New PC - First self-build!

Hi.

I am going to be making a new PC in the next few months, so far I have put together (based upon reviews / benchmarks of various things) of the following:

Mobo: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H
CPU: Intel i7-3770K
GPU: Gigabyte GTX 670
PSU: Corsair TX750M
HDD: WD Caviar Blue - 1TB
SSD: 120GB Corsair Force Series 3
RAM: 8GB Corsair Vengeance
Case: Antec Twelve Hundred
Optical Drive: Some reused Sony Drive... (Irrelevant, will only be here for OS installation!)
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate (Already have this, yaystudent!)

I am from the UK. My budget is roughly £1100-1200 GBP ($1600-$1900 USD)

I am happy to use any UK based website, such as Scan.co.uk or whatever.

I will be using this computer to game, I already have all the peripherals that I require! (Mouse/Headset/Keyboard/Monitor etc.)

I will intend to overclock in the future, but am hoping that stock cooling will do me fine for at least 6 months whilst I can save some more money for extra fans and non-stock cooling.

I just wanted to know - Am I doing anything wrongly? Should I get different parts or does this seem like a solid build?


Thanks for any help you can provide me with!

Looks good to me, and stock cooling should do you fine until you can get some more money up. Enjoy the new system.

Psh, that's plenty of money for aftermarket cooling.

Knufire said:

Psh, that's plenty of money for aftermarket cooling.

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Obviously you didn't note that he is in the UK, where the prices for everything are much more than they are here

gregmacknass said:

Obviously you didn't note that he is in the UK, where the prices for everything are much more than they are here

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Obviously I did, as that cart is in pounds and taken from Overclockers.co.uk .

Knufire said:

Obviously I did, as that cart is in pounds and taken from Overclockers.co.uk .

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SICK BURNNNN .

Man, Knufire. The last like 3 'new build'; threads I've clicked on I haven't even bothered commenting cos you've beat me to it -.- And our builds would be similar anyway (Though I'd never pick a HAF case if I could help it ).

^^Why dont you like the HAF case?

wingman99 said:

^^Why dont you like the HAF case?

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They're ugly dust guzzlers. In short . I never liked the look of them. And I don't like cooler master for the most part in general. Their fans are horrible; overrated spec wise, same with 80% of their power supplies. They lie about their specs, etc etc.

There's only a few things from CM I don't mind/like.

CM Quickfire (filco copy) mechanical keyboards, CM 690 II Adv case, Cosmos series cases, And silent pro PSUs. Hyper series coolers. Anything else CM I don't particularly like. It's just a personal choice. No different than picking AMD vs nvidia, etc. (where price and such is not a factor, just the choice).

I did some research last night, and, I'd prefer to have the i7-3770K over the i5, and would also prefer a retail version than OEM. Case wise, I've changed my mind from the antec and would prefer a HAF X, I believe.

I was silly not to add any cooling, didn't really consider it!

Was thinking about something like the Zalman CNPS9900, perhaps?

Are there any reasonings behind the way you've built that system over mine?

Thanks for the help ^^ Appreciated!

Rzrr said:

I did some research last night, and, I'd prefer to have the i7-3770K over the i5, and would also prefer a retail version than OEM. Case wise, I've changed my mind from the antec and would prefer a HAF X, I believe.

I was silly not to add any cooling, didn't really consider it!

Was thinking about something like the Zalman CNPS9900, perhaps?

Are there any reasonings behind the way you've built that system over mine?

Thanks for the help ^^ Appreciated!

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That CPU cooler won't do so well with an Ivy Bridge proc.

That said; you specifically stated gaming in your first post. There is NO reason to spend more on a i7 over an i5. The difference in gaming is <1% 99% of the time! Spend more on a graphics card or peripherals, etc. OEM vs retail is basically the same thing for a system builder... I've reinstalled my windows 7 ult 64 OEM 3-4 times. Was easy to re-activate each time cept the last. But even that was just a quick phone activation via microsoft support. Easy. Again; more money not to waste when its not needed.

I see.

I intend to be able to also do some HD Capture from my TV of my PS3, will there be any difference between the 3550k and the 3770k in this case?

I may also do some live screen capture for streaming too.

I know the samsung SSD's are nice but the OCZ's since their firmware upgrade have had very few problems. I can vouch for the corsair force series. Also they are around £50 cheaper XD. Also dont order off overclockers.co.uk. Use scan.co.uk. Better prices, better customer server and amazing RMA service. I had a day 3 turnaround on replacing a dead mobo, sent, 1 day, tested and sent out the next day and then day 3 arrived. Pretty impressed. This is compared with overclockers where i was "2 in the queue" for 4 days running. I.e they have NO ONE manning their phones. May have changed now, but overclockers are notoriously bad for when you need to RMA something. Great if you want things quickly, but then again scan do it next day 99% of the time as well.

I think this basket might be a bit more suitable. Same specs, cheaper and a modualr PSU. If you are going with a 670 its power draw is pretty low, even with an overclocked cpu, 2 670's and all your other stuff you wont be having a peak load of over 600w. You should be fine with a 650 for your needs. Also its corsair



+ the cooler on that is possibly the best air cooler out there at the moment, even edges it over the noctua and silver arrow. Although if you want an overall colour scheme in your case cos it has red fans maybe swtich the mobo for the Asrock one and get the red phanteks, ( they do them in different colours which is always a bonus!

Rzrr said:

I see.

I intend to be able to also do some HD Capture from my TV of my PS3, will there be any difference between the 3550k and the 3770k in this case?

I may also do some live screen capture for streaming too.

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yep if your planning on doing that you will benefit from HT. So either a 3770k or 2700k. In which case i would suggest picking up a 2700k from ebay for under £200 second hand ( opposed to the 3770k which is around £260)

Thanks for the advice.

I was going to use Scan anyway, have used them in the past for small upgrades and was also impressed with the returns and customer service, after receiving a DOA memory module, had a new one within 3 days also!

And I've heard bad things about overclockers.co.uk, and I don't like their site.. Instantly makes me want to claw my eyes out!

Rzrr said:

Thanks for the advice.

I was going to use Scan anyway, have used them in the past for small upgrades and was also impressed with the returns and customer service, after receiving a DOA memory module, had a new one within 3 days also!

And I've heard bad things about overclockers.co.uk, and I don't like their site.. Instantly makes me want to claw my eyes out!

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haha i feel your pain, I've bought things that had "+10 in stock" at overclockers....4 days later i havent recieved my order because one of the items wasnt in stock. But hang on, all the items i ordered had +10 in stock..... email them that the alleged out of stock itemm says its still in stock. 5 mins later i refresh the page, magically those 10+ are out of stock. Lol. They are a nightmare. I only order off them if i 100% have to.

But yer scan is top notch i much say. They used to be worse than overclockers, but oh how times change. lol. But yer in the basket i supplied you should have everything you need. Also do you plan on going sli in the future?

Also you should get a lot more headroom when overclocking your 3570k/2700k with that cooler. Just dont bother getting the 3770k atm. If you get a cheap 2700k for £200 you will be able to hit 4.8ghz on that cooler with pretty nice temps at a guess. the 3770k is not worth it for an extra £50-60, not to mention the silly temps it runs at. Unless you want to delid it and reaplce the TIM. Lol

Not planning on SLI in the future, as I will be mainly using it for gaming and such, then Microstuttering on certain games would probably make me rage and just throw one of the graphics cards at the ceiling.

Also, what are the chances that the Ivybridge-E socket will arrive on the 2011 Socket? Is that worth any consideration?

Maybe that'd be an option for slightly futureproofing in terms of future upgrades?

I know how Intel loves to change it's sockets to rub the mobo manufacturers backs...

Rzrr said:

Not planning on SLI in the future, as I will be mainly using it for gaming and such, then Microstuttering on certain games would probably make me rage and just throw one of the graphics cards at the ceiling.

Also, what are the chances that the Ivybridge-E socket will arrive on the 2011 Socket? Is that worth any consideration?

Maybe that'd be an option for slightly futureproofing in terms of future upgrades?

I know how Intel loves to change it's sockets to rub the mobo manufacturers backs...

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hmmmm considering your only planning on gaming/ light encoding etc a quad is easily enough for you. The probs is the IB-E six cores are going to be silly expensive. Expect to pay around twice the amount for a six core that wont benefit you at all when gaming. If anything you will probs get better performance out of quad that is clocked higher. The 3820 is always an option, but unless you plan on going to a 6 core ( which will cost £450 for the processor alone) i dont really see it as worth it at the moment, games are only starting to properly utilise 4 cores.

Ivy Bridge E WILL arrive on that socket. But unless you're a heavy renderer or just have a buttload of cash to spend; it's generally not worth it.

Sticking to single cards is a good idea =).

Xanders build is solid cept for the cooler . Ew haf .

The HX 650 is a great PSU; It's served me well for sure; but more often than not there's another PSU that'll perform just as well for less. And because you've specified not going multi-cards; 500-600w is more than enough. For reference using a power meter I'm pulling 350w from the wall playing a game like bf3 with my GTX 580 and 2500K at 4.5ghz. A 670 is far more efficient; and my particular card I think pulls more than the standard 580. But this is also from the wall; Consider efficiency, I'm pulling less.. Etc etc. Blah blah.

Mjolnir said:

Ivy Bridge E WILL arrive on that socket. But unless you're a heavy renderer or just have a buttload of cash to spend; it's generally not worth it.

Sticking to single cards is a good idea =).

Xanders build is solid cept for the cooler . Ew haf .

The HX 650 is a great PSU; It's served me well for sure; but more often than not there's another PSU that'll perform just as well for less. And because you've specified not going multi-cards; 500-600w is more than enough. For reference using a power meter I'm pulling 350w from the wall playing a game like bf3 with my GTX 580 and 2500K at 4.5ghz. A 670 is far more efficient; and my particular card I think pulls more than the standard 580. But this is also from the wall; Consider efficiency, I'm pulling less.. Etc etc. Blah blah.

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whats wrong with the cooler? Even edges it over the noctua in terms of performance. It is HUGE, but i would say the best performing air cooler out there. and you should be fine with low profile RAM, if you go with the silly corsair vengeance stuff you might have issues getting it in there i must say.

I'm not a fan of the haf's but i used to like the look of them. For the price its pretty much the nicest case you can get in terms of size and cable management. In my opinion anyhu ( just went off the previous basket in terms of the case)

Also yer if he isnt going SLi later down the line he could get away with a decent 550w easy. A bit more money saved.

xander89 said:

whats wrong with the cooler? Even edges it over the noctua in terms of performance. It is HUGE, but i would say the best performing air cooler out there. and you should be fine with low profile RAM, if you go with the silly corsair vengeance stuff you might have issues getting it in there i must say.

I'm not a fan of the haf's but i used to like the look of them. For the price its pretty much the nicest case you can get in terms of size and cable management. In my opinion anyhu ( just went off the previous basket in terms of the case)

Also yer if he isnt going SLi later down the line he could get away with a decent 550w easy. A bit more money saved.

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Apparently nothing! I checked it up AFTER my comment.. I've just NEVER heard of them before. Or that cooler. I stand corrected. Though that colour scheme is.. Uh, odd. . I'd rather the D14 lol.