New build - $1500 budget - New Build

spl33n

March 22, 2011 4:27:18 PM

I'm about to pull the trigger on this build but I'm looking for advice / criticism before I do so.

Approximate Purchase Date: This week

Budget Range: $1500 (shipping included)

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, Internet

Parts Not Required: Monitor, Keyboard, Mouse, Speakers

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg, amazon

Case: Antec Three Hundred Illusion Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case ($70)

Processor/CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz ($225)

Motherboard: MSI P67A-GD55 (B3) ($165)

Cooler: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 ($30)

Memory: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600 ($100)

SSD: OCZ Vertex 2 120GB ($210)

Storage HD: Western Digital 700GB 7200RPM (from old computer)

Drive: LITE-ON Black 4X Blu-ray Disc Reader ($55)

Video Card: EVGA SuperClocked GeForce GTX 570 ($360)

PSU: CORSAIR HX Series 750HX 750W ($142)

Others: Windows 7 Home Premium 64 ($100), Arctic Silver 5 ($12)

Price: ~$1490 (shipping included)

I'm currently using 1680x1050 resolution but I plan on eventually purchasing a larger monitor. I also plan on purchasing another GTX 570 a while down the road and running SLI.

Does this setup seem to have a pretty good bang for the buck? I'd like to overclock the CPU too so keep that in mind for power consumption / cooling.

I'm not really interested in burning dvds or blu-ray so that is why I chose an optical drive that reads only.

More about : build 1500 budget

| E-mail me updates
| Report abuse

ubercake

March 22, 2011 6:21:05 PM

Everything looks good.

A couple of things to consider though...

I would go for an 850W power supply. My system regularly hits the 750W mark while gaming with 2 580s in SLI. The 570s use about 20W less each. Your system will probably be hitting the 700W mark regularly when you go SLI, especially if you'll be doing any OC. You don't want to be cutting it that close especially when you consider aging parts and capacitors operate less efficiently over time:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Also, an HAF 912 case is good because if you're not loading the drive bays, you can remove the center cage to make room for video cards. Plus, it has the cutout behind the processor part of the motherboard. This way, if you're messing with OC'ing and want to swap out different coolers with different backplates, you can do so without removing the motherboard. This is a huge time saver:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

| Report abuse

Why_Me

March 22, 2011 9:04:43 PM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... $119.99 - $109.99 after mail-in rebate
XFX Core Edition PRO850W (P1-850S-NLB9) 850W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?Ite... Combo Discount: -$8.00 Combo Price: $251.98
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?Ite... Combo Discount: -$15.00 Combo Price: $434.98
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL
EVGA 012-P3-1570-AR GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card