New Sandy Bridge Build - Any recommendations

Looney

Looney

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So my pc was struck by lightning about a week ago. Now I'm going through the insurance, and they are going to pay me out 22k and I'll buy myself a new pc with that money.

So I have chosen the specs for the new pc and it comes out to about 22k, But I would like some recommendations. This pc needs to be the same or better then what I currently have. So these are the specs so far:


1x Asus P8P67 Delux LGA1155 Dual-Channel DDR3 SLI/CrossfireX

1x Intel SandyBridge LGA1155 i7-2600K Quad Core, HT, 3.4GHz, Turbo OC CPU

1x Club3D CGAX-69548 Radeon HD6950 2GB GDDR5 256-bit PCI-E 2.1

1x OCZ OCZSSD3-2VTX120G Vertex 2 ES 3.5" 120GB SATA2 SSD

1x Coolermaster CM690 II Plus (RC-692-KKN1) Tower Chassis - No PSU

1x Asus DRW-24B3LT 24x Lightscribe Super-Multi SATA DVD-Writer

4x Western Digital Av-GP WD20EURS 2TB SATA2 5400-7200rpm

1x Corsair AX750W 750W 24Pin Modular Power Supply

1x Corsair CMT8GX3M2A2000C9 Dominator GT 2x4GB Kit DDR3-2000 1.65v CL9

Total: R22 140.00
 
What is it with these ridiculously high insurance payouts. Yeesh... I should 'arrange' to have my PC struck by lightning too. What you have looks great, I can hardly improve on it except... well... I'd see if I could change the gfx card to a 580 perhaps by cutting somewhere else or just paying in.
 
Well, currently you have nothing, so yeah, it better. ;)

Are you going to use stock cooling for that CPU?

cerebus said:
What is it with these ridiculously high insurance payouts. Yeesh... I should 'arrange' to have my PC struck by lightning too. What you have looks great, I can hardly improve on it except... well... I'd see if I could change the gfx card to a 580 perhaps by cutting somewhere else or just paying in.
Click to expand...

+1. Go for the I5-2500K and get cheaper ram(4x2GB), then you should be able to afford it.
 
Yeah nothing wrong with that....throw in a bluray writer maybe since insurance is paying.
The Ripjaw ram at wootware also has better timing though is only 1600mhz...but also costs alot less, a third cheaper actually, save you 2k right there to get the better gfx card or bluray drive :P
 
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What did you previously have that the insurance will pay out R22k?!

Could you perhaps post the prices that you're paying for the individual components?

Here are my recommendations:
1) bigger case, like the Coolermaster Stacker 830 Evo
2) don't pay more than R2300 for a 120GB SSD
3) switch to the 2500K CPU and include a decent CPU cooler
4) if you don't need dual gigabit LAN, go for the Pro model of that motherboard range
5) isn't 4x 2TB HDD's a bit overkill?
6) Cheaper RAM!

Lastly, what would you use the PC for? Gaming / CAD / 3D Modelling?
 
Why do I need such an expensive GFX card? Currently Im using a 4870x2 and its been good enough for me. Surely a 6950 (unlocked to 6970) should suffice? But yeah, I agree about the ram, im actually looking at the G.Skill RipJaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 now. Meh, I dont need a bluray drive, I have a mede8er. But I do plan on getting better cooling then stock.
 
Well.... I dont like such big cases, they tend to be too heavy :) I have the CM II Plus atm and its great. I am actually thinking of maybe waiting a bit for the SSD drives. I think sometime soon the prices should get cheaper due to the new SSD's that are coming out. I currently have about 7TB's worth of hard drives (you can never have enough storage). But Im actually thinking of getting 3x3TB instead.
 
Well there's nothing wrong with a 6950/70, it just depends what your needs are. If it's mainly a gaming machine and you have the above budget, you'd get better value by cutting elsewhere and coughing up for the better card. Like pada said, the mobo you could probably save on, and do you really need 8tb?
I know some advise going 2500k but tbh I'd get the 2600k rather as well - hyperthreading does make a big difference.
 
Just to warn you. The Asus Sandybridge motherboards are out of stock. February looks likely as arrival date but they are being very vague about that.
 
Lounger said:
Just to warn you. The Asus Sandybridge motherboards are out of stock. February looks likely as arrival date but they are being very vague about that.
Click to expand...

Heard next shipment of Asus boards come in on the 28th, so not to long to wait. Hopefully is a bigger order so see some prices go down. First stock to arrive of Sabertooth and ROG series. Want to get me that Sabertooth, but will wait for price to go down as the 18/1 exchange on that thing is too much right now :/
 
TopCa7 said:
Heard next shipment of Asus boards come in on the 28th, so not to long to wait. Hopefully is a bigger order so see some prices go down. First stock to arrive of Sabertooth and ROG series. Want to get me that Sabertooth, but will wait for price to go down as the 18/1 exchange on that thing is too much right now :/
Click to expand...
Hopefull it won't cost R374 more than your competition. ;-)
 
If it costs $200 in the USA and the only current place in SA is listing it for R4000 I think I am going to wait awhile......
For R200 more can get the ROG Maxi :/
 
Conclusion
The Sandy Bridge lineup gives us some of the easiest conclusions to write that we've ever come across: the new range of Intel CPUs renders almost every other processor redundant and pointless. Only if you need incredible performance in multi-threaded applications should you look beyond the Core i5-2500K for your next CPU.
Click to expand...

From the above article.
 
Problem is finding a 2500K or 2600K CPU at the moment is near impossible, unless importing from overseas. The earliest ETA we have it early-to-mid Feb 2011.
Suggest waiting it out though as the unlocked multies are worth few extra Rand more.

As for the RAM, rather look at G.Skill RipJaws X 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 at R1185.85. These are designed for the Intel P67 and H67 chipsets.
 
RAM - do yourself a favour and make sure you get something that runs at 1.5V, and you only need 4GB if gaming. You can always add more later
GPU - should be fine, can go for GTX580 if money allows
CPU - you got the cash, so no need to drop it
SSD - looks fine, but dont pay a cent more.
Everything else seems ok
 
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