$1500-$2000 build, seeking advice

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Orestes92

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Apr 5, 2012
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Hey there guys, this will actually be my first build and I'm looking for a few pointers. So I've actually spent the past few days researching parts, reading reviews and doing comparisons so I have already chosen my parts, I just want to see what you guys think, and if you have any ideas on where I can possibly lower my cost without skimping on quaity or even dish out a bit extra for something I know will be promising.

Here's what my current build will be:

Case - Antec 1200 v3
Mobo - ASUS p8z68 deluxe/gen3
Cpu - Intel i7 2700k
Psu - Rosewill lightning-1300
Gpu - Nvidia Geforce Gtx 680 (eventually)
Ram - Corsair vengeance 2x8gb

Will eventually opt to a liquid cooling system, and probably before it's finished being built as I will have to go piece by piece with my budget. Will do some basic overclocking to get the most out of my pc, but definitely not a hardcore overclocker.
Thanks ahead of time for any input!
 
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g-unit1111

g-unit1111

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If gaming is the primary focus the 2700K, 16GB RAM and 1300W PSU are unnecessary. Especially when you consider that the 680 is far more energy efficient than previous generations. Go with the 2500K.

Also 16GB of RAM isn't necessary - and especially 2 x 8GB - doesn''t mix well with Sandy Bridge. If you get the Vengeance - watch the tall heat sinks as they will interfere with any aftermarket coolers you plan to install.

Get this for your RAM instead: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231314

For PSU get this - it covers everything you need and then some: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703028

I'd also suggest this for your case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139010

And most of the regulars know I'm not a fan of liquid cooling by any means - to me it's too much risk for not a lot of payoff - a strong air fan like the Noctua D14 will give you the same results and is far far safer.
 
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C12Friedman

C12Friedman

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Jan 25, 2012
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1300W is a lot of (too much) power. You shouldn't need more than 750W to SLI 680's (if you decide to add another 680 later). Perhaps something like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151107
doesn't look as cool as the lightning but... very effective (I'm told, I don't own one - yet)
2700k: no real benefit to the extra $100+ over the 25X0k (unless you do cad or video work)
16GB ram again, no real benefit over 8GB with Win7 (unless you do cad or vid)
 
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C12Friedman

C12Friedman

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Jan 25, 2012
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"If you get the Vengeance - watch the tall heat sinks as they will interfere with any aftermarket coolers you plan to install."



If he'll be water cooling in the future, tall heatsinks on ram are preferred - water cooling blocks don't get that big and less airflow over the ram without a fan right there like you would have with air cooling.
Keep the high profile ram
 
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serialkiller

serialkiller

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Feb 10, 2012
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+1 to gunit 1111

He is right most of the parts are way overkill.

Your build should look like this

intel i5 2500k
cm hyper 212 evo
asrock z68 extreme3 gen3 or asus p8z68 v-pro/usb3.0
corsair vengence 2x4gb 1600mhz low proffile ddr3 ram
evga gtx 680 2gb oc
pc power and cooling silencer mkii 950w 80+ silver psu
Crucial m4 128gb ssd
seagate baracuda 1tb 7200rpm hdd
corsair carbide 500r white or 600t white
windows 7 home premium

this will be more than powerful to run games at ultra settings on full hd monitor.
 
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hotthree

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Dec 19, 2011
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Drop to a 850watt psu if you plan to SLI/xfire in the future. If not drop even lower to a 650watt or 750watt. And get a better company ...stay with corsair/antec/xfx/seasonic for christ sakes.

Drop to 8gigs of ram but stay with dual channel so 2x4gb. You'll save a lot here. 16gig is not necessary for gaming and you will not run any iissues with 8gb.

Go with 2500k unless you just have to have the 2700k. You will not see a difference for gaming here.

Throw the couple hundred you are saving into monitors or gpu's. or getting a big SSD.
 
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Orestes92

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Apr 5, 2012
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Yeah, I forgot to take into mind that the 680 is more energy efficient, and from what I heard is quieter and keeps cooler than its predecessors. I just went with what seemed to be what I needed, a high wattage psu that could actually keep cool lol, but I'll definitely go with one you suggested, I hadn't seen it when looking around on newegg. Will still go with 16gb ram for future use, but it probably would be best to go 4x4gb. Not fond of the aesthetics of the corsair case, I just hate white lol, but I can see why you chose it. Thanks for the tips.
 
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hotthree

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Yea 1200watt runs quadfire or quad sli lol

Btw if your going 16gb..its actually better to keep it 2x8gb for dual channel. If you go 4 channel it will actually be slower just fyi. But I doubt you will notice it a whole lot.
 
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C12Friedman

C12Friedman

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Jan 25, 2012
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I'm amazed at the assumptions (yes, I also made the assumption the rig is for gaming - we don't know that) and asthetic opinions here...
Cases are a personal choice - I've spent many hours looking at different cases both with and without budgets and I can say that no one case is THE case to get - personal preference, friends.
OP says water cooling in future - kinda makes fitting a 212 hard don't ya think?
 
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g-unit1111

g-unit1111

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Well first off the tall heat sinks are completely useless - they don't do anything and can actually obstruct your system's air flow.

Second I am normally like 100% opposed to water cooling. If something goes wrong with a liquid setup - you can't get a replacement for anything as most manufacturer's warranties don't cover water damage.

Btw if your going 16gb..its actually better to keep it 2x8gb for dual channel. If you go 4 channel it will actually be slower just fyi. But I doubt you will notice it a whole lot.
Click to expand...

That's not necessarily true - you'll never use 32GB on a gaming system and Sandy Bridge is known to have lots of issues with 8GB chips - Ivy will correct that somewhat but part of the reasoning is the design of Sandy Bridge places the memory controller on the chip where before it was on the north bridge. Because of that - that's why Intel usually advises against running RAM at speeds above 1600.

Cases are a personal choice - I've spent many hours looking at different cases both with and without budgets and I can say that no one case is THE case to get - personal preference, friends.
Click to expand...

That's certainly true but you also don't want to waste your money on a brand that has a reputation for producing garbage like Raidmax, Xion, Apevia, Xclio, you name it. I generally pick the Corsair Carbide because it has a slick, simple exterior and the interior room and features it offers can't be matched anywhere.
 
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serialkiller

serialkiller

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A hyper 212 evo can oc upto 4.5ghz easily.

One should oc hos cpu upto 4.5ghz after that performance is diminishing and power consumption is increased.

Wc can be your hoppy or you want to shos off your build or its just for bragging rights.
 
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Orestes92

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Apr 5, 2012
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So just to clarify I'm going with a gaming rig, but will also use it for multimedia purposes. At this point I'm looking at dropping to the i5 2500k, and to the MK II Silencer, only reason I chose the Rosewill at first was due to the fact I couldn't seem to fin, a 1kw psu that would run as cool, and for a lesser price, especially since according to the thermaltake calculator I would need about 750w with all add-ons, and a bit extra for good measure or any expanding.

Was looking at the ASRock z68 but there seemed to be way too many reviews of doa boards, and dishing out that extra amount for a board I might end up having to RMA doesn't sound like a good idea lol. I think I've pretty much got the info I need, and will calculate my new total in a moment. Unfortunately I'm doing this from a shitty phone.
 
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Orestes92

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Apr 5, 2012
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So I'm looking at $1394.95 now, pre hdd/ssd and disk drives. The only thing that's killing me is the 680, obviously, but by the time they have them in stock again and I get the $$$ it may drop. Will do some research on some fans, if I can manage to keep everything cool enough with the Antec 1200 and some actual fans and not the stock ***, I won't bother with liquid cooling.

So thanks for the feedback guys, if you have any more advice I'm more than willing to listen, but I think that should do it.
 
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g-unit1111

g-unit1111

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So just to clarify I'm going with a gaming rig, but will also use it for multimedia purposes. At this point I'm looking at dropping to the i5 2500k, and to the MK II Silencer, only reason I chose the Rosewill at first was due to the fact I couldn't seem to fin, a 1kw psu that would run as cool, and for a lesser price, especially since according to the thermaltake calculator I would need about 750w with all add-ons, and a bit extra for good measure or any expanding.
Click to expand...

Rosewill generally isn't a name people trust when it comes to PSUs. OCZ (which owns PCPAC) generally isn't either but PCPAC still runs as an independent company despite being owned by OCZ. 1K+ isn't necessary on any build anymore as newer GPUs and CPUs that are being released are far more energy efficient than previous generations. The 680 and 7970 use half the power on PSUs that their predecessors did and the upcoming mid-range ones like the 78XX do as well.

Was looking at the ASRock z68 but there seemed to be way too many reviews of doa boards, and dishing out that extra amount for a board I might end up having to RMA doesn't sound like a good idea lol. I think I've pretty much got the info I need, and will calculate my new total in a moment. Unfortunately I'm doing this from a shitty phone.
Click to expand...

Don't use Newegg as your only source for product reviews - you want to check multiple sources and magazines. The thing about motherboards is there's no such thing as a perfect board - if someone can complain about something they'll complain about it. When I bought my Gigabyte board I was aware of the boot loop issue that existed but I took the time to install it correctly and it's been completely problem free.

intel i5 2500k
cm hyper 212 evo
asrock z68 extreme3 gen3 or asus p8z68 v-pro/usb3.0
corsair vengence 2x4gb 1600mhz low proffile ddr3 ram
evga gtx 680 2gb oc
pc power and cooling silencer mkii 950w 80+ silver psu
Crucial m4 128gb ssd
seagate baracuda 1tb 7200rpm hdd
corsair carbide 500r white or 600t white
windows 7 home premium
Click to expand...

That's very similar to a build I'd suggest but I'd go with the Gigabyte UD3H as the mainboard.
 
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Why_Me

Why_Me

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Jan 17, 2008
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No need for water cooling with an 1155 build. It's over kill and then some.

Ivy Bridge is due out April 29th.

http://pcper.com/news/Processors/Intel-Ivy-Bridge-Processors-Launch-March-23-2012 <----- Here's a price run down of the Ivy Bridge cpu's in $USD

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=138_711_1183 <----- Z77 boards already for sale in Australia. In the past few years the Aussies have been getting the goodies a month ahead of the US and Canada including Sandy Bridge and the 1155 boards. The Aussies have already pulled some of the 1155 Cougar Point boards (H61/H67/P67/Z68) from their site. In fact a lot of those boards are no longer for sale on that site compared to last month.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5166/ivy-bridge-overview <----- Line-up of Ivy Bridge desktop cpu's to date.

Z77/Z75 motherboards (Panther Point chipset w/native USB 3.0) and PCI-E 3.0

http://www.asrock.com/microsite/PCIe3/overview.html <----- Quick and brief rundown of Ivy Bridge, PCI-E 3.0 cards and the new gen boards.

http://www.asrock.com/mb/index.asp?s=1155 <---- Asrocks Z77 and Z75 boards to date. They all get released with Ivy Bridge.

http://usa.asus.com/Motherboards/Intel_Socket_1155/Intel_Z77 <---- Asus Z77 board lineup to date.

http://www.gigabyte.us/products/list.aspx?s=42&jid=2&p=2&v=24 <----- Gigabyte Z77 board lineup to date.

http://us.msi.com/product/mb/#/?sk=Socket%201155%20(Intel%20i3/i5/i7) <----- MSI Z77 board lineup to date.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5626/ivy-bridge-preview-core-i7-3770k/9 <---- Ivy Bridge cpu review with benchmarks

44758.png


http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-680-overclock-guide/ <----- Overclocking the gtx 680 w/benchmarks

680oc.jpg



http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Carbide-Series-Gaming-CC-9011012-WW/dp/B005E983JW/ref=sr_1_3?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1332866663&sr=1-3 $118.98 & this item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping
Corsair Carbide Series 500R Mid Tower Gaming Case CC-9011012-WW

This XFX psu down below is manufactured by Seasonic as are all XFX psu's and the mid and upper tier Corsair psu's.

http://www.amazon.com/XFX-ATX-850-Power-Supply/dp/B0050751YS/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1332866828&sr=1-1 $122.75 & this item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping
XFX PRO850W XXX Edition Semi-Modular 80 Plus Silver Certified 850 Watt Active PFC Power Supply

http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=Z77%20Extreme4 $160 +/- $10
ASRock Z77 Extreme4 Motherboard

http://www.anandtech.com/show/5166/ivy-bridge-overview $215
Intel i5-3570K Ivy Bridge CPU 3.4Ghz

http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-Hyper-212-RR-212E-20PK-R2/dp/B005O65JXI/ref=pd_cp_e_0 $34.64 & this item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO CPU Cooler (RR-212E-20PK-R2)

Add this fan down below to that CM 212 EVO cpu h/s for a "push - pull" effect to help bring the cpu temps down even more.

http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-BladeMaster-Silent-R4-BMBS-20PK-R0/dp/B0030DL37I/ref=sr_1_5?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1333218396&sr=1-5 $11.99 Free Standard Shipping (3-5 days)
Cooler Master BladeMaster 120mm PWM High Air Flow Silent Case Fan R4-BMBS-20PK-R0

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231546 $44.99 FREE SHIPPING
G.SKILL Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-1600C9D-8GAB

http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Barracuda-3-5-Inch-Internal-ST1000DM003/dp/B005T3GRNW/ref=sr_1_9?m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1333216718&sr=1-9 $109.99 & this item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping
Seagate Barracuda 7200 1 TB 7200RPM SATA 6 Gb/s NCQ 64MB Cache 3.5-Inch Internal Bare Drive ST1000DM003

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226236 $124.99 FREE SHIPPING
Mushkin Enhanced Chronos MKNSSDCR120GB 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

http://www.amazon.com/Asus-24xDVD%C2%B1RW-Serial-Internal-DRW-24B1ST/dp/B0033Z2BAQ/ref=pd_bxgy_e_img_b $19.99 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25
Asus 24xDVD±RW Serial ATA Internal OEM Drive DRW-24B1ST (Black)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121626 $499.99
ASUS GTX680-2GD5 GeForce GTX 680 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

http://www.amazon.com/Windows-Premium-64bit-System-Builder/dp/B004Q0PT3I/ref=br_lf_m_1000219721_1_1_ttl?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&s=software&pf_rd_p=1292309362&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_t=1401&pf_rd_i=1000219721&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0J1G44G7XB7QZJTX1MXF $99.99 & this item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping
Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64bit (Full) System Builder DVD 1 Pack

Total: $1,403.30 *not including motherboard
 
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C12Friedman

C12Friedman

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Awesome, someone wanna get me one?
 
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