Support NeoGAF

[keeblerdrow]

I have no interest in overclocking. What does the 2500k offer me?

Also, would I be better off dropping to only 4 gigs of RAM from 8 and going up to a 1GB on the graphics card?

I'd do that. I just ordered these here and I'm build practically an identical system to yours. I just haven't decided on a video card yet. I'm back and forth between my "dreamer" purchase of a GTX 560 Ti or 6950 1GB and my sensible purchase of a 6870. A $50 difference, sure, but I'm a college student and I have a DS purchase I have to worry about too. ;P

We both have the same case, PSU, DVD drive, mobo, CPU and hard drive sitting in our carts.

 

[M.Bluth]

Quick question, does the RAM limit for the 64-bit editions of Windows 7 include the GPU RAM?
In other words, if I have a 16GB RAM rig with a 1GB Video Card I'll have to get either Professional or Ultimate, since Home Premium only supports 16GB, correct?

From the perspective of the OS, video memory is always a fixed size IIRC. It's dynamically mapped/allocated and Win7 just has a pointer to its I/O address range.
That said, even if it wasn't the case I'm pretty sure MS would make sure Home allowed more since that 16GB limit is entirely software based anyway

That's not a confirmation though, right?

 

[Quake1028]

OK, how about this build? Better? Total comes to $798.16 for everything from Newegg, add $65 for W7 and remove $30 for MIR and we are at $833.16.

 

[mclaren777]

Can you get a 2500k instead of a plain 2500?

He would need to get a different motherboard (P67 instead of H67). I think he's really trying to stick to a tight budget.

 

[Quake1028]

See the build above mcclaren and also answer this question if you could.

OK, the fiancee does qualify for MS Student. This deal: http://www.microsoft.com/student/en/us/software/windows/default.aspx . I can use that, or no? The "Upgrade" confuses me since I won't be upgrading from anything.

 

[keeblerdrow]

Very sexy. Probably what I'll end up building but maybe one step up in video card.

 

[Quake1028]

I'm going to place the order today. Any last minute thoughts?

 

[TheExodu5]

Build looks good...however I would recommend getting something other than the Gigabyte GTX 460. I've been seeing a lot of them die lately, which leads me to believe there are problems with this card.

In fact, look at the last dozen reviews on NewEgg...at least half of them are 1 stars.

I would personally recommend Asus or MSI. They have nice aftermarket heatsinks.

 

[prodystopian]

Aha. Interesting.

Yeah, I meant 6870! Oops. All these numbers confuse the shit out of me. U:

I'll be pulling said trigger within the next couple days.

Any idea how much better performance will be for me compared to that chart derder made, since my resolution is 1680x1050?

How do you feel about overclocking? If you are willing, it looks like the 6850 can overclock pretty close to the 6870 at a cheaper price.

Also, I just went from an 8800GTS512 to a 6850 and at 1920, the difference is pretty big. I can max everything I've tried so far (Dragon Age, FO3, Dirt2, Witcher) except for Crysis which also got some big gains. At 1680, you might get closer to maxing even that out.

 

[CrankyJay]

Just ordered my PSU (Corsair 750TX for $80 after rebate) and a dvd drive (LG22X DVDRW for $16). They're on the current email deals page at New Egg. This was the PSU I was eyeing up. It was $109 at Amazon with $10 MIR = $99.

Still need:

i7-2600k
Motherboard
c400 (yes, I'm waiting)
1TB hard drive (Is Samsung the best?)
Graphics card
Case (any good recommendations? looking for good cooling/quietness)
Mouse (thinking of Logitech MX518)

 

[2San]

So I'm a complete newbie to over-clocking and I want to overclock my PSU to a faster yet stable speed I can run all the time and overclock my HD6950(unlocked) to match the speeds of the HD6970. So what do I do or which guides should I follow?

My specs are:

mobo = ASUS P8P67
CPU = Intel i5 2500K
Cooler = Cooler Master Processor Koeler Hyper 212 Plus
GPU = Sapphire HD6950 2GB
RAM = Corsair 2x4GB, DDR3, PC12800, CL9, XMS3
PSU= Coolmaster silentpro M700 - 700 watt
DVD drive =Samsung SH-S223C
HDD = Samsung SpinPoint F3 Desktop Class HD103SJ
case = Xigmatek Asgard - Midtowermodel
OS = Windows 7 Home 64bit

 

[TheExodu5]

@CrankyJay

Check the front page for cases...need a few more requirements than cool and quiet.

How much are you willing to spend?
Do you care about looks? Sleek and muted, or distinct and aggressive?
Do you care about a black interior?
Do you value ease of building and cable management?

 

[CrankyJay]

@CrankyJay

Check the front page for cases...need a few more requirements than cool and quiet.

How much are you willing to spend?
Do you care about looks? Sleek and muted, or distinct and aggressive?
Do you care about a black interior?
Do you value ease of building and cable management?

I'm willing to spend $100-$200

I care a little about looks. I would prefer black. I've seen some of the coolermaster cases that weigh 25+ pounds and look agressive.

I want something that will fit my parts and possibly future upgrades (heat sinks, additional fans, additional drives).

Don't care one way or the other about black interior. I care more about smart cable management (behind able to run power supply cables behind the motherboard).

Yes I value ease of building.

I also am concerned about dust (house can be dusty at times), and just don't want a plastic piece of crap.

Don't care much about LED lighting etc.

Let me mention that this computer will be in my upstairs office. Our house has AC but my wife prefers not to run it so we open the windows in the summer where it can get up to 85F in the room.

Future plans for this computer include overclocking etc so I want something that can handle that...but my initial build of this will all be out of the box.

 

[ZZMitch]

Build looks good...however I would recommend getting something other than the Gigabyte GTX 460. I've been seeing a lot of them die lately, which leads me to believe there are problems with this card.

In fact, look at the last dozen reviews on NewEgg...at least half of them are 1 stars.

I would personally recommend Asus or MSI. They have nice aftermarket heatsinks.

Yeah this card isn't very reliable, I have gone through one (maybe two) already..

 

[Mr. Hyde]

I think this is the finalized version of my build. Any suggestions before I decide today?

It has $15.00 off the memory which is not shown in the subtotal.

 

[CrankyJay]

Why not spend the extra for the 2600k and get a couple more months/years out of the processor?

 

[Teknopathetic]

"Why not spend the extra for the 2600k and get a couple more months/years out of the processor?"

Because there's not "a couple more months/years" worth of difference between the two processors.

 

[CrankyJay]

"Why not spend the extra for the 2600k and get a couple more months/years out of the processor?"

Because there's not "a couple more months/years" worth of difference between the two processors.

How so? Is this based purely from a gaming standpoint? Or did benchmarks for everything show little difference?

Or in other words, it sounds like a difference isn't worth the extra $100?

 

[vocab]

How so? Is this based purely from a gaming standpoint?

1080p and up, the performance difference is almost non existent in certain games. Anyway, that's besides the point. The overall point in getting the 2500k is to overclock, and get more performance at a lower price point.

 

[CrankyJay]

1080p and up, the performance difference is almost non existent in certain games. Anyway, that's besides the point. The overall point in getting the 2500k is to overclock, and get more performance at a lower price point.

Understood. What then is your opinion though for runnning business or photo applications?

 

[peppermints]

Just curious, but is anyone surprised that the prices of GTX460s haven't dropped since the release of the 560?

*edit* Also, is there any reason why most people on hear seem to recommend the Samsung F3 1TB over a Seagate Barracuda? They seem to have similar reviews and failure rates from what I've read. The reason I'll likely go with the Seagate is because there's a combo deal with the motherboard I'm going to get.

 

[Teknopathetic]

"How so? Is this based purely from a gaming standpoint? Or did benchmarks for everything show little difference?

Or in other words, it sounds like a difference isn't worth the extra $100?"


The 2600k shows noticeable performance increases in things like file/audio compression, video encoding, and the like. Heavily multi-threaded programs. The 2500k isn't really a slouch or "crippled" in these programs, but there is a significant difference between the two, due to the 2600k's Hyper-threading. If those uses are important, I would recommend a 2600k. However, I highly doubt there will be a string of months/years where a 2500k doesn't cut the mustard but a 2600k does.


"Understood. What then is your opinion though for runnning business or photo applications?"

There aren't many benchmarks out there using Photoshop or business applications. There's one I found after a very quick google with Anandtech showing a very small difference between the 2500k and the 2600k in a Photoshop CS4 benchmark.

 

[CrankyJay]

"How so? Is this based purely from a gaming standpoint? Or did benchmarks for everything show little difference?

Or in other words, it sounds like a difference isn't worth the extra $100?"


The 2600k shows noticeable performance increases in things like file/audio compression, video encoding, and the like. Heavily multi-threaded programs. The 2500k isn't really a slouch or "crippled" in these programs, but there is a significant difference between the two, due to the 2600k's Hyper-threading. If those uses are important, I would recommend a 2600k. However, I highly doubt there will be a string of months/years where a 2500k doesn't cut the mustard but a 2600k does.


"Understood. What then is your opinion though for runnning business or photo applications?"

There aren't many benchmarks out there using Photoshop or business applications. There's one I found after a very quick google with Anandtech showing a very small difference between the 2500k and the 2600k in a Photoshop CS4 benchmark.

Thanks. If I can save $100 I will.

What would you recommend for a good mobo?

 

[mclaren777]

I think this is the finalized version of my build. Any suggestions before I decide today?

Looks fantastic. Pull the trigger.

 

[Teknopathetic]

"What would you recommend for a good mobo?"


If you plan on overclocking, a P67 mobo is what you want. I use a Gigabyte UD3 and it's working fine. I'm not really sure what metric to judge mobos by since there's fractional differences in performance between them. It just comes down to features you want. More USB 3.0 ports? More SATA3? Onboard Firewire ports? More PCI-E slots, etc.

Do you plan on using SLI? Do you need eSata? What devices will you be running now and in the near future?

 

[mrklaw]

"How so? Is this based purely from a gaming standpoint? Or did benchmarks for everything show little difference?

Or in other words, it sounds like a difference isn't worth the extra $100?"


The 2600k shows noticeable performance increases in things like file/audio compression, video encoding, and the like. Heavily multi-threaded programs. The 2500k isn't really a slouch or "crippled" in these programs, but there is a significant difference between the two, due to the 2600k's Hyper-threading. If those uses are important, I would recommend a 2600k. However, I highly doubt there will be a string of months/years where a 2500k doesn't cut the mustard but a 2600k does.

how about for something like dolphin, which seems to be a powerhog - does that benefit from a 2600k?

 

[Ecto311]

Finally installed a gtx460 in my wifes pc and wow still recommends everything at "good"? She has an e5500 at 3ghz but only 2 gigs of ram.. Is that our current bottleneck? Starcraft 2 recommends everything but textures at ultra.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[peppermints]

Anyone have experience with Hanns-G displays? And LED displays, can someone that owns/used one comment on if they actually notice a difference between LCD?

 

[TheExodu5]

how about for something like dolphin, which seems to be a powerhog - does that benefit from a 2600k?

No, as it only utilizes 2 cores.

Only applications that use more than 4 cores will benefit.

 

[TheExodu5]

I'm willing to spend $100-$200

I care a little about looks. I would prefer black. I've seen some of the coolermaster cases that weigh 25+ pounds and look agressive.

I want something that will fit my parts and possibly future upgrades (heat sinks, additional fans, additional drives).

Don't care one way or the other about black interior. I care more about smart cable management (behind able to run power supply cables behind the motherboard).

Yes I value ease of building.

I also am concerned about dust (house can be dusty at times), and just don't want a plastic piece of crap.

Don't care much about LED lighting etc.

Let me mention that this computer will be in my upstairs office. Our house has AC but my wife prefers not to run it so we open the windows in the summer where it can get up to 85F in the room.

Future plans for this computer include overclocking etc so I want something that can handle that...but my initial build of this will all be out of the box.

Well I you don't mind an aggressive look and a large tower, the HAF X is fantastic. Others to consider would be the Silverstone RV02 or FT02, the Cooler Master HAF 922, the Fractal Define R3 (on NCIXUS), the Corsair 600T (and 650D in a few months).

Here's my HAF X:

 

[CrankyJay]

Thanks, this is my first build. Maybe it would be best to settle in with the 922 and go from there.

edit: That HAF X looks pretty badass.

 

[Quake1028]

Build looks good...however I would recommend getting something other than the Gigabyte GTX 460. I've been seeing a lot of them die lately, which leads me to believe there are problems with this card.

In fact, look at the last dozen reviews on NewEgg...at least half of them are 1 stars.

I would personally recommend Asus or MSI. They have nice aftermarket heatsinks.

MSI Cyclone OK?

 

[Solo]

Getting my rig in 7 hours.

 

[Erebus]

Radeon 6870. I really like the card's performance, so my inquiry is pretty much curiosity. And trying not to drop more money for no reason. I'm new.

I think ATI overdrive is pretty straightforward even if you're new to OC. Just go easy on the frequencies and don't increase them by more than 30-50MHz at a time. It's also important to keep an eye on your GPU temp.

There are plenty of tutorials online that can help you better understand the process.

 

[TheExodu5]

MSI Cyclone OK?

You might as well get the MSI Hawk for the same price. Either one would be fine though. The Hawk has a slightly better cooler and was redesigned for better overclocking potential.

The Asus DirectCU is an other option.

They're all $200, I beleive.

Edit: reports of the Cyclone being quieter are probably with systems that have a side panel fan. Since it's an open design, it will benefit from a case with high airflow. With a 912, I'd go Hawk. With a 922, I'd go Cyclone.

 

[Quake1028]

Even better. The Hawk is $10 cheaper.

 

[TheExodu5]

Even better. The Hawk is $10 cheaper.

Perfect.

 

[mclaren777]

Initial thoughts and suggestions...

• Newegg sent me mismatched 200mm fans. One is blue and the other is red. But I plan to snip the LED wires this weekend so it's not a big deal.
• The HAF 912 was a great case for this build. It has tons of room, great modularity, and it's cool/quiet.
• The cable management will be refined next week. I want to make sure everything works properly before investing additional time/effort.
• I installed W7U on my SDD, intentionally leaving the HDD unplugged. But then W7 couldn't find the HDD when I eventually attached it. Solution: go to Disc Management in Windows and name the new drive. Also do a NTFS Quick Format (it takes seconds).
• I really don't care for Windows 7. I'm coming from eight years of loving XP and I find the new OS to be far too much like OSX. I've already done a few things to make it more XP-like but I fear that it'll never be quite what I want. Oh well.
• I installed W7U from an upgrade disc. Just select Custom when it prompts you and input your serial number. Then just activate it when W7 fulls launches for the first time. Utterly painless.
• And perhaps my favorite thing: my WEI score doesn't have a single weak link--everything is perfectly balanced.

 

[2San]

Wondering if I can just the internal overclock on my mobo. Does it work well? I heard there where issue's but it seems ASUS already released a fix for that.


and Bump:

So I'm a complete newbie to over-clocking and I want to overclock my PSU to a faster yet stable speed I can run all the time and overclock my HD6950(unlocked) to match the speeds of the HD6970. So what do I do or which guides should I follow?

My specs are:

mobo = ASUS P8P67
CPU = Intel i5 2500K
Cooler = Cooler Master Processor Koeler Hyper 212 Plus
GPU = Sapphire HD6950 2GB
RAM = Corsair 2x4GB, DDR3, PC12800, CL9, XMS3
PSU= Coolmaster silentpro M700 - 700 watt
DVD drive =Samsung SH-S223C
HDD = Samsung SpinPoint F3 Desktop Class HD103SJ
case = Xigmatek Asgard - Midtowermodel
OS = Windows 7 Home 64bit

 

[Mr. Hyde]

Looks fantastic. Pull the trigger.

Yeah. The only thing I am juggling is which case I like more. The HAF 912 is nice but I also like the Antec Three Hundred Illusion.

 

[The Elite]

I'm not an expert on WEI scores but I presume those are good compared to a lot of rigs. Any machine I've had always scores at 5.9. LOL.

Look forward to more impressions.

 

[mrklaw]

early days, but thoughts on this? All from Scan and I can get free delivery from them.

bundle:
Intel Core i5 2500K Unlocked, Socket 1155, Sandy Bridge, Quad Core, 3.3GHz, 6MB Cache, 95W, Retail
+ 4GB (2x2GB) Corsair XMS3 DDR3 PC3-12800 (1600), Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 9-9-9-24, XMP, 1.65V
+ Asus P8P67-M PRO, Intel P67 Express, 1155, PCI-E 2.0, DDR3 2200/2133, SATA6GB/s RAID, MATX

£323. Then add:

- 1TB Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3, SATA 3Gb/s, 7200rpm, 32MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ, OEM £40
- 750W Coolermaster RS750-ACAAE3-UK GX, 80 PLUS, 85% Eff', SLI/CrossFire, EPS 12V, 120mm Fan (£63)
- W7 home premium 64bit OEM (£78)
- Samsung SH-B123L/RSBP 12x BD-ROM & DVDRW Combo Player (£47)
- XFX HD 6950 ATI - AMD Radeon Graphics Card - 2GB (£228)
(I'll probably get a 1GB to save £25, only running 1080p)
- Hyper 212 CPU cooler (£19)

= £798 (~£775 with a 1GB 6950).

Then I just need a case I think. Still looking around, need one thats compact and discreet - sleek rather than lumpy and definitely no neon or anything. Should be able to get something for less than £75, keep the overall price below £850?

Would a silverstone sugo sg02 take a full size GPU like the 6950?

 

[Quake1028]

OK before I order do I need ANYTHING else for my build?

 

[peppermints]

early days, but thoughts on this? All from Scan and I can get free delivery from them.

bundle:
Intel Core i5 2500K Unlocked, Socket 1155, Sandy Bridge, Quad Core, 3.3GHz, 6MB Cache, 95W, Retail
+ 4GB (2x2GB) Corsair XMS3 DDR3 PC3-12800 (1600), Non-ECC Unbuffered, CAS 9-9-9-24, XMP, 1.65V
+ Asus P8P67-M PRO, Intel P67 Express, 1155, PCI-E 2.0, DDR3 2200/2133, SATA6GB/s RAID, MATX

£323. Then add:

- 1TB Samsung HD103SJ Spinpoint F3, SATA 3Gb/s, 7200rpm, 32MB Cache, 8.9 ms, NCQ, OEM £40
- 750W Coolermaster RS750-ACAAE3-UK GX, 80 PLUS, 85% Eff', SLI/CrossFire, EPS 12V, 120mm Fan (£63)
- W7 home premium 64bit OEM (£78)
- Samsung SH-B123L/RSBP 12x BD-ROM & DVDRW Combo Player (£47)
- XFX HD 6950 ATI - AMD Radeon Graphics Card - 2GB (£228)
(I'll probably get a 1GB to save £25, only running 1080p)
- Hyper 212 CPU cooler (£19)

= £798 (~£775 with a 1GB 6950).

Then I just need a case I think. Still looking around, need one thats compact and discreet - sleek rather than lumpy and definitely no neon or anything. Should be able to get something for less than £75, keep the overall price below £850?

Should I get a cooler? will look at overclocking as it seems a no-brainer on this CPU (otherwise I could save money by getting the non-k and a H67 motherboard).

Any idea if there's a US equivalent to that CPU/Motherboard/RAM bundle?

As for a case.. check out this one (US Newegg link, I apologize). I think it fits all of your criteria.

 

[JoeBoy101]

I'm not an expert on WEI scores but I presume those are good compared to a lot of rigs. Any machine I've had always scores at 5.9. LOL.

Look forward to more impressions.

Mine still is at 5.9. It's the HDD score. He's got an SSD on there, so its not dragging him down like it can for others.

 

[mclaren777]

I'm not an expert on WEI scores but I presume those are good compared to a lot of rigs. Any machine I've had always scores at 5.9. LOL.

Look forward to more impressions.

Apparently the max possible WEI score is 7.9 so I'm feeling pretty good about my numbers.

Another observation: just installing W7U on my SDD has taken up about 36GB.

I'm guessing much of that is the paging file and other OS necessities but I was hoping it would be closer to 20GB. Oh well.

 

[mclaren777]

OK before I order do I need ANYTHING else for my build?

Can you show us the final build again?

 

[JoeBoy101]

BTW, its a sexy beast McLaren. Really need to get shots of mine on here.

 

[Mr. Hyde]

@mclaren777 - You can use a windows 7 upgrade disc for a full install of windows? I'm trying to figure out if I should just buy a builders copy or go through my college.

 

[Quake1028]

Can you show us the final build again?

It's the one on this page but subsitute an MSI Hawk 1GB 460GTX for the other card.