Looking for advice on parts for a new pc.

[Woutertje]

Hello everyone,

as the title says i'm orientating myself on buying a new pc but i am not quite sure about what parts to choose. The pc will be used for fsx and a couple of game's, mainly fsx though. I don't have any experience with overclocking but want to try it with the new pc. These are the parts i have so far but can't choose between (i'm one of those people that find it hard to make a decision):

CPU: As far as i have understood what i read around the i7 is the way to go these days. I'm hanging between the 930 or the 875. Since i don't have overclocked before i got the impression from what i read around that an processor with an unlocked multiplier is easier to overclock. If i understood it right in the 930 when you start overclocking the frequencies of everything else are also changing. Were in the 875 you just push the multiplier up step by step.

I found some guides online though about overclocking the 9xx series and they made it actually look easy. So there is my problem, what would be the better one of the two?

Harddisks: Would it be oke to put Windows on an SSD and all the rest of the programs on a SATA600 Western Digital Raptor? Actually 2 Raptors of 450 GB each, one purely for fsx and the other one for the rest. I know it's really big, but it's the smallest SATA600 10000rpm drive i found. Or is the gain over a normal SATA300 connection not enough to justify the cost of the SATA600 disks?

Motherboard: From what i read and found out so far i am strongly thinking about a gigabyte one. Also in the light of the above they seem the only ones with a couple of SATA600 connections on the boards.

Memory: The memory prices have gone up a lot i found out. I am thinking of going for 6 or 8 gig, depending on the processor, since one has 2 and the other 3 memory lanes. I read that fsx like's the timings to be 7 or lower, please correct me if i'm wrong.

Graphics Card: From what i read around here on these forums the GTX480 is the way to choose these days. I have some hesitation though since i read in multiple reviews that they tend to get very hot and noisy. Although i wouldn't know what other card to choose since ATI seems to have difficulty's in fsx with the weather.

Case: My eye has fallen on an Antec P193. The case i currently have is also from Antec and i like it a lot, silent, sturdy and i like the design. Although i'm open for other suggestions, the only musts for me are a good airflow, sturdy and it must be easy to install everything in. My current case had a problem with the 4870 that is in it, it just fits without much room left.

Power supply: There are a lot of those around but would 850 watt be enough?

Cooling: For the processor cooler i hesitate between a couple of things. I read good things about Noctua's NH-D14 but that one seems to be heavy. Also the Prolimatech Megahalems seem to be good. Recently though i have found the Corsair H50, wich seems to give nice results too. And Coolit has something similar but then with a longer radiator so it can fit 2 fans. I just can't make up my mind between all them.

So, that should be about it i think. Oh, nearly forgot, i live in the Netherlands and the maximum i want to spend is €2500. Might sound strange to give a maximum but i know myself, if i set myself a budget i go over it anyway. With setting a maximum i don't have that problem.

If i forgot something feel free to ask. I hope you can help me out. Thanks in advance.

Kind regards,

Wouter

p.s.: there might be some language faults or wrong grammar, please don't pay too much attention to that.

[gheeD]

If you use sounds while simming, you wont hear GTX480 fans noise thru the sounds. temps are around 80 with custom fan profile in msi afterburner.

I've read that using windows on SSD and fsx on normal hard drive defeats SSD purpose, since the normal HDD only can read/write with so slow speed, fsx can only operate at its speed, not SSD's. So to use SSD, you neet both windows and fsx use SSD to get it to perform with its correct speed.

[Woutertje]

What size of SSD would i need then to put both windows and fsx on, with addons? I have been looking at bigger SSD's but they are still fairly expensive for the bigger one's.

And about the sound issue with the GTX480, i just don't want everyone else in the house to be awake when i turn on the pc. But i don't think it will reach that kind of noise, at least i hope it doesn't.

Kind regards,

Wouter

[jgruschow]

I would reccomend the 980 cpu.It may be a bit expensive, but it is worth it. Runs much cooler than the quad cores and overclocks beautifuly. Mine is running at 4.2 and temp is always in the 60's

Don't believe the stories about 480's being hot and noisy. I have two of them in SLI. Temp is constantly in the 80's and not a sound from them. If you go SLI just make sure you get a motherboard that has a good space between the slots. Leaves plenty of room for air circulation.

And make sure you get a good case. One with plenty of fans.I suggest an Antec 1200.

I wouldn't bother with a DDS HDD. I had one but sold it with my old computer. They are a bit faster, but not a $1000's worth.

[alainneedle1]

How much money are you welling to spend?

[Woutertje]

€2500 maximum so anything under that is nice but i'm not going over that.

So i think that leaves out an 980 cpu since that one alone is around €950 already. Unless you are convincing me that the 980 is the one to choose. Then i might have to raise my budget a little i think.

I'm a bit unsure about the SSD part though, i'm pretty sure they are faster then normal harddrives since they don't have moving parts, but i think the price is still a bit high.

Wonder if anyone has any experience with the 10000rpm disks from Western Digital though and if they would share there comments on them. And i'm also wondering about SATA600, is there an noticeable advantage over SATA300?

[alainneedle1]

€2500 maximum so anything under that is nice but i'm not going over that.

So i think that leaves out an 980 cpu since that one alone is around €950 already.

I'm a bit unsure about the SSD part though, i'm pretty sure they are faster then normal harddrives since they don't have moving parts, but i think the price is still a bit high.

Wonder if anyone has any experience with the 10000rpm disks from Western Digital though and if they would share there comments on them. And i'm also wondering about SATA600, is there an noticeable advantage over SATA300?

I am using the velociraptor 300GB in the rig in my sig. the best one is this one... http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136555

WOW! 950 euro for the i7 960... can't you buy it here and have it shiped to you? ...  $599.99 here ..http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115211

Since the euro is stronger than the US $ you will save even more money by buying it here......

The best thing to do when building a new rig IMHO is to pick a mobo and max it out so don't pick a mobo capable of running 2200MHz rams if you already know you'll be using 1600MHz in it......pick a mobo doing 1600MHz max and save some money for something else.....BUT it's your money and you can do what ever you want with it.

Like I said in another thread...why will you buy a Ferrai Enzo and put a 4 cylinder in it or a Mazda Miata transmission...it will not go faster because the body is a Ferrari.....

[TenBlade]

Mushkin Redline have low timings, CL 6, I can recommend those.

Make sure your PSU is quality. Oh, the hours I've wasted on futile OC with cheap PSU... Read reviews, Corsair is good, OCz has good reviews too. There's a PSU calculator (link) on this forum, but as far as I recall it doesn't take into account any ammount of OC and, in my case, multiple power consuming fans.

GL on your build!

Bjorn 

[Woutertje]

@ alainneedle1: I know what you mean about optimizing out everything so i will look into all the bits and pieces. I don't know where you saw the 950 for €950 though but i saw it in an onlineshop from the Netherlands for €560. Other problem for me is that i don't do online banking, nor do i have a credit card. So going online to buy something is not really an option.

@TenBlade: Mushkin isn't available here in the Netherlands, and cause of the above i don't think i'll be able to get it. My eye has fallen on a corsair psu of 850 watt, the HX850.

[alainneedle1]

@ alainneedle1: I know what you mean about optimizing out everything so i will look into all the bits and pieces. I don't know where you saw the 950 for €950 though but i saw it in an onlineshop from the Netherlands for €560. Other problem for me is that i don't do online banking, nor do i have a credit card. So going online to buy something is not really an option.

@TenBlade: Mushkin isn't available here in the Netherlands, and cause of the above i don't think i'll be able to get it. My eye has fallen on a corsair psu of 850 watt, the HX850.

Sorry, that was a typo on my part...... :'(

[Dwho]

The Corsair H50 is an excellent compact water cooling solution, with an i7 930 overclocked to 4.2Ghz at max load the CPU temp doesn't pass 70°C (room temp 23°C) and it idles around 32°C, note i have my H50 running with two Cooler Master Blade Master 120 Fans in a Push Pull configuration and both of those fans pull 76.8 CFM. With overclocking on the i7 930 and i7 875k, the i7 875k is the highest end CPU of the 1156 socket, it is so expensive because the chip is aimed to fill a hole in the market where the entire socket LGA 1156 cpu line doesn't have an extreme chip like there are with the i7 900's there are the i7 965, i7 975, i7 980X etc. One of the benefits from overclocking by increasing the CPU Clock Multiplier is that you’re not changing the BCLK (Base Clock) frequency which sets the base operating speeds of all your main system clocks i.e. the QPI, CPU, Memory etc. When the base clock frequency is increased the other clocks in your system are changed from beyond their default, this isn't necessarily bad changing the base clock allows you to really fine tune each clock, one of the downsides to increasing the base clock is that when the frequencies are increases like with the QPI they generate more heat inside your system and depending on your base clock increase they might require more voltage thus increasing your temperatures slightly. As for what would be better the X58 motherboard line costs about 89% more than the P55 Motherboard series, although you should take into consideration that intel is discontinuing with the entire 1156 and 1366 sockets in 2011 (more detail>  http://orbxsystems.com/forums/index.php?topic=21659.msg185026#msg185026)

[Woutertje]

I know they are going to stop the i7 line. But i read somewhere that the new cpu's won't overclock as much as the current generation due to the way they are designed. And my current pc is in need of replacement.

But what cpu would be wise, the 875 isn't that much more expensive then an 930. But you get an unlocked multiplier on that one. For someone that hasn't overclocked before (read as me) would that be a better choice or should i go for the 930 and give overclocking using the Base Clock a try? The 980X as stated before is too expensive in my eyes, i'm sure it's a good cpu. But for me it's too expensive.

[alainneedle1]

Dwho, you are right about the new chip BUT how long will it take to get a Sandy default clock at 3.33GHz or a Sandy extreme version with six core?

Like they did with the i7 they will do the same with the Sandy chip (pure speculation here) but let say the Sandy come out in July next year...regular 2 and 4 core at 2.8GHz > 3.33GHz......another 6 to 8 month for the Sandy 4 core extreme and another year for the 6 core extreme..... so we are now in the middle of 2013 to get the Sandy extreme chip with 6 core.

So in 3 years I'll be ready to upgrade my new rig with the latest hardware available and for now be able to fly with the i7 990X without looking back at the Q9650 or to far ahead in the future......

 

[crazysundog]

I have an 875K, and although I have not OC'd yet, I will later in the season...  I'm very happy with it, and I am running it with Turbo Boost on, which takes it from 2.92 to 3.20 (hyperthreading disabled).  I have a Corsair H50 on it, which keeps temps around 45c- 50c at full load at 3.2.            I'm hoping to OC it to over 4 Ghz, and if temps get up a little to high, I may have to invest in the new Corsair H70! 

I'm running this in the Evga P55 200FTW mobo.  The choice you need to make is wether you want the 1366 or 1156 socket size:  I would shop for the Mobo you prefer, (and the case it will go in!) and go from there... you may find the price on the 1156 mobo's to your liking!