Thoughts G.SKILL Ripjaws Z Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2133 (PC3 17000) Desktop Memory Model F3-17000CL9Q-16GBZH ASRock X79 Extreme6 LGA 2011 Intel X79 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard Intel Core i7-3820 Sandy Bridge-E 3.6GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 2011 130W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80619i73820 CORSAIR HX Series HX850 850W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply Vid card should be fine: PowerColor AX6950 2GBD5-2DH Radeon HD 6950 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX total is ~810, would be nice to drop it a few hundred but keep solid performance in PS2 (~40 - 50 FPS even in heavy fights)
You can drop a ton off the price if you switch to an 1155 socket and a i5-3570K. The socket 2011 platform is only for if you are going all out with the highest end stuff you can get, at LEAST 32GB of RAM, and multiple graphics cards. If you arent doing that, then you want the 1155 platform. You also only need a 650-750w power supply.
I agree, you can shave off $60 (or more) in mobo cost and $85 in CPU cost. You could move to a platinum PSU ~650w and still save money there. I don't think the extra cores are likely to bring you much from a gaming standpoint. The lost speed is easily made up with a little OC, probably wouldn't even have to touch the voltage. I do hear that faster memory helps quite a bit in PS2 (though I don't have much confirmation), you'd be an interesting test case for that if you went with a kit along the lines of these: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231625 (cas 9, 10% off with code) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226333 (1.35V, 10% off too, yay!) As the rest of your system will be very similar to others with 3570ks.
Okay, now to find those golden nugget to shave off some $ Just a quick look this evening but not seeing much more then say ~120$ in savings going with 1155 and a i7, should I downgrade to a i5 to save $? Not looking for the top of the line rig, just a decent one that can sustain FPS in heavy battles as my current POS bottoms out at ~5 FPS in bio lab type heavy fights.
Why would you need an i7? And also, the 1155 platform will serve you better in games anyway because you can overclock the K processors. The CPU you picked for the original socket 2011 build cannot be overclocked hardly at all, maybe 200MHz at most. The 1155's can easily be pushed to 4.5GHz and beyond which will support your minimum frames rates better and last you longer through the years in performance. Depending on when you get your tax return money, Intel is releasing their new stuff in June. So it might not e very far away for you.
not saying I need i7 Just looking for a solid upgrade that would serve well playing PS2. According to the IRS my return should be the first week or two of March
I am told that Planetside 2 does not use more than 4 cores. You should leave your task manager open on the performance tab while you are playing. Periodically check it and see where it says your CPU usage is. On your Planetside 2 executable you should also go into its compatibility tab and disable Aero themes as that will increase game performance.
Great advice, been ~6 years since I upgraded Thoughts? Rosewill CAPSTONE Series CAPSTONE-750 750W : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182073 G.SKILL Trident X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231589 ASRock Z77 Extreme6/TB4 LGA 1155 Intel Z77: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157344 Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116504 Got the cost down to $654.96, could drop it another ~50 if I downgrade the memory.
Should be able to FRAPS / Stream with this rig right? maybe add a SSD for the gaming *shrug* ? Oh, should I consider OC'ing? or just run it stock? thinking if I OC I'll need to watercool this beast?
A Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO will be adequate cooling for an overclock somewhere around 4.5GHz. If you want to go higher look into the closed loop cooler from Antec, NZXT, or especially Swiftech's new one. Overclocking is easy to do and gives you free performance, so there is no reason not to. No computer is complete without a SSD now days. Using it as a gaming drive can be nice, but I always feel like it is best served as an OS drive. Even if that means running games on a regular HDD still. Best of course is one SSD for the OS and another for gaming. But that is just my personal preference. If you use the solid state drive for your OS and record your FRAPS to that, and run your game on a hard drive then performance will be fine because it isnt bogging down the game drive with constant writes.
I don't have many games installed or run a lot of software so my 120gb ssd is my primary and only drive. I also don't have any media on my box. Ssd was one of the best moves I ever made and I won't look back!
If you want SSD-like performance but find the size/cost constraints annoying, think about getting a small SSD (50gb or so) and do the Intel Smart Response caching. Any Z77 mobo should support it. Basically, what it does is it looks to see what you load from the HDD often and then puts that data on the SSD to accelerate it. You'll see faster boot times and much better responsiveness on things you use a lot. So that old game you installed a year ago and haven't touched will load slow, but going between continents on PS2 will be lightning fast. In the "safer" mode it won't speed up disk-writes, like FRAPS, but in the other mode it might. Here's Intel's thingy on it: http://www.intel.com/content/www/us...chnology/smart-response-technology-brief.html For a gaming computer it means I don't have to worry about hitting the SSD capacity or deal with changing installation paths but I still get the majority of the benefit.
You can easily find 120 Gb SSDs for 70$ nowadays. No need to go with a 50Gb one when you really will regret it.
If possible you should also set aside an 8GB chunk of the SSD used for your cache to be set as your Windows pagefile location.
Yah, added this SSD for my boot drive and will leave my games on the 1TB SATA 3 drive. already planning on putting the page file on the SSD Let's hope I can do this without the wife catching wind *lol* gonna try and ship the parts to work and build it at lunch before she gets home at 2:30 *ROFL*
Okay My NewEgg Cart looks as such, any changes before I complete checkout? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182084 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231609 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157344 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116504 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167151 Could downgrade the SSD and shave off some $, but is their anything else that looks off? Total: $805.93
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147189 ^^Samsung 840 series 250 Gb SSD for the exact same price as the intel one. Get it instead.