New Build on a Budget

[Paladin2011]

Hello,
I am looking on advice/comment on a new build for my teenage son. We are on a budget, but we want to have room to upgrade in the future as the economy gets better. The biggest area I need comments on are the CPU and the MOBO. All the listed parts are available at Newegg. Some are even on sale. Thanks in advance.

CPU Intel Core i5-2500 3.3GHz LGA1155 95W Quad-Core
MOBO Gigabyte GA-Z68XP LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0
GPU Nvidia GTX550Ti 1024MB
RAM G. Skill Ripjaws 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600
HDD Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB 7200RPM 32MB Cache SATA
PSU Seasonic M12II 520 Bronze 520W SLI Ready 80 Plus Modular Power Supply
Case Cooler Master Storm Scout ATX Mid-Tower Case

 

[FinneousPJ]

That CPU isn't a K series. That means it's not overclockable, and you will not be needing the Z68 board. You mention upgradeability - either get a 2500K from the beginning to have overclocking headroom, or forget about it IMO. A GTX550 is poor value for money, bump it up to a 560 (Ti) or go with an AMD 6850/6870. Other than that I'd say it's a great system, he's gonna be thrilled

 

[Paladin2011]

So it should be something more like this:

CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) 4x256KB L2 Cache LGA1155 95W Quad-Core
MOBO: Gigabyte GA-Z68XP LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0
GPU: Nvidia GeForce GTX 560 Ti FPB (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express
RAM: G. Skill Ripjaws 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB 7200RPM 32MB Cache SATA
PSU: Seasonic M12II 520 Bronze 520W SLI Ready 80 Plus Modular Power Supply
Case: Cooler Master Storm Scout ATX Mid-Tower Case

This could work well for us, we are still within budget.

 

[FinneousPJ]

That's a lot better. When you feel like you're running out of juice, overclock the i5 and add another 560 Ti for SLI :lol: Seriously though that system is going to own for a good while yet.

I'm not sold on the value of WD Caviar Black drives. I'd probably pick a Samsung SpinPoint F3 1 TB (the same price on Newegg).

 

[Paladin2011]

Sounds great, he was planning on SLI, once he saves up money. I will look into the Samsung drive. Thanks.

 

[morgoth780]

i'd recommend an antec or corsair 750w, so you have enough power for sli, and seasonic psu's are amazing, but a quite a bit more expensive than either of those, which will still perform nicely

 

[Paladin2011]

We have purchased a modular 750w psu as suggested, thanks for the input.