Making A Few Upgrades

Bacon

Bacon

Member
I've been pretty unhappy with my computer for some time and its about time I do something about it. My budget is around 1000-1300. I'm going to be switching from AMD to Intel and since its my first time doing an Intel build (most likely going to use Nvidia gfx too) I'll be looking for some advice in those areas.

With that said, here is what I've come up with thus far.


****UPDATED****
At a glance:
captureln.png



Links:
XFX Radeon 6950
XFX 650W
G.Skill Ripjaws Series
ASUS Sabertooth P67
Intel Core i5-2500K




****OLD****
At a glance:
capturezn.png



Links:
EVGA GTX 580
Corsair HX 750W
Corsair XMS 2x4GB 1600
ASUS Sabertooth P67
Intel Core i7-2600K

I'm guessing the 580s are the flagship for Nvidia, but is EVGA a good manuf?

Also have no idea whether Corsair still makes good PSUs or not. I would assume so, but you know what happens when you assume..

Was looking at the 2500K vs the 2600K, does 2MB of Cache make much of a difference. Enough to justify another $100? The 1GHz is irrelevant as far as I'm concerned, I'll be overclocking anyways.

I got nothing on the motherboard, just looked clean and has good reviews.

Edit: To clarify my needs for this build. I will be doing a fair amount of gaming and virtualizing on this machine. I also am only looking for modular PSUs. I also do not plan on implementing Crossfire or SLI in the future.


Thanks for any help in advance!
 
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Corsair does still make some of the best PSU's available, so you're good in that regard.

I haven't heard anything bad about EVGA, but I have no personal experience with their products.

Depending on what you're using this rig for, that 2600K might be a bit overkill. If you're just using it for gaming, most people feel that it is unnecessarily powerful.

the P67 mobo's are quite popular.

What are you planning on using for storage? An SSD paired with a HDD?
 
Probably the best single gpu card you can get, although 1.5x more expensive than amd's 6970. Check out the other gtx series from evga also(I particularly like the gtx460 ssc+). EVGA has excellent customer service, probably the best i've ever read about(unfortunately I haven't had the pleasure of owning their products). I would get the ax series corsair psu, but other than that it looks great. I wish my build could have been entirely by companies like evga and corsair because of their warranties. Don't know much about the ram, haven't tried corsair's yet.
 
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The i5 2500K works just as fast as the 2600K when OCed...Its better performance : money ratio...
 
I am Assuming from the above build that you will be using the computer for gaming.
So here are a few changes I would suggest.

For CPU a 2500k Will be more than enough the i7 2600k is overkill.

For Memory as Stranglehold already stated about corsair.And also you won't need 8GB for now.Get 4GB for now and in future if you need more then upgrade.

Corsair still makes good PSUs.
But why are you going with a 750W PSU.Because a 650W will be enough for the above build and going with 750W will not enable you to sli the GTX580 so no point in going with the 750W
You can look into some cheaper options

This is a seasonic unit.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371015

$75(after rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207014

$65(after rebate)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207002


And the GTX 580 looks good.EVGA is a good manufacturer.
 
danthrax said:
What are you planning on using for storage? An SSD paired with a HDD?
Click to expand...

Yea I'll be keeping the hard drives I have now and I'm planning on snatching up an OCZ Vertex 3.

StrangleHold said:
Why the Corsair memory. There is better memory with lower timing and voltage thats cheaper.
Click to expand...

Didn't really think you could go wrong with w/e RAM you chose, but apparently I'm wrong :o Anyone have any suggestions?

daisymtc said:
Why GTX 580? I don't really think they worth the money...
Click to expand...

If you can convince me to grab a radeon equivalent or lesser graphics card, go for it, but you kinda just gave me a statement without any facts to back it up.

Russ88765 said:
I would get the ax series corsair psu, but other than that it looks great
Click to expand...

Why the AX series and not the HX? Modular is a massive selling point for me if that is what the difference is.

jd132 said:
The i5 2500K works just as fast as the 2600K when OCed...Its better performance : money ratio...
Click to expand...

I know that, but the 2600K has 2MB more of cache and I'm wondering whether that would make a large difference or not.

mihir said:
For CPU a 2500k Will be more than enough the i7 2600k is overkill.

Get 4GB for now and in future if you need more then upgrade.

But why are you going with a 750W PSU.Because a 650W will be enough for the above build and going with 750W will not enable you to sli the GTX580 so no point in going with the 750W
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tips and links (liked that first XFX unit Edit: Nvm its non-modular :(), but with the RAM I will need 8 GB, might even need more. I do a lot with VMWare (running servers, workstations, testing OSs etc..) Sorry for not mentioning that.
Edit: These P67 boards don't have triple-channel RAM correct? They're dual-channel?


I apologize for not mentioning this in the opening post, but I do not plan to implement SLI or Crossfire in the future. I have a Crossfire setup currently and the scaling isn't the greatest. I'd rather just keep on upgrading to the latest and greatest.

Also, I'm realizing the GTX 580 might be a bit overkill for my needs, but I'm looking for a very solid card (good OC potential is a plus) that is DX11 capable.

Thanks to everyone with helping me out on this so far.
 
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Xfx is a really good brand but I I know for a fact that the antec 650 unit I linked is a seasonic unit.which makes the best psus also about the gpu a gtx 580 is an awesome card but if you think it is more than what you need then you can checlout the GTX570 or the HD6950.both really good card and the HD6950 has a lot of potential for over clocking
 
mihir said:
Xfx is a really good brand but I I know for a fact that the antec 650 unit I linked is a seasonic unit.
Click to expand...

I know it wasn't said in this thread, but I thought I saw someone mention that XFX units were made by Seasonic as well.

mihir said:
also about the gpu a gtx 580 is an awesome card but if you think it is more than what you need then you can checlout the GTX570 or the HD6950.both really good card and the HD6950 has a lot of potential for over clocking
Click to expand...

Yea actually after looking around the 6950 might be exactly what I'm looking for. Kinda sad though, I was hoping to work a Nvidia card into this.
 
Bacon said:
I know it wasn't said in this thread, but I thought I saw someone mention that XFX units were made by Seasonic as well.



Yea actually after looking around the 6950 might be exactly what I'm looking for. Kinda sad though, I was hoping to work a Nvidia card into this.
Click to expand...

Yeah I checked around that even the XFX PSUs are seasonic made.
I had a hint about it but not confirmed info about it.

And as for the HD6950 it is a great card.And will fullfil your needs.
Even the Corsair HX series is seasonic made.But you can get a seasonic PSU from Antec for much cheaper price.
 
Updated.

I still haven't gotten much feedback on the motherboard I selected which worries me somewhat.
 
Bump. Still looking for feedback on the mobo.

Also looking for some suggestions on a high performance air cooler, fans, and fan controller.

Use my current air cooler as a reference, I'd like something better than that and for fans I am considering sticking with Yate Loons (still open to suggestions though). I'd like to replace the exhaust fan on my case with a 140x25mm Red LED Yate Loon.

Possible fan controller:

Lamptron FC-5v2

Possible 140x25mm fan:

Yate Loon Red LED Fan Medium Speed
 
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