My Latest PC Build

[Ixarku]

It's been a few years since I've built a new PC, so I'm taking a stab at a new build in time for this year's Black Friday / Cyber Monday sales.  I have definitely not paid a lot of attention to current or upcoming technologies for 2012, so my list is based on all of about 3 hours of research tonight.  This PC is primarily a gaming / everyday usage rig.  I'm not committed to this build by any means, so if anyone has opinions or just wants to tell me I'm an idiot, by all means please do so.  I promise I won't get mad.   
 
A couple of comments -- I'm only running a single monitor display, and I'm not really looking to add more monitors or to run multiple video cards.  I'm likely not going to play around with overclocking or do any kind of liquid cooling.  The point of the build now is to get something reasonably high end and not have to do any upgrading at all for a few years (unless some component fails).  Assume for the sake of argument that if I don't have something listed, then I already have that component sitting around.  Based mostly on past experience, I prefer Intel and Nvidia to AMD and Radeon.
 
I'm most likely going to buy everything from Newegg, and of course I realize that prices will be different if/when I make the purchase in a few weeks.  So here it is, with current approximate Newegg prices (without mail in rebates):

 
Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I72600K    $320

ASUS P8Z68 DELUXE/GEN3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS    $255

CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9B    $98

CORSAIR Enthusiast Series CMPSU-850TX 850W ATX12V v2.2 / EPS12V v2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply    $135

COOLER MASTER HAF X RC-942-KKN1 Black Steel/ Plastic ATX Full Tower Computer Case    $190

EVGA 01G-P3-1468-KR GeForce GTX 560 (Fermi) FTW+ 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card    $230

OCZ Agility 3 AGT3-25SAT3-240G 2.5" 240GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)    $360

ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM    $20

ZALMAN CNPS9500 AT 2 Ball CPU Cooling Fan/Heatsink    $43

 
And although I don't strictly need it, and may end up dropping from my list, I'm currently planning on getting this as a new secondary / storage drive (which I would also use to stream anime, etc over my lan):

Seagate Barracuda XT ST32000641AS 2TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive    $250
 
Grand total is about $1900, not counting shipping.  (Haven't checked, but I think most of these have free shipping.)  So anyway, opinions are appreciated, particularly if you think anything I picked out is overpriced for the performance.
 
 

[Lupin]

OCZ Agility 3 AGT3-25SAT3-240G 2.5" 240GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)    $360

I think you're better off with a Crucial M4 than anything using an SF controller.

[kitamesume]

skip the HDD, it's price is bloated to shitless now a days, specially on newegg.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/news/storage/display/20111020134230_WD_HDD_Industry_Will_Be_Supply_Constrained_Due_to_Thailand_Flooding.html

i dont see it posted yet so might as well post it.

i suggest you pick-up a P67 board, you wont be needing the on-board, unless you plan on using quick sync.

tag in your current pick for case to these:
(Mid-Tower)[$69.99] LIAN LI Lancool PC-K59 Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
(Full-Tower)[$169.99] LIAN LI PC-A70F USB3.0 Black Aluminum ATX Full Tower Computer Case
as you can save up a couple of bucks for another item

is that video card a Ti or a non-Ti? i suggest you pick up a GTX 560 Ti instead, it has more stomping power than the non-Ti version.
[$239.99] EVGA 01G-P3-1561-KR GeForce GTX 560 Ti FPB (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
same brand, for 10$ more.

got to say you're forking alot on the SSDs, well to give you a tip, 10games 10GB each in size + OS(approx 40GB) can fit on a 160GB SSD with room to spare. you shouldn't use your SSD as a download/torrent drive, this is to minimize traffic for other apps that'll use the SSD, games can be quite a hog on it, most noticeable when you install your game on a RAM-Disk where load time becomes split second more or less.

Edit: btw, since 2012 is coming, why dont you wait for Ivy Bridge? intel seems to promise alot on them, including more performance per watt, higher frequencies and/or lower voltages.

[Freedom Kira]

Hmm, does Black Friday come after the 14th this year? Because that's when LGA2011 releases.

[NaRu]

Hmm, does Black Friday come after the 14th this year? Because that's when LGA2011 releases.

The Sandy Bridge E processors isn't worth the price.The performance increase between the 2600k and Sandy Bridge E chips isn't high enough to invest into it. To get 20% better performance (not in games, just video rendering, encoding, converting, etc.) you need to get the 6 core i7 Sandy Bridge E which cost $580. The 2600K is a better buy because he will be able to upgrade to Ivy Bridge since it will use the same socket

[Ixarku]

The SSD is definitely something I wasn't sure about, since I haven't previously read up on those.  Part of the reason I went with a 240gb drive was that I like to have a lot of different games installed at the same time (laziness on my part, admittedly).  Between the OS, games, MS Office, and a few miscellaneous apps, my current boot drive has about 167gb used; I'd rather spend a few extra bucks now than shortchange myself later on space.  (I won't be getting rid of my current PC, but it will instead become a secondary / backup machine.)
 
After a night's sleep, I will almost certainly skip getting another HDD for now, at least until prices drop.  Originally I was thinking of getting a 2tb internal and possibly ditching my externals, but it's really not a necessity.  I have an existing 1tb internal I use now for torrenting, for my personal data, and for storing some anime I share on my lan which is mostly full, but it is still good enough for the time being.  Obviously I have more reading to do on the SSD.  I definitely do not intend to torrent to the SSD.  I looked a bit at the Crucials, then took a guess and went with something else.  Thinking that this would be a good starting point to look at when I get the chance later:
 
Crucial M4 CT256M4SSD2CCA 2.5" 256GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) with Transfer Kit
 
Video card-wise, I admit, I completely forgot about the Tis, thanks for that, I'll go with kitamesume's suggestion on that.
Case-wise, I've generally stuck with mid-towers but I'm thinking I want to go with a full tower this time, just for ease of working in the thing.  I watched the video for the HAF X tower, and I liked what I saw, which is why I went with that.  Convenience is more of a concern for me than money, but I'll look at some of the mids anyway to see if there's anything I like.
 
Thanks for the input so far, folks!

[Lupin]

The Sandy Bridge E processors isn't worth the price.The performance increase between the 2600k and Sandy Bridge E chips isn't high enough to invest into it. To get 20% better performance (not in games, just video rendering, encoding, converting, etc.) you need to get the 6 core i7 Sandy Bridge E which cost $580. The 2600K is a better buy because he will be able to upgrade to Ivy Bridge since it will use the same socket

++

The platform (LGA2011) has very little to offer past what 1155 has.

[krumm]

My only recommendation is to think about a modular version of the power supply.  It really is a choice thing so keep it in mind.  I my self am glad I spent the extra money for one and will never go back.  Corsair's high end PSUs are vary good and worth the high cost so your choice is good.

[Ixarku]

My only recommendation is to think about a modular version of the power supply.  It really is a choice thing so keep it in mind.  I my self am glad I spent the extra money for one and will never go back.  Corsair's high end PSUs are vary good and worth the high cost so your choice is good.

Coincidentally, my roommate mentioned this same thing to me just a little while ago.  I didn't realize that they had modular power supplies, so I'm definitely going to look into that as well.  Thanks!

[Freedom Kira]

The Sandy Bridge E processors isn't worth the price.The performance increase between the 2600k and Sandy Bridge E chips isn't high enough to invest into it. To get 20% better performance (not in games, just video rendering, encoding, converting, etc.) you need to get the 6 core i7 Sandy Bridge E which cost $580. The 2600K is a better buy because he will be able to upgrade to Ivy Bridge since it will use the same socket

++

The platform (LGA2011) has very little to offer past what 1155 has.

Hmm. Sounds like it really does supersede 1366, in every way... Unless Intel has some interesting things planned for it in the future.

EDIT: v I'm not really holding my breath...

[NaRu]

The Sandy Bridge E processors isn't worth the price.The performance increase between the 2600k and Sandy Bridge E chips isn't high enough to invest into it. To get 20% better performance (not in games, just video rendering, encoding, converting, etc.) you need to get the 6 core i7 Sandy Bridge E which cost $580. The 2600K is a better buy because he will be able to upgrade to Ivy Bridge since it will use the same socket

++

The platform (LGA2011) has very little to offer past what 1155 has.

Hmm. Sounds like it really does supersede 1366, in every way... Unless Intel has some interesting things planned for it in the future.

Ivy Bridge E will be using the 2011 socket (as far I can tell). That wont be release in a few years.

[raandomer]

Go with 2600 instead, you dont need the "k" version if your not ocing.
The msi hawk has a much better cooler than the evga stock designed. Only a few dollars more.
That cooler is getting old, i suggest grabbing a normal tower cooler like the cm hyper evo.
You could probably use a lower end mobo too but that asus is fine.

[Ixarku]

Thanks, good catch on the 2600 vs the 2600k.  Price difference is only $20, but, yeah, I don't intend to do any ocing, so saving the $20 is fine by me.
 
This is why I like posting here; I come up with an approximation of what I want, then the rest of you guys point out where I can do better!

[kureshii]

Other reasons for getting the non-K too, if you happen to tinker with virtualisation and other stuff. The K variant doesn't have VT-d enabled.

[AnimeJanai]

Really, do you have to buy stuff this Black Friday?  SSD are still undergoing improvements in design, Ivy Bridge is next year, and you have to see if the Bulldozer will drive Intel prices down some more.   Don't forget to compare newegg's price with those at other places such as buy.com and frys.com / outpost.com since the prices may be very much to your advantage on a few items.  As an example, the current Frys retail store price (to Nov17) for Seagate 2GB Barracuda (5900 RPM, 32MB) is $149 as shown in the newspaper ad clipping below:


As a price comparison, the frys retail stores have some of their deals listed by a 3rd party site at: 
http://www.frys-electronics-ads.com/

http://www.pricescan.com/indices/pricescan_indices.html

There is also the low-price leader at http://chinagrabber.com/ where I assume you can buy a Seegate 7200 32MB 2TB drive for $129 with free shipping.  Anyways, the site is worth browsing just to see what kinds of weird items are available.

[Ixarku]

I don't have to buy on or near Black Friday... I don't have to build a new PC at all.  I'm not familiar with chinagrabber, but I'll take a look at them.  I like newegg because I've always had good experiences with them, and I tend to stick with retailers that I'm familiar with.  I'm not adverse to saving a few bucks, I'm just a profoundly lazy shopper.  I'm not wholly committed to building a new machine yet, which is part of the reason why I'm using Black Friday deals as an excuse to put off making a final decision.
 
As for Fry's in particular... obviously none of you guys would know this, but they used to be a customer of the company I work for, and they were pretty much total dicks from beginning to end, so I won't buy anything from them at all.  I had more than a few headaches working on their projects; they're not getting any business from me, even if it would save me a few hundred dollars.  Or, to put it another way, fuck them, I have money and I'm willing to spend it elsewhere.

[Ixarku]

OK, so I went with a different build, decided that I will experiment with some overclockage after all.  Bought bits from several different sites, pretty happy with the prices overall.  The links below are to Newegg, although I got my PSU from Amazon and SSD from PC Connection Express.

 
ASRock Z68 PROFESSIONAL GEN3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard - $234.99 ** edit - fixed link

G.SKILL Sniper Low Voltage Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBSR2 -- bought 2 at $49.99 each

Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000 BX80623I72600K -- $319.99 **

CORSAIR Professional Series HX850 (CMPSU-850HX) 850W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply -- $163.53 -- edit, oops

COOLER MASTER HAF X RC-942-KKN1 Black Steel/ Plastic ATX Full Tower Computer Case -- $169.99

EVGA SuperClocked 01G-P3-1563-AR GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card -- $249.99

Crucial M4 CT256M4SSD2CCA 2.5" 256GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) with Transfer Kit -- $379.05

ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM -- $19.99

ZALMAN CNPS9900 NT 120mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler -- $54.99

COOLER MASTER SickleFlow 120 R4-L2R-20AR-R1 120mm Silent operation Red LED case fan -- got that in a combo deal with the case, I think this was $6 or so

** Got an extra $15 off by buying these in a combo
 
On top of the prices listed above, I paid about $9 in shipping, got about $80 more off in mail-in rebates not counted above, a $20 Newegg gift card, and a free copy of Batman Arkham City which I'm trading to my roommate for another game.  Could've gotten my copy of Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade for cheaper if I had waited, but paid $90 for it, so I'm satisfied.  Total price came out to just over $1700 counting the rebates.

[Freedom Kira]

Interesting choice on the mobo (wrong link btw). Why Z68 if you're getting a graphics card? o.O

I did a double-take on that PSU price. Are you sure you're not missing a 1?

Glancing over the prices, it looks like you didn't really save on any of the items compared to their regular prices, except the SSD. And like $100 on the PSU if you actually meant $63.53 (I can hardly believe that price).

Solid build though. It should definitely last you a good 7+ years.

[Tatsujin]

Hmm, does Black Friday come after the 14th this year? Because that's when LGA2011 releases.

Those are fucking crazy processors. I'd so do 200 dollars more for it. Processor is the heart of your machine. If you invest in it, then it'll return the favor. The 2600K is also a good investment if you decide not to get the LGA2011 types.

[xShadow]

Hmm, does Black Friday come after the 14th this year? Because that's when LGA2011 releases.

...
If you invest in it, then it'll return the favor.
...

No, not really. The returns on a processor (or any part) are limited by what you can actually use the part for. If you can regularly use it to its full potential, yes, it will return the favor. Otherwise, it returns less than what you pay for it.


Looking over your build, I see plenty of places where I would have saved some money, but you've probably got a comfortable income; I'm a stingy college student. If you're satisfied and you're comfortable with how much you spent for it, that's all that really matters, I guess.