Help With Diablo 3 Z77/Ivy Bridge $1700-$1900 Gaming Build

misfit14

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Building a gaming PC for my cousin, mostly Diablo 3 at 1920x1080 on HIGH settings to start, for $1800 to $2000. I know D3 isn't that taxing on the system below, but he will want the eye candy on the newer, more graphically challenging games in the future. He definitely wants the GTX670 card, but I would be willing to get a non-Z77/Ivy Bridge setup if it will save some money and keep the build to $1800 or less. Need help/suggestions for compatibility, reliability and possibly to keep within budget. (At $1,875 now before tax!) Thanks!

Approximate Purchase Date: June 11, 2012

Budget Range: $1800-2000, closer to $1800 is better

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, Internet

Parts Not Required: Needs everything!

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg.com

Country: USA

Parts Preferences: Intel, EVGA GTX670, Corsair PSU, ASUS or Gigabyte MB

Overclocking: No

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe

Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080, 24" monitor

Additional Comments: Suggestions welcome to decrease cost while maintaining performance and reliability.

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PRELIMINARY PARTS SELECTED AND NEEDING REVIEW FOR COMPATIBILITY, RELIABILITY:

CASE: Corsair Obsidian Series 650D (CC650DW-1) Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - $169.99 after $10 rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139006

MOTHERBOARD: GIGABYTE GA-Z77-D3H LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard - $119.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128543

MEMORY: CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B - $54.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145345

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 - $239.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116504

GPU: EVGA 02G-P4-2678-KR GeForce GTX 670 FTW 2GB - $419.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130787

I am tempted to just get him the GTX570 for now. Ideas?

HDD1 (SSD): SAMSUNG 830 Series MZ-7PC128B/WW 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - $144.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147163

HDD2 (STORAGE): Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s - $119.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136533

PSU: CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 750W - $109.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139021

CPU FAN: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 EVO - $33.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099

Will this cooler fit on the motherboard with the RAM selected?

KEYBOARD:Microsoft SIDEWINDER X4 Keyboard - $47.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823109191

MOUSE:Logitech G500 10 Buttons Dual-mode Scroll Wheel USB Wired Laser 5700 dpi Gaming Mouse - $57.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826104318

OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - OEM - $99.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986

OPTICAL DRIVE: ASUS 24X DVD Burner - $18.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204

MONITOR:ASUS VS248H-P Black 24" 2ms HDMI LED Backlight Widescreen LCD Monitor - $204.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236153

Any other monitor suggestions? He is a beginner PC gamer, so this one should do, right? I personally would prefer a 120Hz panel or IPS, but that is out of his budget. I envision him playing more FPS games than RTS/RPG.

TOTAL: ~$1,875 (including thermal paste and two SATA cables)

Thanks for the help!!
 
Solution
Just my opinion, but your GPU seems to be overkill for 1080p gaming; I would expect you would have the same results spending 250$-300$ for the GPU (getting a GTX 570 or an HD 7850 if you don't mind AMD).

You could also save a bit on the keyboard, as a beginner he probably won't use the macro's and extra keys (of course you and/or him would know best). Unless the backlighting is really important to him I'd go for a more basic keyboard. (Personally, I'm partial to well made basic <20$ keyboards, but everyones got their prefs)

Is there any particular reason you are going for a 170$ case? You can get some nice cases in the 100$ range to save a little extra cash there without making huge sacrifices to the quality.

Your PSU is a bit of...
1: get the z77x-ud5h. it sits a higher end buid better than the d3h
2:get this set of ram: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspxItem=N82E16820231546

this set of ram is low profile and performs the same as the corsair

3:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121638
this is another 670. it has a better cooler

4:the crucial 128gb is just as good as the samsung drive

5: the seagate barrracuda 1b with 64mb of cache is just as fast as the black drive or the same. it is usually cheaper

6:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151107
this is a semi-modular version of the corsair

7: this is the 23.6inch version of your model
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236174
you wont see that much of a difference between 23 and 24 inchs
 

mad2

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Barely. Its like a 5% increase for almost 20% more price. The gaming performance is basically not noticeable. The 3570k is 240 compared to 200. I can't recommend ivy bridge for a gaming build. It simply not worth it. And pci 3 is an even less noticeable increase.
 

mad2

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I have usb 3 with a 2500k as well, and the virtu is retarded for gaming, the only thing it is good for is changing media types. And sb has virtu also.
 

misfit14

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Thanks jschaad. I will definitely get the low profile RAM. Will stick with the Corsair TX750 V2 though. Always been a fan of Corsair PSUs.
 

misfit14

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Thanks TheBigTroll. Questions I have are:

Motherboard - The model you suggested is $80 more, blowing my budget out of the water. Justify the extra expenditure for me please. Thanks.

The link to the RAM you suggested in broken.

The ASUS GTX670 is out of stock right now, so I will stick with the EVGA FTW model as it is in stock, but if the ASUS is back in stock I will go for that.

Thanks again!

Misfit14
 

misfit14

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Thanks mad2! I am skipping the modular PSU as well and will get the Crucial M4 128GB as many folks have suggested.

Misfit14
 



well then, you can get the asrock extreme4 instead or the gigabyte z77x-ud3h for the mobo.

the ram is here
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148544

 

djscribbles

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Just my opinion, but your GPU seems to be overkill for 1080p gaming; I would expect you would have the same results spending 250$-300$ for the GPU (getting a GTX 570 or an HD 7850 if you don't mind AMD).

You could also save a bit on the keyboard, as a beginner he probably won't use the macro's and extra keys (of course you and/or him would know best). Unless the backlighting is really important to him I'd go for a more basic keyboard. (Personally, I'm partial to well made basic <20$ keyboards, but everyones got their prefs)

Is there any particular reason you are going for a 170$ case? You can get some nice cases in the 100$ range to save a little extra cash there without making huge sacrifices to the quality.

Your PSU is a bit of overkill, but you've got a good price on it for a quality unit, if you miss the deal, you'd be fine with a quality 600-650w supply. (look for ~45A+ on the 12V supply, the 670 uses 30A, so 45A still leaves alot of headroom)
 
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misfit14

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Thanks DjScribbles. All excellent points. I dropped the GTX670 and went for the 570 SC. Backlight on the keyboard is a must for late night gaming. I changed the case to the NZXT Phantom 410 in Gunmetal, but he has to decide if he likes the design. Looking at other options too. Any ideas?

I also went with the Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H motherboard and downgraded the CPU to the i5-3450 since he won't OC. (Thanks azeem40!) May downsize the PSU too but the price is good...but I don't think he will ever SLI, so it may be overkill.

Thanks again everyone! Keep up the good work!
 

djscribbles

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If he won't be OCing at all then you could remove the aftermarket fan from the build, as the stock fan is fine for stock clocks and is probably quieter than the hyper (haven't gotten a hyper for my build yet to compare).

Also worth noting that the 570 does recommend a PSU with 38 amps on the 12v rail compared to the 670s 30A. I think that number does account for other typical system usages though.


Check out Tom's gaming case article for some case suggestions:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/mana-136-midgard-ii-phantom-410,3203.html

I've recently used the CoolerMaster HAF922 for a friend's build, which is a very nice case (the best case I've used personally). It's got LED fans in it (I notice your case didn't seem to have those) but they all have physical switches you can push to turn them off. Had good cable management, low noise (supprisingly low noise for the # of fans), good toolless, accommodated the SSD well, room behind the mobo for wire routing, bottom mount psu, etc etc. cons: It didn't have USB3.0, and it was a little bit thin on the sheet metal (about what i'd expect for the price point) and that was about it.

However, look at neweggs highest rated/most popular is a good place to start (the cases with thousands of reviews), if you find one you like, check and see if it has any updated versions (search it's base name) since a new revision won't have the same number of sales yet (but is usually approx the same with some updates like usb3).
 

jacknhut

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Only the Corsair AX (highest quality hence most expensive) series are made by Seasonic, the rest of the Corsair PSU (Corsair HX, TX) are made by other manufacturers.