Building Big Beginnings - 2600K/P67

[The Rockerfella]

Hi Folks,

I am a first-time builder with a budget of ~$2000.00 and am looking for advice. I have been researching builds and components on these forums but as an uninitiated, the process and terminology are still a bit daunting. I plan on ordering by the end of next week and would appreciate any advice and recommendations in terms of parts and compatibility.

The system will primarily be used for working in Adobe CS5, print design, 3D/motion graphics rendering, audio production (hobbyist), occasional gaming, and ideally would be well-performing for at least two years or longer, but I understand this is unpredictable (would rather err safer than sorry).


Here's what I am considering for this Win7 (64-bit) machine:

Case: Lian-Li PC-A77F (for light weight, toolless design, and future expansion; slight concern with cable management and ease-of-use for first build) - $350.00 w/ shipping (ouch on $40 shipping)
CPU: Intel Core i7 2600K - $280.00
MOBO: GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD7 LGA 1155 Intel P67 - $330.00 (for decent onboard sound, stereo mix, future 16x/16x SLI, easy overclock; this review sold it for me)
GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 570 (buying one for now for option of buying another one for SLI, or upgrading to a better card based on mileage) - $350.00
RAM: 16GB (4 x 4GB) G.SKILL Ripjaws DDR3 1333 - $200 (after promo)
SDD: OCZ Vertex 2 3.5" 90GB SATA II - $200.00
HDD: Western Digital 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s - $80.00
ODD: ASUS DRW-24B1ST - $20.00
PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-850TX 850W - $120.00
Monitor: Dell SP2309W (2048 x 1152) - Existing, want to upgrade in the future to 3 monitors (SP2309Wx2 + larger IPS panel)

Total: $1930.00


Questions:
1. Is everything compatible and OS-compliant?
2. Is this system and its parts Hackintoshable?
3. How should I go about cooling/silencing (CPU/GPU cooler, foam, extra/different fans)? Are they necessary? If not, how much would they help? Any predictions on performance here?
4. Where would the bottleneck be in this build?
5. Will the toolless case design spare me the trouble of worrying about stand-offs?
6. Will an anti-static wristwrap be sufficient for working in a carpeted environment?
7. My only other desktop is a six year-old Dell Dimension. Will I be able to properly troubleshoot and diagnose potential problems without a spare system?


As my first build, I am committed to picking up the right habits and setting this gal up properly. I am not familiar with overclocking, but will do what I can with air cooling (don't feel up to water cooling just yet). My main interest is investing sensibly for the long run and less about particularly staying in budget, but of course saving money/energy-consumption wherever possible would be great.

Thanks for your time and suggestions!

 

[mfenn]

No offense, but this build is pretty bad. You're spending a ton of money in a futile attempt to "futureproof". This money would be better spent on parts that actually increase performance or saved for a future upgrade (of performance-improving parts.

I'll go down the list:

• Case: Completely insane. You can get a tool less ATX case with plenty of drive bays for much less. The HAF 922 ($100) is one example.
• CPU: Fine
• Mobo: Ridiculous overkill. Any P67 board is going to have decent onboard sound, and if you demand better, a chip that is wedded to the mobo is not a good plan. Better to buy an external DAC that you can carry between builds. Addionally, x16/x16 PCIe config is a non-issue. The performance is about 1% greater than x8/x8 (assuming you ever do upgrade to SLI, see below). Finally, Sandy Bridge overclocking is dead simple; you do not need a fancy mobo. A better mobo choice would be the GA-P67A-UD3 ($125) or ASRock P67 Extreme4 ($153).
• GPU: The GPU itself is fine, but don't think that you're going to "upgrade to SLI". That is almost always a bad value for money when you factor in the greater upfront costs of SLI-capable equipment. Secondly, SLI is not going to be necessary for "occasional gaming".
• RAM: There's no need to pay such a huge premium for CAS 7. Get two of these CAS 9 kits ($160 total).
• SSD: Fine, but not a good deal. You might as well get the Agility 2 120GB, for $185 AR. Bigger, and just as fast (except in one corner case).
• ODD: Fine
• PSU: Overkill. SLI isn't a good thing to plan for (see above), so you don't really need to spend $120 on a PSU. A quality 650W like this Antec Earthwatts ($80) is enough.
• Monitor: 23" is a bit small for that resolution IMHO (plus it seems to be out of stock). I would grab a U2311H or U2410.

For your specific questions:

1. Yes, but see above.
2. Not until Apple releases Sandy Bridge based systems.
3. You shouldn't need any additional fans. The 2600K comes with a damn nice cooler.
4. Depends on the task
5. No. Standoffs are not worth worrying about though. It is incredibly simple to match them with the appropriate holes on the mobo.
6. Yes
7. The Dell's only use is probably as an Internet box. You won't really be able to swap parts between the two.

Hope this helps!

 

[mnewsham]

No offense, but this build is pretty bad. You're spending a ton of money in a futile attempt to "futureproof". This money would be better spent on parts that actually increase performance or saved for a future upgrade (of performance-improving parts.

I'll go down the list:

• Case: Completely insane. You can get a tool less ATX case with plenty of drive bays for much less. The HAF 922 ($100) is one example.
• CPU: Fine
• Mobo: Ridiculous overkill. Any P67 board is going to have decent onboard sound, and if you demand better, a chip that is wedded to the mobo is not a good plan. Better to buy an external DAC that you can carry between builds. Addionally, x16/x16 PCIe config is a non-issue. The performance is about 1% greater than x8/x8 (assuming you ever do upgrade to SLI, see below). Finally, Sandy Bridge overclocking is dead simple; you do not need a fancy mobo. A better mobo choice would be the GA-P67A-UD3 ($125) or ASRock P67 Extreme4 ($153).
• GPU: The GPU itself is fine, but don't think that you're going to "upgrade to SLI". That is almost always a bad value for money when you factor in the greater upfront costs of SLI-capable equipment. Secondly, SLI is not going to be necessary for "occasional gaming".
• RAM: There's no need to pay such a huge premium for CAS 7. Get two of these CAS 9 kits ($160 total).
• SSD: Fine, but not a good deal. You might as well get the Agility 2 120GB, for $185 AR. Bigger, and just as fast (except in one corner case).
• ODD: Fine
• PSU: Overkill. SLI isn't a good thing to plan for (see above), so you don't really need to spend $120 on a PSU. A quality 650W like this Antec Earthwatts ($80) is enough.
• Monitor: 23" is a bit small for that resolution IMHO (plus it seems to be out of stock). I would grab a U2311H or U2410.

For your specific questions:

1. Yes, but see above.
2. Not until Apple releases Sandy Bridge based systems.
3. You shouldn't need any additional fans. The 2600K comes with a damn nice cooler.
4. Depends on the task
5. No. Standoffs are not worth worrying about though. It is incredibly simple to match them with the appropriate holes on the mobo.
6. Yes
7. The Dell's only use is probably as an Internet box. You won't really be able to swap parts between the two.

Hope this helps!

:thumbsup: My thoughts exactly good job again mfenn

 

[fffblackmage]

Case: Lian-Li PC-A77F - $350.00 w/ shipping (ouch on $40 shipping)

Ouch on shipping? You mean ouch on a $300 case....

You basically picked the most expensive components for every single category. But yeah... what mfenn said.

 

[The Rockerfella]

Thanks for the advice mfenn; sounds like you are saving me more than five-hundred dollars. What other parts could this be better put towards to increase performance? Should I save for the future or are there viable options? Seems like I don't have a good enough sense of components yet to choose properly.

 

[mnewsham]

could use the money to a better monitor. Or take a vacation.😎

 

[The Rockerfella]

could use the money to a better monitor. Or take a vacation.😎

Haha a vacation is always a good idea 😉

 

[Davidh373]

at $2000 you are paying a $500-$750 premium to get 5%-10% better performance. IMO, paying 25%-30% of your total build cost to get (at most) 10% of your performance is not an intelligent decision.

Case: Lian-Li PC-A77F (for light weight, toolless design, and future expansion; slight concern with cable management and ease-of-use for first build) - $350.00 w/ shipping (ouch on $40 shipping)

Get a good $100-$150 case like the Antec 900, the Haf 922, or the NZXT Phantom

CPU: Intel Core i7 2600K - $280.00

This is good

MOBO: GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD7 LGA 1155 Intel P67 - $330.00 (for decent onboard sound, stereo mix, future 16x/16x SLI, easy overclock;

Woh, paying 2X more than you have to ehh? A UD3 is an excellent choice 🙂

GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 570 (buying one for now for option of buying another one for SLI, or upgrading to a better card based on mileage) - $350.00

Like everyone else has been saying, this is a great card, but the thought of SLI later is ridiculous. You end up looking at the $150-$200 card to SLI, or the newer $220 card that has DX12, draws less power than a single 570 (yet alone 2 of them bastards!) and takes up less space, and you think to yourself "Yeah, that new card is looking REALLY attractive! I'm gonna get that one!"

Make sense?

RAM: There's no need to pay such a huge premium for CAS 7. Get two of these CAS 9 kits ($160 total).

My thoughts exactly

SDD: OCZ Vertex 2 3.5" 90GB SATA II - $200.00

mmmmmk

PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-850TX 850W - $120.00

You won't be needing that if you aren't going SLI, so go to a 650TX or something else in the ballpark of $100-$120

Monitor: Dell SP2309W (2048 x 1152) - Existing, want to upgrade in the future to 3 monitors (SP2309Wx2 + larger IPS panel)

With the money you save with the rest of this stuff, why not just get two of these now?

1. yes

2. why would you want to do something stupid like that? Do you not want the full features of CS5?

3. As long as you aren't overclocking you should be fine.

4. nowhere that can be identified by the naked eye, nor anywhere you can change by today's technology.

5. nope

6. yes, but 9999/10000 times the static wrist strap isn't needed

7. no part swapping there, but you should be able to ask us questions using it.

 

[JackMDS]

Thanks for the advice mfenn; sounds like you are saving me more than five-hundred dollars. What other parts could this be better put towards to increase performance? Should I save for the future or are there viable options? Seems like I don't have a good enough sense of components yet to choose properly.

+1 to mfenn great advise.
---------------

Given the current state of the Art in our society, technology, and economy, there is only one partially Future proof part.

Out Body. I.e., if you eat correctly, drink correctly, and do not do drugs, and use actively your brain, you are future proofing your health.

Otherwise, put the extra $500 a side, and it two years you can use them to adjust the system to whatever few new components will be available then.


😎

 

[mfenn]

Thanks for the advice mfenn; sounds like you are saving me more than five-hundred dollars. What other parts could this be better put towards to increase performance? Should I save for the future or are there viable options? Seems like I don't have a good enough sense of components yet to choose properly.

You're welcome! 🙂

I would say to either (a) save the money for an upgrade in 12-18 months or (b) get a Dell U2711 (and optionally a GTX 580).

 

[d4a2n0k]

Just one thing, the 2600k does not come with a nice cooler. It has the typical crappy Intel push-pin cooler. It did not end up with that nice 4 pipe cooler that some review sites had.

If you are planning to overclock, get an aftermarket cooler.