Building/Buying a new Gaming System

After running CoH on my system for the past few months on low settings, and getting extremely high video card fan speeds while playing Star Craft II and Disciples 3, I decided a new system is in order. ( I currently have a Dell XPS 420 with an 8800GT card). I'd like to play CoH and all the latest games on high settings with minimal strain on the system.

I normally would go with a new Dell system, but their customer service has gone down the tubes, and their XPS systems offer very little customization for gaming since they bought out Alienware.

I've never built a new system from scratch - replaced a few components, but that's about it.

The components I would like:

An ATI Radeon HD 5870 or equivalent Nvidia ( 470? ). The 5970 is fairly expensive, so I think I'll pass on getting the top end card. Several forum posters have stated that the high end Nvidia cards run fairly hot, while others point out ATI's driver issues - would appreciate any advice.
I'm open to lower end cards if you think this is overkill.

Intel Core i7 Processor

Intel motherboard with USB 3 support (LGA 1366 appears to be the high end)

500 to 640g Hard Drive ( Probably Western Digital or Seagate )

24x DVD Burner ( I dont play movies on my PC, so blueray isnt really a requirement at this time )

Decent Mid Sized Tower computer case that doesnt look like a Christmas Tree and is fairly cool and quiet ( Cooler Masters and Antecs appear to be the most popular. Anyone had any experience with this case?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...ab=true&Page=2


Reliable power supply ( not sure the exact wattage I'll need, but I'm guessing around 750-850W )

6 to 8g of RAM ( I've been recommended Corsair )

I've been looking at various components on newegg, but frankly don't have the expertise for determining which are compatible with each other.

I priced an alienware at $2800 ( just the computer, no monitor/keyboard/mouse), but would prefer to keep it under $2000.

Any help would be appreciated.

Look up the guide Father X-Mas has on computer parts. I followed his lower end build/advice and put together a system for $850 that runs anything I throw at it with no problems what so ever.

Hellooo!

Hi,

I had already read your thread, and wanted something just a tad higher end - hopefully that I can keep around for 4+ years. I was somewhat disappointed that my current system is already defunct after only 2 1/2 years.

Can you look at these components and tell me if they'll work together? Also, any alternative components that might be better and/or less expensive:

ASUS Sabertooth X58 LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131665

COOLER MASTER RC-692-KKN2 CM690 II Advanced Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119216

ASUS Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827135204

XFX HD-587A-CNF9 Radeon HD 5870 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Eyefinity 6 Edition Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150496

Rosewill RCR-IC001 40-in-1 USB 2.0 3.5" Internal Card Reader w/ USB port / Extra silver face plate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820223103


Western Digital Caviar Blue WD6400AAKS 640GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136218

CORSAIR XMS3 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMX8GX3M4A1600C9
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145261

Intel Core i7-960 Bloomfield 3.2GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80601960
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115224

Windows 7
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...pf_rd_i=507846


Anything I'm missing? Will PCI Express 2.1 components work with a 2.0 motherboard?

Don't see a power supply.

Memory for Socket 1366 CPUs should come is sets of three not twos or fours. Like this (sticking with your choice of Corsair DDR3-1600, Cas 9) for example.

CPU wise, a question. Given that the i7-960 is nearly double the price of an i7-950 ($270 more) but best case is less than 5% faster (3.2GHz Vs 3.06GHz), does that sound like a good place to spend your money? Just putting that out there.

Why the 640GB WD Blue series drive with the tiny cache Vs their better performing Black series? Choices there range from same size, twice the cache, $10 less; same size, 4x the cache, same price; 750GB, twice the cache, same price.

You may want to look into a 3rd party CPU cooler. Check out this page from a recent heatsink review at Frostytech to see which ones are ranked the best at cooling and/or noise. The Hyper 212 Plus from my $1375 rig is still very good and is also narrower, lighter and cheaper while still being within a few degrees of the best.

Created a wishlist on newegg, still a WIP:
https://secure.newegg.com/WishList/M...px?ID=12441631

Also, is it worth investing in a motherboard that supports SLI, just in case I want to switch to Nvidia in the future?
I'm assuming a non SLI card (ATI) will still work with such a motherboard...

Try using this link to post your wishlist, the link you provided only works for you.

As I said, the i7-9xx series of CPUs are designed to work with memory in groups of three sticks, not two. So 6 or 12 GB instead of 4 or 8GB, that's just the way the i7-9xx CPUs are.

Personally I think the number default case fans are fine (1 Front, 1 Rear, 1 Top).

Yes the Hyper 212 Plus will work with Socket 1366 CPUs. It may not be good for extreme overclocking but it's a good value and significantly drops the temperature when compared to Intel's stock cooler. As for Arctic Silver 5, it's still one of the better thermal paste/grease/compounds on the market.

The Caviar Blue was popular because the Caviar Black drives were initially a lot more expensive, partially because it had such great reviews when it first came out. As hard drive densities increased, the 640GB Black was no longer the drive to get as the 1TB became the preferred size so the price came down. Also, and this is my opinion, SATA III aka 6Gb/s, is a waste with traditional hard drives as sequential performance is barely topping SATA I's 1.5Gb/s transfer rates.

Your motherboard choice already supports either two nVidia (SLi) or two ATI cards (CrossFire). I'm not a fan of multiple video cards simply because on a fix budget, you can get more consistent performance with one high end video card over two lesser video cards that each cost half as much. You don't automatically get twice the performance of a single card, it varies greatly depending on the game, the resolution you play at, etc. Then you toss in the extra power needed and the extra heat that's generated that needs to be removed from the case and I just don't think it's worth the hassle, but hard core gamers do.

Thank you. So, as it stands, this combination of components is fully compatible?

I'm hoping the ATI 5870 will run Ultramode on max with no issues....

Yea, you should be able to squeak that video card in there but it will be a close fit, less than an inch clearance before the hard drive cage.

Depends on what you define "max" to be. Bill Z Bubba is currently running an ATI 5870 (only the 1GB version) and he still had to compromise on some of the settings to get his framerate up while maintaining his standard for quality visuals. But that was a few driver versions ago.

As you were considering going down the SLI route, might I possibly suggest skipping the Radeon 5870 and going with two Geforce GTX 460s instead? Two GTX 460s will in fact cost slightly less than a single Radeon HD 5870 and significantly outperform that single card in every conceivable benchmark by a wide margin. These cards have temperatures that are very competitive with the temps of AMD/ATI's 5000 series and consume less power individually than any of the Radeon HD 5800 series, while priced competitively with the Radeon HD 5770.

As of the new 260 driver set (currently still in beta, but should be WHQL within two weeks), Nvidia has re-enabled SLI support of CoH. Thanks to the return of SLI, I'm presently running two 460s with everything maxed in CoH at 1920x1200 resolution with 8x AA and getting no lower than 55 fps in any scenario and any map including Grandville and Praetoria (yes, things can occasionally get choppy on the ITF or during a mothership raid, but they will on any system). When I was running a 5870, pre or post 10.8 drivers, I couldn't max CoH and have still have playable frame rates: at best I'd be able to maintain roughly 30 fps in doors when solo; but when on a team or out doors, even on a fairly empty map, I'd only get about 20-25 fps.

My system is very similar to what you're considering: Core I7 920, presently overclocked at 3.8GHz; 6Gb Corsair DDR3 RAM; and Two GTX 460's in SLI. The only real difference is that I'm running with a SSD as opposed to a mechanical HD, which doesn't make much difference to CoH.

Yea Herc, the HX850 watt PSU could handle two HD 5870s, a pair of 1GB GTX 460s would be a walk in the park for it.

It's trivial, a small, sometimes flexible, circuit board snaps on the edge connector on top of each video card to wire them together. The motherboard on your wishlist comes with one such connector for nVidia cards. ATI cards have a similar style connector, but incompatible with nVidia, to support Crossfire.

Edit: What would I choose? That's tough for me to say. Reviews like this makes picking a pair of 1GB GTX 460s a no brainer. But there is still a part of me that rebels at the notion of SLi or Crossfire (probably from back in the days when some companies were selling horrible SLi rigs using a pair of low end video cards just so they could use the SLi buzzword).

You already have a huge power supply and a well ventilated case so there isn't a need to upgrade those parts as well. As long as you realize that some games don't word as well in SLi as others and in those cases your performance will be worse than a single HD 5870 (and on the flip side when it does work, your performance will be better) then the choice is yours.

Nice MSI video card, it gets fairly good reviews and does run cooler than GTX 460s that use the stock heatsink design.

Trying to decide between these three cards:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127518

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127510

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130566

The third one looks a bit more ... protected. However the first two have fewer negative reviews. I'm also concerned about spacing - will there be sufficient space between the ports for these cards to fit?

Don't worry about spacing on the motherboard Herc: SLI/Crossfire capable boards are specifically designed with enough space between PCIe slots for dual slot cards.

As for your card selections, of the three that you listed, I'd go with the EVGA one, due to the fact that particular model will have a lifetime warranty if you register it within 30 days of purchase date (MSI's warranty is effectively only only two years); and it is an external exhaust design which means it will shoot the hot air outside the case instead of dumping inside which most of the GTX 460s do (both of the MSI ones you linked to will).

I'd just like to suggest an alternative to look at:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814500169

Zotac's GTX 460s have lifetime warranties for those who register within 30 days of purchase date and has the external exhaust design, while costing less than EVGA's. I have two of these cards in my system and love them. With BFG and XFX out of EVGA's way as competition of for the enthusiast's choice in Nvidia cards, EVGA has been cranking up their prices on their lifetime warranty cards. In the absence of XFX and BFG, Zotac has been picking up a lot of market share lately with extremely good cards, covered by lifetime warranties that are generally ten to thirty dollars cheaper than similar offerings from EVGA. I have nothing against the EVGA or MSI cards you linked to, but to me Zotac makes the most sense because you get the advantages that EVGA has at a lower price.

Well, all parts received and put together, however the system is nonfunctional. Everything appears to be powered, all fans running in the case as well as the video cards...

However, red warning lights are on the motherboard beside the CPU and memory. I tried seating individual memory modules with no effect....
Tried running individual video cards, no effect.

Finally tried removing the heatsink and reexamining the cpu - no obvious damage to the chip that I can tell.

The other oddity is that the power switch will turn the system on, however it cannot be used to turn it off - I ended up using the switch on the power supply.

Any ideas?

OK, did you go with the Asus Sabertooth as a motherboard? I don't want to spend an hour downloading the manual (on dialup) so we can be on the same page so to speak and grab the wrong manual.

A assume you have both the main 24 pin power connector and the 8 pin (2x4) CPU power connector installed. I'm pretty sure you can't accidentally use one of the video card ones in that plug.

Edit: Running on the assumption that you have the Sabertooth, there is a MEM OK! button that is suppose to set the memory timings and voltages to safe settings. I assume you followed directions and installed them into the correct slots.

Remember there is power going to the motherboard even if the system is "powered" down. Only way to truly safe is to pull the power cord (or flip the PSU power switch) and then try to on/off button so all the capacitors discharge.

Check to see if any of the ground tabs on the I/O shield didn't accidentally get inserted into one of the ports, those things always seem to bend the wrong way as the motherboard gets pushed up against it.

If you take out the CPU again, look at all the pins in the socket to make sure none are bent or are stuck depressed.

Let us know if you got it running...

Your problem sounds very similar to one I encountered just last week with not one but TWO brand new just out of the box Corsair 750TX PSUs.

Just fans running, power switch will turn the rig on, but not off, and no post.

Once I put a different brand PSU in ( I chose an Antec 750 EA) it booted up fine...

Good Luck!