First time build, could use a little assurance

[jpk806]

Hello, i'm new to this site and i could use some help/insight on a build i would like to do, but i need a little bit of advice. Could someone please guide me and tell me if there's any parts here that wouldn't comply with one another, or if i should change what i am looking for based on my needs?

what i'm looking for-
- i want to get into gaming and i have about $900-1000 to spend (i would like to spend less but lol lets face it computers aren't cheap machines)
- definitely a dedicated GPU; that's a must
- I want a processor that can easily multitask and can run games at higher settings (not exactly the highest, it doesn't need to be that good)
- storage is kinda iffy at this point. i think if i really ended up needing more that i could splurge on an external HDD or maybe upgrade the internal one
-perhaps some overclocking to get the most out of my pc (just trying to be a little future-sensitive)

What i have picked out online (Please give suggestions/offer criticism!)-
-Thermaltake Commander MS-1 Epic ATX Gaming Mid-Tower $51.99 http://bit.ly/UFWla1
-Thermaltake SMART Series 750 Watt ATX Modular Power Supply $99.99 http://bit.ly/XocsG2
-Intel Core i7 3770K 3.5GHz LGA 1155 Processor $229.99 http://bit.ly/Rh6aIE
-Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H LGA 1155 Z77 ATX Intel Motherboard $149.99 http://bit.ly/SItOLO
-Kingston HyperX 16GB DDR3-1600 (4x4GB) desktop memory $99.99 http://bit.ly/YlHnlq
-EVGA NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2048MB GDDR5 PCIe 3.0 $309.99 http://bit.ly/TgTDEv
-Toshiba 1TB 7,200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive $59.99 http://bit.ly/10eUyXm

Not sure if i need-
-Asus Xonar DG 5.1 PCI Sound Card $31.99 http://bit.ly/VuRfg2
-UPGRADE TO- Zotac NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 2048MB $364.99 http://bit.ly/VuRCY6

SUBTOTAL-
Just what i have picked out online (without the two last things that i dont know if i need) $911.93 (W/o tax)
with sound card $943.92 (W/o tax)
with the GTX 670 instead of GTX 660 Ti $966.93 (W/o tax)
With both the sound card and the GTX 670 instead of GTX 660 Ti $998.92 (W/o tax)

my concerns are-
-The memory- is this good quality RAM? Is the speed good enough? is there too much?
-The PSU- is that enough wattage? too little wattage? good name brand?
-The Mobo- does this have all of the necessary slots and connections? is there a better option?
-The HDD- is this a good brand? should i get a less capacity SSD instead for the same money?
-The GPUs- which one is better for me?
-The processor- i'm pretty sure this is more than enough for my needs, right?
-The whole rig- am i forgetting something? lol i feel like i am.

I know this is a LOADED discussion, lol. All insight is appreciated, especially if you have experience with these components.
Thanks so much!
P.S.--- Do you like the case?

EDIT- I will plan on using Win7 if that changes anything

 

[tiny voices]

That PSU is crap. Get one from Antec, XFX, Corsair, Seasonic
Get an i5 3570k instead of the i7. They are identical in gaming.
Get only 8gb RAM. Games only use 4gb.
No need for a sound card.
Get a HDD from Western Digital or Seagate.
The motherboard is a bit pricey.

 

[ARICH5]

dont need a sound card unless you have like 400$ headphones and 300$ speakers.

you dont need 16gb of ram, 8 is fine.

your psu is a little overpowered for what u have unless your gonna sli/crossfire in the future.

 

[jpk806]

i might plan on sli in the future but i thik it would be safe to say that i wont for a long time so ill try to get something in the 650watt range? i think that should be enough

i will look at some 8 gb ram, and that will probably give me a little more room for budget

and i definitely wont get a sound card now lol, although i do have this old sounblaster card that might help take some strain off of the cpu... hmmm...
maybe some other day i will get around to that
thanks!

 

[tiny voices]

The CPU doesn't run the sound. The built in sound card will be better than your old card.

650w will be more than enough. Get a PSU from the brands I listed above.

 

[jpk806]

okay thanks @tiny voices! will do!

 

[tiny voices]

No problem!

 

[ARICH5]

cpu/mobo combo is so advanced now you dont need the soundcard.

as a matter of fact youll be doing more harm than good installing a old creative sb. drivers are horrible for win7. new mobo's have eax anyway.

 

[jpk806]

do you know if i should go for the 660Ti or the 670 in this budget?
idk if there would be enough of a difference in performance for me to spend like $50 extra
ill try to find some benchmarks

 

[tiny voices]

Yeah there will be. The 670 will max games for a longer period of time before it needs to be replaced.

 

[jpk806]

that makes a lot of sense arich5 thanks, i wont do that
and if i end up getting a nice pair or speakers/headphones i think that i wouldnt mind getting a nice soundcard at that point

 

[ARICH5]

maybe tiny voices can recommend a cheaper z77 mobo also.

not that toshiba is horrible but id say get a seagate hdd. its a more reputable brand.

 

[jpk806]

yeah i honestly have no idea what im doing picking a mobo.
i just need the basics and some overclocking for the future

thanks

 

[michxymi]

ZALMAN Z5 Plus Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811235038

CORSAIR Builder Series CX600 600W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139028

AMD FX-8320 Vishera 3.5GHz (4.0GHz Turbo) Socket AM3+ 125W Eight-Core Desktop Processor FD8320FRHKBOX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819113285

ASRock 970 EXTREME4 AM3+ AMD 970 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157262

G.SKILL Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900) Desktop Memory Model F3-1866C9D-8GAB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231550

SAPPHIRE 100354XTL Radeon HD 7870 XT w/Boost 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 CrossFireX Support Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202024

SanDisk Ultra Plus SDSSDHP-128G-G25 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) for Notebook
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820171740

Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148840

Sum 882$ (without 45$ MIR) that's a more value build. FX 8320 are on par in gaming perfomance with 3570k and 7870 tahity le is ~3% slower than 7950/660ti but also cheaper If you want to save some money without losing perfomance and also be upgrade able to the next generation CPUs from AMD you can check that option too

 

[g-unit1111]

What i have picked out online (Please give suggestions/offer criticism!)-
-Thermaltake Commander MS-1 Epic ATX Gaming Mid-Tower $51.99 http://bit.ly/UFWla1
-Thermaltake SMART Series 750 Watt ATX Modular Power Supply $99.99 http://bit.ly/XocsG2
-Intel Core i7 3770K 3.5GHz LGA 1155 Processor $229.99 http://bit.ly/Rh6aIE
-Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H LGA 1155 Z77 ATX Intel Motherboard $149.99 http://bit.ly/SItOLO
-Kingston HyperX 16GB DDR3-1600 (4x4GB) desktop memory $99.99 http://bit.ly/YlHnlq
-EVGA NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2048MB GDDR5 PCIe 3.0 $309.99 http://bit.ly/TgTDEv
-Toshiba 1TB 7,200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive $59.99 http://bit.ly/10eUyXm

You don't need 16GB of RAM for a gaming rig nor the i7. Thermaltake is also not a reliable PSU manufacturer.

Not sure if i need-
-Asus Xonar DG 5.1 PCI Sound Card $31.99 http://bit.ly/VuRfg2
-UPGRADE TO- Zotac NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 2048MB $364.99 http://bit.ly/VuRCY6

Zotac isn't really the best GPU brand on the market and you don't need the sound card.

my concerns are-
-The memory- is this good quality RAM? Is the speed good enough? is there too much?
-The PSU- is that enough wattage? too little wattage? good name brand?
-The Mobo- does this have all of the necessary slots and connections? is there a better option?
-The HDD- is this a good brand? should i get a less capacity SSD instead for the same money?
-The GPUs- which one is better for me?
-The processor- i'm pretty sure this is more than enough for my needs, right?
-The whole rig- am i forgetting something? lol i feel like i am.

1. Yes but it's rated at 1.65V, for Ivy Bridge you will need 1.5V.
2. Yes but it's not a reliable name brand.
3. Yes.
4. Decent. Better would be to get Western Digital or Seagate.
5. $250 or less - Radeon 7870 XT. $300 or more - GTX 670, $400 or more - Radeon 7970 GHz Edition
6. It's actually overkill for your needs. Get the i5-3570K instead.
7. I didn't see optical drive, OS, or peripherals. I take it you have those things already?

Here would be my suggestion:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($229.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($32.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($134.99 @ 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)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon HD 7870 XT 2GB Video Card ($239.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 600W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($21.98 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($79.20 @ Newegg)
Total: $980.10
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-02-20 13:55 EST-0500)

 

[jpk806]

I'm going down the list of suggested parts between @michxymi and @g-unit1111 and i will start with @michxymi-
-i like that case, i think it might be better than the one i've picked out in my initial post
-I will probably go with that PSU or something along the lines of it
-I need to research amd before i can comment on their cpus
-...that is one nice ass mobo if you ask me lol
-with the ram, is using all of the dimms better than only 2? (eg: is 4x1gb better than 2x2gb?)
-i need to research amd gpus before i can comment on this as well
-SSD? niicee that was another thing that i was looking into but i didn't know if i should get one, but i think its a good idea nowadays
-nice hdd, certainly more confident buying from seagate than toshiba lol
(although the last time i had a seagate it ceased up on me -_- lol oh well

@g-unit1111, i will get to your list later i have to go, thank you so much for the suggestions though, i will DEFINITELY look into them and post some follow-up questions later.

thanks so much you guys i didn't know this would be so helpful

 

[g-unit1111]

-I need to research amd before i can comment on their cpus
-...that is one nice ass mobo if you ask me lol

I wouldn't bother. The FX is decent but for gaming the i5-3570K is a far superior CPU. Especially for gaming.

-with the ram, is using all of the dimms better than only 2? (eg: is 4x1gb better than 2x2gb?)

Most motherboards are dual channel meaning that you need 2 sticks to effectively use it.

-i need to research amd gpus before i can comment on this as well

Unlike their CPUs, AMD GPUs are really excellent and solid performers. Here's a good article on the 7870 XT: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/tahiti-le-7870-7930-benchmark,3401.html

-SSD? niicee that was another thing that i was looking into but i didn't know if i should get one, but i think its a good idea nowadays

You can always add one later on. I kind of think of it like getting the Nav system on a new car. Sure it's pretty and adds some much needed performance but you can get one later and it will still perform the same function.

 

[jpk806]

When dealing with intel, which is pretty much the clear winner to me in my build, i think i should go for the i7, which has better specs and only 40$ more. i know that it doesnt help in gaming but i think it would help the system overall. plus, some games in the future might be able to better utilize the i7's features. i dont know as much as you guys do, but i think that i7>i5 for the price.
When im looking for graphics cards, what are the main points in their specs that i should be looking for to compare to others? like, what makes one better than another? because there's a lot of things to look at when buying a nice card and i don't particularly know what really makes a great card so good.
also, i might just use the SSD cash for a better keyboard, like some razer KB or something like alienware. ill look into that later though, unless any of you have some suggestions.
thanks
-john

 

[TemurAmir]

When dealing with intel, which is pretty much the clear winner to me in my build, i think i should go for the i7, which has better specs and only 40$ more. i know that it doesnt help in gaming but i think it would help the system overall. plus, some games in the future might be able to better utilize the i7's features. i dont know as much as you guys do, but i think that i7>i5 for the price.
When im looking for graphics cards, what are the main points in their specs that i should be looking for to compare to others? like, what makes one better than another? because there's a lot of things to look at when buying a nice card and i don't particularly know what really makes a great card so good.
also, i might just use the SSD cash for a better keyboard, like some razer KB or something like alienware. ill look into that later though, unless any of you have some suggestions.
thanks
-john

I wouldn't recommend choosing an i5>i7 since this is for gaming. $40 is still 20% of your CPU budget right now. Hardly any games right now are even using 4 cores very well, and your processor will probably be outdated by the time games come around that can use the i7's hyperthreading capability. I'm not sure why you think it will help the system overall since I'm assuming the most rigorous task it will have to do is gaming. It's not like an i5 will be unable to handle basic tasks.

Personally, I find alienware and razer products overpriced and would much rather see some performance improvement through an SSD, but that is your call and your money.

 

[TemurAmir]

(Double post sorry)