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New build advice?

M

Master of Shakes

n00b
Joined
Nov 29, 2011
Messages
17
1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Mainly FPS gaming and light AutoCad work for school.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Approximately $1500, give or take some for shipping and tax
]3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
U.S. in Cali
]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.
Need CPU, RAM, HD, Monitor, Motherboard, PSU and GPU
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Rosewell Blackhawk case
6) Will you be overclocking?
Possibly, new to this but would like to have the capability down the road.
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
Depends, if I get the Asus mentioned below it will be 23' 1920x1080. (looking for the 120mhz for FPS)
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Building
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.
Lacking in knowledge about mobo's but USB 3.0, enough PCI to fit the asus GTX 570 and later a sound card.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Windows 7 64bit


Appreciate the help!

Monitor: Asus VG236HE $320
Motherboard: Asus P8P67 Pro (Rev 3 or 3.1?) $180
CPU: Intel i5 SandyBirdge 2500K $180
GPU: Asus GTX 570 Direct CUII $340
PSU: Corsair HX750 $150
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (1600 DDR3 8-8-8-24) $65
HD: Samsung Spinpoint 1TB $150
CASE: Rosewill Blackhawk

Will this system be adequately cooled? Everything will fit properly and be compatible? My PSU is big enough? Any advice would help as this is my first build, thanks for your time!
 
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Please answer the stickied "ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS FIRST!" so that we can help you better.

But off the bat, there are several issues:
- I wouldn't bother with the either revision o fthe Asus P67 mobo due the 3.0's troublesome history and the 3.1's hasn't been out that long. Can't recommend other mobos until you answer the above questions however.

- That RAM is overpriced. An 8GB set of RAM should not cost more than $45. You should be fine with this RAM:
$43 - G.Skill Sniper F3-12800CL9D-8GBSR 2 x 4GB DDR3 1600 RAM

- That Samsung drive isn't the optimal choice for a hard drive. This Hitachi drive is faster:
$156 - Hitachi Desktar 7K1000.D HDS721010DLE630 1TB SATA 6.0Gb/s Hard Drive
 
Didn't see that but I edited my post with answers to those questions. So an 8-8-8-24 timing doesnt make much difference when compared to a 9-9-9-24 timing? Appreciate the HD advice. Motherboard advice would be wonderful, thanks again for the help my man.
 
First thing Id suggest is a different monitor. I dont like 23" screens. Theyre shorter than a 22" 16:10. I suggest at least a 24" or 16:10 22".

2nd, dont think youll need 8GB of RAM. Nothing wrong with having it but its not really necessary especially for a gaming rig.

I agree with not going with P67. Z68 seems to be much more trouble free judging by the lack of posts on various forums. I see a lot of people bitching about problems with P67 boards but hardly any with Z68 issues. Plus Z68 lets you use the IGPU on your processor which is a good insurance policy in case your GPU ever takes a dump. Youll have a backup. So Id want a Asus Z68. The Maximus IV Gene-Z is the one Id love to have. Great overclocker, will take dual video cards (its mATX so you cant use 2 video cards and a sound card) and reasonably priced at $170.

GTX570 is a very solid video card thatll be plenty of horsepower for 1920x1080.

Other than that, looks pretty good.

As for RAM timings, no difference. The only place youd really see a difference is in benchmarks.
 
Master of Shakes said:
So an 8-8-8-24 timing doesnt make much difference when compared to a 9-9-9-24 timing?
Click to expand...

Yeah not much of a difference to justify the costs.

Since you're in California, I recommend buying as much of your parts as possible from Amazon.com since Amazon.com does not charge tax to CA residents like Newegg does. The only part you may have to get from Newegg is the hard drive.

If you do buy parts from Amazon.com, I recommend this RAM instead:
$40 - Kingston Hyper KHX1333C9D3B1K2/8G 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM

No, there isn't a big performance difference between DDR3 1333 and DDR3 1600 RAM.

As for the case, since you live in California, that case will come out to about $260 shipped. A bit pricey IMO considering that it's a Rosewill case. I recommend these other cases instead:
$80 - Lian Li Lancool PC-K58W ATX Case
$100 - Cooler Master CM690 II Advance nVidia Edition ATX Case
$100 - Cooler Master HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$100 - Lian Li PC-7B Plus II ATX Case
$110 - Lian Li PC-60FN ATX Case
$115 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-001WT White Full Tower ATX Case
$115 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-001BK Black Full Tower ATX Case
$125 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-002OR Black Finish w/Orange Trim Full Tower ATX Case
$100 - Corsair Carbide Series 400R ATX Case
$122 - Corsair Carbide Series 500R ATX Case
$120 - Lian Li PC-9F ATX Case
$120 - Fractal Design Define R3 White ATX Case
$130 - Fractal Design Define R3 Black ATX Case
$120 - Fractal Design Define R3 Silver Arrow ATX Case
$130 - Fractal Design Define R3 Titanium Grey ATX Case
$140 - Antec Performance One Series P183 V3 ATX Case
$140 - Cooler Master HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$140 - Silverstone RV03B-W ATX case
$150 - Corsair Graphite Series 600TM ATX Case
$160 - Silverstone RV02B-W ATX case
$164 - Corsair Special Edition White Graphite Series 600T ATX Case
$178 - Silverstone RV02B-EW ATX case
$190 - Corsair Obsidian Series 650D ATX Case
$230 - Silverstone FT02B ATX Case
$270 - Corsair Obsidian Series 800D CC800DW Full Tower ATX Case

Master of Shakes said:
Motherboard advice would be wonderful, thanks again for the help my man.
Click to expand...
Motherboard wise, I recommend this MSI Z68 Motherboard:
http://www.amazon.com/MSI-Z68A-GD55...3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1322960566&sr=1-3
 
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Good stuff for the RAM, I already have the rosewill case (got it for $70 on newegg on black friday, its not the ultra version btw). As far as a MB goes I'm leaning towards the ASRock Z68 Extreme4 because there are a lot more reviews? I don't particularly want a microATX board so I'm leaning towards ASRock or that MSI. Would there be space to add a soundcard with that down the road despite the Asus GTX 570 taking up three PCI ports? Really really appreciate this guys
 
Master of Shakes said:
Good stuff for the RAM, I already have the rosewill case (got it for $70 on newegg on black friday, its not the ultra version btw). As far as a MB goes I'm leaning towards the ASRock Z68 Extreme4 because there are a lot more reviews? I don't particularly want a microATX board so I'm leaning towards ASRock or that MSI. Would there be space to add a soundcard with that down the road despite the Asus GTX 570 taking up three PCI ports? Really really appreciate this guys
Click to expand...

I don't recommend AsRock at all since they only have a 1-2 year warranty on their motherboards. MSI, Asus, and Gigabyte have three year warranties. If the sound card is either a PCI or PCI-E x1 card, then yes there will be space to add a sound card down the road with that MSI, If you look, there's a PCI-E x1 slot right above the first PCI-E x16 slot and two PCI slots below the second PCI-E x16 slot. So there are plenty of room to add a sound card.

The Asus P8Z68-V is another solid choice for a mobo:
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0364996
 
The CPU and Mobo combo from microcenter? or somewhere else? I'm praying its online because its like a 5 hour drive and I have two finals on monday.

Edit: Damn well it looks like I could have bought it online and just picked it up another time but the microcenter near me is out of both. I wodner if I can call them, order it and then pick them up when theyre back in stock. Keep your fingers crossed!
 
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That mobo is out of stock? Or you can't get to MC tomorrow?

If either of the above is true, you could always wait a few more days and see if MC has any similar deals for December.
 
Both are true unfortunately. Yeah I'm gonna wait a bit, I plan on signing up for a Citibank Dividend card cause you get $200 back if you spend $1000 in your first 3 months, so that will knock down the price a bit too. Thanks again for the help man, really appreciate it!
 
FWIW. I have the same issue with the Microcenter here. out of stock on the MB, I called again today and they told me they would have a similar sale on the boards starting Monday. The sales guy couldn't give me any more info, but did say I would still get the deal..

Soooo you might want to call them on Monday and see if that store is doing the same.
 
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