Need advice for new X79 machine.

First of all, WELCOME TO OCN!!!



I have some suggestions for you...


CPU: This is the biggest problem i have with your build.

With CPU's we have this thing called "diminishing returns", where once you get above $300+ ....alot of money gets you very little extra power.

A i7-3930K is 7% faster than a I7 2600K,...but costs 50% more. Is double the money really worth a 7% speed increase?

A I7-3930K is 12% faster than a I5-2500K (keep in mind, hyper-threaded cores are only like 40% as fast as a actual core), but costs 60% more. Is 60% more money worth a 12% speed increase?

I would consider a I5-2500K, a I7-2600K, or a i5-3570K as much more "cost effective" processors.

MOBO: If i was dropping $300 on a motherboard, I would definitely get that ASRock Fatal1ty X79 Professional. It has more PCI-E 3.0 slots, more SATA ports, more USB 3.0 ports, and it has E-Sata ports! It has better power delivery to the processor. It's just a all-around better motherboard.

CPU Cooler Personally, I have been pretty unimpressed with the H100, but it isn't a bad choice. I have always been biased toward big air coolers, since you get the same performance.

RAM: No problems here.

GPU: That is a excellent GPU. I have no complaints about the GTX 670, but haven't been impressed by the EVGAs and Gigabytes. I haven't found a article specially for the GTX 670, but in the past years the Asus DCII GPUs ran circles around the EVGA FTW edition and Gigabyte GPUs. Please, give the Asus DCII GPU's a good look. They are a billion times better than the reference design.

Also, some practical advise: The GTX 670 is brand new, so prices are still high. I would buy x1 GTX 670 right now,....the wait 6 months to 1 year to purchase the second one to give your system a SLi boost. Watch, that card will lose about 40% of it's value in less than a year because of the depreciation rates of GPU's.

SSD: Umm..please no. The OCZ Agility series is the "low to medium performance" SSD's. The OCZ Vertex series is the high performance SSD's. Currently the Samsung 830 120 GB is the best and fastest SSD on the market, so i would look at that instead! (or alteast a OCZ Vertex 3 or 4).

Here is a good review on best SSD's --> http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-recommendation-review,3194.html

HDD: Judging by your taste in motherboards and CPU's I assume that money is not a issue. Then, can i ask you to consider a RAID 0 or RAID 5 array? If you have a SSD, to enable TRIM you have to disable your motherboards ability to do RAID. Which leaves you with software RAID, or using a PCI card for RAID. It's just something to consider.



PSU: No problems.

Case: No problems....but not what I would pick....especially if your gung-ho about the H100. I have a HAF-X and love it. It holds a H100 effortlessly without any modifications. Just something to think about.

4.5 - 5.0 GHz on any "good" sandybridge or ivrybridge CPU is pretty much guaranteed if you know what your doing, so no worries there.
Edited by crimsontears809739 - 6/26/12 at 8:04pm

For the CPU according to http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html the 3930k is ~49.09% faster than the 2600k and is 101% faster than the 2500k assuming all cores and threads will be used. Which on his stated use cases it will.

I'm not a fan of MSI either, but from what I'm reading, they seem to be trialing Asus, Gigabyte and Asrock.

RAID is a good idea if you need speed. But with your budget, you could just get another SSD with a bigger capacity for video processing and keep moving the completed ones to external HDDs.

For future proofing, go for the 3930k if it's in your budget.

When I built my LGA775 build, the argument was e8400 dual vs q6600 quad. I went quad (as you did) and never regretted it for a moment. While there's no guarantee that hex core will be "the next landmark," its hard not to buy one when you want a rig to last 5 years. LGA2011 is also the only current socket that has yet another chip to be made for it (Ivy Bridge-E)--LGA1155 is end of life. Another thing to think about.

670 brand decisions are hard to chime in on, especially in a world where kepler cards are voltage locked and identical in performance. Go EVGA for warranty and resale value, or Asus for quieter/cooler operation.

Ssd--grab a Samsung or a Crucial M4. I cannot, in good faith, advise anyone to buy an OCZ product; especially given their track record. Hell, find a good deal on just about any brand but OCZ and you'll be fine. I got my 240GB Sandisk for $179 from an Amazon deal of the day. Just make sure to firmware update before using if you end up with a Sandforce drive.

Ram speeds are 99% smoke and mirrors, there is little to no real world performance gain with the expensive kits. Get some cas9 1600 or 1866 from a brand you trust and call it a day. Don't break the bank here, it's simply not worth it.

H100 or a high end air cooler--a Noctua or a Thermalright silver arrow--really up to you. I tend to lean towards the H100 with some aftermarket fans.

Motherboards I tend to go Asus. Asrock is a great choice too, not sure that I'd buy an MSI board. No logic behind it, I just wouldn't.

For the UD3 you can use any slots you like at any time, but it's slots 1 and 3 which are the x16 slots. Personally I love my UD3, it is a fantastic board; if it weren't for my cooling (or lack thereof) I have no doubt it would clock my chip to at least 4.5GHz.

As for the 3930K, it is a beast of a chip and is absolutely worth the extra money. In multithreaded applications it will beat every other CPU out there right into the dust!

Right now, we have a market that is flooded with 1,000 good motherboards and all of them are good choices. Every person on OCN will recommend to you something different. I'm personally biased towards the ASrocks since i have had the best experience with them,.....but the Asus seems solid as well. If you looking at Asus, consider the ASUS Sabertooth boards as well. I hear they come highly recommended (lol, i am probably not helping you narrow down the list).

For the X79 or Z68/Z77 decision, you will have to decide if the extra cores are worth it for your needs. Future proof is a good thing but know that just like the q6600 now, it lost it's edge not on number of cores or clock speed but on cpu clock efficiency brought about by the new architecture. Since you have the budget and plan to keep the rig for awhile, the 3930k gets my vote.

For the Mobo, isn't the Asrock the cheapest of the 3? If you don't need the features that are missing, does it matter? If you want some of the features, check the next step up, Extreme 6 I think. Note that UD5 is E-ATX.