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bigrob10

Honorable
Mar 10, 2013
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10,510
Hi all,

I am planning on building a desktop to last for a few years to come, but equally with the space to expand where necessary. I don't want it to cost the earth and part of the reason I am buidling it myself is to gain a deeper understanding of how things work.

This is what I have come up with provisionally:

Case - CM Storm Scout 2
CPU - Intel Core i5 3570k
Motherboard - Asus P8Z68-V LX
GPU - MSI HD 7850 1GB
Memory - Crucial 16GB (8GBx2) DDR3 1600HHz
HDD - Seagate 1TB Barracuda (SATA-III) 3.5"
Optical Disk - Pioneer BDR-206DBK 12x BD-RE
PSU - ????
OS - Windows 8 Pro

Does this look alright to everyone? As you can see, I am not sure which PSU to go for - any tips? Also, is it worth upgrading to a 2GB 7850 GPU? I was originally aiming for one but it didn't seem worth it based on the review.

Thanks in advance!
 
Also, forgot to mention cooling... I think the Storm Scout 2 is lacking in fans - should I more fans and fit them myself?


 
Hi bigrob10!

The CM Storm Scout is a fine case, but if can squeeze in some more, I suggest the Cooler Master HAF 932. (HAF is short for High Air Flow)

Your choice of CPU is impeccable. The i5-3570K is arguably this generation's top CPU.

You might want to upgrade the motherboard to a Z77. The Z68 is a match for the Sandy Bridge version of the i5, the 2500K. The Ivy Bridge version, the 3570K, will benefit from the Z77's integrated USB 3.0 and PCIe 3.0. That said, if you don't really need those, the Z68 can handle the i5-3570K with no problems.

If you're not into heavy video editing and more into gaming, then I suggest going for a maximum of 8 GB ram. The extra ram won't really improve system performance and the money you save can be used for ..

Getting an SSD, preferably 120 GB+ or more, will greatly speed up your system's performance. Using a configuration of boot/applications/games in the SSD and data storage in the HDD is the perfect combination, and you will see boot ups in the range of ~15 seconds. Programs and games will open in a snap!

Windows 8 isn't exactly that hot, especially if you're not making use of a 10-touch monitor. And I'd feel really out of whack playing Battlefield 3 on a touch screen. I'd suggest going for a Windows 7 64-bit.

Your video card choice is fine, but if you really want to push your system, especially with an excellent CPU, I suggest going for at least an HD 7950, if your budget allows for it.

For the PSU, a 520W SeaSonic would be great for your build. If you have other power supplies in mind, remember to keep it with SeaSonic, XFX, Antec or Corsair, and make sure it's 80+ certified.
 
Both of you plump for the Z77 motherboard so I will look into that... I have found two viable options:

Asus P8Z77-V LX S1155 Intel Z77 DDR3 ATX (c.£80)

Asus P8Z77-V LK S1155 Intel Z77 DDR3 ATX (c.£92)

Which of these do you think are better? The LK model was suggested above but the LX happens to be on offer so I would probably go with the LX unless someone thinks it is a massive mistake! I will be honest - I am not entirely sure what the difference would be!

Regarding the PSU - I was going to aim for 700W but do you think 520W would suffice? I am keen to shave money off there if possible.

Nice point about the ram... I will downgrade to 8GB.

I have looked into SSD but I was shocked by how expensive they are. I was also not confident in my ability at this stage to orchestrate between the computer using two different storage devices. Is it easy to do? If you really think the SSD would make the overall computer run much faster I will consider any good value options you ay have up your sleeve!

Which of the 7950s would you recommend? I am hesitant because of the massive price jumps...

Thanks - you are being very helpful!

 
The LK version has a better onboard audio and two more additional USB 3.0 ports. It also it supports SLI/crossfire at 8x/8x, with two PCIe 3.0 slots. If you don't need those extra benefits, grab the lowered-price LX version.

I would highly recommend the SSD, but if I were made to choose between getting an SSD or a better GPU from the money saved by not getting an SSD, I would always go for the GPU.

That said, SSDs will not improve frame rates, but will amazingly speed up load times.

If you can't go for the HD 7950, then the HD 7850 is fine. The free bundled games are nothing to sneeze at, either. IMO, I would choose the 2 GB version over the 1 GB, simply because it can perform better with games at higher resolutions with high resolution textures.
 
To answer your questions and my thoughts:

1. A 7850 requires as little as a 450w psu. But, do not skimp on psu quality. Here is a list of psu's sorted by quality tiers:
http://www.eggxpert.com/forums/thread/323050.aspx
It is not wrong to overprovision the psu a bit, say to 550w-650w. It will draw only the power it needs.

2. I doubt that added vram is worth the price.
Here is one study: http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Video-Card-Performance-2GB-vs-4GB-Memory-154/

3. It is easy to add fans later. Your parts are not overly hot, and tolerate heat well. Wait and see how you do.

4. Z77 based motherboards are usually not more expensive than Z68 and offer added capabilities, like 6gb sata.
Most any will do. Consider a M-ATX motherboard, they are usually less expensive. They only have 4 expansion slots vs. 7 for full ATX. But really, how many do you need? For most of us, only the single pci-e x16 slot will be used.

5. No game uses more than 2-3gb by itself. 8gb is plenty unless you will be heavily multitasking or running 64 bit enabled apps like photoshop. Ram is cheap.
Speed is not of much importance. Buy a 2 stick kit of DDR3 1600 low profile ram.

6. You bought a "K" so you can overclock a bit.
Buy an inexpensive tower type cooler with a 120mm fan. cm hyper212 or Xigmatek for example.

7. I will never build without a SSD for the os at least. It makes everything you do much quicker. A hour windows install takes 10 minutes.
A 120gb ssd will hold the os and half a dozen games. With 240gb, you may never need a hard drive at all. Perhaps defer on the hard drive initially, and add one for storage whenever you fill up the ssd.

8. Do not bother with sli. Here is my canned rant on that:
-----------------------------Start of rant----------------------------------------------------
Dual graphics cards vs. a good single card.

a) How good do you really need to be?
A single GTX650/ti or 7770 can give you good performance at 1920 x 1200 in most games.

A single GTX660 or 7850 will give you excellent performance at 1920 x 1200 in most games.
Even 2560 x 1600 will be good with lowered detail.
A single gtx690 or Titan is about as good as it gets.

Only if you are looking at triple monitor gaming, then sli/cf will be needed.
Even that is now changing with triple monitor support on top end cards.

b) The costs for a single card are lower.
You require a less expensive motherboard; no need for sli/cf or multiple pci-e slots.
Even a ITX motherboard will do.

Your psu costs are less.
A GTX660 needs a 430w psu, even a GTX680 only needs a 550w psu.
When you add another card to the mix, plan on adding 150-200w to your psu requirements.

Even the strongest GTX690 only needs 620w.

Case cooling becomes more of an issue with dual cards.
That means a more expensive case with more and stronger fans.
You will also look at more noise.

c) Dual cards do not always render their half of the display in sync, causing microstuttering. It is an annoying effect.
The benefit of higher benchmark fps can be offset, particularly with lower tier cards.
Read this: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-geforce-stutter-crossfire,2995.html

d) dual card support is dependent on the driver. Not all games can benefit from dual cards.

e) cf/sli up front reduces your option to get another card for an upgrade. Not that I suggest you plan for that.
It will often be the case that replacing your current card with a newer gen card will offer a better upgrade path.
The GTX780 and amd 8000 series are not that far off.
-------------------------------End of rant-----------------------------------------------------------

9. Take the time now to download and read, cover to cover, the case and motherboard manuals. You will learn much.

-----------------good luck---------------
 
That's really helpful info - thanks everyone.

I have tweaked things a bit as below:

Case CM Storm Scout 2
Power Supply Unit XFX 550W Core Edition 80+ Bronze PSU
Processor Intel Core i5 3570k
Motherboard Asus P8Z77-V LK S1155 Intel Z77 DDR3 ATX
Graphics Card MSI HD 7850 1GB
Memory Crucial 8GB (8GBx1) (DDR3 1600MHz)
Hard Disk Samsung 128GB SSD 840 Pro
Optical Disc Pioneer BDR-206DBK 12x BD-RE
OS Windows 7 Home Premium

I am running a bit over budget so if anyone notices anywhere I could make savings let me know.

I will probably get a cheap HDD to use alongside the SDD. Is it easy to manage running two different storage disks alongside each other? Is the SDD I have chosen good enough?

I have scaled back the memory as recommended by everyone. Is there any noticeable benefit in having 2 x 4GB instead of 1 x 8GB? I would imagine that if I get 1x8GB it would be easier to exand further down the line.

Hopefully I am almost there...

Good news on not getting further cooling fans - I was expecting an outlay there.
 
You could tweak down you SSD to the Samsung 840 120GB - Amazon Link. This should save you a few bucks while shaving just 8 GB off the total size.

It should be pretty straighforward to used the SDD alongside the HDD. Use the SDD for your OS/programs/games and your HDD to store your documents and other media.

For the Ram, I suggest getting the kit having 2 Sticks of 4 GB to make use of the performance increase of the dual-channel configuration.

For the motherboard, if you don't really need frills, there's the AsRock Z77 Pro3 going for $89.99 at Newegg.

 
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