It’s time for some new hardware around the house, and while I keep up with technology somewhat, I’m hoping there are a few of you out there who are really into building PCs and can help guide me here.
I’m not actually looking to build a system myself, so this is more a review of the parts and any recommendations people have for builders (my current system is an Alienware, but it looks like they are little more than a splash screen now before you get right into the Dell shop, so no go on that). Also please let me know if some major hardware release is coming in the next month or so that I should wait for, if any.
I’ve looked at Falcon NW, AVA Direct, and Digital Storm. Anyone else I should take a look at? I’m trying to keep things around the $2-2,500 mark. The one area I know will be upgraded before any other is the video card, so I’m not looking for anything top-shelf there. So far the GTS 450 is looking like a solid card, but again, looking for suggestions to get the most for the money here.
I’m hoping I can get a system with an SSD to load the OS, and then a secondary, 1TB drive to store games on. Can that be in Raid 0? Does that setup make sense for gaming, or should I just keep things simple and go with a more standard Raid 0 config using two ‘normal’ drives?
I also like having a sound card, since I have nice Turtle Beach headphones that actually use the 5.1 setup rather than a headphone jack. Big difference between the Fatal1ty model and a more standard X-FI? Along with that, anyone have a good experience with the Killer NIC cards?
For the ram I’m trying to future-proof a bit by going with 6gig. I’ve seen options for 12gigs. Any reason to go that high, now or for the near (1yr-ish) future? Big difference between the 1333 sticks and the 1600?
Finally, the only liquid cooling I would go with is the maintenance-free kind. Just not willing to mess with liquids around a 2 grand+ system. If fan cooling works, I’m ok with that. I have read that the i7 processors overclock well, so cooling is a consideration for that.
With all that said, here is what I have configured over at Falcon NW that just fits into the budget. I’ve looked at similar systems over at AVA and Digital Storm as well.
System Details
Chassis
ICON2 – Black Anodized
Chassis Logo Insert
White Light
Chassis Fan Kit
Standard Fan Pack
Power Supply
750 Watt Modular
Motherboard
Rampage III Extreme
Processor
Core i7 950 3.06GHz
Processor Cooler
Mach V Liquid Cooling
Processor Overclock
Mach V Processor Overclock
Memory
6GB (3x2GB) 1333MHz DDR3
Video Card
GeForce GTS 450 (1GB)
Sound Card
X-FI Titanium Fatal1ty Pro
Networking
On-Board Ethernet
Hard Drive
64GB – SSD – 6GB/s
Hard Drive 2
1TB – 7200RPM – 6GB/s
Optical Drive
24x DVD Writer
Media Reader
Internal Media Reader
64-Bit Operating System
Windows 7 Home Premium
Warranty
3 Year Warranty – Parts and Service
Hardcore Casual 
Bang for the bucks, at least go for a GTX 460. its ~200$
If you want a tad more, got for the new GTX 560 ti.
Cant beat that for ~250$
Comparison :
http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards.php?card1=641&card2=632
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i7 950 is a first gen i7, know that the 3rd gen just came out.
Thats the thing with intel version scheme, its messy.
Per example the i7-860 is 2nd gen and came out a full year after the 1st gen i7-920.
Bloomfield :
950 – 3.06 GHz/3.33 GHz Turbo Boost
Lynnfield :
880 – 3.06 GHz/3.73 GHz Turbo Boost
See, a 2nd gen i7 starting with an 8 has a much better range of turbo boost.
See the different family of i7 here :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Intel_Core_i7_microprocessors
For overclocking purposes, you want a 3rd gen i7 k serie :
The i7-2600K (http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=52214)
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I’m a bit confused here. Why would Falcon NW put the i7 950 in their system and not the 2600 then? I’m assuming the 2600, being newer, are faster? Or are they a newer budget line, kinda like what Nvidia does with graphics cards, releasing the top-end models first, and then the mid-range stuff?
When Falcon put together their system, the i7-9xx was on socket 1366.
then one year later the 8xx came, but were on socket 1156. Change of motherboard required.
Again, now the 2xxxK are out with another socket type… i know. 1155.
From a Falcon point of view, they are staying with socket 1366 for whatever reason. Could be an agreement on motherboard, could be any reason. Most propably a business reason.
They sure dont want to support a whole range of different motherboard since its a mess to do so.
From a buyer’s point of view. You WANT the latest i7. Specially if you plan to overclock it. The K series are made for it.
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For comparision, look at this baby :
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4082/cyberpowerpcs-gamer-xtreme-4000-now-with-sandy-bridge
Now thats a gaming PC for 2011.
See the price ? not that much more than yours. Could replace that 570 fo a 460 to bring the price down by 150$ with minor marginal loss.
Dam… now i want one. ;o
back to work.
Interesting. Problem with the system you linked is it’s by CyberPower, which has some shady reviews. Not going to drop 2 grand on something that might not be up to par. That said, the Digital Storm below has the 2600 CPU. How’s that one looking?
I only looked at the components. I build my own so i cant comment on the system builders.
Digital Storm looks amazing. Ill look into it during lunch.
Yea leaning heavily towards DS right now, their forums seem very helpful. Someone put this build up, which looks very solid to me: http://www.digitalstormonline.com/comploadsaved.asp?id=478790
Gah html fail, here are the parts in order:
Case – Rosewill RSV-L4000 Black Metal / Steel, 1.0 mm thickness, 4U Rackmount Server Chassis 8 Internal Bays, 7 Included Cooling Fans – 109.99
Motherboard – MSI 790FX-GD70 AM3 AMD 790FX ATX AMD Motherboard – 164.99
Video Card (x2) – SAPPHIRE 100314-2SR Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity – 229.99
Power Supply – SeaSonic X650 Gold 650W ATX12V V2.3/EPS 12V V2.91 SLI Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply – 179.99
Raid Cage – SNT SNT-SATA1842B 4 x 2.5″ HDD in 1 x 5.25″ bay SAS / SATA 2.5″ Hot Swap Backplane RAID cage – 44.99
Processor – AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor HDZ965FBGMBOX – 159.99
RAM – CORSAIR DOMINATOR GT 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2133 Desktop Memory Model CMT4GX3M2A2133C9 – 144.99
SSD (x4) – Corsair Force F40 CSSD-F40GB2 2.5″ 40GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) – 104.99
Storage (x4) – HITACHI Deskstar 7K2000 HDS722020ALA330 (0F10311) 2TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5″ Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive – 129.99
CPU Cooler – ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2 92mm Fluid Dynamic CPU Cooler – 39.98
Audio – Audinst HUD-mx1 Hi-Fi USB Audio DAC – 179.00
Here is a Digital Storm config for 2500.
Specifications:
Chassis Model: Special Deal Hot Seller – Black OPS HailStorm Edition
Exterior Finish: – Standard Factory Finish
Trim Accents: – Standard Factory Finish
Processor: Intel Core i7 2600K 3.40GHz (Unlocked CPU for Extreme Overclocking) (Quad Core)
Motherboard: ASUS P8P67 Deluxe (Intel P67 Chipset) (Features USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s)
System Memory: 8GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested)
Power Supply: 750W Digital Storm Certified (Dual SLI Compatible) (Silent Edition Recommended)
Expansion Bay: – No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1x (40GB Solid State (By: Intel) (Model: X-25V Edition) (Extreme Performance)
Set 1 Raid Options: Configure HDD Set 1 to a Raid 0 Config – Stripe Performance (Requires Two HDDs)
Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: 1x (1TB Western Digital Caviar (7200 RPM) (64MB Cache) (Model: Black Edition WD1002FAEX)
Hard Drive Set 3: Backup\Misc.: – No Thanks
Optical Drive 1: DVD-R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 24x / CD-Writer 48x)
Optical Drive 2: – No Thanks
Internet Access: !PROMOTION: Killer 2100 (Optimized for Online Gaming) Lag and Latency Reduction
Video Card: 1x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 1GB (Includes PhysX Technology)
Add-on Card: – No Thanks
Sound Card: Creative Labs X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional (PCI-Express Slot Based)
Extreme Cooling: AIR: Stage 1: Coolermaster V6 GT Dual 120mm Fans (Compatible With AMD, i5, i7)
H20 Tube Color:- Not Applicable, I do not have a FrostChill or Sub-Zero LCS Cooling System Selected
Chassis Airflow: Standard Factory Chassis Fans
Internal Lighting: – No Thanks
Enhancements: – No Thanks
Chassis Mods: – No Thanks
Noise Reduction: – No Thanks
Boost Processor: FREE: Overclock the processor between 3.6GHz to 3.9GHz
Boost Video Card: FREE: Yes, Overclock the video card(s) as much as possible with complete stability
Boost Memory: – No Thanks, Please do not overclock my memory
Boost OS: FREE: Yes, Disable and tweak all of the non-crucial services on the operating system
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-Bit Edition)
Recovery Tools: Windows Recovery Toolkit (Bundled with Windows 7 CD)
Virus Protection: – No Thanks
Office: – No Thanks
Benchmarking: – No Thanks
Install/Test Game: FREE: Hot-selling game with a NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250 or above graphics card
Display: – No Thanks
Surge Shield: – No Thanks
Speakers: – No Thanks
Keyboard: – No Thanks
Mouse: – No Thanks
External Storage: – No Thanks
Exclusive T-Shirt: FREE: Digital Storm T-Shirt – Grey (Large)
Priority Build: – No Thanks, Ship Within 5-15 Business Days After Order Is Successfully Processed
Warranty: Life-time Expert Customer Care with 3 Year Limited Warranty
^^ Yes !
i7 K
560 GTX ti
Now you talking 2011
What about SSD or just standard Raid 0 WD Black drives? Worth the cost to go with an SSD to load the OS?
Im running two 500Gb blacks in raid 0.
Ive tried a OCZ Vortex2 SSD at the office and the OS seemed faster.
Again, there is quality in SSDs. So if you want to spend a bit more for the OS drive, compare the offerings. OCZ seems like a sure bet, but there are different types at different price ranges.
Short term, id say stay raid 0 with a pair of blacks. At least you know sparing wont be an issue.
You can always go SSD when a good 256GB+ will be affordable.
I would recommend going with the higher speed memory over more overall memory. Windows still only recognizes so many gigs of memory, but faster memory still gets counted and used. Are you buying the parts and building yourself? You can save a bit of money and get exactly what you want this way, especially if you shop around. Provantage has some great prices if you go this way.
Not building, buying from a shop. I thought with Win7 the max memory went way up?
Hey you’re right. Guess I need to read up on 7 some more. Still faster memory means applications that use ram will still be able to access it quicker, and as long as you have enough ram for all the applications you run simultaneously the benefit of having more is debatable.
With 64bit Windows you will be able to use all of 4Gb, the 3.xGb limit applies only to 32bit Windows.
My last PC, bought two years ago, was from Digital Storm and I was impressed with the hardware and the overall customer service.
I regret not building my own the last time I got a new PC. It’s now locking up when running games or HD video with no real pattern — sometimes it do, sometimes it don’t. I’m pretty sure it’s hardware, not software, and my expertise is piddling — I can build them but I can’t diagnose them. I’ve stopped playing LoL out of respect for potential teammates.
It’s the first time I’ve ever had an nVidia card, so I’ll just irrationally blame them and switch to ATI next time.
The Digital Storm machine looks a lot more worthwhile for the cost. That Falcon NW machine is grossly overpriced for what you’re getting.
However, keep in mind that Intel has done a recall on the newest generation of iX chips due to a design flaw. Research the chip you’re buying and make sure it’s not affected.
Yup, pretty locked into the DS comp now, just fine-tuning the details.
The recall might delay the order, not 100% sure. It only effects optical drives, and since I basically never use those, I don’t see it as an issue. I’m hoping I can actually go with the faulty MB and not delay the system rather than wait till March.
Well, I am not in the same boat as you. I play DF and that’s it, or I don’t playy games. I have time for 1 game so I am only playing the best one out.
Wife plays with me and for $300 we got her win7 64 (up from winXP), core 2 duo e6550 oc’d to ~3.2ghz on air, a gigabyte board OCd to 1600, 4gb of corsair 1600 mem. Kept her previous 8500gt card since it might be good enough for now, her 650w antec psu is fine, free used ATX case, and a cheap $30 hd off newegg.
VERY cheap, plenty for DF, should be siege worthy with using UI tweaks, and the most expensiv part (win7) can be xferred if we end up having to upgrade more.
I have family that would LOVE this rig if we end up needing to sell it.
Not the comp for everyone, but I LOVE what you can do with PC for next to nothing $ wise if you do a minimum amount of research and build it yourself.
OCing can be very easy if you do a bit of research, find a buddy to help on vent talk you through tough stuff. Total blast, and you get the pride of doing it yourself.
Get this case.
But I already have one…