My first build! (please be gentle)

[iambatman57]

As per the sticky:

1: My PC will mostly be used for streaming/gaming, some video editing and very little sound editing.

2: I realistically have $1500 I can blow, but I wanted to save a bit and I'm going to end up at or around $1100 and use the rest of the money to save for my mancave.

3: USA

4: I used intel brand, and would like to stick to that this build.

5: I got my AOC Monitor, Case, Mouse, Keyboard, Speakers, and Webcam, all of those will be carried over.

7: I don't believe I am overclocking at the beginning, although down the road possibly a year out I may dabble with it if needed. In other words, I want to have the equipment to at least do a little bit but I'm not going overboard into that because that's not what I'm trying to do with my computer.

8: To be honest, I'd have to go back to the office to check but I already have my monitor. I'll check it tomorrow if anyone is curious.

9: I plan to build at the beginning of next week, parts being ordered in a few days.

I would have bought blueray software if I had the drive, but I just need windows 7, I have a word key.

I have actually already picked the parts, but if there is an incompatibility or a total mismatch please let me know.

CPU: Intel i5 2500k
Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
Mobo: Asus P8Z77-V
Memory: Crucial Ballistix DDR3-1600 8 GB
HD: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB
GPU: HIS Radeon HD 6750
Case: (owned) NZXT Phantom ATX (white red)
Power: 550W Antec ATX12V
CD Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST

My build is here as well:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/bFlx

Overall, I think I made the right decisions, although I think I can find a better mobo for the price.

In addition, since I'm streaming I also got AVerMedia's capture card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16815100049

Thanks for any imput you give, I could be far off the mark here but hopefully I took much of the guesswork out of it.

 

[azeem40]

i5-3570k is $10 more. Worth the price.

 

[krnmastersgt]

I'd like to start off by saying you should probably just overclock once you have the system, you don't need to push your chip to see what it's capable of but getting to around 4.2-4.4GHz should be pretty straightforward with minimal voltage increase. Many times people who intend to overclock their equipment end up just buying newer tech down the line.

Secondly, what you're outlining is pretty much exactly what mfenn's thread here is all about.


CPU: Have you considered the 3570K? Performs slightly better than the 2500K if you're only going for a moderate overclock.
Cooler: Fine choice
Motherboard: ASRock Z75 Pro3 $93
Memory: G.SKILL Value 8GB $40
Hard Drive: Why not Seagate Barracuda 2TB for $108, or the Seagate Barracuda $70 AP.
GPU: You're skimping here when it's the most important part? MSI Twin Frozr 7850 $210 AR, maybe even a stronger one depending on your resolution.
PSU: Corsair TX650 $65 AR

 

[iambatman57]

Everything looks great form the suggestions and that thread as well. Just two things.

1. I would have went with seagate except for rumored reliability issues, especially with the 1TB drives. Is this still a factor?

2. I went with a cheaper video card because I wasn't primarily going to use it for gaming, but I think you are right. If I'm going for gaming either way, I might as well upgrade that part.

Thanks for the advice on the mobo as well, I certainly would have overspent there.

 

[Remobz]

Everything looks great form the suggestions and that thread as well. Just two things.

1. I would have went with seagate except for rumored reliability issues, especially with the 1TB drives. Is this still a factor?

2. I went with a cheaper video card because I wasn't primarily going to use it for gaming, but I think you are right. If I'm going for gaming either way, I might as well upgrade that part.

Thanks for the advice on the mobo as well, I certainly would have overspent there.

You can always use the HD4000 integrated graphics on the Asrock mobo until you save up for a really good graphics card. The HD4000 can even be used for older games and some new ones at medium to low resolutions.

Just another option maybe?

 

[DSF]

Everything looks great form the suggestions and that thread as well. Just two things.

1. I would have went with seagate except for rumored reliability issues, especially with the 1TB drives. Is this still a factor?

2. I went with a cheaper video card because I wasn't primarily going to use it for gaming, but I think you are right. If I'm going for gaming either way, I might as well upgrade that part.

Thanks for the advice on the mobo as well, I certainly would have overspent there.

Depends on what you mean by gaming I suppose. If you mostly play older games or casual games, it may not be worth the expense.

If you like to play newer 3D games and want to be able to buy a game off the shelf (or off Steam, etc.) without having to worry about whether you'll run it at decent settings, moving to a 7850 makes perfect sense. In a traditional gaming rig the video card is at least as important as the CPU, if not more.

 

[krnmastersgt]

1. I haven't heard of any problems that are particular to Seagate's 1 TB drives, and they had a reputation for being unreliable about 5-6 years ago but nowadays their offerings stand up there with the rest. I personally have had few issues with my drives which are primarily Seagates with a few Hitachi's here and there.

2. I only proposed a much better video card on the basis that the first thing you listed for intended uses was gaming/streaming (which I assumed meant streaming yourself playing games) so I assumed this was a gaming rig. Not to mention you only said some video editing and light sound editing, was this supposed to just be a general use system that you sometimes gamed on?

 

[iambatman57]

I'll trust the Seagate brand then!

As per Video, I mostly play only old school video games and stream them, mostly because that's all I have been able to play and stream up til this point. I usually find them more entertaining to stream. I have an external cap card that I have been using to do this, yet I now no longer want to deal with that mess. For the most part, I will be sticking with older games and some last gen, but that doesn't mean I want to start playing newer games and streaming them. I should have mentioned that before, I of course want to start playing all the new stuff as well so I need my build to be able to do that. It's just old school is my thing and it's what my stream is usually based on. So yeah, It's a mistake to skimp on the GPU.

Otherwise, thanks for the advice! I'll post again if I need more help.

 

[krnmastersgt]

Well considering the budget I still think you should go for the 7850, that way if you every chance upon a game that interests you there's very little chance you won't be able to run it near max settings with your set-up. Not to mention that the rest of the system is a nice powerful set-up, and it just feels like you're gimping it by getting such a weak video card even if you do only play older titles.

Even with the 7850 you'll fall well within the budget, however one thing I did notice that was missing from this system is an SSD. If this is just a general use machine, for some older games and occasional editing tasks then an SSD is probably a way better investment than stepping up the 7850 (or you could just do both :awe.

 

[mfenn]

Given your budget and the fact that you don't need any peripherals, I see no reason not to include an SSD in this build. Check out my $1000 build thread for options.