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Building a new Desktop. Need some guidence or advice.


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Hey guys, Im looking to build a desktop. I was going to use the money on a pretty decked out Clevo PM570WM, but figured for what I was going to spend on that, I could get a whole lot more computer for my dollar. I will also hang onto my dead Clevo X7200 in hopes of finding a new motherboard for it for my mobile system. I'm a pack rat so I like to take a ton of storage space with me when I'm on the go.

Also, at the moment, I'm deployed overseas. Working 12 hours a day. When I'm of shift I tend to go running, eating and sleeping. While I'm at work I get a lot of free time. Which was one reason I was leaning toward a Clevo P570WM. But when I go home, I'll be pretty stationary. I'll be going home in March 2014. So I figured till then when I'm off work I can play on the desktop, and even when I'm at work, I may be able to hang out in my room if nothing was going on. Well see.

So I came up with a list of desktop parts below. Problem is, I have been out of the desktop world for over 13 years, so I'm not too sure what I'm doing. This is a starting point for me. being a benchmarker, I love a lot of GPU power and CPU power (Don't we all? ) Idealy I'd like to keep it under $3K, may go over for the right price/parts, Maybe up to $3500. I figure I can get into water cooling when I take the system home. I'll be stowing it under the plane, don't really want to mail it.

As far as the monitor, I put that on the list but actually plan to order a Dell U2711 off Amazon. Also I listed a 3930K CPU, but that is mostly just a place holder and to reflect on the budget. I plan to get a i7 4930K when it comes out, and since Microcenter tends to beat newegg on prices, I'll have my wife pick it up and mail it out to me. . Also as for the GPUs, I figured that running dual GTX 760 GPUs, Would possibly beat a Titan. I'd love to get a Titan, but lets be real, thats a lot of cash. and I figured dual 760's would be a lot cheaper. I also plan to run Folding@home a lot, at least while I'm deployed since I don't pay the electric bill :p Originally I wanted a Titan, simply because it looks like one bad . But $1K is a lot of cash. Am I wrong here? Should I spring for a Titan?

Please, let me know what I should drop, and why, or if you have suggestions for alternate parts, I'd love to know. Should I get a closed loop while I'm here? Or just get a decent heatsink, and then do a nice custom waterloop when I get home? Is there a better monitor option? Better RAM? Let me know. This was all a shot in the dark. A starting point for me if you will. Im a desktop n00b!!!

I'd love to get my prices down and want to maximize performance for gaming, benching, Folding, video encoding ect.

Spoiler



All Items are hyperlinked to Newegg.com

Qty. Product Description Savings Total Price
1 CORSAIR Hydro Series H100i Water Cooler Item #: N82E16835181032 Return Policy: Standard Return Policy -$15.00 Instant $124.99 $109.99
1 COOLER MASTER HAF 932 Advanced Blue Edition RC-932-KKN3-GP ATX Full Tower Computer Case with USB 3.0, Black Interior and Four Blue LED Fans-1x 230mm front 1x 230mm top 1x 230mm side and 1x 140mm rear Item #: N82E16811119213 Return Policy: Standard Return Policy -$20.00 Instant $179.99 $159.99
1 ASUS Rampage IV Extreme LGA 2011 Intel X79 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Extended ATX Intel Motherboard Item #: N82E16813131802 Return Policy: Limited Replacement Only Return Policy $429.99
2 EVGA SuperClocked 02G-P4-2765-KR GeForce GTX 760 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 SLI Support w/ EVGA ACX Cooler Video Card Item #: N82E16814130932 Return Policy: VGA Standard Return Policy $529.98
1 EVGA SuperNOVA 1300 G2 120-G2-1300-XR 1300W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Full Modular Power Supply New 4th Gen CPU Certified Haswell Ready Item #: N82E16817438011 Return Policy: Standard Return Policy $229.99
1 Intel Core i7-3930K Sandy Bridge-E 3.2GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 2011 130W Six-Core Desktop Processor BX80619i73930K Item #: N82E16819116492 Return Policy: CPU Replacement Only Return Policy $569.99
1 Intel 520 Series Cherryville SSDSC2CW240A3K5 2.5" 240GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) Item #: N82E16820167086 Return Policy: Limited Replacement Only Return Policy -$5.00 Instant $264.99 $259.99
1 G.SKILL Trident X Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2400 (PC3 19200) Desktop Memory Model F3-2400C10Q-16GTX Item #: N82E16820231588 Return Policy: Memory Standard Return Policy $176.99
3 Seagate Barracuda ST2000DM001 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Item #: N82E16822148834 Return Policy: Standard Return Policy $299.97
1 Logitech G510 Black USB Wired Gaming Keyboard Item #: N82E16823126100 Return Policy: Standard Return Policy $119.99
1 Dell UltraSharp U2713HM Black & Silver 27" 8ms (GTG) IPS-Panel HDMI Widescreen LED Monitor Item #: N82E16824260111 Return Policy: Monitor Standard Return Policy -$100.00 Instant $799.99 $699.99
1 Logitech C920 USB 2.0 certified (USB 3.0 ready) HD Pro Webcam Item #: N82E16826104635 Return Policy: Standard Return Policy -$10.00 Instant $99.99 $89.99
1 LG Black 14X BD-R 2X BD-RE 16X DVD+R 5X DVD-RAM 12X BD-ROM 4MB Cache SATA BDXL Blu-ray Burner, Bare Drive, 3D Play Back (WH14NS40) - OEM Item #: N82E16827136250 Return Policy: Standard Return Policy $79.99
1 Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver Thermal Compound AS5-12G - OEM Item #: N82E16835100008 Return Policy: Consumable Item Refund Only Return Policy -$6.00 Instant $27.99 $21.99
Subtotal: $3,778.83




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I don´t think you´ll need a 1300W PSU, a 750W would probably be sufficient. I would go with one gtx 780 instead of two 760's, the performance of the 780 isn't far from the TITAN and it's so much cheaper ;D

EVGA GTX 780 Classified http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130943

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Thanks, I was looking at the 780,but it's more expensive than dual 760s. Would the performance of a single 780 be greater than that of dual 760s?

Sent from my Samsung Captivate/JB CM 10.1 via Tapatalk.

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Dual 760s will beat single 780 and single Titan... at least when it comes to benchmarks. The advantage of a single card is that you don't have any SLI issues when it comes to gaming.

A 760 uses the same graphics chip as the 680m, respectively the 670, just higher clocked, so it's pretty powerful for a decent price. I think the 670 can also be flashed to 770, and they're even cheaper at the moment, so that might be an option as well as both are basically the same hardware.

For benching a single 780 with a custom board is definitely more fun, but only if you plan to cool the GPU with dice or similar, unfortunately the cards with the nice custom PCBs are pretty expensive (e.g. the EVGA classified of the MSI lightning... but the PCB is insane for benching).

Though there are also some 670/760 respectively 680/770 with custom boards for more overclocking headroom and less money than the non-reference780s.

If you want to get serious when it comes to benching then make sure you get a decent motherboard, some details can really make a difference imo, for example being able to use XTU or at least having a decent tool from the manufacturer to adjust the multis from within the system on the go, or to be more precise to adjust the different core ratios. If I'm not mistaken the Asrock utility that came with my board only allows adjusting the overall ratio, which is kinda crappy for benching.

4930k should be a lot of fun, and a lot of power, in case you are going to bench with a pot then you can safe the money and trouble for a custom loop and go with a all in one solution if you ask me... I'm using the Corsair H110i and it works fine for non-extreme loads. To really crank up a k edition you will need extreme cooling anyway, meaning at least chilled water.

As for the case... not easy I guess, if you want to bench it with extreme cooling you don't really want a classic tower unless you don't care about totally disassembling it every time. I'm using a Corsair HAF-XB which is a more or less decent compromise between closed case and bench table, you don't have as much freedom as with a bench table, but it's fairly accessible, check it out then you get an idea.

Then of course you need to make sure you can somehow put all your storage devices somewhere... I have four 3.5'' hot-swaps which serve me well, but that might not be enough for you :P

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Thanks! I'll definately have to look into the 670. Didn't realize they were pretty much the same and a 670 could be flashed to a 760. Would it matter what make it was from? such as EVGA? I'm not sure I have room in the budget for the custom PCBs. :( Maybe when I get back home. I'll sell the 760s and get something more, or just get more 760s :P I havn't seen anyone run quad SLI with 760s on the bot or any youtube videos.

The motherboard I'm looking at right now is the ASUS Rampage IV Extreme which seems like a good mortherboard with lots of OCing options, though I'm so new, I don't know if I'd be able to tell what was good or limiting. It has a crzy number of options though, and I didn't realize till a little bit ago, it has 8 RAM dimms. It also has LN2 mode and sub zero sense, which sounds like fun. :D This board is an extended ATX, so my guess is it'll be quite large. If there are any better boards, that are also cheaper, I wouldn't mind suggestions. Right now I'm trying to see where I can cut costs, and hopefully not sacrifice too much performance.

As for a CPU cooler, I'm currently looking at the H100i, which seems decent, maybe a bit loud, but I could always replace the fans whtn I get home and have access to Microcenter. It'll also be an easy solution for when I'm overseas. And since I have a Dice pot at home, any real benching I do will be done with that. I'll probably make a bench station or find one when I get home as well.

The case, I just want something that looks decent and provides room for growth. Be it extra HDDs, or GPUs in the future. I figure if game performance goes down, I can always just get another GPU.

It's definately going to be nice to have something that is very easily upgradeable.

Another thing, my main concern is the monitor. I want to get somethihng of a higher resolution then 1080. I was recommended the Dell U2711, but are there other options I should consider? Maybe something cheaper?

What about PSU, is 1300W really neccessary for what I'm looking at? I feel like it's overkill.

If there is anything else I can do to shave off some money, I'd love to hear it. I may drop the webcam since I can just skype on my tablet.

Man, this whole process would be easier if I was in the states. I'll probably order 90% of the stuff and run into an issue where I have to RMA the RAM lol which will add some more weeks to the build time :P

Thanks again for the help! Really appreciate it. I feel like I have no clue what I'm getting into lol. Spent too long in the notebook world.

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  • 2 weeks later...

A 760 does not equal a 670. A 760 has 1152 cores while the 670 has 1344 cores. A 770 and a 680 are basically the same card though; they have the same amount of cores, just the 770 is clocked higher. If you could afford it, I would recommend getting 2 770s in SLI. I myself have 1 EVGA 670 FTW right now and will be adding another soon for BF4. I also have a Corsair H100i and love it. It cools my i7-3820 really good.

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  • 2 weeks later...

The 1300 watt is way to much , if you're gonna stacking stortte so allot of harddrives then 1k psu would do fine

i still would be goiing for a gtx 780 and give that a fat OC , i owned SLI gtx 760 a month ago and the schaling was so so poor .

Trust me just pick they gtx 780 or 770 if that one will film you're Needs .

Other then that is the system fine you could go now with Ivy-E instead of sandy-e but the performance gain isnt big so check how the price is between those two and pick one.

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Thanks guys. I'll definitely look into a 1k PSU. And I'll revisit the GPUs as well. I'll be building this when I get home. I ordered a new mobile for my X7200 so I can wait for desktop part prices to go down.

This way I have both desktop and a mobile system.

Looks like 4930k is only $15 or so more than 3930k on Newegg :)

Sent from my DROID RAZR/JB CM 10.2 via Tapatalk II

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  • 2 weeks later...

hopefully i can provide some feedback on the graphics cards: when you spend a ton of money on the graphics, always find a card that has a single powerful GPU; more GPU's != (not equal) better performance. There is a benchmarking property called scaling where the 2 graphics cards will never provide 2x performance, it will always be less. In simpler terms: 1 card: score = 10000, 2 cards: score 15000 (this is just an example but it happens frequently with benchmarking) source: GeForce GTX 700 series SLI review: GeForce GTX 760/770/780 in SLI and 3-way SLI - GeForce GTX 760 - Scaling | Hardware.Info United States

So far your choice of components are perfect: LGA 2011 Motherboard (ASUS, i personally think they make the best mobos) + LGA 2011 CPU (3930K, my dream CPU) + 2400 RAM (probably need to set to run in XMP)

The power supply, like some people have mentioned is excessive and will just cost more in the long run but its great that you got modular.

Just a fair warning with the hard drive, I had bad experiences with barracudas (I worked in IT). Reliable drives are WD Red and Black (never get the blue and especially green)

Hope any of this helps. Have fun with your future Rig!

I also forgot to mention. Depending on what you will be doing with SSD, a feature called TRIM can be advantageous to you. If you edit pictures or constantly move a lot data around the SSD TRIM can help boost performance. Just food for thought

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  • 3 weeks later...

personally i would save some money and get a 1600 mhz ram kit. the real world performance isnt there for anything faster.

everything else looks good

i got my rive off ebay for $220 a while ago a 690 off craigslist for 600. look around, new egg isnt always the best

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personally i would save some money and get a 1600 mhz ram kit. the real world performance isnt there for anything faster.

everything else looks good

i got my rive off ebay for $220 a while ago a 690 off craigslist for 600. look around, new egg isnt always the best

1600mhz is a standard now, so I wouldn't go below it. The cost is so insubstantial

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I would go with 1866mhz ram, as it may be a little bit more future proof.

I have 2133 mhz ram installed in my PC (yes I know it serves no purpose, I wasn't thinking straight at that time)

if you can afford the 1866mhz I would definitely go with that.

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  • 1 month later...

To ensure the smoothest gaming experience, I would stay away from SLI. From my point of view one GPU is always better than two for gaming unless you like to struggle with multi-gpu issues like frame stuttering and cooling issues. Been there, done that.

For 1080p @ 60/120fps or 1440p @ 60fps one powerful GPU is enough. The minimum you should get is GTX 780, even better if you can afford 780 Ti. I would forget the Titan now since the 780 Ti is available.

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