I need advice on my potential build

[Kardius]

Hi all! I been doing some research, and basing my build off of reviews here on the website. But I want to throw it out there, and get a final conclusion. My spending limit is around $1500, and trying to get the best bang for my buck.

I'll be using it mostly for gaming (WoW & Skyrim), watching movies here and there, and maybe converting videos here are there on occasion to throw on my tablet.

I'm a bit lost on the whole cooling idea, but I think I went over kill on it. But as I said, not sure.

This is my second build, but first time I am choosing the parts myself. Last time I had someone else pick the parts, and i built it. Wasn't to bad!

Onto the components! Everything was ripped from newegg.com.

Case: NZXT Phantom PHAN-001WT White Steel / Plastic Enthusiast ATX Full Tower Computer Case

Graphics Card x2: XFX HD-687A-ZHFC Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

PSU: CORSAIR Professional Series HX850 (CMPSU-850HX) 850W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Modular Active PFC ...

RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9Q-16GBXL

Mobo: ASUS P8Z68-V/GEN3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

SSD: OCZ Agility 3 AGT3-25SAT3-60G 2.5" 60GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

CPU: Intel Core i5-2550K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Without IGP BX80623i52550K

Fans 200mm: NZXT FS-200RB-BLED 200mm SILENT Blue LED Fan with ON/OFF Switch

140mm: COOLER MASTER R4-S4S-10AK-GP 140mm Case Fan

RAM fan?: G.SKILL FTB-3500C5-D Fans

CPU Cooler: CORSAIR H80 (CWCH80) High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler

74-in-1: Rosewill RCR-IC002 74-in-1 USB 2.0 3.5" Internal Card Reader w/ USB port / Extra silver face plate

Blu-Ray: SAMSUNG Black Blu-ray Combo SATA Model SH-B123L LightScribe Support - OEM

 

[Kardius]

I just realized I placed this in the wrong section. BUT I do have a question about CPUs in general.

i5-2500k vs i5-2550k. Would the Integrated graphics on 2500k have a major impact on the build?

 

[geofelt]

2500K and 2550K will be the same in your build, since you will have discrete graphics. At the same price, the 2550K might be binned better.
If you can walk in to a microcenter, the 2500K will be $180.

If you love the case, buy it. From a functional point of view, you could spend half that amount.
But a case is one place where I say splurge. You will be looking at it for a long time.

I would defer on extra fans until you find out if you actually need them.

Unless you are looking at insane overclocks, there is no need to spend a bunch on liquid cooling.
H80 is espensive, noisy, more failure prone, and does not cool significantly better than a $30 cooler like the cm hyper 212.

The 850w psu is a very good one, and probably necessary for cf 6870 cards.
Consider, though that a 7970 or GTX680 will only need a 550w psu.
A single card will run cooler, and have other advantages.

Why not use the savings from not needing cooler components to get a really good single graphics card??

No games I know of use more than 2-3gb. For most of us, a 8gb kit will be plenty.
1.5v ram does not even need fancy heat spreaders, let alone cooling fans.

 

[computernewb]

You might want to consider getting 1 single, more powerful graphics card to prevent microstuttering.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-geforce-stutter-crossfire,2995.html

 

[Kardius]

I would defer on extra fans until you find out if you actually need them.

OK. But if I do need them, would these be good?

Unless you are looking at insane overclocks, there is no need to spend a bunch on liquid cooling.

Not really looking at insane overclocking. Well i guess it's insane for me. I'll be trying to push the CPU for the first time. I'm looking to push it to 3.8~4.0.

No games I know of use more than 2-3gb. For most of us, a 8gb kit will be plenty.
1.5v ram does not even need fancy heat spreaders, let alone cooling fans.

What about for video conversion and what not? Is RAM going to play any real factor in it? And I'll axe the RAM cooler. It looked to fancy and confusing to begin with. lol

You might want to consider getting 1 single, more powerful graphics card to prevent microstuttering.

The 850w psu is a very good one, and probably necessary for cf 6870 cards.
Consider, though that a 7970 or GTX680 will only need a 550w psu.
A single card will run cooler, and have other advantages.

I was originally looking at getting a Geforce 570. But... I was basing my build off of ibuypowers build section. And it showed the two Radeon Cards being better than Geforce 570 and at same price. Why I went for the dual radon cards... Well it didn't show the geforce at 2gb.. So i'm not sure. ^^;

 

[computernewb]

It also depends on the game. Some games dont support crossfire/sli so you should make sure the games you play do.

 

[dish_moose]

Hd7870 One card lower PSU requirements, less heat and hassle.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102981
If you go for 8GB ram, get rid of RAM cooler, change cpu cooler to 212 evo you
are almost able to go for GTX680 or the HD7850.
-Bruce

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been moved from the section CPU & Components to section Systems by Mousemonkey