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Finalized build. Any comments would be appreciated

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June 11, 2013 12:34:11 PM

Well, I am finally completing the process of choosing all the parts for my very first computer build. Feel free to take a look at my parts and tell me what you think. I just wanted to post this one last time :) .

Oh and THANK YOU to Onus, Ksham, Blackbird, and EVERYBODY else who has offered input and answered my questions throughout my component selection process. I really appreciate everything.

Below is my component list and the price I payed per item (after taxes, shipping, and discounts).

The total comes to $1605.50.
I've ordered almost everything, and plan to order the rest tonight:

Motherboard: MSI Z77A-GD65 Gaming LGA 1155 (NewEgg $187)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
Case: Cooler Master Storm Stryker - Full Tower (NewEgg $130)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 770 (NewEgg $400)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K LGA 1155 (NewEgg $210)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
Storage: Sandisk Extreme 240GB SSD (Amazon $165)
http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Extreme-2-5-Inch-Solid-SD...
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB HDD (NewEgg $60)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
Memory: G. Skill Ripjaws 2x 4GB 1600 (NewEgg $58.5)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
Optical Drive: ASUS 24X DVD Burner SATA (NewEgg $17)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
Wifi Adapter: TP-LINK TL-WDN3800 Dual Band Wireless N600 PCI Express Adapter (NewEgg $33)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=33-704-...
PSU: SeaSonic X 650 Gold Modular (NewEgg $80)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
OS: Windows 7 Professional OEM 64bit (NewEgg $120)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
Monitor: ASUS VS239H-P Black 23" (NewEgg $145)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...


Thanks,

-Adrian

More about : finalized build comments appreciated

a c 207 4 Gaming
June 11, 2013 12:44:11 PM

Please remind me what the build is for. Thank you. :) 
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June 11, 2013 12:46:56 PM

Light gaming at first (SC2), but possibly intense gaming in the future, software development, SQL server (not 24 hour), general use, media station. It should be all purpose. I hope :) . I want this baby to last a while (or forever, if I upgrade and maintain.)
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a c 207 4 Gaming
June 11, 2013 1:04:45 PM

Do you want to go with Haswell? If not, then here are a few changes:

1. Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H. Cheaper and works just as good.
2. SSD - Samsung 840 Pro. May as well if you plan to keep it around for a while.
3. Memory - Ripjaws (non X or Z models) are not great at overclocking. Get Crucial Ballistix or Mushkin Blackline.
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June 11, 2013 1:17:01 PM

good build...only thing id prolly do dif would be to use a 2tb drive and drop the ssd down to a 64gb and take adv. of IRST SSD caching
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June 11, 2013 1:49:16 PM

badtaylorx said:
good build...only thing id prolly do dif would be to use a 2tb drive and drop the ssd down to a 64gb and take adv. of IRST SSD caching


Thanks for the input, Luffy. I just briefly looked into Intel RST SSD caching, and I don't know if it has much benefit over an SSD boot drive/main programs drive? I doubt for my purposes it'll make much of a difference, but it's good to know of the option :) . Also, I already purchased all my storage haha.
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June 11, 2013 1:57:35 PM

ksham said:
Do you want to go with Haswell? If not, then here are a few changes:

1. Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H. Cheaper and works just as good.
2. SSD - Samsung 840 Pro. May as well if you plan to keep it around for a while.
3. Memory - Ripjaws (non X or Z models) are not great at overclocking. Get Crucial Ballistix or Mushkin Blackline.


Thanks Ksham. I was planning on getting the Samsung 840 Pro! But then there was a sale on the 240 GB SanDisk Extreme for almost the same price as the 128GB Samsung 840 Pro, so I started a forum to see which one people thought I should get, and people seemed to say it probably wouldn't make a very noticeable difference performance-wise, so I should just ge the bigger one.... So I did! Haha.

Darn, I wish I had that input on the RAM before I purchased. But if I never overclock my RAM, it doesn't matter right?

The Gigabyte motherboard looks good. I'm still inclined to get the MSI one, as that was the first component I chose after my CPU, it has slightly higher reviews, better PCIe slots (I think?) and I've grown to like the dragon :-p.

I'm not sure what Haswell is. I'm still very new to hardware. Haswell is the successor to Ivy Bridge? So would that mean to do Haswell I would need a new CPU/MOBO combo? I don't think I'll be going for that.

again, thanks for your input!
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a c 207 4 Gaming
June 11, 2013 2:04:55 PM

If there's a sale, then yes, the Sandisk is good. As for the RAM, I would assume you will since everything else is built upon the capability of overclocking, but if not, then it is fine.

Haswell is the successor to Ivy Bridge. You're running Ivy Bridge in that build. To switch to Haswell, you would need a CPU and motherboard change. It is more expensive though.
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a b 4 Gaming
June 11, 2013 3:04:24 PM

I think the build is excellent. Any build can be niggled half to death, but I've really cut down on any tendency to do that. This will be a solid PC.
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June 12, 2013 8:11:08 AM

I probably won't overclock my RAM :) .

Thanks for the comment Onus. I'm excited for the build. I should have it finished by the end of the month.
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a c 207 4 Gaming
June 12, 2013 8:54:28 AM

Best of luck @Adrianime.
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June 24, 2013 12:28:16 AM

Everything worked!

I'd put up pictures if I could. As this was my first time dealing with hardware in depth, I spent a loooong time on everything. Me and my little bro and friend spent like 2 hours just deciphering the CM case instructions and repositioning the fans and drive bays. The external build probably took an hour. Installing my motherboard probably took 30 minutes because my case didn't tell me to put in my standoffs, then another 2 hours getting it ready for the first boot (30 to 45 minutes of it was me being too scared of breaking my SSD, Optical Drive, and HDD because the PSU cable takes SO MUCH FORCE to be put into place).

After the first boot realized I didn't figure out how the case fan controller was powered, so none of my case fans were working. ..but I proceeded to start windows and install the OS on my SSD (had to turn it off and unhook my HDD before I installed in my SSD).

Then spent about an hour trying to figure out what my unused cables went to, and how to get the case fans to work (I was running off of 5 hours of sleep).

Then gave up on the case fans for the night, installed a few drivers, got my windows score (7.5 because of CPU), Cleaned up some of the mess for an hour, took my brother home, and went to visit my girlfriend at 10 P.m.. last night

Then today, I got back home at 2 p.m., and spent about 15 minutes figuring out how the case fans worked (finally), an hour of cable management and reorganizing my drives (still looks far from perfect), then I spent 6 hours reinstalling drivers, dinking around, personalizing with my favorite programs, making a disc image and backup disc, and re-configuring the LAN setup in my apartment.

I played an hour of starcraft2, spent another hour cleaning up the boxes and such, and now here I am at 12:30 AM....And I need to eat some dinner.

If I had to do all the hardware stuff again, I could probably do it in about an hour or maybe 2. The first time was definitely a new experience. :) 

Thanks again everybody for your help and advice.

-Adrian
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June 24, 2013 12:40:16 AM

A question that I'd love answered is:

Would I get any benefit from overclocking JUST my graphics card, but not anything else? Is that even possible?

My build is still the first post in this thread.

Thanks!
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June 24, 2013 4:17:07 AM

step down a little on the SSD (your choice)
if you aren't going to sli or crossfire so a less expensive motherboard should do you good
get a gtx 780 instead of the gtx 770
Edit: i didn't notice your post saying the rig is complete
congratulations anyways (Y)
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a b 4 Gaming
June 24, 2013 5:59:22 AM

^The build is complete, muzzpro; nothing to change.

Very nice though. Hey, I still get nervous the first time I switch on a new build, even though it's been a while since one didn't wake up. I still forget sometimes to plug in a PCIe cable, and sometimes get the HDD and/or power LED wires reversed.
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June 24, 2013 10:18:06 AM

Thanks @muzzpro!

@Onus, good to know even seasoned builders make small mistakes. My biggest holdups were probably clamping down my intel CPU (I was scared as hell I was breaking it), finding out how to power the fans, and plugging those darn power cables into the SATA devices (it took a ridiculous amount of force).

Luckily all the booting went smoothly :) .
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June 24, 2013 10:53:37 AM

Adrianime said:
Thanks @muzzpro!

@Onus, good to know even seasoned builders make small mistakes. My biggest holdups were probably clamping down my intel CPU (I was scared as hell I was breaking it), finding out how to power the fans, and plugging those darn power cables into the SATA devices (it took a ridiculous amount of force).

Luckily all the booting went smoothly :) .


i know the feeling, back in the day i was scared as hell when placing an old pentium D processor onto a motherboard
however you must try maxing out games like bf3 and crysis 3 because that is pure satisfaction !
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!