New build plan

[gmcburney3]

Approximate Purchase Date: within the next two days.

Budget Range: (e.g.: 600-800) 1000 max with tax and shipping, I get free two day shipping at newegg on most parts I selected where I plan to purchase unless a much cheaper price can be found else where.

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Computer forensics programs, gaming, surfing the internet, watching movies

Parts Not Required: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, OS

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg.com

Country: US

Parts Preferences: by brand or type: Intel , Asus or AsRock but open to suggestions as long as it is all Intel compatible and will function well with the i5-2500k

Overclocking: Yes but not right off. Will be overclocking later when I get a better cpu cooler, graphics card and more ram.

SLI or Crossfire: No

Monitor Resolution: 1680x1050

Additional Comments: Planning on purchasing in the next day or two so any feedback would be greatly appreciated. I am fairly set on everything but the motherboard and ram. I am concerned about the lack of support when mounted in the case on the AsRock Z68 Extreme 3 Gen 3. I am unsure if I really need the 2133 ram or if I should shave off a few bucks and just go with some 1600.

I am building this with plans to add a few upgrades in a few months just need something going for the time being. Planned upgrades in the future a better video card and I never plan to run dual cards. Better cpu cooler than stock one.

I would like to also add a SSD drive to hold my operating system and a few important programs.

Here are the parts:

CASE:
Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case, comes with Three Fans-1x Front Blue LED 120mm Fan, 1x Top 140mm Fan, 1x Rear 120mm Fan,
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147153

HDD:
Seagate Barracuda ST2000DM001 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148834

Video Card:
EVGA 01G-P3-1556-KR GeForce GTX 550 Ti (Fermi) FPB 1GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130625

PSU:
OCZ ModXStream Pro 700W Modular High Performance Power Supply compatible with Intel Sandybridge Core i3 i5 i7
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341018

RAM:
G.SKILL Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2133 (PC3 17000) Desktop Memory Model F3-17000CL9D-8GBSR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231518

MOBO:
ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157271

or
Open to suggestions for a similar or better mobo that does not go over $160, I do not really like that the Extreme 3 gen 3 does not fully mount to a case properly.

CPU:
Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000 BX80623I52500K
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072

DVD/CD burner:
ASUS 24X DVD Burner
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204

This currently has me at $930.69 tax and shipping included.

Really looking for suggestions on motherboard and ram. Also would like to squeeze in a SSD large enough for WIN 7 Pro 64-bit, MS OFFICE 2010 and a small handful of programs I use for school which is the study of computer forensics.
Thanks.

 

[drunkducki]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147153 - $54.99
Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case, comes with Three Fans-1x Front Blue LED 120mm Fan, 1x Top 140mm Fan, 1x Rear 120mm Fan, option Fans-2x Side 120mm Fan

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231428 - $46.99
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072 - $224.99
Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000 BX80623I52500K

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157279&Tpk=asrock%20pro3%20gen3 - $109.99
ASRock Z68 PRO3 GEN3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-RSSDailyDeals-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=4176827&SID=1xlf373o7vsr2 - $18.99
ASUS 24X DVD Burner - Bulk 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148441 - $109.99
Crucial M4 CT064M4SSD2 2.5" 64GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148767 - $84.99
Seagate Barracuda ST500DM002 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139027 - $59.99 - $20MIR
CORSAIR Builder Series CX500 V2 500W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121419 - $159.99 - $20MIR + Dirt3 Coupon
ASUS EAH6850 DC/2DIS/1GD5/V2 Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity

Total: $870.91 - $40MIR + free Dirt3 coupon

 

[jsc]

With your budget, forget the SSD. An SSD is a convenience. It will let you load and boot more quickly. But it doesn't make your system more powerful.

Drop the SSD and take part of the money you save and buy an after market cooler (something like a Hyper 212 Evo) for your CPU. An i5-K overclocked to, say, 4.5 GHz will be a substantial increase in computing capacity.

 

[blazorthon]

With your budget, forget the SSD. An SSD is a convenience. It will let you load and boot more quickly. But it doesn't make your system more powerful.

Drop the SSD and take part of the money you save and buy an after market cooler (something like a Hyper 212 Evo) for your CPU. An i5-K overclocked to, say, 4.5 GHz will be a substantial increase in computing capacity.

I agree. After all, what's the point of buying an unlocked CPU if you don't get a cooler that can overclock with it? The stock cooler that comes with the CPU can't keep up with even minor overclocks.

I also think the $140 Radeon 6870 is the better choice. Now if you had a 1920x1080 monitor then I would suggest something more powerful, like the Radeon 6950 but at 1600x1050 a Radeon 6870 1GB should be able to max out all settings.

 

[Ohmybad]

an I52500K @ stock settings is more then enough power for what he needs now... he can do everything he wants fine, later when he gets his cooler(i like corsair H20 because it removes a huge bulky radiator from the middle of your case) being HSF/H20 then he can over clock to what he wants... a 1k$ budget is great for SSD if you don't need OS or a Monitor...

 

[gmcburney3]

I am going to hold off on the SSD for now. Planning on getting one in about three months so I can get a larger size one.

Why the Radeon 6870 over the GTX 550Ti? I have not used anything but Nvidia so I am curious if there is something in the Radeon I am missing out on.

Thanks for the input.

 

[blazorthon]

I am going to hold off on the SSD for now. Planning on getting one in about three months so I can get a larger size one.

Why the Radeon 6870 over the GTX 550Ti? I have not used anything but Nvidia so I am curious if there is something in the Radeon I am missing out on.

Thanks for the input.

The 6870 is faster than the 550 ti. The 6870 is comparable to the GTX 560 and is still cheaper than that too even though it is about the same speed, maybe even a little faster.

 

[nick3232]

i second that opinion i would rather get 6870 rather than a 550 ti i have 6870 pro edition and it runs games really decent its a better bang for the buck

 

[gmcburney3]

Thanks for the info on the video card. I think I will go with a 6870.