Building a New PC ( Been 5 Years )

[Countrylunatic]

First Time Poster, used to read articles here in the past all the time before life got busy....anyhow.

Basically, I've done a quick look through of what I would want. Not in the mood these days to do a whole bunch of research basically. Anyhow, this is what I got, if you guys have any thoughts advice, cut costs while keeping quality that would be great.

Case :
Antec P280
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129179

Basically, I have the 180 and the 190 I think. Love them. Sticking with what I know, and I'm pretty conservative with looks.

Processor:
Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116504

If you have a better suggestion, I'm open figured its the latest and not to bad on cost

MOBO:
MSI Z77A-G45 Thunderbolt
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130665

Probably could use a better suggestion on this one, rather not go over 180 for the MOBO. I just picked one to be honest.

RAM:
G.SKILL Sniper Gaming Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231610

Basically, Ram is cheap, I'll max the board.

GPU:
EVGA SuperClocked 02G-P4-2662-KR GeForce GTX 660 2GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130826

I'm an Nvidia guy, any better GPU's at around that price range?

Power Supply:
SeaSonic M12II 620 Bronze 620W ATX12V V2.3 / EPS 12V V2.91 SLI Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151095

Need to up the power? My current PC does have a 1000 Watt PS.

HardDrive :
1 TB Seagate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148840

Wouldn't mind doing a raid setup, but I would need to purchase another drive for that.

Other:
DVD Burner
Cougar 120 MM for Intake

So anything I missed, anything I could do better? End cost will be around 1000 dollars. Thanks for any help you guys provide. New PC I would hope will last a good amount of time. Will be used mainly for Gaming, but I also plan to setup some VM's and try to sharpen my admin skills via tinkering and all that fun stuff.

 

[johnsonjohnson]

Hi, it looks good overall. I suggest buying an aftermarket cooler for the processor especially if you plan to overclock it. Here's a contender for your motherboard choice:

ASRock Z77 Extreme4
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157293

 

[nebulasurfer]

I used to be an Nvidia guy as well but you can get better a little bit of extra value from a 7870 OC compared to a 660 OC.

 

[sam_p_lay]

Johnson's mobo recommendation is solid. Otherwise, I'd say it looks pretty flawless (excellent CPU and graphics selections) except the lack of an SSD. Modern performance machines are using SSDs (usually 120GB or 250GB models) for Windows, software and games (anything with loading times essentially) and your important documents, while the hard disk is used to storage of music, video clips, photos, backup etc. I'd suggest Samsung 830 for the best performance for your money, or Samsung 840 Pro if you want the absolute best.

 

[Guest]

Johnson's mobo recommendation is solid. Otherwise, I'd say it looks pretty flawless (excellent CPU and graphics selections) except the lack of an SSD. Modern performance machines are using SSDs (usually 120GB or 250GB models) for Windows, software and games (anything with loading times essentially) and your important documents, while the hard disk is used to storage of music, video clips, photos, backup etc. I'd suggest Samsung 830 for the best performance for your money, or Samsung 840 Pro if you want the absolute best.

+2 for an asrock extreme4, i recommend it all the time, hands down best value in that price range. thunderbolt hasnt really taken off yet and anything that is thunderbolt is wickedly expensive and not really worth it unless you are doing professional level stuff.

+1 for an ssd and a mechanical data drive, its the future and it makes a high spec system actually feel like a high spec system, a mechanical boot drive really bogs down a good machine

 

[Guest]

check out a fractal define r4, similar looks but they are excellent cases

 

[Countrylunatic]

Thanks for all the suggestions so far. The ASRock board looks great and also saves me a bit on the build. Is ASRock generally a good brand? In the past I have used Gigabyte, MSI, and ASUS.

I looked at the Fractal Define R4 and I absolutely love its look and it seems to offer more than the P280. I think I am going to go ahead with the white model.

Now, as far as the SSD's, basically it would just be used for the OS and games correct? They are pricey, so I am a little hesitant. My Steam Folder is 300 + GBs, so I would end up with that on the mechanical anyhow. Though I suppose just for the OS would still be a great move.

As for after market coolers? What would be good. I've only done them once before on an old AMD single core using some Silver Arctic Paste and a Copper HS/Fan Combo. Since then I've just went stock. Otherwise, I think I'm good. Is after Christmas a good time to purchase the components ( sales ) or do the prices generally remain unaffected. I was in Panama visiting my wife's family and missed out on black friday and cyber monday sales.

 

[Guest]

the top 3 nowadays are asus, asrock and gigabyte, msi has taken a bit of back seat for motherboards and there isnt an msi board i would recommend.

i love fractal as a company, they listen to their customers when they do revisions. with most companies you dont see new products or revisions for computer cases often, fractal has added many new cases and a few revisions to make their products better. if there is something you dont like send them an email and itll be fixed in the next revision. i send them a lengthy email for what they should do with the r4 and my email was read during a company conference so a few things on it came directly from that email i sent.

ssds are expensive, but completely worth it, its like a completely different experience. for me its come to a point were a system without an ssd just isnt good enough. you dont have to put all of your games on it, maybe you can make a partition and dedicate some of the ssd to smart responce to improve the mechanical drives frequently used files.

for a heat sink just get a cooler master hyper 212, they are cheap but they do an excellent job for the cost. for thermal paste get some timtronics grey ice 4200. it has a much better cure time than artic silver and performs better.
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/14110/thr-119/Timtronics_Grey_Ice_4200_Non-Silicone_Thermal_Paste_-_3_Gram.html

 

[sam_p_lay]

+1 for the awesomeness of SSD. I bought mine a while ago (Intel X25-M) which is far behind the Samsung 830 I recommended (and especially the 840 Pro) but it's still a massive improvement on a hard disk. Definitely the best option available to me at the time. That was an 80GB drive by the way for £180 (~$240). You're now looking at some of the fastest 250GB drives for £130 (~$175).

But you're right - even though they've become far faster still (and they were already damned fast!) and massively better value, they're still overpriced for the capacity and they're still nowhere near as spacious as a hard disk. When you're looking at spending a considerable quantity of money on a really awesome CPU and graphics card though, it seems a shame to let it all down with a hard disk. All that being said, it won't affect your framerates. If you're patient at loading screens, there's limited benefit for gaming.

 

[Countrylunatic]

Ok I think I have come to a final conclusion. ( Also would 600 Watt Powersupply be plenty that I do have selected? )

Case :
Fractal Define R4

Processor:
Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo)

( Would going I7 be better or is the I5 plenty enough ( hyper threading is the big difference correct?) )

MOBO:
ASRock Z77 Extreme4 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

RAM:
G.SKILL Sniper Gaming Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600

Scale back a bit can always add more later.

GPU:
EVGA SuperClocked 02G-P4-2662-KR GeForce GTX 660 2GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130826

Power Supply:
SeaSonic M12II 620 Bronze 620W ATX12V V2.3 / EPS 12V V2.91 SLI Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817151095


HardDrive :

SAMSUNG 840 Series MZ-7TD120BW 2.5" 120GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) ( OS and Smaller Apps )
1 TB Seagate ( For Storage and games )


Other:
CoolerMaster 212 EVO and Thermal Paste

End Price about 1100. Not bad.

 

[sam_p_lay]

Looks good! You're right about the Hyperthreading, but there is no benefit for gaming. i7 is really just if you need the absolute best performance in highly-threaded non-gaming software (video encoding etc). I'd recommend the Samsung 830 or 840 Pro for SSD. The 840 doesn't offer any real gain over the 830, but uses TLC (triple-layer cell) NAND memory, which wears out faster. It'll still last you for years, but not as many years. The 830 really is the best option below 840 Pro (or possibly the OCZ Vertex 4, but Samsung seems to be more reliable).

 

[Guest]

check out asus graphics cards, they use directcuii which is a dead silent cooling technology, i swear by it, i cant even here my 670 at full load

 

[johnsonjohnson]

I was going to suggest a Fractal Design Define R4 if you didn't already have one in mind. I'm waiting to get one for myself too and you can't go wrong with the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus or Evo. Good luck.

 

[Guest]

I was going to suggest a Fractal Design Define R4 if you didn't already have one in mind. I'm waiting to get one for myself too and you can't go wrong with the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus or Evo. Good luck.

i have a define r3 and its awesome but the r4 is better in just about every way

 

[johnsonjohnson]

i have a define r3 and its awesome but the r4 is better in just about every way

It's funny that they just announced the Define XL R2 like today. :lol:

 

[Guest]

It's funny that they just announced the Define XL R2 like today. :lol:

yeah, but full tower are MASSIVE!!