Potential Build - Critiques/Suggestions Requested

[gridironcj]

Hello all,

I'm interested in constructing my first gaming PC. I'm not new to PC gaming, as I've gone down the gaming laptop route in the past due to being on the road quite often with undergraduate schooling. From what I've researched, it's clear to be that building my own PC is the optimal route both in terms of saving money, getting exactly what I want, and gaining a good amount of basic knowledge in case I need to replace parts.

The following is what I have come up with for what my tentative build will be (if I were to make a purchase within the next month):

Case:
Corsair Obsidian 800D Full Tower Case

Processor
Intel Core i7-3930K Six-Core

Processor Cooling
Corsair Hydro Series CW-906009-WW H100i

Motherboard
Asus Rampage IV Extreme X79 Motherboard

Hard Drive
Intel 520 Series Solid-State Drive 480 GB
Seagate ST750LX003 Momentus 750GB Hybrid

Optical Drive
Asus BW-12B1ST

Power Supply
Cooler Master RS-A00-80GAD-US 1000 Watts

Graphics Card
EVGA Geforce GTX 690

Memory
Patriot Viper 3 PV316G213C1KRD 16GB

I know there are some missing pieces here, such as a network card (I'm assuming) and a sound card. I would very much appreciate some recommendations on those components and anything you do not see here. My budget is flexible, as the build you see above comes to roughly $3,400. Critique this build as much as you can and tell me if upgrading any of those components would be worth the money.

I'm also interested in getting a monitor. I've been quite attracted to the 2560x1440 resolution monitors, and I've particularly taken a liking to the Samsung Series 9 monitor. If you recommend a different monitor of any kind, feel free to post your recommendations. This build was thought up within the last few hours of research, so I'm sure there may be many criticisms and/or recommendations, which would be very much appreciated!

 

[manofchalk]

Way overkill for a gaming rig, $1500 is more than enough for a top of the line gaming build.
You can spend far less and still have the same performance.
The build you specced out is more in line with a workstation/server rig with $1000 worth of graphics card thrown on.

Also you dont need a Network or Sound card, the mobo can handle both adequatly (unless your an Audiophile and/or have a high speed home network).

 

[AMD Radeon]

^ +1 he is right that it is expensive

but if you have money, you want a very good gaming performance and your part choice is already perfect go for it

 

[gridironcj]

^ +1 he is right that it is expensive

but if you have money, you want a very good gaming performance and your part choice is already perfect go for it

I've made the same thread in various other forums and have gotten similar responses, but I can't help but see a bias against spending lots of money on a rig, considering it seems like most of the videos and advice out there is for people on a budget. I know I'm building a whore, and that's the idea. My concern is whether or not this is the optimal whore. I want a gaming PC that will be able to run any game for the next 3 years or more at full settings and with 3 displays, if applicable. I feel like going with some budget build (revolving around mashing a bunch of Geforce 670s into a build) will not be optimal for the long-term. Considering we will likely see some much greater performance requirements in the next few years as compared to the last two, I feel like whoring out may be a good way to go. I encourage anyone to give me a detailed response, breaking down my build and compare it to a much cheaper build, specifying as to how its just as good (keeping the future in mind as well). Or if anyone would like to critique my whore build and make it optimal, feel free.

I appreciate the responses I've gotten on the web so far, but most of them are not very substantial and are more of quick criticisms rather than detailed breakdowns/suggestions.

 

[wizphil]

CPU - Honestly, for gaming. That is kinda overkill as currently no games really focus /that/ much on the processor. Buuuut who knows what'll happen in the future. I'm sure you already know that the i5 3570K works perfectly for gaming, but that's what I'd recommend you get instead if you felt like it.

Case - Well that's all preference really. I'm on Corsair's 550D, but that's midtower. Cooler Master's Storm Trooper is quite cheaper than the 800D, but is much different in looks.

Motherboard - I've read that a lot of Socket 2011 mobo's have their own problems while that Asus Rampage doesn't really have any. So I'd say stick with that unless you find something else out there that works for you. As for 1155 Z77 Mobo's... there's a lot out there. ASrock Exterme 4 works fine, but looking at what you're going for, Sabertooth might be better for you

SSD - Really? 480 GB SSD? That's fancy and I love my SSD and all.. but... you don't really need to put all (or most) of your games on your SSD. I'm running a 32gb sata II ssd + 3tb drive and it's working just as well as my laptop that has Sata III SSD (Okay so my laptop doesn't support sata III, but it's getting faster speeds than the one in my desktop =p) I'd say go with Corsair's Force 3 120GB SSD. Unless you want more. Crucial M4 is loved, that's an option too. The only problem that the Force 3 has is it gets problems when you put it to sleep it gets.. buggy... Who uses sleep mode anyways? If you think it might bug you, go with an Intel drive or Crucial's M4.

HDD - All on you. Seagate's fine, can't really say anything here. I personally prefer Western Digital.

Optical Drive - I guess if you neeedd iitttttt.....? If you plan to burn blu-ray movies... well go ahead... Guess when you compare it to all the rest, it's not that much

PSU - Personally, I don't prefer Cooler master. They're HSF is nice, as with some of their cases. But that's all I'd get from them. For a little more you can get either a Seasonic or XFX 1000W Platinum rated PSU and that'll work much better for you. And for the same price there's also a 1000W ThermalTake PSU, but that's only rated at Bronze :/ All are fully modular.

GPU - Hot damn that is one expensive GPU. I'd go for it if I could. Nothing gets even close to the 690 without using SLI or Crossfire. If you're going 2560x1600 res, then go for it. Two 670's in SLI gets you pretty much the same performance while saving a few hundred dollars.

Memory - Well... I don't see the need at getting ram already clocked at 2133 MHz. I'd say just save yourself $60 and overclock some 1600 or 1866 MHz ones. Samsung has a 8gb (2x4gb) pair of ram that I hear overclocks like no other. Sadly it doesn't come in 8gb per stick form, but looking at reviews should make you not care.

After typing this I noticed you said you wanted someone to offer a cheaper build with explanations... Well.. I gave my explanations for what you chose. This is what I'd offer for a cheaper price: (Not looking at sales, rebates, or any sites other than Newegg)

CPU - i5 3570K - $220

Mobo - Asus Sabertooth Z77 - $240

SSD - 120GB SSDs are all around $110~$120 without sales. Pretty easy to find them on sale though. If you go with OCZ you might have to update firmware. Easiest is to go with Intel or Crucial. As I said, Corsair works fine. Their new SSD Neutron is on some different controller. Haven't read anything about them but they should work fine

HDD - Whatever. $80 for all intents and purposes.

Optical Drive - Meh. Not needed in my opinion. What's that blue ray writer one, $60? $70? I'll just go with $65, feeling lazy now.

PSU - You don't need 1000W, but if you wanted to go at the optimal level, then that would be it. But for the sake of going with a cheaper build, XFX 850W Silver certified is $135

GPU - Eh, let's go with two 670's. That's like $700?

Memory - Two 8gb Samsung kits going at $40 ea, that's $80.

Case - 550D, 650, Storm trooper. Lots of others. All around $150 me thinks.

Adds up to be - $1,785.

Using 690, 1000W Seasonic/XFX, 120GB SSD (I price at $115 in both calcs, but you can find for so much cheaper if you look for sales), $80 HDD, i5, Sabertooth, Samsung memory, $65 optical drive, and $150 case, you get - $2,170.

As for monitor - not gonna look at them, just look at brand, response time (are the 2ms RT 30" monitors??) and that's about it. 2560x1600 is the resolution to go for, my uncle bought some HP monitor (I think?) off of Craigslist and it is beautiful. I said 30" 'cause I think that's the standard size for 2560x1600 res screens, but I've never looked at monitors because I know I won't be buying my own new one anytime soon :/

Hope this helps!!

 

[gridironcj]

CPU - Honestly, for gaming. That is kinda overkill as currently no games really focus /that/ much on the processor. Buuuut who knows what'll happen in the future. I'm sure you already know that the i5 3570K works perfectly for gaming, but that's what I'd recommend you get instead if you felt like it.

Case - Well that's all preference really. I'm on Corsair's 550D, but that's midtower. Cooler Master's Storm Trooper is quite cheaper than the 800D, but is much different in looks.

Motherboard - I've read that a lot of Socket 2011 mobo's have their own problems while that Asus Rampage doesn't really have any. So I'd say stick with that unless you find something else out there that works for you. As for 1155 Z77 Mobo's... there's a lot out there. ASrock Exterme 4 works fine, but looking at what you're going for, Sabertooth might be better for you

SSD - Really? 480 GB SSD? That's fancy and I love my SSD and all.. but... you don't really need to put all (or most) of your games on your SSD. I'm running a 32gb sata II ssd + 3tb drive and it's working just as well as my laptop that has Sata III SSD (Okay so my laptop doesn't support sata III, but it's getting faster speeds than the one in my desktop =p) I'd say go with Corsair's Force 3 120GB SSD. Unless you want more. Crucial M4 is loved, that's an option too. The only problem that the Force 3 has is it gets problems when you put it to sleep it gets.. buggy... Who uses sleep mode anyways? If you think it might bug you, go with an Intel drive or Crucial's M4.

HDD - All on you. Seagate's fine, can't really say anything here. I personally prefer Western Digital.

Optical Drive - I guess if you neeedd iitttttt.....? If you plan to burn blu-ray movies... well go ahead... Guess when you compare it to all the rest, it's not that much

PSU - Personally, I don't prefer Cooler master. They're HSF is nice, as with some of their cases. But that's all I'd get from them. For a little more you can get either a Seasonic or XFX 1000W Platinum rated PSU and that'll work much better for you. And for the same price there's also a 1000W ThermalTake PSU, but that's only rated at Bronze :/ All are fully modular.

GPU - Hot damn that is one expensive GPU. I'd go for it if I could. Nothing gets even close to the 690 without using SLI or Crossfire. If you're going 2560x1600 res, then go for it. Two 670's in SLI gets you pretty much the same performance while saving a few hundred dollars.

Memory - Well... I don't see the need at getting ram already clocked at 2133 MHz. I'd say just save yourself $60 and overclock some 1600 or 1866 MHz ones. Samsung has a 8gb (2x4gb) pair of ram that I hear overclocks like no other. Sadly it doesn't come in 8gb per stick form, but looking at reviews should make you not care.

After typing this I noticed you said you wanted someone to offer a cheaper build with explanations... Well.. I gave my explanations for what you chose. This is what I'd offer for a cheaper price: (Not looking at sales, rebates, or any sites other than Newegg)

CPU - i5 3570K - $220

Mobo - Asus Sabertooth Z77 - $240

SSD - 120GB SSDs are all around $110~$120 without sales. Pretty easy to find them on sale though. If you go with OCZ you might have to update firmware. Easiest is to go with Intel or Crucial. As I said, Corsair works fine. Their new SSD Neutron is on some different controller. Haven't read anything about them but they should work fine

HDD - Whatever. $80 for all intents and purposes.

Optical Drive - Meh. Not needed in my opinion. What's that blue ray writer one, $60? $70? I'll just go with $65, feeling lazy now.

PSU - You don't need 1000W, but if you wanted to go at the optimal level, then that would be it. But for the sake of going with a cheaper build, XFX 850W Silver certified is $135

GPU - Eh, let's go with two 670's. That's like $700?

Memory - Two 8gb Samsung kits going at $40 ea, that's $80.

Case - 550D, 650, Storm trooper. Lots of others. All around $150 me thinks.

Adds up to be - $1,785.

Using 690, 1000W Seasonic/XFX, 120GB SSD (I price at $115 in both calcs, but you can find for so much cheaper if you look for sales), $80 HDD, i5, Sabertooth, Samsung memory, $65 optical drive, and $150 case, you get - $2,170.

As for monitor - not gonna look at them, just look at brand, response time (are the 2ms RT 30" monitors??) and that's about it. 2560x1600 is the resolution to go for, my uncle bought some HP monitor (I think?) off of Craigslist and it is beautiful. I said 30" 'cause I think that's the standard size for 2560x1600 res screens, but I've never looked at monitors because I know I won't be buying my own new one anytime soon :/

Hope this helps!!

Excellent response, I appreciate you taking the time out to break things down for me. I'll certainly have to consider going the 670 SLI route, as I've heard from others as well that the performance is similar to a single 690, although the 690 has a few other perks that make it attractive, such as using less energy and not producing as much heat. Plus, it has that sex appeal that 2 670s can't quite offer. I'm going to have to think about this one some more.

As far as the CPU goes, I'm essentially planning for the future, although the cost is about double the price of the i5 3570K (I believe?). Do you think the CPU cooling device I selected is fine? Somebody in a different forum said to either go full liquid cooling or with fans.

Perhaps 480GB SSD is unnecessary, but it sounds sexy, right? I have a 240GB SSD on my laptop along with a 500GB hybrid and it works fine, although I certainly can't fit my small library on the 240GB. It saves me about $250 though if I stick with the 240GB.

Do you think it would be worth waiting 3 months for the 700 series or 5 months for the 790, assuming the releases will be similar to last year?

 

[orthokid]

Just giving my input, but Smilodon is an excelent case http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811156063&nm_mc=OTC-pr1c3grabb3r&cm_mmc=OTC-pr1c3grabb3r-_-Cases+(Computer+Cases+-+ATX+Form)-_-Raidmax-_-11156063

 

[Praxeology]

Hello all,

I'm interested in constructing my first gaming PC. I'm not new to PC gaming, as I've gone down the gaming laptop route in the past due to being on the road quite often with undergraduate schooling. From what I've researched, it's clear to be that building my own PC is the optimal route both in terms of saving money, getting exactly what I want, and gaining a good amount of basic knowledge in case I need to replace parts.

The following is what I have come up with for what my tentative build will be (if I were to make a purchase within the next month):

Case:
Corsair Obsidian 800D Full Tower Case

Processor
Intel Core i7-3930K Six-Core

Processor Cooling
Corsair Hydro Series CW-906009-WW H100i

Motherboard
Asus Rampage IV Extreme X79 Motherboard

Hard Drive
Intel 520 Series Solid-State Drive 480 GB
Seagate ST750LX003 Momentus 750GB Hybrid

Optical Drive
Asus BW-12B1ST

Power Supply
Cooler Master RS-A00-80GAD-US 1000 Watts

Graphics Card
EVGA Geforce GTX 690

Memory
Patriot Viper 3 PV316G213C1KRD 16GB

I know there are some missing pieces here, such as a network card (I'm assuming) and a sound card. I would very much appreciate some recommendations on those components and anything you do not see here. My budget is flexible, as the build you see above comes to roughly $3,400. Critique this build as much as you can and tell me if upgrading any of those components would be worth the money.

I'm also interested in getting a monitor. I've been quite attracted to the 2560x1440 resolution monitors, and I've particularly taken a liking to the Samsung Series 9 monitor. If you recommend a different monitor of any kind, feel free to post your recommendations. This build was thought up within the last few hours of research, so I'm sure there may be many criticisms and/or recommendations, which would be very much appreciated!

Case is a case to end all cases, I approve. You will need Corsair's aftermarket AF fans though. The motherboard is terribly overpriced, unless you are going for a 4way SLI setup x16,x16,x16,x16 your mobo should be 200-250 for z79 board, either ASUS or ASrock. Ram is god awful, get some nice Cas 7 Corsair ram. Terrible SSD, you want Samsung 840 Pro 128GB in raid 0. Drop the processor for an i5k since this is a gaming rig and going with a z77 motherboard will reduce price substantially and allow trim to work in raid simultaneously. That PSU dude... Junk doesn't even describe it. Corsair, Seasonic. There is nothing else... Repeat after me... Corsair, Seasonic. Lastly the 690 is the worst thing in the build. Dual GPU cards since the 6990 have been absolute garbage. They are overpriced because they have gone more mainstream. You pay 1,000 bucks for less performance, grab a pair of 680s for SLI, $850. Not a single person should have bought those 690s and the price would have fallen making it a viable alternative to SLI. But people vote with their money in the market place and just like politics, *** votes are everywhere. Ron Paul 2016,

 

[gridironcj]

Case is a case to end all cases, I approve. You will need Corsair's aftermarket AF fans though. The motherboard is terribly overpriced, unless you are going for a 4way SLI setup x16,x16,x16,x16 your mobo should be 200-250 for z79 board, either ASUS or ASrock. Ram is god awful, get some nice Cas 7 Corsair ram. Terrible SSD, you want Samsung 840 Pro 128GB in raid 0. Drop the processor for an i5k since this is a gaming rig and going with a z77 motherboard will reduce price substantially and allow trim to work in raid simultaneously. That PSU dude... Junk doesn't even describe it. Corsair, Seasonic. There is nothing else... Repeat after me... Corsair, Seasonic. Lastly the 690 is the worst thing in the build. Dual GPU cards since the 6990 have been absolute garbage. They are overpriced because they have gone more mainstream. You pay 1,000 bucks for less performance, grab a pair of 680s for SLI, $850. Not a single person should have bought those 690s and the price would have fallen making it a viable alternative to SLI. But people vote with their money in the market place and just like politics, *** votes are everywhere. Ron Paul 2016,

You've got me on the 680 SLI. Triple SLI with those is an affordable upgrade, when needed, whereas dual 690s would be quite the fortune when the 690 is no longer viable as a single card. Now, the question is, which model of the 680s would you recommend? Also, they come with free games that I already have, so do people typically sell the codes?

 

[Praxeology]

You've got me on the 680 SLI. Triple SLI with those is an affordable upgrade, when needed, whereas dual 690s would be quite the fortune when the 690 is no longer viable as a single card. Now, the question is, which model of the 680s would you recommend? Also, they come with free games that I already have, so do people typically sell the codes?

Usually just give to friends. I have never heard of anyone selling codes but I suppose its possible probably against some EULA but who gives a %%%%. That said cheapest 680 with dual fans is what I always recommend. Graphics cards are all pretty comparable but get 2 fans on them.