Mid-High End Gaming/All-Around Build

[Tony_P]

Hi All,

I want to build a new mid-high end PC for gaming (primary) and all–around general use. I have done quite a bit of reading and have put together the following system:

Case:
NZXT Phantom PHAN-001BK Black Steel / Plastic Enthusiast ATX Full Tower Computer Case

Motherboard:
ASUS P8Z68-V PRO LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

Video Cards:
(2) MSI N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II 2GD5/OC GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 2GB

PSU
CORSAIR Professional Series HX850 (CMPSU-850HX) 850W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

CPU
Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I72600K

CPU Cooler
COOLER MASTER Hyper N 520 RR-920-N520-GP 92mm Sleeve CPU Cooler Intel Core i7 compatible

SSD
Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

HDD
Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Memory
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Voltage Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9Q-16GBXM

I am not limited by budget but don’t want bleeding edge tech either… looking for the sweet spot in terms of performance/value/future proofing (if that even exits, lol). Plan on buying components as I find them on sale (especially Black Friday).

Is there anything you would do differently?

Thanks, appreciate the feedback!

 

[madmark1971]

If its primarily for gaming id go for an i5 2500 if you want to overclock make sure its the 2500 (k)

 

[ScrewySqrl]

not sure I'd call that a 'mid-range' PC, but it looks pretty good all around.

instead of the Hyper N, get the Hyper 212 EVO for the same price.

 

[Tony_P]

You're right... menat to put mid to high end. Changed the title.

 

[Outlander_04]

gaming performance wont increase in any noticeable way if you increase from 4 to 8 gig of RAM , so 16 gig is massive overkill unless you are a high end graphics pro using a 64 bit image editor .

The cpu cooler is probably no better than the stock cooler . Get the Hyper 212+ instead or the Xigmatek 1283

2500k processor . Unless you are a high end graphics pro , or you use a handful of VM's

 

[Tony_P]

Thanks for your feedback.

Re: 2500K vs 2600K -- It will be primarily for gaming, but it won't be it's only purpose. Aside from that I play Civ V quite a bit and that uses multi-threading + I hope other programs will utilize it in the future as well.

Re: Hyper N vs Hyper 212 -- I was concerned about the size of the fan not fitting in the case & blocking the RAM slots. Do you think I will have a problem that if I chose the 212 with this setup?

 

[ScrewySqrl]

civ V won't see much hyperthreading benefit.

the 212 should fit fine. if you're worried about it, get some RAM without heat spreaders. Not really needed on DDR3 for anything but cosmetics

 

[Outlander_04]

The difference between the 2500k and 2600 is hyperthreading ,and most games perform BETTER with hyperthreading turned OFF
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/battlefield-3-graphics-performance,3063-13.html
[bottom chart]

The 2500K is a very powerful processor so you wont lose anything you will notice in everyday use

Heatsinks interfere with tall RAM . Make sure the RAM you settle on does not have ridiculously tall heat spreaders and you will be fine with the Hyper 212 .

 

[Tony_P]

OK, I'm convinced... I was going to go with the 2600K b/c $100 wasn't going to break me and I thought I might be able to take advantage of the HT at some point, even if it wasn't utilized fully. But I don't expect to do much encoding/decoding + lower gaming performance and a higher price just makes it kind of popintless to go with the 2600K.

I did some checking and it seems my MB + RAM combo with a Hyper 212 should work just fine. Not only is the fan adjustable but there might not be an issue at all depending on how far the RAM slots are away from the CPU on the MB.

Thanks again for your help!

 

[ScrewySqrl]

good luck with it!