My first pure build ever...need some opinions

[Rnevs]

Hello.

I have been a reader of Tom's Hardware for quite sometime. I am from Portugal and in my opinion we only have two or three good shops in terms of components.


My old computer was bought all assembled...But over the years i started changing components....including..yes...the mobo and the CPU (i currently have a i5 2320...was the best i could afford to jump out of a Quad).

So now i have finally some cash to start a new build altogether...keeping only a few from the old build (the PSU)


However from deciding budgetwise to personal preferences in brand and comparing prices between stores i got some ideas.


My main indecision though...is the CPU. This build is for gaming but i might have to use some other applications too...and i don't want them to suffer just because i am thinking too much "gaming".


So here it goes


CPU: Intel i5 2500 K (best price: 199 Euros / i7 2600 K (best price: 286.90 Euros) / i7 3770 K (best price: 315.90 Euros)


- This is my major headache and indecision ...the i5 can make my build so cheap....just changing for the i7 2600 K shoots it a bit. It's not that i am constantly multitasking...but sometimes i need to. And yes...i want to OC!


MOBO: ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 (best price: 219 Euros)

- Yes i am sucker for ASUS...my preference played a bit here though i looked at Gigabyte...As for MSI i was never really into it. I just stupidly fell in love with it's features...and it is not too far from what i would give for one. I know there are others perhaps better and not that expensive even inside the ASUS brand..but i don't know...i am playing emotion here not reason



RAM: GSKILL DDR3 PC12800 RIPJAWS X 8GB 1600 Mhz (best price: 77.50 Euros) / GSKILL SNIPER DDR3 1866MHz 2x 4GB CL9 (63.50 Euros)


RAM is also rather new to me...I know that latency counts more than Frequency, but i also read somewhere with the Sandy bridge frequency now is more important. I am more than open to opinions and insight here.



GPU: ASUS GTX670 DC2 TOP 2GB GDDR5 (best price: 459 Euros) / ASUS GTX670 DC2 2GB GDDR5 (Best price: 419 Euros)

Again...i am sucker for Asus...I currently have a GTX570 that barely fits my case. I wish to eventually in a near future go SLI but i cant afford it right now.Considering the reviews i have read...the 670 are good in terms of budget. As for the EVGA versions, they aren't that easy to find here cheap. The ASUS prices here are rather affordable. Again i am open to suggestions and will check around.

The TOP version comes OCed....since i am not getting an extra 670gtx soon.....i thought i should go to the top.



SSD: OCZ 2.5'' SSD AGILITY 3 120GB

This is for the OS only...Heard so many good things on how it becomes faster...time to try it



HDD: Western Digital Green (?) 1 Tb

This is the most recent HDD i bought...cant remember exactly the full name...thinking on using it for storage drive.




PSU: CORSAIR AX850 (After having two PSUs getting blown up...i decided a couple of months ago to buy this. Do i really need to buy a new one for my new build? )



CASE: NZXT PHANTOM 410 BLACK (best price: 103.90 Euros)

In "Cases" i am totally a newbie...of the reviews around...this ones seems to do the job. However it can be pricey but i like it's design. And it has a front panel...i need that...though it doesn't matter if the USB is 3.0 or 2.0 to me now. And yes i do want to OC and later SLI my build....Will this one handle that?


CPU COOLER: COOLMASTER HYPER EVO 212 RR-212E-16PK-R1 (Best Price: 38 Euros)

Again a super newbie here...though this one seems used a lot on builds...Open to suggestions.




And that all....I will buy the components in a month or so...Actually most of these i picked are out of stock at the place where i am going to buy them. So i am also waiting...prices might drop in a month?

Any opinions, concerns and newbie calling are welcome!

 

[g-unit1111]

That's an excellent start with a lot of good choices. This is what I'd recommend:

- Drop the motherboard to the Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H or the Asus P8H77-V LX, the Sabertooth is massive overkill.

- The Phantom is an awesome case choice, as is the Hyper 212 - an excellent cooler.

- Switch out your primary SSD to a Crucial M4 - OCZ doesn't have the best reputation when it comes to SSDs, even the new Vertex 4 has an iffy reputation.

- That RAM is fine - don't go over 1600MHz for a Z77 build, you'll never notice the speed increase. Make sure your RAM is 1.5V.

- The AX850 is overkill for the GTX 670 - it's so energy efficient that even two of them in SLI mode won't use 750W. If there's a store you buy from I can suggest a PSU.

 

[Rnevs]

That's an excellent start with a lot of good choices. This is what I'd recommend:

- Drop the motherboard to the Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H or the Asus P8H77-V LX, the Sabertooth is massive overkill.

- The Phantom is an awesome case choice, as is the Hyper 212 - an excellent cooler.

- Switch out your primary SSD to a Crucial M4 - OCZ doesn't have the best reputation when it comes to SSDs, even the new Vertex 4 has an iffy reputation.

- That RAM is fine - don't go over 1600MHz for a Z77 build, you'll never notice the speed increase. Make sure your RAM is 1.5V.

- The AX850 is overkill for the GTX 670 - it's so energy efficient that even two of them in SLI mode won't use 750W. If there's a store you buy from I can suggest a PSU.

- I checked the mobos you suggested:

The GA one seems interesting and at a 199.90 Euros opposed to the 219 Euros of the Saber. I really liked the specs and you made me think about my mobo choice. The truth is feel ASUS to be rather easy to use and i am not familiar with GAs.

As for the other ASUS...best price i found was 133.90 Euros. Thats a very good price and ASUS which i feel most comfortable with....OOOHHH but that SABER seems sooooo greeeaat...with that "armour" and such......

I admit the Saber hooked me....i am not thinking with reason here i am afraid...


- As for the SSD...the Crucial you suggest was actually the one i searched for first....but i can't find Crucial on sale on these stores i am checking...Doesn't seem to be a brand with much demand around these parts.... Thats why i went OCZ...We have other brands like Kingston....Samsung, Corsair, Seagate and much...but not Crucial. IF you have any other ideas on those other brands i will check them. Honestly i just want a SSD around 100 Gbs space. It's for the OS.


- Well...but i already have the AX850 ....on my current build....No Point in buying a new one. I had some many past bad experience with lame PSU's blowing up at the WORSE POSSIBLE MOMENTS that i bought the best one my money could have afforded in those days...and the PSU that met that condition was the AX850. My problem wasnt the Watts...it never was in the old PSUs....it was the in the Volts department.


- As for RAMs you suggest i go for the Ripjaws X then?




My big question is still the CPU.......is the i5 enough for me...?

 

[g-unit1111]

The GA one seems interesting and at a 199.90 Euros opposed to the 219 Euros of the Saber. I really liked the specs and you made me think about my mobo choice. The truth is feel ASUS to be rather easy to use and i am not familiar with GAs.

I have the UD3H and it's amazing - I love the 3-D BIOS on it, it's one of the easiest I've ever worked with.

- As for the SSD...the Crucial you suggest was actually the one i searched for first....but i can't find Crucial on sale on these stores i am checking...Doesn't seem to be a brand with much demand around these parts.... Thats why i went OCZ...We have other brands like Kingston....Samsung, Corsair, Seagate and much...but not Crucial. IF you have any other ideas on those other brands i will check them. Honestly i just want a SSD around 100 Gbs space. It's for the OS.

That's interesting - the Crucial is usually available pretty much everywhere. You want to go with a Marvell drive over anything else. Most Sandforce drives are pretty awful, at least from my experience. The Samsung 830 and Plextor PX-M3 are good alternate choices if you can't find the M4.

- Well...but i already have the AX850 ....on my current build....No Point in buying a new one. I had some many past bad experience with lame PSU's blowing up at the WORSE POSSIBLE MOMENTS that i bought the best one my money could have afforded in those days...and the PSU that met that condition was the AX850. My problem wasnt the Watts...it never was in the old PSUs....it was the in the Volts department.

It helps to know these things. But I definitely can relate to having bad PSU experiences - I'll never touch Tiger Direct's awful Ultra brand again after I had a disastrous experience with one.

- As for RAMs you suggest i go for the Ripjaws X then?

I'd actually go for the Ares low profile RAM if you can get it - the tall heat sinks of the Ripjaws won't be good for installing coolers.

My big question is still the CPU.......is the i5 enough for me...?

If you're gaming - yes. You won't use the extra threads of the i7-3770K and you won't use all the cores of the 3930K.