First build, Critique please

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
P

pdubz18

Distinguished
Mar 7, 2011
3
0
18,510
Here is the build I am looking to purchase. I chose the i5 2500K processor to hopefully have some potential for some future upgrades or overclocking if needed. My budget is probably going to be between $1000-1200 including monitor, speakers, and keyboard. Anyways, here are the components:

Processor: Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz Price: $228.99
http://www.newegg.co...15072&Tpk=2500k

Mobo: ASUS P8P67 PRO LGA 1155 Intel P67 Price: $130ish (Its on backorder due to the whole SB issue.)
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813131682

GPU: GIGABYTE GV-N465MT-1GI GeForce GTX 465 Price: $179.99
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814125343

RAM: Kingston HyperX 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 Price: $99.99
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820104246

PSU: CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX650 V2 650W Price: $99.99
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817139020

HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX Price: $89.99
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16822136533

DVD-RW: ASUS Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X Price: $18.99
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16827135204

Cooling: Sunbeam Twister 120 CW-TWI-120-SV Price: $39.99
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16835207009

Tower: Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Price: $59.99
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16811147153

Monitor: Asus VE228H 21.5" Full HD Price: $159.99
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16824236100

Speakers: ALTEC LANSING BXR1221 Price: $29.99
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16836113025

Key/Mouse: Logitech Cordless Desktop EX 100 Price: $29.99
http://www.newegg.co...N82E16823126041

Total Price: $1167.89

This is my first build, and I'm pretty sure thats all I need. I want to keep my options open for another GPU hooked up with SLI. I can get operating systems dirt cheap from my university, so thats no biggie. Feedback would be awesome. Thanks!
 
Sort by date Sort by votes
sofyanator

sofyanator

Distinguished
Feb 28, 2011
74
0
18,640
YUMMY! Also you can get a 28 1920x1200p monitor for 200 dollars at geeks.com with 3ms response time a decent color and whats it called... contrasr ration. If your gaming drop the speakers(you wont need them unless you have roomates who you might like watching movies with you on the pc). The intel fan is very nice and i would keep it becuase the system on your mobo uses the fans extra airflow to cool the north and southbridge, so drop the cooler or switch to liquid cooling). I would also recomend changing ram to g.skill(better value) or corsair(better peformance). As for the gpu i would higly...highly recomend an overclocked gigabyte gtx 560 ti soc. It can beat the 570 with both hands behind its back. Its cheapest high end card and is less exspensive then all 480s and most 470s so go for it! Also i would recomend jumping up to a 700watt psu which is a solid choice for future sli. Now this is just my opion you dont have to follow it but just an idea. Also if you got 100 bucks to spare and want a big gaming and overall peformance boost, buy a ssd an put your operating system on it and every thing well be 10 times better. Boot up is faster, games better, movies better, its just an overall better pc experience if you can afford it.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
P

pdubz18

Distinguished
Mar 7, 2011
3
0
18,510
So I can do without the fan and heatsink? I wasn't aware the Mobo came with a fan.

Thanks for the suggestion about the GPU, MicroCenter has a cheaper price on the i5 2500k so I can put that extra cash to a 560 gtx.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
boiler1990

boiler1990

Splendid
Dec 21, 2009
4,072
0
23,160



Your system base is great. i52500K + Asus p8p67 pro. Solid combo, and great for OCing.

Kingston's RAM is one of the best. G.Skill tends to be a bit cheaper, and if you get a low Cas Latency kit with moderate speeds (any brand: CL 7, 1333MHz), you'll get great performance from your RAM.

You should at least be looking at the GTX 560. The 465 was an awful GPU, and you shouldn't even be considering that. I'd recommend an EVGA or Asus card, since they have the best quality in the GPU market.

Swap out that WD Black HDD with the Samsung F3 1TB hard drive. It may be SATA II vs. SATA III, but it's a faster drive because of the platter density (limiting factor for SATA III drives at the moment). You won't notice any change in speed if you compared the two, and you save ~$20 on the hard drive.

I'd recommend the Cooler Master Hyper 212+ CPU cooler for overclocking. It's easy to get up to 4 GHz on it, and I've heard of people getting 4.6 GHz if the case is cooled properly. Even if you don't overclock, it will perform better than the stock cooler when gaming (those don't tend to game well).

Another two towers I would recommend are the Antec 300 and the Cooler Master 912. The Antec is very sleek and has good efficient airflow design (owned one previously), and the 912 has a lot of room for a mid-tower.

I would look on Amazon for some of the parts once you find them, because they tend to have the same and/or lower prices, and free shipping on most items. I know that the CM 212+ is usually $10 less than Newegg, and cases and monitors are much cheaper since you won't have to pay $15-25 shipping on most of them.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
P

pdubz18

Distinguished
Mar 7, 2011
3
0
18,510
Okay Thank you everyone for your great feedback. This is exactly what I needed and I really appreciate it.

I looked through a few more sites this time and found a few better prices, namely the i5 2500k for $179.99 (!!!!). Also, the mobo price at Microcenter is $144.99, which seems like a very fair price.

I will upgrade to a better GPU, amazon has a EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti for $259.99 on amazon, I haven't found a better price for that one.

That is good advice on the hard drive, they are $64.99 at newegg, so thats a solid $25 saved.

Another good piece of advice with the CM 212+, another 10$ saved.

I will look into those towers, this is exactly what I was looking for, since I picked most of the parts almost arbitrarily.

**EDIT** Also, one more thing. How much RAM would you say I would need? 4 GB would save me 50$, but from what I've read it would be on the low side. Most of what I will be doing is playing a few MMO's, namely The Old Republic when it comes out.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
boiler1990

boiler1990

Splendid
Dec 21, 2009
4,072
0
23,160
Gaming computers only require a minimum of 4GB of RAM to run well. Besides, if you ever need new RAM, it's just $50 in the future and you can add it at any time. Just make sure to match timings/latencies (safer just to buy the same kit).
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom