Please Advise on New Gaming Build - First Time Builder

[Stamper19]

Hi All,

I am planning on doing a new build intended for gaming (TW Rome 2; Witcher 3 when released). This will be my first time building and I have tried to put together a reasonable component list. I am trying to keep the price down as much as possible.

A few notes:

1. I wanted a fully modular PSU, but I may have gone overkill on the current one.

2. Ive read that the EVGA 670s tend to be loud...any thoughts on this, and if so, are there better alternatives?

3. Ive read some discouraging reviews about defective gigabyte mother boards (newegg), yet this one seems to be a solid choice by most measures. Am I getting worried over nothing?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($204.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($135.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($64.98 @ Outlet PC)
Storage: Samsung 830 Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($112.99 @ Adorama)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 670 2GB Video Card ($364.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 300R ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Professional 750W 80 PLUS Silver Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224BB DVD/CD Writer ($16.98 @ Outlet PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $1280.85

Any additional tips/ideas/suggestions would be very appreciated. Wrapping one's head around all these various components for the first time can be a bit mind blowing.

Thanks!

 

[batuchka]

If you are going stock/no OC hit a B75/H77 and perhaps hit a HD 7970 GHZ?
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/54954-amd-radeon-hd-7970-3gb-ghz-edition-review-18.html
For just a single 1080p monitor it would be plenty ^^
Also if going with fast SSD as boot/OS drive no point paying premium for mechanical drives for storage (Black is not needed)

 

[TheBigTroll]

get this. things can be made cheaper and better
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/QGjN

-if you are getting z77, you better be overclocking
-cheaper CPU cooler
-cheaper board (about as good but the ud3h is fine)
-cheaper ram that is just as good
-cheaper hard drive that is exactly the same
-cheaper and faster SSD
-much better gtx 670
-spent the savings on the upgraded case.
-cheaper and better psu. if you are not going to run SLI later on, shrink back down to a 550w unit

in the end, it saves you 75 bucks while performing better

 

[realchaos]

If you plan to overclock, grab the i5-3570k.
If you don't plan on overclocking, get tbe i5-3470 with a H77 motherboard and drop the cpu cooler.
Grab the WD Blue 1tb instead of Black.

 

[Stamper19]

Thanks for all the great feedback! I dont plan on OCing at the moment, but I would like to have the option to in the future. So, will probably stick with the z77 (unless this seems unreasonable) and add go for the 3570k. I will also make the changes suggested by TheBigTroll and realchaos (thanks!).

batuchka - I have some aversions to the ATIs (guess their AMDs now). Back in the day I had some bad luck with the radeon cards and Ive stuck with the Nvidia ever sense. Maybe silly, but just cant seem to get over it.