Critique my i5 Sandibridge Gaming Build Please

[cyberaptor]

I plan to overclock and later upgrade to 16GB RAM, add a 2nd GTX 570, and an SSD. And what monitor (23" or above) would you guys suggest? Thank you

Total Price comes in at $1,744

MSI P67A-GD65 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Model #67A-GD65 (B3)
Item #:N82E16813130574
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$179.99 $179.99


Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52500K
Model #:BX80623I52500K
Item #:N82E16819115072
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$228.99 $228.99


EVGA SuperClocked 012-P3-1573-KR GeForce GTX 570 HD w/Display-Port (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP ...
Model #:012-P3-1573-KR
Item #:N82E16814130620
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$364.99 -$5.00 Instant $359.99


NZXT Phantom PHAN-001WT White Steel / Plastic ATX Full Tower Computer Case
Model #HAN-001WT
Item #:N82E16811146067
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$139.99 $139.99


Seagate Barracuda XT ST32000641AS 2TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Model #:ST32000641AS
Item #:N82E16822148506
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$169.99 $169.99


G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL
Model #:F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL
Item #:N82E16820231428
Return Policy:Memory Standard Return Policy
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$99.99 $99.99


Logitech G510 Black USB Wired Gaming Keyboard
Model #:920-002530
Item #:N82E16823126100
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$119.99 -$10.00 Instant $109.99


Logitech G9x Black Two modes scroll USB Wired Laser Gaming Mouse
Model #:910-001152
Item #:N82E16826104261
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$99.99 -$30.00 Instant $69.99


Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM
Model #:GFC-00599
Item #:N82E16832116754
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$99.99 $99.99


CORSAIR Hydro H70 CWCH70 120mm High Performance CPU Cooler
Model #:CWCH70
Item #:N82E16835181013
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$104.81 $104.81


Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM
Model #:AS5-3.5G
Item #:N82E16835100007
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$9.99 $9.99


RAZER Vespula Dual Sided Gaming Mouse Mat
Model #:RZ02-00320100-R3U1
Item #:N82E16826999074
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$34.99 -$5.00 Instant $29.99


CORSAIR CMPSU-850TX 850W ATX12V 2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply
Model #:CMPSU-850TX
Item #:N82E16817139009
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[cyberaptor]

Looking for a monitor of 1920x1080. Will swap the Seagate for a WD, they are the same price for 2TB. I have also thought of doing 2x1TB in a RAID 0.

 

[Bigmac80]

Everything looks good so far. But im not sure if you need that Artic Silver 5 compound because the one on the H70 is actually pretty good from what i heard. Maybe the Hard drive and Graphics card is what i would change.

Western Digital or Samsung for Hard drive

Western Digitial Caviar black or Samsung F3 1TB

Not sure if you need 2tb though.

For Graphics card i'd go with these 3 because it comes with a better heatsink design for better air cooling.

MSI GTX 570 Twin Frozr

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127564

Asus ENGTX 570

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121432

Palit GTX 570

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814261096

Also for $25 more you can get a real water cooling kit instead of the h70.

http://www.svc.com/r750rs240.html

it's actually really easy to install and your case is perfect for it.

 

[Zenthar]

■Unless you plan on gaming above 1920x1200 resolution even a single GTX 570 might be overkill, you could probably scale back to a GTX 560 Ti or an ATI HD 6950 (then add a 2nd one later if you need to).
■Not a fan of MSI, I would rather wait for the Asrock P67 Extreme4 (~150$) or the Asus P8P67 Pro (~200$).
■The H70 isn't that great of a cooler, unless you need the space saving, I would suggest the Tuniq Tower 120 Extreme (~60$, cheaper, quieter and cools better)
■For the HDD, it would probably be cheaper to get a 500GB HDD for your program and games and a 2nd 2TB 5400 RPM ("green") drive for your data than that single 2TB 7200 RPM drive.

 

[Leaps-from-Shadows]

I wouldn't go lower than a 570 -- I bought a Palit 570 Sonic like the one Bigmac listed for my system a little over a month ago. I game at 1920x1080 and I like that I can do maximum settings in games while still having great frame rates. Plus, there will be games coming out to tax even the 570's and 580's horsepower.

That's a nice system you have specced out, pretty much the same as I did when Sandy Bridge came out. I went with a 1TB Samsung Spinpoint F3 drive though. Oh, and I went with Gelid GC-3 Extreme thermal compound because Arctic Silver 5 has this long, drawn out 200 hour curing time ... and the Gelid performs about the same with no (or very very little) curing time. Plus, the Gelid isn't electrically conductive like AS5 is.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been moved from the section CPU & Components to section Systems by Mousemonkey

 

[Why_Me]

Unless you have 2TB of pr0n, add a SSD, case, keyboard, and mouse to this build and call it good.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227590 <----- SSD worth looking at imo.

Here's a build with dual factory over clocked gtx 560's in SLI, after market cpu h/s (thermal paste included), Windows 7, 8 gigs of low voltage RAM, 1TB h/d, LED backlight 2ms monitor, etc...

That Asrock mobo down below will be out on the shelves..including newegg within next week or two.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371025 $89.99 FREE SHIPPING
Antec TruePower New TP-750 750W Continuous Power ATX12V V2.3 / EPS12V V2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC "compatible with Core i7/Core i5" Power Supply

http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-P67-EX4&title=ASRock-P67-Extreme4-LGA1155-Intel-P67-DDR3-Quad-SLI-Quad-CrossFireX-SATA3-USB3-0-A-GbE-ATX-Motherboard $153.99
ASRock P67 Extreme4 LGA1155/ Intel P67/ DDR3/ Quad SLI & Quad CrossFireX/ SATA3&USB3.0/ A&GbE/ ATX Motherboard - P67 EXTREME4

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.618217 Combo Discount: -$8.00 Combo Price: $241.98
Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52500K
COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1 "Heatpipe Direct Contact" Long Life Sleeve 120mm CPU Cooler Compatible Intel ...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.604446 Combo Discount: -$15.00 Combo Price: $304.98
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL
GIGABYTE GV-N560OC-1GI GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125363 $244.99
GIGABYTE GV-N560OC-1GI GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106289 $17.99 FREE SHIPPING
LITE-ON Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA CD/DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.591429 Combo Discount: -$5.00 Combo Price: $149.98 FREE SHIPPING
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236117 $189.99 - $179.99 after mail-in rebate card FREE SHIPPING
ASUS VH238H Black 23" Full HD HDMI LED Backlight LCD Monitor w/Speakers 250 cd/m2 ASCR 50,000,000:1

Total: $1,393.89 USD

http://www.asrock.com/news/events/201102ex/warranty.html <----- Look for the B3 Stepping Chipset Logo/Sticker on the new boards

http://www.madshrimps.be/articles/article/1000116#axzz1EqpvWFEN <---Review on that Asrock motherboard after the latest bios update

http://www.hardwareheaven.com/reviews/1098/pg2/asrock-extreme4-p67-and-fatal1ty-professional-p67-vs-x58-with-core-i7-950-review-asrock-p67-extreme4.html <---Review on that Asrock motherboard after the latest bios update

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4080/welcome-to-sandy-bridge-with-the-asrock-p67-extreme4 <--- Review before the latest bios...and it still smoked the Asus and Gigabyte boards

http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=P67%20Extreme4 <----- ASRock P67 Extreme4 Motherboard

 

[christop]

Spend 30 or 40 dollars more and get the xspc water cooling loop at frozen cpu.

 

[Why_Me]

Spend 30 or 40 dollars more and get the xspc water cooling loop at frozen cpu.

Why go with water cooling at all ? Temps have never been an issue with these 1155 builds. A decent cooler like a scythe mugen II, Noctua, Corsair, etc, etc... will easily get you past the 5.0ghz mark and run cool as ice. These chips hit a ceiling and it's all dependable on your cpu and some what your mobo.

 

[cyberaptor]

Best answer selected by cyberaptor.