First-timer here. Need help on building a new PC.

[progamerboy]

Good day everyone! I'm doing a mix-and-match of these parts especially the first-three listed below. I wonder what's the better match. Please help me guys since I'm not really an expert when it comes to building a PC.

Intel Core I5-3550 or Intel Core I7-3770
Asus P8B75-M LE 2xDDR3 or Gigabyte GA-Z77 D3H or ASRock H77 Pro4/MVP ATX LGA1155
Asus GTX-660 2 GB GDDR5 192-BIT or Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 XT 2GB
Kingston 8 GB DDR3 1600MHZ
Seagate Barracuda 1 TB SATA 3.0
Silverstone Strider Essentials SLI 80 Plus 500 Watts Power Surge Protector

Are there better alternatives for the motherboard and the video card? Please let me know. Comments and suggestions are much appreciated. Thanks!

----------

Budget Range: $1,000.00

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, digital audio-video editing, surfing

Are you buying a monitor: No

Parts to Upgrade: Whole new system

Do you need to buy OS: Yes, Windows 7 64-BIT

Overclocking: No

SLI or Crossfire: I don't know about this one

Your Monitor Resolution: Samsung LED 22"

Additional Comments: Just wondering if this draft build is good enough for AV editing and gaming. Nothing special but also wondering about power consumption about this build

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: Because of office work purposes but I also wanted to use this as my main entertainment system

 

[realchaos]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($210.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H77 Pro4/MVP ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($87.55 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($49.49 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($89.99 @ Microcenter)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card ($279.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master HAF 922 ATX Mid Tower Case ($101.97 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224BB DVD/CD Writer ($17.98 @ Outlet PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $982.92
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-02-22 23:08 EST-0500)
Not sure on how intense your editing is. This is great for gaming but if you need an i7 for hyper-threading then you need to cut down on some stuff. Get a $50 like the CoolerMaster HAF 912 or Corsair 200r. Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 XT will save you about $30 and still good for gaming.

 

[progamerboy]

That's an awesome build sir. Thank you very much and considering putting this one in my list of options.

 

[realchaos]

Just remember that the i5 might not be enough for your editing. Not sure on how intense editing is, since that's not something I focus on. The build I put is focused on a pure gaming build with no overclocking.

 

[Solf]

Just remember that the i5 might not be enough for your editing. Not sure on how intense editing is, since that's not something I focus on. The build I put is focused on a pure gaming build with no overclocking.

Agree.

Depending on how extensive is your editing, you might need an i7 and 16 GB worth of RAM.

 

[progamerboy]

I use Dreamweaver, Photoshop and Premiere CS6 versions for producing digital photographs and 2-3 hours worth of HD videos of event gatherings. I see then maybe I should cut down on some stuff like switching from i5 to i7 and also the video card. 16 GB worth of RAM? Wow! Will I use that much RAM while editing?

 

[realchaos]

Editing loves lots of cores and ram. Sounds like you'll need 16gb and an i7. I'll try to get another build for you. What games do you play?

 

[progamerboy]

You're right. I think I do need 16 GB of RAM and an i7. I play Battlefield 3, Dead Island and Skyrim. I really appreciate it.

 

[realchaos]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($279.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock H77 Pro4/MVP ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($87.55 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($89.99 @ Microcenter)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card ($279.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224BB DVD/CD Writer ($17.98 @ Outlet PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $1030.45
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-02-23 01:23 EST-0500)
$30 over your budget, but I got 16gb ram and an i7. This will be great for your needs. You can save some more money by getting a 7870 XT.

 

[marqol]

hey brother,
I know it's not exactly what you have listed but... it's another option I guess.
If it's a big thing to you, I can build with z77 board and i5 / i7 if needed.
Here's what I'd suggest. It's an alternative for an i7 and packing 16GB, 2TB HDD and nice neat and cheap case.
PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Fmpi
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Fmpi/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Fmpi/benchmarks/

CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($104.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($91.76 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($97.61 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card ($279.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master Storm Enforcer ATX Mid Tower Case ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224BB DVD/CD Writer ($17.98 @ Outlet PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $992.28

Why I chose these parts:
8350 it's a good multithreading cpu, cheaper alternative for an i7. Leave possibility for OC in future, if you ever wanted to give it a try.
HDD 2TB was only like $10 more, why not ?
RAM - stated above for rendering / editing more is better. 4 modules = better performance than 2x8. Also again cheap as chips.

I'd go with the 7950.
It's a toss up for me between gigabyte windforce cards and sapphire but for this price it's a solid buy no matter what you chose.
I myself have a 7970( quite a bit more expensive but the 7950 is an amazing card for it's price).
The ATI cards go with 3GB more often than not, in comparison to the nvidia 2GB's which obviously will be a nice addition for future gaming and additional memory for editing.

Need any info on above build or in general give me a shout,
Marqol.

 

[realchaos]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock 970DE3/U3S3 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($89.99 @ Microcenter)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card ($279.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master HAF 922 ATX Mid Tower Case ($101.97 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224BB DVD/CD Writer ($17.98 @ Outlet PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $974.87
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-02-23 02:09 EST-0500)
FX-8350 is a good cpu, especially if you can utilize all 8cores. The only thing I upgraded from the i7 build is the case. You can always choose a different case if you don't like mine. You choose between an i7 and a fx-8350 + better case or you can always just keep the $50 or spend it on something else.

NOTE: The fx-8350 allows you to overclock if you want to in the future, but you would need a better motherboard for that. Also, it consumes more power than the i7. Your choice.

 

[TimeLass]

Good day everyone! I'm doing a mix-and-match of these parts especially the first-three listed below. I wonder what's the better match. Please help me guys since I'm not really an expert when it comes to building a PC.

Intel Core I5-3550 or Intel Core I7-3770
Asus P8B75-M LE 2xDDR3 or Gigabyte GA-Z77 D3H or ASRock H77 Pro4/MVP ATX LGA1155
Asus GTX-660 2 GB GDDR5 192-BIT or Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 XT 2GB
Kingston 8 GB DDR3 1600MHZ
Seagate Barracuda 1 TB SATA 3.0
Silverstone Strider Essentials SLI 80 Plus 500 Watts Power Surge Protector

Are there better alternatives for the motherboard and the video card? Please let me know. Comments and suggestions are much appreciated. Thanks!

----------

Budget Range: $1,000.00

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, digital audio-video editing, surfing

Are you buying a monitor: No

Parts to Upgrade: Whole new system

Do you need to buy OS: Yes, Windows 7 64-BIT

Overclocking: No

SLI or Crossfire: I don't know about this one

Your Monitor Resolution: Samsung LED 22"

Additional Comments: Just wondering if this draft build is good enough for AV editing and gaming. Nothing special but also wondering about power consumption about this build

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: Because of office work purposes but I also wanted to use this as my main entertainment system

try going with a Xeon processor
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80623e31220
-no iGPU
-low power consumption
-basically an i7-3770K in disguise with cheaper price
-can't be overclock

 

[TimeLass]

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/FnvN
this build will consume less power if you're wondering about power consumption...Xeon is a server processor so its not a problem if you want to run it 24/7... that seasonic psu is a modular one and is very reliable...

 

[progamerboy]

Hi guys! I've been busy lately and sorry for the late reply. I'm planning to buy the new PC around this week. Thank you very much for all your suggestions. I've already listed all down the parts. This will really help me what parts I should buy. Thank you again RealChaos, TimeLass, marqol and Solf.

 

[progamerboy]

Best answer selected by progamerboy.

 

[masterman467]

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