[revlimiter]

So here you have it...

Case: http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=11180AC4329
Corsair Obsidian Series 650D Mid-Tower Case ATX 4X5.25 6X3.5INT USB USB3.0 1394 Fan Ctrl No PS
$157.50

PSU: http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=13220AC3281
OCZ FATAL1TY Series 750W ATX 24PIN SLI Ready Modular Cables 135mm Red Fan 80+ Bronze Power Supply
$69.47

Motherboard: http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=16950AC1348
Gigabyte X58-USB3 ATX LGA1366 X58 DDR3 3PCI-EX16 3PCI-EX1 PCI USB3 SATA2 CrossFireX SLI Motherboard
$159.69

CPU: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16819115224
Intel Core i7-960 Bloomfield 3.2GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80601960
$289.99

Memory: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...82E16820226100
Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 12GB (3 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model 998776
$143.99

GPU: http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=12980BD8066
MSI GeForce GTX 560 Ti Twin Frozr OC 880MHZ 1GB GDDR5 Dual DVI Mini-HDMI DX11 PCI-E Video Card
$225.29

SSD: http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=56783
Kingston SSDNow V100 Series 64GB 2.5IN SSD SATA Solid State Disk Flash Drive
$84.99

I am undecided on whether or not I should keep or sell my CoolMaster 212+ for overclocking.. But my biggest concern is with the PSU. If I were to buy another MSI GeForce GTX 560 Ti in the future and put it into SLI, would I be able to power the entire system with a 750W? Monitor(s) are a much needed purchase too, but I can wait. I searched on shopbot.ca for the best deals on all of those parts, and tacked on 14% for HST. Shipping for all of these parts is free except for the SSD, so it might be an extra $10 or so in grand total.

Does this build look good as a cost/performance gaming rig? How much do you think I can overclock my CPU and GPU, and do you think I will need any extra parts such as a bigger heatsink and possibly different case fans?

 

[frycicle]

Go with Sandy Bridge man. Get a i5-2500k and a different mobo and you can overclock it past 4.5 GHz. Keep the 212+, it should be fine.

750W should be plenty although I'd pick up a Corsair TX V2 750 model.

Also you would only want a dual channel kit if you go Sandy Bridge.

CPU http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...-072-_-Product

MOBO http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...-703-_-Product

PSU http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...-021-_-Product

RAM http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...-144-_-Product

 

[revlimiter]

I was hoping to make use of triple channel DDR3 memory. 12GB of PC3 12800 memory would be great, and only using 3 DIMMs instead of 6 would mean I can overclock the triple channel more effectively. I wish that other intel CPU types could be used with triple channel memory other than the LGA 1366... But I'm pretty sure I can still overclock the i7-960 past 4GHz, can't I?

 

[frycicle]

Quote:

Originally Posted by revlimiter I was hoping to make use of triple channel DDR3 memory. 12GB of PC3 12800 memory would be great, and only using 3 DIMMs instead of 6 would mean I can overclock more effectively. But I'm pretty sure I can still overclock the i7-960 past 4GHz, can't I?

Sure, you can, but the i5-2500k is faster and cheaper. The difference between triple and double channel is very small, not a big deal. A lot of people are getting the 2500k to 5.0 GHz on air, which is

.

Benches: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/157?vs=288

 

[revlimiter]

Quote:

Originally Posted by frycicle Sure, you can, but the i5-2500k is faster and cheaper. The difference between triple and double channel is very small, not a big deal. A lot of people are getting the 2500k to 5.0 GHz on air, which is . Benches: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/157?vs=288

Hmmm... yeah that is impressive lol
Any idea which air cooler are they using to achieve 5GHz speeds? Stable I assume?

To be honest, I'm not entirely sure what the difference between triple channel DDR3 and dual channel DDR3 memory is. I see both of those memory bundles (the 12GB that I posted and the 8GB that you posted) are the same speeds, only the 12GB is equipped for triple channel and the 8GB is equipped for dual channel.

Heheh, is there such thing as a motherboard that will support LGA 1155 *and* LGA 1366 or is it always gonna be one or the other?

 

[frycicle]

Quote:

Originally Posted by revlimiter Hmmm... yeah that is impressive lol Any idea which air cooler are they using to achieve 5GHz speeds? Stable I assume? To be honest, I'm not entirely sure what the difference between triple channel DDR3 and dual channel DDR3 memory is. I see both of those memory bundles (the 12GB that I posted and the 8GB that you posted) are the same speeds, only the 12GB is equipped for triple channel and the 8GB is equipped for dual channel. Heheh, is there such thing as a motherboard that will support LGA 1155 *and* LGA 1366 or is it always gonna be one or the other?

I would look at this thread and see the people's rigs for air coolers: http://www.overclock.net/intel-cpus/...post-your.html

Nocturna DH-14 or Silver Arrow are the best air coolers on the market.

One or the other. BUT 1155 will support Ivy Bridge that is coming out this winter, so there is a future proofing that 1366 doesn't have.

Article on triple vs double: http://techreport.com/articles.x/15967
TL;DR: It makes a difference, but not a large enough one to notice in normal apps and games.