My first build please advise

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Kasonhills

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Jun 19, 2013
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Hey guys I'm going to be building a PC, if possible I'd really like to do an htpc. I want to be able to game in my living room as well as have it be my media center etc. at the same time I'm trying to keep this relatively cheap. Not the cheapest, not the best, just a solid mid range machine that can run most games on mid to high settings.

So far I've ordered this CPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116895

Motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157368

Ram:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0037TO5C0/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Can you please tell me if things look ok so far?

What GPU should I be looking at? I'd like to stay under $150 if possible.

What kind/size of psu do you recommend?

Also I'm looking at this htpc case. Do I have a chance in hell of squeezing it all in there? And will I be ok with stock fans/cooling or should I get something else?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008J0ZOV8/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_5?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

OS not sure, probably windows 7. Or do people recommend 8? I've never really tried 8.

Will this setup be able to run most games out there well?

Anything else I should think about before I get started. As I said I've never built a computer so any advice is welcome.
 
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realchaos

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Jan 30, 2013
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Wasted money on motherboard. You grabbed a locked processor (no multiplier), so you could have saved ~$20 with an ATX H87 motherboard or ~$30 with a mATX H87 motherboard. Return it if you can. Otherwise, what's done is done. Other parts are good.

If you want a gpu at around ~$150, get the 7850: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131473&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=
I would say get this psu as it is cheap for a very high quality psu: http://pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-power-supply-p1550sxxb9
It looks like you can use that case, as long as you can keep all the psu cables in there.
For Windows 7 or 8, it's all about preferences. Windows 8 is newer and has some perks (slightly faster boot, takes up less space) but lots of people don't like the interface. It takes awhile to change it to look like windows 7 but its do-able.

Honestly, if this is a gaming rig then this is completely off. In a pure gaming system, the gpu is suppose to be the most expensive part. In this system, the cpu is more expensive than the gpu and the motherboard and case is almost as expensive as the gpu which is a bad sign.
What's your monitor resolution? The 7850 can play those mainstream games at med-ultra but games like Crysis 3, it has no chance.


 
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sharkbyte5150

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Mar 22, 2012
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Well, you ordered a locked CPU (no overclock) with a board designed for overclocking (not a big deal, really but would have saved you $30 to get the H87 version) and the RAM is a bad voltage but you should be able to change settings so it runs lower at 1.5V.

You should probably ask advice BEFORE ordering parts if you're going to ask for suggestions.

In the $150 range, the 650ti BOOST is pretty hard to beat and should run most games pretty well
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127730

If you do a search for "650ti BOOST" and sort by price you can get a 1GB model for a little less than that one, but half the RAM

Win8 still pretty new, but most hardware already has drivers available for it so should be OK if you want it.
You'd be fine with a power supply in the 500-600W range by Seasonic, Corsair or XFX.
 
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Kasonhills

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Thanks for the info. The motherboard/CPU was actually bundled so it was about $20 off the total. Thanks for the OS info too, I might go for windows 8 I kinda like the look of it.

Good to know on the GPU. So would that card run crysis 3 on low settings then? How much would i need to spend on the GPU to make it run even crysis 3 at higher settings? This wont be purely for gaming but I def will want to game on it. Im going to have this in my living room hooked up to my tv, 1080p.
 
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Kasonhills

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Yeah I wish I had asked first but oh well. Ok what do you mean bad voltage? Will changing the settings hinder the performance? If needed I can cancel that ram order and get something else.
 
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bigshootr8

bigshootr8

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I don't think your case is bad if I may chime in if you want a home theatre small computer build system silverstone makes great cases I don't see the issue with it. However given that its a smaller case and airflow may be less within your case I would get a reference card with a blower type design instead of the aftermarket fans on graphic cards that have top mounted fans pushing air into the case.

With the memory its quite safe to run at that memory voltage. However some motherboards may be more fussy than others so running at 1.5v is a safe way to go but to add on things there was nothing wrong with the memory choice you had. I'm almost certain that the ASRock board would be just fine with the 1.65v dimms or even 1.35 dimm's crucial low profile memory has voltage at that level.

I personally wouldn't go with windows 8 beyond the wonky interface pressing start and getting thrown to the metro interface is kind of a drag. And there are programs where you can emulate the start menu from Windows 7 instead but at that point you would wish you had windows 7 also software is much more heavily supported with 7 then it is with 8 so that may be more of a determinant for you.
 
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Kasonhills

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realchaos - well I'll be using it for everything probably. My wife and I will still have our laptops but I will use this computer as my media center with all of my movies/music etc. I'll also be doing video editing and the likes. And of course gaming. I don't play a ton of games just because I don't have enough time but I do enjoy pc gaming so I want a solid rig. As for why the htpc build? I guess I've just been wanting to get something for the living room for a while because I want it to be the center of my entertainment. I've got a nice tv and surround sound system so I think it would be nice to have the computer in there. I'm not set on that case specifically but I'd like something similar so that it matches the other stuff we have (for my wifes sake).


bigshooter - Sorry I missed your question earlier. I don't think I live by a micro center, though I'm not really sure. I live in Wisconsin at the moment, however in about a month I will be moving to Austin Texas. Thank you for your valuable input. Can you give me an example of a reference card that you are referring to? The cooling is something I'm a little concerned with since it seems like a rather small case. Thanks for the insight on the OS as well. Good to hear the negatives against windows 8. I've heard a lot of complaints about it, so I'll have to do a little more research before I decide which way to go.
 
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bigshootr8

bigshootr8

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There are two micro centers within Texas I believe the closest one would be in Dallas. But still would be a distance for you so its hard to say whether or not you would find it worth it to drive that far you would save a good deal of money well if you had purchased your CPU and MOBO with them. Pretty much you'd save on the motherboard they offer deals that you get the i5 3570k and a good motherboard for $234 or the 4670k for $259. But again you've already ordered it and I checked the distance and 3 hours may not be worth it to you when you move to Texas. http://microcenter.com/site/brands/intel-processor-bundles.aspx http://microcenter.com/site/stores/default.aspx

This is a reference design blower it has a fan at the end and its blowing the air outside the case.
5516_02_nvidia_geforce_gtx_770_2gb_video_card_review_full.jpg


This is a non reference card that will be blowing air into the case which is good for cases with a good amount of air flow. The card will run cooler if this is the case.
gigabyte_gtx770oc_12.jpg
 
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Kasonhills

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Jun 19, 2013
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I went ahead with the evga 650ti boost which has the blower type cooler as recommended with the small case.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BZB0HDS/ref=oh_details_o00_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I also ordered the HTPC case and PSU.

Everything should be here on monday and I'll be able to get started putting it together. Wish me luck as I've never built a computer before. For now I'm just going to install the HDD that I have in my current PC, but I might pick up a SSD in the near future. That will probably be the final thing I need to get my hands on.

Thank you all for your help. I'll be back on Monday as I get started.
 
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