 500gb hard drive should be enough for now.

The one thing I am stuck on right now is what kind of power supply I should go with. I haven't looked at those yet.

If I can I want to avoid breaking $3500 on this beast. I'm around $1850 before taxes and shipping at the moment.

Any thoughts?

Sean W. · Feb 25, 2012

ieatrazorz · Feb 25, 2012

Thank you, I appreciate you taking the time to do so. I'm confused on the entire AMD/ATI relationship. Where is the info on their site? It is purely frustrating.

Over looking their crap shoot site. After further research it seems to me the 7950 was the better option seeing how it's almost the same card after overclocking. Although I've never overclocked anything out of fear of ruining my hardware.

Note; this is before any edits you make to your post.

Sean W. · Feb 25, 2012

AMD bought ATI...

for cost/performance ratio the 7950 is the better card. but if you got the money, 7970 all the way. after you overclock the 7950, it will beat the 7970, but overclock the 7970 and it pulls ahead again ( with a sizeable margin )

ieatrazorz · Feb 26, 2012

After all the reading I did yesterday I'm a little bit edgy about getting an AMD product. Every computer I've had has always had an Intel cpu with a ATI gpu. After having a night to digest it all, is it wise to invest in a product owned by AMD right now?

I ask this because of the how the Bulldozer release turned out, although I can see potential in the concept with some revisions and care put into it. I'm use to dealing with ATI drivers though. They've always been a little on the touchy for me. Have they been good with their support as of late though concerning them?

I know the other option Nvidia, but I've never been a fan.

This is the first desktop I'm buying for myself, it's a lot of money to doll out. I don't want this to join the club of things I've been screwed in.

I love the build, thank you for taking the time to do that. =)

GhOsT1321 · Feb 26, 2012

AMD bought ATI and still maintained the Radeon logo and quality levels. You will get equal performance to an ATI in terms of build quality, or better.
With drivers, sometimes they are near perfect for a new series of cards, sometimes they are not. You will encounter the most problems with newer hardware on average because it hasn't been 100% optimized yet and program incompatibilities are still being resolved. No drivers will ever be perfect, but they get better with time.
I'm not sure how the 7970/7950 drivers are currently. I have read issues with monitoring the 7970 because of it's unique features. I have not read anything relating to one will not function for a specific program.

ieatrazorz · Feb 27, 2012

First off, sorry about the length of this post. In genera I just don't know when to shut up.

Thank you GhOst1321 for the reassurance on the ATI GPUs, I would hate to see that line go down hill.

Thank you for giving me some direction with the build Sean W.

It's been a lot of fun reading up on the new hardware out. The main thing I can say is that I'm not crazy about the fan cooling out for the LGA2011 cpus out right now. I don't like the idea of one of those hanging from my mobo. Just flat out not comfortable with it.

Before I started this build or entertained the idea, wasn't gonna do this for another month or two, me and friend were talking about DLC content for consoles and the directions that it's heading it. I honestly feel I'm too invested into the 360 to move on to a next gen console. Between arcade titles, the map packs for I've downloaded for MW2 and Black OPs, and the amount of titles on disc, I don't feel I need a new console when they release.

Just doesn't make sense to me. I never felt that way about PC gaming. At the start of the DLC for consoles I felt it was gimmicky, and now I'm sure it is.

Now here I am building a PC that is basically all new technologies, why would I buy a new console?

I dropped the budget. Now that doesn't mean I've decided a quad card setup is imperative and that I'm gonna get 64gbs of RAM from the get go. This, to me at least, means I can splurge on certain areas. Before I list the build, it's basically the same as the one you suggested Sean W, I have one question.

Is that ASUS 7970 DirectCUII even out yet? I simply cannot find a retailer online that has it in stock. I spent at least an hour trying to find that beauty. So here are the changes I made to what Sean W posted.

Motherboard: Asus Rampage IV Extreme x79
I love the feature set and can't get past it's appearance (< click for funny!). I also know for the length time I intend to keep this comp I'm going to make use of the features. I always go with large feature sets in general for this reason, more options equal more solutions.

Cooling: Corsair CWCH80 Hydro H80

The RAM, HDD, OPTICS, CASE, and PSU are all the same as Sean W suggested.

As far as the cooling goes I know about the problems people have had with that product. As far as how widespread those problems are I don't know. After reading reviews on it, I feel that It would provide sufficient cooling. Provided it works as specified.

Thoughts? =)

Zelphrin · Feb 28, 2012

I laugh at your price range...

Simply because building your own computer with the latest and greatest tech shouldn't cost you any more than $2000-$2800. If you're going high end computer for CAD design, then the posts here are well worth the consideration. Also agree with Sean's 2nd post in terms of RAM. If I recall, at the current moment, the max you can get is 32GB. I would definitely go 16GB and upgrade later for tweaking purposes. Then, when I'm done with the 16GB, I'll use it on another experiment machine.

ieatrazorz · Feb 28, 2012

I had submitted a post yesterday, it went through to be reviewed. Hasn't Come up yet. I suppose because of the length.

In response to Zelphrin though: If you look up the Intel 3930k its supported memory capacity is up to 64gb depending on memory type. The Asus Rampage IV supports up to 64gb (64bit). Unless the specifications listed are wrong, I could if the desire struck me put that much in. I could also be wrong and misunderstanding what I have read.

I will also be running a combo of programs at the same time. Including but not limited to; 3ds max, Adobe Progs, Level Editors, and of course something to play music. I don't feel like dealing with slow downs.

Moving on, since I don't feel like writing out a post long as I did yesterday, I'll keep it short and sweet. I like your build Sean W, I think it's more practical to start. Although I'm not concerning myself with a budget at this point, as I've decided I'm to invested into the 360 to move on to another console. So this with in two years will be my source of gaming. I would like to keep the Asus Rampage though, and run a Corsair Hydro80 for the CPU cooling. Everything should run fine even with those two changes, right?

Edit: That response came off as rude on my end, Zelphrin, I do appreciate your input.

Zelphrin · Feb 28, 2012

@_@ you're right. Sorry, I didn't do my homework well enough. The Rampage board is definitely the high end board you would want. It does support 8 DIMM DDR3 memory modules up to 64GB. You weren't being rude at all, I'm still fairly new to builds myself. I think I may have found my new experiment motherboard to get after cruise!

On a lower note, the board is pretty brand new, so to me, that means a lot of tweaking to get the results I want. If it were me, I'd start off with 2x 8GB or G.Skill 16GB memory modules and upgrade as necessary.

Now if only I can cough up the cash for this and 4x GeForce 570's... @_@

First build, long time coming

ieatrazorz

Baseband Member

Sean W.

Fully Optimized

ieatrazorz

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Sean W.

Fully Optimized

ieatrazorz

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GhOsT1321

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ieatrazorz

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Zelphrin

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ieatrazorz

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Zelphrin

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