New gaming setup. I really need some help!

@DIV1D3 I think every mid tower can hold any GPU in the world but when you go 3-4 GPUs that means bigger mobo and going full tower, All the cases I've mentioned have good airflow and cable,management, I don't recommend stuff for nothing, also you can add fan controller and add led stripes at your custom mind and will cost lower in price.

Ok, thanks, I'm just new to this and I wasn't sure what I was really going to need.

@PredatorRules Since you recommend just a medium tower for dual R9 290s what would you suggest, otherwise I'll get a Phantom.

Hi, just wanted to know how may watts will do for two R9 290s, would an 800W PSU suffice? I'm really worried about not having a good enough PSU.

Also, I'm leaning towards the Phantom and I want to add another 200mm on the top and a 140mm at the front with a Sentry 2. Is this necessary for just two GPUs or am I fine with the 3 120mm and top 200mm?

Edit: Hey, I found this about R9 290X and even 2 R9 290Xs in CrossFire. Would this be a good representation for the R9 290?

I have a G2420HD BenQ monitor that I bought when I first built my rig, my friend recommended me the screen and so far it's been pretty great. I also live in Australia so I know how expensive it can get when you want a kickass gaming PC. So far your build is looking great, best of luck with it all.

PS: Which store are you buying the parts from? I recommend CPL and Centrecom. If you're buying online you can't go past PCCaseGear.

If you buy the phantom A. you will have better airflow than any mid tower. B. No need to buy a fan controller since one is built in. My Phantom has two 120mm on the side door (also an option for a 230mm (I think)) a 120mm exhaust duall 200mm on the top and 140mm on the front). 800W will suffice as long as you stick to a good brand.

Yeh, almost everything is made in the US so if the stated price is $299.95 than it'll work out to be almost $350.

I'm going to get most of them from either Centercom, PCCaseGear and Mwave. I'll get the G430 at Harvey Norman.

Ik the Phantom has an inbuilt fan controller, but I'm not fond of it, if it was more like the 820's than I would be happy enough with it. Though the Sentry 2 can control up to 5 fans and senses the temperature of the case.

WHAT! Just found it on Mwave and PCCaseGear and is $50 w/out shipping, FFS. $63 with shipping when on the NZXT site it says it's $20.

Anyways, will the stock fans on the Phantom be good enough? Or will it be smarter to get the front and/or top fan?

Got a few more questions

1. If I were not to get the Phantom what would you suggest? I would prefer an NZXT.

2. What's with the single channel fan controllers? Does it change the speed for all the fans connected or only one?

3. Umm, what's with the M59?

NZXT:

http://www.nzxt.com/category/products/1-cases

Edit: Hey, I just found this 1000W PSU and it's price is hard to beat. Just wanted to know if this is a trusted brand and if it will last.

http://www.mwave.com.au/product/ocz-zx-1000w-modular-power-supply-aa49345

Edit 2: Wow, even better at ebay with a 1500W. I can't believe it.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/A-POWER-ULTIMATE-1500-1500W-Gaming-Power-Supply-1350W-1200W-1000W-/281118808293

Corsair CX750 - that's the max you want for two GPUs, you can either choose this or by other good PSU brands such as Antec, Silverstone or SeaSonic - what ever pleases you.

Good mid towers: Corsair 200R.

Antec GX700.

Sharkoon REX3, T5 Value.

The GX700 cost 47$ on amazon and the Corsair 200r is 60$ - both are excellent.

@DIV1D3: You don't need 1000w let alone 1500w, a good quality 750w or 850 if your unsure is plenty for 2 R9's.

I don't plan on buying the 1500W, just what is it about. For $95 that got me skeptical. I do however plan on going for a 850W, possibly a Gold 1000W to see me through 3 GPUs. Would it be smarter to buy just a 850W or 1000W just to be safe?

Also whats a good price on a Silver or Gold 850W PSU?

Get a good brand 850w, they key word there is "good". Corsair/Antec are my suggestions, also scaling with 3 GPU's is really bad, 2 cards is fine, but when you add 3, it becomes somewhat crappy.

3GPUs? you'll need to buy a different MOBO for that.

@PredatorRules: Why? the G45 supports 3-way Crossfire.

I found this Cougar CMX1000 V3 1000W, it's full modular and 80+ Bronze. They also have a non-modular 850W, but I really think that for $20 it's worth the modular and 150Ws.

I'm pretty sure Cougar is a trusted brand as it is featured in PCCaseGear, looks good, has modular PSUs and their website looks legit. However I can't find the model that I want on their website, idk what that's about.

This is the 1000W:

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=26074

*cough* crappy brand *cough* have a look at the Antec/Corsair 1kw modular and compare the prices.

Ik,there's like a $50-$150 difference, but seriously for $150 it's gold, well really bronze. I just want to have a second opinion.

True, forgot what it was all about;

Actually it's pretty funny; you see @DIV1D3 is throwing money on some parts and on the other side he's going cheap on another.

I mean i7k, 3x 290 is planned and yet he wants a set of 2 IPS monitors on less than 200$ and going for the cheapest 8Gb of RAM.

I recommend http://www.amazon.com/SILVERSTONE-ST1500-CrossFire-Certified-Modular/dp/B002BH3Z84/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1386896466&sr=8-3&keywords=psu+1500watt

Why? because I've simulated 3x 290X with all your specs you're planning and it went to 1000Watt recommended so based on this if you're planning to use it for over a year "Electrolytic capacitor aging. When used heavily or over an extended period of time (1+ years) a power supply will slowly lose some of its initial wattage capacity. We recommend you add 10-20% if you plan to keep your PSU for more than 1 year, or 20-30% for 24/7 usage and 1+ years."

That's why I chose 1500Watt, you see, you can't go 3-4 way GPU and going cheap, well you can if you're doing it with old GPUs but not for today gaming.

What about this? Aerocool Imperator 1150W 80+ Gold Power Supply

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=15_535&products_id=25508

I'm new to this. This is exactly why I came here. To be honest I think I actually will only need a PSU for 2 GPUs, because by the time 2 R9 290s become obsolete I think I'll upgrade most of the parts. I'll probably only use a TN panel that's 120Hz on a 1200p or 1440p.

REMEMBER this is my first build. I haven't done this before.

Also I don't want the CHEAPEST RAM available, I would like the cheapest 2x4GB DDR3 1600 RAM. Furthermore I did not say that I want 2 IPS panels for only $200. I might have said $200 for one but certainly not two. Actually I considered two panels but then found out that first of all my desk wouldn't be big enough, nor would I have any need for two panels. So, stop criticising me with false allegations.

Edit: I'm not even going to by 3 R9 290s straight away. I just wanted to know what type of PSU would be good if I wanted to eventually get 3 in a few years.

I came here to get some advice, too know if something is too small, too large or over-excessive or if it is just right.

@PredatorRules: What's wrong with Kingston HyperX DDR3 RAM?

Its RAM... you don't need to spend more $$$ on better RAM, you wont even know the difference or see the difference.

I'd be happy with my old DDR2 667 RAM but having a SSD faster than RAM isn't smart.

I think I'll go with G.SKILL Ares 2x4GB. It's 1866MHz, DDR3 and fits with what I'm liking atm for the case, all at $99. There is a 1600MHz but is the same price and is orange so it doesn't go with the case.

G.SKILL Ares F3-1866 8GB DDR3:

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=19629&cPath=912

Case:

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=20998&cPath=547

What do you think of them both?

@PredatorRules No need to be an asshole guy is just trying to spend his money well.

Forget about 3 way crossfire, literally forget about it, if you consider triple crossfire for the 290's especially for a single screen, I would hope by that time you would be upgrading gpu's entirely.

850W by a good brand means all those random ass links of cougar and Aero and Imakelotsofwatts buy me companies stop literally if it is made by ANTEC, corsiar, pc power and cooling, silverstone (I am not a huge fan but they are ok), even NZXT's PSU's they are good.

So please don't link any more random ass companies, like literally it is just another post we have to say "no don't buy that." Watt's don't mean shit after you get the required amount, but there are a lot more factors.

I was looking on mwave (since it is an .AU comp hardware site). Best I could find in the area (that was better than bronze rating) was this.

http://www.mwave.com.au/product/corsair-ax860-80-platinum-modular-power-supply-ab48664

^^ its plat certified literally cannot get any better than that. I am not going to debate this, this is the powersupply if you want to run 2 r9's in crossfire that you will want.

Ok so now that we got PSU settled.

Case: I am a huge fan of full towers. If you want a mid tower the corsair case predator has the videos of is great. Full tower: you can't go wrong with a phantom.

Monitor: Make a decision do you want awesome response times for gaming? If so your going TN. If you want really pretty colors IPS. I would recommend the inbetween of the two, but I doubt you could get it shipped to your country. Make a decision decide on the resolution, and I will see what panels I can find that are good for you.

Is there anything else you still need to decide on?

@IvanElk: Don't look at PSU's on mwave, the pricing is stupid and bloated.

Here's an Antec 850w modular almost half that price.

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=15_226&products_id=23797

@DIV1D3

That case has only 1 USB at the front, not sure if that's a problem to you or not?

Also, the memory isn't listed on the MSI website, they just list the compatible ones, it should be fine but as this is your first build and all, it would suck if the memory provided problems for you.

http://www.msi.com/product/mb/Z87-GD65-GAMING.html#support

it doesn't have to be listed on the MOBO page to work, most of the DIMS work just fine even if their not listed; they try to test many brands and many types but they cannot cover all of them.

I mean my G.skill SNIPER 1333Mhz isn't listed on ASUS H81M-A page but it's working just fine.

But I do see your point, it would really suck if he'd go back to the store to change it - IF they accept to change it - some places won't even do that.

So yeah might concider spending 5-10$ more on less valued brand than taking chance of going back to the store.

@PredatorRules: IT SHOULD BE FINE, that's what I said.

I don't plan on going 3 way CrossFire with R9 290s. By that time they would be obsolete.

Ok, soz. Just trying to get an opinion on it, I saw it, noticed the 1000W, 80+ Bronze and I was excited to see it at $150.

Anyways, a platinum? No thanks, that's way too much for a 860W, a bronze will do as I'm not paying the electricity :P. $10 extra every year wont hurt. I think I might go with another Antec PSU:

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=15_226&products_id=16143

Same price but not modular, but is it worth the extra 50W?

I want your opinion on 60Hz vs 120Hz. If I'm getting a TN than I will want a 120Hz, I would prefer an IPS though you can only get 60Hz with it. And NO I do not want those crappy Korean monitors that can be overclocked to be 100Hz, just no. I have seen the difference between an IPS and TN and to be honest, I didn't see much. Like is there an actual difference between the two when I'm trying to play multiplayer, I guess in singleplayer it would be better. I'm looking at 1200p or 1440p. I do not want to spend more than $350, max $400.

What I want to know is if there is a huge difference between the slight advantage of a 120Hz with an R9 290 (because it can reach higher frames) or would a 60Hz be fine but with a slightly better colour range? And with which screen would I get higher frames at?

I think 1 USB 3.0 and 1 USB 2.0 would be ideal. I can easily stick a USB 2.0 in there, though I'm not sure what I would use the 3.0 for. If I can get a motherboard that has a good amount of USB 2.0s on the I/O panel than I'll be fine. I'm really looking into keyboards that have one or two USB 2.0 for my mouse and headset.

With the RAM I might stick with that or maybe Corsair Vengeance LP. Only $15 more expensive, though again I don't know about compatibility, is there a difference? Also I was thing about the G45, not GD65, is it that much better for $60?

@DIV1D3: If you get a case with good cable management, there's not much point in a modular PSU, its nice to have but its cheaper for a non-modular.

My mistake about the mobo, G45 is fine, if you want check the memory QVL, you don't have to but it doesn't hurt to look, make sure the 1600Mhz speed is also supported or your wasting your money.

The Dell U2412M is superb and its on sale if you get it soon.

http://accessories.ap.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=au&cs=audhs1&l=en&sku=230-12093

I'm not good at recommending TN panels, so I wont try, I cant go back to TN after using IPS.

USB 3 is backwards compatible so any device can use it (at USB 2 speeds obviously).

@GTR12: REALLY? Awesome, so I would be able to plug in a USB 2.0 flash drive to a USB 3.0 port?! Also thanks for the recommendation, it looks quite nice especially with 4 USB 2.0s included. Though would I need four? Like the back I/O panel for the mobo has 2 so 8 USB 2.0s is a little over kill. Though It might come in handy with a USB headset, mouse, keyboard and some USBs. And with the 8ms response time, is that a long time? Some panels have a 1ms response time but I don't think it would mean too much, right?

You don't use the front for m/kb, those are the back ports, the front is for flash drives, portable HDD's, mobile phone chargers and things of that nature (that you plug in very frequently and remove).

Response times are lied about frequently, just like those stupid contrast ratios, you wont notice 8ms on that panel.

@GTR12: I know, I'm talking about into the monitor or back I/O panel, I will reserve the front ports, for as you say, USBs or chargers.

And in that case of the response time I might look at getting that monitor. It's 1200p, so for $307 that's quite nice, isn't it? And with an R9 290 what would you expect for frames?

@DIV1D3: Monitors have them but I've never seen a person even connect the monitor's USB to the mobo, let alone use the ports. I've got 3 USB ports on my monitor as well but it hasn't even been plugged in, hell I don't even know the ports work lol.

6yrs I've had the monitor.

Lol, you know I appreciate this help but you should get some sleep. It says it's 3:30 or something about that when you post. Here it's 9:30 but you should go to sleep :P.

Umm that's GS for you, welcome to GlitchSpot, I'm from Australia just like you and in the same timezone it seems (9.30pm) when I posted that.

Lol. Btw just got to Brisbane for my holidays and the place that I’m staying at only gives me 30mins of free wi-fi D:. Therefore I won't be able to do much until Friday.

What's with the monitor, I don’t know about it at all. I like the suggestion you made especially because of the price. Just want to know if there a noticeable difference between 1080p and 1200p, then to 1440p? The same with 60Hz and 120Hz, I probably wouldn't want a 1200p monitor because you can only get them in max 60Hz. So is there a large difference between a 1440p 60Hz or a 1080p 120Hz, which is better for gaming in your opinion, and which would be able to achieve higher frames.

Is there a mobo that is cheaper than the G45 but still has most of its features? Do you think that the E2200 Killer audio on it is adequate for gaming? Also how many PCI ports is acceptable, I would think that each component would take a PCI while the GPUs take PCI x16.

Also I have found that the Seagate Barracuda is only $70 compared to the WD Black which is generally $100. The Fijitsu S308 128GB is the same price as the 840 EVO but with is 10MB/s read and 90MB/s faster all the while being 8GBs larger. Is there something that the EVO has that the Fijitsu hasn't. I know about the turbo thing but as I have said many times, will I notice it?

I'm pretty set on the Aerocool Strike-X Advanced White, maybe with a fan controller. Is there a fan controller that monitors the temps. can adjust the speed of five fans, for $30-$50? I don't need one but it would be nice in the future to be able to easily change the fan speeds and check the temps. Does it have good enough cable management for a non-modular PSU, the Strike-X?

Sorry for writing so much all the time lol, it's just I would like to get this sorted out as quickly as possible. I really appreciate your help :D.

@DIV1D3: With the monitor, personally I prefer visual quality over Hz so I would recommend a IPS 60Hz over a TN 120Hz most of the time, the only time I prefer the TN panel is if its a high quality panel vs a low quality IPS.

Are there any shops near you which have display monitors? doesn't have to be a computer shop, even something like Kmart or whatever where you can just look at the difference.

On to the mobo, like I said earlier, the on-board quality of the audio built into mobos suck, yes even that killer audio (its just marketing gimmick). If your an audiophile, you will want a dedicated sound card, even those cheap $40 sound cards are better than what iyou get on the mobo. Just think about that and see if you still want that G45.

PCI ports are basically useless for you, they are mainly for add-on peripherals, wi-fi card, Bluetooth, sound card, extra USB's, firewire ports etc (you get the point). GPU's take PCIe, not PCI, that e is important :p

The Seagate for $70 is fine, don't get the Fujitsu, it has a sandforce controller, they aren't good.

Case is fine, I'm just wondering, do you need a fan controller? there are CPU, GPU and mobo sensors to monitor and automatically adjust the fan speed and you can set the programs to control the speed depending on a temp if you want to manually.

I was leaning towards the IPS even if it isn't able be 120Hz. I would just like to conclusively know if there is a known difference between 120Hz and 60Hz, same with 1080p and 1440p. Will it look better with a better quality screen, or a higher refresh rate. Then what about the pixel amount? Is there a noticeable difference with an extra 360p?

The only shops that would sell the monitor that I would like would probably be only Harvey Norman. I live in Ayr, which doesn't have a large amount of options.

That's right, lol, PCIe.

With the Fijitsu, it has a higher write and read speed, that's why I wanted to know if it is good.

I don't think I will need a fan controller, though I will get one later on just for convenience.

Also, what's with 20nm GPUs, will they make the 28nm GPUs outdated? I have no idea about what it would do and I can't really do anything as I only have 30mins.

Anyways, thanks for all your help, especially you GTR12. Thanks. :)

Also, I really want to get this straight.

Will there be a difference in the 4770K and the 3570K in the future. I would like to know for future games. Will there be any possible advantage for the i7, thanks :)!

@DIV1D3: I would say no to difference besides max 60FPS and max 120FPS between monitors.

If you have really good eyes, you can tell the difference between 1080p and 1440p, just remember the higher res will mean more frequent GPU upgrades as it needs more grunt to run games at that res.

Computer parts get outdated every 6 months, so yes it will be outdated but unless you got the cash to spend on a shiny new GPU, it doesn't make a difference really (you get about 5-10% improvement every GPU gen). But you got consoles to remember about, most multiplat games wont be too demanding anyway.

Instead of those 2 CPU's look at the 4670k, it sits right between those 2. I have the 3570k and its great at everything I throw at it, it wont make a difference for future games.

Yer well I was really set on the 4770k as it was only $400 before and now it's gone up to $500! It's just a shame to still have to pay more for less for when I could have gotten the 4770k a lot cheaper.

I would like to know about the Hz of the panel, will it constrain the R9 290 on lets say BF4? I want to have your opinion, will a 120Hz monitor be far superior than a 60Hz monitor? Also would I benefit from the 120Hz panel with an R9 290? Like with the double screen refresh rate would it slow the 290 down?

I think i'll just stick with a 1080p monitor as right know I'm about half a metre away, should be farther away ik, and i can see any pixels, looks good and to be honest I don't think i would notice 360 more pixels. Now that i think about it, the 1080p 60Hz monitor is a fair choice. Like it would look good, it'll be an IPS, perform great and won't strain the 290 in future games to come.

On an urgent note, my laptop, what I'm using right now, is dying, IMO. Almost every time i use this piece of s*** at least program does not respond. It's getting infuriating D:. Since I downloaded Ghosts, MW3 takes three tries to work, always. Last night was the last straw. Firstly, Tend Micro didn't respond, then Steam, then Windows Explorer, THEN WINDOWS itself. I wasn't able to do anything! So in response I simply closed the top walked over to a chair and released the battery. Every things fine now but I guarantee you that the next time any type of GPU or CPU demanding program starts then all hell will break loose. Any suggestion other than dropping this retarded machine from 35 floors?

Thanks!

Just one more thing, will the stock thermal paste that comes with the CPU be good enough?

@DIV1D3: The laptop problem is probably your RAM or HDD playing up on you, run memtest86 for a while and see if you get any errors. If not, run Seagate SeaTools and report back (both are free programs).

The stock paste is fine unless you want to spend like $5 on some Arctic Silver 5 which has like 10grams in the tube and will literally last you forever.

@GTR12: Thanks, turns out that my HDD does need replacing, I think. The short DST test failed. D:

I don't want to hover over this dilemma. I just want to get my new PC, that's all. I probably wont use this as much after I build my next one as i don't really travel at all.

Just suggestions and corrections. That's all I'll ever want from this thread.

I'm thinking of going with an IPS, 60Hz, 1080p, on a herp derp response time. Getting really annoyed as people say there is either a huge difference between 5ms and 2ms, a difference between the two or there is no difference at all. I'm pretty sure I will never tell the difference between the two but what is good for fast passed FPSs, 8ms, 5ms, 2ms or 1ms? I said good remember, not the most magnificent piece of art, ok?

BTW, atm I have 581GBs on my current HDD. Though it also says 624,691,245,056 bytes. Anyways, I've only used 191GBs of it and I was just wondering if I really need a 1TB HDD as well as a 120GB SSD. Wouldn't a 750GB HDD seem more appropriate, I don't download movies or have a ton of pictures. What would you recommend purely for gaming, size wise?

I think I'll stick with the stock thermal paste, but seriously, what am I going to get. 3570K or a 4670K? Like for an extra $5 what's the difference with the 4670K and the 3570K?

@DIV1D3: I'm currently using a 6ms IPS monitor and I don't get any lag, so I would say for certain that the 5ms is fine.

TBH get whatever size HDD you want, I just said 1TB cos that's what 95% of people get, I'm only using a 120GB SSD and a 6yr old 320GB HDD, now I'm personally fine with that space, most people are always like "you need 1TB, get another HDD" but I'm fine with 320GB, obviously you cant get this small a HDD anymore so get the 750GB if you can find one for cheap.

The 4670k is newer and uses a newer socket 1150 vs 1155 for the 3570k, as its newer it does things a little faster and more efficiently, it also runs cooler overall and its only $5 difference, if it was $50 I'd understand but its a small difference to get the 4670k.

@GTR12: Awesome, thanks for all the help. :)

I think I'll just stick with a Samsung 840 EVO 120GB and probs either a WD Black or Seagate Barracuda 750GB.

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=19554&cPath=344&utm_source=googlebase&utm_medium=cse&utm_campaign=export_feed&gclid=CLunqYLBvbsCFcEnpQodSDYAVA#googlebase

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=25270&cPath=267&utm_source=googlebase&utm_medium=cse&utm_campaign=export_feed&gclid=CM-fv8LBvbsCFUlFpQodOl8ARw#googlebase

Mind = Blown

How in the world does this equate? Is the WD Black like x5 faster than the Barracuda? For fourteen dollars I can get more than x2.5 the space. There has to be some other specs. that I'm not seeing. From those specs. the Barracuda is actually better, with 64MBs of cache vs 16MBs on the WD.

@DIV1D3: You made a mistake, look at your links closely, the WD is 2.5" whilst the Seagate is 3.5"

@GTR12: And that matters significantly how?

@DIV1D3: The smaller the HDD, the harder it is to fit data in there so its more expensive. That's why we don't have 4TB portable HDD's (2.5") yet, but we can easily get 4TB desktop drives (3.5")

@GTR12: Well than where do I go to find a WD Black 3.5"?

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=210_344&products_id=26151

Still more than the Barracuda.

I just want a large enough HDD that is reliable and priced good.

Found it, though it's $20 cheaper than the Barracuda and it's only 500GB.