Calling all PC gamers (help me out here)

[Griffolion]

Can a GTX 570 run Crysis and Witcher? Are you serious?
There isn't a game on the market it can't run.

I think you're getting on the wrong boat here- that machine is POWERFUL yes, but by modern standards its simply too powerful. There isn't a game around that can't be perfectly run on hardware at about half the price. That may be personal preference of course, I've never seen the point of water cooling, triple-threadding and anything beyond a GTX 470. (Despite owning a 6970)

Some will tell you different, but sadly those are also the people that give PC gamers a little 'reputation'.

Well that is just fantastic, guess I wont have to upgrade my PC for a while then, excactly what I was trying to achieve with this PC

he is right, your doing a slight bit of overkill for your first build on that, you could chop off probably 400 dollars(don't know the exact euro conversion for that) on that rig and it would still run all games to date like a boss, hell my rig is a step down from that and I run multiple games plus school programs at the same time and my system barely hiccups at that.

It may be a bit overkill, but i'll say it again, I want a really good PC that I wont have to upgrade for the next couple of years, and I believe this is the one

Alright, so a while back I was looking for a new PC, and I still am. I want to buy an awesome PC to begin with so I dont have to upgrade it every year. I have decided that I want to build the PC myself, so the only thing I need is the components, and I have a list of components i'm thinking of buying, I just want confirmation if this rig is any good, as I dont know anything at all about PC's (yet I can build them from the bottom... weird huh?)
Check the list of components out here

Cooler Master HAF X Big Tower
Corsair HX 850W PSU
Intel Core? i7 Quad Processor i7-2600
Corsair H50 Hydro Series CPU Cooler
ASUS Sabertooth P67, Socket-1155
Corsair Vengeance? DDR3 1600MHz 8GB CL9
ZOTAC GeForce GTX 570 1280MB AMP!
2x Western Digital Caviar® Blue 1TB
Sony Optiarc DVD±RW Burner, AD-7260S

So I ask you, is this rig any good. Can it run Crysis 2 or Witcher 2?

Not read any replies, but these are my thoughts coming from a pretty experienced builder.

HAF X = Good
HX 850 = Good (though if you're wanting to upgrade to a dual Nvidia GPU config, i'd go up to 1KW)
I7 2600 = Get the K unlocked version for better overclocking
H50 = Get the H70 OR the Prolimatech Armageddon
Sabertooth = Good (don't install the shield thing though)
Vengeance DDR3 = Good
GTX 570 = Good but is the weak link in your main triad (CPU, RAM, GPU), get a 580 instead.
WD Caviar Blue = NOOOOO! Main drive for the OS and critical applications get a Sanforce based SSD like the Corsair Force or the OCZ Vertex 2, 60GB and upwards will be enough. For storage like games, music, movies etc get a 1TB Samsung Spinpoint F3.
Optiarc = Good (get whatever is cheapest as the optical drive doesn't really matter in today's day and age).

As for your queston. Depends on the resolution. 1080? Yeah on max settings you should get minimum 40FPS, max 60. 1200 or above? You'll start losing frames, you'll need to compensate by getting a second GPU in SLI. If you're gaming above 1080, I advise going with ATI because their 6xxx series have, as standard, more memory than Nvidia equivalents, making them more capable at higher resolutions.

If you have any further questions, PM me.

Thanks, you just answerede all of my questions there.
I think i'm going to stick with the Caviar blue as an SSD drive is a bit too expensive for my taste, but thanks for the tip anyway. I can always add a SSD drive later if I feel like it.
As for the water cooling. I dont know if I should just skip it since alot of people are saying its pretty much a waste and there are cheaper and better solutions out there. That also makes the rig a bit cheaper... of course

Closed loop water cooling offers very little advantage over a decent air cooler, hence why i advised the Prolimatech Armageddon. I have one in my rig cooling an I5 overclocked to 4GHz and it keeps it at 55 degrees. Also it adds a tad of anxiety in case it springs a leak, you know what i'm saying..? So tl;dr, Prolimatech Armageddon with a PWM 120mm or 140mm fan equals win.

Also, i noticed you haven't changed your processor to the K unlocked version, please do so as it will let you overclock to 4.6Ghz.

And if you're going to stick with HDD's fair enough, but for the love of your deity please get a Spinpoint F3, they are miles better than the Caviars.

As for peripherals, the keyboard isn't that important unless you're gaming with a lot of macros. However for the mouse i recommend the Roccat Kone, Roccat make the best mice in the market today (yes better than Razer, very little known fact).

 

[Irriduccibilli]

Can a GTX 570 run Crysis and Witcher? Are you serious?
There isn't a game on the market it can't run.

I think you're getting on the wrong boat here- that machine is POWERFUL yes, but by modern standards its simply too powerful. There isn't a game around that can't be perfectly run on hardware at about half the price. That may be personal preference of course, I've never seen the point of water cooling, triple-threadding and anything beyond a GTX 470. (Despite owning a 6970)

Some will tell you different, but sadly those are also the people that give PC gamers a little 'reputation'.

Well that is just fantastic, guess I wont have to upgrade my PC for a while then, excactly what I was trying to achieve with this PC

he is right, your doing a slight bit of overkill for your first build on that, you could chop off probably 400 dollars(don't know the exact euro conversion for that) on that rig and it would still run all games to date like a boss, hell my rig is a step down from that and I run multiple games plus school programs at the same time and my system barely hiccups at that.

It may be a bit overkill, but i'll say it again, I want a really good PC that I wont have to upgrade for the next couple of years, and I believe this is the one

Alright, so a while back I was looking for a new PC, and I still am. I want to buy an awesome PC to begin with so I dont have to upgrade it every year. I have decided that I want to build the PC myself, so the only thing I need is the components, and I have a list of components i'm thinking of buying, I just want confirmation if this rig is any good, as I dont know anything at all about PC's (yet I can build them from the bottom... weird huh?)
Check the list of components out here

Cooler Master HAF X Big Tower
Corsair HX 850W PSU
Intel Core? i7 Quad Processor i7-2600
Corsair H50 Hydro Series CPU Cooler
ASUS Sabertooth P67, Socket-1155
Corsair Vengeance? DDR3 1600MHz 8GB CL9
ZOTAC GeForce GTX 570 1280MB AMP!
2x Western Digital Caviar® Blue 1TB
Sony Optiarc DVD±RW Burner, AD-7260S

So I ask you, is this rig any good. Can it run Crysis 2 or Witcher 2?

Not read any replies, but these are my thoughts coming from a pretty experienced builder.

HAF X = Good
HX 850 = Good (though if you're wanting to upgrade to a dual Nvidia GPU config, i'd go up to 1KW)
I7 2600 = Get the K unlocked version for better overclocking
H50 = Get the H70 OR the Prolimatech Armageddon
Sabertooth = Good (don't install the shield thing though)
Vengeance DDR3 = Good
GTX 570 = Good but is the weak link in your main triad (CPU, RAM, GPU), get a 580 instead.
WD Caviar Blue = NOOOOO! Main drive for the OS and critical applications get a Sanforce based SSD like the Corsair Force or the OCZ Vertex 2, 60GB and upwards will be enough. For storage like games, music, movies etc get a 1TB Samsung Spinpoint F3.
Optiarc = Good (get whatever is cheapest as the optical drive doesn't really matter in today's day and age).

As for your queston. Depends on the resolution. 1080? Yeah on max settings you should get minimum 40FPS, max 60. 1200 or above? You'll start losing frames, you'll need to compensate by getting a second GPU in SLI. If you're gaming above 1080, I advise going with ATI because their 6xxx series have, as standard, more memory than Nvidia equivalents, making them more capable at higher resolutions.

If you have any further questions, PM me.

Thanks, you just answerede all of my questions there.
I think i'm going to stick with the Caviar blue as an SSD drive is a bit too expensive for my taste, but thanks for the tip anyway. I can always add a SSD drive later if I feel like it.
As for the water cooling. I dont know if I should just skip it since alot of people are saying its pretty much a waste and there are cheaper and better solutions out there. That also makes the rig a bit cheaper... of course

Closed loop water cooling offers very little advantage over a decent air cooler, hence why i advised the Prolimatech Armageddon. I have one in my rig cooling an I5 overclocked to 4GHz and it keeps it at 55 degrees. Also it adds a tad of anxiety in case it springs a leak, you know what i'm saying..? So tl;dr, Prolimatech Armageddon with a PWM 120mm or 140mm fan equals win.

Also, i noticed you haven't changed your processor to the K unlocked version, please do so as it will let you overclock to 4.6Ghz.

And if you're going to stick with HDD's fair enough, but for the love of your deity please get a Spinpoint F3, they are miles better than the Caviars.

As for peripherals, the keyboard isn't that important unless you're gaming with a lot of macros. However for the mouse i recommend the Roccat Kone, Roccat make the best mice in the market today (yes better than Razer, very little known fact).

I arent aiming at overclocking my CPU right away, so I guess I wont be need the K unlocked version right away. Good tip though

As for the HDD's, i'll take a look at the Spinpoint drives

The thing is that I already own a mouse I am happy with, the Razer Lycosa, so I dont need a new mouse for some time.

Also, I dont know if you saw my modfied list of components, I sliced away the water cooling, hence alot of people said its basicly useless

EDIT: Checked out the Spinpoint HDD's and I think you made your case. I think i'm going to get those instead of the Caviar blues, and the spinpoint HDD's are almost as cheap as the Caviar Blue HDD's

 

[Griffolion]

I arent aiming at overclocking my CPU right away, so I guess I wont be need the K unlocked version right away. Good tip though

As for the HDD's, i'll take a look at the Spinpoint drives

The thing is that I already own a mouse I am happy with, the Razer Lycosa, so I dont need a new mouse for some time.

Also, I dont know if you saw my modfied list of components, I sliced away the water cooling, hence alot of people said its basicly useless

That's fair enough, however I encourage you to take a look at it, as the unlocked version is only a few £/$ more than the locked version and if you want to get into OC'ing in the future, it's there for you.

And yeah your build is looking more or less okay now, I still suggest a 580 though, or a 6970. If you're going specifically for Nvidia for Physx and CUDA, those two things are useless to the average consumer as very few games take advantage of Physx and CUDA is a programming language for HPC situations that your rig will NEVER be part of. Nvidia's cards are epic, but if any of those two aforementioned things are reasons for you going with Nvidia, then you need to know the facts.

If you're not looking into OC'ing then you could probably get away with a cheaper and more basic aftermarket cooler, take a look at the Titan Skalli. It's a neat, small little cooler that's powerful too (can kick it with the big boys of the game). Plus it's only like $30 or so.

 

[Irriduccibilli]

I arent aiming at overclocking my CPU right away, so I guess I wont be need the K unlocked version right away. Good tip though

As for the HDD's, i'll take a look at the Spinpoint drives

The thing is that I already own a mouse I am happy with, the Razer Lycosa, so I dont need a new mouse for some time.

Also, I dont know if you saw my modfied list of components, I sliced away the water cooling, hence alot of people said its basicly useless

That's fair enough, however I encourage you to take a look at it, as the unlocked version is only a few £/$ more than the locked version and if you want to get into OC'ing in the future, it's there for you.

And yeah your build is looking more or less okay now, I still suggest a 580 though, or a 6970. If you're going specifically for Nvidia for Physx and CUDA, those two things are useless to the average consumer as very few games take advantage of Physx and CUDA is a programming language for HPC situations that your rig will NEVER be part of. Nvidia's cards are epic, but if any of those two aforementioned things are reasons for you going with Nvidia, then you need to know the facts.

If you're not looking into OC'ing then you could probably get away with a cheaper and more basic aftermarket cooler, take a look at the Titan Skalli. It's a neat, small little cooler that's powerful too (can kick it with the big boys of the game). Plus it's only like $30 or so.

Great, i'll take a look at it. You've been most helpful, thanks

 

[saruman31]

Wait for AMD Bulldozer and win. I see that you want a future investment(ha...see what i did there?)so 4 cores are already mainstream and not really worth investing into.

 

[silentx3ro]

Just wanted to give my 2 cents on the keyboard.

I would go for the Regular Lycosa over the mirror edition, the only difference being the keys are a matt and grippy rather than shiney.

If im honest I'm a bit of a razer fanboy, my whole desktop is razer, but I really didn't like the Lycosa Mirror edition, I kinda have OCD about keeping my desktop clean but the Mirror seems to go from shiney and clean to covered in marks and fingerprints if you so much as look at it. I took mine back and picked up the regular one and have been happy with it.

The keyboard itself is great, the one problem I have is I find that, due to the low profile keys, its very easy to hit multiple buttons around to the desired key by accident. So for FPS's I use a Belkin/Razer n52te, it took some getting used to but now I swear by it.

You cant go wrong with razer stuff.

Good luck with the build

 

[Irriduccibilli]

Just wanted to give my 2 cents on the keyboard.

I would go for the Regular Lycosa over the mirror edition, the only difference being the keys are a matt and grippy rather than shiney.

If im honest I'm a bit of a razer fanboy, my whole desktop is razer, but I really didn't like the Lycosa Mirror edition, I kinda have OCD about keeping my desktop clean but the Mirror seems to go from shiney and clean to covered in marks and fingerprints if you so much as look at it. I took mine back and picked up the regular one and have been happy with it.

The keyboard itself is great, the one problem I have is I find that, due to the low profile keys, its very easy to hit multiple buttons around to the desired key by accident. So for FPS's I use a Belkin/Razer n52te, it took some getting used to but now I swear by it.

You cant go wrong with razer stuff.

Good luck with the build

Thanks. Yeah that is one thing I was worried about with the Lycosa Mirror keyboard, but I think i'll be able to live with it
Thanks for the tip

 

[Griffolion]

Wait for AMD Bulldozer and win. I see that you want a future investment(ha...see what i did there?)so 4 cores are already mainstream and not really worth investing into.

Considering there are no solid benches of bulldozer chips against Intel equivalents, and the fact it isn't even out yet in the face of a very appealing line of Sandybridge chips makes your statement a little hard to swallow. I'm smelling a fanboy but i'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt.

And four cores are mainstream due to price. But it's going to be a while before games will truly start accessing more than two cores (Supreme Commander comes to mind, but that's it). Six cores is simply ridiculous save for HPC and server applications, mainstream computing will not take advantage of 6 cores for a while, which is why quad cores remain so popular. Also it's been shown that a quad core I7 Sandybridge chip can outpace a 1st gen Nehalem 6-core processor due to clock-for-clock optimisations.

So as far as i can see, quad core is still more than sufficient for the OP's needs (especially when looking at the clock-for-clock advantages Sandybridge has over any other architecture in the world), there's no such thing as a future investment in leading edge consumer computing (things will be obsolete in 6 months) thus making the idea of an 'investment' a bit silly.

As far as looking at the future is concerned. Overclock the CPU in the unlikely event it ever becomes the bottleneck in your system or upgrade the graphics card/put a second in crossfire or SLI. The 8GB of RAM the OP has will be more than enough for years to come.

 

[saruman31]

Wait for AMD Bulldozer and win. I see that you want a future investment(ha...see what i did there?)so 4 cores are already mainstream and not really worth investing into.

Considering there are no solid benches of bulldozer chips against Intel equivalents, and the fact it isn't even out yet in the face of a very appealing line of Sandybridge chips makes your statement a little hard to swallow. I'm smelling a fanboy but i'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt.

And four cores are mainstream due to price. But it's going to be a while before games will truly start accessing more than two cores (Supreme Commander comes to mind, but that's it). Six cores is simply ridiculous save for HPC and server applications, mainstream computing will not take advantage of 6 cores for a while, which is why quad cores remain so popular. Also it's been shown that a quad core I7 Sandybridge chip can outpace a 1st gen Nehalem 6-core processor due to clock-for-clock optimisations.

So as far as i can see, quad core is still more than sufficient for the OP's needs (especially when looking at the clock-for-clock advantages Sandybridge has over any other architecture in the world), there's no such thing as a future investment in leading edge consumer computing (things will be obsolete in 6 months) thus making the idea of an 'investment' a bit silly.

As far as looking at the future is concerned. Overclock the CPU in the unlikely event it ever becomes the bottleneck in your system or upgrade the graphics card/put a second in crossfire or SLI. The 8GB of RAM the OP has will be more than enough for years to come.

I only had Intel/Nvidia until now and still have. But i grew out of my fanboysm and realized that AMD/ATI are waaaay better on price/performance. And i seriously doubt that when all 6-8 cores will be used in a future game like say gta5 it will run worse than a 4 core intel i7 rip-off.

 

[Griffolion]

Wait for AMD Bulldozer and win. I see that you want a future investment(ha...see what i did there?)so 4 cores are already mainstream and not really worth investing into.

Considering there are no solid benches of bulldozer chips against Intel equivalents, and the fact it isn't even out yet in the face of a very appealing line of Sandybridge chips makes your statement a little hard to swallow. I'm smelling a fanboy but i'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt.

And four cores are mainstream due to price. But it's going to be a while before games will truly start accessing more than two cores (Supreme Commander comes to mind, but that's it). Six cores is simply ridiculous save for HPC and server applications, mainstream computing will not take advantage of 6 cores for a while, which is why quad cores remain so popular. Also it's been shown that a quad core I7 Sandybridge chip can outpace a 1st gen Nehalem 6-core processor due to clock-for-clock optimisations.

So as far as i can see, quad core is still more than sufficient for the OP's needs (especially when looking at the clock-for-clock advantages Sandybridge has over any other architecture in the world), there's no such thing as a future investment in leading edge consumer computing (things will be obsolete in 6 months) thus making the idea of an 'investment' a bit silly.

As far as looking at the future is concerned. Overclock the CPU in the unlikely event it ever becomes the bottleneck in your system or upgrade the graphics card/put a second in crossfire or SLI. The 8GB of RAM the OP has will be more than enough for years to come.

I only had Intel/Nvidia until now and still have. But i grew out of my fanboysm and realized that AMD/ATI are waaaay better on price/performance. And i seriously doubt that when all 6-8 cores will be used in a future game like say gta5 it will run worse than a 4 core intel i7 rip-off.

As far as processors go, i'm going to disagree with you there. Intel's line give amazing value for the level they're priced at. The fact that Intel's unlocked I5 at £160 can, significantly and disproportionately to the price disparity, outpace AMD's £150 hex-core flagship while having two less cores is pretty decent. But i agree that if you're literally a slave to a low budget, AMD can provide quad core goods at sub £100 prices, something Intel has never done. And thus then i would go with AMD. But if your price range is ~£150 or above, i will always recommend Intel because you then have the ability to fit in an Intel chip that is miles better than the AMD equivalent. Don't get me wrong, i have nothing against AMD at all, i have used chips from both companies in my time, but at the moment, if you can get one, the Intel chips are the ones to have. I recommend AMD chips to friends who need builds on a budget, but where possible i will go for Intel because they are simply superior at the moment, it's as simple as that. There's no fanboyism to that comment, it's simply the facts. As for Bulldozer, again, nothing is benched or proven yet BUT i am looking forward to AMD getting back in the mid-high range performance game as real competition only ever benefits us the consumer.

As far as AMD Radeon is concerned, i totally agree, right now they're overall trumping Nvidia on price/performance, which is something they've always done. I have a 5970 and will not replace it for another 9 months at the least. That said, Nvidia's 5 series are some amazing GPU's and at the mid range (GTX 560) they are priced very very aggressively and give AMD's mid range some serious competition. Again, i tend to pick the card that's best for my wallet. Right now i would recommend the 6970 to friends because of the 2GB memory and decent scope for overclocking. Then again i wouldn't exactly rip someone apart for wanting a 580, because they too are amazing cards, especially with the incremental price drops they've enjoyed since release.

 

[fix-the-spade]

So I ask you, is this rig any good. Can it run Crysis 2 or Witcher 2?

Swap out the Sony disc drive for an ASUS unit. It will be cheaper and won't come with Sony's spyware rubbish driver software.

Also, avoid ZOTAC, if you want a high end card, Sapphire and MSI are the best ones. Sapphire only do ATI cards, so scratch them. Of the MSI ones you want a FROZR model as they run colder and are lovey and quiet. I know it costs extra but it'll pay you back long term.

Other than that it looks good, I second the advice to upgrade to a 2600K over the standard. It's easier to O/C at a later date. I also quite like G-Skill over Corsair RAM as it's easier to clock as well, but that's just me.

Also, yes, it can run both easy, the 570 might struggle a tiny bit with Witcher 2 on max, but since Crysis 2 is a Direct X9 game it'll blitz that.

 

[MrTub]

You need to buy an assistans fan to your mobo and you can clock your i7 2600k to at least 4,6ghz without a problem with Corsair h50 p&p

And I would recommend that you get the K version so you can overclock later on if you want, considering 2600 without K cannot overclock at all.

 

[WouldYouKindly]

This is fantastic, you can run anything you want for the next year or 2 probably. Just a question on the side, how much did that cost you to make?

 

[Irriduccibilli]

This is fantastic, you can run anything you want for the next year or 2 probably. Just a question on the side, how much did that cost you to make?

This will cost me around 10.000DKR ($2.000), but that is with screen, speakers and freight

So I ask you, is this rig any good. Can it run Crysis 2 or Witcher 2?

Swap out the Sony disc drive for an ASUS unit. It will be cheaper and won't come with Sony's spyware rubbish driver software.

Also, avoid ZOTAC, if you want a high end card, Sapphire and MSI are the best ones. Sapphire only do ATI cards, so scratch them. Of the MSI ones you want a FROZR model as they run colder and are lovey and quiet. I know it costs extra but it'll pay you back long term.

Other than that it looks good, I second the advice to upgrade to a 2600K over the standard. It's easier to O/C at a later date. I also quite like G-Skill over Corsair RAM as it's easier to clock as well, but that's just me.

Also, yes, it can run both easy, the 570 might struggle a tiny bit with Witcher 2 on max, but since Crysis 2 is a Direct X9 game it'll blitz that.

I already decided to swap out the ZOTAC with an MSI GeForce GTX 570 "Twin Frozr II", because I read some pretty bad stuff about the Zotac