Please help me with a Sandy Bridge Build

[ibex333]

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.

Mostly gaming. I will also be using Linux/Unix and pacticing C and C# for college.

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

About $700 (Yes I know it's not much but I already have most of the parts)

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

USA

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.

I dont have brand preferences, but it looks like Sandy is the way to go these days.

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

I will only be buying new CPU/MOBO/RAM. I am reusing:

a)PSU (850w OCZ GameXStream)
b)Lite-ON DVD Burner
c)Video card XFX 4870 1Gb (does ok for the games I play atm)
d)Hard Drives
e)Case (Cooler Master CM 690)
f)OS(Win7), Mouse, Keyboard, and Monitor.

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

Yes, absolutely.

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

I will overclock as far as this thing will go, limited only by my knowlege of overclocking and CPU's limitations.

8. What resolution YOU plan on gaming with.

1920x1200

9. WHEN do you plan to build it?

Now.


Parts I have selected so far:

1)CPU

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115072

I dont see any reason to go higher, and I dont want to go lower since as I understand the cheaper chips cannot be overclocked as well...

2)Mobo. Here, I am not sure what to get. I need something that has USB 3.0, fast SATA, and Crossfire support. I dont understand why they say that one slot runs at x16 and the other at x4. Does this mean that such mobos have a slow crossfire? When it comes to mobos, I only want to pay enough to get good overclocking support and the features I need - not a penny more.

3)RAM. Again, I am a little confused here... With DDR2 Ram, 4Gigs was plenty enough for me for basic apps, as well as games. Do I need more with DDR3? If it's cheap enough I may go 6Gigs this time, since I want to upgrsde to 64bit OS. What kind of RAM do I need to get to ensure an easy CPU overclock?

 

[dpodblood]

1) CPU is right on the money.

2) You are looking for a P67 motherboard which will enable you to overclock and will give you 16x PCI-E slot, or 2x8 is SLI/Crossfire. Here are some options:

Gigabyte:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...37;20p67%20ud4

Asus:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-682-_-Product

ASRock (a subset of ASUS):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-217-_-Product

3) 4GB should suffice, but memory is cheap now so go to 8 if you can afford it. You will be looking at DDR3 1333 or 1600 (1600 will give you a 2-3 FPS performance boost in games, so decide if that is worth the extra ~$20). Also make sure you buy 1.5v RAM as SB chips require low voltage. G.Skill, Corsair, and Kingston are all good brands.

 

[mfenn]

Your 2500K choice looks good to me. I'd grab the combo with the Gigabyte UD3 for $335 and 4GB of G.Skill DDR3 1333 for $40. I don't see any reason for the OP to go with a higher-end board, because his gaming needs seem fairly modest.

 

[ibex333]

I cant understand what the difference is between GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD3 and GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD4. Can someone explain? Also is this a Crossfire board just like that ASUS is?

Finally which board is better, GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD4 or ASUS P8P67 PRO? They cost exactly the same!

I think I'll go with this ram: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231314

it's relatively cheap, it's 1.5v and it's 1600. Any reason NOT to get this one?

 

[mnewsham]

UD4 has a pci-e configuration of x8 x8 when using crossfire and UD3 has an x8 x4 configuration (i think that's the main difference) giving you slower speeds.

 

[ibex333]

What about that ram? Is it a good choice? Anyone know? Also should I go Asus or Gigabyte? Which x8/x8 board is better?

 

[dpodblood]

What about that ram? Is it a good choice? Anyone know? Also should I go Asus or Gigabyte? Which x8/x8 board is better?

For the RAM; There have been tons of these SB build threads over the last few days and the general answer is G.Skill Ripjaws 1333, or 1600 (1600 will give you a 2-3 FPS advantage in games).

For the motherboard; If you are deciding between the Gigabyte UD4, and the ASUS P67 Pro they are both pretty much equal from what I have read. It really comes down to brand preference. If it were me, I would go with the ASUS.

 

[ibex333]

Thanks!

 

[Zargon]

For the RAM; There have been tons of these SB build threads over the last few days and the general answer is G.Skill Ripjaws 1333, or 1600 (1600 will give you a 2-3 FPS advantage in games).

For the motherboard; If you are deciding between the Gigabyte UD4, and the ASUS P67 Pro they are both pretty much equal from what I have read. It really comes down to brand preference. If it were me, I would go with the ASUS.

this. except I go with Gigabyte.

 

[mfenn]

it's relatively cheap, it's 1.5v and it's 1600. Any reason NOT to get this one?

I can think of thirty reasons.

UD4 has a pci-e configuration of x8 x8 when using crossfire and UD3 has an x8 x4 configuration (i think that's the main difference) giving you slower speeds.

Good explanation. If you're not planning to Crossfire though (and nobody still rocking a 4870 should) it doesn't make a bit of difference.