First build: i5-2500k gaming PC

[biggz]

Hey guys, i'm planning on either buying or building a gaming PC using the following components. Its been a while and i want to make sure I'm not making a mistake or getting riped off anywhere. Any insight will be much appreciated.
I would like to be able to use this PC to play some of the new first person shooter games that are out. I don't really want to resort to sli/crossfire, and would rather just stick to one good GPU instead.
Here is what I was thinking so far:

CPU:
Intel Core i5 2500K Quad Core Unlocked Processor LGA1155 3.3GHZ Sandy Bridge 6MB

CPU Cooling:
Corsair Cooling Hydro Series H50 High Performance CPU Cooler System LGA1155 LGA1366 LGA1156 AM2 AM3

MOBO
MSI P67A-G43 (B3) P67 ATX LGA1155 DDR3 2PCI-E16 3PCI-E 2PCI SLI CrossFireX SATA3 USB3

RAM:
G.SKILL F3-10666CL9T-6GBNQ 6GB DDR3 3X2GB DDR3-1333 CL 9-9-9-24 Triple Channel Memory Kit

GPU
ASUS GeForce 570 GTX DirectCU II Fermi 742MHZ 1280MB 3.8 GHz GDDR5 2XDVI HDMI PCI-E Video Card

CASE:
Corsair Graphite Series 600T Mid-Tower Case ATX 4X5.25 6X3.5INT USB 1394 4 Channel Fan Control

Power Supply:
Corsair Gaming Series CMPSU-600G 600W ATX Power Supply Active PFC 140MM Fan

Hard Drive:
Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA3 6GB/S 7200RPM 64MB Cache 3.5IN Dual Proc Hard Drive OEM

Other than say an optical drive is there anything i'm missing. I have a few questions as well.
1. Do you think the 570 gtx, will be good enough to run games like COD,BF2, CIV5 at a reasonably high frame rate at high/highest graphic setting. I will be running them at 1920x1080. Is there any benefit for going with ATI's 6970.
2. I can afford to upgrade to 8gb of RAM instead of 6, and also the higher 1600 vs the 1333. I would rather not if there is little difference.
Is 600W enough, i'm pretty sure it is but i want to make sure.
3. The SATA 3 1TB Hard drive, does the SATA 3 make any difference or is it a waste. Would it be better to get a SSD for the OS and then a normal SATA 2 for the rest. It would cost a lot more to do it that way so i'm just wondering if the SATA 3 is worth it.

Thanks in advance:🙂

 

[biggz]

Forgot to mention that the budget i'm trying to work with is around 1250-1400 before taxes(cdn). The above listed components using NCIX will run me $1400 or close to it. If i dn't end up having the time to build the PC is NCIX a reputable company to buy pre built PC's from. Last question i promise: whats a rough estimate that building a pc would save me over buying it.

 

[dma0991]

The Corsair H50 is more of a trouble free alternative to water cooling which would have about the same cooling performance as some cheaper air coolers. You could go for the H50 but if you intend to do some OC much better to get an air cooler similarly priced as the H50 but provide more cooling or get the H70.

I am not a big fan of the Corsair GS series so I would recommend that you take other alternatives from Seasonic, Silverstone, Antec and PC Power&Cooling. Preferably get a 750W PSU so that you don't have to change your PSU again if you decide that you want to SLi your GTX570.

 

[Rvenger]

Hey guys, i'm planning on either buying or building a gaming PC using the following components. Its been a while and i want to make sure I'm not making a mistake or getting riped off anywhere. Any insight will be much appreciated.
I would like to be able to use this PC to play some of the new first person shooter games that are out. I don't really want to resort to sli/crossfire, and would rather just stick to one good GPU instead.
Here is what I was thinking so far:

CPU:
Intel Core i5 2500K Quad Core Unlocked Processor LGA1155 3.3GHZ Sandy Bridge 6MB

CPU Cooling:
Corsair Cooling Hydro Series H50 High Performance CPU Cooler System LGA1155 LGA1366 LGA1156 AM2 AM3

MOBO
MSI P67A-G43 (B3) P67 ATX LGA1155 DDR3 2PCI-E16 3PCI-E 2PCI SLI CrossFireX SATA3 USB3

RAM:
G.SKILL F3-10666CL9T-6GBNQ 6GB DDR3 3X2GB DDR3-1333 CL 9-9-9-24 Triple Channel Memory Kit

GPU
ASUS GeForce 570 GTX DirectCU II Fermi 742MHZ 1280MB 3.8 GHz GDDR5 2XDVI HDMI PCI-E Video Card

CASE:
Corsair Graphite Series 600T Mid-Tower Case ATX 4X5.25 6X3.5INT USB 1394 4 Channel Fan Control

Power Supply:
Corsair Gaming Series CMPSU-600G 600W ATX Power Supply Active PFC 140MM Fan

Hard Drive:
Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA3 6GB/S 7200RPM 64MB Cache 3.5IN Dual Proc Hard Drive OEM

Other than say an optical drive is there anything i'm missing. I have a few questions as well.
1. Do you think the 570 gtx, will be good enough to run games like COD,BF2, CIV5 at a reasonably high frame rate at high/highest graphic setting. I will be running them at 1920x1080. Is there any benefit for going with ATI's 6970.
2. I can afford to upgrade to 8gb of RAM instead of 6, and also the higher 1600 vs the 1333. I would rather not if there is little difference.
Is 600W enough, i'm pretty sure it is but i want to make sure.
3. The SATA 3 1TB Hard drive, does the SATA 3 make any difference or is it a waste. Would it be better to get a SSD for the OS and then a normal SATA 2 for the rest. It would cost a lot more to do it that way so i'm just wondering if the SATA 3 is worth it.

Thanks in advance:🙂

Switch the memory up and get 2 sticks of 4gb. You would be running in single channel mode if you get 3 sticks.

 

[aphelion02]

Like others said, you need to get dual channel memory, 2x4gb sounds good. I would also recommend looking into a cpu + mobo combo to save some money

1. Do you think the 570 gtx, will be good enough to run games like COD,BF2, CIV5 at a reasonably high frame rate at high/highest graphic setting. I will be running them at 1920x1080. Is there any benefit for going with ATI's 6970.

gtx 570 will be more than fine, I personally think a hd 6950 is more than enough.

2. I can afford to upgrade to 8gb of RAM instead of 6, and also the higher 1600 vs the 1333. I would rather not if there is little difference.
Is 600W enough, i'm pretty sure it is but i want to make sure.

1600 has very very little difference compared to 1333. 600W is more than enough.

3. The SATA 3 1TB Hard drive, does the SATA 3 make any difference or is it a waste. Would it be better to get a SSD for the OS and then a normal SATA 2 for the rest. It would cost a lot more to do it that way so i'm just wondering if the SATA 3 is worth it.

I don't know if its a "waste", but you won't see too much performance difference. SSD + a 5400rpm 2tb drive if definitely worth it, but as you said there is some price difference.

 

[biggz]

So i took your input and changed the appropriate parts:

Processors (CPUs):
Intel Core i5 2500K Quad Core Unlocked Processor LGA1155 3.3GHZ Sandy Bridge 6MB

CPU Heatsinks
Noctua NH-U9B SE2 LGA1155/1156/1366 AM2/AM3 I7/I5/PHENOM Heatpipe Cooler W/ 2XNF-B9 92MM Fans

Motherboards
MSI P67A-G43 (B3) P67 ATX LGA1155 DDR3 2PCI-E16 3PCI-E 2PCI SLI CrossFireX SATA3 USB3 Motherboard

DDR3 Desktop Memory
G.SKILL F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL Ripjaws 8GB 2X4GB DDR3-1333 CL9-9-9-24 240PIN DIMM Memory

Video Cards
EVGA GeForce GTX 570 Fermi 732MHZ 1280MB GDDR5 2XDVI Mini-HDMI PCI-E Video Card

Computer Cases
Antec Dark Fleet DF-30 Mid Tower Gaming Case ATX 3X5.25 6X3.5INT 1X3.5 No PS USB Audio Blue LED version

Power Supplies
PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk II 650W SLI Certified ATX Power Supply 80 Plus Silver *5 Yr Warranty*

Hard Drives Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB SATA3 6GB/S 7200RPM 32MB Cache 3.5IN Dual Proc Hard Drive OEM

Solid State Drives
Intel 320 Series GEN3 80GB 2.5IN SSD SATA2 Solid State Disk Flash Drive OEM

Decided to lower my HHD to 500GB i already have a couple external 1T's, so I figured i could spend a little extra on the SSD. Does 80gb sound good for OS and games? Also whats a trusted brand that i should get for my GPU, right now its EVGA. Do you guys see any problems with this modified build? I do intend to moderately OC the cpu.

 

[LiuKangBakinPie]

So i took your input and changed the appropriate parts:

Processors (CPUs):
Intel Core i5 2500K Quad Core Unlocked Processor LGA1155 3.3GHZ Sandy Bridge 6MB

CPU Heatsinks
Noctua NH-U9B SE2 LGA1155/1156/1366 AM2/AM3 I7/I5/PHENOM Heatpipe Cooler W/ 2XNF-B9 92MM Fans

Motherboards
MSI P67A-G43 (B3) P67 ATX LGA1155 DDR3 2PCI-E16 3PCI-E 2PCI SLI CrossFireX SATA3 USB3 Motherboard

DDR3 Desktop Memory
G.SKILL F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL Ripjaws 8GB 2X4GB DDR3-1333 CL9-9-9-24 240PIN DIMM Memory

Video Cards
EVGA GeForce GTX 570 Fermi 732MHZ 1280MB GDDR5 2XDVI Mini-HDMI PCI-E Video Card

Computer Cases
Antec Dark Fleet DF-30 Mid Tower Gaming Case ATX 3X5.25 6X3.5INT 1X3.5 No PS USB Audio Blue LED version

Power Supplies
PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk II 650W SLI Certified ATX Power Supply 80 Plus Silver *5 Yr Warranty*

Hard Drives Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB SATA3 6GB/S 7200RPM 32MB Cache 3.5IN Dual Proc Hard Drive OEM

Solid State Drives
Intel 320 Series GEN3 80GB 2.5IN SSD SATA2 Solid State Disk Flash Drive OEM

Decided to lower my HHD to 500GB i already have a couple external 1T's, so I figured i could spend a little extra on the SSD. Does 80gb sound good for OS and games? Also whats a trusted brand that i should get for my GPU, right now its EVGA. Do you guys see any problems with this modified build? I do intend to moderately OC the cpu.

Get the SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 1TB SATA you'll save more.
Ssd get the C300
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-357-_-Product

 

[gorcorps]

Save money by getting the F3 hard drive instead. Mechanical hard drives are quite limited in speed and can't really take advantage of SATA 3. SSD on the other hand benefit quite nicely. Just get a SATA2 drive and possibly a small SSD. I have a 64gig boot drive and keep everything else on a 1TB F3 and it's fantastic.

 

[mfenn]

So i took your input and changed the appropriate parts:

Processors (CPUs):
Intel Core i5 2500K Quad Core Unlocked Processor LGA1155 3.3GHZ Sandy Bridge 6MB

CPU Heatsinks
Noctua NH-U9B SE2 LGA1155/1156/1366 AM2/AM3 I7/I5/PHENOM Heatpipe Cooler W/ 2XNF-B9 92MM Fans

Motherboards
MSI P67A-G43 (B3) P67 ATX LGA1155 DDR3 2PCI-E16 3PCI-E 2PCI SLI CrossFireX SATA3 USB3 Motherboard

DDR3 Desktop Memory
G.SKILL F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL Ripjaws 8GB 2X4GB DDR3-1333 CL9-9-9-24 240PIN DIMM Memory

Video Cards
EVGA GeForce GTX 570 Fermi 732MHZ 1280MB GDDR5 2XDVI Mini-HDMI PCI-E Video Card

Computer Cases
Antec Dark Fleet DF-30 Mid Tower Gaming Case ATX 3X5.25 6X3.5INT 1X3.5 No PS USB Audio Blue LED version

Power Supplies
PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk II 650W SLI Certified ATX Power Supply 80 Plus Silver *5 Yr Warranty*

Hard Drives Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB SATA3 6GB/S 7200RPM 32MB Cache 3.5IN Dual Proc Hard Drive OEM

Solid State Drives
Intel 320 Series GEN3 80GB 2.5IN SSD SATA2 Solid State Disk Flash Drive OEM

Decided to lower my HHD to 500GB i already have a couple external 1T's, so I figured i could spend a little extra on the SSD. Does 80gb sound good for OS and games? Also whats a trusted brand that i should get for my GPU, right now its EVGA. Do you guys see any problems with this modified build? I do intend to moderately OC the cpu.

This looks pretty good. I do have a few comments though:
- The Hyper 212+ will perform about the same and costs half as much.
- A 6950 2GB will perform about the same and be significantly cheaper. If you get a reference model, you even have the chance to unlock it to a 6970
- That PCP&C is kind of expensive for what it is (which is an OCZ). Check out the XFX Core 650W.
- It's too bad that Samsung F3's are thin on the ground in Canada. You might want to see if shipping on an F3 from Newegg.ca is worth it. 80GB for the SSD is fine.

 

[biggz]

This looks pretty good. I do have a few comments though:
- The Hyper 212+ will perform about the same and costs half as much.
- A 6950 2GB will perform about the same and be significantly cheaper. If you get a reference model, you even have the chance to unlock it to a 6970
- That PCP&C is kind of expensive for what it is (which is an OCZ). Check out the XFX Core 650W.
- It's too bad that Samsung F3's are thin on the ground in Canada. You might want to see if shipping on an F3 from Newegg.ca is worth it. 80GB for the SSD is fine.

I was considering getting the 6950, but i have a couple questions about the OC to achieve 6970. Is it hard to do? Is there a significant risk in doing this that i should be aware of? How do i make sure i get a reference model (no idea what that is). How much does the windows & OS take up on a SSD. I'm asking because i'm wondering if 60gb would work. I would just keep a couple games on it at a time as well. Thanks for your help by the way.

 

[mfenn]

I was considering getting the 6950, but i have a couple questions about the OC to achieve 6970. Is it hard to do? Is there a significant risk in doing this that i should be aware of? How do i make sure i get a reference model (no idea what that is). How much does the windows & OS take up on a SSD. I'm asking because i'm wondering if 60gb would work. I would just keep a couple games on it at a time as well. Thanks for your help by the way.

Flashing a 6950 2GB to a 6970 is fairly easy. Just follow the Techpowerup guide. There is of course always risk involved with flashing, but since the 6950 has dual BIOSes that you can flip between with a switch, the chance of catastrophic failure is low. A "reference" model is a card that is based on AMD's original design with the fully shrouded cooler. It looks like NCIX are bastards and just used a stock photo for the card that I linked though. Here's a different card from Newegg.ca that will unlock.

Windows 7 64-bit takes about 15-20GB of space after proper tweaks (turn off hibernation, move page file to a different drive). You don't want to fill an SSD completely full, so figure that you'd have about 30GB of space to play with on a 60GB model. You won't be able to fit many (if any) games on a 60GB SSD, but that's no big deal because most don't benefit that much anyway. The SSD is more to make your OS and general apps lightning fast.