ZALMAN Z9 Plus Black Steel Case
Antec TruePower New TP-650 650W PSU
MSI P67A-GD65 Motherboard
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) Memory
MSI N560GTX-TI Twin Frozr II/OC GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB Graphics Card ($20 rebate)
Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz CPU
COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus CPU Cooler (combo'd with CPU)
2x ASUS VW224U Black 22" 2ms Widescreen LCD Monitor ($40 in rebates)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1.5TB 7200 RPM HDD
Logitech G500 Mouse
CyberPower 880 Surge Protector
Have to wait for the 120 Intel x25-m SSD to come back in stock to put this together though, sadly.
Anything I should be thinking about here? Anything last minute I should know? Any cables or cable management stuff I should toss in the order?
You're spending all that cash and are only getting 4 gigs of RAM?
The deal on the 8gig set up of that same ram died today, and I honestly haven't seen myself ever use all of the 4gigs of RAM I have in my current machine now as it is, so I figured it wasn't worth the $50 more.
I'd generally take the 1080p monitor, assuming your video card can handle that res with the settings you like.
And I run a multi-monitor setup with two different resolutions (1920x1080, 1600x900), but I don't run games across them or anything*. I just use the second monitor for extra screen real-estate for non-game tasks (and I love having it).
* - With the exception of a couple games that use the second monitor as a supplemental, such as World in Conflict (the second monitor acts as a full-screen map).
Man, the Xigmatek Asgard II is a hateful, hateful case. Not that you expect much for $30 and free shipping (the reason it's sold out, to be sure)...but man, it still fails to deliver.
Regardless, my extra parts went into it, and now it's my "spare" PC.
mcdermott on
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AlectharAlan ShoreWe're not territorial about that sort of thing, are we?Registered Userregular
ZALMAN Z9 Plus Black Steel Case
Antec TruePower New TP-650 650W PSU
MSI P67A-GD65 Motherboard
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) Memory
MSI N560GTX-TI Twin Frozr II/OC GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB Graphics Card ($20 rebate)
Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz CPU
COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus CPU Cooler (combo'd with CPU)
2x ASUS VW224U Black 22" 2ms Widescreen LCD Monitor ($40 in rebates)
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1.5TB 7200 RPM HDD
Logitech G500 Mouse
CyberPower 880 Surge Protector
Have to wait for the 120 Intel x25-m SSD to come back in stock to put this together though, sadly.
Anything I should be thinking about here? Anything last minute I should know? Any cables or cable management stuff I should toss in the order?
You're spending all that cash and are only getting 4 gigs of RAM?
The deal on the 8gig set up of that same ram died today, and I honestly haven't seen myself ever use all of the 4gigs of RAM I have in my current machine now as it is, so I figured it wasn't worth the $50 more.
Dude, the siren call of a $70 8GB Dual Channel Kit of Ripjaws. Plus, Sandy Bridge is rated for a max mem voltage of 1.5v anyway, so that's exactly what you want.
Well "luckily" my bank is retarded and decided not to recognize the check I just deposited yet, so my order was denied and I can adjust that. Didn't see that before.
1333 vs 1600 speeds going to be a noticeable downgrade?
Also, is there a limit on uses of coupon codes on newegg or something? For some reason the monitors coupon codes aren't working anymore. They say it's a valid code but I don't meet criteria. I added them directly from the deal page.
Well "luckily" my bank is retarded and decided not to recognize the check I just deposited yet, so my order was denied and I can adjust that. Didn't see that before.
1333 vs 1600 speeds going to be a noticeable downgrade?
Also, is there a limit on uses of coupon codes on newegg or something? For some reason the monitors coupon codes aren't working anymore. They say it's a valid code but I don't meet criteria. I added them directly from the deal page.
I don't think you can stack codes for the same item, but aside from that I don't know what restrictions there are.
You shouldn't notice any performance difference between 1333 and 1600, unless you do some synthetic benchmarks on your RAM, in which case stop wasting your time and go have sex with a girl (and/or guy) or something.
Also I figured out it's because you can only use a code on one order, and because I already "ordered" so the code had already been used. I contacted support to see if I can still get it if I cancel the order entirely. As of this point it's still on hold so I can just re-run it if necessary. Although now I do really want that ram.
edit: I suppose this would work as well just fine?
Also I figured out it's because you can only use a code on one order, and because I already "ordered" so the code had already been used. I contacted support to see if I can still get it if I cancel the order entirely. As of this point it's still on hold so I can just re-run it if necessary. Although now I do really want that ram.
edit: I suppose this would work as well just fine?
Any difference in the X series? It's only $10 more and matches better. Because color is important, dammit.
Well if you're married, there's definitely no excuse for spending time benchmarking your RAM.
Regarding the RAM: Tighter timings, so better performance. Doubt you'd notice in practical situations, but for $10? Go for it. Aesthetics are important.
Thanks for the help. I'm glad I got to build this rig, helped me catch up on the 3 years of technology changes I missed because I wasn't keeping up with it.
Thanks for the help. I'm glad I got to build this rig, helped me catch up on the 3 years of technology changes I missed because I wasn't keeping up with it.
It's no problem. The price of my services is pretty pretty pictures of the build, inside and out if possible.
And manage those cables!
As a side note, I got my first shipment in for the new build today. Just need the 2nd 580 and I need to suck it up and actually buy a motherboard. I keep hoping the ASUS P67 Pro board will magically pop back up again, but I'll probably end up going with the ASUS WS Revolution. God knows if I'm paying ~250 for a motherboard, I'm gonna get an NF200 out of the deal, not just bluetooth and a USB 3.0 front panel box.
The last thing I took out of the box was the TPQ 1200. One of the marks of a good PSU really is weight (I mean, it's not the defining attribute, but heavier does often mean more and better caps) and I gotta tell you that the Antec TPQ 1200 is heavy as fuck.
I'd generally take the 1080p monitor, assuming your video card can handle that res with the settings you like.
And I run a multi-monitor setup with two different resolutions (1920x1080, 1600x900), but I don't run games across them or anything*. I just use the second monitor for extra screen real-estate for non-game tasks (and I love having it).
* - With the exception of a couple games that use the second monitor as a supplemental, such as World in Conflict (the second monitor acts as a full-screen map).
Yeah, dual monitor is something that has always appealed to me. Maybe this is a good excuse. Of course, if I could save $170-$200 on my gaming budget by just using the 1680x1050, that's not too shabby either.
I just haven't been able to look at those resolutions side by side to see what the difference would be and wondered if anybody could tell me if I'm just nitpicking at this point.
I'd generally take the 1080p monitor, assuming your video card can handle that res with the settings you like.
And I run a multi-monitor setup with two different resolutions (1920x1080, 1600x900), but I don't run games across them or anything*. I just use the second monitor for extra screen real-estate for non-game tasks (and I love having it).
* - With the exception of a couple games that use the second monitor as a supplemental, such as World in Conflict (the second monitor acts as a full-screen map).
Yeah, dual monitor is something that has always appealed to me. Maybe this is a good excuse. Of course, if I could save $170-$200 on my gaming budget by just using the 1680x1050, that's not too shabby either.
I just haven't been able to look at those resolutions side by side to see what the difference would be and wondered if anybody could tell me if I'm just nitpicking at this point.
1920x1080 and 1600x900 happens to be exactly what my dual monitor setup is. Here is a screenshot of when I was playing with a program that would make windowed games appear to be full-screen. I didn't have it properly adjusted which is why Borderlands is like 2 pixels over to the other monitor. The black bit is the extra 150 pixels due to the secondary being smaller, so I got a small "invisible wall" on the bottom right corner of my main monitor and if my mouse cursor is at the bottom of the secondary then it will a bit above the start menu when I move it to the main.
I'd generally take the 1080p monitor, assuming your video card can handle that res with the settings you like.
And I run a multi-monitor setup with two different resolutions (1920x1080, 1600x900), but I don't run games across them or anything*. I just use the second monitor for extra screen real-estate for non-game tasks (and I love having it).
* - With the exception of a couple games that use the second monitor as a supplemental, such as World in Conflict (the second monitor acts as a full-screen map).
Yeah, dual monitor is something that has always appealed to me. Maybe this is a good excuse. Of course, if I could save $170-$200 on my gaming budget by just using the 1680x1050, that's not too shabby either.
I just haven't been able to look at those resolutions side by side to see what the difference would be and wondered if anybody could tell me if I'm just nitpicking at this point.
In games, I think 1680x1050 would be just fine. As long as you're at your monitor's native resolution, nearly any resolution is just fine, particularly at sub-30" sizes.
But, outside of games I find anything less than 1080p to be too constricting. Honestly, even 1080p is constricting to me. Many window elements in the desktop environment are, more or less, fixed in (pixel) size...so less resolution means less usable space.
So is it normal for an order to be stuck on processing (40%) on Newegg over a weekend? I called the bank right after I made the order yesterday and they said it went through ok, but Newegg isn't showing that it was charged.
So is it normal for an order to be stuck on processing (40%) on Newegg over a weekend? I called the bank right after I made the order yesterday and they said it went through ok, but Newegg isn't showing that it was charged.
In all my years of buying from newegg, I've never had something arrive DOA. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, because it does. But generally, the people who give stuff bad reviews because it arrived DOA are the exception, not the rule.
In all my years of buying from newegg, I've never had something arrive DOA. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, because it does. But generally, the people who give stuff bad reviews because it arrived DOA are the exception, not the rule.
I had a video card arrive DOA.
But that's, like, one thing after...maybe three complete builds (and a few upgrades). And getting it replaced was super-easy (though IIRC NewEgg won't generally cross-ship, which sucks...one thing I like about Amazon).
Well, that and I had a computer case arrive with a broken drive door.
Overall, not a bad record.
mcdermott on
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AlectharAlan ShoreWe're not territorial about that sort of thing, are we?Registered Userregular
In all my years of buying from newegg, I've never had something arrive DOA. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, because it does. But generally, the people who give stuff bad reviews because it arrived DOA are the exception, not the rule.
And really, I would guess that the majority (or at least a larger percentage) of people who get a DOA part go on to make a complaining 1 Egg review about it, whereas the vast majority of buyers, for whom the product worked just fine, don't bother to write anything at all, giving the impression that the likelihood of DOAs is significantly higher than it is.
I mean, I've never received anything damaged from Newegg, and have also never written a review.
In all my years of buying from newegg, I've never had something arrive DOA. I'm not saying it doesn't happen, because it does. But generally, the people who give stuff bad reviews because it arrived DOA are the exception, not the rule.
And really, I would guess that the majority (or at least a larger percentage) of people who get a DOA part go on to make a complaining 1 Egg review about it, whereas the vast majority of buyers, for whom the product worked just fine, don't bother to write anything at all, giving the impression that the likelihood of DOAs is significantly higher than it is.
I mean, I've never received anything damaged from Newegg, and have also never written a review.
I think a lot of people accidentally touch a component after plugging it in, or do it in a high-static environment, or plug it into a motherboard that doesn't support it, or forget to apply heat sink, etc... The sheer number of "DOA" reports just seems really high. I've really never gotten anything DOA from NewEgg and bought tons of parts. I have accidentally fried stuff in my early days of system building, and sent it back--not lying about it or claiming DOA.
Hey guys! I've decided that I'm going to start saving up for a new compy and I'm going to buy it around July/August. What I would like to know is how much I should expect prices to drop between now and then. I'm going to be building this one from the ground up to have a 2nd desktop at home and the only thing I won't be buying is a keyboard. Aside from a recycled keyboard I'll be buying everything from a new monitor to a new case.
What components should I be expecting price drops for between now and August and which component prices will remain relatively stable?
EDIT: Mostly I would like to know for budgeting purposes so I know how much I should be setting aside for buying the parts. Your help is greatly appreciated.
Hey guys! I've decided that I'm going to start saving up for a new compy and I'm going to buy it around July/August. What I would like to know is how much I should expect prices to drop between now and then. I'm going to be building this one from the ground up to have a 2nd desktop at home and the only thing I won't be buying is a keyboard. Aside from a recycled keyboard I'll be buying everything from a new monitor to a new case.
What components should I be expecting price drops for between now and August and which component prices will remain relatively stable?
EDIT: Mostly I would like to know for budgeting purposes so I know how much I should be setting aside for buying the parts. Your help is greatly appreciated.
If you were buying today, how much would you want to spend? We need to get an idea of what kind of hardware you were looking at/performance level you were looking for before we can speculate (likely poorly) on their price in 3 months.
Hey guys! I've decided that I'm going to start saving up for a new compy and I'm going to buy it around July/August. What I would like to know is how much I should expect prices to drop between now and then. I'm going to be building this one from the ground up to have a 2nd desktop at home and the only thing I won't be buying is a keyboard. Aside from a recycled keyboard I'll be buying everything from a new monitor to a new case.
What components should I be expecting price drops for between now and August and which component prices will remain relatively stable?
EDIT: Mostly I would like to know for budgeting purposes so I know how much I should be setting aside for buying the parts. Your help is greatly appreciated.
If you were buying today, how much would you want to spend? We need to get an idea of what kind of hardware you were looking at/performance level you were looking for before we can speculate (likely poorly) on their price in 3 months.
I've been been planning a new build on-again-off-again for like a year and a half. Every time I come back to it, I end up with it costing pretty much exactly what the previous one cost except with better parts.
I'd suggest just figuring out how much you want to spend and then put the build together at that price-point when you're ready to buy.
If you were buying today, how much would you want to spend? We need to get an idea of what kind of hardware you were looking at/performance level you were looking for before we can speculate (likely poorly) on their price in 3 months.
I'm thinking about $1200 in parts with about $1500 in total including taxes, shipping, and the OS.
Right now the parts on the wishlist are costing $1600 if I buy them right this moment, and I have price alerts set on all of them for the 25% off. I would share my wishlist but it's not showing up on the public wishlists yet.
The main thing is I'll be saving for this for the next 4-5 months, and I can buy parts piecemeal to give a little boost to my current computer. There are 12 items on the wishlist and I could use 8 of them on my current computer. The other 4 being the Mobo, CPU, RAM, and Hard Drive. I'll probably only buy those 4 early if they go below my price alert or there's a really good deal on a similar version.
In summary, the main question would be is it reasonable to think that I could get a currently $1600 machine for $1200 in 4-5 months through a combination of price watching and technology cost decreases, or am I stretching too much?
Waiting on an RMA is the worst feeling. Tracking says it was delivered this morning. Your site lists it as in transit! Plus I know it's still going to take a few days to review it, a few days to either give me a refund or realize i forgot to include one accessory (Not sure how they'd handle that) and then a few more days for me to get the new board I want to buy!
Ugh. I'm glad this is the only time I've ever had to put up with this and it wasn't newegg's fault. Just intel's for releasing motherboards where metal rubbed on metal.
Woo, Newegg finished processing, charged my card fully, should ship out tomorrow hopefully. Also the Intel x25-m 120GB SSD re-stocked and I ordered that and an IDE cable for my crappy DVD Drive I'm going to install just to install windows.
So hopefully by the end of the week parts will start arriving!
Finally got to deposit my paycheck, rejoicing that I would just manage to pick up the discounted Spinpoint F3 1TB before the Newegg sale ends tonight, and of course its sold out.
IMO, drop it to an i5 CPU, and maybe cut the case back a bit?
Also maybe cut back the PSU as well, if you do the CPU.
Ok, going down to the i5 will save me a cool $100 but how different would it be?
I can also cut down on the Blu-Ray and save $70 there if I have too.
The reason I want the case is for the fans really. My current computer is in an Antec 300 and it's a great case but my CPU idles at 50 C and my graphics card just burnt out. The main drawback to living in L.A. I'd cut down on the PSU too but I'm eventually going to buy another copy of the GPU and put them together in SLI, would 750 still be too much for that?
I just ordered this one, should work pretty good for you too.
As for CPU, I haven't tried either to be honest, but I've heard that the difference isn't worth the price. But that's just from reviews and such. Nothing solid.
edit: Also I'm looking at case lighting, someone stop me.
edit2: Aaand you took too long. Just ordered some green LEDs and some cable ties. I blame everyone here.
How much of a price drop should I be anticipating between now and August?
EDIT: Also, is there anything I should be spending less on? I don't want to spend a bunch of money i could instead save and see no difference.
*Cracks neck*
Okay, as UEAKCrash indicated, the i5-2500K is probably the best value for gaming CPUs at the moment. The only significant difference between the 2500K and the 2600K is that the 2500K lacks Hyper Threading. If you do a lot of multi-threaded workloads (and I mean a lot) the 2600K might justify itself for you, but I'd bet that you'll never, ever notice the difference.
Don't spend 170.00 on a 2TB HDD. For that price you could nearly get 3 of these and be very happy. Don't spend 100.00 on RAM, if you were buying now I'd tell you to pick these up, it's unlikely you'd ever note the difference. By the time you buy in July, RAM and HDD prices are supposed to have gone up. Will they? We'll see.
I'd go with this PSU over that Corsair, you won't need more than 650W, even if you go with SLI'd 560 Tis. Newegg doesn't have them now, but by July they should have the ASUS P8P67-PRO back, and that would be my go to motherboard, it'll probably run about $190.00.
Finally, do not buy the Antec 900. The fact that they are still charging $100.00 for that case makes me want to burn down an orphanage. Well, that could also be because I'm off my meds. Regardless, the 900 was a great case when it came out, it helped give rise to a world of enthusiast cases that it has failed utterly at staying competitive with. At $100 after S&H, the Cooler Master 690 II is simply a far, far better case.
So yeah, there you go. Depending on how GPU sales go, you might see price drops there. I'm not particularly research savvy on that front, but from what I can remember we don't have any major new hardware launches incoming before July that might act to drive prices down, so I'd bet on your buying power then being roughly the same as now.
Okay, as UEAKCrash indicated, the i5-2500K is probably the best value for gaming CPUs at the moment. The only significant difference between the 2500K and the 2600K is that the 2500K lacks Hyper Threading. If you do a lot of multi-threaded workloads (and I mean a lot) the 2600K might justify itself for you, but I'd bet that you'll never, ever notice the difference.
Don't spend 170.00 on a 2TB HDD. For that price you could nearly get 3 of these and be very happy. Don't spend 100.00 on RAM, if you were buying now I'd tell you to pick these up, it's unlikely you'd ever note the difference. By the time you buy in July, RAM and HDD prices are supposed to have gone up. Will they? We'll see.
I'd go with this PSU over that Corsair, you won't need more than 650W, even if you go with SLI'd 560 Tis. Newegg doesn't have them now, but by July they should have the ASUS P8P67-PRO back, and that would be my go to motherboard, it'll probably run about $190.00.
Finally, do not buy the Antec 900. The fact that they are still charging $100.00 for that case makes me want to burn down an orphanage. Well, that could also be because I'm off my meds. Regardless, the 900 was a great case when it came out, it helped give rise to a world of enthusiast cases that it has failed utterly at staying competitive with. At $100 after S&H, the Cooler Master 690 II is simply a far, far better case.
So yeah, there you go. Depending on how GPU sales go, you might see price drops there. I'm not particularly research savvy on that front, but from what I can remember we don't have any major new hardware launches incoming before July that might act to drive prices down, so I'd bet on your buying power then being roughly the same as now.
First of all, thank you UEAKCrash and Alecthar for your help.
Second of all are the suggestions I will adopt immediately. I will no question go with the 2500K. My only question was about the lack of hyperthreading but you answered it. I'm gonna go for the cheaper RAM, and I'm going to switch to that motherboard. It's currently in stock at 189.99.
Lastly are the suggestions I have questions about. The reason I have that 2 TB HDD selected, I think(I may be wrong), is for the 6.0gb/s SATA, its 64 MB cache, and lastly that 2 TB is the size I think I need. My current 1.5 TB setup has about 300 GB left on it and so 2 seems like what I should go with, but I can do 3 if it's affordable.
With the PSU I'm wondering if it will stay that price. It's regular price is only $10 less than the 750W one in my wishlist and I'm wondering if the 750 will see a similar price cut between now and August or if I may miss out on the current price cut on the Antec 650.
Finally, with the case I don't see the sizes for the additional fans or how much adding those fans would cost(I know it says you can add 10 but it only gives that 5 are 150 mm). I know it's cheaper up front but with adding a bunch of fans it seems like it would be more expensive. I really don't know much about cases so can you elaborate on its superiority?
Okay, as UEAKCrash indicated, the i5-2500K is probably the best value for gaming CPUs at the moment. The only significant difference between the 2500K and the 2600K is that the 2500K lacks Hyper Threading. If you do a lot of multi-threaded workloads (and I mean a lot) the 2600K might justify itself for you, but I'd bet that you'll never, ever notice the difference.
Don't spend 170.00 on a 2TB HDD. For that price you could nearly get 3 of these and be very happy. Don't spend 100.00 on RAM, if you were buying now I'd tell you to pick these up, it's unlikely you'd ever note the difference. By the time you buy in July, RAM and HDD prices are supposed to have gone up. Will they? We'll see.
I'd go with this PSU over that Corsair, you won't need more than 650W, even if you go with SLI'd 560 Tis. Newegg doesn't have them now, but by July they should have the ASUS P8P67-PRO back, and that would be my go to motherboard, it'll probably run about $190.00.
Finally, do not buy the Antec 900. The fact that they are still charging $100.00 for that case makes me want to burn down an orphanage. Well, that could also be because I'm off my meds. Regardless, the 900 was a great case when it came out, it helped give rise to a world of enthusiast cases that it has failed utterly at staying competitive with. At $100 after S&H, the Cooler Master 690 II is simply a far, far better case.
So yeah, there you go. Depending on how GPU sales go, you might see price drops there. I'm not particularly research savvy on that front, but from what I can remember we don't have any major new hardware launches incoming before July that might act to drive prices down, so I'd bet on your buying power then being roughly the same as now.
First of all, thank you UEAKCrash and Alecthar for your help.
Second of all are the suggestions I will adopt immediately. I will no question go with the 2500K. My only question was about the lack of hyperthreading but you answered it. I'm gonna go for the cheaper RAM, and I'm going to switch to that motherboard. It's currently in stock at 189.99.
Lastly are the suggestions I have questions about. The reason I have that 2 TB HDD selected, I think(I may be wrong), is for the 6.0gb/s SATA, its 64 MB cache, and lastly that 2 TB is the size I think I need. My current 1.5 TB setup has about 300 GB left on it and so 2 seems like what I should go with, but I can do 3 if it's affordable.
With the PSU I'm wondering if it will stay that price. It's regular price is only $10 less than the 750W one in my wishlist and I'm wondering if the 750 will see a similar price cut between now and August or if I may miss out on the current price cut on the Antec 650.
Finally, with the case I don't see the sizes for the additional fans or how much adding those fans would cost(I know it says you can add 10 but it only gives that 5 are 150 mm). I know it's cheaper up front but with adding a bunch of fans it seems like it would be more expensive. I really don't know much about cases so can you elaborate on its superiority?
Lostprophet, I like you. You asked me to elaborate on something, and I love to elaborate on things.
So, for the HDD, I have a deep and abiding dislike of paying more per gigabyte than I actually have to. That Seagate drive (and the WD Caviar Black that it's a lot like) are great drives, of that I have little doubt, but you end up paying like $85 per terabyte on those drives, when you could buy 2 really nice 1TB drives and save $40. You don't even have to put them in a RAID, just use one as a system/game drive and the other for pornography...I mean school work. As for SATA III and the cache size: 32MB is standard for a 1TB drive, so 64MB is the right amount for 2TB, and I couldn't care less about SATA 6Gb/s for HDDs, as no 7200 RPM drive is ever going to saturate the 3Gb/s link that we were working with before.
As for the PSU, you're right, that price might fluctuate. PSUs aren't really susceptible to price dropping like other parts are, but they do go on sale. Your best bet is to buy a good, well-reviewed PSU from a reputable vendor, I'd say in the 650W range. Keep an eye out on competing quality PSUs and make sure you aren't spending more than you have to at that wattage range. When possible, buy modular, but don't break the bank to do so.
And the case. Basically the 900 lacks key cable management features, has an unpainted interior, and just doesn't have the same well thought out design that the 690 II does. And while the 690 II does come with 1 fewer fan, the basic setup that comes on it is really quite good. The 690 II also uses mostly 140mm fans, so (aside from the top 200mm on the 900) the fans should likely be quieter. My case recommendation here isn't a question of expense, it's a question of value. You'll find building in the 690 II to be vastly easier than in the 900, and it'll look better when you're finished. Unless you plan on really OCing your 2500K, the case airflow that comes standard should be fine.
Lostprophet, I like you. You asked me to elaborate on something, and I love to elaborate on things.
So, for the HDD, I have a deep and abiding dislike of paying more per gigabyte than I actually have to. That Seagate drive (and the WD Caviar Black that it's a lot like) are great drives, of that I have little doubt, but you end up paying like $85 per terabyte on those drives, when you could buy 2 really nice 1TB drives and save $40. You don't even have to put them in a RAID, just use one as a system/game drive and the other for pornography...I mean school work. As for SATA III and the cache size: 32MB is standard for a 1TB drive, so 64MB is the right amount for 2TB, and I couldn't care less about SATA 6Gb/s for HDDs, as no 7200 RPM drive is ever going to saturate the 3Gb/s link that we were working with before.
As for the PSU, you're right, that price might fluctuate. PSUs aren't really susceptible to price dropping like other parts are, but they do go on sale. Your best bet is to buy a good, well-reviewed PSU from a reputable vendor, I'd say in the 650W range. Keep an eye out on competing quality PSUs and make sure you aren't spending more than you have to at that wattage range. When possible, buy modular, but don't break the bank to do so.
And the case. Basically the 900 lacks key cable management features, has an unpainted interior, and just doesn't have the same well thought out design that the 690 II does. And while the 690 II does come with 1 fewer fan, the basic setup that comes on it is really quite good. The 690 II also uses mostly 140mm fans, so (aside from the top 200mm on the 900) the fans should likely be quieter. My case recommendation here isn't a question of expense, it's a question of value. You'll find building in the 690 II to be vastly easier than in the 900, and it'll look better when you're finished. Unless you plan on really OCing your 2500K, the case airflow that comes standard should be fine.
Ok, you've convinced me to buy that case and to watch more PSU's, but I'm still unsure about the HDD.
There is this HDD that has the 6.0gb/s but lacks the 64 MB cache and it saves me $70 but doesnt show its RPM. If I went with the 3.0 gb/s it would be even cheaper. Is it worth the extra $70 to have a cache twice as large? How do cache size and SATA speed affect my computer? I have a superb collection of school work and wouldn't want to have difficulty moving it around and my music too.
EDIT: According to one of its reviews the HDD has 5900 RPM.
Hey dudes, I'll have enough money to order all the parts for my first build in 14 days, and I've made a few changes..
HDD Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB HD103SJ 69 RAM Corsair CMX4GX3M1A1333C9 4GB (1x4GB) DDR3 55 Case CoolerMaster CM 690 II Advanced 119 PSU CoolerMaster GX 750W PSU 125 GPU Gainward GeForce GTX 560 Ti 1GB Golden Sample 279 CPU Intel Core i5 2500 229 MOBO MSI H67MA-E45 Motherboard B3 135 Optical Samsung SH-B123A 12X Blu-ray DVD Combo Drive 99 Monitor ASUS VE247H 23.6inch Widescreen LED Monitor 215
Total: $1325
All of the parts will be from PCcaseGear.com.au. I'll be using the computer for gaming and uni work. My budget is $1500, but less would obviously be better
Let me know what sort of improvements I could make. I'm happy to spend a bit more money if it means I'll increase performance. Thanks, dudes!
Posts
The deal on the 8gig set up of that same ram died today, and I honestly haven't seen myself ever use all of the 4gigs of RAM I have in my current machine now as it is, so I figured it wasn't worth the $50 more.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3143305&CatId=2775
It's a few years old, but looks to be running well.
Specs:
Samsung 216BW 21.6" Widescreen LCD Monitor
Pixel Pitch: 0.276 x 0.276
Display Colors: 16.7 million
Vertical Refresh Rate: 56 ~ 75Hz
Horizontal Frequency: 30 ~ 81kHz
Input Video Signal: 15-pin D-sub
DVI-D with HDCP
Maximum Resolution: 1680 x 1050
Contrast Ratio: Dynamic 3000:1
Static 1000:1
Brightness: 300 cd/m²
Response Time: 5 ms
Horizontal Viewing Angle: 170 degrees
Vertical Viewing Angle: 160 degrees
Cabinet Color: Gloss Black
VESA Mounting Compliant: VESA 100mm
Unit Dimensions (WxHxD): 20.2" x 13.9" x 2.4"
Dimensions With Stand: 20.2" x 16.6" x 8.6"
Unit Weight: 10.8 lbs.
Power Consumption: 50 Watts
Is there any advantage over a monitor like this? Is it worth the $189 price tag for the extra real estate and higher res?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236052
Specs:
ASUS VH242H Black 23.6"
23.6"
Widescreen
Yes
Maximum Resolution
1920 x 1080
Recommended Resolution
1920 x 1080
Viewing Angle
170°(H) / 160°(V)
Pixel Pitch
0.272mm
Display Colors
16.7 Million
Brightness
300 cd/m2
Contrast Ratio
1000:1 (ASCR 20000:1)
Response Time
5ms
Horizontal Refresh Rate
30 ~ 83 KHz
Vertical Refresh Rate
50 ~ 75 Hz
Or hey, any issue with doing a multi-monitor with those displays or would I be better off matching the size and resolution?
Warframe: TheBaconDwarf
And I run a multi-monitor setup with two different resolutions (1920x1080, 1600x900), but I don't run games across them or anything*. I just use the second monitor for extra screen real-estate for non-game tasks (and I love having it).
* - With the exception of a couple games that use the second monitor as a supplemental, such as World in Conflict (the second monitor acts as a full-screen map).
Regardless, my extra parts went into it, and now it's my "spare" PC.
Dude, the siren call of a $70 8GB Dual Channel Kit of Ripjaws. Plus, Sandy Bridge is rated for a max mem voltage of 1.5v anyway, so that's exactly what you want.
Battle.net
1333 vs 1600 speeds going to be a noticeable downgrade?
Also, is there a limit on uses of coupon codes on newegg or something? For some reason the monitors coupon codes aren't working anymore. They say it's a valid code but I don't meet criteria. I added them directly from the deal page.
I don't think you can stack codes for the same item, but aside from that I don't know what restrictions there are.
You shouldn't notice any performance difference between 1333 and 1600, unless you do some synthetic benchmarks on your RAM, in which case stop wasting your time and go have sex with a girl (and/or guy) or something.
Seriously.
Battle.net
Also I figured out it's because you can only use a code on one order, and because I already "ordered" so the code had already been used. I contacted support to see if I can still get it if I cancel the order entirely. As of this point it's still on hold so I can just re-run it if necessary. Although now I do really want that ram.
edit: I suppose this would work as well just fine?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231440
Any difference in the X series? It's only $10 more and matches better. Because color is important, dammit.
Well if you're married, there's definitely no excuse for spending time benchmarking your RAM.
Regarding the RAM: Tighter timings, so better performance. Doubt you'd notice in practical situations, but for $10? Go for it. Aesthetics are important.
Battle.net
It's no problem. The price of my services is pretty pretty pictures of the build, inside and out if possible.
And manage those cables!
As a side note, I got my first shipment in for the new build today. Just need the 2nd 580 and I need to suck it up and actually buy a motherboard. I keep hoping the ASUS P67 Pro board will magically pop back up again, but I'll probably end up going with the ASUS WS Revolution. God knows if I'm paying ~250 for a motherboard, I'm gonna get an NF200 out of the deal, not just bluetooth and a USB 3.0 front panel box.
The last thing I took out of the box was the TPQ 1200. One of the marks of a good PSU really is weight (I mean, it's not the defining attribute, but heavier does often mean more and better caps) and I gotta tell you that the Antec TPQ 1200 is heavy as fuck.
Battle.net
Also, for future reference, if you cancel the order completely and it gets voided you re-gain usage of coupon codes.
Yeah, dual monitor is something that has always appealed to me. Maybe this is a good excuse. Of course, if I could save $170-$200 on my gaming budget by just using the 1680x1050, that's not too shabby either.
I just haven't been able to look at those resolutions side by side to see what the difference would be and wondered if anybody could tell me if I'm just nitpicking at this point.
Warframe: TheBaconDwarf
1920x1080 and 1600x900 happens to be exactly what my dual monitor setup is. Here is a screenshot of when I was playing with a program that would make windowed games appear to be full-screen. I didn't have it properly adjusted which is why Borderlands is like 2 pixels over to the other monitor. The black bit is the extra 150 pixels due to the secondary being smaller, so I got a small "invisible wall" on the bottom right corner of my main monitor and if my mouse cursor is at the bottom of the secondary then it will a bit above the start menu when I move it to the main.
In games, I think 1680x1050 would be just fine. As long as you're at your monitor's native resolution, nearly any resolution is just fine, particularly at sub-30" sizes.
But, outside of games I find anything less than 1080p to be too constricting. Honestly, even 1080p is constricting to me. Many window elements in the desktop environment are, more or less, fixed in (pixel) size...so less resolution means less usable space.
Just a weekend issue?
That's what I'd bet, yeah.
Battle.net
I had a video card arrive DOA.
But that's, like, one thing after...maybe three complete builds (and a few upgrades). And getting it replaced was super-easy (though IIRC NewEgg won't generally cross-ship, which sucks...one thing I like about Amazon).
Well, that and I had a computer case arrive with a broken drive door.
Overall, not a bad record.
And really, I would guess that the majority (or at least a larger percentage) of people who get a DOA part go on to make a complaining 1 Egg review about it, whereas the vast majority of buyers, for whom the product worked just fine, don't bother to write anything at all, giving the impression that the likelihood of DOAs is significantly higher than it is.
I mean, I've never received anything damaged from Newegg, and have also never written a review.
Battle.net
I think a lot of people accidentally touch a component after plugging it in, or do it in a high-static environment, or plug it into a motherboard that doesn't support it, or forget to apply heat sink, etc... The sheer number of "DOA" reports just seems really high. I've really never gotten anything DOA from NewEgg and bought tons of parts. I have accidentally fried stuff in my early days of system building, and sent it back--not lying about it or claiming DOA.
They are really great about returns.
What components should I be expecting price drops for between now and August and which component prices will remain relatively stable?
EDIT: Mostly I would like to know for budgeting purposes so I know how much I should be setting aside for buying the parts. Your help is greatly appreciated.
Check out the Penny Arcade World of Tanks thread to join us in some fun times.
If you were buying today, how much would you want to spend? We need to get an idea of what kind of hardware you were looking at/performance level you were looking for before we can speculate (likely poorly) on their price in 3 months.
Battle.net
I've been been planning a new build on-again-off-again for like a year and a half. Every time I come back to it, I end up with it costing pretty much exactly what the previous one cost except with better parts.
I'd suggest just figuring out how much you want to spend and then put the build together at that price-point when you're ready to buy.
I'm thinking about $1200 in parts with about $1500 in total including taxes, shipping, and the OS.
Right now the parts on the wishlist are costing $1600 if I buy them right this moment, and I have price alerts set on all of them for the 25% off. I would share my wishlist but it's not showing up on the public wishlists yet.
The main thing is I'll be saving for this for the next 4-5 months, and I can buy parts piecemeal to give a little boost to my current computer. There are 12 items on the wishlist and I could use 8 of them on my current computer. The other 4 being the Mobo, CPU, RAM, and Hard Drive. I'll probably only buy those 4 early if they go below my price alert or there's a really good deal on a similar version.
In summary, the main question would be is it reasonable to think that I could get a currently $1600 machine for $1200 in 4-5 months through a combination of price watching and technology cost decreases, or am I stretching too much?
Check out the Penny Arcade World of Tanks thread to join us in some fun times.
Ugh. I'm glad this is the only time I've ever had to put up with this and it wasn't newegg's fault. Just intel's for releasing motherboards where metal rubbed on metal.
So hopefully by the end of the week parts will start arriving!
http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=20045367
How much of a price drop should I be anticipating between now and August?
EDIT: Also, is there anything I should be spending less on? I don't want to spend a bunch of money i could instead save and see no difference.
Check out the Penny Arcade World of Tanks thread to join us in some fun times.
Also maybe cut back the PSU as well, if you do the CPU.
Ok, going down to the i5 will save me a cool $100 but how different would it be?
I can also cut down on the Blu-Ray and save $70 there if I have too.
The reason I want the case is for the fans really. My current computer is in an Antec 300 and it's a great case but my CPU idles at 50 C and my graphics card just burnt out. The main drawback to living in L.A. I'd cut down on the PSU too but I'm eventually going to buy another copy of the GPU and put them together in SLI, would 750 still be too much for that?
Check out the Penny Arcade World of Tanks thread to join us in some fun times.
I just ordered this one, should work pretty good for you too.
As for CPU, I haven't tried either to be honest, but I've heard that the difference isn't worth the price. But that's just from reviews and such. Nothing solid.
edit: Also I'm looking at case lighting, someone stop me.
edit2: Aaand you took too long. Just ordered some green LEDs and some cable ties. I blame everyone here.
Already have my HDD, drives, copy of windows, and case (Antec 900)
Anything you think my list needs?
https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AvoJcfsXplv6dGhtc1M5c21RUUNGRXgxNV8zRGtQZVE&hl=en&authkey=CMDX744P
The CPU and Motherboard are in a combo pack
I'm pretty sure it will all work together just fine, but some extra opinions would own.
Also your spreadsheet made me laugh.
*Cracks neck*
Okay, as UEAKCrash indicated, the i5-2500K is probably the best value for gaming CPUs at the moment. The only significant difference between the 2500K and the 2600K is that the 2500K lacks Hyper Threading. If you do a lot of multi-threaded workloads (and I mean a lot) the 2600K might justify itself for you, but I'd bet that you'll never, ever notice the difference.
Don't spend 170.00 on a 2TB HDD. For that price you could nearly get 3 of these and be very happy. Don't spend 100.00 on RAM, if you were buying now I'd tell you to pick these up, it's unlikely you'd ever note the difference. By the time you buy in July, RAM and HDD prices are supposed to have gone up. Will they? We'll see.
I'd go with this PSU over that Corsair, you won't need more than 650W, even if you go with SLI'd 560 Tis. Newegg doesn't have them now, but by July they should have the ASUS P8P67-PRO back, and that would be my go to motherboard, it'll probably run about $190.00.
Finally, do not buy the Antec 900. The fact that they are still charging $100.00 for that case makes me want to burn down an orphanage. Well, that could also be because I'm off my meds. Regardless, the 900 was a great case when it came out, it helped give rise to a world of enthusiast cases that it has failed utterly at staying competitive with. At $100 after S&H, the Cooler Master 690 II is simply a far, far better case.
So yeah, there you go. Depending on how GPU sales go, you might see price drops there. I'm not particularly research savvy on that front, but from what I can remember we don't have any major new hardware launches incoming before July that might act to drive prices down, so I'd bet on your buying power then being roughly the same as now.
Battle.net
First of all, thank you UEAKCrash and Alecthar for your help.
Second of all are the suggestions I will adopt immediately. I will no question go with the 2500K. My only question was about the lack of hyperthreading but you answered it. I'm gonna go for the cheaper RAM, and I'm going to switch to that motherboard. It's currently in stock at 189.99.
Lastly are the suggestions I have questions about. The reason I have that 2 TB HDD selected, I think(I may be wrong), is for the 6.0gb/s SATA, its 64 MB cache, and lastly that 2 TB is the size I think I need. My current 1.5 TB setup has about 300 GB left on it and so 2 seems like what I should go with, but I can do 3 if it's affordable.
With the PSU I'm wondering if it will stay that price. It's regular price is only $10 less than the 750W one in my wishlist and I'm wondering if the 750 will see a similar price cut between now and August or if I may miss out on the current price cut on the Antec 650.
Finally, with the case I don't see the sizes for the additional fans or how much adding those fans would cost(I know it says you can add 10 but it only gives that 5 are 150 mm). I know it's cheaper up front but with adding a bunch of fans it seems like it would be more expensive. I really don't know much about cases so can you elaborate on its superiority?
Check out the Penny Arcade World of Tanks thread to join us in some fun times.
Lostprophet, I like you. You asked me to elaborate on something, and I love to elaborate on things.
So, for the HDD, I have a deep and abiding dislike of paying more per gigabyte than I actually have to. That Seagate drive (and the WD Caviar Black that it's a lot like) are great drives, of that I have little doubt, but you end up paying like $85 per terabyte on those drives, when you could buy 2 really nice 1TB drives and save $40. You don't even have to put them in a RAID, just use one as a system/game drive and the other for pornography...I mean school work. As for SATA III and the cache size: 32MB is standard for a 1TB drive, so 64MB is the right amount for 2TB, and I couldn't care less about SATA 6Gb/s for HDDs, as no 7200 RPM drive is ever going to saturate the 3Gb/s link that we were working with before.
As for the PSU, you're right, that price might fluctuate. PSUs aren't really susceptible to price dropping like other parts are, but they do go on sale. Your best bet is to buy a good, well-reviewed PSU from a reputable vendor, I'd say in the 650W range. Keep an eye out on competing quality PSUs and make sure you aren't spending more than you have to at that wattage range. When possible, buy modular, but don't break the bank to do so.
And the case. Basically the 900 lacks key cable management features, has an unpainted interior, and just doesn't have the same well thought out design that the 690 II does. And while the 690 II does come with 1 fewer fan, the basic setup that comes on it is really quite good. The 690 II also uses mostly 140mm fans, so (aside from the top 200mm on the 900) the fans should likely be quieter. My case recommendation here isn't a question of expense, it's a question of value. You'll find building in the 690 II to be vastly easier than in the 900, and it'll look better when you're finished. Unless you plan on really OCing your 2500K, the case airflow that comes standard should be fine.
Battle.net
Ok, you've convinced me to buy that case and to watch more PSU's, but I'm still unsure about the HDD.
There is this HDD that has the 6.0gb/s but lacks the 64 MB cache and it saves me $70 but doesnt show its RPM. If I went with the 3.0 gb/s it would be even cheaper. Is it worth the extra $70 to have a cache twice as large? How do cache size and SATA speed affect my computer? I have a superb collection of school work and wouldn't want to have difficulty moving it around and my music too.
EDIT: According to one of its reviews the HDD has 5900 RPM.
Check out the Penny Arcade World of Tanks thread to join us in some fun times.
HDD Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB HD103SJ 69
RAM Corsair CMX4GX3M1A1333C9 4GB (1x4GB) DDR3 55
Case CoolerMaster CM 690 II Advanced 119
PSU CoolerMaster GX 750W PSU 125
GPU Gainward GeForce GTX 560 Ti 1GB Golden Sample 279
CPU Intel Core i5 2500 229
MOBO MSI H67MA-E45 Motherboard B3 135
Optical Samsung SH-B123A 12X Blu-ray DVD Combo Drive 99
Monitor ASUS VE247H 23.6inch Widescreen LED Monitor 215
Total: $1325
All of the parts will be from PCcaseGear.com.au. I'll be using the computer for gaming and uni work. My budget is $1500, but less would obviously be better
Let me know what sort of improvements I could make. I'm happy to spend a bit more money if it means I'll increase performance. Thanks, dudes!