I just picked up a sweet bare bones kit, got a great deal with rebates off TigerDirect (.ca):
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?Edpno=2202111 (when I got it, It was at $500)
GIGABYTE GA-Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 Motherboard (ATX)
Intel Core i5-2500K CPU (3.30GHz)
2 x Corsair XMS3 4GB PC10666 DDR3 1333MHz 4096MB (8GB total)
Patriot Pyro 120GB SSD
Sony Optiarc AD7280S-OB 24x DVDRW Drive
Ultra 550W ATX PSU
Thermaltake V3 Black Edition Mid Tower
My plan is to throw in a radeon 6850 - I've seen it on sale recently around $130, so I'll wait for it to hit that again. I also have a 2TB external that I think will become an internal storage drive.
This system is for a bit of everything - gaming, design (autocad, solidworks), programming (matlab, R, sas, c++), everyday browsing and my media storage.
One question I had was with regard to the CPU installation; is the stock i5 thermal paste good enough? Should I pick up an external cpu cooler? I doubt I'll be over clocking in the immediate future, but don't want to rule it out completely either.
Think the 6850 would serve my purposes as a good, reasonably future proof midrange vid card? What are your thoughts on this system? Any tips/suggestions?
Edit: Do you think I should consider the 7700 coming out soon as well? Or go higher to the 6870?
http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?Edpno=2202111 (when I got it, It was at $500)
GIGABYTE GA-Z68AP-D3 Intel Z68 Motherboard (ATX)
Intel Core i5-2500K CPU (3.30GHz)
2 x Corsair XMS3 4GB PC10666 DDR3 1333MHz 4096MB (8GB total)
Patriot Pyro 120GB SSD
Sony Optiarc AD7280S-OB 24x DVDRW Drive
Ultra 550W ATX PSU
Thermaltake V3 Black Edition Mid Tower
My plan is to throw in a radeon 6850 - I've seen it on sale recently around $130, so I'll wait for it to hit that again. I also have a 2TB external that I think will become an internal storage drive.
This system is for a bit of everything - gaming, design (autocad, solidworks), programming (matlab, R, sas, c++), everyday browsing and my media storage.
One question I had was with regard to the CPU installation; is the stock i5 thermal paste good enough? Should I pick up an external cpu cooler? I doubt I'll be over clocking in the immediate future, but don't want to rule it out completely either.
Think the 6850 would serve my purposes as a good, reasonably future proof midrange vid card? What are your thoughts on this system? Any tips/suggestions?
Edit: Do you think I should consider the 7700 coming out soon as well? Or go higher to the 6870?