I'd like to build a PC, but I'd love some help picking out parts.

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Right, so I want to build a PC centered around the ASUS Sabertooth P67 Mobo.
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1155/SABERTOOTH_P67/

And the Intel Core i5 2500K Processor
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...re=intel_core_i5_2500k-_-19-115-072-_-Product


After that, I'm kinda lost. Obviously I want a big-ish Hard Drive, some RAM, a nice video card capable of running light to medium quality games and maybe capable of CrossfireX or SLI in the future.

After that though.. I don't know what to do. What sort of power supply should I get, what size case should I be looking at getting? Is there anything I should be aware of with the two parts I know I want? This will be my first build, so I want to be sure I do it right.

I want the build itself to come in around 700-800$ range. I can get Windows 7, Vista, or XP for little to no cost at work if I need to.


Right so.. This is my list so far.
http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=16367152

Opinions?
 
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Ask yourself some questions:

1. What are the primary uses for the rig going to be?
2. Do you plan on upgrading/expanding in the future? If so, you'd want to spend a little bit more on a capable PSU that will allow you to do so without compromise.
3. How much storage do you think you need? I know of some people who go by the notion of this: If you need, say, 500GB of density you'd be best off with a 1TB drive. Additional headroom is never a bad thing.

The Sabertooth is a fantastic board, and the 2500k is another great choice. Lots of overclocking potential from the both of them. For a video card you can either get a 560Ti, HD 5770 or an HD 6870; the 560 edges out both of them and has comparable performance to the 6950 and is cheaper than the 6950, but just a bit more expensive than the 5770 and 6870. Again, if you want to expand somewhere down the line you can get a full tower, or you can get a mid tower and still have plenty of space to rummage around in. Keep in mind though, full tower enclosures have certain advantages (and to some extent, disadvantages) over mid towers. One of them being the sheer size and expansive space. The size is also a disadvantage, depending on hwo you look at it. RAM is another thing, the bare minimum I'd recommend in this day and age is 4GB. Of course you can find some 8 or 12GB kits that don't cost much more, if not around the exact same price.

If you don't plan on overclocking you can stick with reference HSF for the time being, if you want the additional cooling even if you don't intend to overclock any time soon than have a look at the Tt Frio, Dark Rock Pro and/or Advanced. You can find a 2TB for no more than, what, $89. Add to that an SSD just for your OS and you'll be good to go.
 
$800 is a little cheap in my view.

A 750~850W Power Supply Unit should be more than enough.

For light gaming? How so? You can easily run a 5770, 8gigs of RAM, a 1TB 7200RPM drive, pick up a 600W PSU, and a optical drive on top of what he has already suggested for less than that, if my memory serves me correctly.

Though it could also be the fact that he and I are both in the US, where everything is a bit cheaper than in Australia.
 
For light gaming? How so? You can easily run a 5770, 8gigs of RAM, a 1TB 7200RPM drive, pick up a 600W PSU, and a optical drive on top of what he has already suggested for less than that, if my memory serves me correctly.

Though it could also be the fact that he and I are both in the US, where everything is a bit cheaper than in Australia.

+1.

You can get the above, and with a 600W PSU you have the option to Crossfire the 5770/6770 (Basically the same card). But 650/750 will give you more than enough headroom. Unless you know you'll be SLi/CrossFire'ing two high powered cards.

That said, spend more money on the things that are harder, costlier and more painful to upgrade, namely Case, MB, CPU and to a slightly lesser extent PSU (As it's really not hard to upgrade, but not really reusable unless you have another PC lying around).

Things like RAM you can start with 4GB then save for some more if you feel like you need it, same goes for HDDs, fans, add-on cards, etc.
 
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Well, it looks like I'll be buying it on a part by part basis, I got it up to about 1.4k$ by including a few extra things I think I'd need in the process but it seems to me to be fairly solid. I can't seem to figure out how to share the Newegg wishlist though, and that's bugging me cause I want to show you guys and see if you guys could think of anything else that I might need. Any help?

EDIT: Figured it out. Heres the link. http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=16367152

Can anyone look over that and see if theres any issues in terms of plugs and etc? I honestly suck at hardware and I may have picked out something that may not be supported on accident. Or completely forgotten a vital piece. Lol.



EDIT2:Terronium-12 is awesome and helped a bit. I'm hoping to get this thing off the ground ASAP and start a build thread as soon as I get things shipped here.

I guess now all I need to do is find deals for the things I've got in my list. See if I can't cheapen it up a little bit more..
 
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It seems the motherboard you have picked out has a problem with waking up from sleep. This board is cheaper and you can run faster RAM on it. You can buy this RAM, a whole lot better and cheaper. Get this PSU, even cheaper with rebate and it has four 12V rails that support 40amps per rail vs that corsair with one 12V 56Amp rail. Use this SSD drive, You get more space for your money and you can make use of the SATA 6 speeds! Get this copy of windows, Cheaper and you are getting Ultimate for cheaper. This case is a better choice for organizing cables and cost about the same after rebate and code. With the money you save get this graphics card. A whole lot better than your 5770 card and your PSU or the one I suggested should be able to support it.
 
Looks like an amazing rig, but seriously, I'd look at a bigger SSD so you can load the games on it (my COD4 file alone is over 18gb!!), and it makes a HUGE difference in map loading. I'm almost always the first person loaded in a match.

Also, blow the dough on a 6950 card. It's well worth it. The performance difference is staggering.
 
If you'd rather have a modular PSU then you have this. You would be able to connect what you need and it can let 64amps out of the 12V rail. That should be able to easily power multiple cards. Depends if you have the patience to organize cables then you can go for the Antec if you don't mind hiding the cables.
 
Also, blow the dough on a 6950 card. It's well worth it. The performance difference is staggering.
He said he's just interested in light/moderate gaming, so a 6950 is complete overkill. Unless you're a hardcore gamer (yes I said it) that simply has to be able to run every game on ultra high @ 1920x1080 and a bajillion FPS, there's absolutely no reason to drop $250+ on a graphics card when a card less than half the price is more than capable.

As for SSDs... I understand why people want them in their systems, but much like my point regarding the expensive graphics cards, unless you have to have everything loading in 5 seconds as opposed to 10 you're better off using fast mechanicals (such as Raptors if you have money to burn, Samsung F3s if not) instead.

I built my computer a year ago for the direct exchange-rate equivalent of USD$1400; parts are ~30% more expensive over here so for all intents and purposes it was a nice round $1k USD. It's powered by a now-humble i5 750 with 4GB memory, Crossfired 5770s and twin 1TB 7200rpm Samsung F3s on a 600w Vantec and it's more than powerful enough to run almost any game I throw at it on high settings @1920x1080. Hell, it gets 40ish fps in DX10 Crysis on high - what I'm getting at is although more expensive may mean better, it doesn't mean necessary.
 
Yeah, replace Windows with the OEM version, and upgrade the SSD to Agility 3. Other than that it's pretty sound.
 
Just a thought.. why not AMD?

Because AMD confuses the hell out of me to the point that I wont bother trying to read up on their processors.

Thanks for all the help you guys. As soon as I start ordering parts for it, I'll start a build thread for it. Should be fun and should hopefully be pretty decent for a couple of years without any major updates.
 
What's confusing about AMD's lineup? Lucky for you you weren't building system during AMD's K7, 8, and 9 days where they were dominant. Because every single CPU in their lineup (especially with the K9 series) outperformed the equivalent CPU from Intel, if not an even more powerful one, so you couldn't go wrong no matter what you chose. One of, if not the best CPU in the K9 days was the Opteron 165 but that's neither here nor there.

AMD (and indirectly ATi) has adopted the bang for your buck premise. You can get a 1090T, a six-core CPU for less than a quad i5 or i7, hell, you can even get the 1090T for less than some dual i5's. It's a fantastic relative performer and will smack almost any Core iX CPU with programs that can benefit from six hardware threads, etc. Not trying to sway your decision but for a first build stick with what you have now and look into AMD later on. You're bound to get upgrade bug sooner or later -- it's imminent. Trust me.
 
What's confusing about AMD's lineup? Lucky for you you weren't building system during AMD's K7, 8, and 9 days where they were dominant. Because every single CPU in their lineup (especially with the K9 series) outperformed the equivalent CPU from Intel, if not an even more powerful one, so you couldn't go wrong no matter what you chose. One of, if not the best CPU in the K9 days was the Opteron 165 but that's neither here nor there.

AMD (and indirectly ATi) has adopted the bang for your buck premise. You can get a 1090T, a six-core CPU for less than a quad i5 or i7, hell, you can even get the 1090T for less than some dual i5's. It's a fantastic relative performer and will smack almost any Core iX CPU with programs that can benefit from six hardware threads, etc. Not trying to sway your decision but for a first build stick with what you have now and look into AMD later on. You're bound to get upgrade bug sooner or later -- it's imminent. Trust me.
I just don't know their lineup well enough to really want to try and build around one.

No offense to AMD but, if I knew a little bit more about them I'd consider it. As it stands now though, I've got a solid enough build that should be good for the foreseeable future.
 
The confusion may have come from their PP scores which confused alot of people thinking it was the Clock speed.
 
The confusion may have come from their PP scores which confused alot of people thinking it was the Clock speed.

My main confusion stems from the fact that I was raised around Intel everything, I KNOW Intel. AMD, I never really knew too much about them until the past few years really, but no one ever talking to me about them, or explained anything about them, so I just don't know their lineup.

Ask me what a good Intel processor for X task, and I'll show which one would be best suited. Ask me about AMD? I'm at a loss.

@Sharky, thats a pretty cool guide.
 
I had a high end AMD rig a few months ago. NO COMPARISON!! Intel DESTROYS it. Granted, in total, the Intel rig is about $200 more than the AMD PC, but for me that's worth an extra 30 fps in a game and all the other benefits.....
 
Think he means to the names.

A intel user knows that.
Celeron is a basic cpu.
pentium is a starters cpu.
I3 basic dual core.
I5 mid range.
I7 high end.

I am the same i can offer people the best Intel cpu for their need but i am at a loss with AMD
 
I wouldn't consider getting an AMD system for a couple of months because Llano is oh so close, and also the more high-end AM3+ chipsets and processors.

That said I wouldn't get a high-end Intel at the moment (ie,Socket:1155 i7-2600, Socket: 1366 anything). With Ivy Bridge around the corner.
 
What Casio said.

The FX line is making a comeback (hopefully a good one) and Intel's 2011 socket is due sometime at the end of the year. With that said, you can dish out $180 or so for a Phenom 1090T, $209/$239 for a Crosshair IV or V and go on about your business.
 
I wouldn't consider getting an AMD system for a couple of months because Llano is oh so close, and also the more high-end AM3+ chipsets and processors.

That said I wouldn't get a high-end Intel at the moment (ie,Socket:1155 i7-2600, Socket: 1366 anything). With Ivy Bridge around the corner.

Ivy Bridge is going to be good, hence why I picked a board that should take it when it comes out, and from what I've read it's backwards/frontwards compatible?
 
Ivy Bridge is going to be good, hence why I picked a board that should take it when it comes out, and from what I've read it's backwards/frontwards compatible?

The top end of Ivy Bridge won't, as that's Socket 2011.

As for the others, I'm not sure it's been 100% confirmed yet. Most likely you may just need a BIOS Flash to use the 1155 Ivy Bridge chips on a H/P/Z67 Motherboard. Obviously though, you won't get the extra feature the Panther Point chipset will bring like PCI-E 3, USB3, more SATA6, etc...
 
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