New ~$1200 Gaming Rig

[DrGizmo]

Hey Everyone,

So this is another one of those “my first build” threads. I know these are a dime a dozen, so Ill try to keep it short and sweet. Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated:

Utility: mainly a gaming rig, but will occasionally use it for work; building statistical models derived from huge datasets (ie matrices of 10k by 50k), so RAM is pretty important.

Price Range: 1000-1200

When: Within the next week or so

Country: Canada

Store Preference: NCIX, TD or CC.

Heres what I am thinking:

CPU: i5-3570k
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UDH3 (is this better then the Asus Pro3?)
GPU: GTX 670
PSU: I have an old Antec SP-500 from my previous build. Could I re-use this? If not, any suggestions?
Memory: any suggestions?
Case: I really know nothing about cases…The Antec eleven hundred? Corsair 550D? 300R? Help here is totally needed.

That about wraps it up. I have some spare HDD’s to tide me over for the time as well as a few monitors. Eventually Ill grab an SSD and a new screen, but for the purpose of this post, this is what I need to get me going.

Thanks in advance everyone!

 

[g-unit1111]

Mobo: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UDH3 (is this better then the Asus Pro3?)

I have this board and really like it. The only minor complaint I have is the somewhat finicky audio driver but I can live with that.

You can definitely reuse your HDs, I'm not sure that PSU will hold up in the long run though.

Try this:

Case: Antec 1100 - $119.99
PSU: Seasonic S12 II 620W - $84.99
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H - $144.99
CPU: 3.4GHz Intel Core i5-3570K - $249.99
Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo - $34.99
RAM: 8GB (2 x 4GB) Mushkin Enhanced Silverline 1333MHz 1.5V - $42.99
SSD: 128GB Crucial M4 - $129.99
Optical: Lite On DVD Burner - $19.99
Video Card: EVGA Geforce GTX 670 - $399.99

Total: $1,247.89

A little over budget but you get the 670, the Gigabyte motherboard, and other good components.

 

[DrGizmo]

Best answer selected by DrGizmo.

 

[DrGizmo]

Thanks g-unit! Your advice is massively helpful!

Any particular reson you suggest the Antec 1100 over, say, the corsair 300R?

 

[g-unit1111]

Thanks g-unit! Your advice is massively helpful!

Any particular reson you suggest the Antec 1100 over, say, the corsair 300R?

I include the Antec 1100 because it's one of the few cases in its' price range that includes a clear side door where the HAF 912, Arc MIDI and Corsair 300R don't. Alternately you could check out the NZXT Phantom 410.

 

[DrGizmo]

Many thanks once again! Ill check out the others. Im a bit stand offish on the 1100, as Ive been seeing poor reviews regarding the top fan (noise and dust issues).

 

[g-unit1111]

Many thanks once again! Ill check out the others. Im a bit stand offish on the 1100, as Ive been seeing poor reviews regarding the top fan (noise and dust issues).

It's usually not a good idea to get product reviews strictly from Newegg - you want to look at multiple sources before you determine whether or not a product is good. Here's another case suggestion: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146087