New PC Build Advice

[Theocnoob]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/80_Plus

Near the top of the page is a chart explaining what 80+ bronze/silver/gold/etc mean and what efficiency they all are.

Basically, the more efficient a power supply is, the less money it costs you to run it. This may be peanuts per year or it could be a lot more, depending on how much power costs in your part of the world.

One other thing I would suggest is switching the HDD to a Western Digital Black 1TB. I like WD a lot more than I like Samsung or Seagate for HDD's. I've nver had a WD hard drive die on me. I've never even had one go funny and start making strange noises. I've lost my share of Maxtor, Quantum, and Seagate drives to hard drive gremlins. That's what makes Western Digital so good. They use a special repellant on the seals of the housing that keeps hard drive gremlins away. It also kills their eggs.

 

[Mandrake4565]

With all due respect, a Hyper 212 is utterly worthless on a 4770K. Do you know how hot those chips run? The stock cooler will be fine for stock operation. The provided Intel fan is surprisingly quiet. It won't be any louder than the Hyper 212 IME.

Yes, I have one OCN, I agree it's not going to get huge overclock's with an EVO but overclocking is an after thought. I had mine stable 2 hours on a CM 212+, I also do not like the whine of the stock heatsink when it's running hard, no do I like the push pin installation. I just though it would be a nice alternative to the stock HS for the money.

You would be better served, if you want to spend extra money on the PSU, by going to an 80+ silver certified 550 or 600W PSU. 750W is unnecessary for this build. 500 would be my minimum for such a system, even though in reality it would run on a 440W. I like a margin of safety. Who knows if you're going to run that same PSU on a system with 10 hard drives or a more powerful GPU somewhere down the line?

Again I agree going to a better efficiency Psu will save money but to pay almost double to save a few dollars a year? Additionally the 4770k + the Gtx 760 is around 260w even overclocked to the max were talking what 450w total system draw? Yes if "future proofing" is the goal then maybe a PSU larger then 550w should be bought, but for what is intended the 550w is more then enough.

 

[Theocnoob]

Yes, I have one OCN, I agree it's not going to get huge overclock's with an EVO but overclocking is an after thought. I had mine stable 2 hours on a CM 212+, I also do not like the whine of the stock heatsink when it's running hard, no do I like the push pin installation. I just though it would be a nice alternative to the stock HS for the money.

Again I agree going to a better efficiency Psu will save money but to pay almost double to save a few dollars a year? Additionally the 4770k + the Gtx 760 is around 260w even overclocked to the max were talking what 450w total system draw? Yes if "future proofing" is the goal then maybe a PSU larger then 550w should be bought, but for what is intended the 550w is more then enough.

These are not things I would do if I were building a system for myself (although my daily driver has a silver 80+ PSU). I was just saying that if he intended to spend extra on the PSU anyways (by going, unnecessarily, to a higher wattage model), that he would be better served by going to a higher efficiency instead. High efficiency PSUs have come down in price. Corsair's RM series PSUs are a good example of that. You do make a good point though. And that point is "Why bother?". In all likelihood, you'd never make back the extra $65 you spend on a PSU in its lifetime in power savings. You'd have to run the same PSU for maany years to make back the difference you paid for higher efficiency. Still, people want to save the planet and be green. There are a lot of arguments for choosing a higher efficiency PSU. Is it necessary? Absolutely not.

 

[Mandrake4565]

These are not things I would do if I were building a system for myself (although my daily driver has a silver 80+ PSU). I was just saying that if he intended to spend extra on the PSU anyways (by going, unnecessarily, to a higher wattage model), that he would be better served by going to a higher efficiency instead. High efficiency PSUs have come down in price. Corsair's RM series PSUs are a good example of that. You do make a good point though. And that point is "Why bother?". In all likelihood, you'd never make back the extra $65 you spend on a PSU in its lifetime in power savings. You'd have to run the same PSU for maany years to make back the difference you paid for higher efficiency. Still, people want to save the planet and be green. There are a lot of arguments for choosing a higher efficiency PSU. Is it necessary? Absolutely not.

Got ya and the

Still, people want to save the planet and be green.

is a good point. Sorry if I came off argumentative, I was trying to type it all out quickly while the wife was calling me to come hang with her. This is important stuff, doesn't she know that?!?!

 

[Theocnoob]

Got ya and the is a good point. Sorry if I came off argumentative, I was trying to type it all out quickly while the wife was calling me to come hang with her. This is important stuff, doesn't she know that?!?!

You have a wife? Lucky. I'm so lonely...

 

[Arekkz]

Thanks for all the advice guys, I really appreciate all your help!

So I've taken on board what you both suggested and have come up with this:
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/Arekkz/saved/4vdN

Not much has changed tbh, I've just swapped out the HDD for a WD drive, and I was going to drop to a 550W PSU, but there's only about £10 difference so I figured I may as well just stick with the 650W.

As for the after-market heatsink you suggested Mandrake, I may start without it if it isn't completely necessary, then if the noise does bother me I could always get it and fit it later (I assume that's possible, and wouldn't require me to completely dismantle everything?)

Thanks again, now it's time to go shopping!

 

[Mandrake4565]

One suggestion, Seasonic make arguably one of the best power supplies out there. XFX power supplies are all made by Seasonic. So I would suggest this one over the corsair

As far as the heatsink goes I have no issue with you not getting one now. I just thought it would make a nice addition. Good luck with the build.

 

[Arekkz]

One suggestion, Seasonic make arguably one of the best power supplies out there. XFX power supplies are all made by Seasonic. So I would suggest this one over the corsair

As far as the heatsink goes I have no issue with you not getting one now. I just thought it would make a nice addition. Good luck with the build.

Ah awesome, thanks for that, that actually saves me a few quid as well
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/Arekkz/saved/4vdN

Let the shopping commence!

 

[Mandrake4565]

Let the shopping commence!

LOL good luck

 

[Theocnoob]

Thanks for all the advice guys, I really appreciate all your help!

So I've taken on board what you both suggested and have come up with this:
https://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/Arekkz/saved/4vdN

I sign off on this build as well. If anything I would try to fit a 3GB card (ie- R9 280X) into the budget somehow, just for a more optimum gaming experience. 2GB is starting to be not enough in demanding applications.

Everything looks good. I don't like your case but that doesn't mean it's a bad one.

 

[Arekkz]

Hey guys!

So my first PC build was a success! It took me the best part of the day, and I had a YouTube video to help me, haha, but I did it!

I did encounter one problem along the way, and that's when I went to turn it on for the first time; everything turned on fine, the fans were spinning, all lights were good, but I had no picture. Long story short, I removed the GPU, install the OS and drivers, put the GPU back in and I was back in business.

As promised I documented the whole process via the medium of Instagram, so here are a few photos: https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=8CEDC6F29AB0B1AE!6549&authkey=!AGhMXYEmDRDes5w&ithint=folder,

I will take some more now it's completely set up, and I am making a video of the process, so I'll share them once they are done (probably in a couple of days).

Also, I had to switch power supplies in the end as the one I wanted was out of stock and Dabs took too long to deliver, so I ended up buying the Corsair RM850 (they didn't have a 650) as it's all my local shop had.

Thanks again for all your help speccing this system out, I really appreciate it!

-A