First Build - 1000$ to 1500$ - Advice/Approval

[iknowDavenMC]

Hi,

I'm building my first computer, I'm a noob and I'd greatly appreciated any advice as to what components to include. Here are the details:

--

Approximate Purchase Date: this month (December)

Budget Range: 1000C$ - 1500C$ before tax, although there is no strict limit

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Music production, video production, some gaming, web browsing, school work, programming

Are you buying a monitor: No

Do you need to buy OS: No, I have Windows 7 64 bit

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: PC Zone preferably, but any website that ships to Canada is okay.

Location: Laval (near Montreal), Quebec, Canada

Parts Preferences: Intel

Overclocking: Maybe

SLI or Crossfire: No

Your Monitor Resolution: 1680x1050

Additional Comments: Needs to be quiet. I don't need a sound card because I have an external one. Hard drive size is not so important because I have two external hard drives.

Why Are You Upgrading: My current PC is getting old, starting to freeze more often, is fairly taxed by audio and video editing. Also, would like to have a PC good enough to play current games (although gaming is not the focus).

--

Here are the parts I was thinking of so far:

Processor: Intel i7-3770K 3.5GHz LGA1155 Ivy Bridge Processor

Motherboard: Asus SABERTOOTH Z77 LGA1155 DDR3 Motherboard ATX

RAM: Corsair Vengeance 16GB DDR3 1600MHZ CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9 Memory

Hard Drive: OCZ Vertex 4 256GB SATA 6.0 SSD VTX4-25SAT3-256G

Graphics Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX660 Ti 2GB DDR5 Video Card GV-N66TWF2-2GD

Sound Card: Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio

Disk Drive: LG GH24NS72B INTERNAL 24X SUPER-MULTI SATA Optical Drive

CPU Cooler: Noctua Intel LGA775/1155/1366 AMD AM2,AM3,FM1 NH-C12P SE14 CPU Cooler

Power Supply: Thermaltake TR2 RX 650W Modular PSU (TRX-650M)

Case: Cooler Master Silencio 550 Mid Tower RC-550-KKN1

--

Would these components work well together, or are my choices unbalanced? Does anyone have better parts to suggest?

Thanks a lot!
David

 

[Why_Me]

I would size up to a 750w psu to give yourself some headroom if you ever decide to add another card in SLI and maybe take a look at the Asus Z77 - V to save some money on the motherboard without taking a hit on performance.

 

[iknowDavenMC]

Thanks for the reply!

Did you mean this motherboard?

Is everything else good, or will one component bottleneck another or unnecessarily outperform my needs?

Thanks again,
David

 

[krazyjamus]

Thats not bad but if you use pcpartspicker:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($319.79 @ DirectCanada)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($68.99 @ Computer Valley)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($148.99 @ Computer Valley)
Memory: Patriot Intel Extreme Master, Limited Ed 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($34.99 @ NCIX)
Storage: Intel 330 Series 240GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($189.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Video Card: Galaxy GeForce GTX 670 2GB Video Card ($319.99 @ NCIX)
Case: Cooler Master Silencio 550 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($94.98 @ NCIX)
Power Supply: Thermaltake TR2 750W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($99.49 @ TigerDirect Canada)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($18.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Total: $1316.20
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-12-08 13:30 EST-0500)

I think this would serve you very well for years to come. You can just get another 670 later for SLI if you like too.

Should be under $1500 after tax + shipping. You lucky quebec-er you. I live in Ottawa so I get to pay the wonderful 13% tax

Update: Changed the PSU to one that will actually allow you to upgrade to two 670s later.

 

[djangoringo]

He doesn't need a 670 nor sli plans, he said : "System Usage from Most to Least Important: Music production, video production, some gaming, web browsing, school work, programming,"

The 660 ti will be the same for what he needs, and the 670 gtx is louder compared to 660 ti.

You could change the ssd for a more reliable one : http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148443

If you want the he quietest GTX 660 Ti : http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121653

I recommend you changing the psu for a better quality one : http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151095

 

[iknowDavenMC]

Thanks for the input everyone!

I had 16 GB listed in my original build idea, but krazyjamus you list only 8 GB. Would 8 GB be sufficient for what I have in mind?

Oh, btw, for what I'm planning on doing with my computer, is over clocking even useful, or can I skip it all together?

 

[krazyjamus]

Honestly your build is fine. I think the motherboard is way overkill though. Can easily pay $100 less and not notice a difference.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($319.79 @ DirectCanada)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($68.99 @ Computer Valley)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($148.99 @ Computer Valley)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($73.49 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Intel 330 Series 240GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($189.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB Video Card ($249.09 @ DirectCanada)
Case: Cooler Master Silencio 550 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($94.98 @ NCIX)
Power Supply: Silverstone Strider Essential 600W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($63.92 @ DirectCanada)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($18.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Total: $1248.23
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-12-08 13:44 EST-0500)

 

[krazyjamus]

Thanks for the input everyone!

I had 16 GB listed in my original build idea, but krazyjamus you list only 8 GB. Would 8 GB be sufficient for what I have in mind?

Oh, btw, for what I'm planning on doing with my computer, is over clocking even useful, or can I skip it all together?

Yeah that's my mistake. You want 16GB for video editing and such. The new one I put has 16GB and even room to upgrade to 16GB more later if you so feel inclined.

As for OC'ing it can make a pretty noticeable difference in completion times for takes especially with heavily threaded stuff like video editing software does. You don't actually need it, but with a cooler like that Noctua one you can get around another 1ghz out of your cpu.

 

[iknowDavenMC]

So, here's an updated parts list based on the suggestions that I've heard from people.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($319.79 @ DirectCanada)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($68.99 @ Computer Valley)
Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($179.77 @ DirectCanada)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($73.49 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Crucial M4 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($194.78 @ DirectCanada)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB Video Card ($284.99 @ Memory Express)
Case: Cooler Master Silencio 550 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($94.98 @ NCIX)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 620W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($93.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($18.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Total: $1349.77
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-12-08 14:20 EST-0500)

Thoughts?

 

[djangoringo]

It's seems good, you could change the case for a Fractal Design Define R4 Titanium Grey Silent, it's better than the cooler master but a bit more expensive :

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352022

 

[krazyjamus]

That's good. All very high quality reliable parts. Some a bit more expensive than maybe necessary but stability on your machine is more important than on a strict gaming PC. Since it's for A/V production you wouldn't want it to go down on you so this is good, I like it.

 

[iknowDavenMC]

Hey,

Here's the final list. Thanks for all of the help!

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($319.79 @ DirectCanada)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($68.99 @ Computer Valley)
Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($179.77 @ DirectCanada)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($73.49 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Crucial M4 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($194.78 @ DirectCanada)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB Video Card ($284.99 @ Memory Express)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($109.99 @ Canada Computers)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 620W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($93.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($18.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Total: $1364.78
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-12-08 15:51 EST-0500)

 

[djangoringo]

It's great, i wouldn't change anything else.

 

[krazyjamus]

Yeah, she's a beaut.