My $750 gaming pc build.

[mazchazo]

I was looking to build a new gaming pc and run a few autoCAD and autodesk software. I'm pretty sure I can run the autodesk software with any pc these days, so this system is way qualified for the software. I updated a few parts from advices in this forum, I want to make sure it's right. Also, I was trying to find a good case that comes with GOOD WORKING fans, so I don't have to go out and buy some myself. This is the updated build.

intel i5 2500k
cpu: http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0354589

msi p67a-g43
mobo: http://www.compusa.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=93474&CatId=6978

coolermaster hyper 212 plus universal cooler
cpu cooler: http://www.compusa.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4951798&csid=ITD&recordsPerPage=10&body=REVIEWS#tabs

2x2GB ripjaws G.Skill RAM
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231274

gtx 560 gpu
gpu: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814261108

seagate 1TB 32mb cache 7200 rpm
HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148697

lite-on dvd writer
optical: http://www.compusa.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5204603&csid=ITD&body=MAIN

psu: (look below)

Rosewill Challenger gaming case.
case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147153&Tpk=rosewill%20challenger


I plan on getting a 2nd gtx 560 in a year after I make this build. I calculated the voltage to the psu, and 600 is good enough for sli, but i don't know the voltage of the cpu after it is overclocked and I don't know what speed to overclock it to, so I might have to change the psu.

 

[BohleyK]

I doubt that PSU could handle SLI. Its Rosewill and not even 80+. Everything else looked good. I'd definitively invest in a 80+ PSU from a more reliable brand like Antec, Corsair, Enermax, etc. If you step up to a GTX560ti you won't be sorry either.

OCing your CPU won't really require you to need a more powerful PSU. Your CPU will push out what it has been labeled to push out. They just don't last 5+ years if you OC. I would get a 650W or greater PSU if I even going to consider SLI. It would be better to play it safe then with a dud PSU.

Also, if I wasn't so bored I would have completely ignored this post. Nobody likes clicking mystery links. Label your links above or with the link next time please.

 

[ElysianWhip]

Also, if I wasn't so bored I would have completely ignored this post. Nobody likes clicking mystery links. Label your links above or with the link next time please.

True that.

 

[mazchazo]

Idk it looks like 600 watts is enough. You said the voltage output of an overclocked cpu is the same as it was if it was not overclocked. With SLI, overclocked cpu, my voltage totaled to be 580 watts as the recomended. I used this to calculate my power.

http://www.extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine


I also labeled everything, sorry about that.


I plan on leaving my computer on 24/7, but I don't think I need an energy efficient psu because don't computers barely use any electricity? All it is powering is a few fans, lights, graphics card, motherboard, and hard drive. They don't use much electricity right?

 

[david2655]

looks nice but i defiantly agree about the PSU, its the one part of the system where if it fails, it can kill other components too. better to spend too much on a psu than too little.

liking the case

 

[mazchazo]

Okay well I found the Antec 650 watts 80+ certified for a good steal at newegg.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371044

I am not exactly sure about the power usage of the comp.

There is something called "capacitor aging" and I do not know what setting to put it at. People told me to ignore it, but I think it's something look at because I plan to leave my comp on 24/7. It will remain idle at night though.

 

[Soma42]

the link doesn't show what you put together. You are cutting it close with 600W and overclocking a CPU does increase the wattage. Probably about 30W to get the 2500k to 4.0GHz.

A rule of thumb for a PSU is buy 10-15% more than you need especially if you are overclocking. The PSU is the heart of your system, if it can't give enough power nothing works. In other words if you need 600W for the system, buy a 700W PSU.

 

[mazchazo]

without aging I need a 550 watt psu (This is without not knowing how much the overclocked voltage uses) and I am getting a 650 watt psu. I am really trying to fit my budget and with the new psu I only went to 743, so I am 7 away from my max.

If I bust out of my budget, what are things I can do to cut power. Maybe I should reconsider using SLI. If I use sli how better is it than 1 graphics card? Maybe I can change the psu when I want to do SLI. If 650 watts is good, then I can do SLI, if not, I need to find a psu that is 70 dollars or less. If I cannot, then I will need to cut some things off.


I also found a problem. People said a cpu cooler with a 120mm fan will NOT fit into my case. Is this true? If yes I have to change my case.

 

[Soma42]

650 is still too close for my comfort and if you don't believe me then read this:
http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-560-sli-review/14

It suggests 700+ for SLI and 800 if you plan on overclocking. And capacitor aging is a real problem if you keep the PSU for more than a year.

If $70 is the budget for the PSU you aren't going to find a name brand with 700+, maybe a knock off that'll catch on fire though...

SLI is too much of a hassle IMO, with drivers and compatibility issues, but some like it and when it does work it will give you better performance per $.

 

[wintermint]

The CM Hyper 212+ will fit into the Rosewill Challenger. As for PSU, I recommend at least 600-700W from brands like Seasonic, Antec, or Corsair. Anything made by Seasonic is good. The Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB 7200rpm gives good performance. You should switch from Seagate to that.

 

[shadow1942]

One of the reasons people are suggesting a larger PSU is that PSUs that are running at 90 -100% of their load aren't efficent, something that has the leeway of an extra 100watts or so are more efficent and have less risk of frying.

I'd suggest swaping the seagate drive for this currently the best bang for buck, faster and quieter than the seagate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185

 

[mazchazo]

Okay updated HD then. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185

I guess I have no choice but to get a 700+ psu. If you check the intel budget builds thread page in the new builds section of this forum, you will see some people used 650 watt psu, but they used radeon HD 6850/6870 graphics cards.


Anyway If I really have to go with a 700+ watt psu, I found this antec one that provides 750 watt psu. You said 700 watts is the minimum for SLI and that overclocking your cpu takes 30 watts.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185

 

[mazchazo]

I found a better psu. It has a chance at a 25 dollar off mail in rebate. IT is also free shipping.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371049


My new total is $779. This is before any mail in rebate. But, I heard that mail in rebates never come, but I think out of all the stuff I bought that has mail in rebates, at least 1 item has to come and thats 20 dollars off. With mail in rebates, I will save a lot. Any idea on these mail in rebates?

 

[Soma42]

I found a better psu. It has a chance at a 25 dollar off mail in rebate. IT is also free shipping.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371049

I was just about to suggest the same one , it's really a steal. Rebates only don't come because people don't send them in on time or don't include all the UPCs and such. They are a pain in the ass to do, but they make them like that so people won't bother. I've always gotten mine, but just make sure you read the fine print when you send it in.

 

[mazchazo]

What are things should I consider? I'll send the mail-in rebate deal on the first day they send me the products in mail.

Also I am having 2nd thoughts about SLI. When I want to get the 2nd gpu, which is in 1 year, maybe there is already a better graphics card than the gtx 560 I got, then even with SLI, it is better to have the new single card than the SLI i plan to buy.

I was thinking if it really is worth it to spend 300-400 dollars on SLI, when there will be a new card anyway to replace that and even with SLI, it's better. What do you think?

 

[Soma42]

For rebates it's usually the UPC, a receipt/invoice, and some kind of form to fill out. If you are really concerned about it, it's good to make a copy of everything you send in case they do lose it.

I think SLI is too much work with drivers and such, plus like you said, by the time you really need a second card there will always be a much better single card available. That said, when SLI works it gives some great performance.

You should still get the ANTEC PSU, it's a great deal for what it is and it will be way more efficient if you are only using 60% of it.

 

[dalauder]

The Antec EA 650W you linked above is fine.

 

[Soma42]

The Antec EA 650W you linked above is fine.

Not for SLI, it would put it at 90% + usage, which is never good to run long term. Not to mention the peak wattage is often listed, not the sustained wattage. plus the 750W is only $10 more and seems like a better PSU overall.

 

[need4speeds]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.679788
The 500 seagate makes a good boot drive, it is $52 with a dvd burner. It's better to have a second drive for your media/program folder/steam folder drive. The samsung f3 is faster than the seagate for a 1tb drive. There are more dvd burner/hdd combos if you look.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811322038
$39.99 Sentey Black Box Series BX1-4285 v2.1 Black SECC ATX Mid Tower Computer Case (has fans).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817121069
$79.99 KINGWIN ABT-850MM 850W

That board you picked out is a crossfire only board. You need to find one that supports two slots at x8 speeds, and it says it supports sli.

-crossfire might be cheaper.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128502
$129 sli gigabyte board.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128501
$79.99 same gigabyte board but the crossfire version.

? $50 for sli. I would say put that $50 into a amd card instead. something like this.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150523
$239.99 $209.99 after mail-in rebate free DIRT3 game Free Shipping
XFX HD-695X-ZNFC Radeon HD 6950 1GB

Get a second 6950 later on.

 

[dalauder]

It's not gonna use 600W typically during usage. It'll peak at 600W and use 500W most of the time. If we were talking about a GTX 560Ti, I'd really give more credence to the idea of more than 650W, but it's a GTX 560. Besides, SLI only uses about 160% the power of a single card.

The GTX 560Ti's use about the same power as GTX 460's and GTX 460's have several 650W with the same current as the EA650 listed in the SLI ZONE as SLI certified. Do you think they'd be SLI certified if it was even close to not providing enough power?

Here you can see total system power usage at load is only 349W with a single GTX 560 and that is in Furmark--Crysis uses 50W less. A second won't add more than 150W. Consider that this test is ran on the X58 platform--so you can pretty safely assume that an OC'd i5-2500K still fits in about the same power envelop. The OC'd Graphics use about 50W more, let's call that 80W for SLI. So the maximum possible power draw is about 349W+150W+80W (for GPU OC) = 580W.

That is kinda high, but that's only during Furmark. During Crysis II, it's only gonna be at 500W.

Going at high usage isn't too bad with higher quality PSUs because most of them actually have extra capacity--my point is that it's more like running them at 75% longterm, which won't produce as ridiculous of heat as 90% load on a lower quality PSU. And heat is where you're gonna get capacitor aging--or at least a reduction in capacitor lifetime.

So the bottom line is--750W would be VERY safe. 650W is enough, but you'll want to make sure your case isn't a hotbox and actually ventilates stuff fine. Then 650W will be plenty.

 

[need4speeds]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138308
$79.99 BIOSTAR TH67B LGA 1155 Intel H67 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s Micro ATX Intel Motherboard B3 Version, UEFI Bios, CrossfireX, HDMI, SATA 6Gbps

If you look at the gigabyte boards, they have non-standard pcie slot spacing.
So you have to find longer crossfire ribbon connectors that connect the 2 cards together. The sli board has a longer sli ribbon in the picture, but no longer crossfire ribbons in the picture for the crossfire board. Maybe it is included but i would check.

 

[Soma42]

So the bottom line is--750W would be VERY safe. 650W is enough, but you'll want to make sure your case isn't a hotbox and actually ventilates stuff fine. Then 650W will be plenty.

I'll concede that 650 is probably enough for this build.

However, the 750W is only $10 more. it'll still be plenty if he ever decides to upgrade to a newer graphics card in a year or two. A good PSU can last 5-7 years, or more if you're lucky. It's more flexible for future upgrades, so I think it's a better buy.

 

[mazchazo]

I think that site gave misleading information to my mobo. On newegg, it said my mobo is sli/crossfirex compatible. It just doesnt come with the connection ribbon.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130583

Since there are cheaper crossfirex boards, wouldn't it be a better idea, to get a cheaper board, and put that money into better graphics? I don't like radeon or AMD graphics cards because I heard that their driver stuff is hard getting it right and it's annoying. Can someone confirm this?

 

[need4speeds]

I have 2 systems with 4870's, one is a older socket 939 x2-4400+ and the other is a x2-6000+ am2. My parent's old e-machines is also 939-x2-4200+/3870 and their living room pc is 939-3500+/3850. all win xp-pro.
My buddy is running a regor 250@3.6ghz/4870 as well, but win7 32bit.

The only one that seems to have driver troubles and i had to use a older driver/catalyst version is the 3500+/3850 system.

I am sure there are some bugs, nvidia is known to have some driver bugs too.
I don't think there are any computer parts that are 100% bug free, after all it is a pc running microsoft windows.'

 

[mazchazo]

which has the less errors?