New/Replacement Build - request assistance

Snaga

Hi guys,

Its been about 4 years since I had to put together a build and the current PC is starting to feel the strain, even with some gpu upgrades along the line (planetside 2 strain - now cpu limited ).

Unfortunately I am a bit out of the loop, specifically on current motherboards, cpu's, cpu coolers and ram so thought I'd check in with you guys for some pointers.


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1. What is your budget?
€900-1000.

(Excludes a number of pieces listed in (4) below.).

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer?
Gaming. Planetside 2, BF3, skyrim, CS:GO. Also work side - running occasional VM's and other regular admin/office-type work stuff).

3. Do you need a copy of Windows?
No.

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer?
Yes.

Keyboard/Mouse/Storage HD/DVD).

GPU and PSU _may_ come over initially (geforce 470 and PSU (1000W)) but will be looking to replace the 470 sooner and putting in a more efficient/quieter PSU later so would like them included in the budget.

<Edit - Samsung 256GB SSD is already sourced so no drives at all are needed>

5. Do you need a monitor? [Yes/No]
I'll say no here - but I am interested in feedback on 120Hz 24' or 27' monitors (likely outside of this budget).

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? 1080P dual 24' monitors currently, I am looking to upgrade one to a 120Hz 2560*1600 monitor over the next few months however.

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? [Keyboard/Mouse/Wireless Card/Card Reader/Speakers/etc.]

Wireless N capable card might come in handy - otherwise No.

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? [Yes/No]

Yes absolutely. CPU and motherboard should be capable of overclocking. (Interested in known good combo's of CPU/MoBo + RAM for 4Ghz+ Overclocking).

8. How can you pay? [Bank Transfer/Credit Card/Laser]
Prefer CC/Laser.

9. When are you purchasing? [In x days]
In the next 0-60 days, likely in two lots.

10. If you need help building it, where are you based?
Should be ok here - at least until I get to the overclocking piece! (South Dub/Wicklow border area).
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Additional info
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Looking to go with 16Gb of ram, mainly to do with the VM situation where I would occasionally have a couple on the go at once. Willing to take advice on this if this limits overclocking opportunities a lot.

GPU is a tossup between the Nvidia GTX 680 and the AMD 7970 (Vapour-x Ghz ed) (Latter seems a good bit less expensive currently (though noisier than the 680)).

I am leaning towards a quieter PC where possible - case needs to take that into account, as does the CPU cooler. Though I can't see myself getting into liquid cooling either so just looking for a balance somewhere. (Room for an extra GPU would be good, just in case).

Main drive will likely be a 250GB Sammy SSD (830 or 840 pro). (UPDATE - Ordered an Samsung 830 SSD - no need to cater for this in the build).

Dual Gb LAN would be good to have on the MB.

Thanks guys for any input!

beno619

Item|Price
ASRock Z77 Pro3, Sockel 1155, ATX|€85.04
Intel Core i5-3570K Box, LGA1155|€205.99
Samsung SSD 840 Pro 256GB SATA 6Gb/s|€230.90
FRACTAL DESIGN Define R4 Black Pearl|€97.79
16GB-Kit Corsair Vengeance Low Profile schwarz PC3-12800U CL10-10-10-27|€71.12
Gigabyte Radeon HD 7970 WindForce 3X, 3GB GDDR5, PCI-Express|€357.75
Enermax ETS-T40-TB|€34.56
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€1102.14

Assuming you hang on to your PSU for a little bit, slightly over budget you
could tale things in a bit by going for a 256gb Crucial m4.

http://lb.hardwareversand.de/Solid-State-Disk/46112/Crucial+M4+256GB+SSD+6%2C4cm+%282%2C5%29.article

Also going for a 7950 with a slight overclock can perform similarly to a 7970
and highly overclocked can beat a factory overclocked GTX 680.

http://lb.hardwareversand.de/3072+MB/67815/Sapphire+Radeon+HD+7950+Boost%2C+3GB+GDDR5.article

Snaga

Hi Beno,

You've got me thinking there - forced me to go read up on the Intel chipsets a bit!

Looks like the PSU will have to come across if I'm to hope to stick-ish to my budget

Looking at the ASRock MB's, the first one that supports dual Gb LAN (Which I want) is the ASRock Fatal1ty Z77 Professional.

Think I'll have switch the SSD to the 830 (If i can still find it) or the Crucial and use the spare change towards the better board.

Any thoughts on the above board? (branding aside) it appears to be somewhere between an ASRock Extreme 6 and 9.

Thanks for your post.


Edit - Found some amazon vouchers - 830 Sammy SSD on its way - so no need to cater for any drives in the build budget Ive updated the main post.

Snaga

After a few days of looking into this in (much) more detail I've decided my budget didn't match my requirements.

As I have to keep some parts in the old PC (temporarily at least) I decided to put together the following...

Item|Price
Corsair Vengeance C70 PC Gaming Case, Military Green, ohne Netzteil|€119.49
ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77, Sockel 1155, ATX, DDR3|€200.54
Intel Core i5-3570K Box, LGA1155|€205.99
Corsair Hydro Series H100i|€106.99
2 x Corsair Air Series AF120 Quiet Edition TwinPack|€43.76
Corsair Professional Series Gold AX850, 850 Watt|€153.87
16GB-Kit Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 MHz CL9|€73.29
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€922.92

By and large it seems to be a popular set of core components which is what I wanted and should overclock to 4.2Ghz+ without breaking a sweat.

The RAM is 9-9-9-24, same stuff in green caps is 20eur more expensive - beware! 16GB-Kit Corsair Vengeance grün PC3L-12800U CL9-9-9-24 - 95eur.

Trying to keep the case smaller than my current one and the mainboard in budget meant dropping the second LAN requirement. (i.e. Not an Extended ATX case).

I'll be pulling in the Samsung 830 256 SSD which has already arrived, as well as the DVD drive, 1TB HD and Geforce 470 from the old PC. (I'll back fill them when I have a use for it).

I'll sort out an upgraded GPU next month and should be good for another few years.

Thanks for the pointers Beno.

Some things I've learned...

• Hardwareversande is cheaper than Amazon which is cheaper than Overclockers.co.uk.
  
• NCIX Tech Tips on youtube - nice!
  
• anandtech.com is still as good as I remember it.
  
• I want a 120Hz 27 inch monitor - but... ouch

beno619

Make sure you take some pics once she's build, I'm sure it'll be a beaut and silent
Anandtech editors really know their stuff !

Snaga

Well it is all built and running now as of last night, it is currently quieter than my office router which is fantastic.

Pic of the build is attached (lighting was not great so excuse the flash) - all that has changed since is the addition of a 1TB drive, otherwise it is fully cabled in this picture - so nice and neat and easy to work with. The c70 case cable management is excellent.

I am really liking the h100i water cooler, cpu temp at idle is hovering around 22 degrees after being on all night.

My original budget was however thoroughly smashed (as expected when I put some real research into meeting my performance and silence goals), adding to the original list is...

Samsung 830 256GB SSD
Geforce GTX680 (EVGA Signature 2) (Quieter than stock 680 cooler).
BenQ XL2420T 120Hz Monitor
Asus Blu Ray Optical drive (I will be modding this to be invisible in the c70 case).

I decided on this GTX680 (As opposed to the Radeon 7970) as it is quiet (also no reports of coil whine) and I wanted to try out NVIDIA's 3d Vision, initial testing is positive but need more time this weekend to give it a proper spin!

BloodBath

Nice build but I think you may have paid over the odds for your requirements.

Have you started overclocking anything?

Snaga

Yep - currently running at 4.5Ghz (Stable so far) which is a fairly standard overclock for the z77 Sabretooth/3570K/H100i combination. (One of the reasons I went for it as opposed to some cheaper options - lots of knowledge out there on this exact combination).