Building a gaming pc

[taekvideo]

Been using a laptop for years, but now that I'm moving out of the dorms and into an apartment and I've decided to build an actual gaming pc.
This is the setup I put together... let me know what you think!

The Computer:
Intel i5-2500k 3.3ghz: ($225) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115072
Radeon HD 6850: ($165) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161348
Asus p67 chipset mb : ($130) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131708
1TB Samsung F3 Spinpoint hdd ($65) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822152185
2x 4GB DDR3 1333mhz RAM: ($85) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231426
Rosewill Destroyer Case: ($50) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811147144
hec 580W PSU: ($60) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817339034
Price: $780

Extras:
DVD-RW drive: ($19) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827136216
21.5" widescreen LCD: ($120) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824262011
i-rocks gaming keyboard: ($27) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16823204028

Total Price: $946

[ispano]

http://www.mmo-champion.com/threads/...pot-quot-Build

You should have done some more research

[mercutiouk]

First thing (and almost everyone will tell you this) for like $50 more build an i5 2500k + P67 based setup. 16GB ram IS overkill too. 8GB is tonnes for gaming on.

Drop the 2TB drive also. Those cav greens are SLOW intended for mass storage on the cheap (like movies etc).
You want a fast decent sized drive + 1 of those. Samsung spinpoint f3's are about the fastest "standard" hard drive available and pretty damn cheap at the minute (have 4 of them in a raid-5 and it pisses on most SSD's still for sequential transfer speed - for the asshats - yes, I have an SSD as my boot drive too).

Otherwise looks fine

[taekvideo]

First thing (and almost everyone will tell you this) for like $50 more build an i5 2500k + P67 based setup. 16GB ram IS overkill too. 8GB is tonnes for gaming on.

Drop the 2TB drive also. Those cav greens are SLOW intended for mass storage on the cheap (like movies etc).
You want a fast decent sized drive + 1 of those. Samsung spinpoint f3's are about the fastest "standard" hard drive available and pretty damn cheap at the minute (have 4 of them in a raid-5 and it pisses on most SSD's still for sequential transfer speed - for the asshats - yes, I have an SSD as my boot drive too).

Otherwise looks fine

The i5 is quad-core rather than 6-core and costs more, is there a good reason to prefer it?
I guess I could always get 8 gigs of ram now and buy more later if I need it heh
Hmm you're right about the hdd, didn't even think about that lol. I threw on a 500g f3 spinpoint to be my main boot drive and for applications/games/etc. I can use the 2tb drive and the 1tb drive I have from my old computer for my movie collection I don't think it'd be worth it to get an SSD just for booting... boot times really aren't a huge concern for me.
Updated the first post btw.

[Rendhammer]

The i5 is quad-core rather than 6-core and costs more, is there a good reason to prefer it?
I guess I could always get 8 gigs of ram now and buy more later if I need it heh
Hmm you're right about the hdd, didn't even think about that lol. I threw on a 500g f3 spinpoint to be my main boot drive and for applications/games/etc. I can use the 2tb drive and the 1tb drive I have from my old computer for my movie collection I don't think it'd be worth it to get an SSD just for booting... boot times really aren't a huge concern for me.
Updated the first post btw.

You need 6 cores? Unless you are extreme multitasking and using software that requires 6 cores, no games do. Aside from the cores, the new SandyBridge platform for Intels is the best CPU for gaming currently available.

Remember, more does not always = better.

Use the link provided by ispano.

[vesseblah]

The i5 is quad-core rather than 6-core and costs more, is there a good reason to prefer it?

Because i5-2500K runs laps around any current AMD offerings, and the extra 2 cores do absolutely nothing if the primary use of the computer is gaming. Check this out for a generic picture... http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/t...2100-tested/20

And yes, it's not a mistake. x4 970 can indeed be faster in games than x6 1100T since the cores do nothing for gaming.

[ispano]

The i5 is quad-core rather than 6-core and costs more, is there a good reason to prefer it?

Because the Phenom II line was intended to compete with the Core2Duo line form Intel. Sandy Bridge is two generations beyond that.
Also, you can't just look at Mhz and cores anymore to know what's better. The Hex Core Phenom is only better for heavy multitasking, and not that much. For anything that doesn't use more than 4 cores, ie most games, the i5 will trash the 1090T. Even if the 1090T was overclocked and the i5 was not, in 99% of games, the i5 would be better. And it can OC farther than the 1090T as well.

[taekvideo]

Thanks for the feedback.. after some consideration I've decided to go with the i5-2500k. I updated my first post with the new changes I made. The motherboard I chose supports up to 1600mhz memory without overclocking so I changed the memory as well (only $7 more).
I'd still like some feedback about the motherboard I chose. Several of the reviews there say that overclocking with the i2500k to 4.5ghz went fine. Is there anything else with it I should be concerned about?
Also I'm still not sure about the hdd setup. I currently only have a 1 TB hdd which isn't enough media storage for me (ahaha...), is there any more monetarily efficient way to get fast hdd for games/boot/programs while still having lots of extra storage for movies/etc?

[Rendhammer]

You have an interesting choice of parts. I've never heard of the company that makes that motherboard. I also didn't know they still made RAM without heatsinks.

I'm an ASUS fan, so naturally, I would suggest ASUS as your MB brand.

[ispano]

Eww just noticed the motherboard too. I would avoid ECS if at all possible. They're like the bargain basement of computer parts.

[taekvideo]

Hmm how about this for the motherboard?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131708
And these silly-looking ram sticks?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231426

[Rendhammer]

Hmm how about this for the motherboard?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131708
And these silly-looking ram sticks?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231426

Good RAM.

Get an ATX motherboard, unless you want micro I suppose.

[taekvideo]

Updated the final build in the first post.
Decided to ditch the hdd's and just get one good 1tb drive, to save some money heh.
Everything looks good... will probably order it tonight =)

[Purgex]

Been using a laptop for years, but now that I'm moving out of the dorms and into an apartment and I've decided to build an actual gaming pc.
This is the setup I put together... let me know what you think!

The Computer:
Intel i5-2500k 3.3ghz: ($225) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115072
Radeon HD 6850: ($165) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161348
Asus p67 chipset mb : ($130) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131708
1TB Samsung F3 Spinpoint hdd ($65) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822152185
2x 4GB DDR3 1333mhz RAM: ($85) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231426
Rosewill Destroyer Case: ($50) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811147144
hec 580W PSU: ($60) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817339034
Price: $780

Extras:
DVD-RW drive: ($19) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827136216
21.5" widescreen LCD: ($120) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824262011
i-rocks gaming keyboard: ($27) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16823204028

Total Price: $946

One letter, one number:
i7


Or just wait 3 months for AMD to release their 12-core processor line.

[ispano]

One letter, one number:
i7


Or just wait 3 months for AMD to release their 12-core processor line.

Except that for gaming, the i7 2600K doesn't give you anything over the i5 2500K. Since Hyper Threading does nothing, or is sometimes a negative impact on games.

[vesseblah]

One letter, one number:
i7

Or just wait 3 months for AMD to release their 12-core processor line.

I recommend reading the previous posts of the thread bit more carefully to avoid embarrasment when you spread misinformation.

We already covered the fact that extra cores do nothing for gaming, not even 12 extra cores. And it might be good idea to look back at this page I linked few posts above -> http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/t...2100-tested/20

i5-2500K performs better than any old quad core i7 in games, and pulls even with i7-980X. i7-2600K is nearly even, and the 100Mhz higher clock speed makes bigger difference than number of cores. In few games i5 even pulled ahead of i7 because games do not like HT.