My First Build

[Caldork]

Ok so this is my first completely brand new build - was hoping you guys could check it out and confirm it's all compatible, check I aint buying some rubbishy products and maybe offer alternatives if I've chosen badly!

I'll be using this for Web Surfing, Gaming and Music/Media.

This bundle includes I7 2600K, Asus P8Z68-V/GEN3 Motherboard and 2X4gb Patriot Ram

Case:
Antec 900

PSU:
Coolmaster GX

Hard drive:
Seagate 2TB Barracuda

topped of with Asus GTX 550 Ti

What I'm hoping to produce is a long term computer with reliable components to last me till after uni without needing upgrading. I play high quality games like crysis, skyrim suchly suchly and this graphics card, whilst not top of the range, should last me for all the new games for years to come?

Any advice, tips comments etc would be muchly appreciated!

Cheers

Cailean

p.s. Did have another post but removed all the links and conformed to a normal title!

 

[azeem40]

Will you be doing any extreme video/music editing? If not, drop the CPU to a 2500k. HT is not utilized in games yet. The most games use is one thread for each core.

 

[016ive]

Get an Antech,Seasonic,Corsair or XFX PSU
if you are planning to game you better get the 560TI not the 550TI (at least)
What resolution do you game on?

 

[Caldork]

Not sure what you mean by "extreme" but I do edit home videos regularly? I also run sibelius 7....? I would have got the 2500K but I because this computer needs to last - well - forever, I was thinking the i7 will last through all the new games, windows 8 and everything else? You think I should just go to 2500K?

 

[ltdan]

If you have no problem spending money on a 2600K, keep it, but if this rig is going to be used for gaming, and you are on a budget, drop down to a 2500K and get a better GPU. A GPU is usually the first thing to become "outdated" (if you are a gamer). So please invest in a better one, one way or another!

 

[tlmck]

If you want long term reliability, do not buy a Coolermaster power supply. They do make excellent cases though. Get an 80 Plus certified or higher from trusted brands such as Seasonic, Corsair, Antec, Silverstone, or XFX. For your level of video card, 500 watts would be plenty. If you are planning on dual cards later, 650 watt would be fine.

Here is a handy Nvidia tool that should help in your video card selection. http://www.geforce.com/Optimize

 

[DobermanTech]

I agree with what was previously said. You are probably better off dropping from 2600K to 2500K and investing in either a higher end graphics card, or an SSD. Unless you are on a very tight budget, I would definitely look at getting one. They improve day to day user experience so much! I would recommend a 120GB or so. If you don't want to put more money in to graphics, put it into an SSD. That would definitely be worth the downgrade from 2600K to 2500K.

 

[tiang]

Agree with tlmck. Go for better and trusted PSU.

 

[pacioli]

Just ignore the i5 i7 monikers... The 2500K and the 2600K are clocked 100 Mhz apart at stock and they both overclock like beasts.

The 2600K also has hyperthreading which is layman for take a single core and make it do the work of two cores... Just thinking about that makes me think it is a bad idea. And sure enough the benchmarks say the same thing...

You also get 2 mb of L3 cache on the 2600K. which means you get little better performance when running a lot of programs all at once... Most people don't run more than a few things at a time.

You are better off saving the $100 and getting abetter video card.

 

[hapkido]

What is your budget and do you plan on overclocking?

 

[pacioli]

Caldork - Do you have a Micro Center nearby? see their ad at http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/57e09b6d#/57e09b6d/1
Page 2,27 and 28.
They have the best deals around for processors. If you buy a processor you can get $60-$50 off select motherboards too. So an i5 2500K that runs $230 at newegg will go for $180 at Micro Center... Plus you can pick up a mobo that at newegg costs $120 but at Micro center will be $60... Total savings $110 on a $350 purchase bringing it down to $240.

 

[Caldork]

Thanks for all the advice!

Ill look at getting a better PSU! I don't have a Micro Center, I'm UK based ^^

Ok so I'm looking at the long term when thinking I7 - will the i5 last me 7 odd years - for a bit extra the hyper threading on the i7 would make it the better choice? Maybe not? I'm glad you brought it up - I'm thinking long and hard about it.

How does the SSD + HDD combo work really? Is it not just a hassle copying things to and from?

Cheers guys!!

 

[pacioli]

Hyper threading = worse for games in general. because you are taking a physical core and making it do the work of 2 cores. This is why the 2500K beats the 2600K at the same clock speed in benchmarks of single threaded programs. If you turn off hyperthreading in the 2600K you get identical results from a 2500K.

Your PC will be a dinosaur in 4 years no matter how heavy you build it today. 7 years ago people were using Pentium 4s and Athlons. They don't hold a candle to CPUs produced even 4 years ago, and 4 year old CPUs are laughably slow today for games.

The whole SSD HDD thing works... but it is a hassle. You can set it up to automatically install things onto the HDD... but that is a hassle too. Supposedly windows 8 will remedy this... but I don't see Win 8 being released anytime soon.