First ever build - Components selected - Any final advice?

[lucasssan]

Never built a PC before, but I think I've finalized my components. Mostly, I'm just hoping for anyone to point out...

1) Any glaring problems or oversights

2) Anywhere I could save money without significant loss of performance

3) Anywhere I could significantly increase performance with little increase to cost


Right now, I'm looking at $860 for this build. I'm building because I'm sick of laptops / want to be able to upgrade in the future / want something that'll last for a while. It'll mostly be used for gaming (modded Skyrim for example), audio editing, and general non-taxing computer programs.

One other note is that I live in Korea, so I haven't really looked at an appropriate tower for this build yet because I'm buying the components in the US where it's cheaper and having them shipped here. Therefore, any tower suggestions and / or possible problems with the standard Korean 220v as opposed to the US 110v, let me know.

Thanks in advance!


GPU:
MSI N570GTX Twin Frozr II GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127682
$250


PSU:
Rosewill CAPSTONE Series CAPSTONE-750 750W Continuous @ 50°C, 80 PLUS GOLD Certified, Single +12V Rail, ATX12V v2.31 / EPS12V v2.92, SLI Ready, CrossFire Ready, Active - PFC Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182073
$100


RAM:
CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9R
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233180
$41


Motherboard:
ASRock Z77 Extreme4 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157293
$125


HD:
SAMSUNG 830 Series MZ-7PC128B/WW 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147163
$90


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=N82E16819116504
$220 (with free 8gb USB flash)

 

[macgreen]

I'm not sure if you have it available, but... you may want to switch out the Video Card. For that price, you could get a GTX 660 and save some money, or you could get a good Radeon 7870 instead. It's up to you, though, as the 7870 uses less power and gives somewhat better performance to the 570 you've chosen. It's not a huge difference, but it should do everything the 570 can do at the very least. Some of them are even cheaper than the card you've chosen (I got an XFX 7870 for $230 a few weeks ago, for example).

If you want to take advantage of the i5-3570k CPU, you'll want to get an aftermarket CPU Cooler. A Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO should do find for moderate overclocks. Also, the power supply's overkill for what you have, unless you plan to SLI/Crossfire your video cards in the future. If you plan to only use a single video card and do some overclocking with the CPU and GPU, a 600w power supply is probably enough.

You'll also want to get a mechanical hard drive for mass storage- 128gb is good for the operating system and some programs/games, but you may find yourself needing more space as time goes on. It's not a big thing at first, as you begin to fill it, but you'll eventually need more room than the SSD can provide. As it is, you can likely wait on purchasing that for a little while at least.

I didn't see a computer case in your list either... do you have one already or did you forget to list it?

 

[g-unit1111]

That build looks really good. The only thing I'd suggest is to get low profile Vengeance RAM and get the Radeon 7870 GHz edition as your GPU - there's zero point in purchasing a GTX 570 anymore. You also might want to look at a secondary HD or dropping the SSD for a 500GB or 1TB drive. As good as SSDs are, 128GB won't get you very far these days.

If you don't know of a store in your country check the link in my signature.

 

[lucasssan]

Cool, thanks for the advice! I've been doing a ton of research on this stuff, so it's great to get some feedback on my results.

I'll check out that Radeon 7870. Out of curiosity, why do you say there's 'zero point in purchasing a gtx 570 anymore.'?

The PSU was the component I was least sure about. Basically, I don't have current plans to SLI, but I thought maybe in the future SLI'ing would be a cheaper up way to upgrade my GPU. Correct me if I am wrong. With this in mind, would you stick with the 750w?

I realize the SSD doesn't provide much room, but I've got a couple external hard drives I plan to use for general storage. So I think that'll be ok.

I instantly added an aftermarket cooler. Thanks for that.

And yeah there's no case because I'm having these parts shipped to Korea, so I plan to buy a case and monitor here in Korea instead of paying for all the extra shipping. But I am open to computer case suggestions for this particular build.

Lastly, I can find computer stores in Korea, they're just such a rip off that it's more cost effective to buy things off Newegg, have them ship to my parents, then have my parents ship here.

Thanks again!


Edit-----------------------
Why low profile Vengeance RAM?

 

[g-unit1111]

I'll check out that Radeon 7870. Out of curiosity, why do you say there's 'zero point in purchasing a gtx 570 anymore.'?

It's outdated and a power hog. The 660TI and 670 have replaced it and they're far superior. In tests every single NVIDIA card right now is beaten by the equivalent Radeon, and they all use less power than their previous generations do.

The PSU was the component I was least sure about. Basically, I don't have current plans to SLI, but I thought maybe in the future SLI'ing would be a cheaper up way to upgrade my GPU. Correct me if I am wrong. With this in mind, would you stick with the 750w?

Yes. Rosewill isn't available in all countries though. You might be wise to get something from Corsair or Seasonic.

I realize the SSD doesn't provide much room, but I've got a couple external hard drives I plan to use for general storage. So I think that'll be ok.

That's fine.

Why low profile Vengeance RAM?

Because if you add an aftermarket cooler like the Hyper 212 the clearance issues with the RAM and your fan will make it difficult to align properly.

 

[lucasssan]

Best answer selected by lucasssan.

 

[lucasssan]

Awesome. A huge help. Thanks.