First timer build - i7 2600K build

If you are building a complete pc from scratch, dont forget the DVD-Rom (Although several blue-ray burners are under 100 bucks now may want to look at one of those). Other than that, it looks compatible and complete.

I'd also consider the 6950(2GB) over the 560....; the larger framebuffer will come in handy if/when you use 1920x1200 at high AA/AF settings)

The 2500k offers very similar performance in most apps (the 2600k's hyperthreading is not normally much of an advantage), and at almost $100 less cost. (If planning on Crysis, you could dump the $100 saved into the GTX570 or a 6970 instead.)

the price seems way too high. off the top of my head, id say those components are worth $1600 tops. where are you from and where are you buying? do you plan to overclock or use dual cards eventually?

Hi all,

Thanks for all the feedback. I don't plan on gaming intensely but I will be doing alot of multi-tasking, compressing/decompressing (winrar), data encryption and video editing/conversion. I've had horrible experiences with ATI drivers, hence I'm going with an nvidia card. I chose GTX 560 but basically, I just want a mid-range card in the sub $300 category that will be best bang for the buck.

@ alan0n,
Yes, I forgot to add a Dvd burner  

@ mdd1963,
I have alot of friends tell me the same thing about the 2500k so I think I might just go with the 2500k.

@genghiskron,
I haven't done any price matching yet but this is from the newegg.ca prices. I live in Canada, so I can't use sites like microcenter. Including shipping and taxes, it will be over 2000 actually. (~300 for processor, ~150 for case, ~220 for mobo, ~300 for SDD, ~200 for GPU, ~150 for PSU, etc etc). If you see something out of ordinary, let me know.

My other question is, I had a hard time picking the SDD. Is that going to be compatible and is that a reasonable price ? Also, if I eventually want to go SLI at some point down the road, will that PSU be enough ? Also, I heard that getting too high wattage for a PSU can potentially damage your system ? Is that true ?

On another note if encoding/decoding is going to be your primary use you may want to hold off for the z68 boards (Due to be realeased may 8th, sales later that month) or go to a h67 board to take advantage of quicksync. Supposedly it speeds encode/decode operations up dramatically, but it isnt available on the p67 chipset.

If you go to a h67 you will lose the ability to overclock your machine, so if you go that route you may want to drop to a plain i7-2600 and lose the k series cpu. This would save you about a hundred bucks.

If you wait for the z68 boards you get both overclocking and quicksync and it would make sense to stick with the k series cpu.

Thanks alan0n and nd_hunter,

I will wait for the Z68 board, but if I go with this board, will everything else be compatible ?

Also what do you guys think about this for my PSU ?

CORSAIR Professional Series AX850 850W ATX12V v2.31 / EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E1681...

It's modular and it is SLI compatible.

That is a top quality PSU. If it fits in your budget, go for it.

I use the 1200watt psu from that same series and its quiet, tough, and stable. Very nice PSU series IMO. They are a bit pricey though, to be honest.

Compatability of your components is going to depend on your specific board, but they will have pci-e x16, ddr3 and sata II so Id say you will be fine with all the rest of your stuff fitting the new board.

As far as the SSD, thats on the low end of the SSD spectrum, but $/Gb ratio is good on it and it is still significantly faster than a HDD.

Just keep in mind that the performance of SSDs rapidly falls off the fuller they get. So try to keep it well under 50% full.

You probably don't need watercooling, but thats up to you!

also i would change

Secondary - Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

for a Samsung spinpoint f3

Can you recommend me a good SSD ? I just saw good reviews for the Intel 320 so I went with that one. A good quality SSD in on the top of my priority list.

Also cmadrid, what is the diff between that samsun spinpoint f3 and the WD hdd I chose ? Also, if I am overclocking my 2600k, wouldn't watercooling be the best solution ? If not, can you recommend me an alternative ?

You can overclock it very well with just air cooling.. I would get a CM Hyper 212+ or something of similar performance in that price range. From what I've read the Samsung spinpoint f3 outperforms the WD hdds

I run a RevoX2 120gb MHC drive. I have heard about lots of problems with them, but mine went in easy and is absurdly fast.

I dont know if I would recomend it though, as setting it up can be a bit of a hassle if you need to flash it.

Best answer selected by w0okie.