computer talk

Not sure if this is the right place for it.

Guys i need info,

Im not a computer buff head that knows what has to go into a computer to make it work. If i was to go buy one i would tell the shop guy i want it for gaming with great sound, awesome graphics and fast.

So i know that i need a good power supply, about 700/800 watts and up. I want to run SSD, plus hard drive, 2 top end graphics cards for the gaming, 3 screen set up, plus one for just a 2nd stand alone screen and great sound, plus 4-8 usb outputs and liquid cooling, good case for cooling etc.

I am wanting to budget around 1500-2000

Does anyone have any suggestions pls?
 
2000 would be cutting it close, especially if you are going to be using an SSD and a total of 4 monitors.

Let me start off by saying that most onboard sound on modern motherboards produce some very good sound. If you plan on doing high end audio editing though, getting a better sound card is a must as is the software required for it. This alone will send your pc build over the top cost wise as high end sound cards are not cheap.

From the sound of things you are wanting to overclock the system otherwise there isn't really a need to use water cooling. Most of the better heat sink and fan setups on the market are fully capable of cooling CPU's at stock speeds. If you want it overclocked, you should have someone build the system and then overclock it before you receive it to be sure that the system is going to be stable. Make sure that you get a warranty with the system if you do this.

As far as gaming and the CPU, I would suggest the i5 2500K CPU, but if you are going to be doing other business applications with the system such as autocad or photoshop or 3ds max I would get the i7 2600K CPU. If you are an AMD fan, then the Phenom II X6 CPU's are decent, but won't be as fast as the i5's.

Graphics, I prefer the ATI HD cards, but the nVidia are pretty nice as well. A pair of HD 6950 cards with 2Gb of ram on each would do well for what you are asking about. Keep in mind though that for triple screen there are times when the ATI in crossfire mode are not as fast due to some bug with the software. I am pretty sure they will have this straightened out pretty soon though. Triple screen setup is not possible on a single nVidia card, so using a pair of GTX580 TI cards would do good as well.

Monitors are going to be something you will have to think about. Do you want 22", 24", 27" or were you wanting to invest in some 30" or larger TV's to be used? If the monitors are full HD, they will require more horsepower to draw to than say a 22" that is just short of full HD. The larger the monitor the more you will have to spend on them. If you want a monitor with 3d capabilities, you need them with 120Hz refresh rate and they tend to be expensive.

Next question would be how much system ram are you wanting? I would go for no less than 8Gb unless you plan on sticking with a 32 bit OS in which case you won't be able to use any more than 4Gb. I would highly recommend using Windows 7 Pro as only with the Pro version or higher will you be able to download and use the XP virtual machine to run most older software properly.
 
Dont know what PC parts over there are in AUS but my computer just bought last month or 2.

Case: Coolmaster HAF X Case (freaking huge, includes 4 trolley wheels on bottom lol and comes with like a million fan holes and is designed to be cool and direct airflow)
CPU: i7 3930K 3.2Ghz - Watercooled
GPU: 2x nVidia GTX570's in SLI
1HDD: 600GB Western Digital Velociraptor 10,000rpm (around same speed/maybe tiny bit lower than SSD but way cheaper ATM).
2HDD: 1.5TB Western Digital Caviar Green
MB: Gigabyte Assassin 2 with on board Creative sound chips for 7.1 sound
RAM: 16GB DDR3 Corsair
PSU: 1000W Corsair
Monitors: 3x 22" LG HD Monitors

Got all that (in parts) for £2,200 in the UK of course. Runs pretty much anything without breaking a sweat at the moment, rF2, PCars, Race07, FSX, ARMA2 etc etc

RE Graphics cards/3 screens: When I do go to upgrade this machine it will be the GFX cards, although I have the equivelent 2.5Ghz DDR5 Graphics the 3 screens can put a load on them since of course it has to render 3 times as much as normal. The reason for the 570's is that to have 2x 580's or 680's would have been an extra few hundred pounds for very little gain, once they come down in price I will probably buy 2.

If you have any Q's just ask in here I guess :)
 
OK guys,

Done some research and got some feedback from you and others. I have put this together and would like your thoughts pls

remember this will run 3 monitors, and need it to run games like RF2, Asseto Corsa, P-Cars etc. all these games coming out soon.


comp.jpg
 
Looks good, Motherboard is not too bad but its pretty small and with 2x 570's it will be a bit cramped in there I think. CPU is pretty good, better to be a newer 6 core i7 but without spending big money its a great CPU.

What site are you using to build this? Trying to look in the UK but of course stuff is in £ and not AUS$.
 
Looks interesting. There are a couple of things though I would look into. First off, where is the CPU cooler? Second, I notice a lot of stuff is listed as low quantity, do you have a backup plan in case they don't have the parts you want?
 
what your thoughts on this?

COOLER MASTER HAF 932 Advanced Steel ATX Full Tower $150

GIGABYTE LGA 2011 Intel X79 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard $240

EVGA GeForce GTX 680 FTW+ w/Backplate 4GB 256-bit GDDR5 $630

COOLER MASTER Silent Pro 1000W ATX12V SLI Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE PFC Power Supply $175

Intel Core i7-3820 Sandy Bridge-E 3.6GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 2011 130W Quad-Core Processor $300

CORSAIR DOMINATOR 24GB (6 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) DHX Pro Connector and Airflow II Fan Model $170

Corsair Force Series GT CSSD-F120GBGT-BK 2.5" 120GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) $120

Corsair Force Series GT CSSD-F240GBGT-BK 2.5" 240GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) $235

COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 EVO Continuous Direct Contact 120mm Sleeve CPU Cooler Compatible with latest Intel 2011/1366/1155 and AMD FM1/AM3+ $30

Subtotal: $2,050
 
What Daniel said is correct. Lose one of the SSD's and replace it with a 2TB drive and you should be good to go. Just make sure that you use a 64bit OS. Usually the SSD is set to be the OS drive and everything else gets installed onto the large drive.
 

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