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Building First Gaming Computer, Welcoming Advice

K

Kerfuffle

Junior Member
As the title says, i'm building my first gaming computer and would like any suggestions or advice that you are willing to give. Thank you in advance for any help.

Here are some details i'm looking for:
Approximate Purchase Date: March (still got a lot of research to do)

Budget Range: $2000-2750 after shipping

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, Everyday use

Are you buying a monitor: Yes (dual screen)

Do you need to buy OS: No

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg.com, amazon.com (preferred but not necessary)

Overclocking: Yes

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe



Current Setup:
Motherboard -
Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H LGA 1155 Intel Z77
$189.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128545

Cooler -
Noctua NH-D14
$80.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835608018

Graphics Card -
ASUS GTX680-DC2T-2GD5 GeForce GTX 680
$539.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121634

RAM -
G.SKILL Ares Series 8GB DDR3 1600
$49.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231548

Hard Drive -
Seagate Barracuda 7200.14 ST3000DM001 3TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache
$159.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148844

Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache
$79.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822148840

SSD -
Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB
$249.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820147193

Case -
Corsair Special Edition White Graphite Series 600T Mid Tower
$179.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811139005

Monitors -
ASUS VS229H-P Black 21.5”
$149.99 x 2
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824236205

Monitor Stand -
Planar 997-5253-00 Black Dual Monitor Stand for LCD Displays
$109.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824995006

Keyboard -
Razer DeathStalker RZ03-00900100-R3U1
$79.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16823114028

Razer Blackwidow Ultimate
$139.99
http://www.amazon.com/Razer-Blackwid.../dp/B008U5ZNIG

Mouse -
CM Storm Inferno
$39.40
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...SIN=B003ZMF26W

Razer Mamba
$129.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16826153080

Mad Catz R.A.T 9 Professional Wireless Gaming Mouse
$148.50
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003CP0BHW?...mingmice00e-20

Speakers -
Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 THX Certified Computer Speaker System
$179.99
http://www.amazon.com/Klipsch-ProMed.../dp/B000062VUO

AudioEngine A2
$199.00
http://www.amazon.com/Audioengine-Pr...Audioengine+A2

Optical Drive -
LITE-ON DVD Burner
$16.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...D=3938566&SID=

Power Supply -
SeaSonic X Series X-850 (SS-850KM Active PFC F3) 850W GOLD Certified Fully Modular
$159.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817151102

Extra Fans - $100


Thank you!
 
Here's some general advice.

Keep doing your research. Wait until 1-2 weeks before you will actually purchase the system, and then post this thread again.

Your component choice just screams "I selected the most expensive part" to me. You are past the price/performance curve. I would suggest hitting 95% of the performance for 70% of the cost.

Since you have a time spread between now and when you want to build it, you may be able to take advantage of some hot deals. For instance SSD pricing is extremely volatile, and can change daily and sometimes by the hour. If you have a specific idea of what you want, maybe purchase some parts if they're on sale. I normally wouldn't recommend buying parts ahead of time at regular prices (some people like to buy parts as they get the money) but sale pricing is a different matter than normal pricing.

Here's some advice specific to your parts.

MOTHERBOARD - Too expensive. Overclocking these days is trivially easy (to an extent) and you don't need a near $200 motherboard. Plenty of good boards less than $150 that can SLI and overclock.

CPU - I didn't see one listed, but right now the Core i5-3570K is the top choice for gaming and overclocking. No need to go up to a Core i7.

COOLER - Very overkill. You probably won't get any more overclock out of this than you would out of a $20 (when on sale) Cooler Master Hyper 212+.

GRAPHICS CARD - A GTX 680 2GB at $520 is a terrible value. Either get a cheaper one (I see $460 regular price) or a 4GB card for a couple bucks less.

RAM - If 8GB dual channel is what you are after (which is a great choice for a gaming rig, BTW) then check out this Samsung magic RAM for $40. There is no other budget RAM to consider in this capacity.

HARD DRIVE - Why did you choose one 1TB and one 3TB drive?

SSD - That is a good SSD, but at $250 is not a good value. Keep an eye out for sales, and keep other brands/models in mind. Sure, this SSD may "win" benchmarks, but you won't notice a difference when you're actually using it. Your wallet may notice the extra $80, however.

CASE - This is a very personal choice as you need to like the way it looks. If you like that Corsair white case, then go for it.

MONITORS - What's the second monitor for? You aren't getting three, so you're not doing surround gaming. I actually run a second monitor and love being able to see who's in the Teamspeak/Ventrilo server without ALT-TABbing out of my game. If that's what you are using your second monitor for and just gaming on one monitor, have you considered a better monitor? This is one area where I believe in spending more money. You're spending nearly $3000 on a computer, and you will be gaming on a $150 monitor? This is everything that your eyes see when you're gaming, plus a good monitor can outlast your computer, and thus is probably the most "future proof" part that you can get (though I hate that term). Look into one of the 27" 2560x1440 IPS screens. They run from $400 (Micro Center, Monoprice) up to $700-800 (HP, Dell). Reading about these from gamers who bought them, well worth the money. I don't have one because I'm already using a 30" 2560x1600 monitor. 😎

MONITOR STAND - Are you sure you want to spend $110 just to have one stand on your desk instead of two? It doesn't save any real space, and if you do end up with identical monitors they will be the same height anyways.

KEYBOARD - You need to decide if you will use programmable "game keys" or not, and narrow your choice down with that decision. Personally I like my keyboards to look like normal ones with no extra keys. Also, I like mechanical keyswitches. Do you need your keyboard to have extra lighting and such?

MOUSE - What do you use now? A mouse is very individual. Some people still use their old Microsoft Intellimouse and will use no other. I personally like the feel of the older slim Razer mice (Diamondback, Copperhead, etc.) as well as the mainstream right-handed Logitech MX510/518/G5/etc. This may be something you'll want to head out to your local store that sells electronics (Best Buy, Staples, whatever) and try some of their display models out. Ignore all the DPI marketing. Once you fiddle with the settings to get the sensitivity to your liking, you probably won't notice any differences. The big difference will be how it feels in your hand - the shape and the weight. Also the buttons. I don't like my mice to have a zillion buttons. Just a simple front/back thumb buttons and normal two buttons + scroll is fine for me. Some other gamers like right side buttons and even more.

SPEAKERS - Interesting choices. I am actually using the Audioengine A2 right now. Great sounding speakers for the small size and lack of subwoofer. This means they don't have deep bass (but do have "punchy" bass) and won't sound as good as much bigger speakers. But they are small. Two things I don't like about them. First is that the controls are on the BACK of one of the speakers. Second is that there is a slight hum if the speakers don't have any input (computer is off). I don't regret buying them, as I got them for around $100 or $120 or so. If you have the desk space, you can get MUCH better sounding speakers by going with a decent pair of bookshelf units and a receiver or amp. For instance these $115 speakers and this $90 amp will probably sound better than any "computer speaker" in the price range. But, bigger speakers take up more desk space. BTW I also have these speakers, out in my living room. Sounds fantastic. Also have some older DV52si that are smaller and sound great as well. I think those are discontinued as the new ones are the "Adatto" models which are not enclosed in wood. Supposedly those sound good as well, but I don't have personal experience.

OPTICAL DRIVE - They're pretty much all the same.

POWER SUPPLY - This is one of those choices where there's a lot of opinion and FUD. Let me start with your choice. By any electrical measure, it is a good power supply. However, it is expensive. Also, you don't need 850W even if you were running two GTX 680 in SLI. Two GTX 680 in SLI has been shown to draw under 550W from the wall. What you will want in a PSU is four PCIe power plugs. If it has those, it can probably run an SLI rig just fine. For instance this $110 PSU is 650W, good quality (made by Super Flower), 80Plus Gold, has 4x PCIe plugs and is fully modular. There are also cheaper options if you forgo modular or the higher efficiency.

EXTRA FANS - Seriously? $100 budget just for extra fans? What will that extra $100 get you that the stock case fans won't?
 
Zap's advice above is accurate and thorough. Not much else need be said.

I was also puzzled by your choice of hard drives, vastly overpriced video card, and matching low-end monitors.

The motherboard and psu are overkill but reasonable given your budget. The problem is that they'll add zero performance, not that they aren't high quality. Take some of that and put it towards a 3770 or that fancy SSD. Then you are at least getting some performance return, even if not proportional to the marginal cost compared to the next step down.
 
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PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($204.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Phanteks PH-TC14PE 78.1 CFM CPU Cooler ($85.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($132.86 @ Newegg)
Memory: Samsung 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Intel 335 Series 240GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($174.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card ($369.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Arctic White) ATX Mid Tower Case ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Rosewill Hive 750W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Dell S2240M 60Hz 21.5" Monitor ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Asus PB278Q 27.0" Monitor ($678.00 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($92.65 @ Amazon)
Keyboard: Ducky DK9087 Shine II Wired Standard Keyboard ($135.00 @ Mechanical Keyboards)
Mouse: Cyborg R.A.T.7 Albino Wired Laser Mouse ($93.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $2448.40
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-01-06 20:45 EST-0500)

I believe this includes shipping. The GPU should be enough for running a game one the main monitor and then using the second monitor for whatever (obviously, not surround gaming.) The cooler is top-of-the-line for air coolers; to do better, you have to use a custom water loop. It's mostly there to allow for higher overclocks, around 4.7-5 GHz depending on your luck. However, if you don't want or need such a high overclock, you can go with the Cooler Master 212 Evo and save $50-60.

Personally, I believe that you are overspending on the graphics card, the motherboard, case, and monitor stand, and not spending enough on the monitor itself. Your graphics card is riddiculously overpriced for the performance you will get; I believe for around $50 more, you can get a 6GB 7970. Even with two monitors, you will only need 3-4GB of memory on the graphics card; settle for a 4GB 670 or a 3GB 7970 for the best price/performance ratio. Your case is, of course, personal; however, the R4 is highly recommended both for being quiet and cool (and is $60 cheaper than your choice). I have chosen a large monitor with reasonably low refresh rate for the primary monitor, and a cheaper IPS monitor for a secondary display (it's IPS primarily for the superior viewing angle). I have left around $200 left in the budget for speakers.

For things like the keyboard and mouse, it is generally best to go to a brick and mortar store to see how it feels. The Cyborg RAT 7 is pretty adjustable, so it feels like a safe recommendation. It only has a few buttons on the side for adjusting sensitivity, which I feel is less distracting. I personally prefer wired mice because they don't require batteries and typically are more consistent; the last thing you want to happen is die in the middle of a killstreak because your mouse disconnects. The Ducky Shine II is a high quality backlit mechanical keyboard. On the mechanical vs rubber dome issue for keyboards, trust me that any mechanical keyboard at all will make typing on a conventional keyboard feel like you are typing in unresponsive, mushy, syrup.

However, like Zap said, you should probably repost when you are closer to buying, since prices are pretty variable, and new GPUs are coming out.
 
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Termie said:
You mean here:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2294135&highlight=

I thought I was caught in an infinite loop for a second there. 🙂
Click to expand...

I locked the other thread since:
1) This one was posted earlier.
2) I replied to this one. :sneaky:

Kerfuffle said:
I plan on getting 3+ drives. 3TB for storage, SSD for operating system and games, 1TB either as encrypted drive or Linux.
Click to expand...

There's his answer in the other thread about the odd drive choice.
 
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