New gaming rig.

[PvP-ForLife]

Hey everyone, the time has come to build up a new computer.
Take a look at the config. Here http://www.pcgarage.ro/vizualizare-wishlist/361642/
Any opinions/comments are appreciated!

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming, later on movie editing and media.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
~2500$
3) Where do you live?
Romania
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.
CPU, RAM, CASE, PSU, Video card, Sound card, MOBO, HDD, SDD, Optical devices
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
No parts will be reused
6) Will you be overclocking?
Yes as long as voltage and temperatures will be kept around stock/default
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
21" HD
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Near future
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.
USB3.0, Sata 3
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Win XP, will pass to Win7

 

[xBanzai89]

Answer these questions first. People on the forum will be able to get the proper hardware for your set budget. According to the converter I used for ROM to USD it looks like your budget is around $2750 USD. I think you can do better then what you have listed on that build.

Over all my biggest issue with the build is the GTX 580 3GB. What resolution are you running at? Unless you will be doing SLI on resolutions 2560x1400 and higher I do not see much point in buying a 3GB card, especially in single use.

 

[PvP-ForLife]

Answer these questions first. People on the forum will be able to get the proper hardware for your set budget. According to the converter I used for ROM to USD it looks like your budget is around $2750 USD. I think you can do better then what you have listed on that build.

Over all my biggest issue with the build is the GTX 580 3GB. What resolution are you running at? Unless you will be doing SLI on resolutions 2560x1400 and higher I do not see much point in buying a 3GB card, especially in single use.

Thanks for the quick reply, I took into consideration dropping the 3GB version for the regular 1.5GB one. The budget is about~2500$, the prices here are insane though...
I will answer the questions when I return home.

 

[xBanzai89]

Yeah I converted a few of the regular items to USD and noticed that the 2600k is about $100 over the current US price. That sucks. To top it off you maybe better off with the 2500k as well. If this is only for gaming and nothing that makes use of the hyperthreading (CAD, Photoshop, etc) you will not notice much of any difference between the two. You do not need 2000Mhz ram either. You will not see any difference between 2000MHz even compared to 1333MHz unless you are looking at synthetic benchmarks and since you are using unlocked multipliers for overclocking the ram will not limit you.

I am bored so I'll try winging a build off that site

Parts changed:
Intel Core i5 2500K - 810,65 RON (Same performance as the 2600k in gaming)
Asus P8P67 Pro rev. B3 - 350,80 RON (Deluxe is not worth the price premium)
Corsair 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1333MHz - 350,80 RON (Extra MHz will not help with performance and have unlocked multi for ocing)
Point Of View GeForce GTX 580 1.53GB - 1.727,86 RON (3GB is excessive for non SLI and far more expensive)
Samsung F4 2TB HDD - 316,29 RON (As fast as the WD 2TB and a lot more cheaper)
Intel 510 120GB SSD - 1.050,49 RON (OCZ has quality issues and lacks CS, Intel is far more reliable and has good speed)
Corsair CMPSU-650TX V2 - 339,99 RON (Better quality PSU for a bit more)

Same parts:
Carcasa Chieftec Giga Miditower DF-01B-OP Black - 179,01 RON
Unitate optica Blu-Ray Samsung SH-B123L/RSBP Retail - 346,78 RON
Placa de sunet Creative X-FI Titanium PCI-E bulk - 325,60 RON
Floppy Disk Alps 1.44 MB Negru - 41,13 RON

Grand total for all parts is 6.168,71 RON or 2242.53 USD. Total savings of 1428.71 ROM or 519.38 USD

I recommend looking into getting a better case with the money saved. You have a lot going into that computer and will need all the space plus cooling you can get.

I do not know if it is worth having a bluray player in the computer to be honest. I bought one for mine and after I got a PS3 I rarely use it, so you could potentially save more right there. If you do want it there could be cheaper alternatives.

I understand the need for a discrete sound card. I use one myself and could never go back to on board. Though I haven't been up to date on sound cards, so it maybe worthwhile looking at other cards in the price range of the titanium and see how they stack up.

Floppy drive? Floppy is a floppy. If you need it keep it.

 

[PvP-ForLife]

Intel Core i5 2500K - 810,65 RON (Same performance as the 2600k in gaming)

I was aiming for the 2600k unlocked for abit of flexibility in the future with respect to video/media processing. On top of that unlocked multi is a nice to have which will allow me to squeeze some extra performance within decent temperatures/voltages.

Asus P8P67 Pro rev. B3 - 350,80 RON (Deluxe is not worth the price premium)

I wonder if the big price gap is justified, a very good point !

Corsair 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1333MHz - 350,80 RON (Extra MHz will not help with performance and have unlocked multi for ocing)

Point taken, should I go for more ram ?

Point Of View GeForce GTX 580 1.53GB - 1.727,86 RON (3GB is excessive for non SLI and far more expensive)

I will drop the 3GB version for the cheaper 1.5GB GTX

Samsung F4 2TB HDD - 316,29 RON (As fast as the WD 2TB and a lot more cheaper)

Thought the 7200 rpm HDD from WD would benefit from greater performance.

Intel 510 120GB SSD - 1.050,49 RON (OCZ has quality issues and lacks CS, Intel is far more reliable and has good speed)

The OCZ was the top of the crop as far as speed goes, not sure about its quality.

Corsair CMPSU-650TX V2 - 339,99 RON (Better quality PSU for a bit more)

Ok !

Same parts:
Carcasa Chieftec Giga Miditower DF-01B-OP Black - 179,01 RON
Unitate optica Blu-Ray Samsung SH-B123L/RSBP Retail - 346,78 RON
Placa de sunet Creative X-FI Titanium PCI-E bulk - 325,60 RON
Floppy Disk Alps 1.44 MB Negru - 41,13 RON

I recommend looking into getting a better case with the money saved. You have a lot going into that computer and will need all the space plus cooling you can get.

As long as it's Chieftec, I just love the quality, thick heavy cases not typical wobbely aluminium sheets.

I do not know if it is worth having a bluray player in the computer to be honest. I bought one for mine and after I got a PS3 I rarely use it, so you could potentially save more right there. If you do want it there could be cheaper alternatives.

I think I will drop it, I have a LED full HD TV from Samsung which I use to run most ripped BRs.

I understand the need for a discrete sound card. I use one myself and could never go back to on board. Though I haven't been up to date on sound cards, so it maybe worthwhile looking at other cards in the price range of the titanium and see how they stack up.

From what I reasearched, the titanium has the newest chipset from Creative, but I am open to other options.

Floppy drive? Floppy is a floppy. If you need it keep it.

Haha, this has a chance to be used more than the BR unit

Dear Banzai, your feedback has been more than usefull, and your effort is much appreciated ( I know that site is in Romanian and you might have ran into some difficulties ).

 

[tiraides]

The Intel Core i7 2600K and Nvidia GeForce GTX 580 are only beneficial if your programs are designed to benefit from Intel's Hyper Threading (or multi-threading in general) and Nvidia's CUDA technology. Otherwise, you should save some money by going with the Intel Core i5 2500K and the AMD Radeon HD 6950/6970, respectively. Double up on memory only if you can afford to now, but know that you can always buy more later.

We generally don't recommend SandForce-based SSDs here because various reviews, both within the forums here and at other hardware review sites, show that they are slower than their advertised speeds. We also don't like to recommend OCZ in particular due to the company's history of quality issues. Performance-wise, you can't really go wrong with Intel's new 330 and 510 series SSDs or Crucial/Micron's C300, C400, and m4 series SSDs.

Since you're buying and using an SSD as your primary drive, you can get away with using a cheaper "Green" HDD for storage. Though a 7200RPM model would be faster, the Green drives offer cheaper price-per-GB.

Regardless of what case you buy, ensure that it supports at least two 120mm fans. (Most cases only come with one fan installed, oftentimes in the rear of the case.)

I'm just curious: What will you be using the floppy drive for?

 

[Lycidas]

For case recommendations, Danny Bui lists the following however I'm not quite sure on their availability in Romania. I know newegg ships to China and Canada but as far as Eastern Europe I cannot say. Regardless you may be able to find the same product from a different supplier.

$60 - Cooler Master HAF 912 RC-912-KKN1 ATX Case
$70 - Lian Li Lancool PC-K58W ATX Case
$90 - Lian Li Lancool PC-K56 ATX Case
$90 - Cooler Master CM690 II Advance ATX Case
$100 - Cooler Master HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$90 - Lian Li Lancool PC-K7B ATX Case
$106 - Lian Li PC-7B Plus II ATX Case
$110 - Fractal Design Define R3 Black ATX Case
$110 - NZXT Whisper WHI - 001BK ATX Full Tower Case
$120 - Velocity Micro GX2-W Silver Classic Aluminum Case with Side Window
$140 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-001WT White Full Tower ATX Case
$140 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-001BK Black Full Tower ATX Case
$140 - Cooler Master HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$165 - Corsair Graphite Series 600T ATX Case
$160 - Silverstone RV02B-W ATX case
$220 - Corsair Obsidian Series 650D ATX Case
$220 - Cooler Master ATCS 840 RC-840-KKN1-GP Full Tower ATX Case
$230 - Silverstone FT02B ATX Case
$220 - Lian Li PC-A71F Black ATX Case
$290 - Corsair Obsidian Series 800D CC800DW Full Tower ATX Case
$330 - Silverstone Temjin SST-TJ07B Full Tower ATX Case

Hope this is useful. Also I agree with tiraides that while the OCZ has top notch speeds, you won't notice a huge difference when using the Intel 330 and 510 series. They've both received good reviews on SSD sites.

 

[PvP-ForLife]

Considering the facts you provided I will go the safe SSD path, Intel.
I am already evaluating a better case, I liked that one because it had the PSU at the bottom.
The floppy is either for mom's old accounting files which are stored on floppy disks and/or random bootable/bios flashes for older OS based computers which don't benefit from USB support

@Lycidas: Most of those are available here also, I will see which one is at an affordable level

 

[xBanzai89]

The 2500K has a unlocked multiplier just like a 2600K. The K shows that there is a unlocked multiplier. There are versions of the 2500 and 2600 that do not have a unlocked multiplier, so there is no K there. Make sure you do not buy one of those by mistake.

What kind of video/media processing are you doing? I will admit I do not know much about that area. Take a look at this review and see if there is anything you do to justify the cost. If you are worried about future proofing I would save your money. There is a very good chance of Ivy Bridge being supported on current motherboards (P67), so you can put in a beefed up quad core or octo core later on when you feel you need more power.

As far as cases on concerned. I love my Lian Li, but that store doesn't really stock them. I would recommend looking at Silverstone and they have really good cases as well. I much prefer the PSU at the bottom as well.

Have you thought about using a 6970 at all? That will be a very powerful card for your resolution and still let you save money in long run. Like I mentioned above with Ivy Bridge you could always get a video card upgrade at the same time instead of keeping the GTX 580 for the system's entire life span. Do you know if you can take advantage of Cuda? Like photoshop and encoding with it?

The site honestly wasn't hard to navigate. I will admit I looked up some translations in order to find certain parts though.

 

[PvP-ForLife]

I just looked over the benchmarks, it seems that the difference between 2500 and 2600 is minimal.
I will let the information settle for a while and will come back with a final configuration.