my new machine.

figured id start a thread, partly because im a little bored, and partly because this is my first attempt at a build, and im a little bit proud!
i wanted something functional, as opposed to pretty.....but as i found out, you cant do it!
i just wanted the parts, without the flash, and no matter which way i looked, the flash came with it.
i wanted a PC with components that i wanted, however, the cheapest local quote i could get was around the $2400, and this was doable before fatherhood, but things happen, and $2400 was cutting it too close to my emergency money, (beer fund). so i took charge.

heres the rundown after a ton of reading, and asking of advice.
i5-2500k
gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3
kingston khx1600c9d3b1k2/8gb
WD black 1tb
coolermaster haf 912- and heres where it gets pretty, 2 coolermaster 200mm BLUE led fans, and a scythe kazemaster ace fan controller, (i thought i needed the fan controller, but i dont, i just run the fans off the molinex on my power supply. i also feel like getting a set of pliers, and squeezing the life out of the leds on the 200mm fans.)
coolermaster hyper 212 plus- the mobo has a boost/OC function thats pretty much Mike proof.
EVGA GTX570 classified
windows 7 64 bit

all said and done, checking out suppliers for the price drops, and the MIRs, $1100!
can the people building machines for other people actually be be making $1300 per build???thats

i put in a ton of overtime to get this done, just so it doesnt cut into my regular paycheck.
for my next build, at those prices, ill be building 2, selling one off, and my rig is free.<- not really, but damn, no wonder people are building there own!

pics to come, not till next weekend though, still got some overtime to take care of.

Right ton Mike!
Hope you have a lot of good fragging witih your new monster.

And yah.

Glad to see you let the hamsters retire 😀 Sounds like a good machine, have fun with it and just enjoy the flash.

Looks like some nice parts... If I do say so myself, you did a hell of a job picking 'em out!!!

looks good! Here was my build that was similar back in November: http://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/...sub_1200_build/

Local builders are definitely not the way to go. They get the parts at the same price as you or just slightly lower and they have to spend alot of time (same as you) researching and making sure all the parts work together and appropriately. They then charge a premium for putting it all together.

It is better to go through some online retailer like Alienware, cyberpower gaming PCs, falcon NW, etc. They build so many that they get deep discounted hardware and do so much volume they don't have to charge nearly as big of a premium to make money.

I still however tell people to build their own, and after helping them build their own, they look at me and say "that was a hell of alot easier than I thought it would be".

now onto your hardware:

Core i5 2500k - perfect for gaming (no need for i7 unless you plan to do rendering/editing/photoshop)

gigabyte MoBo - perfectly fine for a gaming rig. If you havne't bought the mobo yet, consider the one I have: ASROCK Z68 Extreme3 Gen 3 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16813157271 It has the same OC feature that is just point and click in the bios and will save you $40. I am very happy with it.

Kingston RAM- I haven't bought kingston ram in ages, my last 4 builds have been G.Skill and never had a problem. 8GB is plenty and as long as the reviews are good on the kingston go with them or G.Skill, not really sure it matters. I only got 16 in mine because of the insane deal I got on it at Xmas. G.Skill and Corsair are the popular brands on newegg.

CM Haf 912 - A case is a case is a case...so long as it is tool-less, has a removevable mobo tray and cable routing although at this pricepoint it doesn't really matter at all. This looks like an excellent case for $60.

CM Hyper 212 EVO is what I bought.

WD 1TB Black - Excellent HDD

Fan controller is great when you are not gaming as you can drop the speeds down to reduce noise, but I forget to use mine all the time.

I didn't see a PSU? did you get one and just didn't post it?

the motherboard i watched for a while, price fluctuated from $179-$139, was up and down for a month. when it hit $139, with a $20 MIR, i bought it.
the case had awesome reviews, wasnt going to break the bank, and wasnt pretty, (untill i installed the fans). it was $59, but picked it up with a $20 MIR also.
the hyper 212 plus was $29, and got a $10 MIR on that.
hell, i got a MIR on pretty much everything.
the ram i picked up on sale, $39.
picked the HD up locally, so i paid more than i should have.

im using my existing PSU for now, but will be bumping it up in case i come across another 570 classified.

still have to find a decent mouse.....had an accident at work last year, lost part of my ring finger, and lost movement, and feeling in 2 more. im hitting the right click by accident on this mouse, and zooming unexpectedly, so i need a mouse with stiff clickers.
im thinking G500 here.

ive still got some bugs that i need to work out with the PC, but forums, and search function are great tools.

Certainly feel free to post here too...

going to need a PSU sooner rather than later.....GPU takes 1, 8 pin PCIe, and a 6 pin PCIe.......i only have 2 6 pins.
needed one anyways!
need a recommendation here guys!

tried doing some recearch on this, and theres way too much to know!
requirements, (Minimum recommended power supply with +12 Volt current rating of 38 Amps.)
An available 6-pin PCI-E power connector and an available 8 pin PCI-E power connector.
id like 2 of each connector in case i run into another one of the 570 classifieds for cheap.

When I was looking for a new PS Bubba had some very specific companies he liked, and sure will be along soon enough.

I have always run Coolermaster supplies and have NEVER had an issue.

http://www.coolermaster-usa.com/

CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX750 V2

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16817139021

I own two of these and am very happy with them. Single rail, support for amd and intel, very quiet, etc...

I have done really well with the Antec PSUs. I did a build with a Corsair and it was nice. The Cooler Masters are nice too powerwise, but found them to be louder.

I stick with Antec because of the lack of noise. Corsairs were good here too.

It might be nice to get a modular PSu if you want to layout the cash, they are nice because you can remove plugs you aren't using (cleaner case).

Most more modern PSUs will have the connectors you are looking for, that should be a good guide if you are sizing it well. Make sure you get enough power for your vid cards, if not you will be in crash city. You don't need a 1200W PSU, but don't go 350W either. For one highend card you are going to want 600-750W, if you plan to SLI, you may want larger. There are a million PSU size websites out there. Run one and add 15-20% .

http://images10.newegg.com/BizIntell/tool/psucalc/index.html

I tend to stick with Antec only because they are quiet and have never failed me. I wasn't impressed with Aptevia. Thermaltake makes nice equip, but I find it to be VERY loud. I have heard good things about PC Power and Cooling.

You will be glad you spent the money here. People experience a lot of crashes from bad/under powered PSUs.

Bubbaspanky wrote:You will be glad you spent the money here. People experience a lot of crashes from bad/under powered PSUs.

👍 QFT

Duck wrote:👍 QFT

Kiss up! 🙂

Kiss this

Bubbaspanky wrote:I have done really well with the Antec PSUs. I did a build with a Corsair and it was nice. The Cooler Masters are nice too powerwise, but found them to be louder.

I stick with Antec because of the lack of noise. Corsairs were good here too.

It might be nice to get a modular PSu if you want to layout the cash, they are nice because you can remove plugs you aren't using (cleaner case).

Most more modern PSUs will have the connectors you are looking for, that should be a good guide if you are sizing it well. Make sure you get enough power for your vid cards, if not you will be in crash city. You don't need a 1200W PSU, but don't go 350W either. For one highend card you are going to want 600-750W, if you plan to SLI, you may want larger. There are a million PSU size websites out there. Run one and add 15-20% .

http://images10.newegg.com/BizIntell/tool/psucalc/index.html

I tend to stick with Antec only because they are quiet and have never failed me. I wasn't impressed with Aptevia. Thermaltake makes nice equip, but I find it to be VERY loud. I have heard good things about PC Power and Cooling.

You will be glad you spent the money here. People experience a lot of crashes from bad/under powered PSUs.

I went with a Corsair Modular 750W and I am glad I spent the cash for getting a modular. It was so much easier to work with and route all my cables. This is probably the "prettiest" build I have ever done. The airflow in this rig is excellent due to cable routing and the lack of extra PSU cables just laying around.

Too many people overlook the PSU and just slap one in. You want the best quality PSU you can afford. If it fails it can destroy pretty much all your components in a worse case scenario....where as lets say a HDD fails...it won't ever affect other components.

My Rig

thanks guys....havnt figured out brand yet, but im thinking an 850w....id rather overshoot this.

on a side note, only 23 more hours to DL BF3......a big 189 kbs. have no idea why, but our outside cable keeps filling up with water everytime it rains......if i pop off the internet cable on the inside of the house, and drain the water out of it, it DLs normally.
should complain i guess.

Mike wrote:a big 189 kbs. have no idea why, but our outside cable keeps filling up with water everytime it rains......if i pop off the internet cable on the inside of the house, and drain the water out of it, it DLs normally.
should complain i guess.

I had this problem as well... Squirrels!!! They are the worst things in the world...

They would chew on the shielding of the cable and then when it rained, internet connection went to crap and fuzzy tv...

havnt seen a squirrel around in ages, nor a crow either..........shootin CB rounds.

The trailer will do that to you E.... try moving back in to the barn.

anything i should be changing in the bios??
my commodore 64 was faster than this.....ill hit send, grab a beer, step outside, have a smoke......come back, and still watch the page load.

also need to take advantage of the touch bios feature....no idea how to access it?

Mike wrote:thanks guys....havnt figured out brand yet, but im thinking an 850w....id rather overshoot this.

on a side note, only 23 more hours to DL BF3......a big 189 kbs. have no idea why, but our outside cable keeps filling up with water everytime it rains......if i pop off the internet cable on the inside of the house, and drain the water out of it, it DLs normally.
should complain i guess.

If you connect to a UPS (uninterrupted power supply aka battery backup) and/or surge protector, make sure it is rated to handle over 850 Watts on a single plug. When you start getting up in the 1000Watt PSU's you will have issues with consumer grade UPS's.

Hadaka wrote:If you connect to a UPS (uninterrupted power supply aka battery backup) and/or surge protector, make sure it is rated to handle over 850 Watts on a single plug. When you start getting up in the 1000Watt PSU's you will have issues with consumer grade UPS's.

i hate issues!

Mike wrote:anything i should be changing in the bios??
my commodore 64 was faster than this.....ill hit send, grab a beer, step outside, have a smoke......come back, and still watch the page load.

also need to take advantage of the touch bios feature....no idea how to access it?

DSL or Cable? Either way you definitely need to complain to your ISP especially if you aren't getting anywhere near your rated speed during wet weather.

I used to be a huge DSL > Cable supporter. Definitely back when Cable bandwidth sharing was a major issue where DSL didn't have that issue. Along with DSL being more consistent. However recently my Cable access has been awesome.

I was paying for 60Mbps DOCSIS 3.0 cable service, and they recently bumped me to 100Mbps at no charge....and now they have dropped my fee by $15/mo and I haven't had one single issue. I now have to be picky about which mirror to download from as many are much lower than what my pipe can actually handle.

As far as BIOS goes do you mean overclocking wise? I made very little changes to my bios, they are getting really user friendly anymore. Overclocking was simple changing one setting and the mobo handled everything for doing the actual overclock.

Hadaka wrote:DSL or Cable? Either way you definitely need to complain to your ISP especially if you aren't getting anywhere near your rated speed during wet weather.

I used to be a huge DSL > Cable supporter. Definitely back when Cable bandwidth sharing was a major issue where DSL didn't have that issue. Along with DSL being more consistent. However recently my Cable access has been awesome.

I was paying for 60Mbps DOCSIS 3.0 cable service, and they recently bumped me to 100Mbps at no charge....and now they have dropped my fee by $15/mo and I haven't had one single issue. I now have to be picky about which mirror to download from as many are much lower than what my pipe can actually handle.

As far as BIOS goes do you mean overclocking wise? I made very little changes to my bios, they are getting really user friendly anymore. Overclocking was simple changing one setting and the mobo handled everything for doing the actual overclock.

not even thinking about overclocking yet, i just thought i was missing something?
watching these pages load is killing me though.....that, and the wife is laughing everytime i hit enter....not quite sure which is worse right now!

id take a video, but i cant imagine the time it would take to upload.

Mike wrote:id take a video, but i cant imagine the time it would take to upload.

1st world problem at its finest!

must have updated something overnight, quick as can be now!
windows update showed no more updates though. either way, im a happy camper.
just played 4 straight hours of BF3 campain with my old card installed, not even a tick.

pics are taken, but have to wait to get them on photobucket (the wife has alot more patience than i do)

rounded up some connectors to get me through till i can pick a PSU.....not sure i like it, but computer guy in town says it"ll be alright.
an 8 pin PCIe plugs into my existing 2 6 pin PCIe. and a 6 pin PCIe plugs into 2 molinex off existing PSU....sounds shady, i know, but it seems to work alright.

still getting a new PSU, but wont happen for a couple of weeks.

The adapters are not a bad thing per se, assuming your PSU has the horsepower. Those connections are nothing special, they are just 12v and grounds, just several of them, this allows you to add a lot of wattage.