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Suggestions on new gaming build

S

simpoo

Junior Member
Hi all,

I'm building my first gaming computer, and would appreciate your valuable suggestions on the same. Here are the details:

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.
High-end games mostly
2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread
Up to $1200-$1300
3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.
US
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.
Prefer Intel CPU, nVidia GPU and WD HDD 🙂
5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
None – building from scratch
7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
I do plan to overclock
8. What resolution will you be using?
1900*1080
9. WHEN do you plan to build it?
Within next two weeks

Here are the parts that I have on mind, with a rough estimate of their prices I found online:
CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core ~ $190
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 ~ $140
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 ~ $49
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM ~ $110
SSD : Crucial M4 128GB 2.5" SSD ~ $120
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 670 2GB ~ $420
Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 ATX Mid Tower ~ 50
Power Supply: Corsair 750W ATX12V / EPS12V ~$90 (Choosing 750W since I plan to SLI in future)
Optical Drive: Asus BW-12B1ST/BLK/G/AS Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ~$60 (Prefer to have Blu-Ray read, but write is optional)
Monitor: Asus VE228H 21.5" ~$120
Keyboard: Logitech K120 ~$10

Net cost: around $1360

I have collected this list through the forum threads and some online research from my side. Following are the questions I have:
1. What changes would you suggest in the build?
2. Do you think I should get a CPU cooler as well? I plan to overclock, but not more than 4.2GHz maybe. If so, which one?
3. How is this mobo for Ivy-bridge CPU, overclocking and SLI support?
4. I am unable to decide between EVGA/Gigabyte/Asus for the GPU. Suggestions?
5. How are Asus monitors for full HD display? I chose this one because it looked cheap for 1080 display.


Any help would be greatly appreciated!
 
i've got the 3570k, the z77 extreme 4, and the crucial M4 128 drive, so i feel like i'm looking at my own system. my only real complaint about the board is the fan control seems rather limited. my previous board (a gigabyte) never ran the fans at full speed, while this one readily did so.

aside from that, i'd recommend getting ram without giant heat fingers on it. all they really do is block your ability to use larger tower coolers. and you'll definitely want one (such as a hyper 212 or mugen3) for overclocking that processor. ram is ram, just go with the least expensive 1.5v 1600 ram with decent reviews. either the patriot or the gskill for a few dollars more.

the 670 is probably overkill for that monitor, and SLI definitely so.

1080 displays aren't exactly expensive nowadays. cheap isn't what i'd want in something i'm going to be looking at for the next several years, but it gets good reviews.



if you're anywhere near a microcenter you can get processor, motherboard, ram, and a decent heatsink for a pretty hefty discount. they'll sell you the processor for $190 and the extreme4 for $90
 
You can get a Seagate Barracude 1.5TB for ~$90-95 on NE, don't see why you'd pay more for less capacity when both drives are roughly the same speeds.

Also I agree on the RAM, those heat spreaders don't really do much but get in the way of larger coolers. Most RAM when not being heavily OC'd doesn't even need the cooling anyway provided there's any airflow through your case.

I'd suggest getting this 670 instead of the EVGA one. Iirc the EVGA cards are almost all reference designed coolers so they'll likely run hotter and noisier.
 
ElFenix said:
if you're anywhere near a microcenter you can get processor, motherboard, ram, and a decent heatsink for a pretty hefty discount. they'll sell you the processor for $190 and the extreme4 for $90
Click to expand...

Link for the $90 extreme 4? I live near a Microcenter and the online price says $140.
 
mfenn said:
You are about $60 over budget, need a bigger monitor, and need an aftermarket HSF since you want to overclock. Luckily that is easy enough to fix:

- RAM to G.Skill DDR3 1333 8GB -$10
- HDD to Hitachi 7K1000.D -$30
- GPU to Gigabyte Tri-Fan GTX 670 -$20
- PSU to Silencer MK III 600W -$53
- Monitor to ASUS VH242H +$29
- HSF to Hyper 212+ +$20

Net savings: $64
Click to expand...

Those are some damn good finds, not that sure on the monitors but monitor prices are too widely spread out for me to understand the logic behind their pricing structures anyways.

That Silencer MK III for that price is making me consider grabbing it, though I have no need for it currently 🙁


chalmers said:
Link for the $90 extreme 4? I live near a Microcenter and the online price says $140.
Click to expand...

I believe ElFenix is referring to the combo discount that MC gives, basically if you bought any 3rd gen i5/i7 then you could knock off $50 from any Z77 motherboard (the combo was why I decided to upgrade 😛).
 
Last edited:
Excellent inputs, thanks everyone!

ElFenix said:
if you're anywhere near a microcenter you can get processor, motherboard, ram, and a decent heatsink for a pretty hefty discount. they'll sell you the processor for $190 and the extreme4 for $90
Click to expand...
I didn't know this.. saves me some bucks definitely!

krnmastersgt said:
You can get a Seagate Barracude 1.5TB for ~$90-95 on NE, don't see why you'd pay more for less capacity when both drives are roughly the same speeds.
Click to expand...
I prefer sticking to WD from past experience, though thanks for pointing it out 🙂

Based on all your suggestions, I have changed my build as follows:

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core ~ $190
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0388577

Motherboard: ASUS P8Z77-V LK LGA 1155 Intel Z77 ~ $100 (microcenter bundle with processor)
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0393422

Memory: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3-1600 ~ $47
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231428

Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM ~ $110
http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?...D-W12FAEX&c=CJ

SSD : Crucial M4 128GB 2.5" SSD ~ $110
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...7BBTkwCjCECjCE

Video Card: GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 670 2GB 256-bit ~ $400
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...&SID=u00000687

Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 ATX Mid Tower ~ $50
http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?...A-912KKN1&c=CJ

Power Supply: Silencer MK III 600W ~ $55
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...&SID=u00000687

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus ~ $20
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...D=3938566&SID=

Optical Drive: Asus BW-12B1ST/BLK/G/AS Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ~$60
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...D=3938566&SID=

Monitor: ASUS VH242H 23.6" HDMI Full ~$150
http://www.amazon.com/Asus-VH242H-23.../dp/B001LYPIIS

Keyboard: Logitech K120 ~$10
http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=KB-K120&c=CJ

The total price comes to around $1300 :sneaky:
How does this look? Also, the power supply you pointed out says "compatible with Intel Sandy Bridge Core". Will it still work with the Ivy-bridge 3570k?
 
Just a warning with the RAM that you chose, the heat spreaders are fairly tall so you'll need to stick them in the 2 and 4 DIMM slots as opposed to the 1 and 3, otherwise the Hyper 212+ won't properly fit (hell my 212+ barely clears my ram with no additional height). You could just pick up the G.SKILL value set for $7 less, they'll perform identically.

The PSU will be just fine, when they say "compatible with Sandy Bridge" or "SLI/CF ready" its more or less just marketing tags to make it seem better than it really is.

Other than that, looks good!
 
Best way to get windows is install a bad version of Home, then use a student email to upgrade to windows 7 professional. You can buy it for about $60 on the microsoft website. I was lucky enough to snag it for $30 last year.
 
krnmastersgt said:
Just a warning with the RAM that you chose, the heat spreaders are fairly tall so you'll need to stick them in the 2 and 4 DIMM slots as opposed to the 1 and 3, otherwise the Hyper 212+ won't properly fit (hell my 212+ barely clears my ram with no additional height). You could just pick up the G.SKILL value set for $7 less, they'll perform identically.
Click to expand...
Thanks, does the value set come at 1600Mhz? I couldn't find it on newegg at least..

DSF said:
I take it a copy of Windows doesn't need to fit into the budget?
Click to expand...
No, I already have a copy of Windows.
 
I don't believe they sell a 1600 MHz variant of the value series, however the frequency of the RAM between 1333 and 1600 won't make much of a difference for a gaming rig (well hypothetically it will but in practice not so much).
 
krnmastersgt said:
I don't believe they sell a 1600 MHz variant of the value series, however the frequency of the RAM between 1333 and 1600 won't make much of a difference for a gaming rig (well hypothetically it will but in practice not so much).
Click to expand...

You can also just get standard height DDR3 1600 for $5 less and avoid the headache altogether. Or pay $3 more for the best DDR3 1600 on the market, which happens to be very low profile.
 
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