~$1200-1400 build

[roachm]

Been a while since I've posted here, but I'm in the market for a new PC this holiday season and I'm a bit out of the loop when it comes to parts and pricing so I wanted to check here to make sure everything is kosher. I'll run through the list of questions to keep this organized, then post what I have so far, thanks in advance to anyone who can help me out.

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

PC gaming, and hopefully streaming as well on www.twitch.tv which is pretty taxing as Xsplit uses a ton of resources. Obviously the basics as well, but if it can handle streaming new games on decent graphical settings, I'm sure it can manage everything.

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

My budget total is $1400, if I could knock it down to $1200, that would be great, but I'm probably more willing to shell out an extra $200, than make any large compromises. As far as tax and shipping goes, there is a little bit of wiggle room, but I wouldn't like the total to be over $1500, everything included, if possible.

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

Southern Ontario, Canada (near St. Catharines and Niagara Falls)

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.

Case (going with the Corsair 650D), Motherboard, CPU, RAM, SSD, GPU, DVD Drive, Soundcard. I have a monitor, mouse, and keyboard that I'll be using with this system.

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

I have a power supply (Thermaltake TR2 RX 650W), soundcard (SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio) and a GPU (eVGA GTX 550 Ti). I'm planning to use the 550 for a bit, then buy the new GPU at a later time, and possibly the same thing with the power supply if this Thermaltake will be able to support this system. I'm thinking the soundcard might already be good enough to use with this system, not sure though. (The total budget cost still includes a new PSU and GPU, I'm just trying to mitigate the initial cost.) Also, I have storage drives I'll be swapping in for media, but I don't think that's important.

6) Will you be overclocking?

Eventually I would like to yes. I would be willing to add a cooler to the CPU, and upgrade the PSU if necessary for this to be done safely.

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

My monitor that I will be using is a BenQ XL2410T. 1920x1080, 24 inches. I'll actually be in the market for a secondary 24 inch monitor to use with this system a little bit down the road, if someone could suggest a cheap one as well a side request, that'd be cool.

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

I plan on buying the majority of it, possibly excluding the GPU and PSU, around christmas time. I'll be getting it up and running as soon as possible, and as I mentioned, adding a new GPU, PSU, and possibly a CPU cooler for overclocking down the road a little bit.

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.

I would like SLi to be an option eventually, room for a soundcard, and no need for onboard video. USB 3.0 would be nice, but its not a deal breaker for me since I really have no 3.0 devices at the moment. As far as SATA 6Gb/s goes, I'm not too in the loop, is this the standard now? I'm assuming my older SATA storage drives will be backwards compatible, since I bought one within the last year, and the other one within the last 2 years. Regardless, if I have to get new storage drives eventually, I will, I don't want to make concessions for cheap drives I bought out of a necessity for room.

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

I'm all set on the OS front.


Now that's out of the way, I will post what I have so far. The site these are all on is NCIX, I'm completely open to any reputable site as long as they ship to Canada.

Corsair Obsidian Series 650D Mid-Tower Case ATX 4X5.25 6X3.5INT USB USB3.0 1394 Fan Ctrl No PS [ $139.99 ]


ASUS P8Z77-V Lk ATX LGA1155 Z77 DDR3 3PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 3PCI SATA3 SLI DVI HDMI DP USB3.0 Motherboard [ $139.99 ]


Corsair CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B Vengeance Blue 8GB 2X4GB DDR3-1600 CL9-9-9-24 Dual Channel Memory Kit [ $34.99 x 2 = $69.98 ]

(was going to go with 2 of these, 16GB in total, is that too much?)


Intel Core i7 3770K Unlocked Quad Core Hyperthreading Processor LGA1155 3.5GHZ Ivy Bridge 8MB Retail [ $369.98 ]

(the only reason I'm not going i5, is because I've heard great things when it comes to streaming with xsplit on the i7, open to suggestion if you have experience with streaming)


Samsung 840 Series 250GB 2.5in SATA3 MDX Solid State Disk Flash Drive SSD [ $184.99 ]

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670 OC 980MHZ 2GB 6.0GHZ GDDR5 2xDVI HDMI DisplayPort PCI-E Video Card [ $379.99 ]

(open to suggestion on the GPU front, though I'd rather avoid AMD/ATi)

Corsair Professional HX750W 750W ATX 12V 62A 24PIN ATX Modular Power Supply Active PFC 140mm Fan [ $119.99 ]

(not sure if this is enough for SLi in the future or how much I would need)


I had originally posted links to all of these on NCIX, but no matter what I do the links are changing and coming up wrong on here.


I didn't list a soundcard because after searching for some I found that the one I currently have seems like it should hold up, I listed it above. Again I'd like to thank anyone who can give me some insight on this build, even if its just reassurance. The total to that build on NCIX I listed is $1400 cdn, after taxes its $1587.55. If I could drop this down even $100 or so, that would be awesome, if not I'll bite the bullet and do what I can.

 

[Dangman]

Can you please answer question 10 fully this time?

Though off the bat, you're gonna need a new PSU. Yes that HX750 is more than enough for SLI. Don't bother with the regular Samsung 840 as it's actually slower than the older Samsung 830. So go with the Samsung 830 or Crucial M4 series SSDs.

 

[roachm]

I'm not quite sure what you mean, I have Windows already, I'm assuming 64 bit would be the better option for an i7? I'm using 64bit Ultimate right now.

 

[Dangman]

I'm not quite sure what you mean, I have Windows already, I'm assuming 64 bit would be the better option for an i7? I'm using 64bit Ultimate right now.

I was basically asking whether or not you actually have a legit transferable Windows 7 key. All you said was "I'm all set on the OS front." I've seen similar answers from other people and it turns out that they were wrong.

Anyway, 16GB of RAM is a tad overkill but RAM is pretty cheap these days. So might as well go for 16GB of RAM and be set. As for which RAM, since you're planning on overclocking, that Corsair RAM you chose isn't a good choice due to the tall heatsinks it has. That will interfere with a lot of air-cooled HSF. Go for the Corsair Vengeance LP RAM instead.

 

[roachm]

I was basically asking whether or not you actually have a legit transferable Windows 7 key. All you said was "I'm all set on the OS front." I've seen similar answers from other people and it turns out that they were wrong.

Anyway, 16GB of RAM is a tad overkill but RAM is pretty cheap these days. So might as well go for 16GB of RAM and be set. As for which RAM, since you're planning on overclocking, that Corsair RAM you chose isn't a good choice due to the tall heatsinks it has. That will interfere with a lot of air-cooled HSF. Go for the Corsair Vengeance LP RAM instead.

Oh, I hadn't even thought of that, thanks a bunch. One of the many reasons I love this place. And yeah I see what you mean about the OS.

As far as overclocking an i7 goes, would a nice 120mm Noctua cooler do the trick? I'd rather avoid getting into watercooling and I don't mind a bit of extra noise since I usually game with headphones on, or speakers loud enough that it won't matter.

Thanks again for the help. One more question, as far as the Samsung 830 256GB SSD goes, its a bit more expensive, is this going to be worth getting ?

 

[Dangman]

As far as overclocking an i7 goes, would a nice 120mm Noctua cooler do the trick? I'd rather avoid getting into watercooling and I don't mind a bit of extra noise since I usually game with headphones on, or speakers loud enough that it won't matter.

Yes the Noctua NH-D14 will be more than enough to cool the i7.

One more question, as far as the Samsung 830 256GB SSD goes, its a bit more expensive, is this going to be worth getting ?

Yes. It's faster than the regular 840.

 

[roachm]

The only thing I'm debating right now is whether to go with a 660, 670, or a 680 and which revision. I've heard SLi isn't really worth the money, so would getting a 680 be better for the long run ? Since I can postpone purchasing the card I might be able to put down a little extra when it comes to getting the card, and prices on the 680 might be better.

Side question, probably obvious, but does the Corsair 650D come with brackets for SSDs? Or do the SSDs themselves come with brackets to mount them in standard HDD bays?

 

[Dangman]

The only thing I'm debating right now is whether to go with a 660, 670, or a 680 and which revision. I've heard SLi isn't really worth the money, so would getting a 680 be better for the long run ? Since I can postpone purchasing the card I might be able to put down a little extra when it comes to getting the card, and prices on the 680 might be better.

The GTX 680 is only for those who want the fastest performance possible at whatever the cost and with zero care to bang for the buck value. It won't make your PC last that much longer to justify the price increase. As for the GTX 670 and GTX 660 TI, both cards are of good value. So it comes down to how much you can afford for the GPU.

Side question, probably obvious, but does the Corsair 650D come with brackets for SSDs? Or do the SSDs themselves come with brackets to mount them in standard HDD bays?

The 650D comes with brackets for SSDs.