First Build (Verify my build and help me make it cheaper/better/faster)

[Nikon]

This is my first build and I need help verifying everything is compatible and is good.

Budget:
-Supposed to be under $600 (Over at the moment)

Why am I building this:
-Gaming
-Programming
-Fun
-General internet use

Here is my rough build so far. Please tell me if I need anything/don't need something or could make it cheaper somehow. Thanks in advance


($224.99)Processor(CPU):

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 BX80623I52500K

Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Tu...



($40.99)(Thanks Crazyeyesreaper + Spynoodle) RAM:

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9S-4GBRL
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3...




(Thanks BinaryMage)Motherboard:
($84.99)MSI P67A-C43 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
MSI P67A-C43 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s US...

($74.99)(Thanks SpyNoodle)Video Card:
SAPPHIRE 100289VGAL Radeon HD 5670 1GB DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
SAPPHIRE 100289VGAL Radeon HD 5670 1GB DDR3 PCI Ex...





($79.99)Hard Disk Drive:
Western Digital RE4 WD5003ABYX 500GB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Western Digital RE4 WD5003ABYX 500GB 7200 RPM 64MB...





($16.99)Optical Drive:
ASUS DVD-E818A4/BLK/B/GEN Black 18X IDE DVD-ROM Drive - Bulk

ASUS DVD-E818A4/BLK/B/GEN Black 18X IDE DVD-ROM D...




($59.99)(Thanks BinaryMage)Case:
COOLER MASTER HAF 912 RC-912-KKN1 Black SECC/ ABS Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
COOLER MASTER HAF 912 RC-912-KKN1 Black SECC/ ABS ...




($59.99)Power Supply:
Antec BP550 Plus 550W Continuous Power ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC

Power Supply

Antec BP550 Plus 550W Continuous Power ATX12V V2.2...
http://www.antec.com/Believe_it/product.php?id=NzA=

 

[spynoodle]

The i5 2500k is a great CPU, but your video card will pose a bit of a bottleneck. You'll want at least a 5670, if not something better. Also, I recommend the Samsung Spinpoint F3 1tb for your hard drive:
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cac...
I've had it for about 8 months now (I still can't confirm anything on long term reliability) and it seems pretty nice. Quiet, and REALLY fast. It's a bit faster than the WD according to www.harddrivebenchmark.net.

 

[Nikon]

The i5 2500k is a great CPU, but your video card will pose a bit of a bottleneck. You'll want at least a 5670, if not something better. Also, I recommend the Samsung Spinpoint F3 1tb for your hard drive:
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cac...
I've had it for about 8 months now (I still can't confirm anything on long term reliability) and it seems pretty nice. Quiet, and REALLY fast. It's a bit faster than the WD according to www.harddrivebenchmark.net.

I can't really afford to go anymore in the price. Do you know of a better cheap Video Card?

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

okay first things first not sure but overclocking on that mobo is gonna be piss poor so having an unlocked chip is also going to be pretty much worthless if the mobo cant handle overclocking it if your not overclocking drop down to a different i5 2000 quad core chip and save some money,

2x4 gigs you wont need it unless doing photoshop or 3d rendering, drop down to 2x2gigs

2x4 to 2x2 will net you $40 dropping to a i5 2400 should gain you $40 if your not overclocking

thats $80 you can put toward a better gpu on the $50 you had giving $130 with $130 you can grab a HD 5830 or for a few dollars more a sapphire 5850 xtreme.
5830
SAPPHIRE 100297L Radeon HD 5830 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 ...
i really suggest this over the 5830 hands down $5 more 20% better performance
SAPPHIRE 100282XTREME Radeon HD 5850 Xtreme 1GB 25...

 

[BinaryMage]

I can't really afford to go anymore in the price. Do you know of a better cheap Video Card?

Okay, first thing: That H61 board you've selected won't let you overclock your CPU, so the K part is useless unless you're planning to upgrade your motherboard. How much gaming, and how heavy games, are you likely to do/play? If you intend to run some moderately demanding games, I think it would make sense to sacrifice a bit of CPU power for videocard power, because your videocard is going to be a huge bottleneck. Another thing: At that budget, with a $100 case, you're spending almost 20% of your budget on a case, which seems a little excessive. I'd downgrade to something cheaper like a HAF 912, which is still a good case but will save you $40. Motherboard wise, what you have is okay, but if you want to spend an extra $35, you can get a much better P67 board which will let you overclock your CPU here.
8GB of RAM is probably unnecessary, 4GB is usually plenty, but you can have 8GB if you want. Your PSU is alright but doesn't leave a ton of room for upgrades.

 

[Nikon]

Okay, first thing: That H61 board you've selected won't let you overclock your CPU, so the K part is useless unless you're planning to upgrade your motherboard. How much gaming, and how heavy games, are you likely to do/play? If you intend to run some moderately demanding games, I think it would make sense to sacrifice a bit of CPU power for videocard power, because your videocard is going to be a huge bottleneck. Another thing: At that budget, with a $100 case, you're spending almost 20% of your budget on a case, which seems a little excessive. I'd downgrade to something cheaper like a HAF 912, which is still a good case but will save you $40. Motherboard wise, what you have is okay, but if you want to spend an extra $35, you can get a much better P67 board which will let you overclock your CPU here.
8GB of RAM is probably unnecessary, 4GB is usually plenty, but you can have 8GB if you want. Your PSU is alright but doesn't leave a ton of room for upgrades.

Okay, yeah I just used that case because supposedly it is really easy to beginners. I'll take your advice and switch the motherboard and case so I can overclock it. And for the games I am most likely going to play Call of Duty, Minecraft and maybe some MMORPGs.

 

[spynoodle]

I can't really afford to go anymore in the price. Do you know of a better cheap Video Card?

Try this:
HIS H567FO1G Radeon HD 5670 1GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI E...
or this:
PowerColor AX5670 1GBK3-H Radeon HD 5670 1GB 128-b...
or, if you want great reliability, this:
SAPPHIRE 100289VGAL Radeon HD 5670 1GB DDR3 PCI Ex...

For the first two, just pick your favorite. The third is made by Sapphire, who has a really good reputation when it comes to quality. If you don't want to go over your budget, then you could just get 1 4gb stick of RAM. 8gb is a bit overkill.

EDIT: I also second what BinaryMage said.

 

[Mindweaver]

here i would get this.. Always get a better motherboard so you can just upgrade the processor later.

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

mindweaver nice part choice but id replace that 5830 with the sapphire 5850 xtreme its only $5 more 20% better performance otherwise good loadout right there

 

[Mindweaver]

mindweaver nice part choice but id replace that 5830 with the sapphire 5850 xtreme its only $5 more 20% better performance otherwise good loadout right there

Good eye! I didn't see that..hehehe I love my 5850's! those new xtreme's are nice.. I like the idea a lot better than sapphire rebranding them 6xxx.

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

well 6850 and 6870 arent really rebrands only rebrands are 6770 and 6750 and only XFX is selling them and illegally at that since there OEM only and AMD refused to sell them retail.

That said i think with a bit of stretching the OP could probably fit a I5 2400 in there overclocking isnt really needed with sandybridge it helps but come on stock vs stock a 2500 non K beats out the 980x in alot of benches, 2400 is right there next to a 2500 in most situations no real overclocking but you can still set the turbo limit up i believe and get a few extra mhz out of it

 

[Mindweaver]

well 6850 and 6870 arent really rebrands only rebrands are 6770 and 6750 and only XFX is selling them and illegally at that since there OEM only and AMD refused to sell them retail.

naw, i was talking about the new line of xtreme were they are bring'n back the 5xxx line of cards. we had news on it last week.

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

yea there decent for what they are. seem to be a bit and i mean tiny bit faster then reference 5850s so there a bit more efficient.

 

[Mindweaver]

New updated list with the 5850. Thanks crazyeyesreaper!

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

only thing missing is Windows 7 unless the OP already has it on hand

 

[Nikon]

Thanks everyone. But can you guys please tell me what I should use to assemble this build? I don't wanna fry or not be able to attach something.

only thing missing is Windows 7 unless the OP already has it on hand

Yup, I already have it and Microsoft office.

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

google how to build a pc follow guides or videos its fairly simple all you will need is a phillips screw driver ground yourself on the case

the build Mind weaver posted above is good but id replace the i3 with an i5 2400k, to gain the extra 2 cores. for a quadcore. cant be overclocked but it would let you keep the cheaper motherboard. and the better gpu

 

[Mindweaver]

Since, it's your first build.. I would watch a lot of Youtube video's just to kind of understand what goes where.. And of course ask lots of question here at TPU. Just remember static is bad.. if you don't have a static strap.. no biggy.. just remember to touch the case before handling parts outside of the static bags.. and no moon walking with socks either with bare parts in hand!!..lol

 

[Nikon]

google how to build a pc follow guides or videos its fairly simple all you will need is a phillips screw driver ground yourself on the case

the build Mind weaver posted above is good but id replace the i3 with an i5 2400k, to gain the extra 2 cores. for a quadcore. cant be overclocked but it would let you keep the cheaper motherboard. and the better gpu

Since, it's your first build.. I would watch a lot of Youtube video's just to kind of understand what goes where.. And of course ask lots of question here at TPU. Just remember static is bad.. if you don't have a static strap.. no biggy.. just remember to touch the case before handling parts outside of the static bags.. and no moon walking with socks either with bare parts in hand!!..lol

I've been watching some videos and should I wear shoes when I do this? Also, do I need some type of thermal paste or do most parts come with what I need.

What I am watching now: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?p=D21D340725C7B147

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

stock heatsink and fan comes with thermal paste pre applied put its only good for one mounting so if you ever plan to upgrade to a better cooler etc or tear the rig down for cleaning etc grab a tube of MX2 or the like but otherwise you wont need it.

 

[Mindweaver]

You don't have to wear shoes and the CPU comes with thermal paste. You can always get better past like AS5.. but since money is an issue the paste that comes with the CPU will work just fine. it's not really paste it's a pad on the heatsink but it will work fine.

 

[gpost3]

All paste work the same:
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Thermal-Compound-Roundup-April-2011/1246

I have personally used Arctic Ceramique for a long time and have 0 complains.

I've had it for about 8 months now (I still can't confirm anything on long term reliability) and it seems pretty nice.

I personally didn't have a good experience with my Samsung drive - fast quiet but not reliable picks up bad sectors very fast.

Having said all that, here are my recommendations for the rest of your rig for under $600:

Get this mobo over MSI: ECS H61H2-M3(1.0) LGA 1155 Intel H61 Micro ATX Int...
Rock solid stable mobo since you will be doing work on this as well so you wont be overclocking.

RAM you chose is fine.

Get this over i5: Intel Core i3-2100 Sandy Bridge 3.1GHz 2 x 256KB L...
3.1 Ghz + Turbo. More than enough for modern gaming.

For GPU get GTX 460 brand new from here totally worth the money especially after rebate:
http://ncix.com/products/?sku=54626&vpn=N460GTX Cyclone768D5/OC&manufacture=MSI/MicroStar

Since you aren't using dual GPUs, you dont need 550 W PSU, 400 would be fine and besides that GTX 460 is very efficient GPU. Get this:
http://ncix.com/products/?sku=30145&vpn=SS-400ET&manufacture=Seasonic Electronics

For hard drive, get this instead:
Western Digital RE4 WD5003ABYX 500GB 7200 RPM 64MB...

I am pretty sure you will be happy with these components if you plan to buy it. Those videos are fine to get an idea of how to put it all together.

 

[Nikon]

All paste work the same:
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Thermal-Compound-Roundup-April-2011/1246

I have personally used Arctic Ceramique for a long time and have 0 complains.

I would change that i5 to i3 and save some money there. Also I would change the GPU to GTX 460 768 MB version or go on ebay and pickup a slightly used 9800 GT. 9800 GT will work sweet in all games still IMO.

Hard drive, change that to Western Digital Caviar Blue or RE4.
And get any DDR3 1333 Value RAM. Not much difference between RAMs these days.

And change the DVD burner to Liteon. Better write quality for same price. Also you don't need 550 W PSU. Get 450 Watts from Seasonic or FSP and save there too.

Could you link me the products you recommend. And would the switch from i5 to i3 make the computer way slower. Also, would it all be compatible anymore? Is this power supply good enough: FSP Group SAGA+ 450R 450W ATX12V v2.2 Power Su...

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

9800gt is entry lvl performance its great in some respects but is power hungry for the performance it brings, with a 5850 being over double the performance, and at only $50 more for that performance and uses equal power to do so
i3 are dual cores $130 for a dual core vs $180 for a quadcore you pay more you get more. as for the psu someone else will have to chime in on the smaller low power units as i havent kept up to speed there

just seems to make more sense to me to get a modern gpu thats actually supported with a quadcore, $180 you get a quadcore thats been proven to go toe to toe with the 980x which was a 6 core 12 thread *os sees it as a 12 core* in most benches and costs $999 pay the little extra to get something that will last a bit longer

 

[gpost3]

Could you link me the products you recommend. And would the switch from i5 to i3 make the computer way slower. Also, would it all be compatible anymore? Is this power supply good enough: FSP Group SAGA+ 450R 450W ATX12V v2.2 Power Su...

Wait until I finish editing so Read my post above again as I have made some changes and all the links are there. Switch from i5 to i3 will NOT make your computer slower. The slowest thing in any computer is the hard drive and I have suggested you get RE4 because of its reliability and solid performance. All components I suggested are compatible with each other. FSP is a great power supply and that 450W FSP you linked will be excellent so get that hands down.

you pay more you get more.

You don't get that type of information anywhere.

pay the little extra to get something that will last a bit longer

He doesn't need to pay anything extra than what I have recommended to him for his needs to be satisfied. He wants to game and do some programming work. And that i3 will run any game he can possibly imagine to throw at it. GPU is the main thing at work for gaming anyway. His budget is $600 or less so why force him to buy something he doesn't actually need? And why stop at $999? why not spend $10,000 and build a PC with extreme edition CPU as that will last him a "bit" longer isn't it? Sorry but your argument has no logic in it.