First System - Thoughts?

[Suited_Up]

Never built a system, so I'm sure there's a chance when I get to it, I'll be back with more questions. But I'm pretty good at researching on my own. Believe it or not, I'm not the most computer savvy person on a regular basis, but I can narrow down reviews like a madman. 2 days of work and here's where I'm at.

I'm not much of a gamer at all, but I like the option if it happens to come up, so nothing too graphic intensive is necessary. I contemplated just going with the integrated graphics, but if anything, multiple monitors might be in my future, and I heard doing the DVI/VGA isn't the best, plus possible games. Anyway, look at the system and this might make sense.

I do heavy browsing, lots of tabs, some photoshop at times, not a ton. But my main goal was to build something semi future proof. I splurged a bit on the USB 3.0 case and Mobo. Plus I really like the reviews and features this mobo seems to have, so biases aside (Since I didn't have one to start with), this seems like a good one. Open to suggestions on anything though.

Sorry, still rambling, just trying to get my reasoning out there. Overclocking could be possible, probably not extreme OC though. Just for funsies, maybe even the auto option that seems to be in the Asrock BIOS. I wasn't sure if I would need a heatsink for that, but the case only has 2 fans, so I figured better safe than sorry, but I'm open to suggestions on that.

My toughest decisions were the case (Mostly because usb 3.0 narrows it down a lot), and the power supply, because I want to have enough power, but there's a good chance I won't use it to the full potential anyway. (As far as gaming and things like that.)


Price range isn't really set, basically, as cheap as possible, but still something really solid..... So here is what I put together, input is great. Sorry to ramble.


Cliffs:
Overall thoughts?
Is it worth getting USB 3.0 on the Mobo AND the Case?
PSU ok?
Heatsink needed?

Processor:
Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072

Motherboard and HDD Combo:
ASRock Z68 EXTREME4 GEN3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.711414

Case and Free Mouse Combo:
COOLER MASTER Storm Enforcer SGC-1000-KWN1 Black SECC / ABS Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case ATX PS2

COOLER MASTER Inferno SGM-4000-KLLN1-GP Wired 4000 dpi Gaming Mouse
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.720116

Heatsink:
COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1 "Heatpipe Direct Contact" Long Life Sleeve 120mm CPU Cooler
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065

RAM:
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231311

Graphics Card:
XFX HD-567X-ZNL3 Radeon HD 5670 1GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150535

Power Source:
Antec NEO ECO 520C 520W Continuous Power ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371030

Optical Drive:
ASUS 24X DVD Burner - Bulk 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Mode
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204

Wireless Card:
Rosewill RNX-N300 Wireless N Adapter IEEE 802.11b/g/n PCI (1T2R) Up to 300Mbps download and 150 Mbps upload
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833166038

Card Reader:
Rosewill RCR-IC002 74-in-1 USB 2.0 3.5" Internal Card Reader w/ USB port
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820223109


Final Price:

$818 Shipped

 

[Why_Me]

You have an expensive board meant for two cards, and a psu meant for a single card. That build looks decent except for a few obvious changes.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261222-31-build-advice <---- Please copy and paste this on here.

 

[Suited_Up]

You have an expensive board meant for two cards, and a psu meant for a single card. That build looks decent except for a few obvious changes.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261222-31-build-advice <---- Please copy and paste this on here.

I think I covered the things in there that matter. But USA if you really want to know.

 

[starravier]

You seriously dont need to spend that much on a mobo, regardless of reviews, you Spend what u saved on your mobo for a better graphics card for sure. Even hardcore gamers and enthusiasts would agree that, for what you are looking for, you wont need that mobo, but again its all up too you

ASUS P8P67 - 149
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131705

GIGABYTE GA-Z68X-UD4-B3 - 159
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128494

MSI P67A-G43
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130583

Change your PSU to a 600-700 watt of your choice

Antec EarthWatts EA-650 GREEN 650W - 69.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371044&cm_sp=Cat_Power_Supplies-_-Spotlight-_-17-371-044

COOLER MASTER GX Series RS650-ACAAE3-US 650W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171052

as for the graphics card, each have been put in the order from worst to best
all are between 100 - 200. As for what you need your comp for..these would be the best.

AMD: , 5770,6770, 6850, 6870
Nvidia: GTS 450, GTX 460, 550,560

 

[danraies]

Agreed on the previous comments about motherboards. It's a good board but you won't notice the difference if you buy a board that's $75 less with that setup. I'm partial to the ASUS P8Z68-V LE but, you know, I'm not here to judge.

The card you picked is one of the best in that price range for light gaming so it's a good choice. However you might want to think about a card that supports eyefinity (the lowest eyefinity cards aren't that much more expensive). Three monitors is awesome for the extreme multitasker. If you're willing to spend about $150 the 6850 is a really good bang-for-your-buck card. Judge your own gaming use, though - it doesn't make sense to pay for graphics that you don't plan on using.

Standard piece of advice is to buy 1600 RAM instead of 1333 - it doesn't cost much more and it does perform better.

I noticed your conspicuous lack of discussion on the topic of SSDs. You'll notice a significant increase in boot time and random read/writes. They're expensive, though, and easy enough to add later.

 

[Outlander_04]

You seriously dont need to spend that much on a processor either . A 2500k is way overkill for web browsing and a bit of photoshop .

Swap it out to the cheapest i5 quad

 

[danraies]

Newegg is going to have a shell shocker on ram today.
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 1600
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231314

You seriously dont need to spend that much on a processor either . A 2500k is way overkill for web browsing and a bit of photoshop .

Swap it out to the cheapest i5 quad

He's right but the 2500K will be a good processor for a long time if you can afford it. In terms of bang-for-your-buck it's hard to pick anything else.

 

[Suited_Up]

Plenty of good feedback, thanks. Basically this is the main review sold me on the Asrock, but I admittedly don't know a ton about how it would work in the real world. http://www.vortez.net/articles_pages/asrock_z68_extreme4_gen3_review,1.html

All the research and you get caught up in a lot of things that might not actually matter ya know?

An SSD would be nice, at least for booting the system and some bigger programs, but I'm not sure it's worth the price yet.

 

[Suited_Up]

Agreed on the previous comments about motherboards. It's a good board but you won't notice the difference if you buy a board that's $75 less with that setup. I'm partial to the ASUS P8Z68-V LE but, you know, I'm not here to judge.

Been doing a lot more looking into it and I think I'm actually switching to the one you recommended here. It seem to have everything I need, and nothing that's overkill. Good call.

Checking into the video card now.

 

[abekl]

If you want a really good case that's easy to work in and has 2 usb 3.0 and 2 usb 2.0 ports on the front of the case, look no further than the Cooler Master Storm Enforcer. I did a lot of research on cases before I went with this one, and have been thrilled with it.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119240

Newegg has a nice unboxing video of this case on their site. It's definitely worth your time to take a look at it.

 

[Suited_Up]

If you want a really good case that's easy to work in and has 2 usb 3.0 and 2 usb 2.0 ports on the front of the case, look no further than the Cooler Master Storm Enforcer. I did a lot of research on cases before I went with this one, and have been thrilled with it.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119240

Newegg has a nice unboxing video of this case on their site. It's definitely worth your time to take a look at it.

That's actually the one I have listed up there. It was the conclusion I came to also. Unless I can really save some money on a case without the front USB 3.0, but most of the lesser priced cases seem older. Top mounted PSU and whatnot. We'll see.

 

[Suited_Up]

Made some changes, doesn't lower my price, because I traded in value for SSD basically.

New Total shipped: $837 (Without RAM)

I already bought the Shellshocker deal mentioned earlier for the Gskill 8GB 1600 RAM for $45

New Mobo is the Asus mentioned above:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131773

Added: Crucial M4 64GB SSD:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148441

Changed Case to Rosewill Challenger:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147060

New PSU combo with HDD:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.707942