New Build - would love critique

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jamkor

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I am building this primarily for gaming.

The prices may be off, but the components are correct. I want to dabble in over clocking which is why I went with the "K" processor as well as the Extreme4 mobo.

My biggest concerns were power supply (flying blind, just got a listed one with enough headroom to potentially run two 670s SLI), CPU cooler (if i needed one or not), and if 8GB of RAM was enough

I would love any input.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus 76.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($23.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($119.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($42.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1.5TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($72.00 @ Newegg)
Storage: G.Skill Phoenix III 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 670 2GB Video Card ($339.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master CM 690 II (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: OCZ ModXStream Pro 600W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($65.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS424-98 DVD/CD Writer ($24.49 @ SuperBiiz)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) ($84.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $1093.39
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-12-21 22:42 EST-0500)

Thanks so much, this site is so helpful.
 
Solution
D
You need a 750w power supply for 2 x GTX 670s.

http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm

At $65 after rebates from NCIX this is your best deal.

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-power-supply-p1750snlb9

This at $85 moves you up to 80 Plus Silver and is modular. It would be my choice. It like all XFX power supplies is made by Seasonic.

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-power-supply-p1750bnlg9


Move up to DDR3 1600. There will be a difference especially with an Ivy Bridge CPU. Either the low profile Corsair Vengance or GSkill Ripjaws X 1.5v DDR3 1600 cas 9-9-9-24 would be my choice. The GSkill is a few dollars cheaper.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231428


Change your SSD to a Samsung 840 or...
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robthatguyx

robthatguyx

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Only thing id change is to go to 1600mhz ram instead of 1333 everything else looks good to me and make sure the ram you choose is supported by the motherboard,and also know that windows 8 isn't being taken to so well but there is a mod you can get to get the windows 7 start menu in it.
 
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Sakkura

Sakkura

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Rubbish. 650W is overkill, 750W is ridiculous with a single graphics card. 550W would be suitable for that build. NCIX has an XFX Core Edition 550W for $40, it's higher quality than the OCZ ModXStream 600W.
http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=59615&vpn=P1550SXXB9&manufacture=XFX&promoid=1285

If you want a modular PSU, I'd suggest spending a few extra dollars to get the OCZ ZT 650W instead of the ModXStream.
http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=64381&vpn=OCZ-ZT650W&manufacture=OCZ%20Technology&promoid=1373

If you want the SLI option, I'd get the XFX Core Edition 750W, or their modular Pro Series 750W.
http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=59617&vpn=P1750SNLB9&manufacture=XFX&promoid=1285
http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=62224&vpn=P1750BNLG9&manufacture=XFX&promoid=1285
 
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D

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You need a 750w power supply for 2 x GTX 670s.

http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm

At $65 after rebates from NCIX this is your best deal.

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-power-supply-p1750snlb9

This at $85 moves you up to 80 Plus Silver and is modular. It would be my choice. It like all XFX power supplies is made by Seasonic.

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-power-supply-p1750bnlg9


Move up to DDR3 1600. There will be a difference especially with an Ivy Bridge CPU. Either the low profile Corsair Vengance or GSkill Ripjaws X 1.5v DDR3 1600 cas 9-9-9-24 would be my choice. The GSkill is a few dollars cheaper.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231428


Change your SSD to a Samsung 840 or 840 Pro. The 840 is about as fast as the 830 it's replacing and the 840 Pro is the fastest model on the market. Samsung has long been the most reliable brand on the market along with the older, slower Crucial M4.

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz7td120bw

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz7pd128bw

The Hyper 212 Evo is a much better cooler for only about $10 more than the Hyper 212 Plus. I would change that as well.
 
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Solution
robthatguyx

robthatguyx

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op clearly said they want headroom for a 670 sli and a overclock on the cpu
 
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sam_p_lay

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Well-spotted there on the memory. I'd also change PSU and optical (Seasonic/XFX and Samsung respectively). Not sure about the SSD either - I'd take a Samsung 830. And +1 that a lot of people have not got off to a good start with Windows 8. Though Start-8 looks pretty sweet. Other than that though, a really excellent looking setup - nice work!
 
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jamkor

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OK - Take a look at this.

The Optical Drive is really cheap - that worries me a bit. I doubt I will be using it much. I took your suggestions on the memory (1600-why not any faster?), power supply (went modular), cooler (was actually $1 more).

PC part picker has the following note: "ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard has an onboard USB 3.0 header, but the Cooler Master CM690 II Advanced ATX Mid Tower Case does not have front panel USB 3.0 ports." I swear it has 3.0's on the top/front??


Here is the modified build:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($119.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($38.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($93.99 @ Mac Mall)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 670 2GB Video Card ($339.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master CM690 II Advanced ATX Mid Tower Case ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 750W 80 PLUS Silver Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($84.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-222BB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($16.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $1089.90
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-12-22 13:09 EST-0500)
 
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D

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DDR3 1600 is the current sweet spot of price/performance. There are nice gains going up from DDR3 1333 to DDR3 1600 but going above that only yields about 1% because the integrated memory controller on the CPU just does not need anything faster. The only time you need the fastest memory you can afford is with AMD's APU lineup because the integrated GPU can use it. With a traditional CPU DDR3 1600 is perfect.

Optical drives have been dirt cheap for years. That Samsung is fine. I usually use the $17 Asus burner just because it's always $17.

Looks like they are correct about the USB 3.0 ports on the case.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119216&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

Front Ports USB 2.0 / Audio / e-SATA

A case is such a personal thing it's hard to recommend one. There really are so many good ones out there today. Antec, Coolermaster, Thermaltake, Corsair, BitFenix, Fractal Design, Rosewill, InWin........there are more I can't think of right now. You are just going to have to look around more and find one you both like and has the features you want. I suggest going to newegg and sorting by price and viewing 100 per page and that way you can look at a lot of them fast.


Other than the USB 3.0 thing that build looks very nice now. It should be a very good gaming computer for years. Looks like you actually saved a few bucks too!
 
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sam_p_lay

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Yeah the only thing I'd improve on it is the SSD. Samsung 840 is certainly not a bad drive, but it really doesn't do anything to improve on the 830 (in some scenarios it's actually slightly behind the 830) and uses TLC NAND instead of MLC, so will wear out sooner. You'll still get years of use from an 840, but a lot fewer years than from an 830.
 
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J

jamkor

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Thanks!

I was perusing craigslist and found this build - aside from all the caveat emptor issues, please have a look at this build. Thanks!


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($319.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100 92.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus SABERTOOTH Z77 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($229.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($52.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Corsair Force Series GT 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($114.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 670 2GB Video Card ($339.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 600T White Graphite ATX Mid Tower Case ($148.15 @ Mac Connection)
Power Supply: Corsair Professional 1050W 80 PLUS Silver Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($178.50 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Asus DVDE818A7T/BLK/B/GEN CD Reader, DVD Writer ($25.97 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 Professional (OEM) (64-bit) ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Other: GPUcooler ($169.99)
Total: $1768.54
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-12-23 11:58 EST-0500)

I will probably add standard HDD, but aside from that it seems to address all of my wants (including a big enough power supply to run 670s in SLI).

I can most likely get it for $1k


EDIT - when i first posted this I put an i5-3570K, it is actually a i7-3770k

3Ef3Ge3K95If5E35Mecc5d2d6f050c5051c9a.jpg

3kc3K63Mc5F25R25J7cc5d12cee11110e12af.jpg


Thanks!
 
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D

Deleted member 217926

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Other than the fact I would never buy a used computer it's a good build. Your other build was also $1000 and just as good for gaming and has all new parts. A few things to consider.

The 3570K is a better gaming processor than the 3770K. Very few games can even use more than 2 cores so the Hyperthreadng on the i7 only comes into play doing things that are multithreaded like video editing and rendering.

The H100 is very good as a cooler but it's louder than an air cooler. You will need to add the optional extra fans to get the most out of it as well. The H100 might get either CPU to Ivy Bridge's top overclock of ~4.4Ghz - 4.6Ghz while the Hyper 22 Evo will get you to 4.2Ghz - 4.4Ghz and do so silently.

That high profile RAM wolud have to be replaced if you ever decided to replace the H100 with air cooling as the high heat spreaders will get in the way.

The Samsung SSD is a better model at least in my opinion. I like their controller better than Sandforce drives as they do better in real world applications. The Corsair is a very good choice though.

That power supply is only necessary for 3 x GTX 670s. It's a very good power supply but 750 watts is plenty for a GTX 670 sli setup.

So for gaming your i5 3570K build is just as good and by that I mean you would not lose a single frame per second in any games with it. It's the same price and it's new in the box.
 
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J

jamkor

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Since I can only select one answer best answer, I selected the one from my first question. However, I wanted to say thank you for such a thoughtful and considerate answer to my question about the used system. It is greatly appreciated and a real testament to the help this community offers. I look forward to somehow repaying the contribution to other community members.

Thank you again, and happy holidays.
 
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D

Deleted member 217926

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The CX line is decent but they are Corsair's lowest end budget line and I would not put one in a multi GPU computer unless it was all that was available. I don't see any good deals at Microcenter. Even that Corsair is on sale for $65 at newegg.

This is a very good unit for a very good price. It's not modular but it's 80 Plus Silver certified and has a 7 year warranty.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703027


If you want modular then this is a good unit. It's probably a small step down in quality from the PC Power and Cooling unit but is still very good. $89 after rebate and an extra 15% off code at the top of the page.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341052



 
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