Another Thread About a PC Build

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

Greetings Advice Forum.

I've finally decided to join the strange and terrifying group known as "PeeSee Gaimars" by building a computer that can actually run modern games at a higher framerate than a power-point presentation.

Being quite naive in the field of hardware, I used a guide to find most parts, but after a few recommendations, changed out some parts and messed around with things a bit to better suite my needs and budget.

I'm extremely paranoid about spending this kind of money on something I don't know much about, so I have come here to request advice.

If anyone at all would take a quick look at my combined parts list, I would be extremely appreciative. Any compatibility issues, any simple upgrades or any relatively meaningless money-saving downgrades. Any important words of warning? Any input at all is MASSIVELY appreciated.

Graphics Card:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125414&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-_-pla-_-Desktop+Graphics+Cards-_-N82E16814125414&gclid=CLmklrqT-LUCFa9aMgodQxQAwA

Processor:
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4904560&SRCCODE=WEBGOOPA&cm_mmc_o=mH4CjC7BBTkwCjCV1-CjCE&gclid=CIP8p8mP-LUCFetFMgodCQgASw

Everything Else:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/TUdN

I already have a wireless adapter, speakers and a keyboard. I also plan to use my current laptop as a screen instead of a monitor.

I think that's all I needed say in this post... And again, ANY input is wonderful.

 

[ShinyCharizard]

That motherboard and CPU are not compatible, you have an AMD CPU and an Intel board. Also get two sticks of 4GB RAM instead of one 8GB stick.

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

That motherboard and CPU are not compatible, you have an AMD CPU and an Intel board. Also get two sticks of 4GB RAM instead of one 8GB stick.

Ok, awesome. Thanks.

Can you give me a motherboard recommendation by any chance? Or will any AMD board work?

 

[ShinyCharizard]

That motherboard and CPU are not compatible, you have an AMD CPU and an Intel board. Also get two sticks of 4GB RAM instead of one 8GB stick.

Ok, awesome. Thanks.

Can you give me a motherboard recommendation by any chance? Or will any AMD board work?

I'd recommend either the ASROCK 990fx Extreme3 or Extreme4 board. I use the Extreme4 and it's great, no issues with it for 2 years now.

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

That motherboard and CPU are not compatible, you have an AMD CPU and an Intel board. Also get two sticks of 4GB RAM instead of one 8GB stick.

Ok, awesome. Thanks.

Can you give me a motherboard recommendation by any chance? Or will any AMD board work?

I'd recommend either the ASROCK 990fx Extreme3 or Extreme4 board. I use the Extreme4 and it's great, no issues with it for 2 years now.

Excellent.

Thank you VERY much.

That would have sucked to order everything and find this out later...

 

[ShinyCharizard]

That motherboard and CPU are not compatible, you have an AMD CPU and an Intel board. Also get two sticks of 4GB RAM instead of one 8GB stick.

Ok, awesome. Thanks.

Can you give me a motherboard recommendation by any chance? Or will any AMD board work?

I'd recommend either the ASROCK 990fx Extreme3 or Extreme4 board. I use the Extreme4 and it's great, no issues with it for 2 years now.

Excellent.

Thank you VERY much.

That would have sucked to order everything and find this out later...

Haha yes it would have sucked real bad. Anyways you're welcome mate.

 

[OneCatch]

I think that's all I needed say in this post... And again, ANY input is wonderful.

As above, you need to change processor/motherboard combination.

Also, you can shave a fair bit off the case by getting one of the cheaper Corsair cases. I have a Carbide 300r which comes with most of what that Vengeance does but for about 2/3 the price.
Cases always are a matter of preference though; the Vengeance does come with latched side panels, decent cable management, and generally higher construction quality, which might make things slightly easier for a first build.

That graphics card is essentially the same as mine, and I've not had any problems with it! It's generally able to run games at ultra at above 40fps, and with a bit of downward tweaking usually gets them to 60fps.

A word of warning - With that Graphics card, the video outputs on the motherboard might well be disabled when it's connected, meaning you have to use one of the outputs on the graphics card itself.
Make sure you have the correct video cable and/or adaptor to connect your laptop to one of the following:

HDMI
DVI-I
Mini DisplayPort


Hope that helps!

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

I think that's all I needed say in this post... And again, ANY input is wonderful.

As above, you need to change processor/motherboard combination.

Also, you can shave a fair bit off the case by getting one of the cheaper Corsair cases. I have a Carbide 300r which comes with most of what that Vengeance does but for about 2/3 the price.
Cases always are a matter of preference though; the Vengeance does come with latched side panels, decent cable management, and generally higher construction quality, which might make things slightly easier for a first build.

That graphics card is essentially the same as mine, and I've not had any problems with it! It's generally able to run games at ultra at above 40fps, and with a bit of downward tweaking usually gets them to 60fps.

A word of warning - With that Graphics card, the video outputs on the motherboard might well be disabled when it's connected, meaning you have to use one of the outputs on the graphics card itself.
Make sure you have the correct video cable and/or adaptor to connect your laptop to one of the following:

HDMI
DVI-I
Mini DisplayPort


Hope that helps!

Ok, cool.

I've actually changed my build around a bit now after hearing some horror stories about gaming with AMD processors and seeing how cheap cooling unites are.

New build in case you're wondering.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/WhLz
Same GPU

Also thanks on the case as well. I didn't want to accidentally get a case too small or something so I may have shot a bit high. I'll browse around for a cheaper case.

I've also decided to just pick up a monitor after all rather than messing around with my laptop for hours.

 

[OneCatch]

----

Ok, cool.

I've actually changed my build around a bit now after hearing some horror stories about gaming with AMD processors and seeing how cheap cooling unites are.

New build in case you're wondering.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/WhLz
Same GPU

Also thanks on the case as well. I didn't want to accidentally get a case too small or something so I may have shot a bit high. I'll browse around for a cheaper case.

I've also decided to just pick up a monitor after all rather than messing around with my laptop for hours.

Yeah, that motherboard/cpu combo is fine. With a cooler you'd be able to get some reasonable overclocks as well, should you want to at some point.
Any new monitor should come with HDMI anyway so that won't be a problem with the GPU.

In terms of cases, anything that fits a full ATX motherboard should fit components similar to the one's you've posted.
If ever you were going to get radiators, or crossfire, or a properly gigantic heatsink, then it's worth checking with people who have that component and case.

But don't worry too much unless you're getting something like this monstrosity:
------------

Hint: Don't get this thing
------------

With your components, the only measurements you really need to worry about is length of GPU (which in this instance is fine) and height of RAM vs depth of heatsink, (also fine because yours is low profile and that heatsink is relatively small).

 

[SnowyGamester]

seeing how cheap cooling unites are.

Don't even worry about third-party cooling - anyone will tell you that what's included with the i5s more than does the job. Unless you're overclocking substantially in which case you might still want to look into it (though that choice of CPU isn't what you'd call overlockable). On that topic, you could probably stand to go for a cheaper H77 chipset motherboard unless you're planning on overclocking your RAM (anything over 1600mhz is overclocked). On that topic, you've listed 1333mhz RAM when you could be buying 1600mhz - I would (and did) go for the better stuff myself. And while you're at it you might as well get a top-tier i5 rather than a slight step down - that way you won't have an excuse to upgrade it in the future.

I've also decided to just pick up a monitor after all rather than messing around with my laptop for hours.

Good choice. The fact is you can't actually do that (with very few exceptions) so you'd be messing around for quite a long time.

A word of warning - With that Graphics card, the video outputs on the motherboard might well be disabled when it's connected, meaning you have to use one of the outputs on the graphics card itself.

I'm pretty sure that's related to the motherboard configuration rather than the specific graphics card though there might be exceptions that I'm not aware of (unfortunately I don't know everything).

 

[OneCatch]

A word of warning - With that Graphics card, the video outputs on the motherboard might well be disabled when it's connected, meaning you have to use one of the outputs on the graphics card itself.

I'm pretty sure that's related to the motherboard configuration rather than the specific graphics card though there might be exceptions that I'm not aware of (unfortunately I don't know everything).

Haha!
I think it might be a bit of both - I think my moboard plays well with some Nvidia cards and can use it's own outputs, but not with the 7900 series.
Can't remember the specifics now, all I remember is that it nearly gave me heart failure when I activated the GPU and the screen died. Cue 10 mins of frantic experimentation before trying an adaptor with the DVI-out on the GPU itself. Tbf, that was the only hiccup I had with my first ever build, but not something I'd like to repeat!

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

seeing how cheap cooling unites are.

Don't even worry about third-party cooling - anyone will tell you that what's included with the i5s more than does the job. Unless you're overclocking substantially in which case you might still want to look into it (though that choice of CPU isn't what you'd call overlockable). On that topic, you could probably stand to go for a cheaper H77 chipset motherboard unless you're planning on overclocking your RAM (anything over 1600mhz is overclocked). On that topic, you've listed 1333mhz RAM when you could be buying 1600mhz - I would (and did) go for the better stuff myself. And while you're at it you might as well get a top-tier i5 rather than a slight step down - that way you won't have an excuse to upgrade it in the future.

Seeing as how it's only 20 bucks, I figured I would get cooling now just is case I feel like overclocking. Also I'm extremely paranoid about heat. Maybe it's just a night-light, but it still makes me feel better to have it.

As for the RAM and Motherboard I did as you suggested and got 1600mhz and an H77 instead of a Z77.

In terms of a "Top-tier i5," what would you recommend? There's a LOT of different i5s out there and I'm not sure which are better. I don't want to up the price too much, but if there's a simple upgrade I'm all ears.

Thanks again!

 

[AWAR]

Seriously that processor is kind of pointless. Unless you are willing to fork some extra money for the 3570k you should really consider AMD. Downgrade your mobo, ditch the cooler and get that 3570k or get an 8350 with an 80 dollar mobo.
Edit: A 129 dollar case? Get a NZXT source, hardware is far more important than cases

 

[SnowyGamester]

In terms of a "Top-tier i5," what would you recommend? There's a LOT of different i5s out there and I'm not sure which are better. I don't want to up the price too much, but if there's a simple upgrade I'm all ears.

The best i5s available are the 3570 and the 3570K, both clocked at 3.4ghz. They're essentially the same except with the K version you can overclock properly whereas the standard version only uses turbo boost. I saved the $10 and got the standard version since I don't really bother with that overclocking gubbins.

 

[Hawkeye 131]

Lots of good advice here, the only other thing I would recommend is an SSD. If your running Win 7 (64-bit)as your OS an SSD might be worth looking at if you can spare the extra cash.

Depending on the version of Win. 7 your planning on running (32-bit) or (64-bit) you'll need around 12 GB to 20 GB (respectively), of free space to a good install. You can find 32 GB or 60 GB SSD's for pretty cheap (under $100). Now the reason I recommend an SSD for your boot drive is because you'll notice an increase in performance and speed if you had your OS installed to a traditional hard drive.

As I said if you can spare the cash it'll be a nice little performance boost for your OS and any other main programs that you plan on using a lot.

-Hawk

P.S. If your running a (32-bit) version of Win 7 stick with 4 GB or RAM OR if your running a (64-bit) version use 8 GB of RAM.