Building My First Gaming PC

[Fallen_Seraph]

Hello,

I am for the first time building my own gaming desktop. While I have some knowledge on computer specs and what is out there to buy. There is a variety of things I am unknowledable on and would love some help in sorting out what is best for me.

I am in Canada, so anywhere that doesn't ship there/expensive shipping is out of the picture. From what I have looked up myself I am leaning toward a Memory Express custom built computer. My price range is around $2000, however ideally if possible getting lower then that be great.

What I have looked at so far/things that have narrowed down on:

-I am hoping to get probably a Geforce GTX 680 graphics card.
-A i7 Intel chip.
-Don't need any blu-ray player, just normal DVD is fine for me.
-I don't think any sort of liquid cooling is for me, especially if down the line I plan to upgrade this computer again.
-From Memory Express I am likely to pick the NZXT Switch 810 case.
-I don't know whether or not getting a second hard-drive which is a SSD is worth it.

As you can tell things such as motherboard, what kind of memory (besides I think I want 16 gb (4x4)), power supply, actual specific companies for hard drive, etc. I am not knowledgeable on. Any help be greatly appreciated.

 

[LazyBonez23]

Hello,

I am for the first time building my own gaming desktop. While I have some knowledge on computer specs and what is out there to buy. There is a variety of things I am unknowledable on and would love some help in sorting out what is best for me.

I am in Canada, so anywhere that doesn't ship there/expensive shipping is out of the picture. From what I have looked up myself I am leaning toward a Memory Express custom built computer. My price range is around $2000, however ideally if possible getting lower then that be great.

What I have looked at so far/things that have narrowed down on:

-I am hoping to get probably a Geforce GTX 680 graphics card.
-A i7 Intel chip.
-Don't need any blu-ray player, just normal DVD is fine for me.
-I don't think any sort of liquid cooling is for me, especially if down the line I plan to upgrade this computer again.
-From Memory Express I am likely to pick the NZXT Switch 810 case.
-I don't know whether or not getting a second hard-drive which is a SSD is worth it.

As you can tell things such as motherboard, what kind of memory (besides I think I want 16 gb (4x4)), power supply, actual specific companies for hard drive, etc. I am not knowledgeable on. Any help be greatly appreciated.

first of all getting an i7 chip dosent always mean great, you are probably gonna wanna get one of the newer gen i7 chips which usually have a 1155 socket, meaning you will have to get a corresponding motherboard, for a psu look at thermaltake or any of the other psu calculators(just google it) it will help you decide how wany watts your psu is going to have to be, make sure its a good one and not a cheap one as it might take out some of your other parts if it blows. an ssd i would say is worth it as if your are planning to get a good motherboard it will be a lot faster that older hdds. for cooling fans will do just fine as if you want to upgrade and it could be a lot safer as if something bursts your whole system could get fried. your ram selection sound good.
Hope this helped

 

[lt_dan_zsu]

Well, order from the Canadian newegg, amazon and that are the best sites.
I would get a radeon 7970 ghz or the standard version. The ghz edition are basically the same card, but with a ghz you are getting the most overclockable ones that are manufactured. The ghz is more powerful than a 680 and standard is about as strong maybe a little weaker, but can easily be overclocked passed and overclocked 680. Get an i5, and i7 isn't worth it unless you are using threaded apps for editing and other stuff. I don't have an ssd and I don't mind it, but a lot of people seem to like them.

 

[ubobill]

If you want to fill out my questionaire I'll put a build together exactly to fit your needs. Budget is very important, if you want to spend 2000$... put that down. If not put down what you want to spend, builds performance depends on it. For 2000$ you are looking at a machine that will hands down play any game out right now and will need minimal to no upgrades for the next few years.

Budget:
More specific use (what games, what programs):
Planned time until purchase:
Do you need an Operating System?:
Do you have any specific preferred components?:
Do you need a sound or wireless card?:
Do you want stock cooling or do you plan on overclocking?:
Do you need a monitor? mouse? keyboard?:
Zip code/location? (Shipping costs):

What are your preferences in case style? (lights, flashy, dull, etc)
Are you planning to use multiple monitors?
Are you looking for upgrade-ability?
Do you have any preferred brands?
Can you reuse any components from an older build?
Is there anything else you think we should know?

 

[MC_K7]

Agree with the other comments:

- If the system is used only for gaming, an i7 won't make any difference. An i5 will give you similar performance. Most gamers get the i5-3570K which is good bang for the bucks.

- The GTX-680 tends to be a little expensive. For instance the GTX-670 or Radeon 7970 perform very close to it so they are better bang for your bucks.

- If you save 100$ on the CPU by getting an i5 instead of an i7, plus an extra 100$ or 150$ for the video card. With that 200-250$ you saved you can get a very nice SSD which will make a real huge difference on performance. The biggest bottleneck on modern PCs are the mechanical drives, so getting an SSD is one of the best upgrade you can get.

 

[Fallen_Seraph]

Based of some of the suggestions then, this is some ideas I picked out right now from Memory Express. Some aspects are somewhat random (in that don't know which companies are better). I am hoping this may give a starting point for things to be more easily picked out and specialized:


Case: NZXT Switch 810 Hybrid Full Tower Case, White - $189.99
Processor: Intel Core™ i5-3570K Processor, 3.40GHz w/ 6MB Cache - $229.99
Motherboard: Asus P8B75-M/CSM w/ DDR3, 7.1 Audio, Gigabit Lan - $89.99
Graphics Card: eVGA GeForce GTX 670 SuperClocked 4GB PCI-E w/ Backplate, Dual DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort - $439.99
Hard Drive: Seagate 1TB Barracuda SATA III w/ 64MB Cache - $74.99
SSDrive: Sandisk Extreme Series SATA III Solid State Drive, 120GB - $109.99
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 Series, Black Mamba Edition DDR3 16GB (4 x 4GB) PC3-17000 Quad Channel Kit - $99.99
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST 24x DVD-RW Drive, SATA, Black, OEM - $19.99
Sound Card: Asus Xonar DGX PCI-E 5.1 Gaming Audio Card w/ Headphone Amp - $49.99
Network Card: Asus PCE-N13 Wireless N PCI-E Adapter - $29.99
Power Supply: ThermalTake 430W Dual Fan Power Supply - $39.99
OS: Microsoft Memory Express Windows 7 Home Premium x64 (64-bit) SP1 - $114.99

In total as it stands this comes to $1,489.

Also some additional information:

Purchase Date: Most likely I want to make my final decision sometime this January. I will admit I am awful at pushing back big purchases but that is my ideal.

System Usage: It will be entirely for gaming, I have a netbook for more every day needs.

Buying a Monitor: I have a potential monitor for now, but I would be looking to get a nice one. Nothing to large or fancy but something that will show off what the games are capable of.

OS: I will be buying a OS, Windows 7 x64

Preferred Websites: Memory Express seems nice, especially with the system configurer tool. However I am not picky, whatever has the best deal.

Location: I am in Hamilton, Ontario.

Parts Preference: Not to preferential but sliding toward Intel and Nvidia.

Overclocking: Most likely not, not something I want to mess with.

Monitor Resolution: Up in the air, I would like though 1900x1080/1200.

 

[MC_K7]

Sorry for the late answer, here are a few things you can modify:

- Video Card: I noticed you picked the 4 GB version of the GTX-670, this is really overkill because no game need that much memory and you almost pay a 100$ premium for the extra memory that won't be used anyways. Unless you're gaming on 3 monitors at the same time... but for standard 1080p gaming no need for 4 GB of memory on your graphics card. So I would recommend you get a GTX-670 with 2 GB instead.

- Power Supply: Seems a little weak since you want to put a powerful video card in your system. Doesn't even meet the minimum requirements for your GTX-670. Get this one instead:

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139020

- Good move getting an SSD. You can install your OS and software on the SSD and use the secondary mechanical drive to store your data (pictures, movies, music, etc...). If you want a little more space on the SSD like if you want to install your games on it as well here's a better model with more space (but more expensive though):

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820249027

 

[Fallen_Seraph]

Thanks for the help, I've asked around a bit since then with some friends who also know computers well. As of right now this looks to be what I am aiming for:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.99 @ Canada Computers)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.03 @ DirectCanada)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($176.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($37.99 @ DirectCanada)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($73.99 @ Computer Valley)
Storage: Intel 330 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($89.99 @ Canada Computers)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 670 2GB Video Card ($339.99 @ NCIX)
Case: NZXT Phantom (Black) ATX Full Tower Case ($139.99 @ NCIX)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 620W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($93.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($16.82 @ DirectCanada)
Monitor: Asus VS238H-P 23.0" Monitor ($147.27 @ DirectCanada)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($96.99 @ Computer Valley)
Keyboard: Microsoft Wireless Desktop 2000 Wireless Ergonomic Keyboard w/Optical Mouse ($34.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Other: Rosewill N900PCE Wireless N Dual Band Adapter ($44.99)
Total: $1543.01
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-12-24 14:39 EST-0500)

 

[Fallen_Seraph]

With boxing day tomorrow there is some sales going on. One of them is on a variety of motherboards. One of the most cut-down in price is the Asus P8Z77-V LK Motherboard. How good is this one? I haven't found really conclusive reviews either way.

http://www.canadacomputers.com/BoxingDay2012/index.php

 

[Fallen_Seraph]

I ended up today buying some of the parts for my computer. Some were not exactly what I was aiming for because of being sold out/wasn't on sale.

I got a i5 3570 (the person helping me at Canada Computers said that if I wasn't overclocking getting the k version wasn't important), a Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H Motherboard and a MSI Nvidia Geforce 670-PM2D2GD5/OC.

In total it came to $745.77, but I have some mail in rebates which will scratch about $50 off that. How did I do? Anything I should return, or re-evaluate, etc?

 

[Fallen_Seraph]

If possible I would love to get some confirmation that the parts I got are some good ones. If so, I plan to proceed with the rest of my build within the next 2 weeks.

 

[ubobill]

Build looks good bud. If you do not plan on overclocking the stock cooler for your processor is more than enough and you don't have to spend the extra money on a different cooler. As for your MOBO, I probably would of suggested something similar for a bit cheaper, coulda saved you 20-30 bucks but not a huge issue. You did good.