First PC build, newbie

[DrynWhyl]

Approximate Purchase Date: Buying parts weekly.

Budget Range: No real budget range.

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, learning how to program with java, compiling maps and models with editors.
Are you buying a monitor: Yes

Do you need to buy OS: Yes

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Tigerdirect.com (1 day shipping (ships from Chicago)) Amazon (Have Amazon Prime (3.99 1 day shipping)).

Location: Michigan City, Indiana (Northwest side, close to Chicago

Parts Preferences: Intel, NVidia Graphics card.

Overclocking: Maybe, have never tried to OC.

SLI or Crossfire: No

Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080

Additional Comments: Have already bought some parts, will post below.

Would like a SSD

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: Have always wanted to build my computer, looking for a solid gaming PC. My computer now is too slow for compiling(Sometime takes 1-2 hours to compile something.)

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


ITEMS I HAVE ALREADY BOUGHT--

Case--
Thermaltake Level 10 GT Snow Edition Super Gaming Modular Tower Case -- bought from Amazon.com -- 250$

Motherboard --
ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 Intel Series 7 Motherboard Thermal Armor -- bought from Tigerdirect.com -- 250$

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

ITEMS I AM LOOKING TO BUY

Processor--
Intel Core i7-3770K BX80667i73770K Processor

Power Supply--
Cooler Master RSC00-80GAD3-US Silent Pro Gold 1200W Power Supply
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Open for Opinions for the rest of the parts. Also wanting to know how much RAM would be necessary and not an overkill.

 

[Why_Me]

If you live near Chi town then you should be looking at Microcenter. And what's with the 1200w psu? You plan on powering a go-kart or what?

 

[malbluff]

Definitely not THAT power supply. Also you don't need anything like 1200w, unless you are planning on 3 or 4 graphics cards, in SLi. Not very likely, unless you want 3 high res screens, for surround vision.
8GB of RAM is more than enough for gaming. You would know better than I , if anything else you are doing is RAM intensive.
Without having some sort of of budget, for the end system, and what still needs to be obtained within that, it's difficult to give sensible advice. We can tell you the most powerful/expensive components, but if your funds won't reach that, it's a bit of a pointless excercise.

 

[DrynWhyl]

Well I'm looking for a price list for the certain parts that i am going to buy

GPU <300$ -- But the Asus GTX670-DC2T-2GD5 doesnt look to far out of reach.
Looking for a sound card, but i don't know whats a good price or what is reliable
RAM<100$-200$
Processor <400$
SSD <300$
HDD <150$
Powersupply <150$

Overall probably no more than 1500-2000$

 

[kanoobie]

what's with the 1200w psu? You plan on powering a go-kart or what?

+1, donno why but I couldn't stop laughing when I read the go-kart comment :lol:

 

[DrynWhyl]

Also was wondering to know if a water cooling systems for the CPU would be a good idea, or just to stick with the fan.

 

[geofelt]

Well I'm looking for a price list for the certain parts that i am going to buy

GPU <300$
Looking for a sound card, but i don't know whats a good price or what is reliable
RAM<100$-200$
Processor <400$
SSD <300$
HDD <150$
Powersupply <150$

Overall probably no more than 1500-2000$

I think you can use a better budget allocation.

CPU $220 for a 3570K. ($190@MICROCENTER) There is NO gaming value from a 3770K

The graphics card is the real engine of gaming. Budget $400-$500 for a GTX670 7970 or GTX680. You will game better.

Buy a16gb kit of DDR3 1600 low profile 1.5v ram. It will be about $80.
No game uses more than 2 or 3gb, but at the low cost of ram, I say go ahead and get 16gb.

A 120gb ssd will hold the os and a handful of games. Unless you will be storing large files, like video's, I might start with a 180 or 240gb ssd, and defer the hard drive for later. A SSD will cost about $1 per gb. The reliable brands today are Intel and samsung.

The first requirement for a psu is quality.
Pick a tier 1 or 2 unit from this list:
http://www.eggxpert.com/forums/thread/323050.aspx

For a single modern 28nm based graphics card(GTX600 or amd 7000 series), you will need only about a 600w psu.

Add 200w if you plan on dual cards.

Since you are planning on buying a monitor, buy two. The second monitor is invaluable.

 

[malbluff]

No point in i7 for GAMING. Unless you need i7, for your other work, just get i5-3570K.
GTX 670 is very good graphics card. There are a large number of options. The Asus TOP is one of the best, possibly THE best, but it's very difficult to get hold of. Check out the recent article, on Toms Hardware, looking at 7 different ones.
Personally, I reckon, for what you are doing, go with 128GB SSD, and 1TB HDD (preferably a decent one)
550w, for power supply (eg XFX550) would be adequate, but nothing to stop you getting 600w, for a bit in hand. Main thing is get a good one.

 

[DrynWhyl]

No point in i7 for GAMING. Unless you need i7, for your other work, just get i5-3570K.
GTX 670 is very good graphics card. There are a large number of options. The Asus TOP is one of the best, possibly THE best, but it's very difficult to get hold of. Check out the recent article, on Toms Hardware, looking at 7 different ones.
Personally, I reckon, for what you are doing, go with 128GB SSD, and 1TB HDD (preferably a decent one)
550w, for power supply (eg XFX550) would be adequate, but nothing to stop you getting 600w, for a bit in hand. Main thing is get a good one.

Well compiling uses mostly the processor, the better the processor, the faster the compiling time. The thing about microcenter, some of the items are for instore pickup and i wouldnt want to be traveling to chicago every weekend. (16 dollar train ticket there and back.) I was looking into a 128GB SSD for around 120$ on tigerdirect.

 

[malbluff]

If i7 helps your other work, get it. It's not that much more, if it makes your work easier. As long as you are aware it doesn't give anything EXTRA for gaming. With things like SSD's, HDD's, and particularly power supplies, getting good quality is equally important to getting right "size". There's an awfull lot of poor performing stuff, or just plain c**p, out there.

 

[DrynWhyl]

If i7 helps your other work, get it. It's not that much more, if it makes your work easier. As long as you are aware it doesn't give anything EXTRA for gaming. With things like SSD's, HDD's, and particularly power supplies, getting good quality is equally important to getting right "size". There's an awfull lot of poor performing stuff, or just plain c**p, out there.

Well, I don't really know what are the best companies for power supplys, but the Cool Master UCP 700 WATT looks like an alright choice

 

[malbluff]

Put it like this, I've heard them "lovingly" referred to as CrapperMaster, kinda says it all. Apart from very high end specialist stuff, Seasonic are the very best. Just below that, and more affordable, manufacturers like XFX, Corsair, PC Power & Cooling, BeQuiet, Antec are pretty universally decent. I would tend to avoid other manufacturers, unless I knew the particular PSU were good.

 

[jonclimbs247]

Nice gaming build you could do something like this, it'll be around 1000-1300.

i5 3570k
Hypermaster 212 CPU cooler w/ Arctic Silver 5
ASRock Z77 Extreme 4
8 GB RAM (low-profile Corsair Vengeance)
128GB SSD (Samsung 830)
1TB WD HDD
Corsair HX750W PSU
Corsair 500R Case
Liteon Optical Drive
Windows 7 HP 64bit
and a gtx 670 if it's in your budget. That'll play your games well for you =D

 

[DrynWhyl]

i5 3570k
Hypermaster 212 CPU cooler w/ Arctic Silver 5
ASRock Z77 Extreme 4
8 GB RAM (low-profile Corsair Vengeance)
128GB SSD (Samsung 830)
1TB WD HDD
Corsair HX750W PSU
Corsair 500R Case
Liteon Optical Drive
Windows 7 HP 64bit
and a gtx 670 if it's in your budget. That'll play your games well for you =D

If you read before, I already have a case and a motherboard, I'm still leaning towards the i7 for compiling. I will most likely buy the gtx 670 for GPU.

Still looking for PSU SSD and HDD.

 

[jonclimbs247]

that psu will do great. the samsung ssd and the wd 1tb hdd. Those will do great.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139010
PSU

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147163
ssd

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136533
hdd

 

[geofelt]

If i7 helps your other work, get it. It's not that much more, if it makes your work easier. As long as you are aware it doesn't give anything EXTRA for gaming. With things like SSD's, HDD's, and particularly power supplies, getting good quality is equally important to getting right "size". There's an awfull lot of poor performing stuff, or just plain c**p, out there.

Well, I don't really know what are the best companies for power supplys, but the Cool Master UCP 700 WATT looks like an alright choice

No point in i7 for GAMING. Unless you need i7, for your other work, just get i5-3570K.
GTX 670 is very good graphics card. There are a large number of options. The Asus TOP is one of the best, possibly THE best, but it's very difficult to get hold of. Check out the recent article, on Toms Hardware, looking at 7 different ones.
Personally, I reckon, for what you are doing, go with 128GB SSD, and 1TB HDD (preferably a decent one)
550w, for power supply (eg XFX550) would be adequate, but nothing to stop you getting 600w, for a bit in hand. Main thing is get a good one.

Well compiling uses mostly the processor, the better the processor, the faster the compiling time. The thing about microcenter, some of the items are for instore pickup and i wouldnt want to be traveling to chicago every weekend. (16 dollar train ticket there and back.) I was looking into a 128GB SSD for around 120$ on tigerdirect.

And, the 8.5% tax is harsh

If your compiler is not multithread enabled, and can use more than 4 cores, a 3770K will not perform any better.
If the compiler is hyperthread aware, and can effectively use the hyperthreads, then the 3770K is good.
A hyperthread looks to a normal app like just another core. In fact, a hyperthread uses unused residual cycles from the main core to dispatch additional work. But it does not perform like a full core, more like a 1/4 capable core. So, if a app is not properly optimized, and your app is dispatched on a hyperthread, you may actually do worse with a 3770K.

OCZ quality is...iffy. It may be OK, but why guess when there are some onown good quality power supplies available at a similar price.
My short list would Include Seasonic, Corsair, Antec, XFX, and PC P&C.

On the SSD, spend a few bucks more for a trouble free unit.
Take the time to go to the support forums for most SSD vendors, and you will see what issues they have. Do not be too discouraged because forums do attract those with issues. Another alternative is to check the feedback on the newegg product page. At least there, you will get a mix of positive and negative reviews.

I think the safest brands today are Intel and Samsung. They make their own nand chips, and can do a better job of validation.
Do not be swayed by synthetic performance benchmarks. They have no relationship to what we do in normal operations. There, all SSD's perform remarkably similarly.... Very fast.

Addded info: As an exercise, I went to newegg, and searched for 120gb SSD's.
On Intel, I looked at the 120gb SSD's with the largest number of reviews. It included the 320, 330, and 520 series offerings.
There each of the reviews had 6-7% negative or very negative.
I then selected OCZ which had a large number of purchasers. This was probably based on aggressive pricing.
As it turned out, the top three units averaged 23-25% negative or very negative reviews.

In the sound card, I suggest you skip one, or at least defer the purchase until you can see how you like the onboard HD 7.1 sound that current motherboards already include. The original rationale for a discrete sound card was to save cpu cycles. That is a trivial consideration today.

 

[DrynWhyl]

And, the 8.5% tax is harsh

If your compiler is not multithread enabled, and can use more than 4 cores, a 3770K will not perform any better.
If the compiler is hyperthread aware, and can effectively use the hyperthreads, then the 3770K is good.
A hyperthread looks to a normal app like just another core. In fact, a hyperthread uses unused residual cycles from the main core to dispatch additional work. But it does not perform like a full core, more like a 1/4 capable core. So, if a app is not properly optimized, and your app is dispatched on a hyperthread, you may actually do worse with a 3770K.

OCZ quality is...iffy. It may be OK, but why guess when there are some onown good quality power supplies available at a similar price.
My short list would Include Seasonic, Corsair, Antec, XFX, and PC P&C.

On the SSD, spend a few bucks more for a trouble free unit.
Take the time to go to the support forums for most SSD vendors, and you will see what issues they have. Do not be too discouraged because forums do attract those with issues. Another alternative is to check the feedback on the newegg product page. At least there, you will get a mix of positive and negative reviews.

I think the safest brands today are Intel and Samsung. They make their own nand chips, and can do a better job of validation.
Do not be swayed by synthetic performance benchmarks. They have no relationship to what we do in normal operations. There, all SSD's perform remarkably similarly.... Very fast.

In the sound card, I suggest you skip one, or at least defer the purchase until you can see how you like the onboard HD 7.1 sound that current motherboards already include. The original rationale for a discrete sound card was to save cpu cycles. That is a trivial consideration today.

You can tinker with most compilers so they recognize your cores and the hyperthreads. I have personally edited the quake 2 map editor compiler to recognize my dual core instead of the default setting of single.

EDIT -- I think i'll look into corsair for my PSU.
With the SSD, I'll look if i can get Intel for a decent price.
The thing about the sound card is that i want to use my computer with some Bose speakers, and i dont think the motherboard has the necessary audio plugins for the speakers.

Sorry for my english, not too good with intelligent speaking.

 

[geofelt]

You can tinker with most compilers so they recognize your cores and the hyperthreads. I have personally edited the quake 2 map editor compiler to recognize my dual core instead of the default setting of single.

EDIT -- I think i'll look into corsair for my PSU.
With the SSD, I'll look if i can get Intel for a decent price.
The thing about the sound card is that i want to use my computer with some Bose speakers, and i dont think the motherboard has the necessary audio plugins for the speakers.

Sorry for my english, not too good with intelligent speaking.

Your English is just fine.

If your compiler can be set to recognize 4 cores plus hyperthreads, then the 3770K is good. If the $100 difference is not important to you, then I see no real negative. But, if your compiler is limited to two threads, then the 3770K will not help.
Having some experience with programming, I can tell you that two threads is notthat hard to do, but past that, it becomes more difficult. Compiler programmers will not spend the time to do that unless the market is there.

Try the HD sound first. It is usually very good. You can always add a sound card later. Your motherboard has 6 output audio ports and supports 8 audio channels. It also has an optical spdif output if you will be sending sound to a discrete amplifier and speakers.

 

[DrynWhyl]

If your compiler can be set to recognize 4 cores plus hyperthreads, then the 3770K is good. If the $100 difference is not important to you, then I see no real negative. But, if your compiler is limited to two threads, then the 3770K will not help.
Having some experience with programming, I can tell you that two threads is notthat hard to do, but past that, it becomes more difficult. Compiler programmers will not spend the time to do that unless the market is there.

Try the HD sound first. It is usually very good. You can always add a sound card later. Your motherboard has 6 output audio ports and supports 8 audio channels. It also has an optical spdif output if you will be sending sound to a discrete amplifier and speakers.

Alright, Will do with no sound card,

This should do fine for RAM/MEMORY -- Corsair Vengeance CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9 16GB Desktop Memory Module
SSD -- Intel SSDSC2CW240A3K5 520 Series Solid State Drive - 240GB
I Think the 3770k will do fine with my compiler, a freind of mine has already made his 4 cores plus hyperthreads work for his compiler.


Would you recommend a watercooling system for my PCU? or should i just stick with the out of box fan?

 

[malbluff]

Certainly, at the high end, "natural" choices are Corsair HX, Seasonic X series, possibly Rosewill Capstone. At the budget end, whilst Corsair are still pretty good, would tend to think XFX, Antec, PC P&C, BeQuiet, even budget versions from Seasonic are worth a look. For SSD's, Samsung 830, Crucial M4. Intel are OK, and latest OCZ, the Vertex 4, is better than their previous offerings.

 

[geofelt]

If your compiler can be set to recognize 4 cores plus hyperthreads, then the 3770K is good. If the $100 difference is not important to you, then I see no real negative. But, if your compiler is limited to two threads, then the 3770K will not help.
Having some experience with programming, I can tell you that two threads is notthat hard to do, but past that, it becomes more difficult. Compiler programmers will not spend the time to do that unless the market is there.

Try the HD sound first. It is usually very good. You can always add a sound card later. Your motherboard has 6 output audio ports and supports 8 audio channels. It also has an optical spdif output if you will be sending sound to a discrete amplifier and speakers.

Alright, Will do with no sound card,

This should do fine for RAM/MEMORY -- Corsair Vengeance CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9 16GB Desktop Memory Module
SSD -- Intel SSDSC2CW240A3K5 520 Series Solid State Drive - 240GB
I Think the 3770k will do fine with my compiler, a freind of mine has already made his 4 cores plus hyperthreads work for his compiler.
Then you know what to expect, and the 3770K is a good Idea.

Would you recommend a watercooling system for my PCU? or should i just stick with the out of box fan?

That ram is a 4 stick kit with tall heat spreaders that can interfere with some cpu coolers.
I would suggest a 2 stick kit of 2 x 8gb and low heat spreaders. A 2 stick kit is easier for a motherboard to manage, and it preserves your option to add tow more.
I would suggest this G.skil ares kit:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231606

If you prefer Corsair, then this kit will be a bit more expensive, and the latency numbers are not quite as good(this is relatively unimportant). http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233280

Definitely add an aftermarket cooler, but there is no need for liquid cooling. All in one liquid coolers are expensive, noisy, and less reliable than a good air cooler. They cool no better in a well ventilated case like yours. For $30, you can buy a perfectly adequate air cooler like the coolermaster hyper212 Or, $80 or so will buy you a top of the line cooler like the Noctua NH-D14 or Phantecks.
They will be quieter than the stock intel cooler, and let you oc easier and higher. For a new builder, they will be much easier to mount than the Intel pushpin mount.

 

[jonclimbs247]

That ram is a 4 stick kit with tall heat spreaders that can interfere with some cpu coolers.
I would suggest a 2 stick kit of 2 x 8gb and low heat spreaders. A 2 stick kit is easier for a motherboard to manage, and it preserves your option to add tow more.
I would suggest this G.skil ares kit:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231606

If you prefer Corsair, then this kit will be a bit more expensive, and the latency numbers are not quite as good(this is relatively unimportant). http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233280

Definitely add an aftermarket cooler, but there is no need for liquid cooling. All in one liquid coolers are expensive, noisy, and less reliable than a good air cooler. They cool no better in a well ventilated case like yours. For $30, you can buy a perfectly adequate air cooler like the coolermaster hyper212 Or, $80 or so will buy you a top of the line cooler like the Noctua NH-D14 or Phantecks.
They will be quieter than the stock intel cooler, and let you oc easier and higher. For a new builder, they will be much easier to mount than the Intel pushpin mount.

you can buy a perfectly adequate air cooler like the coolermaster hyper212

With the above cooler (i have that same one) be sure you (OP) have low-profile memory. just as geofelt said. It's a pain to work around that cooler if you don't have low-profile.

 

[DrynWhyl]

Best answer selected by DrynWhyl.