Gaming Rig - First Build

[FluffyPuma]

1. Budget & Location

Hello everyone. Okay so I'm from Australia which makes my prices pretty ridiculous to some of you American folk out there, so please keep that in mind when linking sites, or prices of parts :)

My budget is around $2,500AUD

 

2. Aim

This is going to be my all purpose gaming, programming and general use computer. There isn't much else to say, other than I will want quite a lot of graphics performance with the new release of consoles which means for us (PC master race) a graphics improvement :)

 

3. Monitors

I will be running 2 monitors, a 1920x1080 24inch 120hz monitor as my main, and a 1600x900 21.5inch 60hz monitor as my secondary screen. I may be upgrading to 3 monitors later down the line.

 

4. Peripherals

Nope.

 

5. Why are you upgrading?

I'm upgrading because my factory built, 5+ year old Dell PC isn't cutting it anymore.

 

Specs -

Intel Core i5 4670K - $279.00

 

Gigabyte GA-Z87X-OC Motherboard - $269.00

 

Corsair CMZ16GX3M2A1866C9 16GB (2x8GB) 1866MHz DDR3 - $179.00

 

Seagate Barracuda 3TB, ST3000DM001 - $149.00

 

Fractal Design Define R4 White ATX Case, Side Window, No PSU - $159.00

 

EVGA GeForce GTX780, 3GB - $769.00

 

ASUS Xonar DSX PCI Express Soundcard - $55.00

 

SilverStone Strider Plus 850W (Peak 950W) Power Supply - $169.00 (Probably going to add a second graphics card in the future)

 

Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB SSD - $255.00

 

Corsair Hydro Series H100i Liquid CPU Cooler - $149.00

 

Fans - 2x Corsair Air Series AF120 Quiet Edition 120mm Fan - $29.00

 

Total Cost - $2490AUD

 

Any advice is welcome and I appreciate all the support from the linustechtips community

[joelthezombie15]

From what ive heard/been told, the corsair ssds are crap. so maybe change those but otherwise, looks good :D

 

Why raid 0 on ssds? raid 0 is for speed, ssds are fast, why do you need raid 0 on them?

[sonarctica]

Seems to be okay. Also, you don't know what ridiculous prices are, come to Finland (;

 

Also, Samsung SSD's!

[FluffyPuma]

From what ive heard/been told, the corsair ssds are crap. so maybe change those but otherwise, looks good :D

 

Why raid 0 on ssds? raid 0 is for speed, ssds are fast, why do you need raid 0 on them?

Yeah I've been thinking about the SSDs quite abit, I'll definately look into Vectors, Samsung or Intel. Would running the SSDs in raid 0 further increase the performance. I'm not terribly worried about safety of a failing harddrive :)

[joelthezombie15]

Yeah I've been thinking about the SSDs quite abit, I'll definately look into Vectors, Samsung or Intel. Would running the SSDs in raid 0 further increase the performance. I'm not terribly worried about safety of a failing harddrive :)

I doubt you will notice it, ssds are so fast already, get one 120gb ssd and then get a second drive and put those in raid 0 and partition of like 30gb of the ssd and make it a cache for the hdds or just the two hdds in raid 0 because you need storage with a gaming pc more than speed and ssds dont help too much in gaming.

[zip2k4]

corsair SSDs are the some of the more cost efficient SSD in Australia, as long as they work, don't worry so much about it.

 

it's not like you're going for the best of the best, I'm using corsair neutron right now because my OCZ vertex are almost out of space :|

[FluffyPuma]

I doubt you will notice it, ssds are so fast already, get one 120gb ssd and then get a second drive and put those in raid 0 and partition of like 30gb of the ssd and make it a cache for the hdds or just the two hdds in raid 0 because you need storage with a gaming pc more than speed and ssds dont help too much in gaming.

Thanks mate, I'll definately think about cache for the HDD :)

[ProGearUk]

I suggest that you get some samsung 840 oor 840 pro ssd as well as changing out that cpu cooler to a h100i or a h80i also the haf x could be changed out with something like the r4 from Fractal Design would help to make your rig as quiet as possible.

[FluffyPuma]

I suggest that you get some samsung 840 oor 840 pro ssd as well as changing out that cpu cooler to a h100i or a h80i also the haf x could be changed out with something like the r4 from Fractal Design would help to make your rig as quiet as possible.

Cheers mate, I was looking around at the SSD's and those did look nice. I didn't really want to watercool as a first build, and I know they are all in ones but dealing with a radiator is a bit annoying.

[ProGearUk]

Cheers mate, I was looking around at the SSD's and those did look nice. I didn't really want to watercool as a first build, and I know they are all in ones but dealing with a radiator is a bit annoying.

in something like the r4 it is no hassle at all honest. To be honest it is kinda easier than some of the big heat pipe coolers that are out there such as the nh-d14 from Noctua.

[marcbodea]

1. Get some other SSDs, Corsair's are crap, maybe Kingston HyperX 3k(they're inexpensive and quite good), Samsung 840 normal/pro, OCZ Vertex 4

2. Change the case, you don't need that much space for what you're building, the R4 from fractal design should do, Corsair cases are nice too

3. Yes, 600W is enough, if you watched Linus' video he used 550W for an i7 and 780 and he had some headroom too.

 

One more thing, I suggest you get the cheapest 1600MHz 8GB, 9 or so CL latency RAM, it doesn't matter who makes it that much.

[FluffyPuma]

1. Get some other SSDs, Corsair's are crap, maybe Kingston HyperX 3k(they're inexpensive and quite good), Samsung 840 normal/pro, OCZ Vertex 4

2. Change the case, you don't need that much space for what you're building, the R4 from fractal design should do, Corsair cases are nice too

3. Yes, 600W is enough, if you watched Linus' video he used 550W for an i7 and 780 and he had some headroom too.

 

One more thing, I suggest you get the cheapest 1600MHz 8GB, 9 or so CL latency RAM, it doesn't matter who makes it that much.

It says on the samsung site that the 128GB 840 Pro SSD has a write speed of 390MB/s while the 256GB has a write speed of 520MB/s. Would there be any reason for this in particular, and would it be a noticeable difference?

[ProGearUk]

It says on the samsung site that the 128GB 840 Pro SSD has a write speed of 390MB/s while the 256GB has a write speed of 520MB/s. Would there be any reason for this in particular, and would it be a noticeable difference?

Just get one 256 gb drive and back it up once in a while to a nas or something like that 

[FluffyPuma]

Just get one 256 gb drive and back it up once in a while to a nas or something like that 

Alright, cheers mate. I'll update the thread once I get the prices and stuff

[marcbodea]

It says on the samsung site that the 128GB 840 Pro SSD has a write speed of 390MB/s while the 256GB has a write speed of 520MB/s. Would there be any reason for this in particular, and would it be a noticeable difference?

I do not actually know, here's an SSD hierarchy chart from tom's hardware where you can see tests: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-recommendation-benchmark,3269-6.html

[FluffyPuma]

@ProGearUk All updated, what do you think?

[FluffyPuma]

I do not actually know, here's an SSD hierarchy chart from tom's hardware where you can see tests: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-recommendation-benchmark,3269-6.html

Decided to go with the 1 SSD after reading various forums. The hassle off RAID 0 SSD's didn't seem worth it :) Thank you though

[khaled1995]

hi guys im new to building rigs so i wanted to know how much wattage of  power supply  i need

im gettin i 3770k and msi gtx 680 lighting or twin frozer  .can any body help me plzz  and i will overclock them but not by too much

[marcbodea]

hi guys im new to building rigs so i wanted to know how much wattage of  power supply  i need

im gettin i 3770k and msi gtx 680 lighting or twin frozer  .can any body help me plzz  and i will overclock them but not by too much

make a topic for that

[ProGearUk]

@ProGearUk All updated, what do you think?

Ye it looks good at the moment. Why dont you think about waiting for the new series of gpu's from amd then making the decision of what to buy.

[marcbodea]

For the CPU cooler: the H100i is ok but the Swiftech H220 wrecks it...if you can find one

[FluffyPuma]

Edited - Bump <3

[cosmo]

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($389.00 @ PCCaseGear) 

 

CPU Cooler: Swiftech H220 55.0 CFM  Liquid CPU Cooler  ($149.00 @ PCCaseGear) 

Better than the h100 + also gives you the option to add extra parts to the loop

 

Motherboard: MSI Z87-GD65 Gaming ATX  LGA1150 Motherboard  ($199.00 @ Mwave Australia) 

I don't see the point in getting that other board thats so expensive. You could probably go cheaper but that depends on what features you want. 

 

Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory  ($163.23 @ Mwave Australia) 

 

Storage: Samsung 840 Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk  ($185.00 @ Mwave Australia) 

 

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($139.00 @ Mwave Australia) 

 

Video Card: Galaxy GeForce GTX 780 3GB Video Card  ($769.00 @ Mwave Australia) 

 

Case: Corsair 650D ATX Mid Tower Case  ($195.00 @ PCCaseGear) 

It's a really nice case with heaps of room + fan controller built in + window + you won't need to buy any extra fans.

 

Power Supply: Silverstone Strider Plus 850W 80 PLUS Silver Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply  ($158.00 @ PCCaseGear) 

 

Total: $2346.23 + $50 for soundcard. 

http://au.pcpartpicker.com/p/16WW4

 

This seems like your first build, so I'm going to give you the advice that I wish I knew for my first build.

Think about the colour scheme. You probably dont think its important but once your computer is sitting on your desk and all you can notice is the green video card sitting in a red motherboard you will want to change it.

 

The motherboard doesn't really matter as long as it has all of the ports you want + features. You will get almost no performance increase from your motherboard as long it is half decent. This goes for memory aswell, since you will probably overclock aswell you will probably have your memory at 1333 or 1600.

 

You probably won't SLI in the future, think about it. You will more than likely go buy a new GPU in 3-4 years rather than adding another.

 

If you want me to elaborate or justify anything let me know 

[FluffyPuma]

 

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($389.00 @ PCCaseGear) 

 

CPU Cooler: Swiftech H220 55.0 CFM  Liquid CPU Cooler  ($149.00 @ PCCaseGear) 

Better than the h100 + also gives you the option to add extra parts to the loop

 

Motherboard: MSI Z87-GD65 Gaming ATX  LGA1150 Motherboard  ($199.00 @ Mwave Australia) 

I don't see the point in getting that other board thats so expensive. You could probably go cheaper but that depends on what features you want. 

 

Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory  ($163.23 @ Mwave Australia) 

 

Storage: Samsung 840 Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk  ($185.00 @ Mwave Australia) 

 

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($139.00 @ Mwave Australia) 

 

Video Card: Galaxy GeForce GTX 780 3GB Video Card  ($769.00 @ Mwave Australia) 

 

Case: Corsair 650D ATX Mid Tower Case  ($195.00 @ PCCaseGear) 

It's a really nice case with heaps of room + fan controller built in + window + you won't need to buy any extra fans.

 

Power Supply: Silverstone Strider Plus 850W 80 PLUS Silver Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply  ($158.00 @ PCCaseGear) 

 

Total: $2346.23 + $50 for soundcard. 

http://au.pcpartpicker.com/p/16WW4

 

This seems like your first build, so I'm going to give you the advice that I wish I knew for my first build.

Think about the colour scheme. You probably dont think its important but once your computer is sitting on your desk and all you can notice is the green video card sitting in a red motherboard you will want to change it.

 

The motherboard doesn't really matter as long as it has all of the ports you want + features. You will get almost no performance increase from your motherboard as long it is half decent. This goes for memory aswell, since you will probably overclock aswell you will probably have your memory at 1333 or 1600.

 

You probably won't SLI in the future, think about it. You will more than likely go buy a new GPU in 3-4 years rather than adding another.

 

 

Yeah I was thinking about the colour scheme and if it would work. Couple of questions though, Do you think going from i5 to i7 is worth it? Will that motherboard have the same PCIe performance (http://i.imgur.com/ezD1ZiN.png)

 

Thanks :)

[cosmo]

There will more than likely only 1-2 FPS increase at the very best. The motherboard basically doesnt provide any performance increase, the things that it does provide is the features such as more or less PCIe slots or overclocking features. SO basically a $500 motherboard will play a game at the same FPS as a $100 motherboard +- 1-2FPS at best. 

 

I've had my I7 2600k for a fair amount of time now and I'm glad I spent the extra to get it over the I5 2500k. I dont use its potential most of the time but when I do its really nice knowing that its not my CPU that is slowing down the proccess. 

 

I'm getting really tired right now so its hard to think if you have any other questions or you want me to further elaborate or whatever then I'll be back online tomorrow at like 1-3

 

Also remember to check with my opinions before you do go ahead with them, I'm probably correct but some of the stuff is subjective and I could always just be plain incorrect aswell.