Help me with a 2500K build Please! The 3200+ Has Got To Go!

S

Shakezilla

[H]ard|Gawd
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Aug 15, 2004
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Ok so now that I am building this PC I have a couple issues.

Of course they are about my case getting along with my mobo (6 years since I last built a PC and still this is the must confusing part)

My Case has a 20 pin USB 3.0 cable for the front panel and a 5 pin USB cable for the front panel. My motherboard only has USB 2.0 10 pin headers. (It has no internal USB 3.0)

Is there a way to connect a 5 pin cable to a 10 pin header, and some kind of adapter for a 20 pin USB 3.0 to 10 pin header?

Other than this everything is going smooth. Have everything but my HD and CD/DVD drive installed (need to rip these out of my computer) and I sitll need to buy a Video card.

Also surprisingly neither my case nor PSU came with a power cord. I assume using a spare from 5 years ago will be ok? (both my Centurion 5 and Forton PSU came with power cables)


Thanks guys.



__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ok so now that BD is out and not looking to impressive. I wish it was but oh well.

So I obviously am i man who can go a long time without a computer upgrade. I want something that will last. But also now that I have a job also have upgrade possibilities.

So for the video card i am willing to go cheap. I do not see the reason to go big on a VC when in a year there will be and better. I am happy to play games at lower IQ.

1155 will have some new chips so that will be fine to upgrade down the road should I want something bigger and better.

I also want to feel like I got good deals. I enjoy slickdeals.net and our own Hot deals section. And hate seeing something for a ton cheaper a week later but that is life.

With that said on with the standard questionnaire.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc Gaming and Websurfing mostly. I plan to play BF3 and Diablo 3, probably Skyrim
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included? I would say $700ish out the door. Prefer closer to $550-600 I am by no means wealthy, and I am frugal, I want my stuff to have a good $/Performance ratio.
3) Which country do you live in? Farmington Hills Michigan. I have a MC within driving distance. Amazon and Newegg have both been good to me.
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? Processor, Motherboard, Ram, Videocard, Case
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Antec EarthWatts EA-650 650W PSU, F3 HD, CD/DVD Burner, Keyboard, Mouse and Monitor
6) Will you be overclocking? Some day. I think for now I iwll be happy with stock
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it? 21.5" 1920X1080
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC? Now, I am in no rush, if I can find a good deal on one thing, but say not a good deal on a VC, I can wait a week or three to find a good deal there
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video? Just standard features. USB 3.0 would be nice for the future, I don't plan to get another VC just upgrade the current one so no SLI or Xfire.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit? Windows 7 Home (I think) 64bit


What has me really interested at the moment and ready to start buying now (just got the PSU because it was a good deal) is the combo deal at MC: get $40/$80 off a Z68 mobo with purchase of a 2500K/2600K respectively. So I could get a 2500K and a cheap motherboard for $270 out the door +$15 MIR. That seems like a really great deal to me.

The bundled MOBO GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 Seems to have everything I need.

So far my list looks like:
CPU + MOBO: 2500K + Gigabyte GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 LGA 1155 Z68 mATX Intel Motherboard = $270 - 15MIR

Ram: It seems like every other day there is a deal for 2X4gb sticks of name brand ram for around $40. And from everything I have read it seems like timings and speed is not a huge issue. So I would like some recommendations here, or what to watch for. Kingston Technology HyperX 2X4GB $44 - $15 MIR = 29AR Anyone see any issues with this ram?

Videocard: I am liking the 6850. Or maybe a GTX 460 1gb. Probably something around $150 or less

Case: I was thinking either a Thermaltake
V3 Black Edition $38 - $10MIR or something else heap and not to ugly. An Antec 300 or CM HAF 912

So that right there puts me at: ~$500. If I were to get the listed case and find some ram for $40 and a VC for ~$150. Not too bad I think. I have a PSU, Monitor, keyboard/mouse, HD, and CD/DVD.

Later on I would think about getting a HSF to overclock and a SSD.

What do you guys think? Thanks a ton.
 
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CPU + mobo choice seems fine.

At the $150 price point for a video card, you're basically looking at a HD 6850 1GB from a low-tier manufacturer:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161384

However at $153 shipped, it's not exactly the best of deals. This XFX HD 6870 1GB is the better deal due to longer warranty, better customer support, and faster performance:
$185 - XFX HD-687A-ZHFC Radeon HD 6870 1GB PCI-E Video Card

Case wise, I would not recommend the V3 Black Edition when this significantly better NZXT case costs $13 more:
$50 - NZXT Source 210 Elite White with Black Front Trim ATX Case

The above NZXT case has better cable management and an extra fan over that TT case. And yes I would recommend the above NZXT case over the Antec 300. If you can find the HAF 192 for the same price, then that's a good alternative.
 
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Danny Bui said:
CPU + mobo choice seems fine.

At the $150 price point for a video card, you're basically looking at a HD 6850 1GB from a low-tier manufacturer:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161384

However at $153 shipped, it's not exactly the best of deals. This XFX HD 6870 1GB is the better deal due to longer warranty, better customer support, and faster performance:
$185 - XFX HD-687A-ZHFC Radeon HD 6870 1GB PCI-E Video Card

Case wise, I would not recommend the V3 Black Edition when this significantly better NZXT case costs $13 more:
$50 - NZXT Source 210 Elite White with Black Front Trim ATX Case

The above NZXT case has better cable management and an extra fan over that TT case. And yes I would recommend the above NZXT case over the Antec 300. If you can find the HAF 192 for the same price, then that's a good alternative.
Click to expand...

That NZXT is pretty slick. Digging the white on black and the painted inside.
Would I be too cheap of a bastard to go with the Non elite?
Elite 210 has: 3.0 USB, Tool-less bays, 140mm top fan included
Regular 210: $10 Cheaper, minus above goodies

I guess I could go for the 6870, it is only $23 more AR. And lifetime warranty. You have probably sold me.

Thanks Danny Bui

Forceman that ram looks like it is right in my price range.
 
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A 140mm case fan costs at least $15 by itself, so go with the Elite 210.
 
Ok so I ordered the Combo in OP from MC. The NZXT 210 Elite and the ram in OP from Amazon.

The 2500K has onboard video, so I can waita couple days to see if there is a better deal on a GPU, other wise I will get that 6870 on the 15th.

Thanks guys.
 
If by 5 pin USB connector you mean it is 5 pins in a row (instead of double stacked like the 10 pin one) you can just connect it to one side of the motherboard 10-pin header - not sure about the USB 3.0 connection though. And a power cord is a power cord, so it should be fine, unless it is obviously deficient in some way.
 
That's one hell of an upgrade a 3200+ system!!! that's like 5-6 years old!! I had one of those too that I had to tear down recently, replaced mine too with something more modern. You'll be pretty happy with your new system.

I agree with your choice of wanting a SSD in there, you will notice a big difference in how fast your OS boots up and how much faster your regular computing environment seems almost from the get go.

The funny thing is you probably won't understand the true difference between a regular hard drive with an OS on it and a SSD because of how old your previous system is, but you won't really care at the end of the day, cause that SSD will scream.

Don't forget that eventually down the line, if you want to add more hard drives to your case for extra storage purposes, you can upgrade to a bigger case like the HAF 922 or 932 if your money allows, and those cases are very durable and can definitely be reused across new builds/upgrades. The 932 is pretty cavernous, and will keep your system very cool.

Also, another advice, I don't know how you are with cable management (as in how you pack your cables inside your case), but you could use some zip lines and clean up your cable mess inside your case so that you'll give your system improved air flow, and that will enable it to last longer because your system won't heat up as much as usual and dust will still be a factor, but lessened, also makes it easier to clean your case with compressed air since everything is neat and out of the way.

Anyway, best of luck with your new computer!
 
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