Nobody ever needs anything over a 2500k for $200. If you live near a microcenter, check there FIRST for all your parts.

My GTX 560 Ti deal is over. There is no stellar GPU buy right now.

http://slickdeals.net/f/4628356-SeaSonic-X750-750W-80-Plus-Gold-Modular-Power-Supply-120-Free-Shipping-Starts-5-23
This should also further solidify the importance of buying a PSU at a good deal.

Here's a comparison of the two:
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/printpage/Corsair-HX750W-Power-Supply-Review/775
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&file=print&reid=192
The major difference is price: the seasonic was $120, the corsair is $141-$20=$121.
The efficiency on the seasonic is 1% better, and fully modular.
Both will power whatever you want just fine, do it equally as well, and you won't notice any difference at all between the two ever.

In reality, you don't need anything over 650 W (and you could get away with 450 W). For that reason, if you can make your computer $700, get all high efficiency parts, you can get something like this and bet sitting pretty on an extra $70 from saving on the PSU. Note that even this PSU is not a good deal, since the 550W capstone used to be $64.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-7950-overclock-crossfire-benchmark,3123-19.html
7950 computer uses 300 W at the wall. "The Radeon HD 7950 leads the way, with an idle system power consumption just over 93 W (that’s a Core i7-3960X-powered platform with 16 GB running at 4.2 GHz, remember)"
Add in 150W for good measure, since average power consumption is usually around 66% of MAX power consumption, consider that you're buying a good PSU that can handle more than its rated wattage for short periods of time, you're good.

Please note that if you can afford GTX 670, get it. It's much more efficient than the 7950, and 10% faster.

Post has been edited 3 time(s), last time on May 26 2012, 1:30 pm by rockz.

I'm powering my Radeon 6870 with an Antec HCG with 520W and it stays cool and stable all the time. 650W Will be plenty even for 2 cards.

Try this Roy:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($169.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($179.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Mushkin Blackline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($43.99 @ NCIX US)
Hard Drive: Crucial M4 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($109.99 @ NCIX US)
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($114.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 6950 2GB Video Card ($207.55 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Source 210 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($34.00 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair 600W ATX12V Power Supply ($61.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $940.47
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-05-26 11:35 EDT-0400)

About my choices:
That Gigabyte motherboard will be as far up as you need. The Sabertooth is nice but you really don't need such a top of the line board for a build like this.
Mushkin kit was cheap and solid. You can double it if need be.
HD6950 should be more than adequate for gaming since 7000 series is still really expensive IMO.
Source 210 case has a lot of options, throw some more fans in and its set.
Corsair PSU is cheap and solid though there may be better deals to hunt for.

Well, I primarily picked it because it was one of the cheaper IPS 23" monitors.

I don't live near a microcenter, unfortunately.

I could technically afford a GTX 690, but I don't really want to spend 4 figures on a card.

Alright, that's good to know.

I like these.

I was kinda aiming for a future-proof build, but okay.

The current one I have is Mushkin and less per GB.

I have money for a good card if necessary. I could even go for a GTX 680.

Eh, is it really worth the $15 savings from my current case if I need to add more fans?

I'll add it for now.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on May 26 2012, 4:52 pm by Roy.

oh good gigabyte got caught up and is offering EFI now. You can buy from them again.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/8UC7
I started working on a God-Tier build but gave up.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on May 26 2012, 4:33 pm by rockz.

The sale is over by now (same thing happened when Newegg dropped the price of the 256GB Crucial M4 to $200), the SSD is now $140 at NCIX US. I'd still grab the 256GB crucial M4 from Newegg because not only is it cheaper per GB, but also has faster writes and IOPS due to there being more NAND.


A GTX 670, if you can find one in stock, is going to be one of the better, relatively future-proof gaming cards you'll get. Note that the 6xx Kepler cards have shitty compute, so if you plan on doing a lot of GPU-assisted parallel computing along with gaming, you want a Radeon card.


It's less per GB because it's at 1333MHz instead of 1600. Since the Sandy Bridge RAM controller tops out at 1333MHz, getting faster RAM is a waste.

None of the cards are really "bad", it's just that you start hitting diminishing returns per dollar spent past the $300 range.

Hyperthreading probably won't even shave off 10%, let alone 20%. Most of the i5-vs-i7 benchmarks show an exaggerated difference between their performance because the i7 has a higher base clock and turbo ceiling.

These are in stock:
Asus GTX 670 - $420
Galaxy GTX 670 - $410
MSI GTX 670 - $410
ZOTAC GTX 670 - $410

That's kinda the impression I got after researching it as well. I guess I'll go with the 2500k. I've never overclocked anything before; do I need additional cooling for this?

A Hyper 212 Plus would be a good idea to have instead of the stock heatsink. It's inexpensive and gives good enough cooling even for some aggressive overclocks.

Thanks much.

I found an EVGA 670 FTW on Newegg in stock. Was it just restocked or something? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130787&nm_mc=OTC-Froogle&cm_mmc=OTC-Froogle-_-Video+Cards-_-EVGA-_-14130787

Should I get that, then?

Edit: I think I'm set for these parts:



Does anyone see anything immediately wrong with this build? Since I'm under the budget for the tower, should I just get the 2TB HDD as well?

Post has been edited 2 time(s), last time on May 26 2012, 7:26 pm by Roy.

Whatever. $100 for a 2 TB hdd is common now.

I'd future proof your PSU by getting a platinum or at least a gold rating though, and definitely get a modular PSU, not the cheap corsair shit (which is a bad buy compared to something like a rosewill hive)

Is this better? SeaSonic X Series X650 Gold. Twice the cost, but 50W more and gold certified (and it comes with a free case! ). Still puts me about $100 under budget.

Edit: Pulled the trigger.

Post has been edited 3 time(s), last time on May 27 2012, 12:25 am by Roy.

In a future proof build you should include a BlueRay drive. The LG CH10LS28 (which I didn't find on Newegg) can burn DVDs/CDs and read BluRays.

Also consider not getting a mouse pad at all. I haven't used one in years, ever since I got an optical mouse. However there's surfaces that the mouse has trouble scanning on.

Btw. congrats on the CM 690 case. I have it and I like it.

Depends on what mouse. I have a mouse that uses an infrared laser, and it seems to work on every surface I've tested it on (even glass, which is transparent to normal optical mice).

Blu-ray actually also appears to be "dying" somewhat.

How is Bluray dying? That makes no sense to me.

I still have never seen or used a blueray disk or player.

Excluding installing Windows 7, I haven't used a CD disc in years.

Meh, it's $5, so even if it helps a little it should pay for itself.

Glad to hear it. I was starting to scare myself reading about issues with the front hub and ESD causing reboots, but I suppose that's an isolated issue. You haven't had any issues with grounding, have you?

I'm personally looking forward to when they just release movies on flash memory.

Also, my GPU doesn't come with a backplate, and the 670 FTW doesn't have its own backplate. Apparently the GTX 680 plate fits on it, so I got one of those.

Oh, one more thing. I was looking at information on overclocking a 2500k with a Hyper 212+, and apparently I can clock it around 4.0GHz-4.4GHz. Does anyone with some overclocking experience and/or knowledge want to give me some feedback on this?

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on May 27 2012, 9:32 pm by Roy.

I don't think there's any need for a 'mouse pad' outside of "prefer to use a mouse pad over a blank desk". However if you do get a mouse pad, then you should get one with a gel wrist rest. Especially as you're planning a career in IT, you don't want to get carpel tunnel / RSI / OOS / [insert latest acronym] so any cheap measure to help combat it is definitely worth it. Gel wrist rests help me immensely, but YMMV.

You're not using that case for this computer, though, right?

Windows 7 is a DVD.

This was for a different case, but I've heard of leaving the reset button disconnected resolving this issue in some cases.

I had one of those a long time ago. It wore down after a while and got lumpy.

A little late to be planning for me. I drink lots of milk though, so I should be fine.

Why? What's wrong with it?

I don't know what I'm gonna do with it. Maybe if I'm moving and need an extra packing box, it'll come in handy.

Apparently my order was voided, so I'm gonna have to talk to my bank and then reorder.

Imo mousepads are just annoying to have around. I love a clean desk surface.

Nope, no grounding issues.