My Friends' New Mid-range i5 Gaming Rig

[tlowr4]

Hey all. So in addition to my new gaming rig, a friend of mine has been looking into getting a new one. His budget is $700 as was mine, but he's willing to spend the entire $700 on his rig and pay shipping on top (I however had to include shipping in the $700). He already has a Hard drive and DVD drive, with an OS on the HDD, so that's a $200 saving right off the bat. As for the rest of the parts (I'm building it for him) I'm wondering if you'd give some suggestions.

We're in Australia and having to buy from PCCG again, but if another site is found we may consider it.

He's an Intel fanboy, and wants to go with a 2500K. I was hesitant to get a rig within his price range with that high end processor (over $200 worth) but since he saves himself so much on HDD and OS, I was able to squeeze it in with a huge margin for better parts (surprised me a lot).

Case: Thermaltake VM600M1W2Z Dokker Mid Tower Chassis
$65.00

Motherboard: ASRock H61M-HVS Motherboard
$49.00

CPU: Intel Core i5 2500K
$235.00

Memory (RAM): G.Skill Ripjaws X F3-10666CL7D-8GBXH (2x4GB) DDR3
$55.00

Video Card: Gainward GeForce GTX 550 Ti 1GB
$129.00

PSU: Antec High Current Gamer 520W Power Supply HCG-520
$79.00

TOTAL: $612.00

A few things: He's going for a Blue and Black theme for his case, hence why I chose those memory moduals. The Graphics card ruins that look, but only the black outer areas can be seen from the small window on that case, so that's not a big deal.

Also, I'll be needing some cheap blue LED fans that are semi decent but must be very quiet. He dosn't care if airflow isn't really perfect, but he wants silence.

I'm chasing a decent CPU cooler for a hefty overclock as well. Since he's going to overclock quite a bit, I'm expecting a bottleneck from using such a low end Video card. Suggestions for these two please.

That's all, post lots!

Cheers,

T

 

[Seismica]

You cannot really overclock a sandybridge on the H61 or H67 chipsets as the core multiplier is disabled. He would be better off with a Z68 chipset if he wants to overclock. Unfortunately the cheapest one on that site is around $135 (The cheaper ones aren't the right form factor). This is the most important step, before you consider cooling; you likely won't get beyond 3.4-3.5GHz (From 3.3) without the ability to change the core multiplier, as this is the primary means of overclocking a sandybridge processor.

 

[NissanSkylineN1]

What Seismica said. I have an H67 and it can't overclock my 2500K whatsoever. Also, you will want to opt for an aftermarket heatsink, or at least change the thermal paste. I changed my thermal paste and it idles at around 30C. At load, it goes up to 70C. You will need an aftermarket cooler to overclock this CPU. You could try the Colermaster Hyper 212.

 

[tlowr4]

Found a slightly cheaper ($5 differance) Z68 motherboard: http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=138_711_1183&products_id=18145

This brins the price too $686.00. That leaves only a $25 gap for a CPU cooler, case fans, and noise dampening equipment (rubber grommets and gaskets, etc)

EDIT: Found cheaper, it's a toss up between these two. The Gigabyte board has crossfire support, but the ASRock board has those white PCI (I forget their name) for USB and Lan cards etc, which he may need in the future (not sure though). Personally I'm leaning towards the gigabyte.

Gig board: http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=138_711_1183&products_id=18275

ASRock: http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=138_711_1183&products_id=17351


Either one of these boards brings it to $666. Epic number, yeah.

 

[NissanSkylineN1]

Unless he's going to use a Crossfire or SLI setup, I'd go for the AsRock.

 

[tlowr4]

Well the Gigabyte board dosn't support SLI anyway. I think he's more for just single cards. He was talking about upping to a GTX580 or a 6970 later on, so that's plenty enough anyway. He's not looking for break neck speeds. 30FPS is playable for him, 40 is overboard. He's chasing a decent BF3 rig, and this should do it for now till he can upgrade his graphics card. I'm expecting a bottleneck from that card since it can't keep up with an overclocked 2500K, but once he's upgraded etc. it should be ok.

 

[Seismica]

Found a slightly cheaper ($5 differance) Z68 motherboard: http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=138_711_1183&products_id=18145

This brins the price too $686.00. That leaves only a $25 gap for a CPU cooler, case fans, and noise dampening equipment (rubber grommets and gaskets, etc)

EDIT: Found cheaper, it's a toss up between these two. The Gigabyte board has crossfire support, but the ASRock board has those white PCI (I forget their name) for USB and Lan cards etc, which he may need in the future (not sure though). Personally I'm leaning towards the gigabyte.

Gig board: http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=138_711_1183&products_id=18275

ASRock: http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=138_711_1183&products_id=17351


Either one of these boards brings it to $666. Epic number, yeah.

Those boards are Micro-ATX form factor. I'm not entirely sure what the implications of that are, but i'd imagine it would be harder to work with, cooling would be less efficient as everything would be so tightly packed, there is probably fewer USB headers on the board that can link to the case and to fans etc.

One of these would be better:

ASUS P8Z68-V LX - http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=138_711_1183&products_id=18145

ASRock Z68 Pro3 Gen3 - http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=138_711_1183&products_id=18769

I'm afraid that if he wants the i5 2500k and he wants the potential to upgrade, overclock and wants the blue theme, he may have to invest a little more than $700. See what other people say first about Micro-ATX boards before taking my advice though.

 

[tlowr4]

Yeah, I'll look up some reviews for each of the 4 boards, see how things go.

On a differant note, I just got informed that he hasn't got ANY money, and won't have for a long time. I knew he didn't have a job but I though he had saved for the last few years. Turns out he hasn't been. SO I've wasted hours of my time, let alone your time. My apologies.
I'll bump this thread once he's stopped farting about and finally gets off his backside and gets some money.

 

[Sach]

What Seismica said. I have an H67 and it can't overclock my 2500K whatsoever. Also, you will want to opt for an aftermarket heatsink, or at least change the thermal paste. I changed my thermal paste and it idles at around 30C. At load, it goes up to 70C. You will need an aftermarket cooler to overclock this CPU. You could try the Colermaster Hyper 212.

I have an i5-2500k OC'd to 4.5Ghz and I think the highest it's reached has been 60ºC, with the included thermal paste and heatsink. At load it's mostly dead on at 55ºC.

 

[NissanSkylineN1]

What's the room temperature? In the winter, mine is around 65C at load.

 

[tlowr4]

I wouldn't go past saying your temperature sensors in the core might be faulty. There's no way on God's Green Earth that you'd be able to get temperatures like that at that high clock speed. Bold statement, but I'm so mind boggled that you say it can happen I'm doubtful.

 

[NissanSkylineN1]

My temperatures or Sach's? My room is 18 degrees C in the winter... And I've got 2 case fans right beside the CPU.

 

[tlowr4]

Sach's. If he's got a standard cooling case (3 or 4 fans) and a stock cooler with stock paste, there's no way he can get temps like that on an overclock that big. He's sensors might be out inside the core, so it's reading a 55C temp when it's most likely 90C or more.