Time for an upgrade from my X2-4200+ / 9800 GTX+ System $1300ish build

C

compslckr

[H]F Junkie
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So, my system is starting to show its age, and I think its time to upgrade.

My plan is to sell the 13" macbook air and build a new desktop PC since I already have an 11" air for my mac needs.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming and nothing else
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included? $1300 budget, not too concerned about tax / shipping
3) Where do you live? Indianapolis (Frys is local), Newegg is easier, Amazon is good too)
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, Case, PSU, Memory, Hard drive, Video card (complete tower, no peripherals)
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Nothing is re-used
6) Will you be overclocking? Meh, probably not
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have? Have 24" Samsung 1920x1200 single monitor
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC? within the next 2 weeks depending on sale of macbook air 13"
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.: Stability, SATA 6Gb/s sounds good, USB 3.0 since most motherboards have it
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit? Yip, Win 7 Ultimate 64-bit through school

Here is what I am thinking:
newpc.jpg


Fractal Designs full tower
WD Black 1Tb
EVGA GTX 560
Corsair Enthusiast 650 watt
G.Skill Rip Jaws 2x4Gb pc3 12800
MSI P67a-GD65 (B3)
Intel i5 2500K

Does this sound like a pretty good setup? Its been a while since I have paid any attention to wintel hardware & gaming. I have been playing a little homefront on my current rig, and it is disappointing due to its age.

Here is the current "gaming" rig for reference

Athlon X2 4200+
2Gb Ram
EVGA 9800GTX+ Superclock
Maxtor 250Gb
Gigabyte Ga-ma770-UD3
Thermaltake 430 watt psu
 
Ditch that Asus DVD burner: DVD burners are basically all the same these days in terms of quality and performance. As such no reason to pay the extra $7 in shipping for that Asus over this LG DVD burner with free shipping:
$22 - LG iHAS124-04 DVD Burner

Ditch that WD Black drive: It performs about the same as this $25 cheaper Samsung drive:
$65 - Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive

Ditch that GTX 570: Unless you love Nvidia that much, that card is overpriced. The HD 6950 1GB, HD 6950 2GB, or even HD 6970 2GB video cards have a much better bang for the buck value than the GTX 570. Get one branded by Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, or XFX.

Ditch that Corsair PSU and for the updated and better quality version of that PSU:
$90 - Corsair 650TX V2 650W PSU

Dicth that G.Skill RAM: you're not gonna notice an iota of real world difference between that G.Skill set and this $25 cheaper Mushkin set:
$70 - Mushkin Enhanced Silverline 996770 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM

The CPU + mobo is a little tricky here: If you're gonna end up buying that CPU + mobo, then buy them from this combo link to shave off $25:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.638774

However you haven't really said anything that would justify getting that mobo. You're not doing any sort of overclocking, Crossfire, or SLI. As such you might actually be better with this combo:
$320 - Intel Core i5-2500K CPU + MSI P67A-C43 Intel P67 ATX Motherboard
 
Awesome, thanks for the reply. That's why I love this place. The revised system comes in around $1084 with shipping if I go with the HD 6970 2Gb. I could knock another $100 off if I went with the 6950, but since I am under budget I think I will stick with the 6970.

newpopc2.png
 
If you still want to spend that money, then I recommend picking up a SSD. I recommend the Crucial C300. C400, or m4 series SSDs or Intel's 320 or 510 series SSD. 64GB minimum. Just have your OS, small and/or critical apps on the SSD while large files/programs on the Samsung and you'll be fine.
 
Danny Bui said:
If you still want to spend that money, then I recommend picking up a SSD. I recommend the Crucial C300. C400, or m4 series SSDs or Intel's 320 or 510 series SSD. 64GB minimum. Just have your OS, small and/or critical apps on the SSD while large files/programs on the Samsung and you'll be fine.
Click to expand...

Danny, if you're going to recommend any SSDs with 25nm flash (this includes most modern SSDs), make sure you recommend at least 120GB (for 8-channel controllers) or 160GB (for Intel 10-channel controllers).

The density of 25nm flash is double that of previous 32nm chips, so they can use half as many. This translates to much reduced performance, especially for baseline configurations like 64GB (used to be 8 chips, now it's 4).

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4256/the-ocz-vertex-3-review-120gb/2
 
defaultluser said:
Danny, if you're going to recommend any SSDs with 25nm flash (this includes most modern SSDs), make sure you recommend at least 120GB (for 8-channel controllers) or 160GB (for Intel 10-channel controllers).

The density of 25nm flash is double that of previous 32nm chips, so they can use half as many. This translates to much reduced performance, especially for baseline configurations like 64GB (used to be 8 chips, now it's 4).

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4256/the-ocz-vertex-3-review-120gb/2
Click to expand...

Yeah I'm still gonna recommend 64GB/80GB versions of Crucial/Intel SSDs if thats all that the OP can afford. Despite the reduced performance, those 25nm Intel/Crucial SSDs are still better buys than OCZ or Sandforce SF-1200 based SSDs IMO.
 
Thanks for the recommendations. I think I am going to place an order on Monday morning.

How good is the stock cooler with the 2500K? Would I be better off going with something like the Arctic Freezer 7 for only $30 more?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...34&cm_re=1155_heatsink-_-35-186-134-_-Product

I am also going to use one of my 640Gb Western Digital AAKS Drives until I make up my mind on an SSD.


Here is how the build looks

Intel i5 2500k $220 (Newegg)
MSI P67A-C43 $314 Combo with CPU (Newegg)
MSI Radeon HD 6970 2 GB DDR3 R6970-2PM2D2GD5 $339 (Amazon)
8Gb PNY Optima $81 (Newegg)
Corsair Enthusiast Series 650 V2 $89.00 (Amazon)
Fractal Design R3 Titanium Mid-Tower $109.00 (Newegg)
Lite-On 24x DVD Burner $25 (Amazon)

Amazon Total (I get a 10% discount and have prime for free 2-day shipping)
$410

Newegg Total with shipping:
$526

Total: $936

Mail in rebates:
$20 for memory
$25 for video card

Grand total AR: $891
 
Buy the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus instead, as it's a much better CPU cooler than the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7. (However, the price has gone up recently. It's available for $40 at NewEgg; Amazon has it for $30, but you'll have to wait one to four weeks longer.)
 
I'd recommend a 2600k since you have a frys local it would only be $30 more at $250+tax.
 
If you can't wait for the Coolermaster HSF (I wouldn't even bother getting the Hyper 212+ at $40), then this HSF is a good alternative:
$30 - Xigmatek Gaia SD1283 120mm HSF
 
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