Approximate Purchase Date: Within a month
Budget Range: 2000
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming >> Music Production
Parts Not Required: keyboard, mouse, speakers, monitor
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Tigerdirect.ca, newegg.ca, newegg.com (have to get it shipped to a US address across the border)
Country: Canada
Parts Preferences: Always had Intel processors, been using an Nvidia gtx 260 for the past three years.
Overclocking: Yes
SLI or Crossfire: No
Monitor Resolution: 1920 x 1080
So I'll likely be ordering the computer from a local computer shop that has a good reputation (both my brother and I have purchased rock solid gaming PCs from them in the past), but from the time I purchased my current rig from them until now, it seems they've put a bigger profit margin on the builds.
I got a quote for $CAD 2099 (not even sure if that includes tax or not?) ($US 2016)
These are the specs I was given:
Intel i7-2600K Boxed
MSI Radeon HD 7970
Asus P8Z68-V/GEN 3
Kingston 8GB DDR3 1600Mhz
Corsair HX850 850W PSU
Cooler Master HAF 932
OCZ Synapse 128GB SSD SATA 3
Seagate 1TB 7200rpm
LG 22x DVD-RW
Cooler Master Hyper 212+
$2099
2yr In Store Warranty if we build, no extra charge.
I've just got a few questions regarding the build:
1. Is the 2600K worth it over the 2500K? I'll be using it for gaming, but I mess around with recording/music production in DAWs (I personally don't think this is enough to warrant the upgrade).
2. I know it's only ~10 reviews, but I noticed the OCZ Synapse got some bad reviews on newegg. Has anyone had any experience this drive? I noticed it was a cache drive, meaning that only 64 GB is allocated to storage, the rest is used for caching "hot" data. Is there any benefit/downfall of using a cache SSD instead of a standard one? Should I be getting something like the Crucial M4?
3. I've heard something about there being issues with Sandy Bridge CPUs and using a higher end PCI sound card for music production, can anyone elaborate on this? Also, is there any real reason to get a good sound card other than this? (I've got a nice set of headphones that would benefit from a nice amp, apparently some soundcards have built in amps).
3. I feel like $2099 is a bit much for this build. I was able to build the same/similar computer on iBuypower as well as make a shopping cart with all the components on newegg for around ~$1900. I feel like it would be rude to walk into the PC shop and ask if they can "lower the price" or something to that effect, but I do think $2099 is a bit high.
Any input would be greatly appreciated.
Budget Range: 2000
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming >> Music Production
Parts Not Required: keyboard, mouse, speakers, monitor
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Tigerdirect.ca, newegg.ca, newegg.com (have to get it shipped to a US address across the border)
Country: Canada
Parts Preferences: Always had Intel processors, been using an Nvidia gtx 260 for the past three years.
Overclocking: Yes
SLI or Crossfire: No
Monitor Resolution: 1920 x 1080
So I'll likely be ordering the computer from a local computer shop that has a good reputation (both my brother and I have purchased rock solid gaming PCs from them in the past), but from the time I purchased my current rig from them until now, it seems they've put a bigger profit margin on the builds.
I got a quote for $CAD 2099 (not even sure if that includes tax or not?) ($US 2016)
These are the specs I was given:
Intel i7-2600K Boxed
MSI Radeon HD 7970
Asus P8Z68-V/GEN 3
Kingston 8GB DDR3 1600Mhz
Corsair HX850 850W PSU
Cooler Master HAF 932
OCZ Synapse 128GB SSD SATA 3
Seagate 1TB 7200rpm
LG 22x DVD-RW
Cooler Master Hyper 212+
$2099
2yr In Store Warranty if we build, no extra charge.
I've just got a few questions regarding the build:
1. Is the 2600K worth it over the 2500K? I'll be using it for gaming, but I mess around with recording/music production in DAWs (I personally don't think this is enough to warrant the upgrade).
2. I know it's only ~10 reviews, but I noticed the OCZ Synapse got some bad reviews on newegg. Has anyone had any experience this drive? I noticed it was a cache drive, meaning that only 64 GB is allocated to storage, the rest is used for caching "hot" data. Is there any benefit/downfall of using a cache SSD instead of a standard one? Should I be getting something like the Crucial M4?
3. I've heard something about there being issues with Sandy Bridge CPUs and using a higher end PCI sound card for music production, can anyone elaborate on this? Also, is there any real reason to get a good sound card other than this? (I've got a nice set of headphones that would benefit from a nice amp, apparently some soundcards have built in amps).
3. I feel like $2099 is a bit much for this build. I was able to build the same/similar computer on iBuypower as well as make a shopping cart with all the components on newegg for around ~$1900. I feel like it would be rude to walk into the PC shop and ask if they can "lower the price" or something to that effect, but I do think $2099 is a bit high.
Any input would be greatly appreciated.
It seems like the cheapest prices available to me are at DirectCanada.com (a sister site of NCIX) but I'm not sure how reputable of a site they are, I've seen some shipping complaints/not receiving items.
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