Building a New PC

[sharpie]

--------------------UPDATE-----------------------------

First: Listen to whilst reading. Turn up volume for full effect.






Ok, I began to put this sucker together, finally, after three weeks.

So far I have:

Case: Corsair C70- Loving this thing so far, extremely modular, has lots of nice toolfree features...REAL cool case. Recommend.

PSU: Corsair ATX 850

RAM: Corsair Dominator 16gigs Dual Channel DDR3

CPU: Intel i7-3770k-got a great price on this one, so pulled the trigger on it in an ebay auction.

MOBO: MSI Z77-GD65(?) or something like that. Great board.

GFX: EVGA GTX 680 - Got it at an EBAY auction for like, 90 dollars off or something. Good price.

Water Cooler: Corsair H100, really nice. Small.

Fans: Case has hardpoints for like, 9 fans. Currently have 7 in there right now. All corsair 120mms, 2 140s already in the case. Also got a fan system for the RAM, came with it at a great price. 100 for the whole setup.

HDD: WD 2TB Caviar Black

SDD: Samsung 128 GB



EDIT: Thankfully the only thing that was DOA was the Disk Drive. Took forever to load Windows 7 though. Been running smoothly for a few days now, just need to install my mods and my other games, and Ill be all set to go.

[Daniel]

Nvidia GeFore Gainward GTX 570 Phantom

[mangeface]

Nice, solid PSU.
Newegg.com - CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 750W ATX12V v2.31/ EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC High Performance Power Supply

Any case fan with a good rating will be fine. I have Cooler Master SickleFlow fans for my case airflow and push/pull for my CPU cooler radiator. They're solid and run about $8 each.

CPU, pretty much the best way to go. I have the 2500K and it's beastly.
Newegg.com - Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I53570K
Newegg.com - Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000 BX80623I52500K

This is the motherboard I have.
Newegg.com - Open Box: ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
It has the older Z68 chipset, but I'm not complaining. It's still killer, runs ArmA2 at 60fps and worth it to me to save the $50 to get the same with Z77.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6813131819

Solid RAM. I run similar ones, except mine aren't the low profile. Gives you futureproof option to put a fan on them.
Newegg.com - CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Profile Desktop Memory Model CML8GX3M2A1600C9

So far price is right at $600 if you go with the Ivy Bridge and the ASUS P8Z77-V PRO. It'd be around $520 with the 2500K and open box P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3.

Safe bet with HDD
Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Nice GPU, can be flashed to a 6970 with a little work.
Newegg.com - XFX Double D HD-695X-CDFC Radeon HD 6950 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity

The total of what I suggested comes to $950 with the 3570K and Z77 MOBO, or $870 with the 2500K and Z68 MOBO. I saw you mentioned a fresh copy of Windows 7 64-bit, and some of us may have some extra copies laying around that aren't in use anymore. PM me if you're interested.

[sharpie]

I forgot to update this...derp.

I have settled on a

Corsair C70 Vengence as a Tower

MOBO:MSI Z77A-GD65 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS


GFX: MIGHT do a 680 NVIDIA That or a lower 600 series or a 570ti, anything goes. Im not a fan of the AMD cards, just preferance, I know it's just an opinion ;D

PSU: Most likely a Corsair Professional GOLD Series 750W or 850W

CPU: Intel i5 or i7, both are powerful motherfuckers, I think I'll go for the i7 just for shits and giggles and cause I can

Keyboard: Still up for grabs, I was looking at this Razer Arctosaor Black Widowor Logitech G110 Don't think I'll be needing eight-thousand macro keys though, soo...

That's it for now. I'll keep this updated from now on, will post pictures when everything comes in >

Thanks to Cossack for helping me find a lot of hardware. <3.


EDIT: Mange, would the i5-3570K be on par with an i7 Ivy Bridge?

[mangeface]

EDIT: Mange, would the i5-3570K be on par with an i7 Ivy Bridge?

As far as I know gaming performance the i5 and i7 are relatively the same.
Desktop Ivy Bridge. Intel Core i7-3770K and Core i5-3570K Processors Review
It's long. Harsh to read the whole thing, but near the bottom are benchmarks. Personally, I say save the $100. The i5-3570K will still set you up on a monster system.

GFX: MIGHT do a 680 NVIDIA That or a lower 600 series or a 570ti, anything goes. Im not a fan of the AMD cards, just preferance, I know it's just an opinion ;D

Lol, yeah things are preference. I prefer AMD GPUs and CPUs, but AMDs CPUs are quite disappointing right now. I will be one of the first to say do not get any FX CPU. I had an FX-8150. But I'm still rocking the 7970.

Keyboard: Still up for grabs, I was looking at this Razer Arctosaor Black Widowor Logitech G110 Don't think I'll be needing eight-thousand macro keys though, soo...

I've got the Razer Lycosa which is an upgraded version (has 2 USB ports and audio/mic input, backlight keyboard) of the Arctosa and it's a great keyboard.

[sharpie]

As far as I know gaming performance the i5 and i7 are relatively the same.
Desktop Ivy Bridge. Intel Core i7-3770K and Core i5-3570K Processors Review
It's long. Harsh to read the whole thing, but near the bottom are benchmarks. Personally, I say save the $100. The i5-3570K will still set you up on a monster system.

Lol, yeah things are preference. I prefer AMD GPUs and CPUs, but AMDs CPUs are quite disappointing right now. I will be one of the first to say do not get any FX CPU. I had an FX-8150. But I'm still rocking the 7970.

I've got the Razer Lycosa which is an upgraded version (has 2 USB ports and audio/mic input, backlight keyboard) of the Arctosa and it's a great keyboard.

Yeah, I think I'll do the i5k, save the money and use it on the PSU and GPU

Lol, nice :>

Might just do the Lycosa, everything I'd like and nothing I don't want.



I decided that I will be getting mostly Corsair stuff, as they have a great selection of items...the Box, RAM, WaterCooling system and most likely PSU will be Corsair items. Shame I can't buy a kitchen sink from them...

I need to find a camera to take pics of this sucker for you guys.

[=HCM= Shwedor]

I just put together a new PC for about the same price range of $1k and it is a real beast for the money. I would HIGHLY suggest this for a setup if you want an easy put-together, very fast PC, and a VERY cold system. The motherboard I used has a great BIOS, very intuitive and flexible. The DIMM is great, and the case has plenty of room for any graphics setup and add-on cards. It runs right now at about 26c temperature and it is slightly overclocked. I currently run it on a 1360 x 768 @ 60Hz 27 inch screen.

Windows Experience ratings (highest possible score 7.9):

Processor: 7.7
Memory (RAM): 7.9
Graphics (HD4000 stock): 6.6
Gaming Graphics (HD4000 stock): 6.6
Primary disk drive: 7.9

DVD drive:
Newegg.com - PLEXTOR Internal DVD Super Multi 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 24X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model PX-L890SA LightScribe Support

HDD:
Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

SSD:
Newegg.com - Corsair Force Series GT CSSD-F120GBGT-BK 2.5" 120GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

D-RAM (DIMM @ 1886MHz):
Newegg.com - CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 15000) Desktop Memory Model CMZ8GX3M2A1866C9

CPU:
Newegg.com - Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I53570K

PSU (semi-modular):
Newegg.com - CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 750W ATX12V v2.31/ EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC High Performance Power Supply

MOBO:
Newegg.com - ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Sound card (external, currently $24 at Best Buy):
Newegg.com - Creative Go! 70SB129000000 24-bit 44.10 kHz USB Interface X-Fi Go! Pro Sound Board

PSU Cooling System (the stock Intel fan is garbage, Corsair has a copy of this same water cooling system because the same company makes both):
Newegg.com - Antec Kuhler H2O 620 Liquid Cooling System

Operating System (Windows 7 Pro for a VERY low price, full features):
Amazon.com: Windows 7 PRO 64 Bit System Builder 1pk [Old Version]: Software

[Cossack]

Why you suggest sabertooth but no dedicated GPU... And you seriously run 27 inch at that small resolution? Just WTF... Nothing else to add.

[mangeface]

Might just do the Lycosa, everything I'd like and nothing I don't want.

It won't disappoint.

I decided that I will be getting mostly Corsair stuff, as they have a great selection of items...the Box, RAM, WaterCooling system and most likely PSU will be Corsair items. Shame I can't buy a kitchen sink from them...

Not a bad choice. I like Corsair's products. I don't have many of them in my rig except an H100, but overall they make quality stuff.

I need to find a camera to take pics of this sucker for you guys.

Can I be the first to say "obviously"? But seriously, can't wait to see it. Get some benchmark photos also. I'd like to see how much of a gain the Ivy Bridge is over my Sandy Bridge. But I think the GPU will be a big difference between our performance.

Why you suggest sabertooth but no dedicated GPU...

I lol'd. It makes perfect sense to buy a high performance MOBO and no GPU.

[=HCM= Shwedor]

I'm waiting for new 660ti's before buying, I'm not going to suggest a GPU if he says he has a 1k budget atm. The HD4000 does just fine for BF2 anyways, it is generally overkill for it, World of Tanks, and Wargame European Escalation atm. It can run even Battlefield 3. So I'd say it can handle most modern games at medium graphics.

[Cossack]

Sharpie is getting 670 already. 660Ti will have 192-bit bus and that is kind derp. But will see.

[sharpie]

*Might* Get the 680...putting a little more cash into the GPU now.

And I think I might up the PSU a little bit, Im also topping everything off with the new Corsair H100 Watercooler.

This should do as my PSU, 850 as opposed to 750?

Now, I need an SSD. Again, been looking at Corsair stuff...all Im planning to put on the SSD is my OS and some other files, the bulk of my shit will be on the 1TB HDD.

But which one(s)?

*Only difference is memory size, I just want your opinion. Both are effectively the same thing.*
SSD 1: Force Series

SSD 2: http://www.corsair.com/us/ssd/force-ser ... drive.html



HDD 1: Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

HDD 2: Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EARS 1TB 5400 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

[sharpie]

OP Updated

[Cossack]

Well - Corsair warranty service = probably best in the world.

About SSD's - its up to you, how much space you need on it and what you will stash. If can go, for 240GB, if can't - 180GB is ok.

About HDD's : Caviar black - fast, reliable etc. Probably best drive out there. Good as boot and as storage. Recommend.

Caviar Green: cheap, because not suitable for using as boot drive but as storage is ok. Still, recommend going for Black. Second choice - Caviar Blue.

[Daniel]

Why a 6xx and not a 5xx ?

[Cossack]

because 6xx destroys 5xx. If you have money, why not buy latest if you want your system live a bit longer. And swap of complete Nvidia generation will happen soon.

[sharpie]

EDIT: Ok, after a second opinion, a 570ti might be a possibility.

[mangeface]

Definitely get the Caviar Black HDD. I'm also agreeing with Cossack, if you have the money for a 6xx card you should get it and not have to worry about upgrades for a while.

[Daniel]

I'd go for a x70, so 570 or 670, depends on your cash...

[sharpie]

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