Would like comments on my parts before I hit the purchase button!

D

Dopefabulous

n00b
Joined
Oct 31, 2011
Messages
33
Hello:

I have carefully selected all my specs and plan on revamping my old Alienware Area 51 7500.
This is my first build so I am pretty excited!:D I am basically keeping the 1000 watt psu, optical drive, and case and am essentially replacing CPU, mobo, ram, and gpu. I have $1,000 budget and here are the results:

Replacing:
Quad Core Extreme QX 6700
Two 275 GTX SLI 896 mb vram (selling both)
8 GB Patriot G-Series 800 Mhz DDR2
Geforce 680i Motherboard (SLI Ready)

Buying
i5 2500K Sandy Bridge - $219.99
EVGA 580 GTX Overclock Edition - 509.99
GIGABYTE GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 Intel Z68 Motherboard (SLI/CF Ready) - $159.99
8 GB Corsair Vengenance 1600 Mhz DDR3 - $64.99

With Next Day shipping I'm looking at $938.10 (good thing with tigerdirect is no sales tax) I live 35 minutes away from newegg so not worth it to buy there.

Any comments or suggestions?
 
I would get a gtx570 over a 580, that's alot of extra money for such little performance gain.
 
I am considering two 6950s in lieu of 580 GTX (around same price) although I would rather have a single card solution and adding a 580 gtx in the future for SLI will give me more head room.
 
Dopefabulous said:
I am considering two 6950s in lieu of 580 GTX (around same price) although I would rather have a single card solution and adding a 580 gtx in the future for SLI will give me more head room.
Click to expand...

The 2 6950s would be the way to go IMO. They would give you the performance of a 580 SLi setup if you unlock them, for the cost of a single GTX 580. I would recommend the sapphire dirt 3 editions. They unlock simply by flipping the switch. Keep in mind they are set to unlock but whether the GPU's unlock or not is a matter of luck of the draw on the GPU's.
 
Looks like a solid upgrade. Do you have any details on your current power supply? You may want to make sure it has all the connectors you need and decent reviews.
 
If you game, I'd suggest at least a 2GB card but honestly I'd pickup a GTX580 3GB Classified version to future proof your GPU and to be able to max out the settings on newer title PC games. If that's too expensive, you could always go for a GTX560ti 2WIN that EVGA just released. This card is spanking the 580 and is yet the same price. May be worth looking into, however this card is 1GB.

As for the motherboard, is there any particular reason why you want the Z68 over the P67? The features are minimal and most don't even have use for those added features. Either way I would also consider an EVGA board as their warranty and customer support is far superior than any other company I have dealt with.
 
Keeping my current Alienware PSU maybe the only achillies heel in this setup. The PSU has four 6 pin connectors which means I can either run two 6950 (two 6 pins per card) perfectly or run one 580 GTX (one 6 pin and one 8 pin per card) by buying a two 6 pin to one 8 pin adaptor. However, I will have to get a new PSU if I get another 580 GTX in the future once more demanding game hit the market.

That's why I haven't it the "Purchase Button" yet...just weighing the short-term and long-term benefits and cost savings. I like to keep the budget under a grand.

Can anyone recommend a good aftermarket PSU (preferably from tiger) that can run two 580 gtx and i5 2500K with little bit of head from for opticals, sound card, and other peripherals etc?
 
Ive always been partial to Corsair PSUs. 1000HX has never let me down over these last three years.

You should be able to find 1 6 pin to 1 8 pin adapters providing you psus rail(s) are sufficient.
 
Go with the crossfire 6950's. This will save you the cash on a new PSU and should keep you in gaming heaven for another few years.
 
Is there a Microcenter near you? You can save a ton of money on the cpu/motherboard combo.

Also rumor has it that Kepler may be coming next month and big NVIDIA price drops are on the way. (Just a rumor, but it still could not hurt to wait a few weeks if you can, to see what black friday and cyber money have to offer).
 
PRIME1 said:
Is there a Microcenter near you? You can save a ton of money on the cpu/motherboard combo.

Also rumor has it that Kepler may be coming next month and big NVIDIA price drops are on the way. (Just a rumor, but it still could not hurt to wait a few weeks if you can, to see what black friday and cyber money have to offer).
Click to expand...

My thoughts exactly. Hence....havent hit the "purchase button" yet...lol:). Hopefully by 1st qtr of next year the ivy bridge and kepler hits the market in fully swing and we witness noticable price drops on the Fermi CPUs and Sandy CPUs.

I have to admit that I am an impulsive shopper lol....I WANT IT NOW!!!!
 
PRIME1 said:
Is there a Microcenter near you? You can save a ton of money on the cpu/motherboard combo.

Also rumor has it that Kepler may be coming next month and big NVIDIA price drops are on the way. (Just a rumor, but it still could not hurt to wait a few weeks if you can, to see what black friday and cyber money have to offer).
Click to expand...

Yeah....I live 15 minutes away from a Microcenter (Santa Ana, CA)...I'll look at there deals but I have to figure in the sales tax to see what the bottom line savings are. Thats why I tend to avoid new egg (also in CA, City of Industry) also because of sales tax.
 
Dopefabulous said:
Yeah....I live 15 minutes away from a Microcenter (Santa Ana, CA)...I'll look at there deals but I have to figure in the sales tax to see what the bottom line savings are. Thats why I tend to avoid new egg (also in CA, City of Industry) also because of sales tax.
Click to expand...

The 2500K is like $180 and you can get $60 off a Z68 board with a combo purchase. I've been really tempted by this offer.

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1648703
 
PRIME1 said:
The 2500K is like $180 and you can get $60 off a Z68 board with a combo purchase. I've been really tempted by this offer.

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1648703
Click to expand...

You know what...that is a heck of a deal and just by ball parking the figures the cost savings is gonna easily offset the sales tax. If this is the case, I'm gonna order today, "will call" the order and pick it up on my way to the gym!
 
PRIME1 said:
The 2500K is like $180 and you can get $60 off a Z68 board with a combo purchase. I've been really tempted by this offer.

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1648703
Click to expand...

Thank you so much for the info.I just bought the two items below for $290 bucks (tax included)


i5 2500K Sandy Bridge
GIGABYTE GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 Intel Z68 Motherboard (SLI/CF Ready)

Tigerdirect had these two items for $384.87. Maybe I can throw in a PSU now!
 
wow I wish I had a microcenter near me. I just bought a 2500k ga-z68xp-ud4 combo from the egg for 396.
 
I would say purchase a cheap card for now since the new cards that are 40% faster then 580's are coming out in December , but then agian that's my opinion on spending alot of money on card that is going to be outdated soon.
 
berettagtkid69420 said:
I would say purchase a cheap card for now since the new cards that are 40% faster then 580's are coming out in December , but then agian that's my opinion on spending alot of money on card that is going to be outdated soon.
Click to expand...
Proof please. Your speculating now.
 
berettagtkid69420 said:
I would say purchase a cheap card for now since the new cards that are 40% faster then 580's are coming out in December , but then agian that's my opinion on spending alot of money on card that is going to be outdated soon.
Click to expand...

Good idea...I guess my computer can hold on til december of the Kepler GPUs does it the market.

Think I'm gonna grab some RAM and set everything aside and see if I can take advantage of price drop on Fermi or grab a Kepler GPU.

By the way, what do you guys think about this ram (link below)? I have "best bang for the buck" in mind!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231428
 
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