Maximum PC

Hey everybody so I am planning to do my first pc build and these are the specs of my new pc. I also want to be able to play everything on max for a couple of years.I would also like to be able to support up to 3 way monitor setup and 3d. But that is after a little while. So here are my specs I will be playing all games on max and I would like to know if I can get 3 way monitor setup. This will play battlefield 3 on max right. If any of you have any better recommendations then please reply. The overall cost of the new pc is 2,056 dollars. Please tell me if you have any better ideas. I would be able to play on 3 monitors 3d too. Right. Thanks everybody and tell me if something doesn't fit.

EVGA GeForce GTX 570 sli

Lite-On LightScribe 24X SATA DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Drive IHAS424-98 - Retail (Black) - Lite On


Corsair Vengeance 12 GB ( 3 x 4 GB ) DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3 12800) 240-Pin DDR3 Memory Kit for Intel Core i7 SDRAM

Western Digital Caviar Blue 500 GB SATA III 7200 RPM 16 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Desktop Hard Drive - WD5000AAKX - Western Digital



Acer GD235HZbid Widescreen 23.6" 3D LCD Display - Acer


Cooler Master HAF X Full Tower w/ SuperSpeed USB 3.0 w/ Window w/ Black Interior ATX Case (RC-942-KKN1) - Coolermaster


Corsair Gaming Series 800-Watt 80 Plus Certified Power Supply Compatible with Intel and AMD Platforms - CMPSU-800G - Corsair




ASUS MAXIMUS IV EXTREME LGA 1155 Rebublic of Gamers Intel P67 DDR3 2400 ATX Motherboard - Asus


Intel Core i7-2600K Processor 3.4GHz 8 MB Cache Socket LGA1155 - Intel

Good.
The one thing we MIGHT change is to use a z68 chipset.
That would only be if you wanted to use one of its features.

The base will be a good system for sure. You can run 3 monitors In 3D using ncidia cards in SLI, yes.

A few things you should change.
First, you're listing triple channel RAM. Sandy bridge uses dual channel, so you'd be looking for 2 or 4 sticks.

Second, the caviar blues are very slow. As usual, I recommend a Spinpoint F3 1TB drive.

Caviar Green is not Caviar Blue.
He wanted power efficiency, I gave him one.

Blues are slow.

And you think a computer running SLI 570s and a 2600k is power efficient because it uses a blue hard drive? I have no idea what you're talking about, and don't think you do either.

Welcome to the MaxPC forum!

First off, I would say please read the Help Yourself Buy/Build/Quote sticky thread on this forum as it'll help you out in formatting your build list and help us out in giving you the best possible advice with a faster response. Use the [url] tags to build your list with links to where you are sourcing the said parts so we can see what can be cut or found at a cheaper price; or even replaced with a better value product.

And since you are doing your first build, I'd also suggest reading the Pre-Build/Post reading help tip post. There's also a lot of other websites and forums that have their own help literature and tutorials on this subject. Anandtech, Tomshardware and ExtremeTech are just to name a few.

That being said, your list is full of holes that ask more questions than it answers.
1. How many 570's are you using in SLI?
2. Where are you getting your prices from?
3. What other applications do you plan on using besides just gaming?
4. Do you plan on over-clocking or do you have any experience in over-clocking?
5. Are you using any parts from other computers for this build? If so, please list your old pc/parts.

Without going too much into other produces or advising you on a complete build list until the questions are answered, I do have to point a few things out with your build. First off, the ram you choose is a triple channel ddr3 set and will technically not work for your build (yes, I know it could, but it will be forced to go at single channel speeds and blah blah blah), You can find 8gb (2x4gb) ddr3 1600 sets between 40-50 now days, just stick with finding cas 9 or lower and 1.5v or lower. Avoid 1.65v modules as those tend to be OC slower ram unless you actually plan on using nice 1.65 OC modules at the 1866 or higher speeds.

You did not list what model type of EVGA gtx 570 you will be using; even under evga, you are looking at 11 different product numbers all with different speeds, cooler and output connections. A little known fact, if you look at the end of the model number, TR = 2yr warranty, KR = 3yr warranty and AR = lifetime warranty.

For just gaming the i5 2500k will be just as fast the i7 2600k for $100+ cheaper. It's the same chip but without HT. HT doesn't make a difference in current games. Look at the newer Z68 chipsets as they are newer and about the same price as the P67's, they also have the nice SRT ssd cache feature. Don't get the Corsair 800G powersupply, specially at that price. It's a lower quality PSU even though its a good psu and will work for your applications, you can find the newer TX850 v2 for $115AR at newegg, but honestly your PSU choice depends if you plan on going 2 or 3 SLI, same goes with your mobo choice.

As for your hard drive, even my 5 yr old gaming rig had 6x more space than what you plan to get here. And that's back when 500gb drives were $200 a pop! If you want a good speedy drive, then look no further than the Samsung Spinpoint F3 1tb 7200 drive, its $60 and one of the fastest 7200 drive on the market, even beats the caviar blacks that WD makes. Also for a healthy budget of $2k, I'd seriously look into getting a modern SSD. It's a nice speed boost in opening up applications and files from one.

While the HAF X full tower case is a great case, it's also a very large case and honestly only worth the size if you plan on adding liquid cooling, use a triple or quad SLI/CF setup and/or need lots of space for hard drives. If you want to stay with the full size case, then look at the cheaper NZXT phantom case, its $125 shipped on newegg right now and is a very nice case, specially at that low price now. It was $160 a week or two ago plus shipping. Also, you can take a look at the HAF 932 or 922 as well, but there's also the Antec 900, the Corsair 600t, Lian Li lancool and a few others in the $100-200 range that will be a nice fit.

Sorry, different guy. An engineer that wanted an efficient HDD for his laptop.
They say the first thing that goes is the memory...

IMHO, triple gaming is worthless, I thought it was going to be cool and awesome but it isn't. It forces the main perspective over three displays, thereby forcing your normal field of view into a panoramic wide screen. The biggest problem with this is that your two side displays will always show lots of distortions. Why? because this is an optical property and since building 3d gaming is based on the same set of rules as lens, this will apply on cameras and in games.

The only way to combat this is to have three separate perspectives and then stitch them together, similar to what you would do with building a highres panoramic from multiple photos and reducing your overall wide angle distortions. But programming this will eat up a lot more system resources, be hard as hell to code and could potentially be limiting since only people who have powerful systems would be able to utilize this feature. Remember, people who have bleeding edge computers with fast SLI/CF computers represents like 10% or less of the gaming population.


Also, 3d gaming is more or less a fad. It will reduce your performance since it needs to build two perspectives and overlay them to create the 3d effect. And even then, this feature really only shines when the game engine is specifically built to handle it otherwise it looks bland. Its a nice feature to have, but honestly not worth the price of investment, specially for 3d monitors. And don't get three 3d monitors, your depth perception in your peripherals is non existent. Plus, depending on the individual, overtime looking at a 3d monitor can cause headaches. Some people say after a few hours.

If you want a good 3d experience get the 120hz 3d ready Acer monitor for $680. I've got a few friends who have one and its pretty awesome. But of what I've seen, only a few A+ title games really make the 3d feature shine. If 3D gaming didn't take off 10 or 20 years ago, I'd expect it to die in a few years or be a secondary feature before being re-marketed/re-hyped again.

Also to note, 3d gaming only looks good on games that have lots of detail, where the levels has a lot of close objects or the levels are small. 26ft is around that point of where your depth perception starts to become less effective, since objects from either perspectives will start to look about the same using a normal lens.


Personally, I'd get a nice higher resolution monitor to take advantage of the more power. Look at at 27 or 30" display that outputs to 2560x1440 or 2560x1600 size. The more detail is nice to have, specially if you snipe. HP released their new ZR LED IPS monitors this month and they are simply spectacular. It's around the $750 price range so its on the expensive side than cheaper tn panels, but its got accurate colors, high contrast and higher res that lacks in TN panels. Plus its also the cheapest IPS 2560x1440 monitor around.

Thanks for all of the replies. I will take all of your suggestions and use them. Thanks. One more thing is that I really do like the look of the cooler master haf x. It also has a lot of room for future builds.