$1000ish First Build...Need HEEEELP PLZ

ShazMo09

Honorable
Oct 22, 2012
32
0
10,530
Ok, so I have put together my first build and hopefully its ok as im still learning...Its for gaming :) Prices are best I have found so far. Any suggestions and advice very welcome...

CPU- Intel core i5 3570k = $233
Cooler- Cooler Master Hyper 212+ = $28
GPU- EVGA GeForce GTX 670 = $360
MoBo- Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H = $110
RAM- Corsair Vengeance 8GB DDR3 = $40
HDD- Western Digital Black 500GB = $83
SSD- OCZ Agility 3 60GB $50
PSU- Corsair CX 500 V3 = $79
Case- CoolerMaster HAF 912 Combat with window = $89
Total=$1072 (not including shipping etc)

What do you guys think? Will I get decent performance? And if you guys think I should swap some stuff up to save money or get better performance please let me know...Thanks in advance!

Also, monitor and stuff will come later...
 

excella1221

Honorable
Aug 23, 2012
2,415
0
12,160
A few questions:
- Where will you be buying these?
- Will you be overclocking?
- Is SLI/CF an option?
- What's your maximum budget w/ and/or w/o rebates?

A few comments.
- I don't generally suggest EVGA since they charge almost the same as other brands but they only have reference cooling.
- The 7970 outperforms the 670 at about the same price point.
- Get a 1TB Caviar Blue or Samsung Spinpoint instead.
- Agility 3 kinda sucks, it's known to have high failure rates and below average performance.
- That CX500 is a bit overpriced, you'll need 550w anyway so drop that totally. Consider other models/brands.
 

ShazMo09

Honorable
Oct 22, 2012
32
0
10,530


1. As im in Aus I have a local site so I can buy from OZ...its www.pccasegear.com.au and also I have sourced some stuff from www.amazon.com but I will be checking other sites for better prices before I make my final purchase.
2. Dont think I will be overclocking as I dont really know how to go about this.
3. Sli/CF is an option.
4. I have about $1100 in my bank ready to go for the rig(Dont really want to go over this unless its for shipping)...Not to sure how the rebates work so ill say 1100 w/o rebates...

Thanks for the additional comments...In regards to the Agility 3 I might just scrap that and go the 1TB HDD instead. Ill have a look at a few other PSU's also( if you could recomend one to fit ito my budget that would be great :))
And with the GPU, thats the area where I get most confused so I might have to have a better look into them if EVGA is not the way to go. I have actually read that a few places now.
 

excella1221

Honorable
Aug 23, 2012
2,415
0
12,160
Okay, here you go.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3470 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($139.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($45.00 @ Mwave Australia)
Storage: OCZ Vertex 4 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($105.00 @ Mwave Australia)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($83.00 @ Mwave Australia)
Video Card: HIS Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card ($329.00 @ Mwave Australia)
Case: Antec Three Hundred Two ATX Mid Tower Case ($77.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Power Supply: OCZ ZT 750W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($121.00 @ Mwave Australia)
Total: $1088.00
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

This build revolves around PCCaseGear and Mwave AU only for your convenience. :)

This is also Crossfire-ready, you won't need to upgrade the PSU anymore, you can just add a 2nd 7950 anytime.

We can probably cut costs though if you don't want to CF, but this is a solid build.
Oh, do you need an optical drive? You didnt give one in your first post so I assumed no.
 

ShazMo09

Honorable
Oct 22, 2012
32
0
10,530


Yeh that sounds good...I appreciate the time you took to have a look for me. As its my first build I dont want to regret my any of my purchases, hence me being on here lol. Do you think the 7950 is good? Should I spend a little more and ge a better one, get a 2nd or initially see how I go with just one first?. What do you think I would be able to run BF3 on, Md-High-Ultra? Also FPS? With 1 and if I add a 2nd?

In terms of the optical drive I will be adding one but as they are so cheap and not a huge deal I just thought I could sort that out later.

So do you think this build would be utililising my money well?
Sorry for all the questions but I just a bit sketchy as I not too sure with what im doing...I really appreciate you guys helpin me...
 

excella1221

Honorable
Aug 23, 2012
2,415
0
12,160
The 7950 is a great card. It also has a wide overclocking ability to get the most of your GPU.
Is BF3 your highest priority though? That game's architecture is optimized for nVidia, so it's one of the few games where a 660 Ti would give you slightly better fps.
BF3%20%201920.png


In general though, the 7950 is a better card, while the 670 outperforms it. At the pricing of a 670 though, the 7970 is right about there and outperforms it as well.

The general consensus is to always get the best single card your budget can handle, then add another in the future if you find yourself in need of more fps.

This build would be utilizing your money well, of course. I find it well-balanced. You can opt to drop the SSD if you want more money on GPU, but I personally won't. Faster loading times in games and faster boot up is nice. :lol: