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Thinking about a CP PC, getting some conflicting Advice.

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Hi all,

First time poster here; I'm trying to assemble my first Cyberpower PC, and as in the title, I'm getting some conflicting advice on this thing. Thought it might be an idea to look outside their forums for some objective advice, and I've always had good luck reading Tomshardware before.

What I'm hoping to do is build a future-proof system that'll smash just about any game in the upcoming 4th generation on max settings. I came up with what I felt was a build that could achieve this, but of the one response I got, I'm a little concerned. Could some kind souls give me some cross-feedback to see if I'm on the right track? Specs below:

Gamer Xtreme 1000 (NO MONITOR)

*BASE_PRICE: [+725]
CARE1: Ultra Enhanced Packaging Solution - Protect Your Dream System During Transit [+19]
CAS: * Azza Genesis 9000 Full Tower Gaming Case w/ 2 x 230mm fans, 4x Easy Swap HDD, Dual Power Supply Support, & front USB 3.0 Port [+101] (Black Color)
CASUPGRADE: Flexible LED Interior Light Strip [+19] (Red Color)
CD: LG 14X Internal Blu-ray Burner, BD-RE, DVD+RW, 3D Playback Combo Drive [+79] (Black Color)
COOLANT: Standard Coolant
CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-3770K 3.50 GHz 8MB Intel Smart Cache LGA1155 (All Venom OC Certified) [+144]
CS_FAN: Maximum 120MM Color Case Cooling Fans for your selected case [+15] (Red Color [+0])
FA_HDD: None
FAN: Thermaltake Water 2.0 Pro Liquid Cooling System 120MM Radiator [+63] (Dual Standard 120MM Fans (Push-Pull) [+9])
FLASHMEDIA: INTERNAL 12in1 Flash Media Reader/Writer [+10] (BLACK COLOR)
HDD: 250 GB SAMSUNG 840 Series SATA-III 6.0Gb/s SSD - 540MB/s Read & 250MB/s Write [+107] (Single Drive)
HDD2: 2TB (2TBx1) Western Digital Caviar Black SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 64MB Cache 7200RPM HDD [+192] (Single Drive)
IUSB: Built-in USB 2.0 Ports
KEYBOARD: AZZA Multimedia USB Gaming Keyboard
MEMORY: 16GB (8GBx2) DDR3/1600MHz Dual Channel Memory [+79] (G.SKILL Ripjaws X [+19])
MOTHERBOARD: * [CrossFireX/SLI] GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UP5 TH Intel Z77 Chipset DDR3 ATX Mainboard w/ IRST, Lucid Virtu MVP, 2x Thunderbolt, Ultra Durable 5, BT+WiFi Card, 7.1 HD Audio, GbLAN, HDMI, 3x Gen3 PCIe x16, 3x PCIe x1 & 1 PCI (All Venom OC Certified) [+182]
MOUSE: AZZA Optical 1600dpi Gaming Mouse with Weight Adjustable Cartridge
NETWORK: Onboard Gigabit LAN Network
OS: Microsoft® Windows 7 Professional [+31] (64-bit Edition)
POWERSUPPLY: * 1,000 Watts - Cooler Master Silent Pro M 80 Plus Power Supply [+133]
RUSH: No Rush Service, Estimate Ship Date 10 Business Days
SERVICE: STANDARD WARRANTY: 3-YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY PLUS LIFE-TIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT
SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
TUNING: Intel® Core™ i7-3770K Performance Tuning Protection Plan by Intel [+29]
VIDEO: AMD Radeon HD 7970 3GB 16X PCIe 3.0 Video Card [+341] (Major Brand Powered by AMD)
VIDEO2: AMD Radeon HD 7970 3GB 16X PCIe 3.0 Video Card [+402] (Major Brand Powered by AMD)
WNC: Linksys WMP600N Wireless-N Dual-Band Adapter [+66]
_PRICE: (+2765)

My two major points of concern are:

1. The person who adjusted my build says the Gigabyte mobo he changed in is better for cooling than the Asus Sabertooth z77 I had originally picked. I've heard some pretty bad reviews about the Gigabyte mobos... can anyone weigh in on which I'd be better served by? Stability is my prime concern; I'll sacrifice some raw performance to get the coolest board I can, while not randomly crapping out on me.

2. This person also said that regardless of which mobo I choose, this PC's going to be running so hot I'm going to need a second cooling unit (or extra case fans), which I can't buy on the site. Do the enthusiasts of Tomshardware agree? Or is he simply being paranoid? My room usually sits around 24-25 degrees celcius in the summer, and there's a good 8 inches on either side of the tower where I have it.

If anyone could give me some advice, I'd appreciate it; I never imagined building a gaming PC would be as complicated as it's been, and I'd like to do this right without melting anything.

Also, if anyone can weigh in on whether or not I'm making a mistake by buying from these guys, that'd help too. The Cyberpower Black Pearl was the top gaming PC of 2012, so that's what guided my choice, but if there's a better group out there, I'd like to know.

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Hello ChaosEngineBob,

1. The Gigabyte UP5 will provide similar cooling to the Sabertooth. They are both high end motherboards that can handle extreme overclocking so which one you pick is entirely up to you.

2. You definitely do not need a secondary cooling unit for the system. The watercooler will provide adequate cooling for the CPU with or without the overclock and the case fan configuration on the Genesis 9000 will be enough for the dual Radeon 7970.


On the configuration, with the dual 7970 installed there won’t be enough room to install the wireless card. The Gigabyte UP5 comes with a built-in wireless card so the Linksys WMP600N wireless can be removed. Other than that there are no other issues.

If you have any more questions please give our sales team a call at (800) 707-0393

So, I'm assuming you're not comfortable buying parts from retailers and building yourself, which is why you're buying one that will be pre-built? If that's the case, you really should consider building your own system. The Internet has every resource you'd ever need to successfully do it.

Exactly how many of the features of that build are you just getting because it's part of it vs. you specifically would choose for yourself? It seems that you feel this is more complicated than it should be, because that build is ridiculous for gaming.

Here's just an example of a build I did recently because I had the same thing in mind, something that would crush any game in its path, and just an all around powerful PC that nothing can slow down....almost $1000 less and for a gamer every bit as powerful and includes a 24" 1080p monitor.

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx...

I don't know why more than half of what's in that list is considered necessary for a gaming rig.
Do you need the gamer to be WiFi? Ok, so go with that UP5 that comes with an adapter...the ASUS P8Z77-V does too.
Do you need all the crazy lights and cooling stuff? Absolutely not.

Is there anyone who feels that for the purposes of gaming, the build in my list above which is nearly $1000 less couldn't compete with the monstrosity that CyberPowerPC wants to sell this guy? By the way, let me clarify that I did put my list together with more than gaming in mind, more of an all-around system, but for a straight solid gaming rig why the i7?

sharkbyte5150 said:
So, I'm assuming you're not comfortable buying parts from retailers and building yourself, which is why you're buying one that will be pre-built? If that's the case, you really should consider building your own system. The Internet has every resource you'd ever need to successfully do it.

Exactly how many of the features of that build are you just getting because it's part of it vs. you specifically would choose for yourself? It seems that you feel this is more complicated than it should be, because that build is ridiculous for gaming.

Here's just an example of a build I did recently because I had the same thing in mind, something that would crush any game in its path, and just an all around powerful PC that nothing can slow down....almost $1000 less and for a gamer every bit as powerful and includes a 24" 1080p monitor.

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx...

I don't know why more than half of what's in that list is considered necessary for a gaming rig.
Do you need the gamer to be WiFi? Ok, so go with that UP5 that comes with an adapter...the ASUS P8Z77-V does too.
Do you need all the crazy lights and cooling stuff? Absolutely not.

Is there anyone who feels that for the purposes of gaming, the build in my list above which is nearly $1000 less couldn't compete with the monstrosity that CyberPowerPC wants to sell this guy? By the way, let me clarify that I did put my list together with more than gaming in mind, more of an all-around system, but for a straight solid gaming rig why the i7?


+1 to all of this fur sure.
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@ sharkbyte, Tiny and the CP rep - Thanks for getting back to me! :D 

You're dead right. I'm very leery about building my own, as there's no safety net if I screw something up on my own. If this goes well, I may consider it for the next PC, but this time I'm looking at playing it safe.

As for that build, I should clarify; that's something I cooked up myself with my lacking expertise. None of the stuff actually listed there was what it originally came with; everything was upgraded in some way. I generally went for a look at 'extreme gaming rigs' on the net, then cobbled together the pieces on the CP site that'd been listed.

No one from Cyberpower suggested or helped me build this thing; I tried researching it, built it in theory, then posted it up for pros to tear apart. Made changes based off what little response I got, then reposted here. Glad I did, too... I had no idea the wireless card was incompatible (and neither did the guy who suggested my computer would need 2 cooling units. Go figure.)

This is kind of a 'need vs want' situation. Do I need neon lighting? No. Do I want it? Hell yes. It looks amazing!

I want a system that'll do the following:

1) 60fps minimum with no hiccups for all current generation games. That's the max the human eye can handle, after all.
2) All settings cranked to maximum (current gen).
3) The above should apply through the next generation (So Crysis 3, Witcher 2 w/ Uber, Tomb Raider, Farcry, etc) with the same performance. When 5th gen rolls around, I'll be just fine with performance dropping again, as that'll be another 5 yrs away.
4) 2x 7970's as I've decided they're the cards I want to go with. Besides, the second one pays for itself in roughly $300 worth of free games I was going to buy anyway.
5) All the optionals (Bluray, flash drives, wireless capability, etc, as I don't want to lose functionality from my current PC. It's got 8gb of ram and 1tb HDD, and I'd like to double those.)

I need a system that:

1) Won't blow up, overheat and slag itself, or be unstable in terms of power.
2) Has good quality, long lasting parts that won't come DOA or die during stress testing
3) Comes in under $2900. It's a tax return, so I have no problem spending it all to get the wants above.

Given the above, what kind of Cyberpower PC would you build? Go nuts!

If you just really feel like throwing money at CyberPowerPC, I'm sure they'd love to take it. I just went on their site and started putting together a system but using similar components to what is in my list and even going down to the 3570K (which is the better choice for gaming), the price is WAY more than my build on NewEgg but if you have no problem spending it, just go for that list you have above.

Some things to consider:

1. The ASRock Z77 Extreme4 is among the best boards to get for solid OC'ing on a gamer.
2. If you need wireless, just get a USB Wireless adapter from Linksys or Netgear from Target or Best Buy. Or, one board that is great for OC'ing and has built-in wifi is the ASUS P8Z77-V.
3. You don't need more than the 212 EVO CPU cooler, even if overclocking.
4. i5-3570K is the best GAMING CPU, i7 is a waste until you get into video rendering and similar operations.

Aside from that, if you've got the money and you want to spend it, go for it!
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