NEED advice w/Gaming and Video Editing build. Thanks for all suggestions.

[nwr]

I've been spending hours looking into reviews, builds, stickies and I believe I have arrived at my final build!

The only thing is, this is my first build and I must confess I feel very nervous (and excited!). I want to make sure I'm building a system that will work well with itself (I.e. I've heard about certain GPUs working directly with the HT of the i7) for several years to come. If there are ways I can save money and get the same performance/quality please let me know.

Main questions I'm having:
Am I producing sufficient cooling? If I OC it won't be for some time, and at that point I would go liquid.
Should I get a less expensive case? I liked being able to see my internals and the four large fans.


My system will be used for the following descending according to relevance:
Gaming (Graphics are not extremely demanding, this GPU should be perfect)
Streaming using XSplit on TwitchTV
Editing using AAF and Sony Vegas (I would like to avoid laggy preview windows while editing)
Blu-Ray read/write
Wired and WiFi network solutions

I DO NOT NEED ANY PERIPHERALS


I believe I covered everything, however, it is very late so please let me know if I need to give anymore information.


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($312.98 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ OutletPC)
Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 3.5g Thermal Paste ($6.20 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($155.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($149.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($122.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card ($249.99 @ Newegg)
Wired Network Adapter: Intel EXPI9301CT 10/100/1000 Mbps PCI-Express x1 Network Adapter ($34.60 @ Mwave)
Wireless Network Adapter: Asus PCE-N53 802.11a/b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($32.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master HAF 932 Blue ATX Full Tower Case ($155.55 @ OutletPC)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 750W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($156.66 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus BW-14D1XT Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($94.98 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($84.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1647.87
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-11-08 07:12 EST-0500)

 

[nwr]

Also are the Black Friday savings worth waiting a few weeks to purchase? This might be a dumb question but I've never watched PC components during past Black Fridays to see if the savings is worth the wait.

 

[Spinny99]

Also are the Black Friday savings worth waiting a few weeks to purchase? This might be a dumb question but I've never watched PC components during past Black Fridays to see if the savings is worth the wait.

Hey there. I've got a lot to answer, so I'll try to break it down into different sections.

Q: Are the Black Friday savings worth waiting a few weeks to purchase?
A: Completely. There will most likely be deals on your GPU, and there will be deals on hard drives and solid state drives.

Q: Do I need a 3.5'' SSD
A: No, you don't. Any SSD Should work with your build. I guess you mean you may need a 3.5'' SSD to mount it in your HDD bays. Well, most cases come with SSD trays and most cases trays are universal meaning you can mount both a SSD and a HDD in the same kind of tray. Worst comes to worst, you can purchase a SSD tray off amazon or newegg and that basically in a 3.5'' tray, that houses an SSD.

A few things I'd also change to your build is your thermal compound, the motherboard, the Hard Drive, and the CPU Cooler. Everything else is great.

I'd change the mobo to a MSI z77a-g45 board, as they are great for gaming and around the same price if not cheaper than your current board. If you can afford it, go with a ROG (Republic Of Gamers) board by Asus, make sure you don't one that is for Haswell CPU's, but you're looking at 200$ - 300$.

Seagate usually makes decent drives, but Western Digitals Black Caviars are better for what your doing. I'd go with a 500gb to 1tb Western Digital Black Caviar. They are quality drives and are worth the price, and are reliable.

Also, I might as well mention my thoughts about your case. It's a overpriced case. It sorta looks a bit cheesy too. I'd go with a Corsair 750d. They have an epic tinted window, and most of my friends including me have this case, and we love it. It's got removable drive bays. It's a quality case. But if your in love with this case, by all means, it's your choice. I'll say one last thing about this. I started off on my first build with the NZXT Phantom 630, the "robot" case. Recently, I switched to the 750d. I just couldn't stand the cheesy look of the phantom on my desk, it got really annoying.

For the CPU Cooler, you can watercool around 30$ more. You're build will look nicer, and you will have better performance when overclocking. I recommend the Corsair H60, or any cooler really from Corsair's Hydro series. I have the Corsair h100i (Which is cooling the same CPU you have), and I can easily get to 4.2ghz.

I hope I helped. Just ask if you have anymore questions. If I forgot something let me know!

EDIT: Also forgot to mention, find a cheaper DVD Drive! That is crazy expensive, you can find a cheaper blu-ray and burning drive for cheaper.

 

[nwr]

Amazing insight, already making changes and doing more research. Thank you!

 

[Spinny99]

Amazing insight, already making changes and doing more research. Thank you!

Yeah no problem. If you have anymore questions about your build, don't hesitate to ask.

 

[sora]

Also are the Black Friday savings worth waiting a few weeks to purchase? This might be a dumb question but I've never watched PC components during past Black Fridays to see if the savings is worth the wait.

Yes, but not on all the products...

 

[nwr]

Any other case ideas? Is a liquid system worth it or should I wait until I decide if I'm going to OC or not

 

[geofelt]

Your list is very reasonable, and you could build as is.
One exception is a wired lan card. Every motherboard will include integrated lan; a discrete card is not necessary.

Some other things which would be considered as preferences:

1. If the primary purpose is gaming, then I think a stronger graphics card would be appropriate.
I like the evga superclocked version with a direct exhaust blower style cooler. like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130922
A stronger card will play smoother and allow you more eye candy.
A direct exhaust cooler gets heat out of the case directly.

2. At a similar price, I would use a i7-4770K. It is somewhat faster at stock. Unless you have an aggressive oc, it runs reasonably cool.
If you live near a microcenter, they will sell you one for $280.
Any Z87 based motherboard will do the job. No value in an expensive motherboard.

3. The cm cooler will come with adequate paste. No need to buy extra.

4. I love the ssd for a "C" drive. I think 120gb is minimum these days. Go 240gb if you can. Samsung evo will perform just as well, and is cheaper.

5. The Seasonic X series are as good as it gets. But, a 650w unit will be sufficient to power any single graphics card made.

6. I wouild buy low profile ram. It costs no more and avoids any cooler issues. Check G.skil ares series.

7. cooling is not an issue.

I do not much like all in one liquid coolers when a good air cooler can do the job.
A liquid cooler will be expensive, noisy, less reliable, and will not cool any better
in a well ventilated case.
Liquid cooling is really air cooling, it just puts the heat exchange in a different place.
The orientation of the radiator will cause a problem.
If you orient it to take in cool air from the outside, you will cool the cpu better, but the hot air then circulates inside the case heating up the graphics card and motherboard.
If you orient it to exhaust(which I think is better) , then your cpu cooling will be less effective because it uses pre heated case air.
And... I have read too many tales of woe when a liquid cooler leaks.
google "H100 leak"

8. Cases are a personal thing. Buy what appeals to you.
If a case has at least two 120mm intake fans or the equivalent in exhaust, you will have adequate cooling.

----------------good luck---------------

 

[Spinny99]

Your list is very reasonable, and you could build as is.
One exception is a wired lan card. Every motherboard will include integrated lan; a discrete card is not necessary.

Some other things which would be considered as preferences:

1. If the primary purpose is gaming, then I think a stronger graphics card would be appropriate.
I like the evga superclocked version with a direct exhaust blower style cooler. like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130922
A stronger card will play smoother and allow you more eye candy.
A direct exhaust cooler gets heat out of the case directly.

2. At a similar price, I would use a i7-4770K. It is somewhat faster at stock. Unless you have an aggressive oc, it runs reasonably cool.
If you live near a microcenter, they will sell you one for $280.
Any Z87 based motherboard will do the job. No value in an expensive motherboard.

3. The cm cooler will come with adequate paste. No need to buy extra.

4. I love the ssd for a "C" drive. I think 120gb is minimum these days. Go 240gb if you can. Samsung evo will perform just as well, and is cheaper.

5. The Seasonic X series are as good as it gets. But, a 650w unit will be sufficient to power any single graphics card made.

6. I wouild buy low profile ram. It costs no more and avoids any cooler issues. Check G.skil ares series.

7. cooling is not an issue.

I do not much like all in one liquid coolers when a good air cooler can do the job.
A liquid cooler will be expensive, noisy, less reliable, and will not cool any better
in a well ventilated case.
Liquid cooling is really air cooling, it just puts the heat exchange in a different place.
The orientation of the radiator will cause a problem.
If you orient it to take in cool air from the outside, you will cool the cpu better, but the hot air then circulates inside the case heating up the graphics card and motherboard.
If you orient it to exhaust(which I think is better) , then your cpu cooling will be less effective because it uses pre heated case air.
And... I have read too many tales of woe when a liquid cooler leaks.
google "H100 leak"

8. Cases are a personal thing. Buy what appeals to you.
If a case has at least two 120mm intake fans or the equivalent in exhaust, you will have adequate cooling.

----------------good luck---------------

Liquid coolers are the opposite of noisy, That is why people buy them. And they are not expensive, they are about the same price plus 20$ of a so so air cooler. The Hydro Series by Corsair is a closed loop. You don't have to fill it, just install. You will never even see water. And Air fans look bulky, water cooling looks much cleaner.

 

[geofelt]

By way of explanation:

1. $20 is $20. It means something to some.

2. Liquid coolers need strong fans to push air through the radiator. They are usually 120mm fans, and may need to spin up to higher rpm's than a good air cooler 140mm fan. A 140mm fan can spin at <1000 rpm and do the job with no noticeable noise.
120mm fans need to run considerably faster to push enough air. That is what causes most noise. In addition, there is whatever noise that comes from the pump. Once you start down the quiet computing road, there seems to be no end to it.

3. I will admit, liquid coolers do look cleaner. They have a place where 160mm is not available for an air cooler. SFF builds for example.

 

[Spinny99]

Alright. If your going to be that way, look at this. A 140mm WC.

http://www.corsair.com/us/cpu-cooling-kits/hydro-series-water-cooling-cpu-cooler/hydro-series-h90-140mm-high-performance-liquid-cpu-cooler.html

If you're worried about noise, which you shouldn't be with this fan, go ahead and plop on a Corsair AF140 Quiet Edition. Complete Silence.

 

[geofelt]

If one insists on a all in one liquid cooler, I do like the one linked above.

But... There is no such thing as complete silence if a fan is running. Quiet, perhaps, but not silence.