My first gaming build plan ^^ opinions and improvements needed

[Sleepingforest]

You can get just the windowed side panel in black for $35.

Also: Corsair's memory is expensive because they've branded it as a premium product. Those in-the-know realize that the premium features (faster speed, spreaders) aren't worth the money.

 

[Splenyi]

I'll think about the case for longer. And that's what I was thinking about the ram, but was just curious

Another question though; I know I will have 5 fans in my case (2 120mm at the front for intake, 2 120mm at the top for the radiator, and 1 140mm at the rear for exhaust). I'm preferably going to upgrade all these fans after I have finished my build with some top of the range, quiet fans (maybe Corsairs, they seem to have really good performance and good style).

But I have been wondering; how should I configure my rad's fans? Should I have them on top of the rad sucking air into the case, or below it to have it blowing air out, or something else? I'm thinking that the former might have too much air intake and not enough exhaust, and I did hear that if you have more exhaust than intake, it creates a very effective "vacuum-like" effect.

Any ideas?

 

[Sleepingforest]

If you use dust filters on the intakes, it should be okay. The R4 is pretty tightly sealed to get the acoustic ability it has, so filters and a cleaning every few months is probably enough. I'd do a two 140mm in front for intakes and go with the top for the 240mm radiator, plus a 140mm back exhaust. Use a PWM splitter so you can use the included fan controller to control the front and the radiator fans as pairs.

 

[Splenyi]

140mm all around, that's a good idea.

So you would place your fans on top of the radiator, sucking air into the case?

And would you recommend Corsair fans? The double packs seem like good value, about $30-35 with shipping for the pair.

EDIT: The one thing I have to consider with my case is that I have to look nationally, because over-sea shipping price for something that big is around $70, it's crazy. So I can't look overseas to get it cheaper, because the shipping price will just destroy any money I saved from it.

 

[Sleepingforest]

No. I think it's an exceedingly bad idea to disturb your airflow like that, particularly since the primary exhaust is in the top-back. Have the radiator push air out--like I said, the dust filters and closed nature of the R4 will protect you from the worst dust.

The fans the R4 comes with are pretty excellent (and work well with it's fan controller), but if you want a good set of extra radiator fans, I'd go with the SP120 Performance Edition (the extra CFM and static pressure over the Quiet Edition are useful for radiators). For case fans, I'd get a single Quiet Edition for the back.

 

[Splenyi]

Sorry, I miss understood your other post. So have the fans under the radiator as an exhaust? Just trying to be 100% clear so I don't fry something.

The fans I was planning to get were 2 SP120s for the top, 1 AF140 for the exhaust, and 2 AF140s for front intake. That's in order of priority too. I was originally planning on getting the quiet editions all-round, because I'm afraid it might ruin my amazing soundless case, but maybe it won't get enough air into/out of it.

EDIT: Back to mobos. My budget has risen, not sure how much by, but it has, and I want to get a higher end mobo. Even if it's probably not necessary, I still want it .

I've listed 4 mobo's below that all seem fairly equal and around the same price range, I was wondering what might be the best?

ASRock Fatal1ty Z77 Performance
ASUS P8Z77-V LK
ASRock Z77 Extreme6
Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H

I'm not sure if it's just me, but ASUS mobo's only seem like a good option if your looking for a high end one, not mid-range like I want.

So at the moment I'm thinking between the ASRock and Gigabyte, and which ASRock, the Fatal1ty or the Extreme series?

Opinions would be great.

 

[Sleepingforest]

You are having a serious case of scope creep. None of those would fit in your original budget, and they don't add anything to your computer.

You've already spent extra on the cooler. Plus, you'd get better performance not by investing in the motherboard but by getting a larger SSD or a better graphics card.

If you need Firewire, get the Extreme6. Otherwise, none of those boards offer anything the Extreme4 does.

 

[Splenyi]

I suppose you're right, I need to re-think my whole plan here.

Seems as all the pieces I ordered from America won't be here until about/over a month, then there is no real rush to order the rest nationally. So I'm going to try save the money I can, so I can put a little bit more into this build (I'm definitely thinking about upgrading the SSD to something with aprox. equal read/write speeds).

There are 5 pieces of a PC (not counting a monitor) that are needed to actually get the thing running:

- CPU
- Mobo
- RAM
- PSU
- Case

I won't be able to do anything with just these pieces, but at least I will know if they all work. So these are the pieces I will be aiming for first, but if I see any good sales on HDDs, SSDs, GPUs or case fans, I will be sure to snatch them up, which is why I'm not buying everything at once, so I have the money to get these deals if they pop up.

I have got my hands on some RAM already though, what I got wasn't anything like I was expecting to get, but I bought a pair of 1600mhz 8GB Dominator Platinum from my friend for $80. He has 4 of them in his PC, and apparently he had 2 just lying around, un-opened and spanking new, and he said he just wants to get rid of them for a little money. So I got them cheap, now I just have to hope it will not cause compatibility issues. Don't hate on me for getting these

 

[Sleepingforest]

$80 for a pair is pretty good actually--that's what I paid for my Samsung RAM ($40 for 8GB) which is running happily at 1600MHz 9-9-9-24 1.35V. I decided that the lower voltage and tight timings were worthwhile to me.

 

[Splenyi]

Yeah well I guess the 1600Mhz is good, because if I need the extra performance, I can just OC it.

EDIT: So far I have only 3 pieces or my build, and they're all at the mega high end series of it all; AXi series PSU, H100i cooler, and a pair of 8GB dominator platinums. Pretty happy so far. Going to be getting the CPU next, because I'm certain on the 3570k. I'll order it the same time as the mobo and case, once I finally decide on what to get, but I won't be ordering this until about 3 weeks from now.

 

[Sleepingforest]

Alright. I did link to an optional windowed side for the R4 from PCCaseGear--which I believe is Australia based. But I'm sure local supply is constrained.

 

[Splenyi]

QUICK question I need answered before someone grabs the special before me :ninja:

Is this MSI card higher quality than this Sapphire card? It just came on special.

Looks like a crappy block compared to MSI's other cards.

 

[Sleepingforest]

It has an unlocked voltage, so it's easier to overclock, particularly if you're willing to sink some custom cooling into it. It also costs less in terms of absolute dollars spent.

BUT: it comes slower and with worse by default. You pretty much have to OC to get your value out of it.

 

[Splenyi]

Hmmm... I think i would rather spend another $30 for the Sapphire.

 

[Sleepingforest]

That's a fair decision. Honestly, I would have gone that way too. The unlocked voltage and lower price of the MSI doesn't overcome it's blower cooling for me.

 

[Splenyi]

Yeah, I was worried that over-using it with higher voltage might fry the thing.

A little about cases; I love the look of Corsair's graphite, especially in white, it looks so great with the window too. My only complaints are: the fan controller, I don't really like built in ones because when I decide to include a aftermarket one (which I will), it will just sit there doing nothing. The other thing is that there are 4 USB 2.0 ports and only 1 USB 3.0 port. 2.0 seem pointless to me, because 3.0 use them anyway. Plus, it's very expensive in Australia ($185-$200), and that's without the ~$40 postage price for an item this size.

I have read reviews about it too, and it seems to offer nice cooling and noise performance. It's probably the only white case I have seen, that I actually like. I'm not sure if it would fit the h100i inside the case though, because all the builds I have seen (not many) have the fans fitted externally.

I know that it's overpriced for what it offers, but it looks so good.

 

[Turbonium]

mATX mobos tend to have less PCIe slots and fewer power phases (4 to 8, generally). For your use, they are perfectly fine.

Also... the 7970 is more powerful than the 670. It will thus play at the top end for long (the memory helps too). The 7970 is superior to the 670 in pretty much every way ( power, VRAM.) It either ties or beats the 670; most benchmarks you see are out of date thanks to new drivers on both sides.

Can you elaborate on this?

 

[Splenyi]

I think he elaborated on it fairly well. Here are some modern test to confirm it:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6774/nvidias-geforce-gtx-titan-part-2-titans-performance-unveiled/10
The 680 is the only thing that comes close to the 7970, sometimes overtaking it by a little, sometimes not, so I doubt the 670 will give anything respectable in comparison, especially considering how it's more expensive.

Apparently, this is only for gaming though. I did hear that nvidia is very good with tasks such as video editing, image editing and 3d animation.

Unless you were specifically refering to the power phases thing?

EDIT: While GPUs where mentioned, it got me thinking again. The GPU is the most expensive part of any gaming PC, nearly 2x that of the CPU, so I want to get something great and not need to buy something else for a while.

I've got my mind set on the 7970, just because they are the best for their price by a HUGE amount. I feel fairly confident about getting the Sapphire, and the only other reasonable alternative would be to get a Gigabyte (in Australia anyway, it's hard to find a XFX here), so should I stick with Sapphire or go with Gigabyte? Specifically these 2 cards
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=193_1309&products_id=21322

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=193_1309&products_id=19269

Another question too; how OCable are these 2, if at all?

 

[Sleepingforest]

@Turbonium: Power phases are circuitry that bring power to the CPU. It's a measure of how many watts your motherboard can handle.

Overclocks require exponentially more watts as you increase the voltage for the overclock. Thus, even though going from 3.4GHz to 4.5 GHz is easy to do at home, 5.0 to 6.0 is immensely difficult (we're looking at approaching world record status in this second part).

Basically, 4 power phases is enough for the average person. If you're looking to get to 5.0GHz and above, you'll need custom water cooling or vaporphase cooling along with a good CPU chip and motherboard with good power delivery and regulation.

 

[Splenyi]

Any chance I could reach 4.5 with the ASRock extreme motherboards, a 3570k, and the PSU I have ? These mobos have 8+4 (not sure what +4 is) power phases.

 

[Sleepingforest]

Yeah, that should be fine--you got the H100, so you should be fine. The +4 is for the iGPU.

 

[Splenyi]

Ah ok, thanks.

Is it possible to OC GPUs? Apparently ASUS 7970's have a really good cooling system and OC potential. Should I save up for this card? And what's the difference between their TOP editions, is it just pre-factory overclocked.

 

[Sleepingforest]

It is possible to OC GPUs. Simply download an aftermarket utility, like Sapphire Trixx or MSI Afterburners, and bump up the core/memory clock in small units. Test for stability. Rinse and repeat until artifacting or satisfied.

However, for the best OC, you must find a 7970 with unlocked voltage (increasing voltage adds to stability at the cost of heat). Only the VT3D X edition, MSI Lightning Edition, MSI OC Edition (reference cooler), and Asus Matrix Platinum come with unlocked voltage out of the box.

 

[Splenyi]

Well I don't think I'll be getting one with unlocked voltage, because they all cost a shed load.

I am actually considering getting the ASUS 7950 DirectCu II Top, because in Linus' video here it shows that the 7970 and 7950 only have a tiny fps difference. But he also says that the difference between these 2 cards will become much more noticeable when the graphics are cranked up. So, what do you think, stick with 7970 or go with the much less expensive 7950?

 

[Sleepingforest]

Actually, the 7970 is a good 10-20% faster in pretty much all games but Skyrim. But I can see why paying 33% more for 20% more performance can be unappealing.

I'd still look for a different 7950. That particular 7950 is pretty overpriced for what you get.

Edit: the Sapphire 7950 OC Edition is a good choice.