My 1st build!

[Celestial88]

Hello everyone.

I have decided to build my 1st computer and would like to get some opinions on parts.

Purpose: General Computing (Web browsing, Word Documents, Youtube)

Future Gaming (I plan on getting into PC gaming in the near future)

Video conversion: Nothing major, but I do enjoy enjoy watching AMVs (Anime Music Videos) on youtube and putting them on my Iphone and making them playable in Windows Media Player.

Overclocking: In the future. I'm not interested right now.

Motherboard: ASUS P8Z68 PRO GEN3
http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-LGA-1155-Motherboards-P8Z68-V/dp/B005UDITPK
CPU: Intel Core i5 2400 http://www.amazon.com/Intel-i5-2400-Processor-3-10GHz-LGA1155/dp/B004EBUXIA

Case: NZXT M59-001BK http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...ffiliateID=iFudSkud_Rc-gIf3np.nF4MhZKLeF0oZBg

RAM: Corsair Vengeance 8 GB ( 2 x 4 GB ) DDR3 1600 MHz http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Vengeance-240-Pin-Platforms-CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9/dp/B004CRSM4I

[strike]HDD[/strike] SSD: Crucial M4 http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-64-2-5-Inch-Solid-State-CT064M4SSD2/dp/B004W2JKWG (I have a 2TB Western Digital external hard drive so I'm not worried about space.)

PSU: Corsair CMPSU-650TXV2 http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7195036&CatId=1483

Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B3ST/BLK/G/AS http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...ffiliateID=iFudSkud_Rc-GShJGxJbG7ZwxGbbq03N9g

OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit.

I already have a mouse, keyboard, and monitor.

Total Cost: Approximately $800 Maybe less if I can get a good sale.
Budget: 800-900 dollars.

Some additional info:
I sacrificed the video card for the SSD. I figure the SSD is more important to me than immediate PC gaming. I still have my 360 for that. I plan on getting a Nvidia GTX 550ti around Christmas. That will be my introduction video card to PC gaming until PCIe 3.0 cards come out. And I want to upgrade to Ivy Bridge when it comes out as well. I probably won't be able to buy them the minute they come out, but I chose the motherboard to take advantage of those new parts when I can get them.

I also plan on overclocking a future Ivy bridge using the Asus auto overclocking feature in the bios. I figured its a great way to make a fast PC even faster. ( And no, I don't ever plan on overclocking manually. I'm sacred I'll do it wrong.) I have plans to to get a Corsair H80 for that (Assuming the corsair will work with Ivy Bridge).

I also have plans for Hauppauge Colossus. I want to turn my PC into a DVR for my cable box. I plan on getting 4 HDDs next year for that. I will have to upgrade the PSU for the 4 HDDs I plan on using in Raid 10.

I have no need for a sound card. The motherboard I picked is enough.

Al in all, I believe my case should have room for all this. And the 5 fans my case can have should help a lot.

What do yo guys think? Is this a good a build for my general purposes? Will it be able to handle my future plans well? Any suggestions or comments?

Feedback is greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance.

 

[Emelth]

Very bad idea not to get an internal HDD, dont get me wrong the external is good but if it falls or breaks your screwed.

 

[cutebeans]

Eww. The 550ti is the worst ever. Get a 6870, never get the 550ti.

+1 on the internal.

 

[Emelth]

Instead of getting hte i5 2400 get the 2500k for OCing in the future and a hyper 212 for the cooler, it would be pointless to not buy it now and put it all together at once instead of having to take everything out and do it all over again and risk damaging something

 

[inanition02]

" I will have to upgrade the PSU for the 4 HDDs I plan on using in Raid 10. "

I would say you don't need to upgrade the PSU for more HDDs - even mechanical HDDs only take maybe 10-15W at the super high end.

"I have plans to to get a Corsair H80 for that (Assuming the corsair will work with Ivy Bridge). "

Sandy Bridge (and presumably Ivy Bridge) can overclock well on air coolers, the extra money on a water cooler is probably a waste. Esp a pre-filled loop one.

And I would say if you plan to overclock at all, might as well spring for the Core i5 2500k - it's unlocked to make overclocking possible. The 2400 won't overclock well.

 

[Celestial88]

Very bad idea not to get an internal HDD, dont get me wrong the external is good but if it falls or breaks your screwed.

That is a good suggestion. I decided to save a few bucks and just rely on external, but I should invest in a HDD in case the external dies.

Eww. The 550ti is the worst ever. Get a 6870, never get the 550ti.

+1 on the internal.

The 550ti was appealing to me because it's relatively cheap and I'm just using it until the Gen 3 PCIe video cards are selling. Do you think a 6870 is better than waiting for GEN 3 video cards?

Instead of getting hte i5 2400 get the 2500k for OCing in the future and a hyper 212 for the cooler, it would be pointless to not buy it now and put it all together at once instead of having to take everything out and do it all over again and risk damaging something

I did consider the 2500k initially. Then I saw Ivy Bridge and decided to get something cheaper since I plan to upgrade to Ivy Bride next year.

" I will have to upgrade the PSU for the 4 HDDs I plan on using in Raid 10. "

I would say you don't need to upgrade the PSU for more HDDs - even mechanical HDDs only take maybe 10-15W at the super high end.

"I have plans to to get a Corsair H80 for that (Assuming the corsair will work with Ivy Bridge). "

Sandy Bridge (and presumably Ivy Bridge) can overclock well on air coolers, the extra money on a water cooler is probably a waste. Esp a pre-filled loop one.

And I would say if you plan to overclock at all, might as well spring for the Core i5 2500k - it's unlocked to make overclocking possible. The 2400 won't overclock well.

I used a PSU caclulator on NewEgg, (or maybe Asus) and it said I need a 850W PSU if I get 4 HDDS. And I have doubts on air cooling. I don't doubt its effective. Its just that they might block my RAM slots.

I have a question people. If I get an i5 2500k, and overclock it, would that better than buying a new Ivy Bridge next year? I assumed an overclocked Ivy Bridge would be better than an overclocked Sandy Bridge which is why I decided against the 2500k.

My initial plan was to pay for a Core i5 2400 and use it until I get a Ivy Bridge. Should I just get the 2500K and CPU cooler, overclock, and forget about Ivy Bridge?

Thanks for the suggestions so far!

Edit: When I say "I assumed an overclocked Ivy Bridge would be better than an overclocked Sandy Bridge" I realize that Ivy Bridge will almost be certainly better than 2500k. I meant I'm assuming an overclocked Ivy Bridge is going to be so much better than an overclocked 2500k, that I might as well skip 2500k, get something cheaper for now and upgrade to Ivy Bridge when I can.

Sorry for the confusion.

 

[roblaw42]

I see all of your urls are for amazon and tigerdirect. Use newegg. The sales are better and more frequent and overall prices are generally lower.

 

[Cinci555]

That is a good suggestion. I decided to save a few bucks and just rely on external, but I should invest in a HDD in case the external dies.



The 550ti was appealing to me because it's relatively cheap and I'm just using it until the Gen 3 PCIe video cards are selling. Do you think a 6870 is better than waiting for GEN 3 video cards?



I did consider the 2500k initially. Then I saw Ivy Bridge and decided to get something cheaper since I plan to upgrade to Ivy Bride next year.



I used a PSU caclulator on NewEgg, (or maybe Asus) and it said I need a 850W PSU if I get 4 HDDS. And I have doubts on air cooling. I don't doubt its effective. Its just that they might block my RAM slots.

I have a question people. If I get an i5 2500k, and overclock it, would that better than buying a new Ivy Bridge next year? I assumed an overclocked Ivy Bridge would be better than an overclocked Sandy Bridge which is why I decided against the 2500k.

My initial plan was to pay for a Core i5 2400 and use it until I get a Ivy Bridge. Should I just get the 2500K and CPU cooler, overclock, and forget about Ivy Bridge?

Thanks for the suggestions so far!

Edit: When I say "I assumed an overclocked Ivy Bridge would be better than an overclocked Sandy Bridge" I realize that Ivy Bridge will almost be certainly better than 2500k. I meant I'm assuming an overclocked Ivy Bridge is going to be so much better than an overclocked 2500k, that I might as well skip 2500k, get something cheaper for now and upgrade to Ivy Bridge when I can.

Sorry for the confusion.

If you get a Sandy, you really shouldnt need the Ivy. The leap is going to be about 10-15% in base performance, obviously overclocking will be much greater but most people get a top of the line Sandy (i5-2500k or i7-2600k) and will skip Ivy.

If you want Ivy, build a machine to last you until then, meaning an i3. that saves you money on the processor that you don't really need if you plan on upgrading in a year.

 

[cutebeans]

If you get an i5-2500k, there's no reason for you to go Ivy Bridge.

If you really want to though, A i3-2100 and z68 motherboard would be best.

 

[Celestial88]

I finally got the parts and assembled it myself. It wouldn't POST. I freaked and ended up taking it to Micro Center and paid the staff there to examine it and install it. Luckily I didn't damage anything myself. And now its working fine.

The parts are the same except the motherboard and the SSD. I now have the Asus p8z68 v/gen 3 (Great sale on it) motherboard and the OCZ Vertex 2. (Not quite as good as the m4 I was looking at, but I got a good sale on it, and so far I'm very happy).

I decided to stick with Sandy Bridge and got an i5 2500k.

I need some advice on a video card. I'm deciding between a gtx 560 ti and a 6950. I can spend at most $250 on it. I'm not buying till mid January to see the if the new 7970 and 7950 make the 6950 come down in price.

I read on Tom's Hardware that the 6950 and 560 ti are pretty even. So I'm torn between the two.

I only use 1 monitor at 1920 x 1080. I'm looking to play Skyrim, StarCraft II, Dragon Age Origins, and Dragon Age 2 and Crysis 2.

Does it really matter which one I choose?