Opinions of new rig please!
 

This is the set-up I'm considering:

i7 2600K, Thermaltake ISGC100 fan, ASRock Z68 Pro3 MoBo, 8GB DDR3, XFX HD6950 (2GB), Zalman Z9 case, Win7 64, 720WPSU.

1) Is it easy to overclock with this CPU / Board mix?
2) RAM seems fairly cheap at the moment - is it worth paying a bit more for 16GB?
3) Is that a good card? (And are the blue lines on the horizon finally fixed in COD for HD69 cards?)
4) Is 720W enough power?

This'll be mainly for COD and FSX. Any opinions much appreciated!

1) Is it easy to overclock with this CPU / Board mix?

The ASUS gaming mb`s are child`s play to overclock.. not too updated on intel anymore, but my last comp had a rampage 3 gene with a 920 and it oced from 2.67 to 3.3 with a flick of a setting

2) RAM seems fairly cheap at the moment - is it worth paying a bit more for 16GB?

Go for a MB with a fast FSB and buy 8 gb of faster RAM (2000mhz and above)

3) Is that a good card? (And are the blue lines on the horizon finally fixed in COD for HD69 cards?)

If your playing on a single monitor, go for a fast single core GPU with 1/1.5gb(sorry not updated on ati anymore :P) if your using 2 or more screens, go for a dual core one with 2 or more gigs of ram

4) Is 720W enough power?

i guess, but id go for a 1000w one for that rig... less strain on the psu means less heat development and possibly a longer lifetime

hope you find my oppinion to your liking :)

8 GB RAM is good. Bump up your power supply to 1000 or more - preferably more. Error on the side of more than required than oops I wish I had got the bigger one. You know what I mean? Everything else looks good. Post pictures when you do this please.

Just a note..check my sig

I run a 500w OCZ powersupply.. where the hell you guys get 1000w from i never know

1000W is overkill even with everything OC:d. 500W will do nicely. Just make sure it's a PLUS80 type.

Well, everyone will have their own opinion, but for me, I'd change the following:

1) 2500k in place of 2600k. It's a good deal cheaper and in games there is next to no difference in performance.

2) Replace that cpu cooler with either the Coolermaster Hyper 212+, or if you can afford to, something really beefy like the Thermalright Venomous-X.
Both offer superior performance and allow you to add another fan in a push/pull confiuration for added cooling. Other cpu coolers like the Corsair A70 is also good, but watch the RAM clearance on that one.
(Or for something more exotic, but still around the same price, the Corsair H-70, which eliminates any problem with RAM clearance and offers very good cooling.)

3) The gpu is fine, but be aware of the three blue stripes issue.

That PSU, as long as it's a quality unit, is more than enough for that system.

Edit: Oh yes, 16GB RAM for me is overkill. You could save the extra money or invest it into another part of your system.

With that rig u don't need to overclock to run everything smooth in CLOD but you sure got headroom.

One more note: the ASRock Z68 Pro3 doesn't have x-fire or SLI.
If that is of interest then maybe look at the ASRock Z68 Extreme4

Power supply calculator.

http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

Thanks Gents, lots to think about here.

I had thought about the i5 instead of the i7 - if it's as easy an overclock and offers roughly the same gaming performance maybe I'll do that.

The card is worrying me though. Have they really still not fixed the blue lines issue in ClOD? That's exactly the kind of thing that would get on my nerves while playing.

I'm only running one screen and not thinking about SLIing or x-firing so maybe a 1.5GB GTX580 would be a better choice?

DONT! SLI is HIGLY overrated.. waste of cash imo... buy a single 580 and put the other money on a ARTIC COOLER XTREME PLUS for the gpu instead. my 580 idles at 40 degrees celsius and peak at 55 on max load oced to 900/2100. less heat equals less noice and those coolers kick ass. have ran SLI on 2 of my old rigs. (6800gt, 8800gtx) and my experience is that it gives nothing close worth of performance considering the price (sometimes worse depending on the game) for a second card.

i have 14 years of hobby computer building on my back... my first killer rig was a intel 233mhz with 32mb ram and a kick ass 4mb 3dfx voodoo card :P) im not saying that my way is the only way, but ive learnt what to do/use and what not to. and my experience is as follows:

1. Get rid of all stock cooling for all components and buy more effective/silent cpu/gpu/cabinet cooling, try to keep all temps below 70 degrees celsius.( I prefer 60-) less heat strain gives more stability and could extend the components lifetime.
2. use ASUS MB and ASUS/GAINWARD GPU`s, Kingston hyper x ram and a MIST psu

Let the OMG ADVICE IS WRONG WAR BEGIN!!!

*Runs away*

Main difference between i5/i7 is hyperthreading. If you're building a gaming rig then go for i5.

I've read that some nVidias are getting the blue lines too but mostly is AMD/ATI cards.
I think many of these would love to switch to nVidia. Only thing is that 2GB seems nicer than 1,5GB. :-D
You'll be fine with either.

TeeJay82's talk about swapping stockcooling is generally wise but you'll do fine with stock if you're not going to overclock and you're not too sensitive to a bit of noise.

Sorry about that. I was just giving my opinion. You don't have to take it. There are a lot of others who are better qualified in this area than I am.

Thanks again - all opinions welcome!

I do want to overclock a little, seems to be very easy with the Asus boards (I overclocked my current rig from 2.6Ghz to 3.4Ghz fairly easily).

Difficult to know what to do about the card. Do we know if the blue lines problem is fixable? And will a 2GBHD6950 offer much better performance than a 1.5GBGTX580?

In general, the 580 is a bit faster in games, but also more expensive.
If I were building a system right now for Clod, this would be my choice of card, mostly because nobody knows when the three blue stripes issue will be addressed for the 6970 - it may be next month or next year - and the 580 has proven itself to run Clod very well.

Like my sig below I also clean my computer out daily I live 500ft from my cable provider network ..pay for 10mbps i get 21.03 download I update my drivers, use only processes i need i close all others On cliffs with 4 gb of ddr3 dual channel i use 24% of my ram

I'm not bragging It took me awhile to have a fair computer to play the games i want. I was never any good at computers but i read alot and asked alot of question

The pay off is i can play this at high settings without major bugs or lines My rig runs quiet and cool

The only over kill i used was the 750watt psu ...Future upgrades idea but i would be fine with 500 -600watts right now

Understand. You know u have the 590 with 3GB. ;-)

Either way ATI/AMD or nVidia you'll max the game and will get beautiful quality with high fps. The blue stripes will sooner or later be fixed.
The HD6950 is cheaper, got more memory and might be oc:d to a 6970.
Is CLOD your only game(or main game)?
U have to make a choice.

The 6950 is much cheaper than the 580 plus more RAM, but those blue lines would annoy the tits off me.

Looks like the next patch is out today - can anyone with 6950 or 6970 say if it's been fixed?

I don't have that card but it's still there accordingly.

5770 = CHEAPER + plays COD + you can OC + no blue lines + HD + SLI + plays in high settings great card for under $150

Thanks Gents.

I ended up going for the i5 and GTX580. Sod's law dictates they'll have the blue lines fixed before next weekend when I take delivery but it looks like the 580 is a very good card anyway.

As an owner of an over-clocked HD6950 I have to say. In every other game the card is a bargain. But for clod I would never ever buy. Your choice of the 580 is a wise one. I would also caution on your powersupply being too low :grin:

Nice one. Enjoy the new rig.

Hey, good news. The blue lines are...fixed!! :-):evil::-):evil::confused:

Oh, oh, oh! :!::!:

Perhaps a little more communication from the devs could have saved the poor guy some money.

AAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGRRRRRMMMMMPPPPPFFFFFF oh well, never mind.

I usually get a new card every year anyway.

And it's a beautiful day here in Tokyo, and I've got a date with quite a hot girl tonight. So really I win and the Devs sitting in their cold, corrupt country lose.

AAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGGGRRRRRMMMMMPPPPPFFFFFF!