About to order parts - Any input?

[Whisperawr]

This will be my first desktop and my friend has found me pieces from NewEgg to build my rig with. Any input on anything would be great because I'm clueless about parts

Video Card:
XFX Double D Black Edition FX-777A-ZDB4 Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

XFX Gift - DEUS EX Game Coupon

AMD Gift - Dirt3 Game Coupon

Desktop Memory:
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900) Desktop Memory Model F3-14900CL9Q-16GBXL

Flash Card:
G.SKILL 4GB Micro SDHC Flash Card w/ SD Adapter Model FF-TSDG4GA-C4

Keyboard:
RAZER Black USB Wired BlackWidow Ultimate Mechanical Gaming Keyboard

Case:
Antec Nine Hundred Black Computer Case with Upgraded USB 3.0 With Side Panel Window

Hard Drive:
Seagate Barracuda ST320DM000 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Retail

Processor:
Intel Core i7-2600 Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 2000 BX80623I72600

Cooler:
ZALMAN CNPS9900MAX-B 135mm Long life bearing CPU Cooler Blue LED

2nd(?) Hard Drive:
Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

DVD:
HP 24X Multiformat DVD Burner Black SATA Model 1270i LightScribe Support

Motherboard:
ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Power Supply:
XFX PRO850W XXX Edition Semi-Modular 80 Plus Silver Certified 850 Watt Active PFC Power Supply

Monitor:
Acer V243HAJbd Black 24" 2ms(GTG) Widescreen LCD Monitor

The keyboard & monitor were what I told my friend I wanted. Any input is appreciated. Is there anything I should know, bring new to desktop parts? How good is this rig?

[Clearea]

You have 2 different Hard Drives in your list.

I can't see a reason for it, so remove the Seagate Barracuda ST320DM000 320GB, and keep the Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB.

The motherboard is pretty high end, I'd suggest at least make sure you have a Intel Core i7-2600k, plus don't forget a 3rd party heat sink - Heat Sink Guide

[ShaanuJaanu]

This will be my first desktop and my friend has found me pieces from NewEgg to build my rig with. Any input on anything would be great because I'm clueless about parts

Video Card:
XFX Double D Black Edition FX-777A-ZDB4 Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

XFX Gift - DEUS EX Game Coupon

AMD Gift - Dirt3 Game Coupon

Desktop Memory:
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900) Desktop Memory Model F3-14900CL9Q-16GBXL

Flash Card:
G.SKILL 4GB Micro SDHC Flash Card w/ SD Adapter Model FF-TSDG4GA-C4

Keyboard:
RAZER Black USB Wired BlackWidow Ultimate Mechanical Gaming Keyboard

Case:
Antec Nine Hundred Black Computer Case with Upgraded USB 3.0 With Side Panel Window

Hard Drive:
Seagate Barracuda ST320DM000 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Retail

Processor:
Intel Core i7-2600 Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 2000 BX80623I72600

Cooler:
ZALMAN CNPS9900MAX-B 135mm Long life bearing CPU Cooler Blue LED

2nd(?) Hard Drive:
Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

DVD:
HP 24X Multiformat DVD Burner Black SATA Model 1270i LightScribe Support

Motherboard:
ASUS SABERTOOTH Z77 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Power Supply:
XFX PRO850W XXX Edition Semi-Modular 80 Plus Silver Certified 850 Watt Active PFC Power Supply

Monitor:
Acer V243HAJbd Black 24" 2ms(GTG) Widescreen LCD Monitor

The keyboard & monitor were what I told my friend I wanted. Any input is appreciated.

you will probably need a higher capacity HDD. ( EDIT oops didnt see the 1TB)

remove the 320 GB and add a SSD for boot.

case/mouse/kb/monitor etc are personal preference for the most part but I wouldn't suggest any of your choices.

[Sick]

If he really wants to get another hd drop the second one and grab a ssd http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820148448 about 35 more dollars alot faster than a conventional hd and its crucial really reliable

[Whisperawr]

you will probably need a higher capacity HDD. ( EDIT oops didnt see the 1TB)
case/mouse/kb/monitor etc are personal preference for the most part but I wouldn't suggest any of your choices.

What would you suggest?

---------- Post added 2012-05-07 at 10:01 PM ----------

If he really wants to get another hd drop the second one and grab a ssd http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820148448 about 35 more dollars alot faster than a conventional hd and its crucial really reliable

What's an SSD? What's wrong with just having 2 hard drives for more space? (Trying to learn what I can)

[Xami]

Yep, an SSD for system drive would be the biggest performance boost in any system these days. I would suggest at least a 120GB. 160+ if you plan on installing games on it as well.

Also, if you're clueless about parts, you don't need a 3rd party CPU cooler. It's for overclockers and absolutely not needed for a stock build. The retail fan is more than sufficient (and very quiet). You can always add it later if you decide to overclock beyond what the stock fan can support.

And what's the SD card for? Does it come bundled with another part?

[Whisperawr]

And what's the SD card for? Does it come bundled with another part?

I think so.

---------- Post added 2012-05-07 at 10:06 PM ----------

Also, if you're clueless about parts, you don't need a 3rd party CPU cooler. It's for overclockers and absolutely not needed for a stock build. The retail fan is more than sufficient (and very quiet). You can always add it later if you decide to overclock beyond what the stock fan can support.

Which one is the 3rd party CPU cooler? And what retail fan are you talking about?

[Clearea]

You can have more space, if you wish.
But another Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB.

Then set both to RAID 0 which will basically double the speed out of them while still leaving you will a total of 2TB's..

Solid state drives (SSDs) take a very different approach to data storage.

They ditch the platters, the heads, all those fast-moving components which cause such problems, replacing them with something much simpler: memory chips. The exact type of chips vary, but most drives use flash memory (essentially the same technology that's used in cameras, MP3 players, memory cards and more) which is able to store data even without any power.

This technology can be expensive, and means SSD drives generally have low capacities and high prices.
But by way of compensation you do get excellent performance. A standard hard drive may take several seconds for its platters to reach full speed, for instance: SSDs are always ready to go immediately. And an SSD doesn't have to move its head around, or wait for the platter to reach a particular point before it can read data, so its access time can be 50 times faster than a regular drive.

[Whisperawr]

This technology can be expensive, and means SSD drives generally have low capacities and high prices.
But by way of compensation you do get excellent performance. A standard hard drive may take several seconds for its platters to reach full speed, for instance: SSDs are always ready to go immediately. And an SSD doesn't have to move its head around, or wait for the platter to reach a particular point before it can read data, so its access time can be 50 times faster than a regular drive.

I told my friend I was looking to spend around 1500, with a max budget of about 2,000 if it really took that much so he was saying it wasn't really worth it for that much extra speed or space. By the way, I'm usually playing WoW, Skyrim, GW, Diablo so I wouldn't imagine I would need an amazing rig. Appreciating the feedback a lot, though.

[Xami]

Which one is the 3rd party CPU cooler? And what retail fan are you talking about?

Cooler:
ZALMAN CNPS9900MAX-B 135mm Long life bearing CPU Cooler Blue LED

This is the 3rd party CPU heatsink/fan. A retail (boxed, not bulk) CPU comes bundled with a heatsink/fan already, so unless you plan on doing quite a bit of overclocking, the default fan is sufficient.

---------- Post added 2012-05-08 at 02:13 PM ----------

An SSD is amazing for any build, even low-end. It improves overall system performance (except for those that are CPU-intensive like simulations). Once you use SSD, you can't ever go back to HDD. It's that good and totally worth the money.

[Clearea]

To fully appreciate this build and any new build these days, an SSD is pretty much a must.

As for your Heat Sink question.

Retail heat sink is what come in the box with the CPU. eg: http://hothardware.com/articleimages...10/coolers.JPG

A 3rd party is just a much better beefed up version of the 'tower cooler' with the choice of placing what every brand of fan you wish on them in most cases.

[Evil Inside]

I would recommend you drop the i7 and go for i5 2500K, better value and performs just as well as the i7 in regards to games.

Edit: I'm assuming that this setup will be used for games, not for video editing and the like, if so then just disregard my comment.

[T0ggle]

I told my friend I was looking to spend around 1500, with a max budget of about 2,000 if it really took that much so he was saying it wasn't really worth it for that much extra speed or space. By the way, I'm usually playing WoW, Skyrim, GW, Diablo so I wouldn't imagine I would need an amazing rig. Appreciating the feedback a lot, though.

I would really...really...really find a way to get a SSD in there. If finances/budget are an issue, I'd probably choose to downgrade the Razer BlackWidow keyboard and the 1TB SATA drive for now and just buy the SSD instead, until one could afford the keyboard and extra storage.

[Whisperawr]

I would really...really...really find a way to get a SSD in there. If finances/budget are an issue, I'd probably choose to downgrade the Razer BlackWidow keyboard and the 1TB SATA drive for now and just buy the SSD instead, until one could afford the keyboard and extra storage.

Yeah you guys have persuaded me to try to get an SSD in this build. It'd be $58 extra to get the 128GB SSD instead of the 320GB HDD.

My friend is saying if I'm not satisfied with the speed of his build, I can always upgrade but he's not a big fan of SSD drives because the speed from the regular hard drive is good for him.

With the new SSD and removing the 320GB HDD, the whole rig is at $1,846.87. Anything else I should look at?

[emmiting]

My opinion for you to have a much faster feeling rig is:
cpu: i5-2500k instead of i7-2600 save 80$
heatsink: just use stock cooler because it does not sound like you are overclocking at all. save 68$
primary hard drive: replace 320gb hard drive with a 256gb ssd.... the 320gb drive on newegg is 74$ so if you take your 150$ savings from the two other options and you won't end up spending anymore money really. And you will have a very fast feeling computer.

Btw, I'm still assuming you will get the secondary 1tb harddrive. So a 256gb ssd may likely be overkill, if you wanted you could get a slightly smaller one. But hey at least I didn't change your budget.

[Whisperawr]

cpu: i5-2500k instead of i7-2600 save 80$
heatsink: just use stock cooler because it does not sound like you are overclocking at all. save 68$
primary hard drive: replace 320gb hard drive with a 256gb ssd.... the 320gb drive on newegg is 74$ so if you take your 150$ savings from the two other options and you won't end up spending anymore money really. And you will have a very fast feeling computer.

Why the i5-2500k?
Which 256GB SSD?

[Xami]

i5-2500K performs just as fast as i7 in gaming. In non-gaming, CPU-intensive applications, i7 may perform better (like video encoding, etc).

Articles on sites like Tomshardware or Anandtech can provide you with comprehensive benchmarks other useful information:
Best Gaming CPU for the Money
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...lock,3106.html
Best SSD for the Money
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...alue,3184.html

[emmiting]

I'm assuming you aren't using photoshop, adobe, or CAD type programs that really use all that a cpu can give them. Therefore, you won't ever get all the benefit of a i7-2600 cpu. I have personally bought a crucial m4 128gb ssd. It was impressive to me, so I would recommend looking at Crucial. I don't know if your buddy has ever used an ssd. I know price/gb is pretty high but when I bought mine to replace the harddrive in my everyday laptop, it breathed a second life into it. It's like having a mac with the snappiness!

edit... btw, if there is a microcenter close to you at all, they sell the 2500k for 170$.

[Deleted]

You can have more space, if you wish.
But another Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB.

Then set both to RAID 0 which will basically double the speed out of them while still leaving you will a total of 2TB's..

Average user doesn't want raid. Ever. Setting it up and finding drivers to install Windows can be such a mess, even if everything works out on paper.

Speaking of experience, took me 2-3 hours of googling drivers that would let me properly install Windows 7 64bit on Crosshair IV and raid0. As an added insult, some drivers would seemingly install Windows fine but then couldn't boot it and ended up in bluescreen loop.

***
To OP: GPU isn't exactly on par with rest of the system. Gaming wise, it would help skimping from other components and getting a stronger GPU.

[Whisperawr]

-320gb HDD
+256gb SSD
-Intel Core i7-2600 Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 2000 BX80623I72600
+Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000 BX80623I52500K
-CPU Cooler

Is this the general consensus? If it turns out that I want the cooler I can order it later and just build it into it, right?