~1500$ gaming rig

captainvera

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Jan 9, 2012
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Hi,

I'm building my firs desktop pc. I've been investigating benchmarks and stalking forums for a few months now, and this is what I'm looking at:

Main purpose of the system: gaming, more gaming, converting videos ( handbrake).

Overclocking: yes!

Purchase date: sometime next month

Sli or CF: in a future upgrade (1-2 years)

Preferred websites: I live in Portugal where pc parts are expensive as hell, but my father goes to the US often in work related trips so he will bring me the parts.

parts I don't need: case, monitor, kEyboard, mouse, OS


CPU: (to make video converting faster) i7 3770k -370$
http://www.amazon.com/Intel-Core-3770K-processor-BX80637I73770K/dp/B007SZ0EOW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1336917997&sr=8-1

GPU: gtx 680 - 500$ ( still not sure about the model as I don't know if getting a reference design or not will mater once I watercool it)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130768

HDD1-2:   2  15k rpm  hdd's i have from an old server running in raid0 ( to have the OS)- 0€

HDD3: 1TB 7200 rpm - 97$
http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Caviar-Cache-Desktop/dp/B00461G3MS/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1336918814&sr=1-1

PSU: 600W - 66$
http://www.amazon.com/OCZ-ModXStream-Modular-Performance-compatible/dp/B001EYV690/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1336919105&sr=1-2

RAM: ddr3 1600mhz 8GB - 44$
http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Vengeance-PC3-12800-1600mHz-CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B/dp/B004QBUL1C/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1336919261&sr=1-3

MB:  Asus z77 - 135$ ( I don't understand anything about mobos so enlighten me!)
http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-P8Z77-V-LX-Intel-Motherboard/dp/B007MKGF82/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1336919391&sr=1-2
Wcooling:(+\- because I havent chosen the speccific parts for my loop ) - 300$
Total: 1512$
 

tyranthoth

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most your choices are good except the Mobo -- doesn't allow for sli or cf and if your GPU is the 680 your going to want a 750 psu for sli or cf.
if your looking at keeping cost down and want sli with that 680 I recommend:
Mobo: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 $130
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157293

PSU: CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX750M $120
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139030

it'll bring you to $1562 but you'll be able to do what you want correctly
 

boulbox

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since you already have an HDD why buy another one?

get a SSD 128GB is what most people get but if you want higher it is your choice

PSU: is good enough for 1 GPU but if you want to add another you will need a 700-800W. i also suggest finding one that is modular to keep the case nice and tidy

MOBO go with ASrock extreme 4
or this one has been really nice for a few people
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130645

the ram that you are getting has really high heatsinks i suggest going with these

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233196

low heatsinks and nice ram overall

i would like to put inside a hyper 212 evo for more cooling performance
 

captainvera

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Jan 9, 2012
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Thanks for the advice, one more question though. Will I need a sound and a wireless card? I don't think so about the sound card as I heard the ones that come with the mobos are pretty decent, but I have a 5ghz wireless set up on my house, so to take advantage of that I'll need the wireless card right?



First things first. I'm buying another HDD as the other 2 I have are high performance hdd's, they run at 15k rpm which is + than twice the speed of a normal HDD and running in raid0 the speed doubles, hitting 30k rpm which should be as fast if not faster than a normal SSD. If It ain't I can always add another as I have 3 or 4...

About the PSU, what the difference between a modular and a non-modular PSU?

And about the ram. I didn't get what was the problem with the heatsinks. Are they too big? Is that it? If so, what's the problem with them being big? It's just that I intended to buy those sticks locally and they don't have the ones you suggested, only the ones I posted in blue and red...
 

captainvera

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Oh! And btw I saw a promo today where I can get 16gb of ram for 70$ will I see a big increase in speed or is it mostly overkill after 8 as some people say?
 

boulbox

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for gaming 8 is already overkill the reason why people recommend it is because it has gotten so cheap that it is viable. well since you are doing a part video editing 16GB of ram will make it faster so it is your choice

the difference between modular and non-modular is that modular you have to manually put in the plugs(that means you can keep it organized and use only what needs to be needed) for non modular you will get all the plugs you will not be able to take off so you will have some useless wires everywhere.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/PARALLEL-PROCESSING,1705.html

this here is the only reason why i don't really do raid 0 for gaming
 

boulbox

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negatives with 15k rpm- loud, about 3x lower in random access time than a 7200 rpm, hot, likely to fail, and a power hog

now with just going with 1 SSD for boot drive(guessing 64GB) - stays cool, about 100x lower random access time than a 7200 rpm drive, doesn't get very hot, small, sips power

because a rpm drive has to get it's disk spinning to work it will take longer to boot up than a SSD where it doesn't need to spin

but since you already have 2x 15k rpm drives i would rather just keep those as a back up drive instead of a main