Build suggestions for a i5-2500k cpu

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RacerX780

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Oct 18, 2006
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I'm trying to put together a new pc... and I'm fairly lost. lol I haven't really been following anything lately... and I honestly think this will be my first totally new build in 7 or 8 years. I generally get my friend's computer when he upgrades... but I'd like to be a little more on the cutting edge of things for once, and I have a little bit of cash to spend on a pc atm.

I was looking at prices of the i5-2500k cpu, which I think are good... newegg has it fro $220.. which I'm ok with.

I just don't know whatelse to get.

I'd like something that will run todays games pretty decently.... plus I need a machine to use for work - Office type apps / Act! / Quickbooks.

I would like to stick with Asus for a motherboard, but I'm open to other suggestions.

And I'd need ram and video.

While I'd like to get SSD for my boot 'drive', I don't know how much $$ that is so I'm not sure it's an option at this point, but definitely for the future.

As I mentioned, I normally get pc stuff 2nd hand, so I don't really upgrade at all. So this build I'd like to be good for some time... although if it's built with a pretty easy upgrade path in mind, that would be cool too.


Thanks for any suggestions... My head is kindof spinning trying to figure all this stuff out. lol


ETA: I'm not super interested in OC'ing it... unless it's just a matter of some bios settings and maybe a better fan. Other then that I'm ok with running stock.
 
If you know anyone working in tech, you might be able to find employee discounts.

4x4G if you want to test out VM, 2x4G otherwise.

64G SSD should be around $100. Agility 3 sale on the egg for $85. Not sure how it runs tho. OCZ tend to have high defect rates but people like them.

Maximus IV Gene-Z is a very solid board.

Video is totally dependent on how much video playback you intend to do and which games you do play. ATI and Nvidia are pretty similar in most aspects besides that ATI play back video better and Nvidia usually heat up more.
 
I've been reading the reviews on newegg for ssd and honestly I don't see any that have outstanding reviews across the board. They all seem to have a rather high rate of failure, IMO. Which I dunno... for a $100 bucks...

One thing I did read, and glad I did, was if they fail, someone posted that you can't really recover the data?? Good to know... I'm not all that great with backing up my data, but I'd def. setup something to keep my emails backed up. Everything else will be stored on a harddrive....
 
All HDD will fail in time. Some fail within 6 months, some fail after 5+ years. If you want reliability, go for enterprise drives and RAID 1 or RAID 10. And redundancy does not replace backup. So backing up your data is the utmost importance for system protection.

SSD lives longer than HDD, but if they do fail, they fail early and hard. But they are so much faster. If you want speed, OCZ Vertex 3 is cheap and fast. If you want reliability, go for Intel or Micron/Crucial. If you have extra thousands of $ to spend, go for Fusion IO, LSI or Micron PCIe.
 
2x2 gigabyte RAM is enough for your needs.

What is your budget?

If you don't want to overclock, get a regular i5-2500. k models are meant for overclocking.

Overclocking is very simple with Sandy Bridge K processors. You just change the CPU ratio and the CPU voltage (vcore). And you always want to get a better heatsink, like the Hyper 212+ if you want to be cheap.

Builds with good upgrade paths tend to be AMD builds, as Intel tends to completely change the platform with each new release. However, you will be able to use ivy-bridge on Z68.
 
Hmm.. I don't really have a fixed budge in mind. I've started a part-time job that's going to last a month or so, and I was going to use that money to fund this.

My friend was going to sell me his pc for $400... which like I said, I'd rather try for new.. so I'm thinking maybe like $800... but I'm willing to spend a bit more or less... I don't want to go all out, but I don't want to cut myself short. For once I have some extra money, and rather then save it for a rainy day I'm going to get a pc. lol
 
I would recommend a HD6950 2gb with a Seasonic 520 watt, or a Corsair 500 watt, or basically any other good power supply in the 500 watt range. Those run about $250-300 new. If you're comfortable with messing around with it, you can attempt to unlock it to a HD6970. You would want a reference version if you can find one for best unlocking chances. A good power supply in the 500 watt range would cost between $50-100.

Antec 300 Illusion case for $50. It's a good case, and comes fully stocked on fans.

DVD burner for ~$20.

i5 2500k for $220.

You can get an SSD, but I would just get a 1 or 2tb drive to start out. 1tb runs about $50 (Samsung Spinpoint F3 7200 RPM), 2tb runs about $100. If you get an SSD, you can get a storage 2tb drive for about $60 (Hitachi 2tb 5k3000). How large of an SSD you want depends on what you want to put on it.
 
If you're close to a Fry's this weekend, they have the 2600k on sale for $279. Probably a bit overkill for what you are looking for but will be a little more future proof if you want to keep it as long as your old rig.
 
Closest Frys is like 7 hours away.... too far to drive for just a cpu. :)

Thanks for the headsup though.
 
You could always get an Ivy Bridge capable mobo with PCI-e 3.0, put a Sandy Bridge i3 in it for now, then drop an IB quad core come March-May '12...

Just another option for you.
 
2TB samsung for $70:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152245

don't let the price fool you, it's the best bang/buck hard drive there is and the performance is good.

A reference Radeon 6950 2GB is going to be hard to find. a 1GB will do you just fine for one LCD.

mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131705

I chose Asrock this time around, more features, better price than Asus boards: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157229

psu: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371031
or http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371048
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139028


There's so many cases out there, take a look at coolermaster 922, antec, Lian Li lancool
 
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How fast are the 3T hard drive prices falling?? I'd like to get that 2TB... one for the new rig and one for my media server.... Since space is an issue I replace drives and not just add to the pool (in the server)... if it takes me 6 months before I need a new drive - do you think the 3TB drives will be about $100?? Or would it be better to just buy two of the 2TB drives now??
 
3TB prices have consistently stayed around $150. I've purchased 5 of the 2TB samsung drives in the past year for my own use. I recommend and use them for most builds for friends as well. They're great bang/buck.
 
turn it into a monster HTPC that can play videos while transcoding like a beheamoth & downloading too....he-he....while it's parked in your entertainment center & hooked up to a DVI capable widescreen & 7.1 surround or whatever you want....oh yeah...throw in a relatrively beefy video card & you have a game console too...
 
my next build will be an 875K(1156), 4GB transcend DDR3-2000, a DFI MI-P55 MITX board, & an Antec Mini-Skeleton open air chassis...I don't know what video card or PSU to go wtih yet...It will depend on how much gaming I end up doing with it....
 
If you're not planning on going SLI or X-fire than I'd recommend the Asrock Z68 an Asus alternative. I've got the micro atx version and it's an awesome board for the money.

Also, GTX 560Ti's can be had for a little cheaper than the 6950's and still get u good frames on current games (especially on single display setups)

Might as well get 8 gigs of ram as it's so cheap now too.
 
I'm not going SLI out of the gate... but maybe down the line.

At least that's what I'm thinking...

Been crazy busy this past week... hopefully this weekend I'll have some time to sit down and finally pull the trigger on at least most of the rig.
 
I'm surprised no one has mentioned Smart Response, since he seems to want a quick boot drive with some reliability. If you want to go SSD for boot drive, I think most of us can agree intel is currently #1 when it comes to reliability. I would also stick with the 3xx series SSD from Intel which use their own controller.

I personally took the Smart Response approach since I had a couple of 74gb raptors. I picked up an Intel 311 20gb for cache and did some testing. Boot time was cut in half and a majority of this time was because of POST. Simply put, it's SSD like performance without have to be paranoid about the current reliability status of my drive. Applications load quickly after they're cached, so installs are still dependent on the speed of the actual drives. I'm willing to give up faster installs as the bigger improvement is quicker application load times, quicker boot times, and peace of mind about my drives.
 
If you are building a 2500K, you are making a workstation, or gaming in multi-monitor setup, or heavy workload machine. You could easily run every game out there max settings with a Phenom II quad. The only significant step up possible is obviously the 2500K overclocked. Anything you shoot at it will be bottlenecked by graphics.
 
Go with at least 8GB RAM...DDR3 is practically free these days (unless you're trying to get 256GB of it, hehe).
I'd recommend *not* getting the cheapest of the cheap motherboards; it's nice to have expandabiility in the form of 2 PCI-E x16 slots for SLI.
A good video card is important; I'd go with a 560Ti since I'm with Team Green (they bought my soul using OptiX and CUDA :p) If you can still find the 460 1GB, its not a bad card considering what it goes for (as low as $130).
 
How much more than 800 are you willing to spend, and how much time are you going to spend scouring the forums for deals?
If you want sli and asus.. you have to get an asus p8p67 pro.. 170 new... you have to budget out a 750w or more powersupply...
100 or so for an SSD, and another 50 for an app drive (samsung f3 1tb).

220-2500k (180 used if you can find one)
50 - 8gb ddr3 (get 1333mhz or more.. not a big deal on speed.. but make sure voltage is 1.5v or less)
170- p8p67 pro (150 -160 used)
45 - thermalright macho (or maybe 30 for a coolermaster 120mm heatsink)
100 - 60gb ssd... (120 if you want an intel g2 80gb safe bet for reliability and it's fast enough).
50 - for your app drive (samsung f3 1tb)
150 - Corsair 600t
100 - Psu 750w-850w.. there are plenty to choose from.. spend some time maybe you can find a good one used.. hit johnnyguru and the [h] for reviews.
250 - Gtx 560 (275 for a gtx 480 used but you will definately need a 850w + psu).
That would be 1150 new ..

You can get a whatever case.. maybe save 100 bucks.. forget sli... and get a less powerful video card.. and then hit your 800 dollar budget.

You may also want to create a wtb thread.. to see what you can get.
 
Lian Li Lancool case either PC- K58 $65 or PC-K59 $70.
BitFenix Shinobi $60 or $70.
NZXT Source 210 $50 +$15
 
Check the for sale section. There's a 2600k and mobo for $400. Maybe you could get it even cheaper. It's worth a shot to find something at a cheaper deal.
 
Also if you are patient at searching for deals.. .you can do as I am doing with my sisters build.

2500k - 180 (used)
p8p67 - 105 (used)
8gb ddr3 1333mhz - 35 (new)
Antec True Power 550w - 35 (refurb)
Silverstone ft01 w - 87 (USED)
Gtx 460 1gb - 105 (used)
Intel 80gb SSD - 115 (used)
WD 750gb Black - 35 (used)
sata dvdrw - 22 (new)
awaiting on new coolermaster heatsink availability.. or free shipping on the macho.
but so far i'm around 700.

but you have to hunt.
 
Do you live by a Microcenter?

Also, if you don't mind, answer the questions in this post (http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1349433) because I don't think I've seen you post what your total budget is for the parts you need to get (it's better to look at the total purchase price of the system rather than the price of individual parts.)

I would also suggest MSI in addition to Asus for your motherboard. Gigabyte is decent too. But if you answer the questions in the post I linked to above, I'll throw together a parts list for you.
 
2500K at microcenter for 179.99 and if you buy a mother board with it they knock about 40$ off the mobo
 
If you hunt the forums long enough youll find deals better then retail. Took me a few days of searching non stop but picked up a i5-2500k for $180 shipped P8P67 Pro rev 3 mobo for $140 shipped. Total built whole complete PC Hawk HD5770 1gb vid card G.skill 1600 8gb ram etc etc $632.50 shipped. That included a 20" monitor. Theres great deals around here just need time and patience.
 
Yah, tbh just wait and buy a used one or like people have said get one from microcenter. Great deals on cpu+ mobo combo. Some ppl here sell Brand new in box for even around the price of microcenter its just a waiting game.
 
OP PM ME....

I have a Maximus IV Gene Z NIB. I have NO USE for it. Just trying to help you save some cash.

Now so I dont get ban hammered I am going to apply some recommendations along with my above.

The 2500K is really nice. And all honesty if you are going to use it for a long time I would recommend a brand new chip only because of the full warranty period. Also you know for sure that no one has juiced the piss out of it, did some damage, and is lying to you and trying to sell you some Gold plated cast iron widget because Intel refused to take it back.

I am very cautious about buying used CPU's unless I can physically inspect and test the processor.
 
Its been few days but I remember seeing 2 or 3 people selling BNIB i5-2500Ks for $180 shipped in Forsale thread
 
avddreamr said:
How much more than 800 are you willing to spend, and how much time are you going to spend scouring the forums for deals?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure.... i actually hita lkttle snag and had an unexpected bill come up. But I also might have gotten a go-ahead on a job I bid on.... in which case i might be good with $1k or so.... but I'm going to try and sell an old rig... maybe get a couple bux for it.

I should have a better idea by next weekend.

Tony - there is a microcenter near me.... and I'll answer that post when I get home... I'm out of town for the weekend and am using my tablet - which I'm not great at editing/ c&p'ing yet...
 
RacerX780 said:
Tony - there is a microcenter near me.... and I'll answer that post when I get home... I'm out of town for the weekend and am using my tablet - which I'm not great at editing/ c&p'ing yet...
Click to expand...

No worries. Just post here when you've got time and things have settled out for your build. It'll show up on my User CP and I can try to put some parts together. You can also peruse some of the builds that get posted over in General Hardware if you want to get some ideas for what other people are doing.
 
Tsumi said:
2x2 gigabyte RAM is enough for your needs.

What is your budget?

If you don't want to overclock, get a regular i5-2500. k models are meant for overclocking.

Overclocking is very simple with Sandy Bridge K processors. You just change the CPU ratio and the CPU voltage (vcore). And you always want to get a better heatsink, like the Hyper 212+ if you want to be cheap.

Builds with good upgrade paths tend to be AMD builds, as Intel tends to completely change the platform with each new release. However, you will be able to use ivy-bridge on Z68.
Click to expand...

The price premium is no longer there for 2x 4 GB (in fact, it's almost gone for 4x 4 GB - I'm seeing prices for 4x 4 GB of DDR3 I never saw for the same amount of DDR2; they are that low). The price premium is going away for Z68 as well; if you do transcoding or other CPU-intensive background tasks, Z68 remains the chipset of choice. The price diff between i5 non-K and i5-K is $30; if you plan on any overclocking at all, i5-K ay seem like a relative bargain.

If you run VMs in the background, that's where the need for more RAM comes in.
 
I always recommend the MSI P67A-GD65 board, because it has a button on the board for automatic overclocking. And it works great for those that are intimidated by o/c jargon. 4.2 ghz for free. Goes great with that 2500K!

- G
 
Tsumi said:
Builds with good upgrade paths tend to be AMD builds, as Intel tends to completely change the platform with each new release.
Click to expand...
While there is some truth in this from what I read it sounds like AMD are also planning to go down the "integrated graphics and PCIe" route. Add that to the fact that intel are currently a long way ahead of AMD in performance and it's difficult to reccomend an AMD build to anyone who isn't on a very tight budget.
 
Unfortunately, this plan has been placed on hold. :(

Due to a huge screwup at work, it doesn't look like I'll be able to move forward until mid-late Oct. Really, really stinks... not just for the rig, but for life stuff like rent and other bills. lol

Thanks everyone for their suggestions. Everything has been noted and I'm still going to be reading up on stuff and putting together the rig... hopefully be able to pull the trigger in another 6 weeks or so... which hey... maybe prices will fall a bit by then and I'll save a few bucks or get a little better of a rig. :D

On the flip side.... I should have more $$ once I'm ready. :D
 
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