Building my first computer and looking for feedback

[Strucker]

Greetings

I'm building my first custom PC and would appreciate any feedback on my parts list. I've budgeted 3k for the project and have done a decent amount of research. It will be used almost exclusively for gaming on a three monitor setup (Monitors are already taken care of).

Motherboard: Sabertooth z77 $245
CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K $320
CPU Cooler: Corsair Hydro H100 $115
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 16GB $90
Video Card: GeForce GTX 690 (4GB) $999
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster Recon3D $100
System Drive: OCZ Agility 4 256GB $180
Storage Drive: Seagate Barracuda 3TB $150
Case: Thermaltake Level 10 GT Full Tower $200
Power Supply: Thermaltake Toughpower 1000 Watt $0

Total: $2399

Anything else I'm missing?

Thanks!

[c0rnel]

Greetings

I'm building my first custom PC and would appreciate any feedback on my parts list. I've budgeted 3k for the project and have done a decent amount of research. It will be used almost exclusively for gaming on a three monitor setup (Monitors are already taken care of).

Motherboard: Sabertooth X79 $325
CPU: Intel Core i7-3930K $560
CPU Cooler: Corsair Hydro H100 $115
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 16GB $90
Video Card: GeForce GTX 690 (4GB) $999
System Drive: OCZ Agility 4 256GB $180
Storage Drive: Seagate Barracuda 3TB $150
Case: Thermaltake Level 10 GT Full Tower $200
Power Supply: Corsair CMPSU-1200AX 1200 Watt $300

So far the total is at $2919.

From what I can tell all the parts are compatible. I do still need to find a decent sound card (Doesn't need to be great).

Anything else I'm missing?

Thanks!

A few things I recommend.

1) Why not go with the z77 board instead of the x79 chipset and then get the 3770k cpu? You'd save like a few hundreds there.
2) Instead of gtx 690 i'd choose 2x gtx 680s in sli and u'd save 100 bucks. With that extra $100 u could buy this sound card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829102041

Nice choice on the ssd, tower and psu.

[Milkshake86]

A few things I recommend.

1) Why not go with the z77 board instead of the x79 chipset and then get the 3770k cpu? You'd save like a few hundreds there.
2) Instead of gtx 690 i'd choose 2x gtx 680s in sli and u'd save 100 bucks. With that extra $100 u could buy this sound card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16829102041

Nice choice on the ssd, tower and psu.

Level 10 is hideously gross, I agree from a financial standpoint on the x79 but if he wants to buy it who cares.

[Strucker]

Thanks for the reply!

1) Why not go with the z77 board instead of the x79 chipset and then get the 3770k cpu? You'd save like a few hundreds there.

From what I could tell (which isn't much) the performance of the x79 and 3930k was noticeably better, would the extra performance likely just be a waste when gaming?
If I wanted to upgrade the CPU 3-4 years down the road would newer models be more likely to work with the x79 motherboard?

2) Instead of gtx 690 i'd choose 2x gtx 680s in sli and u'd save 100 bucks.

This may be naive but looking at pictures of the 680 I only saw two DVI ports and I'm planning a three monitor setup. Can you use DVI ports on the second 680 well its SLI'ed to the first?

I mainly went with the 690 so that if I wanted to upgrade in a few years I could pick up a second 690 and SLI it in. I was worried about overheating if I went with a third 680 down the road and tried to fit them all in (Assuming the motherboard can handle 3 cards, I haven't looked). I don't know if overheating is actually much of a concern with this case or not though.

Thanks

[cmdrcod]

For the listed build the power supply seems quite large.

As for sound card digital output from onboard is acceptable. If you feel its required changing components (Intel Core i7-3820 instead of 3930, case, psu, mb) will free up some cash. Spending 3k on a comp seems nuts to me but cheers!

[Zigna]

Can't say mutch about your setup, but here are some general tips

If you don't have a sata cable laying about you'll want to order two as well. Since most hard disk's don't come with one.

Since it's your first time building a computer I would recomend studying the installation of the CPU cooler. If you mess up, or have to lift it back up again for some reason the thermal paste won't work as well.
If that happends I would recoment cleaning the sink, and the part of CPU that got paste on it, with high content acetone (can be found in nail polish remover, or condense remover at gass stations), and cotton swabs. Though a coffe filter would be better since it dosn't leave a residue. High proof alcohol would work as well (99% ethanol), but if you need lab/hospital access for that.

What thermal paste you should get to replace the one you just removed you'll have to figure out yourself. Last time I replaced a CPU fan I used Artic Silver 5, but from the looks of it Shin-Etsu MicroSI X23-7783D is better (from a test early this year). But the paste that comes stock with that cooler is apperently better.

Good luck on building your first computer

[stuck4cash]

If you don't have a sata cable laying about you'll want to order two as well. Since most hard disk's don't come with one.

Motherboards come with SATA cables. Why would you buy them?

Also, if the thermal paste hasn't been used them it's fine to put it back on. Once it's heated up then you'd want to consider doing that.

You're worried about waste in game but go for an i7 and 16GB of RAM.

Also, if you're thinking about replacing the CPU in 3-4 years then just stop. In 3-4 years the CPUs won't fit the sockets of any boards that are currently out. Upgrading the CPU means upgrading the motherboard in almost all cases (unless it fails after a short period of time).

You're spending a lot of money for little gain. I'd step back the CPU and GPU and you don't need a 1200W PSU, not even close (different if you were adding an extra few HDDs and another GPU).

Seriously, save yourself $1000 and get something that'll perform well and save the money to replace the whole lot again in "3-4 years".

[BicycleMafioso]

The performance differences between x79 and z77 lie in areas that multi-thread well and can use the extra memory bandwidth. Gaming is not one of these.
Any performance differences in gaming between the 3930K and the i5 3570K are... slim. In fairness, I'd argue that you'd have slightly better performance with the latter with fewer than three graphics cards.
Z77 and socket 1155 will be replaced half-way through 2013. X79 will last longer and will have another range of CPUs coming to it; these will be based on current architectures and likely will be partially defunct by then.

Since you're planning to play on a triple-monitor setup, I'd either advice you to go with AMD and the Radeon HD7970 GHz, a GPU that excels at high resolutions (1920x1080 and up). nVidia does play better with dual cards though.
Today, I would argue that you could run most games decently off of a single HD7970 GHz and GTX 680.
If you choose nVidia, I would strongly urge you to go for the GTX 680 instead. Two will be more than plenty. Do make sure you pick two 4GiB-versions however, due to the resolution.

Adding a third down the line? No, that'd be absurd. You're already overkilling it by the second GTX 680.

SSD, I would advice against the Agility 4 and suggest either Samsung 830 or the OCZ Vertex 4. The Vertex 4 is the only OCZ drive I would actually touch with a pole shorter than two feet.

I'd go with the Corsair Carbide 500R for case.

PSU I'd really not see the purpose of a 1200w PSU. Even with two GTX 680s, I'd suggest you a 850w PSU, and it'd still be more than plenty; Likely for three even. Be Quiet!'s PSUs are really fantastic, as is Seasonic's and XFX's.

[Strucker]

Thanks for all the great feedback!

I have access to a 1000w PSU from a friends old machine whose graphics cards went to hell. It sounds like that would be more than enough, anything I should be concerned about in reusing it?

I'll update the list to go with the x77 motherboard and 3770k cpu.

From what I can tell, with the 2x gtx 680s you cannot game on one monitor and have the desktop up on 2 more when they are SLI'ed:
overclock.net/t/1249474/gtx-680-sli-triple-monitor-and-surround-questions

So I think I'll stick with the GTX 690, its only $60 more and the other changes have put me a good ways under budget already (Thanks)

Thanks everyone!

[yurano]

I'd consult this guide first before picking a sound card since most people don't have much experience with them.

http://www.overclock.net/a/most-comm...products-guide

[BicycleMafioso]

From what I can tell, with the 2x gtx 680s you cannot game on one monitor and have the desktop up on 2 more when they are SLI'ed:
overclock.net/t/1249474/gtx-680-sli-triple-monitor-and-surround-questions

I think this is more due to them meaning that SLI does not function in windowed mode.
The GTX 690 are two GPUs in SLI on one card already.
Just as a heads-up. If you intend to do that, you will only have half of a card ;P
Besides, GTX 690 has 2*2 GiB VRAM and lower clocks than the GTX 680. Which means that you only have 2GiB VRAM to use.