Sandy bridge build, opinions?

[Black Haru]

so I ran out of patients and decided to start my new build. this means, unfortunately, that it is going to have be be bought in segments.

this is going to be used for gaming, and I do plan on overclocking.

first segment:

this will get me a working build (GPU will be a gts250 I have laying around) I am interested to see what the CPU will do on the stock cooler.

pretty set on the case and CPU for this, but feel free to make suggestions on anything else.

second segment:

definitely looking for feedback on GPU, I do have plans to add a second one down the line.

third segment:

fan recommendations to go with the sentry?



basically want to make sure I get the best bang for my buck. any advice is appreciated.

 

[kid41212003]

I suggest you cutting back on the memory and cpu cooler, so that you can get a faster and bigger SSD.

With that cpu, you can overclock it to over 4GHz just fine on a $30-40 aircooler.

Getting from 4GHz to 4.8GHz or more won't make a big different in game. Heck i'm running my old i7 950 at stock and there are no games I couldn't run over 60FPS.

Memory speed is the same thing - the different between 1333MHz and 2133 in gaming is <1%, but it costs more than double.

The biggest different you will see is from a good SSD because our HDD is the slowest component in the system. You will want to install all your programs and games on it so the bigger the better.

Another point is, sdd depends on writing/reading on many memory chips at the same time, so the bigger the ssd the more memory chip it has and the faster it will become.

 

[Black Haru]

I suggest you cutting back on the memory and cpu cooler, so that you can get a faster and bigger SSD.

With that cpu, you can overclock it to over 4GHz just fine on a $30-40 aircooler.

Getting from 4GHz to 4.8GHz or more won't make a big different in game. Heck i'm running my old i7 950 at stock and there are no games I couldn't run over 60FPS.

Memory speed is the same thing - the different between 1333MHz and 2133 in gaming is <1%, but it costs more than double.

The biggest different you will see is from a good SSD because our HDD is the slowest component in the system. You will want to install all your programs and games on it so the bigger the better.

Another point is, sdd depends on writing/reading on many memory chips at the same time, so the bigger the ssd the more memory chip it has and the faster it will become.

I went for the h100 for the design more than functionality, I meant to mention that in that area I was willing to pay the premium.

I can plug more cash into the ssd, was debating going for a 128gb.

I am overclocking for the heck of it as much as for gaming, so while I agree, I still plan on seeing how far I can push it.

 

[repman244]

One thing I noticed, you plan to buy a WD black 500GB in your first "segment", and then swap it with an SSD? If I was you I would buy a larger disk the first time (I assume you will use it for storage when you have an SSD?) something like a Spinpoint F3 or a WD Black 1TB (or even 2TB drives), but that's just me.
I'm not really sure if I could comment on the GPU since I don't pay much attention to them, but if you plan a second one, maybe go with a 6950? But wait for more feedback on that

EDIT: like kid41212003 already mentioned the CPU's OC just fine on air, get a $50 air cooler and it's almost the same, since as much as I've seen SB chips hit a voltage wall not a temperature wall.

EDIT2: check this before buying RAM http://www.anandtech.com/show/4503/sandy-bridge-memory-scaling-choosing-the-best-ddr3

 

[entropy13]

Get the DDR3-1600 counterpart of the G.Skills, then get the 128GB counterpart of the Crucial SSD.

An H60 is more than enough as a cooler.

Get a 1TB instead of that 500GB WD Caviar Black. A 1TB Samsung Spinpoint F3 is the same price.

You can get a GTX 570 cheaper than that HD 6970.

Go with this: Sentey Golden Steel Power GSP850-SM 850W ATX 12V v... rather than the HX850. It's an 80PLUS GOLD PSU, but cheaper. Reviews (their conclusions) are here and here.

And you still end up spending less compared to the i5 2500k and HX850 "combo." The combo is $380, the i5 2500k + Sentey GSP 850W is $364 (with the use of the 10% off promo code on the Sentey).

 

[(FIH) The Don]

go with the Agility 3 ssd, they are sooo freakin fast, even better than my old raid setup with 2 corsair F60's

also get the ASUS P8Z68-V or similar, you get almost everything from their better boards, clocks good, EFI bios, afaik GB do not have EFI BIOS yet.

 

[xenocide]

I think that Combo he found makes the RAM cost about the same as lower speed RAM, so he might as well get it. It does knock $90 of the combined price after all. But then again, he might be better off getting some CL7 DDR3-1600 or something of that sort.

 

[(FIH) The Don]

memory is not too important on SB builds afaik

 

[Black Haru]

revised:

an additional 16 off with that promo code.


threw the h60 into the first part (first segment has an approximate 1k budget)

as for the GPU, would I get more bang for my buck going with a 480 vs a 570? (hotter and more power hungry, but heat, energy and noise don't bother me too much)

 

[kid41212003]

You should be able to OC better with the 570 and incase you want to sell later, resale value should be higher.

 

[(FIH) The Don]

480 and 570 is about the same in performance, but 570 is cooler and less noisy

 

[Syuzeren]

the 570 isn't the best choice for SLI in DX11 gaming, due to the 1.2GB of VRAM, games like GTA IV, BF3 and Crysis 2 at 1920x1080 will use more then 1.2 GB of Vram , asuming you wan't to go that way... otherwise go for the 570 runs cooler and uses less power then the 480.

 

[Black Haru]

the 570 isn't the best choice for SLI in DX11 gaming, due to the 1.2GB of VRAM, games like GTA IV, BF3 and Crysis 2 at 1920x1080 will use more then 1.2 GB of Vram , asuming you wan't to go that way... otherwise go for the 570 runs cooler and uses less power then the 480.

definitely planning on SLI in the near future.

 

[Crap Daddy]

Since the 570 is a heck of a lot cooler it's more suitable for SLI. Yes it should have been better to have more Vram but both GTA4 and Crysis 2 high res run very well with what the 570 has to offer. BF3 we don't know.

 

[Syuzeren]

I would go for 6950 2GB or 6970 in Crossfire on the AMD side, on the Nvidea side i would go for SLI 580's. Your PSU won't have the recommended watt for SLI 480's so that isnt a option.

 

[happita]

I would go for 6950 2GB or 6970 in Crossfire on the AMD side, on the Nvidea side i would go for SLI 580's. Your PSU won't have the recommended watt for SLI 480's so that isnt a option.

I know they made a good improvement on power consumption from the 4xx to the 5xx series, but are you sure it will be able to handle 2x 580s @ full load? I'd do some more investigative review researching before deciding to take such a plunge.

 

[Crap Daddy]

How did we get to 2 GTX580? That's a whole lotta money. The man asked for a comparison between 480 and 570, that's in the 300$ range and beats any AMD offering. I'd say 570.

 

[Syuzeren]

i just made a suggestion, i also said between the 480 and 570 i would take the 570.

 

[Hotobu]

As much as I'd be willing to pay for a more powerful GPU on my upcoming build I just can't rationalize going with a 6970. For two cards (6950 vs 6970) at about the same level there's about an $80 difference for not much more performance, but more noise and more heat. At this point I'm thinking about getting a Z68 and running with integrated graphics until the 7000 series drops. Not saying I'll get one, but at least I can see what they'll offer.

Also for my builds I prefer 5400 HDs because they're slightly cheaper and not as noisy and the noise adds up as I've usually got 6 or so HDs. The speed difference isn't that huge. 7200 is fine, but it's something to consider.

Finally you may want to check out at least the H70. It's got two fans whereas the H60 has 1. You can add a second one, but from what I remember when I was looking at the prices and reviews of these things it's about the same price as the H70 for a good one.

edit: Apparently just as I submitted this Newegg just sent out their latest email blast with some discounts on some of the parts you're looking to buy. You should check it out.

 

[Black Haru]

As much as I'd be willing to pay for a more powerful GPU on my upcoming build I just can't rationalize going with a 6970. For two cards (6950 vs 6970) at about the same level there's about an $80 difference for not much more performance, but more noise and more heat. At this point I'm thinking about getting a Z68 and running with integrated graphics until the 7000 series drops. Not saying I'll get one, but at least I can see what they'll offer.

Also for my builds I prefer 5400 HDs because they're slightly cheaper and not as noisy and the noise adds up as I've usually got 6 or so HDs. The speed difference isn't that huge. 7200 is fine, but it's something to consider.

Finally you may want to check out at least the H70. It's got two fans whereas the H60 has 1. You can add a second one, but from what I remember when I was looking at the prices and reviews of these things it's about the same price as the H70 for a good one.

edit: Apparently just as I submitted this Newegg just sent out their latest email blast with some discounts on some of the parts you're looking to buy. You should check it out.

I will be buying more case fans down the line anyway, so that doesn't worry me. Ill check the newegg sales.

also, SLI 570's sounds fine.