Building my first ever Gaming RIG.. need EXTREME help! (NZXT CASE)

f2k8

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Hey there, I recently joined this forum to gain knowledge on building a gaming rig. I am sort of inexperienced on the building part.. but I have basic knowledge on computers.
I have a little list of what I need, but I am not sure if this is everything.. so feel free to add what ever you want to the list:
PC Case - Phantom NZXT Case - (£100)
http://www.box.co.uk/OPEN_BOX_-_Open_Box_-_NZXT_Phantom_White_1036882.html

AMD Quad Core Phenom II X4 965 + 4GB RAM + Motherboard PACKAGE - (£195)
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/prods/barebones/Novatech/MBB-96584G.html

Corsair 600W PSU- £55
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Corsair-CMPSU-600CX-600W-Power-Supply/dp/B0045Y1EKC/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

EVGA GeForce GTX 550Ti - 2GB - (£140)
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2gb-evga-gtx-550-ti-4008mhz-gddr5-gpu-900mhz-shader-1800mhz-384-cores-dvi-mhdmi

SAMSUNG 500GB SATA HD - (£30)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002J65AHQ/ref=asc_df_B002J65AHQ3594768?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&tag=googlecouk06-21&linkCode=asn&creative=22206&creativeASIN=B002J65AHQ

I have a budget of around £520.

I have a few questions:
Question 1:
Will the motherboard shown above, fit the PC case? Will it be a perfect fit.. or will I have to fiddle around with it?

Question 2:
Will the graphics card shown above, fit the motherboard that is also shown above.

Question 3:
Will the power suply be enough to power everything I have listed.. and is the power supply any good as it is very cheap?

Sorry for the REALLY long question haha
I may change some things around in the near future as I may find better things to stick in the rig.
Thank you for taking your time to read this.. any feedback is appreciated and if you have any similar suggestions to the items displayed above.. don't be afraid to give me a lecture on why. :na:
 
Never heard od CiT before as a maker of PSU's . Its probably junk if you believe you get what you pay for

The system as you have built it will pull less than 200 watts at max. You would be far better off with a quality 450 - 500 PSU from a reputable manufacturer

The graphics card fits.

The mb will fit in the case .

You need to be careful with electronic components when you build your computer . Google for tutorials on how to assemble a pc and follow the instructions .
 

f2k8

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Oh okay, thanks for that.
I will definitely read up on some tutorials before I do this.
Are there any PSU's you know that are of good quality and under £50/$70?
 

kong911

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Corsair, Seasonic, Antec, Enermax. Any of these manufacturers will fit your bill for PSU brand.

My pick would be Corsair, 'cause I'm bias..have two of them on my systems atm.
 

f2k8

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Will i really need a 750W PSU?
Shall I get a 500W PSU?

But the graphics card I want will definitely be high wattage.
 

pepe2907

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I have some doubts about the quality of your PSU. You need to allways check if your PSU is Active for example.
I think you may be OK with a 500-550 W PSU of a quality.
The parts you have listed look to me as being below 300W actualy.
 

kong911

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If you're paranoid about the wattage, get the 750W...it's always better to overshoot. You'll never know you gonna upgrade further down the road...economic too! :bounce:


For your other question, "It gives an AMD quad core processor.. will the NVIDIA GTX550 Ti run well with it?"

The graphic card you want to get is PCI-Ex16 so you can use on that motherboard. It will run full speed, whether or not it's on AMD or Intel mainboard. It's up to you which brand you want to use.
 

f2k8

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Thanks for that Kong..
I'm thinking of buying a Corsair 500W PSU for £45.
Now I'm confused though.. I don't know how much Watts this graphics card will take - http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2gb-evga-gtx-550-ti-4008mhz-gddr5-gpu-900mhz-shader-1800mhz-384-cores-dvi-mhdmi

It's a 2GB graphics card.. won't that take over 500W?

Thanks once again people, much appreciated. :wahoo:
 

garage1217

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As a very general rule of thumb with a power supply, simply double the maximum draw which another stated around 200W. So a 400-500w would be sufficient. Another member also mentioned power supply brands such as corsair, seasonic, enermax and antec. The first 3 are all I will run personally but antec also makes a nice supply. Seasonic has some killer fanless / silent power supplies in the 400+W range if your case has reasonable airflow.
 

kong911

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No prob...here's the link to calculate approx. wattage you need for you rig.

http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

I doubt that you will max out the 500W...but it will give you some idea.
 

pepe2907

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It will not pass over 500W. And Corsair 500W should be OK.
Your graphics card even with 2GB is no more as about 150-170W max fully loaded, your AMD processor maybe a little more as the intel one, if I am not wrong these are rated at max 135 - ~300 so long, maximum, mobo - let say 50 is average for a feature rich mobo, <20 RAM, <20 HDD...
 

f2k8

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I've pretty much made my mind up now, I think I will pick up this PSU - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Corsair-CMPSU-600CX-600W-Power-Supply/dp/B0045Y1EKC/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

What do you guys think of it? It is a reasonable price.
I found an estimate of what my watts will be like on that calculator site.. it came up to 440.. but I want to get a 600W just in case of future mods.
But I am still not sure, since you guys are pros.. could anyone help me out on the calculator bit, I just want it to be a very close estimate so I don't mess anything up once I buy the parts.

Just to double check before I buy some of these parts, are you guys sure that there will be no problems with the 2GB EVGA GTX 550 Ti being connected to an AMD Quad Core Phenom II X4 965?

Thanks once again.

 

Dontcopy

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Perfect PSU, the Corsair 600 is what I am getting to power my rig, so you should be fine with that.
There will be no problems with the Phenom and GTX 550 ti
 

f2k8

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Thanks for all this help guys, I have learnt alot since starting this thread!!
I still have a few questions as I am still in doubt..
First of all, the gaming case comes with 4 pre-installed fans, including the CPU's fan connectors.. that will be 5 different (3 pin) connectors that will have to be used up on the mother board.. but the mother board looks like it only has 3 =/
I found some Y-splitters on Ebay, but will that fry up the motherboard since more power is being sent through it?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/PC-Molex-Fan-Splitter-Cable-Wire-Lead-/290580514857?pt=UK_Computing_CablesConnectors_RL&hash=item43a7f2c829#ht_1116wt_934

Those are the splitters that I am talking about.

Also.. will I need any extra wires that you guys can think about? Thanks.
 

f2k8

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This is the updated list guys.. I've changed a couple of things since the previous motherboard bundle is no longer available:


PC Case - Phantom NZXT Case Special Edition - (£100)
http://www.box.co.uk/Phantom_White_with_Red_Stripes_Enthusias_1045207.html

AMD Quad Core Phenom II X4 955 + 4GB RAM + Motherboard PACKAGE - (£180)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/AMD-Phenom-Quad-Core-3-2Ghz/dp/B005957FCW/ref=sr_1_3?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1310742909&sr=1-3

Powercool 750W PSU (£60)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Powercool-750W-Dual-Efficiency-Black/dp/B001RUWYJM/ref=sr_1_11?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1310743917&sr=1-11

EVGA GeForce GTX 550Ti 2GB - (£140)
http://www.scan.co.uk/products/2gb-evga-gtx-550-ti-4008mhz-gddr5-gpu-900mhz-shader-1800mhz-384-cores-dvi-mhdmi

SAMSUNG 500GB SATA HD - (£30)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002J65AHQ/ref=asc_df_B002J65AHQ3594768/?smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&tag=googlecouk06-21&linkCode=asn&creative=22206&creativeASIN=B002J65AHQ

I have also upped my budget to £550.

Thanks again guys.
 

Engima

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The NZXT Phantom is listed as a full tower which will fit any type of motherboard so far so no worries. The two worries I have is the unbranded RAM that comes with the bundle and as the above poster said, the PSU. I personally haven't heard of a Powercool PSU before so I can't comment too much on that matter but I am using a Corsair 650W PSU which I could recommend.

Oh, from having built my computer two months ago I would recommend a modular PSU unless you have the space and time for cable management. You might also want to budget for a decent CD/DVD writer/reader.
 

f2k8

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Here is an update of the computer guys, I changed a few things:


PC Case : NZXT Phantom White Enthusiast Full Tower Case (£99.98)
http://www.box.co.uk/Phantom_White_with_Red_Stripes_Enthusias_1045207.html

I really like this PC case, it is a full tower so I know the components will fit, looking at its interior it is pretty much future proof so I will be sticking with it for a long time, it includes four fans so I wont be buying any extra fans unless recommended by you guys, I understand it is a bit pricey and can save a lot of money buying a different case serving the same purpose but I like the edgy look and really cant see me using any other case.

Power Unit Supply: Corsair GS700 (£69.34)
http://www.cclonline.com/product/59323/CMPSU-700GUK/Power-Supplies/Corsair-GS700-80-PLUS-Certified-700-Watt-Power-Supply-Unit/PSU0233/

I have been looking around everywhere for PSU and I keep on finding one that people have never heard of, since a lot of guys recommended Corsair, I thought since this is my first build I might as well go for companies people actually trust, this one has 700W which I believe will be more then enough for my setup but I am not 100% sure, let me know if I need to go higher which I doubts, and I will be upgrading in the future. ( Yes the blue LED won me over lol)

Motherboard: Asus M4A87TD EVO 870 Socket AM3 8 Channel Audio ATX (£74.55)
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/206151

I don't know much about motherboard but this one seems to have it all, USB 3.0, 7.1 audio chip pretty much everything I need but I do have one doubt that is whether the graphics card will fit since the graphic card has dual fan and is quite chunky.

Ram:Corsair Vengeance 4GB (2x2GB) (£32.99)
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/262587

I was going for a 1 stick 4GB but i read somewhere that Dual Memory is better (Is this true?) so i am going for the 2x 2GB setup. As for the Corsair Vengeance, my cousin uses them and he recommended them, What do guys think ?

Processor:[strike]AMD Phenom II X4 840 (£75.77)[/strike]
[strike]http://www.ebuyer.com/product/257236[/strike]
AMD Phenom II X4 995 Black Edition (£85.69)
http://www.crescentelectronics.co.uk/amd-black-edition-amd-phenom-ii-x4-955-32-ghz-processor.html

I know there is a 6 core processor out there but i am on a budget so i stuck with a quad-core, as i said im new to the whole computer building thing , is this processor good, i have seen a lot of people using it.

Graphics Card:Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560 Ti 900MHz 1GB (OverClocked) (£172.99)
http://www.dabs.com/products/gigabyte-geforce-gtx-560-ti-900mhz-1gb-pci-e-hdmi--overclocked--7B29.html

What do you guys think about this graphics card? it is overclocked, I prefer NVIDIA over ATI (AMD) due to physix and cuda features and I find it easier to use (software wise) but I don't mind switching over if you guys recommend a better card for around the same price. I was thinking about getting the XTF Radeon HD 6870 but i looked around at benchmarks, reviews and this seems to be faster.

Internal DVD drive:Sony AD-5260S-0B 24x Internal DVDRW SATA Black Bare (£13.99)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sony-AD-5260S-0B-Internal-DVDRW-Black/dp/B003Q8ZZ3U/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1310756317&sr=8-2

You might be wondering why i am getting a cheap DVD drive that is because after a while i will be upgrading it to a blu-ray combo

Harddrive:Seagate 500GB 3.5" Barracuda SATA-III 6Gb/s (£30.98)
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/252857

I was looking for a smaller harddrive capacity like 320GB that can utilize the SATA 3 since i was going to upgrade to a 1TB later but they are pretty much the same price as this one

Big question: What you guys think?

I know this is a long post and sorry about that but i really want to be sure that all these components will work together as i am spending quite abit of money on them, much appreciated if you have read this and i would like to hear some feedback and your thoughts. My original budget was £550 and have gone over budget but the new budget is £600 ( and it will stay at that lol)

Thank you very much.