Looking to Build my First PC

[wycliffslim]

Hey guys I'm looking to build my first desktop here in a month or two. I'm putting this together to be a serious gaming rig as well as for website design, photoshop, and potentially more high level programming in the future. My goal is to make it so that all I would really need to upgrade in the forseeable future is GPU and CPU performance. Money isn't much of an issue but I don't have any desire to spend a lot extra for marginal performance increases. I'm essentially looking to build a very high end machine without getting stupid with it since I realize that in 2 years there will be tech that can run circles around what is out today. Either way, here's what I'm looking at right now.

CPU: An intel i5 3570k Ivy Bridge http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116504
This seems to be the most recommended gaming CPU although if based on my other specs it would be worth it I don't have much of a problem shelling out an extra $100 for the i7 3770

GPU: an Asus GTX 680 with 4gbs GDDR 5 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121705
I'm pretty deadset on this one, I really like Nvidia and I really like Asus. I've considered SLI'ing this at a later date but it's much more likely I'd just sell it and upgrade to a newer card.

Motherboard: Asus P9X79 PRO http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131800
I'm not wildly savvy on motherboards so I could defer to better judgement here. Also, would it be worth it to get the deluxe version of this for $70 more, it looks like the biggest difference is the deluxe has built in wifi. I definitely don't want to screw around with wired. So, in essence is that worth it or since I want good gaming would it be better to go with a dedicated wireless gaming card?

RAM: CORSAIR Vengeance 32GB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233333
I'm not really dead set one way or the other in this regard. From my research it seems that there's really not much noticeable difference between ram in terms of speed as long as they're in the same general class. I would definetly like to have at least 32GB as I plan on creating a RAM Drive for some of my games like PS2 that are already pretty demanding to eke a little more performance out of them. I do realize that to go 64GB I'd have to get an i7 processor so like I said, I'm definitely open to interpretation and I would be quite happy with 32GB

Case: Thermaltake Chaser MK-1 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133191
I haven't done a whole lot of research into cases and I'm not too picky in this regard. I'd like it to look cool and be easy to work with and keep cool.

Power Supply: Rosewill Extreme 750W http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182067
This seemed like it would do the job and then some and claims to have optimized power efficiency under pretty much any load.

Storage:
Main Drive: Samsung 500GB SSD http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147190
I would use this one for booting and most of my gaming needs. I'd like to make sure I have around 500GB
Secondary: I'd like about a 2TB drive I found this one, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148834 but I don't have much of a preference. I'd use it for music, videos, general storage, and maybe some older games.

Cooling: I'm not sure that I'll do liquid cooling immediatly but considering it's only about $100 and I wouldn't mind starting to dabble in OC'ing I was looking at this one. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181017 Any other suggestions I would be happy to consider though.

Other: Just going to get a pretty generic sound card as I almost exclusively use a headset. A Blu-ray disk drive, not a whole lot of difference in those. And any advice as to the whole wireless card thing would be great. Oh, and I'm considering getting a 3D capable monitor, I'm going to try it out some to see if it's worth paying the extra money, but if I decide it is, what would you guys recommend?

So, that's what I'm looking at right now. Any tweaks or advice you have would be much appreciated. Like I said before, money isn't a huge issue but I'm not made of it so if you see anywhere I could shave some off and still get the same performance or anywhere I could spend a bit more and get a noticeable increase that'd be great. Oh yes, and I tried to make sure that everything will be compatible but if they're not I'd definitely like to know that

Thanks for any help you can give, and I'm really excited about trying to do my first real full build!

 

[Headbomb]

Looks great to me! Although, 4gb of graphics memory is useless if you are on 1 screen. It's just a way for them to get more money from you.

Everything else seams great!

Cheers!

 

[DeusAres]

That CPU isn't compatible with your motherboard. Not only that, but a $300 motherboard just isn't needed for gaming. A $130 motherboard will more than serve your needs.

What's your budget? I may be able to come up with a better build. Also, I recommend you get the GTX 670 instead of the 680. The huge price increase between the two doesn't justify the small performance gains.

 

[geofelt]

One big problem...
A X79 chipset and lga 2011 motherboard is not compatible with a 3570K.
You want a Z77 based motherboard.

Really, there is not a lot of value in an enthusiast motherboard.
They are intended for record seeling overclockers and those who want triple graphics cards.

I would think this motherboard would do just fine:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131837

32gb is good for photoshop. But, buy low profile ram to clear any cpu coolers.
And... there is little value in ram faster than 1600 for real app performance vs. synthetic benchmarks..
Read this:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4503/sandy-bridge-memory-scaling-choosing-the-best-ddr3

GTX680 is as good as it gets. And, I agree with your single card upgrade philosophy.
There seems to be little value in 4gb vs. 2gb of vram.
Read this:
http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Video-Card-Performance-2GB-vs-4GB-Memory-154
I happen to like the direct exhaust coolers from evga better.
They get the heat directly out the back of the case. Other coolers dump the heat back into the case which heats up both the cpu and gpu cooling air.

I would avoid liquid coolers. Particularly for a first build. They are expensive, noisy, less reliable, and do not cool any better than a top air cooler.

Lood at Noctua NH-D14 or phanteks for a top air cooler.

Rosewill extreme is a tier 3 unit on this list; I think you can do better.
Pick a tier 1 or 2 unit.
http://www.eggxpert.com/forums/thread/323050.aspx

A GTX680 only needs a good 550w psu. I might look at a 650w unit for a bit of reserve. That will run even a GTX690.

Defer on the sound card. Motherboard HD sound is very good. You can always add one later.

On the wireless card, get one that supports the fastest speed of your wireless source. Buy an add in card with an antenna, not a usb dongle, The antenna gives you better signal strength.

Love the SSD.

 

[wycliffslim]

Thanks for all the really quick advice guys, I can tell I'm going to love this forum already.
So the reason I went with the 680gtx as opposed to the 670 or the 680 with 2gb is that I may one day go to the 3 montitor setup as I feel it could give me a real edge in games like PS2... I also felt like in a year or 2 the 680 may have higher resell value than the 670 as people start beefing up their systems to dual or more 680's. That was just my logic... and to an extent I'd like to be able to brag about a 680 .
Really thanks for the advice on the motherboard, that would have been a bummer! After this and reading a little more I'll probably go with your suggestion.
I'll definitely cut out the sound card for now since it'd be easy to throw in later and it'll save me some cash. I can do that as well with the liquid cooling since I was kindoff on the edge about that anyways because while I plan to do some OC'ing I'm not gonna get too out of control and I would like it as quiet as possible. For some reason I though the full enclosed liquids were supposed to be quiet?
The power supply I'll look at some you suggested and probably cut it down to a 650W so I have some room to expand.
@DeusAres, honestly my budget really isn't a big deal... I'd like to stay around the $2500 range for top though.
@geofelt: do you have any advice on the wireless card? I haven't had much experience in that category since I've primarily used laptops for the last 3-4 years. And for RAM you'd just reccommend going with 32gb(that should be the max supported on my system right?) of 1600mHz and save a few bucks?

 

[DeusAres]

I gotcha. Well in that case, I would just recommend changing your motherboard. Something like the ASRock Z77 Extreme4 or the Gigabyte Z77 UD3H would be great options.

ASRock Z77 Extreme4
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157293

GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UD3H
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128544&Tpk=gigabyte%20z77%20ud3h

Here's the Noctua that geofelt was referring to...

Noctua NH-D14
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608018

It's a top notch cooler and is equal in performance to a H100...sometimes better.

I would also recommend you switch out your PSU for something like Seasonic. There's other great brands out there. But Seasonic is arguably the best. Since you don't really have a budget, you could easily afford it. If you wanna save cash, grab something like a Corsair HX750 or a XFX 750w PSU.

And I think that's about it. Hopefully this has helped. Good luck with your build!

 

[geofelt]

Thanks for all the really quick advice guys, I can tell I'm going to love this forum already.
So the reason I went with the 680gtx as opposed to the 670 or the 680 with 2gb is that I may one day go to the 3 montitor setup as I feel it could give me a real edge in games like PS2... I also felt like in a year or 2 the 680 may have higher resell value than the 670 as people start beefing up their systems to dual or more 680's. That was just my logic... and to an extent I'd like to be able to brag about a 680 .
Really thanks for the advice on the motherboard, that would have been a bummer! After this and reading a little more I'll probably go with your suggestion.
I'll definitely cut out the sound card for now since it'd be easy to throw in later and it'll save me some cash. I can do that as well with the liquid cooling since I was kindoff on the edge about that anyways because while I plan to do some OC'ing I'm not gonna get too out of control and I would like it as quiet as possible. For some reason I though the full enclosed liquids were supposed to be quiet?
The power supply I'll look at some you suggested and probably cut it down to a 650W so I have some room to expand.
@DeusAres, honestly my budget really isn't a big deal... I'd like to stay around the $2500 range for top though.
@geofelt: do you have any advice on the wireless card? I haven't had much experience in that category since I've primarily used laptops for the last 3-4 years. And for RAM you'd just reccommend going with 32gb(that should be the max supported on my system right?) of 1600mHz and save a few bucks?

I am no expert on wireless. Sorry.
On the ram, I might pick this g.skil ares kit. It has better latency than the corsair kit at the same price.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231559
Be aware that to support >16gb, you will need windows 7 pro or ultimate.
I think windows 8 will run anything, but I am not a fan of 8, in particular the new metro interface.
The link I included on 2gb vs 4gb vram included some triple monitor examples, so dont chase 4gb. Even for triple monitors it does not seem worth it.

Find a case you love. Most will do just fine, and you will be looking at it for a long time.

 

[wycliffslim]

Alright, so thanks to you guys help I think I've pretty much finalized my plan.

I'm going to go with the Asus 680gtx with the 2gb model and I put the extra from going down to 2gb into getting their fastest factory card and still saved a bit.

I'm going with the Asus Motherboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131837 I liked the look of it and Asus has always been good to me. I also saw that they have some neat compatability additions amongst their products so it might make it a bit easier on my first time build.

A seasonic 650W PSU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151088 it's like, $90 off right now so can't complain.

My wireless card, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833320074 It honestly didn't seem like it mattered a whole lot here since I plan to have a hard hookup most of the time at home. Just want the option.

And then I really like the look of the Thermaltake Chaser case, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133191

I went with you reccomendation of the g.skill ares for the ram but I just got the 1866 because it was barely any more and I'm weird like that

I think I might hold off on upgrading the fans for a bit until I start to really play around with OC'ing since the case already looks like it has a pretty solid cooling system in it.

Thanks again for all the help, you guys saved me about $300 and put some money to better use in other products. I'm really looking forward to getting these parts ordered and building my first PC!!

 

[DeusAres]

Sounds good to me. Good luck with your build!