New build! Opinions and advice needed please.

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Tyler Martel

Honorable
Jun 10, 2013
8
0
10,510
Hey,

I made a list on PCPartPicker, but to be honest I do not really know what I am doing when it comes to choosing all this stuff. It must have a SSD for the OS and then an HDD for storage and what not. My goal is to build a computer that is similar to a system I can buy from a vendor, but build it for less.


Approximate Purchase Date: Hopefully by the end of June.

Budget Range: Under $2000; what to build a computer similar to those on the market, but cheaper

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming , Music, General(office), Pictures, Simulations (ie. rendering and development software) and movies

Are you buying a monitor: Possible, I do have a 51" plasma, but that wouldn't be practical for working

Parts to Upgrade: New build from Scratch!

Do you need to buy OS: No. Windows 8 would be nice though?

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Canada Computers, Newegg, (amazon i guess)

Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Parts Preferences: Intel CPU, none other than that
Overclocking: Yes

SLI or Crossfire: What's the difference? :/

Your Monitor Resolution: No moniter.

Additional Comments: I like the Zalman Z11 Plus (case) and I would like liquid cooling and internal/external lighting

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: New Build


I made a list on PCPartPicker but to be honest I do not really know what I am doing when it comes to choosing all this stuff. It must have a SSD for the OS and then an HDD for storage and what not. My goal is to build a computer that is similar to a system I can buy from a vendor, but build it for less.


PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/153hT
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/153hT/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/153hT/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100 92.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($97.13 @ TigerDirect)
Motherboard: Gigabyte G1.SNIPER 5 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($399.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Intel 320 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($196.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($94.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 670 2GB Video Card ($379.99 @ Newegg)
Sound Card: Asus Xonar DX 24-bit 192 KHz Sound Card ($82.99 @ Best Buy)
Wired Network Adapter: Intel EXPI9301CTBLK 10/100/1000 Mbps PCI-Express x1 Network Adapter ($28.63 @ NCIX US)
Case: Zalman Z11 Plus ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Corsair Enthusiast 650W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer ($55.98 @ Outlet PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.90 @ Amazon)
Total: $1875.55
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-10 19:35 EDT-0400)


All feedback, opinions and suggestions are greatly appreciated. Help me out with this build guys! Thanks!

Also I am from Canada, but using USA websites for parts is fine as they seem to have better deals!
 
Solution
Onus
Motherboards all have an Ethernet adapter on them, so you probably won't need the separate wired Ethernet adapter.
Good hard drive choice; I like the WD Blacks myself.
The PSU is a good size and good quality.
You might be spending more than needed on the motherboard. Unless you're planning on multiple graphics cards and high overclocks, you may not even need to spend half that.
Motherboard sound is pretty good these days. Unless you'll be using $400 speakers or attaching your system to a stereo system, you probably won't need the sound card. In any case, it is something that is easy to add later if you decide you do.
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Onus

Onus

Titan
Jan 27, 2006
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Motherboards all have an Ethernet adapter on them, so you probably won't need the separate wired Ethernet adapter.
Good hard drive choice; I like the WD Blacks myself.
The PSU is a good size and good quality.
You might be spending more than needed on the motherboard. Unless you're planning on multiple graphics cards and high overclocks, you may not even need to spend half that.
Motherboard sound is pretty good these days. Unless you'll be using $400 speakers or attaching your system to a stereo system, you probably won't need the sound card. In any case, it is something that is easy to add later if you decide you do.
 
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T

Tyler Martel

Honorable
Jun 10, 2013
8
0
10,510


Okay so new motherboard, difference between those 2? Is mid tower fine or should I go full tower?
 
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Onus

Onus

Titan
Jan 27, 2006
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Mid towers are fine. Full towers are used by people either with multiple high-end graphics cards that need the additional cooling a full tower can provide (yours does not, especially if that's one of the EVGA cards that exhausts its heat), or they need the space for a stack of hard drives.
 
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T

Tyler Martel

Honorable
Jun 10, 2013
8
0
10,510
Okay, so I have taken some things into consideration and this is the new list I've come up with so far. Still haven't decided on a case. I am going to stick with the 16gb of RAM. Still have a bit of budget left so what else should I change/upgrade/add.



PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/15eQ3
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/15eQ3/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/15eQ3/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100 92.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($97.13 @ TigerDirect)
Motherboard: MSI Z87 MPOWER ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($229.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($92.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($94.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 670 2GB Video Card ($379.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Haven't Decided
Power Supply: Corsair Enthusiast 650W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer ($55.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $1400.03
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-11 09:05 EDT-0400)
 
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Onus

Onus

Titan
Jan 27, 2006
37,037
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Change the SSD to the 840 PRO. The vanilla version of the 120GB drive was dinged pretty badly for poor performance by HardOCP in their review of it.
Something I personally do now that you may like also is get two data drives and run them in RAID1 for protection against drive failure. You still need to do backups, so an external USB3.0 drive like a WD My Passport (its software can do versioning, which is nice) is a good backup solution.
With a budget up to $2000, you also have room for a UPS. I like the Cyberpower PFC series (have two different ones), which have a waveform that won't cause more sensitive Active PFC PSUs to shut off.
 
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Thanatos Telos

Thanatos Telos

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Mar 8, 2013
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The GTX 770. Much better performance for only 20 dollars more.
 
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Tyler Martel

Honorable
Jun 10, 2013
8
0
10,510


Okay so video card, Wasn't sure if you meant ASRock 770 iCafe mobo.
 
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Tyler Martel

Honorable
Jun 10, 2013
8
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10,510
Okay done a few more things! What do you guys think?
Also for the SSD would this work fine
"Storage: Samsung 840 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($92.99 @ NCIX US)"
instead of the 128gb Pro Series?




PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/15tqz
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/15tqz/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/15tqz/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($279.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H60 74.4 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($39.00 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI Z87 MPOWER Max ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($259.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($119.99 @ Microcenter)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($129.98 @ Outlet PC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($84.98 @ Outlet PC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($84.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card ($454.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Corsair Professional Gold 750W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($149.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($17.98 @ Outlet PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Other: CM Storm Scout 2 Advanced (Black) ($79.99)
Other: CyberPower Intelligent LCD Series UPS AVR Mini-Tower ($142.76)
Total: $1934.59
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-11 22:20 EDT-0400)
 
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