Dear Gods of Tom's Hardware

[ghatt]

Dear Tom's Hardware Community,

About two years ago I asked the community for advice on building my system and found the replies and comments to be extremely helpful. I'm once again thinking of buying a new system and am hoping that some of you will have it in your hearts to steer me in the right direction and to make recommendations.

For starters; I am principally a PC gamer and would use my system primarily for gaming. Secondly, I'm not really comfortable overclocking (that's not to say that with the right advice and a little guidance I wouldn't overclock). Thirdly, I do all my business with a local computer shop that has treated me very well in the past few years.

So, to get down to it. The system that I'm interested in buying is listed on this page (It's the S-1155 Sandy Bridge)

http://www.mysterybyte.com/series/1/.

In case URLs scare you:

Details
•Intel Core i5-2500K Quad Core 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost 1155 95W BX80623I52500K
•CoolerMaster V8 CPU Cooler (AM2+/LGA775/S940/1366)
•ASUS SABERTOOTH R3 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 2XPCIEX16,4D.DDR3-1866MHZ 5YRS ASUS 1YR MB
•*G.SKILL Ripjaws X 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1333 (F3-10666CL9D-8GBXL) (MB 1YR) MFG Lifetime
•SAPPHIRE AMD RADEON HD6950 PCIe 2G DDR5 2DVI/2MiniDP/1HDMI (1YR MB Warranty)
•Intergrated Audio
•CORSAIR FORCE 2.5" 80GB SSD 285MB/s READ 275MB/s WRITE
•WD Caviar BLUE 1TB SATA-III WD10EALX 32MB 7200RPM 6GB/s (1yr MB Hot Swap/ 3YR MFG)
•Set Hard Drive(s) up as (1) One Large Partition
•LG GH22NS50 SATA BLACK DVD±RW (22X+/-) DUAL LAYER w/ no Software/ BLACK (1YR MB)
•Coolermaster HAF 912 *NO PS* MID TOWER (BLACK)
•Coolermaster eXTREME POWER+ 700W SLI/CF 2x6+2pin PCIe 24/20PIN +12v-52A (1YR MB) 2YR MFG
•MICROSOFT WINDOWS 7 Home Premium 64BIT on DVD OEM w/ 32Bit DVD Backup Disk
•$10.50 NS Enviro Handling (EHF) Fee w/ 1yr Parts & Labour Computer, PC & Servers Warranty

I have a budget of roughly $1800 and am simply looking to get the most bang out of my buck; the problem is that I don't really know much about current hardware, alternative options and how a system similar to this would benchmark. I assume that there are some parts that the community would recommend I swap out and some parts that ought to stay.

Thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to look at this system and give me some advice.

Greg

 

[lowriderflow]

like most people on here, we'd tell you not to pay $1500 when you can build that rig for $1000 or a bit less. But since you seem set, I'll offer up a few ideas...

dump the ddr1333 and get 1600... 1600 is the standard in this day in age for gaming rigs. (that motherboard supports up to 1866)

It comes with a monster v8 cooling unit... so it'd be silly not to overclock. that Asus motherboard will come with software that will literally do it for you. Install the software, click 1 button, and it will gradually overclock it until it reach a peak stable speed.

I'd probly upgrade to a 6970 video card... 6950 seems underpowered in a machine like that

 

[LOL123]

sorry to interupt but do you think the asus software is good at overclocking ? or should a person do it by themselves.


Thanks

 

[internetlad]

the asus software is pretty crap at OC'ing, if you really don't want to get your hands dirty you can use it, but I think you'll find you'll be far more comfortable with the OC and possibly even have a little fun if you try it yourself, just read up a bit first, and with a modern board it's a cakewalk anyways.

Past that, I wouldn't pay near that much for that system. IMO it should be around half the budget, not that the system itself is bad, it looks very close to what i'd pick up if i was buying right now, but that cost has been badly inflated if it's in USD.

EDIT Only thing i'd recommend is Coolermaster is kind of a meh brand for power supplies, The recommended one is generally Seasonic and my personal recommendation is an Antec.

 

[ghatt]

I should have indicated that the price listed on the website is 1. In Canadian Dollars and 2. A few months old.

I get the impression that you community would replace all of the parts. Like I said, I've got an operating budget of around 1500-1800. Should I scrap the parts that are listed there are try to build my own system (pick my own parts) with my budget?

Also, they have a more recent listing that seems to be upgraded both component wise and price wise. I'll post the link, this might be a better skeleton to work with and sub out and in parts.

http://www.mysterybyte.com/latest-builds/74/

Intel Core i7 950 Quad Core 3.06GHz 8MB Shared L3 cache and 1x4.8GT/s S-1366 Retail Box
ASUS P6X58D-E X58,2USB3,2SATA3,6DDR3,HD Audio,GbL,1394
Coolermaster HYPER N520 (LGA1366/1156/775/AM2+/939/940)
Kingston HyperX 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 KHX1600C9D3K3/6GX (MB 1YR) MFG Lifetime
SAPPHIRE AMD RADEON HD6950 PCIe 2G DDR5 2DVI/2MiniDP/1HDMI (1YR MB Warranty)
WD BLACK 1TB 3.5" 7200 RPM SATA3 6GB/S, 64MB (WD1002FAEX) (5YR MFG - 1YR MB)
LG GH22NS50 SATA BLACK DVD±RW (22X+/-) DUAL LAYER w/ no Software/ BLACK (1YR MB)
ANTEC DARK FLEET Mid-Tower (Blue led fans) DF-30 BLACK WINDOW no P.S.
CORSAIR Professional HX-850W Modular / EPS12V / Multi-GPU / 80 PLUS GOLD Certified / 7 Year MFG
MICROSOFT WINDOWS 7 Home Premium 64BIT on DVD OEM w/ 32Bit DVD Backup Disk

 

[ghatt]

Best answer selected by Ghatt.

 

[ghatt]

I didn't really understand the best answer business; I didn't think it'd earmark my post as "solved". I was just really kind of curious to see what it did. Anyways, so far, I know for sure that I should upgrade the videocard to the 6970. Are there any other changes people would recommend? (Ignore my first post, I'm working with the second model I listed now).

 

[Why_Me]

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/315644-31-dear-gods-hardware <---- I just saw your thread.

That outfit may be local, but their prices are a total hose job and then some. If you want, tell them you got PC parts for your birthday and pay them to assemble your build...but after looking at what they charge for their components I would not purchase from them unless I won a million dollar lottery...and then I still wouldn't.

Down below is a build that will allow you to add another one of those cards for Crossfire, and it will allow you to over clock. FREE SHIPPING for this entire build.

http://www.bestdirect.ca/products/216224/RC-922M-KKN1-GP/COOLERMASTER/ $93.50
Coolermaster Haf 922 Mid Tower ATX Case Black 5X5.25 5X3.5INT Front Audio USB eSATA No PSU

http://www.bestdirect.ca/products/228326/R4-LUS-07AR-GP/COOLERMASTER/ $11.00
Coolermaster Megaflow 200MM Red LED Case Fan 700RPM

http://www.bestdirect.ca/products/235791/P1750BNLG9/XFX/ $116.15
XFX 750W PRO750W XXX Edition Single Rail ATX 12V 62A 24PIN ATX Modular Power Supply 80PLUS Silver

http://www.bestdirect.ca/products/235030/GA-Z68A-D3H-B3/Gigabyte/ $129.36
Gigabyte Z68A-D3H-B3 ATX LGA1155 Z68 DDR3 3PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 HDMI DVI SLI SATA3 USB3.0 Motherboard

http://www.bestdirect.ca/products/232639/BX80623I52500K/Intel/ $208.79
Intel Core i5 2500K Quad Core Unlocked Processor LGA1155 3.3GHZ Sandy Bridge 6MB

http://www.bestdirect.ca/products/218427/RR-B10-212P-G1/COOLERMASTER/ $20.63
Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus Direct Touch 4 Heatpipe Heatsink

http://www.bestdirect.ca/products/232563/F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL/G.SKILL/ $60.48
G.SKILL Ripjaws X F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL 8GB 2X4GB DDR3-1600 CL9-9-9-24 Memory

http://www.bestdirect.ca/products/233111/ST31000524AS/Seagate/ $53.74
Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 7200.12 1TB SATA 32MB Cache 3.5IN Internal Hard Drive OEM

http://www.bestdirect.ca/products/225965/DRW-24B1ST%20Bulk/ASUS/ $17.79
ASUS DRW-24B1ST 24X SATA DVD Writer OEM Black

http://www.bestdirect.ca/products/235817/11188-05-50G/SAPPHIRE/ $289.30
Sapphire Radeon HD 6950 2GB GDDR5 PCI-E 2XDVI HDMI DisplayPort Video Card

http://www.bestdirect.ca/products/222137/GFC-00599/MICROSOFT/ $93.79
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64BIT DVD OEM

Total: $1,094.73

 

[jeremy1183]

^ listen to him..he is correct.... you could have even more fun building it yourself...even though it can aggravate you at time.

 

[manu 11]

go with a gtx 570, it is more powerful then a 6970