SandyBridge Build - CPU, GPU and PSU

jgresham

jgresham

jgresham

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Joined
11 Jul 2006
Posts
9
Heyo all, been a fair old length of time since my last computer build so I thought I would plead for a little advice. I have no plans to do any overclocking - maybe something light in the future. What I have pretty much set on so far is as follows

Asus P8P67 PRO
Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz
OCZ Vertex 2E 60GB
Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB
Xigmatek Utgard

This leaves CPU, GPU and PSU to get, and I had planned to take advantage of the This Week Only Offers for this. For the first two, it is a straight up choice between two alternatives. The question is, where should I put my money to get the best value and upgradability?
i5 2500k (167.99) VS i7 2600k (239.99)
MSI GeForce GTX 560Ti OC Twin FrozR (191.99) VS MSI GeForce GTX 570 (239.99)

For the PSU, I quite like the look of the OCZ StealthXStream 2 700W, but wanted to be reassured that it could handle if I threw, for example, SLI at it in the future.

Many thanks in advance
 
2500k vs 2600K - http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/287?vs=288

not much in it really for the extra ££££.

And have you looked at the GTX480 - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-078-GI&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1750

or the 5870 - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-147-XF&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1711

The OCZ psu you suggested wont manage a SLI GTX480 setup, you need closer to 850w+ for that, but 700w will manage all the other cards you suggested in SLI or the 5870 in crossfire, unfortunately that particular PSU only has two PCI-E connectors, where you would actually need four (2 per card) so look at XFX or Antec.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-116-AN

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=701&catid=123&subid=1497
 
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Also, be prepared for a lot of people to pull you up on the choice of mobo.

There were a few problems with some Asus P8P67 boards when sandybridge was pretty much released.
 
what are you planning on doing with the computer.

if its only gaming, then go for the i5 2500K, as it performs exactly the same as the i7 2600K.

also, if you are gaming, then you will only need 4GB RAM

with the PSU, that will probably be OK with SLI. i know its got enough power for dual 6970's, but im not sure about the Nvidia cards, as they usually need more power

last thing. save yourself a few £'s, and go with this HDD. its faster than the one you have chosen: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=HD-243-SE&groupid=701&catid=14&subcat=1279
 
Thanks very much for the quick response. I take the point about the RAM, but I run a few memory intensive apps, and i am big on multi tasking plus it is cheap enough that a little future proofing can't hurt. I also know about the previous problems with the p8p67, but I am prepared to take a risk on the B3 revision.

Also, particularly big thanks to stulid for the PSU SLI advice - silly of me not to check the number of PCI connections.

OK, so better PSU, and i5 on the shopping list - Will make a decision about Graphics cards once I have had a look at PSUs
 
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