Potential New Computer

[Kieran]

Hi guys and girls,

 

I'm looking into building a new computer. It will be my first build, and just thought someone might be able to look over the specs and see if anything stands out (not compatible, poor choice of part, serious bottleneck, etc.). Thanks in advance.

 

CPU: i7 4770K (planning on overclocking, which I haven't done before either, from what I've read on the internet 4.5 GHz should be acceptable)

Mobo: ASUS Sabertooth Z87

GPU: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 780 Ti Windforce 3X (For me Nvidia is the only option because of the CUDA cores and 3D rendering)

RAM: Corsair Vengance 16GB (2x 8GB) 1600MHz

SSD: SanDisk Extreme II 240GB

HDD: WD 2TB Green 3.5"

Case: NZXT Phantom 630 Ultra

PSU: Thermaltake Toughpower GOLD 850W Modular (the GPU draws 600W, so is 850W going to be enough?)

CPU Cooling: Corsair Hydro Series H100i Water Cooler

OS: Windows 7 Professional 64-Bit

 

Cheers,

 

Kieran

[FloB]

Looks good from here. 850 W should be sufficient as the GPU alone will most certainly NOT draw 600W, it's rather the expected draw of a complete system.

CPU cooling looks extreme to me, especially if you are a beginner in oc' (means you should NOT go beyond 4,5).

You might look for a HQ air cooling instead - saves money and work.

The small FPS gain with extreme oc does not justify the risk and trouble that comes with more than let's say 4.3 GHZ. Leave that for the tech nerds.

 

BTW: Having a good case ventilation+airfilter is crucial for a good build IMHO.

 

Flo

[P3R]

Hi this is my rig build:

 

CPU:  Intel core i7 4770k@ 4.4GHz "Could go higer but i always throttle back a noch or two to be certain that it is stable"

GPU:  EVGA GeForce GTX 780Ti SC 3GB PhysX CUDA 

RAM:  Corsair Vengeance Pro 2400Mhz 16GB

MOBO: Asus Sabertooth Z87

PSU:  Corsair AX860i "No need for the i the AX860 is just as good" These are Platinium Grades.

SSD:  512GB Samsung Evo SSD

SSD:  250GB Samsung Evo SSD

HDD:  Seagate Barracuda 3TB

Case: Corsair Carbide Air 540 Cube Case

Cooling: Kraken NZXT X60 Closed Loop Watercooler "Noctua NH-D14 Aircooler, found no difference in cooling perf, may be difference if you do extreme oc"

OS: Windows 7 x64 Ultimate

Comms: Sennheiser PC26

 

Been running it for a couple of months now and all is working perfect.

Edited March 27, 2014 by P3R

[Ntr09]

Looks good from here. 850 W should be sufficient as the GPU alone will most certainly NOT draw 600W, it's rather the expected draw of a complete system.

CPU cooling looks extreme to me, especially if you are a beginner in oc' (means you should NOT go beyond 4,5).

You might look for a HQ air cooling instead - saves money and work.

The small FPS gain with extreme oc does not justify the risk and trouble that comes with more than let's say 4.3 GHZ. Leave that for the tech nerds.

 

BTW: Having a good case ventilation+airfilter is crucial for a good build IMHO.

 

Flo

I disagree about the cooler. There's no way you could get me to build a 4770k rig with a GPU throwing off that much heat without a liquid cooler, it just doesn't make sense. Plus, some 240mm coolers like that are cheaper than high-end air solutions. The H105 would be my personal choice but the 100i is basically the same.

 

Also I disagree about the OC, the new Intel CPUs are very easy to OC. No reason why anyone couldn't learn how to get one to 4.5ghz at all.

 

That case is what I would consider an *excellent* case with great airflow and plenty of fan filters.

 

Only thing I would change is the HDD, WD greens haven't been as reliable historically as WD Blacks, which have a 5-year warranty to boot. I'd give em some thought even though they're much more expensive.

 

All in all, looks like a great rig Kieran, have fun with it and if you need any help let us know.

 

-NR

[Kieran]

Thanks for the feedback all, very much appreciated.

 

I have been looking at a few videos on YouTube from ASUS, which say the Z87 Motherboards come with a 4-way optimisation software, which in the videos, with one click OC'd a 4770K to 4.8GHz on an air-cooler.

 

Regarding HDDs, I was thinking of getting 2 2TB HDDs for raid, and am tossing up between RAID 0 or 1. I will obviously want to back up all my files in some fashion, hence RAID 1, but also thinking that RAID 0 could increase performance. Any opinions regarding this would be great. Also would WD Reds be of consideration instead of a Black or Green, or it Black the way to go?

 

I've also realised I'll need a network card to connect to my WiFi, ethernet isn't practical due to the locations of the computer and router, so is there anything to look out for with network cards?

 

Thanks again all!

Kieran

Edited March 28, 2014 by Kieran

[john82088]

P3R:

 

Have you tried flying the SAAB 340 on your new machine?  If so, what kind of frame rates are you getting with your new computer?

 

John

[P3R]

P3R:

 

Have you tried flying the SAAB 340 on your new machine?  If so, what kind of frame rates are you getting with your new computer?

 

John

 

Sorry if its a bit off topic Kieran.

 

Thats a difficult question to answer because no one uses the same config in x-plane rendering options.

I have two rules when setting up x-plane, when flying very complex airplanes i use half vsync to get smooth and steady 30fps.

When flying not so complex stuff i run at vsync and get smooth and steady 60fps.

So if i wanted i could run the SAAB at either 30fps or 60fps, it all depends on the rendering settings.

 

Br

P3R 

Edited March 28, 2014 by P3R

[P3R]

Thanks for the feedback all, very much appreciated.

 

I have been looking at a few videos on YouTube from ASUS, which say the Z87 Motherboards come with a 4-way optimisation software, which in the videos, with one click OC'd a 4770K to 4.8GHz on an air-cooler.

 

Regarding HDDs, I was thinking of getting 2 2TB HDDs for raid, and am tossing up between RAID 0 or 1. I will obviously want to back up all my files in some fashion, hence RAID 1, but also thinking that RAID 0 could increase performance. Any opinions regarding this would be great. Also would WD Reds be of consideration instead of a Black or Green, or it Black the way to go?

 

I've also realised I'll need a network card to connect to my WiFi, ethernet isn't practical due to the locations of the computer and router, so is there anything to look out for with network cards?

 

Thanks again all!

Kieran

 

It's easy to oc the new Asus stuff yes, but if you are lucky you get a cpu that likes to be oc'd alot, you could also get unlucky and get a cpu that dont like to be oc'ed.

In my experience using hi bandwith ram when overclocking the cpu you dont have to worry about tweaking the ram, only set it to xmp.

I use one SSD for the system and initial x-plane install and a big HDD with lots of cache where i put all custom scenery for x-plane via a symbolic link, this is because i use alot of photoscenery.

For backup i use Norton Ghost to roll down the whole diskpartition in one big file.

 

Br

P3R

Edited March 28, 2014 by P3R

[Ntr09]

Regarding HDDs, I was thinking of getting 2 2TB HDDs for raid, and am tossing up between RAID 0 or 1. I will obviously want to back up all my files in some fashion, hence RAID 1, but also thinking that RAID 0 could increase performance. Any opinions regarding this would be great. Also would WD Reds be of consideration instead of a Black or Green, or it Black the way to go?

The Reds are more for NAS and storage servers, if their read/write usage is going to be really low you could use them, but they are nowhere near as fast as Blacks.

 

Also, I'd never dream of going past 4.0ghz with any air cooler. Gotta have liquid to keep the temps down for better performance and longevity.

 

-NR

[john82088]

P3R:<br /><br />Makes sense, thanks for your response.<br /><br />John

[Ntr09]

I've also realised I'll need a network card to connect to my WiFi, ethernet isn't practical due to the locations of the computer and router, so is there anything to look out for with network cards?

I have this one, it works quite well. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833106192

[Kieran]

Thanks guys, I did some more reading on the WD Blacks, and thanks for the advice NR, I think I will go with black over green

[Kieran]

Another thing guys and girls if you don't mind. What sort of extra bits and pieces would I need to put a system like this together? The motherboard should come with all the SATA cables, the power supply with power cables, etc. The cooler comes with thermal paste pre-applied I believe. So are there any other bits and pieces I'd need?

[Ntr09]

@kieran, I don't believe so, NZXT is known for including plenty of hardware so you should be set. Depending on how you set up your fans you might need more fan filters but you can always add those later.

 

EDIT: You may need a little pack of mini zip-ties for cable management, not sure if the case will come with enough to do the job.

 

-NR

Edited March 29, 2014 by Ntr09

[Kieran]

Thanks NR, and everyone else, order is placed.

 

Cheers,

 

Kieran

[Hopkinsstevea]

It's easy to oc the new Asus stuff yes, but if you are lucky you get a cpu that likes to be oc'd alot, you could also get unlucky and get a cpu that dont like to be oc'ed.

In my experience using hi bandwith ram when overclocking the cpu you dont have to worry about tweaking the ram, only set it to xmp.

I use one SSD for the system and initial x-plane install and a big HDD with lots of cache where i put all custom scenery for x-plane via a symbolic link, this is because i use alot of photoscenery.

For backup i use Norton Ghost to roll down the whole diskpartition in one big file.

 

Br

P3R

P3r

If you don't mind me asking if you have x-plane on a SSD how do you get x-plane to access the scenery on another drive (symbolic link)?

[P3R]

P3r

If you don't mind me asking if you have x-plane on a SSD how do you get x-plane to access the scenery on another drive (symbolic link)?

Example:

mklink /d "C:\X-Plane 10\Custom Scenery" "e:\Custom Scenery"

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTFS_symbolic_link

 

An even easier way of doing it is downloading the symbolic link creator.

Link: https://code.google.com/p/symlinker/

Hope it helps.

 

Br

P3r

Edited March 30, 2014 by P3R

[Hopkinsstevea]

Example:

mklink /d "C:\X-Plane 10\Custom Scenery" "e:\Custom Scenery"

Link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NTFS_symbolic_link

 

An even easier way of doing it is downloading the symbolic link creator.

Link: https://code.google.com/p/symlinker/

Hope it helps.

 

Br

P3r

 

Thanks you very much for the Information that looks very promising I will have to give it a try

Steve

 

[czoog]

Hey, Just a quick note, i just built up a new PC with a 512gb SSD and fast 2TB HDD and used the symbolic link for custom scenery...however I could not get the program above to work, but this one works great on window 8.1:

 

http://sourceforge.net/projects/symlink-creator/

 

works like a charm...thanks for the tips guys.