First Build First Draft (~$1,100 Gaming Desktop) - Please Advise - New Build

November 4, 2012 10:17:45 PM

Started this post with the recommended template for the site.
Below that, see more comments and current part selections.

Approximate Purchase Date: ~1 week

Budget Range: ~1,000-1,200

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming is by far most important.

Are you buying a monitor: Yes, I will.

Parts to Upgrade: All new

Do you need to buy OS: No, I have my Win7 key from laptop that just died.

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Whatever comes most recommended. The same parts from different sites doesn't matter to me; the part's the part.

Location: Washington, D.C. & Seattle, USA

Parts Preferences: Intel > AMD (for this build)

Overclocking: Maybe, but unlikely.

SLI or Crossfire: I don't know what that is.

Your Monitor Resolution: Need to buy one.

Additional Comments: See below.

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: 3-year old gaming laptop (~$1,200 Asus N61JQ) is almost dead.

Computer Purpose:
Gaming
Movies/music
Won’t be doing any graphic design, engineering (CAD), etc.
Very unlikely to try overclocking
Approximate budget $1,000-1,200

Parts:
You can also attempt to view my wishlist under Newegg’s Public Wishlists (http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishLists.aspx) titled “First Build First Draft” posted 11/4/2012.

RAM:
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Case:
COOLER MASTER HAF 912 RC-912-KKN1 Black SECC/ ABS Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

GPU:
MSI N660 Ti PE 2GD5/OC GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

PSU:
Rosewill Green Series RG630-S12 630W Continuous @40°C,80 PLUS Certified, Single 12V Rail, Active PFC "Compatible with Core i7,i5" Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

CPU:
Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I53570K
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Motherboard:
ASUS P8Z77-M LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Boot SSD:
Kingston HyperX 3K SH103S3/120G 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) (Stand-Alone Drive)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

HDD:
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Aftermarket CPU Fan:
COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 EVO RR-212E-20PK-R2 Continuous Direct Contact 120mm Sleeve CPU Cooler Compatible with latest Intel 2011/1366/1155 and AMD FM1/FM2/AM3+
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Case Fans:
Corsair Air Series SP120 High Performance Edition CO-9050008-WW 120mm Twin Pack High Static Pressure Case Fan
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Wireless Card:
ENCORE ENEWI-2XN42 Wireless N300 Adapter, 2dBi IEEE 802.11b/g/n PCI Express Up to 300Mbps Wireless Data Rates 64/128-bits WEP Encryption WPA-PSK, WPA2-PSK, WPA, WPA2
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Sound Card:
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy SE 7.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz PCI Interface Sound Card – OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

DVD Drive:
ASUS 24X DVD Burner - Bulk 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Extra USB Drives
Rosewill 4+1 VIA USB 2.0 PCI Adapter Model RC-103
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Current Subtotal: $1,105

Any and all feedback is greatly appreciated. Please phrase feedback with relatively little jargon; I know only the basics.

More about : build draft 100 gaming desktop advise

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broodfusion

November 4, 2012 10:45:44 PM

Looks good, a few tweaks.

SSD: not so sure about kingston's ssd, i'd recommend samsung 830 series, reliability is amazing!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

however, as of now, it is out of stock, you could try other websites, like amazon for example.

PSU: the power supply you posted is cheap. A $1000+ system should have a much better PSU, at least a bronze plus certified, and modular (not necessarily fully modular) for good cable management which implies good airflow.
Reliable Manufacturers are Corsair, Seasonics, etc.

Memory:
Since you have a matx mobo, I'm not sure if your ripsaw will fit with the evo 212, try this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Since you are not overclocking, the stock fan that comes with the cpu should do fine. Drop it if you are tight on budget. Also, the i5 3570k, the "k" is for people that wish to overclock, you can drop your price by buying the non-k version:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

One more thing, why not use the onboard sound card, are you setting up speakers to fully utilize that 7.1 sound card? Otherwise, I'd just stick to the onboard one and use a 7.1 headphone.

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Big Flanders

November 4, 2012 11:45:29 PM

the extra fans aren't needed since you aren't overclocking your cpu and really depend on if you're going to be gaming for long periods as your GPU will heat up your rig after awhile. What he said above about the PSU and SLI and Crossfire are for when you're using 2 nvidia GPUs (SLI) or 2 amd GPUs (Crossfire)

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