Core i5 2500 Gaming/Content creation workhorse - compatibility Check

[ukee1593]

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Please see below an update to the questions in this thread regarding the compatibility between the ASUS Motherboard and the GIGABYTE Graphics Card.

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I am looking to build this new computer to replace my ASUS notebook with a faulty screen. Please read over the parts list in consideration to the uses that I have detailed and my budget range in order to find any incompatibilities.

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Approximate Purchase Date: Early next week

Budget Range: $1300 - $1400 Australian (approximately $900 to $1000 US for reference

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Office work (MS word, Excel etc), Web Browsing (youtube, forums), Content Creation (Programming in Visual Studio and Java-eventually), Video Encoding (Home media server for PS3), Gaming(Trackmania, Burnout Paradise)

Parts Not Required: Monitor, Speakers

Preferred Websites: ARC computers Australia http://www.arc.com.au, and PCCaseGear Australia http://www.pccasegear.com

Country of Origin: Australia

Parts Preference: Intel CPU, No GPU preference except that I think that the NVidia GPUs have better GPU compute capabilities at a lower price point, ASUS or GIGABYTE Motherboard, High Quality Aluminium computer case such as a Lian Li. A Small SSD for the boot drive is also important

Overclocking: No

SLI or Crossfire: No

Monitor Resolution: 1920 X 1080

Additional Comments: Keeping power consumption and noise to a minimum is important, Computer will not be primarily used for gaming but rendering and encoding videos so a more GPU compute oriented GPU would be preferable. Ensuring that the computer is working for a number of years (will be retired to replace my Parent's old Pentium 4 system after about 18 - 24 months) Will be used in a dual monitor setup as my current (nearly broken) laptop is with a Samsung 19 inch television as a secondary monitor and a Samsung BX2450 as a primary monitor running at 1920 X 1080

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Here is a list of parts that I have compiled so far with parts from ARC computers and PCCaseGear

CPU --- Intel Core i5 2500 (from ARC computers) $223.15 AUD (how much better is this CPU over the i5 2400? is it worth the extra $18-$20? http://www.arc.com.au/pub.php?pid=39945&p=product

MotherBoard --- ASUS P8P67 (from ARC computers) $196.96 AUD (4XUSB3.0), (12XUSB2.0) http://www.arc.com.au/pub.php?pid=39905&p=product

RAM --- GSKILL RIPJAWS X DDR3 10666CL9D (from ARC computers) $102.40 AUD (Would this RAM be any better/more suited to the Sandy Bridge MoBo and CPU than the standard GSKILL 8GB DDR3 10666 RIPJAWS X @ http://www.arc.com.au/pub.php?pid=40048&p=product STANDARD GSKILL $100.05 @ http://www.arc.com.au/pub.php?gid=23756&pid=39434&p=product

SSD --- OCZ Vertex 2 60GB (from ARC computers) $138.90 AUD http://www.arc.com.au/pub.php?pid=40123&p=product

HDD --- SAMSUNG 3.5" SATA2 7200RPM 1TB 32MB Cache (from ARC computers) $57.75 AUD http://www.arc.com.au/pub.php?pid=37186&p=product

GPU Card --- GIGABYTE NVidia GTX460 OC 1GB ( from ARC computers) $215.18 AUD (This card is cheap and from my understanding offers very good performance in comparison to the other cards and has very good GPU compute power) (Would this card be compatible with the ASUS motherboard I have chosen?) http://www.arc.com.au/pub.php?pid=39470&p=product

DVD Drive --- SONY Optiarc AD-7240S (from ARC computers) $41.14 AUD http://www.arc.com.au/pub.php?pid=37642&p=product

PSU --- Corsair TX-650 ATX Power Supply (from ARC computers) $121.23 AUD http://www.arc.com.au/pub.php?pid=35427&p=product

OS --- Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit OEM (from ARC computers) $99.00 AUD http://www.arc.com.au/pub.php?pid=38179&p=product

KeyBoard --- Logitech MK260 Keyboard Mouse Combo 2.4GHz Wireless (from ARC computers) $29.30 AUD http://www.arc.com.au/pub.php?pid=40209&p=product

CASE --- Lian Li PC-7FN Black (from PCCaseGear) $158.00 AUD + $39AUD Shipping http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=13624

Total $1422.01 AUD

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As I understand there are no computer cases in the ATX or Mini ATX class which have USB 3.0 front panel support via the USB 3.0 headers. I envisage adding this to the case via an upgrade part in the future as needed. Thankyou for reading this far and I look forward to reading any suggestions/edits that are suggested.

Thanks again Folks.

Luke

 

[CopaMundial]

Looking at the relative demands of video vs processing in your specs I would go a totally different way.

I would drop the video card entirely and use on board graphics that are integrated into the Sandy Bridge CPU. Then I would take some of the money saved and upgrade CPU, and maybe increase size of the SSD.
You can always add a discrete graphics card later if there is something that this system lacks, but I would expect that it would perform fine.

Save $215: Drop GTX460 (which I would never recommend for anyone looking to keep power and heat to a minimum anyway).
Save $70: Downgrade motherboard from P67 chipset to H67 (to get Mobo video connections).
$127 B3 Asus P8H67-M LE MB http://www.arc.com.au/pub.php?gid=23862&pid=40302&p=product

Spend $99: Upgrade CPU (which includes a better integrated graphics spec)
$322 Intel CORE i7 2600/3.40GHz/8MB CACHE/LGA1155
http://www.arc.com.au/pub.php?gid=23865&pid=39936&p=product

That leaves $186 in hand. You could either hold that money, just in case you decide that you want a video card later, or spend some of it upgrading to a larger SSD. Personally I would take about $100 of it and up the SSD from 60G to 120G so that you can fit some of your more intensive applications on there in addition to the OS.

 

[ukee1593]

Looking at the relative demands of video vs processing in your specs I would go a totally different way.

I would drop the video card entirely and use on board graphics that are integrated into the Sandy Bridge CPU. Then I would take some of the money saved and upgrade CPU, and maybe increase size of the SSD.
You can always add a discrete graphics card later if there is something that this system lacks, but I would expect that it would perform fine.

Save $215: Drop GTX460 (which I would never recommend for anyone looking to keep power and heat to a minimum anyway).
Save $70: Downgrade motherboard from P67 chipset to H67 (to get Mobo video connections).
$127 B3 Asus P8H67-M LE MB http://www.arc.com.au/pub.php?gid=23862&pid=40302&p=product

Spend $99: Upgrade CPU (which includes a better integrated graphics spec)
$322 Intel CORE i7 2600/3.40GHz/8MB CACHE/LGA1155
http://www.arc.com.au/pub.php?gid=23865&pid=39936&p=product

That leaves $186 in hand. You could either hold that money, just in case you decide that you want a video card later, or spend some of it upgrading to a larger SSD. Personally I would take about $100 of it and up the SSD from 60G to 120G so that you can fit some of your more intensive applications on there in addition to the OS.

Hmmm, After a quick look on toms hardware review site when they looked at the Sandy Bridge integrated graphics in comparison to cheap cards, and the results are quite miserable - I'm not sure that it would even run the likes of Burnout or trackmania at decent frame rate at all. The HD3000 looks promising but for some reason it is only included on the "K" series processors which would be the 2500K and 2600K, and then you waste the over clocking capabilities of the CPU. On the other hand going for a H67 chipset anyway would save some money providing the discrete GPU can still be used on it? Then I could possibly drop to a GTS450 or GTS550 and save some money that way. Also, installed my programs AND OS only make up about 25Gb which includes a whole lot of development tools which probably don't need to be on the SSD anyway.

thanks for the input and I will consider these options.

The GTS450 is $130 which saves $85, Plus a cheaper motherboard saves $75 allowing me to get that better SSD.

Luke

 

[jakewestgomila]

i guess its cool... but going amd might save you some money?
AMD HDE00ZFBGRBOX Phenom II 1100T Black Edition Six Core Processor
runs at 3.3ghz and has an unlocked multiplier... leaving lots of room for improvment.
im pretty sure itd beat an i7 when OCed, and itll definitely save money...

Asus M4A79XTD EVO AMD 790X Socket AM3 Motherboard
seems like a good motherboard to be paired with the phenom 2... goes for around $140 i think
the processor for $220

and i would say a graphics card is necessary! the gtx 460 is a nice one, great performance to value ratio

im not sure if it would actually save that much money, but if you did go this way, i think it would offer ALOT more potential, and certainly some more performance?

 

[ukee1593]

Yeah going AMD definately saves a significant amount of money but ... the Sandy Bridge CPUs are so powerful for so little expenditure its almost impossible to see the benefit of going AMD in the CPU market at the moment. The i5 2500 according to the benchmarks done by Tom's and other review sites show the Sandy Bridge i7 2600 and i5 2500 trading blows with the i7 980X. AND that's a six core.

Take a look at this page: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-i7-990x-extreme-edition-gulftown,2874-4.html

And this page for media encoding http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-i7-990x-extreme-edition-gulftown,2874-9.html

Admittedly the Phenom II x6 is no slouch but it simply cannot match the power and performance of the Sandy Bridge.

Here is a review including the Core i5 2500: http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/the-sandy-bridge-review-intel-core-i7-2600k-i5-2500k-core-i3-2100-tested/16
and http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/the-sandy-bridge-review-intel-core-i7-2600k-i5-2500k-core-i3-2100-tested/15

 

[ukee1593]

Alrighty, I'm going to bump up this thread because I need a couple of questions answered ...

Question Number One ---- Is the motherboard (ASUS P8P67) compatible with the Graphics Card (GIGABYTE GTX460 OC), or would it be a safer option to go with the GIGABYTE motherboard (GA-P67A-UD4) of the thought that the motherboard and Graphics Card being from the same manufacturer might avoid any issues with compatibility.

Question Number Two ---- Is it better to go with the "Ripjaws X" RAM over the Standard GSKILL RAM? I'm currently leaning towards paying the 12-15 bucks extra for the "Ripjaws X" even if it is only for the fancy Heat Spreader.

Also I am considering getting the bit bigger SSD, but that will probably mean scraping through the depths of my wallet and I'll probably decide that while waiting in the computer store

-------------------- I will note this message at the beginning of the thread --------------------

 

[CopaMundial]

Question Number One ---- Is the motherboard (ASUS P8P67) compatible with the Graphics Card (GIGABYTE GTX460 OC), or would it be a safer option to go with the GIGABYTE motherboard (GA-P67A-UD4) of the thought that the motherboard and Graphics Card being from the same manufacturer might avoid any issues with compatibility.

Either one of those motherboards will work fine w/ that video card.

Question Number Two ---- Is it better to go with the "Ripjaws X" RAM over the Standard GSKILL RAM? I'm currently leaning towards paying the 12-15 bucks extra for the "Ripjaws X" even if it is only for the fancy Heat Spreader.

I only see a $2.35 difference between those two you listed.
I would get the ripjaws X @ http://www.arc.com.au/pub.php?pid=40048&p=product

 

[ukee1593]

Just updating if anyone is interested that my computer is now built!!

The Lian Li case is brilliant and quiet, top notch quality too!

The vertex 2 SSD is excellently fast. The computer boots in about 12 seconds TO IDLE! Very impressed here!

I ended up getting the standard GSKill RipJaws RAM DDR3 1600 which is working fine

The processor is excellent! Video encoding that used to take 5 - 7 hours to render on the laptops Core 2 Duo is now done in just 1 hour!

And the GPU is awesome and plays Trackmania on high at 133 FPS

Thanks for all the help in this post (and all my other posts). The only other thing is that the USB headers are remarkably similar to an audio header!! Anyway I accidently plugged my front panel USB into the audio header and fried my USB flash drive while testing these out. So watch out for this on your build!

Now to select the best answer ...

 

[ukee1593]

Best answer selected by ukee1593.