Building a new PC

[rainygary]

Hello people!

I'm not a pro in this thing so I decided to come and ask help from you guys about building my own PC. I got a friend who helps me to put it together, but I'm asking for opinions about the whole setup. I like gaming and I want this boy to run smoothly ~all games on the best graphics but I'm also aiming for silence. Opinions, please!

-AsRock Fatal1ty Z77 // motherboard
-Asus NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 DirectCU II 2GB // video card
-Corsair HX750W -power supply
-Corsair 16GB Vengeance (DDR3 1600 MHz) // memory
-Intel Core i5 2500K 3.3 GHz // processor
-Noctua NH-D14 // CPU cooler
-Hitachi DeskStar 7K3000 2TB (7200RPM, 3,5", SATA III) // hard drive
-Samsung 830 Series SSD 128GB // SSD Drive
-Asus DRW-24B5ST // DVD-drive
-Corsair Obsidian Series 550D // Case

FYI the screen will be Dell UltraSharp U2312HM (8ms GtG, IPS-panel, anti-glare, 23", Full HD) wich unfortunately doesn't have HDMI.

I'm not sure if anything is missing but please, tell me your opinion about this! As I said, I'm no pro and this is the first time I'm doing this so sorry if I said something wrong or gave too much unnecessary information or whatever! Oh, and tell me if the air flow will totally suck on this one! I chose 550D because it's really quiet (what I've heard), it has nice dust filters, the build quality is nice and it's been made of steel and aluminium + it looks awesome. Thanks! Hope I wasn't too incoherent.

ps. this whole *** + screen will cost ~1858.70€ wich is ~2315,70 usd wich may sound ridicilous, but I live in Finland and everything is ******* expensive here.

 

[edogawa]

Get a Vertex 4, it's cheaper and faster:

http://www.amazon.com/OCZ-Technology-2-5-Inch-Industrys-Warranty/dp/B007R1FH3K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1345627354&sr=8-1&keywords=vertex+4

Don't worry about the HDMI. DVI and HDMI both carry digital signals no need for the HDMI.

Here is an ASUS IPS panel for about the same cost; 6ms response time too.

http://www.amazon.com/Asus-PA238Q-23-Inch-Professional-Super-IPS/dp/B005HIRG52/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1345627491&sr=8-2&keywords=asus+IPS

Get some mx-4 thermal paste, it's great.

 

[manofchalk]

Fatal1ty branded stuff is more expensive than it should be based on the name. The AsRock Z77 Extreme4 will do just as good a job much cheaper.

Video card is good.

PSU is good, will let you SLI/Crossfire quite easily.

16GB is overkill for gaming. 8GB is plenty for a gaming rig. Also if you want that Noctua you will need low profile RAM. G.Skill Ares or Corsair Low Profile are good kits.

3570k instead of 2500k. Its the Ivy Bridge upgrade of the 2500k and comes with the typical Ivy benefits (PCI-3, lower power draw, bit better performance).

Hitachi drives dont perform as well as Western Digitals or Seagates. I recommend the Seagate Barracuda, they perform a bit better than WD Caviar Blacks and often cost a lot less.

SSD, Optical and Case are good.

The monitor doesn't need to be IPS, and 5ms or less is what a gaming monitor should have. IPS panels are much more expensive and often a slower response time, but you get truer colour reproduction.

Airflow should be enough through the case, though you could always add more fans to it if you wanted.

 

[rainygary]

I forgot to mention that I also do photography and I'm starting training video editing in a while. Just got half year ago my Canon 60D and 50mm f/1.4 lens but that's just irrelevant. Many gamers seems to be using U2312HM and since I also do photography, I thought it would be a good choise. It's only 199e also, wich is not that much I think. As a hard drive I was trying to find something as reliable as possible with 2tb. I've been reading some bad feedback about Western Digitals & Seagates. Some people say they have stopped working like after two months or something. It's kinda creepy and since I'm a paranoid & over analyzer, I need some real information.

Does 8ms and 5ms even have difference in practice? I have 2ms Packard Bell 21" screen wich is like what, 5 years old? When I play wow and move the camera around the sky, I could saw awful ghosting (or whatever it is) at the sky. It's just horrible looking. I definitely need new screen. U2312HM has almost zero input lag abnd many people think it's great for gaming. I'm not one of those who play CS and need so damn fast response time. I'm gonna be playing Crysis 1 & 2, Borderlands 1 & 2, Assassins Creed's, WoW, Far Cry 3, etc.

 

[rainygary]

Get a Vertex 4, it's cheaper and faster:

http://www.amazon.com/OCZ-Technology-2-5-Inch-Industrys-Warranty/dp/B007R1FH3K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1345627354&sr=8-1&keywords=vertex+4

Don't worry about the HDMI. DVI and HDMI both carry digital signals no need for the HDMI.

Here is an ASUS IPS panel for about the same cost; 6ms response time too.

http://www.amazon.com/Asus-PA238Q-23-Inch-Professional-Super-IPS/dp/B005HIRG52/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1345627491&sr=8-2&keywords=asus+IPS

Get some mx-4 thermal paste, it's great.

Unfortunately that Asus screen costs 70e more here than that Dell. I checked out the specs of that Vertex, and it seems that Samsung has faster write, and Vertex faster read, but only 15MB

Samsung 830 Series 128GB
Read: ~520MB/s
Write: ~320MB/s

OCZ Vertex 4 128GB
Read: ~535 MB/s
Write: ~200 MB/s

Also vertex is 16e more expensive.

 

[manofchalk]

In that case, keep the 16GB of RAM and if you can, upgrade to a 3770k or 2600k (3770k preferably). Those will be useful for video editing.

HDD's from all the big manufacturers are equally as reliable as each other. Chances are there are more Seagate/Western Digital horror stories because there are simply more of their drives on the market.
Also HDD's failing within two months is to be expected (In a different way, sort of). HDD's will either fail in the first three months or never essentially, any manufacturing defects will make themselves apparent after three months of spinning at 7200RPM. Seagate and WD have a 1yr and 5yr warranty on their drives respectively.

I will admit I don't know much about what differentiates a decent from a great monitor. I just know what in general a gaming monitor should be. So take my opinion with a grain of salt on this matter.
IPS panels are better for editing, because of the superior colour reproduction I mentioned before, but for gaming is an unnecessary expense.

 

[rainygary]

In that case, keep the 16GB of RAM and if you can, upgrade to a 3770k or 2600k (3770k preferably). Those will be useful for video editing.

HDD's from all the big manufacturers are equally as reliable as each other. Chances are there are more Seagate/Western Digital horror stories because there are simply more of their drives on the market.
Also HDD's failing within two months is to be expected (In a different way, sort of). HDD's will either fail in the first three months or never essentially, any manufacturing defects will make themselves apparent after three months of spinning at 7200RPM. Seagate and WD have a 1yr and 5yr warranty on their drives respectively.

I will admit I don't know much about what differentiates a decent from a great monitor. I just know what in general a gaming monitor should be. So take my opinion with a grain of salt on this matter.
IPS panels are better for editing, because of the superior colour reproduction I mentioned before, but for gaming is an unnecessary expense.

Btw should I get G.Skill 16GB (4x4GB) Ares Low Profile (DDR3 1600MHz 1.5V) or G.Skill 16GB (4x4GB) Ares Low Profile (DDR3 2133MHz 1.6V)? Oh and thanks about that information about HDD's didn't know it. And about that screen again, Do you think I possibly will see a big difference between this 2ms and that 8ms? I've also heard that they are hiding the "real" response time by telling only the GtG.

 

[manofchalk]

Get the 1600Mhz RAM. The slight performance increase from a higher frequency than that isnt worth the big price increase. And the 2133mhz RAm is at 1.6v, which is incompatible with Intel CPU's. They weren't designed to handle more than 1.5v.

In answer to <5ms vs 8ms, I dont actually know. I have no doubt its playable at 8ms, but whether its significantly better at 5ms I do not know.

 

[rainygary]

Get the 1600Mhz RAM. The slight performance increase from a higher frequency than that isnt worth the big price increase. And the 2133mhz RAm is at 1.6v, which is incompatible with Intel CPU's. They weren't designed to handle more than 1.5v.

In answer to <5ms vs 8ms, I dont actually know. I have no doubt its playable at 8ms, but whether its significantly better at 5ms I do not know.

I'm still unsure about my choise with the motherboard. It's after all one of the really big choises to make. I wanted Asus because I trust in Asus, and they make good products. Any toughts of Asus motherboards or asus in general?

 

[rainygary]

http://kuvaton.com/k/YVM2.jpg I adjusted the setup a littlebit. What do you think? Oh and sorry some text is in finnish! Hope it doesn't bother you!

 

[edogawa]

Unfortunately that Asus screen costs 70e more here than that Dell. I checked out the specs of that Vertex, and it seems that Samsung has faster write, and Vertex faster read, but only 15MB

Samsung 830 Series 128GB
Read: ~520MB/s
Write: ~320MB/s

OCZ Vertex 4 128GB
Read: ~535 MB/s
Write: ~200 MB/s

Also vertex is 16e more expensive.

It's 9 dollars cheaper on Amazon.

Random 4k Read IOPS 90K IOPS
Random 4k Write IOPS 85K IOPS
Sequential Reads Up to 550 MB/s
Sequential Writes Up to 420 MB/s

 

[rainygary]

It's 9 dollars cheaper on Amazon.

Random 4k Read IOPS 90K IOPS
Random 4k Write IOPS 85K IOPS
Sequential Reads Up to 550 MB/s
Sequential Writes Up to 420 MB/s

I'm not buying from Amazon. Read too many horror stories. I'm buying from finnish electronics shop. It's pretty near me, it's finnish and realiable, if I have to return something, it's easier. Plus if I order from far away, there might be pretty big tariff/taxes. Example: If I order something from us, they will add instantly 20% to the price just because taxes. And I don't know how to speak german (many people say that I should order from there)

 

[edogawa]

I'm not buying from Amazon. Read too many horror stories. I'm buying from finnish electronics shop. It's pretty near me, it's finnish and realiable, if I have to return something, it's easier. Plus if I order from far away, there might be pretty big tariff/taxes. Example: If I order something from us, they will add instantly 20% to the price just because taxes. And I don't know how to speak german (many people say that I should order from there)

Ah! Sorry, didn't realize you were not American, that is a good idea to do the local then for you.

Oh Yah, and Amazon is one of the most trusted online shopping companies you can find, at least it is for Americans. Their customer support is amazing and offer such low prices, don't believe the horror stories too; although it can happen for any company at times.

 

[edogawa]

I'm so blind sometimes, just saw you said your Finnish in your opening. -.-

 

[rainygary]

I'm so blind sometimes, just saw you said your Finnish in your opening. -.-

It really sucks to live in here if you want to build your own PC well atleast when compared to the US. It's like 30-40% expensive in here :'I