Building a gaming computer...again

[Syndil]

I started a new build a few days ago and guess what.The memory I got (GSkill ARES)would not work.NO POST.So I RMAed it and have a set of GSkill Sniper on the way which is on the QVL list..Fingers crossed.Oh I got the asus P8Z77-V board.I now regret that I did not go with the GENE.I may try to get my money back for the P8 and order the gene.

I am using the GSkill Sniper RAM myself. I forget why I did not choose the Maximus V, but there was a reason I chose the P8Z77-M Pro over the Gene. Something to do with the SATA configuration I think.

Ah, found it. The Intel Z77 chipset supports 6 SATA ports--two 6GBPS and four 3GBPS. On the P8Z77, all six of those ports are provided internally. On the Maximus V, they went a different route. Two 6GBPS and two 3GBPS ports are provided internally by the Z77 chipset, with the extra 2 3GBPS ports being used as eSATA ports. There are two more 6GBps internal SATA ports on the Maximus which are provided by an ASMedia controller. I'm not a fan of that layout. I understand they did it to maximize the number of internal 6GBPS SATA ports, but I'd rather not have to use the ASMedia controller. I only have the one SSD drive, so I have no use for four 6GBPS SATA ports.

[Syndil]

I still need to get another copy of win 98se so I can enjoy the A3D in half life.Nothing compares,,,even today

Someone who knows!

[AsSiMiLaTeD]

What advantage does the Maximus have over the P8Z77? Is it better at overclocking? It's odd that Asus would have two mATX boards unless one of them was materially better at overclocking or an overall performer.

[fbm211]

The Maximus V Gene is the only mATX.The P8Z77-V P8Z77-M,,etc,etc are standard ATX and the Maximus V Formulas are eATX boards.You would need to watch the vids to get the lowdown on all the different models.Needless to say is the Gene is my odvious choice for a gaming board......Well id go with the formula thunder FX but that would require a case that could take a eATX size board.

One of the tech guys from asus stated that the gene has gotten them the highest OC.CPU and memory.Even slightly higher than the expensive formulas.And with A ROG board you get better waranty/replacement coverage.

[fbm211]

Awaiting sniper memory

[Syndil]

The Maximus V Gene is the only mATX.The P8Z77-V P8Z77-M,,etc,etc are standard ATX and the Maximus V Formulas are eATX boards.

Wrong. The P8Z77-M and P8Z77-M Pro are mATX. That's what the -M stands for. I am running the P8Z77-M Pro myself.

http://www.asus.com/Motherboard/P8Z77M_PRO/

The differences between the Maximus V Gene and the P8Z77-M Pro are very minor. They are both mATX boards based on the Z77 chipset, just with a slightly different configuration and built-in features. For example the, SATA layout that I mentioned above. I think either one would work fine.

ETA: The Maximus V Gene apparently has a built-in Sound Blaster X-Fi processor that specifically mentions ALChemy support, so that might be a nice thing to have, if you don't mind using on-board sound.

[AsSiMiLaTeD]

The Maximus V Gene is the only mATX.The P8Z77-V P8Z77-M,,etc,etc are standard ATX and the Maximus V Formulas are eATX boards.

Negative

The P8Z77-M is mATX (that's what the M is for)
The P8Z77-V is ATX
The P8Z77-i is mITX

Looking at reviews it appears that the -M board actually doesn't overclock as well as the others in that series, so the Maximus V would appear to be the mATX board to get. The interesting thing is that even the -i board overclocks better than the -M version.

[polkfarmboy]

I have my lil gtx680 gaming rig arriving soon and cant wait, details to follow

[AsSiMiLaTeD]

Where'd you buy it and what did you get?

[polkfarmboy]

I don't know all the tech just yet but I got it used and it has an Intel i5 with a 680gpu. I will update the details soon but man I am so pumped to play crysis 3 and have been watching you tube vids about all the cool games coming and ones that are out

[ZLTFUL]

Quick Specs:
i5 2500k (@4.0 on stock voltage...was at 4.2 and has been benched at 5.2)
MSI P67A-GD65 (B3)
8GB Corsair Vengeance LP 1600 (Has been benched up to 1850)
EVGA GTX 680
128GB Crucial M4
320GB Seagate HD
Corsair HX850
CM HAF 912
CM Hyper 212evo w/2 Scythe fans push/pull
LG DVD-RW
NZXT 5 1/4 bay 5 fan controller
Win 7 Ultimate 64bit

But I will let PFB give his impressions after it's delivered since that's what counts. Hehe.

[billbillw]

...

If you want to see what 3D surround sound could and should have truly been like, build a Windows 9x machine with an Aureal Vortex 2 PCI sound card, and load up the original Half-Life or Counter Strike series on it (they supported A3D). ...

If you want to know WTF I'm talking about with A3D, check out this page: http://toni.org/a3d/

I had (still have somewhere) an Aureal Vortex 2 PCI sound card. It was my first sound card when I built my first 'home build' back in ~2000. I remember how good the surround effect was. If I recall, I had to quit using the card because there were virtually no stable Windows XP drivers for it. It was a very nice sounding card, even for music. I wish there were modern drivers for it.

[Syndil]

I've still got my Vortex 2 somewhere as well. My friends and I have been planning a retro LAN-party for a while, so I'll probably throw together a Windows 9x machine to use it with.

Now if only we could get A3D (or at least something as good as A3D) back into games.

[AsSiMiLaTeD]

So I finally end up shaking myself out of analysis paralysis and made some decisions, bought the parts yesterday and did the build last night. The first thing I'll say is that I'm really impressed with Microcenter, I've always preferred them over Frys and now I remember why. Their online ordering system works great and gives you the option to pay in store when you pick up vs having to pay online, their prices are competitive at worst and in some cases really great, and they're the only place I've found that truly supports both the Mac and Windows worlds.

I ended up getting more computer than I'd originally planned and came in under budget, I hear that's a good thing. I'd like to say thanks to Syndil for his posts. I actually ended up not going with the specific hardware he mentioned, but he got me pointed in the mATX direction which opened up more possibilities for me. So here's what I ended up with:

Case - Fractal Design Arc Mini - $99
PSU - Corsair AX750 - $160
Motherboard - Asus Maximus V Gene - $165
CPU - Intel i5 3570K - $189
CPU Cooler - Corsair H100i - $125
RAM - Corsair Vengeance 8GB DDR3-1866 - $69
GPU - eVGA GTX 670 FTW - $399
SSD - Intel 520 120GB - $99
Optical - LG BluRay Burner

Total cost was about $1400

My original plan of attack was to start with the case and work backwards from there, which was a dumb idea. Instead I found the motherboard I wanted and worked outwards from there. The Maximus got very good reviews and has a nice feature set, so I opted to go that route. I completely lucked out the Micro Center had the board on sale and then gave me the $40 CPU/MB combo discount on top of that, $165 for this board is a steal. I knew I wanted to do liquid cooling on the CPU if for no other reason than to not have to struggle with mounting a large tower cooler again. I didn't want the hassle or risk with a DIY type kit though so I opted for a self contained kit in the H100i. That led to the choice in case, there are very few mATX cases that will take the 240" radiator, the Arc Mini was one and has a nice build and good features so that's how I landed on this case.

I got it built and Windows 7 installed and update, total build and setup time was about 8 hours. That includes the build, OS install, and all the over clocking work - longer than I expected but this is the first build I"ve done in a couple years so I was rusty.

Performance is superb. It's stable at 4.2ghz on stock voltage, temps are nice and low as well given the H100i (maxing out at about 50C under full Prime95 load. I bought the FTW edition GPU so it's already overclocked, have not played with OCing it further but it runs very good right out of the box. I've done lots of synthetic benchmarks, but have not done much gaming yet, waiting on things to download in Steam and Origin, thank goodness I don't have a bandwidth cap!

If I can figure out how to embed photos from Flickr I'll post a few shots.

[AsSiMiLaTeD]

Nope

[polkfarmboy]

What kind of games are you going to be playing now its all together?

[AsSiMiLaTeD]

Here's a quick shot of the parts:


Here's a pic of the case with PSU installed:


Maximus V Gene Motherboard is very nice looking:


Here's a pic with everything installed. I meant to take more pics along the way but got too involved with the build:


Close-up of the CPU Cooling system:


And for fun, here's a pic of the screen. As you can see, this setup dwarfs my 27" iMac:

[AsSiMiLaTeD]

What kind of games are you going to be playing now its all together?

Everything

This rig should really run anything out there, the only variable at this point is the video card. The platform and CPU are very solid, so if I end up with games that don't play well for some reason all I gotta do is either replace the video card or give in and go SLI, either of those is a very easy upgrade. I'm gonna see how the 670 performs, next step up if I have any issues will be the new Titan card.

[AsSiMiLaTeD]

Quick update:

FINALLY, 5 years later, I have a system that's capable of running the original Crysis game at fully maxed out settings. I've got everything cranked up at 1080p and am averaging 80fps with minimums in the 60s, now I get to se this game in full detail.

[Syndil]

Nice build! I like the look of that case. And I think you'll be just fine with that vid card. I'm running an evga GTX660 and haven't had to turn any settings down on anything yet.

Did you have any problems with the RAM? Even with mine being on the QVL list, I had to fiddle with the MemOK button a few times to get it to boot.

Now tell me your Steam ID and what games you play, so I can kick your ass! :D

[Drenis]

Nice build. Simple, clean and stable. I am a solid fan of Intel SSD's and while others do not like them as much now a days compared to other brands like Samsung, I would sacrifice a little speed for (IMO) ultimate reliability.

I run the same GPU as you minus the FTW model. My build will be 3 years old come this April/May but it still kicks the poop out of anything. I previously had dual 6970's but that was overkill. I too, am a 1 card person.

[AsSiMiLaTeD]

No problems with the RAM, went in without a hitch. I did some pretty extensive overclocking just to test things out, but the setup I finally settled on was really simple - I bumped the CPU multiplier up to 44, set the CPU voltage to 1.2 and left everything else alone on auto. The end result is a system that's probably not on the edge in terms of speed but is still very fast, is stable, and runs very cool.

[mrbiron]

This looks like an excellent build which is really making me want to dust off my now 6yo cooler masters cosmos 1000, gut her, and start all over again. The problem is, the cosmos is huge. My house should be considered a duplex due to this thing. That small form factor is much more desirable.

From your links, i just realized that there is a Micro Center in Cambridge/Boston. Did you find their prices cheaper than the likes of Newegg? That is my usual stomping ground for parts.

[Syndil]

This looks like an excellent build which is really making me want to dust off my now 6yo cooler masters cosmos 1000, gut her, and start all over again. The problem is, the cosmos is huge. My house should be considered a duplex due to this thing. That small form factor is much more desirable.

That is exactly what I came from when building my current mATX computer. I went all "ePenis" on the previous build, but I think I've gotten that out of my system now. My previous system was:

Cooler Master Cosmos 1000
Asus Z7S-WS "Skulltrail" SSI-CEB motherboard (special form factor, smaller than extended ATX, but larger than ATX, with standoffs for dual processor heatsinks--had to mod the Cosmos for this)
2x Intel Xeon X5472 processors (for a total of 8 cores)
2x massive Apple Mac Pro passive heatsink towers
8GB Kingston RAM with Kingston Hyper-X FB-DIMM heatsinks installed (originally had the actual Hyper-X RAM, but it kept dying, multiple times)
Eh.. MSI Twin Frozr II R6870
Hiper 880W PSU (in my mATX system now)
And of course Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty gamer (also in the mATX)

You're right, the Cosmos is a beast. I knew it was huge from reading the reviews before I bought it, but I was still surprised. It is ginormous.

BTW, FB-DIMM RAM, Mac Pro heatsinks and Cosmos is for sale, if anyone wants it.

[AsSiMiLaTeD]

This looks like an excellent build which is really making me want to dust off my now 6yo cooler masters cosmos 1000, gut her, and start all over again. The problem is, the cosmos is huge. My house should be considered a duplex due to this thing. That small form factor is much more desirable.

From your links, i just realized that there is a Micro Center in Cambridge/Boston. Did you find their prices cheaper than the likes of Newegg? That is my usual stomping ground for parts.

I was in a very similar situation. My previous builds were in an Antec Twelve Hundred, which is huge and very noisy due to the open design. When I started thinking about this build I knew I wanted to go in a different direction. The funny thing is that this case is much smaller, much quieter, much cooler, and weighs about a half as much, all while keeping a higher spec system cooler.

As far as Micro Center, I found them to be comparable to NewEgg. Each place is cheaper on some things. That being said, this was always going to be a Micro Center purchase, I really try to buy local whenever I can. I've never had any issues with NewEgg, I just try to support my local economy whenever possible. I usually pay a bit of a premium to do that, just so happens that in this case I didn't.

[AsSiMiLaTeD]

I also picked up a Corsaie K90 mechanical keyboard. I initially didn't believe all the hype associated with these but needed something and figured I may as well try one out. I really like it and think I'll keep it. It may not be worth the $120 I paid, but can't really see myself going back to a regular one now after trying this one, now I have to decided if I want to invest the time into figuring out all these macro keys and such.

[Syndil]

I haven't invested in a mechanical keyboard yet, mainly because I prefer laptop-sized keyboards. I do burn through keyboards fairly quickly but I buy 'em cheap. Usually the paint wears off the keys first anyway, so it's not a big deal to me. Right now I'm using a Saitek Eclipse Litetouch, which was pretty cool when I bought it, but now with all the black paint wearing off the keys it's pretty ugly. Still works fine though so no hurry to replace it. It's got macro capability but I don't use it. Didn't even install the Saitek software with the new build. It looked this good for maybe a week:

[fbm211]

Hows the onboard sound on the gene.
Im still trying to decide on that or the sabertooth.
The P8Z77-V I bought still wont post with even another set of memory so Ive started the RMA for a refund.I must say that in 15 years of building my own systems I have never gotten a bad asus board so Ill give em another shot.

[AsSiMiLaTeD]

The sound on the Maximus is very good for gaming. For a higher end music setup it wouldn't be ideal, but this is a gaming rig and it's very good for gaming.

[AsSiMiLaTeD]

I finally got around to Far Cry 3 and it runs like a champ on this rig. I run it with all the settings maxed out and it looks great and I'm getting great FPS. So thus far, this machine has run any game I've thrown at it with all settings maxed out at 1080P resolution.

My final OC is at 4.4ghz on the CPU and +10% on the already factory overclocked GPU.

I'm quite impressed and very happy with my system, forgot how awesome PC gaming is...