New build and advice

[A.J.Sawyer]

Right, so I've just ordered some new parts as part of a bundle from scan.co.uk, (Hence the immense amount of RAM ) (Stuff in bold is the bundle) My old system was starting to struggle, and I've not had a new CPU/Motherboard in a couple of years!

i7 3930k 3.2GHz Hex Core OC'd to 4.5ghz
P9X79 Pro
16GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600MHz
Corsair H80 Hydro Series CPU cooler
Zotac GTX 480 AMP! Edition
80GB System Drive
1TB Storage Drive
BitFenix colossus case
1050W Corsair HX Modular PSU
Windows 7 Ultimate

Does anyone see any potential bottle-necking etc... and is it worth going from a 480 to say, an nVidia 560ti? I see the 480 looking a little aged compared to newer GPUs!

[Pedz]

I would personally go for the 570, cooler, quieter, better performing than the 480 and I believe around the same price?? Also you can go for a much lower Wattage on your PSU, 850W will easily do with plenty to spare. ( You can run 2 GPUs on 850W)

[A.J.Sawyer]

Sorry, didn't make it clear in the post, the 480 I already have from my previous build... Is it worth upgrading from that?

I did think that with the PSU, but then read a lot about the 3930k being a massive drain when OC'd, gives me a nice overhead I guess too.

[Mad-Mike]

That CPU Cooler is fantastic and will be if you OC too. I have the H70 and it keeps my cpu temp down very low!

I would sell the GTX 480 and go treat yourself to a GTX 570 like pedz mentioned, just make sure its over 1GB mem.
Also I dont think the 16GB will be needed, change it for 8 or 12GB max

[Sniper77shot]

I think it would be a better idea to keep the GTX 480 until Nvidia's new series of gpu's comes out or if preffered AMD's.

[Q2M100]

I think it would be a better idea to keep the GTX 480 until Nvidia's new series of gpu's comes out or if preffered AMD's.

I agree here. The new generation will be coming out in the near future, offering greater performance and efficiency over current generation GPUs. It also makes the most sense to wait in your situation as the GTX 480 is still a beast of a card and should definitely hold up until the 600 series GPUs arrive from Nvidia.

[A.J.Sawyer]

Also I dont think the 16GB will be needed, change it for 8 or 12GB max

Yeah, I know, it just came with the bundle, the difference between 8 and 16GB was like, 20 quid... so I figured f**k it, why not? Haha

I'd heard great things about the cooler, glad to hear another good review of the corsair H series!

I'll probably wait for the next gen of nVidia cards then, thanks all!

[Mad-Mike]

Yeah, I know, it just came with the bundle, the difference between 8 and 16GB was like, 20 quid... so I figured f**k it, why not? Haha
I'd heard great things about the cooler, glad to hear another good review of the corsair H series!
I'll probably wait for the next gen of nVidia cards then, thanks all!

Fair enough , dont get me wrong 16GB will be nice and for 20 quid more... why not
Also waiting for the next gen of the new NVIDIA Card is going to be expensive!!
I paid 400+ for the GTX 580 then they brought out the GTX 590 which is around 500+ so the next gen is going to be roughly 600+ .... Can you afford that or more to the point do you want to spend that much on a card?

I have the H70 aswell, it makes a decent amount of noise. Not the actual pump assembly but the fans on the radiator; you probably want to get some different ones for it, I've yet to do it myself as I only bought the thing last week.
Other than that, temps are great. Have my I7 950 stable on 4.0GHz.

Exiled.

Ye they are noisy but doesnt really bother me that much. I usualy have my headphones on with music on or playing a game.. other than that my pc is off so I hardly hear the noise.

[Pedz]

Actually the top end cards generally are quite consistently priced. The Performance to Price however increases so you do end up getting more bang for your buck... However, this is based upon launch prices. I'd expect the 680 or whatever their high end single gpu solution to have a lower performance to price ratio on initial release compared to the 580 at the same time since it'll be outdated and prices will drop in order to clear stock.
The 670 or whatever card will be closest to the 580s performance I'd say would in fact be cheaper however. Op doesn't seem to be wanting to get the current top end card as shown in this quote:



The mid to higher end cards will most definitely offer greater performance per dollar over their predecessing generation, and at lower power consumption and heat generation due to being based on a smaller manufacturing process.

Exiled.

I reckon the 660 will be the same performance as the 580 tbh... This isn't only a new architecture, its a new die size, and quite a large gate size drop.

But yes the prices will be similar if not less than the current gen cards when they're released. (the current gen will drop a bit in price to compensate).

But yes the 480GTX is still a top notch card, so I'd keep that until at least the new series comes out, if not the 7xx series, as it will still perform well for a few years to come