First build - lost on some parts

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mrjimyjohn

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Feb 18, 2013
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My old dell XPS is reaching the end of its useful life, so I'm looking for advice on my first system build. I've figured out most things, but I'm completely lost on a few parts. Here's my theoretical build as of now:

i7 4770k
Asus Z87-A mobo
G.SKILL ripjaws X series 16GB (2x8) 1600mhz
Sapphire R9 280X 3gb
Seagate Barracuda 1tb HDD
Kingston V300 series 120GB SSD
Raidmax RX-735AP 735w PSU
NZXT Phantom 530
Total is $1,312 on Newegg.ca. I can't really afford to go any higher than this right now.

It will be used for a fairly even mix of 3D rendering and gaming on a 1440x900 display- I plan to upgrade to a bigger 1080p display when the christmas sales come around. I don't plan to overclock the CPU off the bat but later on when I can afford a decent watercooling setup I'll give that a go. Will the stock CPU cooler be OK at stock frequencies for the meantime? I'm a little lost on motherboards, I was looking at the Gigabyte GA-Z87X but I've heard the Asus is better for overclocking. I have no idea what the actual differences are.

Video cards too. I was considering a Gigabyte 7970 which is about $40 cheaper than the 280x but newegg.ca doesn't have their 7970s that low, so I'd have to order that separately which will decrease the price difference significantly.

Power supplies are the last thing I'm lost on. Is there a real benefit to a more expensive PSU over the one I've got now? Thanks for your help - I appreciate it.
 
Solution
jimthenagual
Not bad for a first attempt! Couple of suggestions:

1. Get an aftermarket cooler for your cpu, the evo 212 is cheap and worth it. The haswell's run hot and the stock cooler is terrible.
2. Good choice of motherboard, I'm a big fan of asus, been using them for years.
3. Change your power supply to the Seasonic here for $79.99
it is very high quality. Power supplies are arguably the most important part to not go cheap on. This one is semi-modular too which really helps with cable management

Hope this helps, and good luck!

edit: changed to Canadian prices
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jimthenagual

jimthenagual

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Apr 8, 2012
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Not bad for a first attempt! Couple of suggestions:

1. Get an aftermarket cooler for your cpu, the evo 212 is cheap and worth it. The haswell's run hot and the stock cooler is terrible.
2. Good choice of motherboard, I'm a big fan of asus, been using them for years.
3. Change your power supply to the Seasonic here for $79.99
it is very high quality. Power supplies are arguably the most important part to not go cheap on. This one is semi-modular too which really helps with cable management

Hope this helps, and good luck!

edit: changed to Canadian prices
 
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smorizio

smorizio

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Jan 22, 2010
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with some z87 motherboards the 100-130 price range dont do sli. there not citified for it. for your ssd look to samsung evo line. a lot of rebranded ssd have issues because they don't get the newest firmware. with power supplys read the reviews the two best ones are cosiar and seasonic you dont need a gold rated unit. on your ram look to get the aires or low profile ram. if you dont uses a sealed water unit and use an air cooler some cooler and ram have issues where the ram heat spreaders are too tall. for now i drop the ram to eight gigs.
 
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da noob

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Jan 12, 2013
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Nice build! Few notes:

You should get a 7970 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202008) because:
a.) Never Settle Forever (Free games!)
b.) The $20 rebate
Like jim said, get an aftermarket cooler, the 212 evo is great.
Your power supply is not a good one (http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?108088-Official-XS-Power-Supply-Ranking-Phase-I power supply ranking!). I would recommend a power supply in teirs 1-4 from the rankings, and no more then 600 watts. More then that is only to feel "secure".
 
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mrjimyjohn

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Feb 18, 2013
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Thanks for all the replies guys!



Would it be worth it to just spend some more over that cooler and get a cheap WC loop such as this?

My thought with the bigger PSU was that I could get a second graphics card in the future. Would 620W be enough to run a dual crossfire setup?

Thanks to everyone else as well. I know gaming and CAD stuff are very different and require different hardware, but neither are being done very seriously (I sometimes use a core2 duo laptop when I'm traveling and save the big rendering till I get home), so i figure a good gaming build will handle 3D rendering alright (certainly better than my current i3/GTX 250 setup).
 
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jimthenagual

jimthenagual

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Apr 8, 2012
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You won't see much difference in cooling performance between that particular WC loop and the 212 evo. The only reason to go for that one would be aesthetics. If you are going to go the closed loop path, move up to the H100i as it will outperform the 212 evo by a few degrees.

As for crossfire, I don't think 750w would even be enough for dual 280x. According to here, you'll be looking more at the 900w range.
 
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mrjimyjohn

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Feb 18, 2013
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So I looked a little more into the Seasonic S12II, and apparently the 620w version does NOT meet haswell spec. Does this mean it won't work at all or will it just use more power at idle?
 
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jimthenagual

jimthenagual

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Here is an XFX core edition made by seasonic at a decent price and it is haswell certified.
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207014&AID=10657534&PID=3938566&SID=&nm_mc=AFC-C8junctionCA

As for haswell certified, corsair put it this way
According to Intel's presentation at IDF, the new Haswell processors enter a sleep state called C7 that can drop processor power usage as low as 0.05A. Even if the sleeping CPU is the only load on the +12V rail, most power supplies can handle a load this low. The potential problem comes up when there is still a substantial load on the power supply's non-primary rails (the +3.3V and +5V). If the load on these non-primary rails are above a certain threshold (which varies by PSU), the +12V can go out of spec (voltages greater than +12.6V). If the +12V is out of spec when the motherboard comes out of the sleep state, the PSU's protection may prevent the PSU from running and will cause the power supply to "latch off". This will require the user to cycle the power on their power supply using the power switch on the back of the unit.
 
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