Tweak final build before purchase (gaming rig)

[lonehunter23]

I will be finally getting together my gaming rig in the next two weeks or so. I have put together what I think I will be buying, but still a little iffy and looking for some final input.

My main concern is gaming (Star Wars: The Old Republic, Starcraft 2, Diablo 3, WoW) and being able to play anything on max settings. My monitor is good enough, but I most likely will be buying a new in a few months. Mouse and keyboard aren't a problem.

I'm mostly worried about my case and having enough room on my motherboard for when I decide to throw in a 2nd video card. I was also thinking about getting a blu-ray burner, but I still don't know. I mostly use my PC for gaming so all I really care about is being able to read/install my games.

I'm still not 100% on overclocking or not. I don't want to cook anything and have a $2,000 paper weight. I'm fine getting a motherboard with easy to set up overclocking though, I just don't trust myself to do anything too complicated.

The cost of additional cooling fans and or anything else need to keep my system cool is fine. My budget is kind of high and I'm fine with spending only $1,500, but I can also go over the $2,000 before taxes and warranty, just to keep my options open.

The link provided is what I have thrown together and planning to get.

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=26184488

Should work now

 

[azeem40]

Make it public so we can see.

 

[g-unit1111]

Looks pretty decent - these would be my suggestions.

1. Swap the case with this (although I know it's all personal preference) : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139010

2. RAM with this (and drop it to 8GB, this RAM meets Intel's RMA guidelines) : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226095

3. With the money you save on RAM - invest that in a Hyper 212 Evo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099

4. I'm not gonna tell you not to get that motherboard but you'd be very wise to at least consider this one (better reliability, things like that) : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131790

 

[xtremegamer2da-max]

get all parts from newegg except the cpu from microcenter save 50$

cooler master haf x case
asrock z68 extreme3 gen3 mobo
intel i5 2500k cpu
cooler master hyper 212 plus cpu cooler
amd radeon hd 7970 video card
western digital caviar black 1.5tb hhd
later corsair force series 180gb ssd
g.skill ripjaws x series 8gb ram
corsair ax850w psu
lg black 12x optical drive

 

[lonehunter23]

I updated the motherboard, added the Hyper 212 Evo, kept the case the same (not a fan of white). Leaning toward a full tower just because I want to make sure I have enough room for everything.

In a few months I might add a 2nd http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102961. With the possibility of a 2nd video card should I invest in additional fans?

I also like Corsair so I kept the RAM the same. RAM is cheap enough so should I just throw 32 gigs in just because or stick with the 16?

 

[azeem40]

That is never a good way to think about it. 8 gb is plenty for a long time.

 

[Onus]

I recommend against any Crappermaster product, regardless of quality. Some of their PSUs still have liar labels or claim protection circuits that are missing (fact, not opinion; reviews at HardwareSecrets). That's dishonest, and a dishonest company does not deserve anyone's business. Fortunately, in every market where Crappermaster may be found, competitors offer similar (or better) products at the same price (e.g. Rosewill for cases, Xigmatek for coolers), so you need not take a hit in the wallet for refusing to support a dishonest business.
/rant

 

[lonehunter23]

I'm going to stick with the 16 gigs of Corsair RAM. Do you have a specific fan in mind to replace the Cooler Master, or just anything except Cooling Master?

One more thing, I was looking at the case specs, the picture shows that the case is 20.20" x 8.40", but the motherboard is 12.0" x 9.6". Am I just bad a measurements or is the case too skinny for the motherboard?

 

[azeem40]

16GB is only needed for extreme vid editing. 8GB is more than enough for gaming.

 

[lonehunter23]

Taking some time to mess around with the build. Dropped down to 8 gigs, also the two sticks are low profile so that will free up a little room.

Dropped down to a 500 gig HD, 1 TB just seems like overkill as I have a 250 gig external I keep music/movies/random games on.

 

[phamhlam]

Where is your SSD? You are bottlenecking your computer in the HDD portion.

 

[lonehunter23]

I wasn't planning on getting a SSD. They seem crazy overpriced for the amount of storage you get.

This is my first build so if I'm missing something please let me know, but how does using a HDD limit my system?

 

[aqe040466]

I will be finally getting together my gaming rig in the next two weeks or so. I have put together what I think I will be buying, but still a little iffy and looking for some final input.

My main concern is gaming (Star Wars: The Old Republic, Starcraft 2, Diablo 3, WoW) and being able to play anything on max settings. My monitor is good enough, but I most likely will be buying a new in a few months. Mouse and keyboard aren't a problem.

I'm mostly worried about my case and having enough room on my motherboard for when I decide to throw in a 2nd video card. I was also thinking about getting a blu-ray burner, but I still don't know. I mostly use my PC for gaming so all I really care about is being able to read/install my games.

I'm still not 100% on overclocking or not. I don't want to cook anything and have a $2,000 paper weight. I'm fine getting a motherboard with easy to set up overclocking though, I just don't trust myself to do anything too complicated.

The cost of additional cooling fans and or anything else need to keep my system cool is fine. My budget is kind of high and I'm fine with spending only $1,500, but I can also go over the $2,000 before taxes and warranty, just to keep my options open.

The link provided is what I have thrown together and planning to get.

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=26184488

Should work now

If you can afford $500+ video card I think you want to invest a little more on this: ASUS MAXIMUS IV EXTREME (REV 3.0) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Extended ATX Intel Motherboard($289.99 in Newegg)

 

[phamhlam]

SSD are cheap. You can get 120GB for $150 on sale which is often. Corsair GT, OCZ Vertex 3, and many other SSD are cheap. They bottleneck your system because lets say you are editting a lot of photos or you are loading multiple application or a game, your CPU will be waiting for your HDD to give it more information to process.

 

[lonehunter23]

Added a 120GB SSD. If everything goes well I will be purchasing everything next Friday (2/24). Thank you everyone for the continued responses/help.

Any other tweaks needed feel free to help me out.

 

[g-unit1111]

Added a 120GB SSD. If everything goes well I will be purchasing everything next Friday (2/24). Thank you everyone for the continued responses/help.

Any other tweaks needed feel free to help me out.

Just make sure your SSD is from a reputable vendor like Crucial, Kingston Hyper X, Intel, Mushkin, Samsung, or Plextor.

OCZ doesn't have the best reputation and the Corsair Force 3 is a decent choice but there's way better.

 

[lonehunter23]

Changed the Corsair for a Mushkin Enhanced Chronos 120GB, reviews on it seem pretty solid

 

[lonehunter23]

Got a question about the motherboard and case. I'm looking at the dimensions of the two and either I'm bad at measurements or the motherboard won't fit.

This is my first build so I am most likely just being paranoid lol

 

[Zach996]

get all parts from newegg except the cpu from microcenter save 50$

cooler master haf x case
asrock z68 extreme3 gen3 mobo
intel i5 2500k cpu
cooler master hyper 212 plus cpu cooler
amd radeon hd 7970 video card
western digital caviar black 1.5tb hhd
later corsair force series 180gb ssd
g.skill ripjaws x series 8gb ram
corsair ax850w psu
lg black 12x optical drive

easiest website to use for pricing is pcpartpicker.com

 

[lonehunter23]

Can someone give me a hand with the motherboard/case question? I posted above

 

[phamhlam]

They will fit. Your case supports ATX mobo.