Four $2k SB builds!

[Tvaz]

Hi all,

I have been lurking around HardOCP for years now. I have built a number of systems based on advice given on these boards. So to start, thanks to the community and the site for everything you guys do.

The reason I am posting my build this time is that my decisions will impact several other people who are going to match my build. Most of my builds in the past have been <$1k and this is the first time we are going for more of a dream build. That is why I am posting and asking the community to critique the components and build.

Questions Answered:
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Primary: Gaming
Secondary: Photoshop, web browsing, movies, programming, home movie editing
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Target: ~$2000.00 - Flexible if needed.
3) Where do you live?
Houston, Texas. Near a Fry’s, Microcenter, and Directron
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.
Motherboard, Power Supply, CPU, CPU HSF, RAM, Hard Drive, Solid State Drive (SSD), OS, Optical Drive, Headphones, Keyboard, Mouse, Fans (2 ?)
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Monitors. I game on a 1080p 32” Panasonic.
6) Will you be overclocking?
Yes. Not looking to redline, just a healthy/stable OC with the 2500K on air. 4.5ish sound right?
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
Different sizes, but we will be doing a 3x1 Eyefinity setup later (within the next year or so).
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Ordering this week.
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? Onboard video? etc.
Crossfire and Firewire required. USB 3.0 preferred. Don’t typically do RAID.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
We will need to purchase a copy of Win 7.


Here is my build so far:
Case:
$100 - Fractal Design Define R3

Video Cards:
$510 - x2 HIS H695F2G2M Radeon HD 6950 2GB

Motherboard:
$180 - MSI P67A-GD65 (B3)

Power Supply:
$165 - CORSAIR HX Series CMPSU-850HX 850W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 80 PLUS SILVER

CPU:
$195 - Intel 2500K

CPU HSF:
$35 - CM Hyper 212 Plus

RAM:
$150 - x2 G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL

HD:
$60 - SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB

SSD:
$229 - Crucial C300 128GB

OS:
$100 - Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit System Builder 1pk

Optical Drive:
$20 - LG Black SATA DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM

Headphones:
$90 - Corsair CA-HS1NA Gaming Audio Series HS1 USB Gaming Headset

Keyboard:
???

Mouse:
$90 - Mionix NAOS 5000 7 Buttons USB Laser 5040 dpi Mouse

Fans:
x2 ???
---------------------------------------
TOTAL: 2078.21
Assuming $100 for keyboard and $40 for fans

My Questions (in addition to the critique):
1. Is my power supply (850 HX) going to be the sweet spot for this build?
2. Haven’t purchased an MSI MB before. I was going to go with the ASUS offerings, but I have been reading about quite a number of issues around those boards. Thoughts?
3. I was having issues settling on a SSD. Is it worth it to move to the Intel 510 SSD or another brand over the C300 all things considered?
4. I have two HIS 6950s selected and I can’t find any comparative reviews against similar 6950s. I assume it is a reference card that will allow for shader unlock. I saw somewhere that these run a bit too hot for a bios flash. Anyone with experience on this particular card? Should I drop some more cash and get a different brand?
5. With this build, will I need to add five fans instead of the two I planned to keep this from getting too hot? I like the idea of keeping the case quiet, but will adjust if needed.

My notes:
1. I will review the links to make sure we use the HardOCP pass through when we do this.
2. I had Yate Loons before on my current rig. Not sure what I should be going for this time.
3. Split between a Logitech slim backlit keyboard and the Razor backlit mechanical. I am up for alternatives as well. I will take a look at the keyboard threads today.

Thanks everyone!

- Tvaz

 

[Katalysis]

1. That should be plenty, those are good PSUs.
2. I'm not sure. I just bought the Asos P8P67 Pro personally, but it seems like all the SB mobos have an equal number of fans/detractors. Asus reps seem to be on the ball, which is what pushed me toward them (and good past experience).
3. From the benches I have seen, the C300 is a better drive for your money than the 510. If you were going for something else, I would try to get my hands on an OCZ Vertex 3, but they are hard to come by at this point.

I'm not sure if this is the same keyboard your are mentioning or not, but I have a Logitech illuminated at work (typing on it right now). Great for typing, shit for gaming. Not sure if that is the one you are talking about.

 

[Tvaz]

Yeah, I was talking about the Logitech Illuminated. If it sucks for gaming, then I'll pass on it. Not sure I will be happy with the clatter of the load Razor keyboard though.

 

[Katalysis]

Yeah, I was talking about the Logitech Illuminated. If it sucks for gaming, then I'll pass on it. Not sure I will be happy with the clatter of the load Razor keyboard though.

There are keyblocking issues that makes it nearly useless for certain games. However, it is awesome for typing, which is why I took it to the office.

 

[Dangman]

1) Yes
2) If you want to deal with Asus' Customer suppport, then go for the Asus. But if you want a mobo with a higher chance of you not dealing with customer support, I'd stick with the MSI.
3) Not really
4) No experience with those cards. I generally recommend MSI, Asus, or XFX branded HD 6950 cards over HIS due to HIS' lacklust customer support. I generally only recommend HIS when the budget is tight.
5) Since you're planning on TWO HD 6950 cards, yes you're gonna need all 5 fans. Go for the Yateloon Fans as they're still some of the cheapest bang for the buck fans out there. If those don't work for you, try these out:
$16 - Scythe SY1225SL12L 120mm "Slipstream" Case Fan

 

[Tvaz]

I have settled on getting the Razer BlackWidow Ultimate ($120 on Amazon) for the time being. I am going to stop by Fry's and take a look at it before I purchase just to make sure I like the keystrokes/noise. Thanks Katalysis for the heads up on the Logitech Illuminated.

As far as the 6950s, I'm going to swap them out for the MSIs. Thanks for the suggestion Danny Bui.

I'll update the original post with the rest of the changes as well.

I had some cooling specific questions that I posted in the Cooling forum here.

As a side question, some of my items require coupon codes with Newegg. Do they accept multiple coupons per order? If so, it looks like the C300 dropped back to $200

 

[munkle]

You could save some money by getting a windows family pack with 3 licenses, they are like $99-129 so thats at least $50 saved on each pc (up to 3). So somebody has to buy the full version or another family pack and have 2 extra licenses. I'm not sure how happy ms is about using an upgrade on a new pc, it's possible though and they haven't said anything against it as far as I know. But if you shouldn't do it then I wouldn't do it.

 

[tonytnnt]

I have settled on getting the Razer BlackWidow Ultimate ($120 on Amazon) for the time being. I am going to stop by Fry's and take a look at it before I purchase just to make sure I like the keystrokes/noise. Thanks Katalysis for the heads up on the Logitech Illuminated.

Any reason you're not considering the Logitech G19, G510, or G110?

 

[Dangman]

As a side question, some of my items require coupon codes with Newegg. Do they accept multiple coupons per order? If so, it looks like the C300 dropped back to $200

They do

 

[munkle]

They do

The only thing to watch out for is you can't stack them on the same item, for example: $10 off of a a $85 hdd, making it $75, then a coupon for $25 off over orders over $50 wont work since you are stacking two coupons on one item.

 

[bastage]

2) If you want to deal with Asus' Customer suppport, then go for the Asus. But if you want a mobo with a higher chance of you not dealing with customer support, I'd stick with the MSI.

Wow danny.. Where did that come from. I couldnt disagree more with that. Every MSI board I have had in recent years has had issues. Several other people can attest to the same thing. I Would actually recommend a Biostar over an MSI for reliability. And Asus is for sure the better product.

 

[Dangman]

Wow danny.. Where did that come from. I couldnt disagree more with that. Every MSI board I have had in recent years has had issues. Several other people can attest to the same thing. I Would actually recommend a Biostar over an MSI for reliability. And Asus is for sure the better product.

Well it's based off the rather .above-normal Asus P67 motherboard issues I've been seeing in this forum. I haven't heard of any above normal issues with the MSI P67 motherboards.

 

[bastage]

I would blame that on just having more asus boards out there.
Posted via Mobile Device

 

[munkle]

I would blame that on just having more asus boards out there.
Posted via Mobile Device

I'd personally blame it on asus, they make some good products and then they make some utterly crap products. All my mother boards have been asus. my a8n-e was great, I bought a 780g board that was complete crap, and users had been complaining about the same problems I had for over a year on asus's forums and they never got fixed. I shipped it back to newegg and for what is pretty much the exact same board but with an 880g chipset/sb instead, this board is perfect no problems at all. I helped my friend put together an asus p8p67 pc and the mobo had all sorts of quirks which were all gone when he got a b3 board (same model).

 

[Cerulean]

Do you legally own a copy of Photoshop?

EDIT:

 

[bastage]

I'd personally blame it on asus, they make some good products and then they make some utterly crap products. All my mother boards have been asus. my a8n-e was great, I bought a 780g board that was complete crap, and users had been complaining about the same problems I had for over a year on asus's forums and they never got fixed. I shipped it back to newegg and for what is pretty much the exact same board but with an 880g chipset/sb instead, this board is perfect no problems at all. I helped my friend put together an asus p8p67 pc and the mobo had all sorts of quirks which were all gone when he got a b3 board (same model).

heh.. Sounds to me like your blaming ASUS for chipset issues. In both scenario's the change was the chipset & problem resolved..

Historically I have built systems with probably 75% Asus boards15% MSI 5% Intel & 5% everything else. Everything has problems, But the failure rate of Asus boards has been Way below the rest. In fact I have never had to RMA an Asus board at all. MSI on the other hand I have had several issues with on multiple occasions where I have needed to send back to vendor (newegg in one & fry's on a couple others). As of late honestly I would buy Biostar before MSI & definitely Asus or Gigabyte at the top of my list.

 

[munkle]

heh.. Sounds to me like your blaming ASUS for chipset issues. In both scenario's the change was the chipset & problem resolved..

Historically I have built systems with probably 75% Asus boards15% MSI 5% Intel & 5% everything else. Everything has problems, But the failure rate of Asus boards has been Way below the rest. In fact I have never had to RMA an Asus board at all. MSI on the other hand I have had several issues with on multiple occasions where I have needed to send back to vendor (newegg in one & fry's on a couple others). As of late honestly I would buy Biostar before MSI & definitely Asus or Gigabyte at the top of my list.

Except they weren't chipset problems they were problems only the asus boards expierenced. The 780g board (m4a785g I think it was) had horrible memory compatibility because you couldn't select 1t/2t, it would default to 1t which alot of memory doesn't like. There were other bugs (cold boot problems) that could have been easily fixed with a bios update. The p8p67 had the double boot issue, which as far as I know it only affected asus boards (I could be wrong on this one), and other odd quirks which could have been the chipset, but the b3 and the old chipset are exactly the same minus one transistor if that one transistor caused all those problems then great that it fixed them but I doubt it it was the cause of all of them.

I think we are getting a little off topic

 

[Dangman]

I would blame that on just having more asus boards out there.
Posted via Mobile Device

I'm just chalking it up to QC issues with Asus. This doesn't mean that I'm not against Asus in general as evident by all the Asus products I've recommended.