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Need advice on my new computer build

D

dullryan

n00b
Joined
Dec 9, 2011
Messages
20
Here is the list of components that I researched for my new build. Any advice is much appreciated.

1. Video Card: HIS IceQ Turbo Radeon 6670 1h 128-bit PCI express 2.1x16 ( http://www.Newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=14-161-383 )
2. Case: Antec Lanboy air Blue Black/Blue Mid Tower ( http://www.Newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=11-129-093)
3. Mobo: MSI Intel P67 SATA 6 gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel ( http://www.Newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=13-130-574)
4. PSU: OCZ ZX Series 850 W fully modular 80 plus gold ( http://www.Newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=17-341-044)
5. CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K sandy bridge (3.7 turbo boost) LGA1155 3000 ( http://www.Newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=19-115-072)
6. HDD#1: Intel 320 series 120 gb SATA II SSD (OS HDD) ( http://www.Newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=20-167-052)
7. HDD#2: Seagate Barracuda 7200 rpm sata 6.0 gb/s 1Tb (storage HDD) ( http://www.Newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=22-148-697)
8. RAM: GSKILL ripjaws serious 16 gb (4x4 gb) 240-pin DDR3 SDRAM ( http://www.Newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=20-231-315 )
9. Keyboard: Microsoft sidewinder x4 ( http://www.Newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=22-148-697)
10. Monitor: Acer 21.5" 5ms backlight LCD ( http://www.Newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=24-009-261)
11. Mouse: Logitech G500 10 buttons dual mode scroll wheel USB wired laser gaming mouse ( http://www.Newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=26-104-318)
12. OS: windows 7

I will be using it for gaming, internet, streaming movies, ms office type programs, and general multitasking. Do not plan to overclock.
Please give me any advice on any of these components. Thanks.
 
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If you can answer the sticky questions at the top, we'll get a better feel for your needs and can provide some better advice. Also if you could provide more details (or links) to the specific components you picked (like RAM speed).

Off the bat though, I'd say that's way more PSU than you need for that setup (even 520W would be fine), you can easily drop from the 2500K to the i5-2400 if you aren't going to overclock (and maybe even lower), and you could consider swapping that Seagate drive for either a higher performance one or a lower-power green drive, and chances are you can get the higher performing Crucial M4 for the same (or near same) price as the Intel 320.
 
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc This is mainly a multitasking pc but will be gaming, web browsing, ms office, hd video streaming
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included? $1500 not including tax and shipping
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible. U.S. Clovis, CA
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. CPU, RAM, case, ps, mon., mobo, mouse, keyboard, hdds (1 for os, 1 for storage), video card
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. Only reusing an external dvd drive by hp
6) Will you be overclocking? Don't plan on it.
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it? Don't have a monitor but would like 1080hd if possible. If not then 720.
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC? Over the next 6 months
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Crossfire support not necessary but could be good for future, USB 3.0, SATA 6 Gb/s, eSATA for future. Any other features to consider?
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64 bit? Need an OS. Windows 7. My other system is 64 bit. Should I keep it the same or does it matter?
 
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We usually don't recommend OCZ PSUs due to poor customer support and reliability issues. Typically Antec Earthwatts/Neo, Corsair, and Seasonic are great manufacturers. For your specs, since you don't plan on overclocking, anything over 600W would work fine.

Also, why are you going with a 6670? With your budget you should be able to work in at least a 6870, if not a 6950.
 
What is the point of overclocking? Is it just to give more performance on games and videos?
 
dullryan said:
What is the point of overclocking? Is it just to give more performance on games and videos?
Click to expand...

Games and other CPU intensive tasks, like encoding.

Well, for that budget I'd spend the extra $30 and get the 2500K so you can overclock if you decide to later. How about this build:

$319 Intel 2500K and MSI P67-G43 (B3)
$44 G.Skill Sniper 8GB DDR3-1600
$65 Antec Neo ECO 620W
$179 Crucial M4 128GB SSD
$129 Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB
$179 XFX 6870 1GB
$100 Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

So that's $1015 without a case, monitor and keyboard/mouse. There are also $50 worth of rebates available. You didn't mention what kind of gaming, but for about $100 more you could jump to a 6950 2GB and get better performance in games. If you want to save some money, with hard drives so expensive now, you could go with a single fast 1TB HDD instead of the SSD/HDD combo - that would save you close to $200. Something like the Hitachi 7K1000.D, which is $120 (Hitachi 7K1000.D)
 
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Overclocking essentially is pushing components past their factory default for performance gains.

All hardware that comes out of a factory are actually capable of performing higher than what they are rated for, but obviously the manufacturers don't have time to go through them one by one adjusting them. Think of it as tuning a car, just about any new car can be tuned without swapping out any hardware to perform better, but it's impossible for manufacturers to do this before selling it.

For computers, the two major components people overclock are the CPU and GPU. Both involve a process of setting higher multipliers/clock rates, and slowly increasing the power output to these components, until a stable balance is achieved between the two. The intel 2500k and 2600k are extremely easy to overclock since their multipliers are unlocked, allowing you to simply type in a number for the multiplier to overclock.

GPUs are typically a bit more complicated, depending on which brand you buy, brands such as Asus and MSI have packaged software for overclocking.

Overall, overclocking is a free way to get that extra bit of performance from you parts without having to upgrade them.
 
Tsuyoi: Thanks for the info.
Forceman: Planning on doing some light gaming, Statecraft 2, WOW, Command and Conquer, maybe get into some Battlefield or Skyrim

To the both of you thanks for the help. I've built a few computers with the help of a friend but this'll be my first solo project.
 
It's been a while since I've checked with everyone on what to get and as a result some of the items that have been suggested are no longer available on Newegg. Are there any other options for the build that I'm hoping to get? I won't be building it in the near future but will buy each piece periodically. Please see my earlier post that answers the sticky questions about new builds.
 
dullryan said:
It's been a while since I've checked with everyone on what to get and as a result some of the items that have been suggested are no longer available on Newegg. Are there any other options for the build that I'm hoping to get? I won't be building it in the near future but will buy each piece periodically. Please see my earlier post that answers the sticky questions about new builds.
Click to expand...
As clearly shown in the other build lists in this very thread, parts can become outdated, overpriced, out of stock, or out performed in a short amount of time. Not to mention that Intel is planning on releasing new CPUs in late April/early May and prices on AMD GPUs should be going lower now that Nvidia is releasing new GPUs. Since you apparently still have another three months in your build time, planning this early does not help you. Your best bet for up-to-date build advice is to ask when you're 2-3 weeks away from buying most of or the entire PC. So save your money and wait until then.

The few times I recommend buying each piece periodically is if you know a lot about computer hardware and computer hardware market and can keep an eye for deals often.
 
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