First Build (Possible)

[infidus]

Hi, my name is Nick and I am 18 years old. I received news that my parents would be providing my with a nice chunk of cash to build a PC possibly. I am currently using a dumb Gateway NX52 or something and it sucks! I would like to build a computer with the possibility of playing games like Crysis 1 and 2, Metro 2033, Battlefield 3, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.. Stuff like that, I am trying to switch over from an Xbox 360 guy.

This will be my first computer to build and setup myself, and I have been researching things about computers for a few months now and i thoroughly enjoy it.. enough in fact that next spring i will be attending college for a program and hopefully get a degree dealing with computer network security. Enough about my life story and onto the good stuff!

I'm not exactly sure on how much I will be getting but I am sure it will be around $1,000-$1,700 (U.S)

Here are my current thoughts on a pretty solid build.

Too start off here is the case I am pretty adamant on getting:

The NZXT Phantom case which this model is a Newegg exclusive.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146073

The Power Supply: KINGWIN Lazer Gold Series LZG-850 850W

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817121076

The CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072

The Video Card: Nvidia GTX 570

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0356937

The Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD4-B3

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128478

RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277

HDD: Seagate Barracuda St320005N1A1AS-RK 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148636

Disk Drive: SAMSUNG Black 12X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM SATA Internal Blu-ray Drive

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151222

I am thinking about going to Micro Center and picking up the Processor this week because its on sale for $180.

If anyone has any suggestions in possible change up in parts feel free to speak up! I do plan to eventually overclock this processor to its full potential.. just not with a stock cooler, in the future maybe in 2 months I will buy a liquid cooler, probably a corsair H70. I'll probably order extra fans in the future and fix this up to be really well cooled. Also further down the line I'll eventually upgrade the video card to another 570 or sell the 570 and get a 580.

Thank you all for reading this and if you have any questions on anything to get a better idea of what I want, ask!
Oh, sorry if I kind of over did this whole thing lol.


-Nick

 

[crewton]

It won't do much for you but it allows you to use the integrated graphics, quick sync, and ssd caching. None of those matter for gaming but if you want it for the sake of having it then sure I was going to get a z board but I didn't want to wait 2 more months and I was disappointed by the ssd caching. The only risk from it is that it's new. You don't know what issues haven't been discovered like the cougar point SATA error for p67 boards.

 

[striker410]

It won't do much for you but it allows you to use the integrated graphics, quick sync, and ssd caching. None of those matter for gaming but if you want it for the sake of having it then sure I was going to get a z board but I didn't want to wait 2 more months and I was disappointed by the ssd caching. The only risk from it is that it's new. You don't know what issues haven't been discovered like the cougar point SATA error for p67 boards.

+1 to that.

 

[infidus]

Yeah, I wont get it then. Won't be using integrated graphics.

 

[mjmjpfaff]

The reason to get the HIS is that it's *** reference design. Reference design cards have the dual bios switch, which is very helpful in flashing the cards to *** 6970. While I agree they don't really bring the sexy, it's all about the value. Plus, they'll be closed up in your case, you will only have to see them when you open it up
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161368&cm_re=6950-_-14-161-368-_-Product

i thought this was the referance design and it looks like it is after going around amd's website-
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161359&cm_re=his_6950-_-14-161-359-_-Product
i would only look at *** 6950 being *** 6950. dont you agree guys because that reference model is hard to come by

 

[infidus]

So, I was comparing the price of this build to the almost same build on ibuypower.com and its about $2000 on that website (WOW building your own pc is so much cheaper!) and it said for 2 6950's I should have at least a 900 or 1000 watt PSU, should I do that to be on the safe side?

 

[mjmjpfaff]

no 750w to 850w is plenty of power

 

[infidus]

ok, thanks!

 

[striker410]

i thought this was the referance design and it looks like it is after going around amd's website-
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161359&cm_re=his_6950-_-14-161-359-_-Product
i would only look at *** 6950 being *** 6950. dont you agree guys because that reference model is hard to come by

Ahh, you sire are correct. It appears that I did not link a reference model. My bad lol

 

[infidus]

Why are all the cool 6950's sold out

 

[raptorjesus]

Because everyone else wants two 2GB 6950's that can unlock to 6970s.

 

[infidus]

Looks like http://www.amazon.com/VisionTek-Radeon-GDDR5-Graphics-900352/dp/B004GUTBW8/ref=sr_1_12?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1305606398&sr=1-12 is unlockable.. Anything that anoyone know bad about the card?

 

[mjmjpfaff]

i think that same card is at tiger direct for cheaper they just came back in stock

 

[infidus]

How long do they take usually because the description says it takes a week to three weeks, not willing to wait three weeks on it though.

 

[infidus]

As of now, I have enough money to buy all the parts.. except a video card. My question is should I get the parts and set it all up and get it ready to go and when i get the cards just pop em in and play or just wait on the whole entire set up? I should be getting video cards in the beginning half of june.

 

[gametstr]

If u r going with a p67 mobo u MUST have a discrete video card.
if it were z68 u can run it without a discrete card uses the igp on the i5.

 

[infidus]

oh, nevermind then thanks for the info! I think i might order the parts and just have em lay around for a while before i get my cards.

 

[striker410]

Well with bulldozer coming out so soon, you'd best wait. I know it's tempting, but prices will most likely drop. It's usually better to get all the parts at one time.

 

[infidus]

I already bought my processor plus id never go with an amd processor after my *** laptop

 

[striker410]

Sorry, I should have clarified. I meant the introduction of Bulldozer will force intel to drop prices to stay competitive.

 

[infidus]

Oooh yeah I see what you mean now lol

 

[infidus]

Alright, everything is ordered.. Should have the computer up and running on June 1st.

Is there anything i can look at to see what software I should get to test the computer? like a list or something?

 

[raptorjesus]

RealTemp for chip temperature, prime95 to stress test cpu/cooler.

Unigine Heaven for DX11 gpu bench, I dont think 3dMark 11 is free so I just use Heaven to test my graphics card overclocking.

 

[infidus]

My order was shipped on newegg, should get it friday! I am completely stoked to get this beast going!

1 x NZXT Phantom PHAN-001BK Black Steel / Plastic Enthusiast ATX Full Tower Computer Case
1 x G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL
1 x Standard A133 Black USB Wired Optical 800 dpi Mouse
1 x KINGWIN Lazer Gold Series LZG-850 850W ATX 12V v2.2 / EPS 12V v2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
1 x SAMSUNG Black Blu-ray Drive SATA Model SH-B123L/RSBP LightScribe Support (Retail)
1 x HIS H695FT2G2M Radeon HD 6950 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity

Got the mobo, cpu, cpu cooler, and hard drive all at microcenter.

 

[striker410]

Nice! Once it's built, make sure to add it to the member system gallery I bet that thing is gonna be one sexy beast....

 

[infidus]

for sure! Had a lot of help from you guys too. Ill take lots of pictures and share em, and in 3 weeks I'm supposedly getting another 6950 but we will see now for newegg to get my stuff here asap...