Search
Sign in with
Sign up | Sign in

Budget "Max it Out" Build

Tags:
Last response: in Systems
Share

So. After countless hours of researching trying to find the middle ground between quality and price, I have come up with this computer build. Let me know what you think

(you can view this build in an HTML format with links to the products listed below, prices, and a sexy picture of a loaded Storm Scout case : tinyurl.com/i5builddb)

•Intel Core i5-2550K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor
•G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
•COOLER MASTER Storm Scout SGC-2000-KKN1-GP Black Steel
•ASUS P8Z68-V LE LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
•Antec BP550 Plus 550W Continuous Power ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

The total for everything above is around $550 bucks

I'm dropping in my current HD 6670 graphics card and my WD 80GB Raptor and my WD 750GB Black but I plan to get these future upgrades

• 2x PowerColor AX6850 1GBD5-DH Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity
• SAMSUNG 470 Series MZ-5PA128/US 2.5" 128GB SATA II Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

The only question I have is that would the Antec 550watt power supply be enough to power:

an i5 Quad core, most likely will be overclocked to around 4.2-4.5
3 HD's
2 ATI 6850's?
And like 3-6 fans

Or should I step it up to 600-650 watts? :sol: 

More about : budget max build

Register or log in to remove

epicmango said:
Monitors gonna be full HD 1920x1080

And yes it is for gaming, hence the "Max it out" title

And the Dual 6850's


Hmm...6670 is too weak for 1080p gaming and for sure 550W aren't enough for Dual GPU setup...

My last question...do you have any spare HDD? And how much you can spend now? The 6850's isn't in the budget right?
Related ressources
Ask the community

My 6670 on my current Dual Core Xeon can play Skyrim completely maxed out.

I can play Crysis 2 on High, Crysis 1 on Medium, Battlefield 3 on Medium.

All on 1920x1080

On a Dual core. Which is bottlenecking my 6670

Your doubting how good the card really is. But I know its not going to keep me going for a full out max out on Crysis, Battlefield, Metro 2033, and thats why I am getting 2 6850's. I plan on buying those cards later on when I have the money again. I can survive with my current 6670, its a beast of a card

I'm not worried on what I need to max games out, as I already know what I need.

Besides the 2 HD's I have now, I do have a seperate 250GB hd that I don't use...but I don't see why that matters..

And I'm only spending the money I need for a quad core computer that will work for me. This is a budget build. I don't need any extreme build, especially when the build I made will work for everything for atleast 3-4 years.

I just want critisism on the actual build. What parts would you replace with what.

Budget, I want to do no more than $600

And I'm being lienient.

The only flaw I see with my build is the PS with the forcoming 6850's and SSD. Hell I might even use my extra 250GB as a image backup drive. So 4 HD's, Dual 6850's, quad core i5 OC'd to 4.5ghz....blah blah blah

What flaws do you guys see?

I personally would always try and get a single graphics card rather than CF (x2).
Perhaps try looking at the 7870, it will use less power and isn't too shabby on the graphics front.

Are you looking to OC? if not you could downgrade that motherboard.

epicmango said:
My 6670 on my current Dual Core Xeon can play Skyrim completely maxed out.

I can play Crysis 2 on High, Crysis 1 on Medium, Battlefield 3 on Medium.

All on 1920x1080

On a Dual core. Which is bottlenecking my 6670

Your doubting how good the card really is. But I know its not going to keep me going for a full out max out on Crysis, Battlefield, Metro 2033, and thats why I am getting 2 6850's. I plan on buying those cards later on when I have the money again. I can survive with my current 6670, its a beast of a card

I'm not worried on what I need to max games out, as I already know what I need.

Besides the 2 HD's I have now, I do have a seperate 250GB hd that I don't use...but I don't see why that matters..

And I'm only spending the money I need for a quad core computer that will work for me. This is a budget build. I don't need any extreme build, especially when the build I made will work for everything for atleast 3-4 years.

I just want critisism on the actual build. What parts would you replace with what.

The graphic cards its main weakness .... Dual Cores are underrated if you can run skyrim on max your cpus good atm as it is far more cpu intensive than other games listed which are more gpu bound your weakness sounds graphic related

Comparing single 6850 vs your current card

Performance-wise, the Radeon HD 6850 should theoretically be quite a bit superior to the Radeon HD 6670 (OEM) 1GB overall. (explain)

Radeon HD 6850 128000 MB/sec
Radeon HD 6670 (OEM) 1GB 64000 MB/sec
Difference: 64000 (100%)
Texel Rate

The Radeon HD 6850 is quite a bit (approximately 94%) more effective at AF than the Radeon HD 6670 (OEM) 1GB. (explain)
Radeon HD 6850 37200 Mtexels/sec
Radeon HD 6670 (OEM) 1GB 19200 Mtexels/sec
Difference: 18000 (94%)
Pixel Rate

If running with a high screen resolution is important to you, then the Radeon HD 6850 is the winner, by far. (explain)
Radeon HD 6850 24800 Mpixels/sec
Radeon HD 6670 (OEM) 1GB 6400 Mpixels/sec

You will be better buying One good card For the Moment such as the 7870 and a new psu your Cpu is on its way out but your bottleneck is your GPU

For future proofing, I will be eventually OC'ing the i5 after maybe a year or 2 to keep up with the next generation of gaming.

I just want a graphics card that will keep me set for a year.

As for the 7870.....ehhh. The price makes me wince.

I wanna get a dual card setup because I can effectively split the cost between 2 cards.

So I start out with 1 6850, which will already max out most, if not all games today, and then get another one and be set for all future games, when I need it

Thoughts?

If you can convince me, I'll do a single card setup...

torchwood_3 said:
The graphic cards its main weakness .... Dual Cores are underrated if you can run skyrim on max your cpus good atm as it is far more cpu intensive than other games listed which are more gpu bound your weakness sounds graphic related

Comparing single 6850 vs your current card

Performance-wise, the Radeon HD 6850 should theoretically be quite a bit superior to the Radeon HD 6670 (OEM) 1GB overall. (explain)

Radeon HD 6850 128000 MB/sec
Radeon HD 6670 (OEM) 1GB 64000 MB/sec
Difference: 64000 (100%)
Texel Rate

The Radeon HD 6850 is quite a bit (approximately 94%) more effective at AF than the Radeon HD 6670 (OEM) 1GB. (explain)
Radeon HD 6850 37200 Mtexels/sec
Radeon HD 6670 (OEM) 1GB 19200 Mtexels/sec
Difference: 18000 (94%)
Pixel Rate

If running with a high screen resolution is important to you, then the Radeon HD 6850 is the winner, by far. (explain)
Radeon HD 6850 24800 Mpixels/sec
Radeon HD 6670 (OEM) 1GB 6400 Mpixels/sec

You will be better buying One good card For the Moment such as the 7870 and a new psu your Cpu is on its way out but your bottleneck is your GPU


Hardware Compare.

Been there, done that

So. These questions have been established

What graphics card(s) should I get. I'd rather not drop more than $300
A PSU that will handle atleast an OC'd 2550k @ 4.5ghz, 3-4 HD's, and either 1 really powerful graphics card, or 2 powerful graphics cards AKA 2 6850's or 1 7870.

3-6 fans

For my budget, looks like a Nvidia 570 would be perfect..

Problem is I read on newegg that the motherboard I selected does Crossfire but not SLI...

I want the option to be able to drop in a second graphics card

Soo.................

Soo many choicesss -_-

There is usually going to be around a 100W difference between dual/single GPU setups. 550W 80+ is pushing it close for your original build, especially over time.

It would probably be fine for a single 7870 though. Might want to double check the Amperage draw on all the rails though. your +12V rail might be pretty close to taxed.

Well lets do some calculations

95 watts for the i5
130/175 for the 7850/7870
=225/270 watts

Which still leaves us with 280 watts left for everything else..

unless I'm completely off with my calcuations

I don't know how much watts a HD, ram, or fans take but I highly doubt they suck 280 watts together..

Enlighten me

I've decided to go with a single Sapphire 7850 OC.

With that graphics, I'll be able to keep all the parts I have.

Making this a extremely decent $750 build including the price of a 1tb hard drive (if thailand didn't flood)...

$750 for an i5 quad core build, 8GB of ram 2GB graphics, 1TB..

I don't wanna brag, but it seems like this build might just be the perfect Intel quad core budget build available..

I've decided to go with the XFX HD 7850 Black Edition which is OC'd.

Gotta have the OC'd version of the card you get, or you just suck

Plus that card looks sooo unbelievabally sexy!

I remember seeing the same styled 7970 by XFX and I fell in love.

I seriously (no exaggeration) just looked at that picture for 3 minutes..

a XFX Black Edition 7970 reflected........

ohhh.

And now its about to go into my sexy computer case/build

You guys rawk.

o.0 I have another gripe

I've been reading reviews about people having trouble fitting some of AMD's high end graphics card in the Storm Scout

After reading a couple of reviews it seems anything longer than 10.5 inches will yield a problem. :o 

Would I have the same problem with the mid grade 7850...??

Does anybody who has one give me the dimensions of the card? :) 

Just wondering about mobo and CPU. Can get an Asus Z77 at that price point that has newer features including Virtu MVP than can (in some instances) take advantage of the GPU's integrated graphics which leads me to the the 2500K instead. It is $10 less, has a (weak but there) GPU, and overclocks as well as a 2550K.

Plus, if you have a problem with the GPU you can default to the onboard graphics to help troubleshoot or wait for an RMA.
Register or log in to remove
 
Ask the community
Read discussions in other Systems categories
!