Just built a new gaming rig

[skinrock]

Been over 5 years since I built my previous machine, and with some good looking games coming out soon (along with many I've missed) I decided to put together a new machine. Running Windows 7 64 bit.

Antec 1200 V3 Case
ASUS Mobo
AMD Phenom II X6 1100T
CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600
Sapphire Radeon HD 6970 2GB
Seagate Barracuda XT 2TB 7200
CORSAIR HX Series 850W PSU

I went with AMD because I've always been a fan of them, and it was 100% reliable in my previous machine. I also love ASUS mobos, again - that's what I had before and it never let me down.

I switched from Nvidia to ATI for two reasons: I liked the benchmarks on the 6970 and it has mini displayport. I was pretty much sold when I saw that option because now I can run it directly through my 27" iMac and have a really clean setup. I may end up getting another 6970 and run in CrossfireX, which should keep me satisfied for awhile.

Anyways, just thought I'd share. I've been catching up on some older games, specifically Bioshock so I can finally get to Bioshock 2 (I know that's not really pushing it, but Bioshock still looks great, and I really want to play the sequel). I also got Just Cause 2 which is fun as hell...and the graphics are incredible. Only other new game I got was Borderlands, which is a pretty cool RPG infused FPS, and looks great as well. My waiting list includes Far Cry 2, Crysis and Crysis 2, but I'm not sold on them yet. I may just get Crysis 2 just to push it, but in the mean time I am waiting for Rage and Skyrim. I may also pick up the ESIV Oblivion Deluxe pack on Steam to hold me over until Skyrim.

[DougLikesBMW]

Nice rig...I am jelly.

[Freakazoid]

I'd recommend getting a SSD and tossing it on there too for your OS. your call though

[kyleb350]

Love the case. I need to build my own gaming rig soon.

Originally Posted by Freakazoid

I'd recommend getting a SSD and tossing it on there too for your OS. your call though

+1

[UltimateBMW]

Originally Posted by Freakazoid

I'd recommend getting a SSD and tossing it on there too for your OS. your call though

This is a wise suggestion.

Running your core processes off a SSD while using a normal HDD for data storage is something I'll be moving towards soon.

I'm probably going to build a new computer sometime this year. It just depends on whether I want to wait for PCI-E 3.0 or not. I think the answer is that I do though.

OP, you'll love the 902 case. I currently have a 900 and it's great. The washable filters on front are something I really wish I had.

[skinrock]

Originally Posted by Freakazoid

I'd recommend getting a SSD and tossing it on there too for your OS. your call though

I'm thinking about it. I was debating going RAID with another of the same drive, but SSD might be sweet, too. I think there is actually a special mounting point on the bottom of the case for one.

Originally Posted by UltimateBMW

OP, you'll love the 902 case. I currently have a 900 and it's great. The washable filters on front are something I really wish I had.

The filters are a great idea - I didn't know they started doing that. It's quiet, too. My CPU is 28-30 C on idle, and you can barely hear the fans. The great thing is they all have switches for low, medium and high. Plus the case has a spot for one more internal 120mm which can be set to blow across the video cards.

[Freakazoid]

RAID 0 with a SSD . I've seen people do it, don't see the need though....but its an option!

[HPFREAK]

Very cool. I have been trying to figure out what parts to get to do my first build. I am conditioned to Intel Processors though. Not Sure what advantages the AMD's have.

[skinrock]

Originally Posted by HPFREAK

Very cool. I have been trying to figure out what parts to get to do my first build. I am conditioned to Intel Processors though. Not Sure what advantages the AMD's have.

I won't deny the latest Sandy Bridge i7 blows everything out of the water...on CPU benchmarks. I originally had an i7 rig in my wishlist, but I decided to read some benchmarks and found there wasn't much difference in game performance, especially at higher resolutions. I mean we're still talking 60+ at the highest for a lot of games, but it was apparent that it was a GPU bottleneck due to memory and speed, so at that point the CPU didn't make much of a difference as long as it didn't hinder it any further.

So for me, since this is purely a gaming rig, I was able to save some money while going with the brand I like. If this was a more general use setup, I would go with an i7, but that's what I have my iMac for (which happens to have an i7, so I have the best of both I guess).

I also like the idea of having a combined AMD + ATI setup. Maybe it doesn't make a difference, but it's still kinda cool knowing they are together now. Plus, Steam seems to be collaborating with AMD/ATI (or they just read what hardware you have), because when Bioshock crashed on me, Steam was smart enough to say "oh you have driver updates, would you like to install them?"

[HPFREAK]

Ya I was looking at doing an i7 960 build with the ATI 6950 unlocked and OC'd. I am not sure I need the new i7 CPU. I want some maximum gaming performance though. Cyberpower PC and Ibuypower both offer the 960 CPu still and I can get the entire unit I want with liquid cooling and really good fans for just over 1500 with Windows 7 installed and a keyboard & mouse. Also a digital fan control temp display unit.

Either that or I get suspension for the car.

Originally Posted by skinrock

I won't deny the latest Sandy Bridge i7 blows everything out of the water...on CPU benchmarks. I originally had an i7 rig in my wishlist, but I decided to read some benchmarks and found there wasn't much difference in game performance, especially at higher resolutions. I mean we're still talking 60+ at the highest for a lot of games, but it was apparent that it was a GPU bottleneck due to memory and speed, so at that point the CPU didn't make much of a difference as long as it didn't hinder it any further.

So for me, since this is purely a gaming rig, I was able to save some money while going with the brand I like. If this was a more general use setup, I would go with an i7, but that's what I have my iMac for (which happens to have an i7, so I have the best of both I guess).

I also like the idea of having a combined AMD + ATI setup. Maybe it doesn't make a difference, but it's still kinda cool knowing they are together now. Plus, Steam seems to be collaborating with AMD/ATI (or they just read what hardware you have), because when Bioshock crashed on me, Steam was smart enough to say "oh you have driver updates, would you like to install them?"

[skinrock]

Originally Posted by HPFREAK

Either that or I get suspension for the car.

And therein lied my problem. I was going to get a body kit, but it was a little more than I anticipated (after paint and labor), so I'm going to wait awhile so I can save up and do it right.

Liquid cooling would be sweet, but I'm always afraid it will leak.

[UltimateBMW]

Liquid cooling is only necessary if you overclock. And if you overclock, you would have gotten a Sandy Bridge. I'll admit I'm not big on AMD. But the Sandy Bridge OC's are crazy good.

Not to mention, the only real benefit from overclocking for the average or even high end consumer is just to say you overclocked. On most games your actual visible improvement would be minimal, plus its just a headache unless you like tinkering with your system every other month. Not many people are running 3 monitors even today.

I rarely overclock because I'm to lazy after I've built a already quality machine. But back to liquid cooling, its not needed. Only the highest tier of high end users really need it. And some of them do require you to change out the water.

[skinrock]

Oh I know. The other benefit though would be a quieter system, but as I mentioned, I was really surprised at how quiet this case is with 6 120s and 1 200 fan, so I'm not worried about that (plus when you game, you probably have your system up).

In the end, I'm happy with what I got. I may do some minor tweaks to finish it off, and clean up the wiring if I can, but I'm happy with the performance so far.

[NBRider88]

+8xxxxxxx on getting an SSD. Just use it for OS/games/most used programs. For music/movies etc just raid your other drive for performance & protection. Probably going to be the most noticeable difference you will see in an upgrade.

Also, I never liked using dual gpu's for crossfire . It just doesn't scale as much as it should. A single higher end GPU is better imo, and will keep your system cooler anyways.

[skinrock]

Originally Posted by NBRider88

+8xxxxxxx on getting an SSD. Just use it for OS/games/most used programs. For music/movies etc just raid your other drive for performance & protection. Probably going to be the most noticeable difference you will see in an upgrade.

Also, I never liked using dual gpu's for crossfire . It just doesn't scale as much as it should. A single higher end GPU is better imo, and will keep your system cooler anyways.

What sucks is this is for games, so I wish I would have thought about SSD before buying the HDD.

I'll probably do more research before I go Crossfire, but from the numbers I saw for 6970s in crossfire, it looked pretty damn nice.

[Freakazoid]

Originally Posted by skinrock

What sucks is this is for games, so I wish I would have thought about SSD before buying the HDD.

I'll probably do more research before I go Crossfire, but from the numbers I saw for 6970s in crossfire, it looked pretty damn nice.

regardless you'd be wanting both in your system. I'm saying get a 60gb SSD or something along those lines, use that for your operating system, etc...and use your current harddrive as the slave

[skinrock]

Originally Posted by Freakazoid

regardless you'd be wanting both in your system. I'm saying get a 60gb SSD or something along those lines, use that for your operating system, etc...and use your current harddrive as the slave

Do you put the OS and games on there? If so, won't you run out of room really quickly?

[kyleb350]

Originally Posted by skinrock

Do you put the OS and games on there? If so, won't you run out of room really quickly?

Obviously depends on how many games you plan on having. Not sure how much space Windows 7 takes up, but, you could always get a 120gb SSD to be safe.

[NBRider88]

Originally Posted by skinrock

Do you put the OS and games on there? If so, won't you run out of room really quickly?

Originally Posted by kyleb350

Obviously depends on how many games you plan on having. Not sure how much space Windows 7 takes up, but, you could always get a 120gb SSD to be safe.

Yes, obviously would depend on the size of your SSD. Windows 7 takes roughly 15-17gb, but I'm sure their is a way to decompress that too.

On my ssd, a small 60gb, it has windows and all the essential programs I use for work (office/adobe programs/etc) (it's my work comp). Still have ~30gb left. If I were to want to put games as well, a 120gb would be plenty. They have gotten a lot cheaper than when first came out...have some great deals going on time to time on ssd now.

[HPFREAK]

I was going to get a 60g SSD but only use it for the games since that seems to make more sense when you waant them to load fast and the OS can take longer to boot I dont care really.

[skinrock]

Originally Posted by HPFREAK

I was going to get a 60g SSD but only use it for the games since that seems to make more sense when you waant them to load fast and the OS can take longer to boot I dont care really.

Wouldn't the game need to load some OS level stuff, like DirectX?

[HPFREAK]

I guess so, but I have no clue. I was told by the guy at cyberpowerpc that putting the games on the SSD is the way to go. He could be wrong, since he sounded like the little kid from Idiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.

Originally Posted by skinrock

Wouldn't the game need to load some OS level stuff, like DirectX?