Thanks for all the help Quiz, I'm going with the Nvidia GTX 580 in the end. I think i'm about ready to pull the trigger, i need to make sure this thing is going to work well.
Rosewill THOR V2
Rosewill CAPSTONE 650W
ASRock Z68 Extreme3 LGA 1155
Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3ghz
G.SKILL Ripjaws 4GBx2
Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6GBs
For what it's worth, MSI's Twin Frozr coolers are very nice. The GTX 580 puts out enough heat that the card really needs a nice cooler, but the MSI cooler will be more than adequate for the card. Lower GPU temperatures reduce leakage, and thus reduce power consumption a bit, too.
The motherboard you list isn't the one I linked. It will probably work fine for you needs. AsRock motherboards tend to be cheaper for a reason, but they're not bad products. If you listed something from Biostar, ECS, or some other cheap junk brand, I'd have said not to get it.
You didn't list an aftermarket CPU cooler. The stock coolers that Intel ships are terrible. They're basically adequate at stock speeds, but not the sort of thing you want to overclock at all with. A better cooler will be quieter, and also keep the processor much cooler--whether you overclock or not. If you want something cheaper than what I linked before, then this one is nice:
I made some slight changes since you showed me the cheaper cooler option and this is where i'm at. I want this to be perfect and know that it's going to work great.
I wouldn't get a Core i7 2600. For gaming purposes, the only significant difference between the Core i7 and Core i5 is the price tag. If you're running programs that could push eight cores if you had them, then the hyperthreading of the Core i7 becomes useful. But not for games.
The K on the end of a processor (2500 or 2500K, 2600 or 2600K) means that it's overclockable. It also means double the integrated graphics performance, but if you take pretty dismal and then double it, you're still left with pretty dismal, so you don't want to use the integrated graphics. Besides, doubling the number of execution units will do nothing to fix Intel's video drivers.
For what it's worth, Ivy Bridge is coming in three weeks.
Just ever so slightly more. And to the OP, besides that,, it seems Quizzical has you covered. Personally I'd want a bigger PSU to be more future proof, but thats likely unnecessary. Have fun building it! (and as he just mentioned, if you can hold out a few weeks, Ivy Bridge is coming - thats what I'm waiting for myself)
Yes i've heard great things about Ivy but i think i'm going to wait until it drops in price and wait for the next year or two. Besides the i7 does everything look alright, will this be up to high standards for a least a few years?
Actually, ivy Bridge is supposed to be priced similar to Sandy Bridge, so really the cost difference will be minimal.
And honestly, the new Z77 chipset isn't that huge of a jump up - however for me personally I just decided I might as well hold out a bit longer and have the latest and greatest. I certainly understand if you dont want to wait though!
Edit: and as a side note - if you play your cards right, and watch sites like slickdeals.net, you will sometimes find ways to upgrade a component that costs as much as you selling your current one. This past year I upgraded from a 5850 --> 6850 --> 6870 --> 6950 Toxic all in a 2 week span - because each of them came with a game I could re-sell. I literally upgraded from a 5850 to a 6950 Toxic and GAINED $30, lol. Staying up-to-date is much cheaper than catching up every few years.
True i'll wait until something really blows the whole market away and when i have some more money. I think i'm ready to shoot away, I decided to get the Intel I7 2600k because i had some extra money in the budget and why not get a little upgrade. I can't wait to start building my first PC!
The first time is always memorable - and you will probably make mistakes (not devastating ones, but small things like the perfect amount of thermal paste, airflow, etc). Just take your time, and be ready for your heart to race the first time you try to power it on. The initial POST on a lot of the newer units tend to take an extra few seconds (for a number of legit reasons), so it'll likely be one of the longest 4-6 second waits you ever experience, lol.
Oh, and overclocking - very easy. If you want to cheat, just pull up a youtube video or two and see what other people get.
Edit: Also on the cooler - I did look it up - the Evo I linked is essentially the improved version of the one Quizzical suggested. It is a very small difference, so it's up to you if its worth the $9 difference or not.
I decided to get the Intel I7 2600k because i had some extra money in the budget and why not get a little upgrade.
Because it's not a meaningful upgrade.
There are basically four differences between a Core i5 2500K and a Core i7 2600K.
1) The 2600K has hyperthreading, while the 2500K does not. This makes absolutely no difference whatsoever in programs that do not scale to more than four cores, as in such cases, Windows will ignore hyperthread and not use it--precisely because if Windows did use it, the only possible change in performance is to decrease it, not increase it. It's unlikely that there will be games where four fast cores are not good enough in the useful lifetime of your machine, so this doesn't matter for gaming purposes.
2) The stock clock speed is different. This doesn't matter at all, because you can change it in the BIOS. If you want a 2500K to perform like a 2600K at stock settings for gaming purposes, all you have to do is to go into the BIOS and change the multiplier from 33 to 34. Having a different default BIOS setting when you have the same options available either way is not a meaningful difference.
3) The 2600K has 8 MB of L3 cache, while the 2500K has 6 MB. This might get you about a 1% performance boost, if that.
4) The 2600K is more expensive, and by around $100.
Difference #4 is the only one that matters for gaming purposes, and the reason why the Core i5 2500K is the standard for moderately high end gaming systems.
Thanks quiz, without you i would have no clue what i'm doing. Final decision is the i5-2500k Sandy Bridge, and I'm going with the cooler upgrade gamer guy recommended.
Great decision on building your own, unfortunately im the not so lucky one didnt have the time to build my own, (2 kids, 1 that likes to mess with my stuff A LOT) so i bought one from ibuypower, bigest $2500 mistake i made and wont make again, now my pc sits in the closet waiting for them to send me crappier parts..like today got a new piece today i got a new fan controller and a top power button/usb piece, the power button piece had a cracked usb 2.0 slot(the old one was damaged on the usb 2.0 also) so needless to say im almost to the point i want to take them to court and get my money back, shit parts shit service yea i wont leave a nice review when im done with them
Great decision on building your own, unfortunately im the not so lucky one didnt have the time to build my own, (2 kids, 1 that likes to mess with my stuff A LOT) so i bought one from ibuypower, bigest $2500 mistake i made and wont make again, now my pc sits in the closet waiting for them to send me crappier parts..like today got a new piece today i got a new fan controller and a top power button/usb piece, the power button piece had a cracked usb 2.0 slot(the old one was damaged on the usb 2.0 also) so needless to say im almost to the point i want to take them to court and get my money back, shit parts shit service yea i wont leave a nice review when im done with them
That's awful man, hope everything works out in the end for you. I'm glad everyone pre-warned me about all that crap, otherwise i could be in the same positition.
Comments
Thanks for all the help Quiz, I'm going with the Nvidia GTX 580 in the end. I think i'm about ready to pull the trigger, i need to make sure this thing is going to work well.
Rosewill THOR V2
Rosewill CAPSTONE 650W
ASRock Z68 Extreme3 LGA 1155
Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3ghz
G.SKILL Ripjaws 4GBx2
Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6GBs
Crucial M4 128GB SATA III
MSI N580GTX Twin Frozr II
ASUS DRW-24B1ST
TP-LINK TL-WN722N
ASUS VS248H-P
[EQ][DAoC][WoW][WAR][SWToR][GW2][TSW][WS}
For what it's worth, MSI's Twin Frozr coolers are very nice. The GTX 580 puts out enough heat that the card really needs a nice cooler, but the MSI cooler will be more than adequate for the card. Lower GPU temperatures reduce leakage, and thus reduce power consumption a bit, too.
The motherboard you list isn't the one I linked. It will probably work fine for you needs. AsRock motherboards tend to be cheaper for a reason, but they're not bad products. If you listed something from Biostar, ECS, or some other cheap junk brand, I'd have said not to get it.
You didn't list an aftermarket CPU cooler. The stock coolers that Intel ships are terrible. They're basically adequate at stock speeds, but not the sort of thing you want to overclock at all with. A better cooler will be quieter, and also keep the processor much cooler--whether you overclock or not. If you want something cheaper than what I linked before, then this one is nice:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065
I made some slight changes since you showed me the cheaper cooler option and this is where i'm at. I want this to be perfect and know that it's going to work great.
Rosewill THOR V2
Rosewill CAPSTONE 650W
ASRock Z68 Extreme3 LGA 1155
Intel Core i7-2600 Sandy Bridge 3.4 Ghz + COOLER MASTER Hyper 212
G.SKILL Ripjaws 4GBx2
Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6GBs
Crucial M4 128GB SATA III
MSI N580GTX Twin Frozr II
ASUS DRW-24B1ST
TP-LINK TL-WN722N
ASUS VS248H-P
What are your thoughts about this builds capablities for upgrading, gaming power, and what it can do?
[EQ][DAoC][WoW][WAR][SWToR][GW2][TSW][WS}
I wouldn't get a Core i7 2600. For gaming purposes, the only significant difference between the Core i7 and Core i5 is the price tag. If you're running programs that could push eight cores if you had them, then the hyperthreading of the Core i7 becomes useful. But not for games.
The K on the end of a processor (2500 or 2500K, 2600 or 2600K) means that it's overclockable. It also means double the integrated graphics performance, but if you take pretty dismal and then double it, you're still left with pretty dismal, so you don't want to use the integrated graphics. Besides, doubling the number of execution units will do nothing to fix Intel's video drivers.
For what it's worth, Ivy Bridge is coming in three weeks.
Correct me if I am wrong Quizzical, but isnt the Evo version the newer, slightly better version of the cooler you linked?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099
Just ever so slightly more. And to the OP, besides that,, it seems Quizzical has you covered. Personally I'd want a bigger PSU to be more future proof, but thats likely unnecessary. Have fun building it! (and as he just mentioned, if you can hold out a few weeks, Ivy Bridge is coming - thats what I'm waiting for myself)
Yes i've heard great things about Ivy but i think i'm going to wait until it drops in price and wait for the next year or two. Besides the i7 does everything look alright, will this be up to high standards for a least a few years?
[EQ][DAoC][WoW][WAR][SWToR][GW2][TSW][WS}
Actually, ivy Bridge is supposed to be priced similar to Sandy Bridge, so really the cost difference will be minimal.
And honestly, the new Z77 chipset isn't that huge of a jump up - however for me personally I just decided I might as well hold out a bit longer and have the latest and greatest. I certainly understand if you dont want to wait though!
Edit: and as a side note - if you play your cards right, and watch sites like slickdeals.net, you will sometimes find ways to upgrade a component that costs as much as you selling your current one. This past year I upgraded from a 5850 --> 6850 --> 6870 --> 6950 Toxic all in a 2 week span - because each of them came with a game I could re-sell. I literally upgraded from a 5850 to a 6950 Toxic and GAINED $30, lol. Staying up-to-date is much cheaper than catching up every few years.
True i'll wait until something really blows the whole market away and when i have some more money. I think i'm ready to shoot away, I decided to get the Intel I7 2600k because i had some extra money in the budget and why not get a little upgrade. I can't wait to start building my first PC!
[EQ][DAoC][WoW][WAR][SWToR][GW2][TSW][WS}
The first time is always memorable - and you will probably make mistakes (not devastating ones, but small things like the perfect amount of thermal paste, airflow, etc). Just take your time, and be ready for your heart to race the first time you try to power it on. The initial POST on a lot of the newer units tend to take an extra few seconds (for a number of legit reasons), so it'll likely be one of the longest 4-6 second waits you ever experience, lol.
Oh, and overclocking - very easy. If you want to cheat, just pull up a youtube video or two and see what other people get.
Edit: Also on the cooler - I did look it up - the Evo I linked is essentially the improved version of the one Quizzical suggested. It is a very small difference, so it's up to you if its worth the $9 difference or not.
Because it's not a meaningful upgrade.
There are basically four differences between a Core i5 2500K and a Core i7 2600K.
1) The 2600K has hyperthreading, while the 2500K does not. This makes absolutely no difference whatsoever in programs that do not scale to more than four cores, as in such cases, Windows will ignore hyperthread and not use it--precisely because if Windows did use it, the only possible change in performance is to decrease it, not increase it. It's unlikely that there will be games where four fast cores are not good enough in the useful lifetime of your machine, so this doesn't matter for gaming purposes.
2) The stock clock speed is different. This doesn't matter at all, because you can change it in the BIOS. If you want a 2500K to perform like a 2600K at stock settings for gaming purposes, all you have to do is to go into the BIOS and change the multiplier from 33 to 34. Having a different default BIOS setting when you have the same options available either way is not a meaningful difference.
3) The 2600K has 8 MB of L3 cache, while the 2500K has 6 MB. This might get you about a 1% performance boost, if that.
4) The 2600K is more expensive, and by around $100.
Difference #4 is the only one that matters for gaming purposes, and the reason why the Core i5 2500K is the standard for moderately high end gaming systems.
Thanks quiz, without you i would have no clue what i'm doing. Final decision is the i5-2500k Sandy Bridge, and I'm going with the cooler upgrade gamer guy recommended.
[EQ][DAoC][WoW][WAR][SWToR][GW2][TSW][WS}
Great decision on building your own, unfortunately im the not so lucky one didnt have the time to build my own, (2 kids, 1 that likes to mess with my stuff A LOT) so i bought one from ibuypower, bigest $2500 mistake i made and wont make again, now my pc sits in the closet waiting for them to send me crappier parts..like today got a new piece today i got a new fan controller and a top power button/usb piece, the power button piece had a cracked usb 2.0 slot(the old one was damaged on the usb 2.0 also) so needless to say im almost to the point i want to take them to court and get my money back, shit parts shit service yea i wont leave a nice review when im done with them
That's awful man, hope everything works out in the end for you. I'm glad everyone pre-warned me about all that crap, otherwise i could be in the same positition.
[EQ][DAoC][WoW][WAR][SWToR][GW2][TSW][WS}