First time Light Gaming/Surfing Rig

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kimmeleh

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Nov 14, 2012
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10,510
Hey I am Currently building a Light gaming and Surfing the internet Rig. I have a $200-$300 Budget left for the rest of the build but I am totally stuck on a MOBO/PSU. I currently Own these parts and am looking for some guidance on what to buy. I have recently purchased all of these parts and most can be exchanged/upgraded for a better deal. I live in Ontario(Canada), and am willing to make purchases online. I've gotten most of my components during sales and such sorry if it's random. I am Not looking to overclock as I haven't the slightest clue about doing that. I am interested in learning how to Crossfire/SLI my GPU's however I don't feel like I will be doing that with this rig. I will look at mATX Motherboards however if the price difference is close I will shell out more for a full ATX board. Anyways Parts are these:

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/ca/p/vHSO
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/ca/p/vHSO/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/ca/p/vHSO/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i3-3220 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor ($109.99 @ NCIX)
Memory: Kingston HyperX 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($39.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($79.99 @ Canada Computers)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7750 1GB Video Card ($99.99 @ NCIX)
Case: Thermaltake Commander MS/I Snow Edition (White/Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($43.99 @ Computer Valley)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($16.99 @ Canada Computers)
Monitor: ViewSonic VA2431WM 23.6" Monitor ($161.99 @ Computer Valley)
Keyboard: Razer BlackWidow 2013 Wired Gaming Keyboard ($74.99 @ Canada Computers)
Mouse: Thermaltake MO-ARM005DT Wired Optical Mouse ($34.99 @ Computer Valley)
Total: $662.91
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-01-03 16:32 EST-0500)

Any Suggestions on what kind of parts I'll need?
 
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An Asrock H77 Pro4/MVP and an XFX Pro 550w is what you need. The H77 board since you won't be overclocking and a good 550w PSU for future upgrades, If you will be doing in upgrades. You could get a CX430 instead, but you are only going to save about $10 or so.
 
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I suggest avoiding the blackwidow - it's the worst mechanical keyboard out there. (But to make sure to get a mechanical; your hands will love you.)

Other than that, I'd upgrade your video card as far as you can push it - don't bother crossfire with low end cards, as you can get a better video card that'll run faster all the time, instead of only in games that support it. On top of that, you also won't have to deal with microstutter issues.

As for the motherboard, I'd suggest an AsRock Pro 4/MVP. For your power supply, something by seasonic, corsair, antec, or other reliable brands. You don't need more than 500w - 550 to play it safe.
 
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I would suggest a H77 or B75 chipset board. My personal order of brand preference is Asus >= ASRock > Gigabyte >>> anyone else. H77 supports RAID (if you care), and B75 does not. H77 allows IGP overclocking, which does not apply to you (since you have a discrete card), and B75 should allow some CPU overclocking, which also doesn't apply because your CPU is locked. I just ordered an ASRock H77 micro-ATX board for $65, $10 off its usual price here in the USA.
My "goto" PSUs for budget builds like this have been the 380W Antec Earthwatts (~$45USD) and the 360W Seasonic G360 (~$60USD). None have failed me yet.
Edit: Because these two items are well under your budget, you may wish to consider getting a HD7770 instead. It is only ~$20 or so more than the HD7750, but is notably more powerful. It will run on either of the two PSUs I listed. The Antec VP-450 linked by SamuelSpark is also a decent choice.
If "light gaming" means Flash-based and/or 2D/social games, then the HD7750 will be fine. If it means more demanding titles, just not played very often, you'll probably want the stronger card.

 
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^
^ Get a mechanical keyboard? Eh, if you ask me they are very over hyped. I think they are okay, but not to the point to never buy any other membrane keyboard ever. My Sidewinder X4 is the best keyboard I've ever used and it only cost me $35 on sale. Try getting a high quality mechanical keyboard with backlighting for $35.... It isn't going to happen.

BUT THAT HORRID CLICKING NOISE! I don't understand why anyone wants to hear all that noise when they type, and it is apparent on almost every key switch.

EDIT: I expained the Extreme3 based off of the Extreme4 for some reason... No idea why....
 
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If you get a mechanical keyboard, just don't get MX-Blue switches; those are the really loud ones. The MX-Brown switches offer some tactile feedback but less noise. The MX-Red and MX-Black ones do not offer the same amount of feedback, and they are also quiet. YouTube has some videos that people have made showing the differences. They'd be worth checking out before buying.
 
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Thanks for the Replies guys! I was looking at the 7770 But it didn't seem to be much of an upgrade... Is it that much better or should I look at another GPU?? I think I am going to go with An Asrock H77 Board since everyone says for my CPU that it's best.

As for Mechanical Keyboards, any ones I should keep my eyes on? I like the look of the Razer Keyboards however im Not sold on that specific one.
 
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A Z77 board has overclocking, typically a lot more ports, and advanced features like Virtu MVP and SRT (which lets a SSD act as a cache for a mechanical HDD). These features are overkill for a "light gaming/surfing rig." If you want to spend a little money on something that will offer a very noticeable improvement in performance, add a 120GB-128GB SSD to this build for the OS and primary applications. For the stated uses, a Pentium+SSD will feel a LOT faster than an i5+mechanical HDD.
 
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Thanks for the Info Onus! Just as a quick reference, if I was to get an SSD for Windows/Primary functions, how large of an SSD should I be looking at? I heard you can run windows off of a 60GB SSD! Is that all crazy talk? I'm just looking for some real answers.

Also I've decided to go with the H77 Board...They seem alot cheaper and I have an non overclocking CPU. I am interested in Possibly SLI/Crossfire however what is a typical card to do this with. I currently have the XFX 2GB DDR3 7750, But I'm told that it is really outshined by 7770's. I am not sold on Radeons though I have heard about EVGA?(or other brands?) 550 TI? or 650TI? It's a dual fan GPU from the pictures. I'm not all that sure, as I'm new to builds
 
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I consider a DDR3 version of a card spec'ed to have GDDR5 to be an abomination. A card like that is beaten handily by the GDDR5 versions. More than 1GB is not needed by low-midrange cards, because they aren't strong enough anyway to play at the high resolutions (1920x1080 or higher) AND high settings (lots of AA, highest texture settings) that require that amount of memory.
I do not recommend Crossfire or SLI. Low-midrange cards in particular will experience a distracting and irritating phenomenon called "microstuttering," caused by differences in frame render times. Particularly for "light gaming," a single decent card is sufficient. I play a lot of GW2 for example, and my HD7870 is easily sufficient; it's enjoyable on a GDDR5 HD7750 for that matter.
As to the size of SSD, no less than 90GB, and the cost difference isn't worth getting less than 120GB (which formats to only 111GB). The more applications (including games) you think you'll want, the bigger it should be. I've used about 100GB of my 256GB drive (238GB formatted), so just a couple more games would mean I'd need to start swapping if I only had 120GB.
 
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