First Time, First System Build

I just joined the forum, I have never built a computer, just fixed a few by accident throught the years for friends.

I have already purchased my case, which is; Cooler Master Haf X Blue Edition. (with extra top fan!)
I have already purchased my power supply, which is; Corsair CMPSU-850TX 850watt
I was given brand new "in the box" Corsair Vengeance Memory 4-4gb

I am wanting to go with the "new" GB G1 Sniper2 MOBO, with i7 2600k, EVGA SuperClocked 012-P3-1572-AR GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card, seagate 3tb hhd.

Sounds good, so far?

I want to go ssd, but should I go with enough for just the OS, say 64gb, or should I go bigger, so certain games can be loaded onto drive? I only want the 3tb seagate for
music, pics and stuff. also noticed that GB does not say in there literature that the Corsair CMZ memory "vengeance" is recognized.

I'm excited about building this computer, but my head is starting to hurt....so much information.....so little time!

Thanks in advance for all the help!



Approximate Purchase Date: Starting to buy components now

Budget Range: $2000

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, Movies, Music, Internet, Home Stuff

Parts Not Required: Keeping the Bose Companion 5 system

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: NewEgg for now

Country of Origin: USA New Orleans, LA

Parts Preferences: Still Learning, like Intel i7, like Nvidia, MOBO either ASUS or Gigabyte "Like G1 Sniper 2"

Overclocking: Maybe

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe

Monitor Resolution: Not sure, its dvi and 5 years old

Additional Comments: I have never built a computer before. I am only doing this for the experience "hoping to have a fun experience"

Thanks for the help

Sounds like you have a pretty good budget, should be a pretty solid system. A few pointers:

3TB is overkill. You really only need more than 2TB if you're using the drives to store massive amounts of video on them. I have two 1-TB hard drives and I don't even come close to filling capacity. In fact I even use the second 1TB to backup the first 1TB hard drive, and even have room to backup the primary. 64 GB for SSD is plenty fine, it should be enough for the main programs you use. Don't load games on the SSD - if you have to wipe it for any reason, you might lose your save game status - especially if you're like me and play some older games on Steam.

The Cooler Master case is execllent, I just bought a HAF 912 for a workstation, and it is a really well-made case.

I don't know much about the Gigabyte board but the one I just bought is really excellent (Z68 based with Intel Core i3-2120), you cant go wrong. Good choices on memory, video card, and PSU.

For a basic skeleton of parts and just for the sake of a guide to educate.
http://www.squidoo.com/electronicandmore
There's a $850 and $1000 build that'd fit you.

I'd get this SSD. OCZ Solid 3 120GB $170
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820227729
Also, perhaps getting this HDD as the storage for your movies instead of the F3 1TB I suggested.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] k=2TB%20F4
You don't need an i7 2600K that's for sure. Your usage isn't anything close to the actual need for HT. And if you're thinking of the excuse of "future proofing" it's not, in Gaming the 2500K performs about 98% of the 2600K, you wouldn't even notice the difference.

I want to say I am running around 1300 movies, and 20 tv series on the one seagate! I have been collecting movies and music for.....wow, almost 25 years!

I agree striker, thanks for the heads up! ...I also agree with aznshinobi about the i5 instead of the i7.

So no opinions on the GB G1 Sniper 2 z68 board?

Not sure about the G1 sniper board. I know it's a "luxury" board, not much more.

As for the drives, the 5900RPM will make them slightly slower than the 7200RPM ones. HOWEVER since they are storage drives, it does not matter. Really the only time you will even notice a delay would be when booting the OS. Since you aren't putting and OS on them, no worries! Storage drives are traditionally slower.

And about cache and 6Gb/s vs 3Gb/s. Cache doesn't matter very much. They put 64MB in larger drives because the improved cache will help slightly when moving bigger files. But honestly, it's not something to worry about IMO.

Now, for the different speeds. What's the difference? Lol, there is none! It's a marketing ploy to make you think the drives are faster than they really are.

An HDD runs around 130MB/s (I think) while the limit on Sata 3Gb/s (aka Sata II) is 280MB/s. So HDD's dont run anywhere near the max speed of that channel.

Sata 6Gb/s (Sata III) is only utilized by SSD's right now. If you see it on an HDD, it doesn't matter, as it doesn't mean the drive is any faster.

So in summary, cache barely matters and Sata II vs Sata III doesn't matter AT ALL for hard disk drives.

Sorry for the extremely long and complicated answer, I did the best I could lol.

Here is he update with pics:


COOLER MASTER HAF X Blue Edition RC-942-KKN3 w/ extra top fan!

GIGABYTE G1.SNIPER2 LGA 1155 Intel Z68

Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz

CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3

OCZ Vertex 3 Series – MAX IOPS Edition VTX3MI-25SAT3-120G 2.5"

EVGA 02G-P3-1568-KR GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi)

HITACHI Deskstar H3IK30003272SW 3TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb Internal Hard Drive

LITE-ON 12X BD-R 2X BD-RE 16X DVD+R 12X DVD-RAM 8X BD-ROM 8MB Cache SATA Blu-ray Burner with 3D Playback

Logitech G19 Black 104 Normal Keys USB Wired Standard Gaming Keyboard

Logitech G700 Black 13 Buttons Tilt Wheel USB RF Wireless Laser 5700 dpi Gaming Mouse

Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate

Bose Companion® 5 multimedia speaker system

ViewSonic VX2035wm***

**** Next question---- I want a large 3D gaming monitor, suggestions?

Facebook...........Pics http://www.facebook.com/media/set/ [...] 1563109336