First computer build compatibility check

[Takibi]

I have been doing the research for this tower build for about a month now. Everything I have read up to this point says that these parts should all work together, but I would like to make sure before I start buying.

AZZA Hurrican 2000 CSAZ-2000 Black SECC Japanese Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case

TOSHIBA DT01ACA050 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

ASUS GT640-2GD3 GeForce GT 640 2GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card

ASUS Black SATA DVD-ROM Drive Model DVD-E818A7T/BLK/B/GEN - OEM

Rosewill BRONZE Series RBR1000-M 1000W Continuous at 40 C, 80Plus Bronze Certified, Modular Cable Design, ATX12V v2.3/ EPS12V, SLI Ready, CrossFire Ready, Active PFC"Compatible with Core i7, i5" Power Supply

G.SKILL Sniper Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Voltage Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9Q-16GBSR1

ASUS P8Z77-V LK LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

Intel Core i7-2600k Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000 BX80623172600k

CORSAIR CWCH60 Hydro Series H60 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler


My gaming consists of WoW, SWTOR, Crysis, Mass Effect, etc....

I know I don't need a full tower, but I want room to upgrade in the future.

[inux94]

Change the tower to something more budget oriented, change the i7-2600k to a i5-2500k, Go for an ASRock motherboard
Change the PSU to a Antec Earthwatts 650w (Will still run SLI mode in the future etc.)

Spend the money saved on a GTX 670/AMD 7970, the GT 640 is seriously a weak GPU.

[Takibi]

Budget really isn't something I am terribly worried about. Is there a particular reason I should downgrade the processor? I went with the i7 because it seemed drastically more functional for not much more money. However, I will look into the motherboard and GPU switch.

[kamikaze148]

Change the tower to something more budget oriented, change the i7-2600k to a i5-2500k, Go for an ASRock motherboard
Change the PSU to a Antec Earthwatts 650w (Will still run SLI mode in the future etc.)

Spend the money saved on a GTX 670/AMD 7970, the GT 640 is seriously a weak GPU.

What this man said. i52500K is a great futureproofing CPU, whats the price difference for an i7?

And i would also reassess your GPU choice as it seems a little weak. I went with the GTX560ti as it was affordable/on special at the time, and it does me right for what i need it to do. But your call

[Takibi]

Thanks for suggesting the GTX 560. Though budget isn't really an issue for me, it is hard to justify spending $400 on a video card. Perhaps when budget is less of an issue XD

Currently the price difference between the i5 and i7 for me is about $80. which is why I wasn't very worried about it.

[Evil Inside]

Budget really isn't something I am terribly worried about. Is there a particular reason I should downgrade the processor? I went with the i7 because it seemed drastically more functional for not much more money. However, I will look into the motherboard and GPU switch.

For gaming the 2600k has no benefit over the 2500k, so its not really worth spending the extra money when you can use that money elsewhere.

---------- Post added 2012-10-03 at 06:22 AM ----------

Thanks for suggesting the GTX 560. Though budget isn't really an issue for me, it is hard to justify spending $400 on a video card. Perhaps when budget is less of an issue XD

Currently the price difference between the i5 and i7 for me is about $80. which is why I wasn't very worried about it.

Think of it this way, you'll spend $400 today and you wont have to worry about another graphics card for another 2 years or so, even then you can just add another in crossfire/sli and still get amazing performance, as opposed to changing the graphics card every year or whatever.

[Takibi]

For gaming the 2600k has no benefit over the 2500k, so its not really worth spending the extra money when you can use that money elsewhere.

---------- Post added 2012-10-03 at 06:22 AM ----------



Think of it this way, you'll spend $400 today and you wont have to worry about another graphics card for another 2 years or so, even then you can just add another in crossfire/sli and still get amazing performance, as opposed to changing the graphics card every year or whatever.

Hm. Well when you put it that way. lol Alright. I'll go with the i5 then however, as long as I can catch the sale on the PSU I will not downgrade that. a 1000W unit for $120? yes please

And do graphics cards really need to be upgraded that frequently? Friend of mine has been running the same card for 3 years no issues. And he did not spend a whole lot on it.

[Evil Inside]

Hm. Well when you put it that way. lol Alright. I'll go with the i5 then however, as long as I can catch the sale on the PSU I will not downgrade that. a 1000W unit for $120? yes please

And do graphics cards really need to be upgraded that frequently? Friend of mine has been running the same card for 3 years no issues. And he did not spend a whole lot on it.

Not at all, you can run a graphics card for years and years but with diminished performance as the graphics get more complex obviously, I was just using an example lol.

[naihan]

Why would you consider Sandy Bridge when you could have an Ivy Bridge? It has better performance and a much lower wattage. The ONLY think I can think of is if you wanted to push your processor to its limits overclocking wise. You can get a Sandy Bridge at its max to outperform an Ivy Bridge at its max, but overclocking that much is entirely unnecessary (especially for games). Clock for clock, Ivy is stronger. Invest in a GTX 670 or a Radeon 7970; they have amazing performance per dollar (investing more money into a GTX 680 or a Radeon 7970 GHz Edition doesn't make much sense). A 1000W power supply is overkill, but it will definitely not hurt to have overkill on your PSUs max wattage). 16 GB DDR3 is overkill for gaming, you can get 8 if you want to save a few bucks and notice an extremely small difference. Yes, you will notice very little difference gaming from i5 to i7. There's really nothing special about the i7s. People think the differences are big, but it just come down to this: In i5s, each core cn handle one thread. In i7s, each core can handle two threads. Games rarely exploit the additional 4 threads that are available to them, so gaming on an i5 is usually identical to gaming on an i7. HOWEVER, if you want a processor that can handle more outside of gaming, you'd be a fool not to pay a little bit more for hyper-threading. If I were in your shoes, I'd do the following:
Same case
Same HD
EVGA Geforce GTX 670
Same DVD rom
Cooler Master Silent Pro Gold 800 W (Corsair, Cooler Master, and NZXT PSUs are the most reliable imo)
Same RAM
Same MoBo
Intel Core i7-3770K CPU (i5-3750K would be the i5 alternative)
Same Cooler

[Takibi]

lol okay. Not a problem then. But now back to my main question, are these parts going to work with each other? I will put together a more up to date list now that I am changing a few things around.

---------- Post added 2012-10-03 at 01:54 AM ----------

Okay, now would this graphics card be acceptable for the aforementioned gaming? (and yes, I am doing everything in my power to avoid spending $400 on a single component XD)

ASUS ENGTX560 DC/2DI/1GD5 GeForce GTX 560 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

[inux94]

Since people are hurling crap all over the place, I'm just going to remake your setup:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.99 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($27.98 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock P67 Extreme4 Gen3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Kingston 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($46.28 @ Amazon)
Memory: Kingston 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($46.28 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Samsung 830 Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB Video Card ($299.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Azza Hurrican 2000R ATX Full Tower Case ($109.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Professional 750W 80 PLUS Silver Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($99.99 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (64-bit) ($90.29 @ Amazon)
Total: $1240.75
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

[Takibi]

Thank you for the advice everyone I have upgraded to a higher end graphics card. an MSI GeForce GTX 660. Lots of power in that one. Won't be running a solid state right now. Asking a buddy of mine to pick one up for me for christmas since he owes me money anyway. Still sticking with the 1000W PSU. Just can't pass up the deal. Went to an i5 Ivy Bridge. Sticking with the Corsair liquid cooler. Sticking with the ASUS motherboard. And sticking with the 16GB G.SKILL RAM.

Thanks again everyone. It was really helpful reading all of this. Can't tell you how hard all this research has been XD

[naihan]

Forgot to mention this, but your original mobo ASUS P8Z77-V is a Z77 chipset, which is only compatible with Ivy. As long as you stick with Ivy, that mobo is fine.
Also in response to...

Since people are hurling crap all over the place, I'm just going to remake your setup:

Hurling crap? You're recommending a processor that's going to be EOL soon due to Ivy and a graphics card that doesn't have very good price/performance compared to a 670. Everyone can have opinions, just because it isn't yours doesn't mean it's crap.