New Kid building his first pc

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ttujim

Junior Member
Jan 11, 2011
10
0
0
1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.

games and games

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

close to 1k give or take a few hundred

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

USA, probably exclusively newegg

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.

none

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.

none

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

yep, read quite a few

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.

maybe later

8. What resolution YOU plan on gaming with.

1920 x 1080

9. WHEN do you plan to build it?

asap

PC hardware is pretty new to me, ive scrounged around on these boards for the past few days and heres the build im leaning towards so far. I dont know what to do for my gfx card, and im not sure if i need a ssd. Im open to any suggestions.

CPU
Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor

Mobo
ASUS P8P67 PRO LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Case
Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

HD
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

PSU
Antec EarthWatts EA650 650W Continuous Power ATX12V Ver.2.2 / EPS12V version 2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified ...

RAM
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL8D-4GBHK

DVD/RW
SAMSUNG CD/DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-S223C - OEM

Monitor
Acer G235HAbd 23'' WideScreen LCD monitor

Gfx Card
EVGA 012-P3-1570-AR GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
 
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Battoe

Member
Jan 11, 2011
43
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Or you could get a ATI 6950. The power supply is a bit overkill (you aren't going to be drawing more than 200w honestly), so going to a decent 450-500w unit would certainly be a reasonable way to save a few bucks. With that motherboard you will be missing out on one of the interesting features of Sandy Bridge, the UEFI, which is basically a BIOS with a GUI you can use your mouse to navigate. Gigabyte is sticking with a standard BIOS for now, ASUS has a beautiful UEFI, and MSI has one, although it's a bit shoddy. If you really want Civ 5 then go for it though :p The board is fine, it's just that for a "new kid building his first pc", I think UEFI would be enormously helpful to you. Especially if you ever decide to overclock later on.
 
mnewsham

mnewsham

Lifer
Oct 2, 2010
14,539
428
136
Battoe said:
Or you could get a ATI 6950. The power supply is a bit overkill (you aren't going to be drawing more than 200w honestly), so going to a decent 450-500w unit would certainly be a reasonable way to save a few bucks. With that motherboard you will be missing out on one of the interesting features of Sandy Bridge, the UEFI, which is basically a BIOS with a GUI you can use your mouse to navigate. Gigabyte is sticking with a standard BIOS for now, ASUS has a beautiful UEFI, and MSI has one, although it's a bit shoddy. If you really want Civ 5 then go for it though :p The board is fine, it's just that for a "new kid building his first pc", I think UEFI would be enormously helpful to you. Especially if you ever decide to overclock later on.
Click to expand...

If he is over clocking and he gets a 570 he will be pulling a good 500 watts. and if this is your first build a UEFI is quite helpful ;)
 
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Battoe

Member
Jan 11, 2011
43
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You know you're still paying $30 for it there, right? It only costs $40 in the first place on newegg, I'm sure you could find it elsewhere for less if you really want it.

mnewsham said:
If he is over clocking and he gets a 570 he will be pulling a good 500 watts.
Click to expand...

A GTX 570 system with a 965 uses 330 watts peak under unrealistically heavy load. That's with a 1000w PSU, hyper-inefficient at what is probably actually around ~30% load. In addition, under the same circumstances, a system using a 2500K overclocked to 4.9 Ghz draws only 221 watts. This is much more efficient than the 965, so he'll max out around 275 watts MAYBE, or around the peak of efficiency for a 500w PSU.

Those tests, and the hardware they were using:
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2010/12/07/nvidia-geforce-gtx-570-1-3gb-review/4
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2010/12/07/nvidia-geforce-gtx-570-1-3gb-review/9
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2011/01/03/intel-sandy-bridge-review/6
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cpus/2011/01/03/intel-sandy-bridge-review/11

Recommended reading on hardware efficiency, and how often we get way higher wattage ratings than we need (or should be using):
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/pcs/2010/02/24/energy-efficient-hardware-investigated/1
http://www.bit-tech.net/blog/2010/05/07/does-anyone-really-need-a-1kw-psu/

(Sorry for using all bit-tech links on an anandtech forum, I've just done more research there)
 
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ttujim

Junior Member
Jan 11, 2011
10
0
0
Could you recommend a good 500w? Does it hurt to have overkill? Theres a promo for 10$ off the 650w to put it at 65$
 
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Battoe

Member
Jan 11, 2011
43
0
0
That's actually a very good price. No, it doesn't really hurt to have overkill, just hurts your wallet. PSUs run at maximum efficiency between 50-75% load capacity, so technically a high quality 450w would probably be the best for you. This 550w Corsair is $5 cheaper after rebate, as high quality as PSUs come (you don't have to worry about this one exploding at some point), is still overkill, but will save you even more money in the long run as it will run more efficiently. That overhead provides plenty of room for future upgrades, wild overclocking, and exotic cooling solutions. Shipping is free too :p

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139004
 
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endlessmike133

Senior member
Jan 2, 2011
444
0
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unlike most people on this forum will tell you; you should always go quite a bit more watts than your rig requires...why you ask? because it leaves you with more room for upgrades in the future.

also kid dont forget windows 7
 
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Battoe

Member
Jan 11, 2011
43
0
0
Motherboard manufacturers list certified compatible RAM, aka who they have corporate ties with. Hardware manufacturers want to sell more hardware, and to cover their asses legally. It should come as no surprise that their recommendation for a PSU for their card is overkill.
 
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mfenn

Elite Member
Jan 17, 2010
22,400
5
71
www.mfenn.com
OP, I would not get the P8P67 PRO because it's a waste of money. Either go back to your original UD3 or stick with the plain P8P67.
 
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mfenn

Elite Member
Jan 17, 2010
22,400
5
71
www.mfenn.com
endlessmike133 said:
unlike most people on this forum will tell you; you should always go quite a bit more watts than your rig requires...why you ask? because it leaves you with more room for upgrades in the future.
Click to expand...

And leaves you with a burning hole in your wallet today which will most probably go completely underutilized given the fact that Intel is unwilling to make a >130W CPU and OEMs won't let Nvidia/ATI make a >250W GPU.

mnewsham said:
how so? 1.5V 1333 ram?
Click to expand...
He's saying that it isn't on the official memory compatibility list, not that it won't work.
 
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