Got around $1300 USD to spend

chuy21

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Nov 15, 2011
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This will be my first ever build and im a complete newb at this.
I really dont know which parts to get but I was able to get a decent(imo and I hope they're all compatable if not please dont hurt me =/ )
Putting all the things together wont be an issue. I just need help figuring out what I will need.

Approximate Purchase Date:Novemember 22nd

Budget Range: $1300 Before Rebates

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming and surfing.

Parts Not Required:keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg.com

Country: US

Parts Preferences: Intel and AMD GPU

Overclocking: maybe

SLI or Crossfire: Que?

Monitor Resolution: 1920x 1200


My Parts List

COOLER MASTER Storm Sniper SGC-6000-KXN1-GP Black Steel, ABS Plastic, Mesh bezel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119194

Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148697

HIS IceQ X Turbo H695QNT2G2M Radeon HD 6950 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161372

COOLMAX CUL-750B 750W ATX 12V v2.3 / EPS12V v2.91 SLI/Crossfire ready
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817159111

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL7Q-16GBXH
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231442
(Do I need 16g? Its not really a big price differance from an 8g set so i dont mind)

GIGABYTE GA-P67A-D3-B3 LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128487

Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986

SAMSUNG Black Blu-ray Combo SATA Model SH-B123L LightScribe Support - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151222

Mushkin Enhanced Callisto Deluxe MKNSSDCL40GB-DX 2.5" 40GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226168



Thats What I got planned so far, any and all advice would be GREATLY appreciated.

Total is $1298.92 with shipping and no charged tax
 
Solution
What is this for? Gaming? Multimedia? Video/Graphic editing?

If it's for just gaming, drop down to 8GB as Sam Fisher mentioned.

Are you going to overclock?

If not, the stock cooler will be more than efficient, but if you are, you are going to need an after market cooler. I'm not going to kill your budget much, so I'll suggest the CoolerMaster Hyper 212 EVO if you are over-clocking. It's a cheap, effective cooler ($25) and while it may not keep your CPU as cool as you want it while OCed as other, more expensive, more efficient coolers will, it will keep your CPU at stable ranges.

Oh! You should definitely go with a Z68 board. Try the ASRock Extreme3 Gen3 Z68 LGA1155 board ($135). Again, a bit more than the one you picked, but with a...

sam_fisher

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Dec 24, 2010
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Looks good! I doubt you'll really need 16GB, for gaming it'll make no difference anyway. 8GB would do you fine. What are you doing for a CPU cooler, just the boxed Intel cooler? An after market cooler would do a better job and be more quite as well.
 

Area85Gaming

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Nov 11, 2011
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What is this for? Gaming? Multimedia? Video/Graphic editing?

If it's for just gaming, drop down to 8GB as Sam Fisher mentioned.

Are you going to overclock?

If not, the stock cooler will be more than efficient, but if you are, you are going to need an after market cooler. I'm not going to kill your budget much, so I'll suggest the CoolerMaster Hyper 212 EVO if you are over-clocking. It's a cheap, effective cooler ($25) and while it may not keep your CPU as cool as you want it while OCed as other, more expensive, more efficient coolers will, it will keep your CPU at stable ranges.

Oh! You should definitely go with a Z68 board. Try the ASRock Extreme3 Gen3 Z68 LGA1155 board ($135). Again, a bit more than the one you picked, but with a 40GB SSD, you are definitely going to want the SSD cache feature on the Z68 boards. Shop around, you can find cheaper Z68 boards as well, if that one is out of your price range.

Basically what the SSD cache feature does, is take your most used files and cache them to the SSD so they run at faster speeds. :D
 
Solution

nordlead

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Aug 3, 2011
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I would not touch that PSU without a 5ft pole unless you want to get burnt when the thing goes up in flames. Hardwaresecrets.com tried to pull 500W from it and it burnt up. If you don't SLI/CrossfireX (multiple graphics cards) then you don't need 750W. A 600W PSU would suffice. Buy 8GB and use the money for a better PSU. The link below is a much better PSU for really cheap (~$42)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341017

If you are going to overclock, then get a cooler like the Cooler Master Hyper 212+ for $25. There are better air coolers out there, but this is the best one for the money since it is so cheap.
 

Area85Gaming

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Nov 11, 2011
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Most welcome. If you would, update your listed parts with the suggestions you used so that we can continue to help iron out the kinks for you! :D
 

calguyhunk

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Jul 6, 2010
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SLI/Crossfire is the using of multiple graphics processors in unison to achieve better results. SLI is Nvidia speak and Crossfire is for AMD (formerly ATI) GPU's. You need the exact same GPU for that but not necessarily the brand, model or shader. Look it up on Wikipedia or something.

Now, coming to your build, firstly, that 40GB SSD is not really gonna be that effective. Do you really need to spend that money only to shave off a few seconds off of your cold boot time?

I'll advise you to get a bigger SSD for now and then get a mechanical HDD when the prices come down some time next year. Unless you're a total media junkie, you prolly won't fill up a 120GB drive in a few months.

Secondly, I know, you said AMD gpu, but for 1300 bucks, you can get a system so much more powerful, that it ain't even funny.

CPU: $215 Intel Core i5-2500K

Board: $130 GIGABYTE GA-Z68A-D3H-B3

RAM: $45 G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB

HDD: $120 OCZ 120GB Vertex Plus

GPU: $490 EVGA SuperClocked GeForce GTX 580

PSU: $75 CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX650 V2

SLI PSU: $130 PC Power and Cooling Silencer Mk II 950W - You should buy this PSU only if you ever intend to add a 2nd GTX 580 to your system later on to increase the gfx performance of your system (SLI)

Case: $80 Corsair Carbide Series 400R

HSF: $25 COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus - Get this only if you want to overclock. For stock (default) speeds, you won't need an aftermarket cooler. The Intel cooler is good enough even for minor OC's.

ODD: $20 SAMSUNG 22X DVD Burner SATA with LightScribe Support - OEM

Total: $1200 after rebates. Will own the proposed system above any given day, especially at your resolution.

The CPU and especially the board can be much cheaper if you don't want to ever OC. But since you want to keep that option alive, I'm recommending components that will allow it any time you wish to go that way.

EDIT: Add Win 7 Home Premium X64 (OEM) copy for $100. That makes it a round 1300 :)