My first build, the I have no idea what I'm doing edition

Hi there,

How many monitors do you plan on gaming on? I only ask, because any build above say $1500 is a waste of moola, unless you're gaming at say 5760x1080. You're much better off saving that $700 for upgrades further on down the line. You will generally be a happier person with a newer card, every couple of years (easily doable with $700), than being stuck with SLI 680s, which will be out performed by that single $350 card 2 years down the line. For a single monitor SLI 680s is just foolish. Much better to buy a single card now (esp. since it will mean a lot less noise, which is important at uni) and get a new card in 2-3 generations time.

Also the 7970 Ghz Ed will almost certainly be faster in both single and dual card setups, for quite a bit less than a GTX 680.

Any reason for the networking card? All modern motherboards come with ethernet ports.

That's a rather uninspiring case. You can easily do better for half the price. For example check out the Antec One. It has a bottom mounted power supply and a painted interior, all great features.

M

As a single GTX 680 user running a single 1920x1200 26" monitor, I have to agree with MB. If you are not running triple monitors or a super-high resolution 2560x1440 or 2560x1600 monitor, you are effectively throwing money away with two 680s. Even if you are running triple monitors or super-high res, you can still save money with a pair of 670s. I personally do not like dual card setups. I've had both Crossfire (AMD 4870s) and SLI (GTX 570s). The heat and problems are not worth spending the same or a little more on a comparable performing single top end card...exactly the reason I sold my 570s and got a 680 when it came out. Not to mention the less power draw with a new generation more efficient card.

Also, regarding your build list, I'm curious as to why you would choose a case that already has a power supply with it. Seems like a waste to me...unless you plan on keeping that as a backup or use it in another rig. And if you have any doubts what that Noctua cooler can do for overclocking and temps, see my sig.

I think one the huge advantages of building your own PC is to be able to change your components and gradually upgrade your PC. The idea of 'future-proofing' is utter bull. Don't buy graphics power unless you need it currently. Buy the time games which require you to have better graphics than a single 680/7970 come out, there will be something much faster, cheaper, quieter and less power hungry than if you still had GTX 680s in SLI.

Cases are a tough thing to evaluate, because they are so subjective (a large part of their defining factors is their looks). My suggestion is to go on YouTube and watch some reviews of ATX cases (LinusTechTips is a great starting place). A good review will go through all the nice features, with camera shots from multiple angles. That way you can get a 'feel' for the case, which is in my opinion the most important thing to have when choosing a case.

Yes the Noctua should be plenty for that, it's a very good cooler. Bear in mind that overclocking is in no way guaranteed though. You may be unlucky and get a chip that will do no better than 4.2 Ghz. It's just the silicon lottery and there's nothing you can do in that sort of situation. The upside is that anything above 4.2 Ghz for Ivy Bridge, really has negligible gaming benefits.

EDIT: I'm not saying you'll have an income (as a uni student myself I wholly understand), I'm saying save the money now, rather than throwing it away on SLI 680s, and spend it later when newer hardware comes out.

@10tacle Wow, nice work! Maybe sometime I'll get around to properly doing something with my 3570K (it's currently at stock voltage, so it's probably a pretty nice chip).

M

Hi again,

a) That case is out of stock, maybe just a standard Three Hundred Two would be best: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129180

b) Corsair Vengence is not compatible with the NH D-14. The heat sinks are too high, so you wouldn't be able to install the cooler (which would seriously suck). You can check here for a list of compatible RAM: http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=compatibility_ram_gen&products_id=34&lng=en Stick with the Patriot kit. You also don't need 16gb (like really you don't). RAM prices are sky high right now, so just upgrade to 16gb when (or if rather) you find you need to.

c) You still have the network card for some reason.

Otherwise fine.

All the best,

M

In my humble opinion, the mouse is the most important aspect of gaming. It is the thing you actually game with. Thats not to say spending more money gives you a much better experience. But let met guess, that dell mouse has only two button, a scroll wheel, and is wired? You can do better, especially with your budget. My advice is go to a store that sells them (Best Buy, Staples, etc.) and pick out a Logitech wireless mouse that feel comfortable in your hand. It doesn't have to be a "gaming mouse," which usually just means being wired for slightly faster response times and programmable keys you'll never use because they are to much of a bother to program (unless you play one game a lot!).

Here's one suggestion: http://www.amazon.com/Logitech-910-001822-M510-Wireless-Mouse/dp/B003NR57BY .

PS: Im about to go to uni, so maybe fan noise may be a concern, I'm not sure.

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So, there is a strong likelihood that your PC is going to be bouncing in a care several times a year? In that case, I'd strongly advise away from a heavy air CPU cooler like the Noctua you picked out. Thats nearly three pounds of extruding metal putting strain on your motherboard. Worst case scenario: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/build-a-pc-tahiti-le-crossfire-overclocking,3454-6.html .

A lot of users use these things without problems, but why risk it? For starters, unless you are interested in overclocking, there is little reason to use anything but the stock coolers that come with your CPU. Intel does not want their CPU to fail due to inadequate cooling. If you are interested in overclocking, I'd spend a bit more to chose a closed loop liquid cooler. Or spend the same and get a budget oriented liquid cooler that will still give you great cooling and peace of mind. I myself use a Corsair H55 which I got for $55 from Best Buy, and pegged a 4.5 ghz OC with a i5 3570K, which is about as good as it gets (I've seen some claims of 4.6, not sure if they are stable, but close enough).

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/ctst/saved/1oZG

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If you want to save a $80 and not compromise current day gaming performance, consider the i5 3570K. It has the same number of cores, where as the i7 enable hyperthreading. Very few gaming benchmarks show much benefit to having the extra "virtual cores" that hyperthreading enables. If you are using your PC for tasks like video editing, the extra CPU power might come in handy, but otherwise its money spent that won't be utilized. The 3570K is a great overclocker.

Again, thank you for taking the time to take a look. Have a nice day!

Thanks everyone, just two more things,
1. Is the motherboard ok
2. Is 2 gb vram and 8gb ram enough

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1. Depending on your needs, you can probably get a motherboard for $100 that will serve them just as well. Motherboard manufacturers get the blueprints from Intel directly, and spending more does not get you a performance improvement. Instead, it gets you things like 2 PCI-e 16x slots for dual GPU configurations. As others have said, dual GPUs are throwing money at a problem that you probably won't have. For 95%+ of gamers, a single card solution is best. Your pariticular motherboard has 8 SATA sockets. Do you think you are going to need 8? You need one for each hard drive, SSD, and Disc player. My current machine is only using 3. Here's one (single card only, 6 Sata sockets). So, consider this motherboard instead: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130646 .

2. 8 gigs is plenty, I recommend Corsair Vengeance. VRAM is a bit trickier. VRAM is typically not that important for performance, so 2 gigs is plenty. Depending on how you game, 1 gig is plenty.