Advice on new Gaming Rig

[thestig0707]

I'm gonna build myself a new rig soon, I have $2500 SGD to play with. (Around $2000 USD) Is there any way to improve my system without having to spend more money or maybe help me save a couple of bucks?

Case - NZXT Switch 810 Black
Mobo - Asus Maximus V Formula
CPU - Intel Core i5 3570K (Should I get a 3770K?)
GPU - Sapphire R7970 Dual X (No, they do not sell the Vapor X in my country, so do not recommend that)
RAM - Corsair Vengeance 1600MHz 2x4GB CL9 Red
PSU - Seasonic X Series 760W
HDD - Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200RPM
Optical Drive - Asus DVD Writer
CPU Fans - Corsair SP 120 Dual Pack (Should I get Cooler Master XtraFlo?)
Case Fans - Cooler Master 120mm 4 in 1 Value Pack

The overall theme of the build is Black and Red, I think I will tear away the sticker on the PSU to make it look nicer. I thought of getting a NZXT Tempest 410 Elite before but I don't think the GPU can fit. No SSD for me, I think its a waste of money unless I'm gonna build an extreme rig. Is the PSU an overkill? I'm gonna use it for gaming and some other stuff, no video encoding, maybe a little bit of photoshop here and there. Will I need to get better thermal compound? I have a Hyper 212 EVO on my current rig and the stock thermal compound ain't that good. I'm gonna put red LEDs in my case BTW. Should I get Cooler Master's XtraFlo fans instead of the Corsair ones? Looking at the specs, the XtraFlo pushes more air and have more static pressure then the Corsair fans, problem is that the Xtraflo uses a 4 pin PWM, does the integrated fan hub included with the Switch 810 have enough spacing for that extra pin?

 

[TheBigTroll]

ahh Singapore

id first of all just go with a black and blue theme because the components i recommend tend to follow suit

1; id get a gigabyte z77x-ud5h. a very good board with all the features while being cheaper. no point of spending more for a motherboard with features that can be the same or even better than the maximus v

2; get i5 3570k. good as i7 3770k in games

3:id get a msi twin frozr 4 gtx670. just as good as the 7970 while being cheaper

4: corsair vengeance ram is a no go. id get gskill ares 2x4gb 1600mhz cl9. if not, id get the corsair vengeance low profile blue 2x4gb

5: id get a nice case like a corsair carbide 500R. very good cooling and good cabling

6; stick with the corsair sp120 quiet editions for a radiator or heatsink while get af120 quiet editions for case fans

7: for the psu, id get something like a ax750w or a xfx xxx 750w if you have them. the ax 750w is gold ish (label) and the xfx is all grey

8:for the cooler id get a noctua nh-d14. you might complain about the fans but you could take them off and slap some sp120s. another option if you have this product in singapore

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835709002&Tpk=phanteks%20ph-tc14pe_bl

 

[DeusAres]

Looks good.

You can save quite a bit of money by replacing the mobo with something like the ASRock Z77 Extreme4. It still does everything all the other mobos do for much less.

If you don't care about load times, I wouldn't bother with a SSD. Although, at your budget you shouldn't have any trouble fitting one in there. A 128gb would get the job done. You could store the OS and a few games on there. It's especially handy for games such as Skyrim. Or games with load screens that seem to take forever.

A 80+ Bronze certfied, 750w PSU will do just fine. No need for a gold rated PSU. Try the SeaSonic M12II 750 SS-750AM 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE instead.

Grab a tube of this...
Arctic Cooling MX-4 AC-MX4 4 gram (g) All-Around Thermal Compound

I'm not particularly sure about the fan headers. Although, I will recommend you get coolermaster fans; they push more air and at fairly low RPMs.

Make sure the RAM you get has low heatspreaders such as this...
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB

If you have anymore questions, feel free to ask.

 

[thestig0707]

Looks good.

You can save quite a bit of money by replacing the mobo with something like the ASRock Z77 Extreme4. It still does everything all the other mobos do for much less.

If you don't care about load times, I wouldn't bother with a SSD. Although, at your budget you shouldn't have any trouble fitting one in there. A 128gb would get the job done. You could store the OS and a few games on there. It's especially handy for games such as Skyrim. Or games with load screens that seem to take forever.

A 80+ Bronze certfied, 750w PSU will do just fine. No need for a gold rated PSU. Try the SeaSonic M12II 750 SS-750AM 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE instead.

Grab a tube of this...
Arctic Cooling MX-4 AC-MX4 4 gram (g) All-Around Thermal Compound

I'm not particularly sure about the fan headers. Although, I will recommend you get coolermaster fans; they push more air and at fairly low RPMs.

Make sure the RAM you get has low heatspreaders such as this...
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB

If you have anymore questions, feel free to ask.

I don't really like the sleeving on the M12II, or should I go with the Seasonic 660W X series PSU? Will that be enough? I think I will get the MX 4 as you suggested, they sell it here in singapore too, and I heard that they are very good. Is there such thing as a PWM to 3 pin reducer thing? Or do you suggest I plug them into the mobo? its gonna be quite messy if I plug the fans in the mobo headers and I may need to get PWM extenders as the wire for the XtraFlo fans are kinda short. Do you think the Corsair Ram will interfere with the heatsink and the fan?

 

[thestig0707]

ahh Singapore

id first of all just go with a black and blue theme because the components i recommend tend to follow suit

1; id get a gigabyte z77x-ud5h. a very good board with all the features while being cheaper. no point of spending more for a motherboard with features that can be the same or even better than the maximus v

2; get i5 3570k. good as i7 3770k in games

3:id get a msi twin frozr 4 gtx670. just as good as the 7970 while being cheaper

4: corsair vengeance ram is a no go. id get gskill ares 2x4gb 1600mhz cl9. if not, id get the corsair vengeance low profile blue 2x4gb

5: id get a nice case like a corsair carbide 500R. very good cooling and good cabling

6; stick with the corsair sp120 quiet editions for a radiator or heatsink while get af120 quiet editions for case fans

7: for the psu, id get something like a ax750w or a xfx xxx 750w if you have them. the ax 750w is gold ish (label) and the xfx is all grey

8:for the cooler id get a noctua nh-d14. you might complain about the fans but you could take them off and slap some sp120s. another option if you have this product in singapore

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835709002&Tpk=phanteks%20ph-tc14pe_bl

Umm, I don't really like a black and blue theme so much...

1. Not gonna change my mobo

2. Ok

3. Im gonna flash a 7970GHz edition BIOS on my 7970, which makes it faster then a GTX680, I'm gonna run 3 monitors as well, so I don't think NVidia cards are good at it as AMD has its eyefinity solution which is way better then NVidia surround, and the 3GB GDDR5 on the 7970 helps as well.

4. Hmm... Maybe I will go for the g.skill ones if the vengeance doesn't fit.

5. The 500r looks kinda ugly, and it doesn't have a proper side window

6. I have a Xtraflo in my current rig and i'm quite happy with the noise it outputs, so I don't think a need quiet edition fans. I'm either going with 2 SP 120 performance edition fans on the tpc 812 or cooler master Xtraflo. As for case fans, I'm either gonna buy a few XtraFlo/Sickleflows or get a few packs of cooler master 4 in 1 value pack fans.

7. I will take the AX 750 into consideration.

8. The NH-D14 is a waste of money as Ivy Bridge gets really hot after 4.5GHz and unless I have a custom water cooling setup, I don't think I will push my 3570K past 4.5GHz, and the TPC 812 gets quite good temp at 4.5GHz on IB. I wish the Phanteks cooler was sold in Singapore as I love the looks of it, but its not sold in Singapore unfortunately.

 

[DeusAres]

I don't really like the sleeving on the M12II, or should I go with the Seasonic 660W X series PSU? Will that be enough? I think I will get the MX 4 as you suggested, they sell it here in singapore too, and I heard that they are very good. Is there such thing as a PWM to 3 pin reducer thing? Or do you suggest I plug them into the mobo? its gonna be quite messy if I plug the fans in the mobo headers and I may need to get PWM extenders as the wire for the XtraFlo fans are kinda short. Do you think the Corsair Ram will interfere with the heatsink and the fan?

I see. In that case, either stick with the PSU you were originally considering or get the Corsair HX750. Those PSUs (HX750) are receiving a gold certified upgrade. Or you could go with the Corsair AX750. Any of these PSUs would be great options. I was just trying to save you a little money, lol. If you plan on doing Crossfire in the future, you'll want to stick with a 750w PSU. If not, then the 660w would be a great option.

If you plug them straight into the mobo, you should be able to control how fast they spin through a third party application or in the bios. It also would't look too bad as long as you route the cables behind the tray and out of sight. Extenders may prove useful considering the Switch 810 is a pretty beefy case and the fan wires are fairly short. And yes, there may be clearance issues with the Corsair RAM and the bulky heatsink. I recommend you grab low profile RAM such as G.Skill Ripjaws X or G.Skill Sniper.

 

[thestig0707]

They don't sell the corsair HX series in Singapore, and the AX Series is more expensive then the seasonic PSUs, so I think I will be sticking with the seasonic 760w. Im gonna get the ripjaws for my ram now that you mentioned that there will be clearance issues. I think I will get 2 sickleflows for the top, use the TPC 812 stock fan as my rear exhaust, and put the stock NZXT fans as intake in the front (Or maybe 2 Xtraflo in the front) I will remove both hdd cages and use the hot swap bay for my primary hdd.

 

[TheBigTroll]

what are you going to play with 3 monitors? fps games are usually out of the question as 3 monitors make the crosshair the size of a mini-mouse