Buying/possibly making new PC - help would be appreciated

[MidnightCat]

Hi all. So I'm hoping to get/make a new PC in the next couple of weeks, and I need some advice. I was planning to make one, but after looking at parts and googling terms for a few hours I threw up my hands and started looking at premades.

My budget is about $1600 - $1800 AUS, maybe $2000 max.
I'm looking for something that can easily play games like Skyrim.

So, my question: Does this [http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1411&products_id=20825] premade look okay?

Or alternately, these are the parts I was looking at to include in my build:

CoolerMaster HAF XM Case with Window [http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=20880]

Intel Core i7 3820 [http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=19588]

ASUS Radeon HD7950 DirectCu II 3GB [http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=20823]

Intel DX79TO Motherboard Retail Box [http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=19620]

Corsair Vengeance CMZ16GX3M4X1600C9 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3 [http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=18827]

Samsung SH-222BB SATA DVDRW Drive OEM [http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=19482]

Intel 330 Series 120GB SSD [http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=20049]

Notes:
- I'm not particularly attached to any of these parts and I'd love suggestions to improve them.
- Some of these parts were selected by a friend a few months ago, so not only do I not really know the reason for including them but there may be better alternatives available.
- I have omitted the HD, power and CPU cooling as I don't know what would be best.
- I'm worried about bottlenecking and lack of compatibility.
- I'm not a fan of overclocking as it gets pretty hot here and after using laptops for years overheating is a bit of a concern for me.
-My friend suggested that have the OS on the SSD and mostly everything else on the hard drive, apparently it loads more quickly. Does this sound like a good idea?

Yes, I'm well below novice level >.>
I'd really love any help and/or advice that you can give. Thanks!

 

[SnowyGamester]

You'll generally end up paying more for a premade...and it's really fairly easy to put one together yourself (just a bunch of wires and slots to plug together...the mobo should have detailed instructions with it that says what goes where).

As far as that part list there, the short answer is yes, there is plenty of power there and it will play anything on the market at maximum graphics (my rig is worth about a third of that and it comes close itself, kind of overkill here if you ask me). Everything there has power coming out the wazoo and the mobo seems to support all the latest standards so I don't think bottlenecking will be a concern, and it all appears to be compatible. For cooling there probably isn't much point using anything other than a standard CPU fan (the i7s aren't likely to overheat, especially not on the factory clock) and whatever case fans you can fit in; it's a big ass case (I fit all my stuff in a normal sized one, it's a bit tight though and I've added a few extra fans just in case) so the graphics card should be able to keep itself under control with the standard fans it has on since there'll be plenty of room for air flow...serious cooling stuff is really only necessary for major overclocks (or putting shit in a case that it's too small for). Power supplies are fairly cheap so getting a decent one won't hurt (at least 700w to be safe). And yes, putting your OS on an SSD will get you faster boot and file access times (and faster loading times for games if you install them on there) though honestly I think they're a bit too pricey at this stage to be worth it for a little speed boost (but I'm stingy as hell so whatever).

As far as hard drives you can check this website to find out which are the fastest: http://www.harddrivebenchmark.net/. I went out and got the fastest rated hard disk on there (Hitachi HDS721010DLE630) and it works well enough.

 

[Supernova1138]

I wouldn't bother with the i7 3820. It is on LGA 2011, an enthusiast socket that you really don't need if you're gaming. LGA 2011's only advantages are more PCI-Express Lanes, and Quad Channel Memory. The extra PCI-E lanes will make no difference if you aren't trying to run 3 or 4 graphics cards. Quad channel memory offers no benefit for games. You would also have to buy an aftermarket cooler for the 3820, none of the LGA 2011 CPUs come with a stock cooler. LGA 2011 motherboards are also very expensive, that money could be put to better use elsewhere, like an SSD.

For a gaming CPU I would recommend an i5 3570k on an LGA 1155 board with a Z77 chipset. The i7 3770k is also an option, but you will see no performance boost with the i7. The i7s only real advantage over the i5 is hyperthreading, which games don't use. Get the i7 if you're looking for bragging rights, or just have money to burn.

For a gaming system you don't really need 16GB of RAM. Very few games will use more than 2GB of RAM, and your OS won't eat up that much. Go for 8GB instead if you want to save some money. Only get 16GB if you plan on doing stuff like video editing or running lots of virtual machines.

Don't cheap out on the power supply, you will regret it when a cheap, really poor quality power supply blows out and takes components with it. Some good brands for power supplies include Antec, Seasonic, Corsair, and XFX. If you are only going to run one graphics card, a 550 Watt unit is fine from one of the above mentioned companies. If you want to run dual video cards sometime in the future, get a 750 Watt power supply.

 

[MidnightCat]

Thanks for replying!

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I looked up hyperthreading and you're right, it's probably not something that will be very useful to me.

I've revised the build taking all of your advice into account, here it is:


Intel Core i5 3570K [http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=20138]

ASUS Sabertooth Z77 Motherboard [http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=19883]

CoolerMaster CM 690 II Advanced with Window USB3.0 [http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=18723]

ASUS Radeon HD7950 DirectCu II 3GB [http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=20823]

Corsair TX-550M Modular Power Supply [http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=18706]

Corsair Vengeance CML8GX3M2A1600C9 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 [http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=17729]

Hitachi Deskstar 7K3000 2TB 7200RPM [http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=16853]

Intel 330 Series 120GB SSD [http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=20049]

Samsung SH-222BB SATA DVDRW Drive OEM [http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=19482]

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit with SP1 OEM [http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=17003]


- Will this all work well together? Everything is compatible, there won't be any bottlenecking etc.?
- I don't know if this is a suitable motherboard, I basically just looked for "LGA" and "Z77" then selected the one I liked the look of the most.
- I did a similar thing with the memory - looked for DDR3 and then chose something that seemed reasonable.
- Does the graphics card still work with this, or should I choose another one?
- Is the case suitable?
- Have I forgotten anything?

Thanks for all the help!

 

[SnowyGamester]

Well you've still got plenty of power there and room for RAM and graphics expansion in the future, plus everything there seems to be compatible. Modern graphics cards use the PCIe standards (that board supports PCIe 3.0, the current standard) so you won't have any trouble with getting it to work; cases are also made to a standard so as long as there's enough slots for everything to fit in you won't have any trouble putting it together. Only possible issue is the power supply; if you ever plan on going crossfire in the future it probably won't cut it.

Though I do find it strange that you're partially judging internal components by their aesthetic...they aren't the part you look at.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

- Will this all work well together? Everything is compatible, there won't be any bottlenecking etc.?

Nothing stands out as being an issue, performance wise.

- I don't know if this is a suitable motherboard, I basically just looked for "LGA" and "Z77" then selected the one I liked the look of the most.

Yep, quite suitable.

- I did a similar thing with the memory - looked for DDR3 and then chose something that seemed reasonable.

Yep, reliable brand and all.

- Does the graphics card still work with this, or should I choose another one?

Card will work fine.

- Is the case suitable?

Again, yep.

- Have I forgotten anything?

No...

... there is a 'but' though.

It's not the most cost effective build. You're paying a lot of extra cash for features you have no interest in using which is money you could better spend on making the build more powerful or better peripherals or whatever takes your fancy.

On the mobo you could not only look for reduced feature sets that suit your needs but switch to Asrock instead of ASUS (Asrock is ASUS's economy brand, same quality components and all), with the CPU you could save a few dollars buy not getting a K version CPU as you've said you have no plans to overclock (and the only difference between regular and K versions is the ability to OC them). With the GPU, you could save $10 (whoppty doo) and get the Gigabyte (good brand) OC version of the same card. For the case you could probably pay half of the one you've got listed and still get a case with good design and airflow. As for the HDD... Hitachi Deskstars have a pisspoor rep... off pccasegear, go for a Seagate Barracuda for a more reliable brand at a cheaper price (because apparently WD Caviar Blacks are never coming down in price and pcg aren't stocking Samsung HDDs).


Also, unless you're planning to trick out the inside of your case with neons and LEDs or you're the kind of person who really likes peering into your PC case, non-windowed cases are usually a slightly cheaper option... but that's a personal bias because I won't spend $10 more to be able to see inside a case which will then cost me $40 is bits and pieces to stop it looking like The Flying Spaghetti Monster miscarried inside (fuck cable management - if it's not getting in the way of anything it's good enough).


Apart from that, all you might want is a few more case fans (IMO, 'enough' case fans is when you start thinking about drilling holes in your case to make room for more fans) and some (washable) filters sets for them.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Only possible issue is the power supply; if you ever plan on going crossfire in the future it probably won't cut it.

No 'probably' about it. Recommended PSU for 2 reference model HD 7950s in Crossfire is 750W, straight from the AMD site.

 

[SnowyGamester]

No 'probably' about it. Recommended PSU for 2 reference model HD 7950s in Crossfire is 750W, straight from the AMD site.

Why do you hate me, Rhombus?
Yeh he could definitely go cheaper on a few things. If it were me I'd go a lot cheaper on the case and get a less fancy motherboard, but I don't really give a fuck what it looks like myself (I mean, I have drilled holes in my case to put in more fans, and cut grills in the sides for better air flow, but that's mostly because I have a cheap case that didn't have that stuff).

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

No 'probably' about it. Recommended PSU for 2 reference model HD 7950s in Crossfire is 750W, straight from the AMD site.

Why do you hate me, Rhombus?

You killed my father, prepare to die.

Yeh he could definitely go cheaper on a few things. If it were me I'd go a lot cheaper on the case and get a less fancy motherboard, but I don't really give a fuck what it looks like myself (I mean, I have drilled holes in my case to put in more fans, and cut grills in the sides for better air flow, but that's mostly because I have a cheap case that didn't have that stuff).

Hooray for utilitarian case mods, the only case mods that are worth making, IMO... at least until I can afford to build an all brass and leather Steampunk set up.

 

[MidnightCat]

Cool, thanks again for responding.

Though I do find it strange that you're partially judging internal components by their aesthetic...they aren't the part you look at.

Haha I know, I meant I was looking the descriptions of the parts, and chose the ones that sounded the most attractive - in a performance and capability sense. I can see how that could be confusing.

Snip

Okay, thanks for the advice. I swapped out the CPU for the cheaper one, picked up a cheaper but hopefully still good motherboard, changed the case for a slightly less awesome one, and selected a better HDD and PSU. I think I'll stick with the graphics card unless there's a good reason to change it. I think that's everything.

Does it still look okay?

Intel Core i5 3570 [http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=20893]

ASRock Fatal1ty Z77 Professional-M Motherboard [http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=19869]

CoolerMaster Storm Enforcer [http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=17170]

ASUS Radeon HD7950 DirectCu II 3GB [http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=20823]

Corsair TX-850 V2 Power Supply [http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=17210]

Corsair Vengeance CML8GX3M2A1600C9 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 [http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=17729]

Seagate Barracuda 2TB ST2000DM001 [http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=19554]

Intel 330 Series 120GB SSD [http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=20049]

Samsung SH-222BB SATA DVDRW Drive OEM [http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=19482]

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit with SP1 OEM [http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=17003]

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Does it still look okay?

Yep, although what you're planning to do with a 850W PSU is anyone's guess... but it does give you a lot of space to play with later on.