Mock my build: $2000 gamer/video encoding

[henryvalz]

I would love to hear your insults, comments, compliments, and innuendo about my build.

Mostly going to be playing way to much WoW and doing some video encoding and burning for family movies.

i5-2500k
ASUS P8P67 PRO LGA 1155
Zalman CNPS10X Performa
8gb of DDR3-1600 (I would eventually double this)
128gb c300 SSD
S3 Spinpoint or Western Digital Cavier Black 7200 1tb
750-850 PSU
gtx 460 1gb x2
HAF-X or 932
Blu Ray burner x10
Blu Ray combo drive

 

[Why_Me]

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261222-31-build-advice <---

Unless your talking Australian dollars, there's no way that build should cost even close to $2,000 unless those parts were dipped in gold. And no need for two blu ray burners... And if you plan on doing a lot of video end coding you want the 2600k which supports hyper threading. Check out that link up above, fill it out the best you can and I'l post a build on here that will rock...yet efficiently

 

[henryvalz]

A blu ray combo drive is a blu ray reader with a CD/DVD writer, not a burner.

Most of the blu ray reader drives you get now are combos, regardless.

I'm not sure that I will do enough encoding to advocate spending the extra $100 for a 2600k.

 

[henryvalz]

i5-2500k ($200)
ASUS P8P67 PRO LGA 1155 ($200)
Zalman CNPS10X Performa ($50)
8gb of DDR3-1600 (I would eventually double this) ($150)
128gb c300 SSD ($250)
S3 Spinpoint or Western Digital Cavier Black 7200 1tb ($75)
750-850 PSU ($100)
gtx 460 1gb x2 ($350)
HAF-X or 932 ($200)
Blu Ray burner x10 ($100)
Blu Ray combo drive ($50)

On top of that, I live in Washington, where our tax rate is over 9%, so you can stack that on top.

 

[spentshells]

Buy 1 good video card in place of two weak cards Get a 570 and be done with it.

 

[zakel2]

Wow doesn't support SLI/Crossfire so.. waste of money getting two video cards.

 

[Why_Me]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119225 $199.99
COOLER MASTER HAF X RC-942-KKN1 Black Steel/ Plastic ATX Full Tower Computer Case

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151100 $129.99
Seasonic SS-850HT 850W ATX12V v2.31,EPS12V v2.92 80Plus Silver Certified, Active PFC Power Supply - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.575884 Combo Price: $389.98
Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52500K
ASUS P8P67 PRO LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185142 $39.99
Scythe SCMG-2100 Sleeve CPU Cooler

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835154003 $6.99 FREE SHIPPING
Tuniq TX-2 Cooling Thermal Compound

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231426 $84.99
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-8GBXL

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185 $69.99 FREE SHIPPING $15 off with promo code HARDOCP112C, ends 1/19
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121412 $349.99
ASUS ENGTX570/2DI/1280MD5 GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136181 $99.99 FREE SHIPPING
LG WH10LS30 10X Blu-ray Burner - LightScribe Support - Bulk - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136183 $69.99 FREE SHIPPING
LG Black 10X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM SATA Internal Blu-ray Disc Combo Model UH10LS20 LightScribe Support - OEM

$1,441.90 *not including shipping, rebates, promo codes, etc...

 

[dalauder]

Skip the second optical drive and wait until the sell an 1155 board that allows overclocking.

If you want to spend $2,000 you should get at least 2 GTX570's.

 

[Why_Me]

Skip the second optical drive and wait until the sell an 1155 board that allows overclocking.

If you want to spend $2,000 you should get at least 2 GTX570's.

since when does a Asus Pro w/2500K not o/c ?

 

[mdd1963]

I concur with the 'get a better single gpu' theory; GTX570 is a very good choice....

 

[henryvalz]

Skip the second optical drive and wait until the sell an 1155 board that allows overclocking.

I do a lot of different types of disc burning and duplication. 2 Drives is a life saver for a lazy guy.

I'm liking the 1 GPU idea, HOWEVER, I run 3 monitors at a time, and only play WoW on one of them.

Am I still not getting my money's worth out of the 2 GPU? Or does this change it?

There are 2 22" and 1 20".

Why me, why the slow RAM? Seems like dropping an extra $10 for DDR3-1600 would be wise, right?

Also, you appear to be missing my crown jewel, the SSD.

 

[Why_Me]

Skip the second optical drive and wait until the sell an 1155 board that allows overclocking.

I do a lot of different types of disc burning and duplication. 2 Drives is a life saver for a lazy guy.

I'm liking the 1 GPU idea, HOWEVER, I run 3 monitors at a time, and only play WoW on one of them.

Am I still not getting my money's worth out of the 2 GPU? Or does this change it?

There are 2 22" and 1 20".

Why me, why the slow RAM? Seems like dropping an extra $10 for DDR3-1600 would be wise, right?

Also, you appear to be missing my crown jewel, the SSD.

1333 is your most stable RAM, and SSD's are a personal thing. Also RAM timings mean zero when it comes to o/c these cpu's. Although I don't have a SSD myself...from the reviews and what I've read on this board, the OCZ and G.Skill SSD's seem to be the ones to get.

 

[henryvalz]

1333 is your most stable RAM

Just out of curiosity, do you have a reference?

Still wondering about a single GPU with 3 monitors...

Thanks!

 

[Why_Me]

1333 is your most stable RAM

Just out of curiosity, do you have a reference?

Still wondering about a single GPU with 3 monitors...

Thanks!

Lots of us on here have had 1600 RAM that wouldn't run at the rated speed, but it could be ran at 1333 and with tighter timings.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/memory/display/ddr3-1600-lga1156_4.html#sect0 <--- These benchmarks differ a lot from a similar test done here @ Toms a while back...but it's something to go on. Just remember that the 1155's like low voltage RAM...so 1.5v would be ideal...whether it be 1600mhz or 1333mhz. The new G.Skill RAM that's out for this board run from 1.45v - 1.5v.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007709%20600083901%20600095874&IsNodeId=1&name=Radeon%20HD%206970 <--- Single gpu for three monitors.

 

[spentshells]

1333 is your most stable RAM

Just out of curiosity, do you have a reference?

Still wondering about a single GPU with 3 monitors...

Thanks!

single gpu 3 monitors =is AMD only, I do not see the op saying anything about it. (orginal post)

 

[henryvalz]

I do not see the op saying anything about it. (orginal post)

Yeah, I didn't mention the 3 monitors thing... My apologies. I mentioned in a later post.

However, I am wondering with 3 monitors if I would not be better served by a dual card system like 2x 460 or 2x 6850.

 

[henryvalz]

Self bump to answer question re to 3 monitors:

2x 460 or a single 570 or 6950?

 

[spentshells]

6950 for 3 monitors.

 

[henryvalz]

Best answer selected by henryvalz.