First Gaming Build!! - $1500

[kicl]

this is my first time building a pc and i want to get everything right. i will mostly be gaming on my rig so please give me suggestions or any advice if you see it is needed.

Case: Corsair 650D
http://ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=58078

MoBo: ASrock Fatal1ty P67
NCIX.com - Buy ASRock FATALI1TY P67 Professional B3 ATX LGA1155 DDR3 3PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 SATA3 USB3.0 Motherboard - Others - Fatali1ty P67 Professional (B3) - in Canada

CPU: Core i5-2500k
NCIX.com - Buy Intel Core i5 2500K Quad Core Unlocked Processor LGA1155 3.3GHZ Sandy Bridge 6MB - Intel - BX80623I52500K - in Canada

CPU Cooling: Corsair H70
NCIX.com - Buy Corsair Cooling Hydro Series H70 High Performance CPU Cooler System LGA775 1366 1156 AM2 AM3 - Corsair - CWCH70 - in Canada

RAM: Corsair Vengeance 2x4GB DDR3-1600
NCIX.com - Buy Corsair CMZ8GX3M2A1600C8 Vengeance 8GB 2X4GB DDR3-1600 CL8-8-8-24 Dual Channel Memory Kit - Corsair - CMZ8GX3M2A1600C8 - in Canada

HDD: Western Digital Black 750GB
NCIX.com - Buy Western Digital WD Caviar Black 750GB 7200RPM 64MB Buffer SATA3 3.5IN Internal Hard Drive - Others - WD7502AAEX - in Canada

PSU: OCZ Fatal1ty series 750W
NCIX.com - Buy OCZ FATAL1TY Series 750W ATX 24PIN SLI Ready Modular Cables 135mm Red Fan 80+ Bronze Power Supply - OCZ Technology - OCZ750FTY - in Canada

Graphics: Choice 1: EVGA GTX 570
NCIX.com - Buy EVGA GeForce GTX 570 HD Fermi 732MHZ 1280MB GDDR5 2XDVI HDMI DisplayPort PCI-E Video Card - eVGA - 012-P3-1571-KR - in Canada

Choice 2: XFX Radeon HD 6950
NCIX.com - Buy XFX Radeon HD 6950 800MHZ 1GB 5GHZ GDDR5 PCI-E 2XDVI HDMI 2x Mini DisplayPort Video Card - XFX - HD695XZNFC - in Canada

SSD: no idea, any suggestions?

[_dangtx_]

hey,welcome around.


nice case, a bit expensive. you can save a few bucks by going haf 922? or even the 912. pretty roomie.


good choice of cpu, but how about getting a combo thats on special. either the gd65 one or the sabertooth are cool.

not great bang per buck with the h70, try going air maybe,high end air. say hr-02? yes, im hooked on theese coolers :D got them on all me puters.

decent drive there, maybe look at the 500 giger/60/80 gig corsair ssd and perhaps get the wd 2tb green thats in special for storage?

nono on the psu, look at corsair,seasonic. 500 watts and up for single card.

get the 6950. better bang per buck. for single monitor use the 1gb model is cool too.

[YukonTrooper]

I'd save some cash by making new mobo and case choices, or at least the mobo. No point in going ultra high-end on the mobo unless you're looking to watercool (H70 doesn't count), phase, benchmark, etc.

For the SSD, look at the 120GB Crucial C300. It's the fastest 120GB drive in real world desktop usage (unless you're doing lots of writes), even compared to the new 120GB Vertex 3. For the storage drive, consider the Seagate 7200.12 1TB drive, as it has higher burst and sustained speeds than the Black drives, plus it's cheaper and bigger. Furthermore, it's newer tech and uses 500GB platters (I think only the 2GB Blacks use 500GB platters at this point? I could be wrong but someone should know.) You can price-match the 7200.12 1TB it at BestDirect.ca right now for $49.79.

[kicl]

hey thanks a lot for the reply.

i thought a bit about the case and i've decided to change it. maybe the haf 922 or nzxt phantom?

i just noticed those combos after you pointed them out but i'm not going to be buying my rig anytime soon and the sale ends soon

i'm actually getting the h70 for a cheaper price so it seemed well worth it, especially from the reviews i've been getting from it

how come its a no on the psu? i first picked a tx750w from corsair but changed it to lessen the cost

regarding the 6950, would it be a big improvement from the 1gb to the 2gb?

[YukonTrooper]

HAF series are great. You could even go to the HAF 912 and save further. You can watch the review of the case right here on HWC. The 912 is way undervalued for what it offers.

If you're on 1920x1200 or less, the 2GB shows negligible gains. You could also try and snatch one of the remaining 2GB reference models and attempt an unlock to HD 6970 shaders. I ended up going with the MSI Twin FrozrII GTX 560 when I was comparing it to the HD 6950.

For reference, here's a system I just put together around your budget. The PSU listed isn't the PSU I am using for it though. That PSU is for my home server and I'm taking the Corsair HX620 out of the server and putting it into the listed build. Also, pretend the Vertex 2 isn't there. I modified the order later on and replaced it with the 120GB C300 after I did some more research and learned that was the best choice.

[_dangtx_]

then the 912 is for you sir!

dont worry,there will always be specials. either way, around 200 or even cheaper you can find good mobos.

the h70 is nice to have over the stock cooler, but in that price range it loses out to air coolers :)

because you can find much better psus than that one :) corsair,seasonic. stick with those.

the 2gb is better at bigger resolutions with everything maxed out but especially for multimonitor setups.

check this out : AMD Radeon HD 6950 1 GB Review - Page 22/26 | techPowerUp

[rugox]

Regarding cases, I know HAF series are great cases with a lot of features, but you will not regret purchasing the 650D if your budget allows. I went into one of the NCIX retail outlets and took a look at all the cases you mentioned, phantom, Haf series, Define R3, antec, 650D, and the 650D came out on top for me. The build quality is fantastic with full host of features.

Of course if you are looking to save a buck here and there, the Haf 922, or even the 912 will allow you to do that, but you can get the 650D at $157 price matched at NCIX.

I didn't really like the Haf series' looks but if it appeals to you, that should also help make your decision.

Regarding the PSU, Corsair AX750 would be a good choice but if you are looking to doing SLI and adding more upgrades in the future, should look at the AX850 or more.

[BrutalGreen]

Drop the reference 570, they are bad! they die too easily with their inadequate power delivery (go with the asus 3 slot card or get something else)! also the H70 is far from being the best choice, most reputed air coolers at half the price outperform it. AND STAY AWAY FROM OCZ PSUs!!!!! If you are trying to save money dont forget to PRICEMATCH, dont cheap out on the psu. might i suggest the XFX units for good bang for buck (they are rebranded seasonics just like the corsairs but just cheaper and better looking...modularity is overrated in a full sized ATX case imo)!

Other than that, overkill mobo but if you are planning on upgrading later to SLI/crossfire, guess it can be justified but make sure ur PSU is adequate for this! But either way id still suggest the P67A-GD65 or the P67 Sabertooth (both are currently on special bundled with the 2500K at 359/400$ respectively on NCIX)!

[draemn]

I still am skeptical that reference 570s die all the time... I still haven't seen any that weren't over-clocked 570s. I'd take the 570 over the 6950 personally, but the 570 is one of those odd cards that Nvidia seems to just 'forget' about way to often... they really show a lot about the 580 and 560, but the 570 doesn't seem to get much love :(. The gigabyte SOC GTX 560 Ti is in stock and easily beats most 6950s (until you encounter bandwidth limited situations = VRAM) for $270.

I also say no to the H70... If you get it for under $55 and don't mind the noise level of that cooler, then by all means, go for it... otherwise SNB performs amazingly well on air (4.6 Ghz is easy on a cheap $30 air cooler).

Don't get OCZ PSUs... they've never been all that great in the past. The new TX750 from corsair has a nice review here: Corsair TX750 V2 750W Review

If you're not on a tight budget and needed to cut costs, nothing wrong with that mobo... sure you're paying for some features you won't use, but you're also getting some nifty features that you can't get on cheaper mobos that often. I don't know enough about ASRock to really say yes or no.

The only reason I bought the NZXT phantom was looks and the fan controller. Otherwise I'd never recommend it. The extra 200mm top fan + side fan + 120mm front fan will set you back at least $40 to have a fully populated fan setup... but damn! the stock fans are quiet and as long as you buy same noise ratings, it's super quiet for the airflow. Fan filters/dust is another huge issue for the phantom as it doesn't come with that many fan filters. Still, other than somewhat cheap build quality, missing fan components, and it's massive size, I think it's a great tower (but there are better towers... the just don't look as swwweeeet).

[cal920c]

Yea, Look's good, except, you might want a little more then 4 GB of ram, cause i've broken 6 GB running SCII: Wing's of Liberty.