Super OT: Building a new computer

Inept_Fun · Since 14 Apr 2005 1417 Posts Hood River XTreme Poster

Alright so I know there are some fellow geeks on here. Im building a new computer and pretty much have everything picked out, just wanted to run everything through somebody who might know more than me and make sure you think its all a good call, considering I havent put a PC together since 2004. So here you go:

CPU - Intel Core i5 2500k Sandy Bridge -
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072

Mobo - ASRock Z77 Extreme 6 -
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157295

GPU - NVIDIA GTX 680 -
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130768

Memory - 16GB Corsair Vengeance -
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145347

SSD - OCZ Agility 3 90GB -
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227757

HD - Seagate Barracuda 2TB -
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148834

PS - 700W OCZ -
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341018

Obviously also getting the other essentials but didn't throw those down here.

Thanks for the help if I get any...

Kodiak · Since 01 Aug 2005 1114 Posts Slidey

Building it for what purpose? Are you a big time gamer? Video editing? Mostly web surfing?

Ivy bridge will be out shortly...

tautologies · Since 24 Aug 2006 602 Posts Oahu Addicted

Would you consider raiding the HD? Its a bitch when the 2TB dies unless you have built some redundancy in.

...apart from that:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIfOjkB17BA

forrest · Sat Apr 14, 12 8:17 am

Yea, without knowing the answer to Kodiak's question, it's hard to give some advice.

It really boils down to whether you're running one single all consuming task (gaming), or multiple small tasks (video processing, pixel/vector graphics).

krazedkiter · Since 08 Jun 2009 183 Posts Florida Stoked

He is on the road for both a fine gaming and video editing, etc. PC.

The GTX 680 is the latest video card from Nvidia and will be perfect. The only way to expand would be to go with mulitple cards. That cost is less then I paid for my 580.

I would suggest moving up to the i7 2600 at least for just a little bit more money. (maybe $60). I believe it is also a LGA Socket 1155 so it should fit the same Mobo.

I would aslo suggest an enclosed liquid cooled CPU cooler like a Corsair H60 for around $60-70.

Like the solid state drive for your operating system.

I would go with a 1000 watt modular power. Your card is drawing 38 amps at 12 volts. Add other components to the mix and your power will be taxed.

I suggest a good full tower case. Not a mid tower. Its great to gave lots of room. Plus, those video cards dont fit so great in some mid towers.

Just some suggestions. Everyone has their deal and Im sure will come from all directions. You know what to do.

Good luck.

Inept_Fun · Since 14 Apr 2005 1417 Posts Hood River XTreme Poster

Thanks yall. Yeah pretty much building this to do everything. Gaming, Video editing, and graphic/web/photo programs. I wasnt sure about if I should get liquid cooling or not. I know ivy bridge is coming out sometime this year, wasnt quite sure when though? That motherboard will work with ivybridge im pretty sure when it does come out so if I wanted to upgrade sometime next year I think that will be legit.
Only reason I was going i5 over i7 was because I didnt think the i7 was really that much better for the price, also was thinking i could overclock the i5 pretty decently.

krazedkiter · Since 08 Jun 2009 183 Posts Florida Stoked

I think I made an error.

That motherboard wont support the i7 2600 becuase it is the second generation chip which requires the LGA 1555 P67 chipset. Since your chip is also a second generation, I dont think that mobo will work either. It also needs to be a LGA 1155 P67. Please double check. Im not certain about Z77.

And right now, New Egg has an add'l 20 off the i7 2600K. Pay $50 more now or pay $329 more later.

Inept_Fun · Since 14 Apr 2005 1417 Posts Hood River XTreme Poster

On a side note who's gonna be on that CS:GO when it finally hits?

Inept_Fun · Since 14 Apr 2005 1417 Posts Hood River XTreme Poster

Thanks for the help so far.

http://ark.intel.com/products/52210/Intel-Core-i5-2500K-Processor-(6M-Cache-up-to-3_70-GHz)

If you click on compatible products z77 is listed as a compatible chipset?

Am I wrong??

Thanks again!

Inept_Fun · Since 14 Apr 2005 1417 Posts Hood River XTreme Poster

and you have kind of convinced me on the i7.

Whats the main difference?? The i7 has hyperthreading, is that it?

Inept_Fun · Since 14 Apr 2005 1417 Posts Hood River XTreme Poster

one last thing are you sure Im going to need the 1000w power supply?

krazedkiter · Since 08 Jun 2009 183 Posts Florida Stoked

The i7 is just a little bit more of a few things. Most will not see a noticable difference. You are going fairly high end so the i7 is just that one step more. It is slighlty faster and I also have heard it handles overclocking a litlte bit better. If you are going to over clock, make sure you get a cooler.

I am responding too fast apparently. I made another error. My price comparision was for a i7 2600 not a 2600K which you will need to overclock. It is about a bean difference.

As we know, alot of the differences in hardware is an inch more of this and an inch more of that. Its all about that little extra bit. I dont think you would notice a significant difference between i5 and i7, but its about combining the individual component inches that add up to feet in the entire build.

Things like a separate solid sate drive for your OS make an individual significant difference.

The 1000 watts is a suggestion. You need to look at the combined power demand of the system rather then just the power demand of individual components.

It also seems like the Z77 will work. I only called it out because it was an issue with me. I just wanted you to confirm.

Alot of this is preference and wont make a difference to standard builds. Remember, I am only suggesting these things so do as I do and google like a maniac and visit good review sites.

Nak · Sat Apr 14, 12 2:26 pm

For the video editing, consider either another SSD or a bigger SSD. Big HD renders go a lot faster if the files are on an SSD. At least that's my experience. I don't think you need the SATA III speeds for rendering--the processing will be the bottleneck if you have a 200 MB/s SSD or faster. You can pick up an 80 GB Intel SSD pretty cheap on eBay. Get the Generation 2 or later. The Gen2s go for almost the same as the Gen1s on eBay. Store your data on a pair or more of RAIDed HDDs, losing all your data sucks. Transfer your video files to the SSD to work on them. Keep the OS on the SATA III SSD... Make regular Backups of your OS SSD, restore points suck.

Spike · Since 13 May 2007 1414 Posts Alameda Spelling Expert

Maybe you should get one of these:

Link

Nak · Sat Apr 14, 12 6:46 pm

forrest · Sat Apr 14, 12 11:22 pm

Sandy-E bridge is pretty sick, quad channel memory access is always nice. I'm working off a dual 16 core SPARC T3 with 128 gigs of ram right now. It's hella nice for parallel tasks. Would make quick work of any video processing, but wouldn't really game for shit... That is if there were games for it...

The stock fan will work just fine unless you're over clocking, which doesn't gain you a whole lot and can lead to weirdness in the timings of the chip. Unlikely, but if it does happen, you'll have no way of knowing what went wrong. Best to just spend the cash and get the chip you need. I'm really happy with my i5, and dual graphics cards.

magicmaker · Since 29 Oct 2006 895 Posts da Hood Opinionated

I would look at the crucial 128GB m4 for SSD. newegg has it with the transfer kit for less than the drive alone..
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148448

as for coolers, i used the noctua NH-D14 air cooler to overclock my core i7 930 stock 2.8 ghz to 4.0 ghz on air.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608018
pretty expensive for an air cooler but it fuckign rocks.

I prefer ASUS motherboards for overclocking, that is just my opinion. I was able to OC my i7 to 4 ghz and OC my memory to 1600mhz, on air no problem with my ASUS board. Definately getting another ASUS mobo for my 3930K build. Get the motherboard that has the features USB 3.0, SATA 6 gbps, expansion ports, etc, that you want. Definately look at raid capabilties over sata 6 and what it can do with the sata 3 ports as well for the video editing.

as for power supplies, i pretty much exclusively use the corsair 950 tx in all my builds. Newegg doesn't carry it anymore, they have the 850
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139022

you can still get it straight from corsair
http://www.corsair.com/power-supply-units/enthusiast-series-power-supply-units/enthusiast-series-tx950-80-plus-bronze-certified-power-supply.html

That power supply runs dual 480 GTX's in SLI, core i7 OC'd, memory OC'd, and multiple drives and an SSD.

What case are you thinking about getting? I like blue LED lights soo..

this is the case for my new build:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119239

case for current i7 computer:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021