Newbie build-help plea

darrenwynnejones · Sep 3, 2013

I am looking to build my first gaming PC - gradually - and would appreciate any advice.

Here's the list:

Case: NZXT Guardian 921 RB
Motherboard: Asus P8Z68-V Pro
CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K
CPU cooler: ThermalTake Water 2.0
Memory: G.Skill RipjawsZ 16GB
Video Card: Nvidia GeForce GTX 650 Ti Boost
Audio Card: ASUS Xonar Essence STX
Storage: Plextor M5 Pro 256 GB SSD
Power Supply: Corsair 600-Watt CMPSU-600G
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224BB DVD/CD Writer
O/S: Windows 7

I plan to do this over several months to spread the cost. Plus, the fact that I live in Cairo means obtaining these parts might be difficult.

If anyone has any suggestions for alternative components at a lower price then I would very much appreciate hearing them.

Thanks in advance

lithuan1an · Sep 3, 2013

Hey. It looks like that you are going to OC a lot, so z77+unlocked fits better than z68.
Do you really need that 16GB RAMs? If you are going to use it only for gaming 8GB are enough, except if you want this pc for like 10 years, but still better upgrade later.
For gaming PC i7 is useless. Save money for better GPU while picking i5.
For GPU get 760, because you willl have some free money from RAMs and CPU.
And i'm not sure about cooler, don't you mind about looking at corsair's water coolers?

wanderer11 · Sep 3, 2013

My suggestion is buy it all at once. Computer hardware prices are constantly dropping and it will just be a waste of money to buy parts that you're not going to use for a while.

J_E_D_70 · Sep 3, 2013

I'd say you're overspending on CPU (hypthreading doesn't help much in gaming so 3570K is plenty), water cooling (cheap air is still very effective), and very expensive sound card (audio on mobos is typically pretty good - wouldn't spend above the Xonar DSX). You can take that savings and get at *least* a GTX 760, preferably a 770.

Guest · Sep 3, 2013

I'm going to be very candid with you. For gaming, switch the 3770K for a 3570K to save $100USD because you will get no visible performance gain when you're gaming.

Second, I would use that money you saved on the CPU to upgrade the video card to a GTX 760, which will give you a decent increase in frames per second in your games.

Third, I wouldn't purchase an aftermarket CPU cooler UNLESS you plan on overclocking; otherwise, the stock fan/heatsink that is included will cool the CPU just fine.

Fourth, in my builds, I never purchase an aftermarket audio card because either the onboard audio is just fine OR I use a headset that includes its own audio drivers.

Fifth, this is purely petty, but I would switch to a Samsung 840 Pro instead of a Plextor since Samsung does an awesome job on their SSDs.

Lastly, you could switch to a Z77 Northbridge motherboard instead of the Z68 just to be a bit more up-to-date, which rarely hurts. These are things that I personally would change in this build. I'm a PC gamer, pure and simple. Hope this helps.

darrenwynnejones · Sep 3, 2013

Great advice. Thank you all very much.

Have made a few changes as per your advice and the specs now look like this:

Case: NZXT Guardian 921 RB
Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V LK
CPU: intel core i5 3570k
CPU cooler: Gelid GX-7 Active air cooler
Memory: Kingston HyperX 8GB
Video Card: nVidia GeForce GTX 770
Audio Card: ASUS Xonar DSX
Storage: Plextor M5 Pro 128GB SSD
Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM
Power Supply: Corsair 600-Watt CMPSU-600G
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224BB DVD/CD Writer
O/S: Windows 7

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