Custom Gaming PC help needed

[afs189]

Trying to put together a custom PC specifically for gaming over at CyberPower, price right now is 945, not including tax and shipping. I think I've got everything in order, but I'm no expert, so I'd like to have other people take a look at it. Anything you could tell me would be appreciated. Anything I should invest more money in, or anything I'm already putting money into that I don't need to, etc. I'm particularly wondering about Dedicated PHYSX, whether 1 GB on the video card is enough, and I'm not sure if the motherboard having on board graphics is going to be a problem.


Specs:



Case: Raidmax Blade Mid-Tower Gaming Case w/ Side-Panel Window (Yellow/Black Color)
Internal USB Extension Module: NZXT Internal USB 6-PORT Expansion Module [+19]
Extra Case Fan Upgrade: Default case fans
CPU: Intel® Core™ i5-2500 3.30 GHz 6M Intel Smart Cache LGA1155 Cooling Fan: Asetek 510LC Liquid Cooling System 120MM Radiator & Fan (Enhanced Cooling Performance + Extreme Silent at 20dBA) (Single Standard 120MM Fan)
Motherboard: Biostar H61MH Intel H61 Chipset DDR3 mATX Mainboard w/ Onboard Video, HDMI, 7.1 HD Audio, GbLAN, USB 2.0, SATA-II, 1 Gen2 PCIe, 1 PCIe X1 & 2 PCI [B3 Stepping]
Intel Smart Response Technology for Z68: None
Memory: 4GB (2GBx2) DDR3/1333MHz Dual Channel Memory (Corsair or Major Brand)
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 2GB 16X PCIe Video Card (Palit Powered by NVIDIA) Freebies: FREE Game - Dungeon Siege 3
Video Card 2: None
Video Card 3: None
Dedicated PHYSX Card: None
Multiple Video Card Settings: Non-SLI/Non-CrossFireX Mode Supports Multiple Monitors
Power Supply Upgrade: 700 Watts - XtremeGear SLI/CrossFireX Ready Power Supply
Hard Drive: 1TB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD (Single Hard Drive)
Data Hard Drive: None
Hard Drive Cooling Fan: None
External Hard Drive (USB3.0/2.0/eSATA): None
Optical Drive: 24X Double Layer Dual Format DVD+-R/+-RW + CD-R/RW Drive (BLACK COLOR)
Sound: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
Network: Onboard Gigabit LAN Network
Network Switch: None
Gaming Gear: None
Extra Thermal Display: None
Wireless 802.11B/G Network Card: None
External Wireless Network Card: None
Wireless 802.11 B/G/N Access Point: None
Bluetooth: None
Flash Media Reader/Writer: None
IEEE1394 Card: None
Internal USB Port: Built-in USB 2.0 Ports
Operating System: * Microsoft® Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit Edition)
Office Suite: None




Thanks.


Moved from PC Gaming

Anandtech Moderator
KeithTalent

 

[Soccerman06]

First off, dont waste your money on that "liquid cooling." The cpu will more than likely not generate enough heat to make it worth the money as stock will be fine since you cant OC. Physx does not exist is a useful form so dont worry about it, and there will be no issue with the igp graphics (mobo has no graphics, the cpu does).

Without knowing what resolution your playing at, its hard to say if you need more gpu power or not. If I were you, I would buy and build this whole thing myself and save quite a bit over cyberpower or build a better system for that price.

i5 2500k $220
evga 570 $300 or 6970 $320
Z mobo $105
8GB $30-50 depending on deal
1TB drive $50
Name brand 700w PSU $80
dvd/cd player $25
$100 case

All that for $920-950 give or take and all from newegg. You can get cheaper if you arent in a rush and wait for a good deal over a few weeks.

 

[DaveSimmons]

^ that's $1,050 once you add a legal copy of Windows, but is certainly better than the Cyberpower build.

General Hardware is the right forum for this, and you can read about many other gaming system builds there. But anyway:

Consider upgrading to 2500K and P67 / Z68 chipset if you might ever want to overclock the computer. The 2500 CPU and H61 motherboard are both limited to stock speed. If you do this, there's no need to pay Cyberpower for extra cooling or for "factory overclocking"

If you want to game at 19x10 for a few years without replacing the video card, the 570 or 6970 is a good idea.

A name-brand 650 - 700 watt PSU (like Seasonic) could be more reliable long-term like Soccerman06 suggested.

 

[afs189]

Thanks for the advice. I'd love to build it myself and save the cash, but I'm afraid even with the help of video guides, I'd still screw something up. Is it easier than I'm imaging?

Consider upgrading to 2500K and P67 / Z68 chipset if you might ever want to overclock the computer.

I was told I should go for a motherboard with SATA 3 and usb, so my first choice was http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813138319 for 100. Would that do it with the 2500k, or do I need the P67 / Z68?

 

[Soccerman06]

The board itself will do anything you need but sata 3 is only useful for high speed HDD, ie ssds. I dont know of reliability of biostar so ask around or read a bunch of customer reviews for failures.

You really cant screw it up, just make sure you dont force something that doesnt fit into something it doesnt fit into. Everything is labeled and for the most part, color coordinated, just make sure whenever you stand up/sit down to ground yourself out to the case before touching anything (touch the case first) and plug in ps last.

 

[afs189]

The board itself will do anything you need but sata 3 is only useful for high speed HDD, ie ssds. I dont know of reliability of biostar so ask around or read a bunch of customer reviews for failures.

You really cant screw it up, just make sure you dont force something that doesnt fit into something it doesnt fit into. Everything is labeled and for the most part, color coordinated, just make sure whenever you stand up/sit down to ground yourself out to the case before touching anything (touch the case first) and plug in ps last.

Then I'll probably try to put it together myself. Do you know of any guides I could check, for reference?

Also, is there anything else I should worry about? Anything at all? Like simple things. If I ordered parts today, it would just be the case, motherboard, CPU, GPU, HDD, RAM, DVD/CD burner, power supply, and windows 7. Is there anything else I need?

 

[DaveSimmons]

Thanks for the advice. I'd love to build it myself and save the cash, but I'm afraid even with the help of video guides, I'd still screw something up. Is it easier than I'm imaging?

I was told I should go for a motherboard with SATA 3 and usb, so my first choice was http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813138319 for 100. Would that do it with the 2500k, or do I need the P67 / Z68?

P67 and Z68 both let you overclock and have SATA 3 ports, so that Biostar would be fine.

You can still have Cyberpower build it, you just want to adjust your parts a little. My guess is it will cost you an extra $100 - 200 over the cost of building it yourself, which is much better than with Dell / Alienware.

 

[mfenn]

Then I'll probably try to put it together myself. Do you know of any guides I could check, for reference?

Also, is there anything else I should worry about? Anything at all? Like simple things. If I ordered parts today, it would just be the case, motherboard, CPU, GPU, HDD, RAM, DVD/CD burner, power supply, and windows 7. Is there anything else I need?

Yeah, that would be all you need. Here's a build:

i5 2500K $220
ASRock Z68 Pro3 $120
G.Skill DDR3 1333 8GB $50
6950 2GB $245 AR
Samsung F3 1TB $60
Samsung DVD Burner $19
XFX Core 550W $50 AR
Three Hundred Illusion $50 AR
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit $95
Total: $909 AR

 

[afs189]

Yeah, that would be all you need. Here's a build:

i5 2500K $220
ASRock Z68 Pro3 $120
G.Skill DDR3 1333 8GB $50
6950 2GB $245 AR
Samsung F3 1TB $60
Samsung DVD Burner $19
XFX Core 550W $50 AR
Three Hundred Illusion $50 AR
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit $95
Total: $909 AR

Thanks, that helps quite a bit.

Should I worry about overclocking?

EDIT: Also, could I replace the 6950 with http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130662 or better to keep it?

 

[fffblackmage]

Careful there. There's the GTX 560, and then there's the GTX 560 Ti. The Ti version is more comparable to the 6950 than the non-Ti version. At ~$220 AR for the non-Ti GTX 560, you might as well spend a bit more and get the much better 6950.

Unless you're interested in overclocking, you don't have to worry about it.

 

[oynaz]

700W PSU is overkill. ~450W should be plenty for that system.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

i would say 500 watts to be on the safe side

 

[mfenn]

Careful there. There's the GTX 560, and then there's the GTX 560 Ti. The Ti version is more comparable to the 6950 than the non-Ti version. At ~$220 AR for the non-Ti GTX 560, you might as well spend a bit more and get the much better 6950.

Agree.

Unless you're interested in overclocking, you don't have to worry about it.

But seriously OP, the build I spec'ed out will do 4.4GHz or so with the stock cooler. Adding an aftermarket cooler like the CAFA50 will make it quieter when overclocked and let you get some more speed out of it.

 

[afs189]

OK, thank for all the advice; I'm pretty much ready to go, apart from two questions:

1. Is it worth overclocking? How much will it improve performance?

and

2. I was told that when buying RAM you should get high end, name brand stuff; the guy went so far as to specifically point out g.skill as something to avoid (although the average rating at newegg is about perfect). Any merit to this?

Thanks again for all the help.

 

[DaveSimmons]

> 1. Is it worth overclocking? How much will it improve performance?

There's always a chance of crashes and corrupted files, so I'm against doing it "just because you can." I run at stock unless there's a good reason to OC, like at the end of a system's life when some game is seriously CPU-limited.

> 2. I was told that when buying RAM you should get high end, name brand stuff; t

He's living in the past or thinking of AMD. Sandy Bridge just needs 1333 at 1.5v, increasing the speed does not help.

 

[afs189]

OK, so I'm getting mixed messages from a few different boards. At PCMech, I've been told to replace pretty much everything on the list with:

Newegg.com - ASUS P8Z68-V LE LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

Newegg.com - ADATA 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model AD3U1333C4G9-2

Newegg.com - Antec High Current Gamer Series HCG-620 620W ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V v2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply

Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Newegg.com - LITE-ON DVD Burner - Bulk 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model iHAS124-04 - CD / DVD Burners


With the reasoning being "due to reliability and quality of components. I realize they are more money, but you truly do get what you pay for... Also, to save some money you can ditch the CPU cooler and lower the processor to an i3-2100. It is a gaming machine and it will be plenty of processor for you. Unless you absolutely want the quad-core and ability to overclock."



Honestly, I'm not even interested in overclocking anymore. My first instinct was to just ignore this advice as being overenthusiastic/hyper-vigilant, but thought I'd run it by here, as there might be something to take away from this (if I subbed the motherboard, memory and PSU, it'd only be 10 or more bucks or so...)

 

[DaveSimmons]

> "due to reliability and quality of components"
> "Also, to save some money you can ditch the CPU cooler and lower the processor to an i3-2100. It is a gaming machine and it will be plenty of processor for you. Unless you absolutely want the quad-core and ability to overclock."

Bad advice. ASRock is a spin-off from Asus and their boards are well-made. When dropping to an i3 you also lose turbo boost along with the extra two cores.

It's true that you can use the stock HSF though.

 

[afs189]

Alright then. I guess my last question is, should I get Windows 7 32 or 64 bit?

I plan to play both older and modern games (back to Half-Life, System Shock, etc).

 

[T_Yamamoto]

64 bit

 

[mnewsham]

Gotta love that .2% reliability for that 30 bucks

 

[afs189]

Gotta love that .2% reliability for that 30 bucks

Huh?

 

[mfenn]

OK, so I'm getting mixed messages from a few different boards. At PCMech, I've been told to replace pretty much everything on the list with:

Newegg.com - ASUS P8Z68-V LE LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

Newegg.com - ADATA 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model AD3U1333C4G9-2

Newegg.com - Antec High Current Gamer Series HCG-620 620W ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V v2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply

Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Newegg.com - LITE-ON DVD Burner - Bulk 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model iHAS124-04 - CD / DVD Burners


With the reasoning being "due to reliability and quality of components. I realize they are more money, but you truly do get what you pay for... Also, to save some money you can ditch the CPU cooler and lower the processor to an i3-2100. It is a gaming machine and it will be plenty of processor for you. Unless you absolutely want the quad-core and ability to overclock."



Honestly, I'm not even interested in overclocking anymore. My first instinct was to just ignore this advice as being overenthusiastic/hyper-vigilant, but thought I'd run it by here, as there might be something to take away from this (if I subbed the motherboard, memory and PSU, it'd only be 10 or more bucks or so...)

This advice is pretty much whack. I'll run down the list:
- ASRock boards are solid as pointed out by Dave
- 1.5V DDR3 1333 is pretty much the same across the board (except OCZ which sucks). IMHO G.Skill stands behind their products more than ADATA, but the RAM itself is basically the same. Somebody telling you to avoid G.Skill entirely has no idea what they're talking about (or last read a review 5 years ago).
- Overkill PSU compared to the XFX Core 550W. Newegg just dropped the price today though.
- The HDD is the same speed and more expensive than the Samsung.
- Lite-ON DVD drives are fine if you like them LOUD
- Also, dropping the CPU to an i3 is an absolutely silly way to finance the above. That would be trading something that matters (CPU) for a bunch of stuff that doesn't (overpriced components).

 

[afs189]

How would I go about outputting video to a HDTV? Preferably through HDMI.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Connect one end of HDMI cable to 6950, connect other end to TV or receiver.

(Almost all gaming video cards now include HDMI or mini-HDMI with an adapter dongle.)

If you want to send sound, go into audio control panel and switch the default audio out from the motherboard sound chip to the 6950's sound chip.

 

[mfenn]

Connect one end of HDMI cable to 6950, connect other end to TV or receiver.

:awe:

(Almost all gaming video cards now include HDMI or mini-HDMI with an adapter dongle.)

Yep, the 6950 that I recommended has a normal HDMI port ready to be used.