Advice on a gaming rig.

[Scruffy]

I haven't built my computer yet because I want advice on what to get for it. I've made a list of components. I tried to get some help on a different forum but I've gotten no replies.

Motherboard: ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 LGA 1155

Processor: Intel Core i5-2500k Quad-Core Processor

Memory: AMD Memory Performance Edition Kit 8 Dual Channel Kit DR3 1600

Graphics: Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 OC

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracusa ES 750GB

Optical: LG GH22NS90B OEM

Case: Corsair Obsidian 650D

Power: Corsair Builder Series CX600

The build comes to about 1.2k USD. Does anyone have any advice? Am I missing something? Should everything work?

Thanks.

 

[EarthDog]

It will work..

I would get the P8Z77 V (non pro) to save a few dollars and jump up to the 3570k with the difference.

Although Im confident it will work (99% confident), you have AMD memory listed. Get something not AMD specific juuuuuuuuuuuuust in case. 2x4GB DDR3 1600Mhz is fine.

Check out newegg for combo deals. Otherwise... GO!

 

[PolePosition]

To the Overclockers Forums!

Have you thought about a new heatsink/fan or cooling solution for your CPU?

 

[EarthDog]

Have you thought about a new heatsink/fan or cooling solution for your CPU?

Excellent question assuming he is overclocking... looks up at the site name... HE BETTER BE!

 

[PolePosition]

I'm working on one of those questionaire templates like Knufire has since he covers most all the bases with that! LOL

 

[Scruffy]

I do plan on overclocking which is one reason I had chosen the 2500k. I'd heard it is good with overclocking. A 3570k sounds good though.
I haven't really thought much about aftermarket cooling yet because my money situation is a bit tight. As in I have none. Chances are once I get the whole build put together after a few months I will keep it on stock until I can pay for a good aftermarket cooling.
Which would you suggest, liquid cooling or good air cooling? I chose the case so I would be able to do both. I originally had the 800D in mind but I thought it was a bit overboard for a newbie like me. :3

 

[EarthDog]

Corsair H80 is as good as high quality air and I believe a bit quieter...its an all in one liquid cooler. Otherwise, a solid, inexpensive air cooler is Coolermaster Hyper 212+. The stock cooler with the 3570 or 2500k will allow you to overclock a bit. Just keep it around 90C when stress testing and you wont come close to that in gaming or anything else for that matter.

SCruffy, where are you located? If the USA do you have a microcenter near you? You can get the CPU MUCH cheaper there than newegg or any place...

 

[Scruffy]

I also don't run super demanding games right now. Not that I won't ever, but I don't really have anything too stressful like Battlefield. Chances are the stock settings will run average; anything is better than the dumb old Pentium I am stuck with on my laptop right now.
I live in New York, and I'm assuming a microcenter is a kind of place where they make processors?

 

[EarthDog]

Microcenter is a computer/electronics store... You have one in Long Island and Yonkers. 3570K = $190 there vs $229 at newegg.

If you dont play anything stressful, and I assume you are on 1920x1080 resolution, you could save plenty and go with a 7950 instead... and still have plenty of horsepower to play modern games at full tilt.

 

[Scruffy]

Wow, thank you so much for that! That's actually really helpful. It looks like I can get a lot of things there cheaper!
When you say 7950, are you talking about a processor?

 

[Scruffy]

Also, is this the same motherboard that you're talking about?

 

[EarthDog]

No, GPU (7950).

Nope. THe V, no LX, not Pro, just V (its the same price there as newegg).

 

[Scruffy]

Found it. I think.

What is the difference between the 7970 and the 7950 besides price?

 

[freakdiablo]

Found it. I think.

What is the difference between the 7970 and the 7950 besides price?

The number of stream processors (1792 for the 7950 vs 2048 for the 7970). The way I understand it, they kind of act like cores in a CPU - the more there are the more "power" a card has.

Newer NVidia cards have "Cuda Cores", which are different, but similar idea.

 

[PolePosition]

I agree with dawg going with the H80 for a high performance liquid cooling solution, not only for the cooling benefits, but also for space considerations. Air cooling can/does work just as well, but the H80 won't block your RAM slots nor will it be some huge tower hanging off your motherboard, which has always concerned me about future warping of your motherboard with all that weight hanging onto it at specific point which is centered around your standoffs.

Depending on your existing and future monitor desires, it doesn't make sense to go overboard on a very high end GPU unless you're going/planning to push a high resolution (2560:1440) 27" monitor or an array (1x2, 2x2, 2x3, etc) of monitors. The card dawg suggested will easily crush any 24" or less single monitor with 1920:1080 resolution.

 

[Scruffy]

Well monitors aren't super expensive so I'd be able to get a pretty decent one. It sounds like a 7950 would work just fine.

An H80 sounds really reliable but liquid cooling makes me a little nervous sometimes. I remember watching something on a Corsair water cooling block when I first looked at a review of the Obsidian 800D. Do I have to replace the coolant inside of it? I'll look it up again.

Thank you a lot you guys this is all really helpful.

 

[scrambler]

For 1080P I think you could get away with a 7870, if money is tight.

 

[Scruffy]

I was wondering if someone could tell me of a good, not so expensive hard drive. I have a Seagate Barracuda and I know lots of people swear by it, but it seems a little pricey for 750GB. Is there a cheaper one where I could get a reliable 1TB maybe?

 

[Knufire]

Hey, welcome to OCF!

When trying to recommend a build to you, there's some information that's extremely helpful for us to know. If you could answer these few short questions, we'd be happy to help!

• What are you planning to do with this compuer? Please be as specfic as possible.

• What is your budget? - 1.2K
  
  1. Does this include a copy of Windows?
  2. Does this include peripheals (a keyboard, monitor, mouse, speakers, etc.)?
• Are you from the United States or a different country? Are you ordering from your own country or from across borders? - NY
  
  1. Wherever you may be from, does the store that you are planning to order from have a website? It's okay if it isn't in English, we can manage. - Newegg, Amazon
  2. If you are from the United States, do you live nearby a Microcenter? - Yuppers

• Do you have any specific requests with the build?
  
  1. Do you plan on overclocking? If yes, do you have a specific goal in mind?
  2. Would you prefer the build to be particularly small?
  3. Would you prefer the build to be particularly quiet?
  4. In general, do you prefer this to be a computer that you can spend money on now and let it rest, or a box built for continuous upgrading?
  5. Do you ever plan on utilizing NVIDIA's SLI or AMD's CrossfireX technologies? These features, with a compatible motherboard, allow a user to link multiple identical graphic cards together for added performance. In real world terms, this lets you buy a second identical graphics card down the line as a relatively cheap and easy way to gain a fairly large boost in performance. However, this requires buying a SLI/CFX compatible motherboard and PSU now, which may result in slightly higher initial cost.

Once again, thank you in advance for taking the time to answer these, and I hope you enjoy your stay at OCF!

 

[PolePosition]

Well monitors aren't super expensive so I'd be able to get a pretty decent one. It sounds like a 7950 would work just fine.

An H80 sounds really reliable but liquid cooling makes me a little nervous sometimes. I remember watching something on a Corsair water cooling block when I first looked at a review of the Obsidian 800D. Do I have to replace the coolant inside of it? I'll look it up again.

Thank you a lot you guys this is all really helpful.

The H80 is a sealed water cooling unit, meaning you never have to perform maintenance on it. I doubt the hoses would ever crack for as long as you use the system, and you'd probably be ready to upgrade long before that as I plan to regarding my sealed water cooling unit. Mine will probably fail before that one too, but I can expect it to last at least a few years if need be.