Computer Build Resource Thread - Page 279

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When using this resource, please read FragKrag's opening post. The Tech Support forum regulars have helped create countless of desktop systems without any compensation. The least you can do is provide all of the information required for them to help you properly.

ensign_lee

United States1178 Posts

May 17 2011 15:47 GMT

#5561

Oh nice. Okay cool. I was worried that I was using like 90+% of the power supply I'd chosen, but oh well.

damn, guess I could have gotten that corsair 600W one from before. But now it's more expensive.

So, any suggestions as far as my build y'all? Or do you think I've optimized it enough. :D I see microcenter has the i5-2400 for $150 after tax. I'm kind of thinking for $40, that's a worthwhile upgrade? Or not so much? I know that SC2 uses only 2 cores now...

Corr

Denmark796 Posts

May 17 2011 15:47 GMT

#5562

Hey guys, I'm helping my buddy build a PC. I've been out of the hardware loop for a while so I'd love if you have some suggestions.

What is your budget?
No limit, however I want to get as much performance without unreasonable spending.
Spending some extra to get from reliable brands is fine.

What is your resolution?
1920 x 1080

What are you using it for?
Poker & gaming (mostly d3)
24+ tables of poker+Tableninja+Hold'em manager takes more system power than you'd think... For this reason we want to get a decent SSD

What is your upgrade cycle?
2+ years.

When do you plan on building it?
Asap, within the month hopefully.

Do you plan on overclocking?
No.

Do you need an Operating System?
Yes. Win7 pro or home?

Do you plan to add a second GPU for SLI or Crossfire?
No.

Where are you buying your parts from?
Here in Denmark, don't worry about the prices if I can find the pieces here in DK it should be fine.

Suggestion so far:
CPU: 3.3GHz Intel Core i5-2500k (Hmm this is mostly an OC cpu? maybe it doesn't suit this)
Mobo: Asus P8P67
Memory: 4GB 1,600MHz DDR3 (Brand suggestions?)
GFX: MSI N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II pre-OC'd
PSU: Antec TruePower New 650w
CPU Cooler: Thermaltake Frio
Case: Fractal Design Define R3
Storage: SSD (64GB Crucial RealSSD C300?) and 2TB HD Samsung Spinpoint F3?
Sound: Asus Xonar Xense
Some SATA DVD-RW

Also looking for a new monitor, but one of the 120hz models that are awesome for FPS gaming, I don't know which one though. I remember seeing a guide on them but it was months ago, so I don't know anymore.
There's still room for more expensive parts in the above rig, but I don't know which parts are worth the money to upgrade exactly.

Any help would be much appreciated

JingleHell

United States11308 Posts

May 17 2011 15:50 GMT

#5563

Get i5-2500 non-k for no OC, and an H67 mobo. Don't really need an aftermarket CPU cooler for stock speeds, the PSU is way higher wattage than you need for a single GPU stock CPU rig. 450w will do you fine. Oh, and get 1333 mhz RAM unless the sale price on the 1600 is cheaper. You won't see a difference.

ensign_lee

United States1178 Posts

May 17 2011 16:28 GMT

#5564

On May 18 2011 00:05 JingleHell wrote:

Show nested quote +

Newegg's PSU calculator makes shit look like gold. Use this one. As an example, my PSU is 65% of what the newegg calculator says to use. Somehow I'm still running.

700W is probably pure overkill. Myrm is the PSU guy though, I believe he suggests jonnyguru.com for PSU reviews.

Thank, huh...says that with an i5-2400 even and 2 5850s, I'll only be using like 434 watts

In that case, I definitely don't need 700W, eh? The amount of "this power supply died after a year" comments on the OCZ one scare me kind of.

Would I be better off with

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=17-139-019&SortField=0&SummaryType=0&Pagesize=10&PurchaseMark=&SelectedRating=-1&VideoOnlyMark=False&VendorMark=&IsFeedbackTab=true&Page=2#scrollFullInfo

for $5 more? I'll get fewer watts, but it seems a lot more people are happy with corsair?

JingleHell

United States11308 Posts

May 17 2011 16:35 GMT

#5565

Corsair is a good brand, but as far as bang for your buck with a PSU, skyR and Myrmidon are the experts. Best I can do is point you to jonnyguru.com and that calculator.

ensign_lee

United States1178 Posts

May 17 2011 16:47 GMT

#5566

This might be a dumb question, but am I going to have problems trying to put two dual slot cards in this mobo with its layout?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ImageGallery.aspx?CurImage=13-128-473-Z03&SpinSet=13-128-473-RS&ISList=13-128-473-Z01,13-128-473-Z02,13-128-473-Z03,13-128-473-Z04,13-128-473-Z05&S7ImageFlag=1&Item=N82E16813128473&Depa=0&WaterMark=1&Description=GIGABYTE GA-H67M-D2-B3 LGA 1155 Intel H67 SATA 6Gb/s Micro ATX Intel Motherboard

It looks like if I use the bottom PCI express 2.0x16 slot, it'll cover up some important stuff?

skyR

Canada13817 Posts

May 17 2011 16:53 GMT

#5567

The Antec Earthwatts 650w for $60 is a good deal atm: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371015

Doing SLI / CrossfireX on the H67M-D2 with dual slot graphic cards would cover up the bottom headers yes.

ensign_lee

United States1178 Posts

May 17 2011 16:54 GMT

#5568

If that above board won't work, would this be a better option?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128501

Curiously, that Z68 board is cheaper than this other H67 board:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128475

skyR

Canada13817 Posts

May 17 2011 16:58 GMT

#5569

Just curious why you're looking at H67 chipsets? If you're looking to do CrossfireX, I'd assume you are going to do some ovoerclocking as well? If you're willing to spend $130 on a motherboard, just get the Asrock P67 Pro3 or Gigabyte P67 UD3 or if you want integrated graphics as well, get the Asrock Z68 Pro3.

ensign_lee

United States1178 Posts

May 17 2011 17:01 GMT

#5570

Well, remember that the main purpose of this computer will be doing distributed computing on the graphics cards, so no I actually won't be overclocking. That's why I was looking at H67 instead of P67.

I was planning on putting either an i3-2100 or an i5-2400 in here, since I figured that plus a 5850 would be able to do the comp's secondary purpose of being able to play SC on high or ultra. :D

skyR

Canada13817 Posts

May 17 2011 17:16 GMT

#5571

I'd get the Gigabyte Z68 that you listed. If you don't need the features of a Z68 motherboard, you could get a less expensive P67 motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128487

a176

Canada6688 Posts

May 17 2011 17:16 GMT

#5572

PRODUCT RECOMMENDATION

Asus GTX 560 DirectCU II TOP

The non-Ti version of the GTX 560 has been released. At first glance, it appears gimped compared to its older brother. However, with the help of high clock speeds, the card matches performance of the GTX 560 Ti and (in some cases) even the Radeon 6950 1gb.

But the clincher of the deal is that it is far, far, far less expensive than the aforementioned cards. Newegg.com doesn't have them activated but newegg.ca has the top-performing Asus card listed at $195 CAD. Indeed, this is the "new" bang-for-buck GTX 460 success story many have been waiting for.

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121446&cm_re=gtx_560-_-14-121-446-_-Product
* this is the slower clocked version than what is presented in the reviews but as always, nothing really to stop you from oc'ing

[image loading]

reviews
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/43366-nvidia-geforce-gtx-560-1gb-review.html
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4344/nvidias-geforce-gtx-560-top-to-bottom-overclock
http://techreport.com/articles.x/20957

a176

Canada6688 Posts

May 17 2011 18:39 GMT

#5573

Also, www.techpowerup.com has added Starcraft 2 to their review suite.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/GeForce_GTX_560_TOP_Direct_Cu_II/19.html

[image loading]

Corr

Denmark796 Posts

May 17 2011 18:43 GMT

#5574

On May 18 2011 00:50 JingleHell wrote:
Get i5-2500 non-k for no OC, and an H67 mobo. Don't really need an aftermarket CPU cooler for stock speeds, the PSU is way higher wattage than you need for a single GPU stock CPU rig. 450w will do you fine. Oh, and get 1333 mhz RAM unless the sale price on the 1600 is cheaper. You won't see a difference.

Noted, I'm leaving sound out for now. And I'll ask for PSU recommendations once the rest is established.

I'm curious about the SSD though, I think we could do better. Does anyone know anything about these or a link for some comparison/reviews?

Edit: Also I think we've landed on Acer HS244HQ for the 120hz/3d monitor to go with the Acer one he already has. Quite pricey but they all are I guess.

Edit2: Not sure that case is available after all. Any recommendations? Appearance holds very little value.

FragKrag

United States11554 Posts

May 17 2011 18:45 GMT

#5575

SC2 isn't exactly the most important benchmark these days. It's horribly CPU optimized so just about any decent GPU will hit a CPU bottleneck. If you're only looking to play SC2, an HD 6850 will be more than enough for any of your needs.

As far as the GTX 560 goes, it's a good buy, but it is so heavily model dependent it becomes hard to choose. If you want to overclock, ASUS has a very good offering in its Direct CU II cooling. If you don't want to overclock, you're better off buying an HD 6870. This of course, depends almost entirely on the games you want to play.

JingleHell

United States11308 Posts

May 17 2011 18:47 GMT

#5576

On May 18 2011 03:43 Corr wrote:

Show nested quote +

Well, SSD's are kinda a weird subject, "better" has so many factors to it right now that you can't just look at 2-3 numbers, look at prices, and have a "best" choice.

The C300 is a good one, not the best, although the 128GB C300 is faster than the 64GB, for reasons I haven't finished enough reading to try to explain coherently.

anandtech.com has reviews of a lot of SSD's, so you can dig through those and try to inform yourself, or you can search for Myrmidon's posts in this thread, and probably find some pro/con listings of various options and general advice on SSD's.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/2738
http://www.anandtech.com/show/2829

Some articles explaining SSD's. Background reading type stuff.

FragKrag

United States11554 Posts

May 17 2011 18:53 GMT

#5577

The 128GB SSD has more NAND and more channels so it will be faster than the 64GB version. Generally, with most controllers, as you increase the amount of NAND and the amount of channels they have, they will be faster. This isn't always true, but it has been true for the C300, and Intel SSDs.

xdthreat

United States95 Posts

May 17 2011 19:01 GMT

#5578

+ Show Spoiler +

On May 17 2011 11:53 Myrmidon wrote:

Show nested quote +

On May 17 2011 10:23 xdthreat wrote:
So it turns out I am having little luck with streaming with my e8400 based system, and as such its time to upgrade! + Show Spoiler +

I am looking for some help in finalizing a i5-2500k build.

Budget : ~1,000. Would like to spend less if possible, I do need an OS.

Resolution: 1900x1080. May possibly go dual monitor in the future.

Usage: gaming + streaming. Mostly SC2, and planning for D3. I do not play FPS. (Ok, maybe CS:S once in a while)

Upgrade cycle: I would like to get 4 years out of this computer, possibly upgrading the gpu/cpu in a couple years. I have gotten a solid 3 years so far from my wolfsdale, and only my desire to stream is causing me to build a new rig.

Plan to order in the next few days.

I plan on overclocking to 4.5k-ish.

I do not plan on SLI/XF unless it becomes a leader in price/performance at the midrange.

I must order everything from newegg or amazon.

I must have a filled a cart on newegg 10 times so far. I have a hard time not choosing the +$50 options on everything, and talking to some of my friends who like to buy the most expensive of everything while choosing components doesn't help.

I have been looking at getting a HAF 932 case, but I'm hoping its smaller and cheaper friends are just as good? I will basically never be transporting this computer as I have a gaming laptop so I wouldn't mind a sweet ass but heavy case that i could use for a decade. But maybe its too big and not needed?

I currently use a hd4850 that meets my needs with sc2, of course I will want a newer card for this computer. Thinking the 5850 1gb for ~160 seems too good of a deal to go with a 5950/560ti?

I have read so many varying opinions on motherboards, I don't want to spend 190$ on a asus p67 pro model but if it is more reliable for some reason....Also I may actually use an auto-tuning style feature to do my overclocking.

The z68 cache build seems cool and fun but I don't know if it will help with streaming/gaming. I suppose I would rather spend money towards peripherals than an SSD.

One last, perhaps too narrow thought: I notice the Realtek ALC892 has a worse S/N ratio than the 889 which seems to be only still found on the gigabyte boards. Last night I bought HD555 headphones on sale at amazon while researching pc stuff. Will using a ALC892 with the HD555s be (/gretorp) problematic? I currently use either USB headphones or my SPDIF out to a pretty sweet stereo for sound. Usually a combination of both. I'm assuming any p67 chip should suite my needs.

All the information and discussion in this thread has been amazingly useful, I feel like I could make a purchase already but I feel unsure about if I should/need to be spending the extra +/- $50 on each component. Thanks a ton!

Core i5-2500k and MSI P67A-G43 - $335
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.638772

Xigmatek Gaia - $30
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233082

EVGA GTX 560 Ti (register for your lifetime warranty) - $233 ($213 after MIR)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130604

G.Skill 2 x 2GB DDR3 - $40
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231394

Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB - $65
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185

LG CD/DVD burner - $20
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136238

Corsair CX500 V2 - $55 ($35 after MIR)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139027

Cooler Master HAF 912 - $60 ($50 after MIR)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119233

Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OEM - $100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986

Asus Xonar DG - $34 ($24 after MIR--you can find it cheaper elsewhere IIRC)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829132020

That Sapphire HD 5850 Xtreme seems to be sold out in many places. It's probably a better value if it's around $150 though, but this is not a bad deal either. If you have a HD 555, I think spending a little on a sound card may be worth it, though depending, it may be not noticeably better. Place it as far away as possible from the GPU, in the lowest PCI slot.

A larger case is really only to have more room inside to work on it (unimportant unless you tinker nonstop). You don't need extravagant cooling for a single-GPU build that will use like 250W max in a game.

Thanks for helping this lurker out ~ I ordered pretty much this exact list. I apparently only had $800 credit on newegg so I ordered my video card from amazon, opting for a xfx hd 6950 at the last moment as I didn't like their deals on 5850s/560s. Hopefully I can put a victory picture before the weekend comes.

SoKHo

Korea (South)1081 Posts

May 17 2011 19:02 GMT

#5579

For everyone who helped me yesterday ty so much.

I found out that both my video card and motherboard were defective... What are the chances >.<

I bought a new motherboard today at microcenter, hooked it up w/ the video card -> no picture.

I used the same motherboard and hooked it up directly -> picture

Hopefully, my other parts work fine. *crosses finger*

JingleHell

United States11308 Posts

May 17 2011 19:05 GMT

#5580

On May 18 2011 04:02 SoKHo wrote:
For everyone who helped me yesterday ty so much.

I found out that both my video card and motherboard were defective... What are the chances >.<

I bought a new motherboard today at microcenter, hooked it up w/ the video card -> no picture.

I used the same motherboard and hooked it up directly -> picture

Hopefully, my other parts work fine. *crosses finger*

Odds of that suck, sorry to hear it, but glad we could help.

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