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[New Build] *UPDATE* Advice $3500-$5000 Gaming PC

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Hey guys! :hello:  It's me again and the time to start buying/building my 1st PC is coming soon! I already made a post for this about 1 month ago but it was a little early so that's why I decided to make another thread 1 week before purchase date. Main uses for this PC are: Gaming, Photo Editing, Listening/Editing Music. I'll start with 1 monitor but I'll eventually go with 3.

Approximate Purchase Date: Around June 1st

Budget Range: $3500-$5000 with Rebates

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, Listening/Editing Music, Photo Editing, Internet, Watching Movies

Parts Not Required: Case

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg.ca, CanadaComputers.com, TigerDirect.ca, Amazon.com

Country: Canada

Parts Preferences: Intel, Nvidia, EVGA, ASUS

Overclocking: Maybe (4,0GHZ or 4,5GHZ if possible)

SLI or Crossfire: Yes

Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080, 1920x1200

------------------

Here's what I'm planning to purchase. If this parts list is good, I'll do further research to make sure everything is compatible together.

CPU: Intel Core-i7 3930K
I could go with Ivy Bridge Core-i7 3770K but I don't know about this one yet.

MOBO: ASUS Rampage IV Extreme

RAM: Corsair Vengeance 32GB DDR3 1866MHZ

SSD: Samsung 830 Series 256GB ----or---- Crucial M4 256GB

HDD: Western Digital Caviar Green 3TB

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX690

Case: CoolerMaster COSMOS 2 (Already Purchased)

PSU: Corsair Professional Series Gold AX1200
I know it's way beyond my power needs but if I want to add componants later, I thought it might be good idea to futureproof my system. Correct me if I'm wrong.

CPU Cooler: Corsair Hydro Series H100
The reason why I went for this one over the Noctua NH-D14 is because it doesn't block any RAM slots and performances are similar. Again, correct me if I'm wrong.

Optical Drive: LITE-ON Blu-Ray Burner with 3D Playback

OS: Windows 7 Ultimate

Total= $3499,90


One last thing about Soundcard. Should I buy one if I want excellent sound quality for music/game/video? Will I have enough slots if I go SLI GTX690 later on? If yes, which one for my needs? Quality over price.

Thanks for your help guys!!! :D 

More about : build update advice 3500 5000 gaming

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I'm waiting for your suggestions and opinions on this build folks. Is it ok? Does it get the Tom's Hardware community approval? :D  I can't wait to start buying and building my PC. :bounce:  As soon as I finish working on wednesday, I'll be on it. So please, help me make sure everything is fine and finalize this build! Thanks
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change PSU into Seasonic x 1050W its a lot better than AX series

for ram go for 1600 to get a little bit less on them

you will not see any difference between 1866 and 1600

@boulbox: Ok I'll take a look at your suggestions. I was hesitating between 1600 and 1866 since there's a considerable increase in price even though my budget can handle it. Was the gain worth it or not... Thanks

@azeem40: What about Professional? I heard Home Premium won't handle more than 16GB RAM... Is it true?

Thanks again guys!

Best solution

i would even say go with IVY if you are going to go down to 16GB of ram

anything higher than 16GB of ram is either wanting to max out all the ram slots or does a ton of video editing/rendering for a job

here is an IVY build excluding GPU, HDD, SSD, DVD drive, OS, and cooler
most of the things what i said up there you already have a nice/good one already
(putting this one newegg just so you can see prices)

CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
currently out of stock but if you are waiting for a 690 i think you can also wait for this to come out
i7 is great for gaming and for video editing and has HT to help in the editing

MOBO:
1) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
ASRock Z77 Professional LGA
very nice board and a cool color scheme, will do all you needs

2) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
GIGABYTE G1.Sniper 3
a green and black color scheme, comes with a better on board audio than most if you do not want to buy a sound card/ for just minor sound editing

3) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
ASUS P8Z77-V PRO LGA
blue and black color scheme, fan xpert2(a fan controller pretty much), bluetooth

all of these boards are very nice and comes with future SLI if needed

RAM
1) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB)
tall heatsinks since you are going with a H100 i suggest getting the 500R combo
500R will fit all of your needs, it can fit a 690 inside, has LED fans(comes with a on/off switch), has a perfect place to fit a H100 inside, and can fit in places where a full tower can't

2)http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
for future upgrades to 32GB

PSU
1) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
HX850 even a 690 wont need more than 600 the 850 is just for extra measure
it is a nice, decent priced, modular, and silver rated

2) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
SeaSonic X-SERIES X-1050
over the top PSU a 1050W supply
very quiet, has a hybrid switch, comes with 3 different fans to make it quiet, can use this for anything new build you might want to make

@azeem40: I'm using Photoshop and Lightroom.

@boulbox: I'll switch to your PSU recommandation. As for IVY Bridge, I'll think about it. For some reason, I'm not sure about this one since it's relatively new... I'd like to see more in depth reviews of it compared to SB 3930K for exemple.

I've been looking at SeaSonic PSU and they all have great reviews and feedback. So now, I'm trying to find out if I go with 1000w Platinum, 1250w Gold or 1050w Gold. Since my goal is to futureproof my rig, I lean towards the 1250w Gold. But the 1000w Platinum seems to be a good choice as well and would probably be enough to run SLI GTX690 if I do it later on with OC CPU at 4,5GHz...etc. What you think?

for gaming IB is where it is at not saying that SB-E can't tho

SB-E can still game but IB can still program

the reason why SB-E is all i7s is because it is made for programming and due to its price

you can save some money and go for a i7 3770k doing 4-cores vs 6-cores

nether of the less you can go SB-E and wait for decades for a game that can fully use 6 cores

I'll have to wait 1 more week maybe a little more since I work overtime tonight and tomorrow. I start my regular schedule saturday until wednesday morning :fou:  I won't have time today to carefully pick my parts and I want to make sure I do the right choices. I don't want to do things in a hurry and make bad decisions. I might as well wait until my holidays on June 13th to pull the trigger. The only change I made to my list is the following:

PSU: SeaSonic Platinum 1000

Since I won't start buying today, it'll give me more time to think about going IB or SB. Here's what I would consider if I decide to go with IB.

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K

Mobo 1: Gigabyte G1.Sniper 3
or
Mobo 2: ASRock Z77 Extreme9
or
Mobo 3 ASUS P8Z77-V PREMIUM

With all these, I think i got enough slots to go SLI GTX690 and still have room for a Soundcard if I want one. As I said earlier, I want to reach a stable 4.0GHz or 4.5GHz OC. I will mostly play games on this computer and later this year, accross 3 monitors. In the end, it probably doesn't matter if I go IB or SB since I won't notice significant performance difference. Even if it's for Gaming or Photo Editing.

Suggestions/advices are still welcome! Thanks
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