Possible PC build

At some point, hopefully in the very near future, I shall build my first rig. Since I've never actually done this before and am pretty much noob juice in terms of real PC knowledge, I could use some feedback on the parts I chose.

Case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021

Motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130643

Video card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130759

Power supply:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817152028

Processor:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115070

Heatsink:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099

RAM:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233143

Harddrive: (I went with HDD instead of SSD)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152245

Dvd drive:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204

I was going for decent quality that will last a while, but also kinda budgeting so I'm not going too overboard. Thoughts? Suggestions? Problems?

Newegg automatically redirects me to the Canadian site, so I can't even look at the parts... >.<

But it's good that you're making the switch the to PC gaming master race

The video card is kinda ehhhhhh, and you definitely need a better power supply. At least 650w. Other than that the build looks solid to me.

you don't need 1600MHz RAM for gaming, 1333MHz will do fine. and you could get a better GPU.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817152036

Upped the wattage for the power supply. I thought the video card was sufficient. Good reviews / feedback and whatnot. Guess I'll see if I can find a better graphic card / gpu for a decent price.

Thinking of going with this processor, but one guy said certain games like WoW and Starcraft have memory leak issues with it. Kinda on the fence.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116503

Different video card. Yay or nay?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125423

The 670 is way way better than the 480.

The fermi tech gets REALLY hot.

Yes on the video card. The 670 is pretty beast right now and you'll have no problems maxing out games.

The processor in the first post is more than enough for gaming. Once you get up into that range you get less and less return in gaming and more in other applications like video rendering and the such.

Power supply looks fine now too.


I'd say you've got a solid build there, just try and get an SSD down the line as the hard drive is where most gaming PCs get bottlenecked nowadays.

Yea that CPU is more than you need.

Why dont you look at the I5 2500K?

If you're not doing something like heavy video editing on this PC, you're not really going to see much benefit going with an i7 over an i5. I'd say switch to an i5 and put the extra money into your power supply and then video card.

16 gigs of RAM is also overkill for gaming.

I've never heard of RAID max power supply, sounds like the bug killer tried to make electronics. PSU's are a place where brand can really make a big difference in reliability. I'd recommend a Corsair, Seasonic (I think they're recommended for PSUs >_>) or Antec power supply. It'll probably be more expensive, but it'll be worth not having your PSU fry and kill your entire computer at once.

I'd recommend the Samsung Spinpoint F1 HDD, but it seems like all of them are out of stock on newegg. Regardless, I'd stay away from "green" drives unless you're really concerned about power usage. They tend to be slower and less reliable.

And very much yay on the video card change. You'll definitely be happy with the 670.

Switched to i5 and grabbed an SSD also with the money cut back

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116506

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227791&Tpk=20-227-791

Working on finding a better power supply. After googling around more about raidmax, some people consider it a low tier brand and don't trust it. Trying to find something affordable, modular, and hopefully still keep the blue led lol. If not, oh well, but I can dream.

I like that case.

I have a HAF 932

For PSU's this thread can help you out. Anything on there is top quality. http://www.overclock.net/t/183810/faq-recommended-power-supplies

For The SSD I would recommend either a Samsung 830 or a Plextor M3 Pro. Like others have said switch out that green hard drive and the 16GB of ram. Everything else looks great though.

I probably don't have much knowledge in the PC world but I've been doing a ton of research the past few weeks and all I can really add is make sure your case has enough clearance for your video card and heat sink since it is a mid tower case and all.

HydrasBreath wrote:I probably don't have much knowledge in the PC world but I've been doing a ton of research the past few weeks and all I can really add is make sure your case has enough clearance for your video card and heat sink since it is a mid tower case and all.

Yep. This is very important, especially with cards like the 670 which are almost what... a foot long? Freaking huge. And yeah, some aftermarket CPU coolers are really, really bulky and require quite a bit of horizontal clearance to fit. Some of them also like to overlap your RAM slots if they're too close to your CPU.

Shinma wrote:Power supply is giving me a bit of issues. Most of the decent ones I've seen are a bit pricey or non-modular. Haven't even gotten around to checking if it will all fit in the case. Btw, what should I be looking for in terms of RAM?

I hear a low CAS number is good for RAM...I'm not really sure what the 4 timing numbers mean though. And a higher clock speed will obviously be faster but it's probably a pretty marginal increase. I don't know that you'd necessarily notice it (I'm no expert though). I think CAS and timings are more important than clock speed. Also 8gigs should be plenty for gaming unless you're going to be doing extensive video/audio editing.

Shinma wrote:If 8 gigs is enough, I'll just find the same in a double pack instead of quad. Maaaybe in the future I'll do some editing for game footage or something, but we'll see.

Yeah I hear that corsair vengeance RAM is quite decent. I've been watching alot of build videos on youtube to get ideas for my build and I see it recommended alot for gaming rigs with a moderate budget.

Corsair RAM is good. I wouldn't get any more than 12 though.

I would just go for 8 gigs right now and put that $50 towards your power supply. More than that won't be necessary if you do end up doing some editing, but it could come in handy and it's a fairly cheap and easy upgrade to do later if you want.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151087

New power supply. Yay or nay? Been going crazy looking for a modular one within 700-800 watt range. Fuck that blue led shit, I just want something that works lol.

Shinma wrote:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151087

New power supply. Yay or nay? Been going crazy looking for a modular one within 700-800 watt range. Fuck that blue led shit, I just want something that works lol.

Yeah Seasonic is a good brand from what I've read/heard. If you want to save a little money you could probably drop down to 80+ bronze though. I'm not 100% but I think that 80+ rating just has to do with how efficient the power supply is. I think the gold just makes less heat escape into your case and saves you a bit on power consumption.

Something like this would probably do the trick if you want to save 40 bucks.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151107

this makes my laptop look like a chump...lol

I've been thinking of saving up to do a good pc. I guess I'm just paranoid about having to keep update it,or it won't be able to even play new games that come out. For example on that GTX 670,how long would that be able to play new games? All these cpu's and gpu's really really confuse me...

I would just be happy with something that looks better than xbox graphics

I think GTX670 will last a long time seeing as the GTX690 is like a $1000 NASA card and cards much older than GTX670 still have better graphics than xbox on most games.

JrTapia1991 wrote:I would just be happy with something that looks better than xbox graphics

that isn't very hard.

compared to PC settings, consoles are on 'Low' settings. and even then, low settings on PC can still look better.
console tech is so old, its really impressive how much they can actually squeeze out of them.

JrTapia1991 wrote:this makes my laptop look like a chump...lol

I've been thinking of saving up to do a good pc. I guess I'm just paranoid about having to keep update it,or it won't be able to even play new games that come out. For example on that GTX 670,how long would that be able to play new games? All these cpu's and gpu's really really confuse me...

I would just be happy with something that looks better than xbox graphics

well considering it's a current gen card and can pretty much just about max anything out at the moment you'd get like 2-3 really good years out of it playing stuff on fairly high to medium settings (I would imagine). More if you added a second card down the road (which will be alot cheaper by then).

And yeah I know what you mean I was exactly like you a few weeks ago...I didn't really know the differences between this cpu or that or what's better but I've just been reading up on pc tech constantly and once you start to get it it's not that hard to know what you're doing.

if you look on youtube you can find lots of vids of "suggested builds" for all kinds of price points and budgets. Those can give you a good idea on what some decent brands and stuff are. That's where I started. Also look up how to put together a computer vids.

A 670 would last you years. Would be playing on HIGH for at least 2.

another thing that really confuses me are the SDDs.I heard you have to mess with a bunch of settings if you have your OS on it or it'll wear it out fast as hell because it keeps reading/writing to it,and I heard you can't defrag SSDs?

really been wanting to get like a 1TB HDD or something because I'm running out of space on my laptop.

I think somebody earlier said that SSDs run alot cooler than regular HDDs tho.

I'm guessing 7200rpm is best to go with?wouldn't it get hotter than the regular 5200rpm?

7200 RPM is always the best way to go when it comes to HDD

SSD's are REALLY expensive for the space you get.

Mr. Lundegaard wrote:7200 RPM is always the best way to go when it comes to HDD

SSD's are REALLY expensive for the space you get.

I have a 128 gig SSD and it cost me like 175 bucks when I got it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136533

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227791

New HDD and SSD. I just gotta see if all this shit fits in the case now. I guess I have to check dimensions and calculate?

JrTapia1991 wrote:another thing that really confuses me are the SDDs.I heard you have to mess with a bunch of settings if you have your OS on it or it'll wear it out fast as hell because it keeps reading/writing to it,and I heard you can't defrag SSDs?

really been wanting to get like a 1TB HDD or something because I'm running out of space on my laptop.

I think somebody earlier said that SSDs run alot cooler than regular HDDs tho.

I'm guessing 7200rpm is best to go with?wouldn't it get hotter than the regular 5200rpm?

Well an SSD shouldn't really "wear out" as there aren't any moving parts in it. It's basically like a giant USB flash drive. I never really heard about having to set it differently to boot your OS on. That's what tons of people use it for...to speed up their boot times for their OS and their most used programs. I'm no expert though so I don't really know everything...I'll have to look into it. And yeah you wouldn't have to defrag since it uses a special kind of flash memory.

Yeah I'm guessing they'd be cooler no moving parts and all.

Yeah go with a 7200rpm disk. They might get a little hotter but I'd say it's pretty negligible.

Shinma wrote:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136533

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227791

New HDD and SSD. I just gotta see if all this shit fits in the case now. I guess I have to check dimensions and calculate?

Everything should fit man.

THe only thing you have to worry about is the GPU.

Let me check that case again.

I run my OS on my SSD and didnt change a thing.....

Your case is a mid.

It should fit, but I wont lie, Its probably going to be very tight in there if you get that 670. I would look at getting a bigger case if you can swing it.

Just my two cents.

When I built this rig, I originally had a mid. But I was having heating problems so I switched to a huge HAF model. The extra space makes building a breeze, and the temps stay right where they should be.

Shinma wrote:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136533

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227791

New HDD and SSD. I just gotta see if all this shit fits in the case now. I guess I have to check dimensions and calculate?

If you're interested Shinma this ssd has an actual useable capacity of 128gb and I hear it's up there with some of the faster drives. It's also pretty much the same price your gonna pay for the one you picked.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211596

Usually there's some internal backup relay or something that uses up a chunk of the storage in other ssds but this one has that turned off so you get the full 128gb of storage.

you can defrag an SSD, but there is absolutely no point.

SSDs have fewer R/R cycles than HDDs, so defragging shortens the lifespan.

defragging is only useful on mechanical drives, so that the platters don't have to spin multiple times to read one fragmented file. with SSDs, there are no mechanical parts and no spinning platters. a file doesn't have to be in one place in order to be read normally.

so its pointless to defrag a drive that doesn't need it.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129100

I was gonna just leave the case because I felt kinda safe that it would fit, but I didn't wanna be cluttered. So yeah, same case essentially, full instead of mid tower.

So it's as simple as going on a website, ordering a few components and hoping they work together?

Cardboard Fox wrote:So it's as simple as going on a website, ordering a few components and hoping they work together?

yeah when I started reading up on PC stuff i was pretty surprised how simple-ish it really is...A computer is basically just seven or eight main components that fit together pretty easily. Wiring it up for power and troubleshooting if you have problems are really the only difficult parts. The rest is pretty much put "A" in socket "B", etc.

If you do research you can minimize the whole "hoping" aspect of things. Good manufacturers and retailers will usually give you all the relevant specs for components that you'd need to figure out if things will work and fit together.

There are so many 'reference' models that list all the parts needed, and the average parts price required to build them. If at doubt, just go and look at one of the already built/referenced PCs with parts listed online, and grab those on your own.

StormEye wrote:There are so many 'reference' models that list all the parts needed, and the average parts price required to build them. If at doubt, just go and look at one of the already built/referenced PCs with parts listed online, and grab those on your own.

yeah forgot about that...just type in gaming pc build into youtube and you'll get a million different builds and price points.

Shinma wrote:I'm pretty much good to go. All together, minus shipping and whatnot, the damage is... $1,958.85.

Yeah that's pretty much what my potential rig is gonna set me back plus peripherals (I already have a decent monitor though).

Razer Naga FTW

Its what I use

Shinma wrote:I've just been using my laptop, so I don't have a standalone monitor. And I needed a new keyboard. I have some laying around, but they're worn out. Bought a razer keyboard that will look dead sexy with my naga

well I'm kinda stuck just using a laptop too since my old crap PC finally shit the bed like a year or two ago. My Parents had bought me a pretty decent monitor as a Christmas gift. When my PC crapped out I started using the monitor for my Xbox. I'll have to get a decent keyboard and mouse though. The ones I have now are beyond crap.

Off topic: your signature gif is like the greatest thing on the planet cracks me up every time.