New build - work and play

[red454]

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing. Solidworks 2010 and gaming (COD, etc.)

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread $1200

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from. US

4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc. No preference

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are. I have a copy of Win 7 Ultimate and a GTS250 available, along with a 23" monitor.

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads. Yes

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds. No plans to overclock

8. What resolution YOU plan on gaming with. 1920 x 1080

9. WHEN do you plan to build it? Between now and Christmas


For work, I just got a core I7 2600 with a $110 Asus board and 8 gig ram and using my GTS250, it runs Soildworks 2010 and games with no problems. So, although I was interested in the Bulldozer, the 2600 seems well suited. But the SB-E sounds even better... Speed & number crunching for me.

 

[Zap]

If your GTS 250 and a Core i7-2600 worked great, then that's what you should target.

Anything else you can think of? Would you want the system small or does size matter? Does it have to be quiet? Do you want a show-off case or a business-like case or an elegant case?

Why no overclock? You should be able to get by with a mild overclock and boost performance nicely at as close to zero risk as possible.

 

[red454]

If your GTS 250 and a Core i7-2600 worked great, then that's what you should target.

Anything else you can think of? Would you want the system small or does size matter? Does it have to be quiet? Do you want a show-off case or a business-like case or an elegant case?

Why no overclock? You should be able to get by with a mild overclock and boost performance nicely at as close to zero risk as possible.

Over the last few months, I have researched cases and everything that goes in them and now I am looking for input from anyone to make sure there is nothing I have overlooked.

As for the case, size does not matter. I do like the Corsair 400R and 500R cases. I like the fact that the H100 cooler is made to fit those cases (or vice versa).

Clarification on the overclocking - that is the only thing I haven't fooled with, and I am curious - and not afraid of it. I understand the basics, but if you can point me to an "Overclocking for Dummies" link, that would be nice to start from the bottom.

The plan is to build a system that will still be relevant in roughly 3 years. Of course, I know every few months there is something out there bigger-better-faster-cheaper. Intel and AMD both have new stuff for Q1 next year, but it seems that there is plenty of hardware out there now to build a real thumper.

 

[lehtv]

For what it's worth, H100 isn't worth what it costs. Better off with an air cooler. (Would be pretty insane to put 1/10 of your budget just toward the cooler.)

Overclocking guides can be googled easily.

In a nutshell, I'd go with

2500K
Z68 board (giga, MSI or asus; asrock only offers 2 yr warranty)
8GB ddr3 1333 or 1600
Hyper 212 evo cooler
6950 2GB vid card (or wait for 7000 series)
Some Antec/Corsair/XFX 550-650W PSU
1TB HDD
64GB SSD
CM 912, 922, or Corsair 400R case

This will be less than your budget, but the cash you save would go towards a video card upgrade later down the road. It's not a very cost-effective way of thinking to try to build an uber rig that will last 3 years without any upgrades. Tech advances so fast that making upgrades incrementally, especially on the video card front, is very much worth it.

 

[Zap]

Clarification on the overclocking - that is the only thing I haven't fooled with, and I am curious - and not afraid of it. I understand the basics, but if you can point me to an "Overclocking for Dummies" link, that would be nice to start from the bottom.

Step 1: Increase multiplier to 40.
... PROFIT!

That's how easy it is to get a mild overclock with a 2500K/2600K. Note that while those CPUs will Turbo up close to 4GHz, that is for a single core only. What I'm saying is you can get it to Turbo TO 4GHz with all 4 cores. A lot of people get to the 4.4-4.6GHz range, but that requires additional cooling and some testing, plus some voltage tweaks.

Speaking of cooling, if you aren't overclocking, the stock cooler that comes with the CPU is completely adequate. Heck, I've done those 4GHz overclocks with the stock cooler!

 

[red454]

For what it's worth, H100 isn't worth what it costs. Better off with an air cooler. (Would be pretty insane to put 1/10 of your budget just toward the cooler.)

Overclocking guides can be googled easily.

In a nutshell, I'd go with

2500K
Z68 board (giga, MSI or asus; asrock only offers 2 yr warranty)
8GB ddr3 1333 or 1600
Hyper 212 evo cooler
6950 2GB vid card (or wait for 7000 series)
Some Antec/Corsair/XFX 550-650W PSU
1TB HDD
64GB SSD
CM 912, 922, or Corsair 400R case

This will be less than your budget, but the cash you save would go towards a video card upgrade later down the road. It's not a very cost-effective way of thinking to try to build an uber rig that will last 3 years without any upgrades. Tech advances so fast that making upgrades incrementally, especially on the video card front, is very much worth it.

Great -thanks for the input - I will look into your suggestions.

 

[Davidh373]

2500K
Z68 board (giga, MSI or asus; asrock only offers 2 yr warranty)
8GB ddr3 1333 or 1600
Hyper 212 evo cooler
6950 2GB vid card (or wait for 7000 series)
Some Antec/Corsair/XFX 550-650W PSU
1TB HDD
64GB SSD
CM 912, 922, or Corsair 400R case

I agree with most of what he said. Add the 570 to the list of GPUs, and add Seasonic and Enermax to the PSUs.

Also, look for a modern SSD that's going to be reliable. Brands I'd recommend looking into are OCZ, Samsung, and Intel. Intel is always on the most expensive side, but seem to be the fastest and most reliable.

Look into Samsung for the HDD. A 1TB Spinpoint F3 is $60, and newegg frequently puts them on sale for $50.

 

[lehtv]

No point really adding seasonic to that list, Corsair's and XFX's seasonic-manufactured units are always cheaper (except perhaps the Seasonic X series vs Corsair AX series). Enermax is alright

Add Crucial M4 to that list of SSDs

 

[mfenn]

I agree with lehtv in principle. Everything about that system except for the GPU will still be relevant in 3 years. There's just not too much you can do to avoid having to upgrade the GPU for the latest and greatest games.

Here's a specific build:

i5 2500K $220
ASUS P8Z68-V LE $130
G.Skill DDR3 1333 8GB $42
6950 2GB $245 AR
Crucial M4 128GB $198
Hitachi 7K1000.D $65
Samsung DVD Burner $18
XFX Core 650W $60 AR
Corsair 400R $100 AR
Total: $1078 AR

 

[red454]

The more I use this I7 2600, the more I like it. It really chews through the applications I use. WAAAAY faster than the dual Xeons I had in my old Dell workstation. Night and day difference.

Now, do I jump on a Z68 and 2600K or hold out for the SB-E and X79...?

 

[mfenn]

Why do you think that you need an 2600K instead of a 2500K for a gaming build? You won't see much difference.

 

[red454]

Why do you think that you need an 2600K instead of a 2500K for a gaming build? You won't see much difference.

True if it were only for gaming - but I am using Solidworks and AutoCAD, and I love the performance from the 2600.