New Gaming Build

[cole156]

Hey everyone, I am going to go to FRYS ELECTRONICS soon to buy a pc. So I selected each individual part and I am going to have them build it for me, let me know if you think everything is compatible.

Motherboard - http://www.frys.com/product/7154382

Ram - http://www.frys.com/product/6487402

CPU - http://www.frys.com/product/6487392

GPU - http://www.frys.com/product/7201343

PSU - http://www.frys.com/product/6687904

Liquid Cooler - http://www.frys.com/product/6756095

SSD - http://www.frys.com/product/6701895

HDD - http://www.frys.com/product/6999647

DVD/CD Drive - http://www.frys.com/product/6830936

Tower - http://www.frys.com/product/6273980

Also let me know if I have all the main components to build a computer. Other then the monitor, keyboard, and mouse. Thanks!

 

[manofchalk]

Just type the components instead of links to them, its annoying having to open 10 tabs.
Whats the usage of the machine? You have spec'ed an editing/gaming machine, but many of the components are overkill if it were just gaming.

You have a Z77 board and a Sandy Bridge CPU. You should get an Ivy Bridge for that platform. Get this CPU instead, its a bit faster, lower power draw and will enable the PCI-3 on that board.
Intel i7-3770k. $340
http://www.frys.com/product/7028331?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

About that board as well, it wont support dual SLI/Crossfire properly. Its second PCI-e slot is only PCI-2 4X. If thats not an issue, its fine, but if you want the possibility of Crossfire/SLI you will need to change it.

RAM's fine. With the water cooler, its clearance isn't an issue.

Dont get a GTX680, and not from EVGA. A GTX670 will perform within 5% of a 680 for $100 (20%) cheaper. Can even surpass 680 performance when overclocked. About EVGA, they use reference design cooling which is hotter and louder than custom designs.
ASUS GTX670. $430
http://www.frys.com/product/7133952?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

1200W is Veeeeeeery overkill. Considering you cant (well, shouldn't) add in a second graphics card, you will never need more than 650W, just over half what you spec'ed.
Corsair Enthusiast 650W, 80+ Bronze, non-modular. $90
http://www.frys.com/product/7191822?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG
If you still want that Gold efficiency and modularity.
http://www.frys.com/product/6704195?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

If you think dual SLI/Crossfire may be a possibility later, get the 750W version of either of those supply's.

Single rad water coolers dont perform that well for their price, you need to go all out and get a dual rad.
Corsair H100. $110
http://www.frys.com/product/6792655?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

Annoyingly Fry's doesnt have the SSD I usually recommend, the OCZ Vertex 4. But this SSD is pretty good and will perform better than
Corsair one.
Samsung 830 128GB. $140
http://www.frys.com/product/6848016?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

HDD is fine.

Who cares about the optical, it will do.

That is quite a large and expensive case. While I wont dissuade you from getting one (I own one personally and love the thing), just be aware of its size.

 

[cole156]

Just type the components instead of links to them, its annoying having to open 10 tabs.
Whats the usage of the machine? You have spec'ed an editing/gaming machine, but many of the components are overkill if it were just gaming.

You have a Z77 board and a Sandy Bridge CPU. You should get an Ivy Bridge for that platform. Get this CPU instead, its a bit faster, lower power draw and will enable the PCI-3 on that board.
Intel i7-3770k. $340
http://www.frys.com/product/7028331?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

About that board as well, it wont support dual SLI/Crossfire properly. Its second PCI-e slot is only PCI-2 4X. If thats not an issue, its fine, but if you want the possibility of Crossfire/SLI you will need to change it.

RAM's fine. With the water cooler, its clearance isn't an issue.

Dont get a GTX680, and not from EVGA. A GTX670 will perform within 5% of a 680 for $100 (20%) cheaper. Can even surpass 680 performance when overclocked. About EVGA, they use reference design cooling which is hotter and louder than custom designs.
ASUS GTX670. $430
http://www.frys.com/product/7133952?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

1200W is Veeeeeeery overkill. Considering you cant (well, shouldn't) add in a second graphics card, you will never need more than 650W, just over half what you spec'ed.
Corsair Enthusiast 650W, 80+ Bronze, non-modular. $90
http://www.frys.com/product/7191822?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG
If you still want that Gold efficiency and modularity.
http://www.frys.com/product/6704195?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

If you think dual SLI/Crossfire may be a possibility later, get the 750W version of either of those supply's.

Single rad water coolers dont perform that well for their price, you need to go all out and get a dual rad.
Corsair H100. $110
http://www.frys.com/product/6792655?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

Annoyingly Fry's doesnt have the SSD I usually recommend, the OCZ Vertex 4. But this SSD is pretty good and will perform better than
Corsair one.
Samsung 830 128GB. $140
http://www.frys.com/product/6848016?site=sr:SEARCH:MAIN_RSLT_PG

HDD is fine.

Who cares about the optical, it will do.

That is quite a large and expensive case. While I wont dissuade you from getting one (I own one personally and love the thing), just be aware of its size.

Wow thanks alot your suggestions lowered the price of it alot. But I do have a few questions, will I need to buy any extra case fans? Also the CPU & GPU you linked is unavailable for shipping. Last question, is this a good mobo to use? http://www.frys.com/product/7028851 Sorry for the questions, this will be my first time putting a computer together.

 

[manofchalk]

That motherboard will support dual crossfire/SLI properly and has a lot of features. I would be pretty happy if I had it.

The HAF-X comes with all the fans you will need at stock, though you can always replace them or add more in. Red LED fans makes it look awesome.

Unfortunately all the other 670 cards available are on reference design cooling. You said they were assembling it and then shipping it to you? I imagine that they would be shipping the computer as a whole if they are making it, so this might not be an issue.

Or if you don't mind getting your hands a little dirty, you could buy the card from another retailer and install it after you receive the machine.

Same with the CPU come to think of it.

 

[cole156]

That motherboard will support dual crossfire/SLI properly and has a lot of features. I would be pretty happy if I had it.

The HAF-X comes with all the fans you will need at stock, though you can always replace them or add more in. Red LED fans makes it look awesome.

Unfortunately all the other 670 cards available are on reference design cooling. You said they were assembling it and then shipping it to you? I imagine that they would be shipping the computer as a whole if they are making it, so this might not be an issue.

Or if you don't mind getting your hands a little dirty, you could buy the card from another retailer and install it after you receive the machine.

Same with the CPU come to think of it.

Okay, well do you think if I just buy the parts off newegg and bring the parts into frys they will still build it for me? Never done this before.

 

[manofchalk]

I dont know Fry's policy when it comes to BYO hardware assembly, guess you will have to ask them. But I thought the reason why you would have to get the parts yourself is because it was unavailable for shipping, but that's inconsequential since you have access to the physical store. Why not just purchase the items at the store?

 

[cole156]

I dont know Fry's policy when it comes to BYO hardware assembly, guess you will have to ask them. But I thought the reason why you would have to get the parts yourself is because it was unavailable for shipping, but that's inconsequential since you have access to the physical store. Why not just purchase the items at the store?

Alright yeah, I will probably end just doing that. Another question, if I wanted to OC the 3770k to 5GHz would the h100 liquid cooler be enough for that?

 

[manofchalk]

Not entirely sure if it will get to 5Ghz, regardless of what cooling you have (except maybe liquid nitrogen, but it wouldn't be stable enough to use, just quickly get a CPU-Z validation).

But the H100 is about the best cooling you can get without going into custom watercooling or sub-zero options. So it will support fairly decent overclocks.

These guys managed to get the 3770k stable at 4.7Ghz.
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1924/3/
But the temps were through the roof (92C is way too hot to be running comfortably). Admittedly they are using an air-cooler, the H100 would only make a ~10c difference at most, and 80c is still too hot in my opinion.
http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1924/8/

 

[cole156]

Not entirely sure if it will get to 5Ghz, regardless of what cooling you have (except maybe liquid nitrogen, but it wouldn't be stable enough to use, just quickly get a CPU-Z validation).

But the H100 is about the best cooling you can get without going into custom watercooling or sub-zero
options. So it will support fairly decent overclocks.

Okay so it would be stable at 4.5GHz?

 

[manofchalk]

I'l tell you the truth in that I don't know. I havent had to overclock a 3770k before and havent really researched what you can push it to.

I would just recommend you follow basic overclocking method. Increase the frequency, boot to windows, stability test. Rinse and repeat until its unstable, then increase the voltage or back off until its good. Monitoring temps the whole time of course. Keep going until it wont go any further, you get uncomfortable or its too hot.

If you want some better opinions on this, drop into the overclocking forum and ask them.