First time builder $1400 gaming rig

[gingerale]

1. This will be a mainly gaming rig. Will also watch movies on it.
2. $1400 budget
3. Canada
4. No brand preference.
5. Might be reusing optical drives and a media card reader, haven't had time to check.
6. Yes I've done quite a bit of research
7. Yes I'll be overclocking the CPU a bit. Haven't tried OCing before though.
8. 1920x1080 on a 23"
9. Next week

My build so far:

Cooler Master HAF X Tower Case
Thermaltake TPX-775M Toughpower XT 775W Power Supply
MSI P67A-GD65 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Intel Core™ i5-2500K Processor, 3.30GHz w/ 6MB Cache
Mushkin Enhanced Silverline 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333
Crucial RealSSD C300 CTFDDAC064MAG-1G1 2.5" 64GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State
Western Digital 1TB Caviar Black 7200rpm SATA III w/ 64MB Cache
Sapphire Radeon HD 6950 2GB GDDR5 PCI-E 2XDVI HDMI 2x Mini DisplayPort Video Card
Cooler Master 200mm Red LED Fan

Coolermaster hyper 212



Total is just under $1400. I have a Windows 7 64 bit license already.

Question:
Is the CPU cooler easy to install? Keep in my mind this is my first time building.

Comments?

Thanks!

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

Shouldn't be a problem

Very nice build! :thumbsup:

 

[JBDan]

Looks good to me as well. You'll get feedback on the PSU and while 750W is more than enough (too much) and $135 is a lot of $ to pay for a PSU I can't say anything as I bought the Seasonic 650W Gold series

Good luck on the build post some pics plz!

 

[gingerale]

Looks good to me as well. You'll get feedback on the PSU and while 750W is more than enough (too much) and $135 is a lot of $ to pay for a PSU I can't say anything as I bought the Seasonic 650W Gold series

Good luck on the build post some pics plz!

I was thinking about that and happened to find a better deal on this PSU:
Thermaltake TPX-775M Toughpower XT 775W Power Supply

$80 AR

Read some reviews on it, seems to be a decent modular PSU

 

[Davidh373]

I was thinking about that and happened to find a better deal on this PSU:
Thermaltake TPX-775M Toughpower XT 775W Power Supply

$80 AR

Read some reviews on it, seems to be a decent modular PSU

Thermaltake is bad for PSUs. Get Seasonic, Antec, Corsair, or XFX.

 

[gingerale]

Thermaltake is bad for PSUs. Get Seasonic, Antec, Corsair, or XFX.

Nah read a couple reviews on that PSU, it should be a good choice.
And I might switch my HDD to a WD caviar black sata 3 1tb drive, because I can get it cheaper than the samsung f3.

 

[Anomaly1964]

Very nice!

Have fun building!

 

[mfenn]

Thermaltake is bad for PSUs. Get Seasonic, Antec, Corsair, or XFX.

I normally agree, but this particular model got a 9 from Jonny, so I'm willing to give it a pass.

OP, that PSU is decent quality but ludicrous overkill for a single GPU rig. Your system will probably idle around ~50W, so you're going to be getting terrible efficiency. $70 AR is not a bad price, but I'd personally be looking at something like a Neo Eco 520C.

As for the rest of your build, I have a few other comments:
- Case: Really expensive, so be sure to look at the HAF 912 and 922 as well. They will definitely meet the cooling requirements of a single-GPU rig.
- Mobo: Kind of expensive for what you need. Check out the GA-P67A-UD3.
- HSF: I'd probably just grab the standard Hyper 212+ instead because it's less expensive and you're not married to the fan that comes with it.

 

[gingerale]

I normally agree, but this particular model got a 9 from Jonny, so I'm willing to give it a pass.

OP, that PSU is decent quality but ludicrous overkill for a single GPU rig. Your system will probably idle around ~50W, so you're going to be getting terrible efficiency. $70 AR is not a bad price, but I'd personally be looking at something like a Neo Eco 520C.

As for the rest of your build, I have a few other comments:
- Case: Really expensive, so be sure to look at the HAF 912 and 922 as well. They will definitely meet the cooling requirements of a single-GPU rig.
- Mobo: Kind of expensive for what you need. Check out the GA-P67A-UD3.
- HSF: I'd probably just grab the standard Hyper 212+ instead because it's less expensive and you're not married to the fan that comes with it.

I would only save less than $10 if I got the neo eco cause of shipping/taxes, so might as well go with the thermaltake. I may do xfire in the future. And I will OC.

The gigabyte mobo doesn't have uefi, i think i will stick with the gd65.
I prefer a full tower case
I will switch to the 212+. I can use 2 120 mm fans on it, any suggestions on what kind of fan to get?

 

[fffblackmage]

Coolermaster hyper 212
Is the CPU cooler easy to install? Keep in my mind this is my first time building.

I thought it was very easy, but you'll have to tape the backplate in place while installing it on the mobo.

The CM 212+ is an excellent choice. Top notch performance, but cheap and user-friendly.
I wouldn't bother installing a second fan though. You'd be adding noise for a couple degrees better temps.

 

[gingerale]

I thought it was very easy, but you'll have to tape the backplate in place while installing it on the mobo.

The CM 212+ is an excellent choice. Top notch performance, but cheap and user-friendly.
I wouldn't bother installing a second fan though. You'd be adding noise for a couple degrees better temps.

I will keep that in mind. But I don't really mind as long as it's not too loud.
But I will need one 120mm fan for the case. What's a good 120mm fan? (I prefer white/red LED)

 

[Davidh373]

I may do xfire in the future. And I will OC.

Bad decision. Do it now, or don't. It isn't as much of a money saver as you'd think. You end up buying a $200 6950 when you'll be able to get a midrange card around $220 that's better than both the cards combined.

Keep in mind, we here at Anandtech (most of us anyway) are under the mindset that there is no such thing as "future proof". People throw the term around as if it is reality, but really in the end you end up spending a lot of money trying, and the 50% more you pay only buys you about 1-3 months. You could spend that 50% on future upgrades and get yourself a decent performance boost more frequently. You have no idea how many people come in here with what was a $2000 (Athlon 64 X2, 2GB RAM, 8800GT for example) build and they just let their games crawl for years and they come in here with like $600 they scraped together and the get like a 200% performance boost.

 

[gingerale]

Bad decision. Do it now, or don't. It isn't as much of a money saver as you'd think. You end up buying a $200 6950 when you'll be able to get a midrange card around $220 that's better than both the cards combined.

Keep in mind, we here at Anandtech (most of us anyway) are under the mindset that there is no such thing as "future proof". People throw the term around as if it is reality, but really in the end you end up spending a lot of money trying, and the 50% more you pay only buys you about 1-3 months. You could spend that 50% on future upgrades and get yourself a decent performance boost more frequently. You have no idea how many people come in here with what was a $2000 (Athlon 64 X2, 2GB RAM, 8800GT for example) build and they just let their games crawl for years and they come in here with like $600 they scraped together and the get like a 200% performance boost.

I know I've heard that before. I'm just keeping my options open.

 

[mfenn]

I know I've heard that before. I'm just keeping my options open.

The problem with that line of thinking is that "keeping your options open" means "spending money that could have been put towards a better single GPU in the first place".

 

[mfenn]

The gigabyte mobo doesn't have uefi, i think i will stick with the gd65.

All Sandy Bridge mobos are UEFI under the hood. The Gigabyte mobo just has a traditional BIOS interface. The functionality is the same.

I prefer a full tower case

Gonna be mighty lonely in there. :awe:

I will switch to the 212+. I can use 2 120 mm fans on it, any suggestions on what kind of fan to get?

Depends on what you want to do. Honestly, I would try the single stock fan at first, you'll probably be pleasantly surprised. If you decide you want something quieter, you can always throw some Noctuas on it later.