New Computer

[Crushdepth]

I'm looking at specs for a new home machine that can handle, amongst other things, heavy 3D/MMORPG games. What do you think of this set up - alternative gear suggestions appreciated.

* Intel i7-2500K Sandybridge processor (4 cores, unlocked 3.3 GHz, 6MB L3 cache, LGA 1155)

* P67 motherboard (yes, need to wait for updated boards with new chipset), either:

- ASUS P8P67 Pro

- Gigabyte P67A-UD4

- ASRock P67 Extreme4

* 4 gigs DDR-3 RAM 1333 (best brand?)

* SSD

-OCZ Vertex 3 (not in local stores yet but hopefully soon) or

- Intel X25-M 128 GB

* GPU

- Radeon 6950, but probably one of the cheaper brands based on this board

I would like to put the OS on an SSD and avoid hard drives, as I have a NAS box for file storage.

[urandom]

I don't know much about gaming machines but just wanted to point out that intel are releasing a new line of SSD's too...

http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=1087&type=expert

[RKASA]

Why not use LGA1366 and the i7 950 4 core, but 8 logic core treads @3gig or up to 3.3gig and its is near the same price so are the boards which can handle up to DDR3 2200 something like a triple channel 6gigs of DDR3 1600 or even 2000 would be priced well. The SSD is a good idea for OS installs, I am saving my pennies in a jar now.

Just wondering.

[Crushdepth]

Unfortunately it looks like the new Intel SSDs don't bear up well against the OCZ Vertex 3).

I hadn't come across reviews of the i7-960 but it looks interesting, thanks.

Re. the memory speed on the i5-2500k, the Intel specs say it can handle DDR-3 1066/1333. Most of the new motherboards can cope with higher, but is there any benefit/impact if that is the limitation of the CPU? I have no idea.

[RKASA]

I guess if your not going to do heavy overclocking it might not make that much diff. but the 960 has QPI almost twice the i5 @4.8 vs 2.5GT and the Mem bandwidth is near 6gig faster. I am still running LGA775 2 core @3.21 gig and looking into upgrade my self.

The forums I was reading awhile back more or less said the 980 is best (but price 30k baht) and the 960 would be a good deal at (9k) as well as 1366 board's as it is more future proof and can be clocked with great ease with the faster RAM at near the same price anyway. Also I understand the 1366 does not have the chip set problem to worry about ether. Most of them were running 960 with DDR3 1600 or 1800 RAM on boards like the rampageIII GENE.

The GPU seems to be real important. I upgraded that on this system from a 8400GS 256mb to a ENGT220 1g/DDR3 and it in itself made the PC usable another few years. I might just upgrade that some more and get the ssd for the OS and put them to work now and then move them to another system board and CPU later. I can put these old parts back on this system then.

[bkksw]

I guess if your not going to do heavy overclocking it might not make that much diff. but the 960 has QPI almost twice the i5 @4.8 vs 2.5GT and the Mem bandwidth is near 6gig faster. I am still running LGA775 2 core @3.21 gig and looking into upgrade my self.

The forums I was reading awhile back more or less said the 980 is best (but price 30k baht) and the 960 would be a good deal at (9k) as well as 1366 board's as it is more future proof and can be clocked with great ease with the faster RAM at near the same price anyway. Also I understand the 1366 does not have the chip set problem to worry about ether. Most of them were running 960 with DDR3 1600 or 1800 RAM on boards like the rampageIII GENE.

The GPU seems to be real important. I upgraded that on this system from a 8400GS 256mb to a ENGT220 1g/DDR3 and it in itself made the PC usable another few years. I might just upgrade that some more and get the ssd for the OS and put them to work now and then move them to another system board and CPU later. I can put these old parts back on this system then.

I echo your thoughts on this and I choose the 1366/x58 socket/chipset combination for my clients over the new Sandy Bridge P67 choices.

The OP should also be aware the P67 motherboards have issues with the SATA controller which I don't think have yet been addressed in the motherboards available here.. in another thread they were discussing this issue and motherboard availability.

Yes, GPU selection 'can' be very important, it depends on the intended use. Gaming is what's driving the non-workstation graphic/video card market and there are some current best choices. This isn't an area you'll want to use old information from. Tom's Hardware has a "best GPU performance vs. cost" article they update several times a month to reflect the best current choices.

The Intel 510 series SSD might be a better choice than the Vertex 3 IF reliability and trouble free performance are more important to the OP than raw transfer speed numbers. Both are very fast SSD's and in my experience I don't think the average user could tell the difference in performance with 'seat of the pants' testing. Another alternative is the OCZ Revo drives. I'm very impressed with them. With the last generation of SSD's (before the Vertex 3 and Intel 510), most users couldn't tell the difference in performance among the top ten performing drives. I suspect the new generation will be the same. By far, more important will be how it's installed and configured.

These days we have so many choices, it's impossible to say one PC or one type of build is better than the other. It really depends on your intended use. Gamers should also know that their favorite game will often work better with Nvidia's latest over ATI/AMD's latest, or the other way around. If you primarily use a certain game, or maybe two certain games, most of the time, it pays to research which card performs with those games best. The difference can be significant.

Case choice/quality can be the difference between a quiet system, a system that cools well, and how easy the build goes. A quality power supply (backed up by a UPS) properly sized to your build will help ensure trouble free operation for a long time. This isn't an area to save money on.

My choice would be the 1366 socket x58 chipset combination. Gigabyte has reinforced the gamers choice of this combination with the very recent release of their new high end 1366/x58 motherboards. If I was getting a laptop or all in one, I'd certainly go Sandy Bridge with the huge performance gains and power savings they offer, but for desktops any advantages are small and often offset in other areas by the 1366/x58 combination.

Good luck with your build.

[Crushdepth]

Apparently the new Intel SSDs will use a new/third party controller (Marvell I think) and their reliability is back in the 'to be demonstrated' box for a while. The review I linked above is worth a read, ordinarily I would favour Intel but the new OCZ models are really leaving them in the dust this time.

One interesting thing about the Sandy Bridge processors is that some of them feature HD 3000 on board video processing which handles video crunching really well - better than the GPUs tested in the review. Downside: Doesn't work if you have a separate GPU installed, and not suitable for gaming.

[bkksw]

Apparently the new Intel SSDs will use a new/third party controller (Marvell I think) and their reliability is back in the 'to be demonstrated' box for a while. The review I linked above is worth a read, ordinarily I would favour Intel but the new OCZ models are really leaving them in the dust this time.

One interesting thing about the Sandy Bridge processors is that some of them feature HD 3000 on board video processing which handles video crunching really well - better than the GPUs tested in the review. Downside: Doesn't work if you have a separate GPU installed, and not suitable for gaming.

Reviews often reveal the preferences of the reviewer. There are a few dozen reviews out so far and they all have their differences. The Intel 510 series will actually transfer larger files faster than the OCZ, but overall the OCZ is faster. I still doubt you'll be able to see/feel any of these differences in speed. And while the Intel 510 does use a new Marvel controller, you need to look at the overall reliability program of the manufacturer. While I love OCZ products and use them myself, I accept their testing is below par and they often bring products to market before they're ready as evidenced by a quick read through their forums, firmware updates, etc. Intel products are geared towards clients where such problems are unacceptable.

Still, perhaps the most telling difference to consumers won't be in the speed or the reliability, but in the price. The Vertex 3 looks to be about 15% less.

Most users will be well served by the embedded video graphics on Sandy Bridge. Most are already using very similar graphics in their laptops and all-in-one PC's and entry level desktops. You can use them for gaming, it's not like games won't work, they just won't work as well/faster as a separate GPU board. My guess is that most will go to a separate GPU not because of gaming, but to get the monitor and audio codec support they require for multiple monitor setups and HTPC's. Gamers are a small minority of PC users.. but they are the ones willing to spend the most money on their machines to play those games well.

[Crushdepth]

The revised P67 boards are available now, so I took another look and here's what I'm currently thinking about:

Revised specs

=============

* Intel i7-2600k cpu (3.4 GHz, 4 cores / 8 threads, 8MB cache)

* Asus P8P67 Deluxe B3 motherboard (revised edition with working chipset)

* 4 gigs G.Skill Trident DDR-3 2000 RAM (F3-1600CL9D)

* OCZ Vertex 3 Pro SSD (120 gigs)

* AMD Radeon 6950 GPU (will try to flash the firmware to make it a 6970)

* Silverstone Strider Plus 850w power supply

* Coolermaster CM690 II Advanced case

The Silverstone power supply did great in this comparative review and is, relatively speaking, quite cheap.

I really like the Corsair 600T Graphite case, but man is that thing expensive

I'm going to have to wait for the SSD, so I'll run it off a hard drive to start and upgrade later.

I'm still not fully across RAM specs. Anyone got recommendations? I would like something in the upper mid-range performance, but not bleeding edge.

[tomat]

I'm still not fully across RAM specs. Anyone got recommendations? I would like something in the upper mid-range performance, but not bleeding edge.

The Kingston HyperX 1600 8GB (2 x 4GB) just dropped to half price yesterday in Thailand, could be a good choice. http://www.invadeit.co.th/category/memory/8gb-kit-of-2/

[Crushdepth]

Is an 850 watt power supply overkill for a system like this?

* Intel i7-2600k cpu (3.4 GHz, 4 cores / 8 threads, 8MB cache)

* Asus P8P67 Deluxe B3 motherboard (revised edition with working chipset)

* 4 gigs G.Skill Trident DDR-3 2000 RAM (F3-1600CL9D)

* OCZ Vertex 3 Pro SSD (120 gigs)

* AMD Radeon 6950 GPU (will try to flash the firmware to make it a 6970)

* Silverstone Strider Plus 850w power supply

* Coolermaster CM690 II Advanced case

[innerspace]

Is an 850 watt power supply overkill for a system like this?

* Intel i7-2600k cpu (3.4 GHz, 4 cores / 8 threads, 8MB cache)

* Asus P8P67 Deluxe B3 motherboard (revised edition with working chipset)

* 4 gigs G.Skill Trident DDR-3 2000 RAM (F3-1600CL9D)

* OCZ Vertex 3 Pro SSD (120 gigs)

* AMD Radeon 6950 GPU (will try to flash the firmware to make it a 6970)

* Silverstone Strider Plus 850w power supply

* Coolermaster CM690 II Advanced case

Not at all.

Lack of power can cause serious issues, too much is fine.

If you tried to get the optimum PSU for each components consumption you would run into issues when you maxed the CPU or added more RAM/HDD.

You probably won't often use all the watts but its much better to over compensate.

[Crushdepth]

Found a very interesting comparative memory review looking at the performance of kits with different frequencies and timings. Conclusion is basically that there is not much benefit going above 1600 MHz, and latency doesn't make much difference. Also, basically no difference in performance between 4 and 16 gigs. So unless you are a hideous multi-tasker you may not need more. (I know, I know, you are all hideous multi-taskers).

The best memory for Sandy Bridge.