Advice for High end Gaming cofig (only cabinet + internal parts)

A

1: What is your budget?
1-1.2 Lakhs (CPU only)

2: What is your existing hardware configuration (component name - component brand and model)
CPU - Core 2 Duo (2.3 GHz)
Motherboard - Asus xxx
GPU - nVidia 9800 GTX+
RAM - Kingston 2*2GB
Monitor - BenQ G2400 HD (not looking to replace)
SMPS - Cooler Master 450W

3: Which hardware will you be keeping (component name - component brand and model)
Monitor - Dell 2409

4: Which hardware component are you looking to buy (component name).
CPU -
Motherboard -
GPU -

5: Where will you buy this hardware? (Online/City/TE Dealer)
New Delhi
Open to online purchase

6: Would you consider buying a second hand hardware from the TE market
No

7: What is your intended use for this PC/hardware
Gaming, Gaming, Gaming

Q: Do you have any brand preference or dislike? Please name them and the reason for your preference/dislike.
Asus, Corsair, nVidia cards (if ATI offers significant performance upgrade at the same price then I may consider. I really like PhysX effect in games like Mafia II etc. so would prefer an nVidia card.)

Q: If you will be playing games then which type of games will you be playing?
Battlefield 3, Skyrim, Heroes VI, COD: MW3

Q: What is your preferred monitor resolution for gaming and normal usage
Gaming - 1920*1080
Desktop - 1920*1080

Q: Are you looking to overclock?
Yes

Q: Which operating system do you intend to use with this configuration?
Windows 7 64 bit

Brand Price
Chasis THERMALTAKE LEVEL 10 GT Rs. 20,000.00
Motherboard ASUS P8Z68-V PRO Rs. 11,200.00
CPU Intel i7 2600K Rs. 16,000.00
PSU Seasonic 850W X Series Rs. 9,500.00
RAM Gskill F3-12800CL9Q-16GBXL RipjawsX Rs. 7,000.00
Graphic Card 2*MSI GTX 560 - TI Rs. 32,000.00
Cooler Antec Kuhler H2O 920 Rs. 5,750.00
Hard Disk - SSD OCZ 120 GB AGILITY 3 SATA III 2.5 inch SSD Rs. 11,600.00
Hard Disk WD Caviar Black - 2 TB Rs. 7,200.00

Damages Rs. 1,20,250.00

Alternative Price
Chasis Corsair Obsidian Series 800D Rs. 16,000.00
Motherboard Suggest? Rs. 11,200.00
CPU Intel i5 2500K Rs. 10,500.00
PSU Corsair TX 850 v2 Rs. 6,660.00
RAM Suggest? Rs. 7,000.00
Graphic Card 2*MSI R6950 Twin Frozr III Power Edition/OC Rs. 30,600.00
Cooler Corsair Hydro H80 Rs. 6,000.00
Hard Disk - SSD Corsair Force Series 120 GB Rs. 12,500.00
Hard Disk WD Caviar Black - 2 TB Rs. 7,200.00

Damages Rs. 1,07,660.00

May add a sound card later, preferably Asus Xonax STX (7500). Please note that the prices are only indicative and I may decide to delay my purchase by another month (max) in case the dollar prices (and flood issues in South Asia) influence the prices too much. Please let me know what can I change in my system to make it better. For me looks are very important so the best Chasis (Thermaltake Level 10 GT or Corsair Obsidian 800D). Also please let me know whether my choice for graphic card is right or not (several reviews on guru3d, anandtech and overclockers have indicated that 2*560 TI performs better than a single 580).

TIA

Oftopic:: Ok you want whole system excluding Monitor.. for a moment I thought you just want Processor for 1-1.2L. :lol:

A

LOL.. no dude

Whole system excluding monitor (BenQ 24") & UPS (Numeric 1KVA) & KB (MS Sidewinder X4) & Mouse (Logitech MX518) :))

2nd config. Get a Maximus IV Extreme-Z mobo. Get an H100 cooler from corsair. Get OCZ vertex 3 SSD and change the case to HAF-X.

Intel Core i5 2500k @11.2k
Corsair Hydro H80 @6k
Asus P8Z68-V PRO Motherboard @ 14k
Gskill Ripjaws X F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL @3.65k
Corsair Obsidian Series 800D @ 16.5k
Corsair AX 850 @10.3k
Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB @6k
Corsair Force Series 120 GB @12.5k
2*MSI R6950 Twin Frozr III Power Edition/OC @32k
Total = approx 1.12 lakhs

8 GB RAM is more than enough for any rig for now ... almost all games use max. upto 4 gigs(and those games are very few). I too like the obsidian and i would recommend it to anyone and i have changed PSU to AX850 which is a fully modular PSU and 2xhd6950 is more than enough for any game at 1080p (dont quite know about battlefield3 ultra settings) to run on atleast 60 fps.

I have seen BF3 using around 6+ GB. And RAM is very cheap. 16GB just sounds cool.

Re: Advice for High end Gaming cofig (only cabinet + internal parts) - budget 1-1.2 L

16GB reduces OC potential Ishu.

Re: Advice for High end Gaming cofig (only cabinet + internal parts) - budget 1-1.2 L

^^ How? Is there any revarse relation between OC'ing a processor & amount of RAM? :unsure:

@OP:

I may decide to delay my purchase by another month (max)

If you can, you will get better VFM for every product you buy.

ASUS P8Z68-V PRO Rs. 11,200.00

old price. Presently it resides at 13K

Re: Advice for High end Gaming cofig (only cabinet + internal parts) - budget 1-1.2 L

more stress on the IMC. This means it needs more voltage on the IMC to get RAM to their rated speeds, and/or looser timings.

It also means more power through the mobo to the RAM, and slightly lesser to the CPU, which may cause the CPU to need more volts to reach same clocks.

*media.bestofmicro.com/M/E/275558/original/image026.png

Source

Change CPU in rajat's setup to 2600k, place HX-850 instead of AX-850, and switch the H80 for H100. Perfect for the OP.

Re: Advice for High end Gaming cofig (only cabinet + internal parts) - budget 1-1.2 L

Thanks for the explanation, didn't have any idea about that. But the like which you have posted from tom's hardware is invalid. :/

Re: Advice for High end Gaming cofig (only cabinet + internal parts) - budget 1-1.2 L

Typo... corrected. TY.

Re: Advice for High end Gaming cofig (only cabinet + internal parts) - budget 1-1.2 L

Extreme Gamer said:
more stress on the IMC. This means it needs more voltage on the IMC to get RAM to their rated speeds, and/or looser timings.

It also means more power through the mobo to the RAM, and slightly lesser to the CPU, which may cause the CPU to need more volts to reach same clocks.

But if RAM requires more power, why can't mobo supply required amount of power without compromising on CPU supply?
If I suppose what you quoted, then it would mean that a mobo is capable of supplying R amount of power(which is constant by your logic), divided into X no of components, and X[p] be the amount/power/measure of component. Now if I increase p, the respective power supplied to the component would decrease gradually. But again my this point contradicts comparing 2GB and 4GB mem, then why this case in 16GB?

Re: Advice for High end Gaming cofig (only cabinet + internal parts) - budget 1-1.2 L

dashing.sujay said:
But if RAM requires more power, why can't mobo supply required amount of power without compromising on CPU supply?
If I suppose what you quoted, then it would mean that a mobo is capable of supplying R amount of power(which is constant by your logic), divided into X no of components, and X[p] be the amount/power/measure of component. Now if I increase p, the respective power supplied to the component would decrease gradually. But again my this point contradicts comparing 2GB and 4GB mem, then why this case in 16GB?

No of DIMMS, not amt of RAM. 8GB modules not available in India?

Re: Advice for High end Gaming cofig (only cabinet + internal parts) - budget 1-1.2 L

not atm. I dont know 8GB sticks past fully buffered server RAM. any models you know?

There is more load on the involved circuits. The cleanliness of the signal is also affected.

Re: Advice for High end Gaming cofig (only cabinet + internal parts) - budget 1-1.2 L

@Extreme Gamer
Why AX 850 instead of HX 850

Re: Advice for High end Gaming cofig (only cabinet + internal parts) - budget 1-1.2 L

lol its the other way round rajat. the HX850 is awesome. while the AX models are better, the HX is good enough. the price decrease can be used to get H100 and 2600k. his limit is 120k

if the AX still fits, definitely go for it

Re: Advice for High end Gaming cofig (only cabinet + internal parts) - budget 1-1.2 L

LOL !!!! I got it all wrong :lol:

Re: Advice for High end Gaming cofig (only cabinet + internal parts) - budget 1-1.2 L

@almighty rohit. Get the new storm trooper (if it's your taste) than level10gt. You can use the money you save for a nice water cooling kit.

almightyrohit said:
6: Would you consider buying a second hand hardware from the TE market
No

TIA

TE market?

Re: Advice for High end Gaming cofig (only cabinet + internal parts) - budget 1-1.2 L

Sarath said:
TE market?

Template copied from TechEnclave.

Re: Advice for High end Gaming cofig (only cabinet + internal parts) - budget 1-1.2 L

Ishu Gupta said:
Template copied from TechEnclave.

nvm, I think at first he was trying to post there, and then he copy/pasted it from there. :))

Re: Advice for High end Gaming cofig (only cabinet + internal parts) - budget 1-1.2 L

dashing.sujay said:
But if RAM requires more power, why can't mobo supply required amount of power without compromising on CPU supply?
If I suppose what you quoted, then it would mean that a mobo is capable of supplying R amount of power(which is constant by your logic), divided into X no of components, and X[p] be the amount/power/measure of component. Now if I increase p, the respective power supplied to the component would decrease gradually. But again my this point contradicts comparing 2GB and 4GB mem, then why this case in 16GB?

Then also question remains, why does the power division thing ?

"It also means more power through the mobo to the RAM, and slightly lesser to the CPU, which may cause the CPU to need more volts to reach same clocks."

That was very useful. But two RAM sticks are fine right?

Re: Advice for High end Gaming cofig (only cabinet + internal parts) - budget 1-1.2 L

Yes.

Sujau, with 4 sticks the power draw from the atx pin and the CPU pin increases.

Re: Advice for High end Gaming cofig (only cabinet + internal parts) - budget 1-1.2 L

Extreme Gamer said:
Sujau

Its Sujay :duh2:

Its obvious that 4 sticks will draw more power, but my question is why power supply to CPU is compromised in this case? I guess. mobo is not made to supply limited power supply.

Re: Advice for High end Gaming cofig (only cabinet + internal parts) - budget 1-1.2 L

BTW op can choose gskill sniper which runs at 1.25V

Re: Advice for High end Gaming cofig (only cabinet + internal parts) - budget 1-1.2 L

^^IIRC ripjaws have more ocn capability than sniper.

Re: Advice for High end Gaming cofig (only cabinet + internal parts) - budget 1-1.2 L

^^If i am correct the oc'ing limitations are due to the fact how SB platform oc memory not the ram itself

Re: Advice for High end Gaming cofig (only cabinet + internal parts) - budget 1-1.2 L

dashing.sujay said:
Its Sujay

Its obvious that 4 sticks will draw more power, but my question is why power supply to CPU is compromised in this case? I guess. mobo is not made to supply limited power supply.

I was using ipod :damn: sorry.

There is a limit to the amount of power that can be drawn from ATX and CPU power connectors without frying the mobo.

Other reason already stated, that there is more stress on IMC.

Re: Advice for High end Gaming cofig (only cabinet + internal parts) - budget 1-1.2 L

Thnx for explaining.

A

Re: Advice for High end Gaming cofig (only cabinet + internal parts) - budget 1-1.2 L

Extreme Gamer said:
2nd config. Get a Maximus IV Extreme-Z mobo. Get an H100 cooler from corsair. Get OCZ vertex 3 SSD and change the case to HAF-X.

Hey, thanks for your input. Does Maximum IV Extreme-Z mobo offers a significant upgrade over P8Z68? I really can't justify the price of the former (double). Also, I have heard OCZ has a very high failure rate and the after sales service of Corsair is very good. As far as the case is concerned, I think I will choose between Thermaltake Level 10 GT or 800D

masach315 said:
@almighty rohit. Get the new storm trooper (if it's your taste) than level10gt. You can use the money you save for a nice water cooling kit.

Dude, just have a look at Thermaltake Level 10 GT :twisted:

It looks evil

Ishu Gupta said:
No of DIMMS, not amt of RAM. 8GB modules not available in India?

8 GB Modules have been listed on Lynx. I am sure if not now then within a month it will be available in good shops in Delhi.

d6bmg said:
nvm, I think at first he was trying to post there, and then he copy/pasted it from there.

Galti se mistake ho gaya

Anyways this forum is much more active and people here are much more helpful than those on TE. Thanks guys

Re: Advice for High end Gaming cofig (only cabinet + internal parts) - budget 1-1.2 L

Corsair F series is SATA II(discontinued).Force 3 and GT are SATA III but have BSOD and reboot issues even after latest firmware updates.

The OCZ SSDs currently with latest firmware have no problems.

It was a problem with the SF-2000 series controller for the SSDs, over which the OCZ firmware is based. Almost all SF-2000 series models had the problem, not just OCZ.

If you can, get the MAX IOPS drive as it has double the lifetime (same chips used as Vertex 3 Pro). It is also faster

Make sure that you update the firmware before using the SSD. You should have no problems then.

BTW did you make a mistake by mistake? Cuz you say galti se mistake ho gaya lol.

EDIT: forgot to tell you, IMHO the Maximus IV Extreme-Z is worth the money IMHO. What makes it special is that the "Extreme" ROG mobos from Asus are always the best in class ever since they moved on to the red/black theme.
You get the best mobo out there for overclocking. You even get Bluetooth in the extreme mobos. Temp and volt sensors, external OCing through cellphone/Shitphone/shitpod/other PC. mobo handles sub-zero temps like a dream.

Re: Advice for High end Gaming cofig (only cabinet + internal parts) - budget 1-1.2 L

dashing.sujay said:
But if RAM requires more power, why can't mobo supply required amount of power without compromising on CPU supply?
If I suppose what you quoted, then it would mean that a mobo is capable of supplying R amount of power(which is constant by your logic), divided into X no of components, and X[p] be the amount/power/measure of component. Now if I increase p, the respective power supplied to the component would decrease gradually. But again my this point contradicts comparing 2GB and 4GB mem, then why this case in 16GB?

That's why an ROG or equivalent board is recommended here because of their sheer voltage handling capability. Like extreme gamer said, increasing the voltage to higher levels does have a chance of getting the board fried if it has incapable VRM design and solid state capacitors.

Now we are not setting world records in overclocking, so frequency numbers hardly matter. Having 16 gigs of ram in system A with a clock speed of 4.6 ghz is more advantageous than system B having 8 gigs of ram but a higher clock speed of 4.8 ghz in the same board. But the point is how efficiently you're going to use the memory and not just for showoff.

Today's imc's are very much capable and can handle upto 32 to 48 gigs of ram without drawing more relative power and the cpu still has enough volts in hand to crank up clock speed. But on comparison, extreme gamer's analogy stands true.

@ OP

Your budget is terrific and i suggest you get the highest end cpu available currently and that's undoubtedly i7 2600k or its latest successor the i7 2700k. Apart from the 100mhzclock increment, there's hardly any difference imo. No reviews available yet. I even suggest to wait a bit for sandybridge-E cpu's. They are true enthusiast stuff and i guess you can bag the cheapest quadcore with a slight premium over 2600k.

For gpu, i suggest you wait for the upcoming amd 7 series gpu's. They are really worth the wait.

Re: Advice for High end Gaming cofig (only cabinet + internal parts) - budget 1-1.2 L

vickybat said:
That's why an ROG or equivalent board is recommended here because of their sheer voltage handling capability. Like extreme gamer said, increasing the voltage to higher levels does have a chance of getting the board fried if it has incapable VRM design and solid state capacitors.

Now we are not setting world records in overclocking, so frequency numbers hardly matter. Having 16 gigs of ram in system A with a clock speed of 4.6 ghz is more advantageous than system B having 8 gigs of ram but a higher clock speed of 4.8 ghz in the same board. But the point is how efficiently you're going to use the memory and not just for showoff.

Today's imc's are very much capable and can handle upto 32 to 48 gigs of ram without drawing more relative power and the cpu still has enough volts in hand to crank up clock speed. But on comparison, extreme gamer's analogy stands true.

Thnx for explaining. But your last lines make me confuse. One side you say, Today's imc's are very much capable and can handle upto 32 to 48 gigs of ram without drawing more relative power and the cpu still has enough volts in hand to crank up clock speed, then other side, say EG's analogy to be true. Kindly explain pls.

Re: Advice for High end Gaming cofig (only cabinet + internal parts) - budget 1-1.2 L

He means that there isnt much difference between the specs in the real world. Only in synthetic benchmarks.

If the OP can wait, the 2700k is the way to go, since its a cherry-picked processor. It has lower voltage and higher speeds, so it also has higher OC potential.

Remember, that even if your mobo can easily handle a high voltage, your CPU or RAM may not.

btw I dont recommend more than two DIMMS because the socket 1155 mobos do not have dedicated VRMs (even MIVE and Z). Its because the 1155 mobos dont up the base clock much while OCing.

Re: Advice for High end Gaming cofig (only cabinet + internal parts) - budget 1-1.2 L

Got it, but what if mobo has a good dedicated VRM ?
PS- if I am right, VRM are replacable, so why not replace/add a good VRM?

Re: Advice for High end Gaming cofig (only cabinet + internal parts) - budget 1-1.2 L

^^ Nope, you can't do that without tampering the board. Voids the warranty and has a 90% chance of damaging the board. In other words, its impossible.

Re: Advice for High end Gaming cofig (only cabinet + internal parts) - budget 1-1.2 L

VRM is replacable only if you have elite soldering skills.

VRM is the colloquial term for MOSFETs

Re: Advice for High end Gaming cofig (only cabinet + internal parts) - budget 1-1.2 L

^Yep, MOSFETs are like so complex things. And these kind of "extreme" soldering is hardly possible in India, I think.

Re: Advice for High end Gaming cofig (only cabinet + internal parts) - budget 1-1.2 L

^^ I highly doubt over the availability of any single tech-person who have the courage to do it. (remember you are voiding the warranty)

Re: Advice for High end Gaming cofig (only cabinet + internal parts) - budget 1-1.2 L

Well any person having passion to do something and of course the required skill, doesn't thinks of warranty.

(leave exceptions)

Re: Advice for High end Gaming cofig (only cabinet + internal parts) - budget 1-1.2 L

Unless you can match a machine, you cant change the VRMs.

Remember that capacitors and MOSFETs are very different.

Re: Advice for High end Gaming cofig (only cabinet + internal parts) - budget 1-1.2 L

^^Of course!

Advice for High end Gaming cofig (only cabinet + internal parts) - budget 1-1.2 Lakhs