$1570 - Critique my first build!

[jktxjl]

Just purchased all my stuff

Price: $1570 after all discounts

System Usage from Most to Least Important: (Gaming, Bluray, Music)

Overclocking: Yes

SLI or Crossfire: Later on, maybe.

Monitor Resolution: 22" IPS Asus 1920x1080



At first, I was going to buy a computer from ibuypower but decided to go this route instead. I'm very new at this kind of stuff. Let me know what you guys think about my build!

Case - $130 Cooler Master HAF XM
CPU - $220 Intel core i5-3570k
GPU - $410 EVGA GTX 670 FTW
MOBO - $135 Asrock z77 Extreme4
PSU - $120 SeaSonic x750 gold
RAM - $55 8gb Corsair Vengeance low pro
Storage - $100 1tb Western Digital Caviar Black 7200
Storage - $170 256gb Crucial M4
Optical - $70 LG 14x BD-R
OS - $100 Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
Cooling - $35 Cooler master hyper 212 EVO
Cooling - $25 Cooler master megaflow 200m ***side fan

 

[l0v3rboi]

Great choices. You would be happy. The only thing I would change is getting a WD Caviar Blue or Seagate Barracuda instead. HDD prices are inflated at the moment that its not worth it. Unless of course the Black is on sale and the price is the same as the Blue.

 

[nafoni]

Case
That HAF XM looks expensive to me. What about the HAF 912 for half the price?

CPU
Looking good.

GPU
Looking good. Have a 670 (non-FTW) myself, very happy with it.

Mobo
Don't know much about motherboards, but I do think that motherboard is a very popular one and a very good one too. It's also #2 on Newegg's Top Selling list with pretty good reviews. Again - I don't know too much about motherboards.

PSU
Save 10$ and go with either the Corsair TV750W V2 or the OCZ 750W (100% modular).

RAM
Looking good.

Storage
Good, personally I would go Seagate Barracuda. Just make sure you're sure about getting a 256GB SSD. 128GB will be enough as long as you don't plan to install several games on it.

Optical
Any DVD/CD drive is fine, but I don't know much about Blu-ray drives.

OS
Looking good.

CPU cooler
Looking good.

Additional case fan
You're sure you need one? Alternatively, you can add one later.

Since this is your first build, I would just recommend watching these YouTube videos made by Newegg to "prepare" you. Part 1, part 2 and part 3.

 

[jktxjl]

The LED side fan is mostly just for aesthetics.
Also, I plan on installing most of my games on the ssd.

 

[nafoni]

The LED side fan is mostly just for aesthetics.
Also, I plan on installing most of my games on the ssd.

I see. Then you should keep both

 

[bigcyco1]

Your build looks solid to me good job!

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Very decent build ..... but I woulda made some other choices.....

Case - For $5 less, you could get a better case.

HAF-XM - 9.10 rating
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=903&Itemid=61&limit=1&limitstart=5

Corsair 500R - 9.25 rating
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=767&Itemid=61&limit=1&limitstart=5

GFX - If ya gonna get a 670, the one to get is the Asus TOP

http://www.guru3d.com/article/evga-geforce-gtx-670-sc-review/23
EVGA SC Boost Clock is 1046 outta the box....stable at 1200 Mhz
EVGA SC gets 3DMark Score of 8691 outta the box and 9443 OC'd
Idle temp is 29C / load temp is 78C
Noise is 37 dBA Idle / 43 dBA under load

http://www.guru3d.com/article/asus-geforce-gtx-670-directcu-ii-top-review/23
Asus TOP Boost Clock is 1137 outta the box .... stable at 1280 Mhz
Asus gets 3DMark Score of 9340 outta the box and 9839 OC'd
Idle temp is 30C / load temp is 72C
Noise is 37 dBA Idle / 38 dBA under load

That makes the Asus 7% faster outta the box than the EVGA SC, 6C cooler and almost 1/4 as loud under load (every 3 dBA is a doubling of sound level)......The Asus is 5% faster than the FTW version (1084 Boost Clock).

MoBo / CPU - This combo is $320 ($20 MIR) .... $25 cheaper and IMO a better MoBo.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.959055

RAM - Corsair Vengeance
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233199

SSD - Crucial M4's performance and longevity can not keep up with Mushkin Chronos Deluxe. Lngevity comes from use nof premium toshiba toggle mode flash
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226226
http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/4328/mushkin_chronos_deluxe_120gb_solid_state_drive_review/index6.html

HD - just fine

Cooler - The Hyper 212 is a good budget cooler for a $1000 or even $1200. It's a bit "outta place" in a $1500 build but, more importantly, given Ivy Bridge's proclivity for heat output when pushing over clocks, I would not use on a IB system w/ any significant OC. I'd spend an extra $15 on the 212's bigger brother, the Hyper 612 PWM

http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=797&Itemid=62&limit=1&limitstart=4
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103106

 

[-Jackson]

Just purchased all my stuff

Price: $1570 after all discounts

System Usage from Most to Least Important: (Gaming, Bluray, Music)

Overclocking: Yes

SLI or Crossfire: Later on, maybe.

Monitor Resolution: 22" IPS Asus 1920x1080



At first, I was going to buy a computer from ibuypower but decided to go this route instead. I'm very new at this kind of stuff. Let me know what you guys think about my build!

Case - $130 Cooler Master HAF XM
CPU - $220 Intel core i5-3570k
GPU - $410 EVGA GTX 670 FTW
MOBO - $135 Asrock z77 Extreme4
PSU - $120 SeaSonic x750 gold
RAM - $55 8gb Corsair Vengeance low pro
Storage - $100 1tb Western Digital Caviar Black 7200
Storage - $170 256gb Crucial M4
Optical - $70 LG 14x BD-R
OS - $100 Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit
Cooling - $35 Cooler master hyper 212 EVO
Cooling - $25 Cooler master megaflow 200m ***side fan

Very solid build, good choices on the components!

One thing though, you do plan on overclocking, yes?
Well don't expect overclocking to be a very fun experience with the Kepler line of GPUs, the overclocks are pretty much already done for you (Kinda defeats the whole purpose of actually "overclocking" -But that's just me ha ), thanks to GPU Boost. But if you're fine with that, then 670 is an amazing card to have, I have the reference board, and GPU Boost aside, it's really awesome It'll run anything you throw at it.

 

[bigcyco1]

the Asus TOP is pretty much sold out every where as far as i know but it's the 670 to have if you can find it grab it

 

[JackNaylorPE]

One thing though, you do plan on overclocking, yes?
Well don't expect overclocking to be a very fun experience with the Kepler line of GPUs, the overclocks are pretty much already done for you (Kinda defeats the whole purpose of actually "overclocking" -But that's just me ha ), thanks to GPU Boost. But if you're fine with that, then 670 is an amazing card to have, I have the reference board, and GPU Boost aside, it's really awesome It'll run anything you throw at it.

Huh ? Guru3D didn't seem to have a problem.

They managed to take the "pre-overclock" aka Boost Clock from 1137 MHz to 1280 MHz (an exta 12.6 %) and the memory from 6008 MHz to 6958 MHZ (and extra 16%)

Of course this task is facilitated by a non reference board with a modified PCB and beefed up 8 phase VRM to provide the extra voltage control for stable overclocking.

 

[-Jackson]

Huh ? Guru3D didn't seem to have a problem.

They managed to take the "pre-overclock" aka Boost Clock from 1137 MHz to 1280 MHz (an exta 12.6 %) and the memory from 6008 MHz to 6958 MHZ (and extra 16%)

Of course this task is facilitated by a non reference board with a modified PCB and beefed up 8 phase VRM to provide the extra voltage control for stable overclocking.

It's not that, what I meant was the "pre-overclock" itself. The GPUs being "pre-overclocked" kinda takes out the fun in overclocking them since most of the work is already done for you. Just my opinion though.