Noob trying to build a PC

[Fuel Truck]

Hey all,

I have been out of the computer scene for 8 years now and I'm trying to put together a machine for some upcoming titles (including PS2 of course). I'm trying to keep the price around 1000 - 1500 and figured the best bang for my buck would be building one myself.

But it seems I've been out of the game too long, I'm so lost. Here is a one I put together, but I have no idea if it's even good or not. Could anyone give it a quick scan and maybe give some suggestions. Thanks!

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1o1w


In response to Goku's questions (My answers are red):

1. What is your budget and does that include shipping/taxes?
$1500 preferably after ship/tax (flexible here if its worth it)

2. Where do you live?
US

3. What do you need this computer to do (like gaming, Photoshop, and so on)?
Basically just for gaming

4. What parts will you need for the computer? Please list what parts specifically.
Everything, this would be a from scratch build

5. Are you reusing any parts for this computer? If so please say what parts.
None

6. What kind of monitor/resolution do you have or want to get to use for the computer?
I have a monitor that is capable of 1080p (1920×1080)

7. Do you have a legit OS? If so what OS and is it 32-bit or 64-bit?
I'd be buying W7. I want 64, I'm assuming it's better...

8. What are you looking for the motherboard to have feature wise? Like SLI, Crossfire, Firewire, USB 3.0, Sata 6.0 Gb/s, and so on.
I have no knowledge of SLI, crossfire or Sata's :/

9. Any plans to overclock the CPU or GPU?
Most likely not..

10. What time kind of time frame are you planning on ordering these parts?
over the next few months (I get laid off for the beginning of next year and will finally have the time to game again!!)

[Goku]

Update your post and answer these questions please. I already see issues with your build, but I do not want to correct anything until I know the info below.

1. What is your budget and does that include shipping/taxes?

2. Where do you live?

3. What do you need this computer to do (like gaming, Photoshop, and so on)?

4. What parts will you need for the computer? Please list what parts specifically.

5. Are you reusing any parts for this computer? If so please say what parts.

6. What kind of monitor/resolution do you have or want to get to use for the computer?

7. Do you have a legit OS? If so what OS and is it 32-bit or 64-bit?

8. What are you looking for the motherboard to have feature wise? Like SLI, Crossfire, Firewire, USB 3.0, Sata 6.0 Gb/s, and so on.

9. Any plans to overclock the CPU or GPU?

10. What time kind of time frame are you planning on ordering these parts?

[TheRagingGerbil]

Tom's Hardware just did a buildoff:

$2000 Build (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/overclock-cpu-sli-ssd,3031.html)

$1000 Build (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/overclock-cpu-ssd,3027.html)

$500 Build (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/phenom-ii-overclock-graphics-card,3032.html)

[Goku]

I even see issues with their $1000. Quite a few parts I wouldn't even bother using like that SSD and SLI setup.

[Fuel Truck]

I updated my post with more information.

Is SLI or crossfire the way to go these days? This is one of the newer things I have no idea about..

Also, is an SSD drive worth the money?

[Goku]

10. What time kind of time frame are you planning on ordering these parts?
over the next few months (I get laid off for the beginning of next year and will finally have the time to game again!!)

Come back when within a couple weeks of wanting to order the parts. Isn't a good idea to buy parts over time if that was your plan as there could be price drops or new products out by the time the whole rig is complete. I cannot give a parts list right now that I would recommend a few months down the line too.

[Chaff]

I'm real good at not waffling if anyone else needs advice......

(heeeheeeheee....Hey Goku !)

[Goku]

I'm real good at not waffling if anyone else needs advice......

(heeeheeeheee....Hey Goku !)

Almost deleted your post. Not use to see my mod rights lol.

Anyway, Hi!

;)

[SKYeXile]

I updated my post with more information.

Is SLI or crossfire the way to go these days? This is one of the newer things I have no idea about..

Also, is an SSD drive worth the money?

you do get the extra preformance sure...but most of the time you dont need it anyway. most high end cards have muple GPU's. so you get the good preformace without having to worry about crossfire software or the cards not syncing up rite, games being compatable...the list goes on...

I personally would go with an SSD drive for my OS games and prgrams, then a second storage drive for all the other crap...but im one to spend over 4k on a PC...in anycase, just given the fast boot time, i think it would be worth having a 64g-128g boot drive. Though i perosnally dont have one...but i hear they're good :P

[Traak]

buy all of it a day before you need it. if you can't get it all do not get anything.

Otherwise the parts you did buy may drop in price while you save for the others. Not a fun thing to watch happen!

[Fuel Truck]

Is waiting for black friday a good idea with building PC's? That would be a perfect time frame for me to get everything.

Been looking into SLI/CF. I definitely want to have the option to SLI in the future. I'm thinking one GTX 580(is that the best card right now?) for now, with the option to add another later. (Also, is SLI nvidia and CF radeon? I'm confused as to what the difference is)

I'm not so sure what this Physiqs stuff is about, would it be worthwhile in the future to have 3 cards, 2 identical +1 other for physiqs?

Also, in a video card should I be getting the 3gb ones for top of the line??

[Goku]

You can get good deals around the holiday season, but there is plenty of deals going on throughout the year. Just a few more pop up around then mostly on everything besides CPUs.

For your budget you can fit a 580 in most likely, but AMD may have their new line of cards out that probably will at least out do a 580 by 50%. Don't be eyeballing it that much. 580 SLI is overkill on 1920x1080.

Do not worry about a PhysX card. No reason for one.

No reason for 3GB cards at your resolution either.

[Fuel Truck]

Okay. Couple more questions if you'd be so kind!

I want this rig to be somewhat future proof. Is it a bad plan to have one 580 for now and just add another one in later when future games require some more power?

[Chaff]

.
...it's like deja vu.....

BTW, I go into escrow Monday. Now I have a definitive timetable. I'll be ready in plenty of time. I'm in no hurry. Sounds like waiting for some of the new stuff to come out is wise. I hope I hit the perfect storm - seasonal deals on tried-and-true and new gear.

Until then, I'm reading here and the other sources you frequently reference here. Have a good weekend. I appreciate your willingness to to give us the best advice. Your direct style gets the message through. I'm confident I'll end up with a great system.
.

[Fuel Truck]

Well, I did some more research..

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1ord


Dropped the CPU to i5 2500k
Added a better CPU Cooler
Dropped RAM from 12GB to 8GB
Removed SSD (too spendy, maybe in the future when price goes down)
Added a 950W PSU. Should be able to handle GTX580 SLI in the future, I think..

Hopefully I'm more on the ball with this setup...

[Goku]

Fuel honestly don't bother looking into a computer that much till that time comes. It is going to be completely different by the time you actually get it.

[Traak]

Sirs; is it not the case that AMD's crossfire does not need 2 identical cards? If so this would open up more potential for future upgrades.

[Goku]

Sirs; is it not the case that AMD's crossfire does not need 2 identical cards? If so this would open up more potential for future upgrades.

Normally I prefer people to open their own threads to avoid taking attention away from the OP this should be quick so its fine.

Say you have a 5850. You can get a 5850 from any other manufacture (XFX, HIS, MSI, and so on) and put it in crossfire with that card. However you cannot take say a 5850 and 6950 to do crossfire. Hope that helps Traak.

[Traak]

Thanks; so to my point: no advantage (being able to mix and match different AMD cards) if you go AMD, so that is not a consideration for him in the AMD vs: Nvidia question still can't have two non-basically-same cards with either brand.

[Mutant]

Fuel honestly don't bother looking into a computer that much till that time comes. It is going to be completely different by the time you actually get it.

The best advice ever tbh.


Looking at your requirements and looking at what you think you want seems to give a bit of a miss match.

While going all out on a massive build is fun, i find generally it is better to spend less more often, over the long term you end up with a better experience.
So how about this for a different take on things;

I would consider an AM3+ AMD rig with a ~$100 motherboard + $120 quad core.
AMDs new FX CPU line will give you a great upgrade in the future

Then go with a strong GPU, look at the $300-$400 area (in my opinion 6970 2GB rules that atm)


Then when a new gpu comes out with a good %20+ performance increase on what you have in the $300-$400 range buy that and sell your current card.

Upgrade your CPU when it starts to be a bottleneck. (this is where AMDs platform looks nice as AM3+ will be around for at least the next round of CPUs if not the lot after that)

This should let you game in full glory.
Use left over budget to buy yourself a new monitor / tv / other gadget ect..

[Fuel Truck]

Thanks for the insight Mutant, but I am pretty set on the Intel side of the spectrum.

And Goku, you are absolutely right about waiting. I'm gitty over getting a new system! I won't even be able to use it at all until the winter because I live offshore for the most part. But I can't resist the urge to atleast get a part lineup going!!

I won't be buying anything right now (if I can fight off the demons inside me :evil:), but here is roughly the final build.


CPU:
Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz

CPU Cooler:
Undecided, trying to research a good fit for my build

Motherboard:
ASUS P8Z68-V PRO

Memory:
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB

Graphics Card:
EVGA SuperClocked GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi)

Power Supply:
CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX950 950W (950W is overkill until I SLI the GTX580 and get into overclocking)

HDD:
1TB Unconfirmed brand (Not too important to me ATM)

SSD:
Crucial M4 2.5" 64GB SATA III

Case:
Corsair 600T (White)

Monitor:
Already have a 23.5" LG FLATRON E2350 (1080p)


I really like the ASUS z68 pro mobo becuase of a few options. One is the TPU switch on the board, which gives it basic overclocking without having to do anything at all. And also this sounds usefull also:

"INTEL SMART RESPONSE TECHNOLOGY
Faster Access, Bigger Storage Intel Smart Response Technology boosts overall system performance. It uses an installed fast SSD (min 18.6GB available) as a cache for frequently accessed operations, speeding up hard drive/main memory interaction. Key benefits are expedited hard drive speeds, reduced load and wait times and maximized storage utilization. Power consumption also goes down by reducing unnecessary hard drive spin, an important part of Green ASUS eco-friendly computing."

They call it SSD cache and it basically uses the SSD for a cache to speed everything up. It doesn't attain 100% SSD drive performance but I like how it helps with everything, not just what I put on the SSD.

[BorisBlade]

Well, I did some more research..

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1ord


Dropped the CPU to i5 2500k
Added a better CPU Cooler
Dropped RAM from 12GB to 8GB
Removed SSD (too spendy, maybe in the future when price goes down)
Added a 950W PSU. Should be able to handle GTX580 SLI in the future, I think..

Hopefully I'm more on the ball with this setup...

Thats actually a great setup man, mine is pretty darn close to that.

And yeah SSD's are waaay to pricey, but maybe by the time ps2 hits they will have some more reasonable ones. The tech is just too early atm imo, buggy and pricey. They do help tho in some performance areas and may be worth it when the time comes.