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Small Beast based on i5 2500k

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Tomtwo

Registered
Joined
Mar 18, 2012
Location
Massachusetts
Looking to build a system for the Intel i5 2500k, CM Hyper 212 EVO and one GPU. I would like to overclock the CPU agressively and would want to play games such as BF3 and Skyrim. I like the Z68 chipset and would consider 2 SSD's and maybe a 250 Gb HDD. I view the case as a can with a DVD and card reader with front audio and USB. Would only put enough into a good PSU to maintain the OC'd current build. I'm leaning towards the ASRock Z68 Extreme 3 Gen 3 mobo with 4Gb(?) of Ram. What is the right sized build for high end gaming? Also what would it cost? Thank you in advance for your expertise and willingness to share it. This is a great forum to learn from.
Tom
 
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What's your budget? (I know you might not have any idea what a system would cost, but we need a starting point. For reference, IMO, the peak of the price/performance curve is about $1200)

Any other preferences? You can make your build extremely small, extremely quiet, all color themed, or just as cheap as possible with a given set of performance. It's custom, meaning you can make it exactly how you want it. :)
 
What's your budget? (I know you might not have any idea what a system would cost, but we need a starting point. For reference, IMO, the peak of the price/performance curve is about $1200)

Any other preferences? You can make your build extremely small, extremely quiet, all color themed, or just as cheap as possible with a given set of performance. It's custom, meaning you can make it exactly how you want it. :)

Hi,
I have been researching on line for a week and seem to get builds over the $1200 mark regularly and would be happy to have a gamer come in around that $.

It's like someone said 'the definition of crazy is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result' :)

Would consider a 7950, 580 or lesser, if the build would play higher end games well.

Nothing is in stone. Any and all thoughts are welcome!
Tom
Here is my proposed build.
CPU I5 2500k
Mobo ASRock Z68 Xtr 3 Gen 3
PSU Corsair TX750 CMPSU-750TXV2
Ram Gskill Ripjaws 8gb 2x4gb
SSD Mushkin Enhanced MKNSSDCR120GB
HDD Western Digital Caviar Blue 500gb
CPU Cooler Corsair H100
Case Coolermaster HAF 912
DVD ASUS DRW-24B1ST
Windows Windows 7 Home preimium
 
Do you plan on ever running multiple graphic cards or gaming across three screens?

Btw, that's the actual textbook/dictionary definition of insanity, that's why it pops up in motivational speeches and such.

This is what I would go with. Comes with $75 in MIRs and a $10 Newegg Gift card.
Screen Shot 2012-03-19 at 1.37.23 PM.png
Screen Shot 2012-03-19 at 1.37.49 PM.png
 
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BTW...RAM is cheap, go for 8GB minimum nowadays. Heck, I got 16GB for $70.

EDIT: I see now your latest post says you're going for 8GB....so, well, nevermind. :)
 
Hi Knufire,

Great build and you hit close to your mark.Could go with it.

Wondering if one SSD is adequate to put games on it along with the cache?

I'm not sure about a second GPU. Do I need it for multiple displays?
 
1x SSD is fine, it all depends on how many games you put on it. I find many games don't actually benefit from an SSD so you just put them on a secondary hard drive instead.

I run 1x 120G SSD, 1x 160G 10,000RPM Raptor and 1x 2G 5900RPM Samsung. I Keep the OS, apps and 1x game on the SSD, most games are on the Raptor and all data is on the 2GB drive.
 
Is there a way to tell what games make good use of an SSD?
I'll look into the Raptor drive for $, sounds like a good idea.
Tom
 
Trial and error. I've never really noticed much of a difference one way or another. Loading level's uses sequential reads for the most part which a hard drive is reasonably good at. The primary advantage of an SSD is a greatly improved user experience with boot times, navigating around windows, starting applications etc. As I understand you can get similar and cheaper performance than a Raptor drive by short stroking a 1GB 7200RPM hard drive. Probably more reliable too. Raptors do have a bad reputation for failing.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N=-1&isNodeId=1&Description=raptor+hard+drive
 
Personally, I just have a 60GB SSD for my OS, it makes EVERYTHING feel snappier. Games that would benefit would be games like Portal, that have frequent loading times.

NVIDIA, two displays per card. AMD, three. You typically don't want to game across two monitors, you usually want an odd number, so you have a "central" screen.

You can also add a second of the same video card for a very easy upgrade to performance. EVGA cards are also pretty easy to find old cards, since they have a B-stock section on their website. This means that say, a year down the road, or after the 6xx series comes out, you can get another 570 for cheap. The flipside to this is that you'd want to buy a bigger PSU now, so you don't have to replace it in the future. Whole point is to add to what you have instead of replacing, so it's relatively cheaper.

Personally, I think the 7870 is the card to get right now (slightly more expensive, as powerful as a GTX580), but stock is extremely limited.
 
Personally, I just have a 60GB SSD for my OS, it makes EVERYTHING feel snappier. Games that would benefit would be games like Portal, that have frequent loading times.

NVIDIA, two displays per card. AMD, three. You typically don't want to game across two monitors, you usually want an odd number, so you have a "central" screen.

You can also add a second of the same video card for a very easy upgrade to performance. EVGA cards are also pretty easy to find old cards, since they have a B-stock section on their website. This means that say, a year down the road, or after the 6xx series comes out, you can get another 570 for cheap. The flipside to this is that you'd want to buy a bigger PSU now, so you don't have to replace it in the future. Whole point is to add to what you have instead of replacing, so it's relatively cheaper.

Personally, I think the 7870 is the card to get right now (slightly more expensive, as powerful as a GTX580), but stock is extremely limited.
Will the 600 watt PSU support the GPU when overclocking?
 
600W can take a Sandy Bridge CPU and ANY single GPU card on the market with ease. If you want to do dual cards in the future, I'd get a 750W.
 
600W can take a Sandy Bridge CPU and ANY single GPU card on the market with ease. If you want to do dual cards in the future, I'd get a 750W.
A modular 750?

Another Question. Isn't it better to get the heat out of the box directly by using a cooler that vent to the outside, or is the difference minor? Maybe add more fans?
 
Modular is a convenience thing...it means the cables have plugs at both ends, so you can completely remove cables that you don't need. Doesn't have any impact on the quality of a PSU.

The difference between case temperature and outside temperature isn't all that much. That principle is more important in water cooling.
 
IF you tend to lose things, modular is not a good idea. LOL

But yeah modular makes for a much cleaner case and better airflow.

There are products on the market now, as well as intel SSD caching that could have you running anyold 7200RPM HDD, and use a small cheap SSD for caching, so boot and most frequently used apps would be fast as SSD, but you dont have to worry about how much data is getting stored on the SSD, etc
 
That makes sense to me.

Here is the PROPOSED PLAN X updated build as of the moment.

I think it will fit in my budget. All I have to do is see what shipping, warranties and rebates do. It seems the prices keep changing or is the gray matter getting more gray??

GPU Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 GHZ 2 GB DDR5 HDMI/DVI-1/Dual Mini DP PCIe Graphics Card 11199-00-20G
Ram Gskill Ripjaws X Series 16GB 4x4GB DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 Model F3-12800CL9Q-16GBRL
CPU I5 2500k
CPU Cooler Corsair CAFA70 Dual-Fan Cooler
Mobo ASRock Z68 Xtr 3 Gen 3 LGA 1155
PSU Corsair Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 750W ATX12V V2.31/EPS12V V2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE PFC PSU
HDD HitachiHDS721050CLA362 (OF10381) 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3GB/S
SSD OCZ Vertex 3 VTX3-25SAT3-120G 120GB SATA III MLC SSD
Flash drive OCZ Gift - Diesel 8gb USB 2.0 Flash Drive
Windows Microsoft Windows 7 Home preimium SP1 64 bit
Case Cooler Master Elite 430 RC-430-KWN1 Black Steel/ Plastic
DVD LG Dvd Burner Black SATA Model GH24NS70
 
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