Hello guys :) Would appreciate help making Gaming Rig of Doom.

[iguanaonastick]

Hello fellas, was glad when i stumbled upon your forum, as it was just what i needed to get some help

I was looking to treat myself to an awesome new gaming computer.
Priorities are:
1) FPS > nearly all. I am tired of having low FPS in games that i like, or "lagging" of games. I want outmost performance.
2) Extendability/Adjustability. If there is a choice between something that will become better later (i.e. by having a new version of socket or w/e) and something that wont, i believe the first is better
3) Cooling. I dont want my PC to melt through my floor and fall down to my neighbours below, so i want some efficient cooling, but (if possible) not as loud as to make me unable to hear the game's sounds

Money: I have a vast budget, but if something provides a miniscule upgrade for a huge cash sink increase, id rather skip it.

Here is what i am currently looking at, but im pretty sure knowing people can help me "modify" it a bit to become better.



3x 120mm case fans
case fans controller - do i need one? If yes, what about NZXT Sentry 2?
power supply - Anntec 1000W TruePower Quattro
processor - i7 980x, overclocked to 4GHz per core
water cooling - basic water cooling device
Mother - Asus Rampage III Extreme
GFX - dual crossfire ATI HD 5970
RAM - 12GB PC15000 1866MHz DDR3

Is there anything you would say i should add/remove/change before i start looking around Etailers for a quote? I will not be building it myself, will probably use Arbico or similar.

EDIT: Unfortunately this config at arbico is way way overpriced. I believe i will be looking at the following configuration from MESH:


Intel® Core™ i7 960 Quad Core Processor (3.20GHz,8MB Cache) - LGA 1336
Microsoft® Windows® 7 Home Premium
Thermaltake Element 'V' Gaming Case
1200W Cougar Desktop Power Supply
Akasa Freedom Tower Heat pipe quiet cooling
Asus P6X58D-E-USB3 - Intel Coreâ„¢ i7 & i7 Extreme Edition - LGA1366 Socket(ATX)
G.Skill 12GB DDR3 1600MHz Memory (6x 2GB KIt)
128GB MLC SSD SATA Solid State Drive
2TB (2x 1000GB) Serial ATA 2 Hard Drive with 32MB Buffer
Blu-Ray Combo Optical Drive (Blu-ray ROM, DVD/CD RW)
2x 2GB ATI Radeon HD5970 - CrossFireX Configuration
Multi-Format Memory Card Reader -(52-in-1 Internal)
7.1 High Definition onboard sound card - for 8 Channel Cinema sound
Supports up to 8 USB 2.0 ports (4x mid-board, 4x back panel) + 2x USB 3.0 ports - P6X58D-E
2 x 1394a port(s) (1 at mid-board; 1 at back panel) - P6X58D-E
Gigabit LAN, featuring AI NET2 - ASUS P6X58D-E
ASUS PCE-N13 Internal 802.11N WiFi Adapter - 300Mbps

So if you have any thoughts, refer them towards this config rather than first one

 

[Yami]

The best thing you can get, if you really want to spend on all that money on a computer, is a large SSD (Solid State Drive), or several.

And if you're doing water cooling, much better to do it right rather then get a 'basic water cooling device'. Invest in a good one, it will last you forever and cool much better.

 

[iguanaonastick]

Thanks yami

I did not list Harddrives / optic drives / etc as they are not as much performance/related as the main parameters. Yes, im planning to get some SSDs as well.

Okay so get decent water cooling. got it. Any other comments regarding the components?

 

[CalcProgrammer1]

Like I mentioned in your CPU thread, there is no reason to pay a premium for the i7 960 as it is just a faster 920/930. You can make up for the performance difference by overclocking the 920/930 above and beyond the stock 960 speeds. They're all the same CPU on the inside, just a different multiplier for higher clock speeds by default. Just get a 920/930 (920 recommended but getting harder to find as the 930 is its replacement) and a water cooler so you can overclock it.

 

[iguanaonastick]

Thanks, but i am 0 at overclocking and id rather not risk doing it wrong or having someone else do it wrong. Is price difference that significant?

 

[Slaymate]

The i7 920 or 930 are about 1/2 the price of a i7 960. If your going to spend almost $600 USD on the 960 you may as well spend a little more and get the 980X.

 

[iguanaonastick]

After some consideration i decided to go for the following build (not buying yet, merely making this my "current" build).
Any comments?


Antec 1200 Gaming case

Antec 1200W True Power Quattro SLI/Crossfire Ready Power Supply

INTEL CORE I7 960 (3.20GHZ, 8MB L2 CACHE) - overclocked to 3.6 GHz

Noctua CPU Heatsink and Cooler

ASUS P6X58D-E MOTHERBOARD with USB3 and SATA3

Corsair or OCZ 12GB PC12800 DDR3 1600MHZ RAM with Heatsink

2 x ATI RADEON HD 5970 2GB BLACK EDITION (Overclocked) PCI-E GRAPHICS CARD (X-Fire Mode)

SAMSUNG BLU RAY 8X READER / DVD +/- REWRITER

OCZ 120GB VERTEX 2 SATA II ULTRA FAST SANDFORCE SSD DRIVE

2 x 1000GB S-ATA 7200RPM Hard Drive 32Mb Cache

Multiformat INTERNAL CARD READER

7.1 Chanel HD Audio Integrated

2 USB Port on Front

6 USB Port on Back including 2 x USB3.0 Ports

10/100/1000 Gigabit Network integrated

TP-Link 802.11N 300mbps PCI Wireless Network Card

Firewire Port on Back

MICROSOFT 64BIT WINDOWS 7 PROFESSIONAL with Original DVD

 

[farinha]

If you're OCing the i7 960 to 3.6GHz why not buy a i7 920/930 and OC it to 3.6GHz?

 

[iguanaonastick]

Because as far as i understood it, if i OC 20/30 to 3.6 i will require more cooling than if i OC 60 to 3.6. And i would prefer to stay away from liquid cooling atm

 

[CalcProgrammer1]

Not really true, the i7 920, 930, 940, 950, and 960 are literally IDENTICAL chips. They all come off the same assembly line and are tested and "graded" at the factory, then assigned a product number from that. This means that the 960 chips tested slightly better than the 920's, but overall there won't be a tremendous difference in the amount of heat produced from overclocking. The 960 may use slightly less voltage to get a stable overclock than a 920 but with decent air cooling or basic water cooling either one will hit 4GHz no problem. I'm using a Corsair H50 water cooler on my 930 to hit 4GHz and it's a completely self-contained, leak proof unit that you just bolt in, stick a fan on, and go. The only other difference between the 920-960 series is the maximum multiplier, but to get a stable overclock at 4GHz you probably will turn down the multiplier on any chip you have making the higher multiplier useless.

The 970 and 980 on the other hand are different, they're manufactured on a different process size and are 6 core chips. Most likely the 970 and 980's are identical chips too, with lower performing ones being branded as 970 and higher performers getting the 980 label (and unlocked multiplier, which Intel sets after testing).

Edit:
Just for reference, I was able to get my 930 to 3.2GHz on the stock air cooler it came with. It so happens that the 960's stock speed is 3.2GHz. I doubt the 960 could overclock much (or at all) on the stock cooler since it is already near the limit on heat production.