New Gaming Build - Suggestions? (First time builder) - Build

arnm7890

May 8, 2012 4:52:20 AM

Hi there!
Im looking at building my own gaming rig (my first build) and have been doing research for a while now. Won't be building for another couple of months (just saving up now haha) but have pretty much got the parts I want finalized. Was just wondering what people on here thought of the build, had any suggestions/improvements they could recommend?
Looking to spend roughly $1500 - $2000.

CPU: Core i5 2500k
Mobo: Asus P8Z68-V/PRO GEN 3 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
GPU: GeForce GTX 580 (Not sure which company'e build yet)
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
HDD(s): Seagate Bareacuda 2TB SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
OCZ Agility 3 120GB SSD - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
PSU: OCZ Fatal1ty 750W Modular - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
Tower: Cooler Master HAF 922 Case - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
Cooling: Corsair Hydro H60 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

As I am building a whole new rig, I will be looking at peripherals such as montior, keyboard, mouse etc as well, but those can be decided at a later time. Same with DVD/Blu ray Media drives.

So what do you think? I'll be looking to OC the i5 2500k to at least 4.5GHz, but probably not much more than that, would the H60 cooler be sufficient for that?
I had tossed up for a while whether I should go for a z77 motherboard so I can upgrade to IB in the future, but I've decided now to just go for z68 now and upgrade the mobo to the new 1150 socket mobo when haswell comes out. Is this a good decision, or would you recommend I go for IB?
Finally, I've heard said that newbies like myself tend to overestimate how much power our builds will need. Is 750W too much, too little, or just right for such a build?
Thanks in advance

EDIT: Forgot to mention, Im in Australia, if that affects any access to any parts, etc

More about : gaming build suggestions time builder

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akash123able

May 8, 2012 5:20:00 AM

Yes Why_Me has the best build for your budget

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bigcyco1

Gaming Authority

May 8, 2012 5:24:59 AM

Why_Me said:

+1 That's a solid build OP i say go with it!

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arnm7890

May 8, 2012 7:31:07 AM

Why_Me said:

Thanks Why_Me!

If I can ask, why do you recommend the i5 3570K over the i5 2500k? How is the OC capability of the 3570k when compared to 2500k? I was under the impression that IB had poorer OC-ing than SB, what sort of typical frequency can I expect with the 3570k?

Thanks again, looks like an awesome build, appreciate it!

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Why_Me

Gaming Authority

May 8, 2012 7:36:20 AM

arnm7890 said:

Thanks Why_Me!

If I can ask, why do you recommend the i5 3570K over the i5 2500k? How is the OC capability of the 3570k when compared to 2500k? I was under the impression that IB had poorer OC-ing than SB, what sort of typical frequency can I expect with the 3570k?

Thanks again, looks like an awesome build, appreciate it!

The SB o/c better but that doesn't make much difference seeing how o/c doesn't gain you that much with SB or IB in regards to gaming (FPS). They hit 4.8Ghz with that board in that review down below with IB cpu.

IB offers native 3.0 USB, PCI-E 3.0, Thunderbolt, etc... better cpu all around.

http://www.vortez.net/articles_pages/asrock_z77_extreme... <----- full review of that Asrock Z77 extreme4 w/bencmarks

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arnm7890

May 8, 2012 8:52:40 AM

Why_Me said:

The SB o/c better but that doesn't make much difference seeing how o/c doesn't gain you that much with SB or IB in regards to gaming (FPS). They hit 4.8Ghz with that board in that review down below with IB cpu.

IB offers native 3.0 USB, PCI-E 3.0, Thunderbolt, etc... better cpu all around.

http://www.vortez.net/articles_pages/asrock_z77_extreme... <----- full review of that Asrock Z77 extreme4 w/bencmarks

Thanks for all your help

Looks like this will be the build

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arnm7890

May 9, 2012 7:07:31 AM

So i've been looking for resources online on how to safely OC the 3570k, but there are none. On the other hand, there are plenty of resources on how to OC the 2500k safely. I checked out the base clock speed of the 3570k (3.40 GHz, 3.80 after Turbo), which is way less than what I can safely get with the 2500k, say 4.50 GHz. Isn't it better then to go for the i5 2500k? Like i said, ill be looking to upgrade to Haswell anyway in 12-18 months (well, depending on how it is). Will there be much of a noticible difference between 3.80GHz and 4.50GHz when it comes to gaming? Seems like quite a big discrepancy to me