Preston's attempt at a build, PLEASE HELP!

[prestonpalmer83]

I have never build a PC before, though I have done extensive research on components and how-too's, I have yet to do one myself because I am afraid it will not work, or the parts will fail etc. I am going to ask two questions and ANY help, advice, or suggestions would be VERY much appreciated.

Q1: Will all these parts work together or do I need to change something or add something?
Q2: I am emphasizing on gaming and I am wondering is this rig will stand up to some of the more graphical challenging games?

Parts list: Running Windows 7 Home Premium

MSI Z77A-GD65 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000 BX80623I52500K

COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 EVO RR-212E-20PK-R2

Western Digital Caviar Blue WD10EZEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Kingston HyperX 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model KHX1600C9D3K2/8GX

CORSAIR HX Series HX750 750W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

GIGABYTE GV-R787OC-2GD Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

Rosewill BLACKHAWK Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case, come with Five Fans, window side panel, top HDD dock

 

[jasont78]

looks ok, u might as well get the ivy 3570k if its only a couple of bucks more to unlock pci-e 3.0 for future use and your psu is way overkill 550 watt will be plenty with that build maybe 600 if you wanna crossfire the 7870's and if you intend to overclock your 'k' processor get a 2nd 120mm fan to attach to you 212 for push/pull

 

[prestonpalmer83]

What is the main difference between the Ivy, and the Sandy bridges though? I have heard good and bad about both, but am hearing that Sandy is better?...

 

[kcsmacker]

clock for clock the ivy is faster. The only gripe about ivy is that its hot. Truthfully you can get to 4.5 ghz easy with a push pull 212 evo. Ivy has 3.0 pci-e as well. If you want to SLI in the future I would stick with the 750 or even if you can bump up to a 850watt psu. Also consider that ATI is already considering a 8xxx series so you may want to see the performance of those cards. Their claims are high so if they perform half of what they claim it would personally be worth the wait to me.

Cheers

 

[prestonpalmer83]

I am more than likely not going to run SLI, because I don't think I would even use that much power. And I have the total build with a few extras and shipping right at $1150. Which is pretty good considering it started a couple months ago at $1490.

However, I want a cold case, but don't want to break my wallet. My stock PC that I bought pre-assembled runs at about 36c and under a load, or in game, its about 47c - 49c, but I have to have the side panel off or it over heats and shuts off LOL

 

[jasont78]

clock for clock the ivy is faster. The only gripe about ivy is that its hot. Truthfully you can get to 4.5 ghz easy with a push pull 212 evo. Ivy has 3.0 pci-e as well. If you want to SLI in the future I would stick with the 750 or even if you can bump up to a 850watt psu. Also consider that ATI is already considering a 8xxx series so you may want to see the performance of those cards. Their claims are high so if they perform half of what they claim it would personally be worth the wait to me.

Cheers

850w with 2 7870's and an i5 way overkill 650w in a quality psu like a corsair hx series like he's looking at is heaps for even a crossfire rig with those cards and a heavily overclocked i5 cpu will be fine.
i have a 2500k, there great cpu's and the ivy wont give you problems unless you go for BIG overclocks, intel just cheaped out on the the tim in the heatspreader. so unless you want the big overclocks over 4.5 go ivy over the sandy any day of the week with the pci-e 3.0 etc on chip

 

[prestonpalmer83]

Ok so what exactly does, or is, the pci-e 3.0 and what does it do for me?

 

[jasont78]

its not really critical to have at the moment but later in the future i maybe for you particularly if crossfire is going to be used with high end cards. basically it has double the bandwidth of pci-e 2.0 which we are using now. sandybridge only has pci-e 2.0 on chip where as ivy has 3.0. end of the day if you can have the new model for more or less the same price get it. nuff said!

 

[excella1221]

The leaked specs of the 8800s had alot of inconsistencies, but hey.. AMD has been very impressive with their 7xxx line up.
And yes, it would serve you well to listen to jasont78 about the PCI-E 3.0; Sandy is an aging CPU line and it may not be worth getting anymore.

Also, if you're sure you won't be doing Crossfire, 550w should be plenty.

 

[prestonpalmer83]

Ok I shall look into the PCI-E 3.0 on the Ivy. But with what all of you are saying, I am getting the feeling that this build will need upgraded or it will be out dated with in a year? Is this the case or will it be ok for a couple or three years? And if I do have to update something, would it most likely be the GPU or more than just that?

I have all of what everyone has said in my shopping cart ready to pull the trigger, lol. I don't want to buy something I will regret. Again thanks for all the help and direction.

 

[samraptor]

looks like you are shelling out far to much money into a case (£150 is too much)

id take of about £70 from the case and buy a antec 902 v3 / antec lanboy case

then i would stick £30 into getting a closed loop water cooling system for the processor (such as antec h620/920)

and stick the remaining £40 into getting a better graphics card

 

[eojhet]

Ok I shall look into the PCI-E 3.0 on the Ivy. But with what all of you are saying, I am getting the feeling that this build will need upgraded or it will be out dated with in a year? Is this the case or will it be ok for a couple or three years? And if I do have to update something, would it most likely be the GPU or more than just that?

I have all of what everyone has said in my shopping cart ready to pull the trigger, lol. I don't want to buy something I will regret. Again thanks for all the help and direction.

You will not regret this build. It is pretty solid; there will always be something else you could have gotten instead or a part you could have waited an extra month to get. It doesn't really matter. From the perspective of someone with an aging budget build you should be fine for a while. I'm running a phenom II black with a 6870 and I am satisfied with the decisions I made a few years ago. The PCI-E 3.0 isn't a big deal unless you are going to crossfire and even then, with the hardware right now it won't make a noticeable difference. If you need to shave a couple of dollars go with a smaller PSU and you can even just put the small savings toward the Ivy Bridge since it is a newer architecture than Sandy bridge. Also, I wouldn't ever buy anything from rosewill, personally. If you want to spend that kind of money check out corsair or antec. Even Cooler Master and thermaltake cases are more respectable to me.

 

[prestonpalmer83]

Ok all that makes perfect sense. I chose the Rosewill case mainly because of all the fan spaces and because it is only 90. I thought it was a decent price for what you get. And I might actually take the idea of switching the PSU to a smaller one, it seems to be the consensus. I was looking at the:

SeaSonic M12II 620 Bronze 620W ATX12V V2.3 / EPS 12V V2.91 SLI Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

It has good reviews. Not sure about the brand though.

Also if I switch to the 3570k from the 2500k do I need a different cooler, or will the 212 Evo still do well?

 

[jasont78]

Ok all that makes perfect sense. I chose the Rosewill case mainly because of all the fan spaces and because it is only 90. I thought it was a decent price for what you get. And I might actually take the idea of switching the PSU to a smaller one, it seems to be the consensus. I was looking at the:

SeaSonic M12II 620 Bronze 620W ATX12V V2.3 / EPS 12V V2.91 SLI Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

It has good reviews. Not sure about the brand though.

Also if I switch to the 3570k from the 2500k do I need a different cooler, or will the 212 Evo still do well?

seasonic are like up there with the best i think corsairs are seasonic inside!!!!!

 

[excella1221]

Ok all that makes perfect sense. I chose the Rosewill case mainly because of all the fan spaces and because it is only 90. I thought it was a decent price for what you get. And I might actually take the idea of switching the PSU to a smaller one, it seems to be the consensus. I was looking at the:

SeaSonic M12II 620 Bronze 620W ATX12V V2.3 / EPS 12V V2.91 SLI Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

It has good reviews. Not sure about the brand though.

Also if I switch to the 3570k from the 2500k do I need a different cooler, or will the 212 Evo still do well?

Don't. Rest assured you won't be needing to upgrade CPU for a while with the 3570K.
With the 7870, you can max out most of the games out there, and you can just add another for Crossfire if you find a game it can't handle. It's the best mid-range video card imo.

The Rosewill Blackhawk is one of the best cases I have seen. 5 decent pre-installed fans, and very good cable management. You made the right choice.

Side note: Please post your final build here before ordering them so we can see if everything checks out.

 

[prestonpalmer83]

The only things I have switched is the PSU CPU and the heat sink. I kept everything else the way it was. But the things i switched to were:

I5 3570k
Seasonic m1211 620w
Noctua NH-D14

Will these 3 new parts go with the rest of the build? And as a gaming setup will i be pleased and set for a couple years?

Thanks again

 

[excella1221]

Not that I'm lazy, but please put everything in 1 post.
It's better than scrolling up and putting the pieces together.

 

[prestonpalmer83]

Not that I'm lazy, but please put everything in 1 post.
It's better than scrolling up and putting the pieces together.

Still going to run Windows 7 Premium

MSI Z77A-GD65 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor

Noctua NH-D14 120mm & 140mm SSO CPU Cooler

Western Digital Caviar Blue WD10EZEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Kingston HyperX 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model KHX1600C9D3K2/8GX

SeaSonic M12II 620 Bronze 620W ATX12V V2.3 / EPS 12V V2.91 SLI Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular

GIGABYTE GV-R787OC-2GD Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

Rosewill BLACKHAWK Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case, come with Five Fans, window side panel, top HDD dock

 

[excella1221]

The RAM choice is bad. Look for one that doesn't use more than 1.65v.
Get this instead. It will also be better since you're gonna use a cooler.
Everything else checks out.

 

[prestonpalmer83]

Thank everyone for their help. I LOVE my new rig! Its super fast, and looks awesome. I am glad I posted on here first because I saved about $400, and I wasn't even asking to save money. Thanks again for the help everyone!

 

[prestonpalmer83]

Best answer selected by prestonpalmer83.