Sandy Bridge Build with a budget

[43LMNOP]

Hi to all

I am planning a new system as my old one was stolen. Yay, that’s right! Imagine getting a phone call that there was a break-in and that the ONLY thing that was stolen was you box and screen… I am actually not complaining as it gives me the chance to do something that I have wanted to do for a long time. Building a new system!

As the topic says, I have a budget, so nothing over the top nonsense. Each one of us would like a system like TTL… Here are the specs, please tell me what you think. Couple of things when you comment, I want the system to be quite, not be hard on the juice and not run to hot.

Intel® Core™ i5 2500K – Want to overclock

GIGABYTE® P67A-UD3P (GA-P67A-UD3P) – Need the USB 3.0 controller on the MB

GIGABYTE® nVidia® GeForce GTX560Ti (GV-N560OC-1GI) – Love the performance and look

Corsair Dominator 2x2Gb (CMP4GX3M2A1600C9) – Want it for the heat sinks

Western Digital Caviar Black, 1Tb, Sata6G (WD1002FAEX) – Going to get 2x2Tb later for storage

Antec TruePower TP-750 750w – Want a modular PSU

Zalman CNPS10X Quiet – This is where I need advice, any suggestions? Jing/MUX-120 black? Is the RAM going to fit?

Lian-li pc-9F with extra top fan – Because I have wanted a Lian-li for as long as I can remember and want the USB 3.0

OK, that is the build. Any changes, comments or criticisms please.

 

[SieB]

I'd cry if someone stole my PC

but as you said it gives you the chance to build a new one

All those parts look fine... except for the Zalman, get the Noctua NH D14 but one problem if you do that is it won't fit with the with the Corsair Dominator RAM.

Oh and the Samsung Spinpoint F! is cheaper than the Cavalier black.

 

[kilobravo]

The Noctua will fit if you chop of the tops.Its easy done.

 

[ciksas]

Put the fan few fins higher and it could work out for you or remove the top heat spreader of the stick which will be under the fan. SATA3 HHDs are overpriced and U won’t see any benefit from having a sata3 drive.

 

[tinytomlogan]

Id get Mushkin or Gskill ram tbh Im not a fan of antec PSU's. They say antec on them *hurl*

Look at the Giga UD4 mobo btw.

 

[adamjamesroe]

Hi to all

I am planning a new system as my old one was stolen. Yay, that's right! Imagine getting a phone call that there was a break-in and that the ONLY thing that was stolen was you box and screen… I am actually not complaining as it gives me the chance to do something that I have wanted to do for a long time. Building a new system!

As the topic says, I have a budget, so nothing over the top nonsense. Each one of us would like a system like TTL… Here are the specs, please tell me what you think. Couple of things when you comment, I want the system to be quite, not be hard on the juice and not run to hot.

Intel® Core™ i5 2500K – Want to overclock

GIGABYTE® P67A-UD3P (GA-P67A-UD3P) – Need the USB 3.0 controller on the MB

GIGABYTE® nVidia® GeForce GTX560Ti (GV-N560OC-1GI) – Love the performance and look

Corsair Dominator 2x2Gb (CMP4GX3M2A1600C9) – Want it for the heat sinks

Western Digital Caviar Black, 1Tb, Sata6G (WD1002FAEX) – Going to get 2x2Tb later for storage

Antec TruePower TP-750 750w – Want a modular PSU

Zalman CNPS10X Quiet – This is where I need advice, any suggestions? Jing/MUX-120 black? Is the RAM going to fit?

Lian-li pc-9F with extra top fan – Because I have wanted a Lian-li for as long as I can remember and want the USB 3.0

OK, that is the build. Any changes, comments or criticisms please.

For a cooler i have heard good things about the Corsair A70.

I would also reccomed a Corsair Hx750 PSU, i have one and its brilliant. I even put my a seccond GTX 570 in there (Friends Card) and it was rock solid stable, realy is good.

I dont know if your going for the Lian-li pc-9F based on looks but its not got great airflow, maybe somting like the Lian Li PC-8FIB that Tom reviewd a while ago.

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/lianli-pc8fib-black-mid-tower-silent-case-120mm-led-fan-with-usb3-w-o-psu

essentialy the same style but with better cooling.

 

[43LMNOP]

Hi! Thanks for the great replies. I do appreciate all the replies! Keep them coming.

I will not be able to get the Samsung Spinpoint F, sorry SieB. I can only get Transend, Seagate and WD. Just for intresant sake, how good is the quality, reliability and performance of the Samsung?

I have only heard good this about the Noctua NH-D14, but its a bit expensive. There is only one supplier in the country! The RAM seems to be an issue. I want something that will still keep cool under load. I can only get Transend, Apacer, Kingston & Corsair. I will like a pair of Mushkin or Gskill.

Are there any one of these makes that I can get that will still be cool under load & that will fit under a large cpu cooler?

The Gigabyte UD4 is an option, but if I can get away with something cheaper, it will suite my budget beter. The Corsair A70 CPU cooler is definitly an option as its costs about the same as the Zalman listed. But then again you run into the snag of space with the RAM.

I've heard people saing that Antec PSU's are, well like Tom put it *hurl*. Thanks adamjamesroe for the advice with the Corsair HX750, think I will go for that.

ciksas, whats the benefit of having a Sata6G over a Sata3G, or shall I put it like this: Why do you get Sata6G if its not faster?

About the Lian-li pc-8Fi. That was the first time I saw Tom on youtube. I started watching each video afterwards and thats how I ended up here talking to you lot. Thanks for the great work and keep it up. I will go for the pc-8Fi by your advice as you tested it and know beter.

System as it stand now:

Intel i5 2500K

GIGABYTE P67A-UD3P

GIGABYTE GTX560Ti

Corsair Dominator 2x2Gb 1600MHz CL9 – ??

Western Digital Caviar Black, 1Tb, Sata3G

Corsair HX750

Corsair A70 – The direct contact of the heat pipes with the CPU is awesome! What about the Thermaltake Jing or Thermalright MUX-120 black?

Lian-li pc-8Fi with extra top fan

 

[adicool96]

Dude replace the cooler with a "H-50". Naah im just kidding dont even look at that pos what u need is tha noctua NH-D14.

Sorry bout ur computer but good for you right. If anyone tried stealing mine theyd be suing me for a broken back

.

 

[ruthless_villain]

Yeah...D14 ftw took 13 degrees of my H50

 

[Aurus_OC]

I will not be able to get the Samsung Spinpoint F, sorry SieB. I can only get Transend, Seagate and WD. Just for intresant sake, how good is the quality, reliability and performance of the Samsung?

I have only heard good this about the Noctua NH-D14, but its a bit expensive. There is only one supplier in the country! The RAM seems to be an issue. I want something that will still keep cool under load. I can only get Transend, Apacer, Kingston & Corsair. I will like a pair of Mushkin or Gskill.

Are there any one of these makes that I can get that will still be cool under load & that will fit under a large cpu cooler?

The Gigabyte UD4 is an option, but if I can get away with something cheaper, it will suite my budget beter. The Corsair A70 CPU cooler is definitly an option as its costs about the same as the Zalman listed. But then again you run into the snag of space with the RAM.

I've heard people saing that Antec PSU's are, well like Tom put it *hurl*. Thanks adamjamesroe for the advice with the Corsair HX750, think I will go for that.

ciksas, whats the benefit of having a Sata6G over a Sata3G, or shall I put it like this: Why do you get Sata6G if its not faster?

System as it stand now:

Intel i5 2500K

GIGABYTE P67A-UD3P

GIGABYTE GTX560Ti

Corsair Dominator 2x2Gb 1600MHz CL9 – ??

Western Digital Caviar Black, 1Tb, Sata3G

Corsair HX750

Corsair A70 – The direct contact of the heat pipes with the CPU is awesome! What about the Thermaltake Jing or Thermalright MUX-120 black?

Lian-li pc-8Fi with extra top fan

Just to pop in with some suggestions for you dude

.

I really like the Samsung F3s, I own two myself and two mates have got them aswell. Never had any problems and the speed is pretty good for harddrive aswell. If you really can just get the manufacturers that you listed above, I would go for the WD.

I wouldn't recommend the Thermaltake Jing or the Thermalright cooler you mentioned.

If you have any way to get your hands on a D14, I would advice you to do so. They are amazing! Once you realize that with the A70 the included fans aren't all that great (pretty loud), so you may have to buy new fans, that the D14 includes the best quiet vs. performance out there and that the D14 will beat the A70 hands down, the D14 suddenly becomes a really good value cooler. You won't be disappointed.

Concerning memory,

One thing that I would say right at first, memory does NOT get that hot in real world scenarios. Massive ram heatsinks are pointless in terms of the actual cooling needed and are mostly done for looks, or to make you think you would need them. You can snap the caps of the Dom GTs, if you want, but I really would recommend getting a decent kit of Mushkin memory. They all fit under D14. If everything else fails, Kingston makes some great products aswell, but you will have to pay attention to the size of the heatsink, as long as it is not massive it will fit the D14.

There is next to no benefit of grabbing a Hard Disk Drive (not talking about SSDs here!) with a SATA III (6GB/s) interface. The speed of hard drives does not exceed the limitations of the SATA II interface at all. So it's completely pointless to choose a hard drive based on whether it has a SATA III (6GB/s) or not. A SATA II (3GB/s) drive is just fine.

 

[43LMNOP]

Hahaha, the bastards that stole mine was cocky. They went to the kitchen to get a knive to cut the wires. Blooming idiots!

To be honest, the whole idea to have water near electronics is a bit concerning to me. I saw Tom's review on the new build and it makes a BIG differance, but it comes at a cost.

 

[Aurus_OC]

Hahaha, the bastards that stole mine was cocky. They went to the kitchen to get a knive to cut the wires. Blooming idiots!

To be honest, the whole idea to have water near electronics is a bit concerning to me. I saw Tom's review on the new build and it makes a BIG differance, but it comes at a cost.

Then just grab the D14

 

[43LMNOP]

You mae a pretty good point Aurus_OC. The D14 costs almost double, but it will be awesome to have one siting like a big bad boy in my system. I think that I will only eat dry bread & water for a while and get the D14.

 

[43LMNOP]

What do you lot think of Corsair's XMS3 RAM? looking at this:

http://www.corsair.com/memory/intel-memory-solutions/core-i5-dual-channel-kits/cmx4gx3m2a1600c9.html

 

[DiogoPRT]

I would change that Motherboard or PSU.

If you want do SLI lately, you should have a better Motherboard, with Dual x8 SLI, and with the UD3P, it will be dual x4, and it will be worst. So, change at least for a Motherboard with one PCI-E x16 and other x8, it will be running at dual x8. Keep the PSU.

If you don't want SLI feature, keep the motherboard and change the PSU for a HX-650W, it will run perfectly.

 

[43LMNOP]

Ok, this is the build:

Intel i5 2500K

GIGABYTE P67A-UD3P - Not going to SLI

GIGABYTE GTX560Ti

Corsair XMS3 2x2Gb 1600MHz CL9 - Fits under the D14

Western Digital 1Tb

Corsair HX650W - Suites my use better

Noctua NH-D14 - Pricy, but damn its good!

Lian-li pc-8Fi with extra top fan

How is it looking?

 

[Aurus_OC]

Ok, this is the build:

Intel i5 2500K

GIGABYTE P67A-UD3P - Not going to SLI

GIGABYTE GTX560Ti

Corsair XMS3 2x2Gb 1600MHz CL9 - Fits under the D14

Western Digital 1Tb

Corsair HX650W - Suites my use better

Noctua NH-D14 - Pricy, but damn its good!

Lian-li pc-8Fi with extra top fan

How is it looking?

Looking good! Make sure to post some pictures, once you get it built

 

[43LMNOP]

Will do so! Looking forward to the build

 

[tinytomlogan]

Will do so! Looking forward to the build

BUILD LOG

 

[43LMNOP]

Thank you very much to everyone for all the advice and suggestions. Will do a build log, but it will only go up in a months time when the new motherboards come out for the Sandy Bridge. Looking forward to doing the log, as I will criticism from Tom if its badly done.

.. only kidding!

You lot at OC3D do a awesome job, keep it up!