Building a new Gaming Rig

[Knifep1]

*edited for hyperlinks and correct FAQ build standards

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming, video & audio editing/processing. I use the latest versions of Adobe Premiere, Audition, After Effects, etc... I also do music and sound recording/production within Reason and Abelton Live

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
~$1k tax and shipping included

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
US, Janesville, WI

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
Case
Power Supply (PSU)
Case Fan(s)
Motherboard

Processor (CPU)
CPU Cooler/Heatsink with Fan (HSF)
Memory (RAM)

Video/Graphics Card (GPU)
SSD for OS

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Creative Labs audio card,
1.5TB Sata HD,
2xDVD burners/readers
Monitor
keyboard
mouse
usb headset
speakers.

6) Will you be overclocking?
No

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
32" HD1920x1280

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Within a month

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
USB3.0,Sata6Gb/s, eSata

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Yes. Win 7 64bit.

 

[Knifep1]

Noticed in another advice request post from today that people were saying to come back when you were ready to buy in 1-2 weeks. I'm less concerned about nailing down the price right now so much as looking for some confirmation as to whether or not what I've found already will be sufficient as a decent rig for gaming. Mainly the video card is what I'm questioning. It seems like everything else I'm looking at is fairly middle of the road in terms of today's standards.

 

[Decimus]

I would go read the faq for asking for build advice and come back with that first since it answers a lot of questions you need to answer and are missing. Also it helps to link your parts so we don't have to copy/paste.

As far as the GPU I would go with a 7950 if you are building immediately because at the price point they are hard to beat on sale right now. If you are waiting recommendations are likely to change with the new GPU's coming out.

Also just my opinion but right now that PSU you have linked is a bit overkill IMO. But that will be answered once you answer all the questions using layout in the FAQ.

 

[Knifep1]

Thanks. I don't know why I didn't insert hyperlinks in the first place...

So you're recommending this? Is there a major difference between manufacturers like xfx, msi, and sapphire in terms of reliability, customer service, etc..

I kind of just dropped the PSU in there without doing any math. I figured 750W would cover me now and also any potential additions. There might be another ssd in the near future or additional GPU so I wanted to be sure I'm covered on power.

 

[Dangman]

Noticed in another advice request post from today that people were saying to come back when you were ready to buy in 1-2 weeks. I'm less concerned about nailing down the price right now so much as looking for some confirmation as to whether or not what I've found already will be sufficient as a decent rig for gaming. Mainly the video card is what I'm questioning.

You're not seeing the main reason why we recommend waiting until you're ready to buy in 1-2 weeks: Pricing and availability dictates what parts we recommend. I.e there might be a part we don't recommend due to high pricing but suddently there's a sale on it and now we're recommending it during that time. See why we recommend waiting 1-2 weeks? Pricing and availability can change pretty quickly, especially now that we're the middle of new GPUs release.

So I would highly recommend just coming back when you're 1-2 weeks away from buying the parts to ask for advice then. However, if you don't want the best bang for the buck parts possible or the possiblity that you may overspend or bought an outdated part, let us know now and we'll critique your system.

With that said, the one part that's just bad no matter what is that case: It simply isn't good enough for the parts you're proposing. Nor is it cheap enough to make it a worthwhile purchase to risk using with the parts you've selected. I recommend any of these other cases instead:
$43 - NZXT Source 210 Elite Black ATX Case
$43 - NZXT Source 210 Elite White with Black Front Trim ATX Case
$50 - Corsair Carbide Series 200R ATX Case
$75 - Corsair Carbide Series 300R ATX Case
$90 - Corsair Carbide Series 400R ATX Case
$100 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-001BK White Full Tower ATX Case
$100 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-001WT White Full Tower ATX Case
$110 - Antec 1100 ATX Case
$110 - Corsair Vengeance Series C70 Arctic White ATX Case
$120 - Corsair Vengeance Series C70 Gunmetal Black ATX Case
$125 - Corsair Carbide Series 500R ATX Case
$130 - NZXT Phantom 530 Black Full Tower ATX Case
$144 - Silverstone RV03B-W ATX case
$144 - Silverstone RV03B-WA ATX case
$160 - Corsair Graphite Series 600TM ATX Case
$150 - Corsair Obsidian Series 750D ATX Case
$170 - Corsair Special Edition White Graphite Series 600T ATX Case
$170 - Corsair Obsidian Series 650D ATX Case
$170 - NZXT Phantom 630 Gunmetal Full Tower ATX Case
$170 - NZXT Phantom 630 White Full Tower ATX Case
$230 - Silverstone FT02B-USB3.0 ATX Case
$250 - Silverstone FT02S-W-USB3.0 ATX Case
$245 - Corsair Obsidian Series 800D CC800DW ATX Case

So you're recommending this?

Not a good choice: Way too overpriced since HD 7950s were literally $200 like two weeks ago. Not to mention that the faster HD 7970 3GB costs that much/

Is there a major difference between manufacturers like xfx, msi, and sapphire in terms of reliability, customer service, etc..

Yup there are big differences. Sapphire and HIS tends to be cheaper than most AMD GPU companies but they also have signifcantly shorter warranties and poorer customer support. XFX has a double lifetime warranty on their cards but they have not-so good customer support. Asus, MSI, and Gigabyte have similar warranties but Asus tends to have slightly worse customer support while MSI tends to have quieter GPUs whereas Gigabyte GPUs tends to be cheaper than Asus and MSI.

I kind of just dropped the PSU in there without doing any math. I figured 750W would cover me now and also any potential additions. There might be another ssd in the near future or additional GPU so I wanted to be sure I'm covered on power.

SSDs sip power. You would need like 50 to 70 SSDs to make that 750W PSU kinda worth it. As for the additional GPU, you have to be 100% sure that you're going to go for that second GPU as that will also dictate what case and motherboard you'll need to get. In addtion, the money spent on parts to get ready for that second GPU can easily go towards a faster GPU or a larger/faster SSD or more RAM. For a single GPU config, a 750W PSU is just overkill. You'll be fine with a good quality 550W PSU. A 750W PSU for a single GPU system would only make sense if that 750W PSU was a high-quality PSU that was on sale for not much more or the same price as a good quality 550W PSU.

 

[tiraides]

Which games are you planning on playing? With how much eye candy?

Why do you need eSATA?

Which version/edition of Windows are you using?

Give us specifics (brand, model, age) of the sound card, hard drive(s), and optical drives. You may not be able to reuse all of them.

 

[Knifep1]

I plan on playing BF4, Watch Dogs, and TitanFall to name a few. I'd like to get close to 60fps if possible. Right now, that will look light years ahead of what I currently experience. Most of my friends ask me how I play with the graphics looking the way they do right now. I guess I just don't even notice the poor quality any more which is sad...

I need eSata because I'm A) backing up large amounts of data from video/audio recording sessions so I don't feel like waiting all day for that to happen and B) Sometimes recording to an external drive is easier if I'm working with a client so using eSata is the best option if that's the scenario.

Thought it said at the very bottom of my original post that I'm using Windows 7 64-bit edition.

I'm at work so I don't have specifics on the brand, model, and age of my sound card and current hard drives. I'll have to get that later.

 

[tiraides]

I plan on playing BF4, Watch Dogs, and TitanFall to name a few. I'd like to get close to 60fps if possible. Right now, that will look light years ahead of what I currently experience. Most of my friends ask me how I play with the graphics looking the way they do right now. I guess I just don't even notice the poor quality any more which is sad...

Battlefield 4 is coming in about a week or two. Watch Dogs and TitanFall will arrive in 2014. And you want a video card capable of playing all of them at 60FPS (and with full bells and whistles) now?

Your "bare minimum" video card for that ideal scenario is a 4GB GTX 770. What you'll really need, however, will depend on the benchmarks coming from the commercial version of BF4.

I need eSata because I'm A) backing up large amounts of data from video/audio recording sessions so I don't feel like waiting all day for that to happen and B) Sometimes recording to an external drive is easier if I'm working with a client so using eSata is the best option if that's the scenario.

Are all of your transfer drives external? Are they all using eSATA?

(I know they sound redundant, but they aren't. Some people use internal hard drives for backups and data transfers but they connect them to external HDD docks. Many of the more popular docks use USB 3.0.)

Thought it said at the very bottom of my original post that I'm using Windows 7 64-bit edition.

That doesn't help. Do you have Home Premium, Professional, or Ultimate?

 

[Knifep1]

Battlefield 4 is coming in about a week or two. Watch Dogs and TitanFall will arrive in 2014. And you want a video card capable of playing all of them at 60FPS (and with full bells and whistles) now?

I guess I'm not really sure what you're getting at when you say "Full bells and whistles". Also, shouldn't I be able to try and build something with the expectation of getting good frame rates for games coming out in the near future? Maybe 60FPS is too high? I honestly don't know since my current FPS for any game sucks. What's a reasonable standard these days or considered decent quality? I guess I missed the mark.

Are all of your transfer drives external? Are they all using eSATA?

(I know they sound redundant, but they aren't. Some people use internal hard drives for backups and data transfers but they connect them to external HDD docks. Many of the more popular docks use USB 3.0.)

Several of them would be yes. A lot of times clients will bring in their own drives or have me purchase a drive for their session to be used as a backup or simply to give them all of the material depending on how contracts and rights to material is worked out. Unfortunately I didn't have time last night to dig into the hardware I'd like to reuse so I still have no info on what my internal drives are specifically

That doesn't help. Do you have Home Premium, Professional, or Ultimate?

Home. I know there's differences in features but I didn't know how much architectural differences would effect hardware choices.

 

[Knifep1]

After going over the suggestions so far I think I'd like to pose a few questions on how to proceed.

My plan is to purchase all of this on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. What suggestions do you have as far as how I can work that into this? Do you know deals beforehand that might help me out? Since I'm trying to work that into my build should I just come back later and if so how far in advance would be good to ask again?

A follow up to tiraides, I'd like to play BF4 on ultra high settings and be able to rock ~40-60fps. At the very least I'd like to see BF3 run at 60fps on ultra high settings.

 

[Dangman]

Home. I know there's differences in features but I didn't know how much architectural differences would effect hardware choices.

There are differences that affects hardware choices: Home maxes out at 16GB of RAM whereas Pro can use 32GB or more of RAM.

My plan is to purchase all of this on Black Friday and Cyber Monday. What suggestions do you have as far as how I can work that into this? Do you know deals beforehand that might help me out? Since I'm trying to work that into my build should I just come back later and if so how far in advance would be good to ask again?

There was literally a thread a few days ago where someone asked if it was worth waiting for BF and Cyber Monday. The consensus was a no:
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1787417

So no point in waiting until BF and Cyber Monday to buy parts for your PC. However we generally recommend that you ask for advice 1-2 weeks in advance of your planned purchase date for the most-up-to-date info possible.

A follow up to tiraides, I'd like to play BF4 on ultra high settings and be able to rock ~40-60fps.

Judging from the beta BF4 code, you'll probably have to increase your budget by another $200 or so for that.

 

[Knifep1]

There was literally a thread a few days ago where someone asked if it was worth waiting for BF and Cyber Monday. The consensus was a no:
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1787417

So no point in waiting until BF and Cyber Monday to buy parts for your PC. However we generally recommend that you ask for advice 1-2 weeks in advance of your planned purchase date for the most-up-to-date info possible.

Thanks for pointing this out. I'm going to play the I'm new card and did not see that.

Judging from the beta BF4 code, you'll probably have to increase your budget by another $200 or so for that.

I don't think that would be a problem then.

 

[Knifep1]

Alright so after looking through that post on BF/CM I guess I'm going to bump my build time up to 1-2 weeks instead of waiting so please critique on what I have so far. Thanks for all the help and information already given. Much appreciated from someone who is new here.

 

[tiraides]

Go with the following instead:

$317 - Intel Core i5-4570 and G.Skill RipjawsX 2x8GB DDR3 1600 combo
$75 - MSI B85M-G43
$210 - MSI R7950-3GD5/OC HD 7950 3GB
$159 - Crucial M500 240GB SSD
$65 - Seasonic M12II 620 BRONZE 620W PSU
$43 - NZXT Source 210 Elite
=====
$869 - Subtotal (not including shipping, taxes, or rebates)

In short, you get:
- A much better video card (though prices are starting to creep back up)
- A better deal on the processor and RAM (you'll see no performance difference between the i5-4570 and the i5-4670)
- A cheaper, yet still good PSU
- One of Dangman's superior cases
- Oh, yeah, an SSD

The board doesn't come with eSATA but you could use an adapter bracket to convert an internal SATA port (or two) into an eSATA port.

Are either of your optical drives SATA? If not, you need to spend (less than) $20 for a new SATA DVD burner.

You won't be able to recognize all 16GB of RAM in Windows 7 Home Premium, but Adobe Premiere benefits from having a lot of RAM. You may want to consider "upgrading" to either Windows 7 Professional or Windows 8, but you're paying for the "privilege."

 

[Knifep1]

I like the suggestions but when I click on the link for the CPU/Memory combo it takes me to a CPU/PSU combo.

I'm not so sure how much I like the MOBO suggestion though. If I have to spend the extra money with that one to have access to eSata which I need, why not just spend the extra money for a MOBO that has it as a feature already?

 

[Dangman]

I think Tiraides' meant this combo:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1448780

However, all of the Newegg combos posted so far will expire tomorrow since it's the end of the month. So decide quick.

As for the eSATA, it's just cheaper to get the bracket (it costs around $3 to $6 tops) as the cheapest Intel LGA 1150 motherboard with eSATA costs $128 shipped. Nor is that AsRock motherboard worth the $128 shipped price.

 

[tiraides]

Items are starting to jump up in price: The Seasonic PSU increased to $75 (still a good price IMO) and the HD 7950 is now at $270. Right now, only the white version of the NZXT Source 210 Elite is under $45.

If you want to keep the video card purchase to around $200, the HD 7870 is now the way to go. However, for $250, the GTX 760 is a better value than the HD 7950.

Regarding the eSATA bracket, Syba and StarTech make brackets that support the SATA III (6Gb/s) interface. The cheaper brackets support SATA II (3Gb/s), but I can't confirm their ability to support SATA 6Gb/s.

 

[Knifep1]

Can I get your opinion on THIS mobo? Originally I didn't think I cared if the mobo had two 3.0x16 slots but now I'm changing my mind. Reason being is that the whole reason I'm in this position in the first place is because my mobo is outdated and doesn't support any modern CPU chipsets.

My thought is that if I get a mobo that allows me expansion room in the GPU area, the next time I want to boost performance a bit I can just get another GPU and link them instead of having to rebuild so much. I think all the cards you've recommended so far support xfire bridging. The z87 at $118.99 (after shipping) seems like a really good deal for that board.

 

[Knifep1]

Also, I found the 7950 for $244.99 before shipping and tax. If you google search, SuperBiiz shows up as a Google trusted store so I think I'd be comfortable buying it from them.

 

[Dangman]

Can I get your opinion on THIS mobo? Originally I didn't think I cared if the mobo had two 3.0x16 slots but now I'm changing my mind. Reason being is that the whole reason I'm in this position in the first place is because my mobo is outdated and doesn't support any modern CPU chipsets.

My thought is that if I get a mobo that allows me expansion room in the GPU area, the next time I want to boost performance a bit I can just get another GPU and link them instead of having to rebuild so much. I think all the cards you've recommended so far support xfire bridging. The z87 at $118.99 (after shipping) seems like a really good deal for that board.

Not a good motherboard in terms of reliability or stability. So a definite avoid.

As for your multi-GPU plans, I've seen plenty of people buy multi-GPU capable mobos for that very reason. However by the time they're actually ready to do that second GPU upgrade, it's more cost-effective for them to just buy a new card. From what I've seen, you have about a year at most to do the second GPU upgrade before diminishing returns kicks in and it becomes more cost-effective to get a new GPU altogether. Not to mention that you'll need a better (more expensive as well) case to handle the two GPUs.

Also, I found the 7950 for $244.99 before shipping and tax. If you google search, SuperBiiz shows up as a Google trusted store so I think I'd be comfortable buying it from them.

We don't factor in MIR until they're actually in your hands.So at the upfront cost of $275 shipped, not worth it.

 

[Knifep1]

Based off all of the suggestions and feedback, here's what I think I'd like to go with.

$199 i5-4570 3.2GHZ
$244.99 MSI Radeon HD7950
$114 Asus Z87-K LGA1150
$127 Patriot Viper 3 16GB DDR3 1600
$47.90 USED Seasonic 620w PSU, I'm okay with it being used based off the review.
$45 NZXT Source 210 ELITE Midtower Case
$99 Crucial M500 120GB SATA

Total: $885 b4 shipping on some things and any taxes

I went with a smaller SSD because I checked and the storage capacity I have on my current SATA drives is more than enough so I'll probably just use the SSD for OS and a few games.

 

[Knifep1]

Not a good motherboard in terms of reliability or stability. So a definite avoid.

As for your multi-GPU plans, I've seen plenty of people buy multi-GPU capable mobos for that very reason. However by the time they're actually ready to do that second GPU upgrade, it's more cost-effective for them to just buy a new card. From what I've seen, you have about a year at most to do the second GPU upgrade before diminishing returns kicks in and it becomes more cost-effective to get a new GPU altogether. Not to mention that you'll need a better (more expensive as well) case to handle the two GPUs.

We don't factor in MIR until they're actually in your hands.So at the upfront cost of $275 shipped, not worth it.

Crap, I posted my recap and prices before I saw your new post. Back to the drawing board lol.

 

[Knifep1]

Well, my current computer apparently sensed I was going to replace and and crashed tonight. Looks like I'll be buying everything I need in the next day or two.

 

[tiraides]

Based off all of the suggestions and feedback, here's what I think I'd like to go with. [...]

Rethink your build a bit....

If you're looking at used parts, you need to find a used HD 7950 as well. New 7950s are being priced closer to $300 than $200. Hell, for $300, you might as well look for a used HD 7970.

Keep the 240GB Crucial M500. SSDs slow down in performance the closer they get to full capacity. With the 240GB SSD, you can install Windows, a few games, and all of your most frequently used programs without any fear of performance loss. You're only paying $60 more for double the capacity.

Since you're not overclocking, you don't really need DDR3 1600 or faster RAM. You could save some money by going with DDR3 1333 RAM, or even 8GB instead of 16GB. (None of the BF4 post-release benchmarks I've seen so far suggest that you need more than 8GB of RAM to play this game well.)

Don't get the Asus Z87-K. Nothing on that board stands out as an improvement over the MSI B85M-G43 that I recommended earlier. Stick with the MSI board and grab a cheap eSATA bracket. (Use the bracket with the SATA 3Gb/s ports; none of the hard drives will use the full bandwidth available.)

If you're not looking for a good NewEgg combo deal, take advantage of the promotion code NewEgg gave the i5-4570. You'd probably save more money that way.

What are you considering now?

 

[Dangman]

$47.90 USED Seasonic 620w PSU, I'm okay with it being used based off the review.

THis would have been barely a good deal had it actually been $47.90 shipped. However, it has an $8 shipping charge that bumps it to $56 shipped. At that price, I can't recommend buying used for this.

 

[tiraides]

New month, new deals. Go with the following instead:

$190 - Intel Core i5-4570 (includes $10 discount promo code EMCWXVL33, ends 11/4)
$75 - MSI B85M-G43
$120 - Crucial Ballistix Sport 2x8GB DDR3 1333 kit
$300 - MSI R7970 TF 3GD5/OC BE HD 7970 3GB
$159 - Crucial M500 240GB SSD
$4 - Kingwin eSATA bracket
$60 - Seasonic M12II 620 Bronze 620W PSU (includes $20 discount promo code NVEXCLS39, ends 11/4)
$43 - NZXT Source 210 Elite
=====
$951 - Subtotal (not including shipping, taxes, or rebates)

The i5-4570 and the Seasonic M12II power supply are both on sale this weekend. The MSI HD 7970 is also on sale, but I don't know how long that will last.

The only significant change I made (compared to my earlier build) was to the RAM, but again, you don't need DDR3 1600 RAM.

 

[Knifep1]

New month, new deals. Go with the following instead:

$75 - MSI B85M-G43

$300 - MSI R7970 TF 3GD5/OC BE HD 7970 3GB

Two questions.

What is it about the Asus board I looked that exactly makes it not a good board and unstable? I'm not asking because I don't want to go with your recommendation but for my own sake in the future I'm interested in knowing what makes that board unstable or not a good choice unless the only difference in decision is the cost benefit of this one.

Reading a lot of the reviews on Newegg about the MSI GPU, many people seemed to indicate it had issues with running fairly hot and being extremely noisy. Should I really be too concerned about those two issues or do you think some of that is overblown. I understand a higher end GPU is going to be noisy since it needs more cooling but some of the reviews indicated it was still running pretty hot with fans at 100%.

Thank you by the way for all of your work and recommendations. I'm definitely buying the CPU this weekend since it's got that $10 promo code

 

[Knifep1]

I just looked and found a deal on the same memory but in 1600.

$60 per stick. $20 discount promo code. Might as well go with this since it'd be the same price buying two as the 1333 kit.

 

[Dangman]

What is it about the Asus board I looked that exactly makes it not a good board and unstable? I'm not asking because I don't want to go with your recommendation but for my own sake in the future I'm interested in knowing what makes that board unstable or not a good choice unless the only difference in decision is the cost benefit of this one.

Well for one thing, you're not overclocking. Therefore the chief advantage (and therefore higher costs) of the Z87 chipset over the B85 chipset, is useless to you. Second, it does not come with free shipping so its shipped price is around $120 to $123. That's too much for that mobo considering how many bad reviews it has on Newegg. Which is the the third item: The number of bad reviews of that mobo.

So not much reason to go with that motherboard with those three issues in mind.

Reading a lot of the reviews on Newegg about the MSI GPU, many people seemed to indicate it had issues with running fairly hot and being extremely noisy. Should I really be too concerned about those two issues or do you think some of that is overblown. I understand a higher end GPU is going to be noisy since it needs more cooling but some of the reviews indicated it was still running pretty hot with fans at 100%.

Overblown.

I just looked and found a deal on the same memory but in 1600.

$60 per stick. $20 discount promo code. Might as well go with this since it'd be the same price buying two as the 1333 kit.

Good deal. BUt you'll probably only be able to use the promo code on just one of those sticks.

 

[tiraides]

What is it about the Asus board I looked that exactly makes it not a good board and unstable? I'm not asking because I don't want to go with your recommendation but for my own sake in the future I'm interested in knowing what makes that board unstable or not a good choice unless the only difference in decision is the cost benefit of this one.

Cost is one consideration, but your particular needs are another. Specs-wise, the Asus Z87-K is the better board, with its six SATA 6Gb/s ports (the MSI B85M-G43 has four), its onboard RAID controller, and its ability to overclock K processors. But you said that you aren't overclocking and you gave us no indication that you needed RAID. Plus, not all of your storage drives need SATA 6Gb/s; your hard drive wouldn't even use half of the available bandwidth.

That was what led me to pick out the B85M-G43 for you. The money I didn't "spend" on the Z87-K went towards the video card.

Reading a lot of the reviews on Newegg about the MSI GPU, many people seemed to indicate it had issues with running fairly hot and being extremely noisy. Should I really be too concerned about those two issues or do you think some of that is overblown. I understand a higher end GPU is going to be noisy since it needs more cooling but some of the reviews indicated it was still running pretty hot with fans at 100%.

The whine is a considerable concern, but (IMO) most of the negative reviews are similar to what was posted for other cards, regardless of how "popular" they were.

If you want an alternate, I found a different version of the HD 7970 for under $300:

$299 - XFX Double D FX797ATDJC HD 7970

The amount of NewEgg reviews it has is similar to the MSI card.

I just looked and found a deal on the same memory but in 1600.

$60 per stick. $20 discount promo code. Might as well go with this since it'd be the same price buying two as the 1333 kit.

The good news: The promo code "stacks," so the discount will be applied to each stick.

The bad news: You still get no performance benefit over the DDR3 1333 kit. You're not overclocking, so there's no good reason for you to get the faster RAM. Plus, the RAM runs at DDR3 1333 speeds by default. You have to manually adjust the speed to 1600, but again....

Since you're paying the same, go ahead and pick whichever RAM kit that makes you happy.

But there is a method to my madness.