Ballin on a budget

[forcedinduktion]

Ive decided to go with a new build now. I was planning on spending $1k, but now im at $1300ish.

CPU: $320 Intel i5 2600-K
MB: $180 Asus P67P8 Deluxe
RAM: $100 G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB)DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
GPU: $360 Ati 6970 2GB
HDD: $70 - Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s
Optical:$18 - Samsung SH-S223L SATA DVD Burner
PSU: $110 - Antec Truepower New TP-750 750W PSU
Case: $110 - Cooler Master HAF 922

Im told that the i5 2600k is labeled as a i7 for some reason, but its really an i5. Also should i spend the extra money and just get the HDD that is 6GB/s since the P67 mobo can handle that much? Im open to any recommendations. Let me know what you think.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? A bit of gaming, and photoshop, along with CAD, lot of browsing and watching movies
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included? $1000
3) Where do you live? IL
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? Entire computer
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model. none
6) Will you be overclocking? Yes
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have? 17" but going to a 22" soon
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC? Within a month
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? etc. Not exactly sure myself
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit? Yes I have Windows 7, 64bit

 

[Shurane]

Haha, that's a budget?

You're really decking out on that CPU and GPU, huh?
I don't think 1 22" will do a 6970 any justice, though.

 

[Dangman]

Just gonna go ahead and assume that you actually want to cut your parts costs down to $1000.

Im told that the i5 2600k is labeled as a i7 for some reason, but its really an i5.

No. The i7 2600K is an i7 CPU. You're thinking of the the i5 2500K which is an i5 CPU. The big difference between the two CPUs is that the 2600K had HT whereas the 2500K does not.

While HT does seem to provide a decent performance increase with CAD, due to your budget, you will have to drop down to the Core i5 2500K if you want to even try to get close to your $1000 budget.

Also should i spend the extra money and just get the HDD that is 6GB/s since the P67 mobo can handle that much? Im open to any recommendations.

For mechanical hard drives, there's no difference between 3.0Gb/s and 6.0Gb/s in terms of real world performance.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? etc. Not exactly sure myself

All right, well you can ignore the RAID, USB 3.0, and SATA 6.0Gb/s requirements since those come stock with most if not all P67 motherboards. So now the real features you should be considering is whether or not you want Crossfire and whether or not you want SLI. In additiion, figure out whether you want eSATA and firewire.

RAM: $100 G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB)DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600

There's no real world performance difference between DDR3 1333 and DDR3 1600 RAM. In addition, overclocking the Sandy Bridge CPU does not touch the RAM at all. So you'll be fine with this RAM set:
$80 - G.Skill Value Series F3-10600CL9D-8GBNT 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM

GPU: $360 Ati 6970 2GB

That card is really overkill for a 22" monitor (assuming 1680x1050 res). And considering your budget and future monitor upgrades, you'll be fine with this card:
$215 - XFX HD-687A-ZNFC Radeon HD 6870 1GB PCI-E Video Card

HDD: $70 - Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s

That hard drive is now $65.

PSU: $110 - Antec Truepower New TP-750 750W PSU

That PSU is now $100

 

[hossdaddy]

unless you have space constraints I would recommend a 23-24" monitor since your budget is so robust. For example;


ASUS VH242H Black 23.6" $179.99 - $10 mir

 

[tiraides]

So there's no further confusion, are you trying to stick with your $1000 budget?

 

[forcedinduktion]

That was the original plan, but since im already deciding on a build i might as well spend a little more and get quality parts.

 

[tiraides]

You need to decide whether or not you want to buy a larger monitor. If not, follow Danny's advice to the letter.

 

[forcedinduktion]

Yea large(er) somewhere in like 22-26 range, depending on price.

 

[forcedinduktion]

Another issue that has been brought up to my attention is the RAM timing. Should I stay with a 8GB with a timing of 9-9-9-24, pay $50 more and get a timing of 7-8-7-24. Or step down to a 4GB with 6-8-6-24. My main concern is "real world performance."

Edit: I have decided to keep the 1TB or maybe a 1.5TB HDD, and go with a 60GB SSD for the partition. Although I know nothing about SSD, so which would be a good buy.....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100008120%20600038483&IsNodeId=1&name=60GB

 

[Dangman]

Yea large(er) somewhere in like 22-26 range, depending on price.

If the 22" montior you're getting has a max res of 1680x1050, go with the HD 6870 1GB card that I recommended earlier.

If the montior you're upgrading to has a max res of 1920x1080, then go with the HD 6950 2GB.

Another issue that has been brought up to my attention is the RAM timing. Should I stay with a 8GB with a timing of 9-9-9-24, pay $50 more and get a timing of 7-8-7-24. Or step down to a 4GB with 6-8-6-24. My main concern is "real world performance."

Zero difference betwen any of those RAM timings in real world performance. So you''ll be fine with the RAM set recommended earlier

Edit: I have decided to keep the 1TB or maybe a 1.5TB HDD, and go with a 60GB SSD for the partition. Although I know nothing about SSD, so which would be a good buy.....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100008120%20600038483&IsNodeId=1&name=60GB

Stick with the Crucial C300 SSDs.

 

[forcedinduktion]

Now as for monitors, I am looking at 1920x1080. Should I get an LCD or spend a bit more and get a LED monitor. Not trying to spend a fortune on it but still want something good quality. And a hdmi cable to go along with it, but dont want to spend 100+ on a monster cable.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236052&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-RSSDailyDeals-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=3891137&SID=194r0

thats the one someone suggested, not sure if its any good or not

 

[bastage]

Now as for monitors, I am looking at 1920x1080. Should I get an LCD or spend a bit more and get a LED monitor. Not trying to spend a fortune on it but still want something good quality. And a hdmi cable to go along with it, but dont want to spend 100+ on a monster cable.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236052&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-RSSDailyDeals-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=3891137&SID=194r0

thats the one someone suggested, not sure if its any good or not

Good enough monitor for sure. & Just snag a 5 dollar HDMI cable off newegg when you order the rest. Otherwise monoprice is the cheapest

 

[SJetski71]

Now as for monitors, I am looking at 1920x1080. Should I get an LCD or spend a bit more and get a LED monitor. Not trying to spend a fortune on it but still want something good quality. And a hdmi cable to go along with it, but dont want to spend 100+ on a monster cable.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236052&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-RSSDailyDeals-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=3891137&SID=194r0

thats the one someone suggested, not sure if its any good or not

I'd focus on the quality of the individual monitor models you're looking at, and not focus on what sort of backilight it uses. An LED backlight does not automatically mean "good quality".

In other words there are great LCD's with CCFL backlights, and poor LCD's with LED backlights. The display forum has a few monitor experts that can help out (NCX and a couple of other members).

I'd post a separate thread there, but still keep the opinions posted here in mind of course.

Edit: agreed with Bastage, that monitor you linked is a good one.

 

[forcedinduktion]

One last thing im missing is a wireless adapter. My router is a Wireless N so I want a adapter that is as well. I used to have a dynex g adapter that plugged in a pci slot and that this was a POS hardly ever got signal and when i did it would be stupid slow. No ive been looking and seeing usb wireless adapters, not sure how I feel about those. Doesn't look like it would provide the fastest speeds possible, but what do I know.

http://www.amazon.com/Linksys-Cisco-Linksys-High-Performance-Wireless-N-Adapter/dp/B003VYH1UE/ref=sr_1_14?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1299472349&sr=1-14

or

http://www.amazon.com/Cisco-Linksys-WUSB600N-Dual-Band-Wireless-N-Network/dp/B0011E324K/ref=sr_1_5?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1299472349&sr=1-5

or

http://www.amazon.com/Cisco-Linksys-WET610N-Dual-Band-Wireless-N-Adapter/dp/B001QVQ7JU/ref=sr_1_6?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1299472349&sr=1-6

Always open to suggestions.

 

[hossdaddy]

the hdmi cable seems unecessary to me, since dvi is hdmi without audio. The monitor comes with a dvi cable.

 

[forcedinduktion]

That monitor has built in speakers, so less wires running. Those will be the ones ill be running for now, till I get a nice speaker set.

 

[tiraides]

Did you check the monitor's user manual to confirm whether or not it can carry audio through the HDMI port? Many monitors treat their HDMI ports as video-only.

 

[HardwareGuru]

Did you check the monitor's user manual to confirm whether or not it can carry audio through the HDMI port? Many monitors treat their HDMI ports as video-only.

If the monitor has built in speakers with an HDMI port, it should be fine. I run my HP W2207H with built in speakers and sound is carried through the HDMI to the built in speakers. Also, my ASUS MT276HE also carries sound on the HDMI to the speakers. That ASUS VH242H should be the same.

 

[forcedinduktion]

From what ive read, the sound will work through HDMI