New general purpose rig

SilentStorm · Post by **SilentStorm** » Sat Jun 26, 2010 2:32 am

It's time for a new computer, as my current machine is getting long in the tooth (6 years will do that).
I will be running starcraft 2 at 1920x1080 maxed settings, I expect the rig to last me another ~5 years and run relatively quiet.
Case: Antec 300 ($60)
PSU: Seasonic x-650 ($160)
CPU: i7 930 ($200 from microcenter) Mild OC, I'll probably stick to stock voltage for heat and reliability.
CPU cooler: Scythe Mugen 2. ($45)
mobo: GB x58a-ud3r ($210)
RAM: 6 GB DDR3 1600 cas 6 ($225)
GPU: GTX 260 216 core(I found it for $165 shipped)
Monitor: Samsung p2370 (got one for $200)
HDD: 2x Samsung spinpoint 1TB in RAID 1. ($160)
DVD burner: Samsung SH-S223L ($25)

I suspect the video card will be the loudest component. Perhaps I can underclock it, or maybe find an aftermarket cooler.

Any suggestions for making stuff quieter//perform better//cheaper//more reliable? I'd like to stay under $1500 total

danimal · Post by **danimal** » Sat Jun 26, 2010 3:50 pm

you just missed the 216 for $145:
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/hot-deals/1012057/

it's a good video card, i have one, but it's absurdly overpriced in general, as you can see from that thread.

why spend extra for a raid drive?

for not much more money, you could get the superior p183/cp-850 combo, over the seasonic/300.

a possibly cheaper mb option here, i have this board with my 920, it's rock-solid at 3.8ghz:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/2771

for the mugen2, make sure that the ram heatsink doesn't extend above the top of the memory card, and consider cheaper ram that runs at stock speeds, since there is little performance value to overclocked ram.

SilentStorm · Post by **SilentStorm** » Sat Jun 26, 2010 6:37 pm

raid1 gets higher throughput reads, depending on implementation, and then there is the whole reliability thing, which is the main reason.

that is a very interesting case and PSU, I hadn't even looked at cases over $100, but that PSU changes things a bit, especially when that combo has $90 off at newegg.

As for mobo, I think I'll stick with the GB for future-proofing.

danimal · Post by **danimal** » Sun Jun 27, 2010 11:17 am

imho, raid is a waste of money, you can back your data up on a secondary drive, and have a lot more overall drive space to work with... what i usually do is get the o.s. and all of the apps installed on the c:\ drive, then make a bootable clone to the secondary drive, with xxcopy... that way you can boot off of the secondary drive immediately, if the primary drive fails, and you don't have to re-install anything... no performance advantage, tho, which is kind of a bummer :-/

amazon has the cp-850 for $109.99 shipped, no tax to california, but i'm not sure how it stacks up price-wise by the time that you figure the p183 into the equation... check out the spcr reviews on that hardware.

right now i'm keeping an eye peeled for some 4th of july sales, especially at frys.

Post by **CA_Steve** » Sun Jun 27, 2010 12:10 pm

CPU: I'd spend $30 more to get the i7-860 from Microcenter, instead of the i7-930.
-Performance is the same
-TDP goes from 130W to 95W
-mobo is cheaper: The P55A-UD3P or UP4P costs ~$160-175.
-4GB RAM instead of 6GB: save $75 or more. The extra channel of RAM is more of an appendix than a useful add.

case: no comment

RAM: don't know if 1600 buys you anything over 1333.

HDD: I'd opt for an SSD for OS/Apps and a quiet HDD for the data drive. Get an Indilinx Barefoot controller based 60GB drive for ~$130. (eg: OCZ Vertex). That's faster than 2 Spinpoints in RAID and you don't have to screw around w RAID.

Starcraft 2: I found a couple of benchmarks from the Feb beta. PCGH claims that the game is set for processor affinity = 2 => doesn't use all four cores. This might just be a beta thing, and you might be able to force the game to use 4 cores ( as you can now in WoW). In any case, 2 fast cores seems to win over 4 slower cores. Legion Hardware shows the effect of CPU speedas well as some gpu benchmarks.

gpu: Looks like the GTX 260 will do fine for fps. However, the stock cooler is noisy and the card consumes 45W idling/105W load.

Arbutus · Post by **Arbutus** » Sun Jun 27, 2010 7:39 pm

Changing to socket LGA1156, i7 860 and GA-P55A-UD3, with Kingston ValueRAM 4GB PC3-10600 DDR3 will give you 200 plus dollars to explore video card options.

Arbutus · Post by **Arbutus** » Sun Jun 27, 2010 7:53 pm

The Antec 300 is one of the worst cases for building a quiet computer. Everything about this case is the opposite of what you want for a quiet build. These are the major flaws for a quiet build:

> there is an acoustic leak on the side
> there is an acoustic leak on the top
> there is an acoustic leak on the front

danimal · Post by **danimal** » Mon Jun 28, 2010 8:16 pm

SilentStorm wrote: As for mobo, I think I'll stick with the GB for future-proofing.

the last time i looked, 1366 was the intel socket of choice for future 6-core computing, the i7-860 on 1156 is a crippled platform with a dead-end roadmap.

so if you want to buy a premium motherboard for intel cpus, with the hope of replacing the cpu later, 1366 is the only choice.

however, we must always remember that software sells hardware, so if limited gaming is the biggest thing that you'll ever do, you should probably consider the amd platform future upgrade paths, or even an i3/i5 solution.

ilovejedd · Post by **ilovejedd** » Mon Jun 28, 2010 8:45 pm

Both LGA-1156 and LGA-1366 are dead-end anyway. I think pretty much the only upgrade that would be available for LGA-1366 is Gulftown and I have a feeling by the time you'd need Gulftown, you can buy a faster Bulldozer or Sandy Bridge for cheaper (or whatever's new).

Post by **CA_Steve** » Tue Jun 29, 2010 7:47 am

ilovejedd wrote:Both LGA-1156 and LGA-1366 are dead-end anyway. I think pretty much the only upgrade that would be available for LGA-1366 is Gulftown and I have a feeling by the time you'd need Gulftown, you can buy a faster Bulldozer or Sandy Bridge for cheaper (or whatever's new).

+1. Intel seems to be accelerating their socket evolution. I doubt anything bought today will match a CPU that's new 3 yrs from now.

Arbutus · Post by **Arbutus** » Tue Jun 29, 2010 11:08 am

Previously old socket 775 mainboards wouldn't support the newer socket 775 CPU's. Where is the guarantee that a current socket 1366 will support all newer socket 1366 CPU's?

danimal · Post by **danimal** » Tue Jun 29, 2010 6:11 pm

Arbutus · Post by **Arbutus** » Tue Jun 29, 2010 7:25 pm

from wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGA_2011

"LGA 2011, also known as Socket R, . . . set to supersede Intel's LGA 1366 (Socket B) in the high-end and performance desktop and market areas. . . . This socket is expected to be released alongside Sandy Bridge-EX in Q3 2011, and will support 4 memory channels as well as 40 PCIe 3.0 lanes."

Also:

DDR4 is coming.

SilentStorm · Post by **SilentStorm** » Wed Jun 30, 2010 9:45 am

I don't expect to replace the processor in the lifetime of this rig, though I will probably change the video card in 2-3 years and add more RAM(I use a couple very RAM hungry scripts, and often sandbox windows and/or *nix in VMware). The future proofing comment was more in regard to the MSI board lacking room for my tuner card if I end up going for a crossfire setup a few years down the road.(usb3 and sata3 are nice too, though probably not a big deal). I'll probably get a SSD sometime in the next year.