New Build, Please Evaluate?

[Murphyslaw]

Corsair's website or performace-pcs.com.

Tri-SLI is a pretty big waste of money actually. Too much power consumption with little gain over dual. Only makes a huge difference in benchmarks because they actually take advantage of them. In some cases, more than 2 cards can actually hurt you. For isntance, 3 Titans in Skyrim.

He is right, i have done an SLi setup and in the past and..
Some games it actually gave me worse fps
some games dont even support it
Its just not worth the one or two games that run somewhat faster

And i ran both my evga 8800GTSs plus a overclocked Q6600 on my Thermaltake toughpower 700w with headroom

 

[PP Mguire]

2 way isn't bad anymore. Scaling is very good with modern cards and modern games. I get 99% GPU usage on both 580s on most games I play. It's just 3 way that is ridiculous because power consumption is higher than the actual FPS advantage.

 

[shan1784]

Can't edit my original post due to time limit so here is my updated list... Added the Corsair 750 PS and upgraded from the H50 to the H90 water cooler since the case I'm getting has a 140mm fan in the rear...

Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I53570K - $219.99

CORSAIR Hydro Series H90 Water Cooler - $99.99

ASUS P8Z77-V LK LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS - $134.99

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-1600C9D-16GXM - $119.99

EVGA 04G-P4-2686-KR GeForce GTX 680 w/ Backplate 4GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card - $539.99

SAMSUNG 840 Series MZ-7TD120BW 2.5" 120GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - $109.99

Western Digital WD Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive - $99.99

ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM - $19.99

CORSAIR HX Series HX750 750W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply - $119.99/w $20 off code

Rosewill THOR V2 Gaming ATX Full Tower Computer Case, support up to E-ATX / XL-ATX, come with Four Fans - 1 x Front Red LED ... - $129.99

Subtotal: $1,614.90
-$20 off code for power supply
$1594.90


Any reason to consider this 670 instead of the 680? Is the 680 worth the extra $100?

EVGA 04G-P4-2673-KR GeForce GTX 670 Superclocked+ w/Backplate 4GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card - $439.99

 

[PP Mguire]

Yes it's worth the extra 100.

Looks good to me. Don't firmware update that 840, you'll brick it.

 

[shan1784]

Ok, did some digging over the weekend and came up with some different items... I already ordered the memory, went with 8gb rather than 16gb, the Corsair PS that PP suggested, and the Corsair H60 watercooler that was Refurbed and at a pretty good price...

Already ordered...

CORSAIR HX Series HX750 750W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply - $139.99

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL - $62.99

ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM - $19.99

Refurbished: CORSAIR Hydro Series H60 (CWCH60) High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler - $54.99


Here are the remaing items to order yet... Swapped out the Asus MB for the Asrock, Samsung 120GB SSD for the Corsair Force GT 180GB refurbed, WD Black 500GB for the Samsung Barracuda 1TB that was at the same price...

ASRock Z77 Extreme4 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard - $134.99

Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I53570K - $219.99

EVGA 04G-P4-2686-KR GeForce GTX 680 w/ Backplate 4GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card - $539.99

Refurbished: Corsair Force Series GT CSSD-F180GBGT/RF2 2.5" 180GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - $134.99

Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive - $74.99

Rosewill THOR V2 Gaming ATX Full Tower Computer Case, support up to E-ATX / XL-ATX, come with Four Fans - 1 x Front Red LED ... - $129.99

Still having a hard time with if the difference between a the 680 listed above is worth at $100 in performance over the superclocked 4GB 670 below... I know PP said it was but I guess in what aspect is it???

EVGA 04G-P4-2673-KR GeForce GTX 670 Superclocked+ w/Backplate 4GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card - $439.99

 

[PP Mguire]

The difference in performance is still 670 to 680. The 4GB being on the 670 does not give any extra performance and it can't handle textures big enough to actually fill up 4GB of VRAM like the 680 can.

Do not get a refurbed SSD. You have no idea what has happened to it, or why it is refurbed to begin with.

 

[shan1784]

I had reservations about the refurbed SSD.. Is there any decent 180GB SSD for around the same price?

 

[PP Mguire]

Corsair Force Series GS CSSD-F180GBGS-BK Solid State Drive - Newegg.com

144 after rebate card. That's about it. 134 is super cheap for a 180GB, but only because it's refurb.

Edit:I would call Corsair and see if you can still get a full RMA on that refurb if it dies outside of Newegg's return policy. If so, I would jump on it. If it dies, just send it to them and they will send a brand new one back. Granted if they still grant warranty on the refurb.

 

[shan1784]

Always seems forever to get your money back from the rebate cards... I'll just go with the 840 pro.. The 128gb is on sale right now for $139.99 from $149.99...

 

[PP Mguire]

Why not just pay the 20 extra to get the 180GB? Still less than $1/GB.