Gaming Build - Please Review!

[epoon317]

Hello everyone,

After hours of reading reviews and recommendations, I've finally put together a build that I am eager to buy. The sole purpose of this build is to play Battlefield 3 in online matches on max settings at a constant 60+ FPS. Please review my build and share your thoughts with me. Also, please let me know if I made a mistake by selecting incompatible parts.

Thank you for your time!

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PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/cCGP
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/cCGP/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/cCGP/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($28.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($114.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($44.99 @ Newegg)
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.55 @ NCIX US)
Hard Drive: Crucial M4 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 670 2GB Video Card ($399.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Cooler Master HAF 932 Blue ATX Full Tower Case ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: PC Power & Cooling 750W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($79.99 @ Microcenter)
Optical Drive: Sony DDU1681S-0B DVD/CD Drive ($17.00 @ Amazon)
Monitor: Asus VS229H-P 21.5" Monitor ($152.63 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (64-bit) ($90.65 @ Amazon)
Total: $1418.75
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-07-20 15:51 EDT-0400)

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Below is a list of alternative parts that I am considering - please let me know if you think the alternative parts are better. I would be very grateful if you can tell me why some of the alternative parts may be better for my build.

CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($141.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($188.49 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($45.99 @ Newegg)
Hard Drive: Plextor PX-M3S Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Hard Drive: Samsung 830 Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($134.95 @ B&H)
Case: Rosewill CHALLENGER ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Antec Eleven Hundred ATX Full Tower Case ($94.98 @ NCIX US)
Case: NZXT Switch 810 (White) ATX Full Tower Case ($189.98 @ Newegg)

 

[DarkOutlaw]

Stick with the evo
Stick with the Asrock
Memory is either or
Get a ssd + hdd (OCZ has a 60gb ssd for $45 and a 120gb ssd for $85 on newegg)
Case is w/e you like, i have the challenger and it is a nice case, plenty of room.

 

[g-unit1111]

I would personally not spend $50 on a case on a $1400+ build. The UD5H would definitely be a better choice for motherboard, as for which fan you choose that depends on how high you want to overclock. If you want to go between 4.3 - 4.5GHz then the Evo or the Noctua NH-U9B would be good choices. If you want to go beyond that go with the D14.

Also don't get a Scorpio Black - you don't want to mess with laptop hard drives on a desktop build. Get a Samsung Ecogreen - 2TB of space for $120.

Otherwise that's a pretty awesome build for the most part.

 

[DarkOutlaw]

There is little difference in temps between the evo and the Noctua. The Hyper 212+ I have keeps me at 4.6ghz with temps 60c-65c under load, 70c with intel burn test. If you want to go 4.7, you might be ok with air cooling, but realistically 4.7+ should use a custom water cooling system.

 

[PlusOne]

Nice build! I'm rather jealous... but anyway:

I agree about the cooler. Not worth the extra cash for such little (possible) cooling benefit.

I would stick with the HAF or Switch case. Bigger cases are very nice and those two are popular cases.

I would recommend a larger HDD, since prices aren't too unreasonable and 320 GB is rather small for all the other goodies you have going on in there.

I honestly don't know enough about compatibility to comment on that, but as long as your memory doesn't touch the Hyper 212+, I think the rest will work.

 

[epoon317]

Also don't get a Scorpio Black - you don't want to mess with laptop hard drives on a desktop build.

Thanks for the heads up - I was unaware.

 

[epoon317]

There is little difference in temps between the evo and the Noctua. The Hyper 212+ I have keeps me at 4.6ghz with temps 60c-65c under load, 70c with intel burn test. If you want to go 4.7, you might be ok with air cooling, but realistically 4.7+ should use a custom water cooling system.

Thanks for the detailed response - I am very new to this so I plan to do minimal overclocking. I guess the it may be best to stick with the evo according to the above posters.

 

[epoon317]

Nice build! I'm rather jealous... but anyway:

I agree about the cooler. Not worth the extra cash for such little (possible) cooling benefit.

I would stick with the HAF or Switch case. Bigger cases are very nice and those two are popular cases.

I would recommend a larger HDD, since prices aren't too unreasonable and 320 GB is rather small for all the other goodies you have going on in there.

I honestly don't know enough about compatibility to comment on that, but as long as your memory doesn't touch the Hyper 212+, I think the rest will work.

Thank you for sharing your opinion - I'm afraid to ask, but what will happen if the Hyper 212+ touches the memory? And this can be solved by simply changing the placement of the parts on the motherboard, right?

 

[g-unit1111]

Thank you for sharing your opinion - I'm afraid to ask, but what will happen if the Hyper 212+ touches the memory? And this can be solved by simply changing the placement of the parts on the motherboard, right?

The only thing that will happen will be that the fan won't mount correctly and could distort your system's air flow a bit - you won't short anything if that's what you're worried about.

 

[PlusOne]

Yeah sorry for wording that poorly. It's more of a clearance issue, not an electrical issue

 

[DarkOutlaw]

you can acutally move the fan up on the hyper 212 enough so that it does not effect performance and gives your ram clearence. I have seen dozens of people use they hyper 212 and corsair vengence ram, and those heat sinks are super huge.