New Machine Build

[sgarime1]

Hi everyone,

This is my first time on the forums, but I've been an avid reader and fan of the PC perspective podcast. I'm building a new machine, and just wanted to get some critiques on it. I've been using HW Leader board recommendations, and also shopping around and reading reviews on new egg. This is what I have set up so far. Please let me know if I need to add or change anything.
NEW MACHINE BUILD

• SAPPHIRE 100355OCL Radeon HD 7850 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card OC Version
• COOLER MASTER HAF X RC-942-KKN1 Black Steel/ Plastic ATX Full Tower Computer Case
• MSI Z77A-GD80 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS and Thunderbolt
• CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 750W ATX12V v2.31/ EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC High Performance Power Supply
• Intel Core i7-3770K Ivy Bridge 3.5GHz (3.9GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I73770K
• OCZ Vector Series VTR1-25SAT3-256G 2.5" 256GB SATA III MLC
• CORSAIR Vengeance 32GB (4 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 Desktop Memory Model CMZ32GX3M4X1600C10
• ASUS Black Blu-ray Drive SATA Model BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS - OEM

[mmettin]

Welcome to the forums

What exactly are you planning on doing with this potential build ?

Additionally in order to utilize the 32 gigs of memory you have planned, you will need to have a x64 capable operating system.
In the case of windows 7 you would need professional or higher...

[sgarime1]

Hi mmettin,

I plan on using it for Gaming and 3D animation packages such as MAYA. I am going to be running Windows 7 Professional.

[mmettin]

Hi mmettin,

I plan on using it for Gaming and 3D animation packages such as MAYA. I am going to be running Windows 7 Professional.

What games specifically ?

According to what I'm reading, MAYA prefers "professional level" graphics cards (Think $1000.00 + )
Would you be using this for work or fun ?

[sgarime1]

Hi mmettin,

I play BF3( other battlefield games), TF2, and Mass Effect Games, Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic, and other games that will be releasing soon. So this will be mostly for fun.

[vikingvr]

•SAPPHIRE 100355OCL Radeon HD 7850 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card OC Version
•COOLER MASTER HAF X RC-942-KKN1 Black Steel/ Plastic ATX Full Tower Computer Case
•MSI Z77A-GD80 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS and Thunderbolt
•CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 750W ATX12V v2.31/ EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC High Performance Power Supply
•Intel Core i7-3770K Ivy Bridge 3.5GHz (3.9GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I73770K
•OCZ Vector Series VTR1-25SAT3-256G 2.5" 256GB SATA III MLC
•CORSAIR Vengeance 32GB (4 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 Desktop Memory Model CMZ32GX3M4X1600C10
•ASUS Black Blu-ray Drive SATA Model BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS - OEM

Hi Sgarime,

First off, welcome to the forums. You have a nice build I see. Since you're into gaming and 3D design and rendering the only thing I would recommend really adding to your system would be a Caustic Accelerator like the Caustic 2100. If you're interested in what the Caustic accelerators offer, read up on the PCPer article from CES 2013. In the comments to the article they talk about some additional options for using a OpenCL raytracer or Optix. However I do like what I see that Caustic Viz offers, especially after seeing a few of their demo videos on You Tube with high polygon models and 4K textures. You can find the online storefront for at https://store.caustic.com/

Now for a few suggestions. Looking over the parts, I keep catching myself on the GD80. I ask myself, do you need Thunderbolt? I don't believe that Thunderbolt will give you any added value for the near future. It's not highly adopted and currently has limited application. I would look at the Z77A-GD65. This motherboard is almost identical to their Z77 Mpower motherboard, and overclocks just as well. The main difference is this board doesn't go through the rigorous MPower burn-in testing MSI does. So you can save a few clam shells there. The SDD choice is good, take a look though at the Mushkin Enhanced Chronus Deluxe 240GB, its sells for about $60 less and offers the same performance. Did you consider a rust bucket spindle drive to save your artwork? If you have that option on an external drive then disregard. I like the blue ray player, but another option to a rust bucket spindle drive is to consider that $20 more will get you a blue ray burner without special pricing (on sale some models are as low as $60). Take a look at the LG BD Burner WH14NS40, today at Newegg. It's on sale with a 10 pack of media for $79 + $5 S&H. Finally, rumor has it that AMD may release a HD Radeon 7790 that's built on the new chipset, and while it may fit snuggly between the 7770 and the 7850, it may perform close to or better than the 7850.

Well, I hope I haven't bored you with all the geek talk, but I would be pleased if at least the points I presented gave you a few things to consider. Enjoy your build and let us know how it turned out!

[vikingvr]

•SAPPHIRE 100355OCL Radeon HD 7850 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card OC Version
•COOLER MASTER HAF X RC-942-KKN1 Black Steel/ Plastic ATX Full Tower Computer Case
•MSI Z77A-GD80 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS and Thunderbolt
•CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 750W ATX12V v2.31/ EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC High Performance Power Supply
•Intel Core i7-3770K Ivy Bridge 3.5GHz (3.9GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I73770K
•OCZ Vector Series VTR1-25SAT3-256G 2.5" 256GB SATA III MLC
•CORSAIR Vengeance 32GB (4 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 Desktop Memory Model CMZ32GX3M4X1600C10
•ASUS Black Blu-ray Drive SATA Model BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS - OEM

Hi Sgarime,

First off, welcome to the forums. You have a nice build I see. Since you're into gaming and 3D design and rendering the only thing I would recommend really adding to your system would be a Caustic Accelerator like the Caustic 2100. If you're interested in what the Caustic accelerators offer, read up on the PCPer article from CES 2013. In the comments to the article they talk about some additional options for using a OpenCL raytracer or Optix. However I do like what I see that Caustic Viz offers, especially after seeing a few of their demo videos on You Tube with high polygon models and 4K textures. You can find the online storefront at https://store.caustic.com/

Now for a few suggestions. Looking over the parts, I keep catching myself on the GD80. I ask myself, do you need Thunderbolt? I don't believe that Thunderbolt will give you any added value for the near future. It's not highly adopted and currently has limited application. I would look at the Z77A-GD65. This motherboard is almost identical to their Z77 Mpower motherboard, and overclocks just as well. The main difference is this board doesn't go through the rigorous MPower burn-in testing MSI does. So you can save a few clam shells there. The SDD choice is good, take a look though at the Mushkin Enhanced Chronus Deluxe 240GB, its sells for about $60 less and offers the same performance. Did you consider a rust bucket spindle drive to save your artwork? If you have that option on an external drive then disregard. I like the blue ray player, but another option to a rust bucket spindle drive is to consider that $20 more will get you a blue ray burner without special pricing (on sale some models are as low as $60). Take a look at the LG BD Burner WH14NS40, today at Newegg. It's on sale with a 10 pack of media for $79 + $5 S&H. Finally, rumor has it that AMD may release a HD Radeon 7790 that's built on the new chipset, and while it may fit snuggly between the 7770 and the 7850, it may perform close to or better than the 7850.

Well, I hope I haven't bored you with all the geek talk, but I would be pleased if at least the points I presented gave you a few things to consider. Enjoy your build and let us know how it turned out!

[vikingvr]

•SAPPHIRE 100355OCL Radeon HD 7850 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card OC Version
•COOLER MASTER HAF X RC-942-KKN1 Black Steel/ Plastic ATX Full Tower Computer Case
•MSI Z77A-GD80 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS and Thunderbolt
•CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 750W ATX12V v2.31/ EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC High Performance Power Supply
•Intel Core i7-3770K Ivy Bridge 3.5GHz (3.9GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I73770K
•OCZ Vector Series VTR1-25SAT3-256G 2.5" 256GB SATA III MLC
•CORSAIR Vengeance 32GB (4 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 Desktop Memory Model CMZ32GX3M4X1600C10
•ASUS Black Blu-ray Drive SATA Model BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS - OEM

Hi Sgarime,

First off, welcome to the forums. You have a nice build I see. Since you're into gaming and 3D design and rendering the only thing I would recommend really adding to your system would be a Caustic Accelerator like the Caustic 2100. If you're interested in what the Caustic accelerators offer, read up on the PCPer article from CES 2013. In the comments to the article they talk about some additional options for using a OpenCL raytracer or Optix. However I do like what I see that Caustic Viz offers, especially after seeing a few of their demo videos on You Tube with high polygon models and 4K textures. You can find the online storefront at https://store.caustic.com/

Now for a few suggestions. Looking over the parts, I keep catching myself on the GD80. I ask myself, do you need Thunderbolt? I don't believe that Thunderbolt will give you any added value for the near future. It's not highly adopted and currently has limited application. I would look at the Z77A-GD65. This motherboard is almost identical to their Z77 Mpower motherboard, and overclocks just as well. The main difference is this board doesn't go through the rigorous MPower burn-in testing MSI does. So you can save a few clam shells there. The SDD choice is good, take a look though at the Mushkin Enhanced Chronus Deluxe 240GB, its sells for about $60 less and offers the same performance. Did you consider a rust bucket spindle drive to save your artwork? If you have that option on an external drive then disregard. I like the blue ray player, but another option to a rust bucket spindle drive is to consider that $20 more will get you a blue ray burner without special pricing (on sale some models are as low as $60). Take a look at the LG BD Burner WH14NS40, today at Newegg. It's on sale with a 10 pack of media for $79 + $5 S&H. Finally, rumor has it that AMD may release a HD Radeon 7790 that's built on the new chipset, and while it may fit snuggly between the 7770 and the 7850, it may perform close to or better than the 7850.

Well, I hope I haven't bored you with all the geek talk, but I would be pleased if at least the points I presented gave you a few things to consider. Enjoy your build and let us know how it turned out!