Assembling a gaming rig (need opinions and advice)

[RyGuy]

Ok I am going to assemble a gaming rig that is going to be playing MMOs and other basic stuff like Word/Excel. So nothing to extreme, but able to run games with high FPS, possibly 2 games at the same time. With high performance.

I have assembled a couple low end computer's but since im sinking a bit more money into this one i would appreciate more opinions and advice. Lots of things still confuse me! Thank you so much for the help guys!



CPU: No need for an i7, right?

Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I53570K
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116504


Motherboard:

This i could use some recommendations on. I am going to be overclocking my CPU obviously. What will meet my needs without being overkill?


Power Supply: Gold Certified is $30 more. Worth it? 750w Should be more then enough, right?

CORSAIR HX Series HX750 750W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139010

or

CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX750M 750W ATX12V v2.31 / EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Semi Modular High Performance Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139030


Memory: 1600, and 8gb is perfect for gaming?

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231428


Video Card: Any other GTX 670 model better?

EVGA 02G-P4-2678-KR GeForce GTX 670 FTW 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130787


Solid State Drive:

Help! I wont be putting anything on this drive except for my OS and a couple games. Should I get 2 60gb ssd's and Raid 0 them. Or would I be better off getting one 120gb ssd. I don't care about file security or losing files. I will have everything important backed up. Im talking purely for gaming performance and reducing loading screens and such!


Cooler:

CORSAIR H70 Core High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181019


Case: I'd like depth for cable management, good air flow/cooling, and easily removable fan dust filters if possible. Suggestions?

NZXT Phantom 410 CA-PH410-B3 Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Orange Trim Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146092

 

[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 games? What resolution?

• What is your budget?
  
  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?
  
  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.
  2. If you are from the United States, do you live nearby a Microcenter?

• 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!

 

[RyGuy]

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 games? What resolution?
  Darkfall which most people have never heard of. 1600x900 res prolly.

• What is your budget?
  No pressing budget, but i dont want to carelessly spend.
  
  1. Does this include a copy of Windows?
     Have Win 7 Ultimate.
  2. Does this include peripheals (a keyboard, monitor, mouse, speakers, etc.)?
  Have them all.
• Are you from the United States or a different country? Are you ordering from your own country or from across borders?
  U.S.
  
  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.
     Prolly Newegg, unless theres someplace better.
  2. If you are from the United States, do you live nearby a Microcenter?
     No

• Do you have any specific requests with the build?
  Only the ones I mentioned above.
  
  1. Do you plan on overclocking? If yes, do you have a specific goal in mind?
     Yes. a modest 4.1-4.2 would be fine.
  2. Would you prefer the build to be particularly small?
     Mid Case prolly.
  3. Would you prefer the build to be particularly quiet?
     Well as long as it isnt tooooo loud itll be fine.
  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?
     Ill prolly let it rest, and upgrade years down the road, unless i add extra harddrives or something like that.
  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.
     No. Dont plan on playing anything a gtx 670 cant handle.

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

 

[Conumdrum]

Might look at the H80 or the H100. You won't have any temp issues with the H100. The H70 wasn't near as good as the 80 or the 100.

A 120 SSD is perfect for most users.

I like this case, well ventilated, good quality, classic lines. I'm building a rig with it now.

http://www.bitfenix.com/global/en/products/chassis/shinobi-window

Your fine with a 650 PSU.

Quieter 670 better cooling, yep I got this too.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125423

 

[RyGuy]

Ill take a loot at the H80 or H100 thanks for the tip.

A 650 Watt would be enough to power an overclocked i5, a gtx 670, 2-3 harddrives, and a h80 corsair cooler?

Im just wondering with SSD's if 2 60gbs would be better then 1 120gb.

And the gigabyte 670 looks like it cools better with the fans. Is there support as good as EVGA's?

 

[Knufire]

No GPU manufacturer even comes close to EVGAs support.

You could run all of that and a second 670 on a 650W.

Get the single biggest SSD you need.

At that resolution I'd probably drop to a 660Ti or a 7870.

This should easily max out Darkfall, and it's much cheaper than your OP.

 

[Soulcatcher668]

Get the single biggest SSD you need.

Just to add to this.

SSD's are different than regular HD's. The bigger the drive, the faster the speed. So one 120 gig is faster than 2 60's.

 

[RyGuy]

Just to add to this.

SSD's are different than regular HD's. The bigger the drive, the faster the speed. So one 120 gig is faster than 2 60's.

In all aspects? Or just some? I have read alot of contridictory information regarding this. LIke sequential read times in benchmarks, one SSD is reading at say.....500 mb/sec.....well 2 in raid 0 show them reading at 900 mb/sec.

Could anyone elaborate a bit more on the specifics of SSDs and why larger is faster, and how? Thanks in advance.

Also EVGA has better support, and from what i have read the windforce cooled gtx 670 runs cooler, and quieter....So which should i choose?

I think i want to stay with a GTX 670 over a lower end card to leave room for upgrades resolution wise, and to be ahead of the curve as newer games come out.

Thanks for all the imput so far!

 

[Knufire]

RAID 0 60GBs would be faster than a single 120GB. But a single SSD is so fast that you won't be able to tell the difference. Boot times don't really get better since you have to initialize the RAID array during POST. And it's a bit less than double the chance of data loss due to disk failure.

7970 performs a bit less than the GTX680, but it's only $30ish more than the 670. 7950 is a bit less powerful than the 670 but is maybe $80 less.

 

[RyGuy]

Yea boot time actually gets a couple seconds slower in raid from what i read, and im not overly worried about data loss. But if its comparable i might as well just get 1 larger one. Any recommendations on a 120gb or 240gb size?

 

[Knufire]

OCZ Agility/Vertex 3/4, Corsair Force GT, Samsung 830, Crucial M4, Intel 520. Depends on what kind of sales you find. Lots of good SSDs out there now.

 

[RyGuy]

EVGA has better support, and from what i have read the windforce cooled gigabyte gtx 670 runs cooler, and quieter....So which should i choose?

 

[Knufire]

Have you considered anything other than a 670?

 

[RyGuy]

ATM especially for gaming i prefer nvidia over amd, and gtx 670 is where i want to be more or less. 680 is too much overkill, 670 is a nice card that will last me long into the future and wont break the bank. I could take a step down but im not overly worried about it. 670 just seems like a sweet spot between performance for price, and it fits what I want, and will want in the future. unless my logic is flawed, which it may be!

 

[Knufire]

Being loyal to a certain brand on anything other than raw scientific data is flawed logic in my book. .

AMD just went through a round of price cuts, which put them at a more competitive range than NVIDIA. The only reason to go NVIDIA now is if you're playing a NVIDIA biased game, such as Battlefield 3 or need CUDA.

You're also playing a fairly old MMO at a resolution significantly below 1080P. A GTX670 is something you would want to max out the most intensive games at 1080P. I think it's rather overkill for you.