Finally ordered - How does it stack up?

[Justinator]

Here is my first build. I want to know peoples opinions. I ordered the stuff today.


MoBo = Asus P8P67 with USB 3.0 Header

CPU = i5 2500k

RAM = Kingston 8GB DDR3 1333

SSD = Intel 510 Series 120GB SATA 3

HDD = Western 1TB Caviar Black SATA-600

Optical Drive = LG DVD RW +/- Burner & Media Card Reader

GPU = Sapphire HD 6950 2GB Dirt 3 Edition (choose this edition since it has 2 fans)

Case = Cooler Master Storm Enforcer

PSU = Cooler Master Silent Pro M 700 Watt 80+

O/S = Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit SP1

Keep in mind I live in Canada and allot of parts are not available to me. Even through newegg.ca allot of the parts would have to be shipped internationally and in the long run I don't like ordering anything over the boarder encase I need to send it back for repair / replacement. I don't want to end up with a down unit for 2-3 weeks.

This thread has run its course.
-ViRGE

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

Pretty bad, I must say. Why? The AsRock P67 Extreme4 Gen3 is better (more features, IMO looks much better) and cheaper, the SSD while reliable is overpriced (Crucial M4 128GB is a better choice), the Hard Drive is slower, more expensive, and noisier than the Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB and no better in reliability, and the PSU is overpriced and overrated (in wattage, that is). The Radeon HD 6950 2GB makes sense if you want CrossFire in the near future to play at 2560x1440 or higher; otherwise, the 1GB version is just as fast. The Optical Drive is alright, but the Sony Optiarc is better in speeds and noise thanks to its NEC chipset. The case is good (though I hate the exterior, but that's somewhat subjective), and the OS is a good choice.

So overall, here's how you could've done better:

Motherboard: AsRock P67 Extreme4 Gen3
SSD : Crucial M4 128GB
Hard Drive: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB
Power Supply: Seasonic X650 Gold
Optical Drive: Sony Optiarc
Graphics card: Radeon HD 6950 1GB for <2560x1440, 2GB for at or over that.

 

[Justinator]

I did not want an Asrock MoBo. I've read allot of bad things and know 2 people personally who strongly talked me out of the Asrock as of last night.

Setting aside price from this build and looking at quality and performance is more what I am looking to have rated.

I had reasons to choose the components I did and mostly they were to keep from having to order internationally. Even newegg.ca would have had to purchase over half of my components from an international branch and that would mean allot more hassle for me to return components if I have issues.

 

[lehtv]

Before I say anything, I think his choice of hardware was limited by the fact that, against fellow Anandtech forumites' recommendations, he chose to buy his parts from a local dealer who would build the PC for him. Am I correct?

Apart from that, the Samsung F3 and Crucial M4 recommendations were brought up several times. The facts that Coolermaster isn't among the best PSU manufacturers, and that 700W is not needed for his build, were both brought up. Several times IIRC. A 520W or 620W Seasonic would've been spot on for this build.

@ Lolwut The X-650 would be unneeded. And I have to disagree about the GPU. Some games already use over 1GB and that number of games can only increase. Buying 2GB is to ensure you won't be VRAM limited now or in the future.

Overall I think it's a great build, I'm sure you'll be perfectly satisfied with it :thumbsup:

 

[mnewsham]

Good waste of money in my opinion.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

I did not want an Asrock MoBo. I've read allot of bad things and know 2 people personally who strongly talked me out of the Asrock as of last night.

Setting aside price from this build and looking at quality and performance is more what I am looking to have rated.

I had reasons to choose the components I did and mostly they were to keep from having to order internationally. Even newegg.ca would have had to purchase over half of my components from an international branch and that would mean allot more hassle for me to return components if I have issues.

An experience from a friend of yours isn't good evidence. Looking at reviews, the AsRock is typically held in much better regard. You asked for advice on how your build stacks up, and I answered that. You never talked about where you lived, so I assumed the US and didn't take into account.

 

[Justinator]

Yes I will edit my original post to indicate I'm from Canada.

 

[Spikesoldier]

In the normal population of PC's, High end.

 

[mnewsham]

In the normal population of PC's, High end.

in the AT population it is mid range

 

[Spikesoldier]

I did not want an Asrock MoBo. I've read allot of bad things and know 2 people personally who strongly talked me out of the Asrock as of last night.

Setting aside price from this build and looking at quality and performance is more what I am looking to have rated.

I had reasons to choose the components I did and mostly they were to keep from having to order internationally. Even newegg.ca would have had to purchase over half of my components from an international branch and that would mean allot more hassle for me to return components if I have issues.

asrock is a good mainboard manufacturer. i like them because after it broke off from ASUS and went independent, asrock started catering more towards enthusiasts all at an an extreme value and their boards OC very well. they are like the epox of modern times IMO.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

Before I say anything, I think his choice of hardware was limited by the fact that, against fellow Anandtech forumites' recommendations, he chose to buy his parts from a local dealer who would build the PC for him. Am I correct?

Apart from that, the Samsung F3 and Crucial M4 recommendations were brought up several times. The facts that Coolermaster isn't among the best PSU manufacturers, and that 700W is not needed for his build, were both brought up. Several times IIRC. A 520W or 620W Seasonic would've been spot on for this build.

@ Lolwut The X-650 would be unneeded. And I have to disagree about the GPU. Some games already use over 1GB and that number of games can only increase. Buying 2GB is to ensure you won't be VRAM limited now or in the future.

Overall I think it's a great build, I'm sure you'll be perfectly satisfied with it :thumbsup:

The X-650 is at $110 on Newegg, the same price as the CM Silent Pro M 700W and simply stomps all over it. Even looking at choices in other countries, there's probably better options (Corsair TX V2, XFX Core Edition/Pro and XXX, Seasonic, Antec NEO ECO and TruePower New all come to mind). As for the VRAM, that's most of the time false. It's only true if you have a load of mods, and even then the 1280MB GTX 570 is faster in those situations and the extra 280MB makes the difference.

Far from a good build.

Also, if you're in Canada all my recommendations stay the same for all the components.

 

[Justinator]

Spite what my final decision looks like I did respect the recommendations from forum members and all these replies are appreciated but I had to find a balance between what I have available to me and what was suggested as optimum choices. I know there were better deals to be had but like I said I'd like this build to be rated upon common standing revolving around performance and how long it will last before upgrades need to be done to stay in the game.

 

[lehtv]

In the normal population of PC's, High end.

In the scale of realistically imaginable builds, mid-high.

High end would be a $2000 PC with at least GTX 580 or dual-GPU, at least Corsair HX series or better PSU, high end air cooling

Extreme would be like $3000-4000. At least dual-GPU GTX 580 or similar capable of triple-monitor gaming, watercooled components, SSD raid 0, Gold rated PSU, $300 full tower case, very high end motherboard, i7 2600K, 16GB RAM at least 1600MHz.

 

[lehtv]

The X-650 is at $110 on Newegg

In that case, there is no contest. I assumed it was still priced high.

As for the VRAM, that's most of the time false.

I agree, but most of the time isn't good enough. You don't know what requirements future games will have, except that they will have higher requirements. It'd be unfortunate to hamper the longevity of the GPU just because it is lacking in VRAM.

even then the 1280MB GTX 570 is faster in those situations and the extra 280MB makes the difference.

GTX 570 is another decent choice but it is even more expensive than 6950 2GB. I think both are good choices for what they cost.

 

[Justinator]

Something I want to throw out there as well is the fact that I can run 3 monitors with better resolution at one time having the 2gb card.

 

[lehtv]

That's true. 6950 2GB can certainly handle eyefinity with low settings or in games with relatively low requirements.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

Spite what my final decision looks like I did respect the recommendations from forum members and all these replies are appreciated but I had to find a balance between what I have available to me and what was suggested as optimum choices. I know there were better deals to be had but like I said I'd like this build to be rated upon common standing revolving around performance and how long it will last before upgrades need to be done to stay in the game.

I'm sorry, but no. From Newegg.ca:

The DiRT 3 HIS Radeon HD 6950 2GB does not have two fans. Regardless, if you're running at less than 2560x1440: Gigabyte Radeon HD 6950 1GB OC: $240; HIS Radeon HD 6950 2GB DiRT 3: $270. Costs less, and performs better at <2560x1440, even more so because of third-party cooler.

Seasonic X-650 Gold: $110; Cooler Master Silent ProM 700: $120. Costs less and simply stomps it in every aspect, including reliability, power delivery and upgrade-ability.

Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB: $75; Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB: $75. Costs the same and has higher performance, produces less noise, and has less DOA problems.

Crucial M4 128GB: $210; Intel 510 120GB: $270. Costs a lot less, is comparable in speed and reliability.

Sony Optiarc DVD Burner: $19; LG DVD Burner: $21. Costs less, is faster and less noisy.

In the scale of realistically imaginable builds, mid-high.

High end would be a $2000 PC with at least GTX 580 or dual-GPU, at least Corsair HX series or better PSU, high end air cooling

Extreme would be like $3000-4000. At least dual-GPU GTX 580 or similar capable of triple-monitor gaming, watercooled components, SSD raid 0, Gold rated PSU, $300 full tower case, very high end motherboard, i7 2600K, 16GB RAM at least 1600MHz.

If you want a truly high-end PC, you'd choose a Core i7-980 or the upcoming Core i7-3930K over that Core i7-2600K.

 

[mfenn]

OP, you got a solid upper midrange build for a high-end price. We beat this to death in your other threads though.

I'm sorry, but no. From Newegg.ca:
Seasonic X-650 Gold: $110; Cooler Master Silent ProM 700: $120. Costs less and simply stomps it in every aspect, including reliability, power delivery and upgrade-ability.

Agree, but like you said earlier, both are way overkill for the OP's needs. A $60 XFX Core 550W would have been perfectly adequate.

 

[lehtv]

If you want a truly high-end PC, you'd choose a Core i7-980 or the upcoming Core i7-3930K over that Core i7-2600K.

2600K is on par with 980 in performance. In games it is better. It costs half. It consumes a lot less power and overclocks better. It has an on-die GPU as a backup. And it can be combined with the Z68 chipset which has a better featureset than X58.

Agree about 3930K.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

In that case, there is no contest. I assumed it was still priced high.

I agree, but most of the time isn't good enough. You don't know what requirements future games will have, except that they will have higher requirements. It'd be unfortunate to hamper the longevity of the GPU just because it is lacking in VRAM.

GTX 570 is another decent choice but it is even more expensive than 6950 2GB. I think both are good choices for what they cost.

You buy graphics cards for the performance they give you in games that are out now. If you wanted to be very future-proof at <2560x1440, you'd buy a GTX 570 instead. OP said he has three monitors, but a single Radeon HD 6950 2GB isn't good enough for 5040x1050 or 5760x1080/1200. For that high a resolution, he should've gone with CrossFire or should be going in the near future. Unfortunately, the motherboard he chose only has 16X/4X, and at those high resolutions with AA that means you lose 10% or even more performance.

Given this, I'd recommend he'd gone for a motherboard with 8x/8x PCIe 2.0, as there's only a loss of 3%.

 

[lehtv]

You buy graphics cards for the performance they give you in games that are out now. If you wanted to be very future-proof at <2560x1440, you'd buy a GTX 570 instead.

Thanks for sharing your opinion.

 

[Justinator]

I know we had points proven to show that there are some better choices but for me it boiled down to availability for me. newegg.ca wasn't a good option for me being I live in Canada and allot of things would have had to come from the USA resulting in sever headache if something didn't work and needed to be returned.

The XFX 550w was my first choice but it wasn't available to me.

 

[Justinator]

I'm sorry, but no. From Newegg.ca:

The DiRT 3 HIS Radeon HD 6950 2GB does not have two fans. Regardless, if you're running at less than 2560x1440: Gigabyte Radeon HD 6950 1GB OC: $240; HIS Radeon HD 6950 2GB DiRT 3: $270. Costs less, and performs better at <2560x1440, even more so because of third-party cooler.

Yes the Dirt 3 edition "does" have 2 fans.
Look here: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...2gb%20dirt%203

I didn't buy it for dirt 3. I bought it because it had 2 fans.

I am looking forward to trying out the EYEFINITY this 2gb card will offer me even though it wont be as good of graphics quality as it would be in my 1 single monitor.

 

[LOL_Wut_Axel]

2600K is on par with 980 in performance. It costs half. I consumes less power and overclocks better. It has an on-die GPU as a backup. And it can be combined with a chipset that has a better featureset.

Agree about 3930K.

Absolutely, patently wrong. There's a reason why the i7-980 costs more and there's a reason why it's used instead in ultra high-end builds.

Sandy Bridge has 11% higher IPC, so 11% faster at the same clock speed. Gulftown overclocks a bit less than Sandy Bridge. Average overclock for Sandy Bridge is 4.5GHz and for Gulftown 4.3GHz, so 16% better overall for SB in single-threaded. Games are midly multi-threaded, and the difference becomes smaller, to 10% higher frame-rate on average. Then come the multi-threaded workloads, and there 2600K is left in the dust.

Even taking into account a somewhat lower clock speed both OCed, it'd be 20-35% faster in multi-threaded. Easy choice over the 2600K if you have the money given that single-threaded performance on Nehalem is already very high and it overclocks good.

 

[aphelion02]

Its not a bad computer, but you could have done better for less, even considering your circumstances and location. This has been communicated to you through posts ad nauseum. The fact is, you ignored advice and made your own advice. That's fine, but don't keep posting here looking for validation. The truth still remains the same.