Feedback and suggestions

[Remi667]

Hello,

Since my old PC doesn't run new games very well I decided that it's time to buy/build a new one. I'm building my first PC and don't have much experience.

Approximate Purchase Date: Until December

Budget Range: around 750 euros max

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, internet

Are you buying a monitor: No

Parts to Upgrade: (e.g.: CPU, mobo, RAM) Everything except my old 500 GB HDD which is enough for now.

Do you need to buy OS: No


Preferred Website(s) for Parts: (e.: I'll try to buy parts at lowest prices

Location: Europe, Slovenia

Parts Preferences:

Overclocking: Maybe

SLI or Crossfire: no, I'll be using only 1 GPU

Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080

Additional Comments: I'll be playing Guild wars 2, Assassins Creed 3, all new games that will be released in future . And I want it to run them with good FPS at 1920x1080.

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: My old PC isn't capable to run most of the new games with good FPS.

Ok, so here's my build:

Sapphire Radeon HD 7870
Intel i3 3570
Antec Three Hundred Two
Gigabyte GA-Z77M-D3H*
Cooler master GX Lite Black 700W*
Kingston PC3-10600 Value KIT 8GB*

Price for these components is 705 euros. I'm thinking about SSD for OS if it will be around budget.

And I didn't post the links as the website is not in English language.
* I'm not sure about those components, so please suggest me about RAM, power supply and motherboard if there is any cheaper option, but that will do well.
And tell me if GPU and CPU is a good option (if it's not bottleneck)

I'm totaly open to other ideas as im not experienced

 

[nna2]

lower the PSU wattage to 500-650W, and get a small SSD for your OS
if you don't plan to overclock, i would go for a cheaper motherboard (unless that one has features you want of course)
the CPU/GPU/RAM are good choices though

 

[malbluff]

Hello,

Since my old PC doesn't run new games very well I decided that it's time to buy/build a new one. I'm building my first PC and don't have much experience.

Approximate Purchase Date: Until December

Budget Range: around 750 euros max

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, internet

Are you buying a monitor: No

Parts to Upgrade: (e.g.: CPU, mobo, RAM) Everything except my old 500 GB HDD which is enough for now.

Do you need to buy OS: No


Preferred Website(s) for Parts: (e.: I'll try to buy parts at lowest prices

Location: Europe, Slovenia

Parts Preferences:

Overclocking: Maybe

SLI or Crossfire: no, I'll be using only 1 GPU

Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080

Additional Comments: I'll be playing Guild wars 2, Assassins Creed 3, all new games that will be released in future . And I want it to run them with good FPS at 1920x1080.

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: My old PC isn't capable to run most of the new games with good FPS.

Ok, so here's my build:

Sapphire Radeon HD 7870
Intel i3 3570
Antec Three Hundred Two
Gigabyte GA-Z77M-D3H*
Cooler master GX Lite Black 700W*
Kingston PC3-10600 Value KIT 8GB*

Price for these components is 705 euros. I'm thinking about SSD for OS if it will be around budget.

And I didn't post the links as the website is not in English language.
* I'm not sure about those components, so please suggest me about RAM, power supply and motherboard if there is any cheaper option, but that will do well.
And tell me if GPU and CPU is a good option (if it's not bottleneck)

I'm totaly open to other ideas as im not experienced

GPU: HD7870 is a good graphics card. If available the MSI TwinFrozr is a good one, but Sapphire isn't bad.
CPU: The 3570 is i5. Assume you mean that. The i5-3470 is better value, most places.
Case: Fine
Mobo: That mobo gives you no advantage (with that CPU), over cheaper H77.
PSU: Coolermaster aren't well regarded. You don't need 700w. Suggest 550w, or no more than 600 max. Seasonic, Antec, BeQuiet, Corsair, XFX, PC Power&Cooling, all good makes. Avoid others.
RAM: You don't specify exactly which version, but some Kingstons aren't good, plus you should use the better 1600MHz (similar price). It's not essential, if you are not fitting an aftermarket cooler to CPU, but generally prefer low profile, like, GSKill Ares, Crucial Ballistix Sport, Corsair CML.

 

[nna2]

GPU: HD7870 is a good graphics card. If available the MSI TwinFrozr is a good one, but Sapphire isn't bad.
CPU: The 3570 is i5. Assume you mean that. The i5-3470 is better value, most places.
Case: Fine
Mobo: That mobo gives you no advantage (with that CPU), over cheaper H77.
PSU: Coolermaster aren't well regarded. You don't need 700w. Suggest 550w, or no more than 600 max. Seasonic, Antec, BeQuiet, Corsair, XFX, PC Power&Cooling, all good makes. Avoid others.
RAM: You don't specify exactly which version, but some Kingstons aren't good, plus you should use the better 1600MHz (similar price). It's not essential, if you are not fitting an aftermarket cooler to CPU, but generally prefer low profile, like, GSKill Ares, Crucial Ballistix Sport, Corsair CML.

1.Cooler master has cleaned up their act lately
2.1600MHz has no difference, so i would get whatever is cheaper

 

[Remi667]

GPU: HD7870 is a good graphics card. If available the MSI TwinFrozr is a good one, but Sapphire isn't bad.
CPU: The 3570 is i5. Assume you mean that. The i5-3470 is better value, most places.
Case: Fine
Mobo: That mobo gives you no advantage (with that CPU), over cheaper H77.
PSU: Coolermaster aren't well regarded. You don't need 700w. Suggest 550w, or no more than 600 max. Seasonic, Antec, BeQuiet, Corsair, XFX, PC Power&Cooling, all good makes. Avoid others.
RAM: You don't specify exactly which version, but some Kingstons aren't good, plus you should use the better 1600MHz (similar price). It's not essential, if you are not fitting an aftermarket cooler to CPU, but generally prefer low profile, like, GSKill Ares, Crucial Ballistix Sport, Corsair CML.

MSI Twinfrozr is available and is actually cheaper for 1 euro (but that doesn't even matter) than Sapphire HD 7870. Why are you suggesting a Twinfrozr over Sapphire? Is it because of the active/pasive cooling? And which cooling is better for gaming?

Oh, sorry about the typo. Yes I meant i5. It's cheaper for 15 euros and could definetly use those for maybe an SSD. The question is does 0.2 GHZ make that much difference? Or should I go with the better one?

I'll consider the H77 mobo because it's cheaper and as you say doesn't give any advantage. My main question if the parts are compatible and if case is big enough for the motherboard?

I heard Coolermaster isn't the best too, but it's one of the cheapest cards, but I will replace it. What do you think about Corsair "Builder Series™"V2 600W ? Or should I go with more pricy one, but to be sure. I was thinking if I should take 600w for future upgrades? Or will it be an overkill?

I guess I will take the 1600Mhz RAM because it cost's the same as 1333. But aren't they mostly made for sandy bridge CPUs? I was thikning about G.Skill PC3-12800 "RipJawsX" KIT 8192 MB.

I might overclock GPU and CPU in future and will be buying a CPU cooler in a few years. But this build could run most of the new games on high settings right?

Sorry for that many questions and I really appreciate your feedback and help.

 

[nna2]

^msi has the afterburner utility (one of the best overclock utilities around) and it's one of the best coolers on the market (disregarding aftermarket)

turbo boost will likely bring you back up 0.2GHz anyways (hopefully the cheaper model has it)

corsair builder series are good PSU's

as long as there 1.5V they will work as well

you can only overclock the cpu if it's a K series, so you would have to move up to the more pricey I5 3570k

 

[malbluff]

^ Agree with above. You need to be sure about processor. If you want to overclock processor, you need the i5-3570K. It's the "K" that's important. If you get a "K" processor then you DO need a Z77 motherboard. The H77 mobo is ideal for non "K" processors, that I thought you wanted. Please confirm on this point, and can advise further.

 

[Remi667]

Thanks for those new informations. I didn't know that overclocking isn't possible on non K CPUs. I will stay with current i5-3470 as those 0.2Ghz will be brought back with turbo boost.

 

[malbluff]

You can, of course, still overclock the GPU, and the MSI is very good, in that respect.
On RAM, it's Sandybridge that doesn't have native support for 1600MHz. Ivybridge is fine with it. As you don't need aftermarket cooler, any RAM, 1.5v or below (that's why I was concerned about Kingston, some of theirs are 1.65v) will do. GSKill Ripjaws fine.

 

[Remi667]

Ok I will keep GSKill Ripjaws. As I won't be able to overclock CPU is it still ok to go with i5 3470? Will there be any major difference between those 0.2 GHz or will I still be able to run new games at good FPS?

Also I'll take 600W Corsair builder series v2 as it's pretty much cheapest PSU here.

I also want to know if 60GB SSD will be enough space for ''boot'' drive. I'll install Windows 7 and other small applications. And I read somewhere that it's not smart to install Google Chrome or any other browser on SSD because of some temp files if you maybe have any informations or personal experience about this?

 

[nna2]

i have an 80Gb ssd and it works just fine, just don't put games on it and you'll be fine

 

[malbluff]

I don't know if it's different, where you are, but the 128GB size tends to be best value, in terms of $/GB. OCZ Vertex4, or Samsung 830 probably the best.

 

[Remi667]

I probably could include 120GB SSD in my budget, as im ordering parts for as lowest price as I can get from my country.
Should I be looking for cache or is 0mb cache ok?

So far im really happy where things are going and I also decided on most of the parts for my build but I still need to figure out prices for i5-3470 and 3570. Maybe I could even buy 3570.

I really appreciate help and feedback from both of you! Thank you very much. Maybe I'll run into some more questions when I'll be comparing the price/performance value. But that's it for now.

Thank you very much for all the help!

 

[malbluff]

The 3570 is about 5% better than 3470. It's a question of the price difference, as to which is better value. The 3570K is a different animal. It's better, because you can overclock it, and get a decent performance gain, but don't forget it's not just any extra cost of the "K". You also need to allow for the cost of a cooler, and the more expensive Z77 motherboard.

 

[nna2]

you could always stick to a hard drive for now, and buy an SSD+cooler when you have the cash for it