Will this Build Work?

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limeinthcoconut

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Nov 17, 2012
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Hi there!
I have never built a pc, but have friends who have to help me. I would just like some thoughts and opinions on this build. I won't be buying any parts until about May, or June. I live in Canada and would like to stick to Newegg Canada's site. My budget is $900, but I am willing to go a little higher if it's worth it. The build will mostly be for gaming, but I'll be doing school work, and every day computing tasks as well, I already have an OS. Any help is appreciated! I

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler

Motherboard: MSI Z77A-G45 Thunderbolt ATX LGA1155 Motherboard

Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 660 2GB Video Card

Case: Corsair 500R White ATX Mid Tower Case

Power Supply: Antec Basiq Plus 550W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V Power Supply

Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer

Total: $876.83
 
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Novuake
I agree with robthatguyx, step up to an 3570K, to allow you to use the Z77 chipset to OC.
Also if you are gaming at 1080p, you really need to consider getting a better GPU. My suggestion would be either a GTX660ti or HD7870 LE. The HD7870 LE being the better choice from a price to performance perspective in my opinion.
Here are 2 nice ones.

GTX660ti - http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500269
HD7950 - http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202006
HD7870 LE - http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202024

As I said the last one is the best choice in my opinion. Its faster than a GTX660 and pretty similar in price, it will also OC very well.

I very much like your choice in mobo...
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limeinthcoconut

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Nov 17, 2012
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I added the parts on PC part picker, its a little more than I would like to pay hopefully it's worth it!

 
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Novuake

Novuake

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I agree with robthatguyx, step up to an 3570K, to allow you to use the Z77 chipset to OC.
Also if you are gaming at 1080p, you really need to consider getting a better GPU. My suggestion would be either a GTX660ti or HD7870 LE. The HD7870 LE being the better choice from a price to performance perspective in my opinion.
Here are 2 nice ones.

GTX660ti - http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500269
HD7950 - http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202006
HD7870 LE - http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202024

As I said the last one is the best choice in my opinion. Its faster than a GTX660 and pretty similar in price, it will also OC very well.

I very much like your choice in mobo, but I do think you can save some money there. Thunderbolt is not something that will be of much use on a desktop for many years to come. But I see its only like a 20$ diff from what I would suggest. http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157293
 
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blazorthon

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Sep 24, 2010
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Seasonic isn't the only company with good PSUs.

However, I do agree that that Antec BP-550+ PSU is best avoided because it has very poor +12V power delviery despite a decent wattage rating. It's power delviery is cutting things way too close considering the power consumption that OP'd build would have at load even at stock, let alone if overclocking is considered. There are many good alternatives both from Seasonic and not from Seasonic.

OP, why get a Z77 board, a board for moderate to heavy overclocking, with a CPU that doesn't support that? If you want to overclock significantly, then I recommend getting a K edition CPU like robthatguyx said. If heavy overclocking isn't your thing, then I'd recommend a cheaper motherboard.
 
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blazorthon

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Sep 24, 2010
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The 7950's main advantages over the 7870 LE/XT is how much overclocking headroom it has and power efficiency. The 7950 has much more performance headroom and is more power efficient. If OP won't overclock, then I'd recommend the 7870 LE/XT, but if OP does overclock, then stepping up to the 7950 is a great idea.
 
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Novuake

Novuake

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Agreed. But I was suggesting the HD7870 LE just because of his budget, its much cheaper than an HD7950, overclocking matters not if he does not have the budget for it.
 
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g-unit1111

g-unit1111

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Jul 27, 2011
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If you're not going to overclock I'd suggest getting this: PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3350P 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($184.25 @ NCIX)
Motherboard: ASRock Z75 Pro3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($99.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($48.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon HD 7870 XT 2GB Video Card ($259.99 @ NCIX)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($44.99 @ Canada Computers)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 520W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($84.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($15.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Total: $809.18
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-03-12 17:24 EDT-0400)
 
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Novuake

Novuake

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Better GPU. Since he has 900$ budget... :)
 
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limeinthcoconut

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Nov 17, 2012
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What would be best with little over clocking?
 
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Novuake

Novuake

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The AMD cards this generation OC much better than Nvidia, Nvidia actually limits the gains from OCing thanks to a little thing called GPU Boost. Read the below for more of an explanation.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-680-review-benchmark,3161-4.html

So if you consider than an HD7870XT/LE is clsoe in performance to the GTX660ti but can be OC much much more AND it is cheaper........ You see where I am going with this?
 
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blazorthon

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Sep 24, 2010
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Boost hurts GPU overclocking, but I guarantee that Nvidia's non-unlock-able voltage hurts Nvidia's overclocking much more than Boost ever did and probably will in the foreseeable future. Their weaker memory buses can also cause issues with overclocking effectiveness.
 
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limeinthcoconut

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Nov 17, 2012
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Sounds great, I've always only heard the good good side of Nvidia, I think i'm going to get an Asus 7870 GHz edition.
 
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Novuake

Novuake

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True, BUT I find GPU boost very inconvenient. Let me explain why. You push your clock to ridiculous heights without even needing to increase voltage and it appears as if the damn card is OCing like there is no tomorrow, but the actual performance gain is not near as close thanks to throttling. Its just damn misleading.

So that is why GPU boost comes first as an OC limiter on Kepler in my opinion.
 
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Novuake

Novuake

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NO NO! It has to be an LE or XT version for it to be a good buy. The normal HD7870 is not based on the same hardware as the HD79xx series that is such a great deal.
This one is great.
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131484
Although it has a slower clock rate, it has actually more "cores" to process with, it is based on the HD79xx series that is AMDs top range.

Anyway about Nvidia, they used to be damn good from a driver standpoint. But this generation AMD really has made a VERY big comeback on the drivers. The value to performance ratio is so much better on the AMD side right across the board with the exception on the GTX650ti.
If you look at the 'best graphics card for the money' articles each month, you will see that AMD really dominates it.
 
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limeinthcoconut

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Nov 17, 2012
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I'll be sure to pick up that card, it will be a pretty good first time build. Thanks you for all of your help!

 
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Novuake

Novuake

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Pleasure and ENJOY!
 
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blazorthon

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Sep 24, 2010
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I think that the 7870 LE/XT cards' main advantage over the 7870 GHz Edition is in memory bandwidth. Their GPUs are fairly similarly performing because the core count difference really isn't to much grater than the GPU frequency difference. Going from 1280 cores at 1GHz to 1536 cores at 925MHz isn't a big jump in GPU performance, but going from 1.2GHz memory to 1.5GHz memory is a bigger jump.

[citation]
True, BUT I find GPU boost very inconvenient. Let me explain why. You push your clock to ridiculous heights without even needing to increase voltage and it appears as if the damn card is OCing like there is no tomorrow, but the actual performance gain is not near as close thanks to throttling. Its just damn misleading.

So that is why GPU boost comes first as an OC limiter on Kepler in my opinion.
[/citation]

That is a good point. However, I'm convinced that it wouldn't be nearly as much of an issue if the voltage was unlocked because you could then set much higher voltage points where the GPU Boost wouldn't need to throttle so much in it's needless attempt to not violate TDP.

Sorry if it seems like I'm nitpicking, I agree with your recommendations :(
 
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