New Custom Pc Advice/tips

I built my current custom PC about 2 years ago and am looking to custom build a new computer from scratch (to replace the old one) and have some questions on what parts to get.
I live in Australia so i will show you some Australian sites for reference. This is the one were i will buy everything from. http://www.centrecom.com.au/

I have already decided on some parts.
Case: NZXT Phantom
Drive: LG Blur-Ray Reader/DVD Burner (CH10LS20)

Hard Drive: This is where my first question begins: These two hard drives have the same specs except one is SATA2 and the other is SATA3/2 whats the difference and is it worth spending the extra money on the SATA3/2

http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/product_info.php?sort=2a&products_id=43609 $54
http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/product_info.php?sort=3d&products_id=43885 $88

P.S I will ask questions on the other parts when i have finished a question with another part so i dont bombard you with 10 questions in one post.

 

The difference lies in the data transfer rate.

SATA2 has a max transfer rate of 300MB/s
SATA3 has a max transfer rate of 600MB/s

However, if your motherboard is SATA2 - then if you have a SATA3 drive it will only function at SATA2 speeds.

 

OK i dont know much about motherboards but what determines what motherboard I get is the CPU's compatibility with it. Whether it is LGA1366 or LGA1155. I have read up about the two but which one is better performance wise whats the difference?

But here is the list i will be buying the MOBO from. Which one do you recommend? (it has to have SATA3) http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/default.php?cPath=62
Along the list i can find this one which is SATA3 compatible http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/product_info.php?sort=2a&products_id=51364 What do you think?

 

Gigabyte have a good reputation.

You may be interested in this review that I found.
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3847#ov

If you are spending that much on a board you may also be interested in this:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/asrock-p67-extreme6-asus-p8p67-deluxe-msi-p67a-gd80,2924.html
This was written in April 2011.

LGA1366 or LGA1155 ( this explains it )
Whether you choose 1155 or 1366 is basically up to you. Do you need triple channel ram (doing extensive photoshopping, rendering stuff like that)? If you are more into gaming and normal use dual channel memory will be just fine. Do you want to be able to overclock the baseclock of your CPU, then 1366 is for you. Overclocking on 1155 is limited to the K editions and only the turbo mode can be overclocked by adjusting the multiplier for that. Also memory overclocking is going to be quite limited with 1155 because you can't up the baseclock to something comfortable like 200. With 1366 it's possible.
However 1155 chips (the i7 950 equivalent) are cheaper, if you choose the 2500K which seems to be the chip to have for normal use and gaming. Also 1155 boards are cheaper than the 1366 ones aswell. You can get for example a Asus P8P67 Deluxe for 200€ (150 GBP).

If you want to go down the 1366 route,
Do you want to overclock using dice or extreme liquid cooling? Then the Rampage III Extreme is great. If you just want to overclock using air cooling or moderate water cooling I would suggest saving some money and take a look at the Asus Sabertooth or the Gigabyte UD3R V2. Both of those are very solid boards with great overclocking abilities and features. The i7 950 is the chip of choice, so keep that one.

Thanks to Aurus_OC. ( Jan 2011 )

 

Its a lot to take in. But this PC is for gaming and i want to overclock it so I will go with the 1366.
But i dont know whether im going to use liquid cooling or air cooling. It depends on the price/performance difference. (And is this cooling for my CPU or MOBO?)

If i go liquid cooling would this be good? http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=207_160_45&products_id=16986
If not what air cooling would you recommend out of these? http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/default.php?cPath=75&page=1&sort=3d

And why do you say get the 950 when i could get the 960 for an extra $10 at 3.2Ghz instead of 3.06Ghz?


P.S I remember last last year i was on these forums Dalo was in charge of new hardware and building PC's. Is he still around?

 

Yes and No

Unfortunately work and personal commitments mean he doesn't spend as much time as we or he would like, but he does still look in when he has the time just not on a regular basis, fingers crossed he will pop in soon as I'm sure this thread will get his interest

especially as you have an interest in OC'ing a high spec system, but so far KenB has given you some superb advice

 

I will send Dalo a email to have a look.

 

We wait for Dalo's input.

 

Hey,

It's nice to be remembered B)

Ok lets look at the main difference of LGA1155 and LGA1366 from a cost point of view:-

LGA1155:-
CPU - Intel core i5 -2500K (£160)
MOBO - MSI P67A-GD53 (B3) (£110)
RAM - Corsair Vengeance 4GB PC3-12800 (£40)

LGA1366:-
CPU - Intel Core i7 - 990X Extreme (£780! yes that's right - its not a typo)
MOBO - Asus Sabertooth X58 (£150)
RAM - Crucial Ballsitix Smart Tracer 6GB (£100)

The above are some of the higher end kit (and I recommend parts that overclock well together) now apart from the obvious price difference, you need to ask yourself do you need or will you use the power an i7 can deliver?
in what you have listed I would say no, a 2500K chip (the K just means the multiplier is unlocked so better for overclocking)

There is a 3rd option for the best of both worlds without the massive price tag!

CPU - Intel Core i7 - 2600K (£220) this chip will overclock to 5.3GHz per core (beating the 990X £780 CPU above ) but you will need to spend some cash on a good water cooling set up
MOBO - Asus Maximus IV Extreme (£280)
RAM - Crucial Ballistix Smart Tracer 4GB (£60)


so it comes down to your budget really

Hope this will help you make a more informed decision and then we can go from there

 

So much simpler now. But I will go with the 3rd option but I cant get that specific RAM were i am buying my parts from, so what do you recommend out of these http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/default.php?cPath=23
Should i go for 6GB maybe 8GB?
And with the MOBO does it support SATA3?

Lastly I wont be overclocking that high but I still want to overclock to a maybe 4.0GHz or 4.5GHz so could i cope with air cooling or would i still have to get water cooling?

 

Dont worry about SATA 2 and 3 you will never use the bandwidth of SATA 1 (1.5GB p/s) let alone SATA 3 (6GB p/s)

Choose whatever fits your budget 6GB of RAM is ample for what you plan to use it for

water would be ideal if you were planning on OC'ing whatever GPU you use too (and its much quiter, so depends on the location of the PC and the budget)

If all else then I would get the Corsair H70 cooler just for the CPU at the VERY minimum (costs around £70-80) as i7 chips do run hot

 

Ok, il get the H70 for my CPU and I dont think I will OC my GPU so i wont worry about that.

My budget for the GPU is about $200-$300AU but out of these what do you recommend? http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/default.php?cPath=26&page=1&sort=2a
Or would i be better off getting two GPU's that aren't as good?

Ive just realised when adding up the costs for this PC, that MOBO is the most expensive single item on here, is there anything else from here that will work nearly as good but not so expensive? http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/default.php?sort=2a&cPath=62

 

what size monitor and resolution will you be gaming at?

One single GPU is better than 2 lesser ones in nearly every scenario, there are some games that are completely optimised for SLI/Crossfire, but they are few and far between.
AMD Eyefinity is a much slicker set up than SLI and can be done with one card

The MOBO is expensive, but its because it can handle the overclocks stably, you could choose a lesser board, but I would only do that if you DONT overclock the system.

 

Ive chosen this monitor http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/product_info.php?sort=2a&products_id=50769 its a Benq 24inch, il be gaming at the screen resolution of 1920x1080
Il go for the single GPU. Except, which one?
And il stick with the mobo because i want to OC

 

I personally would go for this
http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/product_info.php?sort=2a&products_id=50411

or this

http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/product_info.php?sort=2a&products_id=52067

Check they will fit in your case because these cards are huge roughly 230mm long

 

Yea it will fit easy, there 350mm GPU clearance.
Well looks like im pretty much done except for the PSU.
How many watts do i need, what brand is good. What one should i get out of these http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/default.php?cPath=74

 

Hi, The main factor for the power supply is the power requirement of the graphics card you decide on. Unfortunately having looked at the spec for either of those above I can find no reference on the manufacturers site for their power requirements.
It is rare for Dalo to be around on a weekend hence why I thought I may be able to help out in the mean time. Unfortunately it seems I can't, so we will have to wait perhaps till Monday, hopefully he knows what each card needs and can advise further.
Nev.

 

If its not too much trouble could you email them for me to ask?

 

actually dont worry i got. I emailed them

 

Here is the list of all the GPU's power requirements http://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=104805.0; \
Its sais the GTX 560 Ti uses 'Minimum' 500W