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Need to finalize

A

aixelsyd

n00b
Joined
Sep 24, 2003
Messages
14
I need to finalize my build to make sure I'm on the right track. Any input would be appreciated.

My current system is pretty much going to go to my kids. Just taking a couple parts that I just had upgraded and moving them to the new box. So it's pretty much a new build with some not so old pieces coming along. My other box will be fine as I kept the parts I had in it before...

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc

Gaming, Web browsing and other minor things. Games include Star Craft II, WoW, and when it comes out the new Star Wars game. I'm not a power gamer but I like my system to be capable of playing any game on the market.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?

$1400

3) Where do you live?

Southern Ohio.

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
RAM
Motherboard
Hard Drives
Processor

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.

MSI R6850 Cyclone PE/OC Radeon HD 6850
Antec EarthWatts EA-650 GREEN 650W
(1) Western Digital Caviar Green WD15EARS 1.5TB SATA
Logitech G15 keyboard
Logitech G9 mouse - I think that's it.

6) Will you be overclocking?

I would like it to be an option.

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?

ASUS VH238H Black 23" - already have

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?

In a couple weeks at most.

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.

RAID (SATA 6Gb/s), a second RAID set, Crossfire, SATA 6Gb/s, USB 3.0

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

I will purchase Windows 7 64bit professional.

Here is what I have figured out so far:

CASE: Rosewill CHALLENGER
Power: Antec EarthWatts EA-650 GREEN 650W (have)
MB: GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD4-B3
Video: MSI R6850 Cyclone PE/OC Radeon HD 6850 (have one / 2nd one for Crossfire)
CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz
Mem: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL
Drives - OS: (2) WD6402AAEX 640GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb (set in RAID0)
Drives - Storage: (2) WD15EARS 1.5TB SATA 3.0Gb (reuse 1 & buy1 for a RAID1)
Cooler: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1 + and additional fan for push pull.
DVD Drive: ASUS DRW-24B1ST (I may try and reuse an older LiteOn LH-20A1L-05 - it works well)
SATA Cables: OKGEAR 18" SATA 6 Gbps Cable (right angle - the challenger case mounts the drives sideways).

I'd rather not go with SSD drives for now. If someone can make a case for them I may be swayed. I figure the OS drive in a RAID0 above would be fast enough. I might even short choke the drives. The second set of disks in a RAID1 will be for user files / backups of course. If someone knows of a motherboard that supports 4 drives in a 6Gbs SATA config for Sandy please let me know.

The only thing I'm tied to is the parts I already own. If you know of a better suggestion for the memory, motherboard, CPU or whatever I'd like to hear it. Especially the memory.

As for the CPU most of what I do is gaming so I figure the i5 is what I need. Video encoding is something I do from time to time but that can run whenever so speed isn't an issue.

The other stuff: The cables I just tossed in the list since I have them in my list. If there is a better cable or if 10" ones would be long enough I'd like to hear it. I know the coolermaster just fits in that case. I had previously considered a Zalman cooler but this was cheaper and looked to rate good.

I could skip on the second card for now and add it when it matters. Probably should and save the $$$ for something else like maybe a faster CPU or more memory.


Thanks!

Aixelsyd
 
Overall, I like it. And thank you for answering the sticky!

A few suggestions, but I'm not going to total them as I'm not entirely sure where your budget is at with the parts you selected.

I think that RAM is sold out. (Is it this one? I had to search for it and guess a bit.) Check this link often as Newegg can sometimes "find" more quickly.
There are other alternatives, but they all cost $100.

$100 - G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
$100 - CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600

You can save some money by going to DDR1333 without losing much performance, but with your budget you may not need to.
$80 - G.SKILL Value Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333

If you'd like to Crossfire, supposedly you can combine 6850s with 6870s, (but not 68xxs with 69xxs.) So you might be able to get a small boost in performance that way.

For the motherboard, this is what you want.
$180 - MSI P67A-GD65. It has 4 SATA 6Gb ports, 4 SATA 3Gb ports, and two raid controllers (Intel on ports 1-6, and Marvell on ports 7-8.) The board has also been getting very good overclocks. All the MSI P67 boards have been doing pretty well so far.

Why would you want SSDs over RAID-0? Access time. A single SSD is about 5 as fast as a 3 drive raptor array in raid-0 for access time, and is similar in sustained read/write. (here's a forum post review with some screenshots.) The access time is even better for small files instead of random sized files on the SSD. I'm sure there are other people who can explain the advantages better than I can, but SSDs rock.
 
That's the RAM. I'm guessing the $25 off is what made it sold out. I'll have to go over what you wrote. Thank you for the other options.

I did not look at the MSI board. I've only gone with Gigabyte and ASUS in the past but I'll give that one a hard look over. I like that 4 port RAID.

I've read about the SSD drives a bit. I'll read over it some more.

Thanks for the pointers.
 
Turns out I didn't read over the SSD stuff enough (I admit I glossed over it from time to time). That is impressive and will be going with at least a single SSD. Maybe I can squeeze out some more for two. ;)
 
I recommend this SSD for now:
$135 - Crucial RealSSD C300 CTFDDAC064MAG-1G1 2.5" 64GB SSD

Though apparently the faster Crucial C400 series are due on Monday and Intel's 310 series SSDs are also due out soon.
 
aixelsyd said:
That's the RAM. I'm guessing the $25 off is what made it sold out. I'll have to go over what you wrote. Thank you for the other options.

I did not look at the MSI board. I've only gone with Gigabyte and ASUS in the past but I'll give that one a hard look over. I like that 4 port RAID.

I've read about the SSD drives a bit. I'll read over it some more.

Thanks for the pointers.
Click to expand...

When it comes to the P67 mobos, Gigabyte really missed it this round: None of their LGA 1155 mobos have a UEFI BIOS at all. Instead, they slapped some UEFI-compatible features into their legacy BIOSes for those mobos. In fact, Gigabyte is the only LGA 1155 mobo line to still use that old Award BIOS two years after Phoenix Technologies stopped using the Award name and ceased support for the Award BIOS line (in favor of the Phoenix SecureCore line of BIOSes, which is so far provided only to big-name OEM computer manufacturers). This forced Gigabyte to "fabricate" new updated BIOSes for their boards without the help of Phoenix Technologies. Most of the other mobo manufacturers chose to use a BIOS from AMI.

As for Asus, they have a slightly higher than average number of problematic mobos.
 
> Though apparently the faster Crucial C400 series are due on Monday and Intel's 310 series SSDs are also due out soon.[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the heads up on that. I was planning on that C300 model but it's sold out at least at Newegg. I'll find another source but I can hold off a few days on ordering. At least this time I didn't order something and have it be "old" before it arrived. That or miss getting it even cheaper.

I've settled on the MSI motherboard with the i5 2600k. That and at least 1 SSD if not 2.

Thanks for all the information. I really appreciate it.
 
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