Opinions on new build

[mtl8]

I'm looking to build a new computer. I would welcome opinions / suggestions on this build.The PC will be used for Gaming, Photoshop and video editing.

EVGA SuperClocked 02G-P4-2662-KR GeForce GTX 660 2GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-1600C9Q-32GXM

Crucial M4 CT064M4SSD1 2.5" 64GB SATA III MLC 7mm Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

Corsair Vengeance Series C70 Gunmetal Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

CORSAIR TX Series CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V v2.3 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80
PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply

ASUS P9X79 PRO ATX Intel Motherboard with USB BIOS

Intel Core i7-3820 Sandy Bridge-E 3.6GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 2011 130W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80619i73820

Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-bit - OEM or Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-bit - OEM

Intel RTS2011AC CPU Cooler

Pioneer Black 15X BD-R 2X BD-RE 16X DVD+R 12X BD-ROM 4MB Cache SATA 15X Internal Blu-ray Burner BDR-208DBK

 

[Dangman]

Please answer the stickied "ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS FIRST!" so that we can help you better.

In addition to those ten questions, here are some additional questions:
11) Just how extensive is your photoshop use?
12) Just how extensive is your video editing use?
13) What applications are you using for video editing?

 

[conghelach]

I'm looking to build a new computer. I would welcome opinions / suggestions on this build.The PC will be used for Gaming, Photoshop and video editing.

EVGA SuperClocked 02G-P4-2662-KR GeForce GTX 660 2GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-1600C9Q-32GXM

Crucial M4 CT064M4SSD1 2.5" 64GB SATA III MLC 7mm Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

Corsair Vengeance Series C70 Gunmetal Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

CORSAIR TX Series CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V v2.3 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80
PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply

ASUS P9X79 PRO ATX Intel Motherboard with USB BIOS

Intel Core i7-3820 Sandy Bridge-E 3.6GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 2011 130W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80619i73820

Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-bit - OEM or Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 64-bit - OEM

Intel RTS2011AC CPU Cooler

Pioneer Black 15X BD-R 2X BD-RE 16X DVD+R 12X BD-ROM 4MB Cache SATA 15X Internal Blu-ray Burner BDR-208DBK

Well first off congratulations!! Its a great time when you get to upgrade an entire system.
Youve got some interesting items picked so here is my two cents:

First off Sandy Bridge and 2011?? Why?? Thats a quad core processor that costs 299, for 229 you could have the ivybridge I7 3770K which will perform slightly better for seventy bucks less and the 2011 platform is also dead. Benchmarks do not show hardly any improvement over socket 1155 boards and cpu's with perhaps one or two memory intensive applications that people rarely use.
If Sandy Bridge were cheaper I would say go for it but it's not and it doesnt offer any performance advantages over IvyBridge, therefore it makes no sense and its extra expense that could be used elswhere like on your video card OR even better spend that seventy bucks towards a really good power supply.

Second: CPU HEATSINK, do not use the intel heatsink included with processors, you want a good heatsink and I recommend the Coolermaster Gemini 2 (c type cooler) or the Noctua NHC12P or whatever their newer c type cooler is called. Now interestingly enough I have three Noctuas at home that I bought on clearance for 25 bucks each which was a steal as these coolers usually run you about 75 bucks. When I upgraded my amd system to an intel i7 ivybridge platform I found that my noctuas did not have adapters for socket 1155 I would have to order some. I didnt want to wait so I went to a local micro center and found the coolermaster gemini 2 which was 1155 compatible and used that. This cooler is a bit smaller and my expectations were not high but at 39 bucks it was fairly cheap where heatsinks go and surprisingly has worked well I get idle temps of 27-33 celsius and load temps have never gone above 60 celsius which is quite good on air cooling to be certain. Thats with a cougar 70 cfm fan blowing down on the heatsink.

Third up is MEMORY: g skill makes some good memory but 32 gigs? really? 16 gigs of memory is plenty, I imagine that 2011 platform has got you drooling for 32 gigs of memory but is it really necessary? Honestly I doubt it very much as 16 gigs is very very generous, corsair xms, g skill ripjaws, kingston hyper x, one think I dont like about ripjaws is the extended heatsink which can be problematic with a heatsink so I prefer memory with standard sized heatsinks plus with a c type heatsink on your cpu, that fan will also be blowing down and cooling your memory as well as your cpu especially if you were to use the coolermaster gemini 2 heatsink ( one of the reasons I prefer c type heatsinks over the larger, taller and much heavier heatsinks designed to have the fan blowin out of the case towards an exhaust fan). There are socket 1155 motherboards that offer quad channel memory too. I would only go with 16 gigs of ram and pocket another hundred bucks savings to use elswhere.

Soo far imho, youve spent roughly 170 bucks too much.


FOURTH and next up lets talk about your video card selection: nvidia 660 is a good card, I would go with a 660ti card and while evga makes good graphics cards I would not select that one and here's why, the axial cooling fan. These reference cooling solutions with standard axial type fans DO NOT do a very good job of cooling the graphics card and they are noisy. Gigabyte offers a 660ti card in the same price range with a very nice aftermarket cooling solution with beefy heatsinks, heatpipes and most importantly, two standard type fans that cool better and run much quieter. Gigabyte also uses a very good board with solid caps, 4phase power, additional copper in the pcb of the card which is also more rigid as compared to other cards. The gigabyte 660ti can be bought for around 229 as i recall at micro center or newegg and will run tremendously cooler and quieter than most of evga's cards. I WOULD NOT buy a card because its superclocked, its easy enough to overclock the card on your own no sense paying extra for that and a 660ti will offer a higher clock as well and probably for less money than a superclocked evga card. MSI ans ASUS also offer these cards with superior cooling however I feel the gigabyte is much better built and there have been some complaints about the asus cards.

Next up FIFTH ITEM: the corsair m4 ssd drive, im assuming you plan on installing just the operating system on this drive and using a mechanical hard drive for mass storage and games etc. I would recommend a 128 gig drive that way you can install a few of your favorite games on the SSD as well. As for WHICH SSD TO USE??? well i think plextor is better than crucial, there are several good brands to use, I would say do some research here based on which motherboard you choose and how well the controller on the SSD will play with the SATA controllers on your motherboard can make a big difference as to which SSD drive will work best for your build. Make sure you read up on SSD drives as there are things you need to know for example no defragmenting which will harm an SSD and indexing is also no good for SSD so you will need to disable these functions for your drive in windows. Once you have finalized a motherboard choice you can finalize an SSD choice based on the controllers being used. Again what is good for some may not be good for others depending on which sata controllers your motherboard is using.

Sixth up your case: Corsair vengeance, this seems like a pretty standard atx mid tower, straightforward case, for cases I like to get ones that have two front fans, one or two side fans that can blow into the case onto the graphics card and motherboard and at least one rear fan and option for top fans though I generally dont use a top fan the ventilation will help dissipate heat rising from inside the case. Other options here are the coolermaster scout2 case, the corsair obsidian models 400 500 and 600. I like cases that you can remove the middle drive cage which permits more direct airflow coming in from the front of the case and with the removal of that middle cage you also get more room for your graphics card and while the 660 series cards are not that long, your next card could be longer so this is a feature I would call a must have in a mid tower atx case: the ability to remove the middle drive cage. This still leaves plenty of room in the upper bays and lower drive cage for additional hard drives so that is not an issue. I would recommend if you live near a micro center or frys or some other computer shop that has these cases on display to go and check them out to see them in person and see if they really meet your needs and also be thinking about future needs, a good case selection can last you through several builds, make sure your new case has usb 3.0 ports on the front as well. IF you dont have a shop nearby you can always surf youtube for indepth looks at specific cases and often some with builds put inside them to give you an idea if thats what you really want.

NEXT UP POWER SUPPLY: ONE OF THE MOST CRUCIAL AND OFTEN OVERLOOKED PARTS OF ANY GOOD BUILD.
For powersupplies I recommend SEASONIC or brands that are using SEASONIC. Now its my undertstanding that only SOME of the corsairs tx line use seasonic and those are the version 2 units, the version one are CWT units and not as good. 750 watts is fine for what you have listed in your hardware choices but I would consider an 850 watt unit IF you plan on using multiple monitors and multiple graphics cards at some point either now or down the road. An sli configuration can run you 46 to 60 amps on the 12v rail of a PSU depending upon the card so if you plan on more than one graphics card I would consider an 850 watt and recommend the corsair AX 850watt modular power supply, its gold rated and runs around 169 dollars and a very good performing unit. See johhnyguru.com and hardwaresecrets.com to check power supplies and who's hardware is actually inside them. Corsairs AX series uses Seasonic and I believe the HX series does as well. Bear in mind that whatever power supply you buy it isnt going to run the wattage its rated for it just means thats the wattage its rated to deliver if you need it. An 850 watt will future proof your build and offer greater flexibility, more amps to the 12v rail for future gpu upgrades etc.
and really wont cost alot more than a 750 watt so why not? Theres where some of that money you over spent earlier can come in to play as well. Ive had a corsair AX850 running for a few years now and very satisfied with it. You can also purchase a SEASONIC brand which is the same hardware with possibly a better, longer lasting cooling fan. These units run quiet and Ive had no coil whine issues that some complain of. Another advantage to corsair and seasonic brand is that the cables are always long enough without being too long or too short for your build. Some others like antec tend to be very short. If you never plan on using multi monitors and there fore do not need multiple graphics cards then a 750 will do you just fine but make sure its got good hardware and I recommend that hardware to be seasonic. you can check those websites for detailed reviews of most popular power supplies and again, keep in mind cable length can be shorter on other brands i have not mentioned.


NEXT UP MOTHERBOARD: Since I am recommending a socket 1155 system I would recommend something from either Asus or GIGABYTE, an asus pro or saber tooth and on the gigabyte side a sniper or z77x udh5 board which is what I am using, this board was only 179 dollars and sli capable, has TWO ethernet ports and high quality components. You cant go wrong with a good asus or gigabyte board, that said its not necessary and overkill to buy one that costs more than their offerings in the 150 to 250 dollar range and when I say that I am referrring to actual cost and not retail cost. Asus pro and deluxe often offer the same high quality components as say a maximus or sabre tooth board on the gigabyte side the ud5h offers everything that a sniper or more expensive board would offer. Higher end boards will offer quad channel though again benchmarks dont show any justification for the additional expense. Stop by newegg.com and check prices, stop by review sites and youtube for complete reviews and videos regarding these boards to help make your decision but again I would stress that often times once you get past that 150 to 250 dollar actual price your throwing away money. Asus and Gigabyte are the best motherboard manufacturers so you cant go wrong with either one and they are the ONLY two companies that I would recommend for a motherboard. Do not buy a mother board based on its bling or colors, you wont be spending any time gawking at them anyhow even if your case does have a window.

Windows7 is a good choice, windows 8 is well.....annoying. I am using windows8 but bought some when it was only 60 bucks, now its 199 dollars and doesnt really offer much over 7. As for the metro interface on 8, I hardly ever find myself using it as I am always on the desktop side of things. Its kind of an operating system with two faces so good choice there.

FINALLY lets talk about CASE FANS, another highly overlooked part of your build.
I recommend 120mm case fans that use either HYRDROWAVE bearings or FLUID DYNAMIC bearings, my recent upgrade has included the new Cougar fans which are fluid dynamic have a good cfm rating an very low db rating. These type of bearings make the fans longer lasting and very quite and reliable well worth any extra expense. Do not use the fans that come with a computer case as they are just cheap fans with low cfm and often sleeve bearings which means they squeal like a cheap hooker. I recommend fans with the bearings mentioned already with a cfm rating of at least 60 to 70 cfm and fans with a db rating of less than 26. Those cougar fans are rated at 18 db which is very quiet considering the good cfm rating they have. Important considerations here are cfm rating, db rating and bearing type. The fluid dynamic/ hydrowave bearings are very quite very reliable work much better than sleever bearings or standard ball bearings.

ALMOST FORGOT COOLING PASTE: the thermal compound you will need to place on your cpu to interface with the heatsink. For this I HIGHLY RECOMMEND the IC7 diamond paste, it is a VERY good paste that doesnt dry out and does not need to be replaced every couple of years unlike other pastes. It also offers very good transfer of heat from the cpu to the heatsink as compared to silver pastes, standard silicon etc. and is also non electrically conductive. you only need a small amount applied to the CENTER of the cpu, less than a pea sized drop for intel processors, press the heatsink down rub it around a bit and ultimately the pressure applied once the heatsink is fastened will smooth it out, spreading out the thermal paste by hand will create air bubbles and a poor mating between the cpu surface and the heatsink surface. With the IC7 its best to warm the tube up in a glass of microwaved hot water/no boiling, for a few minutes to make the paste easier to dispense and work with.