Finishing off a new gaming system

[8totems]

Hello all,
I've been in the process of piecing together a new gaming computer for a while now and have come to the conclusion that I just simply do not know enough about current video cards and the requirements of multiboxing to make an educated decision. So this thread is for any input I can receive.

The system so far:
Asus P8Z68 VPro Motherboard
Intel 17-2600k Processor
Corsair H70 watercooler
16gb of Corsair Vengeance RAM @ 1600Mhz
Corsair AX850 PSU
All of this will be squeezed into a Corsair 800D case (waiting for the sata3 backplane).

Things to come will be a hard drive, I'm thinking WD Caviar 1Tb, or something similar. Plus a 128Gb SSD drive for gaming, probably OCZ's new Sata3 Octane series.

The video card is where I'm drawing a blank. I'd prefer Nvidia and a namebrand (i.e. EVGA or Gigabyte) but am open to suggestions. The card must have output for two monitors, up to 27", but most likely 22" for my budget. An (full sized) HDMI out would be a plus. I'm trying to stay in the $200 range but would be willing to splurge a bit for the right card.

Any thoughts and comments would be appreciated.

[xartin]

I'd agree... stick to nvidia. The best results i've gotten have been from evga or msi and they both have excellent warranties. perhaps a 560GTX would be a good option.

EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Fermi 850MHZ 1024MB Superclocked GDDR5 PCI-E 2.0 2XDVI-I Mini-HDMI Video Card - eVGA - 01G-P3-1463-KR

or for $60.00 more you could get the one with 2GB of vram

EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Fermi 850MHZ 2048MB Superclocked GDDR5 PCI-E 2.0 2XDVI Mini-HDMI Video Card - eVGA - 02G-P3-1469-KR

Considering video cards can sell for close to $900.00 for evga's classified water cooled setups splurging on a video card can mean different dollar value for different people, If the $260.00 2GB model isn't over budget definitely look at the largest memory interface bit width you can get for your budget in an nvidia card. Low bit width memory interface video cards are in my experience a direct source of 3D gaming latency.

Most 580 GTX nvidias have a 384 bit memory interface channel. 590's have 768 bit width memory interface which is pretty extreme but understandably required to support dual GPU's on one card. The closer you can get to a 384 bit memory interface bit width the larger your smile will become after it's all assembled. Be very wary of any card that only offers a 192bit width memory interface or less as they will not typically perform 2D/3D multitasking well.

Most video cards will not have a full size hdmi output. best option would be to just buy a $50.00 mini hdmi cable with a large standard end on one side which will still allow you to have two dvi connections as well as the hdmi connected per card potentially allowing up to six displays.

I just picked one up for my 480GTX to connect a 42" hdtv last week. the only other alternative is using dvi to hdmi converters but you will not get an audio signal via dvi.

For hard drives... seagate barracuda XT 2TB or 3TB model.

http://ncix.com/products/?sku=59433&...acture=Seagate

if you can afford one or the prices come down a bit from the flooding in taiwan that ruined the hard drive market.

I previously wrote a bit on why those drives are currently the best for performance in a previous thread on our forums

[Ualaa]

I would go for a single video card with a fair bit of ram, over multiple cards in SLI/Crossfire.
SLI/Crossfire doesn't benefit boxing, although the newer versions can be enabled/disabled via software, and you might want additional eye-candy for another game.

If you can afford it, a GTX 580 would be a great card.
It's fast and has a lot of video ram.

The number of ports on the card will determine how many displays you can run.




As a comparison for you, I went with:
- Win 7, Home, 64-bit (Operating System)
- The OS runs on an OCZ Vertex 3, 120GB (SSD), while the gaming folder funs on a Patriot Torq, 64GB (SSD).
- Asus P8Z68-VPro (motherboard)
- i5 2500K (processor)
- Corsair A70 (cooler)
- 8GB of DDR3, 1600mhz (ram)
- eVGA Ge-Force GTX570 1280mb (video card)

I have no problems running the main client (1920x1080) on settings close to 3/4's of maximum and four slave windows (also on a 1920x1080 monitor) on lower settings close to 1/4 of maximum.
The game is very smooth for me, and with streaming under new settings only slightly less smooth but very playable.
While playing/streaming my play, I typically have Firefox open in the background (10-15 tabs open), am playing iTunes, am running Inner Space + IS Boxer (boxing software), have uTorrent open, and a few open office spreadsheets and/or documents going.

If you'll be doing a fair bit of streaming or additional cpu intensive tasks, the i7 might be the way to go.
However, for purely gaming purposes the logical cores don't do anything for you and in some tests will slow your game down unless disabled.
An i5 2500K is basically $100 cheaper, and purely for gaming essentially as good as the i7 2600K (both have unlocked multipliers, so overclock quite well).

[SethLan]

If you're boxing. It dont matter if you use 1 card or 2 cards, computer wont see second card, not until you run it full screen, (as we know all boxing programs use window mode)

[8totems]

Thank you xartin, Ualaa, and SethLanz for the input.

I do believe I will be going with the EVGA GTX 560 2Gb that xartin listed. I've noticed too that finding 2DVI + full HDMI is difficult, so I can settle on this one. I'll be purchasing through Amazon, and picking up a mini HDMI (HDMI C) to full HDMI (HDMI A) through them as well.

I've also decided to do a 120 Gb SSD for the OS as well. Thanks Ualaa for listing your system specs. OCZ Vertex 3, or Corsair Force 3. Anyone have experience or preferences with these? I'm pretty brand loyal to Corsair, but I'd be willing to take a chance with OCZ if I've heard some positive reviews.

The Motherboard has onboard audio, so I will probably be skipping adding an extra card to the system, unless someone can offer me a good enough reason to do otherwise.

Again thanks for the input. I can't wait to get gaming again.

[xartin]

With regards to the ssd concerns the ocz have been fantastic in some reviews. however likely the highest respected ssd review forum around today is The SSD Review

If you had any concerns about what ssd devices to buy I would consult that website as some of the storage and ssd devices they're reviewed and tested are extreme to say the least.

Lastly I and several others i'm sure would not recommend using an ssd device for your OS drive. There's several reliability concerns primarily caused by the design of microsoft windows that will drastically shorten the lifespan and reliability of your ssd device which will more quickly result in data loss due to drive failure.

http://thessdreview.com/category/ssd...zation-guides/

Stick with a mechanical hard drive for your OS and use the ssd for game file installations.

[xartin]

Originally Posted by SethLanz

If you're boxing. It dont matter if you use 1 card or 2 cards, computer wont see second card, not until you run it full screen, (as we know all boxing programs use window mode)

Noted this only affects anyone with an ati card because crossfire does not work in windowed mode. Nvidia sli works just fine in windowed mode and does help quite nicely while multiboxing

[SethLan]

Originally Posted by xartin

Noted this only affects anyone with an ati card because crossfire does not work in windowed mode. Nvidia sli works just fine in windowed mode and does help quite nicely while multiboxing

correct. Forgot to add that.

What i would do probably with SSD, just slap games on it, I know ssd's are amazing but i would be afraid to put OS on it. Everyone does that, but thats just me.

[Tim]

Originally Posted by xartin

Lastly I and several others i'm sure would not recommend using an ssd device for your OS drive. There's several reliability concerns primarily caused by the design of microsoft windows that will drastically shorten the lifespan and reliability of your ssd device which will more quickly result in data loss due to drive failure.

This is the TRUTH! Well, depends on what your goals are as far as reliability.

One of my laptops had a 64G micro SSD as its HD. It worked great... for about 9 months. Then the HD started to not be recognized. Yea...

[SethLan]

Tim: yep thats what I'm Afraid of.