Building gaming pc. Need advice.

[Zosius]

Hello guys,

I decided to put together a gaming pc and was looking for advice. I have not built pc from scratch before and last desktop I owned was probably 6 years ago. Initial idea is to give some love for gpu, but try to save costs on other parts, but not enough to be the bottleneck. Initial budget is ~1600eur. Could squeeze a hundred or two more if necessary.

Anyway, after discussing with few friends I've been thinking to get below setup:

XFX Radeon HD 7970 3GB GDDR5
PCI-Express 3.0, "BLACK - Dual Fan -DD", DVI, 2xmini-DisplayPort, HDMI, 1000MHz (I believe its out on the end of Feb., but might consider getting 925MHz one)

Intel® Core i5-2500K Processor
Socket-LGA1155, Quad Core, 3.3Ghz, 6MB, 95W, Boxed w/fan

Corsair Obsidian 650D Mid Tower Black
Fans: 1x 200mm Front, 1x 200mm Top, 1x Rear 120mm, ATX, mATX, 2x USB 2.0/3.0

Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3P Socket-1155
ATX, Z68, DDR3, 2xPCIe (2.0) x16, CFX and SLI, SATA 6Gb / s, FW, USB 3.0, Dolby, HDMI

Western Digital Caviar® Black 1TB
SATA 6Gb/s (SATA 3.0), 64MB Cache, 7200RPM, 3.5", Dual processor

Corsair SSD Force Series 3, 90GB 2.5 "
SATA 6 Gb / s (SATA3.0), 550MB/500MB/s read / write, SandForce ® SF-2200, w / bracket

Corsair TX 850W V2 PSU
ATX 12V V2.3, 80 Plus Bronze Standard. 4x 6 +2 pin PCIe, 8x SATA, 140mm Fan

Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600MHz 4GB CL9
Kit w/2x 2GB XMS3 modules, CL9-9-9-24, 1.5V, Vengeance Heatspreader, 240


P.S. I also was suggested to get water cooling. I am not sure how that works, but if anyone could suggest any setup improvements I would be grateful.

Thanks alot for all your help

 

[buzznut]

You didn't say if interested in overclocking, but you'll need aftermarket cooling if you are, its also more quiet.
I don't generally recommend water cooling when similar results can be obtained with air cooling. Hoewoever, The price here in the US for the Antec 620 is about $50-60, putting it in the same range as siome high end air coolers. I'm actually getiting one for my latest build, becuase it performs as well as Corsair's H80 which is almost twice as much. Anyway, if you choose that route its maintenance free and a well reviewed cooler.

You could save some money on the case, I hear the 400D is just as good if not better and costs less.

If you have the Corsair model thats modular, that would be good.

I don't know about Euro, but the 7950 was just rekle4ased here and it performs better than a GTX 580 but costs $50 less. At 1080p, you wouldn't know the difference from the $100 more 7970.

 

[g-unit1111]

P.S. I also was suggested to get water cooling. I am not sure how that works, but if anyone could suggest any setup improvements I would be grateful.

Actually I'd really advise against water cooling and stick with an air solution. The thing is with water cooling there's far more room for error and if something goes wrong, there go your warranties and you'll have to buy all new stuff. Air cooling can be just as effective as water cooling if you get the right setup - read this: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cooling-airflow-heatsink,3053.html

This is what I'd suggest:

Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600MHz 4GB CL9
Kit w/2x 2GB XMS3 modules, CL9-9-9-24, 1.5V, Vengeance Heatspreader, 240

A bit underpowered - you'll want 8GB minimum for most modern games. And you will not like the tall heat spreaders, you'll want to get the low profile ones: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233196

Corsair SSD Force Series 3, 90GB 2.5 "
SATA 6 Gb / s (SATA3.0), 550MB/500MB/s read / write, SandForce ® SF-2200, w / bracket

OK choice - there's a lot better options you could get for the price. Try something like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148442

Corsair Obsidian 650D Mid Tower Black
Fans: 1x 200mm Front, 1x 200mm Top, 1x Rear 120mm, ATX, mATX, 2x USB 2.0/3.0

Corsair makes some excellent cases (I have the Graphite 600T and love it) but you can actually get a better one for far less (and I like the look better): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139010

Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3P Socket-1155
ATX, Z68, DDR3, 2xPCIe (2.0) x16, CFX and SLI, SATA 6Gb / s, FW, USB 3.0, Dolby, HDMI

This is an excellent board, I have the same one and it's been really good so far.

 

[Zosius]

Hi g-unit,

many thanks for your detailed feedback. I will check out your suggestions and most likely I'll go with them if I won't have any problems getting those items.