Epic $1.3k Build? Hopefully, since I bought it.

Are there any caps on my performance with this build that I should fix? The prices are what I paid a month ago. I finally put everything together and I'm really happy that everything works well including the Revodrive. Most of the things I bought were because I found for really good price points. All advice is highly appreciated, I didn't get any before buying the parts even though I consider myself a noob. Everything I have is running at stock speeds. This is the most money I have ever spent on a computer. All parts are new unless specified.

Case: Antec 1200 ($99.99) (from newegg. owned already from previous build is version 1)
Monitor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001439 LED 23" ($169.99) was a shellshocker deal
Processor: Core i7 2600k ($281) sniped this new processor on ebay. unopened.
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233143 4x4gb Corsair Vengeance 1600 ($152.99) had a 15% off coupon.
MOBO: ECS P67H2-A2 LGA1155/ Intel P67/ ATX Motherboard ($101.70 after $75 MIR from ECS) Also used $15 off coupon on already lowest price at superbiiz.
GFX Card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130571 EVGA GTX460 1gb SuperClocked ($129.99 after $30 MIR) already low price.
Hard Drive: OCZ RevoDrive 120GB SSD, OCZSSDPX-1RVD0120, PCI-E x4 ($255.11) was opened and lightly used for 3 months from ebay.
PSU Fan: ZALMAN CNPS9700 LED 110mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler (owned from previous build +newegg ~$50)
PSU: Antec Signature CP-850 850W (bought 2 years ago from newegg worth about $125 now).
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit (free gift)

I didn't buy a CD drive, I have an external USB one already. I also got 1-5% cash back on all the items purchased here on top of those price and eBay bucks. I'm really happy about the low prices that I worked hard to find.

The biggest thing I'm worried about is that on my MOBO I'm probably running x8 in each slot and not x16. How much of a difference does this make if this is the case?

misean said:

The biggest thing I'm worried about is that on my MOBO I'm probably running x8 in each slot and not x16. How much of a difference does this make if this is the case?

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the differences between x16 and x8 are unnoticeable, and also i would look for a better brand board, ECS have never produced a good board, most of them in machines i repair down at the shop have paperweight ECS's in them, ECS go in my list of hate companies which are FSP, ECS and the people that make generic psus and cases which are plain dangerous.

They're the 4th largest PC motherboard manufacturer in the world and also produce Acer computers. Their black series motherboards have awesome reviews. If you want to bash them I need empirical evidence. You can't say they have never produced a good board when they produce more boards than almost everyone else. And for $100 for an 1155 gaming motherboard that works great so far WITH a Revodrive? So far, I think they're awesome! I was able to update my BIOS while in windows even without burning a CD! So many cool things came with the board and it looks great.

misean said:

They're the 4th largest PC motherboard manufacturer in the world and also produce Acer computers. Their black series motherboards have awesome reviews. If you want to bash them I need empirical evidence. You can't say they have never produced a good board when they produce more boards than almost everyone else.

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im sure the board in question is fine as 1155 over clocks are multiplier based and put very little stress on the Mainboard, but im just saying and many others will agree with me alot of their boards are quite pants compared to their competitors, but seen as 1155 models are holding up + you got it for cheap, i see no reason why not.

I feel like they're really putting in the effort to be competitive, from what I've read they have fixed all previous issues they've had on their newer boards. What do you think of the rest of my build? Is it balanced? Did I buy too much memory? Should I overclock anything?

misean said:

I feel like they're really putting in the effort to be competitive

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i will admit that has become apparent, and the rest of the build is perfect, memory size? no such think as overkill and overclock? yes, the 2600K's can hit 4.8ghz with good cooling, even on air!

Thats a HUGE case for your build.. Unless you plan on adding another GPU or like 6 more drives you could get away with one a tad smaller... The Antec 1200 is nice though

*EDIT*

Nevermind my comment.. I failed to finish reading after the 'purchased from Newegg'...

Nice!

Thanks, it's a freaking huge full sized tower but it's like a piece of artwork to look at behind my monitor, lol. Oh yeah, and only $99 when I bought it a couple years ago!!

The original Revodrive and the Vertex 3 are about the same speed, but you got it for about the same price as a 120GB Vertex 3, so I guess it's okay.

I'm going to say meh to the ECS motherboard, but you got it for cheap, so I'll approve.

misean said:

I was able to update my BIOS while in windows even without burning a CD! So many cool things came with the board and it looks great.

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I have yet to meet a motherboard produced in recent memory that won't let you flash bios from Windows. That should be a last resort, though and you should always try to flash from the bios.

TQF is just saying ECS is not the highest quality mobo mfg/oem out there. I think you got a very good board for $100 though. You have decent powerphasing and solid caps throughout. Can't knock that for $100 on a full ATX board, so considering that, this was a good deal.

hmm, really? never knew flashing bios in windows was a common feature...

thanks for your thoughts!

But there is even some bios's out there that allow flashing from the bios window too (log into the bios select the device and flash). Flashing the bios has gotten MUCH easier over the years.

Would love to hear your experience from that motherboard. Don't see anyone around here purchasing one of these that often.

I love this motherboard, I have had no problems so far. The only thing that I don't like is because I'm using a Revodrive and my Graphics card is in the 2nd slot, it covers up one of the few PCI slots. This leaves me 1 PCI slot that is right under a hot graphics card. If I wasn't using a Revodrive this wouldn't be a problem. I might be able to switch the Revodrive to the 2nd PCIe slot, and the graphics card to the first PCIe slot, and this would solve my PCI woes.

I only paid $101 for the board but after using it I would have been fine with paying double. I like this board better than the x58 SLI board that I owned, mainly because of capacitor placement that blocked a heat sink. I haven't had to call ECS customer support, but they have a program in place that gives you a new board within 99 hours if you have any problems. I'm also loving the USB 3.0 and Sata 6.0gb/s.

Let me know what else you want to know about it or if you would like pictures/video.

OK first off, you have an i7 2600K, why are you fooling around with a GTX 460, get a 6950 or atleast 560. Second, ECS is not a name brand. In computers that does make a difference. I would recommend MSI, ASUS or Gigabyte, specifically anything Z68, wicked fast and the like. If you had a computer before, you shouldn't have to get a new monitor. And the case, you could have gotten a better case. for 9 bucks more, you could have gotten the Antec DF-30 or for less, gotten just a basic sleeper case. And Microcenter had the i7 2600K cheaper plus a 40 instant rebate on any 1155 mobo. basicly, you have an OK machine. Great CPU, RAM, and PSU. Killer SSD but your GPU and motherboard are going to slow you down

djleakyg said:

OK first off, you have an i7 2600K, why are you fooling around with a GTX 460, get a 6950 or atleast 560. Second, ECS is not a name brand. In computers that does make a difference. I would recommend MSI, ASUS or Gigabyte, specifically anything Z68, wicked fast and the like. If you had a computer before, you shouldn't have to get a new monitor. And the case, you could have gotten a better case. for 9 bucks more, you could have gotten the Antec DF-30 or for less, gotten just a basic sleeper case. And Microcenter had the i7 2600K cheaper plus a 40 instant rebate on any 1155 mobo. basicly, you have an OK machine. Great CPU, RAM, and PSU. Killer SSD but your GPU and motherboard are going to slow you down

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You have to take into account he already had the case previously.

As for the motherboard slowing him down, no not really. Only way it would slow him down is if there is limitations on overclocking. If it gets to within the average then really thats not an issue.

djleakyg said:

OK first off, you have an i7 2600K, why are you fooling around with a GTX 460, get a 6950 or atleast 560. Second, ECS is not a name brand. In computers that does make a difference. I would recommend MSI, ASUS or Gigabyte, specifically anything Z68, wicked fast and the like. If you had a computer before, you shouldn't have to get a new monitor. And the case, you could have gotten a better case. for 9 bucks more, you could have gotten the Antec DF-30 or for less, gotten just a basic sleeper case. And Microcenter had the i7 2600K cheaper plus a 40 instant rebate on any 1155 mobo. basicly, you have an OK machine. Great CPU, RAM, and PSU. Killer SSD but your GPU and motherboard are going to slow you down

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I'll be upgrading my card to that once it's not $500 which shouldn't take long. The reason I got the card that I did was because of the price and the games I'm playing it is still really good. ECS is a name brand, you just said the name of the brand. The motherboard is designed for overclocking. The case that you suggested is a mid-size tower case. My case is a full tower case. Plus the Antec 1200 is beautiful and has fan speed controls (and I already had it from 2 years ago). I was using a huge CRT monitor before hand so I did need to buy a monitor. I had an LCD but I have a tendency to sale things when a good opportunity arises. Microcenter is in-store only and one does not exist in my state and is probably more than a 8 hour drive. Are you sure Microcenter has it cheaper than $281?

How is my motherboard and GPU going to slow me down specifically? I'm pretty sure my motherboard is just as good as it's competitors if not better.

Im curious why you think you are running in 8x mode...I dont believe the revo, in a 4x slot, wont nueter your PCIe lanes...Not ot mention it says it supports 16x2 in the first place.

It says that it has two x16 slots, but they'll only operate x8/x8 with two graphics cards. Sandy Bridge can't support dual x16 unless it has an NF200 or likewise.

Did I miss his second GPU?

GFX Card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130571 EVGA GTX460 1gb SuperClocked ($129.99 after $30 MIR) already low price.

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Revodrive. I'm not sure if the motherboard will automatically allocate 8 lanes to it when the device only needs 4.