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[RS4-]

Lol fuck, since I was using a stock cooler, it didn't sit properly and popped out, so I applied my own paste...forgot to spread it around and my idle temps in bios were 68 degrees; so what do I do? Install windows anyway.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

What was I saying? Later? naaaa more like NOW.
The SSD fever is getting at me.
So, I think 120 Gb should be enough for starters.
I read about the huge Vertex3 problems... pity, seemed great.
Now that leaves me with Intel 320 or Crucial M4 (cheaper) or Intel 510.
What do you think? Which 120 model?

And if I go the SSD way would it be better to leave the F3 and mount up the OP's 2 TB F4?

Thank God there's GAF.

I would get the Intel 510, it's more future-proof than the 320. I have the Intel 510 connected to just the Intel ICH10R (SATA2) on my X58 motherboard (gaming box) and it is definitely noticeably faster than the Intel 320 attached to my P45 motherboard (media center PC).

The Crucial M4 is a very good SSD as well and it is definitely cheaper. The M4 is faster than the 510. If you buy a non-Intel SSD, you don't get the neato Intel SSD Toolbox software so you'll need to make sure yourself that TRIM is enabled and Superfetch is disabled.

The size of your data HDD is independent of your SSD. You can feel free to buy just a 2GB HDD now, it's not as if HDDs are expensive so adding another 2TB HDD down the road will be supercheap when you need it.

 

[Darkman M]

Lol fuck, since I was using a stock cooler, it didn't sit properly and popped out, so I applied my own paste...forgot to spread it around and my idle temps in bios were 68 degrees; so what do I do? Install windows anyway.

clean it off, then apply it properly?

 

[RS4-]

clean it off, then apply it properly?

Yeah, will do tomorrow after work, going to just finish installing then shut it down.

Then I can finally play Witcher 2 with a framerate better than 15!

 

[momolicious]

anyone hate that newegg shipped the ASUS burner drive in just bubble wrap.... is that normal? i was expecting a retail box

 

[MisterNoisy]

On another note, I just finished this super-budget gaming build for my father. He's hasn't been into gaming since the days of the Atari 2600 and the early King's Quest games (CGA gfx!), but recently decided he wanted to get back into it - it also helped that his desktop was pretty much completely obsolete, so I put this PC together and got him set up with a Steam account to boot. Hopefully he sticks with it, since Steam will make gift-giving pretty easy.

Specs:

Biostar A880GU3
Phenom IIX4 955BE
Sapphire Radeon HD6850
G.Skill ECO 2x2GB (1333/CL8)
Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB
Xigmatek Gaia SD1283
Antec Neo ECO 520W PSU
Enermax Luxuray chassis

Total cost was right around $500 thanks to having a couple of the parts (case, PSU) already on hand and some serious bargain hunting. The case has one of Enermax's 'Vegas' fans behind the transparent/smoked front panel for intake, which is both really slick and hilariously over the top at the same time.

 

[Ezahn]

I would get the Intel 510, it's more future-proof than the 320. I have the Intel 510 connected to just the Intel ICH10R (SATA2) on my X58 motherboard (gaming box) and it is definitely noticeably faster than the Intel 320 attached to my P45 motherboard (media center PC).

The Crucial M4 is a very good SSD as well and it is definitely cheaper. The M4 is faster than the 510. If you buy a non-Intel SSD, you don't get the neato Intel SSD Toolbox software so you'll need to make sure yourself that TRIM is enabled and Superfetch is disabled.

The size of your data HDD is independent of your SSD. You can feel free to buy just a 2GB HDD now, it's not as if HDDs are expensive so adding another 2TB HDD down the road will be supercheap when you need it.

Tnx Unknown! I did not know of this Intel software... I know Intel is reliable tough. But SO costly, damn.

As for the regular HDD my doubt is about the type and velocity... F3 is faster and F4 quieter/eco?

 

[vocab]

If I took the pretty damn capable build from the OP, and took out the 460, which budget card could I use instead? I'm building it for someone who doesn't PC game. I need something that's not gonna cry on Win7. I'm trying to get that build to at least $400 so any suggestions for a budget build would be helpful.

 

[MisterNoisy]

If I took the pretty damn capable build from the OP, and took out the 460, which budget card could I use instead? I'm building it for someone who doesn't PC game. I need something that's not gonna cry on Win7. I'm trying to get that build to at least $400 so any suggestions for a budget build would be helpful.

I'd say go with an 880G motherboard like this one or this one combined with a Phenom II 840 or 955BE. The integrated graphics in the board should be fine for office tasks and general computing (I built a mATX HTPC for my brother last year using this combination and it streams 1080p video just fine) - if they find that they need a video card later, they can always add one, since you'll have a PCI-E x16 slot handy. Basically, take the machine I posted a little ways up and strip out the video card.

You don't have to use anything instead, it already has onboard video. Just take out the 460 and you're good to go.

That too.

 

[Fredescu]

If I took the pretty damn capable build from the OP, and took out the 460, which budget card could I use instead?

You don't have to use anything instead, it already has onboard video. Just take out the 460 and you're good to go.

 

[vocab]

You don't have to use anything instead, it already has onboard video. Just take out the 460 and you're good to go.

Can you explain how onboard video from SB works in terms of drivers?

 

[Hazaro]

Can you explain how onboard video from SB works in terms of drivers?

The CPU has the graphics in it and its pretty capable. Comparable to a $30/$40 card.
Just install the motherboard chipset drivers I believe. Heck it might just auto detect.

 

[vocab]

Comparable to a $30/$40 card.

No problems in win7? Performance wise. Cause I tried a 6800GT in Win7, and it wasn't pretty.

 

[Mairu]

No problems in win7? Performance wise. Cause I tried a 6800GT in Win7, and it wasn't pretty.

Can't you just disable Aero? I didn't have any problems running Win7 on an Atom netbook with no discrete gpu.

 

[vocab]

Can't you just disable Aero? I didn't have any problems running Win7 on an Atom netbook with no discrete gpu.

Well with the 6800GT I had to. I was just wondering the capabilities of the onboard.

 

[Hazaro]

Done deal! Shoot me a PM with shipping information and I'll have it out to you tomorrow or the day after.

Also, outside of that power supply, that's damn near the exact PC I have hooked up to my TV right now (with a P8P67-M PRO motherboard).

Nice deal

I'd like a smaller case myself since I can't stretch out my feet under my desk (they hit my Rocketfish (Lian-Li) case.

I am RMA'ing my MSI P67A-GD55 : /

Was blue screening as I tried to reinstall Windows after the first successful installation (which was followed by plenty of blue screens on boot up). I tried other parts from my dad's computer, and spent about 6 hours total trying to figure out what where my hardware fault was but I decided it had to be the mobo. Kind of bummed I have to pay $14 for the RMA shipping and wait about a week to get a new mobo from Newegg.

Sucks, but it happens.

Friendly bump! ;-)

intel 320 160GB + f4 2tb

anyone hate that newegg shipped the ASUS burner drive in just bubble wrap.... is that normal? i was expecting a retail box

OEM = just the item

You see Retail and OEM listing of harddrives, cpu's, dvd burners, etc.

They ship them out in batches of hundreds to large retailers so it saves money and that is passed on.

Well with the 6800GT I had to. I was just wondering the capabilities of the onboard.

I couldn't tell you. The 6800GT is old man!
I'd just take a guess (old farcry benchmarks) that it is about the same.
I'd also guess that the 2100 would do perfectly fine on Windows 7.

Don't see why the 6800gt would have problems with Aero either

 

[Ezahn]

Nice deal
intel 320 160GB + f4 2tb

Tnx Haz. The 320 160 GB is difficult to find here, but I'll try (I understand the performance varies by size in SSDs...)

If I can't find it maybe I'll just keep a normal HDD and add SSD later as planned.
As a "normal" main system disk I reckon the F3 1tb would be faster than the F4 2tb... right?

 

[jarosh]

The SeaSonic X-560 will power an OC 2500K and any single chip GPU you throw at it. Intel still has the best SSD reliability, if not outright performance. A 40GB is a nice starting point to run your OS and the most essential apps from. Link everything else, and keep your data, non-essential apps (assuming they won't fit on the SSD), and page file on the HDD.

...i was just thinking about this again and i've been reading up on what people are doing with their page file. there's a lot of conflicting info out there. but most people seem to recommend keeping it off the ssd and restricting the size to 1 gb if you have 8 gigs of ram. does that sound reasonable?

 

[Deputy Moonman]

Is there a PC monitor thread on GAF? I'm looking for a consensus on best IPS monitor for price and quality. So, from looking around on other sites, there seems to be about 4-5 monitors discussed the most:
(linking to amazon b/c newegg is more expensive for monitors...)

Dell U2410
Dell U2311H
HP ZR24w
Asus PA246

I've heard that the panels on most of these, if not all of them, are manufactured by LG and all have the same AG coat, but I don't know if there is any truth to this. Does anyone have any thoughts? I'm still working on my computer build and will need a monitor. If you guys think it would be better to settle for a cheaper tn monitor I can do that, too.

Any thoughts on this Kingston SSD from Amazon? Probably not the fastest, but it might be the cheapest: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004APRLTY/?tag=neogaf0e-20

No one responded to this. Is the Kingston brand frowned upon? Roughly 1$ per 1Gig is about as cheap as you can find.

 

[Hazaro]

Tnx Haz. The 320 160 GB is difficult to find here, but I'll try (I understand the performance varies by size in SSDs...)
f3/f4

Well do you want a faster or larger drive?
That's all there really is to it.

I think the speeds of my 320 are good enough, some might think otherwise.

*Both the F3 and F4 are similar in speed due to the difference in platter density (500 vs 667GB)
I have and ran the F4 as an OS drive no problem. It's also nice and very quiet.

...i was just thinking about this again and i've been reading up on what people are doing with their page file. there's a lot of conflicting info out there. but most people seem to recommend keeping it off the ssd and restricting the size to 1 gb if you have 8 gigs of ram. does that sound reasonable?

I just set my page file to auto (I think). Check the OP guide.
It's not a big deal since the SSD is the OS drive.

Is there a PC monitor thread on GAF? I'm looking for a consensus on best IPS monitor for price and quality.

You are welcome to make one!

 

[evil solrac v3.0]

I posted mine a few pages back

1. Reservoir - Pump - 2 GPU Blocks - Radiator (2*120 at least, rather 3*120) - Tubing - Fittings

2. Not really ... reading on web forums for a looong loooooong time should do the trick ... ofcourse any dedicated forum should have a good beginners guide/introduction topic

3. Reservoir €50 , Pump €80 , 2 GPU Blocks €180 , Radiator €75 , Tubing €10, Fittings €40 ... dollar prices are usually the same I think

and that's a rather basic setup, there are lots of small extras that cost more

getting two Arctic Cooling Accelero Xtremes is easier and cheaper though

Hmmm, adding all that it comes out to 435 euros? (maybe a bit less in dollars) Hmmmm, does hat Accelero extreme make the card "bulkier"? I'm not sure i'm explaining it right, but those turn it into a three slot card basically?

 

[jarosh]

I just set my page file to auto (I think). Check the OP guide.
It's not a big deal since the SSD is the OS drive.

the only thing in the op about the page file is the comment about disabling it if you wanna free up disk space on your ssd. that seems a bit risky to me. why not just keep one on your hdd to be on the safe side? when you say you have yours on auto, i assume it's not on the ssd? still though, should it ever expand and use up more space than initially expected (although it's hard to see how with 8 gigs of ram) it might get very fragmented and slow down the system. i think that's why people recommend keeping it at a static size.

 

[Ezahn]

I have and ran the F4 as an OS drive no problem. It's also nice and very quiet.

Got it Haz, tnx. Maybe I'll go with the 2tb F4 since I plan to add an SSD later: the small difference in speed will matter less than the fact that's nice and quiet in the long run, when that will no more be the system drive.

As for SSDs, I see no one seems to really love the Crucials M4... Maybe Intel is really that much more reliable ;-)

 

[Deputy Moonman]

I'm gonna have to change some of this. Already at $1500 and I still need a monitor (Yikes!). But so far this is where I'm at:

COOLER MASTER HAF 922 Case
CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 750W PSU
ASRock P67 EXTREME4 Mobo
G.SKILL Ripjaws 8GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
ASUS DRW-24B1ST.. DVD Burner
SAMSUNG EcoGreen F4 HD204UI 2TB HD
i7 2600K CPU
Intel 320 120GB SSD
EVGA SuperClocked GTX 570

I started out trying to be conservative with everything and then my impulsiveness kicked in

You are welcome to make one!

Ha! That would be like the blind leading the blind

 

[daviyoung]

I'm gonna have to change some of this. Already at $1500 and I still need a monitor (Yikes!). But so far this is where I'm at:

COOLER MASTER HAF 922 Case
CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 750W PSU
ASRock P67 EXTREME4 Mobo
G.SKILL Ripjaws 8GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
ASUS DRW-24B1ST.. DVD Burner
SAMSUNG EcoGreen F4 HD204UI 2TB HD
i7 2600K CPU
Intel 320 120GB SSD
EVGA SuperClocked GTX 570

I started out trying to be conservative with everything and then my impulsiveness kicked in

I'm in the process of building something very similar, everything is identical except I've gone for the GTX580 instead of the 570.

However, because it's the UK it's costing me an absolute bomb. I've decided to do without a DVD or Optical Drive to save money, and will be using a salvaged 120GB HDD and an SDD (for the OS) until I can upgrade to a Terabyte HDD.

I also need to buy a new copy of Windows 7 and a monitor. ARGH!

 

[Binabik15]

GAF, I need your google fu.

I had ordered a 4 gig Corsair Vengeance DDR3 kit, which turned out to be a single stick.

As a replacement, I ordered 4 gig Corsair Vengeance BLUE DDR3 kit. The site I ordered the original kit from listed this as 2x2 kit, that´s why I chose it. Amazon where we ordered the replacement said 2x2 gig kit here, please check.

Package came half an hour ago, packaging had 1x4 on it and the RAM stick, visible from behind had 1x4 printed on it as well. The bill that came with it has 2x2 clearly printed on it.

I opened it to check, it´s a single 4 gig stick.

I feel like I´m going fucking crazy. Please tell me that there´s actually a 2x2 Corsair Vengeance Blue DDR3 1600 kit

The shitheads at the Amazon hotline told us that 2x2 equals four and that there´s only one stick on the picture, so we can go fuck ourselves.

I feel like shit for ordering one wrong kit already and a replacement from Amzaon (IF I didn´t fuck up again) very likely won´t arrive this week. Meaning? My bro will have his new pc sitting here minus RAM for a full week of school holidays and once the thing actually works holidays are over. Brilliant start D:

 

[daviyoung]

Corsair 2x2GB kit:

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/...-12800/1600mhz/corsair/cmz4gx3m2a1600c9b.html

Edit: SKU = CMZ4GX3M2A1600C9B

 

[Hazaro]

Model :
CMZ4GX3M1A1600C9B = 1 4GB stick.
CMZ4GX3M2A1600C9B = 2x2GB sticks.

Don't trust Amazon title descriptions. They had a wrong description and should cover the problem for you. If you talked to someone you should let them know dual channel matters.

 

[Ezahn]

As for SSDs, I see no one seems to really love the Crucials M4... Maybe Intel is really that much more reliable ;-)

Mumble mumble, I'm reading good things of the Crucial M4 128 gb in many reviews. Do you feel it really has serious reliability problems? Cause it's SATA III and quite affordable for that size.

 

[Hazaro]

Mumble mumble, I'm reading good things of the Crucial M4 128 gb in many reviews. Do you feel it really has serious reliability problems? Cause it's SATA III and quite affordable for that size.

M4 and Intel 510 use the same Marvel controller I think.
The Intel 320 uses the Sandforce 1200 (which is ok).

Controller is the major differentiator, but I'm paranoid and I'd take the supposed reliability of the Intel for my OS drive.

 

[Ezahn]

M4 and Intel 510 use the same Marvel controller I think.

Yeah, I think I found out just that: 510 an M4 share the same Marvell controller.
So the reliability difference should be in the hardware and firmware?

 

[Binabik15]

RANT:I´m glad I´m not the only one that can find the 2x2 version* (whichwe bought!!!) should´ve just walked into a "local" hw store which has the 2x2 in stock...15€ more expensive (that´s ~1/3 more D. I fucking hate Amazon and their dipshit "oh, we have no understanding of tech and can´t fucking check whether we send the item you actually ordered. But we´re gracious enough to let you sent it back"-reaction.

It´ll be a long time before I buy from those clowns again. Beating other nerds to get my copy of Dance with Dragons from a B&M store at launch will be fun.

*as listed on Corsair website, the site I ordered the other parts from, Amazon itself, Arlt.de and tons of other sites, how hard can it be, amazontards?! /RANT

Might as well use this post for something productive:

The super short installation guide for the case fan controller of the Ximgatek Midgard case says simply: connect fan cable to fan controller and fans. So I plug this cable that is three headed on one side into Case_Fan1 on the mobo, or any Case_Fan slot on the mobo? Nr 1 is hard to reach.

Now some eyecandy:

The monsters.

Midgard, world of humans.

XXX

Now we´ll have to guy buy some RAM locally and I´ll get to cut up my hands even more (4 scratches yesterday ;_, now that the cable fiddling begins.

PS: Yeah, that´s two Crossfire bridges. I got conflicting statements, one guy said one OR two, one said one and the mobo installation guide has both pictured. I´ll take one off again, I guess.

 

[jarosh]

any recommendations for a quiet cpu cooler as a replacement for the i5 2500k stock cooler? it has to fit in a silverstone gd05, which means i'm height restricted to 70 mm max.

 

[Deputy Moonman]

I'm in the process of building something very similar, everything is identical except I've gone for the GTX580 instead of the 570.

However, because it's the UK it's costing me an absolute bomb. I've decided to do without a DVD or Optical Drive to save money, and will be using a salvaged 120GB HDD and an SDD (for the OS) until I can upgrade to a Terabyte HDD.

I also need to buy a new copy of Windows 7 and a monitor. ARGH!

ha that's funny you mentioned Windows 7. I need an operating sysem, too. I'd love to go with a GTX 580, but the 570 is a way to save a little money. I could shave off another $100 by going with the 2500k instead of the 2600k (i may still do that). Aside from those possible changes, I don't want to sacrifice anything else. I'd really like to stick with a 120GB SSD, but getting an 80GB version would probably suffice for my needs. Decisions decisions decisions. I've never went all out out on a purchase before, but a desktop computer is handy long-term investment and I kind of want to just fork out the extra money to have something nice. If it weren't for having to get a monitor in addition to everything else, this would be a non-issue.

 

[scogoth]

RANT:I´m glad I´m not the only one that can find the 2x2 version* (whichwe bought!!!) should´ve just walked into a "local" hw store which has the 2x2 in stock...15€ more expensive (that´s ~1/3 more D. I fucking hate Amazon and their dipshit "oh, we have no understanding of tech and can´t fucking check whether we send the item you actually ordered. But we´re gracious enough to let you sent it back"-reaction.

It´ll be a long time before I buy from those clowns again. Beating other nerds to get my copy of Dance with Dragons from a B&M store at launch will be fun.

*as listed on Corsair website, the site I ordered the other parts from, Amazon itself, Arlt.de and tons of other sites, how hard can it be, amazontards?! /RANT

Might as well use this post for something productive:

The super short installation guide for the case fan controller of the Ximgatek Midgard case says simply: connect fan cable to fan controller and fans. So I plug this cable that is three headed on one side into Case_Fan1 on the mobo, or any Case_Fan slot on the mobo? Nr 1 is hard to reach.

Now some eyecandy:

The monsters.

Now we´ll have to guy buy some RAM locally and I´ll get to cut up my hands even more (4 scratches yesterday ;_, now that the cable fiddling begins.

PS: Yeah, that´s two Crossfire bridges. I got conflicting statements, one guy said one OR two, one said one and the mobo installation guide has both pictured. I´ll take one off again, I guess.

You don't need both crossfire cables plug in. The second connector is for 3-way crossfire.

 

[ithorien]

ha that's funny you mentioned Windows 7. I need an operating sysem, too. I'd love to go with a GTX 580, but the 570 is a way to save a little money. I could shave off another $100 by going with the 2500k instead of the 2600k (i may still do that). Aside from those possible changes, I don't want to sacrifice anything else. I'd really like to stick with a 120GB SSD, but getting an 80GB version would probably suffice for my needs. Decisions decisions decisions. I've never went all out out on a purchase before, but a desktop computer is handy long-term investment and I kind of want to just fork out the extra money to have something nice. If it weren't for having to get a monitor in addition to everything else, this would be a non-issue.

And you should, unless you plan on actually using HT on that CPU. 2500k is a very capable CPU, just as OC friendly. That 100 will purchase Win7 for you (unless you are a student or know one who's willing to share).

I'd say stick with the 120 SSD. Stay with Intel for stability and frustration free performance.

Dell U2410 seems like -the- IPS monitor to get, but if you don't much care about great color reproduction and viewing angles (primarily) then go with a TN and save 50% of that price. I own a Samsung P2450H as my primary, and aside from a slight bleed up top it's a great monitor that was $220 after tax.

 

[Marco1]

I can recommend the arctic cooling accelero plus for anyone running a hot GPU.
My GTX580 isles at 30C and never goes over 50C when gaming.
If you buy, remember to also buy the backplate and VRM heatsinks for your card but I think there is now a second version that includes all the heatsinks.
It's also extremely quiet.

 

[dark10x]

So I'm really thinking about that upgrade now, with a friend wanting to buy up my old hardware.

Benchmarks seem to suggest that the i5 2500k will outperform my i7 930 in just about everything. Is this really the case?

What really surprises me is the continued high price of X58 boards. My Gigabyte board is still retailing for over $200, for instance. LGA 1155 boards all seem much cheaper (or similarly priced) for equivalent feature set.

I went ahead and ordered an SSD, so I figure if I'm going to reformat again, I may as well toss a new mobo and CPU in there as well. Does it make sense? With the money I'd get for my 930 and X58 board, a new i5 2500k and mobo would end up costing me $75-100 depending on the board. Is it worth upgrading to sandy bridge for $100?

 

[TheExodu5]

So I'm really thinking about that upgrade now, with a friend wanting to buy up my old hardware.

Benchmarks seem to suggest that the i5 2500k will outperform my i7 930 in just about everything. Is this really the case?

What really surprises me is the continued high price of X58 boards. My Gigabyte board is still retailing for over $200, for instance. LGA 1155 boards all seem much cheaper (or similarly priced) for equivalent feature set.

I went ahead and ordered an SSD, so I figure if I'm going to reformat again, I may as well toss a new mobo and CPU in there as well. Does it make sense? With the money I'd get for my 930 and X58 board, a new i5 2500k and mobo would end up costing me $75-100 depending on the board. Is it worth upgrading to sandy bridge for $100?

Is the 2500K a lot faster? Yes.
Are you going to notice it in games? No.

Your 930 @ 3.9GHz is fast enough to run any modern game on the market at above 60fps.

Then again, for $75...it would be hard for me to resist.

 

[remz]

I can recommend the arctic cooling accelero plus for anyone running a hot GPU.
My GTX580 isles at 30C and never goes over 50C when gaming.
If you buy, remember to also buy the backplate and VRM heatsinks for your card but I think there is now a second version that includes all the heatsinks.
It's also extremely quiet.

My 570 idles at like... 60c. Considering it.

 

[dark10x]

Is the 2500K a lot faster? Yes.
Are you going to notice it in games? No.

Your 930 @ 3.9GHz is fast enough to run any modern game on the market at above 60fps.

Then again, for $75...it would be hard for me to resist.

I'm not running the 930 at 3.9. I can only hit 3.2 before things become a bit unstable and I don't feel like overhauling the cooling all that much.

I suppose an SSD alone will make my system feel fresher and faster during general usage, which is nice.

 

[CrankyJay]

Lol fuck, since I was using a stock cooler, it didn't sit properly and popped out, so I applied my own paste...forgot to spread it around and my idle temps in bios were 68 degrees; so what do I do? Install windows anyway.

Those stock fans are confusing at best. Spend $25-$30 and get a Hyper 212 if you're going to end up cleaning off the chip and reapplying anyway.

Get Arctic MX-4 and use a rice grain size in the middle of the chip. You won't need to spread it around...the pressure from the heat sink will do that for you when you seat it.

 

[TheExodu5]

I'm not running the 930 at 3.9. I can only hit 3.2 before things become a bit unstable and I don't feel like overhauling the cooling all that much.

I suppose an SSD alone will make my system feel fresher and faster during general usage, which is nice.

Guess I had you confused with someone else. In that case, a 2500K @ 4.6-4.8GHz (assuming you buy a $30 Hyper 212+) would be significantly faster. Maybe not enough to notice the difference in that many games at this point, but you'd certainly get a lot more life out of the system.

Whether or not that's worth it to you, only you can say.

 

[Kabuki Quantum Lover]

I've ordered my new rig from NCIX (i5 2500K; 16GB G.SKILL RAM; 60GB Agility 3 (cache) + 2TB WD Caviar; Gigabyte Z68 board whose name escapes me at the moment; single 6950, with second 6950 waiting in the horizon). I cannot wait.

Any recommendations for ghosting software?

 

[cackhyena]

This might be a dumb question, but say I don't have enough yet to get the graphics card I want atm ( the 6970). If I just do the build I want, the 2500k and all the rest, would using my 4870 in the mean time be a bad thing? Problems that might arise, I mean?

 

[Kyaw]

This might be a dumb question, but say I don't have enough yet to get the graphics card I want atm ( the 6970). If I just do the build I want, the 2500k and all the rest, would using my 4870 in the mean time be a bad thing? Problems that might arise, I mean?

Nope, there shouldn't be any problems.

 

[scy]

Is there a PC monitor thread on GAF? I'm looking for a consensus on best IPS monitor for price and quality. So, from looking around on other sites, there seems to be about 4-5 monitors discussed the most:
(linking to amazon b/c newegg is more expensive for monitors...)

Dell U2410
Dell U2311H
HP ZR24w
Asus PA246

I've heard that the panels on most of these, if not all of them, are manufactured by LG and all have the same AG coat, but I don't know if there is any truth to this. Does anyone have any thoughts? I'm still working on my computer build and will need a monitor. If you guys think it would be better to settle for a cheaper tn monitor I can do that, too.

The Dell U2410 and Asus PA246Q are wide gamut monitors so if you're not doing something heavy, heavy, heavy with colors at a professional capacity, you probably won't get much out of them.

The Dell U2311H has a glossy anti-glare finish and the HP ZR24w is a matte one, I believe; of the two, I'd probably go for the Dell; the ZR24w lacks some responsiveness for gaming (not that the 2311H is ideal and neither of them are awful) and isn't that great out of the box if I recall. A lot of people seem to loathe the AG coating on the Dell, though, so that's something to consider against it.

I was in the same position as you and between these two monitors and I instead picked up two HP 2509b. It's a glossy 25" TN panel so it's not as vivd as the IPS panels but, at the time, two of them were cheaper than the one ZR24w so I feel like I came out ahead. Plus, they were ever so slightly better for gaming and being glossy helps cover some of the ground lost on the color front; the viewing angle loss is "meh" to me since I'm never not at the right angle for using them. It's not like they're TVs and something for the entire room to be viewing.

Here's some reviews for them to get a good grasp on what you're looking at:
Dell U2311H #1, Dell U2311H #2
HP ZR24w #1, HP ZR24w #2
HP 2509b

 

[cackhyena]

Nope, there shouldn't be any problems.

Cool, thanks.

 

[cackhyena]

I guess I got one more while I'm thinking of it.

I'm looking at this for my 2500k build, but I don't know if I need it or not. It's just something I've seen a lot of people recommend. Do I need it?
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002G1YPH0/?tag=neogaf0e-20

 

[Corky]

I guess I got one more while I'm thinking of it.

I'm looking at this for my 2500k build, but I don't know if I need it or not. It's just something I've seen a lot of people recommend. Do I need it?
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002G1YPH0/?tag=neogaf0e-20

You don't "need" it, but you sure as hell want it. ( quiter, cooler, -> better OC etc etc )