Thoughts on my first build (budget)

[lehtv]

If you buy an Ivy Bridge processor, you have to get a 7-series chipset motherboard and all of those have native USB3.0. Of course, IB also works on 6-series boards after BIOS update but you can't update the BIOS without a CPU installed

 

[futurefields]

Yeah I went with Z77 for the USB 3.0 and am going to be using it with a Sandy Bridge processor (2500k)

 

[titan131]

If you buy an Ivy Bridge processor, you have to get a 7-series chipset motherboard and all of those have native USB3.0. Of course, IB also works on 6-series boards after BIOS update but you can't update the BIOS without a CPU installed

If this comment was in response to my previous post, the reason I mentioned ivy bridge was because I thought that he might want one in future and then he could use his 2500k to upgrade the BIOS.

You might think why would he want to do that? Since the performance is so similar? and that would be a good point, I'm not quite sure.

 

[mfenn]

I might get an Ivy Bridge CPU down the line, nobody knows how long 1155 will last. Probably not long.

Pretty much everybody knows exactly how long Socket 1155 will last. It will last until Q1/Q2 next year when Haswell is released. It is pretty much pointless to upgrade from a Sandy Bridge quad to an Ivy Bridge quad, so you really could have just gotten a Z68 board and saved some money.

 

[mfenn]

Going for budget but still with quality, "gaming-brand" components. The RAM he suggested is kind of a no-name brand, and slower 1333 vs 1600. The G.Skill stuff I chose is literally the best reviewed RAM on Newegg (click on 'best ratings' its first on the list), and only like 8 bucks more, has nicer heat spreaders and is faster.

I think it's worth the 8 bucks there.

So you paid $8 to have RAM with silly heatspreaders that block aftermarket heatsinks? Seems like a bad move IMHO.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

So you paid $8 to have RAM with silly heatspreaders that block aftermarket heatsinks? Seems like a bad move IMHO.

Exactly. Might as well gone with the kick ass Samsung ram.

 

[futurefields]

So you paid $8 to have RAM with silly heatspreaders that block aftermarket heatsinks? Seems like a bad move IMHO.

I paid $8 for the peace of mind of getting the top rated RAM on Newegg, basically. And yeah, it looks pretty cool too.

 

[futurefields]

Pretty much everybody knows exactly how long Socket 1155 will last. It will last until Q1/Q2 next year when Haswell is released. It is pretty much pointless to upgrade from a Sandy Bridge quad to an Ivy Bridge quad, so you really could have just gotten a Z68 board and saved some money.

I was trying to be as future-proof as possible while maintaining that this is a budget build.

I'm not sure what real tangible benefit the equivalent IB processor has over the SB 2500k. What I have read on most forums is that the IB processors run a bit hotter when overclocking, the SB 2500k seems to perform better on a thermal level, so in the end you will be able to OC it better and get more performance out of it (typically...)

So I'm not sure what benefit I would have gotten out of the IB cpu, but I do know by going with the Z77 board I am getting native USB 3.0 support, which goes a little bit further in helping future-proof my system.

That was basically my justification on that.

 

[lehtv]

But native USB3.0 isn't any more future proof than non-native USB3.0. It's USB3.0 either way.

I think your decision for 2500K is fine... you'll get a few hundred MHz more when overclocking, at the cost of losing out on PCIe 3.0 support but that doesn't really matter.

 

[futurefields]

So the PCI-E 3.0 on the Z77 board is only active if you are using it with an Ivy Bridge CPU?

That seems silly to me. It seems like that would be a motherboard thing. Oh Intel.

 

[futurefields]

Now that I think about it, and after doing more research (always doing research, even after I buy stuff, need to stop doing that lol..) I probably could have gone with the ASRock Z68 Extreme3 and sacrificed the native USB 3.0 of the Z77 and gotten the better power regulation (8+4 vs the 4+2 on the Pro4) but in practice I'm not sure if it will make a huge difference. When I do overclock, it will only be to 4.4-4.5ghz, I'm pretty confident the Pro4 will handle that.

I'm really just hoping I don't get any DOA components that's the main thing. I'm putting everything together on Wednesday, I just want to be able to get it up and running and hopefully playing Diablo 3 on it that night.

 

[futurefields]

Aaaaaand so far so good. Got her up and running today, just ran a quick WEI

Processor - 7.5
Memory - 7.8
Graphics - 7.7
Gaming Graphics - 7.7
Primary Hard Disk - 5.9

 

[futurefields]

After a few hours on Diablo 3... expectations are met, I am satisfied. Thing pulls over 100fps almost constantly... now if only there was an offline mode so I didn't have to deal with server lag...

 

[T_Yamamoto]

Morning bump
Please listen to your intuition when trading people.
A deal that sounds too good to be true,most likely is

Blizzards fault. To prevent hackers

 

[mfenn]

Blizzards fault. To prevent hackers

Wut?