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New PC for about $1200. Please help. Need it soon.

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Hi all,

Please help me choose a good and RELIABLE motherboard, VIDEO card, and RAM.

I am building a new PC with the following (budget ~ $1200 plus/minus):

Case: Corsair Obsidian 650D (really like this and would not change - unless your offer a very compelling suggestion)
PSU: Corsair HX Pro Series 750W (really like this, but am open to cheaper but quality alternatives, modular power supply)
Mobo: Intel BOXDZ77GA70K (excellent reviews on Amazon, but a lot of people are biased toward ASUS boards). WHAT MOTHERBOARD is best with i7-3770?
This is what I am thinking. Also, some people suggested ASUS P8Z77-V PRO. Is this good and reliable?

Video: GeForce GTX 560 (sounds great, but do I really need this? see my use below). What do you recommend? Is this overkill for me?
RAM: would like at least 12GB, maybe 16GB. Should I get 4x4GB or 2x8GB? What is the difference? Crucial or Corsair or Kingston or what?
SSD drive: I would like at 120GB SSD drive in addition to a traditional hard drive. Any suggestions? The MOBO should support this, and should have DVI output.

My use is not heavy gaming, but photoshop with lots of raw pictures (lots of RAM) and some video editing. I also like to have a lot of windows open (multi-tasking).
I like to stream videos on netflix and watch on TV connected to my PC.

If I were to get into gaming and overclocking, I would get i7-3770k, but with this, what MOBO, VIDEO should I get?

THANK YOU IN ADVANCE. PLEASE BE DETAILED WITH YOUR SUGGESTIONS.

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Quote:
Mobo: Intel BOXDZ77GA70K (excellent reviews on Amazon, but a lot of people are biased toward ASUS boards). WHAT MOTHERBOARD is best with i7-3770?


Do not - repeat - do not rely on stores for product reviews. This is a classic rookie mistake and a very bad idea when choosing the hardware you want. Intel boards are way overpriced and incredibly bland for the feature sets they offer (no UEFI, no high RAM speeds, no real overclocking functionality, things of that nature). Asus and Gigabyte are far better offerings in terms of what they offer for the price.

Quote:
Case: Corsair Obsidian 650D (really like this and would not change - unless your offer a very compelling suggestion)


It's kind of ridiculous to spend $200 on a case on a $1200 build - that's almost 1/6 of your budget. You will have to sacrifice a lot and cut corners elsewhere to fit this in your budget, and that's something I never recommend.

Quote:
This is what I am thinking. Also, some people suggested ASUS P8Z77-V PRO. Is this good and reliable?


Far better choice than the Intel board. Also consider the Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H.

Quote:
RAM: would like at least 12GB, maybe 16GB. Should I get 4x4GB or 2x8GB? What is the difference? Crucial or Corsair or Kingston or what?


12GB is for X58 systems, and those are pretty much on their way out the door. You'll need 8, 16GB, or 32GB. 2 x 8GB gives you more room for expansion.

Quote:
Video: GeForce GTX 560 (sounds great, but do I really need this? see my use below). What do you recommend? Is this overkill for me?


The Radeon 7850 will give you more horsepower and flexibility for a multiple display setup.

Try this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($339.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($30.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($87.99 @ Newegg)
Hard Drive: Samsung Spinpoint F4 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Hard Drive: Crucial M4 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($104.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card ($246.97 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 400R ATX Mid Tower Case ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: PC Power & Cooling 750W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1278.88
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-07-20 20:12 EDT-0400)

Thank you very much g-unit1111.

However, is there really no value in reading people's comments about the products that they buy? The reviews I saw on Amazon are from people who purchased the product and used it and reviewed it.
The same is true for stuff I see on Newegg. I read people's reviews on the components and make my decision based on that.
So if I don't read the reviews, how would I know whether model A is better than model B of some component? The manufacturer has no incentive to divulge any negative information about their product.

Anyway, for the case, I can get it brand new from Amazon for $158 with free shipping. Aside from the cost, anything else bad or negative about the case? Does it have a lot of positives?

Also, if I don't care about overclocking and choose i7-3770, which mobo should I get with that?
Would video card stay the same?

Thanks a bunch!


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Quote:

However, is there really no value in reading people's comments about the products that they buy? The reviews I saw on Amazon are from people who purchased the product and used it and reviewed it.
The same is true for stuff I see on Newegg. I read people's reviews on the components and make my decision based on that.


I look at it this way - a good 90% of the positive reviews are based purely on fanboyism. The negative reviews are almost 95% not to do with RMA's - though they are indicated - but with bad shipping errors or refunds. That's why I never suggest relying only on stores for product reviews - but you need to check professional sources as well as stores. The negative reviews almost never state why the products were RMA'd.

Quote:
So if I don't read the reviews, how would I know whether model A is better than model B of some component? The manufacturer has no incentive to divulge any negative information about their product.


That's why sites like this exist. Sites like Tom's and Anandtech, Johnnyguru, etc - have access to professional testing equipment. The people who review products on stores - don't.

Quote:
Anyway, for the case, I can get it brand new from Amazon for $158 with free shipping. Aside from the cost, anything else bad or negative about the case? Does it have a lot of positives?


Corsair makes some great cases - I have one, so I'm kind of biased that way. But when I build systems I generally try to balance them out in terms of price / performance / longevity. And I don't emphasize cutting corners if it means getting a product that is unobtainable on any sort of budget. If money were no object, I'd say go ahead, but otherwise, that's generally the philosophy I go by.

Quote:

Also, if I don't care about overclocking and choose i7-3770, which mobo should I get with that?
Would video card stay the same?


If you're not going to overclock it's pointless to get any unlocked CPU. And yes the video card probably would stay the same. The Radeon 7850 is one of the best bang-for-buck options available right now which is why it's so heavily recommended.

Thanks a lot man! At the very least, you've got me thinking deeper than before!
I do want to get value for my money, but since I happen to have a high paying job, I can splurge a little.

I did mention that if I didn't care about over-clocking, I would get i7-3770 (without the k). This I assume is a locked CPU and cannot be over-clocked.
So what is your MOBO recommendation for i7-3770 as opposed to i7-3770k?

PC420 said:
Thanks a lot man! At the very least, you've got me thinking deeper than before!
I do want to get value for my money, but since I happen to have a high paying job, I can splurge a little.

I did mention that if I didn't care about over-clocking, I would get i7-3770 (without the k). This I assume is a locked CPU and cannot be over-clocked.
So what is your MOBO recommendation for i7-3770 as opposed to i7-3770k?


I'd go for this as it's an excellent board for the features it offers: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
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