First time build. Video Editing/ Gaming Rig

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Approximate Purchase Date: Mid to end febuary.

Budget Range: $1500 or less after shipping.

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, Rendering and creating Youtube Videos, Watching hd youtube videos, Heavy internet browsing

Are you buying a monitor: No

Parts to Upgrade: N/A

Do you need to buy OS: Yes

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg, amazon, willing to go to other secure sites if product can be found cheaper.

Location: ArkLaTex area

Parts Preferences: Anything quality with a preferable price.

Overclocking: Maybe

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe

Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080

Additional Comments: This is my first build, I have been wanting to get a gaming rig for awhile and have been researching it for some time. I have found it is best to build them yourself. I know very little so any help is appreciated, I am hoping this will become a useful new hobby for me. I create gaming related videos for youtube and I would love for this to not only be able to optimally create the videos but play games for pc as well. As my first build I will be only testing it out and building a $1500 or less build and if I enjoy maybe go for a more extravagant build. I want merely functionality look isn't my priority. Thanks for your help. Also if you know of any tutorials on building I would love a link. I have seen a few so I think I have a fair idea of what to do and jumping right in is the best way to learn. Tips and tricks are appreciated.
 

blake1243

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PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($229.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H80i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($124.99 @ Microcenter)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($38.50 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Crucial M4 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($107.95 @ Mac Connection)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card ($369.99 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Phantom 410 (Gunmetal/Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Professional 650W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1221.37
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-01-27 15:12 EST-0500)
 

blake1243

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It would be dumb to use a locked server CPU over a unlocked 3570k,3770k. Also, server CPU's don't really have any place in a gaming machine. B75 is also not for a $1000 PC... For $20 more the saphire 7970 is a smarter buy (powercooler = terrible support).
 

blake1243

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An overclocked 3570k is way better than a xeon in gaming. If you are not going to overclock the H77 is the best (unless you are on a budget).
 

Fulgurant

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Agreed. There's nothing wrong with b75 for a gaming rig at really any price point, unless you absolutely require overclocking support, Intel SRT cache technology, or support for an unusual amount of SATA drives. Of those three features, only overclocking has any direct relationship to gaming, and it's a pretty tenuous relationship.

Once upon a time, overclocking was something you did to wring high-end performance out of cheap components. Nowadays, at least on the Intel side, overclocking actually costs extra money: you need a very particular model of CPU (a 'K' part), a more expensive motherboard, and an aftermarket CPU cooler. If you genuinely enjoy overclocking, and don't mind spending the extra coin to do so, then more power to you, but a non-overclocked CPU can give you plenty of performance too. Depending on your hardware configuration, not overclocking (your CPU) might even give you more performance per dollar.

Anyway, if the OP does not want to overclock, I'd go with something like this, for a $1500 gaming/video rig:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($289.98 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus P8B75-M/CSM Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($78.24 @ Amazon)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($38.78 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($237.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: HIS Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card ($384.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Antec Three Hundred Two ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 620W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($78.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($15.98 @ Outlet PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $1484.88
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-01-27 16:37 EST-0500)

Pros - lots of storage (good for video) and redundancy, fast SSD for system disk, basically best-in-socket CPU performance, basically best-single-card GPU performance.

Cons - can't overclock, not a whole lot of room to work (micro-ATX motherboard), can't upgrade to Crossfire/SLI, can't read BluRay discs (which may or may not be a big deal if the OP is heavily involved with video editing; for gameplay videos it should be fine).

If the OP does want to experiment with overclocking, then he might go with something more like this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($324.48 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ Best Buy)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($134.99 @ Microcenter)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($38.78 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($237.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: HIS Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card ($384.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Antec Three Hundred Two ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 620W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($78.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($15.98 @ Outlet PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $1496.13
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-01-27 16:59 EST-0500)

Pros - same as above, except it's also overclockable and it allows you the option to use a second graphics card in Crossfire in the future.

Con - less storage/redundancy, still can't read Blu Ray discs.
 

blake1243

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I'm pretty sure fore $1500 he is going to want to overclock. That is why i highly disagree with the B75 and Xeon. And no B75 isn't bad, but H77 is for a higher budget. Although Z77 is a must for overclocking.
 

Fulgurant

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The OP said he might be interested in overclocking, which is why I included an overclockable (z77) build. But if he doesn't want to overclock, there's no obvious reason to dismiss b75 out of hand. It's meaningless simply to say, "X is for a higher budget," if you can't articulate exactly what X gives you that Y does not.

My only point was that high-end motherboards often offer features that most people will never use. If you do want to use a particular feature, then by all means, grab a motherboard that offers it -- but buying a more expensive motherboard just because you're willing to spend more on your build seems silly to me. Most people are better off putting that extra money elsewhere than they are buying features they're not interested in just in case.

In my experience building PCs over the last 15 years or so (not professionally, but still), by the time you're concerned about a just-in-case feature, you're usually better off buying a new system anyway.

All of that said, the OP seems to have a fairly high budget here, not just for this particular build but in general. He seems like he wants to experiment, so maybe just-in-case features are up his alley. If so, then he might even be better off springing for one of the really high-premium z77 boards. Who knows.
 

Fulgurant

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That's like saying that anyone who buys a Corvette would be an idiot not to fiddle with his engine. Absurd.

You can get plenty of performance out of stock parts at that price point, and in fact, the more money you're willing to throw at a build, the less important overclocking becomes in the grand scheme of things. Overclocking is something that enthusiasts do because they enjoy it; it's not something that offers such huge performance gains, and with so little effort, that everyone should feel obligated to do it.
 

blake1243

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That was the worse comparison I have read on Tom's. Nowadays all he has to do is bump up a few numbers and bam, you the overclock. I'm not arguing anymore because I don't feel obligated to prove anything anymore. 3770k and Z77 seems like best combo for the OP.
 

Fulgurant

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How easy it is to overclock isn't relevant. The point is that $1500 buys you massive performance even at stock. Remember that we're talking about just the CPU here. Remember also that i5 and i7 processors come with a Turbo function that kicks in any time you have heavy load on fewer-than-four cores. Remember too that Ivy Bridge is hard to keep cool at higher voltages.

The bottom line is that you're not going to see a night-and-day performance increase, in practical terms, from overclocking the CPU unless you have a very specific (and very important) CPU-bound task in mind -- or unless you spend a lot of time/money/effort on the cooling solution. By the way, recommending a liquid cooler, closed-loop or not, to a first time builder seems asinine to me, but YMMV. It's not like a cheap closed loop cooler (like the one you recommended) even offers massive performance benefits over a similarly priced air cooler, these days.

Regardless, I happen to agree with you that z77 and 3770k are good possibilities for the OP, which is why one of the builds I suggested included those parts. You're the one who decided to make grand, sweeping statements about system building in general without supporting them. You're the one who decided to take the absurd, closed-minded-teenaged-enthusiast position that anyone who doesn't overclock is stupid.
 

blake1243

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Now you are just trying to continue the argument. And in games like Skyrim you can sqeeze out about 20-30 fps from overclocking, seems like a significant performance increase to me.
 

blake1243

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No offense, but just because you have someone going against me doesn't make you right. I am not the one who comes on here and recommends a server CPU and a B75 motherboard, in a $1500 build.... I see your posts on here and it just makes me wonder... you just put together stuff without actually KNOWING what each part is.. I hate being an ass to people but seriously you can't just sit here and stand behind someone like you actually have something to get out of it. Telling someone to pull there head out of there ass when they don't know what they are talking about is just plain ignorant. Why don't you just stop replying, and find something better to do.
 

Fulgurant

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An argument you started. An argument that you seem intent to continue even after you said you were done.

Skyrim? You mean the game that requires vsync? Are you trying to tell me that an i7 3770, when paired with an appropriately high-powered GPU, is incapable of producing 60 FPS in Skyrim at stock? Okay, dude. Continue with your myopic-enthusiast elitism. People who don't overclock aren't stupid, though. The fact that you think otherwise is neither here nor there.

But hey, at least you've provided something approaching a rational argument in the above-quoted post. That's progress.
 

blake1243

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So now you are assuming the OP wants vsync? and no, the games doesn't require vsync, its pretty easy to turn off. And my myopic-enthusiast elitism is just in your head. Also, i'm not trying to come off as an ass, you seem like a intelligent human being. Noob12 is who is giving bad advice.
 

bctande1

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PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($229.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus 76.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z75 Pro3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($84.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($38.78 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: OCZ Vector Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($238.90 @ Amazon)
Video Card: HIS Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card ($384.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($75.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($15.98 @ Outlet PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $1399.54
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-01-27 18:15 EST-0500)

Whaddaya think?
 

Fulgurant

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No, I was talking about Skyrim's physics/timing issues with Vsync disabled. I don't play the game, so I can only go by what I read. If there's a way around that limitation, then fine.

And I referred to myopic-enthusiast elitism because your position is the kind of thing that only myopic enthusiasts would argue. "Only idiots don't overclock," is a statement that completely ignores the average user, not to mention the original design of the hardware. Fact is, most people don't care enough about computers even to consider overclocking. That doesn't make them dumb, any more than failing to do your own mechanic work, or plumbing work, or electric work, or carpentry work makes you dumb.

There are, in short, always value advantages to be gained if you're willing to put in the extra time and effort to learn the ins and outs of a particular thing. You and I are computer enthusiasts; that's great. But most of the world doesn't share our enthusiasm.

That said, I'm sure you're a good person and you have given pretty good advice in this thread, all things considered. I don't wanna kill you for saying something offhandedly in a forum thread. I just didn't want the OP to get the wrong idea, to feel like he had to overclock for fear of violating some sort of arcane computer-value ethos. ;)

My apologies if I've come off as hyper-critical.
 

Fulgurant

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You and I are on the same wavelength. :)

The only disadvantage I can see, from a cursory inspection of the motherboard in question, is that it might not allow for Crossfire support down the road. (Edit: Could be wrong about that, actually. It says it does have Crossfire support. My fault.)

Hadn't thought about z75 though. Interesting thought.
 

bctande1

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Fulgrant -- Thanks for the Feedback !

I like the constructive approach you take with things, and I definitely agree with you on overclocking. I realized it's a non-necessity when I managed to get so much performance out of 500-700$ PCs I regularly build by simply excluding "K" processors, and Z77 motherboards.

As far as Crossfire, I agree it is a bit of a disadvantage. The CX600 would'nt work and neither would a Seasonic 620W for that matter, but the 7970 with recent drivers is an absolute beast, and will be for time to come. I guess it's up to the OP to decide.

Any other feedback is welcome.
 

Fulgurant

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Thanks for the kind words. One other thing just occurred to me: I'd avoid the OCZ Vector SSD. For that price, you could easily pick up a Samsung 840 Pro or an Intel 330 at an analogous capacity.

It's a small thing, but OCZ is objectively less reliable.

EDIT
: I only mention Crossfire as a point of mild interest. Personally, I don't have much use for dual-graphics configurations; I think you're almost always better off just upgrading to a newer single-card option if your current card starts to show signs of age. It's more power-efficient and less hassle than trying to add a second card years down the line.

Multi-GPU options are only important if you're used to gaming at obscene resolutions, IMO.
 

bctande1

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Crossfire - I agree 100%

OCZ - I think that if you look at that article it's clear that the older OCZ SSDs were distorting picture a bit. I mean, 40% return rate. Anyway, the page after makes the point -

"Among the most popular models, things are much better, with the exception of the Agility 4: 0.93% on the Vertex 4s, 1.22% on the Vertex 3s, 2.59% on the Agility 3s and 5.60% on the Agility 4s."

OCZ spent much time doing the Vector series drives, employing a new controller and such. I think it would be reasonable to say that the Vector will run just fine.

To be honest, IMO the choice between Vector/Sammy/Intel is negligible for the most part, but I don't tinker with SSDs often