First time system builder. Budget 1.2k - 1.5k aus

[Johnnyten3]

Hi i'm custom building a system for the first time and wondering if the spec i choose will all work. Any help/opinion will be appreciated. I don't need the best system but i do want a powerful one and i've never try overclocking my system before. I live in australia so all prices are in aus dollar.

CPU - i5 2500 $228
MB - asrock p67 ext4 - $176
GPU - 1gb Gigabyte GTX 460se in SLI - 2 * 184 = $368
RAM - G.Skill Ripjaws-X DDR3 1333 4G - $62
SSD - Patriot Inferno SanForce SF-1222 60G - $139
HDD - WD Blue SATA3 500G - $44
Tower - NZXT phantom white - $175
PSU - AYWUN A1-750E - $79
DVD burner - LG - $22

Total - $1 293

optional
Sound card - Asus PCI-E DX - $98

I pick aywun for the psu cause i've heard a few good review about it, does anyone know more about them? alternative psu are around $35-60 more eg. Corsair tx 650 - $114

The HD aint of high quality either but i figure i don't really need a good HD cause i have the SSD and i hardly store too much stuff on my computer anyhow. Thankyou all

 

[Guest]

Welcome to Tom's Hardware.

Don't worry about it being your first time. It's quite easy, and hard to get anything messed up , if you follow the instructions. And most of all, it's fun.

Are you talking about the i5-2500K or the vanilla i5-2500? If it's not a 'K' edition processor, you won't really be able to OC it, and you might not need a P67 mobo - they're more expensive than their H67 counterparts. BTW, I wouldn't take ASRock mobos - they've only got a 1 year warranty vs. 3 years for Asus / Gigabyte / MSI ones.

RAM seems fine. I'm partial to G.Skill.

For the SSD, remember to disable the background defrag in Windows 7 - otherwise, the SSD will get worn down quickly. You might want to wait - Intel's 25nm-based new SSD's are expected to be launched this month.

I think the WD Caviar Blue HDD's are pretty bad.
To the best of my knowledge, this is the pecking order amongst HDD's:
WD Black > Samsung Spinpoint F3 > Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 > WD Blue > All the 'Green / LP' HDD's
The Spinpoint F3 is the best value for money, so take that if you can.

About the GPU's, I'm not so sure. What resolution are you looking at and what titles?

I've never heard of AYWUN and I'd be suspicious of that PSU - AFAIK, there aren't any decent 750W PSU's for that low a price. I rely on jonnyguru.com while choosing my PSU's. Calculate your power requirements with this app: http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp
Remember to read the fine print for an accurate estimate. I'd say take the Corsair or a Seasonic - you won't regret it. XFX PSU's are also supposedly quite good, if you can stand the green.

The Phantom's a great case. +1 for it.

You'll also want an after-market CPU cooler, if you're going to OC. The Scythe Mugen 2, Zalman CNPS 10x Performa and CM Hyper 212+ are some good value coolers.

For thermal paste, the OCZ Freeze, Noctua NT-H1, Gelid GC-Extreme and Shin-Etsu X23-7783D are quite good. The ultimate would be the Coollaboratory Liquid Pro, but it's not for first-timers (notoriously difficult to handle).

What speakers are you going to be using with this rig (2.1 / 4.1 / 7.1)? I don't think you'll need the sound card - you can always upgrade to one later on, if you find the onboard audio dissatisfactory or lacking in no. of output jacks.

It's a bad time to be building a system. Intel has initiated a recall of all the Sandy Bridge mobos because of a chipset glitch - they're expected to be back only in April. Suggest you come back then and we'll try to help you. And a request: next time, please convert the rates into USD, or at-least tell us the going exchange rate - that'd make it more convenient for us.

 

[Johnnyten3]

Best answer selected by Johnnyten3.