Help with $1000 Guild Wars 2 Build, Focus on Upgradability

[drakein]

Hi everyone!

This is my first build, and have been doing a lot of research the past few days. I want to be able to play Guild Wars 2 at the highest settings I can for the money. I want to spend my money wisely, and aim for future upgradability, which is why I chose an expensive psu, case, mobo, etc. Am I going overboard with some things? I want the best cost / performance I can get with future upgradeability in mind.

My monitor is a IPS HP ZR24w 1920 x 1200. I am worried about tearing, since the refresh rate can only go to 60hz. This is why I was thinking of maybe going nvidia for adaptive vsync. I think down the road I will probably get a 120hz monitor.

I already have an intel 330 180gb ssd that I will be using.

Any thoughts on whether to swap the 7870 ghz with a 7950, 670, or something else? I felt like for another $150 for the next tier video cards, to get a 10% performance boost, was not worth it at the moment. That's why I was thinking of crossfiring the 7870 in the future - since it would more "bang for my buck." Am I going to regret not splurging for a 7970 or 680/690?

Also, I am still very new at this - so if anyone notices that a psu, mobo, video card, or something will not work with another part, please let me know. Also, will I have to buy my own three prong cable to for the power supply, or will the one I selected come with one?

Thank you so much!!


Approximate Purchase Date: Within 2 weeks

Budget Range: $1000

System Usage from Most to Least Important: gaming, programming

Are you buying a monitor: probably in the future

Do you need to buy OS: Yes

Location: NY state, USA

Overclocking: In the future

SLI or Crossfire: In the future

Your Monitor Resolution: 1920 x 1200, but will probably upgrade in the future

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: I have a mac


And here's the list... *drumroll*

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($209.99 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus 76.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($23.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($114.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($44.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7870 2GB Video Card ($247.55 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 600T White Graphite ATX Mid Tower Case ($148.15 @ Mac Connection)
Power Supply: Corsair 750W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($124.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($14.98 @ Outlet PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $1019.61
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-09-04 00:30 EDT-0400)

 

[dc2587]

Hi everyone!

This is my first build, and have been doing a lot of research the past few days. I want to be able to play Guild Wars 2 at the highest settings I can for the money. I want to spend my money wisely, and aim for future upgradability, which is why I chose an expensive psu, case, mobo, etc. Am I going overboard with some things? I want the best cost / performance I can get with future upgradeability in mind.

My monitor is a IPS HP ZR24w 1920 x 1200. I am worried about tearing, since the refresh rate can only go to 60hz. This is why I was thinking of maybe going nvidia for adaptive vsync. I think down the road I will probably get a 120hz monitor.

I already have an intel 330 180gb ssd that I will be using.

Any thoughts on whether to swap the 7870 ghz with a 7950, 670, or something else? I felt like for another $150 for the next tier video cards, to get a 10% performance boost, was not worth it at the moment. That's why I was thinking of crossfiring the 7870 in the future - since it would more "bang for my buck." Am I going to regret not splurging for a 7970 or 680/690?

Also, I am still very new at this - so if anyone notices that a psu, mobo, video card, or something will not work with another part, please let me know. Also, will I have to buy my own three prong cable to for the power supply, or will the one I selected come with one?

Thank you so much!!


Approximate Purchase Date: Within 2 weeks

Budget Range: $1000

System Usage from Most to Least Important: gaming, programming

Are you buying a monitor: probably in the future

Do you need to buy OS: Yes

Location: NY state, USA

Overclocking: In the future

SLI or Crossfire: In the future

Your Monitor Resolution: 1920 x 1200, but will probably upgrade in the future

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: I have a mac


And here's the list... *drumroll*

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($209.99 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus 76.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($23.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($114.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($44.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7870 2GB Video Card ($247.55 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 600T White Graphite ATX Mid Tower Case ($148.15 @ Mac Connection)
Power Supply: Corsair 750W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($124.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($14.98 @ Outlet PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $1019.61
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-09-04 00:30 EDT-0400)

The RAM you have needs to be low profile. It will be snug or not fit at all under that Hyper212. I suggest the ARES by GSKILL.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231544 @$39.99 now with free shipping.

 

[drakein]

The RAM you have needs to be low profile. It will be snug or not fit at all under that Hyper212. I suggest the ARES by GSKILL.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231544 @$39.99 now with free shipping.

Fantastic, thank you. That's something I would have had to find out the hard way!

 

[g-unit1111]

The Graphite 600T is a great choice but not on a $1K budget - that money should be invested in the GPU instead and upgrade it to a Radeon 7950.

The Corsair 300R will fit all your needs and is $100 cheaper: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139011

 

[drakein]

Thank you for your input Fiddy Cent and DC2587. I have updated some things considering what you both mentioned. I'm not sure if I still need the low profile ram with this case, but at least I won't run into any problems. I also decided that if I am going to be spending $1000, I might as well spend a bit more to get a very good graphics card, for the performance, and to make it last longer before I need to upgrade. I decided to pick the 7970 over the 670, because I hear that with overclocking - you can push the 7970 up to where the 680 is.

Here is the new build:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($209.99 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus 76.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($23.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($114.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($44.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition 3GB Video Card ($413.78 @ NCIX US)
Case: Corsair 400R ATX Mid Tower Case ($89.98 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Corsair 750W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($124.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($14.98 @ Outlet PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $1126
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-09-04 19:36 EDT-0400)

 

[g-unit1111]

Thank you for your input Fiddy Cent and DC2587. I have updated some things considering what you both mentioned. I'm not sure if I still need the low profile ram with this case, but at least I won't run into any problems. I also decided that if I am going to be spending $1000, I might as well spend a bit more to get a very good graphics card, for the performance, and to make it last longer before I need to upgrade. I decided to pick the 7970 over the 670, because I hear that with overclocking - you can push the 7970 up to where the 680 is.

Yeah it's not the case where you'll run into problems with the high profile RAM - it's your fan where you'll run into clearance issues. I just installed some Mushkin Blackline in my system and my fan doesn't look entirely right.

 

[drakein]

Yeah it's not the case where you'll run into problems with the high profile RAM - it's your fan where you'll run into clearance issues. I just installed some Mushkin Blackline in my system and my fan doesn't look entirely right.

The 400r is 1.4" taller than the 300r, so I thought that would help a bit. The 400r is .2" less wide though.

 

[g-unit1111]

The 400r is 1.4" taller than the 300r, so I thought that would help a bit. The 400r is .2" less wide though.

That is not where the problem lies though - the problem lies with fan clearance above the RAM. I'll show you:

See in this picture how close the CPU fan comes to hitting the first DIMM? That's what I am talking about - there isn't enough clearance for that to happen, your fan won't sit right.