Looking for some build advice (its a little long)

[PerryC]

Okay, its time to spoil myself a little bit and build myself new pc. My current Dell E520 with a 1.86 Ghz dual core E6300 just isn't cutting the mustard anymore. Still works well for what I want out of it, just time for something better.

The biggest issue I have at the moment is the budget. I walked off the plane from yet another deployment to my wife's boyfriend handing me divorce papers, and the keys to the house, and then telling me that the kids would be at the house the next day. Five deployments since 2003, I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later. Spent the last three or four months trying to sort out the crap sandwich I got force fed.

To keep myself from doing something stupid I have been doing alot of research on pc parts and upgrade routes.

1. I only really use my pc for light gaming, office type applications, emails and some websurfing. Gaming wise I don't play fps type games very often, nor do I play MMORPGs. Neverwinter Nights 2 and Mount & Blade:Warband, Warhammer 40K: Dawn of War I and II are the games I play most often. I have little to no interest in playing online.

2. Just looking for the best bang for the buck, but can't really afford to go to crazy with this build.

3. I will buying everything in Canada.

4. I don't have a brand preference...again I am all about the best bang for the buck.

5. I have a HAF 912 to put the new build into. Doing things bass ackword ...purchased 8 gb (4 x 2gb) of g. skill DDR3 1600 ram (F3-12800CL9D-4GBXL) through the BST forum here on HWC last night. I have a cd drive, dvd/cd burner (both sata) and a 250 gb WD sata hard drive I can use from my current pc, if I don't get new ones. As well, I have a Radeon X1600 512mb video card I can slap in the new build until I get a new decent one.

6. I have done a lot of research on the topic, looking at various cpu routes and the associated parts. By "a lot" I mean tons...comparing parts, reading reviews- both editorial and customer, and working up various builds to compare against each other.

7. Overclocking is something I would like to dabble in down the road, but if the parts I get don't allow for it then I am not going to lose sleep over it.

8. I will put it all together once I have all the parts, though that is going to take me a couple of months.

9. I have an Acer AL2216W monitor that maxes @ 1600 x 1050 resolution. It has both VGA and DVI-D inputs.

This all started with me looking to see what I could do to my Dell to get another couple of years out of it. I was looking at cpu, vid card and psu upgrades. Then I realized that the mobo I have can't support the cpus I was looking at...it only takes 65nm cpus. They are mighty hard to find new now. Since then I have been flopping between builds trying to use as much as I could out of the parts in my build. Somewhere in there I bought the HAF 912 case. Then after I started looking around the for sale threads here at HWC I threw a wrench into my own plans. I bought the DDR3 ram, which through out all the builds I had looked at previously.

I have decided to go with this beast to power the new build: Corsair HX650 modular

Newegg.ca - CORSAIR HX Series CMPSU-650HX 650W ATX12V v2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

There isn't going to be much in my case...but I want it as clean as I possibly get it. It also gives me room to expand in the future.

Looking at the G Skill website and researching the motherboards certified to support the memory I bought, then I am looking at the P67 chipset. This combo allows me to dabble in the overclocking....

NCIX Bundle...Core i5-2500K and Asus P8P67 B3 mobo

NCIX.com - Buy NCIX Bundle Deal - Intel Core i5 2500K Quad Core Processor & ASUS P8P67 B3 Motherboard - Bundle Deals - 2500K-P8P67 - in Canada

I know I can forgo OC'ing this build by getting a i3-2100 instead.

Read user reviews of my memory I found that people are using it with other boards, it usually just ends up defaulting to 1333 mhz. More than one person is using the same memory on this set up:

Asus M4A79XTD Evo and Phenom II x 4 955 BE

Buy the Asus M4A79XTD EVO AMD 790X Socket AM3 Mothe Bundle at TigerDirect.ca

Not even looking at prices, rebates or anything like that at this time. By the time I can get these parts, any deals or rebates won't be in effect. Hell, who knows I might even see something else in the BST forum that I want. Time to go check that forum out now

Haven't thought about the video card too much either...don't need anything outrageous, it would be wasted on me.

Whichever way I choose in the end, it will be way better than what I am using.

[_dangtx_]

2500k all the way.

i sugest getting a faster drive though....

and a nice 24 incher.

gpu wise, maybe a 460/6850 if your games arent heavy?

decent choices youve made there maite!

and cheer up, downs are followed by ups :D

[dma0991]

Agreed with dangtx, the Core i5 2500K is the best way to go here. You get the speed of a Core i5 2500 and the potential to overclock in case you want the extra juice in the future. Maybe you could still use the 250GB drive but upgrade it to a SSD next time. Cheer up bro.

[PerryC]

The more I think about it the more I am looking at just getting all new parts for this build and maybe using my old Dell for folding or something like that. I don't need much more than a 500gb. Never had more than about 90 gb on my current drive, I keep most of my working docs and pics on external drives and only hook them up when I need them.

GPUs are the one item I have done the least amount of research. Just starting to do a bit more poking there as it will likely be the last piece I purchase. I have been looking at the GTX 460 or GTX550Ti on the nvidia side of the house. On the ATI side of the house I have been looking at the 6790/6850 ranges.

Going to try and pick the psu up this month and fill my 912 full of fans. On that note, is it better to run fans directly off the psu, or use fan headers on the mobo? I have seen people posts on both sides of that fence

[dma0991]

If possible use the fan headers of the motherboard as the fan speed will be controlled according to the temps and load of your rig. The method of plugging directly to molex power directly from the PSU would result in the fan being at its constant maximum speed regardless of load or temp which is not good if you're looking for a quiet rig.

If you run out of motherboard headers you can use a 5.25" bay fan speed controller to control all your fans that runs from direct power from the PSU.

[_dangtx_]

the 550 is a fail at bang per buck.
look up for 460 or better.

[PerryC]

Noise is not something I am not worried about, but haven't really given much thought to a fan controller. Might have to take a peak at them now.

Thanks for the info about the 550. Picking a gpu is the biggest PITA part of the build process for me, but that helps narrow the field.

[stoanee]

There was a MSI Cyclone GTX 460 on the NCIX weekly sale for $100 but it is gone now. That was a killer deal. If you wait for another one at that price you cannot go wrong.

[francisw19]

Hi Perry...firstly, a big thanks for your efforts in the forces.

Sorry to hear about your personal troubles...I'm sure things will be looking up soon. :)

I just wanted to throw in another vote in for the 2500K (especially if you can still get the bundle deal with the Asus P8P67). Even at stock speeds, it will be a great CPU. But, if you do want to dabble around with the overclocking some day, it's a real easy chip to overclock and it doesn't take much to get it into 4GHz land.

And agreed with the gents above on the video card selection...either the GTX460 or HD6850 will be fine for the display you have. It comes down to personal preference between AMD and Nvidia.

[AkG]

+1 to the 2500K suggestions.

And screw that noise about the 250GB WD. 5 tours in the sandbox and a crap sandwhich for desert? Least I can do is provide a good SSD for your upgrade.

I have a barely used GSkill Falcon 2 128GB SSD here. It is / was a review unit so it has ZERO warranty. BUT its been barely used since the review (just collecting dust in one of my piles of gear).

Drop me a PM with your mailing addy and Ill ship out to you. Free of charge / no strings attached (well besides that if it dies in 6 mths you dont complain to me...it shouldnt...but like anything in life shit does, can and will happen). Ill test it before shipping it to make sure its still working and if it isnt..I'll dig through my pile and find something else. ;)

Its not as good as the SF drives or the Crucial ones....but its still eons better than a hard drive.

Get yourself a good "D" drive (say a 1TB black WD) for your games and other stuff and it should make your new rig "peppy"

A