~$800 build (to get the fiance off my back, hah)

A

adrift02

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 10, 2006
Messages
467
Hey all, the goal of this build is to both upgrade my aging components for the next wave of titles (Skyrim, Diablo 3, Firefall) and move to a smaller case to appease the fiance -- she's not cool with my stacker 810 in the living room, lol.

Currently, I'm running the system in my sig and considering I'm moving from a 1024 19'' monitor to a 1080p TV, pretty much everything is going to need an upgrade. Unfortunately, this means my WC loop will be temporarily unusable until I get some new blocks, and even then the Lian Li A05 will need some modding to take a 320 rad...might just sell the old system and WC parts together...

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
~$800 shipped

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.

USA, Washington

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
CPU, mobo, ram, case, gpu

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Corsair 620HX PSU, WD 150GB Raptor, DVD burner, mouse+keyboard

6) Will you be overclocking?
Yes, and depending on if I do another WC loop, hell yes

7) 7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
Panasonic P42S1 (1920x1080)

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Soon, though I can wait a bit if it's worth it

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video? etc.
Nothing special beyond overclocking capability, I never end up using SLI

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Win7 64bit


All right, now onto the parts I'm looking at, looking forward to hearing some input. These were picked for budget/performance (2500k + p8p67 for OC, 560 non-ti to put ~$60 towards the next gen upgrade).

CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) - $220
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072
I'm not likely to budge on this, I love these OC intel processors as I get tons of life WC them.

Mobo: ASUS P8P67-M PRO (REV 3.0) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard - $130
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131707R
Small form factor, great OC capabilities. Haven't bought a open box mobo before so I hope it doesn't cause an issue.

Memory: Wintec AMPX 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 - $27
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820161279
Just picked it based on ratings. I usually pick g-skill but the price is right.

Case: LIAN LI PC-A05NB Black Aluminum ATX Mini Tower Computer Case - $90
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112218
Small yet can be modded for a 320 rad.

HDD: Crucial M4 CT064M4SSD2CCA 2.5" 64GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive - $95
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148447
So I might drop this from the build but was thinking of replacing the Raptor with it as it would quiet the system down.

GPU: EVGA 01G-P3-1460-KR GeForce GTX 560 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 - $190 (180)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130660
I'm pretty flexible on this. I think it will hold me over until the next gen and I don't want to pay the extra $60 for the TI with that taken into account.

So, how's it look? Should be a nice jump from my current build, get me through the next crop of games, can be WC, and is small enough for the fiance to ignore :p
 
I don't recommend that open-box mobo when you can get that mobo brand new for $5 more:
http://www.amazon.com/P8P67-M-PRO-R...0VEK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1316915767&sr=8-2

The potential issues that comes with an open-box item outweigh a savings of $5 IMO.

That Wintec RAM isn't a good choice for two reasons:
1) It's a 2x2 set so it will limit your future RAM upgrades to only 12GB of RAM
2) If you can buy this RAM within the next 4 days, you can use promo code "EMCKAHH27" to knock off $7 which makes the RAM's total cost $38, a far better value than that 4GB Wintec set:
$45 - G.Skill Value Series F3-10600CL9D-8GBNT 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM

If you do decide to drop the SSD, I recommend replacing that Raptor drive nonetheless: This Samsung drive outperforms that Raptor while being significantly quieter:
$60 - Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
 
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Thanks for the amazon rec, ill get that. Is 8gb neccesary tho for today's games?
 
Since you getting 64bit operating system. Some games will use over 4gb. So I would say go with 8gb of ram, make sure 2x 4gb sticks. I would say forget about SSD drive. I wish I didn't buy my ssd drive. Not really worth it :D
 
adrift02 said:
Thanks for the amazon rec, ill get that. Is 8gb neccesary tho for today's games?
Click to expand...

No. Games use at most 4GB right now, but since RAM is so cheap these days there really is no reason not too. Games of tomorrow will most likely use more system RAM as well as VRAM, so it's best to get as much as you can now. Especially since system RAM is so cheap right now.
 
The "full-sized" P8P67 Pro isn't recommended as it has had a higher-than-average number of issues and returns (and I'm talking both NewEgg reviews and posts made about it here at the [H]).

Consider another motherboard:

$120 - MSI Z68A-G45 (B3)
 
Thanks for the heads up. I should have clarified it was the microatx model for $115 before shipping.
 
honestly i wouldnt even bother with wc, should be able to get a nice oc going on that 2500k with a good cheap air cooler like the hyper 212+. also i was under the impression that the 560 was eclipsed by similar ati cards like the 6870? i dunno i just didnt think people were recommending nvidia unless you HAD to have the fastest single gpu on the market and cost be damned.
 
herfalerf said:
honestly i wouldnt even bother with wc, should be able to get a nice oc going on that 2500k with a good cheap air cooler like the hyper 212+. also i was under the impression that the 560 was eclipsed by similar ati cards like the 6870? i dunno i just didnt think people were recommending nvidia unless you HAD to have the fastest single gpu on the market and cost be damned.
Click to expand...

That's not the only reason to recommend a nvidia card.

Nvidia has a couple cards (the 560 and Ti models) that are priced competitively.
Nvidia has CUDA technology that some software makes use of (Adobe's premier)
 
Skillz said:
That's not the only reason to recommend a nvidia card.

Nvidia has a couple cards (the 560 and Ti models) that are priced competitively.
Nvidia has CUDA technology that some software makes use of (Adobe's premier)
Click to expand...

ah, i havent bothered looking at the pricing since the 560 came out and it was priced higher than the amd cards, but i guess it has been out for a while so that would explain the price drop lol.
 
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