# New Build finalized. What do you think?



## Black Panther (May 20, 2012)

No need to click on the spoilers now. 

Within some weeks I'll be getting an i7 930 (which I plan to oc to ~ 4Ghz), a Scythe Yasya cooler, 6GB DDR3 Mushkin Blackline and a Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R.

They're a HUGE upgrade from my system and what's more they're gifts, *-- thank you mjkmike! -- * 

Following are the parts I plan to buy for this new system. They might seem overkill, but I don't upgrade much unless it's to add more ram or to change graphics card.

I plan to keep my old E8400 rig running (for crunching and to give to my daughter for gaming) so I need to buy some new hardware too in order to have 2 decent working pc's at home.

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*GPU:* [Decided on ASUS GeForce GTX 670 Direct CU II TOP 2 GB]



Spoiler



My main difficulty is whether I should use my HD5970 with the new pc, or leave it in my old pc and buy another graphics card to use with the i7.

Consider the following:

- My daughter will be gaming at 1680x1050 while I will be using a 2560x1440 monitor.

- The only graphics card I have spare is an 8600GTS, which is a POS....

- I don't like my HD5970 much... for the following reasons:

1) It's a crossfire single pcb card, and so I can't disable crossfire;
2) While I play a wide range of demanding games (Alan Wake, Skyrim, Metro, Fallout...) one of my all-time favorites remains The Sims 3, and to have it running I have to install a 2 year old graphics driver otherwise I just get sound looping and crashing without the game even starting at all. Then I'd have to install the latest drivers again to have CF recognized in other games and to get good performance. It's extremely tedious having switch back and forth drivers just to play a different game.
3) I just don't have a very high opinion of AMD's driver support. See above The Sims 3 reason, and another reason being that Fallout 3 gets 'sky-strobing effects' unless I delete some file - it's known to be a CF issue and AMD never fixed it.
4) Though the HD5970 is marketed as a card with 2GB of VRAM, it being crossfire means that it only uses 1GB, I think at 2560x1440 a card with more than 1GB VRAM would give me much better gaming performance.

- The Nvidia 670's performance looks terribly attractive, and it's got 2GB of VRAM... 
Let me say that again, it looks like something I'm excruciatingly itching to buy...  It gives approximately the same performance as the HD5970 but with 2GB of VRAM (and there's also a 4GB VRAM version but let's not go into that yet? Or shall we?) 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			







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PSU:* [Decided on NZXT HALE 90 + 850W GOLD (white PSU to match the NZXT Switch 810 case color)]



Spoiler



Basically I have the same difficulties as with the GPU above.
On my present pc I have a modular Corsair 800W. Unfortunately I don't have any decent PSU lying around which I can use with the E8400 build in the event I decide to use the Corsair for the i7 build.

I'm unsure as to whether I should buy some cheaper ~ 600W PSU for the old rig and use the Corsair for the new one. Or whether I should leave the Corsair where it is and buy a more future-proof PSU. I bought the Corsair PSU in January 2010, so it's already more than 2 years old.



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Case:* [Decided on the White NZXT Switch 810]



Spoiler



I need a new case, if for nothing else because my daughter would be very disappointed if I stuffed in the hardware in some old beige case before giving her "my pc".  And cooling wouldn't be great either.

So I decided to let her have my Aerocool and get a new case with good cooling options for the i7.

However I'm at a loss as to what I should choose.

The only requirements I have is that it must be a full-sized tower case this time (I had to use grippers to bend the HDD cage of the Aerocool to get the HD5970 to fit inside!) and that it _must_ have a large side-window (preferably not funky-shaped, I'd go for the Antec 1200 weren't its side-window shaped like a number 3). Otherwise I wouldn't mind how the case looks, as long as it isn't some ridiculous color.

It must be good and future-proof for air-cooling. I had really fancied the Corsair 800D -- it looks really beautiful and neat (just saying so you get an idea of my tastes in cases) but I also read that it is more ideal for watercooling rather than air-cooling. Now I don't know, hence asking for advice here 



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*HDD/SSD* [Decided on the Sandisk 240GB] 



Spoiler



I was planning to put the 160GB Intel SSD in the new pc and buy some 1TB or 2TB drive  (you suggest which) for general storage and games which don't need high physical drive speed. And use my existent 250GB Seagate for everything in the old pc. Unless you think it's a terrible idea? (Keep in mind the Seagate is already 5 years old, but it never gave me any problems).



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*Optical Drive* [Decided on Sony BWU-500S-WW]


*Total cost for all the above, including Win 7 Home Premium will be €1320.*

Just tell me if you think I'm getting ripped off.


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## entropy13 (May 20, 2012)

GPU: Welcome to the Green Team BP! 

PSU: Get a new PSU for the new rig. Which PSU exactly will depend on your budget...

Case: You can try the NZXT Switch 810. 

HDD/SSD: Sound ideas from you thus far.


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## de.das.dude (May 20, 2012)

congo in the upgrades BP!


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## BarbaricSoul (May 20, 2012)

GPU-

If you want the GTX670, get it. Personally my 5870 crossfireX set up doesn't give me any issues like your 5970 set up is giving you, but I don't play Sims. My future GPU plans include a GK110 video card, but I'm also a cruncher/folder, so I'm looking for more than just game performance and I'll benefit from GK110's GPGPU performance.

PSU-

Leave the 800 watt with the 5970 and get something like the HX650. A single GTX670 system doesn't need as much power as a 5970 system, even with the 5970 system being a C2D.

Case-

Have you looked at NZXT's offerings? The Source 210 looks simular to the Obsidian's style, is less than $50 and has good reviews on Newegg. NZXT Source 210 S210-001 Black “Aluminum Bru... 

I just ordered one this morning, should be here on tuesday. I can let you know what I feel about it then. It is a mid-tower case, not a full tower if that matters to you.

The 800D is nice and all, but I can't see spending that much on a case. And before anyone says anything about my Lian Li, I only paid $150 for it.

HD-

If your seagate is performing just fine, I'd use it in the build for your daughter like your saying. I've had my Seagate 7200.12 for longer than 2 years, and it was used when I got it. Not a single issue with it.


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## Crap Daddy (May 20, 2012)

The 670 is around 15% over the 5970 at higher resolutions and is the card to get. So I would say let the 5970 and your old PSU go to your daughter's PC. A 650W PSU can handle 670SLI but you can go even lower if you plan only one card. I like Corsair cases, can't afford one myself, pick whatever you like and suit your needs.


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## Fourstaff (May 20, 2012)

TL;DR: Shove your entire tower to your daughter, and build a new rig around the 930. 

New GPU since that it sounds like you are pretty annoyed with your current GPU. PSU goes with the 5970, since that graphics card replacement will not eat as much power as the 5970. GTX 7950, 7970, 670 and 680 depending on price perf would be ideal, maybe 7950 a bit weak. 

PSU goes with the GPU depending on what you have, I would imagine 650w is more than enough unless you have CF/SLi wishes.

Cases, take a look at the lower end Corsair stuff? Silverstone and Lian Li makes clean understated cases too, but they are not cheap either. You might also like Fractal Design ones. Chop a side window if you want, you probably have the tools anyway


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## Black Panther (May 21, 2012)

I agree with Fourstaff that it is better to 'shove' my entire tower to daughter and get new parts for the i7.

What do you think of the following hardware? Ignore the prices for now, I'll be shopping around to find better-priced sellers:

Also, is it worth spending some extra €100 to get the 4GB version of the 670? (considering I game at 2560x1440?)

Should I forget SSD and get a good fast HDD?


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## entropy13 (May 21, 2012)

You can try getting a different PSU? Frankly the Corsair HX series is quite "old" already.


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## mtosev (May 21, 2012)

intel's 520 and samsung's 830 ssds are best buys currently. i would get one of those

btw you should check if you can get stuff for cheaper from this german store www.computeruniverse.net


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## entropy13 (May 21, 2012)

Can you list what SSDs and PSUs you can choose from?


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## Fourstaff (May 21, 2012)

entropy13 said:


> Can you list what SSDs and PSUs you can choose from?



She can generally shop in Europe or some UK retailers, so availability is not a big issue.



entropy13 said:


> You can try getting a different PSU? Frankly the Corsair HX series is quite "old" already.



Its still good even if its an old design. Back when 930 was the chip to get the HX was the king of the hill lol. 

€100 for a 4gb card seems a bit excessive to me, but I have not seen any recent graphics ram to performance chart, so don't quote me on this.


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## nleksan (May 23, 2012)

I vote Switch 810, I finally got around to pulling mine out of the box and it is amazing! Seriously, I don't regret holding off on the Caselabs TH10 one bit. I would just recommend ordering it from NZXT themselves, as mine came from Newegg and is damaged and they will not do ***t about it because they didn't put a packing slip in! Argh


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## Black Panther (May 23, 2012)

I've decided on the GPU so far.
It will be the Asus 670.

About the case:

I like the 800D but it's way too expensive.

The NZXT Switch 810 looks nice. I wouldn't be sure whether to choose black or gun-metal regarding the color though..
Am not sure if NZXT ship to Europe. Newegg for sure doesn't.

I'm also considering the Bitfenix Shinobi XL. At first I had dismissed it since the review on TPU didn't show the case with a side-window. But apparently the windowed version is available:





To be honest I like the Switch 810 better.

Any other cases you would suggest guys?

The only requirements are:

- Full tower.
- Cable management.
- Side window.
- Interior the same color as exterior.

You see I'm not that demanding


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## nleksan (May 24, 2012)

550 or 650D?  I still think that the Switch 810 is the way to go, so much room to expand!


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## entropy13 (May 24, 2012)

Yeah the Switch 810 edges it for me, but the Shinobi XL is still a great case.


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## Black Panther (May 25, 2012)

Update: I decided in favor of the NZXT Switch 810.
I'm still unsure as to which color to get. Black is mainstream, white looks... cool. Makes everything show up prettily much better than a black interior. That's why I like the side-window.

I can't see the moment when I get this system up and running with the 670.

I had been gaming with my 5970 and getting good fps. But in order to play the Sims 3 I have to load a 2 year old driver otherwise the game'd just crash while loading.
I had totally forgotten about the old driver there... and spent 6 hours playing Alan Wake. Full settings was playable at 2560x1440 but it lagged a bit.

I checked my fps with Bandicam, they were between 18 and 28. Ugghhh no wonder...

I thought what the heck f**k the Sims... and installed the latest 12.4 driver. And voila' my fps in Alan Wake shot up to 40-50!!  And I hadn't even installed the cap profiles.


*Edit:* With the cap profiles now I got up to 55 fps at 2560x1440 on only a core 2 duo e8400!! Cool!!
____________________________________

*
Please keep any suggestions coming!* Especially for PSU and HDD/SSD now.


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## Black Panther (May 27, 2012)

Any PSU suggestions please?


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## Fourstaff (May 27, 2012)

The Corsair 750 you linked is good, Antec HCG series is also good, Thermaltake Toughpower, etc. Pick one which you like. 

Edit: 600w is more than sufficient if you are going for 670 and not overclocking the 930 like a madman.


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## entropy13 (May 27, 2012)

*PSU:* Seasonic M12II 620W/750W, FSP Aurum CM 650/750W, FSP Everest 85PLUS 700W, Enermax NAXN 82+ 650W/750W, Antec HCG 620W/750W, Antec TruePower 650W/750W, NZXT Hale82 650W/750W, Thermaltake Toughpower XT 675W

*HDD:* Seagate Barracuda 7200.12/7200.14 1TB, Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB, Samsung F3 1TB


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## Black Panther (May 27, 2012)

Fourstaff said:


> Edit: 600w is more than sufficient if you are going for 670 and not overclocking the 930 like a madman.



I'll be oc'ing the 930 to 4Ghz as did its previous owner using same mobo and ram.


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## Fourstaff (May 27, 2012)

Black Panther said:


> I'll be oc'ing the 930 to 4Ghz as did its previous owner using same mobo and ram.



I am lazy to do the maths lol
http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/cpu/22622-intel-core-i7-930-cpu-review-busting-4ghz/?page=11


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## Black Panther (May 27, 2012)

entropy13 said:


> *HDD:* Seagate Barracuda 7200.12/7200.14 1TB, Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB, Samsung F3 1TB



Wouldn't the Sandisk 240GB SSD I pictured in my second post above be a better choice re performance? 

I don't really use much space (currently I only have a 160GB SSD and a 250GB Seagate). And a 1TB NAS which I rarely power on...


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## entropy13 (May 27, 2012)

If you don't need the space then get a new SSD. 

Anyway, just look out for the pricing of everything you're going to buy.


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## Black Panther (May 28, 2012)

I'm still very undecided about the PSU. There's so many to choose from...
Is it OK to choose any "80+ Gold" one?
I'd definitely go for modular over the regular PSU's too.

This Antec perhaps? I don't want to skimp on PSU. Or is Corsair a better brand? I read so much reviews in favour of Corsair that it's kinda hard to switch brands...

__________________________

Perhaps the parts I chose above might appear overkill, but 



Spoiler



I'm the type of person who rarely upgrades unless it's to add more RAM or get a new graphics card. This is evident from my current system specs! My motherboard is 5 years old, I'm still using an E8400 and DDR2 RAM and I wouldn't have changed my PSU hadn't my brother's PSU died so I gave him my 550W LC power and then got the 850W Corsair and the 5970. 

If it weren't for my dad who when choosing upgrades for the work pc's a couple years ago suggested that I should swap my cpu I'd still be running the E4300 @ 3Ghz instead of the E8400 @ 4Ghz 



I'm envisioning these parts might last me another 5 years or so. 
__________________________

I just remembered that I need an *optical drive*!

I'm looking for a blu-ray player (writer not necessary).
The most important factor is that it is *silent*. I've never as yet owned an optical drive which doesn't sound like a revving motorcycle machine.... Which brands would you suggest please?

Here's what I am planning to get so far (the optical drive isn't there yet)
And I'm negotiating with a local reseller to give me a better price than OcUK. So far his quote on the Switch 810 and 670 was already €117 cheaper.


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## Fourstaff (May 28, 2012)

850w is too much unless you are going SLi. Then again, 650w costs about £70, so I don't see why not lol. 

As for noisy optical drive, I can't really suggest you any, since that I have not used an optical drive since, uhh, 3 years ago?


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## Black Panther (May 29, 2012)

Final bump. 

Please just read the OP, I put all my choices there. Just let me know if I'm doing anything stupid


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## Fourstaff (May 29, 2012)

Only one I don't like is the Sandisk, I would go for Agility 3, Samsung 830 or M4, but that is just me


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## PopcornMachine (May 29, 2012)

Very nice build.  I wish I had a Switch.  I'd water cool the hell out of it.


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## nleksan (May 30, 2012)

NZXT HALE90 850W PSU is what I got to go with my in-progress 3930K + Rampage IV Extreme build... Excellent reviews plus it looks great in the white Switch 810 ;-) 

Just trying to figure out a few more options for my own build (RAM/HDD/SSD), and I have been having some trouble figuring out which radiator to use (up top) that is 3x140mm and offer strong cooling performance (initially for just cpu, but eventually I will also have GPU/GPUs and possibly Chipset blocks). So far, it seems like either the Koolance EX420 (the ~30mm thick 30fpi one) or the Black Ice 30fpi "stealth" are best for a "drop-in" no-cutting 420mm radiator in push/pull... 
The bottom can always take a 240mm or 280mm rad, or could do a 140mm single back/bottom or even on one of the drive bays fans.


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## Black Panther (May 31, 2012)

OK, the CPU, mobo, RAM and cooler arrived today.

Within the next hour I'm going to place my order for the following:

1) NZXT Switch 810 White.
2) NZXT HALE90 850W PSU.
3) Zotac GTX 670 4 GB.
4) Sandisk Extreme SSD 240GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive.
5) Sony BWU-500S-WW Blu Ray writer (or LG BH10LS38 10x BluRay-RW / 16 x DVD±RW)
6) Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit.


_"If any person can show just cause why me and the above parts may not be joined together – let them speak now or forever hold their peace."_


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## Crap Daddy (May 31, 2012)

Black Panther said:


> "If any person can show just cause why me and the above parts may not be joined together %u2013 let them speak now or forever hold their peace."



Amen


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## yogurt_21 (May 31, 2012)

should be good, you should get very similar gaming performance to my rig while booting way faster among other things due to the ssd. 

the ud3r is a solid board and is pretty forgiving when it comes to OC settings.


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## Black Panther (May 31, 2012)

yogurt_21 said:


> the ud3r is a solid board and is pretty forgiving when it comes to OC settings.



And pretty. I love its colors and layout!


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## n-ster (May 31, 2012)

Have you looked at the Samsung 830? Or maybe the Intel 520 if it's not much more?

They are both very reliable SSDs, and IMO they are pretty too


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## Black Panther (May 31, 2012)

n-ster said:


> Have you looked at the Samsung 830? Or maybe the Intel 520 if it's not much more?
> 
> They are both very reliable SSDs, and IMO they are pretty too



At the same price (slightly less) the Intel and the Samsung are 120GB and 128GB respectively. The Sandisk has the same read/write speed but it's 240GB.


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## D007 (May 31, 2012)

OMG what did you do to it?!  ; ;   ; ;    

j/k  lol.. You are lookin good. 
I  the 240 gb SSD.. They just keep getting bigger and more afordable.


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## n-ster (May 31, 2012)

Black Panther said:


> At the same price (slightly less) the Intel and the Samsung are 120GB and 128GB respectively. The Sandisk has the same read/write speed but it's 240GB.



damn the samsung is way overpriced where you live  I'm just not that fond of the SandForce controller...

How is the Vertex 4 then? but then again OCZ doesn't have the best road record.... but their Vertex 4 seems pretty good still.


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## Sinzia (May 31, 2012)

I smell a build log when you get all the stuffs!

Grats on the upgrades.


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## Black Panther (Jun 1, 2012)

And the waiting game begins...

I'll be getting the rest of the parts within like... 15 days...


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## nleksan (Jun 3, 2012)

If you get the Samsung 830, we are going to have builds that are essentially twins separated at birth lol. I think you're going to love the Switch and HALE90!


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## Black Panther (Jun 19, 2012)

Well, the new parts will be arriving some time _next_ week now because the graphics card was delayed...


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## entropy13 (Jun 19, 2012)

Black Panther said:


> Well, the new parts will be arriving some time _next_ week now because the graphics card was delayed...



Aww.


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## Black Panther (Jun 27, 2012)

Well, just my luck but last week the seller told me the 670 4GB won't be available before...


...


take a deep breath...

1st week of August!! 

So I told him to deliver the rest of the items and then I'll contact him on the graphics card later on in July. Heck by the first week of August I'd have changed my mind 99 times..

At least I can build, the graphics card can wait. Hopefully I'll have the rest of the items delivered next week.

I also bought a decal on ebay, to put on the side of the case where there isn't the window.
Here's a pic. (Note the decal is black and each bit is a sticker on its own. So since my case is white it'd be black on a white background. No grayish background.)
It's 33cm x 30cm so it should fill up the side of the case nicely.







I like embellishing the non-windowed side with a sticker, I have one on my current case but that one I had cut it out myself:


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