No overclock gaming PC

[mundanename]

Hello,

I will be building my first computer in over a decade and I am rather paranoid about screwing it up. I would love any feedback on the selections I have made.


From: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=80121
1. Single player gaming at 1080P with low noise, no overclock. If a tradeoff is to be made between noise and power I would rather go with the lower noise option. I am used to using a laptop with very little fan noise all day and have no interest in listening to a wind tunnel.

2. $1.2k to $1.4k

3. USA, preference would be Amazon or Newegg, no interest in saving a few $ over using a highly trustworthy site with good return policies

4. N/A

5. In the past I have had a bad experience with AMD but I would be open to giving it a try if there was a good reason. From what I have read Intel remains the better option in this generation.

6. Case and Monitor will be reused

7. Default speed

8. 1080p

9. This month

X. Windows

Here are the details of my current shopping list (using Newegg, based on this excellent thread: http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2192841)

GIGABYTE GV-N770OC-2GD GeForce GTX 770 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 HDCP Ready WindForce 3X 450W Video Card $329.99

CORSAIR TX Series CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Compatible ... $89.99

Team Vulcan 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory (Orange Heat Spreader) Model TLAD316G1600HC10ADC01 $134.99

GIGABYTE GA-H81.Amp-UP LGA 1150 Intel H81 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard $79.99

Intel Core i5-3350P Ivy Bridge 3.1GHz (3.3GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 69W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80637i53350P $179.99

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - OEM $99.99

Noctua NH-D14 120mm & 140mm SSO CPU Cooler $84.99

Crucial M500 240GB SATA 2.5" 7mm (with 9.5mm adapter) Internal Solid State Drive CT240M500SSD1 $174.99

Total: $1,174.92

1. CPU - I have 0 interest in overclocking my system and based on the various benchmarks there seems to be no real impact to game performance if I jumped up to the I5 4670K so I thought I would save a few $ here. Is this a decent tradeoff to make?

2. Cooler - The last system I built only lasted a short time as I burnt out both my CPU and GPU due to very poor thermal management (no overclocking was involved). I know that the stock cooler should work just fine but I thought I would put a few $ into a better cooler for more margin and to reduce the overall noise of the system. Thoughts?

3. MB - On my old system I had repeated issues with buzzing in my audio due to poor motherboard construction. I had to eventually get a separate audio card to fix the issue (are getting the pattern of the money pit my old computer was yet? So I picked this one mostly for the audio features. Is it just hype?

4. GPU - The GPU listed in the thread was sold out, this seemed like a decent replacement, yes?

Finally if there are any good resources on how to verify that you have adequate airflow in your case I would love to read up on it.

Thank you in advance for your feedback, this forum has been an excellent source of information and I really appreciate you taking some of your time to provide your advice.

 

[Charlie98]

First thing first... you have a socket 1155 CPU and a socket 1150 motherboard... you'll need to fix that before continuing....

Personally, if you stick with the 1150 socket (and that's what I advise...) I would just go with the i5-4570 for $200 and call it a day, although if you don't mind a stepdown in speed... NE has the 4430 on sale for $175. It's 3.2 vs 3.0GHz.

You are reusing your case... what case is it? That mobo is a full ATX board.

If you are running your CPU at stock speeds, there is absolutely no need for a D-14 cooler... the stock Intel cooler would be fine or, if you wish, pick up a CoolerMaster 212EVO for around $35.

...and I would wait for someone to approve your GPU... You are spending the money on the GPU, I'd hate to see it bottlenecked by the CPU. GPU's are not my forte'.

 

[Ken g6]

First, Charlie's right about your CPU/mobo. You want a 4000-series CPU. Since you said single player, you probably want an i5, but what games in particular did you have in mind?

2. Cooler - The last system I built only lasted a short time as I burnt out both my CPU and GPU due to very poor thermal management (no overclocking was involved).

It's practically impossible to "burn out" any modern Intel processor, unless you overvolt it. Was your last build a Pentium 4?

As far as heat sinks for a non-overclocked system, you don't need anything that big unless you're aiming for completely fanless operation. The most you could use with a fan is probably a Hyper 212 Evo. And that only because it's quieter than the stock fan.

I really don't know much about audio issues, but do you still have the sound card from your last build? If it's PCI, it should work here too.

As for the GPU, it looks like you found the quietest 770 on the market.

 

[mfenn]

Yes, certainly the motherboard/CPU incompatibility need to be worked out. There are a few other things I'd like to comment on as well:

- GPU: Good
- PSU: Good
- RAM: You don't really need 16GB for gaming, this Team DDR3 1600 8GB kit would serve you just as well for $48
- Mobo: I think that $80 is too much to pay for an H81 board given the limitations of H81 (2 DIMM slots, low SATA 6Gb/s ports, low USB 3.0 ports). Take some of the money saved on RAM and get the ASRock H87 "Fatality" board. Yes, it's an H87, but it comes with a nice audio chipset for $100 AR.
- CPU: Obviously we need a CPU that's compatible with Socket 1150. That means a Haswell like the i5 4430 for $175 AP.
- OS: Good
- HSF: Having good cooling is important, but you're going to an extreme here. A stock clock Haswell does not need a monster heatsink like the D14 to stay cool. Pick up a Freezer i30 instead.
- SSD : Good

 

[Torn Mind]

- Mobo: I think that $80 is too much to pay for an H81 board given the limitations of H81 (2 DIMM slots, low SATA 6Gb/s ports, low USB 3.0 ports). Take some of the money saved on RAM and get the ASRock Z87 "Fatality" board. Yes, it's a Z87, but it comes with a nice audio chipset for $100 AR.

I think you meant H87.

 

[Torn Mind]

First, Charlie's right about your CPU/mobo. You want a 4000-series CPU. Since you said single player, you probably want an i5, but what games in particular did you have in mind?

It's practically impossible to "burn out" any modern Intel processor, unless you overvolt it. Was your last build a Pentium 4?

Yes, it is odd for CPUs run at stock to die. I had a P4 Celeron with a dust clogged heatsink running at high temps and the fan was spinning ridiculous rpms. Chip was still functional.

Crappy PSUs could destroy lots of things. Or anything else in the power delivery system, such as vrms on the mobo

 

[mundanename]

You are all heroes and full of awesome! =)

The socket and CPU mismatch was a test...yeah.

My old case is an Antec P160 ATX.

I do not have my old soundcard to reuse.

I had a dual sledgehammer setup, within a month one of the processors stopped working (multiple PSU and MB RMAs narrowed it down and AMD deemed the failure user error and non replaceable, which was probably correct but still a huge letdown). I think I screwed up the heatsink install and everything was downhill from there. I forgot what my GPU was at the time, something loud and hot though. It stopped working a few months later.

So I am paranoid about cooling but I also want a quiet system and it seemed that the D-14 was one of the most silent at both idle and load. I will check out the other cooler mentioned though.

Ken G6: Yeah I knew that the GPU was probably going to be the loudest part of the system so I tried to find a balance between cost/speed/noise.

Mfenn: I assume the 16gig is overkill just because of the size of the memory on the GPU these days and the speed of the SSD? I figured I might as well spend a bit to get 16 but if it is pointless I would rather spend that money on another component. So I will look at that motherboard. Does it make me terribly shallow to just cringe at the fatality name?


https://www.google.com/search?clien...a=X&ei=q1mhUrTyK-qpiQLf-oHQDg&ved=0CCwQvwUoAA

 

[frozentundra123456]

With your budget, I would go with the i5 4670, non-k since you don't plan to overclock. It is only about 50.00 more, and would still put you well in your budget range.

 

[Torn Mind]

I think it has been a long time since discrete video cards stored their own data in system memory. A very long time.

 

[mfenn]

I think you meant H87.

Yep, my bad.

 

[mfenn]

I had a dual sledgehammer setup, within a month one of the processors stopped working (multiple PSU and MB RMAs narrowed it down and AMD deemed the failure user error and non replaceable, which was probably correct but still a huge letdown). I think I screwed up the heatsink install and everything was downhill from there. I forgot what my GPU was at the time, something loud and hot though. It stopped working a few months later.

A Haswell is a far cry from a dual Athlon 64 setup in terms of power draw (and thus heat). We're talking a third the power output (84W versus 260W). Also, heatsinks are much better designed than they were back in those days, a less expensive one will go much further.

Mfenn: I assume the 16gig is overkill just because of the size of the memory on the GPU these days and the speed of the SSD? I figured I might as well spend a bit to get 16 but if it is pointless I would rather spend that money on another component.

8GB of RAM is overkill because no current game needs it and you can allocate that money to other components. It's also the easiest thing to upgrade if you need more down the line.

So I will look at that motherboard. Does it make me terribly shallow to just cringe at the fatality name?

Well, at least it doesn't shout "ULTRA KILL" from the PC speaker every time you start it up. :awe:

 

[VirtualLarry]

If you are running your CPU at stock speeds, there is absolutely no need for a D-14 cooler... the stock Intel cooler would be fine or, if you wish, pick up a CoolerMaster 212EVO for around $35.

Haswell quads throttle under AVX load at stock with a stock heatsink. Plus, the stock heatsink is noisy.

 

[Charlie98]

Haswell quads throttle under AVX load at stock with a stock heatsink. Plus, the stock heatsink is noisy.

Which is why I suggested a 212EVO if the OP wanted to upgrade the CPU cooler... :biggrin: