Just switched back to the Dark Side...


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Sold my iMac and bought a new PC. The inability to upgrade as I saw fit didn't outweight the convenience of OSX. (Plus Diablo 3 didn't run as well as I wanted, but don't tell my wife that). Machine is great, and with the monitor I can edit photos faster with better color accuracy than my iMac. Might buy a Macbook, as I do love the Mac experience. Onto the hardware porn...

CPU: Intel i7-2700K

MOBO: Intel DZ77GA-70K

RAM: Corsair Dominator 32gb 1600

GPU: AMD HD 7950 3gb

CASE: Corsair Special Edition 600T

PSU: Corsair Professional 1050

SSD/HDD: Corsair Performace Pro 256 SSD & Seagate 1tb

ODD: Samsung Bluray Combo

MONITOR: Asus ProArt 24" IPS

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Congrats on the new build. :) Everything looks great but here's what I would have done myself:

I would have spent the extra $60 and gotten the i7-3770k. But honestly, i7's are overkill for gaming. I got myself the i5-3570k and it's more than enough for almost everything I do. (Graphic design, gaming, etc.)

You spent too much on RAM that you're probably never going to use in the next 3 years, ever. It might also limit your overclocking. A 1050W PSU is overkill! Even if you plan on SLI/Crossfire, I don't see why you would ever need more than 850W.

I would have used that money and bought the 7970, GTX670 or even the GTX680.

Finally, You should invest in an aftermarket cooler and overclock the hell out of the i7!

I wouldn't really call games like Diablo 3 "Hardcore" in any sense of the word - I'd call it smudged vanilla sauce.

Well not just Diablo 3 in general, but when you are a hard-core gamer nothing is ever fast enough.

Also I would have gone with the GTX 670 instead of the AMD video card. But enjoy your driver crashes :)~

Well not just Diablo 3 in general, but when you are a hard-core gamer nothing is ever fast enough.

Also I would have gone with the GTX 670 instead of the AMD video card. But enjoy your driver crashes :)~

Using ATi 4890 HD from 3 years, no crashes yet. :)

Using ATi 4890 HD from 3 years, no crashes yet. :)

Using a HD5850 for 2 years, yet to have issues.

The whole driver crashing argument goes both ways, I've had bad experiences with nVidia but great experience with ATi/AMD, and I'm sure people have had the opposite effect.

FAILURE, Hardcore gamer not detected - Comment Aborted.

If you actually compare the specs, the difference between an i5-3450 and an i7-3770 is 400mhz clock, 2MB of L3 cache, Hyperthreading, and WELL over $100 price difference. How much difference is that really going to make to gaming? 1 frame per second? maybe 2 frames? The bottleneck is the Graphics Card here.

There is a market for i7s... for Professionals (eg: CAD, Creative) who run that really need as much as possible, where no amount of CPU power would ever be enough for the task they are doing anyway, and for hardcore Gamers who believe the marketing materials and have money to waste.

Sold my iMac and bought a new PC. The inability to upgrade as I saw fit didn't outweight the convenience of OSX. (Plus Diablo 3 didn't run as well as I wanted, but don't tell my wife that). Machine is great, and with the monitor I can edit photos faster with better color accuracy than my iMac. Might buy a Macbook, as I do love the Mac experience. Onto the hardware porn...

CPU: Intel i7-2700K

MOBO: Intel DZ77GA-70K

RAM: Corsair Dominator 32gb 1600

GPU: AMD HD 7950 3gb

CASE: Corsair Special Edition 600T

PSU: Corsair Professional 1050

SSD/HDD: Corsair Performace Pro 256 SSD & Seagate 1tb

ODD: Samsung Bluray Combo

MONITOR: Asus ProArt 24" IPS

Let me know what the monitor is like.

I am looking for a 27" but at least I know there is something else out there for people who want quality. I hate all of the junk on the market right now

If you actually compare the specs, the difference between an i5-3450 and an i7-3770 is 400mhz clock, 2MB of L3 cache, Hyperthreading, and WELL over $100 price difference. How much difference is that really going to make to gaming? 1 frame per second? maybe 2 frames? The bottleneck is the Graphics Card here.

There is a market for i7s... for Professionals (eg: CAD, Creative) who run that really need as much as possible, where no amount of CPU power would ever be enough for the task they are doing anyway, and for hardcore Gamers who believe the marketing materials and have money to waste.

You got that right. and i5 is fine for gaming for the next 5 years. Get a board that supports either i5/i7 and when the i7's are used in games or when they get cheap enough do an upgrade. Its expensive overkill for one-window apps :p

Congrats on the new build. :) Everything looks great but here's what I would have done myself:

I would have spent the extra $60 and gotten the i7-3770k. But honestly, i7's are overkill for gaming. I got myself the i5-3570k and it's more than enough for almost everything I do. (Graphic design, gaming, etc.)

You spent too much on RAM that you're probably never going to use in the next 3 years, ever. It might also limit your overclocking. A 1050W PSU is overkill! Even if you plan on SLI/Crossfire, I don't see why you would ever need more than 850W.

I would have used that money and bought the 7970, GTX670 or even the GTX680.

Finally, You should invest in an aftermarket cooler and overclock the hell out of the i7!

You sir are dense.

Overkill on a PSU is smart -

Everyone's PSU is overkill - If I could put a PC Power & Cooling 1500 on my ThinkPad I would !

My 1KW Seasonic Platinum is too wimpy :(

Well not just Diablo 3 in general, but when you are a hard-core gamer nothing is ever fast enough.

Also I would have gone with the GTX 670 instead of the AMD video card. But enjoy your driver crashes :)~

The whole ATi/AMD driver bagging is getting old. And its even more idiotic that it comes from NVIDIA jocks who don't even use AMD cards. I guess its the cool thing to do in 2012.

If you actually compare the specs, the difference between an i5-3450 and an i7-3770 is 400mhz clock, 2MB of L3 cache, Hyperthreading, and WELL over $100 price difference. How much difference is that really going to make to gaming? 1 frame per second? maybe 2 frames? The bottleneck is the Graphics Card here.

There is a market for i7s... for Professionals (eg: CAD, Creative) who run that really need as much as possible, where no amount of CPU power would ever be enough for the task they are doing anyway, and for hardcore Gamers who believe the marketing materials and have money to waste.

That's simply not the case. Considering my i7-2700k only cost me ?265 (it was the fastest quad core CPU on the market when I purchased it) I'd hardly call it overkill. Given how powerful this CPU is, ?265 was an extremely fair price, I wouldn't call it overkill at all.

Well not just Diablo 3 in general, but when you are a hard-core gamer nothing is ever fast enough.

Also I would have gone with the GTX 670 instead of the AMD video card. But enjoy your driver crashes :)~

It's 2012 not 2002. ATI drivers aren't that bad, in fact I have personally had far more problems with nVidia's drivers. In fact since I brought my 6850 almost a year ago I have had one driver crash and even then it didn't bluescreen my rig.

seeing as hes got 32GB of ram and says he can edit photos etc faster than his macbook, dont you think he prolly does gfx design/video editing of some sort for a job and needs that amount of RAM. Try reading between the lines before bulldozing through it. If he isnt then its his money and can do what he wants with it, also he never actually stated check out my gaming rig

seeing as hes got 32GB of ram and says he can edit photos etc faster than his macbook, dont you think he prolly does gfx design/video editing of some sort for a job and needs that amount of RAM. Try reading between the lines before bulldozing through it. If he isnt then its his money and can do what he wants with it, also he never actually stated check out my gaming rig

While I agree with the bolded part, 32GB RAM for editing photos? Plus, he clearly mentions Diablo 3 as being a motivating factor.

Let me know what the monitor is like.

I am looking for a 27" but at least I know there is something else out there for people who want quality. I hate all of the junk on the market right now

It's pretty amazing. It comes with a color calibration report sheet for your individual monitor. Looks every bit as good as my 27" iMac screen did.

And for the critics, dont be so quick to think that I JUST bought this for Diablo and light photo editing... and if I did how does that affect you in any way? I play alot of games, and am a professional photographer and graphic designer. I could have done things different here and there, and over the next few months I probably will... this is just what I bought for now within a budget I gave myself for starters. I had the money to buy what I bought, so I did and over the next 6 six months I'll spend more. Also the Newegg links are misleading, as not all the parts were purchased there. I shopped for great deals and payed way less than that total.

Why is everyone dogging the OP for the 32GB of RAM ? The same BS I heard when I mentioned I had 24GB and this pc is used for browsing the internet & email.

RAM is dirt cheap - now if he said he bought 20TB for checking email once a month - then I might agree with some of the whiners.

So what ? if he has 32GB - sure he'll never use more than 8GB. Anyone hear have a car that goes 160mph & never took it above 100mph ? :blush: guilty

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