Please critique my PC gaming build

[heinz256]

Hey guys, what do you think of this build? Will be using it for gaming, and will perhaps be overclocking it in the near future.



I already have the RAM, PSU and the SSD along with keyboard/mouse/ and monitor.

This will also be my first build (first time building it myself, rather than having memoryexpress do it). Any helpful tips or advice? Will I need any additional cables, adapters, or case fans? What about thermal compound when mounting the CPU onto the mobo? Thanks!

[Mibz]

That case is fucking ridiculous.
You can save $50 by dropping the RAM down to 12800 with negligible (if any) performance loss.
You can save $100 by dropping to the 3570K as well. If it's just gaming then the 3770K is overkill.
Ask yourself, do you REALLY plan on burning Blu-rays?

Rest is fine, IMO.

The CPU will include thermal compound, but I'm pretty sure MemEx will mount the CPU for free, won't they? You might need SATA cables.

[BigMass]

you're spending a lot of money for something that doesn't even include a GTX680. Lots of worthless stuff like the bluray drive, 16gb of ram, 3tb 5400rpm HD, a ridiculous case and bloated motherboard and CPU (go with a $100 mb and a i5-3570K)

[Cos]

.

[revelations]

That case is HUGE btw, but I like it....

But if youre intent is to build the best as any cost, def go with a better GPU.

I'm also particular towards INTEL liquid CPU coolers.

[msommers]

Everything looks ok to me but the 3TB harddrive and potentially the power supply. Get something faster than 5400 at least and maybe more than 750.

[Vagabond142]

You could realistically cut that system down to around $1500.

Please see the below screenshot (if I had your budget, this is how I would build. Please note, this is MY opinion only, and others are free to disagree with it. I will explain my choices after the shot):


» Click image for larger version

My reasoning:

-You aren't doing video editing or heavy duty computational tasks. As such, you don't realistically need hyperthreaded cores, and as such, you can do just fine with a Core i5 3rd gen.

-The SSD/HDD combo is smaller than yours, but realistically, only documents, office programs, the OS, and your desktop should be on the SSD, so you don't really NEED 256GB... 120GB is enough. I am a power user (an "enthusiast" if you will) and I get by swimmingly on 120 GB

-GTX670 OC edition. The one I've selected is the one I already own, because it is dead smack in the perfect price to performance zone. In real world testing done by multiple review sites (Toms, Bjorn3D, Anandtech, etc), the 670 (and related OC editions) is only about 4-9% slower on FPS than a GTX680, and it costs $100 less (that is something along the lines of 55 FPS in BF3 on a 670 vs 59 FPS on a 680... in other words, totally unnoticeable).

NOTE: The ONLY time I would recommend a GTX680 over a 670 is if you are doing nVidia surround on anything bigger than a 24 inch monitor. If you are doing single monitor gaming on a 27 inch or less, at 1920x1200 or less resolution, then a single GTX670 will absolutely obliterate anything you throw at it for the next few years, it is so stonkingly powerful

-Corsair Pro HX850 modular. Always estimate your power draw (for my system as listed at absolute peak, about 450-500 W) and add at least 30%. I've gone double that, because I am that insane about ensuring power is available to all components without stressing my PSU. This means that your PSU will run quieter, cooler, and last longer under idea conditions (internal case temp of less than 50 C)


And the best thing? If you are a little shy about building the system, toss in $70ish of your budget and Memex will build it for you and test it to make sure it works.

Now, compared to your original budget, and if you include Memex building it, you're looking at $1580 all said (before tax... realistically about $1650-$1700 with tax). That gives you $600 spare, with which you can buy a nice keyboard and mouse, a decent 24 inch monitor, and a couple cans of compressed air for your weekly dustout

[Mibz]

Dropping the amount of RAM is such a negligible saving that it really doesn't matter.

If he doesn't have a storage server then a 3TB 5400rpm drive is fine. Movies and music will be fine on it. If you can get a 7200 for a little more, great. I'm too lazy to look up prices right now :P

Totally agree with Vagabond WRT 670 vs 680. The value for the 680 isn't there.

[Mitsu3000gt]

That asus chipset doesn't do quad channel, no point in getting 4X sticks of ram, get 2 X 8GB and then you have slots left for a future upgrade path.

For a case I'd get the Corsair Obsidian quiet 550D ($114 with price beat).

For storage drives 5400 is more than enough, if all your apps are on the SSD. I recently learned how much of a difference it makes to have a quality, quiet, case.

You don't need a separate CPU cooler unless you're overclocking.

I definitely would not downgrade the SSD, the Crucial M4 you had picked is what I'd stay at.

I basically built that identical computer, however mine is used for heavy photo editing as well so I went with the 3770K.

[heinz256]

Thanks everyone for the input. I changed it up a little bit after considering everybody's advice.



As I said in my original post, I already have the ram, ssd, and psu, so I probably won't be buying new parts to replace those ones. The one thing I'm not sure on is the case. I realized the thermaltake is probably going to be overkill, so can anyone recommend a good quality, nice looking case that has hot-swappable bays?

As for the hard drive, I'm either going with a 3TB WD green drive or 2TB WD black drive, either way it will mostly be used as a media drive.

http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html
I was looking on this site and saw the 670 was pretty much the same as the 680 but significantly cheaper, so I think im going to go with the 670. But which version?

http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX39375
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX40136
http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/MX39671

I would shell out the extra money for memory express to build my PC but I want to try building it myself this time around just to try to learn something.

Lastly, which items do you think I should definitely get the IPR on?

Thanks all!

[Mibz]

I'd get IPR on the SSD and, if you can, the card reader. Maybe it's just bad luck but I've had two of three card readers fail on me very quickly. They're cheap though, so it's not a big deal either way.

[revelations]

edit

[Vagabond142]

Stay the HELL away from WD Green. They have the highest failure rate of any drive, I must have replaced or serviced literally 100 computers over the last two years that had failed WD Green drives

[Vagabond142]

In case you are still looking for a case (see what I did there? :P), Corsair makes great cases, like the 550D outlined above.

I do also like Cooler Master cases. I personal rock a Storm Trooper (GIGANTIC case, lots of air flow and room to work in), but a clean, nice case is the CM 690 II Advanced that I had in my build list for you earlier in this thread.

[thetransporter]

Intel/Zelman makes a neat closed circut liquid CPU cooler. 59-100 makes things better.. IMO

[msommers]

Did some HDD upgrading. 2TB caviar black are 159.00 at NCIX, pm to ME even cheaper!