My Build - i5 760

[truepusk]

First off I'll go through the list of questions.
1. This PC will be a general use PC (surfing, work, music, sometimes movies/video) and a game PC (currently playing L4D2, probably SC2 sometime soon). So while games are a priority, what is really driving this is that all my old desktops are single core, so having something that has a nice processor besides just GPU is important.
2. Budget around $1000
3. USA bought parts.
4. No strong preferences (do like Seagate Barracudas)
5. Complete new build
6. I've read tons of build guides, threads, etc., though maybe not enough threads on this forum. Feel free to chastise.
7. I have an interest in overclocking. Moderate interest. I've never really overclocked on previous systems.
8. 1920x1080 Gaming. This system will have dual monitors, the second will be 1280x1040. But I don't plan on using 2 for gaming.
9. Building ASAP.

Components
1. CPU: Intel i5-760 (MicroCenter, $186 after taxes - what a steal!) I have this already!
2. MoBo: I have had a lot of heartache over this the past two days. Too many P55 options out there. Here are my thoughts:

a. Overclocking is a nice plus.
b. Definitely 4xMemory Dimms (16GB) w/ the fastest bus
c. Will eventually want a nice audio card with a front panel with RCA inputs on this.
d. In general (with c. above) more expansion slots are nice, but I probably don't need a ton.
e. I don't think I'm interested in SATA 6Gbps or USB 3.0 right now. Feel free to convince me otherwise, but I'm not going SSD or RAID. My wife does have a digital SLR that needs the card read from time to time, but when the technology matures I can get a board if need be.
f. SLI or CrossfireX might be nice for future expansion, but the likelihood of me actually buying a second graphics card for this box is probably low.​

I'm leaning towards the ASUS P7P55 LX for $110. It has everything I need (I think) and is ASUS, which is pretty popular with this chipset, and generally does well for overclocking (not sure about this particular one). It would be nice to save a little bit of money.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131604

3. GPU - maybe the ATI 5770. I think the 5870 is pretty heavily recommended, but I could save a lot of money with this choice for now. I haven't spent a lot of time thinking about this yet. I think I've heard that the 5770 is pretty good for 1920x1080 gaming anyway.

4. Everything else.... I'll hold off on posting my thoughts because I really haven't thought about the other components (other than maybe the case a bit) to get feedback.

What I REALLY need right now is some help on making a MoBo decision with all the possibilities out there. Thanks!

 

[truepusk]

This is my first post on this thread, so it just got 'approved', but in the meantime I searched around a bit more. I've noticed that people here don't tend to have very strong opinions about the motherboards - just get one with the features that you are happy with. I think on one of the other build threads someone mentioned a low performing MSI boards just because it came with Windows, which surprised me.

I'm still interested to hear what people think about motherboard options.

 

[fralexandr]

for 1920x1080 the nvidia 460gtx 1gb might be nice if you plan on playing other new games, although it might be a bit overkill for starcraft 2

for motherboards ASUS is a reputable brand and they use good capacitors i believe, so since it has the features you need, i'd say go for it
most of the motherboard manufacturers offer similar features and quality at their price bracket, so there really isn't anything that stands out if you don't need new features like USB 3.0, or Hydra? (more seameless SLI/CF) technology.

 

[truepusk]

for motherboards ASUS is a reputable brand and they use good capacitors i believe, so since it has the features you need, i'd say go for it
most of the motherboard manufacturers offer similar features and quality at their price bracket, so there really isn't anything that stands out if you don't need new features like USB 3.0, or Hydra? (more seameless SLI/CF) technology.

Yeah, I think I'll go with this option. I've been beating this decision to death and having difficulty finding differentiators. I think people don't spend as much time sweating motherboards because they aren't as likely to be crap as they were a decade ago.

I'll probably wait until I'm ready to pull the trigger on the GPU, I think. This board is very cheap and offers CrossFireX, but if I go with an nVidia option I might chose a similarly cheap board that offers SLI support, just so I have it as a potential future option.

 

[mfenn]

Yeah, I think I'll go with this option. I've been beating this decision to death and having difficulty finding differentiators. I think people don't spend as much time sweating motherboards because they aren't as likely to be crap as they were a decade ago.

I'll probably wait until I'm ready to pull the trigger on the GPU, I think. This board is very cheap and offers CrossFireX, but if I go with an nVidia option I might chose a similarly cheap board that offers SLI support, just so I have it as a potential future option.

Pretty much any board from the big 3 (ASUS, Gigabyte, MSI) is fine, as long as it has the features that you want.

That ASUS is fine, but I would definitely be looking into getting something with USB 3.0 at least. I would consider the GA-P55-USB3.

One last note, don't worry about SLI/Crossfire support, especially in your price range. Many boards technically "support" Crossfire, but have their PCIe lanes in x16/x4 configuration. This is not conducive to a good Crossfire experience.

 

[truepusk]

That ASUS is fine, but I would definitely be looking into getting something with USB 3.0 at least. I would consider the GA-P55-USB3.

You are welcome to try to sell me on why I need USB 3.0; it would be appreciated since I went back and forth so much on this earlier this week before leaning against it but I'm still not sure. My feeling is that if I really need it later I can get a card to support it. I can see an advantage in my wife reading her SD cards faster in the future from her digital SLR, but that would require additional hardware all around, so I'm not too concerned about future proofing me.

 

[truepusk]

GA-P55-USB3

I guess it is only $10 more. Does the USB3 interfere with the PCIe at all when enabled like with some of the other boards? I'm guessing it does since it states this:

"* When the PCIEX1_2 slot is populated with an expansion card, the PCIEX4_X1 slot will operate at up to x1 mode."

I'm assuming they mean that when the PCIe x1 is populated, it forces this slot to be in x1 instead of x4 mode. It's a little confusing.

 

[MisterDonut]

Your i5-760 will still be a powerful chip when USB3 takes over. You won't be paying much more anyways.

 

[mfenn]

I guess it is only $10 more. Does the USB3 interfere with the PCIe at all when enabled like with some of the other boards? I'm guessing it does since it states this:

"* When the PCIEX1_2 slot is populated with an expansion card, the PCIEX4_X1 slot will operate at up to x1 mode."

I'm assuming they mean that when the PCIe x1 is populated, it forces this slot to be in x1 instead of x4 mode. It's a little confusing.

Nothing really "interferes" with anything else. It's just that the P55 chipset has a limited number of PCIe lanes that the BIOS/motherboard designers can allocate.

On that board, Gigabyte decided to always allocate PCIe lanes to the USB 3.0 chip. This means that there are not enough electrical PCIe lanes left to go around for all of the physical slots that Gigabyte decided to put on the board. Thus, if you were to plug a card into PCIEX1_2, then there will not be enough lanes left over to allows PCIEX4_X1 to have 4 lanes.

It's no big deal IMHO, since PCIEX1_2 is the slot directly below PCIEX16, and thus would likely be physically blocked by a GPU. Due to the limited number of PCIe lanes on the P55, a sacrifice had to be made somewhere, and the Gigabyte designers (wisely IMHO) decided to sacrifice functionality only when the slot that is least likely to be in use (i.e. PCIEX1_2) is indeed populated.

 

[truepusk]

Nothing really "interferes" with anything else. It's just that the P55 chipset has a limited number of PCIe lanes that the BIOS/motherboard designers can allocate.

On that board, Gigabyte decided to always allocate PCIe lanes to the USB 3.0 chip. This means that there are not enough electrical PCIe lanes left to go around for all of the physical slots that Gigabyte decided to put on the board. Thus, if you were to plug a card into PCIEX1_2, then there will not be enough lanes left over to allows PCIEX4_X1 to have 4 lanes.

Got it. Yeah, a lot of the boards with 2x PCIe x16 allow x8/x8, but not if you enable Sata 6Gbps/USB 3.0, so it makes sense. Good to know there are no additional shortcomings.

It's no big deal IMHO, since PCIEX1_2 is the slot directly below PCIEX16, and thus would likely be physically blocked by a GPU. Due to the limited number of PCIe lanes on the P55, a sacrifice had to be made somewhere, and the Gigabyte designers (wisely IMHO) decided to sacrifice functionality only when the slot that is least likely to be in use (i.e. PCIEX1_2) is indeed populated.

Good to know it wont matter anyways. I was confused because they list it as PCIe x1 in the specs, but then that note refers to PCIe x1/x2 (if I am reading it correctly).

If you can't tell, this is going to be my first PCIe system. ;-)

Any thoughts on how this board might Overclock compared to similar options? It's something I'm considering doing. I know sometimes ASUS performs pretty well, close to the top, but I don't know about this particular model.

 

[mfenn]

Got it. Yeah, a lot of the boards with 2x PCIe x16 allow x8/x8, but not if you enable Sata 6Gbps/USB 3.0, so it makes sense. Good to know there are no additional shortcomings.

Good to know it wont matter anyways. I was confused because they list it as PCIe x1 in the specs, but then that note refers to PCIe x1/x2 (if I am reading it correctly).

PCIEX1_2 is referring to the fact that it is the 2nd PCIe x1 slot (the first one is above the x16 slot).

If you can't tell, this is going to be my first PCIe system. ;-)

So you could say that you are overdue for an upgrade!

Any thoughts on how this board might Overclock compared to similar options? It's something I'm considering doing. I know sometimes ASUS performs pretty well, close to the top, but I don't know about this particular model.

The top overclocker really varies with the market segment and day of the week it seems. The Gigabyte looks to have much beefier cooling of the onboard components though.

 

[truepusk]

So you could say that you are overdue for an upgrade!

Athlon 64 2000. Just upgrade from 512MB to 1GB ram a month ago (should have done it a couple years ago). Yeah, probably, although it still works surprisingly well. (Including for L4D2).

The desire for a multi-core system (it makes the OS a bit more responsive when something hangs) along w/ how awesome Windows 7 is on my brand new i7 work laptop.

Thanks for all the other info! Hopefully I'll find the time to put together the rest of my specs and get the order out this weekend. I'll almost definitely be posting more regarding the video card (and possibly the case), but maybe it will be an easy choice.

 

[mfenn]

Athlon 64 2000. Just upgrade from 512MB to 1GB ram a month ago (should have done it a couple years ago). Yeah, probably, although it still works surprisingly well. (Including for L4D2).

The desire for a multi-core system (it makes the OS a bit more responsive when something hangs) along w/ how awesome Windows 7 is on my brand new i7 work laptop.

Thanks for all the other info! Hopefully I'll find the time to put together the rest of my specs and get the order out this weekend. I'll almost definitely be posting more regarding the video card (and possibly the case), but maybe it will be an easy choice.

Sounds good. Update this thread when/if you need more help.

 

[truepusk]

Here is what I'm thinking:

1. i5 760 $186 after taxes @ Micro Center (I already bought this)
2. GIGABYTE GA-P55-USB3 - $120
3. 4GB RAM, TBD
4. MSI Radeon 5830 - $160 after mail-in rebate
5. Thermaltake Armor A60 - $110

PSU, etc., still TBD, probably pulled from one of the many other builds out there.

I know a better GPU is often recommended, but to me the cost savings are worth it. Maybe I'm crazy if I want to play in that resolution. I'm worried about the noise of that GPU. I haven't spent a ton of time looking at it thus far, but this looks like good compromise of price versus performance.

I want a case that has nice convenient features like easy slide-in slide-out hard drive bays like my old Lian Li V1000B, and the Thermaltake certainly seems to have it. I also would consider this Lian Li Lancool PC-K7B Black Aluminum; not as flashy and maybe the hard drive bays aren't as nice but a little cheaper and still might get the job done.

 

[mfenn]

For the RAM, I would go with G.Skill.

I would NOT buy a 5830. It's got the heat, power, and noise of a 5870 with performance only slightly better than a 5770. If you only want to spend around $160, the GTX 460 768MB is a much better choice.

 

[truepusk]

Unfortunately I was unable to solicit additional advice on this forum for a couple days because of a permissions issue caused by an email change, but I just figured it out and thought I should update this thread with what I finally went with. mfenn and others, thank you for the help.

I've also been cross posting on Ars, so anyone interested in some of the additional discussions behind the decisions, regarding HDD, Cases, RAM, PSU, and maybe some other things can check it out here.

1. i5 760 $186 after taxes @ Micro Center
2. GIGABYTE GA-P55-USB3 - $120
3. G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Dual Channel Kit - $89
4. ZOTAC Synergy Edition ZT-40401-10P GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 768MB 192-bit GDDR5 - $155 after rebate.
5. Thermaltake Armor A60 - $110
Actually got this from Directron for $89
6. SeaSonic S12II 520 Bronze 520W - $70
Actually got this from Amazon for $60
7. SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s - $75
Actually got this from Amazon for $66
8. LITE-ON Sata CD/DVD Burner - $22
9. Windows 7 Enterprise - $0 (volume license from my office)
10. Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - $10

Total - $797

Hmmm... I'm pretty happy with that price. That is after I get rebates (I think I only have one in there).

Next Steps
A. I want to get a 23" 1920x1080 Monitor for my setup. I just got an eMachines one for my wife that is nice for only $145 for NewEgg, but it was a deal of the day that I jumped on. Haven't seen anything that good since then, but keeping my eyes open.
B. I'll probably want to get some new quiet fans for both my older box and possibly for my newer box.
C. I'm going with OEM HSF for the CPU for now, but eventually I may get something after-market to quiet it down a bit.

 

[mfenn]

I'm not a big fan of the Armor series from TT, but everything else looks good!

As for the monitor, here's a 23" ASUS w/ HDMI (if that matters to you) for $165 AR.

 

[truepusk]

I'm not a big fan of the Armor series from TT, but everything else looks good!

As for the monitor, here's a 23" ASUS w/ HDMI (if that matters to you) for $165 AR.

On the case - yeah, I really went back and forth on that one. I spent a lot of money on my last case (about $200 on a Lian Li) and it probably wasn't as quiet as I would like but it looks beautiful and it is a joy to work in (great HDD slots, tons of space, etc.). I went a bit cheaper this time and decided to go with that case because of the nice HDD mounting system, the large amount of HDD space, and the two reviews I found of it said it was quiet. I haven't found anyone with firsthand experience. It also has USB 3.0 and it looks nice, although I don't quiet love the layout of the triangle shapes on the front.

On the monitor, I'm hoping to wait until I find another really good deal. It's funny - someone on Ars recommended almost the identical ASUS monitor to me. Someone on Ars also pushed me to look at the GTX460s and I had found the exact one you linked before I saw your reply earlier in the thread.

 

[crucibelle]

I don't think you're going to find a much better deal on a monitor than the one mfenn listed above. It's a great monitor, from what I've read about it.

 

[truepusk]

I don't think you're going to find a much better deal on a monitor than the one mfenn listed above. It's a great monitor, from what I've read about it.

I should be more specific. I am looking for a cheaper monitor, which will likely mean cheaper quality. I got a 23" eMachines monitor for my wife that she seems pretty happy with and I think looks nice. But perhaps I should spend some time checking it out and maybe do some research and make sure that there won't be a quality issue that I find irritating.

I guess I do have to admit that I have a 21 or 22" compaq monitor that I got a good deal on for work that I've been pretty happy with, but.... I am starting to notice that if my eyes scan across it or if my peripheral vision is looking at it I sometimes notice weird gradients or patterns in the solid colors that shouldn't be there. Not sure if that's an issue with the monitor or crappy VGA output from my laptop.

 

[mfenn]

I should be more specific. I am looking for a cheaper monitor, which will likely mean cheaper quality. I got a 23" eMachines monitor for my wife that she seems pretty happy with and I think looks nice. But perhaps I should spend some time checking it out and maybe do some research and make sure that there won't be a quality issue that I find irritating.

I guess I do have to admit that I have a 21 or 22" compaq monitor that I got a good deal on for work that I've been pretty happy with, but.... I am starting to notice that if my eyes scan across it or if my peripheral vision is looking at it I sometimes notice weird gradients or patterns in the solid colors that shouldn't be there. Not sure if that's an issue with the monitor or crappy VGA output from my laptop.

I figured that the price was probably pretty good for you since it is only $20 more than what you paid for the other one.

As far as your other issue, that's likely because the compaq monitor has crappy viewing angles. Since you're looking at each point on the screen from a slightly different angles and since the screen has a different apparent contrast when viewed from various angles, you perceive a difference in color.

 

[truepusk]

It's not viewing angle. I played around with it some more. Sometime I see it just barely when I move mt eye across the monitor but if I stare at one spot it looks mostly solid color. I also can recreate it by looking at the gray area on a window as I move the window around. It looks like a pattern of diamonds larger than the pixels. I don't see that effect on the nicer del laptop monitirs.

 

[truepusk]

you know, I am using a VGA output...

 

[mfenn]

you know, I am using a VGA output...

That could be the problem right there. Get a DVI cable, STAT!

 

[truepusk]

Probably getting a bit off topic. I've started a thread here

In other news, my NewEgg shipment came today. The box is expected tomorrow. If I can find the time I can put together my new machine this weekend.