Support NeoGAF

[LordCanti]

Whoopsy daisy. Clicked on the first link and took me to another forum. Last time I had a PC that did video editing was on a Pentium III and that was like in 2000 or some nonsense like that. Haha. Will post about the laptop in that other thread.

What is your budget? Do you need the computer to be a gaming machine as well? If so, what games do you want to play? Will you be re-using any parts (HDD, case, monitor, etc)?

So I'm considering jumping from a 4870 with 512MB ram to either a 560 Ti/6950 or 560/6870. I'm mainly interested in playing The Witcher 2 without stuttering, Deus Ex Human Revolution, Skyrim, probably Batman: Arkham City, and possibly Rage sometime in the future. Which would be the most practical choice to grab for playing 1680x1050? I have an i5 2500k so CPU's not a concern.

Edit: I'd also prefer to keep it around 200, though $260 is acceptable if the MSI 560ti Hawk is just that good.

I would wait for a sale on the 560 ti or the 6950. Go with a custom cooler if you don't want to hear your video card, or if you want a little more overclocking headroom. Otherwise, a stock cooled card is fine. If you want PhysX support (which Arkham Asylum had, and I'm hoping Arkham City will have), go for the 560ti.

The 560 isn't recommended, as a 460 is essentially the same thing when overclocked (although the 560 can be OC'd higher). It's a bit overpriced for what it is.

 

[AlternativeUlster]

What is your budget? Do you need the computer to be a gaming machine as well? If so, what games do you want to play? Will you be re-using any parts (HDD, case, monitor, etc)?




I would wait for a sale on the 560 ti or the 6950. Go with a custom cooler if you don't want to hear your video card, or if you want a little more overclocking headroom. Otherwise, a stock cooled card is fine.

The 560 isn't recommended, as a 460 is essentially the same thing when overclocked (although the 560 can be OC'd higher). It's a bit overpriced for what it is.

I won't be reusing anything and my budget is probably 700 give or take. No gaming at all on the machine. Will be used strictly for video editing.

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

I won't be reusing anything and my budget is probably 700 give or take. No gaming at all on the machine. Will be used strictly for video editing.

EDIT: Laptop!! Hmm.... complicated. Laptops, to be quite frank, are hit or miss. I have owned four laptops in my lifetime ranging from $800 to $1300 and all four laptops died on me within a few years with manufacturing flat out backing out and not repairing it without charging a lot.

Make sure wherever you buy a laptop from, get an extended warranty. They die fast!

Desktop, however, are solid as hell if the right parts are bought.

 

[LordCanti]

I won't be reusing anything and my budget is probably 700 give or take. No gaming at all on the machine. Will be used strictly for video editing.

Won't be reusing anything, and your budget is $700?

That's....a bit...ehhh....

Let me see what I can do. What size monitor do you want, and is Newegg okay?

Edit: Trying to build a complete rig for video editing is kind of impossible at that price.

Case: $44, if you skimp
HDD: $60 for 1TB (can't skimp here; Video files are enormous)
Monitor: $150 ($100 if you want a generic, no frills monitor with issues)
Cheap PSU: $24 after $20 rebate
RAM: $40
Mobo: $130
CPU: $220
--------------------------------------------------------
$700

Note that there is no operating system there, nor a graphics card (or DVD drive, for that matter). Windows is $90 or so at its cheapest (cheaper during that EDU sale a while ago, but I think that ended). Add $100 or so for a video card.

You're looking at about $900, for what I would consider to be a basic video editing rig. $800, if we drop to a dual core instead of a quad.

 

[Jtrizzy]

Finished my build. Everything is great, but the picture isn't taking up the entire screen on my Panny plasma. Any advice? I have the resolution at 1280 x 1024.

 

[LordCanti]

Finished my build. Everything is great, but the picture isn't taking up the entire screen on my Panny plasma. Any advice? I have the resolution at 1280 x 1024.

Is your card Nvidia? If so, go into the Nvidia control panel, and look for "scaling" options. Set it to "No scaling". If your card is ATI, there should be an equivalent setting in the AMD control panel.

Make sure your TV is set to "just scan" mode, or an equivalent as well. Check your manual for how to do this (every set is different).

 

[Jtrizzy]

I'm such a moron I hadn't installed the drivers for my 580. After doing that and restarting it looks right. I'm about to try starcraft 2 in 3d. On the panny vt25.

 

[LordCanti]

I'm such a moron I hadn't installed the drivers for my 580. After doing that and restarting it looks right. I'm about to try starcraft 2 in 3d. On the panny vt25.

Derp.

Spoiler

Happens to the best of us. At least you knew which way to orient the case.

Edit: Wait, what? How are you going to do that? Does the VT25 have Nvision support? If it doesn't....I have bad news for you....

Double edit: Apparently they've released software that can do that, eh? Hope it works out for you.

 

[tuxor]

Hey GAF, first time builder looking to get a decent PC together in time for the onslaught of fall games. I haven't had a decent PC in ~8 years, I NEED THIS.

Your Current Specs: N/A
Budget: ~$1000-1250 US (including monitor + keyboard)
Main Use: Gaming, emulation, general use
Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080
List SPECIFIC games that you MUST be able to play: BF3, D3, DOTA2, Skyrim, DXHR, SC2, basically be able to handle anything you can throw at it in the next year-ish (obv. not @ 60fps 4x AA etc, but good enough to play most games very well)
Are reusing any parts?: Nope.
When will you build?: As soon as I can, willing to wait until mid-late september
Will you be overclocking?: Yes.

Case: ?? Not quite sure yet, need to find one I can stand to look at for the next couple years
PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W
MB: MSI P67A-G45 (B3)
CPU: i5 2500k Sandy
GPU: MSI Twin Frozr GTX 560 Ti
RAM: G.Skill 2x2gb DDR3 1333
HDD: WD Caviar Black 1TB

Any suggestions?

 

[Eusis]

I would wait for a sale on the 560 ti or the 6950. Go with a custom cooler if you don't want to hear your video card, or if you want a little more overclocking headroom. Otherwise, a stock cooled card is fine. If you want PhysX support (which Arkham Asylum had, and I'm hoping Arkham City will have), go for the 560ti.

The 560 isn't recommended, as a 460 is essentially the same thing when overclocked (although the 560 can be OC'd higher). It's a bit overpriced for what it is.

What kind of sales can I reasonably expect? I see a PNY card for $236, though I'd prefer one of the MSI Twin Frozr cards.

 

[Jtrizzy]

Derp.

Spoiler

Happens to the best of us. At least you knew which way to orient the case.

Edit: Wait, what? How are you going to do that? Does the VT25 have Nvision support? If it doesn't....I have bad news for you....

Double edit: Apparently they've released software that can do that, eh? Hope it works out for you.

I haven't figured out how to get 3d yet, I think I need to get nvidia 3dtv drivers...I don't see the option playing SC2...which isn't really the best to show off my new hardware anyway.

 

[LordCanti]

I haven't figured out how to get 3d yet, I think I need to get nvidia 3dtv drivers...I don't see the option playing SC2...which isn't really the best to show off my new hardware anyway.

I found this thread http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=1214096&page=154 that discusses it. I'm not sure exactly how to go about it, but that should give you some insight.

What kind of sales can I reasonably expect? I see a PNY card for $236, though I'd prefer one of the MSI Twin Frozr cards.

That's about the range I would expect for sales. They really can't go lower, since the 560 is right under it in price. PNY is fine if you don't care about noise (all the stock coolers make a bit of noise, especially at load).

Hey GAF, first time builder looking to get a decent PC together in time for the onslaught of fall games. I haven't had a decent PC in ~8 years, I NEED THIS.

Your Current Specs: N/A
Budget: ~$1000-1250 US (including monitor + keyboard)
Main Use: Gaming, emulation, general use
Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080
List SPECIFIC games that you MUST be able to play: BF3, D3, DOTA2, Skyrim, DXHR, SC2, basically be able to handle anything you can throw at it in the next year-ish (obv. not @ 60fps 4x AA etc, but good enough to play most games very well)
Are reusing any parts?: Nope.
When will you build?: As soon as I can, willing to wait until mid-late september
Will you be overclocking?: Yes.

Case: ?? Not quite sure yet, need to find one I can stand to look at for the next couple years
PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W
MB: MSI P67A-G45 (B3)
CPU: i5 2500k Sandy
GPU: MSI Twin Frozr GTX 560 Ti
RAM: G.Skill 2x2gb DDR3 1333
HDD: WD Caviar Black 1TB

Any suggestions?

Are you in the US? If so, take advantage of the 8GB of RAM for $40 deal at newegg that I posted earlier.

Other than that, you can safely go for a 650w model from the same line, if you will never SLI. Keep it if you will.

Everything else looks fine. With that budget, you could probably work in a GTX 570 though.

Pick up a cheap cooler (the cooler master hyper 212+ is recommended for $30) for easy OC'ing (which you should do, on a 2500k).

 

[LordCanti]

Edit: Double post

 

[Enco]

Time for a new computer (upgrade). I'll get a new CPU, processor, motherboard and graphics card. I'll also upgrade my ram from 4gb to 8gb.

I'm thinking gtx 580, i5 or i7 2600k and a Z68 1155. I'll have a look and post here my final build.

Any advice or comments? I'm keeping my case, PSU, HDDs, fans and monitor.

 

[AzerPhire]

Anyone able to help me out on my question regarding a choice between a PNY 580 or the Powercolor 6870x2? Both are currently on sale for $400 here in Canada.

 

[Gunmonkey36]

Time for a new computer (upgrade). I'll get a new CPU, processor, motherboard and graphics card. I'll also upgrade my ram from 4gb to 8gb.

I'm thinking gtx 580, i5 or i7 2600k and a Z68 1155. I'll have a look and post here my final build.

Any advice or comments? I'm keeping my case, PSU, HDDs, fans and monitor.

No need for i7 2600k if you are just using it for gaming. i5 2500k is just as good. Only use for i7 is for heavy video editing/rendering.

(Unreleated: I have this weird scenario where Wayne Brady says something awful to Matt Damon playing in my head due to our avatars.)

 

[ACE 1991]

Just got my last parts delivered today! Will be building, testing, and overclocking over the weekend (as long as nothing bad happens). I'll post full specs and pictures tomorrow. Thanks for everyone's help!

Total price of the build came out to $686.95. Pretty happy with it.

What was your build, and would you mind telling me how it performs once it's completed? I'm interested in building a PC in this price range.

 

[Jibbed]

Anyone able to help me out on my question regarding a choice between a PNY 580 or the Powercolor 6870x2? Both are currently on sale for $400 here in Canada.

Go for the 580, no question.

They'll perform similarly (the 6870x2 might have an edge), but say, a year (or 2) down the line when you want more performance, you can always get another 580.

I honestly don't get why people choose 2 cards over 1 when they're priced similarly, and the performance difference is minute.

 

[RomanticHeroX]

Alright, I think I'm ready to rejoin the master race now. Could someone look over this list and check for compatability and such?

 

[AzerPhire]

The 6870x2 is a single card with two GPUs. It is a custom 6870 that was built by Powercolor. From what I read it too can be put in crossfire mode with a second card.

Are there benefits of going nvidia instead of ATI? (Better AA, physx, etc)

 

[Sethos]

Anyone able to help me out on my question regarding a choice between a PNY 580 or the Powercolor 6870x2? Both are currently on sale for $400 here in Canada.

580! Do NOT buy anything Crossfire related unless you want to start getting annoyed by PC gaming. Crossfire is just a huge pain in the neck. Constantly there's problems with the games in form of terrible performance, flickers here and there, always issues with shadows or the lighting and you just around for months waiting for updated drivers / CF Profiles.

I went from a 5970 to a 580 which is almost a downgrade on paper, best upgrade decision. So many games actually run smooth now, with a lot higher FPS and no insane graphical issues.

 

[ss_lemonade]

The 6870x2 is a single card with two GPUs. It is a custom 6870 that was built by Powercolor. From what I read it too can be put in crossfire mode with a second card.

Are there benefits of going nvidia instead of ATI? (Better AA, physx, etc)

You'll still run into the same crossfire problems with a single 6870x2. I don't know much about xfire but when a game doesn't have a proper crossfire profile, the 580 will most likely perform way better

 

[Jibbed]

The 6870x2 is a single card with two GPUs. It is a custom 6870 that was built by Powercolor. From what I read it too can be put in crossfire mode with a second card.

Are there benefits of going nvidia instead of ATI? (Better AA, physx, etc)

Ahh sorry man, didn't look into it

Well both sides have their benefits and drawbacks. There are some publishers who support ATI over Nvidia and vice versa, so there'll always be games that perform better with a particular brand.

Nvidia has PhysX, and a lot of devs support the brand, so generally you get a few more FPS on say, 7/10 games.

ATI's crossfire performance scales better than SLI though, the AA is generally better, and the cards run smoother at silly resolutions (above 1080p).

'Sup to you, it's just red or green really.

 

[Marco1]

Anyone able to help me out on my question regarding a choice between a PNY 580 or the Powercolor 6870x2? Both are currently on sale for $400 here in Canada.

580, trust me!
Stay away from dual GPU's, people love them but I've had nothing but issues with some of my favourite games. I had a GTX295 and although a powerful card for folding, I had issues with games that a single GPU didn't.
Also the GTX580 is one of the best cards I've ever owned, I love the thing.
Also I like nvidea due to PHYSX, I'm not bias towards them but the little physx effects it batman AA are great little touches.

 

[Gunmonkey36]

580, trust me!
Stay away from dual GPU's, people love them but I've had nothing but issues with some of my favourite games.
Also the GTX580 is one of the best cards I've ever owned, I love the thing.

I concur with this sentiment. You really can't go wrong with a gtx 580. It is supported quite well in nearly every game.

Cards like the 6870x2 and gtx 590 seem to have limited game support and thus don't always perform that well.

 

[pegaso]

So I'm building a rig nice enough to run BF3 or The Witcher 2 smoothly (I hope), and a friend of mine has 2 2GB DDR3 1400 modules that he bought by mistake (G Skill Ripjaws, CL6 I think) that he's willing to give me in exchange for a couple of drinks. I know that won't cut it in the near future, but will it be enough for those games? It would be great to save money now and get something better in a year or so, but only if it doesn't bottleneck the system.

BTW, the gaming hardware industry needs to cut the teenager crap. GSkill Ripjaws X? Really? Must EVERY GPU box show a ridiculous CG monster or ridiculous CG boobs? And the design of most of the towers is plainly atrocious. So much that I'm tempted to just forget about it and buy another Mac.

 

[Enco]

No need for i7 2600k if you are just using it for gaming. i5 2500k is just as good. Only use for i7 is for heavy video editing/rendering.

(Unreleated: I have this weird scenario where Wayne Brady says something awful to Matt Damon playing in my head due to our avatars.)

Thanks and :lol

How does this look?

I'm only upgrading my current set up. I think my PSU is 700 or 750 watts.

 

[Smokey]

Go for the 580, no question.

They'll perform similarly (the 6870x2 might have an edge), but say, a year (or 2) down the line when you want more performance, you can always get another 580.

I honestly don't get why people choose 2 cards over 1 when they're priced similarly, and the performance difference is minute.

Two years down the line he'll be looking at the Maxwell cards which is 2 generations past Fermi. I say if you want SLI now is the time to do it especially on a high end card IMO not down the line.

 

[garath]

So I'm building a rig nice enough to run BF3 or The Witcher 2 smoothly (I hope), and a friend of mine has 2 2GB DDR3 1400 modules that he bought by mistake (G Skill Ripjaws, CL6 I think) that he's willing to give me in exchange for a couple of drinks. I know that won't cut it in the near future, but will it be enough for those games? It would be great to save money now and get something better in a year or so, but only if it doesn't bottleneck the system.

BTW, the gaming hardware industry needs to cut the teenager crap. GSkill Ripjaws X? Really? Must EVERY GPU box show a ridiculous CG monster or ridiculous CG boobs? And the design of most of the towers is plainly atrocious. So much that I'm tempted to just forget about it and buy another Mac.

As long as the RAM is compatible with the motherboard you choose it should be fine.

I can't speak to the naming of things but as far as the pictures on the box, it's showing CG pictures of the exact same stuff we find in our games. Why wouldn't they put it on the box?

I share the hate for the crazy cases but there's a market for them. But you don't have to get one like that, there are plenty of more refined looking cases - Lian Li and Corsair are two of my favorite brands that have offerings that are sleek and simple with great features and performance.

 

[Clydefrog]

I love how my Corsair case (which I have yet to receive :grumble: ) has a button on the outside of it to turn off the annoying LEDs sprinkled within it.

 

[Mr Nightman]

So I'm building a rig nice enough to run BF3 or The Witcher 2 smoothly (I hope), and a friend of mine has 2 2GB DDR3 1400 modules that he bought by mistake (G Skill Ripjaws, CL6 I think) that he's willing to give me in exchange for a couple of drinks. I know that won't cut it in the near future, but will it be enough for those games? It would be great to save money now and get something better in a year or so, but only if it doesn't bottleneck the system.

BTW, the gaming hardware industry needs to cut the teenager crap. GSkill Ripjaws X? Really? Must EVERY GPU box show a ridiculous CG monster or ridiculous CG boobs? And the design of most of the towers is plainly atrocious. So much that I'm tempted to just forget about it and buy another Mac.

There are soo many cases out there, that should not be an issue. take a look at the corsair 600t

may be one of the nicest looking cases imo.

And as for the ram situation, four gigs would be the safest bet, I mean 2 gbs of ram is pretty cheap, as in 20 bucks give or take a couple bucks, soo with the 2 gigs you would already have you are still saving 20 bucks on 4gigs

 

[Gunmonkey36]

BTW, the gaming hardware industry needs to cut the teenager crap. GSkill Ripjaws X? Really? Must EVERY GPU box show a ridiculous CG monster or ridiculous CG boobs? And the design of most of the towers is plainly atrocious. So much that I'm tempted to just forget about it and buy another Mac.

I know what you mean about case design.

Head over to bitfenix.com and take a look at the shinobi or the Merc cases. If you can deal with the case badge I think the design of these cases are fairly esthetically pleasing and at a reasonable price point.

 

[Sethos]

Will agree about the case designs, I find a lot of them vulgar. Reason why I went with the CM 690 II Advanced. Was subtle and had a streamlined design. Many of the alternatives were too 'razer' esque for me. Okay, the 690 isn't perfect but the best of the bunch.

Not digging the 'No design' cases either, those that just look like a black "Stylish" box, they look cheap to me.

 

[Soi-Fong]

Would there be any difference in getting the 1.5 gb or 3 gb version of the GTX 580. I know I wanna be able to do mods in games like GTAIV(Icemod) and still be able to play BF3. Is the extra 1.5 gb of memory worth it?

 

[Sethos]

Would there be any difference in getting the 1.5 gb or 3 gb version of the GTX 580. I know I wanna be able to do mods in games like GTAIV(Icemod) and still be able to play BF3. Is the extra 1.5 gb of memory worth it?

Not really, it'll start making a difference at very high resolutions ( No, 1080p doesn't fall into that category ) and the common average in benchmarks the 3GB is something like 0-5% faster. Whole GTA IV with ENB will max out your card, more RAM won't help, all depends on the speed.

 

[Soi-Fong]

Not really, it'll start making a difference at very high resolutions ( No, 1080p doesn't fall into that category ) and the common average in benchmarks the 3GB is something like 0-5% faster. Whole GTA IV with ENB will max out your card, more RAM won't help, all depends on the speed.

What's ENB? Pardon me for asking so many questions.

 

[Sethos]

What's ENB? Pardon me for asking so many questions.

What iCEnhancer is built on. The guy behind iCEnhancer didn't make the game look like that like many people believes. He took ENB and tweaked it. Also the reason why you don't see a proper iCENhancer for 1.0.7.0 because the guy behind ENB stopped developing due to Rockstar cockblocking him, so iCEnhancer is just stuck developing on the 1.0.4.0 files, whilst trying to get a minimal 1.0.7.0 functionality.

 

[Smokey]

Would there be any difference in getting the 1.5 gb or 3 gb version of the GTX 580. I know I wanna be able to do mods in games like GTAIV(Icemod) and still be able to play BF3. Is the extra 1.5 gb of memory worth it?

If you game at a res high than 1080p or use a multi-monitor gaming setup (3 screens) then yes it's worth it. Other than that not really.

 

[Soi-Fong]

What iCEnhancer is built on. The guy behind iCEnhancer didn't make the game look like that like many people believes. He took ENB and tweaked it. Also the reason why you don't see a proper iCENhancer for 1.0.7.0 because the guy behind ENB stopped developing due to Rockstar cockblocking him, so iCEnhancer is just stuck developing on the 1.0.4.0 files, whilst trying to get a minimal 1.0.7.0 functionality.

Agh I see so is there any way to get more performance then out of the GTX 580 or will you have to SLI it to run GTIV w/ Icemod in 1080p plus 60fps?

 

[Sethos]

Agh I see so is there any way to get more performance then out of the GTX 580 or will you have to SLI it to run GTIV w/ Icemod in 1080p plus 60fps?

The Crossfire / SLI performance in GTA IV is less than stellar, some people report both cards working but their FPS gains seem non-existent. So currently, your best bet is a decent CPU and the 580 perhaps factory overclocked with a third party cooler, that'll yield you the best result and the smoothest experience. You won't get 60fps steady for ENB mod(s) with high settings on 1920x1080, so you might as well turn down your expectations now. Mine is running really smooth and my GTX 580 is running at 100% performance constantly with iCE, so the utilization is great. However my average FPS is around 40-45 and it will max out at 60 and can dip down to 28-30 depending on the area and action.

EDIT: Jeez, corrected some things there. I'm so tired.

 

[The_Squirrel_Menace]

As promised, pics of my new rig.



Case : Fractal Design Define R3 - Black Pearl
Keyboard :Logitech G500
Mobo :Asus P8P67 Pro Rev 3.0
Screen : Iiyama ProLite B2409HDS-B1
PSU : Corsair AX - 750W
CPU Fan : Noctua NH-U12P SE2
Sound Card : Creative X-Fi Titanium
Ram Sticks : Corsair VENGEANCE 2 x 4 Go DDR3 PC12800 CAS 8
GPU : Gainward GeForce GTX 580 1,5 Go Phantom
CPU : Intel Core i7 2600K
Additional Fans : Noctua NF-S12B FLX x2
Data HDD : Western Digital Caviar Black SATA Revision 3.0 - 750 Go - 64 Mo
System Disk : Crucial M4 128 Go SATA Revision 3.0
DVD : Asus DRW-24B3LT
Wifi card : D-Link DWA-547 - Wireless N


To the people who are still on fence about a Fractal Case, go ahead. Really amazed by the quality. Wifi Card.. I would prefer to use my ethernet cable but it was not possible and CPL are not an option on my current room setup. Please excuse the garbage desk, I just moved in my new place, didn't finish to build my new desk (I'm a carpenter).

I'm just missing my new headset, ordered a seinnheiser 360.

Any hoo, here's the pics :

http://i40.servimg.com/u/f40/12/60/43/17/img_0016.jpg

http://i40.servimg.com/u/f40/12/60/43/17/img_0017.jpg

http://i40.servimg.com/u/f40/12/60/43/17/img_0018.jpg

http://i40.servimg.com/u/f40/12/60/43/17/img_0019.jpg

http://i40.servimg.com/u/f40/12/60/43/17/img_0020.jpg

http://i40.servimg.com/u/f40/12/60/43/17/img_0021.jpg

 

[Coldsnap]

Is it normal for a GTX 560 MSI Twin Frozr II to get up to 80*C during a normal gaming session? This seems sorta hot....

 

[Soi-Fong]

The Crossfire / SLI performance in GTA IV is less than stellar, some people report both cards working but their FPS gains seem non-existent. So currently, your best bet is a decent CPU and the 580 perhaps factory overclocked with a third party cooler, that'll yield you the best result and the smoothest experience. You won't get 60fps steady for ENB mod(s) with high settings on 1920x1080, so you might as well turn down your expectations now. Mine is running really smooth and my GTX 580 is running at 100% performance constantly with iCE, so the utilization is great. However my average FPS is around 40-45 and it will max out at 60 and can dip down to 28-30 depending on the area and action.

EDIT: Jeez, corrected some things there. I'm so tired.

Agh cool. Thanks for all the advice!!! The CPU I'm thinking of getting is an i7 Sandy Bridge 2600k so I'm thinking that should be good enough.

EDIT: Just one more question. I notice there's many manufacturers of the 580, which exactly would be a safe bet?

 

[TheExodu5]

If you're getting a 580, get something with a non-stock cooler. MSI Twin Frozr and Asus DirectCu II are good bets.

 

[Sethos]

Agh cool. Thanks for all the advice!!! The CPU I'm thinking of getting is an i7 Sandy Bridge 2600k so I'm thinking that should be good enough.

Hmm, unless you do video encoding and stuff like that, I suggest you go for the i5 2500k instead. You will see basically the same gaming performance and it overclocks just as easily. Money saved.

Is it normal for a GTX 560 MSI Twin Frozr II to get up to 80*C during a normal gaming session? This seems sorta hot....

Doesn't sound healthy to me, in a standard session my 580 Twin Frozr barely hits 64* playing heavy games that have over 95% utilization. It stays below 55* in middle ranged games. I suggest you try creating a custom MSI Afterburner profile - here's mine:

The default fan settings are awful.

EDIT: Just one more question. I notice there's many manufacturers of the 580, which exactly would be a safe bet?

MSI Twin Frozr, the Asus mentioned above or if you are hardcore you get a reference card, cheap as possible and mount an Arctic Accelero on there with some MX-4 and you'll see the sweetest air-cooled temperatures that beats everything else. However, that does void warranty - Hence why you need to be hardcore

 

[Soi-Fong]

Hmm, unless you do video encoding and stuff like that, I suggest you go for the i5 2500k instead. You will see basically the same gaming performance and it overclocks just as easily. Money saved.

MSI Twin Frozr, the Asus mentioned above or if you are hardcore you get a reference card, cheap as possible and mount an Arctic Accelero on there with some MX-4 and you'll see the sweetest air-cooled temperatures that beats everything else. However, that does void warranty - Hence why you need to be hardcore

Ahh well, this computer I'll be building will also be for college since I'm majoring in 3D animation and running Maya constantly so I might as well go all out. I don't wanna have to sit through 5 hours of rendering a 1 minute movie again with mu current 3 year old Shuttle computer. Lol

 

[Kyaw]

On the subject of GPU temps, is it ok for GTX480 with Gigabyte triple fans to go up to 80C after a heavy session on BC2?

 

[Sethos]

Ahh well, this computer I'll be building will also be for college since I'm majoring in 3D animation so I might as well go all out. I don't wanna have to sit through 5 hours of rendering a 1 minute movie again. Lol

Go for it, I got the i7 2600k as well - Mainly because I do a lot of rendering in Sony Vegas and heavy work in Photoshop, plus a lot of compressing and unpacking of files. I'd like to cut off those seconds in all my work

 

[mkenyon]

So I'm building a rig nice enough to run BF3 or The Witcher 2 smoothly (I hope), and a friend of mine has 2 2GB DDR3 1400 modules that he bought by mistake (G Skill Ripjaws, CL6 I think) that he's willing to give me in exchange for a couple of drinks. I know that won't cut it in the near future, but will it be enough for those games? It would be great to save money now and get something better in a year or so, but only if it doesn't bottleneck the system.

BTW, the gaming hardware industry needs to cut the teenager crap. GSkill Ripjaws X? Really? Must EVERY GPU box show a ridiculous CG monster or ridiculous CG boobs? And the design of most of the towers is plainly atrocious. So much that I'm tempted to just forget about it and buy another Mac.

Lian Li makes all of Apple's tower cases. Those will probably be more up your alley.

 

[Yaska]

So just installed my rig. Got 2600K in it. Guess my stock fan is placed badly because idle temp is 55C?