Thoughts on my first PC build plan?

[Cambo]

Hey, this is going to be my first build that I've spent a couple of weeks planning and researching on. It's going to be a gaming rig that I plan on upgrading in the future to start creating mods and other small projects. I'd like to know from you more experienced builders if this PC is going to be worth its price and if all the parts are compatible with one another, if the build is unbalanced please say so! Recommendations and tips also appreciated! Thank you very much! Approximate Total Budget: $1,650.00

MOBO:
http://

--Question for the MOBO, should I purchase a sound card or stick with the one built in the board?

CPU:
http://

--Question for the CPU, will the stock fan be good enough or should I purchase this fan: http://

GPU:
http://

--Question for the GPU, in the future I want to use SLI gpu's, would the other components be able to handle it?

RAM:
http://

--Question for the RAM, should I purchase a cooling fan for this? Or will the 140mm fans mounted on the ATX tower good enough?

PSU:
http://

HDD:
http://

DVD:
http://

Monitor:
http://

--Question for the monitor, I plan on getting a second one of these in the future and I was wondering if my other components could keep up with it. Note: I also will turn to SLI, does it matter?

MidTowerCase:
http://

CaseFans:
http://

--Question for the mid tower and fans, I want to purchase 5 more 140mm fans to max on cooling, is it too much or should I get them? It's an extra $100, worth it?

Software:
http://

WirelessAdapter:
http://

Speakers: Cheap but may upgrade in future
http://

Powerstrip:
http://

Other thoughts:

On the day of Black Friday I want to purchase a SSD, any recommendations?
And water cooling systems, should I try it out? Or will my PC be fine with the cooling it will have for now?

Thanks for your time!

 

[ssddx]

ugh..

its much easier for us if you post everything in a list (with the link under it) or if you use www.pcpartspicker.com and give us the readout. saves us time clicking each and every link just to see what you picked out.

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do you plan on overclocking? if yes you need a k series (suffixed with k) cpu. if not you are fine as is.

i would suggest some low profile ram. those heat spreaders can get in the way of some cpu heatsinks. no you dont need a fan to cool the ram as good case airflow is fine for this.

i would suggest being careful with the 2tb hdds. i've noticed rather high failure rates. it would almost be safer to go with two 1tb.

corsair makes some really nice cases. unless you're running some very serious hardware or overclocking no you do not need to max out your cooling capabilities. i would throw two 140s in the front, move the front one they give you to the top and put one on the side or bottom but thats all you really need. if you want to fill all the slots its not going to hurt though and you can have them all on low. do yourself a favor and do not use the low noise fans as they have crap static pressure. instead use standard bladed fans (5-7blades) and not the thin profile style but the normal thickness fans.

you may also want a fan controller. (front bay rheobus)

instead of those speakers i would get the z313 for $10 more as they include a sub.

for a ssd i would only go with samsungs 830, 840, 840pro or 840evo or a drive by intel. if you plan to use this as your main storage drive i suggest at bare minimum a 120gb size preferably 250. remember you will lose 20-30gb for windows and you only want to fill to 80% capacity so you lose quite a bit of space. a ssd wont improve gaming performance but your system will feel very fast.

its not worth watercooling tbh. you can get good temps with just air at a fraction of the price. the only wc system which you may be interested in is a cpu cooling loop and thats about it. speaking of cpu... yes you could use the stock cooler (i still do, however i use a full tower case also.). your temps will be lower with the aftermarket solution though. remember what i said about ram height. depending on what cooler you pick there could be a height issue.

as far as the gpu is concerned i would upgrade a little more instead of thinking sli down the road. as far as performance... do you intend to be gaming across both monitors? if the answer is no then you are completely fine. as far as what i'd like to see you get? gtx770 since its a noticible increase. or get a 7970ghz edition which is less money and still does very well for itself. take a look at anandtech.com they have some nice benchmarks.

everything depends on what settings you want and at what resolution. also what games.

other than that... you at least have a good start.

 

[Cambo]

ugh..

its much easier for us if you post everything in a list (with the link under it) or if you use www.pcpartspicker.com and give us the readout. saves us time clicking each and every link just to see what you picked out.

----

do you plan on overclocking? if yes you need a k series (suffixed with k) cpu. if not you are fine as is.

i would suggest some low profile ram. those heat spreaders can get in the way of some cpu heatsinks. no you dont need a fan to cool the ram as good case airflow is fine for this.

i would suggest being careful with the 2tb hdds. i've noticed rather high failure rates. it would almost be safer to go with two 1tb.

corsair makes some really nice cases. unless you're running some very serious hardware or overclocking no you do not need to max out your cooling capabilities. i would throw two 140s in the front, move the front one they give you to the top and put one on the side or bottom but thats all you really need. if you want to fill all the slots its not going to hurt though and you can have them all on low. do yourself a favor and do not use the low noise fans as they have crap static pressure. instead use standard bladed fans (5-7blades) and not the thin profile style but the normal thickness fans.

you may also want a fan controller. (front bay rheobus)

instead of those speakers i would get the z313 for $10 more as they include a sub.

for a ssd i would only go with samsungs 830, 840, 840pro or 840evo or a drive by intel. if you plan to use this as your main storage drive i suggest at bare minimum a 120gb size preferably 250. remember you will lose 20-30gb for windows and you only want to fill to 80% capacity so you lose quite a bit of space. a ssd wont improve gaming performance but your system will feel very fast.

its not worth watercooling tbh. you can get good temps with just air at a fraction of the price. the only wc system which you may be interested in is a cpu cooling loop and thats about it. speaking of cpu... yes you could use the stock cooler (i still do, however i use a full tower case also.). your temps will be lower with the aftermarket solution though. remember what i said about ram height. depending on what cooler you pick there could be a height issue.

as far as the gpu is concerned i would upgrade a little more instead of thinking sli down the road. as far as performance... do you intend to be gaming across both monitors? if the answer is no then you are completely fine. as far as what i'd like to see you get? gtx770 since its a noticible increase. or get a 7970ghz edition which is less money and still does very well for itself. take a look at anandtech.com they have some nice benchmarks.

everything depends on what settings you want and at what resolution. also what games.

other than that... you at least have a good start.

Thanks! Everything you said was very helpful, and I'll keep many of the things in you said in mind. Apologies for the tedious clicking you may have went through, I'll make sure to use your link next time. Thanks again I appreciate it!

 

[ssddx]

all i'm saying is that its easier for us to browse through as you would be amazed at how many builds get posted every day. it also makes it easier when we re-read the thread to see your response so we can get re-aquainted with your build.

pc parts picker is a very nice tool. granted it doesnt always have every single part... but we use it because its simple, has quite a large selection and has up to date prices across the web. it also generates a nice list.

the other way i like using is to post the full product title followed by the link. this allows users to see what you're talking about and still click on the link for more information if they arent sure what the specs are.

just provided it as a heads up.

if you have any questions on build options, cooling or watercooling i'm also available in real time via a web irc session. i find its much easier to discuss in that manner due to the sheer number of options and questions that come up during a first build. let me know.

good luck.

 

[Cambo]

all i'm saying is that its easier for us to browse through as you would be amazed at how many builds get posted every day. it also makes it easier when we re-read the thread to see your response so we can get re-aquainted with your build.

pc parts picker is a very nice tool. granted it doesnt always have every single part... but we use it because its simple, has quite a large selection and has up to date prices across the web. it also generates a nice list.

the other way i like using is to post the full product title followed by the link. this allows users to see what you're talking about and still click on the link for more information if they arent sure what the specs are.

just provided it as a heads up.

if you have any questions on build options, cooling or watercooling i'm also available in real time via a web irc session. i find its much easier to discuss in that manner due to the sheer number of options and questions that come up during a first build. let me know.

good luck.

I've decided to stick with an after market cooler, the 101 Intel Cooler Master 80mm. I figured it will fit better with the RAM. I'm not going to try water cooling until my 2nd or 3rd build, I fear leaking for my first build. I don't plan to do any OC'ing on this build btw, and I'm planning to play games on only one of the monitors.

Because of your recommendations I've decided to purchase:
EVGA GTX 770 Super OC (SLI reason)
Z313 Speakers (Tyvm)
ADATA XPG SSD 256 GB (Replacing the 2TB HDD, I know it's Samsung but it's for budget reasons. I will buy a 1 TB HDD in the future though, thanks for the heads up on the 2 TB HDD.)
Artic F14 140mm (They're 7 bladed, thick[I think]. I'm going with your method, 2 of these on the front and 1 on the side. I might try and find a different kind though, just so the colors of the fans compliment the black case.)

I think that's it, other than the fan controller. I'll probably get it depending how well the fans will run.
Thanks again, you've been a great amount of help!

 

[ssddx]

you really didnt need to get a ram cooler. your choice though.

i'm not saying other brands of ssd are bad but in tests they failed much earlier than the brands i listed. keep in mind however that these were stress tests designed to find out when the drives failed. an average user should not have any ssd drive fail on them under the typical time you will keep them. i always just stress quality which is why i recommend top end brands.

good luck.

also since you bought a new cooler dont forget to buy some artic silver thermal paste.

didnt see your ram listed either. make sure you bought some

 

[Cambo]

you really didnt need to get a ram cooler. your choice though.

i'm not saying other brands of ssd are bad but in tests they failed much earlier than the brands i listed. keep in mind however that these were stress tests designed to find out when the drives failed. an average user should not have any ssd drive fail on them under the typical time you will keep them. i always just stress quality which is why i recommend top end brands.

good luck.

also since you bought a new cooler dont forget to buy some artic silver thermal paste.

didnt see your ram listed either. make sure you bought some [/q


Oops, I probably wasn't clear about the after market cooler, it's going to be used on the cpu, same cooler but smaller so it fits better in the case with the RAM and doesn't become crowded like you said, so no RAM cooler basically. If the SSD card i'm getting fails on me I'll try Samsung. I'll make sure to get some artic silver thermal paste since you recommended it to me, is the thermal paste you get with the cooler no good?

 

[ssddx]

you do NOT want an 80mm cpu cooler. perhaps 9 years ago but not now.

you want a 120mm fan cooler. better performance and lower noise.

trust me on this... a 80mm is a bad idea. as far as what would work... something along the lines of the hyper 212 evo is generally considered a good choice. there might be ram issues though if you picked high height sticks.

if that is the case you can always get a liquid cpu cooling loop from corsair. if you get them on sale... they really arent all that terrible in price (although still more than similar air coolers). ram height doesnt matter then.

as far as thermal paste... some of the paste provided isnt terrible but generally speaking i wouldnt trust it at all. you dont know the thermal properties of it however you do know the properties of artic silver. it has been tested and using the same cooler artic silver can be a few degrees under in temperature compared to stock paste. just from changing paste! its fairly cheap and one tube will last you 4-5+ builds (depending on how often you change the cpu cooler)

 

[Cambo]

you do NOT want an 80mm cpu cooler. perhaps 9 years ago but not now.

you want a 120mm fan cooler. better performance and lower noise.

trust me on this... a 80mm is a bad idea. as far as what would work... something along the lines of the hyper 212 evo is generally considered a good choice. there might be ram issues though if you picked high height sticks.

if that is the case you can always get a liquid cpu cooling loop from corsair. if you get them on sale... they really arent all that terrible in price (although still more than similar air coolers). ram height doesnt matter then.

as far as thermal paste... some of the paste provided isnt terrible but generally speaking i wouldnt trust it at all. you dont know the thermal properties of it however you do know the properties of artic silver. it has been tested and using the same cooler artic silver can be a few degrees under in temperature compared to stock paste. just from changing paste! its fairly cheap and one tube will last you 4-5+ builds (depending on how often you change the cpu cooler)

Alright 120mm it is, I'll have to find low profile RAM then. I'll do some liquid cooling in future builds, I don't want to risk it on my first build because of some leaking. Also, I never knew different paste could have a difference in temp drop, haha great. Thanks for the tip.

 

[ssddx]

the cpu liquid cooling loops are sealed. they shouldnt leak and require no maintenance from you.

also... most dont even use water anymore for watercooling. not sure what corsair has in those loops though

 

[Cambo]

the cpu liquid cooling loops are sealed. they shouldnt leak and require no maintenance from you.

also... most dont even use water anymore for watercooling. not sure what corsair has in those loops though

Hmm, that would be really interesting to know. Also here's the ram I'm getting, just low profile now. Except that it's for OC'ing, which I might as well learn how to do since RAM seems the most simple.

CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Profile Desktop Memory Model CML8GX3M2A1600C9

I may just message you in the future if I have any other questions. Also, what are your PC specs? I've become curious.

 

[Cambo]

the cpu liquid cooling loops are sealed. they shouldnt leak and require no maintenance from you.

also... most dont even use water anymore for watercooling. not sure what corsair has in those loops though

Hey, my best guess for the liquid that may be used in the cooling systems could be... liquid nitrogen, based off the OC'ing Main Event.

 

[ssddx]

hover over my avatar... it lists my system specs. its a few years old now though.

its not liquid nitrogen. i'm not sure exactly what the coolants are made of though. for custom built wc systems though often they use coolant or distilled water. typically liquid nitogen is only used during overclocking competions and has its own special bowl of sorts on the cpu. its not practical for everyday use.