Perfect PC?

[blindtheft]

Never built my own rig before, but I've been reading up obsessively for the past few months and think I'm ready to pull the trigger. Would appreciate any feedback.

Background:

1) PC will be used for gaming, web browsing and movies.
2) Budget is $2k. Monitor not included.
3) I am in Los Angeles.
4) Don't plan to overclock for the time being, but would like to have the option at a later point.
5) Currently have a 21" Dell monitor that I will be using for a few months until I upgrade to a 30". I also plan to have my Pioneer Kuro 50" 1080p Plasma HDTV hooked up to the PC. Want to be able to play Blu ray on the TV via the PC. Also plan to run Guitar Pro through the TV at times.
6) Plan on buying all components on Monday and assembling next weekend.
7) I am starting with a single video card, but do plan to purchase a second and run a crossfire setup once I get the 30" monitor.

This is the build I've put together:

Case: Corsair Graphite Series 600T Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower
Storage Drive: SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5"
Boot Drive: Single 128GB Crucial C400 SSD (they come out on Monday)
Video Card: XFX HD-697A-CNFC Radeon HD 6970 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity
PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-850TX 850W ATX12V 2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Active PFC
RAM: 2x G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9S-4GBRL
Motherboard: MSI P67A-GD55 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Fan: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1 "Heatpipe Direct Contact" Long Life Sleeve 120mm CPU Cooler
DVD Burner: LG WH10LS30 10X Blu-ray Burner - LightScribe Support
Processor: Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core
O/S: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders

How did I do?

 

[Spooony]

If the 580 was in there then it wouldve been a lil bit closer to perfect. Get the Gskill 1600mhz ram. Bit of oc room on them

 

[wra18th]

Looks great. I do agree with Spooony. Get the 1600 as you'll need the headroom for OCing. The Hyper 212+ will serve you well with that 95W cpu.

 

[nxcess]

If the 580 was in there then it wouldve been a lil bit closer to perfect. Get the Gskill 1600mhz ram. Bit of oc room on them

Buying the most expensive single gpu card does not bring a build closer to perfection. Price to performance ratio is more important and that 580 isn't worth it's price.

Looks great. I do agree with Spooony. Get the 1600 as you'll need the headroom for OCing. The Hyper 212+ will serve you well with that 95W cpu.

What are you guys looking at. He's building a SB computer. Memory speed isn't important for OC anymore. He's fine using 1333. Only thing I would recommend is to get 8GB memory instead of 4GB.

 

[blindtheft]

If the 580 was in there then it wouldve been a lil bit closer to perfect. Get the Gskill 1600mhz ram. Bit of oc room on them

Good call on the 580. Will probably go that route as I have a bit of room left in the budget.

 

[blindtheft]

Buying the most expensive single gpu card does not bring a build closer to perfection. Price to performance ratio is more important and that 580 isn't worth it's price.

Right, but it does look like there is a pretty clear performance bump with the 580, so it makes sense to me given the room in my budget. The build is only at $1,600 shipped without it.

What are you guys looking at. He's building a SB computer. Memory speed isn't important for OC anymore. He's fine using 1333. Only thing I would recommend is to get 8GB memory instead of 4GB.

I did go with the 1333 due to the SB. Also, I have 8BG memory here - just buying two sticks rather than a set for a small price break.

 

[nxcess]

I did go with the 1333 due to the SB. Also, I have 8BG memory here - just buying two sticks rather than a set for a small price break.

I see. My mistake. Didn't see the 2x in front. If you have room to spare, have you thought about upgrading to a 2600k?

 

[blindtheft]

I see. My mistake. Didn't see the 2x in front. If you have room to spare, have you thought about upgrading to a 2600k?

I did consider the 2600k, but read that it really isn't much of an upgrade for gaming systems. True?

 

[nalc]

Not seen many builds with the GD55, you may want to compare it to the GD65 and see if the additional features are worth the ~$30 difference.

If you're under budget, and planning on 30" gaming, I'd definitely consider a board that supports 8x/8x Crossfire, so you can add a second HD 6970 (or save a few bucks with a pair of HD 6950s that you unlock). Your PSU is plenty for two of them. Avoid x16/x4 crossfire, it's not as good.

Kingston C400 is gonna be fast as hell, but expect it to cost quite a lot. All of the new generation SSDs seemed to be in the high $200 range for 120-128gb.

I'm running a very similar build, and I've been happy with it. 2500k, Hyper 212+, unlocked HD 6950, 120gb SSD, Gskill DDR3-1333, and it's awesome.

I'd also consider shopping somewhere else, if you can. Newegg sales tax is a pain. Sometimes Amazon has as good prices, but without the tax.

 

[blindtheft]

Not seen many builds with the GD55, you may want to compare it to the GD65 and see if the additional features are worth the ~$30 difference.

I was planning on the GD65 mobo originally, but it's out of stock and I didn't see anything that I'd miss by going with the GD55.

If you're under budget, and planning on 30" gaming, I'd definitely consider a board that supports 8x/8x Crossfire, so you can add a second HD 6970 (or save a few bucks with a pair of HD 6950s that you unlock). Your PSU is plenty for two of them. Avoid x16/x4 crossfire, it's not as good.

The GD55 has PCI Express 2.0 x16. Isn't that all I need for 16x16 crossfire?

I'd also consider shopping somewhere else, if you can. Newegg sales tax is a pain. Sometimes Amazon has as good prices, but without the tax.

Good call on the sales tax. I will shop around tomorrow before ordering.

 

[bastage]

I Would avoid MSI boards all together. Look for the Asus p67 boards.

And no you need a board that supports x8 x8 when 2 boards are installed for crossfire.

And there is no doubt that a 580 is a faster single card. But considering the cost you would be better off with a pair of 6950's & unlock them to 6970's & smoke the 580 for not much more.

 

[tiraides]

You have some of your information mixed up. To clarify:

- Get as many of your parts as possible from either Amazon or Fry's. Your local Fry's may have some deals on certain parts that are better than what Amazon offers.

- You don't need DDR3 1600 RAM for overclocking with the Sandy Bridge "K" processors, as they have unlocked CPU multipliers. Stick with DDR3 1333 RAM.

- For CrossFire, you need two PCI-E slots that run at x8/x8 bandwidth. (The dual x8 CF/SLI is a limitation of the PCI-E chipset that's embedded onto the processor, but it's irrelevant in this case.) The MSI P67A-GD55 meets that requirement. While I'm not as ambivalent towards MSI as bastage is, I still recommend finding a few reviews (from hardware sites, not NewEgg) on the board before committing to it.

- The i7-2600k, compared to the i5-2500k, has Hyper Threading and is 100MHz faster. Since Hyper Threading is not needed for gaming or media playback, you were correct in going for the i5-2500k.

- With your plan on going with a 30" monitor with a resolution of 2560x1600, you essentially need a dual-card CrossFire or SLI setup. I recommend buying two 2GB 6950s as you can soft-mod them to run as two 6970s for less than one dual-GPU GTX 590 or HD 6990.

- If you want to play Blu ray via the computer, you also need to buy some media playback software. Danny Bui, one of our mods, recommends ArcSoft TotalMedia Theatre 5 Platinum as the best software available.

 

[nalc]

Sandy Bridge has 16 lanes of PCIe off of the CPU, and 4 off of the chipset.

The cheaper boards can only do a single x16 slot off of the CPU, and another x16 physical, x4 electrical off of the chipset for 16/4 crossfire.

The nicer boards can split the x16 off of the CPU into two x8, which gives 8/8 crossfire and SLI. This is a higher performing setup.

 

[blindtheft]

I Would avoid MSI boards all together. Look for the Asus p67 boards.

Thanks. Bad build quality? Reviews for the board seem quite favorable.

 

[blindtheft]

Sandy Bridge has 16 lanes of PCIe off of the CPU, and 4 off of the chipset.

The cheaper boards can only do a single x16 slot off of the CPU, and another x16 physical, x4 electrical off of the chipset for 16/4 crossfire.

The nicer boards can split the x16 off of the CPU into two x8, which gives 8/8 crossfire and SLI. This is a higher performing setup.

This explanation clicked for me. Thanks.

 

[tiraides]

Thanks. Bad build quality? Reviews for the board seem quite favorable.

Some people here have had bad experiences with MSI boards, so they discourage others from picking them. I'm one of the rare people who've had little trouble with all of my boards, so I don't always agree with the criticism.

However, no board is 100% perfect and a lot of the criticism given towards a particular board or brand is often justified. Read the hardware site reviews and those from actual users of the board. I've had no experiences with the MSI P67 boards, so I can't really offer my two cents' worth on them.

 

[blindtheft]

Hey people. I went ahead and finished this build last weekend. I set it up with just the SSD though as I was short a cable for the 1TB Samsung hard drive. I have that cable now and want to keep the SSD as fast as possible. I figure all media and most programs will be on the spinner, but there is probably more that should be done. Anyone with any tips or suggested settings on anything that I should tweak?

 

[Dangman]

Make sure that AHCI is enabled in the BIOS before you install the OS.

 

[E4g1e]

Sandy Bridge has 16 lanes of PCIe off of the CPU, and 4 off of the chipset.

Technically, it's 8 PCI-e lanes off of the chipset. However, most P67 mobos eat up 4 of those lanes with onboard devices such as USB 3.0 controllers and extra SATA 6.0 Gbps controllers (and often a non-Intel NIC). That leaves only 4 of the chipset's lanes open for expansion slots, which may also share bandwidth with additional onboard devices.

 

[blindtheft]

I'm now two years in. The build has treated me exceedingly well. I've named it Maximus and we have fought many battles together. All on a Dell U3011, at ultrasettings of course. Then, drunk me, in a moment of particular brilliance, decided to clumsily pour a significant quantity of beer into the top of the case. Maximus fought hard, but wasn't meant for wet work. After assessing the damage, it appears that his motherboard has gone on to a better place. I am hopeful that there were no other casualties, but can't be sure. Sad panda. Deep breath. Reset. Restart. Lemons into lemonade.

I've previously been unable to advance to a crossfire setup due to the motherboard's limitations. There simply wasn't sufficient clearance for two Radeon 6970s. They are long and stuff gets in the way. But now, I can fix that problem! I'll just get a new, sexy young motherboard that can take my lengthy GPUs. So, which are the suitable replacements to serve Maximus? What do we think of:
ASUS P8Z77-V?

 

[Quicksilver_]

I'm now two years in. The build has treated me exceedingly well. I've named it Maximus and we have fought many battles together. All on a Dell U3011, at ultrasettings of course. Then, drunk me, in a moment of particular brilliance, decided to clumsily pour a significant quantity of beer into the top of the case. Maximus fought hard, but wasn't meant for wet work. After assessing the damage, it appears that his motherboard has gone on to a better place. I am hopeful that there were no other casualties, but can't be sure. Sad panda. Deep breath. Reset. Restart. Lemons into lemonade.

I would buy a scrapbooking of this story.

 

[blindtheft]

Would you buy a terrible MS Paint comic of it?

 

[Quicksilver_]

If it has a picture of you hugging your PC in a headlock bro style type of hug, maybe.

 

[Dangman]

I'm now two years in. The build has treated me exceedingly well. I've named it Maximus and we have fought many battles together. All on a Dell U3011, at ultrasettings of course. Then, drunk me, in a moment of particular brilliance, decided to clumsily pour a significant quantity of beer into the top of the case. Maximus fought hard, but wasn't meant for wet work. After assessing the damage, it appears that his motherboard has gone on to a better place. I am hopeful that there were no other casualties, but can't be sure. Sad panda. Deep breath. Reset. Restart. Lemons into lemonade.

I've previously been unable to advance to a crossfire setup due to the motherboard's limitations. There simply wasn't sufficient clearance for two Radeon 6970s. They are long and stuff gets in the way. But now, I can fix that problem! I'll just get a new, sexy young motherboard that can take my lengthy GPUs. So, which are the suitable replacements to serve Maximus? What do we think of:
ASUS P8Z77-V?

What motherboard and what video cards (exact make and model) did you buy earlier?