First Time Build Please Help

[Falcitone]

I wanted a new gaming desktop to play the latest games at 1920 by 1080 at max settings with 60fps. Also I want it to be able to easily up gradable for the next few years. I have now spent 100+ hours researching my parts and how to guides and such. I do not want to exceed $1500 dollars and would prefer to keep it around $1300. Here is my build at the moment. Please let me know if I my power supply is sufficient, if my motherboard is a good choice and if it is compatible. Also, if I could get some just overall feedback on my build, that would be awesome. And if it could be made cheaper without sacrificing performance, that would be great to know. I will be playing Skyrim, SC2, League of Legends, and Diablo 3.

CPU-Intel Core i5 3570K Processor 3.4 4 BX80637I53570K

Motherboard-ASUS LGA 1155 - Z68 - PCIe 3.0 and UEFI BIOS Intel Z68 ATX DDR3 2200 LGA 1155 Motherboards P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3

GPU-Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 OC 3GB DDR5 HDMI/DVI-I/Dual Mini DP PCI-Express Graphics Card 11197-01-40G

RAM-Corsair XMS3 16GB (4x 4GB) PC3-10666 1333MHz DDR3 Memory Kit for AMD and Intel Dual Channel Processors CMX16GX3M4A1333C9

HDD-Western Digital Caviar Black 1 TB SATA III 7200 RPM 64 MB Cache Internal Desktop Hard Drive Bulk/OEM - WD1002FAEX

Case-NZXT Guardian Black SECC Steel Chassis ATX Mid Tower Case 921RB-BL

DVD Drive-Lite-On LightScribe 24X SATA DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Drive IHAS424-98 - Retail (Black)

Power Supply-OCZ ModXStream Pro 700W Modular High Performance Power Supply compatible with Intel Sandy Bridge Core i3 i5 i7 and AMD Phenom

OS-Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64bit (Full) System Builder DVD 1 Pack

 

[g-unit1111]

You'll need a Z77 board to take advantage of the i5-3570K and I'd switch out your RAM to something like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226095

 

[Falcitone]

You'll need a Z77 board to take advantage of the i5-3570K and I'd switch out your RAM to something like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226095

What do you mean by take advantage of the i5 3570k, and why do you recommend that RAM? I'm new to this whole field sorry about the questions, I just want to understand

 

[g-unit1111]

What do you mean by take advantage of the i5 3570k, and why do you recommend that RAM? I'm new to this whole field sorry about the questions, I just want to understand

16GB of RAM is overkill on a gaming rig and the XMS 3 is not a good choice when it has one of the highest fail rates on the market. The RAM I chose has relatively low fail rates and is better rated per Intel standards.

Z77 boards will allow the i5-3570K to unlock PCI Gen 3 for extra speed increases on the newest GPUs available. They also have all the features of Z68 and will support newer hardware like Thunderbolt, SSD Caching, and 4TB hard drives

 

[TheBigTroll]

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/aDfW

heres a build with more performance

now to answer your questions

1:ivy bridge chips (the i5 3570k) are designed to be used on the 7 series chipsets (z77). the 6 series like the one you have, will work fine with the i5 3570k, but you will lose some features such as PCI-E 3 and virtuMVP. they are not much of a deal but it is better to get the new chipsets since that is the whole point of exsistence

2: he recommended that set of ram since in gaming rigs, 8gb is more than enough. people only need 16gb or more when they video edit alot. the set i chose for you runs a bit faster than the one g-unit1111 suggested. the price difference is negligible

 

[g-unit1111]

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/aDfW

heres a build with more performance

now to answer your questions

1:ivy bridge chips (the i5 3570k) are designed to be used on the 7 series chipsets (z77). the 6 series like the one you have, will work fine with the i5 3570k, but you will lose some features such as PCI-E 3 and virtuMVP. they are not much of a deal but it is better to get the new chipsets since that is the whole point of exsistence

2: he recommended that set of ram since in gaming rigs, 8gb is more than enough. people only need 16gb or more when they video edit alot. the set i chose for you runs a bit faster than the one g-unit1111 suggested. the price difference is negligible

I don't know if you saw this or not but the 7970 is actually picking up quite a lot of steam against the 670 with the latest firmware update: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-7970-ghz-edition-review-benchmark,3232.html

On a $1500 build here's what I would recommend:

Case: NZXT Switch 810 - $169.99
PSU: PC Power & Cooling Silencer MKII 750W - $109.99
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H - $144.99
CPU: 3.4GHz Intel Core i5-3570K - $249.99
Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 - $87.99
RAM: 8GB Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 1600MHz 1.5V - $56.99
SSD: 128GB OCZ Vertex 4 - $129.99
HD: 2TB Samsung Ecogreen F4 - $129.99
Optical: Lite On Bulk DVD Burner - $17.99
Video Card: EVGA Geforce GTX 670 - $399.99

Total: $1497.89

 

[TheBigTroll]

yeah i saw that GHZ 7970 article and the 12.7 catalyst driver. but then again the 7970 sucks quite a bit more power than the 670 while performing within 5-8fps more.

 

[g-unit1111]

yeah i saw that GHZ 7970 article and the 12.7 catalyst driver. but then again the 7970 sucks quite a bit more power than the 670 while performing within 5-8fps more.

Yeah the power's always a bad thing but unless you're going 3 or 4 way Crossfire you won't need a monster PSU to cover that, a single should run fine on a 750W.

 

[azeem40]

A single GPU on a 750W? That's too much. 550W is good for any current-gen single GPU.

 

[TheBigTroll]

i never saw the point of having 2+ GPUs in a system other than to show off and burn power. 550w is enough for single GPU systems other than the 480

 

[Falcitone]

So I should get a Geforce GTX 670 instead of the Radeon 7970 and downgrade my ram and get a more reliable brand. Ok. The only thing I'm wondering about is the RAM. A few years ago 4G of RAM was thought to be the standard. These days it is 8G. Who is to say the trend wont continue and it will be 16G or RAM in a couple years? Also, I do not want to use a SSD in this build, I don't believe the memory performance as little as it is, is worth the money

 

[TheBigTroll]

yes get the 670 instead

well still, i have yet to see programs other than video editiors that use more than 4gb of ram

use a SSD. that is what spending a thousand dollars on a PC is all about. SSDs half the boot times, load programs on the fly. right now SSD prices are droping like a stone and most of them are under a dollar a gigabyte. if you have used a SSD, you probably wont go back to a hard drive.

 

[spat55]

I don't know if you saw this or not but the 7970 is actually picking up quite a lot of steam against the 670 with the latest firmware update: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-7970-ghz-edition-review-benchmark,3232.html

On a $1500 build here's what I would recommend:

Case: NZXT Switch 810 - $169.99
PSU: PC Power & Cooling Silencer MKII 750W - $109.99
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H - $144.99
CPU: 3.4GHz Intel Core i5-3570K - $249.99
Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 - $87.99
RAM: 8GB Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 1600MHz 1.5V - $56.99
SSD: 128GB OCZ Vertex 4 - $129.99
HD: 2TB Samsung Ecogreen F4 - $129.99
Optical: Lite On Bulk DVD Burner - $17.99
Video Card: EVGA Geforce GTX 670 - $399.99

Total: $1497.89

I'd say get a cheaper case though, I really like the GTX 670 though, wanted it in my rig but i have a £750 budget so got a 7850.

 

[Falcitone]

I would like a SSD, but I would only be able to get a 120G one. After installing my OS and other essentials, how many games would I be able to fit on it?

Also, about the RAM. I like to run youtube, skype, things of that nature when I am gaming. Will 8Gs pf RAM be able to handle intense games such as Skyrim or Crysis 2 smoothly while these are in the background with only 8Gs of RAM?

 

[TheBigTroll]

games only use 4gb tops. 8gb will be optimal. refer to my build that i created for you

 

[Falcitone]

Alright. Big thanks guys. I can't tell you how much this has helped