Advice for system upgrade

I'm looking to build my second custom PC before I go off for school. The computer is going to be for Gaming, Music, Movies, and Programming. I am currently planning on purchasing this in maybe late July or early August. (Input would be great on if i should wait or not)

I've been reading around and doing research and come up with the following build below. My goal is to upgrade my computer while spending a reasonable amount. I would like input on parts that could be downgraded, upgraded, or alternatives for saving some cash but without losing performance if possible. I am not 100% on the H60, if it would be a good choice, or go with a cheaper 212 Plus Air Cooling. I am also not 100% sure on the Boot Drive, I was thinking about SSD but with pricing fairly high(GB per dollar), I went with a VelociRaptor. Would it be a smart choice to go with this, or is there an SSD that could help me out with same price, or cheaper if possible.


Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3P-B3
Processor: Intel i5-2500k
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X 8GB (F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL)
Graphics Card: MSI N560GTX-TI Twin
CPU Cooler: Corsair H60
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB (WD1002FAEX)
**Power Supply: Current 850watt Ultra X3
**Case:Corsair 650D
**Storage:Current 1TB and 500GB Drives.
**CPU Cooling: Corsair H80

Never heard of the case. A couple of use are having a strange issue with lower end ripjaws on the current intel platform. Get something else. Corsair XMS3 classic cas 9 is the same price.

The Velociraptor is not a good buy. You can get a 1TB Western Digital Black drive for about the same price. That's like 7x the storage. Much better. Seeing as you already have storage drives, I wouldn't bother with anything else unless you want an SSD.
With Z68 what you can do is get a cheap SSD. Like 20 or 40GB. Use it as a cache for your 1TB drive and it'll run faster. Cooler Master hyper 212 is fine for 2500K.


Get a different power supply. Corsair or Seasonic is a good bet.

But why would i get a 20-40GB SSD cache, when an OS could easily fit on that with few main programs, and have my current 1TB Black as programs? I understand it can provide more performance, but getting another WD Black 1TB and a 20-40GB SSD would go over what i current am priced at for another HDD. What 20-40GB SSDs should i be looking at for a cache? would any be fine being its used for a cache? or anything specific?

I thank you for the input on the memory, I was looking at that memory a few times. My other thought was on the 212 plus, will i get same heating as the H60 or better? worst?


Edit: Just quickly looked, and cheapest 40GB SSD i could find was 93.00. Personally dont think it is worth getting a 40GB SSD at that price only to use for Cache.

Theocnoob said:

Get a different power supply. Corsair or Seasonic is a good bet.

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Corsair and Seasonic aren't the only good PSU manufactures. Ultra's been all over the place, the X4 line was a FAIL at [H], but the X3 1000W got a pretty damn good score at jonnyGURU.
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story4&reid=41

Reference 6950 that can unlock will kill the 560Ti for $20 more: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161359&cm_re=6950-_-14-161-359-_-Product

Here's almost the same motherboard as you (less VRMs) that has a built in 20GB SSD for cache. And with IRST it makes a pretty substantial difference from what I've read. SLC too, so it'll take a lot more writes. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128505&Tpk=gigabyte issd

Knufire said:

Corsair and Seasonic aren't the only good PSU manufactures. Ultra's been all over the place, the X4 line was a FAIL at [H], but the X3 1000W got a pretty damn good score at jonnyGURU.
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story4&reid=41

Reference 6950 that can unlock will kill the 560Ti for $20 more: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161359&cm_re=6950-_-14-161-359-_-Product

Here's almost the same motherboard as you (less VRMs) that has a built in 20GB SSD for cache. And with IRST it makes a pretty substantial difference from what I've read. SLC too, so it'll take a lot more writes. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128505&Tpk=gigabyte issd

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Well, I have had my current X3 850watt for around three years now and have had absolutely no problems. The motherboard is pretty cool with 20GB SSD onboard, but with it being around 70 dollars cheaper, would need to remove the second WD 1TB Black.

Could i get some input on a performance difference of H60 to 212 plus if anyone has anything. And im currently with the 9800GTX, so I was hoping to stick with the Nvidia brand and just put it as a simple dedicated phyx seeing it would just be sitting around.

Physx isn't supported in that many games. If you play any of these, it'll help, otherwise you might as well sell the card.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PhysX

IMO, I'd take the SSD+Caviar Black over the R0 Blacks. Less chance of failure and it'll feel faster, even though it won't bench faster.

H60 will perform much better, but at a higher cost. Sandy Bridge doesn't need that powerful of a cooler, I'd expect the H60 to take you maybe 3-400MHz more?

Not even. 2500K doesn't run a 212+ hot at all at 1.35V... given what it does to it at that voltage I'd guesstimate you could go to about 1.45 on that cooler, which would get you to 4.9 or 5 anyways. On a 2500 there's no need to go past a 212 unless you want an "It may not work by January, because I barbecued it" overclock with unreasonably high voltage.

I have yet to meet a 2500 or 600K that will not do 4.5Ghz with about 1.35 which is what most people are after. Barely 60c (on a 2500. 600s get hotter. Methinks 2MB more cache does it?) on a 212 in a good case.

yea, well i do plan on overclocking, but I dont want to go 2 high, the max i would go would be around 3.7-4.0. But my room does tend to get hot, so maybe going with the H60 might be a better choice....

Palmer11 said:

yea, well i do plan on overclocking, but I dont want to go 2 high, the max i would go would be around 3.7-4.0. But my room does tend to get hot, so maybe going with the H60 might be a better choice....

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4.0 is achievable on the included heatsink unless you live on the sun. Above that a 212 isn't a bad idea. You definitely don't sound like you need to spend more. The H60 outperforms the 212 somewhat but it'd be such a waste of money. You're not really doing much to the CPU.

Well, im down to 5 parts with 8-900 to spend... Any advice on anything could be changed....

Motherboard
Processor
Memory
Graphic Card
Hard Drive

I'd get the UD3H over the UD3P for the iGPU support. Other then that, looks all good.