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Need Help with different builds, planning to buy ASAP

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May 29, 2013 11:44:20 PM

Hi guys I have two separate builds and I need advice on which one would be better for the cost.

I'm not planning to OC or SLI/Crossfire but I'm sticking to get the i5 3570k but anything else is definitely up for a substitution if you guys feel that there is a better part to get.

Budget is around the $750-$830 tops

Should I switch any of these parts? Mainly undecisive on which MoBo, GPU and Storage please help me decide so I can purchase the parts by the end of the week.


Build 1

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($169.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($134.99 @ Microcenter)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($56.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 XT 2GB Video Card ($248.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Thermaltake VL80001W2Z ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($54.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $745.91
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-05-30 02:37 EDT-0400)

Build 2

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($169.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: MSI Z77A-G41 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($84.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($56.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($124.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Asus Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB Video Card ($219.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Thermaltake VL80001W2Z ATX Mid Tower Case ($40.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($54.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $827.89
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-05-30 02:41 EDT-0400)

More about : builds planning buy asap

May 30, 2013 12:00:43 AM

IF you're not OC'ing, why be so stuck on a K CPU? You want best bang for the buck,

well a K CPU which you aren't OC'ing, isn't best bang for the buck!

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May 30, 2013 12:12:54 AM

If you do not plan to OC, you can drop down to a 3470 and a H77 (or Haswell equivalent, if you're willing to wait a week), and use the savings to go up to a 7950, or to add that SSD while staying at a lower price.

Also, do you actually have Microcenter access, or is that just Part Picker being Part Picker?

Edit: However, if it absolutely must be one of the two builds, the first build is superior. The XT blows the GHz Edition 7870 completely out of the water.
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May 30, 2013 12:50:51 AM

Jack Revenant said:
If you do not plan to OC, you can drop down to a 3470 and a H77 (or Haswell equivalent, if you're willing to wait a week), and use the savings to go up to a 7950, or to add that SSD while staying at a lower price.

Also, do you actually have Microcenter access, or is that just Part Picker being Part Picker?

Edit: However, if it absolutely must be one of the two builds, the first build is superior. The XT blows the GHz Edition 7870 completely out of the water.


I actually do have Microcenter access so that's why I'm kind of set on buying the i5 3570k since Microcenters price for it is incomparable to other stores as well as the CPU/Mobo bundle which I can go with either the ASRock or MSI so do you think I should stick which the XT then and just forget about the SSD until later on?


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May 30, 2013 12:55:43 AM

imronwthru said:
Jack Revenant said:
If you do not plan to OC, you can drop down to a 3470 and a H77 (or Haswell equivalent, if you're willing to wait a week), and use the savings to go up to a 7950, or to add that SSD while staying at a lower price.

Also, do you actually have Microcenter access, or is that just Part Picker being Part Picker?

Edit: However, if it absolutely must be one of the two builds, the first build is superior. The XT blows the GHz Edition 7870 completely out of the water.


I actually do have Microcenter access so that's why I'm kind of set on buying the i5 3570k since Microcenters price for it is incomparable to other stores as well as the CPU/Mobo bundle which I can go with either the ASRock or MSI so do you think I should stick which the XT then and just forget about the SSD until later on?




You can still improve efficiency by dropping to a 3470. Microcenter prices it at $140 or so, which is significantly less than the 3570k. The bundle of the 3570k and the Extreme4, is, to my memory, $260, while a $140 3470 and a $80 H77 would give you a $40 surplus. This, in turn, would allow you to afford your SSD without dropping your GPU.

Edit: Or, alternatively, allow you to fit in a Gigabyte Windforce x3 7970.
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May 30, 2013 12:56:21 AM

Well an SSD definitely isn't a requirement. So by all means if you can spare it until later, sure, do that.

However it's not as if you've picked some bad GPUs. I think you'd be pretty happy eitherway.
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May 30, 2013 1:33:48 AM

Personally I would take an SSD + 7870 Ghz over just a 7870 XT any day.

I know that the XT is like a 79xx yadadada, but even so, the difference at most in games is going to be like 10%. Would I notice the difference between 30 and 33 FPS? No... 60 FPS vs 66 FPS? No! But SSD vs mechanical is like night and day! Here's a (admittedly rather negative) review of the 7870 XT for reference sake.

Now I'm not saying it's a bad card, and I would obviously take the XT over the Ghz Edition, if the builds were otherwise identical, it's just it doesn't quite seem worth losing an SSD for, esp. when it's a rather shoddy card in terms of heat, noise and power consumption. Does 5-10% more performance really justify all those downsides in this situation?

That's just my 2 cents.

EDIT: @OP It's certainly not worth spending $40+ extra if you're really not planning on over-clocking. That would add a lot of flexibility to your budget, just by dropping to a H77 + 3350P.

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May 30, 2013 2:33:35 AM

^
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May 30, 2013 9:37:02 AM

Jack Revenant said:


You can still improve efficiency by dropping to a 3470. Microcenter prices it at $140 or so, which is significantly less than the 3570k. The bundle of the 3570k and the Extreme4, is, to my memory, $260, while a $140 3470 and a $80 H77 would give you a $40 surplus. This, in turn, would allow you to afford your SSD without dropping your GPU.

Edit: Or, alternatively, allow you to fit in a Gigabyte Windforce x3 7970.


Thanks for the huge advice! I think i'll drop to the 3470 and get a H77 board to afford the SSD and the 7870 XT. The 7970 is just above my budget.

With that decision does everything look okay such as the power supply, memory, etc..
Also do you recommend a good H77 board?
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May 30, 2013 9:46:37 AM

Looks very good.
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May 30, 2013 10:02:28 AM

X79 said:
Looks very good.


Do you have a H77 board you recommend?
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May 30, 2013 10:16:06 AM

Not really anything I'd recommend.
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Best solution

May 30, 2013 10:30:13 AM

The H77M from ASRock is a fairly cheap and cheerful H77 board that a lot of people go for. There's no windowed side-panel in your case (at least not a large one), so it's not such an issue that it's microATX (in fact I think this is slightly better, since it gives you more flexibility in case choice).

H77 motherboards don't tend to get reviewed much though, since you can't over-clock the CPU on them, which is what everyone cares about. The thing is basically any H77 will do, since you don't need to care about features such as CPU power phases as much, without the over-clocking potential. Just go for the one you can get at the best price, they're all fairly similar in terms of quality (unlike Z77 motherboards, which can really range).

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May 30, 2013 10:32:11 AM

Thanks M, appreciate all the information!
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May 30, 2013 1:37:07 PM

imronwthru said:
Jack Revenant said:


You can still improve efficiency by dropping to a 3470. Microcenter prices it at $140 or so, which is significantly less than the 3570k. The bundle of the 3570k and the Extreme4, is, to my memory, $260, while a $140 3470 and a $80 H77 would give you a $40 surplus. This, in turn, would allow you to afford your SSD without dropping your GPU.

Edit: Or, alternatively, allow you to fit in a Gigabyte Windforce x3 7970.


Thanks for the huge advice! I think i'll drop to the 3470 and get a H77 board to afford the SSD and the 7870 XT. The 7970 is just above my budget.

With that decision does everything look okay such as the power supply, memory, etc..
Also do you recommend a good H77 board?


The XT + SSD is an absolutely fine choice, but you most certainly can afford the 7970, should you want it:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3470 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($149.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: ASRock H77 Pro4/MVP ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($82.55 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($56.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card ($389.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Thermaltake VL80001W2Z ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($54.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $809.48
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-05-30 16:36 EDT-0400)
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May 30, 2013 2:36:41 PM

I think a bug with PCPartpicker means that the price of the case hasn't been added in your build there Jack. It is doable-ish though (being $20 over an already ABSOLUTE MAX budget isn't optimal). I guess it comes down to what you value more, but to me a modern PC without an SSD isn't a modern PC.

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May 30, 2013 2:40:45 PM

marshallbradley said:
I think a bug with PCPartpicker means that the price of the case hasn't been added in your build there Jack. It is doable-ish though (being $20 over an already ABSOLUTE MAX budget isn't optimal). I guess it comes down to what you value more, but to me a modern PC without an SSD isn't a modern PC.

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I had assumed that was intentional, given that it was marked as purchased in his first build. However, given that it isn't in his second, it may well be a bug.

It does come down to preference, to be sure. For me, graphical power is more important than an SSD, but I was also fortunate enough not to have to choose between them myself. Mostly, I wanted OP to be aware that he had the option of a 7970, whether or not he chose to use it.
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May 30, 2013 2:46:39 PM

marshallbradley said:
Personally I would take an SSD + 7870 Ghz over just a 7870 XT any day.

I know that the XT is like a 79xx yadadada, but even so, the difference at most in games is going to be like 10%. Would I notice the difference between 30 and 33 FPS? No... 60 FPS vs 66 FPS? No! But SSD vs mechanical is like night and day! Here's a (admittedly rather negative) review of the 7870 XT for reference sake.

Now I'm not saying it's a bad card, and I would obviously take the XT over the Ghz Edition, if the builds were otherwise identical, it's just it doesn't quite seem worth losing an SSD for, esp. when it's a rather shoddy card in terms of heat, noise and power consumption. Does 5-10% more performance really justify all those downsides in this situation?

That's just my 2 cents.

EDIT: @OP It's certainly not worth spending $40+ extra if you're really not planning on over-clocking. That would add a lot of flexibility to your budget, just by dropping to a H77 + 3350P.

M


In my country the xt and non xt are at the same price so that is an easy decision.
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May 30, 2013 5:41:25 PM

I've decided to just over my budget and purchase the SSD with the HDD. Also I'm going to purchase an aftermarket cooler to slightly OC the i5 3570k with an asrock z77 extreme 4. I'm going to stick with the 7870, does that sound pretty good?
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May 30, 2013 5:47:19 PM

Yup. Have fun.
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May 30, 2013 5:53:22 PM

X79 said:
Yup. Have fun.


Actually I've decided to switch to the ASUS P8Z77-V LK would that be just the same performance as the ASRock Z77 Extreme 4
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May 30, 2013 5:55:50 PM

Z77 is good for OC'ing I hear. So it should be alright.
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May 30, 2013 6:02:54 PM

X79 said:
Z77 is good for OC'ing I hear. So it should be alright.


So either one of them should be fine yea?
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May 30, 2013 6:05:37 PM

I'd say so.

Just make sure all the sockets and RAM Hz are supported etc.

More SATA connections also mean more things like HDDs ;) .
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May 30, 2013 6:34:05 PM

Here's my final build does everything work well with each other?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($169.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($22.98 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V LK ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($124.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($56.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($124.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 XT 2GB Video Card ($248.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Thermaltake VL80001W2Z ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($54.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $883.87
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-05-30 21:33 EDT-0400)
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May 30, 2013 6:40:32 PM

Almost.

The motherboard has front panel USB 3.0

But the case doesn't support that.
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May 31, 2013 12:29:11 AM

X79 said:
Almost.

The motherboard has front panel USB 3.0

But the case doesn't support that.


This is what I have bought so far now is this good and do I need to purchase any thermal compound or after market fans?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($169.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($22.98 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V LK ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($124.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair XMS3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($65.54 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($124.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card ($269.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($54.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $963.43
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-05-31 03:28 EDT-0400)
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May 31, 2013 12:42:02 AM

isn't the 4770K out in a few days?
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May 31, 2013 12:54:39 AM

sancco said:
isn't the 4770K out in a few days?


4770k and new z87 mobo would be out of my budget seen that this build is pushing it already :( 
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