New Sandy Bridge Build. Updated with pics!

[francisw19]

Hey guys,

I'm thinking of building a new Sandy Bridge system. I'm still a bit undecided on the budget...I'm selling my Phenom II rig, so it will depend on what I get from that. Ultimately, the focus will be getting good "bang for your buck" type parts.

To start, here is what I have:

CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 w/ stock fans
Drives: 2x OCZ Vertex 2 (will be in RAID0) <--- had lots of Xmas money and splurged , 1TB Caviar Black (Documents), 1.5 Caviar Green (Backup Disk)
Optical: Pioneer 12x BD-RW
Sound: Auzentech X-Fi Forte
PSU: Corsair AX-850
Case: Coolermaster HAF-X w/ stock fans

For the CPU, I am pretty much set on the i5 2500K. I'm going to be overclocking anyway, and the only major difference I can see is that the 2600K adds Hyper-threading. I mostly do gaming, I do a bit of video editing on the side (just amateur vacation/family video - nothing professional). Any thoughts on this? I'd rather save the $100 or so if I don't need the hyper-threading.

For the RAM, AFAIK, it's advisable to stay under 1.5V with the SB chips. Is this true? I pulled the trigger on a Newegg shell shocker deal yesterday. It was a 8GB (2x 4GB) G.Skill RipjawX DDR3-1600 kit. Timings are 9-9-9-24-2T and it's 1.50V. It was only $80 with free shipping. Any thoughts on this kit? I was thinking of getting a kit with tighter timings, however, some of the CL7 kits were nearing $140-$150. Is the difference in price worth it? I can still cancel the order if there is a better kit for the money.

For the GPUs, I am leaning toward the GTX560Ti's in SLI. I can get a pair of these for less than the cost of a single GTX580. From what I've seen so far, it looks like the GTX560 Ti SLI will get a bit more performance than the GTX580. Any thoughts on this?

Lastly, I'm still a bit stumped on the motherboard. The Asus Sabertooth P67 seems to be floating my boat so far, but I'm interested in hearing other opinions. Again, I will be overclocking the CPU and I'm willing to pay for a board that will be a good, durable overclocking board. Having lots of USB ports, SATA III, Bluetooth and all the bells and whistles is nice, but my first priority is a board with good durability and quality parts. I'm willing to pay around $200-$230 for a board.

Any input is appreciated!

[Eldonko]

Couple points

Memory voltage doesnt really matter, 1.65v is fine or 1.5v whatever. Good deal on that 8gb kit, I would grab that or something similar.

For SLI it may be a good idea to grab a NF200 board if you want 16x. Gigabyte P67A-UD7 and Asus Maximus IV Extreme are among the most popular. On UD7 dual 16x is possible and UD7 is one of a very few boards that has it’s own PCI-E bus for USB3 and SATA6G so these devices do not pull any bw from your PCI-E slots. These boards are closer to $300 though so you have to fork out the extra $$ if you want 16x on P67.

[Eluder]

I believe I am using the same memory you purchased from Newegg on my P67 board.
With regards to the NF200, I didn't think those boards ran 2 PCI-E slots at x16 for both, I think it still drops to x8 if you have two or more cards, no?

[Eldonko]

UD7 doesnt. The NF200 doubles the bw of the native 8 lane 5GT/s bus for dual 16x. There are 2 PCIE at 16x and 2 at 8x.

Originally Posted by Eluder

With regards to the NF200, I didn't think those boards ran 2 PCI-E slots at x16 for both, I think it still drops to x8 if you have two or more cards, no?

[dma0991]

Good call on the Core i7 2500K instead of the Core i7 2600K. Not really worth the extra money depending on your requirements IMHO.

A pair of GTX560 Ti does have better performance over the GTX580 but how about a pair of HD6950 1GB? A single HD6950 1GB does perform slightly better compared to a GTX 560 Ti and it is slightly cheaper as well.

[francisw19]

Thanks! Interesting thought on the HD6950...I'll definitely think about it.

[JJThomp]

Originally Posted by francisw19

Thanks! Interesting thought on the HD6950...I'll definitely think about it.

The 2gb sclae better than the 1gb i have heard so if you go that route you might want the 2gb model.

[Luay79]

What will your display setup be?

[francisw19]

I'll be using a single 24" display (1920x1200)

[Luay79]

Then you won't notice a difference between the 1GB and 2 GB HD 6950 so the 2GB's value is questionable, unless you plan on pushing more pixels via eyefinity.
Asus P67 Deluxe and Gigabyte UD5 should overclock nicely and give each video card 3 slots to dissipate their heat.