Building new rig.

[Vaktathi]

So, my current machine (specs below) has recently bit the dust, I was going to replace it coming up in february given that I've had it for more than three years, but hardware failures have forced that forward a bit. The machine would primarily be used for gaming and running as a media repository/player.

So with that in mind, I'd like to get some idea of what the good stuff is out there right now in terms of CPU/Mobo/Vidcard/RAM/system drive setups that I can get going here, I'd like to re-use my current tower/PSU (just got a new 650w today)/monitors/inputs/etc, but I'd like to replace most of the internals for ~$1K. I've been out of the hardware loop for a while and so don't have any idea about where products have gone the last couple years especially with everyone's awful naming schemes these days.

I'd like to move to an nVidia graphics card because of issues I've had with several games and apparent compatability issues with crashing the ATI drivers (World of Tanks, Fallout 3/New Vegas, Skyrim, Star Trek Online, etc) but have no real preference when it comes to CPU's though I've been using AMD's since the K6-2 line 13 years ago.

Additionally, historically I tend to run my machine 24/7 for long periods of time and have a massive media collection, but tend to suffer HDD failures every 1-2 years. In terms of best system drives, what should I be looking at? Solid state? normal HDD's still?


thanks in advance.

 

[lehtv]

There are plenty of threads lying about where you can get a good idea of what hardware is good.

Buying from where? Do you overclock? Which 650W PSU did you get?

In general you should get (U.S. prices)

i5-2500K (+ aftermarket cooler for overclocking) $220
Z68 motherboard e.g. Asrock Extreme3 $125
2x4GB DDR3 1600MHz 1.5V $40
Crucial M4 or Samsung 830 SSD for the OS and programs (+ games) $200 for 128GB
Hitachi 7K1000.D HDD $100-130 (best $/GB 7200RPM on newegg at the moment, also fast) or some 2TB 5400RPM drive for even better $/GB
GTX 560 Ti if you want to stick to NVIDIA. $200-$240. Your current resolution of 1680x1050 doesn't warrant anything faster.

 

[Vaktathi]

Generally no overclocking, did a bit back on my AMD 1800+ like 9 years ago but have never really found it necessary since then.

The PSU I picked up is an ANTEC Earthwatts650 green (it was that or $220 for some 1200w monster I didn't need, was an emergency purchase to see if current machine could be salvaged)

That list answers a lot of my questions quite nicely however, thanks for the info so far! I'll probably pick up most of the stuff on newegg unless I find a better store in the meantime. Selection at local places is...underwhelming currently.

 

[lehtv]

If you don't overclock, downgrade to i5-2400 to save $30. Overclocking would also require an aftermarket cooler so that's another $25. Finally you can downgrade the motherboard to a H67 board, you'll save another $30 but lose the ability to overclock and do SLi/Crossfire (which most people won't need).

However, I wouldn't consider it bad idea to stick with 2500K + Z68 even if you have no plans to OC. You may change your mind about it later. For the additional price of an aftermarket cooler, you can tap into an extra 20-30% performance which will increase the longevity of the setup.

 

[mfenn]

Additionally, historically I tend to run my machine 24/7 for long periods of time and have a massive media collection, but tend to suffer HDD failures every 1-2 years. In terms of best system drives, what should I be looking at? Solid state? normal HDD's still?

Lehtv's proposed build is good, but I want to expand upon this.

Basically, trying to avoid storage failures is completely pointless. What you want to do instead is properly plan for storage failures by having a solid backup strategy in place. That way, when (not if) something fails, you don't have to worry about losing your data. You just say, "oh, that was a minor inconvenience, let me RMA the drive and restore from backup once he replacement arrives".

So, I would say to make sure that you have at least twice as much HDD capacity as what you need for your "don't want to lose" data. One for the live copy, and another for backups. Then make sure that you set up an automated backup program that does hourly, daily, weekly, or whatever backups. IMHO, any backup process that isn't fully automated will never actually be used. Set it, but don't forget it (this ain't RonCo), make sure to do test restores from time to time.