plz rate first gaming 2600k build, ~$1160

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OLOLOLOLO

New Member
I have been thinking about building my first comp, based around the i7-950 but with the release of the 2600k series I put that idea on hold.

Now that they're out, I spent some time researching the best way to come up with my first custom build, and I tried not to just go on the egg and click on random parts.

The following is a result of the best price/performance I could find for the parts I need. Main uses will be intermediate-advanced gaming, RTS and RPG, and some application use mainly internet, movie watching, or multi-tabling poker with real time stat programs and hand tracking software running.

No real budget, but I decided that the 2600k will be a good enough base for me right now, and I do not want to spend any more than I need hence the cheaper PSU and Mobo selections I made. But I have done my research and they seem to be very efficient given their price.

I will not be heavily overclocking, just the standard using the on-board OC software, and my machine will be single GPU, all air cooled. Want something I could set up and use reliably with no constant tweaking.

prices include shipping.

Sunbeam 680w $39.99

i7-2600k $329.99

Hyper 212+ HSF $37.55

GA-P67A-UD3 $124.99

Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB $59.99

G.SKILL 4GB (2x2) $49.99

EVGA 570 SC $377.86

HAF 932 $139.99

Also I already have Windows 7, mouse/keyboard, speakers and LCD monitor.

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Am I gonna be happy with this for my needs, compared to spending the extra $80 on the higher class Mobo's, or getting a more expensive PSU, HD, Ram combo?
 
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Sunbeam make power supplies?... As in the same Sunbeam who make toasters and kettles?

CF Good & Bad PSU list

Sunbeam is in the 'Bad' section. I would really recommend putting a bit more of the budget towards getting a good quality PSU.
 
the HAF 922 does look like a good choice too, 2 200mm fans in and 1 out.

would it be big enough to fit the 570 though?
 
The only problems I have with those cases is that your paying $140 and they couldnt even bother to paint the inside. Grrr that aggravates me lol. I have a NZXT Phantom the case is amazing. You should however buy a 140mm fan for the front of it. It doesnt come with one, which kinda sux for a $140 case. Comes in Black, White, and Red. Right now the White one has a $20 off promo code if used by 1/31 knocking the case down to $119

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146068&cm_re=nzxt-_-11-146-068-_-Product
 
I was also looking at the NZXT case.. I love the white painted exterior and its afull tower. However the one thing that turned me off was the other cases in the same range had considerably more air flow.. Think dual 200 and 230mm fans instead of 120. Since I'm relying on air only I think that's pretty significant.
 
Wait, what? The Phantom has awesome airflow. It has a 200mm on top, two 120's in the side, a 120 in the front and back, and the option to add another 200 to both the top and side. It also has an integrated fan controller.
 
I'm not sure you need the i7 if you're just going to be playing games/multi-tabling with PT3/HEM. I've used those programs on a much slower computer than the one I'm on now, and it worked fine. May do more research to see if you can't save $100 on the CPU and get the i5 2500K.
 
Drenlin said:
Wait, what? The Phantom has awesome airflow. It has a 200mm on top, two 120's in the side, a 120 in the front and back, and the option to add another 200 to both the top and side. It also has an integrated fan controller.
Click to expand...

That's all correct except they don't give you a 120mm in the front. There is a spot to put a 140mm there which i did. But yes airflow is excellent. Once that 140mm fan (I bought a Scythe 140mm 1700rpm, 91crm slip stream) is in the front the case got extremely cool. And yes there is a 120mm exhaust fan out the back of the case, a 200mm exhaust fan out the top of the case, there are 2 120mm fans on the side of the case that you can either have as exhaust or intake, i have them on intake at the moment because I don't have the extra hard drives down there, if I had extra hard drives they can be put to exhaust because there is a mesh screen directly across from the fans that will pull air across the hard drives to keep them cooler. The biggest thing about the case is that integrated 5 channel fan controller at 20watts per channel, all in all its a pretty impressive case, and when it goes on sale... I picked my up off newegg for $99 shipped, it's hard to pass up.

Numbers wise, with my Xigmateck Dark Knight, I'm looking at 26 degrees idle, 30-33 degrees under normal everyday stuff and 44 degrees under gaming load (these are from since I turned them on this morning), and that's with a 3.2ghz cpu overclocked to 4.2 and taken from 1.375v to 1.4375v.:good:
 
Red Love X said:
I'm not sure you need the i7 if you're just going to be playing games/multi-tabling with PT3/HEM. I've used those programs on a much slower computer than the one I'm on now, and it worked fine. May do more research to see if you can't save $100 on the CPU and get the i5 2500K.
Click to expand...

How is the 2500k compare to the 2600k in terms of gaming? I want to run ultra settings on games like sc2, fallout, and maybe get into FPS now that I have a decent machine.. i know both will probably work fine right now, but what about next year's games or the following years?

Yea I can run the other programs fine on my current laptop and my old desktop.

Thing is I have owned a new computer only once in my life, and that was about 10 years ago.. since then i've been using my old computers or few year old computers given to me from friends that didnt need/want them.

I at least want the best performance right now, so that I can use this comp for awhile and last a few years without needing to be upgraded.
 
OLOLOLOLO said:
How is the 2500k compare to the 2600k in terms of gaming? I want to run ultra settings on games like sc2, fallout, and maybe get into FPS now that I have a decent machine.. i know both will probably work fine right now, but what about next year's games or the following years?

Yea I can run the other programs fine on my current laptop and my old desktop.

Thing is I have owned a new computer only once in my life, and that was about 10 years ago.. since then i've been using my old computers or few year old computers given to me from friends that didnt need/want them.

I at least want the best performance right now, so that I can use this comp for awhile and last a few years without needing to be upgraded.
Click to expand...

While it's possible that future games will take advantage of the i7's technological advantages over the i5, given that you can OC the i5 to 4.5 GHz without trying means you're unlikely to have a CPU bottleneck for a long, long time. If you have the $100 to spare that you don't think could be better spent elsewhere, go for it.
 
you know you bring up some good points there. Given what I want to do (gaming and mild everyday use) I might be better off getting the i5 2500k, since most likely I wont be able to fully utilize the gains from the i7, bc I wont be doing any heavy graphic rendering or anything like that.
 
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