Pre-Sandy Bridge Build

[screemer11]

I was planning on building an i5-2500k machine, but then heard of the problems with the p67 motherboards, and decided to start the build with a cheap processor and motherboard, until Sandy Bridge is stable. This is the build that I decided on, but wanted to get some advice and help on some.

CPU - AMD Athlon II X3 450
Motherboard - MSI 880GM-E41
RAM - G.Skill Ripjaws 4GB (2x2GB) 1600 (any advice with Sandy Bridge compatibility here would be nice, this is AM3 RAM)
HDD - WD Caviar Black 1 TB 7200 RPM
Case - Antec 902
Power Supply - Antec BP550 Plus 550W or OCZ Fatal1ty OCZ550FTY 550W (need help choosing)
Graphics - ASUS EAH6850 1GB or SAPPHIRE 100283-3L Radeon HD 5770 1GB (need help choosing)

Any advice on switching a component or choosing the graphics card would be a big help, since this is my first custom build. Also an idea of what the heat and noise would be like on this build would be helpful. Thanks anyone for their help!

 

[WR2]

Hello screemer11;

Do you want to go ahead with the SB build? The B3 boards are starting to show up now.
In stock and available.

 

[WR2]

Antec 902 is well ventilated by large slow moving fans.
Keeps the system temps cool and the local environment fairly quiet.

 

[screemer11]

Yeah, I might just want to go straight to the i5-2500k, but any tips on the graphics card or the power supply, as these wouldn't change regardless of the Sandy Bridge decision.

 

[WR2]

Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz $230
BIOSTAR TP67B+ 1155 P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard & RAM combo deal $210
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) RAM

We probably should talk about your total budget for the build to make sure we stay inside it.

 

[screemer11]

Oh yeah... The budget lol. Well the budget is around $1000 but i could always go outside of that if i need to to get better performance. Also, is the Sandy Bridge glitch fixed, or at least for this board?

 

[WR2]

Affirmative. All of the B3 revision boards have the fixed SATA II controller chip.

CPU/MB/RAM as above. $440
Hyper 212+ CPU cooler

WD Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 HDD / Win 7 Combo deal $135
Asus 24x DVD burner $19

SAPPHIRE 100314-2SR Radeon HD 6870 1GB Video Card $220 & $20 rebate $20 off w/ promo code VGA3243, ends 3/4

Antec Nine Hundred Two V3 combo w/PSU $200
Antec TruePower New TP-750 Blue 750W 80+ BRONZE PSU

~$1043 before rebates, taxes and shipping.

 

[screemer11]

Yeah, I won't be needing the OS, I already have a full copy of 7. Everything else looks good, but how about heat and noise issues with the PSU in this case. Would it be a problem? Just another thing with the HDD, would it be a good idea to just stick at this one or go up to a higher priced Western Digital Caviar Black 7200 RPM drive? With the card, I definitely won't be ordering by tomorrow, but the $20 lost wouldn't be much of an issue.

 

[WR2]

You can always get the video card now and wait on the rest.

That system will be low noise and low heat. With Win 7 already accounted for you might want to get the 1TB WD Caviar Black.

What size monitor are you using? If you just need the 1 video card we can downsize the PSU to save a bit extra there.

 

[screemer11]

22" monitor, and yes, I will only be needing the 1 video card. The PSU you found seems great though, and as long as I can keep the heat and noise down, I would be okay with paying the extra 25 from my original PSU idea. Anyways, the 750W will make it upgradeable if I want to reuse it in a few years.

 

[WR2]

Sure, that would work.
The PSU fans usually spin slower and quieter if you have a bit more than you actually need.

 

[screemer11]

So with the final build that we've decided, all the components would be the best, including the HDD, Motherboard, PSU, and Graphics right. I just want to make sure before I really decide on a finalized build.

 

[WR2]

The best available now.
There are some $150-$200 P67 motherboards that would rate higher.
This motherboard is less expensive since it has it's two PCI-e video card slots running at x16/x4 vs the x8/x8 of the more expensive models. It also only supports CrossfireX with 2 ATI/AMD video cards, not SLI with 2 Nvidia card.
For someone just needing 1 video card - you're not paying for something you don't need right now.
And if you do decided to add a 2nd card in the future you can - you just pay a small performance penalty with the 2nd slot being x4.

 

[Guest]

I was planning on building an i5-2500k machine, but then heard of the problems with the p67 motherboards, and decided to start the build with a cheap processor and motherboard, until Sandy Bridge is stable. This is the build that I decided on, but wanted to get some advice and help on some.

CPU - AMD Athlon II X3 450
Motherboard - MSI 880GM-E41
RAM - G.Skill Ripjaws 4GB (2x2GB) 1600 (any advice with Sandy Bridge compatibility here would be nice, this is AM3 RAM)
HDD - WD Caviar Black 1 TB 7200 RPM
Case - Antec 902
Power Supply - Antec BP550 Plus 550W or OCZ Fatal1ty OCZ550FTY 550W (need help choosing)
Graphics - ASUS EAH6850 1GB or SAPPHIRE 100283-3L Radeon HD 5770 1GB (need help choosing)

Any advice on switching a component or choosing the graphics card would be a big help, since this is my first custom build. Also an idea of what the heat and noise would be like on this build would be helpful. Thanks anyone for their help!

on your mobo: (2x2) or (1x4g)4GB G.Skill DDR3 PC3-10666 Ripjaw Series (9-9-9-24) Single or double desktop memory module.. as you can see sandy bridge compatibles with intel on i3, i5 and i7.... you will be needing a memory for am3... look for g-skills compatible with msi 870 series, to 890 series

power supply: 500watts not enough. make sure you have atleast 650w to 800w power supply. for your graphics of 1gb...

graphics: radeon grphics are good with msi mother boards and amd... loads gamer like the match up as it gives flowless scores on grapics memory interchange..