Help me Spend $2500

[Virtualarc7]

I am purchasing a new computer in the next few days and I’ve been trying to find out how best to spend my money as I generally only rebuild every 3-4 yrs with only minor upgrades in between. Will be used for multitasking , Gaming and will be on all the time – I basically only restart my current rig for updates. I use ram intensive apps, vm’s, dns, lots of video converting and burning as well

I apologize for wall of text below – scroll down for list without my rambling – and thanks for reading

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
My priority is gaming I guess, I do a lot of video conversion, burning, music, web browsing, voice dictation, streaming net flix etc… I basically live on my computer – I work from home, take online courses and use it a ton

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$2500 is my hard cap including shipping, im in CT so no newegg tax

3) Where do you live?
Stamford, CT

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.
Case, mobo, ram, dvd burner x2, psu, cpu, cooler, ssd, storage drive 2tb+, gfx card, might need a sound card im unsure

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
2 monitors (gateway fhd2400 24” 1920x1200, Samsung syncmaster 19” 1024x1280 portrait mode) Logitech keyboard\mouse, I have an intel 320 120gb I can use still new from retail edge sale but would rather a bigger boot drive ssd on this computer and sata iii.

6) Will you be overclocking?
Yes I plan to try and push my chip towards 5ghz or there about

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
(gateway fhd2400 24” 1920x1200, Samsung syncmaster 19” 1024x1280 portrait mode) I generally game on 24” multitask on 19”

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
I plan to order by Tuesday the 5th if not before

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.
I need sata 6gb/s, usb 3.0, id like to set up raid on at least my storage drives (or be able to as I add drives), id like to oc the igpu, uefi bios, but beyond that no idea what ill need, is smart response useful for a non-boot drive? My guess is no

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Yes win 7 pro 64 bit



So far the parts I’ve been looking at:

CPU:
i7 2600k ($315) and corsair h60 ($70), definitely need the i7 for multitasking and video conversion, I plan to oc and am hoping h60 can handle it, im open to cooler suggestions

Mobo:
Asus p8z68 deluxe ($255 but 10 off on newegg atm so $245), really like the asus bios, PLX chip, higher oc potential and virtu. I like the gigabyte ud4-b3 as well and liked ez tune software but bios lacking mouse support was problematic for me

Ram:
16gb cas 7 g.skill 1333 ram ~$190 anything better?

Video card:
liked gtx 570 ($340), or hd 6970 2gb ~same price, i was favoring nvidia cause i could use my gtx 280 or 9600gt to run physx

PSU.
ax850 ($190), for efficiency/warranty 850 might be excessive w/o gtx580 now tho

Ssd.
crucial m4 256gb ($420), unless someone can suggest raiding or a different 240+gb size drive

Hdd:
Settled on samsung ecogreen f4 2tb not sure how many or if ill raid yet

Optical:
2x dvd burners, asus, light on, Samsung or lg – I have 2 samsung drives now and theyre great unless I run both at once then they crawl, might just be my set up (~$20 each)

Cases:
Rosewill Blackhawk (~$100) – case must be painted inside, prefer front panel usb 3.0 like top mounted front panel



TLDR Version below

So the build I’m thinking of looks like this

I7+h60 - $385
P8z68 deluxe $245
G.Skill cas 7 16gb $190
GTX 570 $340
AX850 $190
256gb Crucial M4 $430 - bundle with 2600k $30 off
1x hd 2tb SAMSUNG EcoGreen F4 $80
Case $100
2x Asus DVDS on sale atm $40

$2000

edit#1 - changed components, added forum questions and revised parts i was looking at.


I can’t spend over $2500 but am willing to take suggestions to improve the build in any way or just any comments for or against certain parts I chose or missed. Thanks again for reading this far!

 

[Valaire]

You mentioned SLI -- what resolution do you game at? That will determine whether you need/want SLI, or how much you need to spend on a current-gen graphics card.

 

[DarthV]

Unless you have software that will take advantage of the higher speed rated (or lower latency) RAM, there's really no reason to overspend on it for a sandy bridge rig. Not much of a real world gain for 16gb of that $600 stuff compared to doubling up my pc1333 8gb kits that would come out to $100. So I'd look into that before spending $260 on memory.

For the motherboard, unless you're looking at extreme overclocking, I wouldn't buy a mobo based on that as one of the criteria. For the most part you're going to be limited on by the CPU. Haven't really kept up on the z68 boards, but most of the midrange p67 boards have no problems providing enough voltage to hit 5ghz. The problem is always finding a cpu that can hit the high multipliers and pulling heat off of it. Not saying it's a nice board, just saying that you don't need crazy expensive ones to OC a 2500k/2600k to 4.5ghz The H60 will handle 4.5ghz easily. Or it better damn well do it if my $25 hyper 212+ can!

 

[Virtualarc7]

Valaire –
for the time being I’ll be gaming at 1920x1200. I have a second screen in portrait mode 1024x1280 but I don’t use it for games and such, so it seems that answered the sli question, at 1920x1200 it just isn’t necessary – sorry I’m an air head at times – thanks

DarthV –
yea the $600 ram was never a serious consideration and if real world gains aren’t much from say 1600-2133 speed ram I’d look into corsair vengeance 1600 16gb kit for ~170 and they’re blue – I don’t know much about memory performance I usually try to get the highest rated affordable memory my mobo can support and just go from there.
Im not sure I need a z68 but I liked the features and the ability to oc the igpu which I will use for transcoding often – the deluxe may be overboard (pun intended), but I had read that the pro version’s pciex4 was more of a decoration if other 2 pcie’s are used (misinformation?) so instead of thinking about that I just went with the pro for the extra PLX chip. Should I look into p67’s? I just ignored them in my own research

 

[Valaire]

My advise as to where you went astray in terms of $/performance is:

Video card: Get a 6950, you don't need more than that, and they are a great single-card solution. If you can find a reference 6950 you can unlock the shaders so that it gives the performance of a 6970.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127555

That card is a MSI reference card, it's out of stock right now though. $255. That should handle any game out there at 1900 x 1200.

RAM - Sandybridge no longer needs or wants high speed DDR. Get 8GB or 16GB of the g.skill ripjaws DDR3 1066. Same performance.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...9&cm_re=g.skill_ripjaw-_-20-231-309-_-Product

P67 vs. z68 -- If you want to use the iGPU you need to get the z68 and use virtu. Keep in mind this does cause you to take an FPS hit in games unfortunately. Otherwise if you don't want to use the transcoding engine and aren't using SSD cache (you shouldn't -- just buy a big SSD), then you can certainly save money and get a p67 if you want.

 

[Virtualarc7]

That was a big help with the ram, thanks! ill switch to those.

ill read more on the reference 6950 too

appreciate the advice =)

 

[J Macker]

+1 for the Radeon 6950 2GB. Awesome card, great price/performance.

No need for spending $200 more on a GTX 580.

 

[Virtualarc7]

i see now the gtx 580 was overkill, switched interest to 6970 or gtx 570 (favoring gtx 570) - also changed a lot due to suggestions\more research
thanks for comments!

 

[Virtualarc7]

I pulled the trigger, so here is final list - will arrive early next week

corsair 600t se white
i7 2600k
h60 (might return for h80 or air cooling, undecided)
corsair ax-850
asus p8z68 deluxe
xfx 6950 2gb
crucial 256 gb m4
16gb g.skill cas 7 ddr3 1333 ram
Asus xonar essence stx
2x asus 24x burners
1x wd 2tb green (was on sale)

any big error anyone sees that i should return/replace?

also on a side note bought a fujitsu scansnap s1500 off of good reviews - anyone have any experience with fujitsu scanners?

 

[bigdogchris]

With single monitor gaming and web browsing you don't need to spend anything close to $2500. Maybe if it was 1995 again.

 

[Virtualarc7]

your right, my circumstances are a bit unusual, my current rig in sig couldn't manage, i'm sure i could've managed with less