Building A PC, Need Advice

[jaraldo]

Hey everyone, I'm about to attempt to build my first PC soon

The few parts I have picked for now:

ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3
Intel Core i5 2500K CPU
~~OR~~
Intel Core i5 2400 CPU
~~OR~~
Intel Core i5 2500 CPU
(Unsure of the difference in the last 2 because they are the same price)

Corsair CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B Vengeance 2x4GB
Western Digital 500GB 7200rpm
Thermaltake W0382RU 750 Watt 140mm Fan
(I chose a high Watt PSU because I wanted to get a nice graphics card; Both may be overkill though)
Lite-On IHAS424-98 DVD Burner
GPU=To Be Decided
Tower=Mid-full
OS=not sure yet(I do have a few XP/Vista discs laying around)

I'm sure there are fails in compatibility or efficiency somewhere, feel free to point them out

Approximate Purchase Date: 1-2weeks(sooner the better)

Budget Range: $750-$850(max) Total after rebates/taxes

System Usage: Currently will be used for mostly watching game streams/movies online, playing 10 year old game(aoe), running various programs, surfing internet. Although, I will be getting into VideoScreen-Capture, Video Editting and probably some sc2 later on. (8month- 1 year from now)

Parts Not Required: keyboard, mouse, Monitor , speakers

Preferred Website for Parts: TigerDirect

Country: Canada

Parts Preferences: I'm liking the picks for cpu/mobo

Overclocking: Unsure

SLI or Crossfire: undecided (opinions?)

Monitor Resolution: 1920x1200

Main concern is staying in the price range. Quiet would be nice but some noise is fine. Basically, I'd like to have this computer last awhile, having it be upgrade-friendly for later needs and when I have the cash.

Question:Is a graphics card needed now(cheap one) or can I wait a bit and get a good one in a few months(2-3)? If I decide not to get a graphics card now, but later, will this effect my PSU choice or any other hardware?(All I know is that graphics cards are watt-hogs)
Will I need any extra fans?
I'm interested in the difference between the i5 2400/2500 and i5 2500k and also if the possible overclocking would benefit my system? (would like to eventually know how to overclock)
Cheaper 2x4gb ram? or any other part without reducing quality?

I've only been researching off and on for the past month, but have limited computer knowledge.

All advice is welcome,
Thanks

 

[aqe040466]

If you are not into overclocking it's either i5 2400 0r i5 2500, there's no much diffrence in performance, but I suggest you choose the i5 2500K, bcoz in the future you might eventually learn and be interested in CPU overclocking that will make your PC a substantial amount of a better performance and speed. And CPU overclocking is a challenging area in PC building. It also one way of future proofing your PC, and unlocking the potential of the CPU and adding worth to the money you spend on buying the CPU.

 

[capt_taco]

i5-2500k is the best out of those; it is EASY to overclock and does so well. You can get it up to 4.0 GHz on air easily; more like 4.4 if you have a halfway decent CPU cooler and even more if you do advanced cooling.

Honestly, if you're going with DDR3-1600 RAM, go for something with a 7 latency; otherwise DDR3-1333 with a 7 latency, which there IS a lot of for cheap, has a faster true speed than DDR3-1600 with a 9 latency (true speed = clock speed divided by latency). Or, since your motherboard supports up to 2133 Mhz, you could go that route with a 9 latency and it would be an improvement also.

750W is kind of an awkward spot with power supplies right now. Overkill for most single-card setups, but two high-end GPUs in crossfire/SLI could overwhelm it. But really, when you're building from scratch, unless you're going for a spare-no-expense super high-end system ... you're usually better off getting the best SINGLE video card you can afford, which means more like a 600W PSU, and worrying about upgrading later on if you need it (which hopefully you won't for a long time).

I would definitely recommend getting a video card now if you can; on a monitor that size, you should not expect to do any serious gaming at all with what's built in. I'd expect to spend about $180-$300 for a good one at present.

You could probably save about $100 on the motherboard, by the way; you usually do not need a $200 mobo unless you're planning on dabbling with some really advanced crossfire or oc'ing. I recently built a similar setup with this Gigabyte board and have had great results with it for about half the price. $80-$130 is the sweet spot for motherboards with what you're looking to do.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128488

 

[C12Friedman]

The embedded graphics in the motherboard seems to be adequate for you for now - when you are ready to do video editing, etc... that will take more power, then add the graphics card. A better, cheaper card is later on if you can wait.
The difference between the 2500 & 2400? 0.2 GHz - no reason to look at the 2400 I know of.
The 2500 and 2500k are the same except, the k means it is "unlocked" (overclockable). If you don't care to spend hours watching over your computer, you may want to avoid that option. BUT, if it interests you at all, there are inexpensive aftermarket air coolers that take alot of the worry out of overclocking (you don't have to get into water cooling if you don't want).
Basically, the k gives you the option, no "k", no option
My only personal suggestion would be to really look into SSD's (small one for system - my favorite upgrade in computing over the past 30 years!)

 

[geofelt]

At stock, the 2500K@3.3, 2500@3.3, and 2400@3.1 are approximately equal. They are quads without hyperthreading which is useful with multi threaded apps, but not games.
The "K" Allows you to increase the stock multiplier of the 2500K from, 33 up to 40 or perhaps even 45 giving you a nice boost in compute power.
Intel only guarantees 33, but 90% of the chips will do 40. If the extra $35 is not a bother, then it is highly recommended.

You will want a Z68 based motherboard. How many expansion slots could you possibly use? A full ATX motherboard will have 7, A micro-atx will have 4, and a itc will have just one.
All will include a pcie-X16 slot for a discrete graphics card.
The Z68 motherboard will allow you to connect one or two monitors without a discrete graphics card. A good idea for you, I think.
It will be about as strong as a $50 discrete graphics card and be suitable for desktop work, and HD movie viewing.

For quiet, I suggest you add an aftermarket cpu cooler. $30 will buy you a CM hyper 212, or Xigmatek gaia which will do the job. It will keep your cpu cooler and quieter. The backplate mounting is much easier for the novice to install compared to the stock intel pushpin cooler.

A basic pc will only need 200-300 watts to run. A graphics card will take an added 150-300w, depending on how beastly the card is. Newer 28nm cards like the 7970 and GTX680 only need a 500w psu for the whole pc.
Thermaltake quality may be iffy, depending on the unit.
A psu is the last place to economize. Stick with known good brands like Seasonic, Antec, XFX, Corsair, and PC P&C.
Don't pay extra for modular unless you are using s small form factor case. You will be using most of the power leads anyway.

Cases are a personal thing. Buy one you love; spend more if you need to.
For a quiet mid size atx case, look at the Antec solo II.
For a quiet M-ATX case, look at the Silverstone TJ-08E
For a ITX case, look at the lian li Q08 or Q11.

Hard drive prices are high today.
Can you find the budget for a SSD instead? A ssd is 50x faster in random i/o which is what the os does mostly, and 2-3x faster in sequential.
It will make everything you do feel quicker.
A 80gb ssd will hold the os and a handful of apps or games. Add a hard drive later for storage. Expect to pay $1.30 per gb or so.
Intel 520 or Samsung 830 would be mu preferred units.

Lastly, be aware that in late April, Intel ivy bridge successor the the sandy bridge cpu's(2500K etc) will launch. Expect about 10% better price performance then.

 

[jaraldo]

Wow. Everything here is really helpfully/informative! (feels like I'm learning something )

I'll be sticking with the i5-2500k 100% from what's been said.

Honestly, if you're going with DDR3-1600 RAM, go for something with a 7 latency; otherwise DDR3-1333 with a 7 latency, which there IS a lot of for cheap, has a faster true speed than DDR3-1600 with a 9 latency (true speed = clock speed divided by latency). Or, since your motherboard supports up to 2133 Mhz, you could go that route with a 9 latency and it would be an improvement also.

750W is kind of an awkward spot with power supplies right now. Overkill for most single-card setups, but two high-end GPUs in crossfire/SLI could overwhelm it. But really, when you're building from scratch, unless you're going for a spare-no-expense super high-end system ... you're usually better off getting the best SINGLE video card you can afford, which means more like a 600W PSU, and worrying about upgrading later on if you need it (which hopefully you won't for a long time).

You could probably save about $100 on the motherboard, by the way; you usually do not need a $200 mobo unless you're planning on dabbling with some really advanced crossfire or oc'ing. I recently built a similar setup with this Gigabyte board and have had great results with it for about half the price. $80-$130 is the sweet spot for motherboards with what you're looking to do.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6813128488

Good to know about the latency. I'm just wondering if going from 9 to 7(or vice versa) will be that big of a difference in speed or if the cost will justify it.

Yea I'd read about 2 cheapers GPU being > than 1 good GPU though. I'm sure there are exceptions, but generally is it better to get 1 good cpu to be able to upgrade later?

I'll look into that mobo, but i'm liking the one I picked out for now.

The embedded graphics in the motherboard seems to be adequate for you for now - when you are ready to do video editing, etc... that will take more power, then add the graphics card. A better, cheaper card is later on if you can wait.

The 2500 and 2500k are the same except, the k means it is "unlocked" (overclockable). If you don't care to spend hours watching over your computer, you may want to avoid that option. BUT, if it interests you at all, there are inexpensive aftermarket air coolers that take alot of the worry out of overclocking (you don't have to get into water cooling if you don't want).

I was really hoping on that for the mobo!

Yea I was wondering about cooling systems to. I'd feel safer just sticking with air coolers instead of water.

You will want a Z68 based motherboard. How many expansion slots could you possibly use? A full ATX motherboard will have 7, A micro-atx will have 4, and a itc will have just one.
All will include a pcie-X16 slot for a discrete graphics card.
The Z68 motherboard will allow you to connect one or two monitors without a discrete graphics card. A good idea for you, I think.
It will be about as strong as a $50 discrete graphics card and be suitable for desktop work, and HD movie viewing.

For quiet, I suggest you add an aftermarket cpu cooler. $30 will buy you a CM hyper 212, or Xigmatek gaia which will do the job. It will keep your cpu cooler and quieter. The backplate mounting is much easier for the novice to install compared to the stock intel pushpin cooler.

A basic pc will only need 200-300 watts to run. A graphics card will take an added 150-300w, depending on how beastly the card is. Newer 28nm cards like the 7970 and GTX680 only need a 500w psu for the whole pc.
Thermaltake quality may be iffy, depending on the unit.
A psu is the last place to economize. Stick with known good brands like Seasonic, Antec, XFX, Corsair, and PC P&C.
Don't pay extra for modular unless you are using s small form factor case. You will be using most of the power leads anyway.

Cases are a personal thing. Buy one you love; spend more if you need to.
For a quiet mid size atx case, look at the Antec solo II.
For a quiet M-ATX case, look at the Silverstone TJ-08E
For a ITX case, look at the lian li Q08 or Q11.

Hard drive prices are high today.
Can you find the budget for a SSD instead? A ssd is 50x faster in random i/o which is what the os does mostly, and 2-3x faster in sequential.
It will make everything you do feel quicker.
A 80gb ssd will hold the os and a handful of apps or games. Add a hard drive later for storage. Expect to pay $1.30 per gb or so.
Intel 520 or Samsung 830 would be mu preferred units.

Lastly, be aware that in late April, Intel ivy bridge successor the the sandy bridge cpu's(2500K etc) will launch. Expect about 10% better price performance then.

I'll rethink my mobo a bit based on what you've mentioned about the slots. (i'm still liking the current one though)

I'll check out those coolers too.

Any suggestions for PSU? I'll take a look myself but I had trouble deciding before. Just too be clear, I plan to add in a fairly decent GPU later.

As for the case, I just wasn't too sure about dimensions for PSU and fitting in later upgrades. (most sites I looked at made it seem like big deal)

Ok now about the SSD. I had considered this before because I heard they were fast and to just keep your OS on them, then to just put programs on a external to save room(which I have, and have started doing on my current comp). But I didn't really have a lot of information on them and got the feeling they were expensive and any of the "cheap" $100 ones were iffy. Any brand/avg price that is "safe"? or are they all fairly well designed?

A bit confused on the Intel Ivy Bridge info. Do you mean in a comparison it will out perform the sandy bridge by 10% in terms of price ratio or that the sandy bridge will be 10% less once it comes out? (hence performing better for the price)

Thanks again everyone!(these were fast responses)

P.S may as-well add while we're discussing. SLI vs crossfire? I've looked around and I know they use different technologies, but from what I saw, they have the same result. So based on what my build is looking like, which would fit best? or is it basically just up to preference?

 

[geofelt]

Permit me a rant on Dual graphics cards vs. a good single card.

a) How good do you really need to be?
A single GTX560 or 6870 can give you great performance at 1920 x 1200 in most games.

A single GTX560ti or 6950 will give you excellent performance at 1920 x 1200 in most games.
Even 2560 x 1600 will be good with lowered detail.
A single 7970 is about as good as it gets.

Only if you are looking at triple monitor gaming, then sli/cf will be needed.
Even that is now changing with triple monitor support on top end cards.

b) The costs for a single card are lower.
You require a less expensive motherboard; no need for sli/cf or multiple pci-e slots.
Even a ITX motherboard will do.

Your psu costs are less.
A GTX560ti needs a 450w psu, even a GTX580 only needs a 600w psu.
When you add another card to the mix, plan on adding 150-200w to your psu requirements.
A single more modern 28nm card like a 7970 or GTX680 needs only 500W.

Case cooling becomes more of an issue with dual cards.
That means a more expensive case with more and stronger fans.
You will also look at more noise.

c) Dual cards do not always render their half of the display in sync, causing microstuttering. It is an annoying effect.
The benefit of higher benchmark fps can be offset, particularly with lower tier cards.
Read this: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-geforce-stutter-crossfire,2995.html

d) dual card support is dependent on the driver. Not all games can benefit from dual cards.

e) cf/sli up front reduces your option to get another card for an upgrade. Not that I suggest you plan for that.
It will often be the case that replacing your current card with a newer gen card will offer a better upgrade path.

A ATX psu will have standard width and height dimensions, differing only in length. A ATX psu will fit most any case, and even the two lian li cases I referenced above.
Only in very small cases is length a concern.
For a psu, I suggest overprovisioning a bit, to a 650w unit. The cost difference from a 500w unit is not much, and the psu will operate in the more efficient middle third of it's range.
It will draw only what it needs, regatdless of it's maximum wattage rating.
The silver and gold rated psu's are moore efficient, but they cost enough more that you will not recoup the difference in electricity rates. They will tend to be quieter.
This Seasonic 650W gold unit is about the best, but it costs 2x as much:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151088

Ram speed and latencies are really not significant.
The current Intel nehalem and sandy bridge cpu's have an excellent integrated ram controller. It is able to keep the cpu fed with data from any speed ram.
The difference in real application performance or FPS between the fastest and slowest ram is on the order of 1-3%.

Synthetic benchmark differences will be impressive, but are largely irrelevant in the real world.

Fancy heat spreaders are mostly marketing too.

Only if you are seeking record level overclocks should you consider faster ram or better latencies.
Read this Anandtech article on memory scaling:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4503/sandy-bridge-memory-scaling-choosing-the-best-ddr3/1
---------------bottom line------------

DDR3 1600 is the sweet spot, and 8-16gb is good. Ram is cheap, there is no downside to having more.

If your timeframe can be late April, then you will want ivy bridge, and a Z77 chipset motherboard.
Early benchmarks I have seen show ivy bridge quads like the 3570K to be about 10% faster, clock for clock than the corresponding sandy bridge quads like the 2500K and will be priced similarly. In addition, the integrated graphics are much improved which should serve you well if you will run with integrated graphics. Depending on the game, you may well not need a discrete card for some time. Because of the 22nm manufacturing, I expect ivy bridge to run cooler and have better OC potential for the "K" models.

On the other hand, current Z68 motherboards will be compatible with ivy bridge, so a different strategy would be to buy an inexpensive sandy bridge cpu, planning to replace it later. I don't really like such interim steps unless you have a particular use for the replaced parts.

If you want a smaller M-ATX motherboard, look at the ASUS P8PZ68-M PRO for $125:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131786

For shopping a 2500K, you can buy one for $180 at a microcenter if you can walk in to one.
Also, check out newegg, I find their prices reasonable, and their customer support outstanding.

 

[capt_taco]

Good to know about the latency. I'm just wondering if going from 9 to 7(or vice versa) will be that big of a difference in speed or if the cost will justify it.

Honestly ... it doesn't make a WHOLE lot of difference, but the price difference isn't that much either. You can usually find the faster stuff on some kind of sale or rebate for roughly the same price as DDR3-1600 9-9-9 if you are patient enough to wait a week or two and keep checking. The overall systemwide performance increase is not going to be phenomenal - something like 3% - but If you're spending $800 on a new build, an extra 10 bucks is only 1% of your budget, so it's really up to you. If you already HAD a system and the question was whether to spend $70 upgrading only the RAM, then the answer is usually no. But look at it this way: If you're spending an extra $90 on a motherboard just because ... then you have an extra $10 to spare on the RAM.

Yea I'd read about 2 cheapers GPU being > than 1 good GPU though. I'm sure there are exceptions, but generally is it better to get 1 good cpu to be able to upgrade later?

Sometimes you can find those situations, but in general I'd advise against it, for a few reasons:

- Simply more of a pain in the ass to set up.
- Depending on the card, the two cheaper GPUs may use almost twice as much power and generate twice as much heat.
- Technical issues - multiple GPUs don't always "play nice" with all games and programs.
- Setup costs - you'll need a bigger PSU with more connections and more expensive mobo.
- Upgrade path - starting out with a single GPU, you can always add another later if you need to. Starting out with two GPUs, you 're throwing out both cards if you want to upgrade.

And finally, I have yet to find a compelling argument for crossfire/SLI for practical gaming use, the exceptions being 1) multi-monitor setups and 2) upgrading existing systems with an older card. You will get great performance from a single mid-high video card in the $200 range, and beyond that, you're just paying out the ass to increase benchmarks (in other words: overkill). Anything above 30 frames per second, your eyes can't tell the difference, so 99% of users will see no practical improvement.

Couple of other random thoughts ... Ivy Bridge will likely see some improvement over the current Sandy Bridge, but you won't know how much for sure until it comes out, and then there's price to deal with. I'd expect them to be charging premium prices when they first come out. We know the i5-2500k is a great CPU right now, so I'd say you can't go wrong with it; there's always "something better" around the corner 6 months from now. If it really becomes an issue, the same motherboard will work with Ivy Bridge if you ever want to upgrade (though by that time, I'd expect something even better than IB to be out, on a completely different platform).

 

[jaraldo]

@geofelt

I read those articles and see your points clearly now.

And thank you for that rant haha, I see that I didn't know what my current choices were capable of.

I did a few searches on the SeaSonic X Series X650 Gold and it seems to have excellent reviews.
Just wondering if the bronze plus and gold plus have any affect to the system other than efficiency? I had found a few $100 dollar ones of "similar" specs, just differing always in that category(efficiency).

I've bookmarked those GPU for the coming months when I decide to get one.

I think I'll go with the Patriot G2 Series PGD38G1600ELK for my ram, maybe even buy 2 since they are really cheap.

This is more a conscious consumer question, Why does the Patriot RAM cost half the price of some others? Ex. Corsair Vengance RAM
The specs look identical. Is it simply the brand/hype of the product that makes it twice as much?

For shopping a 2500K, you can buy one for $180 at a microcenter if you can walk in to one.

I should have mentioned this, but not to big a deal. I'm in a really rural area (1.5hours away from a city) and only make trips in once a month. I wasn't planning to make another trip for another 3 weeks and I need to give back this current computer(borrowed) I'm using a.s.a.p.

As for newegg, I'll make sure to cross-reference them in so I get best price.(no matter which site)

@capt_taco

And finally, I have yet to find a compelling argument for crossfire/SLI for practical gaming use, the exceptions being 1) multi-monitor setups and 2) upgrading existing systems with an older card. You will get great performance from a single mid-high video card in the $200 range, and beyond that, you're just paying out the ass to increase benchmarks (in other words: overkill). Anything above 30 frames per second, your eyes can't tell the difference, so 99% of users will see no practical improvement.

That will be a great reference for me. I can see now that cf/sli I won't be needing to worry about much.
For me any info of when products/techs become less cost-effective/efficient is great and welcomed.

As for the Ivy Bridge vs Sandy Bridge discussion, I tend to lean towards the i5-2500k because it's a safe choice now and 10% faster for me just isn't enough incentive to wait.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So some decisions I think I'll stick with:
(unless someone puts up some persuasive products/points)

-Mobo:most like down-grade (will do some searching and find some picks but will stay with Z68 boards)
- Intel Core i5 2500K CPU
- Patriot RAM
-SSD=So I checked Newegg and the only SSD I found was an $169 120GB one and it had mixed reviews. All were OCZ(decent brand?) and only the $169 one was in stock. OCZ's SSDs
I then checked TigerDirect and it had equally iffy results. All I found within price range was a Plextor(decent brand?) for $119 64GB. Plextor SSD
I even checked Amazon and basically same result.

I did notice the mention of '3.5" brackets' on 2.5" SSD products. Is this a type of adapter? I'm going to assume they are, so where could I find one?
Recommended by geofelt Intel SSD or Samsung 830 SSD (reviews looks good and companies I actually know )

- SeaSonic X Series X650 Gold
- Lite-On IHAS424-98 DVD Burner
-GPU=Most likely one mentioned already or of similar specs.(purchase in a 2-3 months)
- Antec solo II Mid Tower

(I'm just going to round)
* is approximate

Mobo=*$205 (using the P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 for now in calculations until I get time to check out other boards)
CPU=$225
RAM=$30 (2x4gb)
SSD=*$170(Free Shipping)
PSU=$140(Might be free shipping, but have to check out the "Free 2-Day shipping")
Dvd burner=$30
Tower=$130
------------------
Total=$930 before taxes/shipping

Hopefully can shave *$50-75 off the mobo. Will a 64GB SSD satisfy most of my needs?(take *$60 off if so)
Other than that the tower could be down-sized too(*$20-30), although I don't like the look of the small ones, but beggars can't be choosers
If this was done new total would = *$765-800 which is much nicer
I'll move the new budget to $900 to be realistic. (see if I can find some extra cash to)

 

[christianelliott]

ok, to start out, for the cpu, i would definitely go with the i5-2500k. the auto-overclock is a nice feature, and there isnt much difference between the 2500 and 2400. also, if there isnt much of a rush, i would wait for ivy bridge to come out, hopefully this summer. for the gpu, i would go with amd ati cards. (dont know what you want for sure, crossfire? single card?) i personally love my radeon 6850 in my old pc. still works great! everyone answered pretty much everything, so this is all i can really contribute. have fun building!

-chris

 

[capt_taco]

Just a heads-up: You can save a REAL S***LOAD of money on the power supply for the next couple of days - Corsair 600W for $49.99 after rebate:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139028

That's about as good a PSU as you'll find, at a real bargain price for the time being. You can take the $100 difference and put it toward a 240GB or 256GB SSD, which will make your life SO much easier. Trust me, you will be hating it if you get a 64GB SSD. 120GB is enough to get by with, but if you can do it, I'd say 240-256GB is the way to go. OCZ, Mushkin, Crucial, Corsair - I'd trust any of those. Make sure you get a SATA3 model, not SATA2; they do try to sneak some SATA2 ones in there at the low end of the price range.

 

[jaraldo]

That certainly is cheaper!! thanks for that.

I was going to debate it a bit because it's got somewhat of a bad rating, but my monitor was the same situation and I haven't had problems with it. $49 compared to $130 is huge so I think I'll risk it.

I'll research some SSD drives and Mobos today so I can try to get this project wrapped up.

 

[capt_taco]

Don't worry about a Corsair power supply. Seasonic, Antec and Corasir are all on about equal footing as the "gold standard" of reliable power supplies. Seasonic is actually the manufacturer behind several models of Corsair PSUs - although this particular one comes from Channel Well, which has a decent reputation itself.

There's an interesting article on the subject that breaks down the relationships between all these brands, labels and actual manufacturers, if you have time to read it. The lists in the second half will be particularly useful if you end up doing more of this kind of thing in the future..

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/power-supply-oem-manufacturer,2913.html

 

[jaraldo]

So I spent a good chunk of the day looking through reviews/specs. This will be my last question period I hope

PSU

The CX600 looks like a good match for what I'll be using my comp for. (no SLI or anything high graphics anytime soon anyways)
I can always upgrade later if need be.

I found 2 more which also had good reviews and similar specs.(one on sale until tomorrow as well)
Any opinions?

SeaSonic S12II 620 Bronze 620W

Antec NEO ECO 620C 620W

SSD

For me personally from what I see the 120gb should be good for what I want and 256GB is kinda over kill for me right now($wise to).
In a year or 2 maybe I'll catch one on sale.

Intel 520 SSD
Samsung 830 SSD

Note: So they are both 2.5" and I'm just wondering about brackets/enclosures(I think they are the same thing)
The problem is more trying to find one that is either A) Not sold out or B) Is bad Quality. Any help?

Mobo

I was reading this on P67/Z68 comparison http://www.overclock.net/t/916189/official-intel-p67-z68-motherboard-comparison-list-oc-results

Did some comparing between:

ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN

And

ASUS P8Z68-V LX

ASUS P8Z68-V LE

I'm liking the LE right now and the differences between it and the V Pro seem really small.

Chosen Parts

CPU
Intel Core i5 2500K CPU

RAM
Patriot G2 Series PGD38G1600

OD
Lite-On IHAS424-98 DVD Burner

Case
Antec solo II Mid Tower


Will I be needing a GPU still? or will my Mobo's be good enough for the time being?
If I have to get one now, will the GTX 560 Ti be decent and compatible with my computer?

Thanks

 

[jaraldo]

Ended up buying the Corsair. *fingers crossed*
Any reply to the previous questions would be greatly appreciated.

 

[geofelt]

With a Z68 motherboard, you will not need a discrete graphics card. All of the motherboards you listed have included graphics outputs.
Using the integrated graphics for starters is a great idea. The graphics included is perhaps the capability of a $50 discrete graphics card. That is sufficient for normal desktop work, viewing HD movies and even some games which do not depend on fast action.

You will then have time to decide how much graphics power you might want/need.
You can install almost any modern graphics card you want. GTX560ti is better than decent. If you have a specific game in mind, check out benchmarks to get an idea of what you can expect.

 

[jaraldo]

So I think I've got most things figured out.

CPU= Intel Core i5 2500K CPU

SSD= Patriot Pyro 2.5" 120GB

Question: Where can I get a 3.5" bracket for the 2.5" SSD? Tried looking in TD and NewEgg but found nothing reputable or if something was good it was sold out.

RAM= Patriot G2 Series PGD38G1600

PSU= CORSAIR Builder Series CX600 V2 600W

ODD= Lite-On IHAS424-98 DVD Burner

MOBO= ASUS P8Z68-V/GEN3

Question: I think I'll stick to the V/Gen because of the extra $$$ I saved from other parts. Just curious though, with the LE, other than the SLI support, missing a few additional ports and being the more stable overclocker, is there a huge difference between them? I notice digi-VRM technology was missing from the LE, but was unsure if this was worth $40 more.

CASE= Antec solo II Mid Tower
Might try to find a slightly cheaper tower.

Total: $840 including Taxes and S&H (hopefully can bring down by $30 by finding another case)

If no one happens to answer this thread within 1-2 days I'll just go ahead with what I have.
Would be nice to have the SSD question answered though.

 

[geofelt]

The Antec solo II has provision for mounting 2.5" drives. No brackets are necessary. Solo Original was one of my favorite cases. II should be even better if you like quiet.

 

[jaraldo]

Quiet is great for me
P.S: found some things On-sale
Antec Solo II ($30 cheaper than Newegg, Ends March 31st)
-The 2500k just went on sale at TD today for $199(cheapest I could find) Ends March 27th
- Patriot Pyro 120GB $120 (Ends March 31st)

As long as no-one sees any flaws in the build; I'll look over and order tomorrow most-likely.

Thanks to all and especially geofelt & capt_taco.