Putting together a gaming rig after quite a while

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xbonez

Limp Gawd
Joined
Nov 12, 2010
Messages
274
I've built plenty of gaming systems in the past, but I've been pretty much out of the picture the past couple of years because of college. Now that I'm done with that, I really want to get back into gaming, and I've specced out this system.

Any inputs would be greatly appreciated. As I said, I haven't been following the latest and greatest, and so I don't have much confidence in my picks.

The purpose of this PC is gaming, and gaming only. My monitor is a 27" 1920x1080.

For the parts below, I'm looking to stick around $1,200 or below. If you guys have any suggestions for replacements while sticking to the budget, please let me know.

CPU
Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz - $220

Motherboard
MSI Z77A-GD65 Gaming LGA 1155 Intel Z77 - $180

PSU
Corsair HX850 850W Modular - $160

RAM
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 1600Mhz CL8 - $80

Video Card
EVGA 770GTX - $400

Case
Corsair 600T - $150

Current total is $1,190.


Asking for Build Help Questions

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

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
1200 (Tax and shipping not incl.)

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

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.
CPU, Motherboard, RAM, PSU, Video card, Case

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
LG Blu-ray Drive, 2x1 TB Western Digital Black

6) Will you be overclocking?
Not until I upgrade the CPU HSF.

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
27", 1920x1080

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
I'll be ordering parts in the next 7-14 days

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.
SLI is the only thing I really need. Don't care about RAID, Firewire, USB 3.0 etc.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Windows 8 64-bit
 
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Please answer the stickied "ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS FIRST!" so that we can help you better.

Though off the bat, you should be looking at a Haswell based setup, not an Ivy Bridge setup.
 
xbonez said:
Regarding Haswell, would this CPU be a better pick? Intel Core i5-4670K Haswell 3.4GHz LGA 1150
Click to expand...

Yes.

You wouldn't happen to live near a Microcenter, would you? Also, your answer to question 5 shows that you're not reusing any parts. Does that mean that you need a hard drive and DVD drive for that $1200 as well? You didn't mention either of those parts in your answer to question 4.
 
Unfortunately, no. All of my purchases will have to be online.

Regarding the HDD and DVD Drive, I've already decided on those, so I skipped those. I suppose I should add them under Q5. But no, they're not included in the $1200 budget.
 
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I used to run the same config in RAID 0 in my previous system and had a very good experience - incredible speeds, and never any issues with reliability.
 
xbonez said:
I used to run the same config in RAID 0 in my previous system and had a very good experience - incredible speeds, and never any issues with reliability.
Click to expand...

The problem is that it's basically not the best setup for maximum performance these days. Here's what I recommend instead:
$99 - Samsung 840 120GB SSD
$92 - Seagate Barracuda ST2000DM001 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s Hard Drive

The above setup will be far far more responsive and faster than your planned RAID 0 setup. You keep the OS and a few games on the SSD and the rest of your data on the 2TB drive. Yes it is a bit more complicated but it provides the best performance possible for a decent price.

As for the rest of the setup, here's what I recommend instead:
$350 - Intel Core i5-4670K + Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD4H Intel Z87 Motherboard Newegg Combo
$59 - Corsair CMX8GX3M1A1333C9 8GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$410 - eVGA 02G-P4-2773-KR GTX 770 2GB PCI-E Video Card
$120 - Corsair HX750 750W Modular PSU
$154 - Corsair Special Edition White Graphite Series 600T ATX Case
$84 - Corsair Hydro H80i Liquid Cooling System
---
Total: $1177 plus tax.

You now get a faster CPU and a more up-to-date motherboard. Don't worry about the RAM: You won't notice any difference whatsoever between the RAM above and the RAM you chose unless you plan running nothing but synthetic benchmarks all day. Even with your plans for overclocking and SLI, a solid 750W PSU is more than enough for your planned setup. With the savings from the Newegg Combo, cheaper RAM, and cheaper PSU, I was able to fit in a liquid all-in-one cooler. Considering your plans on overclocking, I highly recommend getting that H80i for the best cooling possible at a reasonable price. Especially if you live in the hotter parts of California.
 
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First of all, thank you for taking the time to put together that build.

I'm definitely not sold on the RAID 0, so I will consider your suggestion of SSD + HDD.

As for the rest, that definitely looks like a really nice build. I wasn't able to fit a cooler into my build at my budget and had to shelf it for later. I've used the H60 in the past, and loved the low-hassle liquid cooling it offered. I wasn't sure how much power I would need, and so was playing it safe with a 1000W.

PS - Any idea how long I can expect the CPU + Mobo combo offer to last?
 
Danny Bui said:
snip
Click to expand...

Danny, can I ask why you did not recommend to "pro" series of the samsung 840? I use to see it recommended in every build to push for the pro series but now I don't see it anymore. Could you shed some light on this reasoning?

Thanks.
 
Maverick1337 said:
Danny, can I ask why you did not recommend to "pro" series of the samsung 840? I use to see it recommended in every build to push for the pro series but now I don't see it anymore. Could you shed some light on this reasoning?

Thanks.
Click to expand...
RAM prices have gone up over the past few months. As such, it's harder to fit in the Samsung 840 Pro with certain budgets. In addition, due to the fact that Haswell CPUs tend be hotter than their IB or SB counterparts, for people with plans to overclock, I've had to allocate a larger portion of the budget towards cooling.

If his budget could totally fit the Samsung 840 Pro, I would have recommended that. But unfortunately that's not the case right now.
 
Danny Bui said:
RAM prices have gone up over the past few months. As such, it's harder to fit in the Samsung 840 Pro with certain budgets. In addition, due to the fact that Haswell CPUs tend be hotter than their IB or SB counterparts, for people with plans to overclock, I've had to allocate a larger portion of the budget towards cooling.

If his budget could totally fit the Samsung 840 Pro, I would have recommended that. But unfortunately that's not the case right now.
Click to expand...

All right, thank you so much for the clarification.
 
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