New Rig - 2500k/2600k?

[Zetro]

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming, some HTPC (the monitor is a television)
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$1000 give or take with shipping and tax
3) Where do you live?
Northern Washington State
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, power supply, optical drives, motherboard, video card, processor, ram, and fans
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Nothing be re-used
6) Will you be overclocking?
Yes
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
24" monitor and/or a 1080P television
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
As soon as possible
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? etc.
RAID, and just a standard board
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Already have a 64-bit Windows 7 volume license (Technet!)

Looking for a new rig with 8GB of ram and a good core for a friend of mine. What do you guys suggest for a $1,000 budget? My only stipulations is that if we can go SB I would prefer it. Stores wise Newegg, Amazon, and ++++ US are all perfect for Bellingham WA.

Let me know!

Trev

 

[Cmustang87]

Here's a good start, I'm trying to get back into Gen[H] and I'm sure someone will demolish my results:

PSU: Corsair 750TX$99 with $10 Promo EMCKJHE27 - $20 MIR = best case scenario $69.99
CPU and Video Card: Intel i5 2500k CPU + XFX 6870 GPU $434.99 - $40 MIR
Case: Cooler Master HAF 932 $139 w/ FS
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 1.5v, or you can bump up to the 2x4 Kit for $35 more.
RW Drive: Asus CD/DVD Burner SATA
For a motherboard you have quite few options and there will be more qualified posters to comment on these:
Gigabyte P67-UD4 $189
MSI P67A-GD55 $159 - $20 MIR
Asus P8P67 PRO $184

If you're overclocking you may want to look at some of the better HSF out there. The stock will most likely not suffice. Some others may have better info on that.

Sub-Total: $914.93
Shipping (I used Seattle for a zip code): $9.65
Total: $924.58 - With MSI motherboard

Obviously this gives you a great start, and a lot of room to make adjustments. As for case fans, I would avoid purchasing from the Egg, their shipping and prices are way high for this. I recommend Frozencpu or jab-tech for cooling solutions. Yate loons are pretty popular. I purchased some Scythe fans for my PC at home, they are pretty good.

As for the Asus, I've read on these boards that it's been having some issues. YMMV and like I said some others (current users of the board) may have some better information on this.

I was also confused on your hard drives. You said you needed RAID for this, but didn't mention you would be either needing hard drives nor reusing older ones.

EDIT: Math was wrong, forgot to add in the RAM price.

 

[Dangman]

Pretty good start there Cmustang87

But assuming that OP needs a hard drive, I recommend this:
$70 - Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

 

[Cmustang87]

Thanks, if that GPU doesn't provide the horse power you need, the PSU in that build will support you much higher if you wanted to bump into a 6970. But be mindful you will lose that good combo deal with the 2500k.

 

[ChocoFish]

Perfect for what mustang recommended but try looking at the ram sales in [H]otdeals, newegg is having them on sale

 

[Cmustang87]

Yep, 15% off all desktop RAM. You can score some super cheap 8GB kits. Corsair XMS is OOS, but for $5 more you can get the G Skill 1333's.

 

[Zetro]

Thanks everyone, much appreciated

 

[Cmustang87]

That F3 HDD that Danny Bui suggested is fast as hell.