Building a Gaming Rig

[mjong99]

My budget is about $1,200. This will be my first time building my own gaming PC. Please check if my choice of components are good. I will be overclocking, using mostly for gaming and web-browsing on a single monitor. Playing games like Dota 2, BF3, Skyrim currently, most probably will get more games after building this PC. I am living in a dorm with limited space so I can't get Computer Cases and Monitors that are too big. Planning not to upgrade my comp for the next 3-4 years, don't mind playing games on High quality 3 years and Medium 4 years from now. Good opinions will be very appreciated.

CPU : Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge ($221)
Mobo : MSI Z77A-GD65 LGA 1155 ($145)
GPU : Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 3GB 384-bit GDDR5 ($200)
Memory : G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) 8-8-8-24, Cas Latency 8 ($67.50)
HDD : Western Digital AV-GP WD10EURX 1TB ($90)
PSU : Rosewill CAPSTONE-750 750W ($110)
CD/DVD Burner: ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS BLACK SATA 24X DVD BURNER ($20)
CPU Cooler : COOLER MASTER RR-H101-22FK-RI 80mm ($15)
PC Case : Rosewill Challenger Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower ($50)
Monitor : SAMSUNG T22B350ND Rose Black 21.5" 5ms HDMI 250 cd/m2 1000:1 Built-in Speakers ($153)
Keyboard : Microsoft Keyboard 200 6JH-00001 ($15)
Thermal Compound : Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver Thermal Compound ($6)

I have a free copy of Windows 8 already.
Buying from Newegg, price listed is about $1,090 after rebates, discounts and promotions. Any suggestions or am I good to go ahead with these components? Thanks.

 

[Guest]

My budget is about $1,200. This will be my first time building my own gaming PC. Please check if my choice of components are good. I will be overclocking, using mostly for gaming and web-browsing on a single monitor. Playing games like Dota 2, BF3, Skyrim currently, most probably will get more games after building this PC. I am living in a dorm with limited space so I can't get Computer Cases and Monitors that are too big. Planning not to upgrade my comp for the next 3-4 years, don't mind playing games on High quality 3-4 years from now. Good opinions will be very appreciated.

CPU : Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge
Mobo : MSI Z77A-GD65 LGA 1155
GPU : Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 3GB 384-bit GDDR5
Memory : G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) 8-8-8-24, Cas Latency 8
HDD : Western Digital AV-GP WD10EURX 1TB
PSU : Rosewill CAPSTONE-750 750W
CD/DVD Burner: ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS BLACK SATA 24X DVD BURNER
CPU Cooler : COOLER MASTER RR-H101-22FK-RI 80mm
PC Case : Rosewill Challenger Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower
Monitor : SAMSUNG T22B350ND Rose Black 21.5" 5ms HDMI 250 cd/m2 1000:1 Built-in Speakers
Keyboard : Microsoft Keyboard 200 6JH-00001
Thermal Compound : Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver Thermal Compound

I have a free copy of Windows 8 already.
Buying from Newegg, price listed is about $1,100 after rebates, discounts and promotions. Any suggestions or am I good to go ahead with these components? Thanks.

I'd change the CPU cooler to a EVO Hyper 212x if possible.

 

[envy14tpe]

750W is too much. Get 600-650W.
Cooler Master Evo is a must.
Forget 7950. Get a 7970 or 760.

 

[vietguy357]

I would say instead of getting the 3570k get the 4670k. It's only $10 more but you get a newer technology. As for the motherboard I would go for something like an Asus Z87-A 1150. As for power supply something like a Corsair TX Series 750 watt would be more than enough and it's currently only $70 after MIR. As for thermal paste I would recommend Artic MX-4. It's non-conductive and doesn't have a cure time so it makes it a much better choice for a first time builder cause you don't have to worry to much about the thermal paste shorting out your board. As for everything else it look great.

Remember these are just my thought.

 

[badboyrog]

get haswell cpu and motherboard first....

prefer hd7970 then 7950

get dual channel memory.. example 2X4gb

 

[vietguy357]

get haswell cpu and motherboard first....

prefer hd7970 then 7950

get dual channel memory.. example 2X4gb

The memory he choose is dual channel memory. The HD 7970 is also $100 more than 7950. If he just overclock the 7950 just a bit, it'll be as good if not better than the 7970.

 

[badboyrog]

''The memory he choose is dual channel memory''
ok thanks for this information!..

 

[mjong99]

I'd change the CPU cooler to a EVO Hyper 212x if possible.

The EVO Hyper 212x seems pretty big compared to my initial choice, following the others suggestion, I would be getting an i5-4670k with LGA 1150 Mobo. I would most probably be choosing the MSI Z87A-GD65 for the mobo. My question now is will the cooler potentially obstruct my RAM slots or anything else?

750W is too much. Get 600-650W. 
Cooler Master Evo is a must. 
Forget 7950. Get a 7970 or 760.

I heard from my friend that the PSU loses its power output by about 5-10% each year. If that is true I would rather opt for the 750W since it's a safer choice.

 

[badboyrog]

the hd 7970 is 50$ more then the 7950 , you can have a nice bargains theses days

 

[mjong99]

the hd 7970 is 50$ more then the 7950 , you can have a nice bargains theses days

According to Newegg, the HD 7950 is $80 cheaper than the 7970 for today, because there's a daily discount for the 7950. So is it worth it spending $80 more for the 7970? On a side note, after changing my processor, cooler and mobo, my total cost is about $1,140 now. Spending that $80 would go beyond my $1,200 budget.

 

[badboyrog]

check here...
http://www.ncix.ca/products/?sku=67547&vpn=GV-R797OC-3GD&manufacture=Gigabyte&promoid=1307

 

[envy14tpe]

How about 7950 Boost? or 760?

 

[Scotty Mac 1976]

I'd change the CPU cooler to a EVO Hyper 212x if possible.

The EVO Hyper 212x seems pretty big compared to my initial choice, following the others suggestion, I would be getting an i5-4670k with LGA 1150 Mobo. I would most probably be choosing the MSI Z87A-GD65 for the mobo. My question now is will the cooler potentially obstruct my RAM slots or anything else?

750W is too much. Get 600-650W. 
Cooler Master Evo is a must. 
Forget 7950. Get a 7970 or 760.

I heard from my friend that the PSU loses its power output by about 5-10% each year. If that is true I would rather opt for the 750W since it's a safer choice.

From what I gather, that mobo has extra space for large heatsinks-ram shouldn't get in the way of the fan on the heatsink. Unless you're going for RAM modules that have big9tall) heatsinks on them.. you should be ok. Get the LP (low profile) RAM to be safe. What I'm going to do is get RAM, with semi tall heatsinks.. and IF I do not have room to fill all slots, I'll just simply move the fan n the heatsink, slightly up.. or put it on the otherside. Which I'd rather just move it up.

 

[mjong99]

Thanks everybody for your suggestions. I decided to change my processor to the i5-4670k, Mobo to the MSI Z77A-GD65, CPU Cooler to the Cooler Master Evo Hyper 212 which comes with thermal paste. The rest of the components are in my first post.

 

[envy14tpe]

The included thermal paste isn't very good. Spend an extra $7 and get some good thermal paste.

What PSU and GPU did you decide on?

 

[mjong99]

The included thermal paste isn't very good. Spend an extra $7 and get some good thermal paste.

What PSU and GPU did you decide on?

The ones I mentioned in my opening post.
Sapphire Radeon HD 7950
Rosewill CAPSTONE-750 750W

Read reviews that the thermal paste that is provided only has a 2-3 Celsius difference from the Arctic MX-4.

 

[badboyrog]

rosewill is a bad move..for a psu
get a corsair or seasonic or xfx psu instead

 

[mjong99]

rosewill is a bad move..for a psu
get a corsair or seasonic or xfx psu instead

It had pretty good reviews.
Recommended by JonnyGURU

Efficient, Powerful, Good Quality, Sturdy, Quiet.
Most of the cons were that it didn't have modular cabling and maybe slightly expensive but that's the price you pay for a quality product.

 

[badboyrog]

if you check more carefully you will see the corsair tx 750 kicking the ass of rosewill

 

[envy14tpe]

rosewill is a bad move..for a psu
get a corsair or seasonic or xfx psu instead

It had pretty good reviews.
Recommended by JonnyGURU

Efficient, Powerful, Good Quality, Sturdy, Quiet.
Most of the cons were that it didn't have modular cabling and maybe slightly expensive but that's the price you pay for a quality product.

I too advise against the Rosewill. You have it priced at $110, but $95 is more realistic. However, no way is it worth that price. At that price it better be semi-modular or modular. And it isn't. I would never let one of my friends buy that PSU. If you are thinking about Crossfire in the future then how about:
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-power-supply-p1750bbefx
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/seasonic-power-supply-ss750am

 

[mjong99]

rosewill is a bad move..for a psu
get a corsair or seasonic or xfx psu instead

It had pretty good reviews.
Recommended by JonnyGURU

Efficient, Powerful, Good Quality, Sturdy, Quiet.
Most of the cons were that it didn't have modular cabling and maybe slightly expensive but that's the price you pay for a quality product.

I too advise against the Rosewill. You have it priced at $110, but $95 is more realistic. However, no way is it worth that price. At that price it better be semi-modular or modular. And it isn't. I would never let one of my friends buy that PSU. If you are thinking about Crossfire in the future then how about:
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-power-supply-p1750bbefx
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/seasonic-power-supply-ss750am

OK I'll keep what you guys said in mind if I ever buy a new PSU in the future. I don't think I would be using Crossfire in the near future though.

 

[envy14tpe]

If you just get one GPU and won't Crossfire/SLI then save some money and get a 550-620W PSU.

 

[Scotty Mac 1976]

I'm not gonna knock Corsair, because I was going to get the RM series POSU. I also know Corsair sells very higfh quality PSU's. But since there was NO reviews on the RM Series (until last week from tech power up, I think). I ended up going with the EVGA NEX-G 750W psu. 80+ Gold Certified and one of the best things.. it has a 10 YEAR WARRANTY! No other PSU's have that. 7 years at best! http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=120-PG-0750-GR So far, so good in my build that just finished last weekend. Love the FULLY MODULAR DESIGN too. Lets just say it's easier cable management than a standard psu. (even tho it took me a really long time, but I'm a picky ass like that). there is a handle in the back of it, but I found it to be quite useful! I was googling on how to remove the thing, but then I installed the PSU and after further work.. I used that handle a lot. To move the build here and there. I really do not notice it, unless I actually go behind the PC and look at it. So I'm not dissing that handle at all lol. Actually serves a purpose! (at least that's my purpose )