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First Time Building PC - Gaming and Video Editing

H

harmonics

Junior Member
After years of purchasing pre-built PCs, I have finally decided to build my own. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.

Gaming and HD video editing (avchd files)

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread

Around $2000 - my current proposed build is more and that's fine with me

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.

U.S.

4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc.

I tend to prefer WD hard drives. Other than that, no real brand preferences.

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.

I am buying all new parts. However, I have already purchased Windows 7 Professional and a Soundblaster X-FI Titanium HD.

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.

Yes, I have been researching this build for a while.

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.

I have never overclocked before, but I am considering overclocking the processor.

8. What resolution YOU plan on gaming with.

I will be gaming at 1920 x 1200.

9. WHEN do you plan to build it?

I would have built it already, but I am waiting for Bulldozer. Once Bulldozer comes out, I will make a decision on whether to go with AMD or Intel and build.

The current proposed build uses an Intel processor, but if Bulldozer looks good, I will be changing the CPU, motherboard, and RAM listed below.

Case: Thermaltake Level 10 GT Snow Edition

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811133192

CPU: i7-2600k

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115070

Motherboard: ASUS P8Z68-V Pro (also considering deluxe version or ASRock Gen 3 motherboards)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131730

RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws 16 GB (4 x 4) DDR3 1600

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231315

SSD : Crucial M4 256GB

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820148443

Hard Drive: WD Caviar Black 2TB

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136792

2nd Hard Drive: WD Caviar Green 2TB

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136514

Video Card: MSI GTX 570 Twin Frozr III (or Zotac Shell Shocker deal today?)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127582

PSU: Seasonic X-850 (might want to SLI in the future)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817151102

CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835608018

Blu-Ray Burner: Lite-On Blu-Ray Burner

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106348

Sound Card: Soundblaster X-Fi Titanium HD (already purchased)

OS: Windows 7 Professional (already purchased)

Thanks in advance for any advice on the above build. As I mentioned previously, I might change my choice of CPU, motherboard, and RAM if I decide to go with Bulldozer. However, I am starting to purchase the other parts when there are sales.
 
That Thermaltake just looks terrible and hard to work with. Reminds me of some crappy sci-fi movie prop from 70's. For a high-end case I'd rather get something like

Corsair 800D $255 AR
CM HAF X $180 AR
Corsair 650D $170 AR
Silverstone Raven RV02B $185
Lian-Li PC-A71F $220

Swap that WD Caviar Black 2TB drive to 2x 1TB SATA II and put them in RAID 0. Much faster and cheaper.

On a $2000 build you could easily make some savings to accommodate GTX 570 SLI right away into that build. But maybe it's a better idea to just upgrade to 7xx sooner than later, a 570 is fast enough for now for any game.

Everything else looks great ;]
 
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I thought some of you might not like the case. I was previously thinking of getting a HAF X, but I actually kind of like the Level 10 GT. From what I've read, it seems that the case has very good cable management and is actually not too hard to work with. Putting aside the case's appearance and cost for a moment, is it actually a bad case? It got pretty good reviews on Newegg. Has anyone here used the case before?

As for editing AVCHD files, I use Sony Vegas Movie Studio HD Platinum 10. Does that program take advantage of Nvidia cards?

Thanks for the comments so far! I'll take another look at the case.
 
lehtv said:
That Thermaltake just looks terrible and hard to work with. Reminds me of some crappy sci-fi movie prop from 70's.
Click to expand...

Hey now R2D2 is crying on C3P0's shoulder somewhere because of your harsh words... 😛


I think the case is pretty neat and as long as its really functional and accommodating the cosmetics of it is really something we all might look at differently.

As long as the purchaser likes it that's all that matters. :biggrin:
 
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Ooooook. So I get that you have a $2K budget. That doesn't mean that there aren't smart ways and dumb ways to spend it though.

- Case: As has been mentioned, ugly as sin and not very good. Anything from lehtv's list would be better.
- CPU: Good
- Mobo: Way overpriced for what it is. Get the ASRock Z68 Extreme3 instead.
- RAM: Again, overpriced. You can get two DDR3 1333 8GB kits for $82. No, you won't notice a difference.
- SSD : Fine, but you should question whether or not you need 256GB. Most likely, the 128GB version would work just fine.
- HDDs: First rule of video editing: Spindle count matters. Get three or four F3 1TB drives instead.
- GPU: A GTX 570 is in no way worth $370. That's 6970 territory. Get this MSI with full-width exhaust for $270.
- PSU: I've been around the block enough times to know that people who "might" go SLI don't. An HCG-620 will handle your needs and then some for $70.
- HSF: A DH14 is good, but also way more than you need to get the easy 4.6 GHz OC. Consider the Hyper 212+.
- ODD : Consider this Lite-ON instead.

With the money that you save either:
(a) put it in your pocket for upgrades
(b) get a real RAID controller like an LSI MegaRAID or Areca if you're serious about video editing
(c) get an XFX Core 750W and another GTX 570 if you're serious about gaming.
 
mfenn said:
Ooooook. So I get that you have a $2K budget. That doesn't mean that there aren't smart ways and dumb ways to spend it though.

- Case: As has been mentioned, ugly as sin and not very good. Anything from lehtv's list would be better.
- CPU: Good
- Mobo: Way overpriced for what it is. Get the ASRock Z68 Extreme3 instead.
- RAM: Again, overpriced. You can get two DDR3 1333 8GB kits for $82. No, you won't notice a difference.
- SSD : Fine, but you should question whether or not you need 256GB. Most likely, the 128GB version would work just fine.
- HDDs: First rule of video editing: Spindle count matters. Get three or four F3 1TB drives instead.
- GPU: A GTX 570 is in no way worth $370. That's 6970 territory. Get this MSI with full-width exhaust for $270.
- PSU: I've been around the block enough times to know that people who "might" go SLI don't. An HCG-620 will handle your needs and then some for $70.
- HSF: A DH14 is good, but also way more than you need to get the easy 4.6 GHz OC. Consider the Hyper 212+.
- ODD : Consider this Lite-ON instead.

With the money that you save either:
(a) put it in your pocket for upgrades
(b) get a real RAID controller like an LSI MegaRAID or Areca if you're serious about video editing
(c) get an XFX Core 750W and another GTX 570 if you're serious about gaming.
Click to expand...
+1
 
mfenn said:
- GPU: A GTX 570 is in no way worth $370. That's 6970 territory. Get this
MSI with full-width exhaust for $270.
Click to expand...
That $270 MSI card has 13 (!) one-star reviews. I would not put my money on that.

The MSI 570 PE/OC comes with an excellent cooler and excellent overclocking capacity. 6970 and 570 at stock speeds are about as fast: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/292?vs=306 The only real downside of the 570 is 1280mb VRAM vs 2GB on a 6970. This may or may not become an issue in the near future @ 1920x1200.

That said, Asus 6970 triple-slot can be had for $10 less, and EVGA 570 Classified with lifetime warranty can be had for $40 less. You could snag the EVGA cards if you lower your budget for SSD, mobo, CPU cooler and/or case. Or two of standard size 6970.

- PSU: I've been around the block enough times to know that people who "might" go SLI don't. An HCG-620 will handle your needs and then some for $70.
Click to expand...
I would still go 80+ gold on a $2000 build. Seasonic X-650 is only $110 right now!

- HSF: A DH14 is good, but also way more than you need to get the easy 4.6 GHz OC. Consider the Hyper 212+.
Click to expand...
Would get Scythe Mugen 3 but I'm biased :whiste:
 
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It would be very helpful if someone could tell me why the Level 10 GT is worse than the other cases mentioned (aside from looks and price). The Anandtech review stated that the case has strong heat management and quiet acoustics. What is it that makes it a bad case?

I was planning on using the SSD for video editing and the hard drives for storage. Is an SSD not a good choice for video editing?
 
To be honest with you, the main issue I have with the case is that it looks horrible. I would not want that ... thing ... sitting on my desk. The reason I said it looks hard to work with is that I'm used to working with normal cases. It may not be hard to work with once you get used to it.

But if you like the design and think it's your kind of case, and don't mind the price then go for it! All I'm saying is that a Coolermaster HAF X for 3/5 of the price would do everything you need a case to do.
 
lehtv said:
That $270 MSI card has 13 (!) one-star reviews. I would not put my money on that.
Click to expand...

What's more important IMHO is that MSI proactively reached out to every single person with a 1-star review and offered to make it right.
 
harmonics said:
It would be very helpful if someone could tell me why the Level 10 GT is worse than the other cases mentioned (aside from looks and price). The Anandtech review stated that the case has strong heat management and quiet acoustics. What is it that makes it a bad case?
Click to expand...

Mostly the looks and the price. It's also heavy as hell. There are many similarly performing cases that are cheaper and lighter.

harmonics said:
I was planning on using the SSD for video editing and the hard drives for storage. Is an SSD not a good choice for video editing?
Click to expand...

Two problems with that:

1. The SSD is not big enough for any reasonably-sized project.
2. If the HDDs are for storage, why is one a black and one a green?
 
What's more important IMHO is that MSI proactively reached out to every single person with a 1-star review and offered to make it right.
Click to expand...

Well that's all nice and well but it'd be even better if they didn't have to do that in the first place, and I'm sure MSI would agree.
 
I'm pretty sure the SSD will be large enough for my video projects; I am just doing relatively small home videos. The WD Caviar Black is for extra programs that don't fit on the SSD as well as storing media files (videos, photos, music, etc.). The WD Caviar Green is solely for backing up the media files and any other important files. Since I won't be running any programs off of the Caviar Green drive, I don't care if it is slower.

Any thoughts on the EVGA GTX 570 Classified vs. EVGA GTX 570 Superclocked?

Is the Hyper 212+ a relatively quiet CPU cooler? Is it louder than the NH-D14?
 
D14 uses two 140mm fans at relatively low RPM so CM 212+ isn't as quiet. I haven't used it personally but the consensus is that it's not loud by any means, certainly audible at full RPM but not loud.
 
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While I believe the case is a personal choice, I second it's ugly nature. That being said, my wife likes the look of it.

I will also say taht your RAM is overpriced, the gskill RAM will be quite enough.

While I haven't done any video editing myself, I would imaging that it would be better to invest in HDD's for your editing and a smaller SSD for your applications.
 
That's interesting about the failure rate of the hard drives. The article was published in February 2010. I wonder if WD has improved the reliability of the 2TB drives since then.
 
harmonics said:
I'm pretty sure the SSD will be large enough for my video projects; I am just doing relatively small home videos. The WD Caviar Black is for extra programs that don't fit on the SSD as well as storing media files (videos, photos, music, etc.). The WD Caviar Green is solely for backing up the media files and any other important files. Since I won't be running any programs off of the Caviar Green drive, I don't care if it is slower.
Click to expand...

That's a bit of a Catch-22. If you are doing projects small enough that they will fit on an SSD, you don't need to put them on an SSD. If you're doing projects large enough to benefit from an SSD, you can't afford big enough SSD.

I stand by my original advice, spindle count is king. Get three or four identical 1TB drives. That'll make sure that your storage can scale as your projects do.

harmonics said:
Any thoughts on the EVGA GTX 570 Classified vs. EVGA GTX 570 Superclocked?
Click to expand...

They are both wastes of money. If you'd like to have an overclocked GTX 570, get a ~$270 and drag the sliders to the left yourself.

harmonics said:
Is the Hyper 212+ a relatively quiet CPU cooler? Is it louder than the NH-D14?
Click to expand...

Yes it is is relatively quiet. Yes, it is louder than the D14 (pretty much anything is).
 
I decided to swing by Micro Center this morning since I had a couple of coupons. Even though everyone seems to think the Level 10 GT Snow Edition is hideous, I kind of like the way it looks and it is otherwise a decent case with features I want, so I decided to get it. With Micro Center's sale price and my coupon, it only came out to about $190 plus tax, so I saved around $100 off the regular price.

I also got an ASUS GTX 570 DirectCU II for $296 plus tax. I think I'm going to forget about SLI and change my proposed PSU to a Seasonic X-750 (or X-650?). If I need a faster video card in the future, I'll just get something from the new generation of cards.
 
Nice deal on the GTX 570! I also agree with your reasoning about upgrading, it's the best way to consistently get good deals IMHO.

As for PSU, I would stick to the ~650W Bronze ones like the XFX Core 650W or Antec HCG-620.
 
And I would recommend X-650 because it's only $110 at newegg atm (yes 650W is easily enough for GTX 570). The XFX and HGC aren't even modular.

:twisted::twisted::twisted:
 
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