Building a new desktop, need some opinions for my choices

[le perp]

Hi guys, i'm buying components to build a desktop for the first time, so would like your opinions and suggestions, they will be very helpful and thank you ahead for your time. =]

Approximate Purchase Date: this week or no after next week

System Usage from Most to Least Important: music/video/photo editing/rendering, gaming, surfing

Are you buying a monitor: yep

Do you need to buy OS: nope

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: since at the moment i live in sweden, it's more convenient (link), but i haven't decided yet since buying from other sites are cheaper, need to pay extra for warranties tho

Overclocking: sure thing but not necessary since i'm not gaming that much at the moment

SLI or Crossfire: maybe, but for now i'm just buying one video card and one monitor, maybe can be useful later on

Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080


***And here are the components i have in mind***
(links to their specifications for reference | links to the web page that i actually will be buying)

Case: nzxt tempest 410 elite black case (link) | (buy)

Power Suppy: Fractal Design Newton R2, 1000W 80+ Modular (link) | (buy)

Motherboard: Asus P9X79 DELUXE (link) | (buy)


Processor: Intel Core i7 3820 3.6 GHz (link) | (buy)

Memory: Corsair 16GB (2x8192MB) CL10 1600Mhz VENGEANCE LP red (can't find any correct link ) | (buy)

Graphic card: MSI GeForce GTX 660 2048MB TwinFrozr III (link) | (buy)

Hard drive: 1TB Seagate Barracuda 7200rpm SATA 6Gbit/s (link) | (buy)

Monitor: Dell 22'' S2240L IPS (link) | (buy)

Keyboard: USB + PS / 2 Flexible Foldable Silicone Keyboard, Black (it seems fun to have =p ) (link) | (buy)


Please do tell your opinions/suggestion and reason why, if there is something that don't fit, or can be built in a better way, do point out so i can change item before it's too late. Thanks

 

[twelve25]

i7-3770 is slightly faster and uses cheaper motherboards, so depending on local prices, I might look at that as an option. Also AMD FX-8350 is excellent for Editing/rendering/encoding type tasks.

The rest of it looks very good. Although I'd get a bigger monitor for all the editing you want to do, budget permitting.

 

[BreadWhistle]

Fractal design makes PSU's?? I wouldn't trust them. And you don't need anywhere near 1000W. Grab a XFX Pro 550 or a Seasonic M12II 620 Power supply.

Also I'd also skip out on the 660 as it's 192 bit bus width really holds it back when using any type of AA. I'd get a 7870 or right now a Sapphire 7870XT if you can spare the extra change. On America's US website, it's on sale for $249.99 (The exact amount I payed for my PC 7870) But comes with about ~200ish more stream processors.

And if you want to overclock your CPU at all to get a bit faster performance, Switch to a 3770k and a Z77 motherboard, and get a Hyper 212 EVO or better. With the stock fan and a locked multiplier, you are only going to look at a very small overclock, and higher temps. Just my .02

 

[le perp]

i7-3770 is slightly faster and uses cheaper motherboards, so depending on local prices, I might look at that as an option. Also AMD FX-8350 is excellent for Editing/rendering/encoding type tasks.

The rest of it looks very good. Although I'd get a bigger monitor for all the editing you want to do, budget permitting.

I do find a few types of i7-3770 available for me, which is Intel Core i7 3770 3,4Ghz/3770K 3,5Ghz/3770S 3,1Ghz (Ivy Bridge) and 3770T 2.5Ghz Low Power... and 3770K seems to have a higher speed, other than that they are basically the same right?

And i think i'd stick with intel, not going for AMD but thanks anyway

 

[BreadWhistle]

3770 has a locked multiplier (NO overclocking) 3770k has an unlocked multi (ALL overclocking) 3770S (Slow(er) less TDP) and the TDP is a bit lower, no OCing) and finally the 3770T which supports no overclocking, and only has a 2.5 GHz clock, but sports a nice 45 TDP

 

[le perp]

Fractal design makes PSU's?? I wouldn't trust them. And you don't need anywhere near 1000W. Grab a XFX Pro 550 or a Seasonic M12II 620 Power supply.

Also I'd also skip out on the 660 as it's 192 bit bus width really holds it back when using any type of AA. I'd get a 7870 or right now a Sapphire 7870XT if you can spare the extra change. On America's US website, it's on sale for $249.99 (The exact amount I payed for my PC 7870) But comes with about ~200ish more stream processors.

And if you want to overclock your CPU at all to get a bit faster performance, Switch to a 3770k and a Z77 motherboard, and get a Hyper 212 EVO or better. With the stock fan and a locked multiplier, you are only going to look at a very small overclock, and higher temps. Just my .02

I thought a double/triple Wattage higher than what actual need would be better, but seems that i'm wrong. But why is Fractal design bad? I've searched on the site that i'll do the purchase, and i only found the followings, XFX Pro Series 650W/750W/850W 80+ Bronze, and some XFX black edition that have ~1000W and up, Core edition 550-850W and others are at lower W. And too bad there is no Seasonic available there.

The graphic card Sapphire 7870XT isn't available at the site neither, and i'm not sure the first "7870" refers to, do u mean also Sapphire 7870? But right now Sapphire isn't found at all, is there an alternative suggestion?

I also found Intel Core i7 3770K 3,5Ghz (Ivy Bridge), Asus upgrade packs Core i7 3770K which is with Asus SABERTOOTH Z77 and also MSI upgrade package Intel Core i7 3770K which is with MSI Z77A-S01... and i also see this High-performance Mini ITX Intel 3770K / GeForce GTX 680 which will be with Asus P8Z77-I DELUXE mITX, GeForce GTX 680, 256 GB Samsung SSD Pro Basic 840-Series, 3 TB Western Digital Caviar Green, with case BitFenix ​​Prodigy Black. Memory's name wasn't mentioned but is stated 16GB, DDR3, 1600MHz... those full package i assume they can't be bought separately, so the only choice would be 3770K, then i need to retake a motherboard... what do you think of those package?

 

[BreadWhistle]

Apparently, you are only going to use about 380W when at 100% load (The odds of EVERYTHING pulling 100% load is very low). With a 550W PSU, that leaves 150w left for overclocking, and maybe an upgrade to a 7950 or 660ti if you stretch it. With 620w, that's an easy thing to accomplish. You are only going to need 1000w if you are running tri-SLI with 3 670's

But why that website? It seems to not have a lot of the best components, and the ones they have are overpriced >_>

 

[le perp]

3770 has a locked multiplier (NO overclocking) 3770k has an unlocked multi (ALL overclocking) 3770S (Slow(er) less TDP) and the TDP is a bit lower, no OCing) and finally the 3770T which supports no overclocking, and only has a 2.5 GHz clock, but sports a nice 45 TDP

I see, i'd like to overclock so i guess 3770k would be it.. but the thing is that it's in a package that includes Asus SABERTOOTH Z77, with memory (name not stated) 16GB, DDR3 and 1600MHz, and alos with a ESD wrist strap which i'm not sure what it's for

 

[le perp]

Apparently, you are only going to use about 380W when at 100% load (The odds of EVERYTHING pulling 100% load is very low). With a 550W PSU, that leaves 150w left for overclocking, and maybe an upgrade to a 7950 or 660ti if you stretch it. With 620w, that's an easy thing to accomplish. You are only going to need 1000w if you are running tri-SLI with 3 670's

But why that website? It seems to not have a lot of the best components, and the ones they have are overpriced >_>

alright, i got the wattage thing, thanks i guess it will be XFX Pro Series 650W 80+ Bronze (buy) then..

and i buy from this site is because it's within my country and with warranties... some websites don't give warranties where you need to pay extra for... and it's troublesome to send back if there will be some problems (i guess )

 

[BreadWhistle]

It depends how much it costs. For one, the Sabertooth is pretty overpriced, and the thermal armor does nothing but trap dust, and the memory seems fine, but who knows, it could have a Cas Latency of 11 and is some ugly green color w/ no heatsink.

And also an ESD band is a wrist strap that you clamp on to something metal, to keep the static that could be in your hand away from your motherboard, as you could fry it that easily.

 

[BreadWhistle]

Well I guess you don't have much of a choice but to buy there, as tax from Newegg.com is crazy for international shipping. I'm lucky they have a warehouse just about 40 miles south-west of me in Memphis

And, it looks like the only 7870's they have are the Powercolor and ASUS brands. But I'd get the ASUS if you could, even though it's about as expensive as a 7950 is here ...

 

[le perp]

It depends how much it costs. For one, the Sabertooth is pretty overpriced, and the thermal armor does nothing but trap dust, and the memory seems fine, but who knows, it could have a Cas Latency of 11 and is some ugly green color w/ no heatsink.

And also an ESD band is a wrist strap that you clamp on to something metal, to keep the static that could be in your hand away from your motherboard, as you could fry it that easily.

ye the Asus SABERTOOTH Z77 motherboard itself is quite cheap, but just with that core i think it's overpriced too and the ESD band sounds useless, totally

 

[le perp]

Well I guess you don't have much of a choice but to buy there, as tax from Newegg.com is crazy for international shipping. I'm lucky they have a warehouse just about 40 miles south-west of me in Memphis

And, it looks like the only 7870's they have are the Powercolor and ASUS brands. But I'd get the ASUS if you could, even though it's about as expensive as a 7950 is here ...

the shipping isn't much a problem, i worry more about the warranty and sending back stuffs... ah well, i guess i'll go with this site...

so do you suggest i get the overpriced one? how about the MSI upgrade package Intel Core i7 3770K (buy) which come with MSI Z77A-S01

 

[le perp]

Well I guess you don't have much of a choice but to buy there, as tax from Newegg.com is crazy for international shipping. I'm lucky they have a warehouse just about 40 miles south-west of me in Memphis

And, it looks like the only 7870's they have are the Powercolor and ASUS brands. But I'd get the ASUS if you could, even though it's about as expensive as a 7950 is here ...

And i think i just over looked someone... i just found Intel Core i7 3770K 3,5Ghz (Ivy Bridge) (buy) which can be bought alone, just want to make sure that it's the one can overclock...

BTW, just wondering, how do you tell which core can overclock, which one can't?

 

[BreadWhistle]

If it has the K at the end, you can overclock each core. If it doesn't it's a bit more complicated, as 1 core could be at 3.9, the others at 3.7.... it's confusing. I'd buy everything individually since you know exactly what you are getting. Some good motherboards are the Asrock Z77 Extreme 4/6, and the ASUS boards are great also.

 

[le perp]

If it has the K at the end, you can overclock each core. If it doesn't it's a bit more complicated, as 1 core could be at 3.9, the others at 3.7.... it's confusing. I'd buy everything individually since you know exactly what you are getting. Some good motherboards are the Asrock Z77 Extreme 4/6, and the ASUS boards are great also.

alright thanks so far, i will take a look at some new items and come back to you later on =]

 

[le perp]

If it has the K at the end, you can overclock each core. If it doesn't it's a bit more complicated, as 1 core could be at 3.9, the others at 3.7.... it's confusing. I'd buy everything individually since you know exactly what you are getting. Some good motherboards are the Asrock Z77 Extreme 4/6, and the ASUS boards are great also.

BTW just to make sure when i look for motherboard, i guess i don't need the ones that come with graphic card right? since i'm buying it separately.

Also is it very important to have 8 slots for memory chips and 64 GB maximum memory on it? or is 4 slots and 32GB enough?

 

[le perp]

Also I'd also skip out on the 660 as it's 192 bit bus width really holds it back when using any type of AA.

now i'm looking at graphic card, you said 192 bit bus width really holds it back when using any type of AA (not sure what's AA ), do you then suggest to take a higher one?

ASUS GeForce GTX 550 Ti 1024MB DirectCU is also 192 bit

ASUS GeForce GTX 650/650Ti 1024MB DirectCU etc. they are 128 bit

and ASUS GeForce GTX 670 2048MB DirectCUII etc. and up they go up to 256 bit, and more expensive

 

[BreadWhistle]

You don't need a motherboard w/ integrated GPU, since you allready will have a gpu, and your CPU has an integrated GPU. Also, you are NEVER going to use 32GB of RAM. I have 12GB in mine, and I will only use about 8 of that if I'm doing some crazy video editing.

And you can get exactly what I have HERE for 2399KR. That's about $350 USD, which is a lot, but I'm not sure what the standards are over in Sweden. It's very fast, comparable to a 660ti.

But out of the ones you listed, the 670 is best by miles. The 550ti is outright terrible, as the 7770 beats it in most everything. The 650ti is an entry-level card for low-res gaming under 1080p. But I still stand by the 7870 as the better card. Bang for the buck, performance, it's all perfect.

 

[le perp]

You don't need a motherboard w/ integrated GPU, since you allready will have a gpu, and your CPU has an integrated GPU. Also, you are NEVER going to use 32GB of RAM. I have 12GB in mine, and I will only use about 8 of that if I'm doing some crazy video editing.

And you can get exactly what I have HERE for 2399KR. That's about $350 USD, which is a lot, but I'm not sure what the standards are over in Sweden. It's very fast, comparable to a 660ti.

But out of the ones you listed, the 670 is best by miles. The 550ti is outright terrible, as the 7770 beats it in most everything. The 650ti is an entry-level card for low-res gaming under 1080p. But I still stand by the 7870 as the better card. Bang for the buck, performance, it's all perfect.

Alright. i see you the one you suggested is an AMD card, can you explain why AMD over Nvidia? is it good for both video/photo editing and gaming? 'cause i thought Nvidia was better maybe i was wrong back to 7870, it has high bus (256 bit) but lower memory frequency (1250Mhz), wouldn't it be better to have a high bus with a higher memory frequency? ASUS GeForce GTX 670 2048MB DirectCUII (buy) for example, or does the memory frequency matter much?

(bear with me, i think this would be the last component =])

 

[BreadWhistle]

Well the question about the memory speed is a bit hard to answer. What Nvidia does is show the "Effective" speed, which is "quad pumped" and not the true clock of the memory. So if you take 6008 and divide it by 4, you get 1502, only 252 Mhz faster than the 7870's 1250mhz clock, and you aren't really going to notice that. But AMD does have this effective clock also, as I'm sure I've seen it listen on ASUS's GPU tweak overclocking software, when I OC my 7870. (~5400ish?)

And I think I forgot to explain to you Anti-Aliasing (AA). It basically takes hard, jagged edges and smooths them out, to have a more clean look. Below is an example.
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR7brvL6d4RE86l1bXLBKkc3vGVLwxNi2-RefNh-QcrVxBye8MgoQ

AA filters use a lot of your GPU's resources, so having more AA enabled = less frames. If you have a GPU with a 192 bit bus width, that's less that can go in/out of the GPU at one time, and with AA taking up a lot of space, it could easily bottleneck at higher AA settings, and thus giving you less frames than you should be.

 

[le perp]

Well the question about the memory speed is a bit hard to answer. What Nvidia does is show the "Effective" speed, which is "quad pumped" and not the true clock of the memory. So if you take 6008 and divide it by 4, you get 1502, only 252 Mhz faster than the 7870's 1250mhz clock, and you aren't really going to notice that. But AMD does have this effective clock also, as I'm sure I've seen it listen on ASUS's GPU tweak overclocking software, when I OC my 7870. (~5400ish?)

And I think I forgot to explain to you Anti-Aliasing (AA). It basically takes hard, jagged edges and smooths them out, to have a more clean look. Below is an example.
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR7brvL6d4RE86l1bXLBKkc3vGVLwxNi2-RefNh-QcrVxBye8MgoQ

AA filters use a lot of your GPU's resources, so having more AA enabled = less frames. If you have a GPU with a 192 bit bus width, that's less that can go in/out of the GPU at one time, and with AA taking up a lot of space, it could easily bottleneck at higher AA settings, and thus giving you less frames than you should be.

ah i see, ok i got it thanks, i'd take that one but at the moment it's not available in store -.- do you suggest asus/xfx or others, i.e. Asus Radeon HD7850 2048MB DirectCUII V2 (buy) /Asus HD7870 (basically the same specs but with 2 power connectors, important?) (buy), or do you still suggest PowerColors Radeon HD7870 2048MB Ghz Edition (V2) (buy)

 

[BreadWhistle]

Well, even though the specs seem the same, the 7870 is a lot better than the 7850. 256 more stream processors, and what really makes the difference, the core speed. The 7850 seems to stay around 900Mhz vs the 7870's 1100MHz+. As far as i know, there isn't a 7870 that isn't a GHz edition. If you are getting a 650w power supply, this shouldn't bother you too much. It uses another 6 pin connector, since it needs a bit more power. Here are some benchmarks on 7850 vs 7870
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/549?vs=548

And as far as those go, I can only recommend the ASUS 7870. The 7850 is weaker, and the Powercolor one I wouldn't trust. I can stand by ASUS as a great brand. But with Powercolor, the Vortex II edition I bought, after 2-3 weeks needed an RMA, so I am currently playing off of my HD2500 integrated GPU.

 

[le perp]

Well, even though the specs seem the same, the 7870 is a lot better than the 7850. 256 more stream processors, and what really makes the difference, the core speed. The 7850 seems to stay around 900Mhz vs the 7870's 1100MHz+. As far as i know, there isn't a 7870 that isn't a GHz edition. If you are getting a 650w power supply, this shouldn't bother you too much. It uses another 6 pin connector, since it needs a bit more power. Here are some benchmarks on 7850 vs 7870
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/549?vs=548

And as far as those go, I can only recommend the ASUS 7870. The 7850 is weaker, and the Powercolor one I wouldn't trust. I can stand by ASUS as a great brand. But with Powercolor, the Vortex II edition I bought, after 2-3 weeks needed an RMA, so I am currently playing off of my HD2500 integrated GPU.

i see, then 7870 it is. Btw that's an interesting site you used there, first time see it

alright my items are decided, i think i will also buy 3 addition new fans to put in the case. also i don't think the motherboard or anything will come with any cables, i will send an email to ask them tho, just to be sure. but the fans i'm thinking Nexus 120mm PWM (buy) or do you have any better, or is it good enough?

my check list if you can take a glance to be sure =]

power supply: XFX Pro Series 650W 80+ Bronze [buy]

case: NZXT Tempest 410 Elite Black [buy]

motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V [buy]

hard drive: 1TB Seagate Barracuda 7200rpm [buy]

memory: Corsair 16GB (2x8192MB) CL10 1600Mhz VENGEANCE LP RED x2 [buy]

processor: Intel Core i7 3770K 3,5Ghz (Ivy Bridge) [buy]

graphic card: Asus Radeon HD7870 2048MB DirectCUII V2 [buy]

monitor: Dell 22'' S2240L IPS [buy]

if i'm not mistaking any of above, then i'll be buying them the coming week.

 

[BreadWhistle]

Also, since you are going to be overclocking, get a CPU cooler. I'd recommend the Hyper 212 EVO as it is cheap but does a great job at keeping your CPU cool.