$2k budget, building pc from scratch for BF3+ others

[David Tennant]

[QUOTE=theLazyLion;31895769]Isn't the 580 just around 10% faster than the 570?[/QUOTE]

10% faster but $200 more expensive, hardware components are on a logarithmic scale meaning once you get to a certain point the price:performance ratio becomes
progressively worse until you're paying twice as much for 10-20% more performance as already explained a few times.

And that is why people (including me) are telling you get a GTX 570 now and even though it will handle BF3 fine you can get another down the line giving you much better performance
than a single 580 for almost the same price, the 570 tends to be the last GPU with a price:performance ratio that's in favor of the buyer.

[theLazyLion]

[QUOTE=Goz3rr;31895805]Yea, and the 570 is about 10% than the 560 Ti. Get the pattern?[/QUOTE]

Yeah but from what I saw the 590 benches double of the 580. But for a higher price of course.

[QUOTE=David Tennant;31895836]10% faster but $200 more expensive, hardware components are on a logarithmic scale meaning once you get to a certain point the price:performance ratio becomes
progressively worse until you're paying twice as much for 10-20% more performance as already explained a few times.

And that is why people (including me) are telling you get a GTX 570 now and even though it will handle BF3 fine you can get another down the line giving you much better performance
than a single 580 for almost the same price, the 570 tends to be the last GPU with a price:performance ratio that's in favor of the buyer.[/QUOTE]

Okay thanks for clearing that up. I compared benches from 570's sli to a single 590, Seems they are about the same <5% difference, so I'll go for the sli setup.

So buy one 570 now, then down the line if needed get another. When would be the ideal time to get a second 570? I'll update my basket soon, thanks again.

[gokuman4594]

The whole idea of future-proofing is flawed. It doesn't make sense to spend extravagant amounts of money now, for the [I]possibility [/I]of your machine running better for longer. Just get what you need [B]now[/B], and worry about what you need later.

[Bat-shit]

OP, I got a single EVGA GTX 570 and it can run Crysis2 with Ultra High graphics and some separate extra high textures. Probably the most demanding game I've played with the 570. It also runs Portal 2 maxed out at ease. Also GTA4 goes (1920x1080) maxed out with little-to-no FPS lag. Same goes for BadCompany2 for example, and Batman Arkham Asylum.

Now I don't know how well I'm gonna run BF3 or Skyrim, but I expect them to run just fine.

I was considering a 580 card myself too, but 570 was so much cheaper so I went with it and it IS awesome.

[theLazyLion]

Alright, thanks for the input guys, so just one more thing I think, before I go, any need to use non stock coolers(extra coolers*) for gpus when using SLI, or just plug it in and go? (the 570s).

[David Tennant]

As long as they aren't triple slot cards you should be fine, although usually the top card has its
fans blocked by the other so it runs hotter than the 2nd, quickly fixed by putting a decent fan point directly
at them on either the harddrive cage (preferred spot) or the side of the case depending if it has the option.

[theLazyLion]

[QUOTE=David Tennant;31936786]As long as they aren't triple slot cards you should be fine, although usually the top card has its
fans blocked by the other so it runs hotter than the 2nd, quickly fixed by putting a decent fan point directly
at them on either the harddrive cage (preferred spot) or the side of the case depending if it has the option.[/QUOTE]

Alright thanks for that.
Could you link to a good fan that would do the job and fit in the tower you suggested for me?

[editline]25th August 2011[/editline]

And here's what I got so far.

[img]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/12913216/Screenshots/list.PNG[/img]
Prices seem a bit different than last time. And I ditched the SSD, cause from what I was reading, pretty much all of them have problems with bsoding and corrupting.

[David Tennant]

The crucial M4 64gb is pretty damn stable right now, you shouldn't have any problems with it.
With the Lian Li A05 I suppose the best place to put an extra fan would be the optical bay area, although I'm
pretty sure the A05's come with the front being the exhaust and back being the intake (opposite from what a normal
case would be) so you'd have to reverse these to have the airflow decent with the extra fan, the H20 kúhler won't suffer much at all.
And fan wise I have no clue, there doesn't seem to be a go to fan to buy they just all seem to be decent.
Although I do know the Akasa S-flows, Silverstone penetrator's and pretty much any Noctua fan are all good.

Also get some cable ties for the fan mounting and general cable management.

[theLazyLion]

[QUOTE=David Tennant;31937112]The crucial M4 64gb is pretty damn stable right now, you shouldn't have any problems with it.
With the Lian Li A05 I suppose the best place to put an extra fan would be the optical bay area, although I'm
pretty sure the A05's come with the front being the exhaust and back being the intake (opposite from what a normal
case would be) so you'd have to reverse these to have the airflow decent with the extra fan, the H20 kúhler won't suffer much at all.
And fan wise I have no clue, there doesn't seem to be a go to fan to buy they just all seem to be decent.
Although I do know the Akasa S-flows, Silverstone penetrator's and pretty much any Noctua fan are all good.

Also get some cable ties for the fan mounting and general cable management.[/QUOTE]

Okay I'll look into the Crucial m4, thanks.

As for the cooling, I have to reverse the intake and exhaust of the A05? Is it easy or am I going to have to come back here asking for help? :p As for the fan, so just a regular fan off newegg would suffice, alright thanks.

Couple of more questions, why go for the Samsung hdd when the mobo has 6gbps cable slots and the hdd only has 3?

And does this motherboard come with an sli link? Cause the gpu's I ordered don't seem to come with any, can't find anything about sli links on the MB's page. Thanks.

[demonguard]

the new sandforce SSDs are perfectly fine as long as you get the latest firmware

either way if youre spending that much money you definitely should have an ssd

[David Tennant]

[QUOTE=theLazyLion;31940720]Okay I'll look into the Crucial m4, thanks.

As for the cooling, I have to reverse the intake and exhaust of the A05? Is it easy or am I going to have to come back here asking for help? :p As for the fan, so just a regular fan off newegg would suffice, alright thanks.

Couple of more questions, why go for the Samsung hdd when the mobo has 6gbps cable slots and the hdd only has 3?

And does this motherboard come with an sli link? Cause the gpu's I ordered don't seem to come with any, can't find anything about sli links on the MB's page. Thanks.[/QUOTE]

To answer a few of your questions:

I recommend [url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835213001]this[/url] as it pushes stupid amounts of air (5200rpm) and [url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811996023]this[/url] as you'll want to control it for sound purposes.
Reversing the fans would be a good idea for airflow if you add the extra fan, it won't be difficult, you just
take out the fans and flip them, screw them back in.
Spindle harddrive (harddrives that aren't SSDs) aren't fast enough to even fully use the 3gbps sata,
the 6gbps ones are for SSDs, the only reason some spindle drives say "6gbps" is a marketing ploy.
And pretty much every modern graphics card that can crossfire/SLI comes with a bridge so I'd be very surprised
if the 570's didn't for some strange reason you can get them for a couple dollars from [url=http://www.ebay.com/itm/Asus-SLI-Flex-Bridge-08G160001230-and-08G160001240-NEW-/140595989494?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20bc2c8bf6#ht_500wt_1413]ebay.[/url]

And don't forget the black cable ties.

[theLazyLion]

Alright thanks for the info and clearing everything up, I think I don't have anymore questions, I just landed in the states and I'm looking for an apt, I'll be making my order as soon as i get one.

Thanks again, man.

And also I checked the reviews and the 570 you linked me doesn't come with an SLI link for some reason, so I'll be ordering one off of ebay.

[theLazyLion]

[img]http://dl.dropbox.com/u/12913216/Screenshots/snip%20pt1.PNG[/img]

Alright, so, this is everything excluding the fan you posted above me there, I've included it in an updated cart, didn't feel like re uploading a newer screenshot though.

So apparently the power supply you originally chose for me is now out of stock, so I asked a buddy of mine and he mentioned that this one is longer lasting and uses up less electricity, so I added that one.
Any good? I'm ready to hit purchase and buy this thing. Just waiting on a last opinion to be sure before I do so.

Well it seemed that power supply wont be fitting into the A05, so what if I use this [url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146059[/url] tower? It seems to have better reviews than the other one, but is also almost as small and can fit the psu. Does it conflict with any of the other stuff I am going to order?

[GreenDolphin]

Passed by and I felt like I wanted to mention something. I noticed you were getting a Z68 motherboard alongside a 64GB SSD. A neat feature with Z68 boards is Intel's Smart Response Technology (SSD Caching). Basically what this does is that allows you to use your SSD for hard drive caching purposes meaning that you can get close to SSD speeds while having everything, including your operating system, on your main HDD. This allows you greater freedom with less hassle and more added security, such as if your SSD dies you won't lose any important data on your HDD under write-through mode. Programs you use often will benefit the most out of this as well as the operating system. The downside though is that some of the data you use often may be kicked out of the cache to make room for new data, fortunately you'll have a lot of room with your 64GB SSD and this will be at minimum depending on how many different programs you run on average.

You can read more about it here:
[url]http://www.anandtech.com/show/4329/intel-z68-chipset-smart-response-technology-ssd-caching-review/2[/url]

[Goz3rr]

[QUOTE=GreenDolphin;32016666]Passed by and I felt like I wanted to mention something. I noticed you were getting a Z68 motherboard alongside a 64GB SSD. A neat feature with Z68 boards is Intel's Smart Response Technology (SSD Caching). Basically what this does is that allows you to use your SSD for hard drive caching purposes meaning that you can get close to SSD speeds while having everything, including your operating system, on your main HDD. This allows you greater freedom with less hassle. Programs you use often will benefit the most out of this. The downside though is that some of the data you use often may be kicked out of the cache to make room for new data, fortunately you'll have a lot of room with your 64GB SSD and this will be at minimum depending on how many different programs you run on average.

You can read more about it here:
[url]http://www.anandtech.com/show/4329/intel-z68-chipset-smart-response-technology-ssd-caching-review/2[/url][/QUOTE]

The best this guy can probably do is make two partitions on the ssd, on of 20gb for caching and the other of 44gb and install windows on there.

[David Tennant]

That's usually the plan.

[Crest]

I would advise against using an MLC SSD for smart response.

Edit: I say that because my understanding is that the MLC will die much faster since it's being thrashed significantly more.

[theLazyLion]

[QUOTE=GreenDolphin;32016666]Passed by and I felt like I wanted to mention something. I noticed you were getting a Z68 motherboard alongside a 64GB SSD. A neat feature with Z68 boards is Intel's Smart Response Technology (SSD Caching). Basically what this does is that allows you to use your SSD for hard drive caching purposes meaning that you can get close to SSD speeds while having everything, including your operating system, on your main HDD. This allows you greater freedom with less hassle and more added security, such as if your SSD dies you won't lose any important data on your HDD under write-through mode. Programs you use often will benefit the most out of this as well as the operating system. The downside though is that some of the data you use often may be kicked out of the cache to make room for new data, fortunately you'll have a lot of room with your 64GB SSD and this will be at minimum depending on how many different programs you run on average.

You can read more about it here:
[url]http://www.anandtech.com/show/4329/intel-z68-chipset-smart-response-technology-ssd-caching-review/2[/url][/QUOTE]

Neat, looks cool, this is something I have to setup after I get the hdd and ssd? Do I need anything extra?

[David Tennant]

No, just make sure to get a Z68 chipset motherboard which you plan to anyway.

[theLazyLion]

Alright, I'm trying to order right now but apparently newegg wont accept my international card.

Still trying to figure out what I can do, their customer service rep was useless.

[GreenDolphin]

[QUOTE=Brt5470;32020539]I would advise against using an MLC SSD for smart response.

Edit: I say that because my understanding is that the MLC will die much faster since it's being thrashed significantly more.[/QUOTE]

MLC will die much faster but it's far cheaper than SLC. From what I'm aware if you're continuously writing very large amounts of data every day to it then I'd give it a couple of years or more before it fails. By that time SSD's will be larger in size and more affordable in price. If the SSD dies while in write-through mode then the data on your HDD will remain safe and intact, it's merely a matter of replacing the SSD.

[Goz3rr]

[QUOTE=GreenDolphin;32024922]MLC will die much faster but it's far cheaper than SLC. From what I'm aware if you're continuously writing very large amounts of data every day to it then I'd give it a couple of years or more before it fails. By that time SSD's will be larger in size and more affordable in price. If the SSD dies while in write-through mode then the data on your HDD will remain safe and intact, it's merely a matter of replacing the SSD.[/QUOTE]

The only SLC ssd is the 20gb Intel 311 afaik.