My VERY FIRST gaming rig - need to make this last

Raidriar2012 · Mar 19, 2014

Hey guys, I'm planning to get my first gaming rig. Before I do, I just want to make sure that I have the best parts that go along with each other so that there will be no bottlenecking issues and such. Here's what I have managed to come up with based on hours of research to make up for my lack of personal experience.

So anyways, here are my components:

NZXT Phantom 410 Mid-Tower Case (Red)

Intel i5 3570K

AS Rock Z77 Extreme4 ATX 1155 Motherboard

Nvidia GeForce GTX 770 Classified

Samsung 750 GB SSD

Corsair Vengence Pro 16 GB RAM

Corsair CX 750 Watt Power Supply (Please tell me if this is enough power)

Corsair Air Series High Performance Twin Pack Fan

Corsair Hydro Series Extreme Performance

Asus Black 12X Internal Blu-Ray Drive

Arctic Silver 5 - 3.5 grams

Creative Sound Blaster Z Sound Card

TP-Link PCI Express Network Adapter

I live in a country where these resources are not available. I will be buying these when I visit the U.S. Therefore, I need to make sure this will last, and I am interested in overclocking, which is why I went with a water cooling cpu cooler. Please give as much advice as possible to a beginner like me. Thank you.

allocco91 · Mar 19, 2014

Here's a few thoughts:

1. It would be more cost effective to buy a 120 or 240 GB SSD with a 1-2 TB HDD. A 750 GB SSD isn't a reasonable purchase, even with the recent price drops.

2. If I were to buy a PSU that I felt was going to last me for a long time, I would get an XFX or Seasonic. They go on sale frequently and have very reliable components that are tested under very demanding conditions. Look for a 550-600 watt unit made by one of these two brands. That's about all you really need.

3. You don't need a sound card, especially with that motherboard.

4. Don't forget an operating system and, if need be, peripherals.

dwatterworth · Mar 19, 2014

Everything looks great. A few questions:

1. Is the TP-link PCI Express adapter a wireless one or do you need two wired ports?

2. Which Corsair hydro AIO cooler are you going with? The H80 or higher should be your goal if you want it to last with overclocking/give you lower temperatures.

3. The Samsung 750gb drive is a great piece of hardware, but would it be possible to scale back to a 256 or 500gb model, use a normal hard drive for storage of large files and non-critical applications and then allocate the ~$100-$200 savings toward a GTX 780/780ti?

4. For whatever graphics card you get, if you are looking to have this last for 3-5 years at least, I would highly recommend getting a GPU with 4gb of ram. Upcoming games with high resolution texture maps and gaming across multiple monitors/at higher resolutions will require more GPU memory.

5. An i7 model if your budget allows will extend the useful gaming life as more and more games move to higher levels of multithreading. The 3570k or newer Haswell equivalent are still amazing CPU's, but if you're after longer system life, the newer Haswell platform and a hyperthreaded chip might make sense.

Ahmadjon · Mar 19, 2014

allocco91 :

Here's a few thoughts:

1. It would be more cost effective to buy a 120 or 240 GB SSD with a 1-2 TB HDD. A 750 GB SSD isn't a reasonable purchase, even with the recent price drops.

2. If I were to buy a PSU that I felt was going to last me for a long time, I would get an XFX or Seasonic. They go on sale frequently and have very reliable components that are tested under very demanding conditions. Look for a 550-600 watt unit made by one of these two brands. That's about all you really need.

3. You don't need a sound card, especially with that motherboard.

4. Don't forget an operating system and, if need be, peripherals.

+1 For PSU! "CX" line is complete junk!

geofelt · Mar 19, 2014

If you already had a i5-3570K, there would be little value in upgrading it.
For a new build, I would use a current gen i5-4670K.
Use any Z87 based motherboard, it need not be expensive.

For a conservative OC, you will want an aftermarket cpu cooler.
A cm hyper212 will do most of the job.
For the very best, a noctua or Phanteks cooler with 140mm fans would be my pick.
Either will come with good thermal paste, no need for extra.

I do not much like all in one liquid coolers when a good air cooler can do the job.
A liquid cooler will be expensive, noisy, less reliable, and will not cool any better
in a well ventilated case.
Liquid cooling is really air cooling, it just puts the heat exchange in a different place.
The orientation of the radiator will cause a problem.
If you orient it to take in cool air from the outside, you will cool the cpu better, but the hot air then circulates inside the case heating up the graphics card and motherboard.
If you orient it to exhaust(which I think is better) , then your cpu cooling will be less effective because it uses pre heated case air.
And... I have read too many tales of woe when a liquid cooler leaks.
google "H100 leak"

A GTX770 is a good choice. I am not so certain that the classified or 4gb vram options are worth it.
Vram is not that necessary: http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Video-Card-Performance-2GB-vs-4GB-Memory-154/
I think I would just buy a GTX780 up front.

A good quality 650w psu would be sufficient. XFX or Seasonic are better quality units than corsair cx.

I like the all ssd option. If 750gb is what you need, good. I might opt for 500gb and plan on adding a hard drive later if you need to store large files such as videos or backups.

Integrated 7.1 HD sound is very good today, and the cpu savings from a discrete sound card are no longer significant.
I would pass on the sound card unless you are an audiophile and have the quality speakers to take advantage of one.

HiTechObsessed · Mar 19, 2014

You could save some serious cash going with something like this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.00 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($98.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty Z87 Killer ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($141.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($139.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($83.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB Video Card ($489.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: NZXT Phantom 410 (Red) ATX Mid Tower Case ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer 620W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSB0 DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1458.90
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-03-19 12:07 EDT-0400)

dwatterworth · Mar 19, 2014

The reliability of a liquid cooler might be lower than an air cooler, but both rely on a DC motor driving something. Fans can fail similarly to the pump. The cooling potential of a low end liquid cooler is generally similar to a high end air cooler.

The liquid cooler radiator simply has a huge increase in exposed surface area made up of fins which can be more thin and of more thermally conductive materials enabling a more efficient heat exchange.

For a long term system that will most likely be overclocked, potentially more aggressively later on to extend system life, the highest cooling potential possible is preferable.

I have used several Corsair H90, H100, H100i, H105 and H110's in customers builds and have not had a single unit fail. These are workstation machines which run around the clock, often with fully loaded CPUs and GPU's taking on extensive architectural renderings. I have one similar system that has a Noctua NH-D14 which makes much more noise while the system is under full load than the exact same system which utilizes an H100. The H100 generally stays 10c lower for temps and produces much less noise.

On the cooling front, it generally comes down to preference I believe. An air cooler is better for a light overclock I would say which can run on stock volts and generate minimal extra heat. A more powerful liquid cooler simply cannot be matched for higher temps.

On the cooler orientation note, all air coolers dump the heat into the case. The amount of air that gets pulled in on an intake setup for a liquid cooler is huge compared to the increase of that air temperature, minimizing ambient temperature increases.

Raidriar2012 · Mar 20, 2014

allocco91 :

Well I do have a list of peripherals, including speakers, which is why I included the sound card. Although right now I just want advice for the rig, cause that's what I need to focus on. I can get Windows 7 in my country for about the same price so I won't be worrying about that. I'll be purchasing my peripherals in the U.S. also.

Raidriar2012 · Mar 20, 2014

Oh btw is the 3570K also good for video editing? Just a thought.

Raidriar2012 · Mar 20, 2014

HiTechObsessed :

I do appreciate this list, but as a beginner, I want to choose the parts and do the assembly myself. Just gives a feeling of self-accomplishment. For now I want to rely on specific advice instead.

Raidriar2012 · Mar 20, 2014

hey guys is the Noctua NH-D14 as good as the Corsair H100i?

dwatterworth · Mar 20, 2014

You'll get lower temperatures across the full range with the H100i. The NH-D14 will however use less power and create less noise at low to mid CPU temperatures. As soon as the CPU is at full load for a period, the Noctua will need to have the fans spin up to a higher speed than the fans on the H100i at the same full CPU load.

Raidriar2012 · Mar 20, 2014

Update: i5-4670K, AS Rock Z87 Pro 4 Motherboard, Noctua NH-D14

What do you think?

The reason why I chose the Noctua was because I really don't want to deal with leakage with water cooling since this is my first gaming rig. Will be staying in the U.S. for 3 weeks tops, so I can't deal with that

Raidriar2012 · Mar 20, 2014

geofelt :

If you already had a i5-3570K, there would be little value in upgrading it.
For a new build, I would use a current gen i5-4670K.
Use any Z87 based motherboard, it need not be expensive.

For a conservative OC, you will want an aftermarket cpu cooler.
A cm hyper212 will do most of the job.
For the very best, a noctua or Phanteks cooler with 140mm fans would be my pick.
Either will come with good thermal paste, no need for extra.

I do not much like all in one liquid coolers when a good air cooler can do the job.
A liquid cooler will be expensive, noisy, less reliable, and will not cool any better
in a well ventilated case.
Liquid cooling is really air cooling, it just puts the heat exchange in a different place.
The orientation of the radiator will cause a problem.
If you orient it to take in cool air from the outside, you will cool the cpu better, but the hot air then circulates inside the case heating up the graphics card and motherboard.
If you orient it to exhaust(which I think is better) , then your cpu cooling will be less effective because it uses pre heated case air.
And... I have read too many tales of woe when a liquid cooler leaks.
google "H100 leak"

A GTX770 is a good choice. I am not so certain that the classified or 4gb vram options are worth it.
Vram is not that necessary: http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Video-Card-Performance-2GB-vs-4GB-Memory-154/
I think I would just buy a GTX780 up front.

A good quality 650w psu would be sufficient. XFX or Seasonic are better quality units than corsair cx.

I like the all ssd option. If 750gb is what you need, good. I might opt for 500gb and plan on adding a hard drive later if you need to store large files such as videos or backups.

Integrated 7.1 HD sound is very good today, and the cpu savings from a discrete sound card are no longer significant.
I would pass on the sound card unless you are an audiophile and have the quality speakers to take advantage of one.

does the NZXT Phantom 410 have a good airflow design to not trap warm air?

Raidriar2012 · Mar 20, 2014

dwatterworth :

The reliability of a liquid cooler might be lower than an air cooler, but both rely on a DC motor driving something. Fans can fail similarly to the pump. The cooling potential of a low end liquid cooler is generally similar to a high end air cooler.

The liquid cooler radiator simply has a huge increase in exposed surface area made up of fins which can be more thin and of more thermally conductive materials enabling a more efficient heat exchange.

For a long term system that will most likely be overclocked, potentially more aggressively later on to extend system life, the highest cooling potential possible is preferable.

I have used several Corsair H90, H100, H100i, H105 and H110's in customers builds and have not had a single unit fail. These are workstation machines which run around the clock, often with fully loaded CPUs and GPU's taking on extensive architectural renderings. I have one similar system that has a Noctua NH-D14 which makes much more noise while the system is under full load than the exact same system which utilizes an H100. The H100 generally stays 10c lower for temps and produces much less noise.

On the cooling front, it generally comes down to preference I believe. An air cooler is better for a light overclock I would say which can run on stock volts and generate minimal extra heat. A more powerful liquid cooler simply cannot be matched for higher temps.

On the cooler orientation note, all air coolers dump the heat into the case. The amount of air that gets pulled in on an intake setup for a liquid cooler is huge compared to the increase of that air temperature, minimizing ambient temperature increases.

geofelt · Mar 20, 2014

I think the nzxt 410 should be OK.
I would add a second 120mm intake fan in front.
Past that, not much else is necessary.

Raidriar2012 · Mar 21, 2014

guys one question: how would a gaming rig pass through security at the airport?

geofelt · Mar 21, 2014

I have packed a pc in a suitcase and sent it with me as checked baggage.
Security will open the luggage and inspect . You should be ok there.
But... pack well, particularly the cpu cooler. Luggage gets tossed around.

dwatterworth · Mar 21, 2014

Keep all the components packaged I would say and in the suitcase. Maybe even include copies of receipts etc with them? Anything to keep those TSA goons from fumbling through your parts with what I can only assume are sledgehammers.

HiTechObsessed · Mar 21, 2014

I would spend a bit extra and ship it. Definitely wouldn't trust airport baggage handlers to mess with it. I would have nightmares picturing them picking your bag as a random search and start poking around inside the system. *shudder*

Raidriar2012 · Mar 22, 2014

HiTechObsessed :

So would I have to have it shipped in a wooden crate full of styrofoam or something? Would they still have to check it? Cause I don't want them to touch the rig at all. I'm willing to carry it with me throughout the whole flight if that option is available.

Raidriar2012 · Mar 23, 2014

how much overclock would I get out of an i5-4670k with the corsair high performance twin pack fans and the nh-d14?

geofelt · Mar 23, 2014

Raidriar2012 :

How high you can conservatively OC a haswell chip is determined by your luck in getting a golden chip.
The >4.5 OC you read about come from those who got golden chips.
Those who only get 4.0 are mostly silent.
My best guess is that with a top air cooler like a NH-D14, you are likely to get in the 4.3-4.6 range without pushing the voltage to dangerous levels.
The Noctua fans are excellent and so is the supplied thermal paste.
I would not change them out.

Raidriar2012 · Mar 27, 2014

guys what response time is good for a gaming monitor cause im thinking of this: AOC 29-inch IPS Q2963PM (21:9) LED Monitor

Raidriar2012 · Mar 27, 2014

never mind ASUS VG248QE it is

My VERY FIRST gaming rig - need to make this last

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