Post Your Sandy Bridge Build

[Porter_]

Sandy Bridge cpu's are soon to be released, let's see your builds

here's my fairly low budget build:

CPU - Intel Core i5-2500K ($225)
Mobo - ASUS P8P67 PRO ($169)
RAM - ADATA 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600 ($49)
HSF - CM Hyper 212+ and fan for push/pull ($41)
GPU - MSI GTX 460 1GB Hawk ($160)
PSU - Corsair AX850 ($160)
HD - WD Caviar Black 1TB ($90)
Case - CM Storm Sniper BE ($140)
DVD - Sony Optiarc ($20)
Soundcard - X-fi Xtreme Gamer (reusing)
Keyboard - Razer Lycosa (reusing)
Mouse - Razer Deathadder (reusing)
Display - Dell S2409w 1920x1080 (reusing)

total price: $1054

Update 1/12/11:

and the best feature of this case...i can turn the bling off with the push of a button:

 

[avatar[djedi]]

Awesome idea. Here's my midlife crisis build (expecting children soon, so I suspect this will be the last one I get to build for awhile):

CPU - Intel Core i7-2600K (not available yet, but I keep clicking refresh on newegg)
Mobo - OH GOD I CAN"T DECIDE
<ninja edit #1> Decided on Asus P8P67 Deluxe (Ordered)
RAM - Also can't decide.
<ninja edit #2> just bought 8gb of the Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9, it's on sale for $109 @ the egg!
HSF - stock until I buy water cooling
GPU - Gigabyte GTX 580 (bought & received)
PSU - Antec HCP-1200 (bought & received)
HD1- OWM 120GB ssd (bought & received)
HD2 - SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB (bought & received)
Case - HAF-932 (bought & received)
<ninja edit #3> (just ordered an FT02B, anyone want a HAF-932? )
Optical- Lite-On iHBS212 12x Blu-ray Burner w/ LightScribe Support (ordered)
Soundcard - probably onboard, and hook it up to a receiver with optical out, otherwise Creative X-fi Titanium (not decided)
Keyboard: Razer Blackwidow Ultimate (bought, it's broken after 5 days of use, and getting returned for either a steelseries G6v2, or a filco maybe).
Mouse: Steelseries Xai (bought, and love it)
Mouspad: Steelseries SX (bought and love it)
Headphones: AudioTechnica ATH-A700 (already had)
Monitor: NEC 2490wuxi with AW-polarizer (already had)


Watercooling to be added in two months. Will get a 30" monitor somewhere down the road and then a second video card.

I look forward to reading everyone else's motherboard/ram picks so I can steal your ideas as my own!

 

[Porter_]

CPU - Intel Core i5-2600K (not available yet, but I keep clicking refresh on newegg)

ha you and me both. very impressive 'mid-life' crisis build

 

[avatar[djedi]]

Oops, "mid-life". Yeah, by the time you can save up for/afford this stuff, you get real busy with other things in life, and then you're old! A lot of it is overkill, and definitely not in the optimal price/performance range. I tell myself that this is in lieu of a porche!

 

[AARGH!]

I guess this is my Post Mid-life crisis build as I got two kids in college and one in highschool.

New parts:
CPU: Intel 2600k
Motherboad: Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD7
Case: Corsair Obsidian 800D
Primary drive - SSD: 2x Crucial RealSSD 128GB C300 SATA III (RAID 0)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB 1600 (2x4GB) [8-8-8-24]

Reused parts from current system:
Audio: X-Fi Fatality PCI
Static Storage: 2x320Gig Seagate drives
Video: XFX 6970
DVD/BR: LG GGC-H20LK
Cooler: Corsair H50
Speakers: Klipsch Promedia 5.1
Headphones: Logitech G35
Monitors: Eyefinity w/Dell U2410/U2410/2405
Keyboard: Logitech G19 & G13
Mouse: Logitech MX Revolution

 

[Ehren8879]

CPU - Intel Core i5-2500K (probably)
Mobo - Either MSi GD65 or Gigabyte UD4 (depends if EFI is considered worth it)
RAM - 8GB of Corsair Vengeance 1600
HSF - Corsair A70
GPU - Gigabyte HD6950
PSU - XFX 850w Black Edition
HDD - SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB
SSD - ? (Future purchase)
Case - Antec P183 (probably)

Monitor - Dell U2311H (If they ever go onsale again)
Keyboard - ?
Mouse - ?

 

[MobiusPizza]

I guess this is my Post Mid-life crisis build as I got two kids in college and one in highschool.

New parts:
CPU: Intel 2600k
Motherboad: Gigabyte GA-P67A-UD7
Case: Corsair Obsidian 800D
Primary drive - SSD: 2x Crucial RealSSD 128GB C300 SATA III (RAID 0)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB 1600 (2x4GB) [8-8-8-24]

Please, do yourself a flavor, DO NOT RAID0 a pair of RealSSD C300.
C300 relies heavily on trim to retain performance. Running it in any RAID mode would degrade performance in few months or so.

Unless you do heavy video editing, additional speed offered by RAID0 is not going to have any real world benefit. You'd be on equal footing if you use the C300 on 6GB/s SATA ports on the new motherboards Not to mention reliability issue of going RAID0. Actually, Windows bootup time lengthens by at least 10 seconds due to RAID controller BIOS.

I'd recommend you disable RAID and perhaps a span to combine capacity. I am not sure if you can do it by software (Dynamic volume in Windows) while installing Windows on top at the same time, I doubt it. So you'd still have to suffer additional boot time due to hardware span requiring the storage chip BIOS

Did I mention remember to use the Intel, not Realtek 6GB/s SATA ports for the two SSDs.

 

[AARGH!]

Thanks for the info, alot of what I have read online says that Garbage Collection on the Crucial SSD's makes up for the lack of TRIM in RAID 0. I will research some more, since I got the time and haven't purchased anything yet..

Please, do yourself a flavor, DO NOT RAID0 a pair of RealSSD C300.
C300 relies heavily on trim to retain performance. Running it in any RAID mode would degrade performance in few months or so.

Unless you do heavy video editing, additional speed offered by RAID0 is not going to have any real world benefit. You'd be on equal footing if you use the C300 on 6GB/s SATA ports on the new motherboards Not to mention reliability issue of going RAID0. Actually, Windows bootup time lengthens by at least 10 seconds due to RAID controller BIOS.

I'd recommend you disable RAID and perhaps a span to combine capacity. I am not sure if you can do it by software (Dynamic volume in Windows) while installing Windows on top at the same time, I doubt it. So you'd still have to suffer additional boot time due to hardware span requiring the storage chip BIOS

Did I mention remember to use the Intel, not Realtek 6GB/s SATA ports for the two SSDs.

 

[trxjw]

CPU: Intel Core i7 2600K
CPU Cooler: Undecided
Mobo: MSI P67A-GD65
RAM: Undecided, but 8GB of something.
GPU: MSI 6950 2GB (purchased)
SSD: G.Skill 120GB (purchased)
HDD: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB (purchased)
PSU: Undecided
Case: Silverstone TJ09 (have)
Audio: X-Fi Xtreme Gamer (have)
DVD: Samsung 18x DVD-R (have)
OS: Win 7 64bit

Peripherals:
Monitor: 24" BenQ G2400WD 1920x1200 (have)
Keyboard: Have a logitech something or other.. might upgrade
Mouse: Logitech G5 (have and love)
Headphones: My HD570s are dead in on one side, so I see some HS1's in my future

The rest of my machine (sig) will probably go into a HTPC case to spend the rest of its days running XBMC. Should be a fun month.

 

[Porter_]

some nice builds in here! some of you are specifying "i5-2600K", and you either mean i7-2600K or i5-2500K

 

[mikeohara]

here's my incoming SB build:

CPU - i7-2600k
Mobo - MSI P67A-GD65 (or the EVGA P67 SLI board if it's reasonably priced)
RAM - 16gb Corsair Vengeance kit
HSF - Reused Corsair H70 (Thank god for 1156 mounting brackets!)
Video Card - GeForce GTX580 (hoping for enough cash from college tuition refund for SLI setup)
Sound Card - Creative SB Titanium
Power Supply - Corsair HX1000
Case: Corsair 600T
and a Bluray Burner to top it all off.

Things I'm reusing: my HDD drives. I'll make the move up to W7 Ultimate x64 from Pro x64

 

[MobiusPizza]

Thanks for the info, alot of what I have read online says that Garbage Collection on the Crucial SSD's makes up for the lack of TRIM in RAID 0. I will research some more, since I got the time and haven't purchased anything yet..

The only SSD with aggressive enough I've seen with garbage collection to be used in a RAID scenario is the Toshiba T6UG1XBG controller, e.g. the Kingston SSDNow V+100.

Aggressiveness of GC in C300 I don't know. There had been bugs with GC at launch but the latest firmwares should probably be fine. If you are going to keep the RAID at least update the firmwares.

 

[77Pat]

CPU - Intel Core i5-2500K (ordered) $225
Mobo - Gigabyte UD4 (ordered) hopefully $190
RAM - Averix 4gb Standard 1333 (ordered) $45
HSF - Thermlright Silver Arrow (ordered, hopefully they update the motherboard compatibility list) $75
GPU - Asus 6850 DirectCu (ordered) $180/$160 AR
PSU - Antec New TP-550 (ordered) $50
HD - Intel 40gb SSD (boot)(ordered) $38
Samsung F3 1TB (storage) (ordering) $52
Case - Lian Li Lancool K-PC62R1 (ordered) $75
DVD - LG DVD Burner (ordered) $18
Monitor- Dell u2311h (ordered) $215
OS- Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit (ordered) $70

Total will range from $1265 (waiting on some MIR's)
plus about $120 for mechanical keyboard, mouse, mousepad



Reusing
Soundcard - Emu 0404usb (reusing) (deciding if I would rather have internal w/ Asus Essence ST, Claro Halo, or the new Meridian) most likely just purchasing separate amp though $150
Keyboard - Logitech MX3000 (reusing, eventually purchasing BlackWidow or other sub-$100 mech) $30
Mouse - Logitech MX3000 (reusing, considering MX1100, g500, DeathAdder, other palm grip mice under $50)
Headphones- Sennheiser HD580 (reusing) $125
Speakers- Logitech Z-2300 (reusing)

 

[wwischerath]

Mine is still a work in progress, but here is my build,
Case Lian Li Q07 (got it)
Mobo Asus P8H67I or Zotac H67ITX U3
CPU i5 2500S
PSU SeaSonic S12II 520W (got it)
Palit GTX 460
2 WD 500GB 2.5 HDD (got them)
WD 256GB SSD (got it)
Ram-depends on board

What I dont have I will get after Jan20th while home on R&R

 

[Taikero]

GPU: Sapphire HD 5870 ($200)
Mobo: MSI P67S-C43 ($115)
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws 2x4GB DDR3 1600 ($93, should have saved some money and gone with the 1333s that came a couple weeks later, but didn't know prices would continue to drop so quickly, I got antsy after seeing RAM prices so obscenely high all summer)
Optical: Asus 24x ($17)
Cooler: Hyper 212 ($24)
CPU: i5 2500k (~$216)
Case: Antec P180 ($53)
HDD: WD 640 Caviar Black ($50)
Displayport -> DVI adapter ($27)
Dell 2209WA IPS 22" monitors x3 ($200 + $200 + $230)

All has been ordered except for the CPU, and I still need to find a good deal on a PSU to power it all.

Cost for rig: $795 + whatever I spend on a PSU
Monitors: $630
Total cost: 1425 + PSU.

Overall, I'm very pleased. Been piecing things together as I found deals for a while now. I'll add an SSD when a good deal comes around.

 

[Actuary]

New Parts:
CPU: i5 2500K (Micro Center on Sunday)
HSF: CM Hyper 212+ (ordered)
Mobo: Not totally decided, probably Asus P8P67 (Micro Center on Sunday)
Vid Card: XFX 6870 (ordered)
RAM: 2x4gb G. Skill Ripjaw 1333 (ordered)
Optical: Asus DVDRW (ordered)

Upgrade cost: about $750

Reusing the following:
Case: HAF 932
PSU: Corsair 650TX
Sound: Creative XtremeMusic
Assorted Hard drives

Maybe I'll grab an SSD when Gen 3 comes out in a few months.

 

[Porter_]

received my ASUS P8P67 PRO motherboard today

 

[n0code]

CPU: i5 2500k (Purchasing on Sunday for $179 from MC)
GPU: EVGA GTX260 216 (Previous)
Mobo: MSI P67S-C43 ($116 shipped) <edit>
Mobo: Asus P8P67 Pro (Purchased at MC with CPU for $339)
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 8GB CAS9 DDR3 1600 ($119 - $10 rebate)
Cooler: Hyper 212+ ($24 Purchase plus extra fan)
Case: Lian Li Leftover (previous)
HDD: Spinpoint F3 1TB x2

 

[Porter_]

CPU: i5 2500k (Purchasing on Sunday for $179 from MC)
GPU: EVGA GTX260 216 (Previous)
Mobo: MSI P67S-C43 ($116 shipped)
RAM: Looking around for 8GB of 1600
Cooler: Hyper 212 ($24 ordered)
Case: Lian Li Leftover (previous)
HDD: Spinpoint F3 1TB

Nice build, welcome to the forums

 

[Actuary]

What's factoring in to everyone's motherboard choice, particularly if you went with the Asus pro/deluxe instead of the regular p8p67?

 

[Porter_]

What's factoring in to everyone's motherboard choice, particularly if you went with the Asus pro/deluxe instead of the regular p8p67?

i went with the pro because it offers crossfireX and SLI. the P8P67 only offers crossfireX support. the deluxe had features i wouldn't use so i saved some money by getting the PRO.

 

[n0code]

Nice build, welcome to the forums

Hah, thanks Been hitting this site since god knows when. I swear I thought I had an account on here since '89. Had to recreate. I was a silent troll Basically I'm kind of upgrading to Sandy but in the process of also replacing everything just at different times. GPU and LCD will come later.

My current GPU should be good enough for my 22" Samsung 226CW 1680x1050 so I figured I'd try it out with all my games first to see how badly I need a new GPU.

my E6750 just isn't cutting it for me anymore.

 

[mastermike707]

My build still has a lot of unknowns, need more research. Any advice would be great!

i5-2500K $215.00
Mobo (undecided) $150.00
8GB G.Skill RAM 1333 (the one on Slickdeals) $75.00
Cooler (Not sure what to go for here) $40.00
XFX 6950+BIOS upgrade $310.00
Power Supply (Still need to figure this out too) $100.00
Case (Probably antec 900, what else should I be looking at?) $100.00
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB $70.00
SSD (what are the best ones to be looking at in this price range) $200-$300

Total $1,260.00-$1360

Motherboard wise I am looking at the Asus P8P67 and this article shows that the deluxe version has much better crossfireX scaling:
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1500/9/
I am looking for the cheapest board with CrossFireX incase I ever want to grab another 6950. Thoughts?

 

[Porter_]

My build still has a lot of unknowns, need more research. Any advice would be great!

Case (Probably antec 900, what else should I be looking at?) $100.00

i've been extremely happy with my current Antec 900 but i was ready for a change. the one complaint i have against it is that it's a bit cramped inside. if i were you i would get the Antec 902 over the 900. same tight quarters inside, but small adjustments in the overall design. nice things like an all-black interior and fan-control on the outside of the case (the 900 requires you to go inside the case to adjust fan speeds). cooling wise, both cases perform extremely well.

i ordered the CM Storm Sniper because it appears to cool just as well as the 902 but has more room inside, better options for cable management, and an external rheostat fan speed controller. i wanted to shy away from 'gamer' looking cases for this build but to get something more classic looking, and with good performance, requires more money than i'm willing to spend. and at least i can turn off all of the LED's on this case

the Corsair 600t looks like a nice case too (i'm not fond of the aesthetics), and allows for easy cable management. both this one and the CM Storm Sniper are a little out of your budget. if i were limited to $100 i would go with the Antec 902, personally. maybe more people can weigh in with different options.

 

[Meatsauce]

i've been extremely happy with my current Antec 900 but i was ready for a change.

the Corsair 600t looks like a nice case too (i'm not fond of the aesthetics), and allows for easy cable management. both this one and the CM Storm Sniper are a little out of your budget. if i were limited to $100 i would go with the Antec 902, personally. maybe more people can weigh in with different options.

Had an Antec 900 for 3 years but it was getting a little cramped and cable management was pretty bad. Just got my 600T today and dropped my older components into it. Sandybridge needs to hurry the hell up.

Note: If your going to get the 600T your probably going to want to get some after market fans because the ones that come with the case are very weak. The Corsair 600T runs hotter than the Antec until you add some better fans and then it's about even in terms of cooling. The 200mm fans are 20mm thick instead of the normal 30mm thick so you can't replace those with better fans unless you want to do some modding. You can replace the top 200mm fan with two 120mm fans without modding though.

Antec left, 600T right

Not the best wiring job but man it was so easy compared to the antec

 

[Actuary]

So all my components except my video card, which were ordered at 5:15pm EST yesterday shipped yesterday, but my video card, ordered 25 minutes after that, has not.

Edit: I take it back, the video card just shipped, and from the NJ warehouse instead of CA, which is much closer to me. Shame you can't go pick it up at the warehouse.

 

[JookyOne]

Just ordered my first round of parts this morning to replace my 3+ year old C2D rig.

Motherboard - ASUS P8P67 PRO
Video Card - EVGA 570 GTX Superclocked
RAM - G. Skill Ripjaws DDR3 1600 8GB
SSD - 64GB Crucial C300
HD - Samsung F3 1TB

I plan on picking up a 2600K on launch and am leaning towards the ASUS P8P67 Pro motherboard but am also interested in the EVGA P67 SLI offerings. I will be reusing my 750TX power supply, peripherals and CM690 case (albeit I am very tempted to order a 600T after seeing those images!)

 

[Porter_]

Antec left, 600T right

nice comparison pics Meatsauce. the 600T looks like an awesome case, i like all the rubber grommets they included inside for cable management. keeps everything nice and tidy.

 

[Porter_]

Just ordered my first round of parts this morning to replace my 3+ year old C2D rig.

Video Card - EVGA 570 GTX Superclocked
RAM - G. Skill Ripjaws DDR3 1600 8GB
SSD - 64GB Crucial C300

I plan on picking up a 2600K on launch and am leaning towards the ASUS P8P67 Pro motherboard but am also interested in the EVGA P67 SLI offerings. I will be reusing my 750TX power supply, peripherals and CM690 case (albeit I am very tempted to order a 600T after seeing those images!)

looks like a good start. i'm not 100% certain but it looks like the one EVGA board that is available only supports SLI and not crossfireX...if that's of concern to you.

 

[JookyOne]

looks like a good start. i'm not 100% certain but it looks like the one EVGA board that is available only supports SLI and not crossfireX...if that's of concern to you.

Probably true. In all honesty, I've been an nVidia customer for years and don't think I can recall an ATI product in one of my builds for many years. However, having the flexibility of running one or the other is certainly beneficial for future video card purchases. I will certainly be keeping this in mind.

I am currently foaming at the mouth in anticipation of this build! It's been a long time!

 

[JookyOne]

Oh and I neglected to put it in my original parts list, but I also picked up a Samsung F3 1TB drive as a backup. I've been trying to decide whether or not I should just use the SSD and the 1TB drive or also include my Raptor X 150GB for other applications. I plan on hosting the OS and a few select games on the SSD (BFBC2 via Steam) and then backing up all my music and pics on the TB drive so I'm not quite sure what to do with the Raptor. It's also up there in years so it may be best to retire it....undecided at this point

 

[Porter_]

Probably true. In all honesty, I've been an nVidia customer for years and don't think I can recall an ATI product in one of my builds for many years. However, having the flexibility of running one or the other is certainly beneficial for future video card purchases. I will certainly be keeping this in mind.

I am currently foaming at the mouth in anticipation of this build! It's been a long time!

here is my brief history with multi-gpu supporting mobos:

* bought a 650i without multi-gpu support - "i'll never need more than one card, i'll always just upgrade to a good single gpu"
* the 650i died and i replaced it with a 750i SLI, was running an 8800GT at the time - "i'd like to add another 8800GT, and i've always liked nvidia GPU's..i'm fine avoiding ATI while i have this mobo"
* swapped out my 8800GT for a 4870 and ran it for 2 years at the end of which i was saying - "wish i would have gone with a crossfire mobo, would like a cheap upgrade of adding another 4870"

i'm making sure i cover my bases this time

 

[Finny76]

received my ASUS P8P67 PRO motherboard today

Does it have the Front Panel USB 3.0?

 

[Porter_]

Does it have the Front Panel USB 3.0?

no sir, you have to get the deluxe version for that which includes a 3.5" front panel bay

 

[JookyOne]

Just ordered the same motherboard a minute ago Porter....need to add it to my build list!

 

[Porter_]

Just ordered the same motherboard a minute ago Porter....need to add it to my build list!

very nice! i think you'll be happy having the option to go crossfire or SLI in the future.

 

[avatar[djedi]]

no sir, you have to get the deluxe version for that which includes a 3.5" front panel bay

This is one of the reasons I got the deluxe, the other reason was the $15 off coupon code for superbiiz! The other features like the led indicators and reset switches are nice too (but admitedly not essential). The Pro is a solid version to get, especially if you're looking for price/performance.

 

[Brad Gamma]

Antec left, 600T right

Wow thanks for those comparisons meatsauce. I am moving from a 900 to a 600t for by SB build and those were exactly what I needed. Its quite a bit bigger isn't it? Still, im really looking forward to it.

So far my build will vary depending on what else is released in the next 2 to 3 weeks, and how stupid I feel with my money. I had help with a build on here a few weeks ago, but something delayed me and then it seemed stupid not to go for a SB.

Processor - 2500k (£170-£180)
Motherboard - Not sure, overclocking looks nice and easy on these boards so I will probably go for whichever decent brand releases a good black and red board first. will spend around £150
Video Card - XFX 6950 or possibly ASUS (£220 to £240)
HDD - Sumsung 1tb F4 (£40)
SSD - Crucial C300 64gb for OS (£95)
RAM - Corsair Vengeance 1600mhz 2 x 4gb (£105) (just like the looks)
PSU - Seasonic X-650 (£110)
DVD drive - Any (£15)
Case - Corsair 600t (£130)

Total around £1050. If I am feeling particularly stupid, I might spring for a 128gb SSD.
I will use a corsair h50 that i got as a present too.

 

[Porter_]

The other features like the led indicators and reset switches are nice too (but admitedly not essential).

i wish the pro came with a reset switch instead of a jumper. it has a switch for EPU, MemOK! and another 'feature' i can't think of off the top of my head....but no clear CMOS switch. i figure with how easy overclocking is on SB, i won't be clearing the CMOS all that often. *crosses fingers*

So far my build will vary depending on what else is released in the next 2 to 3 weeks, and how stupid I feel with my money.

haha i think a lot of us can agree with that

PSU - Seasonic X-650 (£110)

nice choice

 

[Brad Gamma]

nice choice

Danny Bui recommended it to me, and every review I've read since has made me quite excited for it.