Advice for an i5-2400 build with a GTX 560Ti SLI option

[ruddiger]

Hi folks,

I'm planning on building my next computer for the first time in the near future for a combination gaming/workhorse desktop use. I also want to try and keep it as open to upgrades as possible (within reason and cost).

I think I've decided on an i5-2400 since I don't plan on overclocking but want good performance and quad core for other non-gaming applications.

Ideally, I want to support dual monitors (mainly for multitasking; I don't necessarily need to game using both monitors) but I was also thinking about keeping a SLI option open by getting a gtx 560 Ti now and adding another down the road if I need it.

So this is the crux: I understand that if I'm not o/cing (which I won't be with the i5) then I don't really need a P67 or Z68 chipset on the mobo for the i5, but I've also read that the H67 chipset that I was going to go for may not support SLI depending on the manufacturer. Does anyone have any suggestions? Does keeping the SLI option open make sense as an avenue for upgrading in the future, and if so, would I need to likely upgrade to a P67 or Z68 chipset-based mobo?

Any thoughts or suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[inzone]

I would go with a z-68 chipset motherboard because the options that it has are good for a lot of things and you really don't know what you may need 6 months or 1 year from now.
The same goes for the cpu if you look at the line up of cpu's from Intel , from the i5-2300 up to the i5-2500k there are 8 cpu's in that sequence and they are seperated by $45 and because of that it makes sense to me to go with a z-68 MB and an i5-2500k cpu. The reason being the options that it gives you to do a lot of differnet setups with them. You may not intentionaly want to have a cpu that overclocks but if for some reason you needed the extra speed for something you were working on then you would have it there for you to use.
I'm just throwing that out there as a sugestion of what you could do , I don't ever like to cut off my options because I would rater have it and not use it then need it and not have it.
Like I said just a thought.

 

[muslim1993]

Hi folks,

I'm planning on building my next computer for the first time in the near future for a combination gaming/workhorse desktop use. I also want to try and keep it as open to upgrades as possible (within reason and cost).

I think I've decided on an i5-2400 since I don't plan on overclocking but want good performance and quad core for other non-gaming applications.

Ideally, I want to support dual monitors (mainly for multitasking; I don't necessarily need to game using both monitors) but I was also thinking about keeping a SLI option open by getting a gtx 560 Ti now and adding another down the road if I need it.

So this is the crux: I understand that if I'm not o/cing (which I won't be with the i5) then I don't really need a P67 or Z68 chipset on the mobo for the i5, but I've also read that the H67 chipset that I was going to go for may not support SLI depending on the manufacturer. Does anyone have any suggestions? Does keeping the SLI option open make sense as an avenue for upgrading in the future, and if so, would I need to likely upgrade to a P67 or Z68 chipset-based mobo?

Any thoughts or suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

what is ur budget???

 

[ruddiger]

what is ur budget???

muslim1993: I'm trying to get it all done for <$1000. I'm planning on saving $ in some areas since I don't really need a second monitor just yet so can wait for a good sale (so long as my TV with HDMI is good), don't need a huge HDD yet (figure I can upgrade later if needed, maybe add a SSD at that point), and don't need a blu-ray optical drive and will just get a cheaper DVD/CD read/write drive.

To both: I was thinking about trying to spec out a build for the i5-2400 and one for the i5-2500K and then compare the resulting cost/performance in determining which system I'd go for. It was then that I heard that if I want to do SLI that the H67 chipset which I was planning on using for the 2400 build might not surpport it. If that is the case (and if SLI is still a good option with the proposed dual screen set-up) then that kind of takes away from the usefulness of the 2400 build...

 

[diellur]

What about Crossfire? A lot more mobos support that, and the 6950 is equivalent performance to the 560Ti. Also, you can generally support more monitors off of a single AMD GPU than an Nvidia one...