Computer Build Resource Thread - Page 487

On August 15 2011 18:15 echO [W] wrote:


Don't buy an AMD processor. Intel Sandy Bridge CPUs are much better.

Depending on where you live, if there is a MicroCenter nearby, you can pick up the 2500k for $180+tax, and if you decide to buy a motherboard there as well, you can save an additional $40 on the motherboard if you buy them together.

If you don't need to/want to overclock, you can get the cheaper i5-2400.

As for a motherboard, I am a pretty big fan of the Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3H (if you plan on overclocking), if not I would recommend the Gigabyte GA-P61-USB3-B3 (very much a budget board/not too much knowledge on P61/H67/H61). Primary reason as to why I am recommending these Gigabyte boards is that Gigabyte has come out and said that their boards will be Ivy Bridge compatible (which most will be), as well as PCI Express 3.0 compatible with a bios update which is pretty sweet.

You also don't need to spend $35 on a CPU HSF. Consider looking at the 212+ ($29 on Amazon and Newegg), that thing is potentially the best bang for the buck in terms of CPU HSFs. If you're not overclocking at all, you can go with the stock HSF. It will be good enough, and save you $30

As for RAM, you don't need DDR3 1866 speed ram, the differences between DDR3 1600 and 1866 is SLIM, more often than not 1-2FPS. You can even go DDR3 1333 RAM and be completely fine.

If you're willing to pay a few extra bucks, I would recommend that you get a case with room behind the motherboard tray for wiring, it'll help keep the wiring clutter in the case to a minimum and as a result, have better airflow and temperatures. I would look into either the Antec 100 (not ISK) case, or the Coolermaster 690 II Advanced.

On August 15 2011 19:21 echO [W] wrote:

Just curious, what's wrong with the Award BIOS?

And as for PCIe 3.0. If you're going to spend money on a computer, and the price difference was minimal to none, why wouldn't you get a motherboard that could support PCIe 3.0? Maximize your bang for the buck. You wouldn't buy a motherboard today that only had SATA 3.0 if you could get SATA 6.0 for the same price, even if you were only planning on using mechanical drives.

Maybe you'll switch to SSDs in the future, maybe they'll come down in price.

On August 16 2011 02:09 JingleHell wrote:


Speaking as someone who has a crazy PC: Even running OCed SLI 460s, I literally gain nothing by OCing PCIE bus. (The joys of enthusiast boards, OC shit that doesn't make a difference.)

I could see theoretically if you were running quad GPU, faster PCIE could be useful, but right now, it's not. Generally, if something isn't at least vaguely useful when the motherboard it's on comes out, it's not going to be useful in the productive lifespan of the board.

On August 15 2011 23:42 Myrmidon wrote:


They're not that accurate, though that one is the best. Obviously it just has lookup tables and calculates based on that. The Sandy Bridge figures are off because they're basing CPU power consumption off of the listed 95W TDP even though actual power consumption (with the integrated graphics not used) is under 65W for the i5-2500k before overclocking. This is inflating the overclocked result by like 45W maybe.

edit: had a typo. I mean power consumption with integrated graphics off, not on.

If you get a Seasonic S12II-430, it should have all Japanese capacitors, secondary side rated at 105C (primary side at 85C is okay). Capacitor aging is kind of an overrated effect, particularly for high-quality capacitors, which really should last several years at least.

S12II-430 is a very appropriate unit for that build, unless you're volt modding the GTX 560 Ti and running a stack of hard drives. I don't think that would count as "standard" though.

CX500 V2 is another option, though honestly the +12V wattage isn't that much higher and it uses capacitors that would be more susceptible to "aging," whatever that means. Antec High Current Gamer 520W is pretty much the same as the Seasonic (built by Seasonic, same design), just the 520W version, but I don't think that's necessary.

On August 16 2011 02:47 echO [W] wrote:

Would PCIe 3.0, coupled with Ivy extend the productive lifespan of the board?

On August 16 2011 05:45 Automata wrote:
So I'm looking to replace my zotac gtx460 right now. I need something that runs quiet and cool and narrowed my search to gtx560 ti. Can anyone suggest a good make for it? If you guys have other suggestions to another graphic card, that will be cool too. Thanks.

On August 16 2011 05:47 JingleHell wrote:


Knowing what you want to do with it would help. Why would you go from a 460 to a 560Ti though?

It's a very moderate sort of upgrade, really, and at the price, barely seems worth it, unless you can't OC your 460 any higher and need better performance. But if you need significantly more power, it doesn't seem like enough of an upgrade to cut the mustard.

On August 16 2011 06:09 JingleHell wrote:
Hmmm, fair enough, although it could be either dust or bad airflow, a decently binned 460 should be able to OC to at least 800-820Mhz, which is more than enough to be bottlenecked in CPU intense games.

A 560 Ti is still an upgrade, yes, but it's not as huge as it could be unless you got shit luck on your 460 and ended up with one that can't OC worth a damn. For cool and quiet, either an MSI Twin Frozr model or this non-reference EVGA card would be good choices.

Any similar non-reference cooler should be decent as well. MSI Twin Frozr just happens to have a good reputation, and I happen to personally love EVGA, so those are the first two that jump to mind.