Need advice, opinions and recommendation on building my first gaming rig.

claudchavez

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Aug 14, 2013
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Below i will provide the rough draft of my future rig, i would appreciate any recommendations and suggestions. Be critical. i appreciate all the help i can get. If there are any questions i will be happy to answer. Thank you in advance.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1rLNU

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Corsair H80i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler
Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V PRO ATX LGA1155 Motherboard
Memory:Corsair Dominator GT 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory
Storage:Intel 520 Series Cherryville 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk
Video Card:Asus GeForce GTX 680 2GB Video Card
Case: NZXT Phantom 630 (Matte Black) ATX Full Tower Case
Power Supply: Corsair Professional 850W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply
Operating System:Microsoft Windows 8 Professional (OEM) (64-bit)
 
Solution
I'm sorry, but... cobra doesn't really give you a good critique at ALL. I'll edit this with mine in a moment - I just don't want you to hit the buy button thinking it's great, as there are a WHOLE lot of things you absolutely should change.

Alright... so:

1) Don't buy an i7. The only difference between it and an i5 is slightly more l3 cashe, and hyperthreading. The l3 cashe is negligible and doesn't matter for games anyways, so we'll focus on the hyperthreading. I'm going to change my usual argument here (which is that hyperthreading is not only useless, but the games that claim to use it are actually slowed down by it), because hyperthreading has come to represent a slight boost in a few games... but it's really not worth paying $100...

cobra5000

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Apr 14, 2008
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Looks pretty awesome to me bro, except I would go with the 700 series of Geforce. You could do the same with the cpu and mobo, Haswell is not much more expensive than IB but not much faster either.
 
I'm sorry, but... cobra doesn't really give you a good critique at ALL. I'll edit this with mine in a moment - I just don't want you to hit the buy button thinking it's great, as there are a WHOLE lot of things you absolutely should change.

Alright... so:

1) Don't buy an i7. The only difference between it and an i5 is slightly more l3 cashe, and hyperthreading. The l3 cashe is negligible and doesn't matter for games anyways, so we'll focus on the hyperthreading. I'm going to change my usual argument here (which is that hyperthreading is not only useless, but the games that claim to use it are actually slowed down by it), because hyperthreading has come to represent a slight boost in a few games... but it's really not worth paying $100 for 3-5 more FPS in a half-dozen games that you might or might not play.

Buy an i5-3570k, add $100 to the counter of what I'm going to save you.

As for Haswell, I will still recommend Ivy Bridge if you plan on overclocking, because it's much easier and more reliable to get a good overclock on Ivy... and haswell is only about 5-10% faster, clock-for-clock. (And if you get a way worse overclock, which can happen pretty easily...)

2) Ditch the liquid cooler and run as fast as you can. If you're going to go with water cooling, do it right. Closed-loop water coolers use subpar parts to cut costs, which means the pump is much more apt to fail than a real one would. On top of that, when compared to an air cooler of equal price, the air cooler is going to be cooler, quieter, and WAY more reliable... so just get a $30 Hyper 212 EVO or a more expensive, 140mm cooler and don't take risks for no reward.

3) I wouldn't buy that motherboard. Something like the AsRock z77 Extreme 4 or Asus p8x77-v LE or LK are going to be $60 cheaper and perform exactly the same and be just as reliable. It's up to you, but you don't need the extra ports and options of the pro model, so why pay for them?

4) Don't bother with such expensive memory - that's a hideous waste of time. You're honestly not going to see a real-world difference between that and a set of DDR3-1600 MHz RAM with a Cas of 7. (You can usually overclock most standard Cas 9 ram to have a lower latency like that.) Why pay an extra $80 for, in the best scenario, 3 fps?

5) Bad pick on the SSD. Buy a 120GB Samsung 840 EVO for $110 - it's newer and faster. If you really wanted, you could get a 840 pro or OCZ Vector to get the best performance out there... but it won't be noticeable over the EVO.

6) Horrible, HORRIBLE pick on the graphics card, sorry. As soon as the 670 came out, the 680 failed - The 680 was only 5% faster than the 670, but it cost 25% more. Now, it's even worse of an option - you're paying $500 for a card that is quite easily beaten by the $400 770 and absolutely smashed by the $650 780. (*I would take the oodles of money I'm saving you and upgrade to that 780... or else even better, upgrade to a 120 Hz monitor [Go with BenQ], a mechanical keyboard, and a good mouse. You'll appreciate it.)

7) Really? $180 for a full tower case? Spend $100 on a decent mid tower case that will be just as well built - not only will your wallet thank you, but so will your back as soon as you have to move your computer at all.

8) You don't need nearly that much power supply. With a 700 series card, a 550w power supply is more than enough. If you go with a 670 or decide to stick with a 680, buy a 650w power supply. (*I suggest the SeaSonic X-650, which is pretty much the best power supply ever made.)

9) Oh give me a break. Why in the world do you think you need windows 8 professional? You're paying a WHOLE lot more money for the following: Domain-Joining & Group Policy so you can manage computers with Windows Server on them. A Remote Desktop Server, which is just microsoft's version of free, open source programs. BitLocker, which is good so long as your hard drive doesn't get corrupted. Hyper-V, so you can run virtual machines. And virtual hard disk booting. Those last two are the only useful ones, but you probably don't use virtual machines anyways.

So. In all honestly, this build looks like something put together a year ago by someone who has way too much money and just wants a computer that seems impressive and gives them bragging rights. Bragging rights aren't worth $200.

Make changes, and you'll have a FASTER computer that's cheaper ... and you'll be able to have an incredible monitor and keyboard setup, which in all honestly, will be more impressive to the non-tech-savvy than that the computer itself will be.
 
Solution

Griffin832

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Jul 10, 2013
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He said it all. I more than second that.
 

claudchavez

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Aug 14, 2013
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10,510
Hey thanks Darksable and Cobra , I appreciate your honesty on your suggestions. I'm at work right now; I will look over these spec suggestions and modify my build I will return and post the end results and perhaps we can discuss it again. Thanks again .
 

claudchavez

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Aug 14, 2013
22
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10,510
Good Evening . I've taken into consideration the above suggestions and recommendations. I have returned with a revised list and i would appreciate some feedback. thanks in advance folks.
CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core $209.99

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing $29.99

Motherboard ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 $134.98

Memory Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 $104.99

Storage Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" SSD $124.99

Video Card Asus GeForce GTX 780 3GB $659.99

Case NZXT Phantom 410 (Gunmetal/Black) ATX Mid Tower $89.99

Power Supply Corsair 750W ATX12V / EPS12V $89.99

Operating System Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) $89.98
 

Griffin832

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Jul 10, 2013
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I don't understand why everyone does this! Go with the Extreme6 instead of the Extreme4! $20 difference, and the Extreme6 has more USB 3.0 and SATA options, and has other useful features that don't come with the Extreme4. Other than that, and the fact that I think you should choose a better model of that GPU (Such as the Gigabyte Wind-force Edition) the build looks tremendous, and I wish you the best of luck building this baby Jesus.
 


The Extreme 4 has four SATA III and four USB 3.0 ports. Most people don't need more than that.
What other features are you referring to?

Also, Asus is extremely reliable when it comes to being able to return / fix parts. I've had some hideous experiences with Gigabyte that have put me off the brand. I'd be willing to try them after more years when they've had a chance to fix their customer service, but for now, they're awful.
 

claudchavez

Honorable
Aug 14, 2013
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10,510
Thank you gentlemen for making my build possible; I think i will stick to Asus when it comes to video cards. As for the ram im having trouble finding a decently priced DDR3-1600 MHz with cas 7. But aside from that i am quite grateful for all your input.
 


Just save $40 and grab 1600 MHz Cas 9, preferably with lower than 1.5v. Then overclock it... but really, it's going to make the smallest of differences - 1600 MHz, Cas 9 will be just fine.