Building 1st new rig in 5 yrs = LOST

[dmack973]

Hi guys,

I am wanting to build a new rig. I built my last one about 5 yrs ago and am totally lost on the new tech. I primarily use my computer for gaming, with some work thrown in using Office. I have never gotten really crazy about over clocking and tweaking. I really want something that is fast out of the box for a decent price point. Let's say for under $900. I would like some hardware recommendations with these parameters: ASUS motherboard, Intel Chip. I have a new 1000w power supply so I don't need one of those. Also have a DVD-Rom drive. Everything else I need. MB, Proc, Memory, HDD, case, and a video card or two. Thanks in advance for the help.

[glc]

What brand is that power supply?

Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER HAF 912 RC-912-KKN1 Black SECC/ ABS Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Newegg.com - ASUS P8Z77-V LK LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

Newegg.com - Intel Core i5-2550K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Without IGP BX80623i52550K

Newegg.com - CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Profile Desktop Memory Model CML8GX3M2A1600C9

Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Newegg.com - ASUS HD7850-DC2-2GD5 Radeon HD 7850 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

You have the option to wait a bit for Ivy Bridge, that motherboard will be compatible.

[dmack973]

BFG Tech 1000W power supply. Have it installed in my current PC.

[dmack973]

Thanks g;c,

Couple of quick questions. Can you recommend a Nvidia based card that would work with the motherboard instead of Radeon that I can SLI? Is SLI worth it? Also the case looks cool but while watching the video it looked like you would have to remove most of the HDD storage racks to fit a video card in.

[glc]

No, SLI is not worth it. That Radeon is the best card in its price range right now, it equals the performance of a GTX 570 which is $300+. Radeons can be Crossfired, but by the time that card no longer handles games it will be time for a significant upgrade anyway.

Check out this case:

Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER RC-692-KKN2 CM690 II Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

[dmack973]

Thanks for warning me off SLI. I will definately take your advice. The case you recommended is really nice. Thank you very much again. Should I go with 8g of Ram or 16g? Also if you were to upgrade any of the components listed with a little more $$$ what would you do?

[glc]

8g should be fine, you can always upgrade later.

2 places you could upgrade with more money:

1. Higher end video card, such as a Radeon 7870.

2. A 60g Intel 520 SSD for caching the hard drive using SRT.

Best Graphics Cards For The Money: April 2012 : Best Graphics Cards For The Money, April Update

Newegg.com - SAPPHIRE 11199-03-20G Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card OC

Newegg.com - Intel 520 Series Cherryville SSDSC2CW060A310 2.5" 60GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - Internal SSD

[dmack973]

What is SRT and how do you install and set it up?

[glc]

Smart Response Technology - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...zWETLMgApxXBJA

AnandTech - Intel Z68 Chipset & Smart Response Technology (SSD Caching) Review

Several other sites, Google "Intel SRT".

[dmack973]

One last question. Is there any benefit of going with a Proc that has the on chip graphics processor. I noticed the Asus board has the Virtu hybrid graphics feature. Thanks.

[rwest]

With a discrete video card? No

The only advantage you get with the onchip graphics is: If your video card dies, you can still use your pc while you wait for a replacement.

You get more benefit form the 2550K without the IGP. More processing power for the primary tasks and a tad bit faster.

[dmack973]

Just want to say thank you to GLC and Rwest for their help. I will be ordering up the parts very soon. I am looking forward to this new build!

[dmack973]

What wattage power supply would be adequate for this proposed system? My old/current system may need to stay in service!

[glc]

Minimum 500 watts.

Newegg.com - CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX650 V2 650W ATX12V v2.31/ EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC High Performance Power Supply

[dmack973]

Ok guys. All of the above listed parts have shown up. Inluding the SSD mentioned. I am getting ready to build tonight. I am confused about the SSD setup for SRT using the listed HDD. I read the MB manual and it says to set up in bios for Raid. Do I do this first on initial power up and then start the windows 7 format and install? I thought for a raid setup both drives had to be the same size? Just a little confused. Also after i get the hardware setup and windows running it then says to install the SRT software, is that correct? Thanks for the help in advance!

[glc]

Set the controller to RAID, but do not configure an array.

[dmack973]

Ok. Having a little/big problem. Got the system built last night and installed Windows 7 clean this afternoon. Installed all the MB dirvers and the everything else. Loaded the SRT drivers and created the maximum accelerated cache. In the SRT disk manager it showed everything was fine and the SSD and HD were linked. Had to apply a Windows update that required the system to reboot. Upon reboot am getting the BootMgr not found error. CTRL Del to restart. Checked during startup it says the SSD is caching for the HD like normal. Am stuck any advice. Put windows disk in to try repair no dice.

[Nizmo]

You might want to check the bios version for mobo, ASUS mobos are shipped with some crazy old versions, yeah even for the latest mobos, and needs the bios to be updated.

And when installing Windows, only attach the HDD, install chipset and graphics drivers, install Windows update, then do the SRT thing.

[dmack973]

Thanks for the advice. Got everything running finally. Only a couple of glitches I seem to have. for some reason when the monitor shuts off(I have it set for 20 minutes), the screen stays blank no matter what I do. The system is totally unresponsive and is unable to wake up. I have the computer set to never turn off in power management so I don't know what is going on.

Also the LG Blu Ray burner I purchased seems to be painfully slow.

Newegg.com - LG Black 12X BD-R 2X BD-RE 16X DVD+R 12X DVD-RAM 10X BD-ROM 4MB Cache SATA 12X Super Multi Blue with 3D Playback & M-DISC Support WH12LS39 LightScribe Support - Blu-Ray Burners

I have it hooked up correctly is just seems slow. Taking almost twenty minutes to install Crysis 2. Anyone have any thoughts?