$2,500 build

[bigbuddaman]

Hi folks,

Just wanted your opinions on this build I put together. I haven't picked a GPU yet...thinking about using the iGPU for the moment and buy the GTX680 as its rumoured to be released in Feb. If not, then perhaps a 580?

Approximate Purchase Date: < a month

Budget Range: £1,600 ($2,500) max. I think parts in the UK are more expensive unfortunately!

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, movies and browsing. Doubt I'll be doing much else!

Parts Not Required: OS

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: From the UK so British sites. Novatech preferably.

Country: UK

Parts Preferences: n/a

Overclocking: Yes

SLI or Crossfire: Ideally not.

Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080


Monitor: BenQ XL2410T 24"
Case: NZXT Phantom Black Full Tower
Disc drive: LG GH22NS70
Mobo: Asus P8Z68-V Pro/Gen3 Intel Z68 (Socket 1155)
CPU: i5 2500k
RAM: G.Skill RipjawsX 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit
CPU cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212
PSU: Corsair TX 750W....unnecessary?
HDD: Samsung Spin Point F3 SATAII 1TB 32MB Cache Hard Drive
SSD: Crucial RealSSD M4 128GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s

Please let me know what you lot think, especially with regard to the GPU. I realise its a fairly run of the mill 2500k gaming build, but it's always nice to get some advice/criticism as this will be my first build

Thanks

 

[angaddev]

NZXT cases look cool, but I like Corsair cases for their wiring support. Try the 800D. The PSU is fine, if you're looking to SLI in teh future, get a 1000W. Good SSD choice, you;re pretty much good to go. I think you should get a 7970, they're a little more than teh 580, but they are much faster.

 

[Rockdpm]

What is the deal with everyone saying they need a 7970, even i was told to when i went SLI i was told no get a 7970???uh 250 vs 500$????ummm what????? ok no dude, you need to either get the 680 when it comes or if its possible SLI the 580. idk what specs are for NVIDIA's new kepler cards are gonna be but if the 680 beats 580 SLI then go for it. but if it doesnt either a good mid range 600 series or SLI 580. or even SLI 570. the difference between CUDA core count between 1 570 and one 580 is very little.

 

[g-unit1111]

If I'm spending $2500 on a PC I'll want it to be as future-proof as possible. I know it's Newegg and not available everywhere but this is what I'd get and you can find the equivalent parts where you live (I'll post the UK equivalents later):

Case: Corsair Carbide 500R - $139.99
PSU: PC Power & Cooling Silencer MKII 950W - $139.99
Motherboard: Asrock X79 Extreme 7 - $279.99
CPU: 3.20 GHz Intel Core i7-3930K - $599.99
Cooler: Corsair H80 - $94.99
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Z Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2133 - $139.99 (X79 certified)
SSD: Samsung 830 - $119.99
HD: 1TB Samsung Spinpoint - $159.99
Optical: Lite On DVD Burner - $19.99
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 - $559.99
Monitor: Asus VH238H Black 23" Full HD - $179.99

Total: $2369.99

With this build you get X79, support for future CPUs, support for native PCI-E 3.0 out of the box, quad channel RAM, and a liquid cooler.

 

[bigbuddaman]

NZXT cases look cool, but I like Corsair cases for their wiring support. Try the 800D. The PSU is fine, if you're looking to SLI in teh future, get a 1000W. Good SSD choice, you;re pretty much good to go. I think you should get a 7970, they're a little more than teh 580, but they are much faster.

Thanks for the reply. The case is often the part of the build which is up to the builder's taste I guess Have looked into the 800.... it has the wiring "hide away" panel as you mentioned which is luurvely but it is almost double the price of the NZXT. And I'm really into the look of this one.

Quite like the look of the 7970, but I just don't want to take the plunge and find nvidia's keplars blows it out of the water when they get released. Guess there is never a right time!

 

[bigbuddaman]

If I'm spending $2500 on a PC I'll want it to be as future-proof as possible. I know it's Newegg and not available everywhere but this is what I'd get and you can find the equivalent parts where you live (I'll post the UK equivalents later):

Case: Corsair Carbide 500R - $139.99
PSU: PC Power & Cooling Silencer MKII 950W - $139.99
Motherboard: Asrock X79 Extreme 7 - $279.99
CPU: 3.20 GHz Intel Core i7-3930K - $599.99
Cooler: Corsair H80 - $94.99
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Z Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2133 - $139.99 (X79 certified)
SSD: Samsung 830 - $119.99
HD: 1TB Samsung Spinpoint - $159.99
Optical: Lite On DVD Burner - $19.99
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 - $559.99
Monitor: Asus VH238H Black 23" Full HD - $179.99

Total: $2369.99

With this build you get X79, support for future CPUs, support for native PCI-E 3.0 out of the box, quad channel RAM, and a liquid cooler.

Thanks mate. How futureproof is it to go for X79 chipset then? Say in 2 years the 3930K doesn't cut it anymore- will future CPUs use the 2011 socket? Will the 1155 be used at all in the future for new CPUs?

What is the deal with everyone saying they need a 7970, even i was told to when i went SLI i was told no get a 7970???uh 250 vs 500$????ummm what????? ok no dude, you need to either get the 680 when it comes or if its possible SLI the 580. idk what specs are for NVIDIA's new kepler cards are gonna be but if the 680 beats 580 SLI then go for it. but if it doesnt either a good mid range 600 series or SLI 580. or even SLI 570. the difference between CUDA core count between 1 570 and one 580 is very little.

Yeah I'm leaning towards waiting for the 680. I'm a bit biased towards nvidia anyway (not based on much just from various people saying the driver support is better, and SLI being better than xfire). Seen some not-very-official rumours about 680 having a Feb release...I really hope this is true though!

 

[jmsellars1]

The Nvidia 600 series isn't due till April as far as I'm aware.

I'd go for the build originally specced but with the HD 7970 and a 650W PSU. (650W is more than enough unless you plan to Crossfire which is totally unnecessary for a single monitor imo.)

Also I wouldn't recommend going for anything other than the i5-2500k, great value for money and really no need to spend twice the money for a 10-20% improvement. Even though you have a high budget, you only need to spend where it's required then you can save your cash for some nice peripherals.

If you want to know any more good UK sites, here's a list:

www.aria.co.uk
www.ebuyer.com
www.scan.co.uk
www.dabs.com
www.overclockers.co.uk
www.microdirect.co.uk

 

[bigbuddaman]

The Nvidia 600 series isn't due till April as far as I'm aware.

I'd go for the build originally specced but with the HD 7970 and a 650W PSU. (650W is more than enough unless you plan to Crossfire which is totally unnecessary for a single monitor imo.)

Also I wouldn't recommend going for anything other than the i5-2500k, great value for money and really no need to spend twice the money for a 10-20% improvement. Even though you have a high budget, you only need to spend where it's required then you can save your cash for some nice peripherals.

If you want to know any more good UK sites, here's a list:

www.aria.co.uk
www.ebuyer.com
www.scan.co.uk
www.dabs.com
www.overclockers.co.uk
www.microdirect.co.uk

Cheers for the reply mate. If it is an April release, I will probably go for the 7970 in the end to be honest! Is the performance increase between a 580 and a 7970 worth the price do you think?

 

[jmsellars1]

At your budget I would say so, you should get a +20% increase in performance for around a +20% increase in price. The 3GB of memory is just a bonus.

Just added this up on www.aria.co.uk

i5-2500k
8GB Mushkin Blackline
ASUS P8Z68-V/Gen3
XFX HD 7970 3GB
Samsung 830 128GB
Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB
Corsair AX-650 650W
NZXT Phantom
Coolermaster Hyper 212+ Evo
DVD Burner

That comes to about £1300 so you have plenty to spend on a nice monitor like a Dell u2412m or something like this:

https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Monitors/26%26quot%3B%2B+Monitors/27%22+ASUS+VE278Q+Widescreen+LED+Monitor+w%2F+EXCLUSIVE+FREE+Xonar+Sound+Card%21+?productId=46363

 

[bigbuddaman]

At your budget I would say so, you should get a +20% increase in performance for around a +20% increase in price. The 3GB of memory is just a bonus.

Just added this up on www.aria.co.uk

i5-2500k
8GB Mushkin Blackline
ASUS P8Z68-V/Gen3
XFX HD 7970 3GB
Samsung 830 128GB
Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB
Corsair AX-650 650W
NZXT Phantom
Coolermaster Hyper 212+ Evo
DVD Burner

That comes to about £1300 so you have plenty to spend on a nice monitor like a Dell u2412m or something like this:

https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Monitors/26%26quot%3B%2B+Monitors/27%22+ASUS+VE278Q+Widescreen+LED+Monitor+w%2F+EXCLUSIVE+FREE+Xonar+Sound+Card%21+?productId=46363

Thats a nice basket mate, and seems cheaper than when I totted it up on Novatech too. Thanks very much indeed

 

[g-unit1111]

Thanks mate. How futureproof is it to go for X79 chipset then? Say in 2 years the 3930K doesn't cut it anymore- will future CPUs use the 2011 socket? Will the 1155 be used at all in the future for new CPUs?

I don't know actually. For sure 1155 will use Ivy but Intel has a whole slew of new CPUs slated for LGA2011 being released throughout this year from what I'm being told. X79 is the new X58 - it's geared toward performance enthusiasts who want the most future-proofing for their build.

Thats a nice basket mate, and seems cheaper than when I totted it up on Novatech too. Thanks very much indeed

That's a good build no question but my thing is if you want to be sure to future-proof your system, go X79. From what I was told the other day is that Intel's promised that X79 CPUs will be worth the investment as they'll have a 3 - 4 year lifespan tops where the Z68 will have minimum 1 - 2 years. However the PSU in that build is quite a bit underpowered as Sapphire recommends at minimum a 600W PSU, add all the drives, motherboard, everything else you plan to power and you're looking at 750 minimum, 850 to be on the safe side.

 

[jmsellars1]

They recommend a 600W minimum for the system as a whole, the card itself won't even pull 300W.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5261/amd-radeon-hd-7970-review/27

That shows the system pulling less than 400W while under load with the HD 7970.

EDIT: I just put it into a PSU estimator and it recommends 400-450W. Take some headroom and capacitor aging into account and you want to be looking at 600W. 650W is completely fine, especially on something top notch like the AX series.

 

[g-unit1111]

They recommend a 600W minimum for the system as a whole, the card itself won't even pull 300W.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5261/amd-radeon-hd-7970-review/27

That shows the system pulling less than 400W while under load with the HD 7970.

EDIT: I just put it into a PSU estimator and it recommends 400-450W. Take some headroom and capacitor aging into account and you want to be looking at 600W. 650W is completely fine, especially on something top notch like the AX series.

Ah, that makes sense. The AX series is Corsair's best so that's a good recommendation in my book.