First Build, Gaming PC Need Advice.

MissyL

Honorable
Mar 19, 2013
4
0
10,510
I am looking to put together our first build, focusing mostly on gaming but it will also be used for some digital work.(Photoshop mostly) I would appreciate any advice or better options at our price point.

Here is what I am considering right now. Not sure on a good case or optical drive. I will be visiting a microcenter and just purchasing items that are well priced there. Also I will probably purchase an aftermarket cooler when I pick up the cpu.

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 600W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply

Approximate Purchase Date: Purchasing parts this week and next.

Budget Range: 900-950 After Rebates (or more if its a little $ increase)

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming,photo editing,etc.

Are you buying a monitor: No

Do you need to buy OS: No

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: microcenter.com, newegg.com, amazon.com

Location: USA, GA

Overclocking: Maybe

SLI or Crossfire: Not right now.

Thanks in advance. :)

 
Solution
The Corsair Carbide Series 200R is one of those new budget oriented cases that comes in at a mere $49, but includes a ton of features to make it suitable for anyone looking to build a new PC, but is limited to a budget.

With support for up to 8 fans, dust filters for the PSU and intake, tool free design, and a clearance of up to 320mm for those extra long graphics cards, it’s a beast of a case that doesn’t carry a beast of a pricetag.The Asus V-LK isn't bad but it's not great still it would be the one to get since your on a budget and it will support SLI and is cheaper so you'll save a little money. Extreme4 is a decent budget board imho i personally wouldn't buy it.But seems good from the reviews and members here on TH seem to fancy...

atomicWAR

Glorious
Ambassador
If you ever plan to upgrade you gpu to crossfire or overclock your cpu i suggest getting a little more wattage...700-800 range. Beside that though you build looks really good. one thing to consider when going amd for your GPU is that 7000 series cards can have some frame latancy issues making your game look choppy even when you FPS is high. Word has it though a patch is coming to address it. anyways you may consider a gtx 670 or gtx 660 ti if you want to avoid the issue for sure. just fyi! good luck on your build
 
Okay

LK offers all the things the Extreme 4 does but has better power delivery and is $20 cheaper at micro centre
The latecny issues with the 7950 are mostly fixed with the final fix releasing soon, also neither me nor any of my friends running 7xxx cards have experienced this issue though others have
600 W is only good for single 7950, you'll want 850W for CFX
Added in an SSD
The EVO is a great cooler for its price
RAM really does not need the extra cooling, better to get cheaper ram
The blacks are not faster than the blues, only carry a longer warranty period (which implies higher quality but for best reliability, no single drive is good, always RAID)be sure to get the 64mb cache version of the HDD's much faster than the 32mb ones
Case supports USB 3 front panel (there are CM and NZXT alternatives at the same price point)

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V LK ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair XMS3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($52.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Sandisk 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card ($289.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 600W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224BB DVD/CD Writer ($15.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $953.87
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-03-19 23:52 EDT-0400)

MC deals right now on MB's
http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/34da33e6#/34da33e6/33
 

properbuilds

Honorable
Jan 13, 2013
432
0
10,810
Hi, i would do something like this.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V LK ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair XMS3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($52.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.98 @ Outlet PC)
Storage: Sandisk Ultra Plus 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($94.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card ($289.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($15.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $963.87
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

Get the motherboard in microcenter for 80$ ;)
See it here -> http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/34da33e6#/34da33e6/33
Swap the ram there for this one, you get a discount of 5$ with cpu or motherboard-> http://www.microcenter.com/product/382101/Ballistix_Sport_8GB_DDR3-1600_(PC3-12800)_CL9_Dual_Channel_Desktop_Memory_Kit_(Two_4GB_Memory_Modules)

This includes a good ssd with marvell controller, a seasonic psu under the name xfx, and a quality case like the corsair 200R.
 
Your build looks decent i personally would get a different motherboard like GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UD3H or ASUS P8Z77-V LK but to each his/her own.I would also get a better power supply like XFX or SeaSonic yours is o.k. though i just prefer higher quality.
 

properbuilds

Honorable
Jan 13, 2013
432
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10,810


Hi, i guess you edited that because you saw that i listed a 1TB with 32 mb cache, just to make it clear, there's no performance difference in this case(1TB), it's not much faster, i hate inaccuracies.
You do get some benefits with it in higher platter density drives, like 2TB or above.
But mostly it's a marketing gimmick, what i do bet is in a fast ssd.
 


It's more because the 64mb drives are the newer gen ones which means they are the ones with the larger 1tb platters (similar platter density to the 2tb ones) :p I know what you mean though :)
 

properbuilds

Honorable
Jan 13, 2013
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Hi, even with 2TB it's negligible much like the ram speed in the intel cpus, you do some benefit more with 3 or 4TB.
I would recommend to switch for the sandisk ultra plus, much better ssd with marvell controller, keep in mind that ssd is the low end of the sandisk ssd series, there's the extreme and ultra plus for better and it's not much more expensive, this is either for whatever the hdd and psu the op chooses.
 

MissyL

Honorable
Mar 19, 2013
4
0
10,510
Thanks to everyone who has replied so far. I did not think that I would be able to get a SSD at this time. I was really shocked to see it suggested on the part list.
I'm looking at everyone's suggestions :)

I had not thought of ASUS at all since through research it seemed like most would recommend the ASRock first. I have used ASUS in the past, so I will look at MB over Asrock.

Does that case (200R)offer enough room for everything? I'm not a flashy case kinda girl, but I want to make sure I get a case that wont be a struggle to possibly put another GPU in the future.

In reference to the 7900 issue, is it bad? I have never had a Nvidia card and had not considered the 660ti until it had been suggested from a friend. And also, would it better to get a higher watt PSU now or when (in probably a year) I would be looking to buy another graphics card?
 


I would get an XFX 850W (Seasonic made) for CFX though that is likely to make a $40 dent in your budget
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-power-supply-p1850snlb9

The 7900 issue is not that serious IMO, my friend has 2x7970's and in Skyrim, we didn't notice anything before or after the latency tests and the supposed fix. Neither do I notice anyhitng in Skyrim on my 7850, 1080p High
http://techreport.com/review/24218/a-driver-update-to-reduce-radeon-frame-times

The 200r will be able to fit the cards no problem once you remove the middle HDD cage (easily detachable)

As the other posters have mentioned I guess the $5 to get the ultra plus SSD is a nice deal


 

properbuilds

Honorable
Jan 13, 2013
432
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10,810





Hi, the asus is a good board for the price, you probably won't need the features of the asrock, with the additional two SATA III ports, the asus has a digital power phase design, it's a good board and it's cheaper, it will be a good choice.
The Corsair 200R is a quality case with good cable management and it it will fit all the parts, even larger cooler/cards or dual cards setups, again a good choice.
For a single card, you don't need much wattage, 550W is plenty for any single card in the market(expect the dual gpus), you can't go wrong with the xfx 550 core edition which is a seasonic psu, it's a quality unit, better than the corsair cx which is made by cwt, gfx cards are getting less power demanding and more efficient, you can expect the trend to go lower in the next generations so you'll be fine with it.
The 7950 is a good card, you get two games free, nothing wrong with it, another good choice.
I recommend the sandisk ultra plus 128GB with the marvell controller, good ssd for the money ;)
 
The Corsair Carbide Series 200R is one of those new budget oriented cases that comes in at a mere $49, but includes a ton of features to make it suitable for anyone looking to build a new PC, but is limited to a budget.

With support for up to 8 fans, dust filters for the PSU and intake, tool free design, and a clearance of up to 320mm for those extra long graphics cards, it’s a beast of a case that doesn’t carry a beast of a pricetag.The Asus V-LK isn't bad but it's not great still it would be the one to get since your on a budget and it will support SLI and is cheaper so you'll save a little money. Extreme4 is a decent budget board imho i personally wouldn't buy it.But seems good from the reviews and members here on TH seem to fancy it.I have done a few builds for friends with it the only negative I have for this motherboard is that it slips outside of typical ATX specifications. It’s 3cm thinner than a standard ATX motherboard and as a result may lack secure mounting on the far side since this isn’t a common size, which also means you should be very careful when plugging in the 24-pin ATX motherboard power – as the motherboard may flex.I prefer quality assurance i do not feel i get that with Asrock so i go with Asus because i find it totally unacceptable that they try to cut corners in making the motherboard to each his/her own i always say ;)



 
Solution


ASUS >AsRock :)
 

MissyL

Honorable
Mar 19, 2013
4
0
10,510
Thanks again everyone. So much good advice :)
I'm gonna adjust my build after thinking a bit. And start ordering this week, in order to get the best bargains online before heading out to the main store.
Thank you for the comments on the Case, MB and the links to the articles. Those are helping me on my final decision for my gpu.

Looking at this now:

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler
Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V LK ATX LGA1155 Motherboard
Memory: Corsair XMS3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Storage: Sandisk 128GB ultra plus 2.5" Solid State Disk
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply:XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224BB DVD/CD Writer

Gonna wiggle my budget around. But gonna make due.
 
looks great to me.I've never used that kind of memory before but i am sure it's fine. ;)

 

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