PremiumAcc Posted December 7, 2011 Posted December 7, 2011 (edited) No... This is not a "Premium build" it is Premium's build. CPU: Intel Core i5 2500K (Should I buy? Should I wait until April 8th for IB?) MOBO: Asus P8Z68-V PRO Gen3 Asus P8Z68-V GPU: MSI Radeon HD 6950 R6950 Twin Frozr III 1G/OC or MSI GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) N560GTX-TI Twin Frozr II/OC PSU: Seasonic X750 RAM: G. Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB G. Skill Sniper 2 x 4GB low profile (1.25v) Sound: Asus Xonar DX 7.1 Heatsink: 212 Evo Noctua NH-D14 Case: Cooler Master HAF-X Cooler Master Storm Trooper SSD: Corsair Force Series 3 90GB Plextor 128GB M3 Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Green = Purchased Orange = In the process of placing the order in the next week or so White = Undetermined ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please give me some feedback on my build. Thanks. Even though I have purchased many of the parts, I am willing to sell them back out (to avoid the 15% restocking fee), if the alternatives' performance warrants it. Thus, do not be reluctant to voice your opinions and thoughts. Edited February 4, 2012 by PremiumAcc Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fogel Posted December 7, 2011 Posted December 7, 2011 It looks solid to me! Only thing I might interject is if you really need the sound card since onboard sound is good for most people. If you're a DJ or an audiophile than proceed. I can't comment on that sound card though as I am using onboard. Either video card will work well for you. For me it is a toss up between the two so I would just pick the brand you have the most loyalty with. If you think you might go dual card at some point I would probably lean to the 6950. If single card, I would probably lean to the 560ti - tho that is me. Either way I think performance will be similar enough to where it just matters if you like Red/Green more. That PSU should be good enough for either card in SLI/CF. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PremiumAcc Posted December 7, 2011 Posted December 7, 2011 (edited) Thanks for the feedback. Is the onboard sound good for gaming? Because I rely heavily on sound (footsteps and such) while gaming. I am leaning more towards the 6950 because of the dual bios and the better cooling of the TF III. Edited December 7, 2011 by PremiumAcc Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PopcornMachine Posted December 8, 2011 Posted December 8, 2011 I have a 6950 and am very happy with it, so I'm biased I guess. I would also say you don't need the sound card for gaming. Never used one myself. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord_Guy Posted December 8, 2011 Posted December 8, 2011 Onboard sound is pretty good for gaming. I've got a set of Logitech speakers and a sub and I can hear distant noises and footsteps really well in CoD, Mass Effect, Skyrim, etc. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alexandre Posted December 8, 2011 Posted December 8, 2011 Generally people buy sound cards for the lower latency they provide when they need to do sound recording, editing, etc For gaming onboard is the bomb. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
AceDeAce Posted December 8, 2011 Posted December 8, 2011 Yeah, a dedicated sound card isn't all that noticable unless you're doing a lot of audio mixing/recording. I have a Xonar DS, and I can't really tell between it and my onboard. Realtek drivers are horrible though. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tjj226_Angel Posted December 8, 2011 Posted December 8, 2011 For the sound debate, what I would do is get the sound card and compare it to the on board audio. If the on board is good enough, then I would return the card. Simple right? The other thing would be the graphics card. I don't know a ton of details right now, but supposedly later this month they will be releasing some AMD 7000 series cards. They are supposed to be middle of the line to lower end cards, but it is entirely possible they will have a 7950 in that December line up. This is not to mention that the date will probably be pushed back 2 weeks to build hype, but it might be a worthwhile investment in time. I don't blame you if you don't go that rout, and either card you have already selected will perform just great, but again, if it were me, I would risk that extra time to make sure I was ahead of the tech curve as possible. Other than that, great build! It is sort of a shame to not see such a solid build go without water cooling though. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
d6bmg Posted December 8, 2011 Posted December 8, 2011 (edited) Consider about changing the cpu cooler. 212 EVO is a low level cooler and you can't overclock much with it. Noctua NH-U12P-SE2 or CoolerMaster V6GT is few of the descent air coolers available in the market at a descent price. Edited December 8, 2011 by d6bmg Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fogel Posted December 8, 2011 Posted December 8, 2011 Thanks for the feedback. Is the onboard sound good for gaming? Because I rely heavily on sound (footsteps and such) while gaming. I am leaning more towards the 6950 because of the dual bios and the better cooling of the TF III. Like the others have said, onboard is awesome in that regard. I did notice a big step forward for onboard going from my C2D rig to this rig. I have the P67 version of the board you are thinking of buying. Seems like a good enough reason to go 6950. The 560ti and 6950 are so close it really just comes down to which features and which team you like more. Tjj does bring up a good point though, if you are in no rush the new video cards will be out fairly soon. I think the 7950 will cost $350 at launch so dump the sound card and buy that instead ...if you can wait that long of course. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
PremiumAcc Posted December 9, 2011 Posted December 9, 2011 Consider about changing the cpu cooler. 212 EVO is a low level cooler and you can't overclock much with it. Noctua NH-U12P-SE2 or CoolerMaster V6GT is few of the descent air coolers available in the market at a descent price. Thank you for the suggestion. The CM V6GT is indeed a fairly good heat sink. However, I've heard that the V6 has some compatibility issues with motherboards, and can block out some ram slots and possibly all of the slots because of its size. Will it be a problem with the Asus P8Z68-V PRO motherboard? Thanks to people's input, I will eliminate the sound card and save myself the $80. I probably wont be buying the new 7xxx series for several reasons: (1) It takes awhile for third parties to "perfect" the cards after their initial release (2) My budget at the moment for a GPU is ~$250 (3) I have some doubts about whether or not manufacturers will be able to even realize 50% of the PCI-E 3.0's potential with the 7xxx series. If the two video cards are very similar to one another, should I just get the cheaper one? Does the slight performance advantage of the 6950 justify an extra $15? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
d6bmg Posted December 9, 2011 Posted December 9, 2011 ^ V6 may block first RAM slot, not more. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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