$800 2500k build possible

[andrey64]

I have an approx. 800-850 budget. Is it possible to put together a good 2500k build.

What i want included is at least 8GB 1600 DDR3, and a 60-80gb SSD.


Any ideas on a good build?

 

[azeem40]

Yes, 2500k is possible with $800. I recommend OCZ for SSDs; just make sure it is SATA III. For GPU, try the 6870; it is only around $150 dollars. For the HDD, any WD or Seagate or Samsung HDD with 7200rpm and 8MB of Cache will work. For PSU, 550W Corsair 80+ Bronze will be good efficient power.

 

[MajorAdvantage]

Do you have a microcenter near you at all?

 

[andrey64]

Do you have a microcenter near you at all?

It is not by me but i visit my family down south in California so i drive by one almost twice a month so in reality yes im by a microcenter.

All i need is a good stable SSD that will last me. Dont realy care if its the fastest one, i just need it to work the way its suppose to .

Any ideas on a motherboard and maybe a case? because im a bit lost thinking if i should go with a matx board and get a smaller case or just do a mid tower with full?

I prefer smaller cases so they are less seen and noticed.

 

[erikalikesfire]

Can you fill out the template here please? I know it's tedious, but the information is critical, like is that $850 before or after rebates, do you already have parts like an operating system and monitor, what is your planned usage (what games, what settings would you like to hit), etc.

An mATX case is doable, but the heat will be worse (you won't be able to overclock as high).

 

[azeem40]

You might want to tell me what problems, because as far as I can see on newegg, 95MB/s is pretty slow for write times. The OCZ gets close to 500MB/s

 

[strausd]

As someone already said, go for a Crucial M4 SSD. There have been too many reported problems with the OCZ drives because of the Sandforce controller.

For a motherboard you may want to consider an ASUS P8Z68-V LE. This supports pretty much anything you would need like SATA III and USB 3.0. It also has a Z68 chipset and has great reviews on Newegg.

As for the case, that can be very subjective. If I were you, I would just browse through some of the cases on Newegg. If you are looking for a small case that does not bring a lot of attention, Lian Li makes some nice and simple cases.

 

[azeem40]

So 95MB/s is a good write time? seeing how OCZ has close to 500, and ADATA has above 500MB/s, those to me seem better to buy.

 

[canyoudigit489]

So 95MB/s is a good write time? seeing how OCZ has close to 500, and ADATA has above 500MB/s, those to me seem better to buy.

there was just an article on tomshardware about this issue. in nearly every test both the crucial m4 and samsung 830 bested drives using the sandforce controller. I've heard nothing but good things about both the m4 and the 830, and both can be had at newegg for around $100. Users have had a lot of trouble with the sandforce controller, getting constant BSODs and requiring multiple firmware updates. Perhaps you should check out this article - http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/tests-ssd-review-solid-state,3103.html

 

[azeem40]

Is 95 MB/s a good SSD time though?

 

[erikalikesfire]

Didn't basically every SATA III SSD have a problem at launch? Every Sandforce was BSODing, while the Intels decided to be different with their cute 8 MB bug. But that's been fixed for a couple of months now [1][2]. You might have to update the firmware if you get an old drive, but if you can do that I think the OCZ drives are a good value. I have two, a Vertex 3 in my desktop and an Agility 3 in my laptop. The crashes were a nightmare, when I couldn't use my new computer for the first month after I bought it because it was blue screening once a day, but that's over.

 

[canyoudigit489]

Is 95 MB/s a good SSD time though?

as the OP posted "All i need is a good stable SSD that will last me. Dont realy care if its the fastest one, i just need it to work the way its suppose to"

is he asking for the drive with the best write speed on synthetic benchmarks with compressed data?? no. just a fast, stable 64gb drive, which both the samsung 830 and crucial m4 fit the bill.

 

[strausd]

Like what was said above, high write speeds are not really needed for an OS drive. The only point of an OS drive is for fast reads. You will be looking for speed increases when you boot your system, load a game, or load an app. With an OS drive, you will not be looking for the faster copy of a movie or other large files. The priority will be with read speeds.

 

[azeem40]

Not what motopsychojdn told me. He said a good SSD has atleast 500MB/s read and write times.

 

[canyoudigit489]

ughh did you read any of the last posts?? the OP wants a good stable OS drive around 64gb... all that drive is gonna be doing is reading files. You're not going to be copying huge files onto the drive because of the sheer size of it. You get a small boot drive to load your OS on it, a game, a couple of programs for fast access times. For the purpose of this thread who cares about write times???

 

[strausd]

Not what motopsychojdn told me. He said a good SSD has atleast 500MB/s read and write times.

That is not necessarily true. If you do not need to write to the SSD very much, which I am assuming you won't since it will be an OS drive, then you will not need to worry too much about write speeds. The main thing for you will be read speeds because that is what determine your boot times and how fast an application or game will load. Write speeds do nothing for boot times or app loading times.

 

[azeem40]

OMG, I totally overlooked him not putting any games on his SSD. So sorry lol!

 

[Goodeggray]

Audrey64,

The reason you were asked if you live near a Micro center is because they have a good price for a i5 2500k. It's $180 for in store pickup only. You can also get a Asus P8Z68-v LXE motherboard for $120.
A mid tower case provides better ventilation, more options on parts and give you more room to work in. Since you live in Socal you can shop at Microcenter, Frys as well as newegg to get the best prices. Sample budget:

CPU i5 2500k $180
Motherboard 120
Case 50
SSD 100
Ram 8G 50
Psu 60
Gpu 150
Hhd 80
Cpu cooler 30
Total before tax 820

 

[azeem40]

@ above post: It is $50 off when you buy both CPU and MOBO.

 

[strausd]

Audrey64,

The reason you were asked if you live near a Micro center is because they have a good price for a i5 2500k. It's $180 for in store pickup only. You can also get a Asus P8Z68-v LXE motherboard for $120.
A mid tower case provides better ventilation, more options on parts and give you more room to work in. Since you live in Socal you can shop at Microcenter, Frys as well as newegg to get the best prices. Sample budget:

CPU i5 2500k $180
Motherboard 120
Case 50
SSD 100
Ram 8G 50
Psu 60
Gpu 150
Hhd 80
Cpu cooler 30
Total before tax 820

Don't forget an optical drive for $15-20.

 

[andrey64]

Best answer selected by andrey64.

 

[jeremyp1979]

So 95MB/s is a good write time? seeing how OCZ has close to 500, and ADATA has above 500MB/s, those to me seem better to buy.

If you're using it as a boot/game drive, quite frankly the write speed doesn't matter too much. I think for most people. the point of getting as SSD is faster boot times and shorter time from clicking the icon for x game to actually playing... disk write speeds have virtually no affect on these. I would def trade a MUCH slower write time for a more stable drive.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey