PC Build Advice/Review Thread

[five]

What's the primary purpose for this machine? gaming? If so, you may want to get a PSU with higher voltage in case you want to upgrade in the future or add another video card in SLI. I've heard great things with SLI'd 460s.

Not sure if you need 8GB ram also, could probably get away with 4. Other than that, things look good. Could also throw in a CPU cooler if you're worried about overheating. Hyper 212 is cheap on amazon.

[Boyiee]

Update. Friend couldn't build his computer cause his car was stolen, so he had to wait a few days. Newegg has some sales going on (promo codes) so this is what I put together today with the sales. He only needed Cpu/Mobo/Ram/Hdd, does not plan to overclock but the promo codes were all for OC friendly parts.

i5-2500k with $15 off promo 204.99
Gskill 4GB stick 29.99 with 10$ off promo 1 stick not 2 but it wont affect him plus cant beat price.
1TB 7200RPM seagate HDD 49.99 with $10 off promo He won't need this much space but can't beat the price
MSI mobo with $10 instant great board for the price.

With the 35$ off in promo's and some instant savings, it comes to $444.96 with tax and shipping. He had a price limit of $450, think this build should work out ok. These parts are better than the ones I put together for him last week, and it comes to almost an identical price. He gets the K version of the cpu, a better mobo, more space in hdd, and the only downside is its one stick of ram so no dual channel - but that can be his first upgrade if he decides to. Everything is high rated with tons of reviews as well, which is assures some confidence for the buyer.

[Havocxx]

Seeking advice on an early/rough build after about an hour or so on newegg, tom's hardware and google. Would be primarily for higher end gaming, video, little photoshop. Don't want to goof like getting triple channel RAM for a Sandy Bridge or stuff doesn't fit in case or w/e.

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

Mobo: ASUS P8P67 DELUXE (REV 3.0) LGA 1155 Intel P67

Video Card: SAPPHIRE 100311SR Radeon HD 6970 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16

RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Maybe go up to 1600?

PSU: Thermaltake Black Widow W0319RU 850W ATX Combo deal with the RAM, keep hearing good things about the Corsair line.

SSD: Intel 510 Series (Elm Crest) SSDSC2MH120A2K5 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

Case: NZXT Phantom PHAN-001BK Black Steel / Plastic Enthusiast ATX Full Tower

Have HDs to move over for storage.

This is about 1,300, can probably go up to 1,500-1,600+ if there's a compelling enough reason to. Also I'm not sure on cooling, people say they can get Sandy Bridges over 4.0 on the stock cooling from Intel. The D14 seems to be a bit overkill.

Thanks in advance

[Jojimbo]

I think this Vertex 3 SSD is faster and cheaper than the intel. You can get that card for less as well, XFX $310 + free shipping or MSI $320 with $20 off code and $8.50 shpping

Also, the stock fans in that case may be crap (the "200mm" 192mm top fan is hard to replace though) but I'm not sure.


EDIT:: Apparently that PSU is shit as well, this Corsair TX850 + 8GB RAM would be better although you don't really need 1600 RAM for sandy bridge, suppose to be a very minimal change.

[Karinastar]

I agree, go with the Corsair PSU. I will suggest the Intel SSD though, the Vertex may be a little faster but the Intel SSDs are generally a lot more reliable.

As for the cooler, it depends how much of an overclock you're going for. If you go for 4.3-4.5, which is the "standard" 24/7 overclock that most people use on these chips, you'll be fine just getting a Hyper 212+ or something else cheap. If you're more ambitious, something more expensive might serve you well. I definitely would not use the stock cooler. People can OC to over 4.0 with it sure, but the temps are a little high for sustained use in my opinion.

[Havocxx]

Yeah, I liked that the Intel SSD was going to be more reliable even at the cost of a few mb/s. Good find on the Corsair PSU/RAM combo, there wasn't one with a Corsair on the Ripjaw page. Liking the reviews on that XFX card, will switch out the Sapphire for it. I'll add the Hyper 212+ or something like it after I check it out, that's about where I want to OC to and better safe than sorry.

The top '200mm' fan slots on the Phantom case can only be replaced by a NZXT fan, right? And I suppose any suggestions for fans? Not really familiar with em.
Case has FRONT, 1 X 140mm REAR, 1 X 120mm (included) SIDE, 2 x 120mm, 1 x 200/230mm (2 x 120mm included) TOP, 2 X 200mm (1 x LED 200mm included) for slots/options.

Edit: Get a better thermal paste?

[Jojimbo]

Would want to get better than the stock thermal paste, unfortunately I have no idea what the latest/best one is atm (last time I brought any AS5 was best).

For fans the Scythe Slipstream got good reviews (SY1225SL12M model, 120mm, 1200rmp, rated at 24dBA), of course if you don't care about noise you could get a faster fan as <27dBA is considered quiet (<24dBA is silent/very quiet I think?). Just looked it up and the stock fan seems to be rated at 37 dBA at max speed but from reviews it seems most people run it at much less than that.

[Seanr]

why the fuck is ram so damn expensive in stores >.<

I got a HP Pavilion Media Center m8530f Desktop from my cousin, his memory went bad, he ended up buying another computer. Now I need to ram to get this shit working


got that from the specs page, anything I should look for in particular? I might just buy a single 2GB stick to start out with then eventually upgrade to 8GB, 2 or 4GB to start out with would be nice. I looked in fuckin staples on friday and i think I saw 2GBs for almost 70 to 100, of course I know there are cheaper online, I see 2GB Kingston compatible sticks for around $30... but is there cheaper/better?

Aight cool, I got me a crucial 2GB stick for $30 from microcenter today, I sat there and first tried each stick of ram (2x2GB, 2x1GB) that was in the computer originally individually and the shit would not boot. I tried the new stick I bought and it allowed me to boot and install Win7 on this desktop.

Question is... (which I should probably know the answer to, but it doesnt hurt to get a second opinion) Should i just toss these old sticks? Can I put them in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th slots to see if they will work at all.. would that fuck up the new ram?

[Jojimbo]

Question is... (which I should probably know the answer to, but it doesnt hurt to get a second opinion) Should i just toss these old sticks? Can I put them in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th slots to see if they will work at all.. would that fuck up the new ram?

If they are broken then they simply won't work no matter what slot they are in (regardless of if there are other working sticks present), it is unlikely to cause any hardware issues but you will have trouble booting/bsod if you try to use the broken/faulty RAM.

[Seanr]

OK... just kinda blown all 4 sticks are bad... had to ask. I guess ill go get 3 more 2GB Crucial sticks when money allows.

Thanks dude.

[oldoldman]

So I bought most of thew parts I had listed and upgraded a few slightly and this PC is badass, thanks guys,

[Correction]

I was close to finalizing a build list, but then I realized the sandy bridge chip I'd selected has 'integrated graphics.' Are there any current-gen chips that don't make me pay for a feature I don't want? Or do I just suck it up and buy the bloat?

[Jojimbo]

The majority of Sandy Bridge CPUs have integrated graphics (including 2500/2600k) so there isn't much use in worrying about it. Don't think there is much that compares atm anyway (unless doing a budget build).

[Kipling]

Can anyone help me see the difference between this ram and this ram? Not sure how to read it exactly.

[Jojimbo]

The Corsair Dominator has a better heat sink, that's about it. They are the same speed and same latencies.

[Kipling]

That's what I thought, just making sure I didn't miss something obvious, thanks. Is it worth it to spend the extra 40~ for the better heat sink?

[Jojimbo]

imo it's not worth it, in most cases RAM doesn't need much cooling unless you have a large overclock while under heavy usage. Plus large heatsinks tend to get in the way of certain CPU coolers

[Correction]

That's what I thought, just making sure I didn't miss something obvious, thanks. Is it worth it to spend the extra 40~ for the better heat sink?

RAM cooling solutions are for people who overclock everything and run 2-3 video cards. Unless you're building that extreme a machine you're better off building a system that consumes less power (e.g. 750W PSU, normal RAM kits, stock heat sinks/fans, which leads to cooler operational temps on its own.

[Kipling]

Ah. Yeah, I am just going to be using a 750w PSU/Single GPU system, and the only thing I'll be over clocking most likely is my CPU.

[Skai]

Trying to join the 2500K club. I am looking at the P8P67 board as suggested a couple pages back, but that was a while ago. Are there any new better boards that I should look at over the revision 3.0 P8P67?

I got this PSU (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817341003) back at 08 and it fried once, but I sent it into OCZ to get it fix. Would it be adequate enough or should I look for a new one?