Need a lot of help on my FIRST GAMING BUILD ever!!!

[trihuynh1995]

Hello, tomshardware. This is my first topic ever to ask you guys about my first gaming pc build. I would like to know that if my pc's components are fined?. Or is there any change that can possibly make to shrink the budget?. Every comments are welcome. And thanks a lot for spent your precious time to helping me here

Budget: 900 ~ 1100

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000
Price: 229.99

Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UD3H LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX
Price: 149.99

GPU: SAPPHIRERadeon HD 7850 OC 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
Price: 209.99

Case: COOLER MASTER HAF 912
Price: 59.99

Hard Drive: Western Digital WD Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s
Price: 109.99

Fan: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus
Price: 29.99

Ram: CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
Price: 84.99

Dvd Rom: ASUS 24X DVD Burner
Price: 19.99

Power Supply: OCZ ModXStream Pro 700W
Price: 89.99

SSD: Corsair Force Series GT 120 GB SATA 2.5-Inch SATA III
Price: 100

TOTAL: 1,104.90

Notes: My screen resolution is 1920x1080

 

[FireHazerdz]

If you don't plan on overclocking you don't need a fan because one is included with the processor. Also if all you are planning on doing on gaming I would only get 8 Gb's of Ram.

 

[evilqueens]

Changes:

GPU: Radeon HD7950 - costs about $60 more, but definitely worth it with the rest of your build
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws X 8GB (2X4GB) 1600MHz CL9 - will save you ~$45
PSU: Any Corsair, Seasonic, XFX 500W PSU - should save you $40-50
OCZ power supplies are notoriously bad and are very tempting at their price points! Avoid them if at all possible.
SSD: Go for a Samsung 830 128GB SSD instead. They are roughly the same price, but this disk is very, very reliable.
HDD: A decent Caviar Green from WD will be about ~$40-50 cheaper for the same size. Alternatively, you could go with a 2TB Caviar Green at the current price of your Caviar Black

EDIT: With all of those savings, if you can manage to fit a GTX 670 into your build, you're really rocking. Up to you however, as you may not get all of the products listed above on sale.

 

[Nw333]

^I would get G.Skill Ares RAM instead for low-profile heatsinks.

 

[evilqueens]

^I would get G.Skill Ares RAM instead for low-profile heatsinks.

The RAM I suggested will work for almost any heatsink. The height is very low - only 40mm (tried and tested with a Noctua NH-D14 which is notorious for blocking RAM slots).

EDIT: Sorry - while what I said above is true, I just checked the clearance for the CM Hyper 212 Plus and it's only 37mm. So, yes, please go ahead and get some low profile RAM such as the G.Skill Ares as Nw333 suggested above.

EDIT 2: All you need to do is push the fan up a little bit (about 10 mm) and you will be able to use it with the RAM I originally suggested. Hope this clears things up! So, to clarify, it will still work!

 

[kaoticxfalledhd]

16gb of ram for cheaper and in my opinion better than corsair

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231429&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

79$

only if you plan to overclock

 

[evilqueens]

16gb of ram for cheaper and in my opinion better than corsair

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231429&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

79$

only if you plan to overclock

This RAM will not fit with the OP's choice of aftermarket heatsink CPU cooler. Low profile is necessary (something that is less than 37mm in height).

EDIT: I did some more research into this, because I almost couldn't believe that it won't work. There is a work around since it is not the actual heatsink that conflicts with the RAM, it is the fan.

All you need to do is push the fan up a little bit (about 10 mm) and you will be able to use it with the RAM I originally suggested. Hope this clears things up!

 

[xtwiinky]

If this is a gaming rig and these are your parts you should upgrade your gpu as you won't have to upgrade anything else. Iwould recommend getting rid of the ssd and getting a 7950.

Its not worth it to get a 670/680 or a 7970, the difference in preformance is 5% clock for clock and AMd cards scale better in overclocking .. meaning at 1300mhz the gap between Nvidia and AMD cards will be less.

Don't get over 8GB ram, very few if any use above 4gb. .


If your coming from console... don't get an SSD... the loading times with my caviar black are easily less than a third of console. Doors in Fallout load in under 2sec... loading times in games never give me an oppertunity to relex for a moment LOL. Mabey Crisis mission loading times can be a bit long at 10seconds.. but you get the idea.

It depends on what you play. If your a huge RPG fan ... definetly get an SSD. Online games or FPs.. mabey not a priority. you can always add one later and reinstall windows.. and btw reinstalling windows will get rid of any viruses.

 

[phenom90]

do you live in the u.s.? because prices may vary depend on which country you live...

http://www.microcenter.com/product/354589/Core_i5_2500K_33GHz_LGA_1155_Boxed_Processor
Core i5 2500K - $160

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130646
MSI Z77A-G43 - $100

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233186
CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB CML8GX3M2A1600C9 - $40

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065
COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1 - $20

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148840
Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB - $90

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147163
SAMSUNG 830 Series MZ-7PC128B/WW - $90

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817194094
ENERMAX NAXN 82+ ENP650AWT B 650W - $77

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202006
SAPPHIRE 100352-2L Radeon HD 7950 - $290

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119197
COOLER MASTER HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN3-GP - $80

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136247
LG DVD Burner GH24NS90 - $18


total: $965 after rebate exclude shipping


if you can buy at microcenter it's better to get an i5 2500k as you saves 60 bucks and even in terms of performance vs i5 3570k... also if you're not going for sli/cfx an 600-650watts psu would be enough... since this is a gaming pc build i would suggest you invest some more in the graphics card... as you know it matters most when you game on... am hd 7950 will be a good choice... otherwise if you looking to save some more an hd 7870 or even gtx 660 would be a good choice as well... i think haf 922 worth the extra $20 over the 912 given its larger and space to add third 200mm fan at side panel for more airflow...

 

[evilqueens]

If this is a gaming rig and these are your parts you should upgrade your gpu as you won't have to upgrade anything else. Iwould recommend getting rid of the ssd and getting a 7950.

Its not worth it to get a 670/680 or a 7970, the difference in preformance is 5% clock for clock and AMd cards scale better in overclocking .. meaning at 1300mhz the gap between Nvidia and AMD cards will be less.

Don't get over 8GB ram, very few if any use above 4gb. .


If your coming from console... don't get an SSD... the loading times with my caviar black are easily less than a third of console. Doors in Fallout load in under 2sec... loading times in games never give me an oppertunity to relex for a moment LOL. Mabey Crisis mission loading times can be a bit long at 10seconds.. but you get the idea.

It depends on what you play. If your a huge RPG fan ... definetly get an SSD. Online games or FPs.. mabey not a priority. you can always add one later and reinstall windows.. and btw reinstalling windows will get rid of any viruses.

The OP can fit a 7950 and an SSD with the savings from the other changes I recommended. The additional cost would only be about $20

 

[Nw333]

@phenom, getting a Sandy on a Z77 is not optimal. You will lose alot of features the Z77 chipset gives. Ivy will beat Sandy, except in temps.

 

[phenom90]

@phenom, getting a Sandy on a Z77 is not optimal. You will lose alot of features the Z77 chipset gives. Ivy will beat Sandy, except in temps.

well, you're right about that.. but depends on whether the features will be put to use or not...

 

[xtwiinky]

well, you're right about that.. but depends on whether the features will be put to use or not...

but temps are exxagerated. Ivy runs hotter but it preforms better. Ivy 4.5 = Sandy 4.7. Mine i5-3750k is running 4.8ghz at 1.3V so 75C under full load on a Hyper 212 EVo. I have not tweaked the voltages so it could run with less volts.

 

[evilqueens]

well, you're right about that.. but depends on whether the features will be put to use or not...

Well, if the features aren't being used, why go with the Z77 Express chipset board to begin with? You could probably save a decent chunk of change and go with a P67 or even H67 board.

Since the new CPUs coming out next year are going to be using a different socket, the Z77 won't be forward-compatible either.

 

[phenom90]

Well, if the features aren't being used, why go with the Z77 Express chipset board to begin with? You could probably save a decent chunk of change and go with a P67 or even H67 board.

Since the new CPUs coming out next year are going to be using a different socket, the Z77 won't be forward-compatible either.

too bad p67 isn't cheaper than z77 and as far as i can remember h67 don't support overclocking isn't it?

 

[excella1221]

Uh.. why don't you just save yourself the trouble and go with the low profile version RAM. There is no actual performance loss at all.

I don't see why you would consider something that would give you a hard time when there's something else that does the exact same thing minus the hardships. :lol:

Regarding the P67 vs Z77 argument, this is why we have the relatively cheaper but still overclock-enabled z75.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157304&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

 

[evilqueens]

too bad p67 isn't cheaper than z77 and as far as i can remember h67 don't support overclocking isn't it?

This really depends on where/what you buy. There are a few boards that have comparable specs and are cheaper. And yes, it doesn't support overclocking - I was just making a point by saying that there are other options.

 

[phenom90]

This really depends on where/what you buy. There are a few boards that have comparable specs and are cheaper. And yes, it doesn't support overclocking - I was just making a point by saying that there are other options.

yes.. so much other options that it's not easy to determine which is better for individual's need..

 

[Nw333]

P67s will need to be flashed first before using an Ivy on it, if memory serves me right.

+1 to excella though. Dem Z75s not getting much attention.

 

[phenom90]

P67s will need to be flashed first before using an Ivy on it, if memory serves me right.

+1 to excella though. Dem Z75s not getting much attention.

because very few vendor release..

 

[Nw333]

Its an old chipset. I know there are still some Asrock P67 boards out there, albeit running low, I dont know about other brands.

 

[excella1221]

Judging from the pricing in his first post, the thread starter seems to be from the US.
There's a lot of z75's going around.