1st video card upgrade, need help

[Ketchup]

OK, I've got some info put together. Here is the specs/price on the system in my sig. It's about 2 months old.

Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver Thermal Compound AS5-3.5G - OEM 9.99

Antec EarthWatts EA-650 GREEN 650W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply 74.99

Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core 219.99

GIGABYTE GV-N660OC-2GD GeForce GTX 660 2GB Video Card 229.99

BELKIN BE112230-08 8 Feet 12 Outlets 3780 Joules Surge Protector 19.99

GIGABYTE GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 Motherboard 136.99

COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 EVO RR-212E-20PK-R2 CPU Cooler 30.99

TP-LINK TL-WN722N USB 2.0 High Gain Wireless Adapter 17.99

Kingston HyperX Blu 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 39.99

SAMSUNG DVD Burner SATA Model SH-224BB - OEM 17.99

Western Digital WD Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive 109.99

Refurbished: Logitech MK550 Black USB RF Wireless Ergonomic Wave Combo (K350 + M510) 34.99

COOLER MASTER CM Storm Series Trooper (SGC-5000-KKN1) Black Computer Case 148.99

Subtotal $1,092.87
Tax $0.00
UPS 3 DAYS $12.40
Rush Processing $2.99
Promo code -$34.50
Order Total $1,073.76

Figure about $100 extra for Windows 7 or 8.
Here is something pretty close I found over at Digital Storm.
http://www.digitalstormonline.com/comploadbolt.asp?id=734519&price=$1,249
That one will run you at least $100 more, and will not overclock, which Intel CPUs are very good at. I say at least, because I was in a time crunch, so I have no doubt there are better deals to be had. I also bought a couple things (wireless adapter, surge protector, mouse and keyboard) which you probably won't need.

And don't forget the fun build process, at least for many of us.

 

[brallen1]

Very cool, Thanks for taking the time to help out. I'm pretty excited to build my own computer. This is a system that you guys supply I gather? I would be able to order it in Jan. after Christmas. I might want to modify a few things between now and then. Or am I ordering parts from newegg, amazon/

 

[Ketchup]

Very cool, Thanks for taking the time to help out. I'm pretty excited to build my own computer. This is a system that you guys supply I gather? I would be able to order it in Jan. after Christmas. I might want to modify a few things between now and then. Or am I ordering parts from newegg, amazon/

This build came from Newegg. Actually, almost all my parts come from Newegg. If you are near a Fry's I hear about nice CPU/Motherboard combos from them all the time.

 

[brallen1]

Great, I look forward to putting this together with your help Ketchup79. Just wondering how you test your computer for stability after you complete it. Is building the computer as easy as installing the parts onto the motherboard?

 

[Ketchup]

Great, I look forward to putting this together with your help Ketchup79. Just wondering how you test your computer for stability after you complete it. Is building the computer as easy as installing the parts onto the motherboard?

Kinda. There are lots of variables depending on what case you select, and putting the power cords for various lights and buttons on the mobo is always fun, but you do feel pretty accomplished one it is all up and running. There are several guides around the net (can't guarantee they're all great.)

Here's one to get you started. Might as well know what you're in for:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/274745-31-step-step-guide-building

 

[brallen1]

Hello Ketchup79,
I have been looking at cases and was wondering what the difference between the coolermaster cm storm stryker and the cm storm scout. Also we are considering getting the HP ZR2740W monitor and run it at full resolution and in order to run games in the highest resolution which cpu and gpu upgrades do you recommend? Would we even need to upgrade them? Thanks for your help.

 

[InsaneAdam]

I just bought a msi 660 ti power edition and tho I won't be bottled necked by my i7 cpu the price/performance is awesome.


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[Ketchup]

On the Cooler Masters, the two things that stick out to me are the built in fan controller and soft handle on the Stryker. Personally I like the looks of the Stryker, but that's up to you. It's basically a white version of my case.

The fan controller on the Stryker has six different fan settings. The lights are either on or off. About the only downside to this case is a ton of cables for the lights, fan controller, and fans, but there is plenty of room for them in such a large case. Since I always put my cases on the floor, I appreciate having a case that I don't have to bend over much to use. The Stryker also has USB 3 ports in the front, while the Scout's are all USB 2.

To give you an idea, I run my case at the lowest fan setting, get good temps, and my wife says it's the quietest computer I have ever built.

If you can't tell, I like the Stryker better, but it is up to you. You do get a good bit of extra features for the price of the Stryker though. The Scout is by no means a bad case.

 

[brallen1]

Thanks! We definitely want the USB 3 ports.
1: Which other cases do you like that have USB 3 that we should look at?
2: In terms of the HP ZR2740W monitor, do you like it? Are there other Hi-Res monitors for the same money that are better?
3: Will the i5 2500k and the gigabyte gtx 660 give us enough power to run games at their highest resolution? Or should we bump up to an i7?
Thanks again we really appreciate your help.

 

[Ketchup]

Thanks! We definitely want the USB 3 ports.
1: Which other cases do you like that have USB 3 that we should look at?
2: In terms of the HP ZR2740W monitor, do you like it? Are there other Hi-Res monitors for the same money that are better?
3: Will the i5 2500k and the gigabyte gtx 660 give us enough power to run games at their highest resolution? Or should we bump up to an i7?
Thanks again we really appreciate your help.

The screen looks like a beauty. Just remember that larger screen = higher resolution = more video card power needed. which then equals more CPU not to bottleneck. Give us an idea of what you play (or want to play) and we can give you a better suggestion on that.

I don't know about all the other case options, but Newegg has one of the best filtering systems for such things. See if this link works correctly, and filter from there as you like:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...=1&srchInDesc=

 

[brallen1]

Games: Currently playing max payne 3. Really a sick game!! Have played Bioshock, waiting for thier new release, fallout 3, call of duty, battlefield, deus ex, waiting for assasins creed 3, which is coming with gtx 660 you recomended to replace 8800 ultra. Others as well, but does this help?

 

[Ketchup]

Games: Currently playing max payne 3. Really a sick game!! Have played Bioshock, waiting for thier new release, fallout 3, call of duty, battlefield, deus ex, waiting for assasins creed 3, which is coming with gtx 660 you recomended to replace 8800 ultra. Others as well, but does this help?

I would say if you budget allows get a 670 (I don't think a 680 is much better than a 670) and an i7 if you can, but an i5 will be fine. Not too much difference there either.

 

[tweakboy]

With that CPU the best fit, best bang for buck for you is.

460 1GB 120 dollars and since you have a quad the bottleneck wont be substantial....

 

[Deders]

an i7 won't give you any real advantage over a decent i5, especially considering the price difference. Unless you plan to do a lot of video encoding.

 

[brallen1]

ok, much appriciated. Which games do you enjoy?

 

[Ketchup]

The Dirt and Need for Speed games are about the only recent games we enjoy. The rest are several years old. I haven't been in gaming mood for a while, but that will probably change at some point.

 

[Deders]

ok, much appriciated. Which games do you enjoy?

Arkham Asylum/City, Crysis (+2 and Warhead), Metro 2033, Portal 2, the Transformers games (war for and fall of cybertron) Dragon age, Skyrim, Need for Speed: Most wanted, Starcraft 2, Max Payne 3, Assassins Creed Series, Deus Ex, Far Cry (and Far Cry 3) Modern Warfare 1 and 2, Medieval Total War II, World in Conflict, Battlefield 3, Bioshock, Darksiders, Homeworld series, the list goes on.

Can pretty much play them all with full detail, apart from occasionally having to exchange MSAA for FXAA but that is down to the graphics card. My previous generation i5 CPU barely breaks a sweat with any of these games.

 

[Ketchup]

Arkham Asylum/City, Crysis (+2 and Warhead), Metro 2033, Portal 2, the Transformers games (war for and fall of cybertron) Dragon age, Skyrim, Need for Speed: Most wanted, Starcraft 2, Max Payne 3, Assassins Creed Series, Deus Ex, Far Cry (and Far Cry 3) Modern Warfare 1 and 2, Medieval Total War II, World in Conflict, Battlefield 3, Bioshock, Darksiders, Homeworld series, the list goes on.

Can pretty much play them all with full detail, apart from occasionally having to exchange MSAA for FXAA but that is down to the graphics card. My previous generation i5 CPU barely breaks a sweat with any of these games.

That sounds about right. These i5's are pretty stout. And if for some reason they weren't, they can be overclocked quite easily.

 

[brallen1]

On our on going tweaking before we place our order we were considering the i5 3570k over the 2500k. It looks slightly better for $10, any thoughts? Also we were thinking of substituting the gtx 680 in place of the 660, it didn't appear that the 670 bought much over the 660. Could I benefit then from a faster frequency memory over the DDR3 1600? We have a little extra money in the budget, any other tweaks you guys can think of? We are not sure what the difference is between the 680's. We are thinking of a Logitech keyboard and mouse but what is better, if anything? As always much appreciated! Hoping to order this soon.

 

[brallen1]

Also what is the MSAA and the FXAA? How to you go about correcting it?

 

[Ketchup]

Bit-tech did a pretty good comparison containing all three Nvidia cards:

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2012/12/10/zotac-geforce-gtx-660-ti-2gb-amp-extreme-r/3

 

[Ketchup]

Intel's next chip, Haswell, will be here by June I think, and should be faster than anything out now. Ivy bridge has a smaller die that Sandy (what I have) Bridge. Ivy runs cooler than Sandy at stock speed, but heats up more quickly when overclocked. Ivy also runs a little faster at the same speed. I enjoy doing some overclocking (nothing too heavy) and didn't want a heater, so I went Sandy. Personal preference.

Once I went Logitech with my keyboard and mouse I will never go back. My wife bought me (well, us) an MX mouse a year ago Christmas and it is the best mouse I have ever owned.

Faster memory does little good with the current Intel chips. DDR3 has plenty of bandwidth for these chips, for now anyway.

Oh, and Google is your friend with FXAA and MSAA. I really don't mess with them.

 

[brallen1]

well, I guess that the 670 is better, but does going to the 680 open up other issues? what do I need to change if that is the video card that I prefer to use?

 

[brallen1]

whats your thought on the I-5 3570? in conjunction with the 680? I will check out MX? And any benefit to 16g vs 8g memory?

 

[Ketchup]

whats your thought on the I-5 3570? in conjunction with the 680? I will check out MX? And any benefit to 16g vs 8g memory?

If you are into video/audio editing or running multiple VM's, 16 might be what you need. For general use and gaming, 8 is fine. Of course, memory is so cheap, 16 wouldn't be considered a mistake by any means.

The 3570 is a fine CPU.

A 650-watt PSU should run a 680 all day long. You might wanna go a little higher if you think you would want to SLI it later.