About to build my first PC - thoughts on parts Ive selected?

[coastercrazy10]

Hey all,

Just about ready to pull the trigger on buying parts for my first custom-built PC. Here are the parts:

Azza Solano 1000R Case
Intel i5-2500k 3.3Ghz quad core (will overclock eventually to 4.0+ GHz)
Biostar TP67XE (BE) Motherboard (SATA 6GB/s, will eventually SLI)
2x4GB G.SKILL Ripjawz RAM (1600 MHz)
EVGA GTX 460 SE Graphics Card 1GB
Cooler Master 700W single rail PSU
Eventually a Blu-Ray disc drive, going to use a cheap CD/DVD initially

Let me know your thoughts guys. I'm aiming for a mid-range PC that is gaming capable, but I want to use it for coding, rendering movies and AutoDesk files, and other fairly intensive things. I also tried to make it as future proof as possible. A modular power supply for RAID and a 2x8 SLI motherboard, as well as 2 extra RAM ports and an easily OC'able CPU.

-Ben

[isiolia]

- I would look at getting a Z68 motherboard rather than a P67 based one. You may or may not wind up using the additional features...but the difference in cost is pretty minimal.

- If you're on a budget, you may want to go with 4 GB of RAM to start. Not much takes advantage of more than that yet, and RAM falls under the category of things you can upgrade without replacing.

- The GTX 460 SE is a slightly cut-down version of the GTX 460. If that's all you think you'll need, then it's not bad...but a Radeon 6850 trades blows with a standard GTX 460 for about the same price (after rebates) - or you might consider budgeting a little more for the GPU.

- If you're planning to overclock, get something better than the stock cooler. A Cooler Master Hyper 212+ is a good budget pick.

- Modular PSU isn't strictly necessary for RAID. It can be nice, if you have your choice of cables to put in to minimize the need for adapters, plus keeping things tidy by not plugging in ones you don't need...but not required. If you're looking at RAID for performance reasons, look first at SSDs (unless you already are, didn't list HDDs).

[coastercrazy10]

- I would look at getting a Z68 motherboard rather than a P67 based one. You may or may not wind up using the additional features...but the difference in cost is pretty minimal.

- If you're on a budget, you may want to go with 4 GB of RAM to start. Not much takes advantage of more than that yet, and RAM falls under the category of things you can upgrade without replacing.

- The GTX 460 SE is a slightly cut-down version of the GTX 460. If that's all you think you'll need, then it's not bad...but a Radeon 6850 trades blows with a standard GTX 460 for about the same price (after rebates) - or you might consider budgeting a little more for the GPU.

- If you're planning to overclock, get something better than the stock cooler. A Cooler Master Hyper 212+ is a good budget pick.

- Modular PSU isn't strictly necessary for RAID. It can be nice, if you have your choice of cables to put in to minimize the need for adapters, plus keeping things tidy by not plugging in ones you don't need...but not required. If you're looking at RAID for performance reasons, look first at SSDs (unless you already are, didn't list HDDs).

I forgot to mention I'll be running 7 Ultimate 64 bit on here (so it can at least address the additional 4 GB) and a Terabyte internal Wester Digital drive for storage. If I end up doing more gaming I'll throw in a SSD and reinstall 7 on that and store my game data there.

I'll be buying something extra for the CPU when I start experimenting with overclocking. Was planning on checking out cooler master's offerings but thanks for the reminder!

I will certainly take a look at the Z68 mobos and that card. I was under the impression that Radeons were only compatible with AMD processors since Intel purchased NVidia? As I mentioned I don't need a GPU to obscene but if I can get a reasonable amount more of power with a small additional investment I think I could justify that. Thanks for your help!

-Ben

[BananaXX]

I will certainly take a look at the Z68 mobos and that card. I was under the impression that Radeons were only compatible with AMD processors since Intel purchased NVidia?

You can run an Nvidia in an AMD mobo and a Radeon in a Intel no problem. AMD purchased ATI, Nvidia is still its own entity. Will be a sad day if Intel buys out Nvidia...

[coastercrazy10]

I will certainly take a look at the Z68 mobos and that card. I was under the impression that Radeons were only compatible with AMD processors since Intel purchased NVidia?

You can run an Nvidia in an AMD mobo and a Radeon in a Intel no problem. AMD purchased ATI, Nvidia is still its own entity. Will be a sad day if Intel buys out Nvidia...

Thanks for clearing that up. I will most certainly look into the radeon cards then.

-Ben

[isiolia]

The only thing you can't always count on is SLI support on AMD boards. I think they should be including it standard going forward (http://news.softpedia.com/news/AMD-Moth ... 7425.shtml) but many boards on the market won't support it.

Since you're looking at an Intel setup, it's kind of a moot point.

[Hobie-wan]

Don't skimp on power supply. Spend at the very minimum $75 on a power supply, but better over $100. Don't pay a premium for a modular PS unless you have the budget to do so or are building a windowed system and really care how it will look and will stare longingly into the case for hours every day. If your PS is crap it can make the system unreliable and even destroy other parts of the system if it goes out on you.

[AppleQueso]

Don't skimp on power supply. Spend at the very minimum $75 on a power supply, but better over $100. Don't pay a premium for a modular PS unless you have the budget to do so or are building a windowed system and really care how it will look and will stare longingly into the case for hours every day. If your PS is crap it can make the system unreliable and even destroy other parts of the system if it goes out on you.

Yes, if there's anything you absolutely should NEVER cheap out on, it's your psu.

[coastercrazy10]

Don't skimp on power supply. Spend at the very minimum $75 on a power supply, but better over $100. Don't pay a premium for a modular PS unless you have the budget to do so or are building a windowed system and really care how it will look and will stare longingly into the case for hours every day. If your PS is crap it can make the system unreliable and even destroy other parts of the system if it goes out on you.

Yes, if there's anything you absolutely should NEVER cheap out on, it's your psu.

I've done a lot of research on power supplies and I had trouble finding one that matched my criteria that wasn't ungodly expensive. I previously had this XFX power supply spec'd:

Newegg had it for like $105 but they've destocked it. Since amazon carries it I may just buy that (didn't realize until just now), but the cooler master doesn't seem to be that bad?

I wanted 650W+ for expansion, needed 24A on the 12V line for the GTX 460(hence single rail), and I wanted modular since my case has a huge window and I want to try to make it look nice. The green is awesome on its own but kinda sucks in an all-red and black build but it'll do if that looks to be a better supply (It's a re-branded SeaSonic PSU FYI). Has good reviews, but I'm afraid that since it's starting to be destocked I won't be able to get support if something goes wrong...

-Ben

[Hobie-wan]

I previously had this XFX power supply spec'd:

Newegg had it for like $105 but they've destocked it. Since amazon carries it I may just buy that (didn't realize until just now), but the cooler master doesn't seem to be that bad?

Good review of that one on a good site for PSU reviews. http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?na ... y&reid=184

I think the bags for the extra cables are an unecessary added expense though. I mean really, even if you're carting yoru machine to PAN parties, are you going to be carrying your baggie of extra cables in case you're swapping parts out? Jonnyguru and hardocp.com are two good places to look for PSU reviews.