[Build-Log] Gaming + Video/Photo Editing Desktop

Preety

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Inspired by overclock.net (more so by gunny1966) and being in the process of building a rig myself, I decided to start a build log of a new Asus Maximus V FML/Thunder based system here in the forums. The idea is document the thought process, ask questions and possible learn some things for myself. This might serve as a good guide to someone trying to build a similar rig and may be useful to document the research as i go along. I will try to document EACH and EVERY step. I will continue to add updates and edit the posts as I build my rig along. It will be days before i conclude my build, as i try to build my system piece by piece. I hope I can encourage a good participation and leverage the expertise of the forum members. This will help me successfully complete my build and serve as guide post for others.

A note before I start, though I consider myself a tech geek, keeping up to date with all the new release, features, comparison is hard. Its also very frustrating to go around the web to stumble with unfinished or unverified builds or even with unknown / unverified sources of information.
At no point don't think I am the smartest or the most intelligent person around. I like to share the information, and hope that people do the same in return.

PLEASE don't troll or make comments that are not verified! (without explanation/examples/pictures/links) If you see ANY mistakes I've made be sure to mention them in your comment & explain it. I assure you I'm not a bot :p & make mistakes every day.

The purpose of this build is for gaming (FPS + Chess), some video/photo editing & basic computer use. I had earlier posted a question on the forum on the build and the question turned into a deep question "on what do you want your build to do". Easy question, but I went back and thought hard, monitored my usage and dug up the historical usage from Steam. I hope this build will serve me well for the years to come and exceed my expectations as well.

Without a long tirade, welcome to my build and thank you for those who will participate.


Kick-off
There are ton of options and its difficult to know where to start from. I stumbled across these 3 part videos from NewEgg that should help you ground on the basics.

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Motherboard Handling

Parts Selection

I will color code my parts so as to make it simple on what is currently decided or still under consideration

Orange: - Under Consideration
Green: - Finalized

CPU
How do you select which CPU you go with, there are a ton of options and each one serves its own specific purpose not to mention the performance. Do the impressive specs translate into tangible / visible benefits? THere are a lot of artificial benchmarks that you will encounter, but I struggled to find on how it translate into real world examples. Fortunately people realize that and there are some benchmark that are available that are based on actual programs. I will refer to the following:
1. Best Gaming CPUs For The Money: January 2013 . They have a monthly list so search on the site for the latest one :)
2. All CPU Charts 2012

Candidates:
I picked the most often compared CPUs, LGA 2011, and the 3570K and 3770K. There are ton of forum posts on which ones to pick, so I decided to investigate it myself and figure out if they are worth the money.
1. Intel Core i7 3930K (Sandy Bridge-E 6 cores/3.2 GHz / Turbo 3.9 GHz / 12 MB L3)
2. Intel Core i5 3570K (Ivy Bridge 4 cores / 3.4 GHz / Turbo 3.8 GHz/ 4 MB L3)
3. Intel Core i7 3770K (Ivy Bridge 4 cores / 3.5 GHz / Turbo 3.9 GHz / 4 MB L3)

The comparision can be found on google docs

There is a signifiant bump in processing between 3570K and 3770K while not a big boost between 3770K and 3930K. I cant seem to justify the price difference (which varies depending on the motherboard that is select). Toms Hardware prefers i5-3570K. In the end I decided to go for i5-3570K. The big reason is that I am going to overclock it and the thermal thermal paste issues with 3770K was the deal breaker (Link 1, Link 2) and might not consider replacing the thermal paste myself.

Final Selection:Intel Core i5 3570K

Reference: Toms Hardware Comparison Charts



Motherboard
There are so many options to choose from. But more specifically there are few established manufacturers that are catering to the gamers/overclockers market. I had shortlisted the following motherboards:
  1. ASUS Maximus V Formula (~SGD 549) with ThunderFX
  2. ASUS Maximus V Extreme (~ SGD 589)
  3. ASRock Z77 OC Formula (~ SGD 409)
Briefly considered Gigabyte models, skipped it.

The difference between the formula and extreme is the additional thunderbolt option on Extereme together with 5 PCIe (vs 3 PCIe) and all the OC'ing hardware that comes along with it.

Though $40 may not be much of a difference considering the options, but I dont think I will ever get to extreme overclocking....

I like the option of ThunderFX, but it has mixed reviews online.

Technical specifications for the remaining two can be found here. Refer the Motherboard sheet.

Features wise it matches evenly, depending on how you choose to look at it. It was a hard call, but things I liked about the Asus Maximus V Formula are the following options:
1. Audio
2. Ease of use, take a look at the BIOS options, they better suited for entry level or enthusiast overclockers alike.
3. Software that comes along with Mobo. ASUS ROG motherboards have given a good polish to the softwares, which i like.

Final Selection: ASUS Maximus V Formula with ThunderFX (SGD 549)


RAM
I picked up G. Skill RipJawX 1866MHz because they look great in blue and offer good overclocking capabilities. This is 1.5V kit, not the 1.65V ones.


GPU
In the overall computer build, one thing i was sure was that I wanted relatively new card that is top of the line. There are few options here, but its best to point of the Hierarchy charts posted by tom's hardware.

Current prices for the top end cards are:
1. Asus GTX TITAN 6GB GDDR5 (SGD 1599)
2. Asus GTX690 4GB DDR5 (SGD 1580)
2. Asus GTX680 DC II 2GB DDR5 OC (SGD 815 / TOP SGD 845 / 4GB: 889 )
4. Asus Matrix HD7970 3GB GDDR5 (SGD 739)

One thing that struck me from the tom's hardware review was the following quote

You can use this hierarchy to compare the pricing between two cards, to see which one is a better deal, and also to determine if an upgrade is worthwhile. I don’t recommend upgrading your graphics card unless the replacement card is at least three tiers higher. Otherwise, the upgrade is somewhat parallel and you may not notice a worthwhile difference in performance.

Based on that I thought GTX 680 would be a better choice. Not too expensive. I was seriously considering 690, but based on the forum discussions, I was convinced to opt for something lower. Hence GTX680.

I decided to go for the TOP card because its the "hand picked" version of the better of the cards as they are inherently more stable and are overclocked right out of the box. For 30$ more its absolutely worth it.

No love for AMD? one word, Drivers.

Final Selection: Asus GTX680 DC II 2GB DDR5 OC TOP (SGD 845)

I will end up buying one now and one later when sufficient funds allow for it.

Power Supply
My first step was to determine how many watts are required for my system. Google turns up a lot of results, I picked the option on Extreme Power Supply Option (Link).
Another options, if you prefer
1. Corsair Learn & Explore
2. Thermaltake, though its the same version of Extereme Power Supply Thermaltake Power Supply Calculator

While selecting a PSU, 04125.Wattage is not the crucial factor but total combined continuous power/current available on the +12V Rail(s) rated at 45°C - 50°C ambient temperature, is the most important factor.

I configured my system on current as well as future requirements. I clocked in about 865 W and adding another graphics card in SLI mode got me to 1110W.

I was looking at power supplies that also carry 80 Plus certification which requires PSU efficiency of 80% or higher. (See Ecova Plug Load Solutions). They have reports (aka certification report) that are similar to when you purchase diamond :). Enough of the light note.
80 plus certification scheme is a third party initiative that classifies power supplies based upon their efficiencies. There are then four more levels of 80 Plus certification for consumer power supplies, each having a higher efficiency requirement up to 80 Plus Platinum, where a PSU must be able to maintain 92% efficiency at 50% load and 89% at 100%. The good thing about these ratings is that they are wattage independent – instead they look at how well the power supply works. This provides an easy metric to let you work out what you need.

Here is a list from Tom;s Hardware that one can refer (Link). Its a good read...Did you know Seasonic manufactures some of Corsair's PSU :s11:. Hence its not just brand or expensive is better.

1. Seasonic X Series 850W (SGD 228) 70 Amps Single +12V
2. Themaltake Toughpower 750W 80+ Gold (SGD 165)
3. Corsair AX860i Platinum (SGD 318): 71.6 Amp Single +12V Rail
4. Cooler Master Silent PRO M2 850W Modular (SGD 189) ~68 Amp Single +12V Rail

For a system using 2 GeForce GTX 680 graphics cards in 2-way SLI mode NVIDIA specifies a minimum of a 750 Watt or greater power supply that has a combined +12 Volt continuous current rating of 53 Amps or greater and that has at least four 6-pin PCI Express supplementary power connectors. (Reference ko888 on toms hardware)

So looks like Seasonic and Corsair are a good competition. THough the warranty is 5 years on Seasonic as compared to 7 years on Corsair.

I was initially planning on getting the Seasonic, but then i came across the Corsair Link option. It allows you to not only monitor the power supply parameters such as fan speed, voltages, currents, wattages, temperatures, and efficiency, but also allows to configure over current protection (OCP) for each video card cable individually. Furthermore, this configuration is not a simple on/off feature; it allows you to set the amount of current that will make the over current protection kick in. Each video card cable can be configured with its own individual trigger point. This will be a good feature that I can consider especially when i know I am going to overclock it.


Final Selection: Corsair AX860i Platinum (SGD 318)

Case
There isnt much of tech specs to discuss when one goes about considering cases. It all depends on the user preference. I am going for NZXT Phantom 820. I like the styling of the case with a lot of room, excellent cooling capacities (has a fan controller, lot of room for water cooling), integrated SD card reader and yes, lighting.

Final Damage
1. Intel Core i5 3570K SGD 259
2. ASUS Maximus V Formula SGD 549
3. G.Skill RipJawX 1866MHz CL9 (8GB X 2) SGD 190
4. Asus GTX680 DC II 2GB DDR5 OC TOP SGD 845
5. Corsair AX860i Platinum (SGD 318)
 
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Preety

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Finally got it assemebled over the weekend. Here is how the internals look like...

DSC06943.JPG


DSC06944.JPG


DSC06945.JPG
 
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Preety

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Lessons Learnt:

Hardware aspects:
1. I did not opt for a separate fan controller, as the motherboard has add-on software to control the fan speeds which varies the fan speeds based on the internal temperatures. It was a good option, the Fan Xpert works vrey well, and the CPU temperature hovers aroun 62C with an overclock of about 4.5GHz. Read about the Fan Xpert here.
The NZXT phantom also had a built in fan controller. I had initially used this to control fan speeds, but its a dummy controller, you have to manually control the speeds of each individual fans. Its not very intelligent to ramp up/down speeds as required.

2. Motherboard limitations
a. only 3 USB headers. With all the options for monitoring PSU, cooler, USB hubs, there just werent enough USB headers to attach everything. I ended up getting internal USB header expansion. You can find the product details for NZXT IU01 Internal USB Expansion (Black)
b. Had to purchase additional thermal probes to measure temperatures across various section from Asus Thermal Sensor Cable (PACK OF 3)

3. The case is HUGE. be prepared to get extra extension cables for SATA and power connections.


Assembly:
1. Case was heavy, did not realize it when i had picked it up. But overall its a well built case. It comes with factory installed 4 fans (3 X 200mm + 1 X 140mm). I can still install about 3 additional fans (2 X 140mm + 1 X 200mm), though there is no need for one yet. The case lighting rocks, its like the Alienware lighting :)
2. Though I asked the shop to do the assembly, i spent another 6 hours trying to detangle the mess they had made. In the end I ended up rewiring almost all of my connections. I was a bit disappointed with the service provided after purchasing so much of hardware:
a. The PSU cable was missing when i got home the desktop. Had to use a spare one that I had.
b. the DVD drive was not attached, it was just sitting in the case. No connections were made.
c. For some strange reason, the HDD's SATA cable was loose and tangled...not sure what had happened.
d. No USB monitoring of the Corsair Liquid cooler or the power supply was made. I had assumed they did it and had to hunt for the cables.
e. One of the case fan was not attached to the motherboard. Initially I had thought it was a case of damaged fan, until i had opened up the case.
f. The SD card slot is not functional.
 
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Preety

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Performance:

1. Bishock Infinite: Using the BioShock Infinite Benchmarking Utility for UltraDX11_DOF setting. Did not use the latest drivers from NVIDIA released on March 26th.
Welcome Center: 66.82 FPS
Town Center: 68.6 FPS
Raffle: 63.38 FPS
Monument Island: 97.09 FPS
Overall 71.99 FPS

After the driver patch that was applied...almost a 10% boost in framerate.
Welcome Center: 72.64 FPS
Town Center: 75.19 FPS
Raffle: 71.57 FPS
Monument Island: 105.51 FPS
Overall 78.84 FPS



Download the detailed benchmark file from here (Google Drive)

2. Fritz Benchmark: 12823 @ 4.2Mhz of overclocked CPU
 
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nippp0n

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Do you have a budget? What video/photo editing softwares are you using?
 

Preety

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Do you have a budget? What video/photo editing softwares are you using?

Budget around 2k - 3k.

Key motivations:
* CPU Multitasking Capability (for highly multithreaded apps)
* CPU Clock Speed/efficiency (for single threaded apps)
* Memory Bandwidth
* Upgrade path (futureproofing) - Ability to run 2 or more graphics cards in SLI or maybe even PCIe based SSD :p

Photo/Video editing: Adobe CS6 Suite. Currently dont even bother running as it makes my computer crawl. can barely do any meaningful work.
 

nippp0n

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Convergent is having CNY promo. Thermaltake Level 10GTS, Thermaltake Frio air cooler and 2 more fans for $188. I think you should go for this combo. I think you save around $100.

http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/hardware-clinic-2/%5Bconvergent%5D-thermaltake-super-cny-bundle-promotion-win-us-4095667.html#post73839489
 

Preety

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I will probably explore the cooling options over this weekend, but time to go spend :) see you SLS
 

zjlim86

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Hi, I do have some questions.

I just bought a new rig (spec listed as below), and I now trying to decide whether I need to get a new fan. I understand that GPU temperature under stress is around 80 deg and idle is around 40 deg (correct me if I wrong). When playing Bioshock, I had to minimize the game and do my stuff with the game running in the background. My GPU temperature suddenly shoot up to 100 deg. Why is this so? I also realise that when I am playing the game, the GPU temperature max is around 80 deg.

Do you know of any webpage that describe the positive and negative air flow in cpu?

Rig's Spec:

1) ASUS P8Z77-V Pro, Intel I5-3570
2) 2 x 4GB G Skill
3) Samsung 120GB SSD
4) WD 1TB HDD
5) MSI 2GB R7870 TF DDR5
6) Seasonic M12II 620W
7) Centurion 6 Casing
 

Preety

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How are you measuring your temperatures? 100C is hot for the GPU....

As far as your case goes, its a good one with sufficient places to install the fan. What is your configuration of the fans? How many fans have you installed? Is anything blocking the air flow? Any dust (though looks like you got a new set, i doubt this would be the case)

How is your PUS mounted? Is it pushing the hot air in the case?

Here are some of the reference articles/forum discussions that I had referred...
1. EggXpert - Positive air flow vs. Negative air flows.
2. Case Fans: Should You Worry About Positive Or Negative Pressure? : How To: Properly Plan And Pick Parts For An Air-Cooled PC, Part 2
3. EggXpert - TL Explains: Negative and Positive Case Airflow
 

zjlim86

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How are you measuring your temperatures? 100C is hot for the GPU....

As far as your case goes, its a good one with sufficient places to install the fan. What is your configuration of the fans? How many fans have you installed? Is anything blocking the air flow? Any dust (though looks like you got a new set, i doubt this would be the case)

How is your PUS mounted? Is it pushing the hot air in the case?

Here are some of the reference articles/forum discussions that I had referred...
1. EggXpert - Positive air flow vs. Negative air flows.
2. Case Fans: Should You Worry About Positive Or Negative Pressure? : How To: Properly Plan And Pick Parts For An Air-Cooled PC, Part 2
3. EggXpert - TL Explains: Negative and Positive Case Airflow

Currently I do not have extra fans other than the two pre-installed fans at the front and the rear. I would say the my graphic card is blocking the air flow but i guess it common..lol my this rig just bought close to a week ago so there not much dust in there.

I guessing the PUS is the power supply box? it installed at the bottom of the case.

Thank for the web sites!
 

Preety

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can you open the side of the case and run the games / benchmarking to see what you get?
 

sugasuta

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Um, question on the motherboard, can I make do with something like ASRock
Z77 Extreme4? I have a more limited budget

I want to run CS6 as well, so with almost the exact same build other than the motherboard as well as the power supply (Cooler Master Silent Pro Gold 800W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply), would they run without making the system crawl?

Oh and if I need to get a sound card would I need to change the power supply?
 

Preety

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Um, question on the motherboard, can I make do with something like ASRock
Z77 Extreme4? I have a more limited budget

I want to run CS6 as well, so with almost the exact same build other than the motherboard as well as the power supply (Cooler Master Silent Pro Gold 800W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply), would they run without making the system crawl?

Oh and if I need to get a sound card would I need to change the power supply?

Yes for all. There is a link in the setup where you can plug in the config to see how much you will need on the power....800W is high, but at some point i want to add an additional graphics card or replace my current one with the dual card ones (read titan / ares II)
 
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