New gaming rig, need part recommendations - Page 5

Case 144.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133191

2 GPU combined 489.98
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150549

RAM 44.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231314

CPU 224.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072

Mobo 114.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157271

SSD 134.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233205

Cooling 84.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608018

CD/DVD Burner Drive 19.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204

OK so I left some of the things you picked and added some others, first off I changed the Mobo because it will accept the new Ivy Bridge cpu when it comes out also it will accept PCI-e 3.0. Second imho I added 2 XFX 6950 2gig GPU because I've been hearing all good things about them plus for the price of 1 GTX 580 you can buy 2 XFX and you will have combined 4 gigs memory. I found your cooler and for air cooling most are recommending the one I posted. Finally I added the optical drive / burner.

Total with rebates $1259.91

Damn Newegg just had a sale too. They had 16GB of DDR3 1600 RAM for like 50 bucks give or take a few. This was with a 30 dollar rebate I believe. It may have even been that Corsair kit there. I glanced over it on my Android but I'm not in the market for any more RAM.

All P67 and Z68 mobos will work with Ivy Bridges. There is no need to get a specific mobo for that reason. Likewise, PCIe 3, though it might matter in three-five years, is way overkill right now. Buy your motherboard on other features, and base your decision on those only if they are the only difference.

You beat me to it on the 1155 vs 1156 cooling compatibility.

You're probably correct in that two 560s will out-perform a 580. The margins between 570s and 580s is a bit slimmer than I expected in BF3, but in other games it can vary. (I was specifically interested in the 1080p benchmarks.)

The only down-side to SLI is that you are reliant on the developers to keep on track with updating SLI profiles as new games come out. With a good SLI profile, you get awesome results. With a poor or non-existent profile you get poor improvements or possibly even detrimental aspects of the performance. Now, a game as big as BF3 with its new engine, pushing the ragged edge of DX11 is going to get a huge amount of attention from NVIDIA developers, so it's not a surprise at all that the NVIDIA (And AMD Radeon) cards perform extremely well in SLI (or Crossfire) mode on BF3.

The performance gains on other games which are not as popular are not as noticeable. Two 560s is definitely a valid alternative to a single 580 and can even be better than a single 580, I'd have to agree. I personally only wanted a single card for noise, heat, and power consumption reasons. I went with a 580 based on that.


Holy cow, that's a new sale I think. Yes, as far as I know from eVGA's website, that has a lifetime warranty. (Newegg doesn't mention it.)

Here is the eVGA code:

Limited Lifetime: -A1, -A2, -A3, -A4, -AR, -AX, -CR, -CX, -DX, -FR, -FX, -SG, -SX
Limited 5 Year: -GR
Limited 3 Year: -K1, -K2, -KB, -KR (Before 1/1/11)
Limited 2 Year: -LA, -LE, -LR, -LX, -T1, -T2, -TR, -TX
Limited 1 Year: -B1, -BR, -BX, -DR
Limited 90 Day: -RX (Recertified parts)

That's the way the part numbers work. That batman card is a great deal. You're right, you get the exact same card I linked (with a sticker) and a free game, and yes, it's identical. By all means, if you want Batman (which I hear is a great game) go for it!

I wish that deal had been going on when I bought my card. When I did it, the card was $30 more than mine.


Also, don't forget to get your free 3DMark 11 with your 500 series purchase here at this link (if you bought an eVGA card.)
Edited by shad0wfax - 11/17/11 at 6:13pm

Here's another vote for a single card. SLI is great, but it requires to much hope and pray rather than game and play. My friend uses CrossFire currently, and he still curses himself for doing it (though XF has its own issues).

BF3 eats up performance without offering any improved graphics. Game looks nearly identical on low as it does on high. Few things that make a noticeable difference are textures, MSAA, and postAA. If I were you, look for a 2500k/2600k. You might be able to squeeze in 2x570's, which would be ideal.

Two crossfire 6950s or two SLI 560 or 570 are always a formidable option.

Honestly, I'm not sold on dual cards for gaming yet. For noise, heat, power consumption, cost, and dependability, I went with a single card and the 580 fit my budget. Your budget sounds bigger than mine. Perhaps you can benefit from a dual-card setup, but you'll want to be cautious about your power supply if you do so.

This is purely my opinion though. Check out that tom's hardware post that Zanklont posted here:

He's got some good points to make in his post that might make you change your mind about dual cards vs single cards. I'm not sold on it, but in the case of BF3 it might just make a difference.

the reason I said 2 6950's is A: because they have more Vram for better performance and B: heard and read nothing but good things about XFX and C: you can't beat the price. Just trying to help out here