New PC build- help me slim it down a few dollars :)

[eric335]

Hello all,
I have a budget of *around* $1500 US and i need help slimming down my current shopping cart to something closer to my budget.

Keep in mind, i have absolutely nothing i could use from an older PC, as ive always had laptops (i hate them). This rig is focused on gaming, but my theory is if it can handle games, it can handle my other programs (MS-Word/Adobe Dreamweaver CS6, Photoshop, etc etc).

ALSO: I have no idea if all these parts are compatible, and some of them seem to be out of date. Please advise on upgrades (keeping in mind my costs) and help me double check to make sure they are all compatible! If i am dumping too much money into a component that isnt terribly important, then inform me! Im a software guy, not a hardware guy



Heres my current plans:


COMPUTER BUILD

MONITOR-

Asus PA238Q $ 300

CASE-

NZXT PHANTOM- 130 or Corsair CARBIDE 500R 140$

COOLER-

Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO- $ 35

CPU-

INTEL CORE I5-2500K 3.3GHZ $ 220

MOTHERBOARD-

Gigabytega-z68xp-ud3 $ 155

RAM-

Corsair Vengeance 8GB- 2 sticks x 4gb each- $50

VIDEOCARD-

Xfx Radeon HD 6950- $ 250

SOUND CARD-

Sound Blaster x-fi titanium fatality series- $120

OPTICALDRIVE-

ASUS 24XDVD RW DRW-24B1ST- $ 20

HARD DRIVE-
Seagate Barracude 3TB $200
OCZ Agility 3120GB $160

POWER SUPPLY-

Corsair TX750M $125

OS-
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OEM- $ 100

KEYBOARD-

Microsoft Sidewinder X4- $50


OPTIONAL:
Corsair Vengeance 1500 - $ 95





-Eric

[RickyTick]

You could ditch the sound card and save $120. The onboard sound will be just fine and you can add a discrete sound card later on down the road if you want to.

[zburns]

Hi Eric and welcome to the forums!

Several comments right quick. Normally, forum members who ask for help on complete builds provide us with URL addresses for each component they want feedback on. Your list, in order for us to make use of it, requires that we type the component description into google, pick one and up to three or four total articles (different topics) on the component. So it is difficult or complicated to meet your request in your specific terms.

That said, I normally comment on the motherboard, cpu, case, monitor (in your case), cooler and RAM -- those items that are fundamental to the build and end result -- and I check on some of the choices w/o comment unless I see a problem . I need to spend some more time looking at your monitor choice from the standpoint of looking for reviews on that monitor versus others. Asus is a trusted name!

You can get rid of the sound card, always add it back later if you can really hear a difference that matters. I like my case near my keyboard and monitor, so case fan noise and reverberation inside the case add an obstruction element to any speaker sound. If you plan to locate remote high quality speakers away from the computer case (different room, etc) then maybe you want a good sound card for 'quality audio listening'.

You mention a 3GB HD. This means longer access times to a mechanical device (an assumption, have not checked it). Have you really added up the potential storage requirement to get to that level of storage? A one TB is what we see most.

Another comment on the HD / SSD combo. The SSD amount of storage for caching is 60 GB because of the intel software embedded in the Z68 or Z77 chipset. Logically, you should assume improved performance on this cache method from HD to SSD because the software probably improved in the Z77 chipset.

That's it for right now. If you want to move to the Z77 chipset, change the cpu and motherboard to later versions, please let us know!

Intel is improving and tweaking the technology on all their products on an ongoing basis every year. So when a later version of a chipset comes out, it is wise to compare the new version to the older version, etc.. EDIT: Logically, the newer chipset should have both 'improved' older (original) features as well as new features.

In your listing, I recommend an upgrade from the i5 2500 to the Ivy Bridge i5-3750k cpu and up grade the motherboard to one with a Z77 chipset which is a later version of the Z68 mobo choice in your list. This may mean a different choice in RAM

[eric335]

Hi Eric and welcome to the forums!

Several comments right quick. Normally, forum members who ask for help on complete builds provide us with URL addresses for each component they want feedback on. Your list, in order for us to make use of it, requires that we type the component description into google, pick one and up to three or four total articles (different topics) on the component. So it is difficult or complicated to meet your request in your specific terms.

That said, I normally comment on the motherboard, cpu, case, monitor (in your case), cooler and RAM -- those items that are fundamental to the build and end result -- and I check on some of the choices w/o comment unless I see a problem . I need to spend some more time looking at your monitor choice from the standpoint of looking for reviews on that monitor versus others. Asus is a trusted name!

You can get rid of the sound card, always add it back later if you can really hear a difference that matters. I like my case near my keyboard and monitor, so case fan noise and reverberation inside the case add an obstruction element to any speaker sound. If you plan to locate remote high quality speakers away from the computer case (different room, etc) then maybe you want a good sound card for 'quality audio listening'.

You mention a 3GB HD. This means longer access times to a mechanical device (an assumption, have not checked it). Have you really added up the potential storage requirement to get to that level of storage? A one TB is what we see most.

Another comment on the HD / SSD combo. The SSD amount of storage for caching is 60 GB because of the intel software embedded in the Z68 or Z77 chipset. Logically, you should assume improved performance on this cache method from HD to SSD because the software probably improved in the Z77 chipset.

That's it for right now. If you want to move to the Z77 chipset, change the cpu and motherboard to later versions, please let us know!

Intel is improving and tweaking the technology on all their products on an ongoing basis every year. So when a later version of a chipset comes out, it is wise to compare the new version to the older version, etc.. EDIT: Logically, the newer chipset should have both 'improved' older (original) features as well as new features.

In your listing, I recommend an upgrade from the i5 2500 to the Ivy Bridge i5-3750k cpu and up grade the motherboard to one with a Z77 chipset which is a later version of the Z68 mobo choice in your list. This may mean a different choice in RAM


Hello!
Yes, im fairly new to PCs (well, the hardware side) and i appreciate your response. I decided to scrap my previous build and start from scratch.

Two mobo's im looking at now are:


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128543&nm_mc=OTC-pr1c3grabb3r&cm_mmc=OTC-pr1c3grabb3r-_-Motherboards+-+Intel-_-GIGABYTE-_-13128543#top

And

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130646&nm_mc=OTC-pr1c3grabb3r&cm_mmc=OTC-pr1c3grabb3r-_-Motherboards+-+Intel-_-MSI-_-13130646


These are the Z77 (as you suggested). Do you think these would support my needs? Do they have enough ports for upgraded/added gpu/ram/soundcards?

[zburns]

If you will go to the MSI motherboard page for that mobo, you will see that SLI is not allowed. The MSI specification page actually states it on the MSI webpage for that mobo. The Gigabyte board is very similar to the MSI but does not mention SLI.

I think the reason for this is that both boards have two PCIe X 16 slots, but in both cases, one slot is for PCIe 3.0 and the other PCIe (x16) slot is 2.0 technology. Even tho the 3.0 slot is probably backward compatible that does not mean it will run SLI because the speed of 3.0 slot is different that the speed of the 2.0 slot.

So if you have no interest in SLI, either mobo is fine. I would still like to look tomorrow at both manufactureres boards at a higher mid line price and see how the features stack up. The price of both mobos seems to put them in a lower pecking order.
Not saying there is anything wrong with them, but I would like to see a more feature rich mobo to see the difference.

You need to go to the USA MSI web page and the Gigabyte USA webpage and look at the specification page for both mobos. Newegg is fine for price and generalities, but their spec pages are not as detailed as the manufacturers web page. Just google MSI Z77A-G43 , and GIGABYTE GA-Z77-D3H to get to the respective mobo web page .