My First Gaming PC

[Suko]

Hey, this is my first attempt at a gaming computer. Mostly just picked and chose which parts I liked off of a website that had a selection, I'm just curious whether all these parts are going to be compatible with eachother, and whether I making a good decision for the price (if I could get something better for less, please let me know).

(The links will be from Amazon because that's where I have everything saved)

Case:
NZXT Guardian Black SECC Steel Chassis ATX Mid Tower Case 921RB-BL

Motherboard:
ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Processor:
Intel Core i7-3770K Quad-Core Processor 3.5 GHz 8 MB Cache LGA 1155 - BX80637I73770K

GPU:
GIGABYTE GV-N670OC-2GD GeForce GTX 670 Windforce OC 2048MB GDDR5 256-bit PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Graphics Card

RAM:
Corsair Vengeance Blue 16 GB DDR3 SDRAM Dual Channel Memory Kit CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9B

HDD:
Western Digital Caviar Black 1 TB SATA III 7200 RPM 64 MB Cache Internal Desktop Hard Drive Bulk/OEM - WD1002FAEX

Power Supply:
Corsair Enthusiast Series TX 750 Watt ATX/EPS 80 PLUS Bronze (TX750)

BluRay R/W:
ASUS BW-12B1ST/BLK/G/AS 12X Blu-ray Internal Burner Drive with Disc Encryption - Black - Retail Box

Total price: $1,364.91

I've pretty much got a $1,400 limit for a computer. Again, if please let me know if I missed out on anything or if something isn't compatible as this is my first time even planning to build a gaming computer.

 

[atclaeys]

Suko, would you mind please answering the following? These are some standard questions that are asked here on the forums that will really help us have a good idea of what you want to do and we can give our input to help you get the best for what will really fit you:

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

• What is your budget?
• Does this include a copy of Windows?
• 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?
• 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.
• If you are from the United States, do you live nearby a Microcenter?
• Do you have any specific requests with the build?
• Do you plan on overclocking? If yes, do you have a specific goal in mind?
• Would you prefer the build to be particularly small?
• Would you prefer the build to be particularly quiet?
• 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?
• 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.

I know you answered budget, but with a bit more info we can really help you build something better tailored to you

 

[Suko]

Suko, would you mind please answering the following? These are some standard questions that are asked here on the forums that will really help us have a good idea of what you want to do and we can give our input to help you get the best for what will really fit you:

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

• What is your budget?
• Does this include a copy of Windows?
• 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?
• 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.
• If you are from the United States, do you live nearby a Microcenter?
• Do you have any specific requests with the build?
• Do you plan on overclocking? If yes, do you have a specific goal in mind?
• Would you prefer the build to be particularly small?
• Would you prefer the build to be particularly quiet?
• 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?
• 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.

I know you answered budget, but with a bit more info we can really help you build something better tailored to you

$1400 budget

Doesn't include Windows, however I will purchase Windows 8 (not part of the budget)

The peripherals I will also purchase separately at some point. I have a left over keyboard, mouse, speakers, and monitor from an old computer that I will use for the time being.

I'm from the US. New Jersey to be specific.

Amazon.com is where I plan to order most of my parts as it is tax-free and since I have Amazon Prime, I get free 2 day shipping.

Specific requests from this build is to just have a nice gaming computer. I'm not looking for something HARDCORE, but something where I can at least play most games with 60+ FPS.

I'm not too sure on the overclocking part. I might get to that eventually, but I feel like I might need a liquid cooler for that (which the website I got all my parts on didn't really specify anything for overclocking). So in short, no.

Size doesn't matter. Have plenty of space.

Sound doesn't matter as I will most likely use headphones rather than speakers, so I won't really hear the computer running.
For now, I want this build to last me for a bit, but always have room for improvement down the line. So when current high end video cards are cheaper down the line, I would like to replace them.

I'm not too sure if my motherboard is compatible with that, but if it is, sure, I would love to have dual video cards. (actually, I just read on Newegg.com and I quote: "SABERTOOTH Z77 brings you the multi-GPU choice of either SLI or CrossFireX. The motherboard features the most powerful Intel Z77 platform to optimize PCIe allocation in multiple GPU configurations. Expect a brand-new gaming style you’ve never experienced before!" So apparently that part is taken care of

As I said, this is my first attempt on a build.

 

[GoD_tattoo]

There is a Microcenter in North Jersey/Patterson. If you are close by you can save a ton.

Personally I would go with an

AsRock Z77 Extreme 3 motherboard

i7-3770k or 3570k

16gb of Gskill ram 1600mhz

And use the money saved to grab a 7970.

You could also drop down the power supply to 600ish watts. 750 is overkill.

 

[huntinman13]

Hey I'm really new at PCs too and just thought I would would throw in my two cents. I just built a Gaming rig last week and my parts are as follows. I-5 3570k, Cooler Master 212 EVO( Works great for overclocking, Running at 4.4ghz and right now) Asrock Extreme 4 Motherboard,HIS IceQ 7850 2gb 256bit, 630w Rosewill PSU, Rosewill Challenger Case, OCZ 120gb SSD, Seagate Barracuda 1TB HDD, G Skill Ripsaw 8gb RAM. All I've gotta say is She is a Beast! And You could make a few tweaks and have a super nice build with $1400.

 

[Suko]

Thanks for the help guys ended up taking GoD_tattoo's info. I'm gonna swing by that Microcenter tomorrow. Wish me luck on building this thing

 

[Fearthe1337]

i highly highly suggest you get the the extreme4 rather than the extreme 3 its got a better design all around and will allow for higher over clocks and has a better power phase and pci layout

 

[atclaeys]

You definitely do *not* need to have a liquid cooler to overclock. Good air coolers can get you 4.2GHz easy on an i5/i7. For just gaming, you really probably do not need the i7, I would take the i5 if you aren't using apps that need hyperthreading (folding for example would use it) and then take that money towards either a nice cooler or a better GPU.
And even with amazon prime, it's still worth checking out some of the other sites sometimes as I know I personally can still find things cheaper on different sites from time to time.

Summary:
Microcenter will save at least $50 off the processor, possibly more if you go with the i5 (for gaming, there is no real difference right now)
Can save about $100 on the motherboard by going with the ASRock Extreme3/4
Can get a 7970 for less than the price of the 670 and have a bit more performance ($40 less if you go with the XFX model on Newegg for example, but should break even regardless of vendor)
Can also save another $40 by going with only 8GB RAM right now - 16 is really completely overkill currently, and you can always get two more sticks in the future.

That should be $200-$250 in savings. I would put that money towards an SSD - once you try one you will never want to have a boot drive that is not an SSD. Either a 128GB or a 256GB one will work depending on what savings you decide are worth it from possible suggestions above

If you're not overclocking, then aftermarket coolers and thermal paste aren't needed, but if you do want to try it out look at the cooling section of the forums for what people are asking. Best of luck with the build!

 

[GoD_tattoo]

Agreed. If you can swing it, grab an SSD, it is a huge difference to a system. If this machine is purely for gaming and nothing else that needs a lot of threads, grab the 3570k. I was thinking Z68, sorry. Grab the Extreme 4 Z77. No need for a liquid cooler, grab a 212 for mild overclocks, or a Phanteks, D14, etc for high overclocks. SSD I would look at Crucial M4, Samsung, or Vertex 4. 120gb is ok for storing your OS and games on for most people. Everything else you throw on the 1tb.

 

[huntinman13]

I'm running on a 212 EVO cooled I-5 3570k on an Extreme 4 and its OCed to 4.4GHz and never breaks 60c running Prime 95. So yes air works

 

[Knufire]

NJ MC doesn't carry the Exterme4.

 

[Knufire]

This is missing a case (personal preference) but should be everything you need.