1st Build! Please help me with some advice.

Waharsh

Honorable
Sep 28, 2013
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10,510
Hello Everyone.

I am going to build my first computer, and I would like some advice.



Here is my component list:


Intel i5-3570K CPU
ASUS Sabertooth Z77 motherboard
Corsair H80i water cooler
G. Skill Sniper F3-14900CL9D-8GBSR DDR3 1866 2x4Gb memory
Gigabyte GTX 760 GV-N760OC-4GD video card
Seagate ST2000DX001 2Tb MLC/8Gb Solid State Hybrid drive
Corsair AX760 power supply
Cooler Master HAF-XB case
ASUS VG248QE 24" 144Hz 1ms (GTG) LCD monitor
Windows 8 OS
With either the red or green fans below.

The 230 will be exhaust and all other fans, including the radiator, will be intake.

With this setup I should have positive air pressure.


120mm = 77cmf x2= 154cmf (I know that this is on a radiator and will be less)

140mm= 86.73cmf x2= 173.46cmf

for a combined intake of 250.46cmf +/- 77cmf

and an exhaust of 156.27cmf

RED:
1x Bitfenix Spectre Pro 230mm red led fan
2x Bitfenix Spectre Pro 140mm red led fan
2x Rosewill RFA-80-RL 80mm red led fan
2x Logisys 12" 18 red led super bright sunlight stick

GREEN:
1x Bitfenix Spectre Pro 230mm green led fan
2x Bitfenix Spectre Pro 140mm green led fan
2x Apevia CF4SL-UEN 80mm green led fan
2x Logisys 12" 18 green led super bright sunlight stick



As of right now Newegg is out of stock on both of the 230mm fans. I may have to either:

1. get them from another dealer

2. use the non-led 230 fan, but it is out of stock also.

3. use a smaller 200mm fan for the top such as this or an inferior 200mm fan such as this.


I will also have a full set of Demcifilter magnetic air filters for the case.

I already have a blue ray drive, keyboard, and mouse.

ok here are my questions:


1. I know that each motherboard has an QVL. I know that my ram will work with my motherboard, will my other choices work even though they are not on the QVL?


2. am I correct about the positive air pressure? I heard that it will help keep dust out of the case.


3. I tried really hard to find the very best items, or the best performance for dollar that I could. Is there any item(s) that you would change?


4. The total for this build is $1841.98 plus tax and shipping, so maybe an even $2100.00

Is that too much?


5. Yes I do know that I don't have a ssd on my list. I really only play 1 game, WoW, and a ssd will not help the game speed so I don't need one. I did however choose a hybrid drive that is close to the speed of a ssd


6. I chose Windows 8, I know a lot of you may prefer Windows 7 but is there any real reason not to go for 8 other than learning a new os?


Thank you for reading my post, and I welcome all replies.

 
Solution
you can spend way less for more performance you know

get this
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1I14o

-better to use the newer stuff rather than the old
-if you want your CPU to be cooled by water, get a custom raystorm kit. AIO units are cheaply made and pretty close to useless if you ask me as they dont perform better yet they cost more
-scamtooth a) heatshield does nothing and b) has same features as a much cheaper board. also note, boards will not affect your overclocking much if you arent using liquid nitrogen. the differences are minimal at best and you can spend the saved money on things that actually do something.
-faster ram does nothing
-the 760 itself cannot drive the extra vram manufacturers tack onto the pcb. its a marketing...

StarTrek2013

Honorable
Sep 19, 2013
258
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10,810
For your first build, I would not recommend spending a huge amount of money, unless you are going to be doing some work heavy on resources beyond gaming such as video editing. I would get the 64-bit version of Windows 8. An SSD will help no matter what you are doing. You can a relatively cheap one for around 90 dollars and run your OS and applications off of it (128 gb SSD should suffice) and then get an HDD to store your files on. I might also advise you to consider liquid cooling for your CPU and get a good case that has many fans already built in. You can add fans if you want, but remember that a true computer's performance is measured on how it runs, not how it looks. You could have an old case with one of the fastest computers around. If you do truly want to spend 2100 dollars, and this is where I might receive some heat over this, get a server motherboard. You can get two i5s along with a server motherboard (if you get a good one) and do work blazing fast. If you do this, I would suggest looking into the RAM limitations and other specs. Two higher end i5s beat one i7 so that is one option you can explore. If you would rather use just one CPU, get an i5 or an i7. i7s are very pricey and many regard them as subpar to i5s. As for the ram compatibility, the only way to find out is to try to use it. If it is not on the QVL list, than that means that ASUS has not tested it yet. But to be honest, if all you are going to do is play WoW then I would go for maybe a $1200 computer at most and I would definitely choose an i5 or a FX-8350.
 
you can spend way less for more performance you know

get this
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1I14o

-better to use the newer stuff rather than the old
-if you want your CPU to be cooled by water, get a custom raystorm kit. AIO units are cheaply made and pretty close to useless if you ask me as they dont perform better yet they cost more
-scamtooth a) heatshield does nothing and b) has same features as a much cheaper board. also note, boards will not affect your overclocking much if you arent using liquid nitrogen. the differences are minimal at best and you can spend the saved money on things that actually do something.
-faster ram does nothing
-the 760 itself cannot drive the extra vram manufacturers tack onto the pcb. its a marketing scam.
-a SSHD does not come close to a hard drive and SSD configuration. no where close
-platinum efficiency is not needed and you can spend way less for the same quality
-better case
-i personally would get a high quality IPS panel over a faster TN panel. with IPS you get much better colour accuracy and viewing angles. things generally look more movie like in quality. with your TN panel, you get more speed, but then colours are crap, viewing angles are crap, and it costs much more
-windows 7 is cheaper and better. if you want to take the trip on learning windows 8, go ahead. If i were to use windows 8, id have to use ex7forwin8 to completely disable the metro interface. the only benefit of windows 8 so far is the ability to pause file transfers, the better search function, and the slightly faster boot times that you arent going to notice much when using a SSD
-if you arent going to watch blu-rays, return the drive. optical drives are accessories that arent going to be used in this day and age

qualified lists mean nothing when the manufacturers can never possibly test every single ram kit out there.

as for your calculations, they are pretty much irrelevant. the reason for that is that the CFM ratings are never correct even for high end fans like noctuas. if you want positive pressure, all you need to do is have more fans pushing in with filters than exhaust.

speaking of fans, the stock fans on the arc midi r2 will be more than enough. loading the entire case with fans will do nothing and just increase noise. an example is that i dont bother with case fans as they do nothing for my rig even though i have a supposedly hot case. replacing them is useless as they all generally perform the same (except for noctuas). if you want lights (which are useless as you can spend that money on something else more worthy), get 2 30cm strips of bitfenix alchemy LEDs. they are bright as hell and much higher quality.
 
Solution

StarTrek2013

Honorable
Sep 19, 2013
258
0
10,810
I second TheBigTroll's part list (http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1I14o). That is a very solid build. But again, I would not spend that much money on a gaming computer that is only going to be playing one game.