11 replies to this topic

[RangerE51]

My goal with this build is to see how good I can get with a low price point. While the total price is sitting at 1483.89USD, I am not holding it at that. If there is something better that is cheaper all the much better, but if there is something that is significantly better than I have listed I'm all ears.

I would use this rig as an almost exclusively gaming machine. Playing Battlefield 3 and World of Tanks.

With that said here's the build...

Processor Intel i5-2500K $204.99
Motherboard ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 (Open Box) $154.99
Graphics Card EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti - 448 Cores Classified Ultra 1280MB $279.99
Graphics Card EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti - 448 Cores Classified Ultra 1280MB $279.99
Memory G-Skill Ripjaws Series 16GB $89.99
SSD Crucial M4 128GB SATA III $160.99
Hard Drive Seagate Barracuda Green ST1500DL003 1.5TB $94.99
Optical Drive LG 22X Super-Multi DVD Burner 22X DVD+R $17.99
CPU Cooler COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus $29.99
Case Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Case $59.99
PSU Antec HCG-750 750W $109.99

Total
$1483.89

My biggest concern with this build is the PSU I have picked not taking the load the 560Ti's will push. I picked it because I wanted to move to a GTX680 or beyond down the road, perhaps when we hit the "toc" cycle. "Down the road" to me means in three to four years. Something better will of course be out then but with the power consumption reviews I have seen on the GTX680 it looks promising.

All advice on it would be greatly appreciated.

Edited by RangerE51, 06 April 2012 - 10:21 AM.

[Speedway]

Well, first off, Welcome to OCC Ranger! You have come to the right place

Your build looks great! The 560 Ti isn't a very power hungry card, so a 750W PSU should handle 2 in SLI, so I wouldn't worry about that. There isn't anything wrong with the Antec 750W PSU and it is a solid choice But, I did find some other PSUs around the same price range that you might want to look at as well.

Corsair TX750 - cheaper than the Antec after MIR $89.99
PC Power and Cooling Silencer 760W - cheaper than the Antec after MIR $99.99
CORSAIR Gaming Series GS800 - Slightly more expensive than the Antec, but 50 more Watts
CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX850 - Slightly more expensive than the Antec, but 100 more Watts
PC Power and Cooling Silencer Mk II 950W - Slightly more expensive than the Antec, 200 more Watts, 7 year warranty (which is about as good as it gets)

As long as you don't want to get crazy with your CPU overclocking the CM Hyper 212+ is a great cooler. Do you plan on doing any OCing? If yes, what would you like to see your CPU hit?

[RangerE51]

Well, first off, Welcome to OCC Ranger! You have come to the right place

Your build looks great! The 560 Ti isn't a very power hungry card, so a 750W PSU should handle 2 in SLI, so I wouldn't worry about that. There isn't anything wrong with the Antec 750W PSU and it is a solid choice But, I did find some other PSUs around the same price range that you might want to look at as well.

Corsair TX750 - cheaper than the Antec after MIR $89.99
PC Power and Cooling Silencer 760W - cheaper than the Antec after MIR $99.99
CORSAIR Gaming Series GS800 - Slightly more expensive than the Antec, but 50 more Watts
CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX850 - Slightly more expensive than the Antec, but 100 more Watts
PC Power and Cooling Silencer Mk II 950W - Slightly more expensive than the Antec, 200 more Watts, 7 year warranty (which is about as good as it gets)

As long as you don't want to get crazy with your CPU overclocking the CM Hyper 212+ is a great cooler. Do you plan on doing any OCing? If yes, what would you like to see your CPU hit?

As a matter of fact I did want to do some overclocking. I was looking at getting the 460Ti to around 900/1200 which I have read isn't overclocking it to bad. I also wanted to overclock the I5-2500K to around 4GHZ when it was all said and done. I do want to stay with air cooling though, if that limits my overclocking I'm alright with that. Thats the biggest thing that I really don't know all that much about. The good news is Google knows everything, has all the answers to my questions! Of course I would also ask here to the experts.

Your ideas on PSUs are great since I want to get one that I can grow with and there are no issues later down the road other than normal wear and tear.

[vandreadstriker]

Welcome to OCC
The Build you've laid out looks Very Good
There will always be a 'but' or 'however' though

1. I've never recommend the 560Ti-448 to anyone for a single reason: Price. The GTX560Ti-448 are priced really close to the GTX570s but their performance aren't worth the -$30 price tag. If you look at reviews, the 560Ti 448 seems to be very close to the GTX570. This is however not true since you'll have to Overclock the 560Ti 448 greatly to even achieve the same or better performance then a stock GTX570. It has no chance competing with an Overclocked GTX570 and I (and many others here) can tell you that the 570 is a hell of a card in terms of Overclocking.
In short, if you could afford the 570, don't bother looking at the 560Ti 448. Newegg has a sweet deals for them with some having a 20% discount until 4/11.
Also, Do you really need SLI? If you're not planning on doing Multi-monitor setup, I advice you to keep away from SLI. SLI could cause issues with games (not always but sometime) and you won't be getting 2x the performance with two cards but 2x the power draw. If you're planning on gaming on a single screen, I recommend getting a single GTX680 instead and save the extra money.

2. If you're using this rig exclusively for gaming, you wouldn't need 16GB of RAM. 8GB is plenty for a gaming rig and SB doesn't support Quad Channel so you'll only need a Dual Channel kit.
Go with these G.Skill RipjawsX 8GB instead of the 16GB variant.

3. If you plan on sticking with SLI (which I wouldn't recommend unless you're doing multiple monitor setup), I suggest you change the PSU for a 850W unit. I tend to stick with Corsair or Seasonic products since I've never had any units by them fail. Something like the Corsair HX850 should fit in nicely (it's an 80+ Gold product btw. They just upgraded it)

4. Instead of the Antec 300, I suggest you look on something with some more serious airflow, especially if you insist on doing SLI. I recommend something like the CoolerMaster HAF 932 Advance or NZXT Phantom (Although the HAF 932 is cheaper when you consider that it has all fans fitted in whilst the Phantom only has 4 fans fitted in).

Here's what I'd recommend you to get (Newegg prices):
i5 2500K - $219.99 ($10 Newegg Gift Card)
ASUS P8Z68-V Pro/GEN3 - $209.99
G.Skill RipjawsX 8GB - $46.99
ASUS GTX 680 - $499.99
CoolerMaster HAF 932 Advance - $139.99
Corsair TX750V2 - $104.99 ($89.99 after MIR)
Crucial M4 128GB - $159.99
Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM - $129.99 (The LP 1.5TB you've chosen seems to be deactivated already)
CoolerMaster Hyper212 Evo - $34.99 (Newer Version)
Lite-On iHAS124-04 24x - $17.99 (Better spec, Same price)

Total: ~$1565 ($1550 after MIR)

Hope this helps

Edited by vandreadstriker, 06 April 2012 - 06:06 PM.

[Prunes]

Couldn't agree more with vandre. He's put together a very solid build, which should last you 3-4 years easily. Can't really find anything to put my finger on.
+1 for Vandre

[Speedway]

As a matter of fact I did want to do some overclocking. I was looking at getting the 460Ti to around 900/1200 which I have read isn't overclocking it to bad. I also wanted to overclock the I5-2500K to around 4GHZ when it was all said and done. I do want to stay with air cooling though, if that limits my overclocking I'm alright with that. Thats the biggest thing that I really don't know all that much about. The good news is Google knows everything, has all the answers to my questions! Of course I would also ask here to the experts.

Your ideas on PSUs are great since I want to get one that I can grow with and there are no issues later down the road other than normal wear and tear.

Well the Cm Hyper 212+ that you are looking at, will easily let you take that 2500K to 4.0-4.5GHz, so you are good to go there!

[Fogel]

Solid build though may I ask why two 560ti in SLI for $580 instead of just buying 1 680 for $500?

I know the GTX 680 is out of stock currently, but I would keep that as my first option. If that (waiting) is out I would consider the HD 7970 for $590. When you have two cards, you have more heat, more power draw, and inconsistent support with games. You can even upgrade to a second card down the line when the need warrants. The two 560ti in SLI probably wouldn't give ya much of an advantage over a single GTX 680 / HD 7970.

EDIT:
Looks like a few posts snuck in while i was being a slow distracted typer. I like Van's build and agree with his comments.

Edited by Fogel, 06 April 2012 - 12:43 PM.

[RangerE51]

Welcome to OCC
The Build you've laid out looks Very Good
There will always be a 'but' or 'however' though

1. I've never recommend the 560Ti-448 to anyone for a single reason: Price. The GTX560Ti-448 are priced really close to the GTX570s but their performance aren't worth the -$30 price tag. If you look at reviews, the 560Ti 448 seems to be very close to the GTX570. This is however not true since you'll have to Overclock the 560Ti 448 greatly to even achieve the same or better performance then a stock GTX570. It has no chance competing with an Overclocked GTX570 and I (and many others here) can tell you that the 570 is a hell of a card in terms of Overclocking.
In short, if you could afford the 570, don't bother looking at the 560Ti 448. Newegg has a sweet deals for them with some having a 20% discount until 4/11.
Also, Do you really need SLI? If you're not planning on doing Multi-monitor setup, I advice you to keep away from SLI. SLI could cause issues with games (not always but sometime) and you won't be getting 2x the performance with two cards but 2x the power draw. If you're planning on gaming on a single screen, I recommend getting a single GTX680 instead and save the extra money.

2. If you're using this rig exclusively for gaming, you wouldn't need 16GB of RAM. 8GB is plenty for a gaming rig and SB doesn't support Quad Channel so you'll only need a Dual Channel kit.
Go with these G.Skill RipjawsX 8GB instead of the 16GB variant.

3. If you plan on sticking with SLI (which I wouldn't recommend unless you're doing multiple monitor setup), I suggest you change the PSU for a 850W unit. I tend to stick with Corsair or Seasonic products since I've never had any units by them fail. Something like the Corsair HX850 should fit in nicely (it's an 80+ Gold product btw. They just upgraded it)

4. Instead of the Antec 300, I suggest you look on something with some more serious airflow, especially if you insist on doing SLI. I recommend something like the CoolerMaster HAF 932 Advance or NZXT Phantom (Although the HAF 932 is cheaper when you consider that it has all fans fitted in whilst the Phantom only has 4 fans fitted in).

Here's what I'd recommend you to get (Newegg prices):
i5 2500K - $219.99 ($10 Newegg Gift Card)
ASUS P8Z68-V Pro/GEN3 - $209.99
G.Skill RipjawsX 8GB - $46.99
ASUS GTX 680 - $499.99
CoolerMaster HAF 932 Advance - $139.99
Corsair TX750V2 - $104.99 ($89.99 after MIR)
Crucial M4 128GB - $159.99
Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM - $129.99 (The LP 1.5TB you've chosen seems to be deactivated already)
CoolerMaster Hyper212 Evo - $34.99 (Newer Version)
Lite-On iHAS124-04 24x - $17.99 (Better spec, Same price)

Total: ~$1460 ($1445 after MIR)

Hope this helps

More great suggestions. The funny thing is that some of these you had on there I was already going to do but had changed things around due to price or my thoughts on what the benchmarks would look like. Specifically I was originally going to go with a HAF 932 Advance due to the airflow but had read that the 300 is still good. I was leary on that due to knowing I wasn't going to water cool and would need good airflow if I was going to OC to the speeds I hoped for. I also had originally planned for a EVGA GTX680 to be honest and only pulled back on it because I thought that two GTX560Ti's in SLI could beat it in benchmarks. I just haven't seen any good tests that show that, got my information from reading here and there.

I have taken quite a bit from what you said and already changed the build around again, most noticeably with the RAM, GPU, optical, and case. Still researching the others too. Thanks a lot.

[El_Capitan]

A single overclocked HD 7970 on stock voltages will give you better performance than two overclocked GTX 560's in SLI. At max overclock with higher voltages, or an overclocked GTX 680, they will perform better than two overclocked GTX 560 Ti's in SLI.

I'm with Fogel, if you're going to get a graphics card set-up for $500 and up, settle for HD 7970 or GTX680.

If you can find two used GTX 560's or GTX 560 Ti's for $300 - $350, then definitely go for those.

[RangerE51]

Great help here and I really appreciate it. The reason I went with the 2x560Ti was more from an availability standpoint. I don't need it just yet though since I'm still in Afghanistan and have a month or so to wait and see how things pan out. I say that because of the IB release coming up. My hope is that it drives prices down. With that said I just started wondering what everyone thought of used parts? I'm all about squeezing blood from a penny and saving money! What are good things to get used and what isn't? I assume with people salivating over IB that there could potentially be a deluge of used parts that come up.

Below is my new and improved build. Did some tweaking and wow it does look very familiar doesn't it? Should have just stayed with my original GTX560 plan!

Processor Intel i5-2500K $204.99
Motherboard ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 (Open Box) $154.99
Graphics Card EVGA SuperClocked+ GeForce GTX 680 $534.99
Memory G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) $46.99
SSD Crucial M4 128GB SATA III $160.99
Hard Drive Seagate Barracuda Green ST1500DL003 1.5TB $94.99
Optical Drive LITE-ON DVD Burner - 24X DVD+R $17.99
CPU Cooler COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 EVO $34.99
Case COOLER MASTER HAF 932 Advanced $139.99
PSU CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 750W $104.99


Total Rebate Total
$1,495.90 $1,483.90

[Fogel]

Well if you are waiting a month than I would not be fixated on prices or even specific parts.

As you mentioned, IB will be out by then. Also we should have some non-ref GTX 680s out by then ...better coolers, maybe a 4GB version. I wouldn't buy a Super OC version like you selected ...instead I would rather spend the xtra money to get one with a better cooler and OC the card myself. When IB and non-ref 680s release the prices on other things should go down in price. Also deals you see now, such as MIRs, promo codes and stuff will be different at that time.

Far as used parts go, it is all about your comfort level on what you're willing to buy. Though Graphics Cards will definitely be the most common. As El_Capitan said... I wouldn't buy dual GTX 560s unless you can buy both for $300-350 or so.

[vandreadstriker]

I'm with Fogel, IB would most likely result in SB dropping in price. And Third party non-reference cooler and design would really help in temps and overclocking
As for used parts, I'm not a big fan of using something from someone I don't really know but if you're ok with it, then why not?
Things that I won't really recommend buying used ones:
HDD
PSU
SSD