Building First Rig. Gaming/Streaming/Video editing.

[SplitOO7]

Im gonna game a lil wow/sc2 but mostly stream CoD from my 360 and do some video editing and photoshop. Mainly making CoD Montages.
Im gonna have a budget of 1,750 that can go up more if really needs to. I was looking at the z77 boards and was wondering do I need to go with the new boards, can I get by with p67 z68 z79? Also will I need to go with a i7? For cases what Cooler Masters do ppl like? I like all the scouts and HAF's.
Sorry for all the questions, Im just excited to get my first build under way!

[Anderzon]

Something like this is what I'd suggest you to go for. The CPU and Motherboard are just there to represent some approximate prices of the i7-3770K and the Asrock Z77 Extreme4 (I recommend you to wait until these two come out before pruchasing. If you can't wait, get the Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 instead of the one I linked in build). I'm not a big fan of the Cooler Master cases myself, I'd much rather get either the 650D or if you want to save money, the Fractal Design Arc Midi.

[vesseblah]

Streaming/recording games from consoles requires video capture hardware too.

Something like this -> http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...reamingme01-20

[SplitOO7]

Anderzon- Will I really need i7? The classes I will be taking is all using Adobe CS5.5. I like the cooler master cases that are black mesh with red. It just looks sick!
After reading I think ill go with 16gb of ram unless that is too overrated. This is a prime example of what I want to learn to do-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6y9HACWfgPo
Also I think I will go with a lower gpu for now since I wont be gaming so hard on pc. Also 1 possibly 2 TB HDD's and 1 SSD.

---------- Post added 2012-04-10 at 04:50 AM ----------

Actually I might want a good nvidia gpu for cuda.

[Anderzon]

On the i7 front, it all depends on how much editing etc you do. In most cases however, the i5-3570K will be enough, so I guess you could go with that. I don't do any video editing myself, so I really don't know how big of a difference there is between the both.

[SplitOO7]

Hows this? https://secure.newegg.com/WishList/M...px?ID=20070746

[noteworthynerd]

We can't see that, only you can see your wishlist unless you make it public and then give us the public URL.

But, after some URL magic, I found this, is this your build? http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/Pu...umber=20070746

If so, that video card is a budget card from the last generation, the Cooler Master PSU is not very good, wait for the new Ivy Bridge i7 (will be here April 29), and the Cooler Master Storm Enforcer is rather blah in my opinion.

Those particular parts from Anderzon's build are much better, if you don't want a GPU as expensive as the 7970, I recommend the 7870.

[SplitOO7]

I wanna go with a nvidia card for the cuda(if it really matters). I wanna have everything black/red. Hows the motherboard I picked? Also I was thinking of running 2 tb hdds cause with capturing in 1080p those files stack up and there uncompressed. So have all the capturing vids go straight to 2nd HDD or however would be best.

[Anderzon]

For Z77 motherboard I recommend the Asrock Z77 Extreme4 or the MSI Z77A-GD55. I second noteworthynerd on pretty much all he said. I would strongly suggest you to go with the build I linked (but if you want to save money downgrade the GPU to a 7870 and swap the case for a Fractal Design Arc Midi or Rosewill Blackhawk). If you feel like, add a larger HDD, you don't need more than 5900 RPM for the video storage.

[mnm]

CPU: Core i7 3820 + Asrock Extreme3 combo
Mobo: Core i7 3820 + Asrock Extreme3 combo - 490$
RAM: G.Skill Sniper 4x4GB 2133Mhz - 130$
PSU: Seasonic M12II 620W - 90$
Case: Antec Gaming Series One - 55$
Cooler: EVGA SuperClock - 50$
SSD: Samsung 830 128GB SSD - 175$
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200RPM - 100$

GTX 680 - 500$ ....... Id like to suggest you a GTX680 but they are out of stock everywhere =(

Total : 1089$ + GTX680 (500$) = 1589 +TX (- Promo code and MIR)

[vesseblah]

CPU: Core i7 3820 + Asrock Extreme3 combo
Mobo: Core i7 3820 + Asrock Extreme3 combo - 490$
RAM: G.Skill Sniper 4x4GB 2133Mhz - 130$

That's a lot of completely wasted money. OP really does not need SB-E nor 2133MHz RAM.

[SplitOO7]

I like the mobo/cpu. How much would it be to go liquid cooling? I live in AZ it gets hot in the summer.

[Notarget]

Wait for IvyBridge i5-3570K (or if you really think you need it i7-3770k):

Part list permalink / Part price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-2600K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($279.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: NZXT HAVIK-140 90.3 CFM CPU Cooler ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($147.86 @ Newegg)
Memory: Mushkin Blackline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($39.99 @ NCIX US)
Hard Drive: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Hard Drive: Crucial M4 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($144.99 @ Mac Connection)
Video Card: MSI Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card ($264.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 500R Black ATX Mid Tower Case ($114.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: OCZ 600W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($44.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1225.76
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)
(Generated 2012-04-11 12:45 EDT-0400)

[mnm]

That's a lot of completely wasted money. OP really does not need SB-E nor 2133MHz RAM.

hes trying to build a workstation , thats not wasted money at all.

[SplitOO7]

hes trying to build a workstation , thats not wasted money at all.

Will I really need to go with x79? Also what about water cooling? I live in AZ. Its gets really hot during the summer.

[vesseblah]

Will I really need to go with x79?

No, don't recommend it because it will limit your upgrade options more than going with Z77 board and in your use the performance difference between i7-2600K and i7-3820 is negligible. 3820 can't be overclocked but i7-2600K can which will mean it does actually run notably faster in both games and workstation use.

i7-3770K (IB replacement to i7-2700K) is probably your best bet, although personally I think you'd do just fine with i5-2500K/3570K unless you spend several hours per day rendering, not editing videos.

Also what about water cooling? I live in AZ. Its gets really hot during the summer.

Water cooling is not necessary, but something like Corsair's H100 might help with case airflow. With high ambient temperature stock coolers are bad idea, and you really need to pay real attention to getting a case with good airflow. Cant' really build a silent computer unless you're willing to drop $1-2k on custom water cooling gear.

[SplitOO7]

I like the Cooler master cases. CM's and HAF's. Well I keep getting mixed on opinions on wether or not to go with x79 or z77.

[vesseblah]

Edited my previous post a bit with some explanations and reasons.

[SplitOO7]

Im just tryuing to figure out if what ill be doing will be worth the money to jump to i7. I mean all I will be doing is capturing gameplay, streaming gameplay and making montages. Ill be using all of adobe CS cause that is what im gonna be taking classes for.

[vesseblah]

Basically, when you're in control pressing buttons of mouse/keyboard, faster HDD and more RAM helps. When computer is doing stuff and you waiting for it to finish, you need faster processor.

When I'm working on WoW boss kills, on average I spend two hours with mouse/keyboard and one hour waiting for the rendering after. Having i7 will not speed up editing one bit, but it makes the rendering part about 15% faster. i7 would save me 10 minutes out of each three hours, so I decided extra $100 is not worth it for me.