Building a comp for the first time - any advice?

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Codswallop

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I have a budget of about 8k, and I'm looking for a fast computer for gaming and general use. I'd like to base it on the intel i5 2500k and my build so far is as follows:

CPU: Intel's Sandy Bridge i5 2500k - http://www.take2.co.za/electronics-...r-3-30ghz-quad-core-socket-1155--8979509.html

Mobo: Asus' P8P67 - http://www.take2.co.za/electronics-asus-p8p67-m-socket-1155-motherboard-9303262.html

GPU: Radeon's HD6850 - http://www.take2.co.za/electronics-...rd-hd6850-1gb-256bit-gddr5-pci-e-8903830.html

RAM: Kingston's DDR3 ValueRAM 1333Mhz - http://www.take2.co.za/electronics-kingston-kvr1333d3n9-4g-valueram-drr3-1333mhz-4gb-6864441.html

Hard drive: Seagate's 1TB Barracuda - http://www.take2.co.za/electronics-...tb-hdd-32mb-cache-sata-3-6-0gb-s-9359703.html

Case: Thermaltake's V9 Black Edition - http://www.take2.co.za/electronics-...ack-edition-no-power-supply-unit-9599690.html

Power Supply: Corsair's CX500 - http://www.take2.co.za/electronics-corsair-cx500-watt-power-supply-unit-9301066.html

This all comes to R7900, which is fine. I'd like to know if anything can be improved without changing the price too much and !!! whether the motherboard and the case are compatible. I'd also like to know whether all the components will fit into the motherboard. I have a screen and a mouse and keyboard.

Any ideas? Thanks
 
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All in all it looks like a good build

The CPU is fine
Mobo I'd maybe drop to P8P67-M or -M Pro
Graphics is fine, but if you shave a few Rands off it I'm sure lots will comment on that
RAM is fine although I'm a Corsair fan, maybe go for their XMS range for a little more.
Hard drive is fine
Case if ok, but I'd maybe get something a little less expensive that looks the same..? I'm a CoolerMaster fan here and you can look at anything from Elite 371 upwards.. Something like the CM-690 Plus perhaps
Power supply I'd say is fine as it's a good entry level PSU, but you might expect a lot of talk on that. I've got a GS600, although 500W should be fine (don't get it in GS though)

All your components will fit on the motherboard and the motherboard will fit in that chassis, no worries there.
 
You should be proud for setting up a such a good setup yourself! ;)

For a gaming PC with a budget of R8k, you might want to make the following changes:
1) Get a more expensive graphics card, like the Gigabyte GTX 560 Ti OC @ ~R2500 / HD 6950 @ ~R2500 - R3000 (very much dependent on the brand)
2) Get a cheaper case, like the Coolermaster Elite 430
3) For a very slight memory performance increase, you'll want to go for 2x 2GB memory modules, instead of 1x 4GB. The performance difference might not even be noticeable though, unless you're running benchmarks
4) Downgrade the CPU & motherboard to the i5 2400 & Asus P8H67 respectively - allowing you to upgrade the graphics card

If you're not such a hardcore gamer who wants the best framerates, then your current system is perfect. The HD 6850 should be able to allow you to play pretty much all the games at 1920x1080, but not at highest detail levels of course.
 
Build looks decent, except consider stepping the power supply up. Club3D says 500W is the minimum for the graphics card, so if you go up to 550W or 600W, you'll have a greater margin for overload.

One suggestion, look around for pricing of the components. I just checked with http://www.sybaritic.co.za/ and some are cheaper. Might save yourself a few hundred if you do so. That would mean assembling yourself though, so you'll lose out on any whole PC warranty you get if the seller assembles it. You'll have the individual part warranties either way.
 
The setup that I'm recommending to a friend of mine for ~R8k as well was:

From Take2:
HDD: Seagate Barracuda Green 2TB (5900rpm SATA III 6Gbps) @ R759
GPU: Gigabyte GTX 560 Ti 1GB OC @ R2,532

From Wootware:
CPU: i5 2500k @ R1,918
M/B: Biostar TP67B+ @ R1,073
PSU: Antec HCG 520W @ R747

He insisted for that much RAM, even though I told him that 4GB is more than enough and easily upgradable :)
RAM: G.Skill 2x 4GB DDR3 1333MHz Ripjaws X @ R838
Case: Coolermaster Elite 430 (Windowed) @ R436
 
with regards to bruce_the_loon's post:
There is absolute NO REASON why you should get a bigger PSU than the CX500.

Even the CX430 would suffice, seeing that his graphics card (non OC model) and CPU is rated (TDP) for like 127W and 95W respectively.
If you add another 50W or so for the motherboard, hard drive and other peripherals, then you're still not even close to the CX430's rated wattage.

The reason why the manufacturers recommend such high rated power supplies are because there are such a vast selection of peak-rated PSU's on the market, AND the previous generation i7's are much more power hungry at 130W TDP.
 
Thanks guys, you've given me a few good ideas. I've changed the build a bit based on what you've said:

CPU: Intel's Sandy Bridge i5 2500k - http://www.take2.co.za/electronics-...r-3-30ghz-quad-core-socket-1155--8979509.html

Mobo: Asus' P8P67 - http://www.take2.co.za/electronics-asus-p8p67-m-socket-1155-motherboard-9303262.html

GPU: Radeon's HD6850 - http://www.take2.co.za/electronics-...rd-hd6850-1gb-256bit-gddr5-pci-e-8903830.html

RAM: Corsair's DDR3 1333Mhz - http://www.take2.co.za/electronics-corsair-value-select-2gb-ddr3-1333-memory-7411799.html

Hard drive: Seagate's 1TB Barracuda - http://www.take2.co.za/electronics-...tb-hdd-32mb-cache-sata-3-6-0gb-s-9359703.html

Case: CoolerMaster Elite 343 - http://www.take2.co.za/electronics-...ack-chassis-no-power-supply-unit-9651988.html

Power Supply: Corsair's CX500 - http://www.take2.co.za/electronics-corsair-cx500-watt-power-supply-unit-9301066.html

What I'd like to know is if the new (cheaper) case will be compatible with the new (smaller) motherboard. Also, if you find anything cheaper please let me know (thanks bruce and Pada). Oh and I'd like an mATX case, my friend recommended this because I'm in res and I need to move my comp around - is this a good idea?. Thanks guys, really appreciate the help.
 
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Both case and motherboard specifications are micro-ATX, so they should go together without a problem. Graphics card is 227mm long, case specs say max 250mm without having to remove the hard drive cage, so that'll fit as well.

Do you have a DVD drive already or are you leaving it out?

I'll yield to Pada's numbers on the PSU with the current setup with a caveat on adding more hard drives or a second crossfire graphics card might need a bigger supply in the future.
 
Pada said:
The setup that I'm recommending to a friend of mine for ~R8k as well was:

HDD: Seagate Barracuda Green 2TB (5900rpm SATA III 6Gbps) @
Click to expand...


OS on a green drive.... seriously? O_o
 
One missing item, you will need a cooler for the CPU, the 2500K model doesn't ship with one according to the TakeTwo link you gave.
 
bruce_the_loon said:
One missing item, you will need a cooler for the CPU, the 2500K model doesn't ship with one according to the TakeTwo link you gave.
Click to expand...

There are lots of questions regarding this as most price lists says that they don't ship with a fan. They do in fact ship with a fan, even though it's not a great one, but it does its job.
 
LFX said:
OS on a green drive.... seriously? O_o
Click to expand...
Have a look at that specific drive's benchmarks. It's not too far off from like a Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB, which costs more than this 2TB LP drive. The random read/writes are quite a bit slower.
It would already be a major jump in performance for my friend who is going from a 120GB laptop HDD.

If you're having issues where the OS drive is too slow, then get a SSD, because there is no HDD that can come close to it with regards to random access times.
 
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My only tip for building is patience! If it takes you 3 hours to put together your first time then let it. As soon as you force a component into somewhere, it breaks. Also, where is the OS in this build?
 
fredeb: the 750W one seems to have a higher efficiency and 2 year longer warranty, compared to the MUKii Asroc Plus 620W one.
The 620W one is rated for 12v: 456w/38A, where as the Antec HCG 520W is rated for 12v: 480w/40A.

My other problem is that I can't find any reviews on the MUKii power supplies either.
 
Thanks guys, I've changed the power supply to the one mentioned above, seems to be a better deal. I'm not including a dvd drive, because I hardly ever need to use one and if I do I have access to an external one. Haven't made any plans for the operating system, but I think we have a windows 7 home premium cd at home somewhere (guess I'll need that external cd drive then :P). Any suggestions as to which operating system to get if it turns out that I can't use the home premium cd? Also, can anyone else verify that the processor ships with a fan? Oh and any ideas about how a 320Gb SSD might cost and if the performance increase is really worth it?
 
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320gb ssd is very expensive.... rather get a 60gb ssd for your os and a 2tb GREEN drive for your storage needs...
 
LFX said:
320gb ssd is very expensive.... rather get a 60gb ssd for your os and a 2tb GREEN drive for your storage needs...
Click to expand...

A 320GB SSD will be more than your budget: Looking at R8k easy, and then probably not a great one.

I have a 64GB, runs my OS and WoW: Very very happy with that, but probably a bit of overkill for WoW ... Do think that the SSD alone gave my desktop another year or 2 of production life.

OS: I would just recommend to look at 64bit operating systems so don't have to worry about the dreaded 4GB 32 bit limits.
 
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