Help: First Gaming PC ($2200)

[Funkid515]

Hey! I've posted before but that's before my budget went up, so I've picked out some better parts and was hoping to get some feedback on it. I'll probably be putting it together around mid-march so if anything comes out then that is better just let me know. I'm not going to overclock as son as I get it, probably a year or two. Here's the list from pcpartpicker.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/ErIF

 

[jrgray93]

Looks like a fun build. Just don't forget your operating system will be an expense as well, unless you already have it.

May I suggest looking into a fan speed controller? You can mount it in a 5 1/4 inch bay and it will let you keep your PC quiet.

If you want to upgrade for Blu Ray playback, you can get a BD player / DVD burner combo drive for around $50 as well.

I have a similar build, but I spent significantly less on my motherboard, storage, and case.

 

[Devam]

For your budget have a look at this : http://secure.newegg.com/Shopping/ShoppingCart.aspx

And yes the fx 8350 is better than the i7 3570k and that's pretty much it if you would like to go over the top I would suggest you to throw in another hd 7950 and you'll have a beastly machine

 

[jrgray93]

For your budget have a look at this : http://secure.newegg.com/Shopping/ShoppingCart.aspx

And yes the fx 8350 is better than the i7 3570k and that's pretty much it if you would like to go over the top I would suggest you to throw in another hd 7950 and you'll have a beastly machine

Nobody can see your personal shopping cart, and the claims of the FX processor being better than a non-existent clashing of the i7 and i5 model numbers are entirely false.

 

[TheBigTroll]

id get this
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/EC8b

-no scam motherboard that actually runs hotter
-cheaper ram
-better cooler
-huge ass SSD isnt worth it. you arent going to store 400gb of games on it. storing movies on a SSD is a waste
-case fans dont always help. in my 550D (a pretty hot running case), they make jack of a difference
-cheaper but just as good psu
-cheaper but just as good monitor
-you can get mech for much cheaper
-you definitely dont need 8200 dpi.
-there are cheaper mouse pads
-the ghz edition cards arent faster than the regular 7970s. the difference can be easily made through a 1min tweak

ram
http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=74758&promoid=1321

hard drive
http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=74462&promoid=1139

case. not fancy, but offers better cabling, silence, and is slightly cheaper. avaliable with white, black, titanium finishes and with or without a window. pick one
http://us.ncix.com/search/?categoryid=0&q=fractal+define+r4

 

[g-unit1111]

Nobody can see your personal shopping cart, and the claims of the FX processor being better than a non-existent clashing of the i7 and i5 model numbers are entirely false.

Yup pretty much any benchmark you can search will back up that claim.

-no scam motherboard that actually runs hotter
-huge ass SSD isnt worth it. you arent going to store 400gb of games on it. storing movies on a SSD is a waste
-case fans dont always help. in my 550D (a pretty hot running case), they make jack of a difference

Agree on all counts. 400GB SSDs aren't worth the high cost per GB. The Sabertooth is overrated and expensive.

-there are cheaper mouse pads

Who uses a mouse pad anymore?

If you want to upgrade for Blu Ray playback, you can get a BD player / DVD burner combo drive for around $50 as well.

But then you have to buy playback software separately and that can add an extra $100, and the movies don't always play back when you want them to. BD-R is such a hassle on PC that it's hard to recommend it.

May I suggest looking into a fan speed controller? You can mount it in a 5 1/4 inch bay and it will let you keep your PC quiet.

Not really needed - I find fan controllers to be more of an inconvenience than a necessity.

Here's what I would suggest on this budget:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($229.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U9B SE2 37.9 CFM CPU Cooler ($60.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UP4 TH ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($192.86 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($55.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: OCZ Vector Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($147.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670 2GB Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($369.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670 2GB Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($369.99 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Switch 810 (White) ATX Full Tower Case ($179.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: NZXT HALE 90 750W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($155.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($21.98 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1970.72
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-02-19 18:19 EST-0500)

Gives you an extra $230 for monitor or any other peripherals you want.

 

[jrgray93]

There are certainly cheaper motherboards. I'm more than happy with my ASRock Z77 Extreme4.

Including EVERYTHING in my rig, cables and misc supplies in all, I spent just under $1,800.

CPU: it-3570k ($189 at MicroCenter)
CPU Cooler: CM Hyper 212 EVO ($29.99)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4: ($94.99, bundled discount with processor at MicroCenter)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X 2x4GB ($44.99)
Storage: 2x WD Velociraptor 300GB in RAID0 ($69.99 each, got both on sale )
Storage: 32GB SanDisk ReadyCache SSD ($49.99, very effective)
Video Cards: 2x Gigabyte Radeon HD 7870 ($259.99 each, one included $110 in free games)
Case: Thermaltake MSI Commander Epic ($49.99)
PSU: OCZ Fatal1ty 750w ($79.99)
Optical Drive: LG Blu-ray Combo Drive Model UH12NS29 ($39.99, on sale on Newegg)
Operating System: Windows 8 Pro Upgrade ($66.99, used an old copy of Windows Vista)

Total: $1,305.88

This doesn't include my monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, 8 120mm fans, 3 40mm fans, fan speed controller, internal cables (SATA, fan splitters, etc.), 3.5" card reader, and 5.25" HDD cooler mount (for 40mm fans).

I have Razer peripherals, which added a big chunk onto the cost. $50 speakers, $150 monitor, and loads of small internal items. She's quiet, cool, and fast.

 

[TheBigTroll]

There are certainly cheaper motherboards. I'm more than happy with my ASRock Z77 Extreme4.

Including EVERYTHING in my rig, cables and misc supplies in all, I spent just under $1,800.

CPU: it-3570k ($189 at MicroCenter)
CPU Cooler: CM Hyper 212 EVO ($29.99)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4: ($94.99, bundled discount with processor at MicroCenter)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X 2x4GB ($44.99)
Storage: 2x WD Velociraptor 300GB in RAID0 ($69.99 each, got both on sale )
Storage: 32GB SanDisk ReadyCache SSD ($49.99, very effective)
Video Cards: 2x Gigabyte Radeon HD 7870 ($259.99 each, one included $110 in free games)
Case: Thermaltake MSI Commander Epic ($49.99)
PSU: OCZ Fatal1ty 750w ($79.99)
Optical Drive: LG Blu-ray Combo Drive Model UH12NS29 ($39.99, on sale on Newegg)
Operating System: Windows 8 Pro Upgrade ($66.99, used an old copy of Windows Vista)

Total: $1,305.88

This doesn't include my monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, 8 120mm fans, 3 40mm fans, fan speed controller, internal cables (SATA, fan splitters, etc.), 3.5" card reader, and 5.25" HDD cooler mount (for 40mm fans).

I have Razer peripherals, which added a big chunk onto the cost. $50 speakers, $150 monitor, and loads of small internal items. She's quiet, cool, and fast.

-assuming that you can get to a microcenter
-velociraptors are pretty terrible sources for fast storage. go get a SSD. no matter how fast your hard drive is set up in a raid, it still will never match a ssd's IOPS rate, which is the thing that makes things snappy
-there is no reason to make a SSD cache unless you are on a budget
-i can get a 7870 xt for 209.99 after a MIR and it would destroy the crap out of your 7870
-there are way better cases for the money. the msi commander given a video review and taking a look at my friends, its pretty crap
-the fatality psus arent that great. for 20 bucks more, i can get a superflower made rosewell capstone that is more efficient, more reliable, and less voltage ripple
-razer keyboards are crap. their blue switches do not feel like blue switches and the overall feel goes down

 

[jrgray93]

-assuming that you can get to a microcenter
-velociraptors are pretty terrible sources for fast storage. go get a SSD. no matter how fast your hard drive is set up in a raid, it still will never match a ssd's IOPS rate, which is the thing that makes things snappy
-there is no reason to make a SSD cache unless you are on a budget
-i can get a 7870 xt for 209.99 after a MIR and it would destroy the crap out of your 7870
-there are way better cases for the money. the msi commander given a video review and taking a look at my friends, its pretty crap
-the fatality psus arent that great. for 20 bucks more, i can get a superflower made rosewell capstone that is more efficient, more reliable, and less voltage ripple
-razer keyboards are crap. their blue switches do not feel like blue switches and the overall feel goes down

Wasn't suggesting this build, merely stating what I was able to get. Your post comes off as extremely pretentious.

My velociraptors don't give me any trouble with speed. They're more than good enough.

The SSD cache actually provides pretty substantial benefits and I'm not dropping hundreds more just to be able to fit all of my programs / games onto one SSD. Sure, it isn't as much of an overall boost as a true SSD, but do I really need my computer to boot from off to logging in in LESS than 15 seconds?

3-5 FPS higher, all of which is beyond the vsync cap? I'm not sweating it.

I don't understand the point of dropping hundreds on cases either. It's a case. It does what it is supposed to do. I've got plenty of airflow through it and it is easy to manage. I don't really need more external bays, so this worked for me.

My PSU hasn't given me any problems either. If efficiency is something You are worried about, there are certainly better choices, but there is no reason to call this a bad PSU.

My Razer keyboard is far from being crap, but you can have that opinion, I suppose.

 

[g-unit1111]

I don't understand the point of dropping hundreds on cases either. It's a case. It does what it is supposed to do. I've got plenty of airflow through it and it is easy to manage. I don't really need more external bays, so this worked for me.

For me the sweet spot for cases is more than $50 but less than $120. Anything less than $50 and there's a LOT of junk out there. Anything more and it's complete overkill. Unless you want like a full liquid setup or something like that, then there's always exceptions to the rule.

Storage: 2x WD Velociraptor 300GB in RAID0 ($69.99 each, got both on sale )
Storage: 32GB SanDisk ReadyCache SSD ($49.99, very effective)

The problem with this storage setup is that 32GB will barely hold a full Windows install and 10K RPM hard drives really aren't that much faster than 7200 RPM hard drives.

There are certainly cheaper motherboards. I'm more than happy with my ASRock Z77 Extreme4.

I include the UP4 on high end rigs for Thunderbolt support - it will support the newest blazing fast controllers, hard drives, video cameras, you name it.

 

[jrgray93]

I don't understand the point of dropping hundreds on cases either. It's a case. It does what it is supposed to do. I've got plenty of airflow through it and it is easy to manage. I don't really need more external bays, so this worked for me.

For me the sweet spot for cases is more than $50 but less than $120. Anything less than $50 and there's a LOT of junk out there. Anything more and it's complete overkill. Unless you want like a full liquid setup or something like that, then there's always exceptions to the rule.

Storage: 2x WD Velociraptor 300GB in RAID0 ($69.99 each, got both on sale )
Storage: 32GB SanDisk ReadyCache SSD ($49.99, very effective)

The problem with this storage setup is that 32GB will barely hold a full Windows install and 10K RPM hard drives really aren't that much faster than 7200 RPM hard drives.

It's a caching SSD. It doesn't have anything installed on it. It just actively caches for all of my programs, increasing load times across the board. This applies to EVERYTHING I do with my PC.

 

[TheBigTroll]

Wasn't suggesting this build, merely stating what I was able to get. Your post comes off as extremely pretentious.

My velociraptors don't give me any trouble with speed. They're more than good enough.

The SSD cache actually provides pretty substantial benefits and I'm not dropping hundreds more just to be able to fit all of my programs / games onto one SSD. Sure, it isn't as much of an overall boost as a true SSD, but do I really need my computer to boot from off to logging in in LESS than 15 seconds?

3-5 FPS higher, all of which is beyond the vsync cap? I'm not sweating it.

I don't understand the point of dropping hundreds on cases either. It's a case. It does what it is supposed to do. I've got plenty of airflow through it and it is easy to manage. I don't really need more external bays, so this worked for me.

My PSU hasn't given me any problems either. If efficiency is something You are worried about, there are certainly better choices, but there is no reason to call this a bad PSU.

My Razer keyboard is far from being crap, but you can have that opinion, I suppose.

-a 120-128gb SSD is more than enough to store games and apps. you dropping almost 200 dollars on your storage system still doesnt achieve the speeds of a SSD in any way. your cache will help out a little, but overall will not affect your IOPS rate

-i get more performance for cheaper. who wins now?

-i never said it was crap. i just said that you can do much better for a bit more money.

-you have not used a DAS, coolermaster, filco, or ducky mechanical keyboard then. they are MUCH better built