Planning on getting a new PC soon...Post Date: 2012-09-06 |
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Paul9631
Newbie Joined: 05 Sep 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 4 |
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Topic: Planning on getting a new PC soon... Posted: 06 Sep 2012 at 2:22pm |
Budget:
I would like to keep it around $3000 Expectations: A powerful system that I can overclock and upgrade for several years Usage: Mostly working, not gaming, but I will need to do video editing, perhaps some 3d modeling, ect., so I need (fine, want) a powerful machine. Special Needs: Not really. Saved Ticket #: 726009 Link to Ticket: http://www.digitalstormonline.com/comploadsaved.asp?id=726009 Specifications: Chassis Model: Special Deal Hot Seller - Black OPS HailStorm Edition Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish Processor: Intel Core i7 3930K 3.2GHz (Unlocked CPU for Extreme Overclocking) (Six-Core) Motherboard: ASUS P9X79 DELUXE (Intel X79 Chipset) (Features USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s) System Memory: 16GB DDR3 1600MHz Corsair Dominator DHX (High-Performance) Power Supply: 800W Corsair GS (Dual SLI Compatible) Expansion Bay: Internal Digital Media Card Reader (Black) Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 2x (120GB Solid State (By: Corsair) (Model: Force GT Series CSSD-F120GBGT-BK) (SATA 6Gbps) Set 1 Raid Options: Configure HDD Set 1 to a Raid 0 Config - Stripe Performance (Requires Two HDDs) Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: 1x (500GB Western Digital/Seagate/Hitachi/Samsung (7200 RPM) (16MB Cache) Optical Drive 1: DVD-R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 24x / CD-Writer 48x) Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections) Video Card: !PROMOTION: 1x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti 1GB (PhysX Technology) Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio Extreme Cooling: H20: Stage 4: Sub-Zero LCS Cooling System: CPU Only H20 Tube Color: Blue Tubing with High-Performance Fluid (UV Lighting Reactive) Chassis Airflow: Upgrade Chassis With LED Performance Fans (Blue) (Up to 6 Fans) Internal Lighting: Internal Chassis Lighting System (Blue) Enhancements: Scythe Kaze Master Temperature Display & Fan Controller (Requires Chassis Airflow Upgrade) (KM01-BK) Boost Processor: Standard Intel Turbo Boost 2.0 Automatic Overclocking Boost OS: FREE: Yes, Disable and tweak all of the non-crucial services on the operating system Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional (64-Bit Edition) Recovery Tools: Windows Recovery Toolkit (Bundled with Windows 7 CD) Display: Acer 23 inch (Widescreen) (Black) (High-Performance Gaming Display) Keyboard: Razer Lycosa Mirror Special Edition (Gaming Keyboard) Priority Build: - No Thanks, Ship Within 10-15 Business Days After Order Is Successfully Processed Warranty: Life-time Expert Customer Care with 3 Year Limited Warranty ________________________________________________ Ok, so I have a lot of comments and questions... CPU: I would like to OC to 4.8 or so for 24/7, but I am hoping I could hit 5.0 for a max. Can anyone verify that the LCS I have here could handle that? Mobo: The specs here tout that the P9X79 supports DTS, but I have an audio mixer which only takes Dolby Digital 7.1. Can I still output Dolby Digital through optical without a soundcard? PSU: It seems like 800W is overkill for this rig, especially with only a single 550 Ti, but I plan on upgrading (550 Ti x2?) that at some point. Would it be worth the extra money to jump for a Kilowatt supply? Or is 800W plenty even with a second graphics card? HDD: I don't think it's worth it to upgrade past 500GB right now. I can easily add in another HDD in the future, and I will be storing long term stuff on my 2TB external drive anyway. Optical Drive: Is a BR drive worth it? I will need to spend the extra money on software beyond the extra cost of the drive, and I don't think I have ever wished my current PC could read BRs. Are BRs getting more popular, or are digital downloads making them irrelevant? I guess I could always add one later. Video Card: Don't hate me! It's not a gaming PC, and I plan to upgrade if I find myself wanting more gaming performance. On a side note, If the "!PROMOTION" ends, but I have the config saved, will I still be able to get the better deal? What if I change something else on the saved config? Will it go away then? LCS: Again, wondering about OC performance (see CPU section). Also, I have never used a LCS and though I understand the basics, I don't know how easy it is to upgrade it. For example, if I wanted to put on a waterblock for the northbridge, could I do that, or would I need a whole new LCS? Internal lighting: What exactly is used here? Cold Cathode? There aren't any good photos,and what I have seen looks like it's very dim, and (like the LCS tubes) almost purple. Can I easily upgrade the lighting on my own? Color Scheme: Speaking of lighting, what say ye on the blue color theme? I am liking the red, but it seems a little ostentatious. Yes, I did just say that with a straight face. Thanks for the help! I know it was a long post, and I don't expect one person to spend an hour answering all my questions, but if you could answer a few, I am sure I will get it figured out eventually. This is in no way time constrained, (I'm thinking I will put in an order in a few months at the earliest) so I don't want you to stress over answering my questions. Thanks again! - Paul P.S. - I will be buying the monitor and keyboard separately, I just put them on the order to get an idea of the price for the system. EDIT: Added a link to the ticket Edited by Paul9631 - 06 Sep 2012 at 6:56pm |
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tju76
Senior Member Joined: 06 Mar 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 804 |
Quote Reply Posted: 06 Sep 2012 at 3:40pm |
first off there is no way to guarentee a 5ghz oc every chip is different if you want a high oc liquid cooling is a must
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SpicierMire
Groupie Joined: 30 Jul 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 105 |
Quote Reply Posted: 06 Sep 2012 at 4:13pm |
What tju76 said, plus if CPU power is really important to you, you can always go with the 3960x instead; you also need more graphics horsepower than a 550 Ti if you'll be 3d modeling on your machine.
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Paul9631
Newbie Joined: 05 Sep 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 4 |
Quote Reply Posted: 06 Sep 2012 at 6:31pm |
I know that, obviously if a core is only stable to 4.5ghz or something then the amount of cooling you give it is irrelevant. What I'm asking is: if I get a good chip, and OC it to 4.7-4.8ghz, will that LCS be able to handle the heat? I'm not as concerned about the max, I'm mostly wondering if this LCS will keep that chip prime95 / IBT 24h stable at very high clock speeds. |
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Paul9631
Newbie Joined: 05 Sep 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 4 |
Quote Reply Posted: 06 Sep 2012 at 6:47pm |
In terms of CPU, does the 3960x have a higher tolerance level for the cores? If not, the chance of getting bogged down by a slow core still seems high because it's still 6-cores. I just don't know it it's worth it to pay another $500+ for an uncertain 0.1 - 0.2 ghz boost. Really what it came down to is cost. I would love to throw in a Quadro 6000 and call it a day, but I can't even justify the cost of a 670 2GB. That pushes the price north of $3500, and I think I would just be better off upgrading in a year or so. I have figured out lots of ways to make modeling work without high end GPUs, and believe it or not, a 550 Ti is a huge upgrade over this machine. (You don't wanna know) Also, the GPU will most likely get an upgrade not long after I buy it, as I know that's the weakest part of the system by far. Again, back to cost. If I put in the 3960x and a 670 2GB, the price goes past $4000. I just don't think I can spend that much. EDIT: spelling... Edited by Paul9631 - 06 Sep 2012 at 6:49pm |
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bprat22
DS ELITE DigitalStorm East -- (Unofficially!) Joined: 08 Jun 2011 Online Status: Offline Posts: 20391 |
Quote Reply Posted: 07 Sep 2012 at 6:05am |
Hi Paul9631... Welcome to the forums.
Here's another way to go and I'll explain after. I think i included what you had for comparison like keyboard, drives ,etc. Config # 726560 Cost $ 2933 Chassis Model: Special Deal Hot Seller - Cooler Master 942 HAF X Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish Processor: Intel Core i7 3930K 3.2GHz (Unlocked CPU for Extreme Overclocking) (Six-Core) Motherboard: ASUS P9X79 DELUXE (Intel X79 Chipset) (Features USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s) System Memory: 16GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested) Power Supply: 800W Corsair GS (Dual SLI Compatible) Expansion Bay: Internal Digital Media Card Reader (Black) Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 2x (120GB Solid State (By: Corsair) (Model: Force GT Series CSSD-F120GBGT-BK) (SATA 6Gbps) Set 1 Raid Options: Configure HDD Set 1 to a Raid 1 Config - Mirror (Requires Two HDDs) Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: 1x (500GB Western Digital/Seagate/Hitachi/Samsung (7200 RPM) (16MB Cache) Hard Drive Set 3: Backup\Misc.: - No Thanks Optical Drive 1: DVD-R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 24x / CD-Writer 48x) Optical Drive 2: - No Thanks Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections) Video Card: !PROMOTION: 1x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti 1GB (PhysX Technology) Add-on Card: - No Thanks Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio Extreme Cooling: H20: Stage 4: Sub-Zero LCS Cooling System: CPU Only H20 Tube Color:Blue Tubing with High-Performance Fluid (UV Lighting Reactive) Chassis Airflow: Standard Factory Chassis Fans Internal Lighting: Internal Chassis Lighting System (Blue) Enhancements: - No Thanks Chassis Mods: - No Thanks Noise Reduction: - No Thanks LaserMark: - No Thanks Boost Processor: Stage 2: Overclock CPU 4.5GHz to 4.8GHz (Requires Pro/Deluxe/Sabertooth Motherboard) Boost Video Card: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s) Boost Memory: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my memory Boost OS: - No Thanks, Please do not tweak the services on the operating system Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional (64-Bit Edition) Recovery Tools: Windows Recovery Toolkit (Bundled with Windows 7 CD) Virus Protection: - No Thanks Office: - No Thanks Game: - No Thanks Display: Acer 23 inch (Widescreen) (Black) (High-Performance Gaming Display) Surge Shield: - No Thanks Speakers: - No Thanks Keyboard: Razer Lycosa Mirror Special Edition (Gaming Keyboard) Mouse: - No Thanks External Storage: - No Thanks Exclusive T-Shirt: - No Thanks Priority Build: - No Thanks, Ship Within 10-15 Business Days After Order Is Successfully Processed Warranty: Life-time Expert Customer Care with 3 Year Limited Warranty Because only the cpu is water cooled and the video card and chipset are air cooler, this is basically an air cooled system.. The HafX case, whcih I always recommend for air ,is the best DS has. If you don't like the HafX then that's that. With this case you don't need the add-on LED fans and the fan contro, to quiet them. If those are for eye candy then that's fine. Nothing wrong with a good looking and performing rig. Just not need for a tight budget. The ram I dropped to DS 16GB to save $69. Unless you plan on oc'ing the ram than just a waste. The 800W psu is not overkill. The X79 chipset and 6 core cpu do suck up more juice than other dual channel mobo's like Z77 with 4 core chips , plus you want headroom for the future. I can't answer the audio question. Blu-ray to me is for movies, but that's your call. The internal lighting is CCFL, cold cathode and is easy to install. Just mount the tubes, plug them into the supplied inverter box wired to psu and run the on/off switch bracket to back panel... For $10 let DS do it. I kept in your video card but you could add the gtx 660Ti for much better performance and still stay where yoyr build is. The gtx 670 is better but I understand tight budget. The stage 4 water should be fine for your oc. And I did put in stage 2 oc and still stayed under $3000. But you can always drop it if you plan on doing it yourself. If DS does it they stand by it. Not sure if the Ivy Bridge E chip in late 2013 will need a different waterblock or not. But, should be just the water block, not the whole system.. This is just another way to go and hope it helps. Good Luck. I forgot to put in the free t-shirt. Edited by bprat22 - 07 Sep 2012 at 6:47am |
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Paul9631
Newbie Joined: 05 Sep 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 4 |
Quote Reply Posted: 07 Sep 2012 at 6:02pm |
I like the HAF X! I'm working out what I can do with that. Thanks for the advice.
(and don't worry, I added the free T-shirt. After several weeks of lurking these forums, I have found that the T-shirt is the most critical part of any DS build.) |
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FrankW
DS Veteran Joined: 22 Feb 2010 Online Status: Offline Posts: 2254 |
Quote Reply Posted: 08 Sep 2012 at 7:16am |
Hi Paul,
bprat22 gave you an excellent build for what you want to do. I think I would try to move up to the 660 GPU if there is anyway to swing it. If you are going to push your OC up to or around 5.0 your room temperature will be important. LC still requires a reasonable ambient temp to keep the CPU cool. If your room is mid-seventies then you should be OK. A high OC may shorten CPU life. Some Gamers run 5.0 OC but they want bragging rights, not longevity. Frank |
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