Help building a PC to overclock the i5 3570k

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ashlee777

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Dec 1, 2012
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Hi there guys, this is the first time that I build a gaming computer. I have no experience whatsoever but I am currently studying computer information at college so I assume that I can assemble the PC myself and then find someone to help me overclocking it. I would like to build it before Christmas and save as much money as possible so I can buy gifts for the family 😍

Again, I have no experience about this and I am basing this hardware from other guys who have built machines with similar specifications.

-> Processor: i5 3570k


-> CPU cooler: Gelid Tranquillo Rev.2
- or recommend me a cheaper one or better one if possible.

-> Case: Fractal Design Define R4 Pearl Black
- I am not sure about this one either but a guy from Youtube bought this one to overclock the 3570K so I think this one should be fine and it only costs $100!

-> Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H
- I think this one should be fine to overclock the 3570K but I need help with this one. How many Z77X-D3H models are there? I found on Amazon.com that there are many different ones with the same name (or similar names? I am not sure) like UDH3 and some other similar ones and prices range from $100 to $200. Could anyone go on Amazon.com and tell me which one it is the Z77X-D3H that I need to overclock the 3570k? and if they are all the same, please help me selecting the cheapest Z77X-D3H out there.

-> PSU: None
- Which one should be fine?

-> Graphics card: None
- I am not sure if spending $300 for a graphics card, are there any good cheaper ones?

-> SSD: Do I need one?
- I am not sure what an SSD is and I was wondering if I need to buy one.

Right now I have this desktop I bought from Walmart some time ago. I was wondering, What can I use from it besides the monitor, speakers, mouse, HDD, and DVD reader? Can I use the RAM cards?
http://bizsupport1.austin.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=c02628426&lang=en&cc=us&taskId=135&contentType=SupportFAQ&prodSeriesId=5035348&prodTypeId=12454

Thank you guys, I hope you want to help me building this.

 
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You could use the hard drive, DVD drive and the card reader, not so sure about the ram though. I am not familiar with that CPU cooler, but you cant go wrong with a CM Hyper 212 EVO. The only thing an SSD does is reduce boot times if the OS is on it, and loading times if any games or software is on it. Judging by some of the parts you have picked, your budget is around $7-800?

Heres a $798 build I out together for you. http://pcpartpicker.com/p/qu3W

I didnt include an OS or the other parts you already have. If you do need an OS add $100 for Windows 7 64-bit.
 
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Thank you guys. Well I actually don't have a budget in mind, some parts are cheaper to get depending where they are bought (either Newegg, eBay or Amazon) so if I say my budget is "XYZ", for example, I am afraid that you recommend me not so good computer components because of the limited budget. But I guess it would be $800 or less if possible. Pretty much I want to buy everything I need first and at the end decide which graphics card to buy. But yes, as almost any person does, I would like to save as much as possible like if I can buy a cheaper case instead of a costly one just for luxury, then I can get the cheap one and save some cash.

I would not want to invest more than $800 because I need money for Christmas and my boyfriend does not want to put any money on this; he says that he needs the money for college and well I understand him. He is a noob about this as well and he spends a lot more time going to college than I do so he can't help me too much 🙁

Thank you a lot Biggles_ for even building me a computer digitally :bounce: I will be able to overclock the 3570k even if I buy that motherboard that you suggest me? I thought it was possible only on the D3H motherboard but honestly I have no idea @_@

This is the ram my computer has right now just in case you guys don't want to click the link I provided:
Memory
Amount: 5 GB
Speed: PC3-10600 MB/sec
Type: DDR3-1333

If I can use that ram for now, it would be great! It saves money :ouch:

That case and PSU that Samuel recommends are way cheaper, any problem if I get those instead of the other ones? Some components will be not compatible, motherboard won't fit, fan won't fit, or something like that?

By the way, a friend of mine told me that the Tranqillo Rev 2 CPU cooler is better than the CM Hyper Evo. He knows a lot about this but since he is busy all day, well he can't help me :pfff:

How would this be? :)

-> Processor: i5 3570K
-> Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 RC-912-KKN1 Black SECC/ ABS Plastic ATX
-> Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155
-> CPU cooler: Gelid Tranquillo Rev.2
-> PSU: Rosewill Green Series RG630-S12 630W
-> Graphics card: Pending
 
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You can overclock the 3570K with the Asrock Extreme 4. The motherboard just has to have the 'Z77' chipset in order to fully overclock the processor. If you would prefer it, any motherboard of your choosing that has the Z77 chip set should suffice. If you wanted to save a bit of money you could also go for an mATX board.

I just threw the case in there that you chose, the case is just personal preference. If I were you, I would save a bit of money and get a cheaper case. As long as the case supports the motherboard form factor and has decent cooling, it should make no difference.

As for the power supply you want to go for good brand PSUs. Brands like Seasonic and Antec are the way to go. Though it is your build, so pick what suits you. The only thing is it MUST be 80+ certified, otherwise you could end up losing a lot of your components as a result of a cheap power supply.

I selected the 212 EVO for its price. If your friend prefers the Tranquillo, go for it. The CM 212 will give cooling suitable for around 4.5ghz with if the paste is applied correctly. I'm not familiar with the Tranquillo cooler, though it looks to be of similar design.

If your friend is good with computers, run through the parts with him and tell him exactly what your doing on the machine, he can probably help more than I can. If its only light gaming, you could get by easily with an i3. Then again, if its heavier gaming a quad core is the best.

Hope I helped!
 
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Your original motherboard selection (Gigabyte Z77 D3H) is one of the best selections to make. The best motherboards can only manage to squeeze Intel chip base clocks from 100mhz to around 110-111mhz. The record doesn't even hit 115mhz (that's on LNitro with a ridiculously high voltage). The rest of the overclock is voltage stability.

The basic understanding between overclockers is, unless you're doing more-than-casual overclocking, you want to stay under 1.5v to the core. Doing more than this increases your risks without much rewards to back it up. A better cooler will do more benefit than more voltage at this point. As a result, when comparing motherboards for overclocks, you want to see it's stability between 1.45v and 1.5v. If the vdroop is high, the motherboard won't be stable in the upper end air-cooled overclocks. 1.5v is pretty much required to overclock it on air to 5ghz.
 
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Thank you guys :) Sadly my friend helps me online only, he does not live near my city. He answers my emails like once in a while only so yeah 🙁

I wanted to stick with the Asrock Extreme 4. But now that MasterMace mentions that, well ugh I don't know what to choose :pfff: The Asrock Extreme 4 is way cheaper right? :) If it helps, I want to overclock the 3570k as good as possible using fans (CPU coolers) only without liquid cooling and all that.
About the case, I would buy the Cooler Master HAF 912 RC-912 instead of the Pearl one because it is cheaper and it also looks more cute but if you or someone can recommend a better looking one that is cheaper and has decent cooling too, please let me know 😍

I will be getting the 212 EVO, if you have had no problems with it, hopefully I won't either.

Finally, I am hoping to build a machine for heavy gaming, if possible. So now the concern strikes again deciding which motherboard or case to get... ugh ): I am sorry for my n00biness. :pt1cable:

I am going to Walmart to buy milk and other stuff right now by the way, please feel free to post! I will answer back once I am back, thank you again all of you that are helping me, be right back in 20-30 minutes :)
 
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In order to make a proper recommendation I would need to know what you want/expect this system to be able to do. I could recommend a Radeon 7770 graphics card but if you intend to game on a 2560x1600 monitor with all the settings cranked up then that would be bad. I can't recommended a GTX 680 if you only plan on playing WoW at 1366 x 768, etc.

Also, you will need to determine which graphics card you will be going with before determining the power supply, as the graphics card and CPU are the 2 factors involved in figuring that part out. But we already know you will have an overclocked 3570K for a CPU.

What do you have for a monitor currently?

You could re-use the RAM, but 5GB is an odd configuration. I'm assuming you have a matching pair of 2GB sticks and a 1GB stick? If so then using the 2x2GB sticks in a dual channel configuration would be sufficient. Having the 3rd stick in single channel would probably actually lower your performance a little bit but probably not enough that you would even notice a difference, and 4GB is probably enough capacity, so whether you'd want to leave the extra 1GB stick in or get rid of it is up to you.

The hard drive and disk drive can also be re-used to save cost.

I agree the naming scheme for Gigabyte's boards is confusing and there are so many boards out there from so many different manufacturers that the only real way to tell the difference is to not only look at all their specifications, but also reviews and the experiences of actual owners. If you plan on overclocking it's important to get a board that will be able to handle it well with good CPU voltage regulation and power phase design.

That said I'm sure the Gigabyte board would be perfectly fine as they are a reputable vendor and this is not a cheap budget board...but it's $154 whereas the ASRock Extreme 4 is only $135 and would also be perfectly fine. If you want to save even more you could go with the ASRock Extreme 3 which is only $110 with free shipping.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157330

The only difference from the Extreme 4 is a slightly different expansion slot configuration and a couple less USB 3.0 and SATA 3.0 connectivity which probably would not affect you at all since you are just using 1 magnetic disk drive.

To me a case is pretty much a case, so unless you are buying some kind of monstrously large graphics card or CPU cooler that may not fit some cases it doesn't really matter and you may as well just get one that you like the look of for the lowest price. I like mine because it's older and just has a solid flat top with no fan mount/grill so it doubles as an end-table and I don't have to worry about setting my coffee or water on it and spilling it down into my system lol. There are lots of adequate cases for $50 or less.

When it comes to cases and cooling tweaktown and other sites have lots of good reviews. Just type "<product name> review" into google and all kinds will pop up. (This goes for all the other components too) The only cooler I have personal experience with is the CoolerMaster Hyper212 plus. It does the job well for a very reasonable price. The Hyper 212 Evo is its predecessor and is also a good solid cooler for a good solid price. I've never heard of that Gelid Tranquillo but looking at a couple reviews briefly just now it seems decent but not necessarily any better than the CoolerMasters and it costs more at $50 from newegg. Other popular air coolers are the Xigmatek Dark Knight II, the Havik, and the Noctua NH-D14 but again they are $50 - $80 respectively. The Corsair H60/H80/H100 closed loop water coolers are also pretty popular but will also set you back a little more and are not necessarily any better.

Hyper 212 Evo:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099

Gelid Tranquillo:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835426023

Xigmatek Dark Knight:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233029

Noctua NH-D14:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608018

Corsair H80:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181016

Since you plan on overclocking you should put lots of thought into your cooler though as temperature is the big issue when overclocking an Ivy bridge chip. That said, if you're not planning on doing any extreme overclocking and just want a modest 4.2 - 4.3GHz or so I'd have to go with Biggles' recommendation on the Hyper 212 Evo for $35

When you figure out a graphics card then you can figure what you need for a PSU....but even before knowing what wattage or 12v rail amperage, I'd recommend a Seasonic, or a unit of some other brand such as Antec/Corsair/XFX/PC Power & Cooling that uses Seasonic as an OEM as they are well-known for quality, quiet, efficient PSUs.

EDIT: I've just seen your last post and I see that you want to be able to do "heavy gaming" so really you want the best video card you can get that will fit your budget. A Radeon 7870 is a really good bang for the buck at ~$225, but what do you have for a monitor? Are you going to buy a new monitor or just stick with the one you already have? If you are sticking with the one you have and it has a low maximum resolution then a 7870 could be overkill, or you may want to buy a new one which would further limit your budget. Maybe a 7870 is not enough for what you want to achieve and want to splurge on, say, a GTX 670. Do you know what games you are going to be playing? Some games are very demanding on the video card such as Battlefield 3 or Crysis 2...but others such as Call of Duty or WoW are not...so if you already know what games you are going to be playing then that will also help with the decision-making process.
 
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Back 🙂 It's so cold outside 🙁 Thank you guys for still helping me before I start buying all the PC components, I highly appreciate it :)

You are right bardacuda, I did not tell what I want the system to be able to do before building it. Well this is exactly what I would like it to do so you guys can help me better 🙂

First, I want to play Wii games, like Mario Galaxy 2, on dolphin at full speed. I have the games already but I want to play them with dolphin, I hate playing Wii games on my HDTV, it just looks not good at all ): (So please don't ban me, I do own the games I want to play on dolphin). I read that to play some Wii games at full speed, like Mario Galaxy 2, I need to overclock the 3570k, so that is one reason why I want to overclock it.

Second, I would like to play games at max settings, if possible, like well all the games that are out there: GTA 4 (hopefully GTA 5 if it ever gets released for PC), Garry's mod, Assasin's Creed III, and the ones coming soon like [insert coming soon games], etc. There are many cheap on steam already! By the way, I do NOT like any first person shooter games (Call of Duty, Battlefield, Crysis 1,2,3,4, etc. [although Bioshock Infinite looks cool]) so if I need a super expensive graphics card to play them, please let me know.

Third, I want to play the games on my 1080p TV and 1080p monitor. I currently play on my HDTV. I connect my PC to my HDTV, use a wireless PS3 controller and play Minecraft, or Garry's mod but Garry's mod lags a lot u.u I need to tweak it using "-dxlevel 81" so it can run a little better but when there is fire it gets super slow...

Fourthly four, I do not plan using this machine for video editing or things like that. I read that in those cases I would need an i7, so that's why I want a 3570k for gaming, mostly.

Well, I hope that information is enough to help me deciding which graphics card to get so "we" can mode on from there 🙂 Thanks a lot again! I'm glad I found this forum, very helpful :)
 
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Hmmm....I have used emulators but not for Wii so I'm not really sure. I would check or ask on the forums at http://www.ngemu.com/forums/
They probably have a sticky with the exact information you need.
I'm guessing the PC gaming you want to do is going to be more demanding than dolphin or Garry's Mod though (and it's no doubt they don't run well now as you are just using the integrated graphics on your HP Pavilion's stock motherboard I take it?) so in that case I guess it just comes down to your budget.
Going on newegg and putting the CPU, Gigabyte board ($20 off with the CPU combo), 212 EVO, and a $50 case in the shopping cart you are up to $434....if you put in a $100 PSU you'd be at $534......so assuming your budget is $800 (before tax and shipping) that leaves $266 for the graphics card so I'd say you'd be looking at a Radeon 7870 graphics card in that case.

EDIT: Oh yeah you could re-use your current case too that would save you some money and you could go bigger on the graphics card
 
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I have no clue about how intensive Wii games are on PC, so I cant help there. The other games you have listed should all run on high with a HDTV.

Please be warned - Grand Theft Auto IV is a very bad port. Meaning it cant run on systems you would think. GTA IV is more processor intensive and a quad core is pretty much a must. I believe your system should run it at the very least on medium though most likely the highest settings, though dont hold my word for it.

As for your emulators I believe they would be more CPU dependent also. Assassins Creed 3 will run easily on the 3570k as well as the HD 7850 OC if thats what you choose. You mentioned Minecraft, another CPU dependent game. So far its looking like your build is going to be centered around the CPU and not the GPU.

An i5 3570k and a Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 would be a good balance for both CPU and GPU intensive games, so you dont lose out on either type of game.
 
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Well the 3570k is a given from the title of this thread (and an excellent choice) but since you want to be able to game at maximum possible settings in 1080p for any number of possible games that have yet to be released you will want as much graphics muscle as possible. If you also re-use the case in your build you could squeeze in a GTX 660 ti which is better than a 7870 and falls more somewhere between a 7950 and a 7970 (but much closer to a 7950)

I put a build together and it comes with Assassin's Creed 3 for free. Check it out:

(click to enlarge)
ashleebuild.png
 
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That looks very nice! :ouch: Thank you very much bardacuda 😀, no doubt I will choose you as "Best Answer." Haha, that reminds me of Yahoo Answers.

Since you haven't used dolphin for Wii emulation, actually yes, I need to overclock the 3570k (or 2500k) to play Mario Galaxy 2 or other Wii games at full speed. I asked on the dolphin forums more than a year ago, and then again this year (LOL), and they still highly recommend overcloking it to get super-b frame rates and not choppy music/sound. And yes, I use the integrated graphics card included with my HP Pavilion PC to play Garry's mod and Minecraft; it is an amazing integrated graphics card though, I can play Crysis 2 at max with 60fps :ouch: (joking).

By the way my ram is set just as you assumed (I just checked). There are 3 cards, two blue ones and a green one. I guess they are 2x2GB ram cards and 1x1GB ram card :)

Just one last question, so you really think I can use my current HP case? :) A guy on the dolphin forum told me once that it is not a good case at all for overclocking any CPU because it would not provide enough air flow and the CPU could stop working. Please let me know if this could really happen or not so I can re-use my current case, and as you said, save some money and get that GPU with Assasin's Creed 3! 🙂

Thanks a lot to all of you guys, yes all, don't feel sad if I choose bardacuda as the best answer please. Love you all 😍

Edit: I am going to bed, if you write something, please note that I'll be sleeping, so I won't reply until tomorrow. Again, thank you very much guys for all the help, have good night.
 
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Well they could be right about the case. Since it's not one you can buy normally I can't really find any detailed specs or pictures. It also depends where you live if it gets hot inside your apartment/house in the summer. But I'd think as long as you can at least have a front 90 - 120mm intake fan and a rear 120mm fan and are able to arrange your cables for good airflow it should work. If not and you didn't want to step down to a 7870 you could still get an inexpensive case and stay under the $800 mark.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811192289
 
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Bad news guys, I was decided to buy those components and start building my gaming PC but I just read that intel will release a new CPU called Haswell early on 2013 and that AMD will release new GPU's as well which means that prices for the PC components that I want to buy right now could decrease a lot. Which also means that maybe I will need those CPU and GPU to play future games. If I wait, maybe I could afford what is coming soon but I am not sure what the prices will be. I know that it is up to me waiting or not, but what do you recommend? Please help me deciding if it would be worth waiting for the new GPU and CPU to be released, thank you.
 
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Bump :3
 
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Haswell is not due until the second half of next year. Intel releases a new processor with either a new architecture or on a new process every year so there's always something new around the corner. nVidia may be doing a kepler refresh (7xx series) by march and sea islands (AMD's 8xxx series) is due out in the 2nd quarter i think (april to june) but they also release new cards every year. But if you think you can get by until july then yes you can get better hardware for the same price. Previous generation hardware doesn't usually drop in price, it just kind of gets replaced and they stop producing/selling it. Then again you can still buy nvidia's 5xx series cards at a reduced price so there is the possibility.
 
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Thank you guys. Well I would like to play games NOW, not 6 months from now, so probably yes, I will be building a PC before Christmas :) I honestly don't want to wait for new hardware and then wait for price drops and all that. If new super revolutionary hardware is released, then I could try and sell my computer or something like that, don't know yet obviously 😛

Could someone tell me why there are like 5 different versions of the GTX 660 ti? Are all of them the same but just different brands? There are some auctions on eBay of people selling them cheaper than the Gigabyte brand ones. Hopefully I can grab one for about $200 :ouch: but I need to know if they are all the same or not. According to my lame research, it seems that the NVidia one is not so good, but the other ones are about the same. Is they are all the same, Could you recommend me which ones are good and which ones are not? Thanks, any help is appreciated 😀
 
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nVidia makes the chips for all of them but doesn't actually sell consumer cards themselves. They make a reference model for their board partners to base theirs off of but that's not available to the public.
They are all basically the same, but they all come with different coolers and different factory clocks (and a few with more VRAM). MSI, ASUS, Gigabyte, and EVGA all make good quality cards (EVGA's are closest to nVidia's reference model usually). I'm sure PNY, Zotac, Galaxy, and the rest are probably just as good but I don't know what their warranty or returns policies are like if it did happen to fail. Maybe someone else can attest to that.
If you're not sure about a particular card just look up the exact part # on newegg to see what the stock clock rates are like and get a picture of the cooler or look up reviews of the particular card on google to see how it compares to other 660 ti models.

I don't think the next series of video cards is going to be super revolutionary as nVidia's line is just a refresh of the current Kepler line but not a new architecture. Although...they may use different variations of the GK110 chip, rather than a GK114 chip, to replace the current GK104 chip which is what is in a 660 ti and up, so they could end up being significantly faster but it's impossible to predict this far from launch. I'm not sure what's expected from AMD's Sea Islands cards but I'm sure once both companies release their full line-ups, prices of similar performing cards will settle into the same price ranges.

Intel's Haswell on the other hand is going to be a new architecture this time around instead of just a smaller process so it should be significantly faster than current Sandy/Ivy Bridge chips but I doubt it would be 'revolutionary' in terms of performance difference. I think they are supposed to use a new socket though so you wouldn't be able to upgrade to a Haswell CPU without also buying a new motherboard.
 
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Oops, actually after some more research maybe hyperthreading isn't worthwhile.
 
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