First ever attempt at a PC Build

cheezcake

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Nov 6, 2011
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Hey guys, i'm not particularly experienced with this sort of stuff as you'll probably infer from the title so i was wondering if I could have any feedback for this as a gaming system

Intel Core i5 2500k
Asus P8Z68-V PRO
G.Skill 1.25v 8GB SNIPER DDR3/1600MHz Dual Channel 2X4GB KIT
Corsair Carbide 500r White
Corsair A70 cooler
Western Digital WD20EARX 3.5" CAVIAR GREEN, 2TB
MSI Twin Frozr III GTX 570 Power Edition/OC
Silverstone Strider Plus 850W (I know this is overkill right now but i intend to sli later on)
Windows 7 Home Premium
LG RET BH10LS30 Bluray DVD COMBO
TP-LINK TL-WN851N Wireless N PCI Adapter

Recommendations for better parts at similar prices or better value parts are very welcome :)
 
Solution
A few thoughts:
Proc: If you do not intend to OC then go with the 2400 to save a few pennies (though the 2500K is hardly and expensive CPU)

Mobo: While the board you picked seems pretty good, you can go much cheaper. You will get the same raw performance from your parts no matter what chip-set you use. The chipset is for the feature set, and you should buy a chipset based on the features you would use. In this case the z68 gives you access to the onboard GPU features (like quick sink) while having an aftermarket CPU. It also lets you do SSD cashing which would let you use an SSD and a HDD as a single drive (it will store all data on the HDD, and move frequently used files to the SSD for a massive speed increase. Perfect for small...

hunuok

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Jul 4, 2009
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Your HDD is a green version-ie, a power saving, low energy version.

It's performance is lower as it runs at 5900RPM and is generally used for data storage.

You want a higher performing HDD to run your OS/Programs.

Try WD Caviar Black, Samsung Spinpoint F3 or Seagate Barracuda XT.

Or, you could use an SSD + HDD combo.

SSD for OS/Programs, HDD for data storage.

For an SSD, try Crucial M4 64Gb (min).
 
Corsair Vengeance (White)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233199

Scythe Mugen 3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185168

green = Slow
Seagate Baracuda XT
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E1682214850

A step down in performance would be the WD Black, Spinpoint F3 or Seagate 7200.12

That PSU is $170.....the XFX Core Edition gets the exact same 9.5 performance rating and is only $90
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207011

Two of these cost as little as $60 more than the 570 you picked and give ya 65% more fps

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100006662&IsNodeId=1&Description=560%20ti%20900Mhz&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=20

Take the $80 in PSU savings and buy two of these from the getgo for 862 fps in Guru3D's game test suite ... then OC it to 1000MHz

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121425
 

hooru

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Mar 13, 2011
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@384, is your 480 passive cooled?? just wondering.. I've never tried using the bottom as an exhaust, it seems to me that would be counter productive at helping to cool the components, as hot air rises... Usually best to push the cooler air at the bottom of the case, up through the heat-sinks of the components, and out the top.. not trying to sound insulting to your intelligence or anything, iv just never thought using a bottom fan as an exhaust would be helpful. I guess it just depends on the setup tho...

@cheezcake, x2 on hunuok's suggestion. If you cant afford a SSD rite now, I would deff recomend the Seagate Barracuda.

As far as the A70 cpu cooler, I use it on my 965BE @3.8-4ghz, and it works great. Although, depending on how close the MOBO is to the top of the case, can be a bit of a hassle to mount the top fan. I found that there isn't much of a difference(1-2degrees) from using 1fan vs 2fans on the heat-sink. I know intel cpus run hotter, so u mite need both running to keep it cool.
 

cheezcake

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Nov 6, 2011
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Thanks for the quick replies guys, I've decided to go with the Western Digital 2TB Caviar Black as an SSD and the barracuda XT are out of my budget, also i actually live in Australia so unfortunately neweggs not an option for me. I was also wondering how big is the difference between two 560ti's in SLI and two 570's in SLI? I figure if there's not much of a performance difference i'll go with the gtx 560's in sli. Also i don't intend to OC the graphics cards, at least not for a while. I do however intend to OC the i5 2500k up to about 4.5 GHz.

Also out of these cases which one would you guys recommend the most?
Corsair carbide 500r
Antec 900 II
Fractal Design Define r3
Coolermaster HAF 932
 

cheezcake

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Nov 6, 2011
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No i know just forgot a comma there haha. Should read

"I've decided to go with the Western Digital 2TB Caviar Black, as an SSD and the barracuda XT are out of my budget"
 
A few thoughts:
Proc: If you do not intend to OC then go with the 2400 to save a few pennies (though the 2500K is hardly and expensive CPU)

Mobo: While the board you picked seems pretty good, you can go much cheaper. You will get the same raw performance from your parts no matter what chip-set you use. The chipset is for the feature set, and you should buy a chipset based on the features you would use. In this case the z68 gives you access to the onboard GPU features (like quick sink) while having an aftermarket CPU. It also lets you do SSD cashing which would let you use an SSD and a HDD as a single drive (it will store all data on the HDD, and move frequently used files to the SSD for a massive speed increase. Perfect for small affordable SSDs that cant fit everything). If you do not intend to use either of these features you can save an easy $50 on a cheaper P67 mobo without any performance hit. Even with z68 you can get quality for cheaper. Personally I just ordered the ASRock Extreme 3 Gen3 board as that will suit my needs:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157271&Tpk=extreme3%20gen3

Ram: Good ram, but again, if not OCing there is little performance difference between DDR 1333 and DDR 1600. But if you are OCing then the 1600 will let you go further.

Case: Nice ;)

Cooler: Similar to the Hyper 212, and the 212 tends to be cheaper.

HDD: Seriously, as others have said here, this is a huge monumental mistake. These are excellent 'cold storage' or 'bulk storage' drives, but they are quite slow and unfit for a system drive. Go buy a 500GB 7200RPM drive that has a good rating if you cannot afford an SSD. But be aware that without an SSD you will have a huge bottleneck in your drive system. With rebates you can get a decent sized SSD from Crucial or OCZ for the same price, and then get a bulk storage drive later after the flood waters subside and the HDD makers recover from their current issues (2TB drives were only $80 a month ago, and they will be again some point next year)

GPU: 570 is an excellent card! I bought a stock 570 card Friday and cannot wait for it to arrive, and the OC version is even better. However, if I was not tied to nVidia (need CUDA for Adobe Premere) I would have gotten the AMD equivalent as they are more power friendly. Also, for gaming the 560ti is soon going to have a refresh which will make it similar in performance to the 570, but at a lower price point. (again, I am tied to the 570 for adobe support otherwise I would have waited, or gone AMD)

PSU: While 850W is not exactly overkill for 2 570's, you would do just fine with a 750W for this type of build. Still, the 850W will give plenty of space for tons of HDDs/SSDs, add on cards, etc. But a 750W would be cheaper, and still give room for a decent OC, 2 570s, 2-3HDDs, and a mess of Ram.

OS: I am kicking myself for buying home premium. I am getting ready to do a home server, and the networking options in 7 Pro or Ultimate would be nice (cannot do a domain on 7home). But home premium is fine if you are not doing much networking. Be sure to go with 64bit. Many have purchased 32bit on accident lol.

ODD: It may just be me, but I find that optical drives wear out quick when you use them on a regular basis. I do the occasional video project, and have a DVD duplicator, and drives simply die no matter the brand, and no matter the expense. I have had better luck with dirt cheap Lite-On drives than I have had with anything else. Not saying you will have the same problem, and perhaps with occasional use this is not such a problem, but $180 seems like a lot of money for the 'privilege' of burning on overpriced BD media.

Wireless: Not familiar with that brand, but wireless N seems much less picky than wireless G was as far as quality is concerned. Just keep your cables bundled away from the antennas if you are having any signal issues.


All-in-all not a bad first build! Looks like you did your homework! The only real mistake is the HDD, everything else is just food for thought.
 
Solution

cheezcake

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Nov 6, 2011
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Alright guys thanks for the quick input ^^

Didn't change much but this is what the build looks like now:

Intel Core i5 2500k
[strike]Asus P8Z68-V PRO[/strike] ASRock Z68 EXTREME4 Gen3
G.Skill 1.25v 8GB SNIPER DDR3/1600MHz
Corsair Carbide 500r White
CoolerMaster Hyper 212 EVO Universal CPU Cooler
Western Digital WD2002FAEX 2TB Caviar Black 64M 3.5" 7200RPM SATA3 Dual ProcessorEN
MSI GTX 570 Twin Frozr II OC
Sony DVD Dual Layer Burner Black SATA 24x writer
TP-Link TL-WN951N Wireless N PCI Adapter
Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit
Silverstone 850 Watt PSU 80 + silver certification

Just going to OC the i5 to probably 4.5 GHz and i think that should set me up for a while :)

EDIT: I actually just realised with the money i saved with some of these components i can get an SSD XD
Currently the ssd's that will fit my budget are the:
Intel 310 series 40gb
OCZ agility 3 SATA III 60GB
Kingston SSDnow v100 64GB

Stretching my budget but still doable is - Crucial 64GB m4 2.5-inch SATA 6GB/s

SO which one would you guys recommend and do you think I should run them with the SRT tech or just standalone drives.
 

SW11

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Nov 8, 2011
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Whilst a SSD is very nice to have in terms of quicker load times and more responsive desktop use, two GTX 560tis in SLI would offer a lot more FPS performance than a GTX 570. Really, two GTX 560TIs in SLI are a sensational pair, although it's harder to set up than a single card setup and there are still a few microstutering issues in some games.

Still, if it were up to me I would go for the SLI GTX 560TIs.

SW
 
Thanks for Best Answer! woot!
I would avoid the Kingston, but the other 2 have pluses and minuses.
I bought the OCZ Solid3 60GB for my wife's computer last month and it is quite fast, and plenty of room for windows (20GB) and a few programs (23GB). With your mobo though you can SSD cash, so size is not so much an issue, it is just a matter of how much cash you have available, and the more the better.
Intel on the other hand has the advantage of being rock solid. Just a quick look at newegg shows that the intel drives have fewer failures than OCZ, so it may be the better option in the long run.

Also, I got my parts yesterday and put everything together last night :) I have been busy with the baby and work all day, but what little I have been able to do I have been very happy with so far. Cant wait to get into a game, or a good editing project!