Someone review my rig build please!

[ecookman]

With the upcoming school year I was thinking on building a mid range gaming computer. One of my friends just built a pretty sick desktop for only 1000 bucks, and I am now seriously considering building a similar rig. Here is what I have so far...any feedback on the components it would be greatly appreciated [I think everything is compatible]. I am working within a pretty tight budget as I'm forking over almost 30K/year for school

Radeon HD 6950
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102987

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231426

Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz [Do they come with a heatsink and fan?]
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072

ASUS Sabertooth 990FX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131736

SeaSonic M12II 520 Bronze 520W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151093#top

Refurbed Veloci HDD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16822136762&Tpk=veloci

DVD drive [just getting a low end one]
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135224

COOLER MASTER HAF 912 [forgot I needed one of these for a sec LOL - Should I install a 200mm fan on the top?]
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119233


Currently I'm about 100 bucks more than I want to spend, Any ideas on corners I can cut? I still need to buy win7 64bit.

Edit - it appears that some of the links are not working properly when you go to add products to cart, some are a bit more expensive, current build price $931

[mirhagk]

That motherboard is quite nice, but it's AMD. Look for an intel version.

[ecookman]

Whoops, misread the spec. Suggestions?

[mirhagk]

My suggestion would be finding a similar board that works with intel. I'd def go with Asus if you can, their parts are usually well built (and have a good warranty)

[[Gandalf]]

Go for a Gigabyte motherboard, preferably a UD3H Z77 if you ever plan on upgrading your CPU and for the better USB3.0 capabilities. Are you planning to overclock your CPU, given that you're getting the unlocked 2500K? Yes, it comes with a heatsink and fan, but you might consider getting a better one if you're overclocking.

The 6950 might be a bit overkill... the 6850 should be good enough for everything that's out nowadays, but it depends on what games you plan on playing.

Your power supply looks like a good deal (Modular and 80+ bronze for $60? Nice), but in general I would be careful and lean on the higher end. If it's rated for a higher wattage, it'll generally heat up less and better support your parts... graphics cards nowadays are really power hungry, and getting more so.

Your choice of hard drive is very questionable... Why refurbished? Why 10000RPM? Why 300GB? HDDs nowadays have horrible failure rates (and running at a higher RPM will only expedite failure), and if you're looking for speed, an SSD will be an order of magnitude faster. Get an SSD. Or if you choose not to, try a Western Digital Black.

Depending on what your plans are for overclocking, upgrading, and games you can cut down your overall cost. As it is, that computer would be pretty damn powerful. Also, don't forget you need a monitor!

[mirhagk]

If you haven't tried multiple monitors you should try it out and consider it. For gaming it's not that awesome (other than having the game guide open while playing the game), but if you do any programming it's absolutely amazing to have multiple screens (an IDE open full screen on one, and then a guide, the program, a database or whatever open on the 2nd)

[ecookman]

Thanks so far, I made some changes and here is what I have now.

Note* I wanted to be able to upgrade my computer as time goes on, the last update that I have done to my 3.5 year old laptop has rendered the GPU and some other components USELESS. Its going to be turned into a bare bone Studio17 for word processing ONLY for school classes...So I wanted to get a Rig that Is affordable and that I could upgrade as time goes on. Hence my MOBO choice, supports Crossfire Graphics, aka, newer games get sluggish = throw in another GPU, I chose the processor so when that starts to get old I can OC the crap out of it. Lastly for the MOBO it also supports IVY BRIDGE and PCI-E3.0

Antec Three Hundred Illusion Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129066

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277

Radeon HD 6850 1GB [GIGABYTE model for the slight OC]
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125353

Western Digital Caviar Blue 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache [yeah okay, the refurbed veloci was a bit overkill....]
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136770

Same PSU and Processor and DVD drive, I have a LED monitor and a G15 keyboard [bit dated I know] and a Mx revolution mouse [also dated, no more fancy macos ]

Grand Total: $977.92
Blah shaving a sew extra bucks would be nice....

[mirhagk]

Make sure you have room for an extra harddrive because SSD's are becoming more and more popular and comparatively are getting cheaper (hard drive prices went up recently)

[ecookman]

mirhagk @ Mon Jun 04, 2012 8:38 am wrote:

Make sure you have room for an extra harddrive because SSD's are becoming more and more popular and comparatively are getting cheaper (hard drive prices went up recently)

there is lol. Does this get the mirhagk stamp of approval?

On an unrelated note, I realised that my Win7 home premium [upgrade version] also came with the 64 bit version. If i was to run Ubuntu on my laptop would I be able to run the 64bit Win7 on the new build?

[mirhagk]

Try installing it on your new machine before you uninstall it from your old (just in case it doesn't work) but I believe you can. Legally your fine, just not sure about the registration of windows (I think using the 2nd key is allowed, and the just watch for ridiculous amounts of registration of the same key)

[ecookman]

Its all under the same key, But I'll give it a try. A quick trip to a Best Buy never killed anyone!.....or a very long and annoying call with customer support, but that may cause suicide with Microsoft support.

Now, should I press that check out button...*cringe*

[mirhagk]

I'd wait a bit more if I was you. Just keep looking around and making sure you got the best stuff for the price.

[[Gandalf]]

ecookman @ 2012-06-04, 8:29 am wrote:

Note* I wanted to be able to upgrade my computer as time goes on, the last update that I have done to my 3.5 year old laptop has rendered the GPU and some other components USELESS. Its going to be turned into a bare bone Studio17 for word processing ONLY for school classes...So I wanted to get a Rig that Is affordable and that I could upgrade as time goes on. Hence my MOBO choice, supports Crossfire Graphics, aka, newer games get sluggish = throw in another GPU, I chose the processor so when that starts to get old I can OC the crap out of it. Lastly for the MOBO it also supports IVY BRIDGE and PCI-E3.0

What motherboard is that? The ASUS motherboard you linked to in the OP is socket AM3+, not the LGA1155 that you need. I think the Gigabyte Z77 UD3H matches your requirements very nicely. I don't see why you would go for 4GB of RAM, it's $25 more for double that, and it's very much worth it. If I were to cut down on two things in your current setup, it would probably be the CPU and the case.

Many universities offer free versions of Microsoft products to students, have you checked if you have that option?

[ecookman]

Ive got a Final build, weighs in at $950 with a $40 mail in rebate [in total]....just really debating spending $900.

[mirhagk]

No, your debating spending $950. I think the percentage of successfully claimed rebates is somewhere around 15%. People forget, or get confused by the process (which is why rebates exist, so they can make the price look lower, without actually making it lower)