Questions about building a new system

[Mavendrill]

I am not great at system building, and want to make sure that everything will work, and that it makes a relative amount of sense.

I am not a massive gamer, playing civ and WoW and that is pretty much it. I am not looking for perfect settings but I want this system to last me at least 4 years on some setting. The parts i have picked out are supposedly $750 (Im in the US), but I could spend a couple hundred more than that if its necessary. Other than being able to run those games a bit, I mostly want the computer to be highly efficient energy wise (which was the deciding factor on several components), but I don't know at all if I chose these correctly. I will be content to game on 1280x1024 or similar setting.

Also, I selected a SSD and no other drive because I am thinking its better to reuse my current main drive as a data drive with the artificial prices on HDDs.

Part list:

CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus 76.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler
Motherboard: ASRock Z68 PRO3 GEN3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard
Memory: Patriot Viper Xtreme Series, Division 2 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Hard Drive: OCZ Vertex Plus 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 6770 1GB Video Card
Case: Thermaltake VL80001W2Z ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: Antec 650W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1
Total: $767.90

[googz]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...20120130100001 4 eggs with only 42 reviews
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231314 5 eggs and 945 reviews
Based on those numbers alone I'd pick one over the other.

A small thing, but something you might want to look at is your case with no USB 3.0 on the front panel. 3.0 isn't that widely used yet, but still something to think about

[Mavendrill]

holy crap that looks better for memory! thanks.

As for the case and usb 3.0, what you say makes sense, but I wonder (mostly because I know so little), if I have 2 USB 3.0's on the motherboard what are the type of things I would need 3.0 for AND need the front panel convenience. The most obvious benefit from 3.0 (courtesy of wikipedia just now) was speed, but off the top of my head I can't think of anything that is particularly portable where the speed difference would matter. Am I crazy?

[Deleted]

CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus 76.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler
Motherboard: ASRock Z68 PRO3 GEN3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard
Memory: Patriot Viper Xtreme Series, Division 2 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Hard Drive: OCZ Vertex Plus 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 6770 1GB Video Card
Case: Thermaltake VL80001W2Z ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: Antec 650W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1
Total: $767.90

As a gamer there is no use at all for the "K" in the 2500K. The 2500 is 5-10% cheaper. I do have to ask though.

Are you sure about that graphics card? It is cheap but 4 years might be a bit too much if you want the highest settings (although you could crossfire it in a year or so). I'd still rather have a 6950 crossfire but that's just me. The new HD series are coming out soon as well, they could bump the prices down a bit.
The most important thing to future proof'ity is the ability to upgrade. Your CPU will last without a doubt (although you might not fully utilize it), and should things start to slow down you can still add more ram and a second graphics card.
You will most likely have a bit of extra wattage (650 is a bit much for that system) but you don't need to worry if you want to upgrade later on.

Hard drive prices should steadily drop since the flood has been dealt with a few weeks ago.

[vesseblah]

The most obvious benefit from 3.0 (courtesy of wikipedia just now) was speed, but off the top of my head I can't think of anything that is particularly portable where the speed difference would matter. Am I crazy?

There are certain things like USB3 memory sticks that run 10-20 times faster than USB2 ones. I'm quite sure you've personally experienced how excruciatingly slow it is to copy few gigabytes of stuff into memory stick. Problem is that those also cost 10-20 times more, not just 10-20 times faster, so there isn't really immediate need for USB3 for anything.

Anyway, what comes to original setup, you might want to invest additional $100-150 into new monitor as 1280x1024 is rather ancient and tiny.

As a gamer there is no use at all for the "K" in the 2500K. The 2500 is 5-10% cheaper. I do have to ask though.

The most important thing to future proof'ity is the ability to upgrade. Your CPU will last without a doubt (although you might not fully utilize it),

Funny how you speak of upgradeability and recommend at the same time swapping the processor for model that can not be overclocked for free 30-40% more speed. Does not make sense.

Also WoW will benefit greatly from having i5-2500K and overclocking it if 25-man raiding a priority.

[googz]

As a gamer there is no use at all for the "K" in the 2500K. The 2500 is 5-10% cheaper. I do have to ask though.

So there's no use at all for an unlocked CPU? No use at all to have the ability to overclock?

[Deleted]

There are certain things like USB3 memory sticks that run 10-20 times faster than USB2 ones. I'm quite sure you've personally experienced how excruciatingly slow it is to copy few gigabytes of stuff into memory stick. Problem is that those also cost 10-20 times more, not just 10-20 times faster, so there isn't really immediate need for USB3 for anything.

Anyway, what comes to original setup, you might want to invest additional $100-150 into new monitor as 1280x1024 is rather ancient and tiny.




Funny how you speak of upgradeability and recommend at the same time swapping the processor for model that can not be overclocked for free 30-40% more speed. Does not make sense.

Also WoW will benefit greatly from having i5-2500K and overclocking it if 25-man raiding a priority.

I asked him if upgradibility is important to him. If not, he can survive without the 2500k. And if 40% more speed is totally irrelevant if you're not even using 50% of the stock speed. Granted he can overclock it in a year or two, which is why I asked it.

I can run 25 man raids perfectly on my older PC with an E8500 (and still not using the full speed). Benefiting "greatly"? no, not really.

---------- Post added 2012-01-30 at 08:34 PM ----------

So there's no use at all for an unlocked CPU? No use at all to have the ability to overclock?

Yes, I'm wrong. Using 20% of the stock speed and overclocking it is a major gain.

[Deleted]

I asked him if upgradibility is important to him. If not, he can survive without the 2500k. And if 40% more speed is totally irrelevant if you're not even using 50% of the stock speed. Granted he can overclock it in a year or two, which is why I asked it.

I can run 25 man raids perfectly on my older PC with an E8500 (and still not using the full speed). Benefiting "greatly"? no, not really.

---------- Post added 2012-01-30 at 08:34 PM ----------




Yes, I'm wrong. Using 20% of the stock speed and overclocking it is a major gain.

i dont even.

what are your arguments on this? task manager? ROFL

go see some benchs and stop giving bad advice

[Deleted]

i dont even.

what are your arguments on this? task manager? ROFL

go see some benchs and stop giving bad advice

Ignoramus much? Someone using "ROFL" as an argument, I cannot take seriously.

I have nothing more to say than this. If you do not get it, that's your problem.

"I will be content to game on 1280x1024 or similar setting."

[Deleted]

Ignoramus much? Someone using "ROFL" as an argument, I cannot take seriously.

I have nothing more to say than this. If you do not get it, that's your problem.

"I will be content to game on 1280x1024 or similar setting."

i lets buy a i5 2500 non-K + hd 6770 to play @ 1280x1024 to play at that res buy a h61 mobo and a i3 2100 and play with a hd 2000

[Mavendrill]

I should clarify something that I should have included in the first post.

I have only played wow on lowest settings on a 800 x 600. I know I hate it and want more. But I have no idea how much more.

Upgradability is important to me in the sense that if I try more and it isn't what I want, I want to be able to upgrade with relative ease. But I don't know where I will reach that point that is enough, especially with regards to screen size. If my current screen won't support sufficient resolution, I easily have the budget to get a new one at that point, but I want to try it first and see.

I hope that helps make it clearer. I tried to pick some parts that left me lots of top available space to move up when/if the computer starts annoying me.

Another question: is having a larger power supply than I need going to make it run inefficiently (and substantially more so) or will it be fine.

---------- Post added 2012-01-30 at 02:58 PM ----------

thanks for the help btw!

[googz]

I have only played wow on lowest settings on a 800 x 600.

I've got to ask now how old exactly is this system? Reason being is due to you mentioning re-using your HDD which might not be the best idea or even possible after reading this statement.

[Mavendrill]

my HDD is 4 years old I think... its sata but beyond that I don't know any specs other than size unless i bust the case open.
The system itself is 6.5 years old.
That reminds me of a related question. Will it be possible to plug a ide optical drive in to this motherboard or will i need a new one. Mine crashed at christmas and I was given another IDE drive. Its not like it will break the bank regardless, but good to know.

[googz]

Doesn't look like this board will support it, but you can pick up a DVD burner even for $18 or less.

[Mavendrill]

cool thanks. I wasn't really worried about the optical cause of the prices being so low, but its good to know.