My first build

[Nitehawk2705]

Greetings All,

A little about myself, I am in the market for building my first mid/high end system for gaming and normal occasional use. In the past I would just buy a mid range desktop from best buy or wherever and usually change out video card or add RAM as needed. After being told by various people to try and build my own I have decided to give it a shot. As I have said I do have experience opening the PC changing out the RAM and video cards etc etc. I have watched dozens of help videos especially on newegg.com and although I am a bit nervous I am ready to go for it however I would like help on compability issues and any other helpful advice that anyone out there may have for me as a beginner. I feel pretty comfortable with everything except running the wires and power supply and have no idea what to expect at all when I turn on the system and have to get into BIOS. Fortunately I have an IT friend but I am going to try and do this myself for the most part unless I hit major issues. Any ways this is what I have for components so far and if anyone has any advice, tweaks, or suggestions please say let me know. I am trying not to exceed $1,000 and will be gathering parts over the next month or so as I can afford. Here is what I've got so far

Case

Rosewill BLACKHAWK Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case, come with Five Fans, window side panel, top HDD dock Was$99.99 now 89.99 (ITEM #N82E16811147107) newegg.com

Motther Board/CPU I went with the combo $424.98 newegg.com
Intel Core i7-2600 Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 2000 BX80623I72600

GIGABYTE GA-Z68XP-UD3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
PCIe Gen3 Item#: N82E16813128512

Power Supply
Coolmax ZP-750B ZP Series Power Supply - 750W, 80 Plus Bronze, 140mm Fan (59.99 ends 3/31) tigerdirect.com

RAM
Kingston HyperX Blu 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1600MHz PC3-12800 Desktop PC Memory $45 (EBAY)

CD/DVD (newegg.com)
ASUS 24X DVD Burner - Bulk 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS – OEM $21.99
Item#: N82E16827135204

Internal Hard (newegg.com)
Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive (139.99
Item#: N82E16822136533

Graphics Card (already have from old desktop)
Nvidia GeForce GTX560ti

The motherboard I struggled on because I see so many mixed reviews and my last question is if I do not plan on over clocking the processor does it matter if I go with liquid cooling or just fans?

 

[morgoth780]

liquid cooling is a lot harder to install, i'd just recommend staying with air.
get a psu from antec, xfx, seasonic, or corsair
if you just need this for gaming, get an i5 2500. the i7's hyperthreading makes no difference in gaming

 

[lakshitharxx]

I5 2500k - $225
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072

GIGABYTE GA-Z68XP-UD3 - $140
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128512

Hyper 212 evo - $35
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099

Corsair CX600 - $70
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139028

 

[Nitehawk2705]

Thank you everyone for your replies keep them coming! So far i've changed the CPU and power supply to

Antec HCG M Series HCG-620M 620W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply ($99.99 newegg)

Item#: N82E16817371059

CPU & Motherboard (346 combo!)

Intel Core i5-2500 Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 2000 BX80623I52500

GIGABYTE GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

From watching videos i've learned that a modular power supply is best as far as cable managment

 

[akopp21]

Make sure your RAM is 1.5v, a lot of the Kingston still runs at 1.65v.

 

[Nitehawk2705]

I just checked the voltage is 1.5 thank you. Seems like a lot of mixed reviews on motherboards I'm assuming they are hit or miss

 

[akopp21]

Gigabyte is one of the top motherboard brands and I don't see anything wrong with or missing from the one you listed.

 

[Nitehawk2705]

So is everything looking good as far as compatibility?

 

[jjack339]

you are off to a good start. I just did my 1st build about 45 days ago now, very rewarding.

GFX- your are good to go, I might suggest getting a second, but you say your budget is slightly limited (still a good budget)

CPU- Get a k edition (2500k perfer because you save 100, but if you really want hyperthreading go for it), especially with a Z68 or P67 MOBO. I OC'd my 2500k to 4.6 with no issues at all, BTW I used a Coolermaster 520N CPU fan, works great, a little tricky on the install, but keeps it chilly. OCing is not that daunting I have heard of people getting 4.2 with just the stock cooler.

MOBO- I like ASUS, but there is nothing wrong with the one you have. I have a P8P67 PRO, I would suggest the deluxe edition I would change that in my case if I could go back in time.

Ram- Looks good. I went with 16gb, but 8gb should be all you ever need... for me is was like for 40 bucks more why not.... I went with Corsair Vengence, all 4 sticks worked great, and all are working at 1600

PSU- I would highly suggest the Corsair TX750, I went with the modular version of that (TX755M). 750 is a good wattage give you plenty of room to grow. Dont know alot about the brand you choose.

HDD- just get the fastest you can. Best case is to get a 64-120 GB SSD for a boot drive and 1TB mass storage HDD.




Well good luck. Also IB comes out 29 April, just something to think about.

 

[Nitehawk2705]

Thanks for the tip on the power supply just found one on ebay for 100 so i grabbed it! Would I really not benefit anymore from the i7 2600 vs the i5 2500 when it comes to gaming? Just feel as if I'm going to invest in a high end CPU why not get the top dog or as close to it as possible. As of now I am running the AMD Phenom II X6 1065t @ 2.9 ghz.