Looking for advice : My dad & bro's new build

[Lebon14]

Hey guys. My dad and bro wants a new "beast" PC and well, they ask me to build 'em one. So, I went shopping on newegg.ca and essentially got that :
Pastebin.com - clicky clicky (this is v1)
Pastebin.com - This is version 2!

Just a couple of notes :
1. No overclocking.
2. Second hard drive for backup.
3. Hard drive space > speed. So no SSD. They want to install tons of (demanding) games.

What do you guys think? Any incompatibilities, better choices? Anything?

 

[mickey megabyte]

why not get an ssd and a hard drive?

install the os on the ssd, and big games and data files on hdd - works great for me!

 

[Lebon14]

Hey Mickey (pun not intended)

Thanks for the input. Unfortunately, I don't think they'd want that knowing them.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

The price differential on the 2600 versus 2500 is close to $100. I've seen gamers comment that for gaming purposes it isn't really worth it and a better way to spend that $100 is on a better video card or an SSD.

Looks like overkill on the PSU.

I"d look at the $30 Coolermaster Hyper 212 for cooling. Very highly rated and cheaper than most.

These are just suggestions. If you really have to satisfy your dad and brother, give them what they want.

 

[whs]

You are the expert. Just tell them an SSD is a must - just for the OS. You can still go with 2 HDDs in addition. A modern build without an SSD is a missed opportunity.

 

[Lebon14]

After discussing with my bro, we changed...

Core i7 2600 -> Core i7 2500
Zalman CPU cooler -> Coolermaster Hyper 212
Replaced 1 640GB HDD -> OCZ Vertex 3 SATA III 120GB.

For the PSU, better having too much than to be too tight, and money isn't the problem here.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

The Sandy Bridge spec is for 1.5 volt RAM.

I think that Corsair is 1.65 volts.

You might get away with it, but why take a chance on something that critical??

Your call, but I'd find some Corsair or Crucial 1.5.

You can go to Crucial site and enter your motherboard in their configurator and it will spit back the exact Crucial model number you need.

I'm sure Corsair makes some good 1.5 volt stuff too.

Only other thing: I've yet to see a gamer say they needed more than 4 GB of RAM, but I can see getting 8 if this PC will be used for stuff other than gaming.

Other than that, looking fine.

 

[Lebon14]

!!!
Thanks for the headup! Didn't notice that!
They are anal about the setup... I have barely got them to accept the fact that it'll be a core i5... So, I'll stay with 8GB of RAM. I'll just go for 1333MHZ instead of 1600.

EDIT :
UPDATED list
http://pastebin.com/LUHgJB51

 

[Hopalong X]

Looks good to me.

WD Caviar Black I bought two at different times.
The 640MB and the 750MB at the time I ordered were on sale cheaper than the 500MB which was regular price both times I ordered.
So if you catch them on sale why not.
Mike

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Looks fine.

The only other thing I might consider:

getting 2 sticks of 4 gig each, rather than 4 sticks of 2 gig each.

Why? If you use 4 sticks, the cooler is probably going to overhang the closest 2 ram slots to some degree. If you have ram in those inside slots, they might make it more difficult for you to mount the heatsink. If you have just 2 sticks, you can put them in the outside 2 slots where they won't interfere when you mount the heatsink.

Your ram doesn't have heat spreaders, which means the cooler won't actually prevent you from using the inside slots, but having ram in the inside slots might aggravate you more when you mount the heatsink. You should still be able to do it, but you may swear more.

Also if you fill all 4 slots now, you could not go to 16 gigs as easily.

It's a small point. Do what you are comfortable with.

I've got the same processor as your build. The Arctic Silver instructions at Arcticsilver.com for that processor say to apply a thin line of paste directly down the center--don't spread it around by hand. Let the pressure from the heatsink spread it

 

[bobkn]

Somehow the idea of "no overclocking" with a Sandy Bridge CPU just seems wrong.

I recommend spending the modest extra sum for the "k" suffix CPU. Overclocking it by raising the CPU multiplier is painless. Going above 4GHz without effort is routine. (The Asus board may go to 4.2GHz more or less automatically. That's true of the P8P67 Pro; I'm not sure of the other models in the series.)

 

[Lebon14]

Somehow the idea of "no overclocking" with a Sandy Bridge CPU just seems wrong.

I recommend spending the modest extra sum for the "k" suffix CPU. Overclocking it by raising the CPU multiplier is painless. Going above 4GHz without effort is routine. (The Asus board may go to 4.2GHz more or less automatically. That's true of the P8P67 Pro; I'm not sure of the other models in the series.)

No, we won't be overclocking, no matter what. That is all.

 

[Tepid]

Even though you say that money is not an issue.

As I am sure this will be a pure gaming system....... unless there will be PhotoShop, or Video Rendering or Audio Production, or Virtual Machines, that 8G's will be wasted. You will have more fun taking that money you spend on that ram and lighting a Cigar with it, or wiping your bum after a dump. No joke. Results would be the same.

I would stick with 4G's of ram in 2 x 2G sticks

Spend the rest on a top of the line video card.
You will all be happier you did.
Case later on, if there are any games that will take advantage of the higher end graphics, you won't be having to worry about it.

You can also go with a 750W PSU and be just fine.

 

[Lebon14]

Tepid, the build will be like... for Battlefield 3 (almost) alone. They want to run the game at high/max settings. I heard many thing about it (but I think this is exaggerated, though). Some say that a Core i7 930 won't be able to hold up to the game. Some say that the game will need MORE than 4GB of RAM. I saw that the recommanded amount of RAM for that game alone is 4GB. So, I'll stay with 8GB.

Like I said, I barely convinced them on the Core i5 2500. So, I don't want to go and say "hey, you only need 4GB of RAM" or "750W PSU is enough". They'll shout at me and I don't wanna deceive them.

 

[essenbe]

Take a look at this board. Read the feedback. I think you will get more for the same money. I have one and it is rock solid. ASRock P67 EXTREME4 (B3)

Also take a look at this ram. Works great, not to mention the 7.9 WEI. . G Skill Ripjaws X DDR3-1866

Also, I agree you cannot have too big a PSU, With that setup you can do well with a 750W with some room for expansion. Look at the HX750

 

[Lebon14]

Now, I'm kinda lost. so many suggestion... what keep what to leave... the PSU... you guys are right. I used the eXtreme PSU calculator and even with 50% capacitor aging... there's no way it will reach 850W... For the rest... for the motherboard, I'm tempted to go with Asus because we always went Asus... I'm lost :\ And the RAM, I'm kinda lost too because I never hit the problem of not enough space to put the fan... but looking at it now in my own case... it's true that putting an extra 6GB will be kinda hard...

 

[essenbe]

Just slow down and think of what you are going to be using the computer for and what you may want to use it for in the future. Then look for a board and chip that will accomidate those things. For example: I looked at the board you picked out. It has 2 PCIe X16 slots. But, the 2nd X16 runs at X4 and slot shares bandwith with both PCIe X1 slots and the USB3. So you loose a lot by using the X4 slot and also you will not be able to run 2 Graphics cards.

If you are not going to OC, why pay extra for a P67 board and a K serise chip? The only real advantage to that setup is to OC as far as I know. I had a bad experience with MSI so Didn't look at their boards. I looked at all the others by the features I wanted. Then I read all of the reviews on each one. Narrow it down to 3 or 4 and then read the reviews again and look at the layout and think about how it will actually work in the case. For what I was looking for, I liked the Asus Sabertooth, Asus P8P67 deluxe, Asrock extreme4 and extreme6. I made my choice from those.

Lookat the PSU calculators and put in what you are going to have now. Then add more for aging and more still to allow for future expansion. Choose the ram with lower heat spreaders. Although the look cool, they won't fit under many CPU coolers. I chose G Skill X serise for 2 reasons. They have the best teck support in the business and the heat spreaders are not real big. Every review I read on the X serise was very good-no matter which board they were used on.

Once you decide on those parts, the rest is fairly easy. To me, those are the items you should never skimp on.

These are just my opinions, YMMV.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Essenbe is right. I should have caught that. If you are NOT overclocking, there is little reason to get a P series motherboard. Get an H series.

With the P series, you could NOT run without a video card should your video card ever fail. With an H, you can use on-processor graphics if you have to and that works great for normal use and mild gaming.

The H will save you a few bucks which you could use toward improving the video card.

I'm using a 2500 on a Gigabye H67A-UD3H-B3 with no problems at all. I use on-processor graphics, but could use a separate card if I needed to.

There is just no need for a P board in a non-overclocked situation (non-K processor).

If you aren't overclocking, there is no reason to buy a board full of overclocking features, but I would get one with the right features that you might use (eSATA? firewire? PCI slots? etc). I'd go with Asus or Gigabyte, but you can obviously have a bad experience with any brand.

The RAM thing isn't a big deal. Get 1.5 volt for sure. If the price is about the same, I would get 2 sticks of 4 gigs rather than 4 sticks of 2 gigs so I did not have to worry about the heat sink overhang. Get sticks with no or small heat spreaders. Tall heat spreaders MIGHT make the RAM absolutely uninstallable on the inside slots due to clearance, so be careful here.

I know nothing about gaming cards so can't help you there.

Everything I have read about PSU capacitor aging says it is over-rated. It occurs, but the effect is not a major effect. Look at my system specs for info on actual power usage (measured by a Killawatt) for a system similar to what you are building. I do NOT use a video card, so add in for that.

The rest of it (case, DVD, etc) is personal preference.

 

[Zepher]

just for reference, my system uses 275watts at idle and 375 at full load while gaming.
I currently prefer Corsair memory since I had to RMA some older ram and they were quick and they upgraded my ram. RMA'd 2x1GB DDR2 800 and they offered me 2x2GB DDR2 800, which I accepted.
the XMS3 ram I am using has short heat spreaders.
Newegg.com - CORSAIR XMS3 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 Desktop Memory Model CMX8GX3M2A1333C9

 

[Lebon14]

@Zepher : That RAM looks pretty good. I like Corsair... In fact, that's what I have here. Probably getting that... As long as they have 8 GB.

@ignatzatsonic & essenbe : thanks for the heads up! I'll chat again with him to see if he wants SLI down the road or not. That Gigabyte... I've looked at it before and that's what interressed me the most because of the on-board video ouputs. I didn't know that those has a different chipset. Thanks to both!