Building a new comp, need advice

LP

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Yo. 'Sup.

So my current computer is on the fritz, and I've decided that not being able to play borderlands at even the lowest settings coupled with general lagginess and the fact that the computer is a dell from 2007 was enough to warrant purchasing a new computer. Plus I can't keep hogging the family computer (which has SLI and shit), because the fam need it.

However instead of going through Dell or Falcon NW or AlienWare or Lets-Charge-You-Insane-Amounts-Of-Dough-For-A-Computer LLC, I thought I would build my own. I need to pop my cherry at some point in time.

Plus if it's mine then I can just swap out components and upgrade on my own, with the confidence to be able to dig into the case and poke around.

Anyway, I need advice on components. I've made a shopping list on Newegg, and I want to showcase that to you all and get your advice.

Requirements: Under $2000 - I can't spend too much money. Not Over-The-Top top-o-the-line. Enough to play past games (OJ box, WoW (yes I do play once in a while), Borderlands, Bioshock 1 and 2) at high settings and current games (and even including GTA4) at moderate settings. Easy enough to be built by a nublet like myself. Flexible enough to be upgraded in the future with more shinies.

Things to be salvaged from old computer: Wireless N PCI-E adapter. Possibly HD (Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320 GB SATA) for added storage.

Anyways, onto the new shinies:

Case:
11-119-160-16.jpg
COOLER MASTER HAF 932 Advanced RC-932-KKN5-GP Black Steel ATX Full Tower Compucase Case with USB 3.0 and Black Interior - $159.98

Mobo:
13-131-641-03.jpg
ASUS P6X58D-E LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard - $219.99

Video card:
14-127-565-10.jpg
MSI N560GTX-TI Twin Frozr II/OC GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video ... - $249.99


Power:
17-139-010-10.jpg
CORSAIR HX Series CMPSU-750HX 750W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Modular Active ... - $141.99


CPU:
19-115-224-02.jpg
Intel Core i7-960 Bloomfield 3.2GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80601960 - $289.99

OS and programs Disk:
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OCZ Vertex 2 OCZSSD2-2VTXE120G 2.5" 120GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - $199.99

RAM:
20-231-311-02.jpg
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL - $84.99

Storage disk:
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Western Digital AV-GP WD10EVDS 1TB SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal AV Hard Drive -Bare Drive - $69.99

Media:
27-135-204-03.jpg
ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM - $19.99

Sound Card:
29-102-019-05.jpg
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional 70SB088600002 7.1 Channels PCI Express x1 Interface Sound Card - $104.99

OS:
32-116-758-01.jpg
Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM - $139.99

CPU Cooling/Heatsink:
35-186-134-07.jpg
ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2 92mm Fluid Dynamic CPU Cooler - $29.98

Total: $1,720.84

Before you ask: I have an awesome 24" monitor and super awesome speakers.

So what do you guys think of this setup?
 
Just so you are aware of all of your options:

Enough to play past games (OJ box, WoW (yes I do play once in a while), Borderlands, Bioshock 1 and 2) at high settings and current games (and even including GTA4) at moderate settings.
You could meet these criteria for under $500. My brother did it for under $300 by recycling a few components (DVD drive, HDD, case).
 
You've chosen some quality parts there. Good job with the research. However, like thevictor said, these components are overkill for your requirements. But regardless, they will last you a fair few years and be able to play current (and definitely future) games at high settings with ease.
 
I have to ask: Western Digital AV-GP WD10EVDS 1TB SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal AV Hard Drive -Bare Drive - $69.99

? Why...

Rather get a WD Blue/Black for a fast access drive or a WD Green for a storage drive. The A/V drives are very specific for a type of usage.

I'm pointing this article out not as someone who's anti-OCZ (I'm an OCZ SSD user myself), but felt you should know about it: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ocz-vertex-2-25nm-ssd,2867.html
 
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You've chosen some quality parts there. Good job with the research. However, like thevictor said, these components are overkill for your requirements. But regardless, they will last you a fair few years and be able to play current (and definitely future) games at high settings with ease.

Yep, it will be a brilliant PC, the SSD will really help for daily usage, but if all you're after is gaming and you're on a budget, you could do with less. Much less. It's just up to what your goals and priorities are.
 
I just have to ask, but if you've got $2,000 to spend, why aren't you spending it on a Sandy Bridge? You do know that 1156 and 1366 are dead? You could get an Asus P67 mobo and a i5 2500K and kick the crap out of that build. Plus it would cost less.
 
Just so you are aware of all of your options:

You could meet these criteria for under $500. My brother did it for under $300 by recycling a few components (DVD drive, HDD, case).

Oh definitely, I could play HL2 on my comp when I first got it at upto 300 fps. HL2 EP2 was sluggish. I couldn't even play the SC2 demo at the lowest settings. I've pre-ordered portal 2 and I'm sure it could run it at low settings but I'm not sure. I might salvage the DVD drive and the HDD for storage, but after cleaning the system yesterday of dust, I realized the case and the fans installed (it's a dell) aren't really conducive to building a new comp. And while I've dusted everything, I feel like it wasn't enough. I would definitely like to use clean components.

I also would like to play any game that comes out in the future with moderate settings. I don't want to have to get (for example) a 9800 GT and not be able to play something that comes out next year or so because it isn't anywhere nearly powerful enough.

Anyways, apart from gaming, I do a lot of flyer design and web design work with the CS3 suite. I could definitely use the RAM upgrades as a result. I also do a lot of photo editing stuff with lightroom.

You've chosen some quality parts there. Good job with the research. However, like thevictor said, these components are overkill for your requirements. But regardless, they will last you a fair few years and be able to play current (and definitely future) games at high settings with ease.

That's my hope. I mean my computer lasted a while and it really started showing slugginess when the rest of the OJ box came out. I bought and couldn't play Red Alert 3 without severe lag. So I want to get something that can play all these with fantastic FPS, and then future games at moderate settings with moderate FPS. And I definitely want it to last a while. I'm sure I'll be upgrading components in the future, and I'll be more than happy to, but I need to just start somewhere.

I have to ask: Western Digital AV-GP WD10EVDS 1TB SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal AV Hard Drive -Bare Drive - $69.99

? Why...

Rather get a WD Blue/Black for a fast access drive or a WD Green for a storage drive. The A/V drives are very specific for a type of usage.

I'm pointing this article out not as someone who's anti-OCZ (I'm an OCZ SSD user myself), but felt you should know about it: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ocz-vertex-2-25nm-ssd,2867.html

For the WD: I just need something for storing all my files, photos, music, videos, and other documents. I'm hoping to use it to store all of my flyer PSD files and AI vector files, along with all of my RAW images and post-processed images. I don't think it really needs to be fast, and I might just use the SSD while working on these files for the sake of speed and transfer everything to the storage drive after completion. So which of the 2 you recommended (WD blue/green) would you recommend for these purposes?

As for OCZ: I talked to narf and he recommended that over the corsair 120GB that I also had in mind, because OCZ has been in the business longer and have more experience + it was slightly cheaper. Do your recommend that I stick to the corsair instead: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233125

Yep, it will be a brilliant PC, the SSD will really help for daily usage, but if all you're after is gaming and you're on a budget, you could do with less. Much less. It's just up to what your goals and priorities are.

So I mean, no offense but it's a little bit ambiguous when you say less and much less. Could you provide some examples or a build that would be much less? Also see my response above about my specific requirements.

I just have to ask, but if you've got $2,000 to spend, why aren't you spending it on a Sandy Bridge? You do know that 1156 and 1366 are dead? You could get an Asus P67 mobo and a i5 2500K and kick the crap out of that build. Plus it would cost less.

I've read that there were some issues with the socket on intel mobos that ended up with a recall. Does this not affect Asus mobos?
 
I've read that there were some issues with the socket on intel mobos that ended up with a recall. Does this not affect Asus mobos?

That was an issue with the SATAIII ports. All affected boards have been recalled and it isn't an issue anymore. You can get any socket 1155 mobo right now without worrying about it.
 
That mobo uses triple channel ram and you have dual channel listed.
 
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Here's what I would change.....

ASUS P8P67 LE (REV 3.0) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard: $144.99

Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor : $224.99

ZALMAN CNPS9900MAX-B 135mm Long life bearing CPU Cooler Blue LED: $79.99

Then over clock it. If you do video encoding then I suggest jumping up to the i7 2600K.

That mobo uses triple channel ram and you have dual channel listed.

Good catch. I didn't even notice that.
 
Case:
11-112-239-Z01
Lancool PC-K62 - $99.99 (Cheaper, better quality, and you don't need a big honkin' full tower for air cooling.)

Mobo:
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GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD4-B3 - $189.99 (Cheaper, better performing, and because Sandy Bridge)

Video card:
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SAPPHIRE 100312SR Radeon HD 6950 - $274.99 (Not terribly more expensive, better performing, can be unlocked to a 6970.)


Power:
17-139-010-10.jpg
CORSAIR HX Series CMPSU-750HX 750W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Modular Active ... - $141.99


CPU:
19-115-070-Z01
Intel Core i7-2600K - $314.99 (Better performance, power consumption, and overclocking. Unless you really need the ability to upgrade to a hexacore (or quad-fire/sli), 1366 isn't worth it, imo.)

OS and programs Disk:
20-227-551-02.jpg
OCZ Vertex 2 OCZSSD2-2VTXE120G 2.5" 120GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - $199.99

RAM:
20-145-313-Z01
CORSAIR DOMINATOR 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 - $109.99 (This was mostly for color co-ordination, but it should be a better performing kit (You should be able to lower the latencies a bit (8-8-8-24) without touching the speed.))

Storage disk:
22-152-238-Z01
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3R HE103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache - $99.99 (because faster)

Media:
27-135-204-03.jpg
ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM - $19.99

Sound Card:
29-102-019-05.jpg
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional 70SB088600002 7.1 Channels PCI Express x1 Interface Sound Card - $104.99

OS:
32-116-758-01.jpg
Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM - $139.99

CPU Cooling/Heatsink:
35-109-030-Z01
Thermalright Venomous X - RT 120mm CPU Cooler - $64.99 (One of the best heatsinks on the market)

Total: $1,761.88

Also, yes, the Sandy Bridge motherboards did have a hardware fault with the chipset. It has since been corrected, and you should be safe to buy a P67 mobo (look for any boards with a "B3" designation somewhere.)

Also, why the hell is there that big bleepin' gap up there?
 
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LP said:
So I mean, no offense but it's a little bit ambiguous when you say less and much less. Could you provide some examples or a build that would be much less? Also see my response above about my specific requirements.

Things definitely change if you want longevity and good performance in apps like Photoshop... but let's just take a hypothetical pure gaming scenario, not top of the line but good FPS on high settings in any game out there today, on a low budget: (actually I'm running out of time here at work so this is a very rough example)

AMD Athlon II X3 450 Rana 3.2GHz Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Desktop Processor ADX450WFGMBOX
BIOSTAR TA880GB+ AM3 AMD 880G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

Combo deal - $138

Whatever cheap 4 GB RAM you can find, NewEgg has an interesting deal on Kingstons for $35 after MIR

Whatever $50 400-500W PSU you prefer

Something like this or the Nvidia equivalent - under $200

salvage case, HDD, DVD drive...

I'm probably forgetting some stuff but you get the idea. Budget parts can actually go a long way from a gaming perspective. A PC like this can run GTA IV on high settings decently (I should know, my own PC is worse).

Again sorry for the incompletion I threw that together in 5 min as I ran out of time :(
 
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That was an issue with the SATAIII ports. All affected boards have been recalled and it isn't an issue anymore. You can get any socket 1155 mobo right now without worrying about it.

Ok sweet.

That mobo uses triple channel ram and you have dual channel listed.

D'oh. Pretend that didn't happen. I'll go change it.


Alrighty, I'll play around with those in the config and see how it looks.

Also, yes, the Sandy Bridge motherboards did have a hardware fault with the chipset. It has since been corrected, and you should be safe to buy a P67 mobo (look for any boards with a "B3" designation somewhere.)

Also, why the hell is there that big bleepin' gap up there?

Whoa, bit of a change from my original setup. Never really did Radeon cards, are they reliable?

Things definitely change if you want longevity and good performance in apps like Photoshop... but let's just take a hypothetical pure gaming scenario, not top of the line but good FPS on high settings in any game out there today, on a low budget: (actually I'm running out of time here at work so this is a very rough example)

AMD Athlon II X3 450 Rana 3.2GHz Socket AM3 95W Triple-Core Desktop Processor ADX450WFGMBOX
BIOSTAR TA880GB+ AM3 AMD 880G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard

Combo deal - $138

Whatever cheap 4 GB RAM you can find, NewEgg has an interesting deal on Kingstons for $35 after MIR

Whatever $50 400-500W PSU you prefer

Something like this or the Nvidia equivalent - under $200

salvage case, HDD, DVD drive...

I'm probably forgetting some stuff but you get the idea. Budget parts can actually go a long way from a gaming perspective. A PC like this can run GTA IV on high settings decently (I should know, my own PC is worse).

Again sorry for the incompletion I threw that together in 5 min as I ran out of time :(

No No, thank you for the config, that looks like a much less expensive option for gaming.


I'll have to have a play around and check the configs again, this is like rough drafts for a paper. Thanks everyone for your inputs, I will be back with the second draft of my setup
 
Whoa, bit of a change from my original setup. Never really did Radeon cards, are they reliable?

I really can't say from personal experience, as I don't own a 6000-series card (I'm stuck with a X1650 AGP, but it's served me well). I know there are a few who own the latest card, (JakeRadden owns a 6950, I think) and they seem to be very well received wherever I look.
 
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No No, thank you for the config, that looks like a much less expensive option for gaming.

Yeah based on your usage that is not the best direction to go in to fit your needs. But you did ask :p

On the current config, the newer Radeon cards are quite nice, but then so are the GeForces.... I'd just go with whichever gives you the best bang for your buck at the moment. Neither company has had a "turd" for a while to my knowledge (i.e. a card that is generally considered problematic).
 
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you can spend about $700 and get 80% of the performance without any drawbacks. that includes running all the games on highest setting without lag.

but... if you feel like you have too much money to spend, then by all means.. go for it.

personally, i always spend the extra $$ on extra storage... cos i believe thats what a computer should be used for at end of the day... but that's just me.

just an opinion.
 
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I'd be getting a Sandy Bridge setup if I were you. The issue with the motherboards is resolved (just make sure the one you get is a B3 stepping and you will be fine). If you don't want to overclock it, you can save some money by getting a non-K processor too. The set-up I would go for is:

motherboard: ASUS P8P67 PRO $189
CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz $225 (the non-K version is about $15 cheaper .. not a big saving)
RAM: CORSAIR DOMINATOR 8GB $110
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB $95

I'd be happy enough with your choice of SSD, power supply, graphics card (although I do prefer Radeons, as I have had driver problems with nVidia and the games I have played in the past). That case you chose is pretty ugly (imo), but it does have USB 3.0 output on the front, which is still not a common feature.

I'd question your need for a separate sound card. The on-board sound on the P67 motherboards is very good. I have a 5.1 speaker setup attached to mine and it works fine with both video and games ... and I don't have to put up with the Creative Soundblaster software bundle trying to take over the whole computer ... sound cards should be heard and not seen :p You could save some bucks by ditching the Soundblaster .. and maybe putting them towards a Blu-Ray Burner instead. I even use the on-board sound on my HTPC, and that is attached to a set of $7000 Bowers&Wilkins speakers and they don't complain.

You definitely should get a swifter hard drive (like the one I've listed above), as you will have to install your games onto that, otherwise your SSD will fill up very quickly (I installed Total War Shogun 2 the other day ..... all 16 GB of it!).
 
All indications point to the next generation of consoles not coming out until at least 2014 (the Kinect and PS Move were meant to extend the life of the current gen consoles), which in turn (largely) dictates the current state of graphics for the vast majority of games on the market (Crysis 2 is an exception, not the norm). What that means is the majority of games coming out in the next few years will probably still be powered by the Unreal 3 engine, (a slightly updated) Source engine, etc., which means that cutting-edge graphics are much less of a priority than they were in the past.

Personally, unless you're looking to do serious video encoding or something, I'd keep the Sandy Bridge, SSD, and maybe the RAM, but definitely look towards a cheaper, smaller (you'll thank yourself when trying to tinker with it), and frankly prettier case, and look for more mid-range types of video cards, because as you probably already know anything you buy at a premium/bleeding edge now will depreciate like a rock in 12-18 months.
 
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Actually, as far as "tinkering" goes, I'd say the larger the case, the better. It's easier to work with when parts are more spread out. Of course the downside is the sheer size and practicality.
 
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