Skye1013 wrote:Ok, so with them being the same price, the HIS would be the "better" buy over the VisionTek?
Will the motherboard affect anything in regards to gameplay/speed/etc., or am I good to go just picking up the cheapest I can find?
Edit: changed the name of the thread since it's not just dealing with those two cards anymore
. Also edited the first post to show what my current status is on part selections, in case anyone is interested/has additional insight.
Yes, probably, for the video cards. If you wanted to manually overclock, I'm not sure which would be better (it would depend on which cooler is better), but if you won't do that, go for the one with the faster out-of-the-box clocks.
Motherboard: The expensive motherboards tend to have better power circuitry (for better overclocking). I'd go with a P67 or Z68 chipset (rather than H61 or H67) since it will let you overclock. Z68 lets you use the on-chip graphics on the CPU, but since you're buying a discrete graphics card, that's a non-issue. If you want to be able to add another graphics card in crossfire later, get a board that supports it - meaning two PCIe x16 slots. And that's two slots wired to the CPU (generally advertised as "either x16 or x8/x8", some motherboards have a "x16 slot, running at x4" which means the second slot is wired to the southbridge, and they won't handle crossfire well). But yeah, unless you're trying for a massive overclock (which I doubt), or you want to run 3- or 4-card crossfire, then don't worry about getting a high-end/expensive motherboard. Just look for the features you want (USB3/bluetooth/etc), and try and get a brand you trust. Also note: That's a 2500k CPU, not a 2500. The k at the end means you can overclock it, basically (they also have slightly better built-in graphics, and cost a few dollars more).
As far as why I recommend overclocking: The Sandy Bridge chips are basically designed for it. It's easy and quick to bump most of the chips to at least around 4GHz, and they run cool enough that you generally won't have any cooling issues. Just get some sort of third-party heatsink (the one amazon threw up as "usually bought with this CPU..." is $28), raise the multiplier a bit, and then run something fairly intensive for a while to make sure it doesn't crash.
Hard disk: First off, that drive you have linked (the Hitachi 3TB) is a coolspin drive (equivalent to the WD green drives, or the Samsung EcoGreens or the Seagate Barracuda greens) - it's a slower drive, more aimed at lower power consumption than better performance. If you're going to have much in the way of apps and other frequently-accessed content on it, it might be worth getting a 7200rpm drive instead, they are faster. Second, it's not price-efficient. For the price of the 3TB drive ($153), you could almost get a pair of the 2TB drives (2x$79.99). Much better to go with the 2TB drives, and either get a pair of them (if you'll need that much space), or spend some of the money you save on getting a 7200rpm drive instead. As far as specific brands, I hear good things about the Samsung drives, but as far as I'm aware they are all fairly similar.
SSD: An SSD will give a huge increase in general system responsiveness, etc. Get one if you can. If you want a cheap one, the Agility 3s look nice, and the 60G version is only $116. If you're spending a bit more, I'd recommend the 120G Vertex 3 (same company, same controller chip, somewhat better flash memory). Whichever you get, make sure you connect it to the Sata 6.0Gbp/s on your motherboard (both the P67 and Z68 chipsets come with two 6.0Gbp/s ports and four 3.0Gbp/s, so most motherboards will have at least a couple of each wired up).
DVD drive doesn't really matter. If you want to watch blurays, get a bluray drive, otherwise pick out something cheap. With steam/other digital distribution stuff more common now, you could probably even go without if you wanted (there are instructions for making a bootable thumb drive to install windows available from a quick google).
Networking: If you want a wireless card, I have heard good things about the TP-link (cheaper) and Edimax (better, but more expensive) adapters. Personally, I have a USB one I can use when necessary, and otherwise just use wired - wired is faster and more stable than wireless, in my experience. The quality of wireless does depend a lot on how many networks there are nearby, along with a bunch of other factors. Anyway, as far as which type to go: If you have a wireless G or 2.4GHz 802.11n AP, the 2.4GHz-only adapters are cheaper. If you have a dual-band router (or have problems with 2.4GHz congestion near where you live) a dual-band (2.4 and 5GHz) adapter/access point might be a better investment. But in the end, wired will always be better, if you can manage it (and your motherboard will have built-in gigabit, so it'll be cheaper, too).
Sound card: If you've got a receiver with HDMI in/out, you could run your screen through that (computer -> receiver -> screen) and use HDMI sound. If so, don't bother with a sound card. If not, I'd wait and see how good the motherboard's built-in sound is - generally it's alright, and unless you've got a good sound setup or amazing headphones, you won't notice a difference. I hear good things about the Asus Xonar cards, but again: Don't spend the money unless you're unsatisfied with what you get for free.
Case and PSU: Case is mostly a matter of personal preference. Make sure it's big enough to fit an 11" graphics card (the 6950s are 10.5" or so). Other than that, it's mostly up to you, though better ventilation will allow your video card/CPU fans to do less work, meaning things should be a bit quieter. Personally, I love the Fractal Design cases - I dislike the excessive LED lighting/coloured bling on most of the "enthusiast/gamer" cases. Power supply comes down to brand. You'll want at least 500W or so (650-700W minimum if you want to Crossfire later), and just get something from a reputable brand. I'm a big fan of Antec - I've had good experiences with their support, and I've built a lot of computers with their power supplies and rarely had problems. I hear good things about the Corsair AX series, but they are aimed more at the high-end market (800W+). Anyway, I'm actually using an Antec Sonata III right now (with a Radeon 6970, it only JUST fits in). The 500W power supply included runs everything fine, but with the huge graphics card blocking off the middle of the case, the ventilation is pretty poor. I'll probably be buying a Fractal Design tower at some point, in the hope of making things quieter (the GPU fan kicks up to 100% in games, and it's noisy).
RAM: Corsair, G.Skill or Kingston. A kit with two 4GB sticks (8GB total). You probably don't need quite that much now, but RAM is really cheap, so it's a fairly good idea to future-proof. Don't worry too much about speed - if it's only a few dollars more, maybe get DDR3-1600 rather than DDR-1333, but don't fork out for the really fast stuff, and don't waste money getting memory with better timings. The difference (if any) is slight.
Wow, that's a big wall of text. Hope it's helpful, rather than confusing.
. Thanks everyone for your help, I think I'll probably end up grabbing the 6850 or 6950. Guess the next step is deciding on a processor, which will narrow down my MoBo choices (right?) 