New gaming build - $1400

[kaels]

I've built every computer I've ever owned (roughly 5, plus upgrades) but I've always been working in the 'budget' category where I'm looking at older technologies and it's pretty clear which ones are the best value. My current build is about 3 years old:

CPU: AMD Phenom II x2 Black Edition Callisto 3.1GHz http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103680
Mobo: Asus M4A77TD Pro http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131397
RAM: G-Skill 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231193
HDD: WD Caviar Black 500GB WD5001AALS http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136320
PSU: Corsair Enthusiast Series 650W CMPSU-650TX http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005
GPU: XFX Radeon HD 4650 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150344
Monitor: Samsung 27" P2770H http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001379 (keeping this)
Case: Thermaltake V9 Black Edition http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133074 (my one mistake - fans broke right after the RMA expired, been working on one fan for 3 years now)

It's doing really, really well. The core components cost me under $500 in 2009 and it plays Skyrim (albeit at 25fps on low settings) in 2012. I want to get that kind of quality and value from my investment in my new rig.

The performance I want includes:
Skyrim (and equivalent) on High at 1080p
Fraps WoW at 1080p, minimum 30fps without hitching
Good video rendering/editing
Fast load times
Good multitasking
Play new games for at least 6 months on High/Ultra and at least 2 (preferably 3) years on medium with good framerates

So far, what I've got worked out is:
CPU:
Intel Core i5-3570k
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116504
Mobo:
Asus Maximum V Gene
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131830
RAM:
Corsair Vengeance 8GB DDR3 1866
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233184
SSD (OS/applications):
Samsung 830 Series 256 GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147135
HDD (Fraps/media storage - Raid 0 setup):
2x WD Caviar Black 1TB FAEX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136533
PSU:
XFX PRO750W XXX Edition Semi-Modular
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207016
GPU:
EVGA Superclocked GTX 570
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130595
Case:
Corsair Carbide Series 500R
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139009
plus 2x Bitfenix Spectre White 140mm
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835345022

Questions:

1) This is my first Intel build (WTF AMD? Why is Bulldozer doing so badly against even Core i5?).

From what I'm reading, the 2500k is the older standard 'midrange gamer' processor, and the 3570k is the newer one at the same price point. Is that true? Do you think the 3570k will last as long in the midrange position as the 2500k, or do you think the 2600k is going to replace it soon?

I could get the Core i7 2600k for an extra $70, which would be worth it to me if it meant either a noticeable performance gain (i.e. not throttled by some other aspect of my system) or a significantly longer time to obsolescence. If I did that, though, I'd have to cut somewhere else. Where would you suggest?

2) Again, first Intel build. Motherboards for some reason are twice as expensive, so I went with a micro ATX gaming board since it manages to include all the features I want. I think I'm happy with my choice, but is there an equivalently good motherboard from a tier 1 manufacturer that's less expensive (and preferably red)?

3) Do I care about memory speed? Should I go faster or slower? It's all about the same price, and a tiny part of the budget anyway.

4) This is my first SSD. I think I'm happy picking the Samsung 830 - glowing reviews everywhere, and I've loved every Samsung product I've ever owned - but is there a compelling reason I should consider the Mushkin Chronos Deluxe or the OCZ Vertex 4? They're all hovering around the $200 price point, with discounts varying every day.

5) I could save $40 by switching my hard drive choice to the Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 - could maybe put that toward upgrading to the 2600k. Will I notice a difference between the drives? Does one of them give people issues in RAID setups?

6) I was debating getting yet another drive for media/data storage because I understand that Fraps works best if it has its own dedicated drive. But I really don't need 2TB worth of space for raw video storage, and smaller drives are slower and not that much less expensive. Is it OK to partition off the first half of the RAID array for Fraps and use the other half for storage (which won't be accessed when Fraps is running)?

7) Is the EVGA Superclocked 570 the best card I can get at under $300?

8) Is the Carbide 500R as awesome as it looks?
Will that 200mm fan break like the 240mm ones on my crappy Thermaltake case?
Will my microATX motherboard look ridiculous and dinky inside?
If so, is there a smaller case that's as awesome as the 500R?

9) Does anyone know if those Bitfenix fans match the ones that come with the case? They look like they do on Youtube, but it's hard to tell.

10) I don't plan on overclocking aggressively - I like my CPUs to live. But I do keep my apartment pretty warm, and I don't have A/C in summer. Is the stock cooler going to be OK or do I need an aftermarket cooler? Does the answer change if I get the 2600k?

11) Is that PSU adequate for this system? Is there a cheaper modular PSU of equal quality?

12) Any other comments? Am I over- or under-spending somewhere?

 

[kaels]

Just found pcpartpicker in another post, so here's an easier link:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/ezLp

 

[JMer806]

1) This is my first Intel build (WTF AMD? Why is Bulldozer doing so badly against even Core i5?).

From what I'm reading, the 2500k is the older standard 'midrange gamer' processor, and the 3570k is the newer one at the same price point. Is that true? Do you think the 3570k will last as long in the midrange position as the 2500k, or do you think the 2600k is going to replace it soon?

I could get the Core i7 2600k for an extra $70, which would be worth it to me if it meant either a noticeable performance gain (i.e. not throttled by some other aspect of my system) or a significantly longer time to obsolescence. If I did that, though, I'd have to cut somewhere else. Where would you suggest?

The 3570k is a great CPU and performs better at stock speeds than the 2500k, but the 2500k is perhaps better for OCing. Personally I'd go with the Ivy Bridge for native PCI-e 3.0 support.

The i7 wouldn't give you any real performance improvement, since you wouldn't be fully utilizing it in gaming. Save your money.

2) Again, first Intel build. Motherboards for some reason are twice as expensive, so I went with a micro ATX gaming board since it manages to include all the features I want. I think I'm happy with my choice, but is there an equivalently good motherboard from a tier 1 manufacturer that's less expensive (and preferably red)?

Any of the Asus P8Z77 boards are good, but they aren't red. Still, they're solid boards, as are the Gigabyte and Asrock Z77 boards, and getting a microATX means you won't be able to SLI or Crossfire in the future. For expandability I'd always go for the ATX card. Take a look at Asrock and Gigabyte (and MSI) Z77 MOBOs to see if any are red.

3) The QVL for the Maximus Gene is sorely lacking in DDR2133 options, and most of the ones listed from brands I trust are deactivated. Should I go with the 1866 that's on the QVL, or the 2133 that's not?

I'm no expert here but I don't think you'll notice any real increase in performance above 1600 mhz RAM. Pardon if I'm misunderstanding you.

4) This is my first SSD. I think I'm happy picking the Samsung 830 - glowing reviews everywhere, and I've loved every Samsung product I've ever owned - but is there a compelling reason I should consider the Mushkin Chronos Deluxe or the OCZ Vertex 4? They're all hovering around the $200 price point, with discounts varying every day.

Samsung is a better SSD. Go with it if you've got the money.

5) I could save $40 by switching my hard drive choice to the Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 - could maybe put that toward upgrading to the 2600k. Will I notice a difference between the drives? Does one of them give people issues in RAID setups?

I don't know anything about RAID setups, but I've never had any problems with Western Digital HDDs, but I've had several Seagates fail. I think WD makes a better product.

6) I was debating getting yet another drive for media/data storage because I understand that Fraps works best if it has its own dedicated drive. But I really don't need 2TB worth of space for raw video storage, and smaller drives are slower and not that much less expensive. Is it OK to partition off the first half of the RAID array for Fraps and use the other half for storage (which won't be accessed when Fraps is running)?

I'll defer here since I don't know about RAID arrays.

7) Is the EVGA Superclocked 570 the best card I can get at under $300?

No; according to Tom's Hardware, the HD Radeon 7870 is the best card under $300. Here's a Gigabyte 2GB one for $299 - $20 MIR = $280. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125418

8) Is the Carbide 500R as awesome as it looks?
Will that 200mm fan break like the 240mm ones on my crappy Thermaltake case?
Will my microATX motherboard look ridiculous and dinky inside?
If so, is there a smaller case that's as awesome as the 500R?

Dunno how awesome it is, but the fans are probably solid and if not, fans are cheap and easy to replace. Yes, your MB will look ridiculous in it. Solve this problem by upgrading to a full ATX board which will give you a lot more upgrade-ability

9) Does anyone know if those Bitfenix fans match the ones that come with the case? They look like they do on Youtube, but it's hard to tell.

Sorry, don't know.

10) I don't plan on overclocking aggressively - I like my CPUs to live. But I do keep my apartment pretty warm, and I don't have A/C in summer. Is the stock cooler going to be OK or do I need an aftermarket cooler? Does the answer change if I get the 2600k?

Toss in a CoolerMaster Hyper 212 EVO or 212 Plus for minor OCing. They'll keep it cool enough. Same answer for the i7, but as I said earlier I'd recommend sticking with the i5 3570k.

11) Is that PSU adequate for this system? Is there a cheaper modular PSU of equal quality?

It's overkill for a microATX system, since you won't be able to SLI or Crossfire. I'd probably recommend 750W and a bigger MOBO so that you can Crossfire or SLI in the future.

12) Any other comments? Am I over- or under-spending somewhere?

My only comments are to avoid the i7 and that it's a bit strange to spend so much on the SSD and limit the GPU if you intend to do a lot of gaming. But it's a solid build!

 

[fpoon]

You can save some money on the mobo. Get an Asrock Z77 Extreme4, and you can probably get a Radeon 7950.

 

[bigcyco1]

You could get a better motherboard it wouldn't be red though you could get a i5-3570k or i5-2500k neither will last longer than the other the i5-3570k is newer Power consumption lower on IB,QuickSync performance higher on IB,Clock for clock stock performance slightly higher in IB,Much stronger iGPU with IB.For overclocking i5-2500k is better if this is a gaming PC and you do not use many productivity apps, You will not really benefit from HyperThreading, so an i7 is a waste for you.If you go with the 3570K, then yeah, a Z77 motherboard would be a better choice

 

[aqualipt]

I've built every computer I've ever owned (roughly 5, plus upgrades) but I've always been working in the 'budget' category where I'm looking at older technologies and it's pretty clear which ones are the best value. My current build is about 3 years old:

CPU: AMD Phenom II x2 Black Edition Callisto 3.1GHz http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103680
Mobo: Asus M4A77TD Pro http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131397
RAM: G-Skill 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 1600 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231193
HDD: WD Caviar Black 500GB WD5001AALS http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136320
PSU: Corsair Enthusiast Series 650W CMPSU-650TX http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005
GPU: XFX Radeon HD 4650 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150344
Monitor: Samsung 27" P2770H http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001379 (keeping this)
Case: Thermaltake V9 Black Edition http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133074 (my one mistake - fans broke right after the RMA expired, been working on one fan for 3 years now)

It's doing really, really well. The core components cost me under $500 in 2009 and it plays Skyrim (albeit at 25fps on low settings) in 2012. I want to get that kind of quality and value from my investment in my new rig.

The performance I want includes:
Skyrim (and equivalent) on High at 1080p
Fraps WoW at 1080p, minimum 30fps without hitching
Good video rendering/editing
Fast load times
Good multitasking
Play new games for at least 6 months on High/Ultra and at least 2 (preferably 3) years on medium with good framerates

So far, what I've got worked out is:
CPU:
Intel Core i5-3570k
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116504
Mobo:
Asus Maximum V Gene
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131830
RAM:
Corsair Vengeance 8GB DDR3 1866
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233184
SSD (OS/applications):
Samsung 830 Series 256 GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147135
HDD (Fraps/media storage - Raid 0 setup):
2x WD Caviar Black 1TB FAEX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136533
PSU:
XFX PRO750W XXX Edition Semi-Modular
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207016
GPU:
EVGA Superclocked GTX 570
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130595
Case:
Corsair Carbide Series 500R
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139009
plus 2x Bitfenix Spectre White 140mm
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835345022

Questions:

1) This is my first Intel build (WTF AMD? Why is Bulldozer doing so badly against even Core i5?).

From what I'm reading, the 2500k is the older standard 'midrange gamer' processor, and the 3570k is the newer one at the same price point. Is that true? Do you think the 3570k will last as long in the midrange position as the 2500k, or do you think the 2600k is going to replace it soon?

I could get the Core i7 2600k for an extra $70, which would be worth it to me if it meant either a noticeable performance gain (i.e. not throttled by some other aspect of my system) or a significantly longer time to obsolescence. If I did that, though, I'd have to cut somewhere else. Where would you suggest?

2) Again, first Intel build. Motherboards for some reason are twice as expensive, so I went with a micro ATX gaming board since it manages to include all the features I want. I think I'm happy with my choice, but is there an equivalently good motherboard from a tier 1 manufacturer that's less expensive (and preferably red)?

3) Do I care about memory speed? Should I go faster or slower? It's all about the same price, and a tiny part of the budget anyway.

4) This is my first SSD. I think I'm happy picking the Samsung 830 - glowing reviews everywhere, and I've loved every Samsung product I've ever owned - but is there a compelling reason I should consider the Mushkin Chronos Deluxe or the OCZ Vertex 4? They're all hovering around the $200 price point, with discounts varying every day.

5) I could save $40 by switching my hard drive choice to the Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 - could maybe put that toward upgrading to the 2600k. Will I notice a difference between the drives? Does one of them give people issues in RAID setups?

6) I was debating getting yet another drive for media/data storage because I understand that Fraps works best if it has its own dedicated drive. But I really don't need 2TB worth of space for raw video storage, and smaller drives are slower and not that much less expensive. Is it OK to partition off the first half of the RAID array for Fraps and use the other half for storage (which won't be accessed when Fraps is running)?

7) Is the EVGA Superclocked 570 the best card I can get at under $300?

8) Is the Carbide 500R as awesome as it looks?
Will that 200mm fan break like the 240mm ones on my crappy Thermaltake case?
Will my microATX motherboard look ridiculous and dinky inside?
If so, is there a smaller case that's as awesome as the 500R?

9) Does anyone know if those Bitfenix fans match the ones that come with the case? They look like they do on Youtube, but it's hard to tell.

10) I don't plan on overclocking aggressively - I like my CPUs to live. But I do keep my apartment pretty warm, and I don't have A/C in summer. Is the stock cooler going to be OK or do I need an aftermarket cooler? Does the answer change if I get the 2600k?

11) Is that PSU adequate for this system? Is there a cheaper modular PSU of equal quality?

12) Any other comments? Am I over- or under-spending somewhere?

To answer your questions:

1)By no means the 2600k will replace the i5 3570k, the 2600k is an i7 Processor which performs EXACTLY the same as a i5 CPU in games, in rendering tasks the i7 performs a bit better because of the HT feature.

2)The Asrock Z77 Extreme 4 is much better motherboard than the one you picked Performance/Price wise.

3)Anything beyond 1600Mhz is not going to give more performance unless you use a very specific (memory depending) app

4) The Vertex 4 performs a little bit faster than the Samsung 830, but OCZ doesn't have a good reputation when it comes to reliability so i would stick with the Samsung 830

5)I would get a single 2TB drive, there is no point in getting a RAID-0 setup for storage.

6) Just buy a single 2TB drive.

7)not really, you can afford a GTX 670 which is much better.

8)IMO the Carbide 500r is over rated, there are way better options

9)just wait for my suggestions.

10)You definitely need a aftermarket cooler for overclocking

12)No.

Buy this:


CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Thermaltake Water 2.0 Extreme 81.3 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($102.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Performance ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($133.87 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 830 Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($209.00 @ B&H)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($109.99 @ Best Buy)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670 2GB Video Card ($399.99 @ Amazon)
Case: NZXT Phantom (White/Red) ATX Full Tower Case ($128.98 @ Outlet PC)
Power Supply: PC Power & Cooling 750W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($69.99 @ Microcenter)
Total: $1399.79

 

[kaels]

The 3570k is a great CPU and performs better at stock speeds than the 2500k, but the 2500k is perhaps better for OCing. Personally I'd go with the Ivy Bridge for native PCI-e 3.0 support.

The i7 wouldn't give you any real performance improvement, since you wouldn't be fully utilizing it in gaming. Save your money.

Thanks

Any of the Asus P8Z77 boards are good, but they aren't red. Still, they're solid boards, as are the Gigabyte and Asrock Z77 boards, and getting a microATX means you won't be able to SLI or Crossfire in the future. For expandability I'd always go for the ATX card. Take a look at Asrock and Gigabyte (and MSI) Z77 MOBOs to see if any are red.

Thank you. What does Z77 mean? Are they all basically of equal quality, so I can just pick based on price/features?

I'm no expert here but I don't think you'll notice any real increase in performance above 1600 mhz RAM. Pardon if I'm misunderstanding you.

Oh, really? I don't know much abotu RAM, was just assuming bigger numbers were better. I'll just go with the 1866, or maybe 1600...it really doesn't matter?

No; according to Tom's Hardware, the HD Radeon 7870 is the best card under $300. Here's a Gigabyte 2GB one for $299 - $20 MIR = $280.

Oh, sweet. I do like Radeons.

Toss in a CoolerMaster Hyper 212 EVO or 212 Plus for minor OCing. They'll keep it cool enough. Same answer for the i7, but as I said earlier I'd recommend sticking with the i5 3570k.

Thanks! Wow, that's pretty cheap.

My only comments are to avoid the i7 and that it's a bit strange to spend so much on the SSD and limit the GPU if you intend to do a lot of gaming. But it's a solid build!

I know it sounds weird, but the key area where I want to maximize performance is in Frapsing raids in WoW. WoW is an older game, so it barely even uses the GPU, but large-scale combat is still pretty CPU-intensive (lots of crunching of very large numbers in a single thread), and it does quite a lot of loading of textures on the fly (random drive access). Fraps is painfully CPU-intensive and sequential-write-speed-limited. And I'm doing them both at the same time, so it's a heavy load on CPU and storage access speed, but my GPU is almost irrelevant - I'll barely notice a difference upgrading from the 4650.

The other games I play demand more from the GPU, but I don't play FPSs so it's not that big a deal. I also don't particularly care if I have to turn off things like HDR or lower my AA, as long as I can get 60 fps with high-quality textures and short load times.

You can save some money on the mobo. Get an Asrock Z77 Extreme4, and you can probably get a Radeon 7950.

Thanks for the suggestion! I've never used Asrock, but they're about on par with Asus and Gigabyte, right?

if this is a gaming PC and you do not use many productivity apps, You will not really benefit from HyperThreading

I'm not sure what qualifies as productivity apps. I use Photoshop some, I do video editing on large files, I do some fairly demanding math with Maple and Matlab, and I like to be able to run several tabs in my web browser at the same time as my games (I alt-tab out a lot). But my current rig does all that just fine, maybe a bit slow on the math and the video processing but not prohibitively so.

Who actually would be helped by hyperthreading?

 

[kaels]

1)By no means the 2600k will replace the i5 3570k, the 2600k is an i7 Processor which performs EXACTLY the same as a i5 CPU in games, in rendering tasks the i7 performs a bit better because of the HT feature.

Thanks. I don't entirely understand Intel's numbering scheme.

2)The Asrock Z77 Extreme 4 is much better motherboard than the one you picked Performance/Price wise.

Thank you. Exactly what I was hoping to hear.

3)Anything beyond 1600Mhz is not going to give more performance unless you use a very specific (memory depending) app

Understood.

4) The Vertex 4 performs a little bit faster than the Samsung 830, but OCZ doesn't have a good reputation when it comes to reliability so i would stick with the Samsung 830

Thank you.

5)I would get a single 2TB drive, there is no point in getting a RAID-0 setup for storage.

6) Just buy a single 2TB drive.

I really need about 200MBPS sequential write for Fraps, and I can't afford 500GB of SSD on top of my boot drive.

7)not really, you can afford a GTX 670 which is much better.

I don't think I quite can, but I might go with one of the Radeon 7 series.

8)IMO the Carbide 500r is over rated, there are way better options

How so? What do you like better about the Phantom?

10)You definitely need a aftermarket cooler for overclocking

Thank you.

 

[aqualipt]

How so? What do you like better about the Phantom?

The phantom is a lot bigger, has better airflow and look cooler imo.

Just buy the build i listed with dual 500GB HDD instead of a single 2TB HDD.

Trust me, the GTX 670 will perform better than the 7950/7970 is most games.

 

[azeem40]

8)IMO the Carbide 500r is over rated, there are way better options

How so? What do you like better about the Phantom?

The phantom is a lot bigger, has better airflow and look cooler imo.

Just buy the build i listed with dual 500GB HDD instead of a single 2TB HDD.

Trust me, the GTX 670 will perform better than the 7950/7970 is most games.

Why did you quote and disagree with yourself?

 

[aqualipt]

Why did you quote and disagree with yourself?

Fixed!

 

[aqualipt]

How did you come to the conclusion that the Phantom has better airflow? I HAVE the 500R and it has amazing airflow and cable management.

You LOVE to argue with me, don't you??

 

[azeem40]

How so? What do you like better about the Phantom?

The phantom is a lot bigger, has better airflow and look cooler imo.

Just buy the build i listed with dual 500GB HDD instead of a single 2TB HDD.

Trust me, the GTX 670 will perform better than the 7950/7970 is most games.

How did you come to the conclusion that the Phantom has better airflow? I HAVE the 500R and it has amazing airflow and cable management.

 

[azeem40]

You LOVE to argue with me, don't you??

No, I question everything that isn't known to everyone that doesn't have evidence to back it up.

 

[aqualipt]

No, I question everything that isn't known to everyone that doesn't have evidence to back it up.

oooh... that's cool, i like the way you think.

I couldn't find a "benchmark" comparing the Phantom vs 500R, only comments from people.

Anyways, the Phantom is bigger, the fan slots are better positioned and it look (IMO) better and it matches the rest of the OP's build (apparently he is concern by aesthetics)

 

[bigcyco1]

No, I question everything that isn't known to everyone that doesn't have evidence to back it up.

 

[bigcyco1]

Why did you quote and disagree with yourself?

WTF! that's a clear sign of being nuts you know what comes next don't you he'll be rubbing his s*** on the walls and eating crayons. :lol:

 

[azeem40]

The 500R has a completely tool-less designs, more cable management holes, and room for 10 120mm fans.

 

[aqualipt]

The 500R has a completely tool-less designs, more cable management holes, and room for 10 120mm fans.

dude, its fun arguing with every day but i am not in the mood right now.

The phantom (IMO) look a lot cooler and it might only have space for 7 fans (2x 200mm 1x230mm 3x120mm 1x140mm) but those fans are bigger than the ones the 500r can fit so they can push more air while being quieter.

At the end, arguing about which one is better only proves how similar they are.

It comes down to what the OP likes

Phantom:

500R:

 

[azeem40]

It's kind of hard to tell through the internet who isn't in a good mood.

 

[kaels]

Thank you all, I really appreciate it

Appreciate the suggestion on the Phantom, it's a great-looking case, but TBH, if it comes down to looks, I think I'll go with the 500R. The rest of you suggestions, though, are pretty much spot-on. If I can work a 670 into my budget, I want to.

 

[aqualipt]

Thank you all, I really appreciate it

Appreciate the suggestion on the Phantom, it's a great-looking case, but TBH, if it comes down to looks, I think I'll go with the 500R. The rest of you suggestions, though, are pretty much spot-on. If I can work a 670 into my budget, I want to.

Great, just buy my build and change the Phantom for a 500R, make sure to pick a best answer to close this thread.

 

[kaels]

Best answer selected by kaels.