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SandyBridge Build

M

Maestro2U

Weaksauce
Joined
Aug 10, 2005
Messages
76
My little brother is building a new PC, and I love this stuff but don't have the time right now to do the research justice. I had him fill out the ten questions, what are your thoughts?

1) This pc will be for gaming, media, video streaming, music, and web browsing.
2) Budget is about $1500 in addition to what I already have. (I think he's nuts. Show him what he can have for a $1000 budget also if you have time.)
3) I live in Texas (New Braunfels)
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget?
At current I need
-HDD for storage 1-2 TB preferably
-MB
-Ram
-PSU
-Case (for his retiring components. He will be reusing an Antec p183)
-Video Cards
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing?
-intel i7 2600k (picked up for $114)
-intel 160gb SSD (picked up for $100)
-antec P183
6) Yes eventually I do plan on overclocking to extend the PCs life but not right away.
7) I have three 23” monitors.
8) I plan on building this PC within 2-3 weeks (unexpectedly the CPU and SSD shipped today).
9) For a motherboard I would like to SLI, have at least 2 USB 3.0 ports, decent onboard sound, and SATA 6Gb/s is a must. RAID, Firewire, eSATA, and Onboard video are not necessary.
10) I did pick up a copy of Win7 64bit Ultimate for $100 already.
 
 
Right now newegg has $25 off a z68 mobo (not all z68 mobos though) + 2600k or 2500k cpu. I'd recommend going that route.

Definitely get a ssd, and if you need more space a bigger storage drive. Personally I would say get an intel 320 120gb if you can afford it. Reliability wise it can't be beat.

Also I would recommend a nvidia card over an ati card, I have a 6850 and the drivers were crap when it came out but they are better now but I recently encountered another "bug" in drivers which kind of annoys me since there is always some bug that comes and goes depending on the driver version. The 560ti is a good choice but can be had for cheaper, recently there was a 560ti for $145 after mir but sold out quick, look for deals because I think that is too much for one personally.

That memory (8gb gskill) frequently goes on sale like twice or three times a month so I would wait for a newegg shellshocker sale.

Psu I would recommend a 650w modular (a lot easier to work with, less mess) unless you are going sli, 650w will be plenty. Personally I like seasonic/antec (x650 can also be had on sale for about $100, but not that often) but corsair is also top notch.

Case is personal choice I think. I like the antec 300.
 
Joel_R said:
OP's brother here. This is what I'm looking at so far.

Cases - Antec 300
antec p183 v3 (justifiable?)
Click to expand...
Neither of those cases are jusfiable these days in light of significantly better cases for the money out there. I recommend these cases:
$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
$127 - 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

If you want quiet, I recommend looking at the Fractal Design cases and the Silverstone FT02B and RV02B cases in the above list.

Joel_R said:
HDD - WD 1tb Caviar black
Click to expand...
Not a good choice for the money since its real world performance is virtually the same as this cheaper drive:
$65 - Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

Joel_R said:
VCards - SAPPHIRE 100315L Radeon HD 6850
ASUS EAH6850 DC/2DIS/1GD5/V2 Radeon HD 6850
GIGABYTE GV-N460OC-1GI GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi)
EVGA SuperClocked 01G-P3-1563-AR GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi)
Click to expand...
None of those cards are particularly good for the money. These GPUs have a better bang for the buck value:
$188 - XFX HD-687A-ZNFC Radeon HD 6870 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$283 - XFX HD-695X-CNFC Radeon HD 6950 2GB PCI-E Video Card

Joel_R said:
PSU - CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX
CORSAIR Enthusiast Series CMPSU-850TX
Click to expand...
$90 - Corsair 650TX V2 650W PSU
Neigther of those power supplies are good choices these considering that their updated and higher quality brothers cost the same:
$110 - Corsair 750TX V2 750W PSU
$135 - Corsair 850TX V2 850W PSU

Note the "V2"
Joel_R said:
RAM - G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) x2
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 x1
Click to expand...
Between those two sets, go for the 2x4GB set as it'll allow you to expand to 16GB of RAM later on with no fuss.
Joel_R said:
MOBO - MSI P67A-GD65 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
ASUS P8P67 PRO (REV 3.0) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Click to expand...
Out of those two, I'd go with the MSI since that particular Asus has an above higher than normal issues rate.
 
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Thank you gentlemen for the replies. In the motherboard he won't be able to do any combos since he was able to pick up the CPU at a discount separately. Are there any Gigabyte boards you would recommend?

From what I've seen in my brief searches I am also leery of ASUS boards currently. I would be willing to look at ASRock and MSI per your suggestions.
 
Ok given yalls suggestions So far I like

Fractal Design Define R3 - $109
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 - 64$
XFX HD-687A-ZNFC Radeon HD x2 - $376
MSI P67A-GD65 (B3) LGA 1155 - $179
corsair tx850w v2 and G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) - $184 combo

I love that fractal case, plus i already have a bunch of 120mm sitting around for it.
Is crossfiring those 6870's a good idea?
Don't have strong feelings about the MOBO.

Total cost - $915
MIR - $75 (not factored into total price)
 
Maestro2U said:
Thank you gentlemen for the replies. In the motherboard he won't be able to do any combos since he was able to pick up the CPU at a discount separately. Are there any Gigabyte boards you would recommend?
Click to expand...
I generally don't recommend any of the Gigabyte P67 motherboards on acount of them still using the old BIOs interface rather than the UEFI interface that MSI, Asus, and other motherboard manufacturers use in similarily price P67 motherboards. The Gigabyte Z68 mobos are all right since there's virtually no price competitive Z68 motherboards I've seen
Maestro2U said:
From what I've seen in my brief searches I am also leery of ASUS boards currently. I would be willing to look at ASRock and MSI per your suggestions.
Click to expand...
I'd avoid ASRock due to them only having a two year warranty and a one year warranty on their P67 and Z68 motherboard respectively.

Joel_R said:
Is crossfiring those 6870's a good idea?
Click to expand...
It's an ok idea. At worst, it'll perform roughly the same as a HD 6970. So not too bad.
 
Well I think im ready to pull the trigger then. My CPU and SSD just got here. Didn't realize that the SSD - Intel 320 120gb was the size of an empty wallet, cool.
 
Joel_R said:
Well I think im ready to pull the trigger then. My CPU and SSD just got here. Didn't realize that the SSD - Intel 320 120gb was the size of an empty wallet, cool.
Click to expand...

Intel 320!? Price aside, who recommended that to you?
 
Joel_R said:
Ok given yalls suggestions So far I like

Fractal Design Define R3 - $109
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 - 64$
XFX HD-687A-ZNFC Radeon HD x2 - $376
MSI P67A-GD65 (B3) LGA 1155 - $179
corsair tx850w v2 and G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) - $184 combo

I love that fractal case, plus i already have a bunch of 120mm sitting around for it.
Is crossfiring those 6870's a good idea?
Don't have strong feelings about the MOBO.

Total cost - $915
MIR - $75 (not factored into total price)
Click to expand...

I have that mobo and it is great. Setup was painless and everything booted on first go. No problems at all.
 
Great! I did some more research on that board and the more i learned the more confidence I got about buying it.

Nobody reccomended it to me it was available for $120 on a discount through work, Thought it was a good deal. What's wrong with the 320?
 
Joel_R said:
Great! I did some more research on that board and the more i learned the more confidence I got about buying it.

Nobody reccomended it to me it was available for $120 on a discount through work, Thought it was a good deal. What's wrong with the 320?
Click to expand...

It's slow. It's Sata II and you are getting a Sata III board. It uses 25nm nand which apparently isn't as good as older 34nm nand.
 
novadaemon said:
MUCH faster. The drive isn't bad... It's just bad compared to other drives. It's all relative.
Click to expand...

I try and post here before i buy anything, but it was an impulse buy since they had sold out of the processor i originally wanted, I got scared and bought right away. I will keep that SATA III in mind next time i buy a SSD though.
 
lil layzie said:
Don't feel bad about your SSD purchase.

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1611306
I asked the guys over at the data storage forums if it was worth it to pick one up as I have a chance to pick one up for $190ish and the responses were mostly positive. You got it for $120 which is an even better deal.
Click to expand...

Very cool :D

Ram on sale right on time. If you want the 8 gig set here it is on sale on the shellshocker during the times in the thread.
Click to expand...

Yep Im placing my order around 1-3 while those are on sale now.
 
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