# High-end Gaming P67 & 3D build



## Tim Enchanter (Feb 7, 2011)

Hi guys!

Total new expense ~$3,350.00. (I have speakers, headset, mouse, keyboard that I like already.)

I have an AzzA Hurican 2000 *case* on the way that should be here tomorrow. ($120.00 from Amazon after 30 rebate.) Windows 7 Home Upgrade Family Pack, for 3 computers, came today. ($124.00 from Amazon.)

I need to order most of the rest of the bits. At the present time I'm planning on:

*• Motherboard*: ASUS Maximus IV Extreme P67 Pro. ($387.90 with shipping.) I decided to go this route over the X58 after talking with a gaming friend of mine who is a Logic Programmer and Senior Hardware Engineer with Intel. Most people aren't having much trouble overclocking these next-gen CPU's to 4.8 or even 5.2Gz. The new BIOS's are really nice, too. I bought my unlocked i7-2600K *CPU* last Wednesday. ($298.19 including tax from MicroCenter.)

• *Cooler*: Noctua NH-D14. ($84.77 from Amazon.) I'm actually having a tough time deciding if I should delve into liquid cooling.

• *RAM*: 8Gb G.Skill RipjawsX DDR3-1600 F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL 2x4Gb 9-9-9-24-2N 1.5V. ($99.00 from Newegg.) You can see the sticks are optimized for P67 mobos, and the Maximus IV Extreme is in their Qualified Motherboards List at the bottom of that web page.

• *HDD*: Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1Tb 7200 RPM 64Mb Cache Sata III 6Gb/s 3.5". ($89.95 from Newegg, or $87.99 from Amazon.)

• *Video Cards*: 2 nVidia MSI GTX 580 (N580GTX) Twin Frozr II factory OC'ed 1536mb. ($512.86 each including shipping form Newegg.)

• *SSD*: Corsair P3-128 128Gb CSSD-P3128GB2-BRKT 2.5" SATA III MLC 6Gb/s Performance 3. ($322.98 including shipping from Newegg.)

• *Optical Drive*: Since they are so cheap (~$25.00), and have various states of unreliability, I'll get one locally (probably from Best Buy), at the very end of the build just before I am ready to turn things on for the first time. That way, if it has an out-of-the-box problem, I'll be able to just take it back to the store for a new one. I figure it will only run about $7-$10, at most, more than buying one mail order.

• *PSU*: Corsair Pro AX1200 Series Gold CMPSU-1200AX 1200W. ($260.99 from Amazon after $10 rebate.)

I presently have two, 22" wide Samsung SyncMaster 226BW *displays*. I want to add a *third, 3D display* and am presently thinking of getting the ASUS VG236HE ($349.99 from Newegg), partially due to it's having a 3 year warranty vs. the other 3D displays presently on the market.

To run all three displays, one being in 3D, I'm not sure if just the 2 video cards will be enough. Any thoughts?

Of course, I'm planning on a pair of nVidia's *3D glasses * ($169.99 from Amazon for kit).

If you want to comment on any or my planned build, feel free to do so. 

Though I've built about 10 computers in my time, the last one I built was in the early `90's or so, so I'm a bit rusty on doing this and specs -- I've had to do a LOT of reading over the last couple weeks since I decided to go this direction.

I want to sincerely thank you folks on this forum for the advice I've received so far from you.

Thx!

Tim


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## Ooudestomp (Nov 4, 2010)

Firstly, The RAM you have selected, I would go for a 4x2Gb set, as 4Gb RAM sticks aren't all that reliable. These http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145284&cm_re=8gb_ram-_-20-145-284-_-  Are brilliant.

GPU, I would go with Asus/Gigabyte etc, but it is still a good card.

SSD's are not really worth the money at the moment as they are still in their infancy. They do still shave time off boot - up.

HDD, go for a Seagate/Western digital caviar.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

Have you looked at our suggested build?
http://www.techsupportforum.com/for...evised-2010-and-updated-regularly-448272.html

4GB (2X2GB matched pair) is more than enough RAM unless you are doing vety intense graphics or data work.
SSD's are way overpriced and offer no real advantage in a desktop other than a somewhat faster boot time.
2 GPU's cost twice as much, consume more power, generate considerably more heat, and you get a small performance increase.


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## Dblanchard1278 (Jun 18, 2009)

Tyree said:


> Have you looked at our suggested build?
> http://www.techsupportforum.com/for...evised-2010-and-updated-regularly-448272.html
> 
> 4GB (2X2GB matched pair) is more than enough RAM unless you are doing vety intense graphics or data work.
> ...


I agree with my team mate Tyree, sli and xfire is a waste of money for a 20 percent increase in performance. One card should handle two monitors and if you need 3 then you might need another video card but it would depend on the cards features. When it comes to ram Tyree is also right 2x2 gig is better for gaming and general use unless you plan to do 3d rendering and graffix design work then I would go with 3x2 gigs for a total of 6 gigs unless the board is tri channel then 3x2 gigs is recomended. 

SSD's are not benificail unless your worried about your drive being damaged from shock which I doubt that would easily happen in a desktop unless you take your agression out on your pc.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

Additional noteusing two GPU's with that Mobo: (single @x16, dual @x8).


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## Tim Enchanter (Feb 7, 2011)

Thx all for the comments!

Yes, as mentioned in my OP, I will be running 3 displays, 1 of them in 3D with it requiring dual DVI a good bit of the time.

Tim


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## Tim Enchanter (Feb 7, 2011)

Dblanchard1278 said:


> I agree with my team mate Tyree, sli and xfire is a waste of money for a 20 percent increase in performance. ... [snip]


Dblanchard & Tyree,

I've seen many similar statements to that effect a lot on this forum. I've been thinking and reading about SLI vs. single GPU card systems for several weeks now. My conclusion is that I really don't think people can say the above and be accurate.

My opinion appears to have been bolstered by some new comparison tests that have just come out, which would seem to show that xFire and SLI are important methods to achieving the results one may want from their PC.

It really depends on what one wants to do with their system. If you only want an office PC, I would agree with you.

Tim


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

Results of tests & benchmarks are rarely the same as real world results. The human eye is not capable of "seeing" most of those results referring to graphics.
In the end it's your money and your decision. We can only advise on what we know.


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

For large screen displays(think 52" plasma/LCD and above) you'll see a difference, on smaller displays it will pick the FBS up but over about 60fps is hard for the human eye to detect any change while it will improve fluid motion to a degree the 580 is very good at doing that alone, that said the new i7's 2600k seem to support scaling of GPU's a lot better then older series CPU's, but I'm still not convinced it's a real world performance difference worth the price tag(motherboard, second GPU, Larger PSU, more cooling) nor the higher noise level of the PC.

Give the new sabertooth P67 some consideration too it has a 5 year warranty vs 3 for the Rampage and most of the same features minus the third PCIe x16 slot > ASUSTeK Computer Inc. - Motherboards - ASUS SABERTOOTH P67


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## Tim Enchanter (Feb 7, 2011)

Through my investigation I've seen many side-by-side, real-world, video comparisons, which even my old, human eyes don't have any problem seeing and discerning a large difference in picture quality. Cranking up anti-aliasing (maybe to 8x) for a much better and truer picture texture, and then seeing the less than acceptable effects it has on FPS, when a single graphics card is stressed, is but one example. That is something *I* know.

I just think there should be some more caveats to some of the blanket statements I've seen here. We aren't all doing the same things or have the same goals.

Tim


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## Tim Enchanter (Feb 7, 2011)

wrench97 said:


> For large screen displays(think 52" plasma/LCD and above) you'll see a difference, on smaller displays it will pick the FBS up but over about 60fps is hard for the human eye to detect any change while it will improve fluid motion to a degree the 580 is very good at doing that alone, that said the new i7's 2600k seem to support scaling of GPU's a lot better then older series CPU's, but I'm still not convinced it's a real world performance difference worth the price tag(motherboard, second GPU, Larger PSU, more cooling) nor the higher noise level of the PC.
> 
> Give the new sabertooth P67 some consideration too it has a 5 year warranty vs 3 for the Rampage and most of the same features minus the third PCIe x16 slot > ASUSTeK Computer Inc. - Motherboards - ASUS SABERTOOTH P67


Thx. Everything is now on order, though -- except for my second 3D, 120 Hz display. I want to make sure I like the one I already have on order before adding a second. (I probably won't be using my older, 60 Hz displays at all now. There seems to be limitations to mixing them.)

Also, even though I agree with what you are saying about the human eye and 60 FPS, I did see one video review of a 3D monitor running 2D at 120 Hz where the reviewer was remarking that it did seem '_smoother_' to him -- even when just dragging a window around his desktop. I'm now curious to see if I'll be able to notice *any* difference. Stay tuned.

Thx again!

Tim


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## Tim Enchanter (Feb 7, 2011)

What's this thread's subject again? $$$ have always been a very small part of my concerns with this build. I'm just saying.


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