Looking for something nice and proper this time around

[Apach3]

Hi, I'm new to the forums, but not all that new to PC building. I am posting this topic with the reason of building a better computer than I did for my current build, which I will admit didn't go off of any research and I'd like to fix that.

I am looking to do a complete re-build, except for importing my current 1TB drive, so new case, processor, motherboard, GPU, and all that other fun stuff. Here's my concern: I've taken extreme looks at the latest chips from both Intel and AMD, and for the intended heavy-duty development and gaming purposes I would think Intel would be the most consistent and logical choice for the time being. I'm no fanboy, but I do tend to lean AMD mostly because of their price/performance ratio and their multi-tasking capabilities, but if such a build costs $2000+ it would seem pretty silly to most if not all.

My budget is around $2000 or less not including peripherals (keyboard, monitor, etc). I'm open to either Intel or AMD for CPU, either AMD or Nvidia for GPUs, and all well-known vendors for everything else.

My required components are:

• At least two GPUs (either by one dual-GPU card or two single-GPU cards)
  
• At least a 240GB SSD and at least 4TB of storage (I would like more than 4TB of storage because I've got digital videos I'd like to store in a more centralized location)
  
• 8GB to 16GB of RAM, no slower than DDR3-1600 and CAS 9 latency
  
• An internal Blu-Ray drive that is known to work, can be a writer or read-only
  
• One of the following cases: Cooler Master Cosmos II (preferred), Cooler Master Storm Trooper/Stryker, Cooler Master HAF X, Corsair Graphite 600T, Corsair Obsidian series, Fractal Design Define R4, and Thermaltake Level 10 GT (regular or Snow Edition)
  

Any and all constructive help would be much appreciated.

[Whaler_99]

Right now, I am pretty sure Intel holds the crown on performance. Period. Yes, AMD is cheaper, but if you are doing gaming and such, Intel is your choice. Best bang for the buck, the i5 3570k. Get a water cooler for it and you can over clock easily and get the performance of the i7 3770k for a lot less. Corsair h100i, one of the Kraken if they fit or wait for the new Swiftech one.

I like the MSI series of boards right now - I have the Z77A-GD65 right night, overclocks very nice. The MSI MPower is amazing! Linus did a really nice review on it.

GPU - I would go with a 7970 if you can swing it. That is quite the card, although the 8000 series is on the horizon... (rebranded 7000's anyone?)

SSD - OCZ Vector are supposed to be amazing. Also, Samsung 840, Corsair, etc.

RAM - I like the Corsair Dominator Platinums, bit of extra bling and they perform really well.

Cases - I love the Stryker, the Cosmos II is just to bleeding big for what is actually gives you. Haf X is solid. R4 is nice. Level 10GT, styling case, I have one, but cooling isn't the best. If you want to go big or go home, wait for the 900D. :D

[MTROB]

Mother Board: Asus Sabertooth Z77 $250

CPU: Intel i7 3770K $350

Ram: Corsair Dominator Platinum 8GB 95

GPU: eVGA GTX680 x2 $800

Cases: I like the corsair obsidian 800D but silverstone's http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=68720&vpn=TJ04B-EW&manufacture=Silverstone%20Technology

Sorry if the prices were a little off. I was trying to remeber them.

[Guest]

Mother Board: Asus Sabertooth Z77 $250 CPU: Intel i7 3770K $350 Ram: Corsair Dominator Platinum 8GB 95 GPU: eVGA GTX680 x2 $800 Cases: I like the corsair obsidian 800D but silverstone's http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=68720&vpn=TJ04B-EW&manufacture=Silverstone%20Technology Sorry if the prices were a little off. I was trying to remeber them.

Honestly; a waste of money for a lot of that.

CPU: 3770K

Cooler: H100i

RAM: 16 GB Corsair Vengeance

Board: Asus P8Z77-V series (up to you which one)

GPU: Either two MSI GTX670 PE OC'd if you want high power but not 3 screen gaming otherwise a single EVGA GTX670 OC 4GB. You don't really need SLI but if you have the money then why not.

PSU: Silverstone Strider Plus 750w or the more expensive Corsair AX760/AXi760. The difference between 80Silver (Strider) and 80Platinum(AXi) is negligible, you spend more on the PSU than you save in bills.

Optical: Asus or LG BluRay drive.

Case: 600T is my preference.

HDD: Seagate Barracuda's or WD Blacks

SSD: Samsung 840Pro or Intel520

Just my $0.2

[Apach3]

Whaler99: if I ever got the Cosmos II, I would get it mostly because of the aesthetics. However, the upgradability, expandability, and build quality look great for the long-term, which'd be better than buying two or three $150 cases in the same time I'd keep a Cosmos II before replacing it. I'm not saying I'm ruling out any of the other cases; they're just my reasons on the preference.

MTROB: the Sabertooth Z77 does look pretty sweet, but as Whaler pointed out the MSI Z77 MPower was reviewed by Linus and it does look amazing. How many other motherboards run individual stress-tests at the factory? That, and it's generally cheaper than the Sabertooth.

windspeed36: looks good with a lot of general-consensus items I've been hearing, but like I said I wanted at least two GPUs. It's mostly because I tend to have fairly long and "cheap" upgrade cycles (to put it into perspective, I have a low-end Phenom II X4 that's lasted me for three years, and a Gigabyte board with an AMD 870 chipset for two), so something "nice and proper" would naturally include a Crossfire or SLI setup. For a $2000 budget w/o peripherals, I would be surprised if I ended up not including a second GPU.

[Toby]

Just to clarify (this should've been asked already), do you do anything CPU-heavy, such as video editing/converting, 3D modelling etc?

[Apach3]

Just to clarify (this should've been asked already)' date=' do you do anything CPU-heavy, such as video editing/converting, 3D modelling etc?[/quote']

I state in the original post that it's for "heavy-duty development and gaming purposes", so yes; that would include video editing/converting and 3D modelling. I'm thinking about learning how to use the Autodesk suite, and I'm also putting in a Blackmagic Intensity Pro (which is NOT included in the $2000 budget).

[Toby]

Sorry, I'm blind.

Disclaimer: I did this yesterday before the forum went down, but even in those 24 hours these lists are no longer entirely accurate. It's also worth mentioning that if you have any Micro Centers near you, you can get the CPUs a shit of a lot cheaper by going down there and buying one personally.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/yndR

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($309.99 @ Amazon)

CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($99.99 @ Newegg)

Motherboard: MSI Z77 MPOWER ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($189.99 @ Newegg)

Memory: Mushkin Blackline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($35.57 @ NCIX US)

Memory: Mushkin Blackline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($35.57 @ NCIX US)

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($89.99 @ NCIX US)

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($89.99 @ NCIX US)

Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($234.98 @ SuperBiiz)

Video Card: PowerColor Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB Video Card (CrossFire) ($217.98 @ NCIX US)

Video Card: PowerColor Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB Video Card (CrossFire) ($217.98 @ NCIX US)

Case: Cooler Master Cosmos II (Black) ATX Full Tower Case ($316.98 @ Amazon)

Power Supply: Corsair Enthusiast 750W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($89.99 @ NCIX US)

Optical Drive: Lite-On iHOS104-06 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Drive ($34.98 @ Newegg)

Total: $1963.98

(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

That's with your preferences + what other people would recommend (H100, bare-minimum Barracudas and Corsair PSU with overly generous capacity), with the remainder spent on GPUs. I ended up with almost $500 exactly to spend on two GPUs, but interestingly there's nothing at that $250 sweet-spot. 7870s are cheaper, while decent 660 tis and 7950s are more expensive than that.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/yn7J

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($309.99 @ Amazon)

CPU Cooler: Thermalright Silver Arrow CPU Cooler ($69.70 @ NCIX US)

Motherboard: Biostar TZ77XE3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($140.19 @ Mwave)

Memory: Samsung 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($44.99 @ Newegg)

Memory: Samsung 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($44.99 @ Newegg)

Storage: Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($147.99 @ NCIX US)

Storage: Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($147.99 @ NCIX US)

Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($234.98 @ SuperBiiz)

Video Card: PowerColor Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card (CrossFire) ($329.98 @ SuperBiiz)

Video Card: PowerColor Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card (CrossFire) ($329.98 @ SuperBiiz)

Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($89.99 @ Microcenter)

Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX750B BRONZE 750W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($89.99 @ NCIX US)

Optical Drive: Lite-On iHOS104-06 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Drive ($34.98 @ Newegg)

Total: $2015.74

(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

This is what I'd do. The RAM is legendary and has reached 2700mhz in some cases. You could do 2133mhz and CAS 10 at 1.5v, easy. The motherboard is sufficient for your needs, while the HDDs are the quietest/most efficient HDDs to be had (6GB as per your more-than-4GB request). You can see that even with the added expenses, just giving up the Cosmos let me fit in 7950s.

However, if you combine the frugalities...

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/ynmb

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($309.99 @ Amazon)

CPU Cooler: Thermalright Silver Arrow CPU Cooler ($69.70 @ NCIX US)

Motherboard: Biostar TZ77XE3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($140.19 @ Mwave)

Memory: Samsung 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($44.99 @ Newegg)

Memory: Samsung 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($44.99 @ Newegg)

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($89.99 @ NCIX US)

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($89.99 @ NCIX US)

Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($234.98 @ SuperBiiz)

Video Card: PowerColor Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card (CrossFire) ($359.99 @ Newegg)

Video Card: PowerColor Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card (CrossFire) ($359.99 @ Newegg)

Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($89.99 @ Microcenter)

Power Supply: Kingwin Lazer 850W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($134.98 @ Outlet PC)

Optical Drive: Lite-On iHOS104-06 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Drive ($34.98 @ Newegg)

Total: $2004.75

(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

You get enough for a couple of 7970s. I kept the Samsung because there was $20 room and they're awesome.

[Apach3]

Hmm, that third option looks pretty nice, but I have a few concerns.

1. I've never had a Biostar motherboard, nor have I heard much about them. As far as I can tell, they're like the AMD of motherboards - cheap, but with decent performance. I'd like to hear something encouraging to convince me to get a Biostar motherboard.
   
2. I'm not dissing on the Thermalright Silver Arrow cooler, but I'm not much for its aesthetics. Could I possibly get a Silversone Heligon HE01 instead? It's about the same price as the Silver Arrow, and it allows me to use higher-profile memory.
   
3. Is that particular Kingwin power supply made by someone reputable, like Seasonic? If not, I think I've found an XFX power supply that is both cheaper and made by Seasonic.
   

Many thanks for the info dump, Toby. I really appreciate it. :D

[cxz]

Well here is my $.02, from all of the reviews I have seen the amd 8350 (whatever the top model is) beats that i5 in almost everything that isn't gaming. The i5 wins more in games, but some games work a little better on amd. Also the amd is a little cheaper. If you have a good enough gpu then both cpu will be about the same in gaming. If you want to go best of the best you can grab a 690 or even 2 gtx 690s for basically quad sli. AMD is improving their drivers and so the 7970 is getting betters but idk what its comparison is to the 680 anymore.

I don't know much about intel mobos, but for either company I wouldn't get those super extreme prices mobos they seem a little over kill to me. If you have money to blow get dominator platinum they will make your system bling tastic =D

[Toby]

Hmm, that third option looks pretty nice, but I have a few concerns.

1. I've never had a Biostar motherboard, nor have I heard much about them. As far as I can tell, they're like the AMD of motherboards - cheap, but with decent performance. I'd like to hear something encouraging to convince me to get a Biostar motherboard.
   
2. I'm not dissing on the Thermalright Silver Arrow cooler, but I'm not much for its aesthetics. Could I possibly get a Silversone Heligon HE01 instead? It's about the same price as the Silver Arrow, and it allows me to use higher-profile memory.
   
3. Is that particular Kingwin power supply made by someone reputable, like Seasonic? If not, I think I've found an XFX power supply that is both cheaper and made by Seasonic.
   

Many thanks for the info dump, Toby. I really appreciate it. :D

1. Biostar have risen through the ranks very quickly as of late. Their Z77 boards are great. Their UEFI isn't the most elegant and I suppose they might qualify as "cheap" ("budget" would probably be a better term), though they achieve that through lacking some bells and whistles rather than lowering the quality. The components they use are solid - arguably better than some of the big four. Feel free to Google some reviews, or use the discussion search...I doubt you'll find a bad review.

2. Heligon HE01 would be fine, though I think the fan is LOUD. I chose the Silver Arrow because it's on par with the D14, but quieter in operation.

3. OEM is Super Flower, so yes, very reputable.

[Toby]

Well here is my $.02, from all of the reviews I have seen the amd 8350 (whatever the top model is) beats that i5 in almost everything that isn't gaming. The i5 wins more in games, but some games work a little better on amd. Also the amd is a little cheaper. If you have a good enough gpu then both cpu will be about the same in gaming. If you want to go best of the best you can grab a 690 or even 2 gtx 690s for basically quad sli. AMD is improving their drivers and so the 7970 is getting betters but idk what its comparison is to the 680 anymore.

I don't know much about intel mobos, but for either company I wouldn't get those super extreme prices mobos they seem a little over kill to me. If you have money to blow get dominator platinum they will make your system bling tastic =D

I'm curious to see said reviews, if you can link some? The only site I've seen in favour of AMD since Bulldozer was teksyndicate, and their test was very dodgy.

[Apach3]

Well here is my $.02, from all of the reviews I have seen the amd 8350 (whatever the top model is) beats that i5 in almost everything that isn't gaming. The i5 wins more in games, but some games work a little better on amd. Also the amd is a little cheaper. If you have a good enough gpu then both cpu will be about the same in gaming. If you want to go best of the best you can grab a 690 or even 2 gtx 690s for basically quad sli. AMD is improving their drivers and so the 7970 is getting betters but idk what its comparison is to the 680 anymore.

I don't know much about intel mobos, but for either company I wouldn't get those super extreme prices mobos they seem a little over kill to me. If you have money to blow get dominator platinum they will make your system bling tastic =D

I've noticed that kind of trend with FX-8350 benchmarks, too, which was why I leaned toward it in my initial thoughts on this build. In AMD's defense, unless I benefited from a 120Hz monitor and played games that were really single-threaded intensive (like Starcraft), I will likely not see any gaming difference. However, since this isn't exactly an inexpensive build, and I'd like something that's virtually guaranteed to last me for the foreseeable future, plopping $300 on an IVB i7 is what I would think to be a good investment since it has good single-threaded and multi-threaded performance.

While I won't rule out a GTX690 (or even Powercolor's HD7990 solutions), the $1000 pricetag is pretty steep, considering two GTX680s cost around $450 each and would be a better value in and of themselves. I think I'll pass on that for now, and wait to see how the HD8990 performs when/if it's ever released. Two of such cards, however, would not only be silly to spend on, but would automatically put me overbudget even if I got lenient with the spending.

Corsair Dominator RAM does look pretty stylin', but I'm looking for performance moreso than aesthetics. Maybe if I upped my budget to $3000 and went for aesthetics, I could consider it :D

[cxz]

Well here is my $.02, from all of the reviews I have seen the amd 8350 (whatever the top model is) beats that i5 in almost everything that isn't gaming. The i5 wins more in games, but some games work a little better on amd. Also the amd is a little cheaper. If you have a good enough gpu then both cpu will be about the same in gaming. If you want to go best of the best you can grab a 690 or even 2 gtx 690s for basically quad sli. AMD is improving their drivers and so the 7970 is getting betters but idk what its comparison is to the 680 anymore.

I don't know much about intel mobos, but for either company I wouldn't get those super extreme prices mobos they seem a little over kill to me. If you have money to blow get dominator platinum they will make your system bling tastic =D

Oh man I'm sorry I didn't see your budget numbers =P Ha well if you go with an i7 you blow AMD's flag out of the water. lol Well someone will probably disagree with me, but ram is not as critical as it used to be, therefor its totally used for aesthetics =D

As for you Toby I can't remember what sites I have seen them on, but I believe they were all pretty consistent about what I said. Its been awhile though since I have looked up benchmarks, but some sites I like going to are maximumpc and tomshardware. As always don't always believe everything on the forums make sure to do your own research ;)

[Toby]

Well here is my $.02, from all of the reviews I have seen the amd 8350 (whatever the top model is) beats that i5 in almost everything that isn't gaming. The i5 wins more in games, but some games work a little better on amd. Also the amd is a little cheaper. If you have a good enough gpu then both cpu will be about the same in gaming. If you want to go best of the best you can grab a 690 or even 2 gtx 690s for basically quad sli. AMD is improving their drivers and so the 7970 is getting betters but idk what its comparison is to the 680 anymore.

I don't know much about intel mobos, but for either company I wouldn't get those super extreme prices mobos they seem a little over kill to me. If you have money to blow get dominator platinum they will make your system bling tastic =D

I do. That's why I asked. It's a given that the 8350 does well in content creation and compression, but then I suppose that *is* "everything that isn't gaming". It's just that from my perspective the biggest priorities are gaming and power consumption, since most people don't create great amounts of video or 3D content.

I guess the problem is that a lot of the people who do enough video/3D content to warrant buying a CPU that's adept at such, are doing those things with the intent of going professional, or making some living off it, in which case I'm the kind of person to advise investing in the best thing you can, which would be the 3770k. The kinds of people to whom the 8350 would be the best option (on a tight budget, producing video/3D content more than gaming, but entirely for fun, or as a hobby), tend to be fairly limited in number.

As it is, I re-read those 8350 reviews at Tom's and MaxPC and can see why we came away with opposite conclusions.

[cxz]

Well here is my $.02, from all of the reviews I have seen the amd 8350 (whatever the top model is) beats that i5 in almost everything that isn't gaming. The i5 wins more in games, but some games work a little better on amd. Also the amd is a little cheaper. If you have a good enough gpu then both cpu will be about the same in gaming. If you want to go best of the best you can grab a 690 or even 2 gtx 690s for basically quad sli. AMD is improving their drivers and so the 7970 is getting betters but idk what its comparison is to the 680 anymore.

I don't know much about intel mobos, but for either company I wouldn't get those super extreme prices mobos they seem a little over kill to me. If you have money to blow get dominator platinum they will make your system bling tastic =D

All I gotta say is that I agree with you. I saw the i5 in the first post and didn't see all of the i7s mentioned, but like I said to his comment go with the i7 cause it wins hands down.

[Apach3]

Based upon the plentiful and very helpful feedback I've been getting, I think I'll aim for something like this: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/yMN4

• Intel Core i7-3770K: it's undisputed that it's the best processor for this kind of budget and my particular needs. Shave off a good $80 from that listed price if I get it directly in-store from MicroCenter.
  
• Corsair H100i: one of the best coolers out there, and I've kinda wanted a liquid cooler ever since they became popular.
  
• Biostar TZ77XE4: I think Toby did a good job at convincing me to get a Biostar motherboard, despite this not exactly being a "budget" build. It was only about $10 more than the XE3 version, but the SATA and expansion slot layout was cleaner.
  
• 4x 4GB Crucial Ballistix Tactical Tracer DDR3 1600 RAM: one word - eyecandy. Besides the potential video editing and content creation needs, seeing Linus' videos with these sticks in there pushed me to consider them just for the flashing lights up at the top. I'm not looking to overclock RAM, so this works out for me.
  
• 2x 3TB Seagate Barracuda HDD: 6TB should be plenty of room for me for the next few years.
  
• Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSD: best on the market, and it's just $10 more than a 240GB Neutron GTX from Corsair that I was originally looking at.
  
• Powercolor HD7950: this one I really didn't want to do because of the performance of the 7970s. But let's face it: I'll take only a 10-ish percent (max) hit on performance while saving at least $200 - roughly 25 percent the cost of two HD7970s. I think that's a good tradeoff.
  
• Cooler Master Storm Stryker: the Trooper looks good in white, and that handle will really come in handy for the gatherings I frequent. And with a side window, it makes the Tracer memory worth getting.
  
• XFX 850W PSU: slightly overkill, yes, but I want something that I can use for future upgrades, like an HD8990 and more disc drives. That, and XFX PSUs are made by Seasonic.
  
• Blu-Ray Burner: I've got a lot of Blu-Rays laying around unused because all I have are DVD players and burners.
  

Total PCPartPicker cost: ~$2030 US as of 1-21-2013

Total PC cost w/ discounted i7-3770K: ~$1950 as of 1-21-2013

Total PC cost w/ peripherals: $3500 estimated as of 1-21-2013 (I'd like to get some nice peripherals, and it will add up considerably).

The only thing I'll be importing from my other build is the 1TB Caviar Black; I might use that as a scrap drive.

So, what might be the general consensus? Think I should go for it?

[WaspishVyper]

Right now, I am pretty sure Intel holds the crown on performance. Period. Yes, AMD is cheaper, but if you are doing gaming and such, Intel is your choice. Best bang for the buck, the i5 3570k. Get a water cooler for it and you can over clock easily and get the performance of the i7 3770k for a lot less. Corsair h100i, one of the Kraken if they fit or wait for the new Swiftech one.

I like the MSI series of boards right now - I have the Z77A-GD65 right night, overclocks very nice. The MSI MPower is amazing! Linus did a really nice review on it.

GPU - I would go with a 7970 if you can swing it. That is quite the card, although the 8000 series is on the horizon... (rebranded 7000's anyone?)

SSD - OCZ Vector are supposed to be amazing. Also, Samsung 840, Corsair, etc.

RAM - I like the Corsair Dominator Platinums, bit of extra bling and they perform really well.

Cases - I love the Stryker, the Cosmos II is just to bleeding big for what is actually gives you. Haf X is solid. R4 is nice. Level 10GT, styling case, I have one, but cooling isn't the best. If you want to go big or go home, wait for the 900D. :D

I can vouch for the z77 MPower it's awesome and looks beautiful, plus mine came with a Racecar