TR Forums

Hello All,

I haven't built a complete system for a long time and I want to build something nice. Hopefully I can reuse some of the parts for the next couple of builds. It's about 2K I've been saving up so I can pay cash for this set up. I've got 1TB, 2TB, DVD, and BluRay drives to add as needed.

Think I should build this system?

$400 Corsair Performance Pro Series CSSD-P256GBP-BK 2.5" MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
$350 ASUS GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) ENGTX570 DCII/2DIS/1280MD5 Video Card
$300 Intel Core i7-2600K 3.4GHz LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor
$200 ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
$190 Corsair Obsidian Series 650D (CC650DW-1) Black Computer Case With Side Panel Window
$190 CORSAIR Professional Series Gold AX850 (CMPSU-850AX) 850W Power Supply
$120 CORSAIR H100 (CWCH100) Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler
$089 CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 Desktop Memory
$081 ASUS Xonar DX Sound Card

Thank you,
--Shoki

You could spend a lot less on your case, power supply and CPU cooler. Spending $160 on these three items would do nearly as well as the $506 worth of parts that you've selected.

For gaming, I might choose the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium (also available with front-accessible output module for convenient headphone use) over the Asus Xonar DX.

I like the front panel option of the Sound Blaster. Why do you recommend it over the Xonar?

I know the case, cooler, and power supply are expensive but they all seem like they would be highly reusable. If I can use these parts in 2 or 3 builds I think they would pay for themselves? Do you think this is a valid thought or am I just wasting money?

Thank you,
--Shoki

Yeah, I can see you really like Corsair.

I have nothing against them. They make good stuff in general.

However, you are paying a great deal for things that won't make any difference in performance.

Example 1.$190 PSU.

Great quality unit, but you will never use half of it with this rig. In contrast, you are picking a dated inefficient card. I would go with the 560 TI or the 580. The 570 is already dated.

Just a general poor allocation of resources. If it brings you joy to have all one name...go for it.
Just that there are better choices all around if you want the best of any particular part.

It's your money. It's your prerogative to spend it on anything that you like.

Here are some less expensive options that you might consider.

$29 CoolerMaster Hyper 212+
or $33 XigmaTek Gaia SD1283
or $35 Evercool HPM-12025 Transformer 3
or $35 CoolerMaster Hyper 212 Evo
or $35 ThermalTake CLP0579 Contac 30
or $38 Zalman CNPS10X Performa
or $40 Enermax ETS-T40 Vegas Duo
or $40 CoolerMaster GeminII S524

$55 -10MIR Antec Three Hundred mid-tower ATX case

$92 Sparkle R-SPI650ACAG 80+ Gold PSU (50A @+12V)
or $110 FSP Aurum AU-600 80+ Gold PSU (45A @+12V)
or $95 -15MIR Corsair TX650 V2 80+ Bronze PSU (53 A @+12V) + $20 gift card
or $76 SeaSonic S12 II 620 80+ Bronze PSU (48A @+12V)
or $80 -7MIR Antec EarthWatts EA-650 Green 80+ Bronze PSU (54A @+12V)
or $88 -12MIR Antec EarthWatts EA-750 Green 80+ Bronze PSU (62½A @+12V)
or $90¼ SeaSonic M12 II 620 80+ Bronze modular PSU (48A @+12V)
or $96 Enermax NAXN ENP650AWT 80+ Bronze PSU (45A @+12V)

Thanks very much. I guess I'll go back to the drawing board and try to be a little more practical.

I would kind of like to get into a water cooled system and do some overclocking. It looks like a lot of fun.

Would you recommend going for LGA 2011 and 3930K with the 580?

Thank you,
--Shoki

I would stay with 1155 sandy/ivy bridge.Unless your going to run tri sli or 2 gtx 590s in quad sli.Besides the 2011 boards/cpus overclocked suck tons of power for no gain in gaming Plus CPU VRMs are burning out with overclocks at 1.4 volts.Gigabyte recalled some boards and issued new bios for afflicted boards that i assume limit voltage under load to save the vrms.
Your Build looks great I would save some money on the video card and get a 560 ti 448,It runs with the 570,If you ever plan on running SLI i would keep the 850watt psu its slightly overkill but the way i see it the farther you stay away from peak wattage the longer it will last.
I am running EVGA 560 ti superclocks in sli overclocked to 950mhz 24/7 1020mhz for benches Plus my cpu is overclocked.I dont have a voltage meter but i know overclocked i have to be pulling 600+ watts.Besides its future proof and corsair does make some nice PSUs.
As for cooling I would go for the H100 just make sure to pick up some good silent 120mm fans the ones that come with it are loud,Noctua makes the best.
January 9th the new amd cards come out,but if you are a nvidia guy you have months before kelper is released so make sure you take that into account.If i was building a system now i would get 2 560ti 448s and run sli then sell them when i upgrade to kelper.Remember the 560 ti 448 is a limited run so in 4 months or so i suspect alot of people with 1 card are going to want another so they can run sli so i dont see any problem selling them down the road and getting decent money for them.
Also i would get EVGA cards they have great customer support and a step up program+ they usually overclock great.

vargis14 wrote:

I would save some money on the video card and get a GeForce GTX560ti-448. It runs with the 570. If I was building a system now I would get 2 GeForce GTX560ti-448s and run SLI then sell them when I upgrade to Kepler. Remember the GeForce GTX560ti-448 is a limited run so in 4 months or so I suspect alot of people with 1 card are going to want another so they can run SLI so I don't see any problem selling them down the road and getting decent money for them. I would get EVGA cards. They have great customer support and a step up program + they usually overclock great.

January 9th the new AMD cards come out but, if you are an NVidia guy, you have months before Kepler is released so make sure you take that into account.

The GeForce GTX560Ti-448 uses a slightly-more-crippled version of the GF110 GPU that powers the GeForce GTX570 which is a slightly-crippled version of the GeForce GTX580's GF110 GPU.
http://techreport.com/articles.x/22151

GeForce GTX560Ti-448 prices range from a low of $270 to $295 or $307½ for a hot-clocked version from EVGA.
GeForce GTX570 goes for $330. That's not a lot more money for a less-crippled version of the same GPU.

Meanwhile, GeForce GTX560Ti (using the GF114 GPU) is priced from a low of $213 -20MIR to $240 -20MIR or $260 -20MIR for a hot-clocked version from EVGA.

Note that EVGA graphics card model numbers ending in -AR have a lifetime warranty while those ending in -KR have a three-year warranty. If you don't register with EVGA within 30 days of purchase, all cards get only a one-year warranty.


P.S.: Is English not your first language or has southeastern Pennsylvania changed that much since I lived there?

Looking at the prices you originally quoted, I say shop around. I have just brought home the 650D for C$130 + tax.

Shoki wrote:

Think I should build this system?

$400 Corsair Performance Pro Series CSSD-P256GBP-BK 2.5" MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
$350 ASUS GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) ENGTX570 DCII/2DIS/1280MD5 Video Card
$300 Intel Core i7-2600K 3.4GHz LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor
$200 ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
$190 Corsair Obsidian Series 650D (CC650DW-1) Black Computer Case With Side Panel Window
$190 CORSAIR Professional Series Gold AX850 (CMPSU-850AX) 850W Power Supply
$120 CORSAIR H100 (CWCH100) Extreme Performance Liquid CPU Cooler
$089 CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 Desktop Memory
$081 ASUS Xonar DX Sound Card

Thank you,
--Shoki

Maybe it's me, but every link returns a Newegg page that says the product has been deactivated.

Anyway, fwiw.
$400 for a SSD hits my wallet too hard.
An AX750 makes more sense for a PSU
The H60 or H80 would be my choice for a cooler. (in that category)
8gb of ram is more than enough
jmo

RickyTick wrote:

Every link returns a Newegg page that says the product has been deactivated.

That's because there was an extra single quotation character at the end of each URL. I have corrected them in the original post.

JustAnEngineer
SBA forum moderator

Thanks everybody for the great ideas. I'm going to keep shopping around for a little while. I would like to see how the 7970 affects the market.
--Shoki

P.S.: Is English not your first language or has southeastern Pennsylvania changed that much since I lived there?

Sorry i just have horrible writing skills.But i can walk ,talk and chew gum at the same time:)

Perhaps I should get that dragon dictation software

I don't think you are spending enough for the memory ...

At the very least, save some money on other parts and grab one of these, huge upgrade in the audio department over the creative stuff.

Be sure to use good headphones or a good set of speakers to get the full benefit.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829271005