Build check please

Anthalasa

Anthalasa

Anthalasa

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Joined
13 Nov 2005
Posts
17
Hey, wondered if you folks would mind checking over the below specification to see if there are any obvious problems with it please? Hoping to buy in the next 5 days and it's been around 5 years since I built a PC from scratch hence the request. The machine is for gaming (mostly MMO's) and will be required to last for around 4 to 5 years with the possibility of a graphics/increased storage update in between. It will be running Windows 7 Professional 64-bit with existing hardware: mouse, keyboard, 24" monitor, headset and ergodex dx1. :)

Cooler Master HAF X Gaming Tower Case - Black (RC-942)
Intel Core i7 3770K 3.50GHz (Ivybridge) Socket 1155 Processor - Retail
BeQuiet Dark Rock Pro 2 CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2)
Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard
Samsung Green 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C11 1600MHz 30nm Dual/Quad Channel Kit (MV-3V4G3D/US)
Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670 Windforce 3X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
Samsung 256GB SSD 830 Notebook/Apple Series SATA 6Gb/s KIT with Norton Ghost - (MZ-7PC256N/EU)
Samsung 256GB SSD 830 Notebook/Apple Series SATA 6Gb/s KIT with Norton Ghost - (MZ-7PC256N/EU)
LG GH24NS95 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM
Corsair Professional Series HX+ 850W '80+ Gold' Modular Power Supply (CP-9020032-UK)
 
You dont need i7 for gaming, so I've swapped out for an i5k, you'll save some money. You get no additional performance with an i7 over an i5.

PSU changed to 550, dont need 850, unless you plan to SLI/xFire
Graphics changed to ATi 7950, better value for money, unless your using 3D Vision, Cuda or PhysX:

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte ATi Radeon HD 7950 Windforce 3X 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £239.99
2 x Plextor M5 Pro 256GB Extreme Series Solid State Drive - (PX-256M5P) £185.99 (£371.98)
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x Cooler Master HAF X Gaming Tower Case - Black (RC-942) £129.98
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-D3H Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £112.99
1 x XFX Pro Series 650W XXX Edition Modular '80 Plus Bronze' Power Supply £69.98
1 x Alpenföhn K2 Mount Doom CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £51.98
1 x Patriot Viper "Black Mamba" Generation 3 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (PV38G160C9K) £35.99
1 x Samsung SH-118AB/BEBE SATA 18x DVD-ROM (Black) - OEM £14.99
Total : £1,225.57 (includes shipping : £14.75).

 
Nothing "wrong" but I'd make a couple of points.

I'd agree with the i5K instead if it's a gaming rig. I think the RAM is an overspend, 16GB is a little OTT for gaming. Also with the Pro OS you can have more than 16GB of RAM installed, so a dual channel kit to start would make sense if you want 16GB from the get go. I agree with the 830 SSDs I think they offer the best performance to price ratio.

So I could tweak the spec slightly......

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670 Windforce 3X 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £319.99
1 x Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail £179.99
1 x Gigabyte Z77X-UP4 TH Intel Z77 (Socket 1155) DDR3 Motherboard £158.99
2 x Samsung 256GB SSD 830 Notebook/Apple Series SATA 6Gb/s KIT with Norton Ghost - (MZ-7PC256N/EU) £149.99 (£299.98)
1 x Seasonic X-Series 850w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £129.98
1 x Corsair Carbide 500R Midi Tower Case - Black/White £89.99
1 x Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C10 1600MHz Dual Channel Kit (CML16GX3M2A1600C10) £59.99
1 x Alpenföhn K2 Mount Doom CPU Cooler (Socket 775 / 1155 / 1156 / 1366 / 2011 / AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 / FM1 / FM2) £51.98
1 x LG GH24NS95 24x DVD±RW SATA ReWriter (Black) - OEM £17.99
Total : £1,325.38 (includes shipping : £13.75).



Case is a personal preference. However I have saved money on the RAM and you have room to expand if you ever require more. PSU is also great and has ample power to SLi the 670 and works out cheaper than the corsair. Mobo is also cheaper and a good alternative as Stulid has said.

Good luck with the build, we would loooove to see a build log ;)
 
Thanks everyone for checking the spec and the ideas :)

Do you think the i5 will last another 4 to 5 years, at the moment i'm playing Guild Wars 2 which is processor hungry?
 
Anthalasa said:
Thanks everyone for checking the spec and the ideas :)

Do you think the i5 will last another 4 to 5 years, at the moment i'm playing Guild Wars 2 which is processor hungry?
Click to expand...

Very much so, I am still running an i5 760 which was released over 2 years ago and have no immediate plans to upgrade due to being happy with the performance.

And I am running it stock, if I need extra performance I can overclock it to 3.8Ghz very easily and stable at that speed on a cheap air cooler.
 
Again thanks for taking a look at the spec, I will be updating the CPU and RAM to the below

Intel Core i5-3570K 3.40GHz (Ivybridge) Socket LGA1155 Processor (77W) - Retail [BX80637I53570K]
Corsair Vengeance Low Profile 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C10 1600MHz

Going to stick with the motherboard as it has plenty of 6GB sata ports for SSD expansion and cooler due to its very quiet performance. I may need to change the fans in the case if they are tool noisy (as fan noise can give me headaches). May also need to change the SSD's now as the 830's are out of stock. I understand from the forum that either of the below are probably the better options -

Samsung 256GB SSD 840 PRO SATA 6Gb/s Basic - (MZ-7PD256BW)
Crucial RealSSD M4 256GB 2.5" SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Hard Drive
 
Dropping to the i5K makes a lot of sense. Ok you lose the hyperthreading but if you do start video editing/encoding etc you have Quicksync from the CPU or CUDA support from the GPU to make up for it. If it's mostly for gaming the i5K is absolutely fine :)

The 830 will be popular as it's the best bang for buck SSD really. Maybe consider THIS SSD too, little cheaper than the 840 Pro but a very close rival. It has a firmware update to improve the speeds as well :)
 
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