I5 Build

[tserich]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Early January BUDGET RANGE: $1500 CDN Before Rebates

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: gaming, surfing the internet, watching movies

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, OS, sound card

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg.ca COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: Canada

PARTS PREFERENCES: Intel, ASUS, Corsair

OVERCLOCKING: Yes
SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Maybe

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 2048 x 1152

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: I would like a relatively quiet PC.

I am not sure if I need 650w. I used Corsair's PSU calculator and they recommended 650. I also want to have a modular PSU unit.

Another thing I would like to knowis how reliable are SSDs. I would be willing to pay more for it but I read that they eventually cannot write anymore onto the drive or something of that sort.

Also, I am not sure if I Crossfire later will my motherboard be able to fit 2 5870s and an ASUS Xonar DX Sound card?

Case - COOLERMASTER HAF 932 - 159.99
CPU - I5 750 - 219.99
Power Supply Unit - Corsair HX650 - 139.99
HSF - CM Hyper 212 plus - Can't find on newegg.ca
Motherboard - Asus P7P55D Pro - 179.99
RAM - G.SKILL ECO Series 4GB - 100.99
HD - Samsung F3 500 GB - Sold out on newegg.ca for now
DVD - SONY Black SATA DVD-ROM - 19.99
GPU - Radeon HD 5870 - 425.49

$1,286.43 without HSF and HD so far

Is there anything I could get cheaper?

 

[ares1214]

first of all, ssds are extremely reliable since they have no moving parts, and even the less quality ones last about 10 years. Second, i dont think that you really need a 5870. Maybe more of a 5850, but idk your situation. Also, look at these combo deals:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.309398

that one cost about the same as yours and gets you 300 more watts for some future proofness.

everything else is relatively good, and if you happen to be in the market for an ssd, i would look at this one:

Patriot Torqx PFZ64GS25SSDR 2.5" 64GB SATA II Internal Solid state disk (SSD)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E1682022039

 

[brutalspoon]

I'd go for a 650W if you're planning to XFire 5870s. The HX650 is a very good PSU, so you should be happy with it.

Your motherboard should be able to fit dual 5870s and that sound card, although it'll be a snug fit - the sound card will be sandwiched between the two graphics cards.

Older SSDs used to have that problem, but new generation SSDs have technologies which prevent it from happening (although unfortunately I can't recall what they are, so I could easily be wrong ) Either way, I wouldn't use a SSD for storage. Use it for your system drive which has your OS and applications on it, but use a conventional HDD for file storage. If you were to go for a SSD I'd suggest a 64GB or 128GB Kingston SSDNow! V-Series SSD. Whatever you do, watch out for the controller. The cheaper first generation SSDs used an older JMicron controller which was hideously slow. The Kingston I mentioned above uses a JMicron controller but it's a newer version that doesn't have the same problems.

For the RAM I'd recommend Kingston HyperX DDR3 Memory instead. It's slightly more expensive but I'd say it'd more reliable. Socket 1152 boards seem to be quite picky about their RAM at the moment and the HyperX memory would be more likely to be supported, I'd think.

I'd personally recommend a Seagate barracuda over the Samsung, although that's just personal preference.

@ares1214: Good find for that combo. It certainly is future-proofed (although absolute overkill for what he's using now). Just make sure it's particularly efficient at the utilisation it'll have with his current build. The only problem might be that it'll be much noisier than the 650W. I think the 650W would be relatively future-proof anyway.

 

[Silmarunya]

Agreed on the SSD, altough OCZ and Intel have even better Indilinx and Intel controller based SSD on the market at a similar price tag and they are even better.

There is no need for the HyperX. Good memory indeed, but not better or worse than what is suggested above.

Do not get a Seagate at all. Samsungs are the best HDD's on the market today and they sport the same price tag as comparable Seagate or WD models. Stick with Samsung, you'll love it.

 

[tserich]

The thing is I've noticed a lot of people recommending the Samsung F3 a lot but they always seem to be out of stock. If there isn't one available by the time I purchase my new rig, I'll definitely get one.

Also about the SSD, I was planning to use it for my OS/apps only and have a secondary (Samsung F3 as the storage). I'll look into that if my budget allows for it but newegg is out of stock on the intel x 25 m 80gb right now

As for the RAM, I'll definitely consider it if its going to save me trouble in the end. I definitely would rather have reliability over something that is going to cause a problem.

 

[tserich]

So I decided to change my initial plans for my HSF and possibly the HDD because of brutalspoon's recommendation. If I don't get a SSD, should I get an additional 500 GB and setup a RAID?

Case - COOLERMASTER HAF 932 - 159.99
CPU - I5 750 - 219.99
Power Supply Unit - Corsair HX650 - 139.99
HSF - Noctua NH-U12P SE2 120mm 79.99
Motherboard - Asus P7P55D Pro - 179.99
RAM - G.SKILL ECO Series 4GB - 100.99
HD - Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 - 69.99
DVD - SONY Black SATA DVD-ROM - 19.99
GPU - Radeon HD 5870 - 425.49
Sound Card - ASUS Xonar DX - already have

Total: $1,396.41

Any suggestions on getting it lower? Also I think I won't be Crossfiring

 

[geofelt]

Here are some suggestions:
1) Antec makes some good cases. Look at the Antec 300 illusion model $69.99:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129066

2) If you will not be crossfiring, then you do not need such a strong PSU. 500w with 2 pci-e power connectors is all that is required. The Corsair 550VX at $98.49 before $20 rebate will do the job:
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139004

It is not modular, but I consider that a non-issue. You will be using most of the leads anyway. Otherwise, the HX650 is a fine unit that would support an upgrade to a 5970.

3) A SSD is a luxury if you have the funds. I think I would wait on this a bit, the market is changing weekly. A single large(1tb) drive will be plenty fast enough for now. Look at the SSD's from Intel, and Kingston for now, since they use the intel controller which supports TRIM that makes writes more efficient with windows-7

Do not bother with raid. Benchmarks LOOK great, but real general performance is good only for sequential operations of large files. A OS does lots of small reads and writes.

4) 2048 x 1152 is a strange resolution. What monitor is that? Do you mean 1920 x 1024? The 5870 would be fine for that.

5) Are you a student? If so, look into an academic license for windows-7.

---good luck---

 

[tserich]

Thanks for giving some suggestions on lowering the price. I think I am going to add those suggestions to lower the cost

And my monitor is a Samsung SyncMaster 2343 BWX

 

[geofelt]

Thanks for giving some suggestions on lowering the price. I think I am going to add those suggestions to lower the cost

And my monitor is a Samsung SyncMaster 2343 BWX

I learn something new every day; I did not realize that there was such a resolution. Samsung makes very good monitors, and that resolution looks to be very good for web browsing. Good price too.

 

[vznoobie12]

Well deng! Canadians love hyper 212+. I checked amazon.ca for you and its even sold out there .

I really do recommend that cooler, as its price to performance is really great. However, since you are willing to pay premium on a CPU cooler, why not spend a tad more and go with u12p se2's big brother (literally):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608018&Tpk=noctua%20d14
I think performance pcs ships to Canada, but I'm not certain if the shipping will be horrible.
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/3045/noctua_nh_d14_140mm_cpu_cooler/index6.html