New Build Advice

[Infinite Jest]

Hey guys! I'm a new user here on Tom's but I've referenced this site for about 6 months now in my various research endeavors. Anyway, I've decided to build a PC for the first time, primarily for gaming, and I need some pointed advice. Below is a bit I prepared for this http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=417014 thread on Neogaf.com, but after realizing that it will take me about 6 months to get activated to post, I realize I'll have to go elsewhere. All the questions I would like to ask are below please feel free to provide any constructive feedback.

Your Current Specs: I don't own a desktop; first time builder. (Current laptop user)
Budget: $1000 +/- ~$100 USD Initial price
Main Use: Gaming, HD Video Editing/Processing, General USage
Monitor Resolution: 1080p (24", already own)
List SPECIFIC games that you MUST be able to play: BFBC2 maxed w/ at least 8x AA, SC II FLAWLESSLY @ 1080p, various mid-high resource consuming games. Future games: Bf3 with similar performance to BFBC2, Skyrim
Are reusing any parts?: N/A
When will you build?: I want this to be built before August, so any time i nthe next 4-6 weeks.
Will you be overclocking?: Probably. At least a mild GPU/CPU OC to get my feet wet.

Hey guys, I'm brand new to these forums but I have been watching this thread for a few days now while waiting for my account to be activated. This will be my first PC I will have built myself, primarily as a replacement for console gaming. I got a new laptop recently that could handle some games and I was blown away by how much more I enjoyed it than the consoles.

Anyway, I've been doing some research and have found out a lot about how these components actually work and the performance level/price ratio I'd be interested in. Using the ~$1000 wishlist provided in the OP as a base, I came up with this preliminary build:
http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=16221452

-I settled on the Twin Frozr III GTX 570 over Radeon 6970 + other nVidia/ATI variants as the performance level I was looking for (I can;t tell you how many reviews/benchmarks I looked at). For now I'd like to stick with a single GPU with the possibility of a 8 or 12 months down the road adding a second in SLI if I fell I can handle it. If anyone can provide information that could sway me another way, I would welcome it. If I were to go a cost cutting way, I had my eye on http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127562 over the Twin Frozr II GTX 560 Ti, but I'm not sure cutting a 100 bucks is worth the drop in performance.

-As for the HDD, would it be worth getting , say, a WD SATA III 1 TB drive (6 Gb/s) over the samsung 3 Gb/s if I plan on using it as my sole HDD? My plan is to pick up a SSD around the holidays of this year or early nexct year when the prices drop and kinks get ironed out, so the HDD needs to last as a primary boot/performance drive as well as storage until then.
-Is there anything I oculd trim down on without dropping my performance too much? As I see it, for what I'm looking for this is about as good as it will get?
-Case feedback?

-Would the stock cooling + heatpipe be enough to cope with slight to moderate overclocking of both the gpu and cpu?

-Also, on the newbier side of things, should I be ordering thermal gel/paste with this? What about a pc specific tool kit?
Should I be ordering any extra SATA cables or the like? Anything I'm missing?

I appreciate any feedback you guys can give. I apologize for the length of this post, but this is as short I could keep it without missing anything.

Thanks,
-J

 

[k1114]

You could save some money with this mobo, asrock p67 extreme4. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157229&cm_re=asrock_extreme4_p67-_-13-157-229-_-Product Other than that, it all looks good.

If the 570 fits in your budget, go ahead and get it, more power to ya. There won't be a difference in the hdd, sata 2 or 3 doesn't matter as a mechanical hdd won't even saturate a sata 2. I would get a hsf for any OC, the stock gets hot even with a little OC and you want to stay cool. The hyper 212+ you have is all you need and the thermal paste included with it is sufficient. All the stuff you need comes with the parts so you have everything you need. Unless you don't have a screwdriver, that's the only tool required.

 

[Infinite Jest]

Thanks for the reply, k1114. The mobo I listed comes down to the same price with a MIR; besides the various extra connections (i.e. USB, eSATA) how do the features of each stack up to one another?

I was assuming as much with the HDDs, but I jsut wanted to confirm. I guess getting into the realm of SSDs may press that question (maybe).

So there is no reason I should order extra paste with an order? Does the CPU come pre-pasted for its stock HSF; basically, will I have to clean it off to apply the stuff that comes with the hyper 212+?

Also, is the case size/model I chose sufficient for giving the RAM "breathing room" or just enough room in general? I like the form factor, but I just wanted to make sure it is practical. Thanks.




EDIT: Also, will the 750W be sufficient for an SLI with the same (or similar) card in the future?

 

[mgf derp]

A HAF 922 will be plenty big enough for your requirements. As for paste, the Hyper 212 will come with a small syringe of CoolerMaster paste that will be sufficient for your cooling needs and the stock Intel heatsink will have pre applied paste not the cpu itself so no cleaning should be necessary just apply the CoolerMaster paste and away you go.

 

[k1114]

The msi and asrock have the same amount of connections/feaures pretty much. I overlooked the MIR, I'd rather keep the money then have the trouble of sending it in and maybe getting it back.

The stock hsf has thermal paste pre applied to it not the cpu so you won't have to clean it off. Others decide to get better thermal paste for better thermal conductivity but it's not a lot and neither is the price to buy some; so it's really your decision.

The case is big and good airflow, really has nothing to do with the ram; usually people look to see if gpu has enough room. But even a 912 is big enough, there a many, many cases to choose from that are big enough.

750w will be enough.

 

[Infinite Jest]

Thanks again for the feedback. I happened to find this on newegg's flier (it's $20 cheaper than the price listed + MIR):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006&nm_mc=EMC-IGNEFL053111&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL053111-_-EMC-053111-Index-_-PowerSupplies-_-17139006-L03B

how does this compare with the one I originally listed?
e.g.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139021

 

[Infinite Jest]

Also, is G.Skill Ripjaws RAM generally reliable? That is, as opposed to this, which comes to 5 bucks less: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233144&nm_mc=EMC-IGNEFL053111&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL053111-_-EMC-053111-Index-_-DesktopMemory-_-20233144-L02A

EDIT: How important is "timing" when it comes to choosing RAM? It seems they charge a premium for what I presume is better timing? (i.e. 7-8-7-24 charging a $40+ premium over vs 9-9-9-24)

 

[k1114]

Deals pretty much change daily so specific prices won't matter unless you're buying it now. Are you?

Could you give me the link to the flier?

Games could really care less about timings.

 

[chesteracorgi]

If you go with the WD SATA3 HDD you can always use it on a SATA2 port. Mechanical drives don't use the bandwidth of SATA3, but having a HDD that can be used on either is an advantage (look for SATA2 to go the way of the Dodo).

The case seems to be a solid one but it doesn't appear to have good cable management. You are going to have to tie cables together to make sure the cabling doesn't interfere with the airflow. If you are willing to spend a little more on a case look at this Corsair http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139003R.

You will get 4 SATA cables with your mobo. Do you need any more?

 

[Infinite Jest]

Good to know. There are two fliers with parts out atm.

http://promotions.newegg.com/neemail/may-0-2011/allstar31/index-landing.html?nm_mc=AFC-TechBargains&cm_mmc=AFC-TechBargains-_-NA-_-NA-_-NA

http://promotions.newegg.com/neemail/june-0-2011/earlyadopter02/index-landing.html?nm_mc=AFC-TechBargains&cm_mmc=AFC-TechBargains-_-NA-_-NA-_-NA

 

[Infinite Jest]

If you go with the WD SATA3 HDD you can always use it on a SATA2 port. Mechanical drives don't use the bandwidth of SATA3, but having a HDD that can be used on either is an advantage (look for SATA2 to go the way of the Dodo).

The case seems to be a solid one but it doesn't appear to have good cable management. You are going to have to tie cables together to make sure the cabling doesn't interfere with the airflow. If you are willing to spend a little more on a case look at this Corsair http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139003R.

You will get 4 SATA cables with your mobo. Do you need any more?

The case you referenced appears to be deactivated. I wouldn't mind tying cables together; would this be a big issue? As for the SATA cables, I should be fine with 4. Thanks!

k1114: I might as well buy it as I have the funds and I've pretty much decided what I want. Also, if you were to recommend a type of 3rd party thermal paste, what would it be?

 

[k1114]

■LITE-ON CD/DVD Burner - Bulk Black SATA Model iHAS124-04 - OEM
■COOLER MASTER HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP Black Steel + Plastic and Mesh Bezel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
■SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
■MSI N570GTX Twin Frozr II OC GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video ...
■CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V v2.2 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 ...
■MSI P67A-GD65 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
■CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B
■Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52500K
■XIGMATEK Gaia SD1283 120mm Long Life Bearing CPU Cooler bracket included I7 i5 775 1155 AMD and dual fan push pull compatible
TOTAL: $1,149.07 Shipping Included. Before MIR.

There's $45 in rebates. Anything I changed was because of current deals/combos. EMCKEGJ36 code for psu.

Only deal I didn't change was $50 for this hdd from the flier. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148697&nm_mc=EMC-IGNEFL053111&cm_mmc=EMC-IGNEFL053111-_-EMC-053111-Index-_-InternalHardDrives-_-22148697-L0E

 

[Infinite Jest]

Best answer selected by Infinite Jest.