Building a new computer for games/normal use---need help

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The size of the power supply has no effect on your electric bill. If your system uses 500w then that's all the power supply will generate. If you have a 1000w power supply then it has the capability of producing 1000w, but it only generates whats needed.

From what I've seen peak efficiency of a PSU is around 40-60% load (its a slight bell curve), so if you're under-utilizing it you're losing efficiency and paying more to the electric company for power that is essentially wasted.
Granted the difference isn't enormous, but over time why throw away money like that.
(cool thread I found about it here)
 
Alright, the majority of the community and various reviews seems to think the i5 is far superior to the amd. Thanks for that benchmark test 95BlackGA, that helps open my eyes to realtime performance. I think I will make that switch to the i5. It will be nice to have Intel & Nvidia working together. I will update my original post with my changes once I pick out a motherboard to support the i5. Does everyone agree the P8P67 series would be the best bet for this build as mentioned before? Let me mention I am considering ditching the graphics card I have chosen and going SLI.

I think I will worry about the PSU after I have all my pieces set in stone. Modular would be great, but not required.

And about the 16G of RAM. I think I will see what my final price is, and weigh the options of price from 8G to 16G. I'm thinking about the times when I will be loading into a city and 100+ custom characters will be standing there waiting to all be loaded at once. This is also why I want a 2G memory on a graphics card.
 
Every transformer/rectifier loose power to lower the voltage and convert the AC to DC. Cheaper psu use cheaper parts... cheap parts usually consume more power(and heat more). That's why you should use for example a 750w 80+ than a cheap 750w.For example, If you're system require 400w, you won't see a difference between a 750w and a 1000w with the same efficiency. Watt = Volt x Amp.
 
Ok, so changing my processor and motherboard to:

Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost)
ASUS SABERTOOTH P67 (REV 3.0) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Let's talk about graphics cards. This piece should make the most difference with the gameplay. Which do you prefer, one newer powerful card, or stepping a series down and running two in SLI/Crossfire. I would rather have a Nvidia card, but if a ATI card proves to be far superior for the same price I will consider it. What role is the video cards on board memory do vs. your RAM? Which will play the big part in loading multiple custom characters at once? The ram? The GPU onboard memory? Running two cards in SLI? Neither of these? Also, if you get two cards with 1gb each onboard memory, is that going to be the same as having 1 card with 2gb?

What is everyones price realistic favorite SLI geforce cards?
 
+1 on i5 2500k, 6 core is unnecessary (as is the i7 2600k), for gaming.
+1 on 16GB of RAM being overkill for gaming, even 8GB is more than enough.

Also, there is nothing wrong with having more power than you need (other than a higher electric bill), but you could drop that PSU down to a 650w and still run that build.
Corsair HX650w $99.99 w/ MiR, free shipping, its modular and 80+ bronze (more efficient).

Actually, the i7 is a quad-core, same as the i5... ;)
 
Ok, so changing my processor and motherboard to:

Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost)
ASUS SABERTOOTH P67 (REV 3.0) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Let's talk about graphics cards. This piece should make the most difference with the gameplay. Which do you prefer, one newer powerful card, or stepping a series down and running two in SLI/Crossfire. I would rather have a Nvidia card, but if a ATI card proves to be far superior for the same price I will consider it. What role is the video cards on board memory do vs. your RAM? Which will play the big part in loading multiple custom characters at once? The ram? The GPU onboard memory? Running two cards in SLI? Neither of these? Also, if you get two cards with 1gb each onboard memory, is that going to be the same as having 1 card with 2gb?

What is everyones price realistic favorite SLI geforce cards?

I'd say go with the Radeon HD 6970, it's ATI's 2nd most powerful graphics card. And after a couple of years, you can always go and crossfire it.

ATI>nVidia, in terms of bang for your buck.
 
Ok guys, I completed my build. I used information from this thread and site to help me decide my parts with some education behind them, so thanks a lot guys!

Case: Cooler Master Storm Sniper
Motherboard: ASUS Sabertooth P67 Rev 3.0
Processor: Intel i5 2500k
RAM: G.SKILL Sniper 8G DDR3 1866
Graphics Card: ASUS HD6950 2Gb :big_smile:
Hard Drive: x2 in RAID0 WD Caviar Black 750GB 7200rpm 64mb Cache
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master V6 GT
Power Supply: Corsair Professional Series HX750W Modular

I also purchased Windows 7 64bit.

I had one problem with the CPU cooler fitting with this case and motherboard. The case has a cutout on the back for the bracket on the backside of the motherboard, but I think this sabertooth p67 has the cpu placement a little abnormal and it put it at the corner of this cutout in the case. The CM V6 GT bracket doubles for AMD and Intel chipsets, 1 side for AMD and the other for Intel. The AMD side flanges stuck out and was hitting the case and wouldn't let the motherboard set in it's spot. So, if you are to use this motherboard with this case (likely other cases too) and this cooler, you will have to modify the rear bracket. Here are some pictures.

This is how the cpu sets in the cutout
IMG_0341.jpg


Here is the bracket after I cut the amd flanges off the bottom
IMG_0342.jpg


And here it is installed after modification
IMG_0345.jpg


Also, here is a picture of everything installed and wired up!
IMG_0346.jpg
 
She looks beautiful, congrats on the new rig!

I'm a bit surprised, I thought cases had enough room with standoffs between the motherboard and tray to provide clearance for the backplate. Although, I think for a new build most people attach the CPU cooler before they mount the motherboard, if it doesn't fit that could be really awkward when mounting the motherboard.
 
Yeah before the modification it is IMPOSSIBLE to mount the board. The angle on that picture is weird but with the way the bracket sticks out it is level with the cutout. So before when you have the AMD flanges on the bottom, it just won't fit. Wasn't hard to modify though, just cut her off with my die grinder.
 
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