# Building a 3D gaming machine....zoinks!



## DiamondDanno (Jan 24, 2011)

Hello everyone, I'm a long time listener first time caller. I plan on building a 3D gaming pc with the help of a friend in the next couple of months and would like some advice from the experienced community. My Budget is between $2000-2500 CAD. Eventually I would like to run 3-3D monitors and be able to run GPU demanding games in very high to max settings but right now I'm just concentrating on the immediate build. Here's what I've sourced out so far. 

CPU – i7-2600k 3.4GHz $329.97  
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicat [...] CatId=6991 

Mobo - GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD7 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard $319.99  
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 63938&SID= 

GPU - EVGA 012-P3-1572-AR GeForce GTX 570 SuperClocked (x 2) $369.97 each  
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicat [...] CatId=3669 

RAM - CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866  Model CMZ8GX3M2A1866C9 $139.49 http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Produ [...] -_-Product 

SSD - OCZ Vertex 2 OCZSSD3-2VTX120G 3.5" 120GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) $229.00  
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Produ [...] llFullInfo 

Hard Drive - Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB HD OEM $64.97  
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicat [...] &body=MAIN 

PSU - CORSAIR TX Series CMPSU-950TX 950W ATX12V v2.3/EPS12V v2.91 SLI Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply $159.99  
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Produ [...] -_-Product 

Cooler - Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1 "Heatpipe Direct Contact" Long Life Sleeve 120mm CPU Cooler Compatible Intel Core i5 & Intel Core i7 $29.99  http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Produ [...] llFullInfo 

Optical Drive - Plextor PX-B940SA Blu Ray Burner $169.97  
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applicat [...] &body=MAIN 

Here are my questions so far  

1. Is everything Compatible?  

2. I plan on running 2 GPU's right now but would like to add a third sometime before the end of the year. Do I need to run a third card to run 3-3D monitors with game settings at very high and high resolution (eg Metro) or will the system bottleneck?  

3. Is the PSU adequate for 3 way SLI?  

4. Can the CPU be easily overclocked and stable at 5GHz or is 4.5 a reasonable goal?  

5. What are some alternative hardware options without sacrificing quality and performance?  

6. Am I insane for trying this as my first build?  







 

Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated...


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## shotgn (Aug 10, 2008)

I would say, way overkill for a first time builder. The 1155 motherboards are still buggy. (wait about 3-5 months for patches)

SLI/Crossfire will only give you 20 to 30% increase in performance. Not very cost effective IMO.

I suggest you look thru our builds we have put together, Stable parts and prover reliable.
http://www.techsupportforum.com/for...evised-2010-and-updated-regularly-448272.html


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## Dblanchard1278 (Jun 18, 2009)

Well my advice is, ditch the ssd drive. Too much money for a quick boot times, personaly I can wait a few second for my pc to boot up. Go with a wd black drive, 5 year warrenty and a 32 meg cache. I find LG a better choice for reliability and performance. SLI and XFire are a waste of money and offers little performance boost as my team mate shotgn stated.


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## DiamondDanno (Jan 24, 2011)

I figure its way overkill but that's kinda what I'm aiming for. I want it to last for a few years without having to upgrade. As for the 1155 boards being buggy is it the hardware being buggy or the BIOS? 
If I want to run 3 monitors dont I need to run it in SLI 2-way? From what I've read you get a significant increase in performance with 2 cards but in 3-way you run into a system bottleneck resulting in much lower increase in performance. But if I want to run 3 monitors in 3D at fairly high settings and res what the hell do I do?
I'm willing to shell out for the SSD at this point. Besides the boot, it benefits anything else loaded on it right?
Is the PSU adequate? I've heard the corsair TX series is kinda crappy...
Are all the parts compatible? And finally can anyone suggest a lower latency RAM alternate?


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## DiamondDanno (Jan 24, 2011)

Thanks for the quick response the suggestions and the links BTW...


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

Same suggestions as my Team mates above.
Overkill does not make future proof. I would suggest looking checking out suggested build list just before you actually do the build. It is updated regularly.


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## shotgn (Aug 10, 2008)

Look thru that build section, All new sockets have problems for the first 3-6 months. That is the reason we tell people to wait. 

Corsair makes some of the best psu's. The best is the corsair ax series and seasonic x-series.

If you really want fast boot times, might i suggest the 600g raptor from WD. 10000rpm almost as fast as an ssd. with 2 to 3 times the storage


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## DiamondDanno (Jan 24, 2011)

Ok here's a slight revision on the build...

CPU – i7-2600k 3.4GHz $329.97 Buy the Intel Core i7-2600K 3.40 GHz Quad-Core Unlocked at TigerDirect.ca

Mobo - GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD7 LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard $319.99 Buy the Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD7 Intel P67 Motherboard at TigerDirect.ca

GPU - EVGA 012-P3-1572-AR GeForce GTX 570 SuperClocked (x 2) $369.97 each Buy the EVGA GeForce GTX 570 SC 1280MB GDDR5 SLI Ready at TigerDirect.ca

RAM - 

Hard Drive - Western Digital VelociRaptor (WD6000HLHX) 600GB SATA 6Gb/s 10000RPM 32MB $279.99 Western Digital VelociRaptor (WD6000HLHX) 600GB SATA 6Gb/s 10000RPM 32MB (OEM) | Canada Computers

PSU - Antec TPQ-1200 TruePower Quattro 1200W Continuous Power Supply $269.99 Antec TPQ-1200 TruePower Quattro 1200W Continuous Power Supply | Canada Computers

Cooler - COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1 "Heatpipe Direct Contact" Long Life Sleeve 120mm CPU Cooler Compatible Intel Core i5 & Intel Core i7 $37.99 Buy the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus CPU Cooler at TigerDirect.ca

Optical Drive - Plextor PX-B940SA Blu Ray Burner $169.97 Buy the Plextor PX-B940SA Blu Ray Burner at TigerDirect.ca



I'm leaning towards the Antec PSU because its a little cheaper then the Corsair 1000AX and it does support 3-way SLI according to the Nvidia website
Decided to ditch the SSD for now and go with a 10000rpm HD instead.

Can you suggest some RAM?

Are the SuperClocked EVGA graphics cards kind of a mute point if I'm running 2 of them(and eventually 3)?

I should be able to overclock the CPU to 4.5+ using the Cooler Master 212 right?


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## shotgn (Aug 10, 2008)

The corsair 1000hx is cheaper and a better quality than the Antec. The 1200AX is more expensive. 
We do not recommend Antec psu's

Look for OCZ, Corsair,Gskill for ram around the 1333 or 1600 2x2g


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## DiamondDanno (Jan 24, 2011)

OK I'll look into it, thanks

What about RAM latency and voltage? Does it matter? For video editing and stuff like that wouldn't 8g be a better choice?


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## DiamondDanno (Jan 24, 2011)

Also on the Nvidia SLI website 1200ax is listed to support 3-way SLI but the 1000hx is not....


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## MPR (Aug 28, 2010)

DiamondDanno said:


> Also on the Nvidia SLI website 1200ax is listed to support 3-way SLI but the 1000hx is not....


"Nvidia GeForce GTX 570 1.25 GB 329.78 W under load." -- Tom's Hardware

Multiply 330 x 3 and you see why the 1000hx is not recommended -- the GPUs alone could pull _all _of the available 12 V power from a 1000 W supply.


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## DiamondDanno (Jan 24, 2011)

Yet another revision for Project 'Overkill'

 CPU – i7-2600k 3.4GHz $329.97 Buy the Intel Core i7-2600K 3.40 GHz Quad-Core Unlocked at TigerDirect.ca

Mobo - GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD7 LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard $319.99 Buy the Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD7 Intel P67 Motherboard at TigerDirect.ca

GPU - EVGA 012-P3-1572-AR GeForce GTX 570 SuperClocked (x 2) $369.97 each Buy the EVGA GeForce GTX 570 SC 1280MB GDDR5 SLI Ready at TigerDirect.ca

RAM - G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series DDR3 1600MHz (PC3-12800) 8GB (2x4GB) Dual Channel Kit (F3-12800CL7D-8GBXH) $154.99 G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series DDR3 1600MHz (PC3-12800) 8GB (2x4GB) Dual Channel Kit (F3-12800CL7D-8GBXH) | Canada Computers

Hard Drive - Western Digital WD5001AALS Caviar Black Hard Drive $57.97 Buy the Western Digital Caviar 500GB Hard Drive at TigerDirect.ca

SSD - Corsair Storage Solutions 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk Drive Force Series (SSD) 285MB/s Read 275MB/s Write, w/2.5" to 3.5" bracket (CSSD-F120GB2-BRKT) $199.99 Corsair Storage Solutions 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk Drive Force Series (SSD) 285MB/s Read 275MB/s Write, w/2.5" to 3.5" bracket (CSSD-F120GB2-BRKT) | Canada Computers

PSU – Corsair CMPSU-1200AX 1200-Watt Power Supply$289.97 Buy the Corsair CMPSU-1200AX 1200-Watt Power Supply at TigerDirect.ca

Cooler - COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1 "Heatpipe Direct Contact" Long Life Sleeve 120mm CPU Cooler Compatible Intel Core i5 & Intel Core i7 $37.99 Buy the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus CPU Cooler at TigerDirect.ca

Optical Drive - Plextor PX-B940SA Blu Ray Burner $169.97 Buy the Plextor PX-B940SA Blu Ray Burner at TigerDirect.ca

Case - CoolerMaster HAF 932 Full-Tower Case $139.97 Buy the Cooler Master HAF 932 ATX Full Tower Black Case at TigerDirect.ca


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## DiamondDanno (Jan 24, 2011)

Am I missing anything?


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## shotgn (Aug 10, 2008)

Everything looks compatible, Have you checked newegg.ca to compare prices? or NCIX.com?


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## DiamondDanno (Jan 24, 2011)

some prices are cheaper on newegg but the shipping costs put it over. tiger direct and canada computers have local stores i can visit.


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## grimx133 (Jan 15, 2008)

Ncix has stores in Markham and Scarborough. I find their prices a tad lower than TD, but shipping hasn't been as fast as it used to be.
NCIX.com - Canada's Premier Computer Store - Great Technology, Service and Selection.


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## DiamondDanno (Jan 24, 2011)

Hey cool! I didn't know about Ncix but I'll _definitely_ check it out. Thanks!


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## DiamondDanno (Jan 24, 2011)

Any good guides/tutorials out there for first time builders?


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## MPR (Aug 28, 2010)

There are several PC building videos guides on You Tube that you can watch but the best guides are often your case and motherboard user's manuals.

Read your manuals through -- twice. This may seem a hassle but it pays off in the long run. Then, before you actually put anything in the case, bench test the system as outlined in the sticky at the top of the building forum. In this way you can ensure that everything is working correctly or quickly isolate any faulty components in need of returning.


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## DiamondDanno (Jan 24, 2011)

ok will do thanks


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## DiamondDanno (Jan 24, 2011)

OK, I am rethinking the P67 motherboard....can someone suggest a kick *** mobo that will allow me to run a 3-way SLI set up? 

Compared to the P67 will I lose fps on the new(as of yet unknown)mobo? If so, how much->fishing for a general idea....keep in mind I want to eventually run 3 displays in 3D... 

Whats the deal the Intel chips bug? Is my i7 2600k one of the affected chips?


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## gcavan (Aug 13, 2009)

Just an FYI concerning NCIX. If you find a lower price at another Canadian etailer, they will match it; through the web site or in store. Look for the green ASPM button.


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