$1500-1600 Gaming build

[Fireforhire]

Approximate Purchase Date: 2-3 Weeks from now maybe slightly more.


Budget Range: $1500-1600


System Usage from Most to Least Important:Gaming, Surfing the net, Watching movies


Are you buying a monitor:Yes



Do you need to buy OS: No

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg.com, Amazon.com, Microcenter.com (live near enough for in-store microcenter)


Location: Ohio , USA

Overclocking: Maybe (most likely small bits)


SLI or Crossfire:Maybe Depends on whats best for cash


Your Monitor Resolution: have a 1600X900 but am getting a 1920X1080 and making the 1600X900 a display for surfing/video watching between game matches


Additional Comments: Prefer a cast REALLY good airflow and a window if possible with some led lighting to light up the components


Why Are You Upgrading: Im looking to upgrade due to the speed of my current system... as well as i am building this for my senior project for school (going to a vocational school for computing)


Ideal parts for now- (please help lower price as well as boost performance)


CPU- I7-3770K http://microcenter.com/product/388575/Core_i7_3770K_35GHz_LGA_1155_Processor
MOBO- Asrock Z77 Extreme4 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157293
HDD- WD Caviar Black http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Caviar-Internal-Desktop/dp/B0036Q7MV0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1357084681&sr=8-1&keywords=WD+Caviar+Black
PSU- Corsair HX 750W http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139010
RAM-G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 1600MHz http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231568
CPU Cooler- Noctua NH-D14 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608018
Case- Thermaltake Chaser MK-I http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133191
Monitor- ASUS 23'' 1920X1080 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236079
GPU- Sapphire 7970 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202008
Disk Drive- LITE-ON DVD Burner http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106289


my mouse will be 71 dollars and the mouse mat will be 20 dollars....


Total= $ 1575 (rounded)

This is my first time posting on any type of fourm so tell me if i did anything wrong....
this will be my first time building a complete system by myself.
please help me get the best bang for my buck at long as i dont go over 1600 this build will be great for me im partial to intel CPU's and AMD gpus (for now due to the price to performance)

if it helps im nervious and feel like i left things out so take it easy on any hate please

 

[jonjonjon]

the 3770k doesnt help with gaming. do you use any programs that take advantage of hyperthreading? if not i would get the 3570k. microcenter has a combo with the 3570k for $170 and the extreme4 for $95. i would get something like this. you could add a 2nd 7970 if you wanted. if you dont want a 2nd 7970 you could save some money on the psu.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($169.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($134.98 @ Outlet PC)
Memory: Mushkin Blackline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($35.57 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($67.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Intel 330 Series 240GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($159.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card ($339.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Corsair Vengeance C70 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: XFX 850W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($94.25 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224BB DVD/CD Writer ($15.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1128.72
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-01-01 19:35 EST-0500)

 

[Fireforhire]

hmmm no i was just thinking if i got an i7 i could be a little future proofed and that does sound like a good build but could i get 4GHz out of the i5 with 212 evo? and i hear the XFX 7970's run a little warm and the PSU's are a little iffy but it does look like a good build maybe someone will give me some more ideas and i can take the best of all

 

[fudoka711]

You said you are going to a vocational school for computing. Do you know if you'll be running a lot of CPU intensive and/or heavily threaded programs there? If so, stick with the 3770k. Otherwise, if the most intensive thing you think you'll end up doing is gaming, go with the 3570k. Games don't take advantage of more than 4 cores.

For overclocking, you should easily reach 4ghz even on the stock cooler, which you will not be using. Using my Hyper 212 Evo on my 3570k @4.5ghz, I get temps of ~55-60C during the winter and 60C-70C during the summer. Idle temps are like 20-25C during winter and 25-30C during the summer.

As for the 7970, you should still be fine. Yes, it does run a little warm (all 7970's do while under load). For the single best gaming GPU out there, you should stick with the 7970. It also performs better in compute applications than the gtx 680. Since you're going to a computer school, I would say the 7970 is probably better.

As for the 7970, yes it runs warm.

I like the build jonjon posted. Using an ssd really speeds up your system as well. You won't need 16gb of ram like you originally posted unless you will be doing a lot of programming and such (like I said, I don't exactly know what you'll be doing at school). 8gb is more than enough for gaming.

For the HDD, I would actually stay with the WD Caviar Black 1TB or 2TB rather than the Seagate model. WD Black editions tend to be of a slightly higher build quality and have better performance/reliability.

 

[jonjonjon]

the xfx psu's are just rebranded seasonic's they are good.
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=217

its not really going to future proof anything. unless games start taking advantage of hyperthreading and more then 4 cores.

every cpu is different there is no guarantee you will hit any speed on an overclock. that said you shouldn't have any problems getting 4-4.2 GHz. you cold always buy a more expensive cooler if you wanted.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/LGA-2011-i7-3960X-Air-Overclocking,3130-17.html

i haven't seen any reviews saying the xfx 7970 cards run any hotter. and $320 after MIR is really cheap.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5736415&CatId=7387

 

[Fireforhire]

i was thinking that i would still stick to the WD black drive for it but he forgot a monitor and from what i read XFX 7970's are hotter then others....
also the XFX PSU from what i hear XFX is lower grade PSU mind you it is cheap but its one of those things where i would no want to skimp on them but i like the idea for i5 with the MOBO on sale that sounds good... so far so good more suggestions still would be nice from more people i like being 100% sure about stuff so im going to let this go a while longer see if i can get a few more ideas and maximize my build since i still have a few weeks before buying

 

[jonjonjon]

can you show me where XFX are hotter? i can post multiple reviews saying the opposite but i wont.

did you even look at the review of the XFX psu? ill say it again its just a rebranded seasonic. there is nothing low grade about it. just please dont tell me your going to buy a corsair or some other vompany that also just buy's psu from seasonic. you can go spend $100+ on a psu if you want.

 

[Fireforhire]

well im looking into getting what u said but as i stated i would like to get more people in here's opinion before buying considering im still 2-3 weeks away and i see what your saying about the rebranded psu and also theres only a 5C diff or so betwen the evo and noctua but the evo is also running at a much higher fanspeed which equals more noise but it still looks good as i said i would just like more opinions as i am very anal when it comes to spending money and the more i can spend on quality parts (not that the ones u picked arnt) the better just to make sure i get all i can for the money

 

[techdude9]

i was thinking that i would still stick to the WD black drive for it but he forgot a monitor and from what i read XFX 7970's are hotter then others....
also the XFX PSU from what i hear XFX is lower grade PSU mind you it is cheap but its one of those things where i would no want to skimp on them but i like the idea for i5 with the MOBO on sale that sounds good... so far so good more suggestions still would be nice from more people i like being 100% sure about stuff so im going to let this go a while longer see if i can get a few more ideas and maximize my build since i still have a few weeks before buying

As stated above, XFX is just a rebranded SeaSonic PSU. SeaSonic is one of the most quality PSU brands on the market. You wouldn't be skimping. Anyways:

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/vonM
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/vonM/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/vonM/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($169.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($144.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Mushkin Blackline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($35.57 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: OCZ Vertex 4 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition 3GB Video Card ($439.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 650D ATX Mid Tower Case ($149.93 @ Mac Connection)
Power Supply: XFX 850W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($94.25 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($24.98 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Asus VH232H 23.0" Monitor ($144.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1444.66
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-01-01 21:04 EST-0500)

 

[jonjonjon]

i'm not saying the EVO is better just cheaper and for the most part it's good enough. it doesn't bother me if you don't like the parts i picked just wanted to point out that the 2 XFX aren't bad.

if you aren't going with 2 7970's for $1500+ you probably should. then you can save money with and get the Corsair G700 for $65.
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-power-supply-cmpsu700g

 

[dish_moose]

Let me say this - maybe it will get through - the XFX power supply linked above is a GREAT power supply. If you want better efficiency go for Gold.

 

[Fireforhire]

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/voBo

How is this i keep choosing the case because of the size and the amount of fan/airflow u can have if anyone has a better solutions just as big/spacious and airflowing at a better price please recomend somthing else
also the color i was looking for is blue in it but part of it is cut back due to MOBO but since theres that deal going at microcenter this computer is practically 70 dollars or so cheaper then it states.... (any more recomendations would be nice)

 

[palladin9479]

its not really going to future proof anything. unless games start taking advantage of hyperthreading and more then 4 cores.

And a few years ago they rarely used more then two threads. There was a rash of i3 benchmarks showing the same "FPS" as i7's. And while personally I think it's robbery that Intel is charging a premium for what is essentially a single bit flag inside the CPU, I can see where it'll be worth it.

In either case the build looks good.

 

[jonjonjon]

i don't disagree with anything you said and if you can afford the $100 go for it. as long as your not subtracting from something else in order to get the i7. i have a 3770k.

 

[Fireforhire]

k well great chat i think i got a good idea of what to do ty

 

[Fireforhire]

Best answer selected by Fireforhire.