- Dec 26, 2012
- 41
- 0
- 10,530
Hi All,
Please rate my build and let me know if I forgot anything. Thanks as always for the great advice, love the community on Tom's Hardware you guys are the best.
Link: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/uOR9
Budget: $3500
Primary Use: Gaming
Other Requirements: Matching aesthetics, high/ultra graphics settings with 40+ FPS
Why I made some of the decisions I made:
1) Intel Core i7-3770K CPU - Seems to be the best LGA 1155 on the market. I looked at LGA 2011 but figured in 6-12 months the price is going to drop by more than 50% so it's not a good time to buy these components.
2) Thermaltake Water 2.0 Extreme - I wanted a 240mm rad cooler mostly for the looks. This one is clearly better than the Corsair model. Its performance is no better or worse than any other high end cooling options (outside of true liquid cooling). In theory I'd prefer a tower, but I hate how they block memory slots.
3) Asus P8Z77-V PRO - I wanted a MOBO with good fan controlling software. That left me to choose between an Intel or an Asus board. There are reports of bugs with the BIOS on Intel boards all over the place so choosing Asus was easy. If Asrock had good fan controller software I would have gone with one of their boards most likely.
4) Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB - This is just a storage drive that I probably won't use all that often. My primary concern is noise level over performance so the WD green series fits my needs perfectly in this category.
5) Thermaltake Armor Revo Snow Edition - This goes great with my color scheme, and I love what they have done with the side panel fan. It's too bad the included fans are crap, I'll need to replace them.
6) Corsair Professional Gold 1200W - This is more power than I need, but my personal preference is to always overspend on your PSU.
7) Microsoft Windows 8 - I like what they've done with the desktop. It will probably be hard to optimize at first, but I'm sure it will be as easy as it is with Windows 7 in the near future.
8) LG USB 2.0 Super Multi Blue Slim Portable Blu-ray - I just don't see the point of having an internal optical drive anymore. I'll probably use this to install the OS then never use it again, but I'd still like to have one available just in case.
9) Sata III cables - Can't get any info from Asus as to what kind of SATA cables they include with the MOBO, so I'm assuming they are SATA II. There are tests that show it doesn't matter, and there are tests that show it does matter. Since they are cheap, I figure why not just get them?
10) BitFenix fans - Great combination of airflow, looks, and low noise level. I prefer PWM over 3-pin voltage control since it gives me more options at lower RPMs. 200mm PWM is not necessary, and besides, 200mm PWM fans don't exist
11) Fan power extension cables - Don't know if I'll need them or not, ordering just incase.
Please rate my build and let me know if I forgot anything. Thanks as always for the great advice, love the community on Tom's Hardware you guys are the best.
Link: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/uOR9
Budget: $3500
Primary Use: Gaming
Other Requirements: Matching aesthetics, high/ultra graphics settings with 40+ FPS
Why I made some of the decisions I made:
1) Intel Core i7-3770K CPU - Seems to be the best LGA 1155 on the market. I looked at LGA 2011 but figured in 6-12 months the price is going to drop by more than 50% so it's not a good time to buy these components.
2) Thermaltake Water 2.0 Extreme - I wanted a 240mm rad cooler mostly for the looks. This one is clearly better than the Corsair model. Its performance is no better or worse than any other high end cooling options (outside of true liquid cooling). In theory I'd prefer a tower, but I hate how they block memory slots.
3) Asus P8Z77-V PRO - I wanted a MOBO with good fan controlling software. That left me to choose between an Intel or an Asus board. There are reports of bugs with the BIOS on Intel boards all over the place so choosing Asus was easy. If Asrock had good fan controller software I would have gone with one of their boards most likely.
4) Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB - This is just a storage drive that I probably won't use all that often. My primary concern is noise level over performance so the WD green series fits my needs perfectly in this category.
5) Thermaltake Armor Revo Snow Edition - This goes great with my color scheme, and I love what they have done with the side panel fan. It's too bad the included fans are crap, I'll need to replace them.
6) Corsair Professional Gold 1200W - This is more power than I need, but my personal preference is to always overspend on your PSU.
7) Microsoft Windows 8 - I like what they've done with the desktop. It will probably be hard to optimize at first, but I'm sure it will be as easy as it is with Windows 7 in the near future.
8) LG USB 2.0 Super Multi Blue Slim Portable Blu-ray - I just don't see the point of having an internal optical drive anymore. I'll probably use this to install the OS then never use it again, but I'd still like to have one available just in case.
9) Sata III cables - Can't get any info from Asus as to what kind of SATA cables they include with the MOBO, so I'm assuming they are SATA II. There are tests that show it doesn't matter, and there are tests that show it does matter. Since they are cheap, I figure why not just get them?
10) BitFenix fans - Great combination of airflow, looks, and low noise level. I prefer PWM over 3-pin voltage control since it gives me more options at lower RPMs. 200mm PWM is not necessary, and besides, 200mm PWM fans don't exist
11) Fan power extension cables - Don't know if I'll need them or not, ordering just incase.
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