Planned build for cata

[Knytestorme]

Got tax sorted and have locked down the build I want to get in the next few weeks to get prepared for boxing come cata launch so thought I'd post here to get any final feedback on it :D

Only thing missing from this list is a G13, 5770 (for crossfire) and 24" monitor that I'll use from my current setup as I retire that Q6600 to fileserver status.

MSI ATI Radeon HD5770 1GB OC $199.00
LG BH10LS30 10x Internal Blu-ray Disc Rewriter $199.00
ASUS PCE-N13 802.11 Wireless N PCI-Express Adapter $45.00
Leadtek WinFast DTV2000DS Dual HD Tuner $82.00
Scythe Kama Reader 2 Black $29.00
BenQ G2420HD 24 Inch Widescreen LCD Monitor $229.00
CoolerMaster eXtreme Power Plus 650W $95.00
AsRock 890FX Deluxe3 $209.00
Logitech G19 Gaming Keyboard $149.00
Razer Naga MMOG Laser Gaming Mouse $109.00
Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB WD1002FAEX x 1 $119.00
Corsair VS2GB1333D3 2GB (1x2GB) DDR3 x 4 $236.00
Aerocool Vx-e Pro Limited Edition Case $135.00
Lian Li 140mm Red LED Fan CF-1412R $18.00
AMD Phenom II X6 1055T $239.00
Mushkin Callisto Deluxe 60GB SSD $259.00
Noctua NH-U12P SE2 $86.00

Sub-Total: $2437.00

[Syrass]

Thought we should probably start a real conversation here.

I think our conclusion on the CPU was that it probably didn't matter, but you liked the idea of the 6 physical cores rather than 2 threads across 4 cores.

I am a little concerned about the SSD atm. Best estimation at this stage is that the game will be about 25GB with addons, but should be able to be cut down. I personally prefer a seperate copy for each client, but this is hardly required, so thats a general comment rather than on this specific build.

As a number of cata beta keys went out this week, might be an idea to put this on ice for a little bit, but I can't really fault the Hardware.

Happy to discuss CPU setup sometime, as this may improve your performance from what you have been running.

I cant see how this machine wouldn't kill 5 boxing, with more to spare.

[Owltoid]

Seems really expensive without anything that stands out. I guess part of it is you have stuff in there that I have no need for and wouldn't include in my pricing of a new computer ($200 blue ray writer, etc).

Someone had linked a great laptop that looked like it could easily 5 box (in WotLK, who knows about Cata) and was only $1250. To pay twice as much for a desktop and not see any huge upgrade seems like there's a ton of fluff.

Check out www.buyxg.com (http://www.buyxg.com). They are inexpensive in my opinion as when I priced the components against Newegg it was basically the same, except buyxg builds it and slaps on a warranty for you.

[Syrass]

I believe this is in AUD so about an extra 20%

[alcattle]

Seems really expensive without anything that stands out. I guess part of it is you have stuff in there that I have no need for and wouldn't include in my pricing of a new computer ($200 blue ray writer, etc).

Someone had linked a great laptop that looked like it could easily 5 box (in WotLK, who knows about Cata) and was only $1250. To pay twice as much for a desktop and not see any huge upgrade seems like there's a ton of fluff.

Check out www.buyxg.com (http://www.buyxg.com). They are inexpensive in my opinion as when I priced the components against Newegg it was basically the same, except buyxg builds it and slaps on a warranty for you.
I see over $800 in extras,not needed to play WoW but nice to have. I don't think Blizzard is going to bump up the hardware requirements too much, Dalaran was a big jump for them.
I would not build an AMD system, but his rig looks well thought out.

[Knytestorme]

Ya, there is extra stuff but this will also be becoming my main computer for software development and music composition so easier to just do it all at once.

@Syrass: I first started off with separate installs but find that the virtual configs offered by ISBoxer (or symlinks) really negate the need for that apart from possibly having one install for raiding & then one for boxing and single characters with addons you don't really need for raid install....think a 60Gb should be enough for that, plus that's about as expensive as I want to go for an SSD.

The additional benefit of going the AMD route is that it frees up about $300 over an i7-930 + mobo which I can then sink into things like the SSD, but yeah I'm still thinking that while other games wont take as much benefit of the x6 as they will the i7 things like Reason and Sonar and VS2010 hopefully will and having one client per core should be slightly more efficient than 2 per core on an i7 even taking into account the virtual cores.

[Syrass]

Agree about keeping costs down. I guess that the SDD has enough room for 2 copies (maybe 3, but 2 would be 1 for raiding/primary and 1 for "followers") which should be enough.

Worst case you get another SSD down the track, or put a seperate copy on the WD if you need to.

there seems to be little info on 6 core setups, but from what I can tell you should still assign 2 CPUs to each client, giving the main client the most faverable CPU combo.

[Knytestorme]

Yeah, as I said to you in chat earlier, worst case is that it doesn't work that well and I find I want to go to an i7 solution then I'm out maybe another $600 for cpu + mb as everything else can be used still and I check the amd in a box for a linux install :D but the wouldn't be until the end of the year at least so not a major expense over that time period.

[Owltoid]

You really don't need multiple installs if you're using an SSD. My 32GB slow SSD works extremely well and nothing takes more than 2 seconds to load (even Dalaran x5).

[jstanthr]

From experience i can elaborate on a few of your choices. The mushkin SSD is a good drive, but for that price you can get the OCZ VertexII and it is a better drive IMO. i use 2 of the vertex's in raid0 on my box and have had 0 problems. i tested the muskin solo and in raid on my test bench and had inconsistent read times, the writes were solid though, but at times the read latency would hang. i mostly think that is due to the indilinx controler that the mushkin drives use, the ocz uses sandforce controllers in the new vertex2's and i gotta say, they are solid. and the razer naga mouse, i tried using one for the longest time, the idea behind them is solid and for solo gameplay they rock, but if you plan on broadcasting with it you may run into issues, not sure on that though. i am pretty sure there are some better capture cards with dual tuners than the leadtek one, its a good card, but for what your gonna do, i think you can do better with one of the Hauppage cards, and they are about $70 cheaper. Scythe fans are quiter and a few $ cheaper than the aerocool ones. for cases and fans try looking at www.performance-pcs.com (http://www.performance-pcs.com) they are a great company and i've had no issues with them. you might also concider using 2 500gb drives in raid instead of the 1 1tb drive, you will go from 220mb/s to around 500mb/s especially if you plan on using the HDD for your apps since your only using a 60gb SSD. These are just my opinions and most of them are from hands on experience, if you have any questions feel free to PM me.

[jstanthr]

I also use one main install, and symlinks for most of the guts and copy it 4 times. a while back i found an awesome app that someone posted about here, it puts the symlink stuff in the right click context menu, it really makes it easy to do symlinks and all that jazz, its called Link Shell Extension, it works with every OS i've had and it saves a ton of time, a bit off topic i know, but i thought id throw it out there.

[Knytestorme]

Ok, wil change up the SSD based on that.

In terms of the Naga I'm interested in trying it out and if it doesn't suit me I'll go back to my G9. I just figure that it, in conjunction with my G13 and the G-keys on the G19 wil mean I don't need to do anything on the keyboard at all apart from possibly slave movements.

The tv tuner card isn't for capture, it's purely for use with windows media center or having the cricket on another screen during summer as I play but yeah, I'm not married to it and if I can find a cheaper dual tuner at the time I'll go for it.

Cases are an issue and I keep switching between that aerocool or an antec (and some others thrown around as well) so I don't think I'll be locked into a case decision until the moment I hand over the cash :D

Thanks for the advice guys, most of it is really useful but sadly recommendations on where to buy or cheaper prices aren't much good to me as I'm in australia and most of those have been in the US :(

[Pycno]

Got tax sorted and have locked down the build I want to get in the next few weeks to get prepared for boxing come cata launch so thought I'd post here to get any final feedback on it :D

Only thing missing from this list is a G13, 5770 (for crossfire) and 24" monitor that I'll use from my current setup as I retire that Q6600 to fileserver status.

MSI ATI Radeon HD5770 1GB OC $199.00
LG BH10LS30 10x Internal Blu-ray Disc Rewriter $199.00
ASUS PCE-N13 802.11 Wireless N PCI-Express Adapter $45.00
Leadtek WinFast DTV2000DS Dual HD Tuner $82.00
Scythe Kama Reader 2 Black $29.00
BenQ G2420HD 24 Inch Widescreen LCD Monitor $229.00
CoolerMaster eXtreme Power Plus 650W $95.00
AsRock 890FX Deluxe3 $209.00
Logitech G19 Gaming Keyboard $149.00
Razer Naga MMOG Laser Gaming Mouse $109.00
Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB WD1002FAEX x 1 $119.00
Corsair VS2GB1333D3 2GB (1x2GB) DDR3 x 4 $236.00
Aerocool Vx-e Pro Limited Edition Case $135.00
Lian Li 140mm Red LED Fan CF-1412R $18.00
AMD Phenom II X6 1055T $239.00
Mushkin Callisto Deluxe 60GB SSD $259.00
Noctua NH-U12P SE2 $86.00

Sub-Total: $2437.00

The logitech keyboards has problems with ghosting and I wouldnt recommend it for anything really.

The keyboards below have NKRO and mechanical key switches, I would get a Majestouch - or a Deck keyboard if you need backlighting. The Deck keyboard has individual LEDs for every key and the print doesnt suffer from wear or tear. You will not notice any ghosting on these keyboards (as long as you use PS/2 connector and not USB) as you can hold every single button down at the same time.
http://elitekeyboards.com/products.php?sub=filco_keyboards,majestouch_104key&pid=fkbn104meb
http://www.deckkeyboards.com/product_info.php?products_id=52

You can get a much better computer for a lower budget if you want to.
Replace the fans and cooling with stock cooling from the cpu and a cheap case and you can upgrade the 5770 to a 5870 card and gain massive performance increase.

My CPU usage in dalaran is at around 30% but my GPU usage is at 90-100%, I wish I had bought a better gfx solution..

[Sajuuk]

You'd probably be better waiting for Intel's Sandy Bridge chips or going with an X58 board. You'll gain access to more RAM, and an incredibly solid processor in the i7 920. I don't see anything wrong with the Phenom II x6, just saying the i7 CPU is great. And if you want to you can spring for the 980x and get six cores with hyperthreading.


Logitech G19 Gaming Keyboard $149.00
Razer Naga MMOG Laser Gaming Mouse $109.00
^Those are not needed in my opinion and just add bloat to your price.What's wrong with your current Keyboard/mouse? If they're going with the Q6600 to be a file server just run it without and remote in when you need to do stuff.

Mushkin Callisto Deluxe 60GB SSD $259.00
A 32GB OCZ SOLID (the value drive) will work just fine, and is much less expensive.



LG BH10LS30 10x Internal Blu-ray Disc Rewriter $199.00
ASUS PCE-N13 802.11 Wireless N PCI-Express Adapter $45.00
Leadtek WinFast DTV2000DS Dual HD Tuner $82.00
Scythe Kama Reader 2 Black $29.00
BenQ G2420HD 24 Inch Widescreen LCD Monitor $229.00
Bloat - that is, unless you actually burn blu-rays and don't already have one.
Bloat - wireless is crap for gaming. Run some wires around. This is a desktop computer, I don't expect to see it be very mobile.
Semi-bloat - do you currently use one? Yes? Move it to your new computer unless your soon to be file server is also doubling as a HTPC and needs it, in which case have at it.
Bloat. - do you really need a memory card reader? I could see you use it for a camera or such, but many cameras use mini-USB/USB cables to interface with your computer. Unless you really NEED it I'd say go without. And if you NEED one you probably already have one and can move it over.
Semi-bloat. - Use your current monitor and just run the file server sans monitor/keyboard/mouse. That is unless you really feel like you want another monitor.


MSI ATI Radeon HD5770 1GB OC $199.00
You were going to crossfire these, right?

If you weren't consider a 5850 (+~100$) or (god forgive me) a GTX 460 from nvidia. It's a little more, but a bang for buck from nvidia (finally).


CoolerMaster eXtreme Power Plus 650W $95.00
Don't skimp on your PSU (not saying you are), but power efficieny is important. Make sure it can provide adequate power for what you want, and account for future expansion.


Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB WD1002FAEX x 1 $119.00
Aerocool Vx-e Pro Limited Edition Case $135.00

Consider getting a 1.5/2tb drive as well. You'll want some more storage for that file server of yours!
That case is BUTT UGLY. JET ENGINE WOOOOOO. This line subjective. :p


Noctua NH-U12P SE2 $86.00
Planning on overclocking? Sweet have fun. If not, well it's still fine. Allows you to have more headway if you choose to overclock in the future.

[Knytestorme]

You'd probably be better waiting for Intel's Sandy Bridge chips or going with an X58 board. You'll gain access to more RAM, and an incredibly solid processor in the i7 920. I don't see anything wrong with the Phenom II x6, just saying the i7 CPU is great. And if you want to you can spring for the 980x and get six cores with hyperthreading.


Yeah, I'm really torn on a 1366 chip or the x6 but I think this build will get an x6 for the time being.



^Those are not needed in my opinion and just add bloat to your price.What's wrong with your current Keyboard/mouse? If they're going with the Q6600 to be a file server just run it without and remote in when you need to do stuff.


Yeah they are needed. Currently have a Gen1 G15 and G9 mouse, they will be repurposed for something else so I need a new mouse and keyboard and I really just want those :D



A 32GB OCZ SOLID (the value drive) will work just fine, and is much less expensive.


Will go with the 60Gb OCZ, is only $10 more than the Mushkin and ensures I have enough room for WoW and also my poker tools



Bloat - that is, unless you actually burn blu-rays and don't already have one.
Bloat - wireless is crap for gaming. Run some wires around. This is a desktop computer, I don't expect to see it be very mobile.
Semi-bloat - do you currently use one? Yes? Move it to your new computer unless your soon to be file server is also doubling as a HTPC and needs it, in which case have at it.
Bloat. - do you really need a memory card reader? I could see you use it for a camera or such, but many cameras use mini-USB/USB cables to interface with your computer. Unless you really NEED it I'd say go without. And if you NEED one you probably already have one and can move it over.
Semi-bloat. - Use your current monitor and just run the file server sans monitor/keyboard/mouse. That is unless you really feel like you want another monitor.


Pretty much all subjective and has no bearing on the price of the build as this isn't purely a build for multiboxing so I have to add in other items I feel I need. In terms of the monitor why would I not want to be running at least 2 monitors, no idea how you cound a monitor as bloat.



You were going to crossfire these, right?

If you weren't consider a 5850 (+~100$) or (god forgive me) a GTX 460 from nvidia. It's a little more, but a bang for buck from nvidia (finally).


Yeah, that one will be added to one I have in a box atm for crossfire




Don't skimp on your PSU (not saying you are), but power efficieny is important. Make sure it can provide adequate power for what you want, and account for future expansion.


Yeah, I have done the calculations and am topping out at 458W needed for future so I think having 200W overhead should cover peak load requirements.



Consider getting a 1.5/2tb drive as well. You'll want some more storage for that file server of yours!


The machine that will get repurposed out to the tv as file/media server currently has 4Tb raid5 + 2 x 1Tb drives, it's in fine shape :)

For this machine I'm taking the HDD's out of the equation and using a 250Gb and 1TB drive I forgot are currently doing nothing.



That case is BUTT UGLY. JET ENGINE WOOOOOO. This line subjective. :p


Yep, purely subjective :D



Planning on overclocking? Sweet have fun. If not, well it's still fine. Allows you to have more headway if you choose to overclock in the future.

Yeah, from reports the 1055 and 1090 both overclock fairly easily to 4GHz on air. I'm not going to push them that far (maybe to 3.5-7) but having a better cooling solution is needed for both that and the temps it will hit during the summer here...especially given Cata should be released around the start of summer.

[Sajuuk]

Pretty much all subjective and has no bearing on the price of the build as this isn't purely a build for multiboxing so I have to add in other items I feel I need. In terms of the monitor why would I not want to be running at least 2 monitors, no idea how you cound a monitor as bloat.

Eh, I half-assumed you'd already be running two monitors or something. Either way, have fun with your build. :)

[Knytestorme]

Eh, I half-assumed you'd already be running two monitors or something. Either way, have fun with your build. :)

heheh Yeah, I am but it's only a 22" so figured I might as well take the time to get a second 24" of the same model I currently have. Occured to me yeterday too that I could get a display-port->DVI adapter and run the 22" as a 3rd monitor under eyefinity anyway so works out well.

[Sajuuk]

heheh Yeah, I am but it's only a 22" so figured I might as well take the time to get a second 24" of the same model I currently have. Occured to me yeterday too that I could get a display-port->DVI adapter and run the 22" as a 3rd monitor under eyefinity anyway so works out well.

That's only if you want to run it in an eyefinity group. If you don't want to then just plug it into the second 5770 and have fun! :)

[Knytestorme]

Well, final choices made and now just have to wait for the tax cheque to arrive. Few changes made but the intent of the system remains the same


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[Gurblash]

I hope you are planning on buying more than 4gb of ram. 8gb is the new "standard" for 5 boxing.

[Sajuuk]

I hope you are planning on buying more than 4gb of ram. 8gb is the new "standard" for 5 boxing.

2x(2x2gb ram), he's got 8.


Didn't catch it myself, thanks alcattle.

[alcattle]

I hope you are planning on buying more than 4gb of ram. 8gb is the new "standard" for 5 boxing.
115AUD is for 4 gig, so he is buying 8 gig for 230AUD

[Gurblash]

doh! >.< looks like a great build!

[Knytestorme]

Well totally changed my mind and specs, final build now as I'm pulling the trigger tomorrow :D

I have left out a few things that will be getting added in the future as backpay comes in, most noticably the extra monitors (will be getting 2 more of the BenQ 24's for nvSurround) and the mouse/keyboard as I'm going to see if I can hold out on those (though I think my resolve will break before xmas)

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OCZ Vertex 2 60GB SSD (http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=14670) - $199
OCZ XTC Memory Cooler Rev 2 (http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=13234) - $29
CoolerMaster CM 690 II Advanced with Window (http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=13773) - $129

Sub-total: $2503.90

[Knytestorme]

thought I should make my 500th post kinda special so here are some before and after shots of the usage of my tax return last weekend :D

As you can see I made a few changes in regard to case and cpu cooler (still have to install that as it didn't come with fans like I was told it did) and still have 2 monitors and the mouse and keyboard to get (if I can be bothered to replace this G15 + G9) but the machine is up and running and with a single WoW running I am pretty much v-synced with everything, including shadowed, at max detail.

[defactoman]

very nice. I'm actually doing a similar upgrade tomorrow as well with just a few different brands. You'll have to fire up the 5 boxing and let me know how it goes.

[alcattle]

impressed, Let us know how the dual video cards work out. I always wanted to try it with lower tier cards, a 460 is 2x better than anything I have used and you got two of those :eek:

[Knytestorme]

Well seems there is something wrong, likely the PSU being faulty atm so the machine has only been up for 3 days since I got it built and been offline the last 2 days.

When I had it running though it was running a single client through Dal with everything (including shadows) maxed between 45-60fps (with v-sync on) through Dal in aussie primetime.

I'll likely drop shadows back off when it's back up and running and start to increase AA and AF as I prefer those to shadows.

[Elgert]

A bit of thread hijacking here ... any flaws in this system (besides the price)?

Core i7 I7-930 (+Scythe Mugen 2 rev.B SCMG-2100)
Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R (rev. 1.0)
Corsair XMS3 6 x 2 GB
Radeon HD 5970 (don't know which brand)
2 x OCZ Vertex 2, 120gb
Samsung F4EG 2TB (or another data disc)
2 x Samsung SyncMaster P2450H

[Owltoid]

A bit of thread hijacking here ... any flaws in this system (besides the price)?

Core i7 I7-930 (+Scythe Mugen 2 rev.B SCMG-2100)
Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R (rev. 1.0)
Corsair XMS3 6 x 2 GB
Radeon HD 5970 (don't know which brand)
2 x OCZ Vertex 2, 120gb
Samsung F4EG 2TB (or another data disc)
2 x Samsung SyncMaster P2450H

Looks great, though you really don't need the second SSD. One is plenty fast.

[Knytestorme]

get the rev 2.0 version of the motherboard, few small design flaws they have fixed in it. Look into 5970 vs 460sli benchmarks if you haven't and make a choice based off those, specially if you are only looking at running 2 monitors. As Owltoid said, the 2 SSD's are a little overkill especially if you're thinking of RAID0'ing them....I'd drop 1, use that cash to buy 2 F3 1Tb's and Raid 0 those with the single SSD for WoW and other drive intensive apps.


In regards to my PC, now have a new Corsair PSU in place, seems the first one was faulty after testing back at the vendor. New one is in place and tested there but haven't put the PC back in place yet, going to take this time to install the Ultra 120 X now I got the fans for it.