New Build

[shermanbuck]

Just purchased i7-2600k, ASUS P8Z68-V Pro/Gen3, Corsair DD3 1600 RAM:

I will be doing more multitasking than gaming, but like to play Myst type games once in a while. Will be utilizing Office 2010 Suite extensively, Photoshop/Dreamweaver/FileZilla for website maintenance, watching videos, streaming music, downloading audio/video files, recording on-line w/ Audacity, social networking, lots of browser windows open doing research, Canon ZoomBrowser for image management (avid photographer).

I'm no expert and want to make sure i don't overlook something important to consider for a decent vid card. Don't know what is a good card manufacturer as the tend to use the same chips; like warranties etc. Also, want to make sure the card will do what I want to do without snafus. Under $300 for the budget. If I've left out specs please let me know. Don't know if the PSU power is important or not, so haven't purchased one yet till I hear back from the forum.

Thanks!

 

[abCasPeRR]

One thing you need to make sure for any build, the power supply is the most important component. I've bought cheap crappy PSU's in the past to save money, and on initial startup it fried everything. I'll list some GPU's and PSU's for you to choose from.

Here are some PSU's:

Corsair TX750:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139021

Corsair TX650:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139020

Seasonic 620w:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151095

Seasonic X Series 80+ Gold:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151088

Here are some GPU's 300$ budget is good to work with.

GIGABYTE 7870:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125418

HIS 7950:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161407

MSI 7870:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127662

EVGA 660 Ti:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130809

XFX 7850:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150608

ASUS GTX 570:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121432

The 7950 and GTX 660 Ti would be the best as far as performance, all of them would run any current game fine especially with pairing it with a 2600k.

 

[shermanbuck]

One thing you need to make sure for any build, the power supply is the most important component. I've bought cheap crappy PSU's in the past to save money, and on initial startup it fried everything. I'll list some GPU's and PSU's for you to choose from.

Here are some PSU's:

Corsair TX750:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139021

Corsair TX650:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139020

Seasonic 620w:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151095

Seasonic X Series 80+ Gold:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151088

Here are some GPU's 300$ budget is good to work with.

GIGABYTE 7870:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125418

HIS 7950:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161407

MSI 7870:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127662

EVGA 660 Ti:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130809

XFX 7850:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150608

ASUS GTX 570:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121432

The 7950 and GTX 660 Ti would be the best as far as performance, all of them would run any current game fine especially with pairing it with a 2600k.

I checked out the links, but they are all PCI Express 3.0 and just found out you need IB to utilize it, as the i7-2600k is SB. Any cards you could recommend for the 2.0? Good lead on the PSU w/ price and rebate!

Thanks!

 

[coolermaster_72]

I checked out the links, but they are all PCI Express 3.0 and just found out you need IB to utilize it, as the i7-2600k is SB. Any cards you could recommend for the 2.0? Good lead on the PSU w/ price and rebate!

Thanks!

PCI-E 2.0 can handle PCI-E 3.0 cards.

If you buy a PCI-E 2.0 card, most of them are very weak compared to PCI-E 3.0 cards.

 

[dluxking]

the above isn't necessarily true. pcie 2.0 and 2.1 slots can handle any pcie 3.0 card to date without durastic performance decrease (except maybe gtx 690 or radeon 7990). if you buy a pcie 2.0 card it will likely be a little slower because it is at least last years gen but will not be much slower. for example radeon 6970 is equivalent to a radeon 7870 or 7950.

also abcasper was right. a power supply could mean the difference between a gaming beast and a bonfire. i would personally suggest a power supply that is 80 plus certified.

my recommendations:
this power supply is modular and 700w: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817152042

also this graphics card would provide reasonable overclocking headroom and should stay fairly cool: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125418

 

[abCasPeRR]

I checked out the links, but they are all PCI Express 3.0 and just found out you need IB to utilize it, as the i7-2600k is SB. Any cards you could recommend for the 2.0? Good lead on the PSU w/ price and rebate!

Thanks!

Yeah, I just linked those, as their cheap and would run everything you would want to throw at it. All PCI 3.0 cards are backwards compatible with 2.0. I have 3.0 and there isnt a difference in performance, even alot of benchmarks have proved that, on average its only a 1-3 FPS difference which wouldnt be noticeable at all.