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First Time Build, Need Help.

A

amakrida

n00b
Joined
Aug 23, 2012
Messages
12
Hello I am new to the world of building computers and was wondering if you fine gentlemen could help me out by giving me your excellent advice. I have never built a computer before and am excited at the prospect of it. Not looking to build the greatest rig in the world but a decent one. I've been using a compaq with a pentium D 1.6ghz, 2gb of ram, and a Radeon HD 2600 for about the past 5 years so anything is an upgrade at this point. First lets answer the required questions:

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc

I will use this computer for web browsing, watching videos, and gaming mostly. I'm looking into getting into Photoshop a little as well, not sure how that changes the system.


2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?

My Budget is under 1000$ (US) including tax and shipping.

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


I live in Indiana, in the good 'ol US of A.

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.

I need a power supply, graphics card, SSD, memory, HDD, cooling solution, optical drives.

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.

Won't be reusing any parts but I have already purchased my CPU, mobo, and case.

6) Will you be overclocking?

Not at first, may look into it in the future.

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

I'm using a AOC led tv as my monitor. I believe its 25" and the max resolution is 1920x1080. Will look into upgrading this in the future, hopefully to a 2 or 3 screen set up.

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

Within the next 2-3 weeks. Was planning on pulling the trigger on the psu or ssd I was looking at in the next day or 2 because of their prices on newegg currently.

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.

Have already puchased this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131837&Tpk=p8z77-v%20lk.

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

Yes I do. Purchased it through school, I believe its professional 64 bit. Not 100% sure but if its not I can purchase it through my university for around 30$.





Alright, that takes care of that. Now I have picked out some things based on what I've read/researched and would like you gentlemen to critique that as I defer to your knowledge/experience which is far greater then mine.

I have already purchased the above mentioned motherboard and a intel i5-3570kk processor. (I happened to be in Chicago near a Microcenter). I also have the Corsair 500r as my case that I've already purchased.

The following is what I've been looking at:

GPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127696
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233246
PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139030
Cooler: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181017
SSD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233206
HDD:http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136891
Optical Drives: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204 and http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136250

With 2 day shipping currently on Newegg that puts me right at $992.36. I understand that prices are subject to change the longer I wait.

My main questions are about compatibility. Will all of these components work together? Is the psu strong enough to run everything? Would that psu be able to run that video card in SLI if I chose to go that route later on? Are any of these components/companies complete garbage and I should stay away from them? Any advice will help immensely, again I defer to your wisdom.

Thanks for the time gents!
 
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amakrida said:
Will all of these components work together? Is the psu strong enough to run everything? Would that psu be able to run that video card in SLI if I chose to go that route later on? Are any of these components/companies complete garbage and I should stay away from them?
Click to expand...

Yes
Yes
Yes
No

imo, I'd choose the samsung 830 over the corsair force for ssd and recommend 256GB instead. $100 isn't a great price for a 128gb corsair ssd.
Both Crucial M4 and Samsung 830 128gb drives have gone on sale for $80-$90 in the past few weeks. I just snagged a 128gb crucial m4 for $75 shipped.

256GB samsung 830 usually go on sale for ~$180. Sandisk Extreme 240GB drives have been between $130 and $160 for the past 2 months when on sale. They're top of the line performance too.

What case are you using?
Also, the Radeon 7950 is a better choice at $300 imo, unless you're planning on purchasing Borderlands 2 and don't want to purchase Sleeping Dogs
That's the boat i'm in, which would make the 660Ti a better choice. The 7950 is faster than 660Ti at stock and OC'd vs. OC'd.
 
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Thank you for the reply. In terms of case I have purchased a Corsair 500r http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139010.

In terms of SSDs, I really am at a loss on what constitutes a good company/drive. At first I was looking at OCZ drives as they're inexpensive, but, as with anything in life it became apparent that you get what you pay for. From the reviews I read of their products the seemed to have a high fail %. So I chose Corsair because from everything read they seem to make quality products and the price of that drive was cheap as I'm looking for a 120/128gb drive. That's all the more capacity I'd need for now, would look into getting another in the future. What makes one brand better then the other? Are Samsung/Crucial drives faster? Or just more reliable? Would something like this be a good choice? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148529

Regarding GPUs, I was just told be friends to avoid AMD. That Nvidia cards are a better product? I have little experience in this realm. The only gpu I've ever bought was my Radeon 2600 HD like 5 years ago. It was made by Visiontek and finally the fan crapped out on me a few months ago. Would their be a HUGE leap in performance from the 660 to the 7950? So much so that it would be foolish to buy the 660? The fact that it comes with Borderlands is a nice bonus but I don't want to make the choice based on that if the other card is head and shoulders above the 660.

I also never mentioned peripherals. I have a monitor, keyboard, mouse, headphones, and speakers. None of which are the greatest, but for now they'll do the job until I can upgrade them in the future.

Thanks again.
 
amakrida said:
Regarding GPUs, I was just told be friends to avoid AMD. That Nvidia cards are a better product?
Click to expand...

There are a few die hard fans for each brand everywhere, including this forum. You can dismiss any "advice" from somebody who tells you to avoid AMD video cards. It's bias at best.
That said, if I were purchasing today, it is an extremely difficult choice because the Geforce 660Ti comes with Borderlands 2. That is a $40 value to me. The performance is within a stone's throw of a Radeon 7950. Overclocked 7950 vs, overclocked 660Ti, the Radeon 7950 is faster by a decent amount (check the [H] review on the front page). If the 660Ti were priced at $260 or less and still included Borderlands 2, I'd buy that one.

AMD has also announced and will be offering a free voucher for the PC game "Sleeping Dogs" which many folks are excited about. I'm not interested in playing Sleeping Dogs at all. One could always sell their game key for $30-$40 and pocket the difference or buy Borderlands 2.

The 7950 is faster at higher resolutions. If you have a 2560x1440 or eyefinity / surround setup, the 7950 is the better choice. Even with a single 1920x1080, the 7950 is faster. Really the only compelling argument for the 660Ti is Borderlands 2. Geforce cards are also faster with the Batman games and have PhysX.

Some guys are extremely adament about nVidia's drivers being better.
I recall a few instances where nVidia drivers caused problems and caused some cards to fry because of increased fan speeds. I also had problems with nVidia hardware due to their use of lead-free solder back on their mobile series chips that caused 2 of my laptops to fail. Read reports on people "baking" their geforce card to bring it back to life if you're curious.

So the argument of "better drivers" really doesn't hold water in my book. AMD cards have presented better value for the Radeon 48xx, 58xx and 69xx series cards. They released the 79xx series cards at a much higher pricepoint and many folks were disappointed including myself because the previous generations were competitive with much higher priced Geforce cards.

Due to the recent AMD announcement for price drops, this places the 78xx and 79xx series cards back into the bang-for-the-buck category. Had they maintained their original pricing for the 7950 at $400 or even their initial price drop to $350, I would have purchased a 660Ti if it were available with Borderlands 2 at $300. However, AMD has corrected this and made the 7950 extremely enticing for the performance at $300, with overclocked card performance comparable to the $500 Geforce 680.

That is hard to ignore, even for die-hard nVidia fans.

As for solid state drives....

Crucial and Samsung have been the leaders for reliability and performance for the past 2 years (samsung for only the past year). Intel drives have always been extremely reliable, but some question Intel's use of a Sandforce controller in their 330 series.

OCZ is shunned by many. I would not use an OCZ drive for my main system. I have had an OCZ ssd in another less used computer for the past 2 years without problems.

I would not hesitate to buy a Plextor M3 drive from the reliability and performance aspect. However, they fail miserably on the price. Their M5s drive replaces the memory with cheaper memory and is a little slower.

The Corsair Force ssds and Kingston HyperX use the same Sandforce controller that Intel uses in their 330 drive and Sandisk Extreme ssd. It's a fast controller. Many folks have had problems with previous generation sandforce controllers which is largely due to inadequate testing and drivers. Sandforce controllers have usually been very competitive offering the fastest performance without the Intel price premium.

The samsung 830 uses samsung's own controller and it is considered reliable and it is fast.
Crucial M4 uses the Marvell controller (same as Plextor) and is also very reliable.

Read some reviews. Really, it boils down to price. But I wouldn't hesitate to purchase a Samsung 830, Crucial M4, Plextor M3, Intel 520, Intel 330, Corsair Force, Kingston HyperX or Sandisk Extreme if the price is right. They're all reliable and fast. Lately the Sandisk Extreme drive has been the best value with the 240GB model going on sale for $160 and as low as $130 or $100 from staples.com. (That was a killer deal and I bought a second drive for $130 without staples rewards just 2 weeks after I bought one for $160).

The Plextor M3 Pro is the newest SSD on the market to use Toshiba 24nm Toggle Mode flash. The SanDisk Extreme uses the same flash, made at the same factory, but sporting a SanDisk badge. These two drives, the SanDisk Extreme and the Plextor M3 Pro are the hottest new SSDs on the market, with the fastest flash available.
Click to expand...

StorageReview.com Review
Overall we were very impressed by the performance of the SanDisk Extreme SSD. It didn't offer the fastest performance in every category, but it was able to snag the top spot in plenty of our tests. To come in with that level of performance just as the SandForce market was starting mature is impressive to say the least.
Click to expand...

Tweaktown review
Even without TRIM, the SanDisk Extreme was a good performer, but with TRIM working, we can say that this is the not only the highest performing SandForce drive on the market, but this is the highest performing consumer SSD regardless of controller.
Click to expand...
 
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First of all, I want to make it clear that the Radeon 7950 and the Nvidia GTX660Ti are both excellent cards. The Radeon 7950 and the 660Ti come in at identical price points, but the 7950 is overall around 20% faster in most games. Is it "head and shoulders" above the GTX660Ti? In some games, yes, in others, the 7950 actually falls behind the 660Ti. The only real reason to buy the 660Ti over the 7950 is if Borderlands 2 is important to you. If it's not, then the 7950 would be my choice. Here are some benchmark results found on Tom's Hardware.

Crysis 2 DX11 Ultra settings 1920x1080 Resolution
Radeon 7950: Avg FPS: 64.7
GTX 660Ti: Avg FPS: 58.7

On Battlefield 3, you will note an interesting result:
1920x1080 Ultra 16x AF 4x AA
Radeon 7950: Avg FPS: 46.4
GTX 660Ti: Avg FPS: 49.5

Metro 2033 1920x1080 High settings, 4X MSAA 16x AF PhysX/DOF disabled.
Radeon 7950: Avg FPS: 60.4
GTX 660Ti: 52.1

In short: In most games, the 7950 will be a better card, but the 660Ti is still a serious player at that price point. If Borderlands 2 is important to you and you're planning on buying it anyway, then I would choose the 660Ti. If Borderlands 2 isn't that important, then I would choose the 7950 because it is overall a more powerful card than the 660Ti, in my humble opinion.
 
I appreciate the very detailed post a lot. I apologize for coming off as ignorant (which I am), Your post has helped a lot. Thank you.

I am definitely leaning towards the 7950 now. I'm going to look into that a lot further. I assumed that people were just being biased, but I gave them the benefit of the doubt that they knew what they were talking about. Borderlands would be nice to have, but I wasn't planning on buying before I saw it was included with the 660's, it was just a perk. Wasn't planning on playing Batman either. Main games I will be playing are WoW, GW2, minecraft, CS:Go, Day Z, and whatever other mmo's come out that catch my fancy. I've been playing WoW since vanilla with my current rig and am use to playing with all the video settings on the lowest the go. It'd be nice to play at the high settings on most of these games. So I guess the AMD card is a better buy as I didn't plan on playing Borderlands anyway.

SSDwise I guess I'll look into getting a 'good' brand decently priced!

How do the rest of the components I mentioned look? Is the motherboard I purchased adequate?

Again I appreciate the responses fellas!

*EDIT*

Quick side question about GPU's. Which manufacturer produces the 'best' card? Asus, MSI, Gigabyte, XFX, Visontek, etc? Are they all on par with one another? Which is the 'best' 7950 out there in everyone's opinion? I will continue to research. Thanks!
 
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If you're planning to overclock the 7950, purchase one with a good heatsink.
I would avoid Visiontek.
My only other advice is to wait a few more days until you see the cards with the "Free Sleeping Dogs" game. They should crop up here anytime, but the offer expires on Aug 31 or when they run out of keys.
http://sites.amd.com/us/promo/graphics/Pages/sleeping-dogs-terms-and-conditions.aspx
http://www.techspot.com/news/49855-...f-radeon-price-cuts-sleeping-dogs-bundle.html


I've not heard good things about Asus RMA experiences over the years.
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1713025
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1699092
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1707888
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1708613
...and 99+ other examples when you use the forum search.

one lucky dude:
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1700368

Take it with a grain of salt (or shaker) and know that people are more likely to create a thread whining about their terrible RMA experience than their good RMA experience.


Some folks are claiming that XFX service has gone way downhill as well. Gigabyte RMA is ????

I guess I've been lucky and haven't had to RMA a video card since my EVGA cards.
I have an MSI now and have a HIS brand. I think MSI may have the best (fewest complaints) for RMA on video cards lately.

I haven't noticed many complaining about HIS or Sapphire though either.
 
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