Help with New $1000-$1250 Gaming Build

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link1331

Honorable
Dec 3, 2012
3
0
10,510
Hi,

I am planning on building a small form factor computer before the year’s end. However, I have no experience building computers whatsoever. Thus, I was hoping someone could look at my proposed build and make sure there are no obvious incompatibilities or imbalances in what I chose.

CPU: Intel i5-3570
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115233

Graphics Card: EVGA 02G-P4-3660-KR GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130809

Motherboard: Intel BOXDH77EB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=13-121-601

Memory: 16 GB (2x8) G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series Model F3-1600C9D-16GXM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231568

Hard Drive 1: SAMSUNG 830 Series MZ-7PC128N/AM 128GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147137

Hard Drive 2: Western Digital WD Black WD1002FAEX 1TB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136533

Optical Drive: LITE-ON Black 12X BD-ROM Model ihes112-04
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106374

Power Supply: SILVERSTONE Strider Plus ST50F-P 500W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256065

Case: Lian Li PC-V351 or Silverstone Fortress FT03 (see below)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112222
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163176

Total Cost ~ $1160 (My budget is $1000-$1250)

My system usage from most to least important is schoolwork (I am a college student), gaming, and surfing the internet.

I need this computer to be reliable and last for quite some time (I have had my current laptop for about 4 years); thus, I chose not to overclock, even if that means I am not getting maximum performance. Given that, is it okay to use just the stock fans with the CPU and case, or should I buy extras/upgrades?

In addition, is my power supply large enough?

Also, I decided I wanted to include a blu-ray reader in the build; however, that gave me serious issues with some cases (namely, the Silverstone FT03). Does anyone know of a good, relatively inexpensive slot-loading blu-ray drive in case I choose the FT03? Or perhaps a red tray-loader if I can find the red Lian Li case? Regardless, whatever case I choose needs to be portable enough for transport between college and home.

(edit: sorry, the links were apparently pretty mixed up for some reason.)
 
Solution
excella1221
Get the 7950 instead. Same price, better performance. Also that EVGA uses reference cooling, your GPU is gonna get hot inside an ITX casing.

No point getting the 3570, you're paying tens of dollars for a few 0.1GHz you won't even notice. Only reason to go above a 3450 or 3470 is if you want an unlocked multiplier - in this case the 3570K.

You won't need 16gb of RAM for gaming or any of your specified usage, even 8gb would more than plenty.

Here's a revision:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3470 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($184.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock H77M-ITX Mini ITX LGA1155 Motherboard ($94.99 @ Microcenter)...
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excella1221

excella1221

Honorable
Aug 23, 2012
2,415
0
12,160
Get the 7950 instead. Same price, better performance. Also that EVGA uses reference cooling, your GPU is gonna get hot inside an ITX casing.

No point getting the 3570, you're paying tens of dollars for a few 0.1GHz you won't even notice. Only reason to go above a 3450 or 3470 is if you want an unlocked multiplier - in this case the 3570K.

You won't need 16gb of RAM for gaming or any of your specified usage, even 8gb would more than plenty.

Here's a revision:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3470 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($184.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock H77M-ITX Mini ITX LGA1155 Motherboard ($94.99 @ Microcenter)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($37.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 830 Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($109.00 @ B&H)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card ($279.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Rosewill Green 530W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus BW-12B1ST/BLK/G/AS Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($55.73 @ NCIX US)
Total: $882.67
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-12-13 06:48 EST-0500)

As for the BD/casing issue, I'm not sure I understand the problem but how about a different casing instead? The ones you chose seem too expensive.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811345016&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352011&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811352008&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=
 
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Solution
N

nix327

Honorable
Nov 25, 2012
417
0
10,810
Thr 7870 is a better card for the money. You can replace it with a 7970 if you wanted to. But its not really necessary. You can save some money and run all the games just fine.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/si8R
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/si8R/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/si8R/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-3470 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($184.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock H77 Pro4-M Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Mushkin Blackline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial M4 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($106.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7870 2GB Video Card ($229.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Define Mini MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer 620W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($83.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus BW-12B1ST/BLK/G/AS Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $935.90
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-12-13 07:30 EST-0500)
 
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N

nix327

Honorable
Nov 25, 2012
417
0
10,810
 
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L

link1331

Honorable
Dec 3, 2012
3
0
10,510
PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/su7C
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/su7C/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/su7C/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-3470 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($149.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: ASRock H77M-ITX Mini ITX LGA1155 Motherboard ($94.99 @ Microcenter)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($37.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 830 Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($109.00 @ B&H)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card ($279.99 @ Newegg)
Case: BitFenix Prodigy (White) Mini ITX Tower Case ($79.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Rosewill Green 530W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus BW-12B1ST/BLK/G/AS Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($55.73 @ NCIX US)
Total: $927.66
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-12-14 14:30 EST-0500)

I will probably go with this build. The Bitfenix case is a little larger than I was hoping, but I like it, and it is definitely cheaper than the other cases I mentioned.

Thanks to both of you!
 
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