New Desktop Build, Help Please!

[Hisui]

So after a rather disturbing meltdown on this rig that I have been running for about 3 years that required me to send in my new video card for an RMA, I've decided to start working on a new build that will last me longer while I suck the last vestiges of life from this current rig for as long as I can.

I will start with the CaseLabs TX-D basic model case for this system. Since it will be quite easy to order parts to enlarge aspects of the base model, I'll start with only the base model for now. And for those of you who know this is a dual motherboard case, I only plan on building a single rig for now. One aimed primarily at gaming.

The first decision then is whether to use an EVGA single CPU Mobo or the EVGA dual Xeon CPU Mobo.

Gaming is usually harder on the video cards than the CPU, this I know. But it's easy to replace the GPU and make an upgrade than it is to change out the CPU. At least without doing a clean install from the OS up. And that is the one thing I hate doing the most.

I'm currently leaning towards building a single CPU rig with one of the newly released units.

Here are some of my restrictions:
Please make 3 recommendations for each part.

1. The first should be a dream part, the best of the best, the newest of the new, if money was no issue and so forth.
2. The second should be the best value, the perfect part for the best price.
3. The third should be the bare minimum that meet my restrictions and will run my games.

If possible, make sure any components with visible lighting from a case door that is only for aesthetics are the same color. Blue is best but red will also be acceptable. No other colors please.
I intend to buy pretty much everything from Newegg as I always have.

CPU should be from Intel and something i7 or equivalent tiered. (Please suggest a good looking and dependable aftermarket cooling unit if the CPU is one of the newer 2011 socket ones that does NOT come with a stock cooler. Air and water both are acceptable. But WC should be self-contained like the Corsair H100 unit.)

Mobo should be from EVGA and I personally like their Classified's esthetics. There should be at least 6 SATA ports if not more. If there are 2 SATA3 ports, then bonus points. I need 2 LAN ports on the back, all 10/100/1000 capable. I use one for internet and the other for dedicated LAN gaming. USB 3.0 is also a bonus but the more USB ports overall in the back or connectors on the Mobo the better. (I currently have 8 USB ports in the back and 2 in the front and still usually only have 1 port free. And that's with a PS/2 connector type keyboard.)
At least a 5.1 integrated sound would be much appreciated but I would be willing to consider a Mobo without at least that much if it has the PCI space for a good quality sound card. A PS/2 slot would be nice, it would allow me to continue using my current keyboard.

RAM should be from Corsair. I am currently using a Win7 Home Prem edition OS so RAM should be a 16gig bundle that is whatever many channels the Mobo is built for. But the possibility of a 32gig should remain open when I decide to build the rig for the other side of the case and buy another Win7 OS. I'm not sure how much RAM speed will help in my game performance but I'd say 1333 is the lowest I'd be willing to consider.

PSU should also be from Corsair. Fully modular only please. Fully sleeved in all black would be an extra bonus but I'll still consider it if not. I'd probably just send it in to get sleeved anyhow. It doesn't have to be a super large unit like a 1000w or 1200w, the case I will be working with has 4 PSU slots available so I can dedicate 2 PSUs per side's rig with no problem. I may very well SLI or tri-SLI at some point as new GPUs rise in price and older GPUs drop dramatically in price so a second PSU will likely come into play to power the GPUs exclusively.

My GPU will always be from EVGA and always be NVIDIA but I will figure this particular part out myself so no need to bother here. I currently own a GTS 260 and a GTX 550 Ti FPB.
I already own an optical drive that is blu-ray and everything else backwards compatible so I won't require anything in that department.
I have plenty of hard drives as well but if there is an affordable SSD with an 50-70gig capacity good for the OS half and one with an 500-900gig capacity good for the programs half, I would be willing to consider getting them. Likewise, if there is a cheap HDD that would be better suited to running my OS partition and programs partition than my current 5900rpm seagate 2TB hard drive for $100, I'd also be willing to consider buying that as well.

I can probably sell off my current rig for about 1k or so. And I have some other money I can spend on this as well but the target budget here is 1100 USD. Why spend more money if you don't have to right?

Only components being considered here budget-wise is the CPU, Mobo, RAM, and PSU.

 

[I'm your huckleberry]

I am going to need you to clarify what your budget is. Is 1.1k = $1,100? If so, I don't understand why you are considering the caselabs tx-d. And that case is monstrous. You really need/want something that big??? I like the quality (from what I have heard) of caselabs, and I have been intrigued since they mentioned the merlin series, so I understand wanting to get one. However, you are not even considering full water cooling in it? A closed water cooler like the h100 is all you are willing to do? And given your last statement and the cost of dual xeon cpus+mobo, those don't seem like a real option.

 

[pillar]

I gotta agree w/ huck on this, but its good that you're leaving yourself open to options. Also I looked specifically into dual ethernet ports & unfortunately, EVGA's mobos just dont stake up that well, esp their classified motherboard. Also your requested max memory of 32gb wont even suit most of their motherboards, so I suggest a better alternative. I must say that im rather impressed with some of these other motherboards on their features (spec usb ports).
Even tho this mobo is rather new, it still has a perfect 5 egg rating, along w/ 4 sets of usb 3.0 ports: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157322

 

[Snipeye]

Can I suggest you clarify your original post and instead of requiring us to make 3 recommendations per part, to just make our best bang for the buck performance? You're already making requirements of what brand of PSU, CPU, Mobo, and RAM which defeats the purpose of having 3 recommendations per part. I know, each brand has multiple different versions, but since you're already limiting the budget, there's no point in going for the extreme route, or the bare minimum.

I'm also not a fan of EVGA's mobos, so you're requirements already limits my opinions on what I think would be a good desktop build, especially if you want us to remain at $1,100.

Just my two cents worth.

 

[Hisui]

I am going to need you to clarify what your budget is. Is 1.1k = $1,100? If so, I don't understand why you are considering the caselabs tx-d. And that case is monstrous. You really need/want something that big??? I like the quality (from what I have heard) of caselabs, and I have been intrigued since they mentioned the merlin series, so I understand wanting to get one. However, you are not even considering full water cooling in it? A closed water cooler like the h100 is all you are willing to do? And given your last statement and the cost of dual xeon cpus+mobo, those don't seem like a real option.

1.1k is indeed the target budget for this build. And that does translate into 1,100 USD but please note that it is the TARGET budget line, I am willing to spend more if necessary, even up to a maximum of 2.5-3k.

I am getting a Caselabs TX-D because getting one will pretty much preclude me from ever need to buy another case again outside of replacement components and dust filters.

I know first hand from a friend's build how expensive a complete full water cooling build up can be so I want to stick to closed system cooling for CPU only at this time. I can always either sell it later or use it on something else if and when I decide to go full on water cooling.

I am currently going off of a single CPU board instead of the dual Xeons unless someone can make a case for why so much CPU power is needed for a primarily gaming rig.

I gotta agree w/ huck on this, but its good that you're leaving yourself open to options. Also I looked specifically into dual ethernet ports & unfortunately, EVGA's mobos just dont stake up that well, esp their classified motherboard. Also your requested max memory of 32gb wont even suit most of their motherboards, so I suggest a better alternative. I must say that im rather impressed with some of these other motherboards on their features (spec usb ports).
Even tho this mobo is rather new, it still has a perfect 5 egg rating, along w/ 4 sets of usb 3.0 ports: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157322

My max 32gig is just that, a max option I want my Mobo to support in case I want to go there in the future. For now, 16gigs is plenty, that's all my Win7 Home Prem will support at the moment.

Btw, I looked at your suggestion and while I must say I'm impressed by the full stars, there were only 2 reviews so...

Can I suggest you clarify your original post and instead of requiring us to make 3 recommendations per part, to just make our best bang for the buck performance? You're already making requirements of what brand of PSU, CPU, Mobo, and RAM which defeats the purpose of having 3 recommendations per part. I know, each brand has multiple different versions, but since you're already limiting the budget, there's no point in going for the extreme route, or the bare minimum.

I'm also not a fan of EVGA's mobos, so you're requirements already limits my opinions on what I think would be a good desktop build, especially if you want us to remain at $1,100.

Just my two cents worth.

1,100 USD is my starting budget line, it's not the maximum I am willing to shell out. I'm asking for several recos because I want to learn a lil about what is considered top tier and whats bottom shelf parts.

 

[a pet rock]

I'm going to be honest with you, a CaseLabs rig will be entirely wasted unless you go full water-cooling. I mean, we're talking about a case with room for 2880x120mm of rad space. I personally would not buy one unless you already have planned how to use the entire case to its full potential, otherwise you might as well get something that you're going to use.

As for components, you seem to already have everything picked out. Don't know what you're really looking for here, but I'll bite.

CPU
1. i7 3960x
2. 15-2500k
3. i3-2100 or FX-4100

Cooling
1. Custom water
2. Thermalright Silver Arrow or True Spirit 140, depending on price
3. Stock

Mobo
1. EVGA SR-X. But come on, that's just stupid.
2. ASRock Extreme3
3. ASRock H77M-ITX

RAM
1. This stuff. But again, that's just stupid.
2. Samsung
3. Honestly, the Samsung is such a great deal it falls here, too. Just buy less of it if you need to.

As for PSU, my recommendation hinges ENTIRELY on what the rest of the build is. I'm not going to suggest you buy a 1200W PSU if you've only got an APU. And I'm not going to guess at what your power draw is.

 

[I'm your huckleberry]

Well, with a budget that low, I do not understand why you are even considering a dual cpu setup when that alone is over your starting budget. But since that is not really the most cost effective route anyways, we will ignore that.

Now, for cpu, the three levels are really:

2500k/3570k (about $220) 4 core, no hyperthreading
2600k/3770k (about $320) 4 core, hyperthreading
3930k (about $550) 6 core, hyperthreading

Now, the 3570k and 3770k are the newer version of the 2500k and 2600k. They have some drawbacks associated with them, but they obviously include some improvements as well. PCIe 3.0 support, native usb 3.0 support, less power. However, they generate a bit more heat when overclocking, so you cannot overclock as far as with sandy bridge (the 2xxxk cpus). However, they also made improvements in performance clock for clock, so they probably come out about even when each is overclocked respectively. They are a little more expensive, but not by much, so these would probably be the route to go. The 3930k is a 6 core sandy bridge cpu. Thus, for future proofing, this would be the best option. Currently, it is not worth the price premium for simply gaming since most games don't even use 4 cores. But since you were even considering a dual cpu setup, this is probably the best option for your budget if you are pushing it to 2.5k.

One downside with the 3930k is that the associated motherboards are more expensive (though not necessarily an issue when looking at evga motherboards only as I will explain). They usually come with more goodies such as additional usb 3.0, sata 3 ports, and pcie lanes. So as with anything, it is a tradeoff. At the lowest, you are looking at $220, and they go up to $400. Motherboards for the lower two cpu tiers start cheaper at about $100, but they can again go up pretty high as well.

I am not a huge fan of the evga motherboards as they usually end up with some mediocre reviews from tech sites and users on newegg. However, if that is your requirement, then here are your options. They currently have only 1 z77 motherboard that is on the expensive side:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188120&Tpk=evga z77

It has a lot of pci-e slots since it is aimed at 3 or 4 video card setups. I assume they just have not released any lower end models yet. They do have some z68 motherboards that will work with the 2xxxk cpus, but evga currently has not released any bios updates for ivy bridge support on these motherboards. I would recommend a z77 motherboard myself for ivy bridge since they are specifically designed with ivy bridge in mind. Thus, if you limit yourself to evga, you are definitely limiting your choices at the moment.

As for a motherboard for the 3930k, they have a couple options though only one classified:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188117

It seems to have a pretty bad issue with the bios, though it is supposedly fixable with an update. Doesn't exactly inspire confidence though. However, if you look at reviews of the lower end x79 boards, they also appear to have issues. You should definitely expand your mobo pool as all the top boards will have plenty of sata and usb ports, 32+ gb ram, dual lan, integrated sound, and a ps/2 connector.

For RAM, corsair only is doable. There really is no reason to only look at them, but I understand customer loyalty to a company that treats their customers well. Now to keep yourself open for 32gb in the future, you will need to go with 2x8gb ddr3 sticks. These run more money than the usually recommended 4gb sticks. Timings on these larger capacity sticks are also a little looser than the equivalent 4gb ones, but that is simply a tradeoff. I doubt it will have much real world influence though.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...3 corsair&name=16GB (2 x 8GB)&Order=BESTMATCH

Any of these are fine. 1600 is usually the recommendation as after that, no realy world benefit is seen for higher speed. Now, some have large heat spreaders which would be a problem if you were going with a large tower cooler. But if you are going with water cooling, that won't be an issue.

Now, for z77 motherboards, they are dual channel, so you would only have to get 1 set of 2x8gb at the moment. But x79 motherboards are quad channel, so you need 2 sets which would put you at 32gb from the start. This is defintely overkill for a gaming rig. 16gb is currently overkill, but in the future it could be acceptable. So, depending on how many slots the x79 motherboard has (4 or 8) would change whether you could look at some cheaper 4x4gb sticks which could still allow you to upgrade to 32gb in the future.

PSU, corsair is again a good choice. Their gold units are exceptional, as they are designed by seasonic. So looking at the equivalent seasonic psu is also smart and then simply get the cheaper one. Recommendation here is going to depend on your gpu. Currently, for your rig, 2 gtx 670s would be my recommendation for your upper budget, or 1 gtx 670 for the lower end budget. A quality 850w unit like the ax850 from corsair or the x-850 from seasonic would allow you to do 3 gtx 670s. For simply 2, you could go down to the 750w versions of these. Seasonic also released an X-1050 recently which would be a better choice for your rig if you go 3 way sli in the future. Seasonic also released some 80 plus platinum units which are the best of the best, both an 860w and 1000w version. These will draw a higher price due to the increased efficiency.

For SSD, simply doing a good 512gb for os and programs combined would be fine. I don't see the need for separate ones. The best out there at the moment would be the crucial m4, the samsung 830, and the intel 520 series. There have actually been some pretty good deals of late on ssds. I have seen the 512gb crucial m4 go for $399 these last few weeks. If you look at smaller versions, you are again looking at smaller versions of these same ssds for reliability and speed. I would not go lower than 120/128gb though.