Hey guys, I have saved up enough money for my new build finally, my computer now is about 3-4 years old so its definitely time for an upgrade. Since I work at Microcenter I am getting everything there, and have gotten some great deals on a lot of stuff, but thought I'd share what my build is going to consist of. Enjoy :drool: Processor: Intel Core i7-2700K Sandy Bridge 3.5GHz (3.9GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000 BX80623i72700K http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115095&Tpk=2700k Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128498 Memory: CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233143 Graphics Card: EVGA DS SuperClocked 01G-P3-1567-AR GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130657 Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136769 Power Supply: OCZ ZX Series 850W Fully-Modular 80PLUS Gold High Performance Power Supply compatible with Intel Sandybridge Core i3 i5 i7 and AMD Phenom http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341044 Case: Corsair Carbide Series 500R White Steel structure with molded ABS plastic accent pieces ATX Mid Tower Computer Case http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139010 That's it for now, I will be using Icy Diamond as my thermal paste, and replacing all the fans in the Corsair case with either green/blue LED fans, still deciding. Besides that I will be adding a second 560ti in the coming months as well as a Corsair H100 water cooler, and a 2TB WD Hard drive for media. I may or may not go SSD later down the road also, but I am still debating that too. Comments welcome
ok first and foremost do not EVER buy an OCZ power supply or RAM. That company no longer makes those products so an RMA for repairs will not be possible. Also, that is quite an expensive PSU. If you want something that expensive I recommend either the Corsair Professional line, high end SeaSonic PSUs, or a good Silverstone PSU. Also the Kingwin Platinum line is good. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817121088 (<--- one of the best) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139016 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151105 (<--- amazing) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151087 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256066 Second, buy a 2600k instead as it is the exact same thing but cheaper. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115070 and lastly, you need a graphics card with at least 1.5GB of video ram, preferably 2GB or more. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130687 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127608 also as an optional change I would recommend higher speed ram, preferably 1866 instead of 1600. Sandy Bridge is all about the megahertz, so the higher the better. Timings dont matter at all (1% performance difference in games from 1866 @ 8 vs 1866 @ 11). Corsair is also not a very good company for RAM anymore just so you know. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226223 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820144489 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231455 and a final other optional suggestion if to buy a good aftermarket cpu cooler. The Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO is a very good cooler for the money and would do a great job. These processors can run so much higher than they do at stock with no problems at all, so it should be a crime not to overclock them at least a few hundred MHz. A good cooler will both keep the processor working better and let you overclock further. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099 EDIT: sorry one last thing I just saw. You dont want a motherboard with Lucid virtu chips in them. For this to work you need drivers, which relies on Lucid to come out with proper drivers in a timely manner. This is a bad idea cause it is a small company that doesnt seem to be doing very well. Also the Lucid chip will increase your latency meaning less FPS. its power savings are very little anyway. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131759 (<--- dont think this has Lucid) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128478 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131771
enigma we got the 2700k for cheap from intel cuz we both work at micro center same thing with the vengeance ram I have 560 ti Superclocked and have not a single issue with any game at high
I second the 560ti. I love mine. Also, shout out to Enigma for eyeballing that PSU problem. i had no idea about . I like that corsair as an alternative. Also, I've said it like a thousand times on this forum, but I cant stress how much of a difference getting a closed loop liquid cooler improved my system. Its extremely quiet, its cool, and its an insta-liquid cooled with no effort for cheap!
I was just thinking spending an extra $40 or whatever for the same processor at 100MHz higher was pointless. but if you can get the stuff for really cheap then go for it. The 560ti is a good card and one of the two that I recommended is actually another 560ti, the issue is with the rate textures are increasing in games and the complexity of game geometry. Quite a few games have come out this year using more than 1GB of video RAM. So to buy a graphics card at this point with a lot of power but a huge limiting factor of not enough VRAM wouldnt be a good idea on a new build.
I could always get the 560 Superclocked that has 2GB of ram on it and is the same price instead of the Ti, I forgot to mention that as far as OCZ goes, I have never had a problem with any of their products, and I am getting replacement plans on everything from my work, so if anything ever happens to any of my products I replace them or get store credit directly from my store. Not worried about RMA'ing anything at that point. I don't see the need to go to a higher ram speed because honestly I've read multiple places that 1600 is absolutely fine for gaming, most other ram isn't stable past that no matter what the clock speed is. I will look in to the motherboard also, I did want the Maximus board, but I did like the Gigabyte board because it was all black, I guess I could order that Maximus instead.
Those two things for sure dude. You're presumably overclocking your CPU with the unlock multiplier and the RAM will need to run alongside with it so... CoolerMaster PSUs are affordable and 80Plus/80Bronze, good buys there if you see 'em. You can manually overclock your GFX if you want. That's what I do with a EVGA GTX 560. Enigma does make sound reasoning in recommending a 1.5-2GB model of course. Once you hit GDDR5 you just want to stack up as much as possible of that, with the most recent DirectX options and such and so on. If you want to take the leap, SSD will bring out faster load times in your machine than any other modification on the market.
i got a 2600k and now i got a brand new 2700k just laying around.. Closed water cooling are a deff plus... Also for ram wise id say go 1600 only because the 16gb kit would run you 60$. The real question is to get a SSD or not.. hmm.