This is my first post! I was wondering what everyone thinks to my new system plan and if there is anywhere that I can improve on by downgrading one or two of the parts for example. The list of parts I am thinking of is:
Intel Core i7 3770K - Watercooled with just a CPU loop
Asus Sabertooth Z77 Mobo
Corsair Vengeance 8GB 1600MHZ Dual Channel Memory
EVGA GTX670 FTW 4GB GPU
Kingston HyperX 3K SSD 120GB
WD Caviar Black 1TB
LG DVD Burner
Corsair HX850W PSU
Thermaltake Level 10 GT Case
In total for all of this (incl. watercooling bits) it will cost around £1600 (at current prices). Is there any components I can scale down on to improve on other things? The main use for this computer will be for gaming. Thanks in advance! :)
for gaming the 3770K wont perform any better than a 3570K since the main difference is Hyperthreading which games dont use
and i would get a 7950 or 7970 or a 670, i would also get a seagate barracuda 7200.14 over a WD Black since the seagate is faster and the reliability problems were solved in 7200.14 drives
Ok thanks - I will bare this in mind when choosing my parts - I have looked at benchmarks for the EVGA GTX670 I was looking at and it will perform perfectly for the games I want to be running on it - I could change the i7 for the i5 and the drive from wd to the seagate.
how old were the benchmarks you were looking at because a month or so ago catalyst 12.11 drivers were released which improved performance on 7000 series cards by 10-15%
Have you looked at the 7970 as well? It really is a proper card as well, especially if you decide to OC. HX850 is a massive amount of power that you will never need or use, a quality 650w will do the job with room to spare for your system.
Are you going to do a custom water cooled loop for your cpu? If so may i recomend you save some money and purchase a H100i instead? It will do the job very well and it will be far cheaper then a custom loop and comes with a 5 year warranty to boot.
A custom loop definitely is a better performer when you can add a thicker radiator or even multiple radiators, but it is also well over two to three times the price. The H100i has managed around 4.6ghz with a 3770k that i know of, how high are you planning to OC your 3570k?
Please do also look into the HD7970, what games are you planning on playing?
I'm not sure yet - how high would you reccomend? I am going to do a custom watercooling loop for the performance and the aesthetic benefits. I plan on playing games like far cry 3, battlefield 3 etc.
Hmmmm. IT all depends on what games you are going to play. by the way, check out the msi 660 ti power edition. with the new drivers and overclocking, it is pritty much a 670. also go with the 3570k. i have one and really, its just as good as a 3770k unless you are using programs that use threds. even then, for those progams it still is really fast. and aslo, drop the custom watercooling loop. It just in not worth it.
Honestly i doubt you will even need to OC it, if you do decide to OC it will be for the joy of it and that will be completely dependant on how lucky you get on your chip lottery. Definitely then do the custom loop, it is a wonderful learning experience and it is what you want, it will look and perform very well!
For those games, here are the benchmarks for the HD7970 vs GTX670 : http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/508?vs=598
Both cards are equal in performance for the most part and equal in price, but i do like the 4gb of video ram vs the 3gb on the 7970. Games like Hitman for example, will munch those 3gb of video ram @1080p with everything maxed like its water, so it is always good to have that bit more.
Because the 3570k is a absolute monster, heck my phenom II plays every game i have no issues with no OC needed. That 3570K is leagues ahead of it, i honestly doubt right now there is a good that makes it poop the bed. Good choice on the GTX670 good sir.
But surely overclocking it a little bit (say to 4.0GHz) wouldn't do it any harm as long as you don't go mad on the voltage and you have adequate cooling - and then it will make programs run faster. how does the i7 compare to the i5 and what are the benefits of the i7?
Definitely not hurt anything, 4.0 should be fairly easy with it. Programs faster well i do not believe or observed that with my OC experience, i believe your SSD will influence how fast a program loads up. OC will probably give you some FPS but mostly with the new cpu's, OC is more of a hobby then a need.
The difference between those two processors: 3570k quad core/four threads 3.4/3.8 turbo 3770k quad core/eight threads 3.5/3.9 turbo . That is the only difference, hyperthreading on the 3770k is really good for rendering and what not but in gaming it just is not worth the $100 increase.
Here is a bench comparing both cpu's, theres a game in there or two as well so you can see there is no difference in gaming : http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/551?vs=701
Would the watercooling loop not benefit me? I have read that performance is much better from a custom watercooling loop than a closed loop cooler (e.g. corsair h100i)
Watercooling would benefit you if you were to go all out on a OC, where every degree matters. If you are looking for a modest lets say 4.0 OC on your 3570k a simple $30-60 air cooler would do that easily while keeping your system fairly quite. With that being said, your tastes are only limited by your budget. If you have the money please do a custom loop because apart from building pc's it is a wonderful experience to have.
Is watercooling needed for 99% of the systems out there? Not at all, if your budget allows and it tickles your fancy? Please do it!