Finalizing my build $1150

[blackburn72419]

So this is my first build I have been collecting information for a while now and this is what I have come up with

case: NZXT phantom 002 OR - $125
HDD: seagate barracuda 1tb 7200 RPM - $85
GPU: Asus HD7870 - $350
CPU: Intel I5-2500K - $205
PSU: rosewill hive series 750w, 80 plus bronze - $75
ram: Corsair vengeance 8 gb(4x2) - $45
SSD: Crucial M4 64 GB
mobo: ASrock z77 extreme 4 - $140
optical: asus - $15

comes out to $1157 on newegg. I am trying to order tonight or tomrrow because there are some specials and sales that end tomorrow that I am taking advantage of. The 2 parts that I am somewhat unsure of are the motherboard and the power supply, I originally had a seasonic power supply that was twice the price of the rosewill one then found this one and it had good reviews so I went with it.

If you have any advice or recommendations please let me know. Also if anyone can tell me just so I am totally sure, if all of these parts are compatible, I am pretty sure, But better safe then sorry.

and yes I realize the case is expensive but I really love the look of the case and the features it offers.

help is greatly appreciated

 

[mgoon11]

Okay, first off you're looking at a very nice looking build.

As for the case - you're actually getting it at a great price and I have owned that exact case and design and loved it. My current build consists of a phantom, but with a white and red design which I like more. (BTW if you didn't know, despite not being listed on Newegg it DOES or at least SHOULD have USB 3.0, they updated it, nice plus)

Simple, solid choice on HDD, no complaints there I know exactly the promo you're using from their emails

At this point and time it seems as though AMD is in some serious trouble in terms of their graphics cards performance and the price that goes along with it. Although there is no doubt the new 7000s are great, so far Nvidia's 600s are just proving to be better as well as for the price. That being said, unless you can get the Asus HD7870 for cheaper than $350, my personal opinion would be to spring for a GTX 670 for $50 more just look at some benchmarks, the 7970 itself has a hard time competing.

Sandy Bridge is fine, not sure if you already weighed pros and cons of sandy brigde vs ivy bridge is all. Also, since you're getting the "K" version I'm assuming you're going to be overclocking - therefore you're gonna have to get yourself a decent aftermarket cooler. I would suggest the COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1 "Heatpipe Direct Contact" Long Life Sleeve 120mm CPU Cooler Compatible Intel Core i5 & Intel Core i7 just $19.99 after rebate right now. (this over the EVO simply because an extra $15 for evo, because of the rebate, doesn't really justify performance)

Are you intending to SLI/Crossfire in the future? If not you don't need 750W. Personally, I'm not familiar with the Hive series but it seems to be rated well and I tihnk its one of Rosewill's better PSUs. Modular is a nice plus too. Google reviews for it.

Memory is great, personally I like G. Skill more for design and everything. An alternative would be to spend $5 more on G.SKILL Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2133 (PC3 17000) Desktop Memory Model F3-17000CL11D-8GBSR for 2133 speeds which you can still lower to 1600 and perhaps get better timings. IMO sniper series looks great as well. However, liek I said the memory you already have is already great.

Great performing SSD. Only thing to consider is (i dont know what price you're getting it at - you didn't list it) if you can get another great SSD cheaper and whether you want to go for a 120GB one. In fact theres a ton of good deals on 120GB SSDs right now.

Motherboard is solid, ASRock has lots of great features for cheaper than other brands. There's a lot of alternatives but if you like the motherboard, there's nothing wrong with it.

Really, your build is solid these are just some of my opinions, recommendations.

 

[blackburn72419]

Thanks a lot I am planning on using crossfire/SLI eventually in the future thats the only reason I am really going with a 750w psu, and I will most likely dabble in overclocking although I am not positive yet but I figured better safe then sorry. But from what I have heard the difference between ivy bridge and sandy bridge is not that huge for the money and the 2500k is really solid from everything i've read.

I am also looking at some after market fans too, in particular the one you linked as well.

I will look into the graphics card for sure, If i did change to the nvidia card there would not be any compatability issues correct?

 

[blackburn72419]

also where can I buy a 670 they are sold out on newegg unfortunately

 

[mgoon11]

Yea now you will be great off i5-2500k, if nothing ivybridge has to offer interests you then by all means just get 2500k. Yes, everything would still be compatible. Also don;t worry about gtx 670, it's been selling out and restocking constantly ever since it was released. Best card newegg has to offer right now is the gigabyte one. However, they are all really great cards and it really won't be THAT much of a difference. Like I said, as of right now with a 7870 at $350 while you can get a gtx 670 for $50 is just wow what a difference haha

Actually, I myself have a OCZ ZT 750W Fully Modular PSU in my build right now even though I'm only going to be running one gtx 670 - for now (waiting for it to arrive But for $20 I seriously doubt you can find a better aftermarket cooler than the hyper 212+

 

[blackburn72419]

okay so this is now the card I am looking at going with http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2580890

 

[mgoon11]

It can be argued that EVGA has by far the best customer service and it is a very reliable brand with excellent cards. They do only have reference design coolers but that EVAG GTX 670 will be a beast.

 

[blackburn72419]

sorry, but what do you mean only have "reference design coolers"?

 

[mgoon11]

EVGA only makes cards that follow Nvidia's "reference design" or the design, cooler, fan, etc. that is the default or reference for all GTX 670s. A lot of brands make their own design and coolers however to increase performance, cooling, etc. An example is the gigabyte I menitioned - see how it has 3 fans? Quite obvious it doesn't follow the reference design of one fan haha

 

[blackburn72419]

ah I see, should I expect any temperature problems with this card? I dont expect to be doing anything to extreme with it

 

[mgoon11]

No, no, not at all that's why I said before all the GTX 670s really are amazing and theres not THAT much difference between them all. The one you picked is a great card. You see I myself am waiting for the gigabyte one to arrive (ordered from Newegg on Thursday, finally snagged one while it became restocked for like an hour haha) just because it's gotten great reviews, has a PCB that is used on a gtx 680, runs very cool, silent, and is factory overclocked and is able to overclock pretty good as well.

 

[blackburn72419]

okay, thanks a lot. I am ordering tomorrow I actually may wait a bit and see if I can snag a gigabyte one because I am seeing a lot of people just SLIGHTLY recommending that card

 

[mgoon11]

okay no problem, go for it! better than getting it at tiger direct too anyway, tommorow you may see some better deals too you never know

 

[jaa228]

So this is my first build I have been collecting information for a while now and this is what I have come up with

case: NZXT phantom 002 OR - $125
HDD: seagate barracuda 1tb 7200 RPM - $85
GPU: Asus HD7870 - $350
CPU: Intel I5-2500K - $205
PSU: rosewill hive series 750w, 80 plus bronze - $75
ram: Corsair vengeance 8 gb(4x2) - $45
SSD: Crucial M4 64 GB
mobo: ASrock z77 extreme 4 - $140
optical: asus - $15

comes out to $1157 on newegg.

I put together a build for around this price. $1197.72 including shipping plus there's $30 in rebates. So $1167.72 after rebates and with $10off promo code on the case. The CPU and Motherboard are a combo and the HDD and the DVD burner are a combo.

Specs:
case:COOLER MASTER Elite 430 - don't forget the promo code
HDD:Western Digital Caviar Blue WD10EALX 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s
GPU:SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 7950 3GB 384-bit
CPU:i7-2700K 3.5GHz (3.9GHz Turbo)
PSU:APEVIA 700W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Power Supply
RAM: 16GB (4X4GB) GSkill RipJaws X DDR3 1600
motherboard: ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3
optical:Samsung 22x DVD Burner

Pros compared to your build
i7-2700k over i5-2500k
16GB of ram over 8GB
This mother board is great for overclocking but, I think the one you picked is too
Radeon HD7950 over 7870

Cons compaired to your build
no SSD
case
psu

 

[mgoon11]

^For the above DO NOT skimp on PSU!!!

I've actually taken the time to put together a truly amazing computer all from Newegg for a total cost of $1225.48 AFTER rebates. If it's a little too much you can still cut back on a few things such as getting the Hyper 212+ instead of Antec Kuhler. Check it out at https://secure.newegg.com/WishList/MySavedWishDetail.aspx?BundleExist=N&ID=19380852&ChangeQty=0

Add up the costs from the notes under every part i put and then add $20 for a cheap DVD drive and it totals $1225.48. Prices only valid today!

Basically here's the build:
Case: NZXT Phantom PHAN-002OR Newegg Exclusive Black Finish w/Orange Trim Steel / Plastic Enthusiast ATX Full Tower Computer Case
CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UD3H LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Cooler: Antec Kuhler H2O 620 Liquid Cooling System
RAM: G.SKILL Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2133 (PC3 17000) Desktop Memory
HDD: Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
SSD: OCZ Vertex 3 VTX3-25SAT3-90G 2.5" 90GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
GPU: MSI N670GTX-PM2D2GD5/OC GeForce GTX 670 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
PSU: PC Power and Cooling Silencer Mk II 750W High Performance 80PLUS Silver SLI CrossFire ready Power Supply
Optical: Some cheap $20 DVD Drive

Alright, for starters you're still getting the awesome black/orange nzxt phantom case. You're now getting an ivy-bridge CPU which isn't necessarily that much better but coupled with an Antec Kuhler H20 620 liquid cooling system, the heating issues will be combated and you will be golden. The motherboard is a very nice MB with lots of great features. GIGABYTE is a quality MB brand and this one is better than the ASRock Extreme 4 IMO anyway. Memory G. SKILL sniper series is awesome plus 2133 speeds which you can still underclock to 1600 speeds but lower the timings even more which is really nice. Standard 1TB HDD again. STILL fit in a really nice Vertex 3 90GB SSD from shell shocker. Fit in the GTX 670 (any will do or you can still wait, the MSI is the only one in stock at newegg at the time of this writing and it's a good card). PSU is a very nice, solid, reliable one from a reliable brand/maker and a plus is that it's silver rated. This build is superior to all former builds in this post, it's simply amazing.

 

[blackburn72419]

just ordered most of the parts and just thought of something else, was wondering if I need a wifi adapter or not in order to use wifi? im not sure if this is an obvious question or not I just havent seen any builds include them

 

[mgoon11]

Yes, if you need to connect wirelessly you will need to purchase an additional wifi card unfortunately

 

[blackburn72419]

is there any particular brand that is better or worse in terms of wifi cards I noticed they were not too expensive so Im not too worried about it

 

[mgoon11]

To be honest this is somewhere where I have no knowledge of - I have never used any wifi cards I always connect my computers with ethernet cables (for fastest possible connection IMO since I am able to do that vs NEEDING wifi)