SB build advice

[Shaft_32]

Approximate Purchase Date: tomorrow probably


Budget Range: $1000 -$1200 Before Rebates


System Usage from Most to Least Important: gaming mostly


Parts Not Required: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers


Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg.com


Country of Origin: US


Parts Preferences: i5-2500K


Overclocking: Yes - but only in the future


SLI or Crossfire: Yes - also in the future


Monitor Resolution: 1440x900 at the moment, will upgrade next year

I have been following the forums for a few months as I anticipated buying a new PC.
I have never built my own PC before, but I have installed RAM and video cards, etc.

Here is what I have picked out based on other posts and articles, and I would greatly appreciate feedback.

■SAMSUNG DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S223L LightScribe Support - OEM
■COOLER MASTER HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP Black Steel + Plastic and Mesh Bezel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
■SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
■GIGABYTE GV-N560OC-1GI GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
■XFX Black Edition P1-750B-CAG9 750W ATX12V v2.2 / ESP12V v2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Modular ...
■G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL
■Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM
■Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52500K
■Sega Sega Shogun 2: Total War Free with purchase!

Total is $986.91

Some notes:
I will be out shopping tomorrow, and there is a Frys and a Microcenter in my area.
They still appear to be offering the i5-2500K for $180, so I will probably pick one up there.

I would absolutely love to have the Asrock extreme4, but I don't think anyone has them in stock. Can someone recommend a suitable alternative?

I would like to leave the CPU at stock for a while, then later upgrade the system with another video card and a cooler for the CPU so I can overclock. I have also been toying with the idea of getting a SSD later as well and I will most certainly be upgrading the monitor to 1080.

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

 

[WR2]

Hello Shaft_32;

Have you checked with your local Microcenter to see if they have any P67 motherboards in stock?

ASUS 24X SATA DVD Burner $18 & Free shipping w/ promo code EMCKGJE65, ends 3/21

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 & Win7 in a combo deal

 

[WR2]

You'll probably need to take the motherboard out of the case (with all that entails) to mount your 'get it later' CPU cooler.
I think it's a much better idea to pop for the CPU cooler now, install it while you still have the board out of the case and then just go ahead and do your 'overclock later' plan. It will make things a whole lot easier on you in the long run.

You can get a CPU & CPU cooler combo deal there @ NewEgg.

 

[WR2]

Asrock P67 Extreme4 / Asus P8P67-Pro / Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD4 are probably the top 3 boards you want on your short list.
Going up in price you'd have: Asrock P67 Extreme6 / Asus P8P67-Deluxe / Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD5

What's available @ NewEgg right now:
MSI P67A-GD55 (B3) $165 - MSI P67A-GD55 webpage
MSI P67A-GD65 (B3) $180 - MSI P67A-GD65 webpage

 

[WR2]

It looks like NCIXUS might have some boards in stock that would be or interest : Gigabyte P67A-UD4-B3
Watch out for those: In Stock - Yes * - with an Asterisk like that ASUS P8P67 Evo P67

 

[Shaft_32]

WR2, Thanks for the feedback!

Regarding the combo deals and suggestions, I have taken your advice. New total is $977.91.
I will definitely give the cooler some thought to save hassle in the long run.
Which cooler do you recommend? There seems to be a lot of combo deals for coolers.

What makes the motherboards stand out? Most folks seem to agree on those motherboards, but I don't know the criteria. I checked the difference between the MSI boards you mentioned, and the only difference appears to be the number of SATA 3 ports.

This may be my ignorance here, but I think I only need 1-2 SATA 3 ports.
Even after upgrades, I would have:
- 1 HDD
- 1 SDD
- 1 DVD burner

I would think the SDD would be SATA 3 and the others would be SATA 2, correct?
From previous forum reading, I would just want to make sure it has 2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 slots to run dual video cards (at x8/x8?).

Anything else I should consider on the motherboard?

 

[WR2]

Depending on the SSD model, yes, it might be a SATA III device. Most older SSDs are SATA II. The newest (and fastest) SSDs are going to be SATA III.

That Samsung 1TB SATA 3.0Gb/s HDD is SATA II and your DVD burner would be as well.
SATA II = 3.0Gb/s
SATA III = 6.0Gb/s

 

[WR2]

Core i5 2500K and Corsair A50 CPU cooler combo after the combo discount and $20 rebate you get a decent CPU cooler for about $10.
Corsair A50 CPU cooler @ LegitReviews
Corsair A50 CPU cooler review @ Hardware Secrets

 

[Shaft_32]

Update:
I purchased the following at Microcenter:
- i5-2500k
- asus p8p67 pro

They had the HAF 922, but now I am a little concerned.
That case is HUGE.

Can someone offer a smaller alternative?
What about the HAF 912? Will it hold two 560 Tis and the other equipment mentioned?

 

[WR2]

Here is a side-by-siade comparison between the HAF 912 and HAF 922 with a 'standard' case

912/922 Sizes: 19.50" x 9.10" x 18.90" -\/s - 22.20" x 10.00" x 19.70"

No problems fitting everything mentioned inside the HAF 912 it's also relatively big when compared to an 'average' standard ATX mid tower case.

 

[WR2]

Nice find on the Asus P8P67 Pro too.
How much was the i5 2500K going for there?

 

[Shaft_32]

179.99 for the CPU
189.99 for the motherboard
The guy said they JUST got the shipment last night. He had to get it out of the back.

 

[WR2]

I doubt they'll last through the weekend.
Did he say how many there were?

 

[WR2]

Which store was that? I got a few more people looking for that board.

 

[ge8ff]

I have a HAF 912 and a GTX 560, still lots of room even though I have just one. Also you can remove the rotatable hard drive bay and you'll have more room incase you ever get a really long card.

You might want to grab a 200mm fan for about $20, it'll still be under the price of a HAF 922.

 

[Shaft_32]

Order has been placed.
Saved $25 on memory with promo code
Also saved shipping DVD drive, another $5.
Total was $698 for newegg + $400 from Microcenter ~= $1100.
A little better than I thought.

■ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM
■COOLER MASTER HAF 912 RC-912-KKN1 Black SECC/ ABS Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
■GIGABYTE GV-N560OC-1GI GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
■XFX Black Edition P1-750B-CAG9 750W ATX12V v2.2 / ESP12V v2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Modular ...
■G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL
■Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM
■SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

 

[Shaft_32]

Store was on I-610 in Houston.
I do not know how many they had, sorry.
I would just call them up and ask.
They also had a Gigabyte P67 board as well they also got in last night.
Forgot to order the CPU cooler or additional fans.
I may or may not place another order.

With just one 560 Ti and stock cooling, I should be OK for now, right?

 

[WR2]

Always nice to come in under budget.

Be sure to let us know how things work out with the build.

Here is a Step-by-Step Guide to Building a PC

Look over the forum's "System won't boot" checklist to see some of the common build errors and how to avoid them.

-> The usual advice; read the manual / install guide; look at the parts, read the manual again and if everything makes sense and looks right - then go ahead with the install.

 

[WR2]

You'll definitely be OK with just the stock cooling.

 

[Shaft_32]

Went ahead and ordered:
■COOLER MASTER Megaflow 200 R4-LUS-07AR-GP 200mm Red LED Case Fan
■COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1 "Heatpipe Direct Contact" Long Life Sleeve 120mm CPU Cooler Compatible Intel ...

 

[Shaft_32]

Update: system arrived yesterday and is now up and running.
I have never built a system from scratch on my own, so I was amazed to get it together so quickly.

Tricky parts:
- Could not get the 200mm fan in. The screws don't seem to fit the fan. I just left it out for now.
- Installing the CPU made me VERY nervous. The sound the arm made coming down sounds an awful lot like a chip breaking.
- Getting the 8 pin power cord to the motherboard was VERY dicey. The cable was just BARELY long enough as the pin and the PSU were on opposite sides.
- I felt like an idiot because I didn't know how the rails worked. Took me a solid hour to get the HDD mounted. Once I figured it out, it took 10 seconds.
- None of the guides I saw explained how to properly plug in all the cords on the motherboard. Had to google many of the words on the cords.(AC'97, I'm looking at you)
- LEDs are not working, but I haven't really messed with them.
- No LAN drivers on the freakin' disk!? Are you kidding me? Had to download LAN drivers and use a thumb drive.

Otherwise, the system booted up fine on the first try. All fans appear to work. CPU looks OK. Ram is good. Video card is good. Windows is.... well Windows.

I'm working on doing some tests to see how it stacks up. I've only tried Minecraft so far. 100-200 FPS. I'll throw something substantial at is shortly.

 

[Shaft_32]

Well, most of my complaints have been resolved.
- Found the instruction booklet to the case hidden under the cardboard. Clearly states how to install a 200mm fan.
- Said booklet also explains how to use the rails.
- There were two CDs with the motherboard. The other contained LAN and other drivers.

Good times.

 

[ge8ff]

- Installing the CPU made me VERY nervous. The sound the arm made coming down sounds an awful lot like a chip breaking.

I know exactly how you feel.

Good to see your computer is up and running! Make sure to monitor your temperatures and run some benchmarks to make sure everything is running correctly.

 

[Shaft_32]

Will do.
One concern I have is still about the 200mm fan. The cooler master 200mm fan does not appear to fit in the cooler master HAF 912. The indentations on the fan block it from being correctly placed. The only solution I can think of is to saw or break off the unneeded piece blocking the correct placement.

Anyone else had this problem?

Also, the case did not appear to come with screws that fit the fan. Neither did the fan, oddly. Again, it could be my ignorance here. I googled this topic to death, but I have not found a good installation guide for fans.

 

[Shaft_32]

Best answer selected by Shaft_32.