Two configurations for my build, advice appreciated

[VectorminatoR]

Hi people, I am building a computer to replace my 5 years old system, which is dying. I am mainly looking to get the best value for my money. I have planned out two builds, the only differences are in the motherboard and video card.

Approximate Purchase Date: By end of May/First week of June

Budget Range: US$1500 (approx)

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming (BF3, WOW, SWTOR, CoD, etc) , Multitasking, Web Browsing

Parts Not Required: Keyboard/Mouse/Monitor/HDD

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: None, buying the parts personally

Country: Singapore

Parts Preferences: Generally speaking the other components are to compliment the Corsair H100

Overclocking: Yes

SLI or Crossfire: 1 year from now, doubling the video card together with 30" monitor

Monitor Resolution: Current 1280 X 1024, will become 2500 X 1600

Additional Comments: Part choices explained below




Build 1 (PCI express X16 + PCI express X8, SLI/Xfire capable):

Motherboard: Gigabyte Z77X-D3H / Asus P8Z77-V LK
- Price-wise they are the same, so no real preference between them

Video card: Palit GTX670 2GB GDDR5
- Well it is much cheaper as compared to Asus/Gigabyte/MSI



Build 2 (PCI express X16 + PCI express X4, Xfire capable):

Motherboard: Asrock Z77 Pro 3 Gen 3
- The cheapest ATX sized mobo with Z77 in my country

Video card: Sapphire HD7850 2GB OC edition
- Although it cannot compare to the gtx670, its value is quite good



The rest of the computer:

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz
- For its good value. Would overclock it to 4.5 - 5 GHz

SSD: Intel 520 Series 120GB
- For speed and reliability

Memory: Corsair Vengeance 1600Mhz 4GBX4
- The difference in price between 4 sticks and 2 sticks are literally negligible here

PSU: Corsair TX750
- Probably needed this amount of power for me to pop in another gtx670 / hd7850 next year

CPU cooler: Corsair H100
- To support the overclock

Case: Corsair Carbide Series 400R
- To mount the H100 with ease, and the other corsair cases (500R onwards) here have a sky-high price

Operating system: Windows 7 64bit
- I am a windows user by default

DVD-RW Drive: Any
- All are dirt cheap

Total cost:
Build 1 - US$1657.13
Build 2 - US$1441.41

Any comments / advices would be appreciated

 

[lusofox]

Hi people, I am building a computer to replace my 5 years old system, which is dying. I am mainly looking to get the best value for my money. I have planned out two builds, the only differences are in the motherboard and video card.

Approximate Purchase Date: By end of May/First week of June

Budget Range: US$1500 (approx)

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming (BF3, WOW, SWTOR, CoD, etc) , Multitasking, Web Browsing

Parts Not Required: Keyboard/Mouse/Monitor/HDD

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: None, buying the parts personally

Country: Singapore

Parts Preferences: Generally speaking the other components are to compliment the Corsair H100

Overclocking: Yes

SLI or Crossfire: 1 year from now, doubling the video card together with 30" monitor

Monitor Resolution: Current 1280 X 1024, will become 2500 X 1600

Additional Comments: Part choices explained below




Build 1 (PCI express X16 + PCI express X8, SLI/Xfire capable):

Motherboard: Gigabyte Z77X-D3H / Asus P8Z77-V LK
- Price-wise they are the same, so no real preference between them

Video card: Palit GTX670 2GB GDDR5
- Well it is much cheaper as compared to Asus/Gigabyte/MSI



Build 2 (PCI express X16 + PCI express X4, Xfire capable):

Motherboard: Asrock Z77 Pro 3 Gen 3
- The cheapest ATX sized mobo with Z77 in my country

Video card: Sapphire HD7850 2GB OC edition
- Although it cannot compare to the gtx670, its value is quite good



The rest of the computer:

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz
- For its good value. Would overclock it to 4.5 - 5 GHz

SSD: Intel 520 Series 120GB
- For speed and reliability

Memory: Corsair Vengeance 1600Mhz 4GBX4
- The difference in price between 4 sticks and 2 sticks are literally negligible here

PSU: Corsair TX750
- Probably needed this amount of power for me to pop in another gtx670 / hd7850 next year

CPU cooler: Corsair H100
- To support the overclock

Case: Corsair Carbide Series 400R
- To mount the H100 with ease, and the other corsair cases (500R onwards) here have a sky-high price

Operating system: Windows 7 64bit
- I am a windows user by default

DVD-RW Drive: Any
- All are dirt cheap

Total cost:
Build 1 - US$1657.13
Build 2 - US$1441.41

Any comments / advices would be appreciated

The GTX670 seems a good choice, and I don't think you'll need to SLI any time soon. But if the Palit is the cheaper one, be careful about the possible noise it can make. Remember, you generally get what you pay.

Regarding the motherboard, it just goes down to your budget and your needs. See if it has all the features you want: number of USB ports, USB3.0, number of SATA ports, SATA3, number of PCI slots, Wifi, SPDIF (optical and/or RCA), etc. You get the picture, right?

I just built an Ivy Bridge system, and I couldn't be happier with the performance:

i7-3770K
Asus P8Z77-V Deluxe
16GB (4x4) G.Skill Ares 2133MHz
Noctua ND-H14
Samsung SSD 830 256GB for OS and applications/games
Samsung SSD 830 256GB for documents, photo editing...
WD 1.5TB Green
LiteON Blu-ray reader
Plextor DVD-RW
Scythe fan controler
Corsair AX750 modular
Coolermaster HAF X

And it is a very quiet system