[New Build]~$1500 Gaming Desktop

[MR_AWESOME55]

So I recently decided to build my first PC, and this is what I have so far. As I am very new to the whole process, I am still trying to learn what to look for because it just seems like there are a lot of different options. It's been hard to choose, but this is it so far:

Approximate Purchase Date: Mid - Late August

Budget Range: $1300 - $1500 after shipping and rebates (could go a bit over this though)

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, torrenting, CAD

Are you buying a monitor: Yes



Parts to Upgrade: All (starting from scratch)

Do you need to buy OS: No

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: memoryexpress.com (have a discount), newegg.ca, ncix.ca

Location: Vancouver, British Columbia

Parts Preferences:

CASE: Coolermaster HAF XM
I was looking for a mid tower case with less, bigger fans rather than more, smaller fans. This one seemed to do the trick, and I would also consider getting more 200mm fans for it

CPU: Intel Core i5 3570K Unlocked Quad Core Processor
I do not believe that I am going to need an i7 for much; I think the i5 should be able to handle most of my applications well. I do not plan on doing much heavy video editing, but I would like to run CAD programs at some point. Would this CPU give me any issues with that?

Also, I may or may not overclock in the future, but I figured I'd get the unlocked one just in case. I'm going with ivy bridge mainly because it's the newest and most powerful

GPU: Sapphire Radeon HD 7850
My friend recommended this GPU to me, and he was making a similar build to mine

MOTHERBOARD: ASRock Z77 EXTREME4 ATX
Looked up what motherboards would work well with the i5 and the above GPU, and found this. Supposedly, it is "Tom's Hardware Approved" according to NCIX, so I figured that it was a good choice

PSU: OCZ ModXStream Pro 600W
I originally had chosen a 750W PSU, but my friend mentioned that more recent GPU's and parts in general are using much less power, so I chose the 600W for now. Will I need to upgrade if I ever consider using Crossfire, or should this suffice?

RAM: Kingston HyperX KHX1600C9D3K2/8GX 8GB
One of the top sellers on NCIX and I like the company

HEAT SINK: Coolermaster Hyper 212
Recommended by my friend. Figured I may as well get it now so that I don't need to worry about it later

HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB
Haven't had any troubles with WD HDDs before, and I chose Caviar Black because the line is more performance-oriented

SSD: Corsair Force Series GT 120GB
Will be using this as the boot drive, and for a few of my applications like Steam and Office. Most likely will just store games on the HDD, so I don't think I will need much space on the SSD. I could probably look into a smaller one even

MONITOR: ASUS VE247H 23.6IN Widescreen
Recommended by my friend. I do not need a multiple screen set up right off the bat, I'd prefer to just start out simple

KEYBOARD: Microsoft SIDEWINDER X4 Keyboard
Recommended by my friend. I do not need a fancy keyboard really either

Do not need to buy: Mouse

Overclocking: Maybe

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe

Your Monitor Resolution: Whatever works best

Additional Comments:
- One thing I'd like in this build is cooling, and preferably just fan cooling. The case I selected seems to have pretty good cooling, and I am unsure of whether or not I should invest in more fans for that case
- I would like this PC to be relatively quiet, but I will always be more in favour of more cooling, even if that means slightly more noise
- The above parts are not in any way final. Being my first build, I mainly gave those parts because I am looking for feedback. I've heard that there are cheaper cases out there that do just as good of a job, but I just do not know where to look or what is good or bad
- I do not care about looks for this build. If there is a crappy-looking case that is reliable for cheaper than a blinged out case, I will take the crappy one
- I would prefer a mid over a full tower
- Should I look more into NVIDIA? I am not sure which GPU series is better to get currently

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: I've been gaming on a Dell Studio 1747 for the past 3 years or so, and while it has been pretty good to me, it has also been slowing down a lot over the years, and it is beginning to get too hot; it idles around 50C-60C, and can easily get over 100C.

I figured that it would be a good idea to take the load off of the laptop and just build a gaming desktop, and because I've always wanted to make my own computer


Thank you for any help and suggestions!

 

[azeem40]

http://ncix.ca/products/?sku=74849&vpn=CT128M4SSD1&manufacture=CRUCIAL%20TECHNOLOGY
Crucial M4 is cheaper and more reliable.

For storage, a Black drive won't help you. Just get a Seagate Barracuda.

 

[Guest]

its not as well known but a sandisk extreme SSDs beat the likes of everyone else, take my hours of research for granted and get this:

http://ncix.ca/products/?sku=69894&promoid=1254

it beats the higher priced drives up to about the $225 dollar range for a very good price, and it beats the others in about 80% of tests.

the rest of your build looks good, you dont have to get a caviar black, a blue will do just fine. i have a black 2tb in my build and i love it, if anything happens to your hard drive a lot of times western digital will give you a free upgrade

if you are going to spend that much on a build i would get a better graphics card like a gtx 670. i have a asus 670, the NON top edition that doesnt have problems, it is dead silent even at full load.

check out fractal cases, not sure about the fans but most support 140mm fans, the arc midi supports larger. check out the arc midi its a really nice case. also check out the define r4, its one hell of a case.

 

[manofchalk]

Seems you'v done your homework, the build is mostly spot on.

HAF-XM is my mid-tower of choice. I recommend it wholeheartedly.

The HD7850 in my opinion dominates the mid-range, Nvidia doesn't have a good competitor at its price range (no doubt there's some Nvidia fans out there who think otherwise). Sapphire is also a good card manufacturer, cant go too wrong with them.

Motherboard is a good choice, it will support dual Crossfire/SLI properly (with 8x/8x PCI-E3 slots) if you decide to do that later.

Kingston RAM (including that kit) runs at 1.65v, which will void the warranty of and possibly damage your Intel CPU. The integrated memory controller wasn't made to handle more than 1.5v. This equivalent G.Skill kit runs at 1.5v and IMO looks better as well. I'v had no problems with this kit in the time I'v been using them.
http://ncix.ca/products/?sku=44267

Coolermaster Hyper 212 EVO, not 212+. The EVO has a smoother baseplate with direct touch heatpipes, leads to primarily cooler idle temps but does help in load situations.
http://ncix.ca/products/?sku=64385&vpn=RR-212E-20PK-R2&manufacture=COOLERMASTER

Caviar Blacks are often much more expensive than the equivalent Seagate Barracuda's and perform a bit worse.
http://ncix.ca/products/?sku=65701&promoid=1254

SSD is fine, though you can get better like the OCZ Vertex 4 or Crucial M4. Steam poses a problem on SSD's. You cant choose where each game is installed to, so all your steam games will go where it is installed, and if your like me with a lot of games, thats a lot of storage used up. You may have to put Steam on a HDD so you dont fill your SSD.

The PSU is from OCZ, who are a mid range brand. Get a unit from Seasonic, XFX, Corsair or Silverstone. Make sure its 80+ Bronze or better, preferably modular. If you want to keep the option of dual Crossfire/SLI open, get a 750W supply.

 

[MR_AWESOME55]

Alright, I will go with that SanDisk SSD, and get a SeaGate Barricuda HDD. I'll also get that G.SKILL RAM and the Coolermaster HYPER 212 EVO Heat Sink

Now for the PSU, I was looking at either the Silverstone Strider 750W or the Corsair Professional HX750W 750W

Which would you guys recommend?

Thanks!

 

[MR_AWESOME55]

its not as well known but a sandisk extreme SSDs beat the likes of everyone else, take my hours of research for granted and get this:

http://ncix.ca/products/?sku=69894&promoid=1254

it beats the higher priced drives up to about the $225 dollar range for a very good price, and it beats the others in about 80% of tests.

the rest of your build looks good, you dont have to get a caviar black, a blue will do just fine. i have a black 2tb in my build and i love it, if anything happens to your hard drive a lot of times western digital will give you a free upgrade

if you are going to spend that much on a build i would get a better graphics card like a gtx 670. i have a asus 670, the NON top edition that doesnt have problems, it is dead silent even at full load.

check out fractal cases, not sure about the fans but most support 140mm fans, the arc midi supports larger. check out the arc midi its a really nice case. also check out the define r4, its one hell of a case.

I hear that the GTX670 isn't as good for CAD applications, have you had any experience with the GPU in that kind of environment?

 

[DarkOutlaw]

Seems you'v done your homework, the build is mostly spot on.

HAF-XM is my mid-tower of choice. I recommend it wholeheartedly.

The HD7850 in my opinion dominates the mid-range, Nvidia doesn't have a good competitor at its price range (no doubt there's some Nvidia fans out there who think otherwise). Sapphire is also a good card manufacturer, cant go too wrong with them.

Motherboard is a good choice, it will support dual Crossfire/SLI properly (with 8x/8x PCI-E3 slots) if you decide to do that later.

Kingston RAM (including that kit) runs at 1.65v, which will void the warranty of and possibly damage your Intel CPU. The integrated memory controller wasn't made to handle more than 1.5v. This equivalent G.Skill kit runs at 1.5v and IMO looks better as well. I'v had no problems with this kit in the time I'v been using them.
http://ncix.ca/products/?sku=44267

Coolermaster Hyper 212 EVO, not 212+. The EVO has a smoother baseplate with direct touch heatpipes, leads to primarily cooler idle temps but does help in load situations.
http://ncix.ca/products/?sku=64385&vpn=RR-212E-20PK-R2&manufacture=COOLERMASTER

Caviar Blacks are often much more expensive than the equivalent Seagate Barracuda's and perform a bit worse.
http://ncix.ca/products/?sku=65701&promoid=1254

SSD is fine, though you can get better like the OCZ Vertex 4 or Crucial M4. Steam poses a problem on SSD's. You cant choose where each game is installed to, so all your steam games will go where it is installed, and if your like me with a lot of games, thats a lot of storage used up. You may have to put Steam on a HDD so you dont fill your SSD.

The PSU is from OCZ, who are a mid range brand. Get a unit from Seasonic, XFX, Corsair or Silverstone. Make sure its 80+ Bronze or better, preferably modular. If you want to keep the option of dual Crossfire/SLI open, get a 750W supply.

The 212 evo and 212+ difference is maybe 1c. I use the 212+ and overclock to 4.6 with no issues.

Caviar Blacks are indeed much more expensive, but thats because the warranty lasts 5 times as long. If you can afford it go with Western Digital, it is a better quality product.

OCZ, Crucial, Intel all preform well, you cant go wrong with any and the one you listed is OK. I prefer OCZ because of its price (120GB for 84.99 @ newegg).

OCZ is a good power supply. If you want to spend more money to buy something that can do the same job, go with corsair. 600w may be good, but if you can go for the 750w. Both are on sale @ newegg (600w is only $49.99)


Edit: Bottom line OP, there is nothing wrong with your build. It is probably the best build someone has submitted in weeks. The only real thing in question should be the 600w PSU vs the 750w PSU. If you can afford it you should get the bigger.

 

[bigcyco1]

http://ncix.ca/products/?sku=74849&vpn=CT128M4SSD1&manufacture=CRUCIAL%20TECHNOLOGY
Crucial M4 is cheaper and more reliable.

For storage, a Black drive won't help you. Just get a Seagate Barracuda.

+1 i would also get rid of the 7850 get a 7950 or GTX 670

 

[bigcyco1]

Alright, I will go with that SanDisk SSD, and get a SeaGate Barricuda HDD. I'll also get that G.SKILL RAM and the Coolermaster HYPER 212 EVO Heat Sink

Now for the PSU, I was looking at either the Silverstone Strider 750W or the Corsair Professional HX750W 750W

Which would you guys recommend?

Thanks!

I would personally go with the Silverstone Strider 750W but both are great

 

[MR_AWESOME55]

+1 i would also get rid of the 7850 get a 7950 or GTX 670

Is this a good 7950 to consider?

Gigabyte Radeon HD 7950

 

[bigcyco1]

Is this a good 7950 to consider?

Gigabyte Radeon HD 7950

Yes MSI or Asus or Gigabyte are all good choices

 

[MR_AWESOME55]

Excellent! Thank you for all the help! I think I'll make one more thread with my final build just to make sure everything is all good

 

[MR_AWESOME55]

Best answer selected by MR_AWESOME55.

 

[bigcyco1]

Excellent! Thank you for all the help! I think I'll make one more thread with my final build just to make sure everything is all good

No problem your very welcome!