Building my next Gaming Rig.

RisinDragon

RisinDragon

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I am in the process of building my next gaming rig. I have built quite a few computers in the past with the exception of my last computer. But I'm old school, back to the old days of IDE Master/Slave setup. This new route I am going SATA and using SSDs.

5 years ago, I had the funds to get an Alienware rig for $1400. (at this time I didn't have the time to actually build a computer, so I brought one) After a few issues with it over the last few years, I am never buying another Alienware computer again. Overpriced PoS that cause me nothing but problems.

A year after having the computer I had to replace the PSU. A year ago I had to replace my video card, the lovely GTX 295 in the rig blew up on me. I installed an Asus GTX 650 Ti, that seems to cause me more issues, cause I had constant computer reboots and crashes/freezes. After countless troubleshooting, I had to downclock my video card to keep my computer stable to be able to use it. But it sucks when it came to games. In the last 6 months I had more issues as the crashes/freezes were coming back again even with the video card being downclocked. These crashes/freezes ONLY happens when I play games.

3 months ago, I brought a Corsiar AX760 80+ Platinum Certified Fully Modular PSU and a month ago I brought an EVGA GTX 770 Superclocked Video Card w/ ACX Coolers.

Swapping out the PSU and video card and all my issues are gone. I no longer had any more issues with the computer. I was finally happy that I might have finally fixed all my issues. But that was short lived, I get random reboots and freezes every now and then when I am in games.

So, I got annoyed and decided I'm going back to building my own computer. I have put so much money into this Alienware Rig, I am not putting another dime into it. I never had any problems with my computer builds that I have built myself. I just do not trust other people's work when it comes to pre built computers. And having this Alienware Rig has basically reassure me, it's best to just build your own.

I have brought most of the computer parts for my next rig. I am down to 3 items left to buy an those are the CPU/Mobo and CPU Cooler. I will have my funds to get those 3 items in Oct.

What I currently have...

Phantom 410 Case
120G Samsung EVO
250G Samsung EVO
1t Western Digital Black
Corsair AX760 80+ Platinum Certified, Fully Modular
Corsair 16G Vengeance Pro, 2400Mhz DDR3
EVGA Geforce GTX 770 Superclocked Video Card with ACX Cooler
EVGA GTX 770 Blackplate (I like things looking nice in my case)
Windows 8.1

What I have left to buy...

Gigabyte z97x Gaming 7 (I am thinking of getting the Gigabyte z97x Gaming 5, but will make that decision when I buy the motherboard)
i7 4790k
Cool Master V8 GTS

I usually do OC my computers. But with this 4790k I am going to leave it at stock speed w/ turbo enabled. Giving me 4.4Ghz right out of the box, that's pretty damn fast. If I ever do want to OC my rig, it will probably be a few years down the road.

I am using the GTX 770 with the option of upgrading. The GTX 880s are going to be coming out in the next month or 2, so I can always upgrade to that in the new year.

Now I have some questions. Maybe you guys/gals can give me some pointers.

I am new to SSD drives. I have never used an SSD drive before.

As I stated I'm used to the old IDE Master/Slave setup. And I know how to run RAID 0 for boost of speed and storage. My Alienware Rig has 2x HDDs in SATA setup for RAID 0.

As you can see I have 2x Samsung EVOs and a 1T WDBlack.

I know the Windows 8.1 OS is not going to take much room on the SSD. So I'm wondering what's the best setup to go.

In theory, I was going to use the 120 Samsung EVO for the OS. Use the 250G Samsung EVO for my games I play. As for the 1T WDBlack, I want to put the Users, Recycle Bin, Downloads and such on that drive.

If/When I get tired of a game, I can drag/drop the game folders from the 250G Samsung EVO to the 1T WDBlack.

But after some thinking, am I just better of putting my games and OS on the 250G and put the 1T WDBlack for storage and doing away with the 120G Samsung EVO?

I know SSDs life expectancy is based on how many times you read/write to it. So I'm stumped here. What is your opinion on the subject?
 
Probably bringing back an old thread, but anyways, would be nice to see further activities here. :)

At any rate, I would RAID0 the two SSD drives.
2 reasons:
1.) Consolidate the space, give you 370Gb for OS and Games, leaving the 1TB for data.
2.) Kinda relating to #1, but you won't have a drive C and D.

Although the performance of RAID'ing two SSD is of minimal to zero benefit, the key is that you don't have to throw away, or keep a perfectly working SSD offline. The only downside, is that you've increased your risk of failure. As you know, RAID0 configured only takes one drive to go down to take the entire thing down. I've had my two 120GB SSD RAID0 going strong now for about a year. I normally format my computer every year just to keep everything fresh and moving fast.

250Gb itself may not be enough depending on your habits of download/playing games. For me, I leave all the games installed even if i'm not playing them. I only start to uninstall when i start running out... and i have TONS of steam games installed... well, at least i used to. imho, if i'm going to build an 'ultimate' rig, i want something i don't have to tweak every so often, and that includes uninstalling games to make room for more games.

I'm working on a build myself, same CPU, but diff mobo. and i'm still using a GTX580. parts being delivered soon.
 
You replaced a 295 with a 650 and it is giving you problems. Did you check the power supply to see if it could handle the card? For today's hardware most units run 750-800 watt PSU.
 
I'm tempted to do the RAID0 with the 2 SSDs. But as you said the chance of failure is higher. I got no problem running with 3 drives. C:, D:, and E:.

I don't play many games like I used too, I will probably install a game or 3. Just waiting for that next MMO that really interest me. I'm currently playing ArcheAge with a bunch of friends but the game is not holding my interest for long. So I'll just wait for that next game or go back to an old game like Mass Effect and Mass Effect2.

If I don't play the game anymore, I can drag the games off the SSD and move them over to the HDD.

As for the Alienware, I got tired of putting more money in to it, so I've been dealing with the random crashes/freezes. Replaced the PSU, replaced the Video Card, replaced the RAM and still crashes and freezes with the new GTX 770. So I'm thinking it's a motherboard issue. I've reformat and reinstalled the OS on this computer a few times with no success of removing the crashing/freeze issues.

I just placed an order yesterday for the Gigabyte z97x gaming 5 mobo and 4790k from Newegg. I should get all my parts next week. After paying down my charge card, I'll snatch the CPU cooler, the last piece I need, and then I will begin my build.

I promise to take some pictures. =)
 
RisinDragon. I'm playing on Aranzeb server. Which server do you play on? (EAST faction). I found ArcheAge to be VERY fun. There's almost a limitless amount of things to do.
And yes, the risk is higher for RAID0, however, I have never encountered an issue with my gf's rig i built for her. She's holding a RAID0 for about 2 years now. Haven't formatted yet. Going to though. I just bought both of us new hardware, and it's coming at the end of the month. We'll both be getting refreshed.

Oh, and you definitely need to join an active guild to keep your interest in ArcheAge imho. My guild with 300 members have daily events, and we already have two galleons. Good stuff. Trade runs, pirating... etc...
 
I'm going to jump in here and agree that Raid 0 of SSD's is a really bad idea unless you can 0+1 and have a hot spare, but that's generally reserved for servers with high-end RAID controllers and you can't always add a hot-spare to a desktop board RAID configuration. Not to mention, it would be super-expensive. RAID1 for SSD drives is a much more sensible choice as SSD's are still pretty new and prone to failure.

I'm going to interrupt and let you know that I am an IT professional managing an enterprise network.

Another rule of thumb that most people fail to consider is if you go with SSD drives and have a mechanical drive, you should redirect your user profile to the mechanical drive. You should also have the page file on the mechanical drive instead of the SSDs. The page file and user profiles are the most read/write intensive areas. This practice will add years to your SSD's lifespan.
 
BTW, have you checked the BIOS? Alienware, although i have never purchased one, i assume they tweaked the BIOS? multipliers? voltage? that may be interfering with your hardware causing the crashes/freezing. One thing to note though. I play another game called Ghost Recon Phantoms, and i too had that exact same problem with only that game. For some reason, the default voltage value of the GPU was a tad too low. I had to raise it .02 volts, and voila, no more crashes. May need to do some research on your 770 voltage to see if there are known issues.
 
Thanks for the response gents.

I finally got my motherboard and CPU, as it has arrived today. Only thing left is to get my CPU cooler and then I can begin my build. I might even get a few Noctua 140mm Fans as well to get a nice air circulation going within the case.

Ting,

I am playing with my guild on Tahyang, West Faction. We have our issues of dealing with Oran'Thul that everyone in other servers hate. LOL Our Guild is very small with about 10 or so players in our little guild. But our guild as a whole is HUGE when we consider other games we play together. We just don't have many people playing AA for the time being.

My main issue with the game is "in faction" PKing. I don't mind fighting reds, but when you are trying to fight the reds and your own faction is helping them kill you. It's a bit demoralizing. I have a lvl38 char and I am constantly being killed by lvl50 greens. Not only that, I've been Patron for over a month and I still can't find a spot for my large 16x16 farm. I've been using a guildie's land and I hate doing that. I am a very self sufficient person and this game doesn't seem to want to make that possible. My patron status expires in Nov, after that time, I am just going to quit playing. They say AA is a Sandbox, but it's really a mix between sandbox and themepark. I don't really like it. But I do love the graphics within the game.

Back onto the computer...
I am not going to bother to try to fix the Alienware. Too much time, effort and frustration on my part. I rather take the i7 920 out of the Alienware and put it into a new motherboard and start all over again. But I will do that down the road.

clglenn,

What you are saying is exactly what I plan on doing. I am going to use my HDD for my profiles/storage/downloads/etc etc. Only going to use the 120G for the OS. The 250G for my games, if the 250G crashes I won't loose my OS or my storage. I can just replace the 250G with another one and reinstall the games I have in that drive.
 
Well my rig is finally built.

Running very smoothly and very fast. I'm extremely happy with it. Down the road I can upgrade the video card to the 980s, or even wait for the series after that. my GTX 770 will do the job.

Beware the pictures were taken with my Ipad, so they came out a little blurry.

All the parts...
n41goAw.jpg


Interior of the case finished and wires all cleanly placed...
07xFjOt.jpg


My Speed...
kn3ibHQ.jpg


Did some major stress testing with Prime95 and my temps stayed at a steady 77C, every now and then it goes up to 80C, but it drops back to 77C. Nice temps.

Some of my games I ran, the temps are running nice and cool. I ran ArcheAge that ran 65C on my other rig, it now runs 50C on this new rig. I'm very happy.

My Drive Speeds, excellent numbers... 120G Samsung is the OS, 250G Samsung is the Games, and the 1T WDBlack is for Storage.
J9qqhEZ.jpg


Ran Unigine Heaven and this is my results...
0tuIy8Q.jpg


I'm also running Dual Dell U2412Ms and I am extremely happy with this build.
 
Beautiful, mate! I bought that exact CPU and motherboard you have in the pic there. I am very happy with it as well. Just built mine this passed weekend. Good stuff, and thanks for sharing.
 
Ting,

if you are using the gigabyte z97x gaming 5 mobo. Make sure you update your BIOS to F5. Because in F3, the voltage for the CPU was 1.4xxx. That's way too high and temps got up to 100C for me. BIOS version F5 fixed it and dropped the voltage down to 1.24 which is much better.
 
RisinDragon said:
Ting,

if you are using the gigabyte z97x gaming 5 mobo. Make sure you update your BIOS to F5. Because in F3, the voltage for the CPU was 1.4xxx. That's way too high and temps got up to 100C for me. BIOS version F5 fixed it and dropped the voltage down to 1.24 which is much better.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the heads up mate. Yup, the first thing i did was update the BIOS. I don't remember the exact version number, but was definitely the latest on the site. :)
 
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