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[Mr Nightman]

Like I said before, building the PC isn't difficult. Fixing some of the issues that may arise is when the experience factors in.

Most people building custom PC's on the Internet learned by just jumping in and going for it. Some took it further and ended up making IT careers out of it, others keep it up as a hobby. Now-a-days with moderns operating systems and all the standards/companies working together, it has become a very easy task to build a PC, and if you have issues, a quick google search will usually help. It's nothing like the comparability, driver and configuration hell it was many years ago(some Linux distro's can still make you want to shoot yourself though).

You can also look at it like this. Computers aren't going anywhere, and if you can learn to service at least your own PC, you will end up saving thousands of dollars in the long run.

I remember checking out youtube videos for my first ever build, and put the damn thing together. Funny thing is I wasted 15 bucks on anti static wrist bands, figuring I would really need them. Lets just say I man handled that damn motherboard with my bare hands installing my hyper 212 a year later lol

 

[Blackface]

With Sandy Bridge out and GTX 560 impending, is this as good a time as ever to build a new PC?

What about SSDs? Good to pick one up now or will there be massive improvements a few months later? I feel my resistance is rapidly breaking down so I might make do with a regular HDD for now and upgrade to an SSD down the road.

Crucial is launching their new SSD in Febuary. I would wait until then for an SSD. It's suppose to be 450 read/write, which is 50mb slower then what OCZ's Vertex 3 is SUPPOSE to do at the END of the year.

An SSD is still a luxury item at this point. Personally, I would rather dump my money into something like this

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=56593&vpn=XL2410T&manufacture=BenQ&promoid=1016

which completely blew me away when I saw one in person very recently (for gaming).

 

[Blackface]

I remember checking out youtube videos for my first ever build, and put the damn thing together. Funny thing is I wasted 15 bucks on anti static wrist bands, figuring I would really need them. Lets just say I man handled that damn motherboard with my bare hands installing my hyper 212 a year later lol

I just build my PC with no socks on, on a non-carpet floor and I constantly touch something metal. (side of the case etc..). Although when I build them for other people I may break out the anti-static wrist band.

I built my first PC because I got really pissed I used to have to share the "family computer" with my brother when we were younger (recently bought Pentium 2 out-dated at that point). I was also pissed it couldn't play Unreal tournament properly and I had no idea why. Enter the newly released Pentium 3 and Riva TNT2.

 

[knitoe]

Crucial is launching their new SSD in Febuary. I would wait until then for an SSD. It's suppose to be 450 read/write, which is 50mb slower then what OCZ's Vertex 3 is SUPPOSE to do at the END of the year.

An SSD is still a luxury item at this point. Personally, I would rather dump my money into something like this

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=56593&vpn=XL2410T&manufacture=BenQ&promoid=1016

which completely blew me away when I saw one in person very recently (for gaming).

Unless you are willing to pay $400+ for 256GB and up, write speed is behind the current SandForce, let alone next version.

 

[MedIC86]

Cool thanks, Thats just what I needed to know.

Any thoughts on this monitor?
ASUS VH238H

Its specs look nearly identical to my current ASUS VH236J except its LED. I worry that there are no reviews for it yet. My big concern with the one outsidah posted above is that a lot of the reviews mention ghosting.

I personally stay away from TN panel screens, yes they are cheaper but once you get used to the better screens there is no going back. esspecialy on the larger screens 23-24"+ its a must imo.

 

[longdi]

Will be looking at the i5 2500k and probably the 6950 unless the GTX 560 proves to be better, value-wise. Not too sure about RAM, I'm thinking of going with 8GB though from what I've read, it seems a bit of an overkill.

Just looked at the OCZ Vertex 2 SSDs, seems pretty pricey still.

Also, is the Z68 chipset worth waiting for since it supposedly has the new Intel SSD caching feature?

8gb is not overkill and it is cheap now anyway, just buy it!

sorry should not reco the OCZ, get Intel G2 120gb cheaper and warrantied 3 years by Intel, if you want to build a PC now.

Z68 is only coming a few months down the road? SSD caching sounds fun but caching what? The move from mechanical HDD to SSD already makes big enough impact.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

Z68 is only coming a few months down the road? SSD caching sounds fun but caching what? The move from mechanical HDD to SSD already makes big enough impact.

Most of your data will still not be on the SSD, not when a 1TB SSD costs thousands of dollars. So caching data that is not on the SSD is still something that is really useful. It's why all the manufacturers of traditional HDDs are rushing to bring hybrid drives to the market. Seagate Momentus XT is just a test-case of a hybrid drive, imagine a 2TB mechanical drive backed by a 64GB NAND cache and you'll have an idea what hybrid drives might bring to the table.

I have a Steam directory that currently weighs in at 300GB. That isn't going to fit on an SSD affordable by mere mortals anytime soon. But imagine that Steam directory on my hypothetical hybrid 2TB + 64GB drive, my commonly-used games would end up cached to the NAND for superfast access and as I work through my backlog the games I am currently playing would be cached when the drive sees what I'm loading.

 

[Big Baybee]

Can anyone recommend me an SSD? I already have two samsung 1TB drives, and I'm looking to get an SSD for Win7.

 

[desu]

Finally done, however the bigger the new cpu coolers get the bigger the problems they cause. Still awesome stuff and holds my 2500k@32°C. Now waiting how 560Ti turns out for a new GPU.

 

[MikeE21286]

Can anyone recommend me an SSD? I already have two samsung 1TB drives, and I'm looking to get an SSD for Win7.

I would recommend hanging tight for the time being until the newest versions come out from Crucial/Micron (M4/C400) and Corsair (Performance 3) within the next month or so.

 

[nincompoop]

I'm in the market for a high-end PC... I know everyone always says to build it yourself, but 1) I'm lazy and 2) after comparing prices of a prebuilt PC from Cyberpower (Gamer Xtreme 3000 - 3.4 ghz Core i7, 8GB ram, Radeon HD 6850 for just over $1000 after discount) with individual parts on Newegg, it seems like I'd barely save any money by building it myself. Is Cyberpower a reputable dealer? I don't see the point of building it myself if I'm not going to save much money.

 

[MikeE21286]

I'm in the market for a high-end PC... I know everyone always says to build it yourself, but 1) I'm lazy and 2) after comparing prices of a prebuilt PC from Cyberpower (Gamer Xtreme 3000 - 3.4 ghz Core i7, 8GB ram, Radeon HD 6850 for just over $1000 after discount) with individual parts on Newegg, it seems like I'd barely save any money by building it myself. Is Cyberpower a reputable dealer? I don't see the point of building it myself if I'm not going to save much money.

Yeah I've heard they are reputable before, but I don't know about these pre-built gaming PCs...

I just built my computer on their website. I spent a little over $1,000 on mine (and built it myself) and they wanted $1550 + tax for it :/


Configuration
CPU: Intel® Core™ i5-2500K 3.30 GHz 6M Intel Smart Cache LGA1155 (All Venom OC Certified) [-110]
HDD: 1TB SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 64MB Cache 7200RPM HDD (Single Hard Drive)
MEMORY: 4GB (2GBx2) DDR3/1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Module [-64] (Corsair or Major Brand)
MOTHERBOARD: [CrossFireX/SLI] Asus P8P67 Pro Intel P67 Chipset DDR3 ATX Mainboard w/ UEFI, DIGI+VRM, 7.1 HD Audio, BT GO!, GbLAN, USB 3.0, 2x SATA-III RAID, 3 Gen2 PCIe, 2 PCIe X1 & 2 PCI [+75]
SOUND: * Asus Xonar D1 7.1 Channels 24-bit 192KHz PCI Sound Card [+89]
VIDEO: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 1GB 16X PCIe Video Card [-5] (EVGA Superclocked [+18])

 

[JoeBoy101]

I'm in the market for a high-end PC... I know everyone always says to build it yourself, but 1) I'm lazy and 2) after comparing prices of a prebuilt PC from Cyberpower (Gamer Xtreme 3000 - 3.4 ghz Core i7, 8GB ram, Radeon HD 6850 for just over $1000 after discount) with individual parts on Newegg, it seems like I'd barely save any money by building it myself. Is Cyberpower a reputable dealer? I don't see the point of building it myself if I'm not going to save much money.

Well, ignoring more esoteric reasons like pride and such, a good concrete reason is upgrades. The good thing about getting a machine via parts (as opposed to a big box vendor) is that upgrading is far easier and more useful. If you don't put the machine together yourself, and you want to upgrade parts down the road, you'll have a lot less understanding of how things go together.

Now for something like a GPU, thats not necessarily a big deal, but say you want to put a cooler on it after seeing high temperatures, or want to upgrade to Ivy Bridge when it comes out, which sounds like a mobo and CPU replacement? Even extra case fans. These things will be greatly helped with some intimate familiarity with your system.

 

[Krauser Kat]

Finally done, however the bigger the new cpu coolers get the bigger the problems they cause. Still awesome stuff and holds my 2500k@32°C. Now waiting how 560Ti turns out for a new GPU.

I like how the noctua completely covers your ram. same with me, ths stable temps are great.

 

[TheKurgan]

On stock settings I got a 4666 on 3dmark 11, with a bios flash up to HD6970 and +20% power I ended up with a 5170. Not sure if that is good or not...

http://3dmark.com/3dm11/489646

Now I just need to figure out how to overclock the CPU since ASUS auto tune thingy doesn't seem to work. =(

If anyone can give me some advice or a link to a overclocking guide for 2500k on the ASUS pro I would appreciate it. =)

Update: Overclocked this morning to a 4.5x turbo multiplier - left my RAM at the stock 1600 and 1.5 volts. I ran the IntelBurn Test and hit hight temps anywhere from 58 - 67 celcius on the 4 cores. After the test they dropped down to around 27. Does this all seem okay? If it does I will keep these settings.

 

[desu]

Update: Overclocked this morning to a 4.5x turbo multiplier - left my RAM at the stock 1600 and 1.5 volts. I ran the IntelBurn Test and hit hight temps anywhere from 58 - 67 celcius on the 4 cores. After the test they dropped down to around 27. Does this all seem okay? If it does I will keep these settings.

Seems very nice, what vcore are you running?

Still need to test overclocking.

 

[TheKurgan]

Seems very nice, what vcore are you running?

Still need to test overclocking.

Well since I am complete noob at overclocking I just left all the voltages on Auto. Any advice you can give me would be appreciated.

edit: vcore goes up to about 1.3 - 1.32 V during the burn test

 

[desu]

Well since I am complete noob at overclocking I just left all the voltages on Auto. Any advice you can give me would be appreciated.

edit: vcore goes up to about 1.3 - 1.32 V during the burn test

Well wont have time to dive into all the settings today, so I just did the same as you.

2500k@4,5ghz is around 55-65°C here with vcore going between 1.310-1.326 under prime.

Hope I can do it with a little less vcore. Prolly not going over 4,5ghz anyway (except it really needs not much vcore.

 

[CaLe]

Looks great to me.

Mind posting pics of the innards when you get it? Curious how well NCIX does with the installation.

Thanks, will do !

I'm curious as well, hopefully they'll take their time even though they're only paid 50$...

 

[Prodigal]

Do you guys think 25 fps for Crysis @ 1920x1200/very high with i2500k/gtx 260 is pretty normal? And would a 460 or 560 possibly put me up to 40-50 fps?

 

[mrklaw]

How easy is it to update to an SSD later on? Seems expensive still. Can you just swap stuff over, or is it a new install? Can you prepare for it by arranging your build properly? Eg having a smaller dedicated HDD for the OS, which will get replaced with the SSD later (drive can get reused for other stuff)

 

[mrklaw]

Indeed, for the majority of GAF, the i5 2500k has 90% of the performance of the i7 2600k in games (And that's before you overclock), yet is $100/£60 cheaper.

Personally, I have just upgraded from a Q9400 (Clocked at a handy 3.6Ghz), so will post specs below, needless to say the upgrade is bigger than even I expected. Games like F1 2010 have been transformed as I finally get 60+ FPS at max settings using 1920 x 1080. The thing is just as cool as my Q9400 was (So ~58degrees under IBT load, ~50degrees in games) at 4.5Ghz using 1.31Vcore. Any higher requires stupidly high Vcore so I think the chip has issues above it.

My 2011 rig:
Intel i5 2500k @ 4500Mhz (Cooled by my old, yet capable Zalman CNPS 9500A, Frio to come when Spring hits)
ASRock P67 Extreme4 (Bought for £115, supports SLI/Tri-Crossfire, a bargain for the money)
4GB Corsair XMS3 (Using 9-9-9-24 Timings, 1.5v)
XFX Radeon HD5870 (Clocked at 970Mhz/5000Mhz, 1.3v)

So £350 (For CPU/Motherboard/RAM) for my rig to enter the next decade, I'm dead chuffed.

Where did you buy from? £350 seems reasonable. And any recommendations for a case that's as small as possible while still accommodating a big GPU (maybe a 6950, something like that)

 

[Felix Lighter]

How easy is it to update to an SSD later on? Seems expensive still. Can you just swap stuff over, or is it a new install? Can you prepare for it by arranging your build properly? Eg having a smaller dedicated HDD for the OS, which will get replaced with the SSD later (drive can get reused for other stuff)

I considered that early on but in the end, I think it is just better to do a clean install. What you could do to prepare is move all of your user data like my documents, my pictures, my downloads, etc. folders to a separate drive, which is very simple. You could also install Steam on a separate drive so when the time comes you should just need to run the steam.exe and most of your games won't need redownloaded or reinstalled. Keep copies of driver installers on a seperate drive so you don't have to go around searching for them after you reinstall windows and use this site to get all of your common free apps:

http://ninite.com/

 

[x3sphere]

Do you guys think 25 fps for Crysis @ 1920x1200/very high with i2500k/gtx 260 is pretty normal? And would a 460 or 560 possibly put me up to 40-50 fps?

With AA? Seems normal, you'll need at least a 570 for a stable 40-50 FPS.

 

[Prodigal]

With AA? Seems normal, you'll need at least a 570 for a stable 40-50 FPS.

No AA, though turning it on didn't seem to affect my frames much

 

[DodgyGeezerFella]

Question for those with a 6970 playing Crysis Warhead, are you finding the game has certain areas where the frame rate goes... well quite shit. For example the last beach on the first mission, sub 20 FPS at 1080p Very High, a frame rate im pretty sure even my GTX 260 didnt even reach. Would it be safe to assume the drivers just aint "ready" yet for the card ?

 

[x3sphere]

Question for those with a 6970 playing Crysis Warhead, are you finding the game has certain areas where the frame rate goes... well quite shit. For example the last beach on the first mission, sub 20 FPS at 1080p Very High, a frame rate im pretty sure even my GTX 260 didnt even reach. Would it be safe to assume the drivers just aint "ready" yet for the card ?

The beach part is a killer for any card - I've not seen it dip below 20 but it usually hovers around 30. Lowest I've seen is 25 and that was during an explosion. My old GTX275 hit 10 FPS in some spots there.

That's probably the worst case scenario in Warhead, btw.

 

[scitek]

I just picked up Condemned on PC and played through the first level. It runs great, but the sound is only outputting in stereo. I've scoured the net for a couple of hours and I can't find any results of anyone else having this problem. There are options for EAX and whatnot in the menus, but they're all grayed out, and going through the config files was a dead end, too. I'm using Windows 7 64-bit, and I have it set to output in 5.1. All of my other games work fine. Is 5.1 just not supported with this game over HDMI? The amazing audio is like 70% of the experience here.

 

[ExMachina]

Is it fine just to go with an ASUS EZ Mode overclock? I'm not sure if I wan't to go in and mess with the settings myself.

I wouldn't - it tends to overcompensate and pushes voltages higher than necessary. Since OCing the 2500k/2600k can simply be done by changing the turbo multiplier, it's worth it to do a little reading and manually overclock.

 

[bozeman]

Alright, how about this one???


Operating system Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2400 quad-core processor [3.1GHz, 6MB cache
Memory FREE UPGRADE! 6GB DDR3-1333MHz SDRAM [3 DIMMs] from 4GB
Hard drive FREE UPGRADE! 1TB 7200 rpm SATA 3Gb/s hard drive from 640GB
Graphics card 1GB DDR3 ATI Radeon HD 5450 [DVI, HDMI, VGA adapter]
Speakers No speakers
Primary optical drive LightScribe 16X max. DVD+/-R/RW SuperMulti drive
Networking Wireless-N LAN card
Front Productivity Ports 15-in-1 memory card reader, 1 USB, audio, video (for TV Tuner
TV & entertainment experience TV tuner, ATSC-NTSC with PVR, remote
Sound Card Beats Audio -- integrated studio quality sound

 

[TheExodu5]

As long as you don't plan gaming on it, it's fine.

It can do light gaming (WoW, HL2/Source) , but not modern gaming (at least not at anything but low settings). The 5450 is the culprit.

 

[Korranator]

Those that own the NZXT Phantom, I'm interested in some feed back.

Ease of installation, and were cable cable extensions needed?

How quiet is the case with stock fans?

Are dust filters easy to access?

 

[Nabs]

they really screw you over with crappy gfx cards.

 

[mclaren777]

Alright, how about this one???

Only if it's super cheap.

 

[Fredescu]

Alright, how about this one???

If you don't want to build it yourself, why don't you configure one on ncixus with the help of the thread, and pay the $50 build fee?

 

[mclaren777]

@bozeman -- I just put this together on Cyberpower for $759

Case: CoolerMaster HAF 912
CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30 GHz
Motherboard: Asus P8P67 LE Intel Chipset DDR3 ATX Mainboard w/ UEFI
Memory: 8GB (2GBx4) DDR3/1333MHz Dual Channel Memory (free upgrade)
Video Card: ATI Radeon HD 5670 1GB GDDR5 PCIe Video Card
Power Supply: 500 Watts - Standard Case Power Supply
Hard Drive: 500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD
Optical Drive: 24X Double Layer Dual Format DVD-RW + CD-RW

 

[vocab]

Do you guys think 25 fps for Crysis @ 1920x1200/very high with i2500k/gtx 260 is pretty normal? And would a 460 or 560 possibly put me up to 40-50 fps?

Yes.

 

[Zzoram]

@bozeman -- I just put this together on Cyberpower for $759

Case: CoolerMaster HAF 912
CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K 3.30 GHz
Motherboard: Asus P8P67 LE Intel Chipset DDR3 ATX Mainboard w/ UEFI
Memory: 8GB (2GBx4) DDR3/1333MHz Dual Channel Memory (free upgrade)
Video Card: ATI Radeon HD 5670 1GB GDDR5 PCIe Video Card
Power Supply: 500 Watts - Standard Case Power Supply
Hard Drive: 500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD
Optical Drive: 24X Double Layer Dual Format DVD-RW + CD-RW

wait, you're too scared to build your own PC? building the PC is a big part of the experience of being a PC gamer

it's really not hard to do yourself and there are thousands of people on forums that will help you fix any problem you have

 

[bozeman]

ugh...I'd prefer to keep it around $800

 

[Aruarian Reflection]

I'm picking out parts for a very cookie cutter i5 2500k build, but I'm finding that the hardest part is choosing the right case. I think it would quite cool to have a case with a window and LED lights, but those never seem to be in anybody's recommended case list. Is there a functional reason for that, or has everybody moved past that "gamer look" phase?

 

[The Aussie ROFL COPTER]

I just built a new pc with the total cost being $1500 (Aus): What i got was:

intel i7 950 cpu
GA-X58A-UD3R
corsair 6gig ddr3 1600 ram
WD 1TB hdd sata2
Samsung 24x dvd burner
Gigabyte 1G GTX 460 SO
MS wired k+M
LG 19" LED
mini usb speaker

(I also have 3 fans built in aswell)

What do people think, is this a good gaming machine?

 

[Hazaro]

I'm picking out parts for a very cookie cutter i5 2500k build, but I'm finding that the hardest part is choosing the right case. I think it would quite cool to have a case with a window and LED lights, but those never seem to be in anybody's recommended case list. Is there a functional reason for that, or has everybody moved past that "gamer look" phase?

HAF 912/922, Antec 902, etc. I think (all?) of them have an LED switch.
It's in the OP.

ugh...I'd prefer to keep it around $800

Go for 'budget' options. Better parts, warranties, PSU FOR SURE.

 

[mclaren777]

wait, you're too scared to build your own PC? building the PC is a big part of the experience of being a PC gamer

Maybe I should have been more clear. My PC is 98% constructed (still waiting for the SSD to arrive). That Cyberpower machine was for bozeman.

 

[mclaren777]

ugh...I'd prefer to keep it around $800

$680 for a monitor-less Dell.

What exactly are you planning to use this computer for? Is gaming a real priority or are you just looking to replace an outdated machine?

 

[Fredescu]

What exactly are you planning to use this computer for? Is gaming a real priority or are you just looking to replace an outdated machine?

I'd like to be able to take advantage of sales on games like Fallout 3, Mirror's Edge, Bioshock, Mass Effect, etc.

Nothing that he's linked so far is really going to cut it.

 

[bozeman]

$680 for a monitor-less Dell.

What exactly are you planning to use this computer for? Is gaming a real priority or are you just looking to replace an outdated machine?

I'd like it to play whatever a 360 can play. Fallout, Bioshock, Mass Effect, Mirror's Edge, etc etc...

 

[Nabs]

like someone mentioned, check ncixus.com. they don't have the best prices, but you can probably come up with something to match your budget. once you add all the parts to your cart, you can add a $50 build fee.

 

[mclaren777]

I'd like it to play whatever a 360 can play. Fallout, Bioshock, Mass Effect, Mirror's Edge, etc etc...

Perhaps this is a silly question, but why not just buy a PS3 or 360?

 

[Nabs]

Perhaps this is a silly question, but why not just buy a PS3 or 360?

he has seen the promised land.

 

[Snuggles]

sorry for the big pic, but two questions about what I hope is my final build

1. Am I doing it wrong? Are there any parts that will be incompatible or that I could find a better alternative to at a comparable price?

2. This is a little vague, but what could I expect out of my PC with a build like this. I just wonder how it'll do with modern releases, say compared to a 360, and if I'd be able to see a major difference. Hopefully I can run Crysis on decent settings.

dammit, last post on page