Upgrade in progress, seeking advice

[sushicide]

Hello all, came across some extra funds recently, so I've decided to update my 4-year old system...been reading the forums quite a bit but still have some questions since I was out of the loop for a while

Answers for the Q&A:
1) PC will be a 24/7 box mainly for DX10/11 gaming @ 1680x1050, along with common daily tasks, but no serious graphic/data processing.

2) Currently I have over $1000 set aside for this project, not a hardcore gamer so no need the very top of the line stuff, but if it's worth the performance boost to break a bottleneck, I have no problem spending extra.

3) I do not live near Fry's, Microcenter or any other computer B&M store; I will most likely be ordering the parts from the Egg, Tiger or other online retailers in the next two weeks.

4) Will be reusing my mid-ATX case, x-fi sound card, SSD boot drive, 2 SATA storage drives, DVD-RAM drive, 22" monitor, mouse/KB & other peripherals.

5) Would like to attempt moderate overclocking, but it's been a while since I messed with this, gonna have to search for guides.

6) Addtional features - USB3/SATA3 is a plus, doubt I'll make full use of them now, but you never know; No plans on having SLI/Crossfire.


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Already bought these since they were on sale:

CPU : i5-760 $171
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115067

GPU : Gigabyte GTX470 $272 -$20MIR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125320
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Additional Parts required:

Mobo : Gigabyte P55A-UD3 $130 -$10MIR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128412
The "UD3P" is the same thing but better onboard sound?

Also was looking at ASUS P7P55D-E
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131620
and MSI P55A-GD65
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813130291
How do these compare? Which one has better bundled software?

RAM : Gskill DDR3 1600 2x2GB $85
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-193-_-Product
Seems to be the most popular choice, the only difference w/ the RipJaw series are the heatspreaders?
I tend to have several tabs of Chrome open at all times while I play and they eat up alot of memory, is 4GB still more than enough?

PSU : Coolermaster Silent Pro M600 Watt $70
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-036-_-Product
Should be enough juice for this build? Too bad I missed the Corsair TX650 sale last week.

Cooler : Corsair H50 $80
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835181010
Honestly I picked this out of curiosity because of how much people talk about it, while it's no replacement for monstrous air coolers, I don't think a i5-760 would run too hot @3.4~3.7GHz to cause trouble?
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Total comes out to $808 -$40MIR, not bad at all...I can probably use the leftover money for a bigger SSD or monitor later this year. What do you guys think?

Thank you for reading.

 

[mfenn]

The P55A-UD3 and G.Skill that you picked out are solid.

For the CPU, I would stick with a Corsair, Seasonic, etc. The 650TX is $71 AR Apromo right now which is still not bad. Not as good as the $50 that it was at, but not bad.

I wouldn't bother with the H50. The Hyper 212+ is back down to $30 and will handle a moderate OC no problem.

 

[darkewaffle]

470 is probably more power than you're likely to really use on 1680x1050, I don't play a lot of high end games but my 5770 has handled everything at that res quite turned up and it's not nearly as powerful. Could save some cash there if you needed to I'd say by going with a 5770/460/5850, depends on the deal.

 

[Davidh373]

Get a 460 for that resolution, other than that go for the rest of your build, looks great. mfenn has some good advice on the cooler though.

 

[Rifter]

i think he already got the GPU.

Honestly i would go higher on the PSU, those 470's can suck back the power, especially if you overclock it, 408W power draw running furmark for a 470 stock speed system according to anantech.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/160


Add in CPU and GPU overclocking and you will be into the 500-600W power draw range.


I would go with a solid 750W or even 850W if you can find one cheap onsale. Then it wont be near its max load all the time and the fan wont spin as fast, will be quieter. I recommend Corsair, Seasonic, Antec as good brands for PSU's.

The rest looks solid, Asus or gigabyte are both solid mobos. Gskill is fine for ram, i would take corsair ram for the same price but if the gskill is cheaper i would buy it.

 

[Arsynic]

I wonder just how effective that Corsair water block is. Seems too good to be true.

 

[sushicide]

Yep, I've already jumped the gun on the GPU, but that's okay, I do plan on buying a bigger monitor sometime later.

Someone pointed out the CM PSU only has 40A on single rail & recommended the Silverstone DA700 PSU, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...1137&SID=194a3
a bit dated but reasonably priced, probably gonna pick it up, I like the full modular long cables, will really help the wirey mess at the bottom of my case. Seasonic/Gskill combo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.499225 looks real nice too, time to flip a coin I suppose.

From what I gathered H50 isn't that great unless you have it in a push/pull config, while I happen to have some spare 120mm fan laying around so I wanted to try it out. Then again, I use closed headphones, air coolers never bothered me at all, hrm.

 

[mfenn]

I would go with a solid 750W or even 850W if you can find one cheap onsale. Then it wont be near its max load all the time and the fan wont spin as fast, will be quieter. I recommend Corsair, Seasonic, Antec as good brands for PSU's.

The GTX 400 series actually do pretty well at idle, so the only time that the PSU fan would be spinning near max is when the GPU is fully loaded. You won't be able to hear the PSU fan at that point anyway.

 

[mfenn]

Yep, I've already jumped the gun on the GPU, but that's okay, I do plan on buying a bigger monitor sometime later.

Someone pointed out the CM PSU only has 40A on single rail & recommended the Silverstone DA700 PSU, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...1137&SID=194a3
a bit dated but reasonably priced, probably gonna pick it up, I like the full modular long cables, will really help the wirey mess at the bottom of my case. Seasonic/Gskill combo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...t=Combo.499225 looks real nice too, time to flip a coin I suppose.

From what I gathered H50 isn't that great unless you have it in a push/pull config, while I happen to have some spare 120mm fan laying around so I wanted to try it out. Then again, I use closed headphones, air coolers never bothered me at all, hrm.

Fully-modular is pretty much pointless because you will always need the ATX connector plugged in. If you really insist on spending the money on a modular PSU, the X650 is better, hands down.