Mike Danger"Diane..."a place both wonderful and strangeRegistered Userregular
edited May 2011
This is a system I was looking at from a building guide, with some slight modifications (ie I removed the HDD they suggested purchasing, as I already have several of my own).
CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor
Motherboard: ASUS P8P67 LE (REV 3.0) LGA 1155 Intel P67 ATX Intel Motherboard
RAM: CORSAIR XMS 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model
Graphics: ASUS EAH6870 DC/2DI2S/1GD5 Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5
Case: Antec One Hundred Black ATX Mid Tower
Optical drive: ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner
There are no hard drives listed because I already have some that I can use; however, what would one use for a power supply? The one listed in the guide has been out of stock for a while.
What are your guys' opinions on the new Z68 mobos?
I'm not sure if I fully understand the video part of it. I can encode faster? But there's a program that allows me to do that anyway if I get a P67? *so confused*
What are your guys' opinions on the new Z68 mobos?
I'm not sure if I fully understand the video part of it. I can encode faster? But there's a program that allows me to do that anyway if I get a P67? *so confused*
I think the Z68s will automatically switch between the GPU on the Sandy Bridge and your dedicated graphics card depending on what youre doing. It should be great in laptops as youll save battery, not entirely sure what the point is in a desktop other than I guess reduced electricity bills. Unless itll use both at the same time, thatd be kinda cool.
EDIT: Newegg almost tricked me into pulling the trigger on my build. Theyre offering $15 off the i7 2600k and $19 off the RAM thats part of the combo, but you cant get the combo discount and the coupon discounts at the same time. Otherwise Id be putting together a system in a couple days. I should have bought the last week SSD though...
What are your guys' opinions on the new Z68 mobos?
I'm not sure if I fully understand the video part of it. I can encode faster? But there's a program that allows me to do that anyway if I get a P67? *so confused*
The Z68 chipset lets you switch between the integrated GPU on the proc and your discrete card. This makes a difference because the IGP on the Sandy Bridge procs works with the CPU cores in such a way that it significantly speeds video encoding. The issue of Intel not really having a good switching solution was solved by the use of a GPU virtualization chip and accompanying software from another company, so for basic tasks (desktop usage) and encoding the IGP is used, and greater demand brings in the discrete GPU.
It's a nice thing to have, but I don't have too much heartburn over being on P67. The Z68 boards look to run a 30-40 USD price premium over P67 boards with comparable feature sets (excepting Z68 exclusive features, naturally). I may switch over if/when I water cool my CPU.
Mike Danger:
I'd pick the HAF 912 over the Antec 100 every day and twice on Sundays. Also, XFX has some solid 650W supplies around $90, and Corsair's new TX650 v2 comes in at that price point too. OCZ's 500W unit is also solid, and would suffice for your rig, you'd just have less headroom.
Total after Shipping within the US (as of 04-25-2011): $1000.44
Comments: Yeah, here's the real deal. x8/x8 PCI-E lanes for Crossfire/SLI, a nice beefy PSU that'll run a second 6950 1GB, and an unlocked CPU, all for a few cents over a grand. We've stuck with the same Case, RAM, and HDD, but those are all things you can spend just a little bit more to get a lot, if you're so inclined. Regardless, we've got enough raw power here to really kick some ass.
Basically everything in there is still my recommendation except the PSU and HDD. I'd go with one of the XFX or Corsair 650W supplies I mentioned to Mike Danger above. Go with the 1TB Spinpoint, it's a really good value.
Oh, and shop around on the 6950 1GB, different manufacturers go on sale/price drop at different times. You might be able to get a Sapphire or HIS brand 6950 1GB cheaper right now.
God, that looks so damn nice. Alec, I had the 750W version of the same PSU come in literally yesterday. I heard some reports that some of the cables are a tad short and can be a bit taut in some bigger cases. Is your setup in a full-tower, and do they cables stretch far enough?
God, that looks so damn nice. Alec, I had the 750W version of the same PSU come in literally yesterday. I heard some reports that some of the cables are a tad short and can be a bit taut in some bigger cases. Is your setup in a full-tower, and do they cables stretch far enough?
The 600T is definitely on the larger end of mid towers, but it's not a full tower. Still, there's plenty of slack on the cables. The 8-pin CPU power is the shortest, relative to the distance it might have to travel. Everything else is plenty long enough, I imagine.
That's good to hear. I'm slightly worried about stretching the 8-pin cable in a HAF-X case, but as far as I know the case itself comes with an extension cable for that, so it should be fine.
I've been growing more and more dissatisfied with my current rig's performance. It can still run newer games relatively nicely, as long as they're well optimized and/or offer good scalability; (Two examples that come to mind are Portal 2 and Rift.) but for the most part, even some of the older stuff in my backlog won't run as smoothly as I'd like. (To once again throw some examples around, the original Mass Effect and Dragon Are are very playable, but will chug and stutter even with some compromises in the settings.)
I was going to delay upgrading for a few more months, but since my video card is overheating, I decided to take the plunge. It's likely that whatever new card I'd get to replace this one would be bottlenecked by the rest of the system anyway.
For reference, this is what I currently have:
MB: ASUS P5B Deluxe WiFi-AP
CPU: Intel Core 2 6600 2.4 GHz
PSU: nVidia 650W XFX XXX Edition
GPU: nVidia GeForce 9800 GTX+
RAM: WD 2 GB RAM DDR2 (Not positive about this one.)
OS: Windows XP SP3
Anyway, I'm on the market for a new rig, and I suppose I'll go down the OP's checklist. :P
Budget-wise, my comfort zone would be anywhere from $1500 to $2000. While I'd prefer to stay near the lower end of the scale, I'm grudgingly willing to reach the higher end if the difference in performance is worth the extra dollars. As an addendum, Newegg doesn't ship internationally, so its discounts won't be a realistic representation of the average price for some parts.
I only need the computer itself. If there's any part I can see myself transferring over (In case it has enough juice to power up the new setup, that is.) is my PSU. So I'll need a new MB, CPU, GPU, RAM and a new HD or two. I am shying away from SDD for now, as the only ones that seem even remotely affordable don't offer a lot of storage.
This computer is not just for gaming, but I'm sure that a modern gaming rig will handle Adobe's Suite and Blender just fine.
My native resolution is 1680x1050 currently, and I'm comfortable with it. Eventually I might invest in a new monitor that can output 1920x1080 or higher.
In terms of performance, I'm a sucker for high (60 FPS is the sweet spot, of course.) and stable frame rates. Few things kill my immersion as fast as a noticeable dip in FPS or chugging and stuttering from new geometry being rendered. On the other hand, I'm not interested in sinking money into a bleeding edge machine just so it can brute-force through an awfully unoptimized game engine.
I'm not biased towards either ATI or nVidia, but I did have some bad experiences with ATI's compatibility in the past.
Usually I try to build my computers to last a while. I think this one is ~5 years old by now, though I did replace the video card not too long ago, and the power supply as well when my old one fried. So some future-proofing would be welcome, but mostly by having the rest of the system not acting as a bottleneck when the inevitable video card upgrades come.
Where are you ordering from so we can help with prices?
That being said, you can build a smashing system for $1500. You won't be able to get Alecthar's insane SLI'd 580s, but that's overkill, if you ask me. :P
The build he recommended here is super solid, and offers excellent upgradability:
Total after Shipping within the US (as of 04-25-2011): $1000.44
Comments: Yeah, here's the real deal. x8/x8 PCI-E lanes for Crossfire/SLI, a nice beefy PSU that'll run a second 6950 1GB, and an unlocked CPU, all for a few cents over a grand. We've stuck with the same Case, RAM, and HDD, but those are all things you can spend just a little bit more to get a lot, if you're so inclined. Regardless, we've got enough raw power here to really kick some ass.
Is it worth upgrading from my Radeon HD4890 1gb soonish or should I wait six+ months? Looking to spend $200-$250 or so. Thinking about a 6950 or a GTX560 maybe if I was to get one now, but is there anything on the immediate horizon that would warrant holding off?
Grab some zip ties. You have more space behind the motherboard tray than you think, as the side panel bows out by design, but keep in mind that trying to stuff/hold wire on the edges of the areas behind the tray can make it difficult, if not impossible, to close the side panel properly, so keep things out of there.
If you don't move the drive cages, the riser at the bottom has a suprisingly large amount of space inside it that you can use to store excess cabling, especially good for hiding the slack on SATA and Molex connectors in that area.
What are your guys' opinions on the new Z68 mobos?
I'm not sure if I fully understand the video part of it. I can encode faster? But there's a program that allows me to do that anyway if I get a P67? *so confused*
The Z68 chipset lets you switch between the integrated GPU on the proc and your discrete card. This makes a difference because the IGP on the Sandy Bridge procs works with the CPU cores in such a way that it significantly speeds video encoding. The issue of Intel not really having a good switching solution was solved by the use of a GPU virtualization chip and accompanying software from another company, so for basic tasks (desktop usage) and encoding the IGP is used, and greater demand brings in the discrete GPU.
It's a nice thing to have, but I don't have too much heartburn over being on P67. The Z68 boards look to run a 30-40 USD price premium over P67 boards with comparable feature sets (excepting Z68 exclusive features, naturally). I may switch over if/when I water cool my CPU.
...
If you are going to get your build in a few months Z68 will probably be worth it then once supplies are up and the prices are lower. If you plan to do any encoding at all z68 is worth it. If you do not just game P67 is probably fine.
here is a link to a quick summary of Quick Sync that allows to you both a discrete card and the integrated graphics on the SB chip.
...with Z68, you gain the ability to switch between them depending on the situation. This gets you 2 benefits; the obvious one is lower power consumption at idle. The other is Quick Sync, which lets you use that graphics core for what it was designed to do: encoding, decoding, and transcoding video faster and better than any other hardware option on the market. This is the entire reason Intel put this graphics core on the chip; it's highly specialized and good at its job. According to a few articles I'm about to link you, it's not only faster than even current gen graphics cards, but the end result looks better as well. I don't know much about video transcoding so I can't weigh in here...
Anyway here's a pretty graph I lifted from a good anandtech article on the subject:
Most of us aren't re-encoding video files all that often, which means that seeing the on-die graphics core as useless still isn't entirely inaccurate. That doesn't change the fact that for people who DO this kind of work frequently (Say, re-encoding a movie to play on your ipad?) there is no better option. Software support at the moment is a bit limited, but this is expected to change over the coming months.
...
(FYI: You can use quick sync now with an H67 chipset, but you can't use a discrete graphics card at the same time. That's where these benchmarks came from.)
Okay, So I want to build a computer that will run WoW on ultra. I don't have a budget, but I'm exceptionally cheap, so top of the line isn't something I'm looking for.
I've put something together for about 800, including my Hdds and ODs.
What are your guys' opinions on the new Z68 mobos?
I'm not sure if I fully understand the video part of it. I can encode faster? But there's a program that allows me to do that anyway if I get a P67? *so confused*
The Z68 chipset lets you switch between the integrated GPU on the proc and your discrete card. This makes a difference because the IGP on the Sandy Bridge procs works with the CPU cores in such a way that it significantly speeds video encoding. The issue of Intel not really having a good switching solution was solved by the use of a GPU virtualization chip and accompanying software from another company, so for basic tasks (desktop usage) and encoding the IGP is used, and greater demand brings in the discrete GPU.
It's a nice thing to have, but I don't have too much heartburn over being on P67. The Z68 boards look to run a 30-40 USD price premium over P67 boards with comparable feature sets (excepting Z68 exclusive features, naturally). I may switch over if/when I water cool my CPU.
...
If you are going to get your build in a few months Z68 will probably be worth it then once supplies are up and the prices are lower. If you plan to do any encoding at all z68 is worth it. If you do not just game P67 is probably fine.
here is a link to a quick summary of Quick Sync that allows to you both a discrete card and the integrated graphics on the SB chip.
...with Z68, you gain the ability to switch between them depending on the situation. This gets you 2 benefits; the obvious one is lower power consumption at idle. The other is Quick Sync, which lets you use that graphics core for what it was designed to do: encoding, decoding, and transcoding video faster and better than any other hardware option on the market. This is the entire reason Intel put this graphics core on the chip; it's highly specialized and good at its job. According to a few articles I'm about to link you, it's not only faster than even current gen graphics cards, but the end result looks better as well. I don't know much about video transcoding so I can't weigh in here...
Anyway here's a pretty graph I lifted from a good anandtech article on the subject:
Most of us aren't re-encoding video files all that often, which means that seeing the on-die graphics core as useless still isn't entirely inaccurate. That doesn't change the fact that for people who DO this kind of work frequently (Say, re-encoding a movie to play on your ipad?) there is no better option. Software support at the moment is a bit limited, but this is expected to change over the coming months.
...
(FYI: You can use quick sync now with an H67 chipset, but you can't use a discrete graphics card at the same time. That's where these benchmarks came from.)
Worthwhile info. I meant for my comments mostly to reassure for those of us (like myself) who are already on the P67 platform. Z68 is very solid, it's what P67 should have been. That's actually what gets me most about the chipset: it's not so much an upgrade as it is an non-crippled version of its forebears. Like you said, if I were building a month from now (or even now, depending on my budget) I'd go Z68. And in a couple months, I'll probably change over my motherboard when I move to CPU watercooling.
Which is going to be cool. There'll be a 240 Rad in the top of that 600T sooner or later.
My trusty Logitech mouse has decided it is going to stop working. It's been dying for a long time. But, now I need a new one, and relatively quickly. I can use the computer with just the keyboard, mostly, but it severely limits the games I can play.
Any suggestions? I have few requirements, namely: wireless (of any description) is preferred; Logitech has served me faithfully, but I'd be willing to go with another brand if the price is better; and I'm not made of money: looking for one under, hm, $50. Willing to go higher, for longevity.
Hey computadora thread, I'm planning on putting together a new computer here in a few weeks and am looking to spend between 800-1200 dollars. I mainly do a lot of gaming and other basic computer programs (internet/music/movies and such) and, given how old and how much of my current computer is falling apart at this point, I need a new computer.
My computer is roughly 5 years old a this point and the currect specs are:
21 inch monitor native 1680x1050 (willing to stay with it, as more than likely I will buy myself a new one in a few months when I have more money)
250GB HD
Intel Core 2 @2.4GHZ
2GB RAM
Nvidia 7900 GPU (512MB)
Windows Vista
(don't know the rest of the parts, it's a Dell bought computer)
Also plan to buy from Newegg since they seem to have the best deals and such
Any and all help will be most appreciated!
E: And as a side note the upper CD tray blue screens my computer whenever I try to use it, the computer takes a few tries to turn on for some reason (freezes on the load screen), the sound card is broken, and the motherboard sound is going out as well.
Where are you ordering from so we can help with prices?
That being said, you can build a smashing system for $1500. You won't be able to get Alecthar's insane SLI'd 580s, but that's overkill, if you ask me. :P
The build he recommended here is super solid, and offers excellent upgradability:
Total after Shipping within the US (as of 04-25-2011): $1000.44
Comments: Yeah, here's the real deal. x8/x8 PCI-E lanes for Crossfire/SLI, a nice beefy PSU that'll run a second 6950 1GB, and an unlocked CPU, all for a few cents over a grand. We've stuck with the same Case, RAM, and HDD, but those are all things you can spend just a little bit more to get a lot, if you're so inclined. Regardless, we've got enough raw power here to really kick some ass.
Noticed this on the last page, and it might work well for me, but unfortunately the PSU,HDD, and optical drives are out of stock. Are there some others anyone here would recommend to go alongside the motherboard and a possible RAM upgrade to the 3x2 Mushkin Enhanced
Where are you ordering from so we can help with prices?
That being said, you can build a smashing system for $1500. You won't be able to get Alecthar's insane SLI'd 580s, but that's overkill, if you ask me. :P
The build he recommended here is super solid, and offers excellent upgradability:
Total after Shipping within the US (as of 04-25-2011): $1000.44
Comments: Yeah, here's the real deal. x8/x8 PCI-E lanes for Crossfire/SLI, a nice beefy PSU that'll run a second 6950 1GB, and an unlocked CPU, all for a few cents over a grand. We've stuck with the same Case, RAM, and HDD, but those are all things you can spend just a little bit more to get a lot, if you're so inclined. Regardless, we've got enough raw power here to really kick some ass.
Noticed this on the last page, and it might work well for me, but unfortunately the PSU,HDD, and optical drives are out of stock. Are there some others anyone here would recommend to go alongside the motherboard and a possible RAM upgrade to the 3x2 Mushkin Enhanced
#1 you don't want to upgrade to that RAM, it's triple-channel (3 sticks) and won't work properly on that motherboard. If you want to upgrade you basically have to go for 8 gigs.
Where are you ordering from so we can help with prices?
That being said, you can build a smashing system for $1500. You won't be able to get Alecthar's insane SLI'd 580s, but that's overkill, if you ask me. :P
The build he recommended here is super solid, and offers excellent upgradability:
Total after Shipping within the US (as of 04-25-2011): $1000.44
Comments: Yeah, here's the real deal. x8/x8 PCI-E lanes for Crossfire/SLI, a nice beefy PSU that'll run a second 6950 1GB, and an unlocked CPU, all for a few cents over a grand. We've stuck with the same Case, RAM, and HDD, but those are all things you can spend just a little bit more to get a lot, if you're so inclined. Regardless, we've got enough raw power here to really kick some ass.
Noticed this on the last page, and it might work well for me, but unfortunately the PSU,HDD, and optical drives are out of stock. Are there some others anyone here would recommend to go alongside the motherboard and a possible RAM upgrade to the 3x2 Mushkin Enhanced
#1 you don't want to upgrade to that RAM, it's triple-channel (3 sticks) and won't work properly on that motherboard. If you want to upgrade you basically have to go for 8 gigs.
I'm curious, in that picture there, what is that dongle thingy in the upper left side of the cables. It looks like some USB adapter but I just want to know.
I'm curious, in that picture there, what is that dongle thingy in the upper left side of the cables. It looks like some USB adapter but I just want to know.
It's a USB 3.0 adapter that ASUS includes with the P8P67 Pro, it's supposed to go on one of the expansion slots, but I took the slot cover off and routed it inside. The USB 3.0 front panel port on the 600T normally requires that you route a USB 3.0 cable out of the back of the case, but by re-purposing the adapter I kept everything internal.
Another question, the ASRock p67 Extreme4 shows 3 PCI Express 2.0x16 slots, but the gpu listed above requires a PCI Express 2.1x16, so are they compatible?
Oghulk: Yes, all PCI-E is backwards compatible. There is nothing performance related to the 2.1 spec, either. It mostly lays out some stuff for the future 3.0 specification.
Auburn: PCMark and 3DMark are general benchmarks. I believe you can get older versions for free from their website. You can also do some stress testing with OCCT if you're going to be overclocking, although honestly, I find it's of limited value.
Where are you ordering from so we can help with prices?
That being said, you can build a smashing system for $1500. You won't be able to get Alecthar's insane SLI'd 580s, but that's overkill, if you ask me. :P
Thanks for the reply, Pirusu. I'll be shopping around for most of these parts and will have a friend assemble the rig once I have it all. I just mentioned avoiding Newegg's discounted prices as a basis because that could really eschew the price margin way lower than it would realistically be.
So I've been doing some digging around, reading reviews on these parts posted both on Newegg and Amazon, and I'm wondering if some of these alternatives I found would improve this setup's power a little bit without going overbudget or causing any compatibility issues.
I'd keep the ASRock P67 EXTREME4 the Intel Core i5-2500K and the PowerColor AX6950 as suggested, although some of the comments in Newegg seem to imply the stock cooler on the i5-2500K is less than ideal. I really hate having to replace stock coolers, as that voids the RMA. Also, would my current PSU be fine instead of the one suggested? I have a XFX 650W XXX Edition, and it's pretty much brand new. If that's enough power, I'd rather keep that one instead.
Anyway, I'm looking at the following replacements:
Case: COOLER MASTER HAF 932 - Seems like this one might have better cooling. (I'm really paranoid about that nowadays, as my office can get pretty damned hot in the summer and I've fried enough parts over the years due to poor airflow and cooling that I'd rather make sure the system stays as cool as it can.) RAM: Mushkin Enhanced Redline 8GB (2 x 4GB) - 8GB might be overkill, (Will definitely help with video editing though.) but I've read that extra RAM will significantly reduce the wear on HDDs, mostly due to less reliance on page file trashing. Will Windows 7 64-bit recognize all of it though? I've also heard some MBs won't read 8GB of RAM either. HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB - 500 GB is just plain not enough, as I can fill a couple hundred GBs just with work files, and with current game installation sizes added to the mix, I'd rather go with 1TB. I'll probably get two of these, for that matter. So I can do what I do now: have one HDD for the OS, programs and games; another for project files and program/driver backups. That being said, does anyone have any experience with this model? I've never had a WD HDD die on me, so that's why I gravitated towards the brand.
Does this sound good, and is it all compatible? Also, will the stock airflow and cooling on this combo be alright? Last but not least, what are the odds of this setup sounding like I have an airplane turbine in my office? ;-)
Thanks again.
aunsoph on
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AlectharAlan ShoreWe're not territorial about that sort of thing, are we?Registered Userregular
Where are you ordering from so we can help with prices?
That being said, you can build a smashing system for $1500. You won't be able to get Alecthar's insane SLI'd 580s, but that's overkill, if you ask me. :P
Thanks for the reply, Pirusu. I'll be shopping around for most of these parts and will have a friend assemble the rig once I have it all. I just mentioned avoiding Newegg's discounted prices as a basis because that could really eschew the price margin way lower than it would realistically be.
So I've been doing some digging around, reading reviews on these parts posted both on Newegg and Amazon, and I'm wondering if some of these alternatives I found would improve this setup's power a little bit without going overbudget or causing any compatibility issues.
I'd keep the ASRock P67 EXTREME4 the Intel Core i5-2500K and the PowerColor AX6950 as suggested, although some of the comments in Newegg seem to imply the stock cooler on the i5-2500K is less than ideal. I really hate having to replace stock coolers, as that voids the RMA. Also, would my current PSU be fine instead of the one suggested? I have a XFX 650W XXX Edition, and it's pretty much brand new. If that's enough power, I'd rather keep that one instead.
Anyway, I'm looking at the following replacements:
Case: COOLER MASTER HAF 932 - Seems like this one might have better cooling. (I'm really paranoid about that nowadays, as my office can get pretty damned hot in the summer and I've fried enough parts over the years due to poor airflow and cooling that I'd rather make sure the system stays as cool as it can.) RAM: Mushkin Enhanced Redline 8GB (2 x 4GB) - 8GB might be overkill, (Will definitely help with video editing though.) but I've read that extra RAM will significantly reduce the wear on HDDs, mostly due to less reliance on page file trashing. Will Windows 7 64-bit recognize all of it though? I've also heard some MBs won't read 8GB of RAM either. HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB - 500 GB is just plain not enough, as I can fill a couple hundred GBs just with work files, and with current game installation sizes added to the mix, I'd rather go with 1TB. I'll probably get two of these, for that matter. So I can do what I do now: have one HDD for the OS, programs and games; another for project files and program/driver backups. That being said, does anyone have any experience with this model? I've never had a WD HDD die on me, so that's why I gravitated towards the brand.
Does this sound good, and is it all compatible? Also, will the stock airflow and cooling on this combo be alright? Last but not least, what are the odds of this setup sounding like I have an airplane turbine in my office? ;-)
Thanks again.
I prefer the Samsung Spinpoint F3, as 1TB drives go, but WD makes a solid drive. If you're comfortable with them, and willing to pay the price premium, and don't need the possibility of RAID, then go for it.
Using aftermarket CPU cooling doesn't void the warranty. As long as you don't physically modify the processor (lapping it, for instance) you won't void the warranty by using aftermarket cooling. And honestly, even if it did, there's virtually no way they could tell. Now, if you were to use aftermarket VGA cooling, then you'd be tossing your warranty. My recommendation on aftermarket cooling would probably be an all-in-one watercooling setup, like the Corsair H60 or H70, based on the high-profile RAM heatsinks you're looking at. For moderate overclocking/remaining at stock I'd go with the H60. Pushing things harder would definitely be the province of the H70.
There's really nothing wrong with the HAF 912, cooling-wise, provided you're willing to add fans. If you want a solid mid tower, the CM 690 II has plenty of airflow possibilities, and a significantly lower price and size. If you really want a full tower, though, the HAF 932 Advanced is what you want. It's basically the 932, but updated (to be better). The stock setup for the 932 Advanced will work just fine for you, it's basically full up on fans out of the box.
Win 7 64 bit will handle 8GB of RAM no problem. It'll handle...crap I can't remember how much max. A lot. It's an exponential thing. Also, the motherboard will have no problem with that much RAM. Maximum supported on the Extreme4 is 32GB, iirc. I wouldn't buy that particular RAM, though, it's wickedly overpriced based on the higher speed and tighter timings. I prefer this option for 8GB of higher end RAM, as it meets the specs for Sandy Bridge chipsets (max RAM voltage is technically supposed to be 1.5V).
The XFX 650W unit you have is just fine for this build.
Posts
Motherboard: ASUS P8P67 LE (REV 3.0) LGA 1155 Intel P67 ATX Intel Motherboard
RAM: CORSAIR XMS 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model
Graphics: ASUS EAH6870 DC/2DI2S/1GD5 Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5
Case: Antec One Hundred Black ATX Mid Tower
Optical drive: ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner
There are no hard drives listed because I already have some that I can use; however, what would one use for a power supply? The one listed in the guide has been out of stock for a while.
I'm not sure if I fully understand the video part of it. I can encode faster? But there's a program that allows me to do that anyway if I get a P67? *so confused*
I think the Z68s will automatically switch between the GPU on the Sandy Bridge and your dedicated graphics card depending on what youre doing. It should be great in laptops as youll save battery, not entirely sure what the point is in a desktop other than I guess reduced electricity bills. Unless itll use both at the same time, thatd be kinda cool.
EDIT: Newegg almost tricked me into pulling the trigger on my build. Theyre offering $15 off the i7 2600k and $19 off the RAM thats part of the combo, but you cant get the combo discount and the coupon discounts at the same time. Otherwise Id be putting together a system in a couple days. I should have bought the last week SSD though...
The Z68 chipset lets you switch between the integrated GPU on the proc and your discrete card. This makes a difference because the IGP on the Sandy Bridge procs works with the CPU cores in such a way that it significantly speeds video encoding. The issue of Intel not really having a good switching solution was solved by the use of a GPU virtualization chip and accompanying software from another company, so for basic tasks (desktop usage) and encoding the IGP is used, and greater demand brings in the discrete GPU.
It's a nice thing to have, but I don't have too much heartburn over being on P67. The Z68 boards look to run a 30-40 USD price premium over P67 boards with comparable feature sets (excepting Z68 exclusive features, naturally). I may switch over if/when I water cool my CPU.
Mike Danger:
I'd pick the HAF 912 over the Antec 100 every day and twice on Sundays. Also, XFX has some solid 650W supplies around $90, and Corsair's new TX650 v2 comes in at that price point too. OCZ's 500W unit is also solid, and would suffice for your rig, you'd just have less headroom.
Dongs Galore:
Basically everything in there is still my recommendation except the PSU and HDD. I'd go with one of the XFX or Corsair 650W supplies I mentioned to Mike Danger above. Go with the 1TB Spinpoint, it's a really good value.
Oh, and shop around on the 6950 1GB, different manufacturers go on sale/price drop at different times. You might be able to get a Sapphire or HIS brand 6950 1GB cheaper right now.
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The 600T is definitely on the larger end of mid towers, but it's not a full tower. Still, there's plenty of slack on the cables. The 8-pin CPU power is the shortest, relative to the distance it might have to travel. Everything else is plenty long enough, I imagine.
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The 8-pin was definitely longer on the TPQ 1200, though it has both the 8 pin and the 4+4 pin hardwired.
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I've been growing more and more dissatisfied with my current rig's performance. It can still run newer games relatively nicely, as long as they're well optimized and/or offer good scalability; (Two examples that come to mind are Portal 2 and Rift.) but for the most part, even some of the older stuff in my backlog won't run as smoothly as I'd like. (To once again throw some examples around, the original Mass Effect and Dragon Are are very playable, but will chug and stutter even with some compromises in the settings.)
I was going to delay upgrading for a few more months, but since my video card is overheating, I decided to take the plunge. It's likely that whatever new card I'd get to replace this one would be bottlenecked by the rest of the system anyway.
For reference, this is what I currently have:
Anyway, I'm on the market for a new rig, and I suppose I'll go down the OP's checklist. :P
Any help would be greatly appreciated!
That being said, you can build a smashing system for $1500. You won't be able to get Alecthar's insane SLI'd 580s, but that's overkill, if you ask me. :P
The build he recommended here is super solid, and offers excellent upgradability:
Grab some zip ties. You have more space behind the motherboard tray than you think, as the side panel bows out by design, but keep in mind that trying to stuff/hold wire on the edges of the areas behind the tray can make it difficult, if not impossible, to close the side panel properly, so keep things out of there.
If you don't move the drive cages, the riser at the bottom has a suprisingly large amount of space inside it that you can use to store excess cabling, especially good for hiding the slack on SATA and Molex connectors in that area.
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If you are going to get your build in a few months Z68 will probably be worth it then once supplies are up and the prices are lower. If you plan to do any encoding at all z68 is worth it. If you do not just game P67 is probably fine.
here is a link to a quick summary of Quick Sync that allows to you both a discrete card and the integrated graphics on the SB chip.
http://www.overclock.net/intel-motherboards/1005399-z68-quick-sync-you.html#post13353432
I've put something together for about 800, including my Hdds and ODs.
Edit: But it doesn't have a whole lot of room for upgradability.
Worthwhile info. I meant for my comments mostly to reassure for those of us (like myself) who are already on the P67 platform. Z68 is very solid, it's what P67 should have been. That's actually what gets me most about the chipset: it's not so much an upgrade as it is an non-crippled version of its forebears. Like you said, if I were building a month from now (or even now, depending on my budget) I'd go Z68. And in a couple months, I'll probably change over my motherboard when I move to CPU watercooling.
Which is going to be cool. There'll be a 240 Rad in the top of that 600T sooner or later.
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You know you love it.
In all seriousness, though, I'm not trying to be a dick. I just like showing off my fancy wiring job.
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My trusty Logitech mouse has decided it is going to stop working. It's been dying for a long time. But, now I need a new one, and relatively quickly. I can use the computer with just the keyboard, mostly, but it severely limits the games I can play.
Any suggestions? I have few requirements, namely: wireless (of any description) is preferred; Logitech has served me faithfully, but I'd be willing to go with another brand if the price is better; and I'm not made of money: looking for one under, hm, $50. Willing to go higher, for longevity.
I didn't specify the age in my original post - I have a bad habit of forgetting details like that.
I would have edited the post, but I thought I was unable to do so without a mouse. I was wrong, there, too, and have discovered a work-around.
you can't go wrong with the logitech G500, it's $55 on newegg($35 after rebate!)
edit:
Geez. You'd think this would be easier. Everything I can find is either tiny, or corded.
Is it too much to ask for a full-size wireless mouse?
My computer is roughly 5 years old a this point and the currect specs are:
21 inch monitor native 1680x1050 (willing to stay with it, as more than likely I will buy myself a new one in a few months when I have more money)
250GB HD
Intel Core 2 @2.4GHZ
2GB RAM
Nvidia 7900 GPU (512MB)
Windows Vista
(don't know the rest of the parts, it's a Dell bought computer)
Also plan to buy from Newegg since they seem to have the best deals and such
Any and all help will be most appreciated!
E: And as a side note the upper CD tray blue screens my computer whenever I try to use it, the computer takes a few tries to turn on for some reason (freezes on the load screen), the sound card is broken, and the motherboard sound is going out as well.
Logitech G700
Microsoft SideWinder X8
RAZER Naga Epic
I only know a few decent wireless gaming mice, i dont not own any of these so i cannot vouch for them personally.
Going to hurt my account, though...
edit:
yeah, ran the numbers and came up ahead. I am now the proud (?) owner for the G700.
May it serve me as long and as faithfully as it's predecessor.
I do love it
Every time I see it it brings me that much closer to pulling the trigger on my build...
Noticed this on the last page, and it might work well for me, but unfortunately the PSU,HDD, and optical drives are out of stock. Are there some others anyone here would recommend to go alongside the motherboard and a possible RAM upgrade to the 3x2 Mushkin Enhanced
#1 you don't want to upgrade to that RAM, it's triple-channel (3 sticks) and won't work properly on that motherboard. If you want to upgrade you basically have to go for 8 gigs.
For an optical drive you can get anything: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136238
Hard drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319
Power Supply: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005
Ah ok, good to know.
E: I guess this (2x4) would be the better option to upgrade to?
I'm curious, in that picture there, what is that dongle thingy in the upper left side of the cables. It looks like some USB adapter but I just want to know.
Origin: Galedrid - Nintendo: Galedrid/3222-6858-1045
Blizzard: Galedrid#1367 - FFXIV: Galedrid Kingshand
It's a USB 3.0 adapter that ASUS includes with the P8P67 Pro, it's supposed to go on one of the expansion slots, but I took the slot cover off and routed it inside. The USB 3.0 front panel port on the 600T normally requires that you route a USB 3.0 cable out of the back of the case, but by re-purposing the adapter I kept everything internal.
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Auburn: PCMark and 3DMark are general benchmarks. I believe you can get older versions for free from their website. You can also do some stress testing with OCCT if you're going to be overclocking, although honestly, I find it's of limited value.
Thanks for the reply, Pirusu. I'll be shopping around for most of these parts and will have a friend assemble the rig once I have it all. I just mentioned avoiding Newegg's discounted prices as a basis because that could really eschew the price margin way lower than it would realistically be.
So I've been doing some digging around, reading reviews on these parts posted both on Newegg and Amazon, and I'm wondering if some of these alternatives I found would improve this setup's power a little bit without going overbudget or causing any compatibility issues.
I'd keep the ASRock P67 EXTREME4 the Intel Core i5-2500K and the PowerColor AX6950 as suggested, although some of the comments in Newegg seem to imply the stock cooler on the i5-2500K is less than ideal. I really hate having to replace stock coolers, as that voids the RMA. Also, would my current PSU be fine instead of the one suggested? I have a XFX 650W XXX Edition, and it's pretty much brand new. If that's enough power, I'd rather keep that one instead.
Anyway, I'm looking at the following replacements:
Case: COOLER MASTER HAF 932 - Seems like this one might have better cooling. (I'm really paranoid about that nowadays, as my office can get pretty damned hot in the summer and I've fried enough parts over the years due to poor airflow and cooling that I'd rather make sure the system stays as cool as it can.)
RAM: Mushkin Enhanced Redline 8GB (2 x 4GB) - 8GB might be overkill, (Will definitely help with video editing though.) but I've read that extra RAM will significantly reduce the wear on HDDs, mostly due to less reliance on page file trashing. Will Windows 7 64-bit recognize all of it though? I've also heard some MBs won't read 8GB of RAM either.
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB - 500 GB is just plain not enough, as I can fill a couple hundred GBs just with work files, and with current game installation sizes added to the mix, I'd rather go with 1TB. I'll probably get two of these, for that matter. So I can do what I do now: have one HDD for the OS, programs and games; another for project files and program/driver backups. That being said, does anyone have any experience with this model? I've never had a WD HDD die on me, so that's why I gravitated towards the brand.
Does this sound good, and is it all compatible? Also, will the stock airflow and cooling on this combo be alright? Last but not least, what are the odds of this setup sounding like I have an airplane turbine in my office? ;-)
Thanks again.
I prefer the Samsung Spinpoint F3, as 1TB drives go, but WD makes a solid drive. If you're comfortable with them, and willing to pay the price premium, and don't need the possibility of RAID, then go for it.
Using aftermarket CPU cooling doesn't void the warranty. As long as you don't physically modify the processor (lapping it, for instance) you won't void the warranty by using aftermarket cooling. And honestly, even if it did, there's virtually no way they could tell. Now, if you were to use aftermarket VGA cooling, then you'd be tossing your warranty. My recommendation on aftermarket cooling would probably be an all-in-one watercooling setup, like the Corsair H60 or H70, based on the high-profile RAM heatsinks you're looking at. For moderate overclocking/remaining at stock I'd go with the H60. Pushing things harder would definitely be the province of the H70.
There's really nothing wrong with the HAF 912, cooling-wise, provided you're willing to add fans. If you want a solid mid tower, the CM 690 II has plenty of airflow possibilities, and a significantly lower price and size. If you really want a full tower, though, the HAF 932 Advanced is what you want. It's basically the 932, but updated (to be better). The stock setup for the 932 Advanced will work just fine for you, it's basically full up on fans out of the box.
Win 7 64 bit will handle 8GB of RAM no problem. It'll handle...crap I can't remember how much max. A lot. It's an exponential thing. Also, the motherboard will have no problem with that much RAM. Maximum supported on the Extreme4 is 32GB, iirc. I wouldn't buy that particular RAM, though, it's wickedly overpriced based on the higher speed and tighter timings. I prefer this option for 8GB of higher end RAM, as it meets the specs for Sandy Bridge chipsets (max RAM voltage is technically supposed to be 1.5V).
The XFX 650W unit you have is just fine for this build.
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