Need Comfort.

[Fleur]

Hi, I'm planning on building my own desktop computer since my former laptop was more than done and so far, I've found Marest's sample builds to be most useful.

My interests are pointing towards the 790 since It does seem to be quite the sweetspot.

I'm basically just looking for some form of confirmation that this is a fair build or if there are any parts that may be switched out to give a better result while still lying around the same price.

Since I just registered and haven't posted, I am not allowed to post links, which is forcing me to just give the model code instead.

This is what I'm planning on going for so far.

CPU: Intel Core i5 3570K 3,4Ghz (Ivy Bridge) : BX80637I53570K

GPU: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660Ti : GV-N66TOC-2GD-EU

MoBo: ASRock Z77 PRO3 ATX

Case: Fractal Design Arc Midi

PSU: XFX ProSeries 450W : P1-450S-X2B9

RAM: Corsair 8GB (2x4096MB) CL9 1333Mhz XMS3 : CMX8GX3M2A1333C9 (switched into this instead since it was more easly obtainable)

HDD: Western Digital WD Green 1TB : WD10EARS

I did also happen to have this semi-old drive at my disposal which would spare me some money (pretty much unused, though vista is installed on it).
However, it's slower than the WD Caviar blue one and are wondering if the difference will be significant?

As for the PSU, it does feel to be a little low, but perhaps I'm wrong. It wouldn't be enough if I would upgrade to faster SLI 660Tis later?

Living in sweden and will probably be ordering most from Inet (for those who know) since I can't seem to find cheaper prices than theirs around here.
Monitor, keyboard and mouse do I already have available which will work for now.

[Zogarth]

I have not looked into if the parts fit in the motherboard or stuff like that, but it seems like a solid build from my perspective. And for the graphics card you should be good to be honest. You won't need SLI in quite some time from what i know. I run with a 560TI and i can run close to all games on ultra. I do have an I7 3770K, but to be honest the I5 3570k is nearly as good, so you should be fine. Disclamer: I am in no way a computer expert, but i have assembled plenty of computers myself, and have a little over basic knowledge.

[Deleted]

Looks solid from what I can tell, (although my knowledge on intels is limited)
I would however look at a slightly more powerful PSU just to give you a little headroom. something around 650w would be more than ample until you look at a dual GFX card system.

As for the old hard drive. you dont mention what speed it is. There is also nothing stopping you from putting it in as a slave drive to the 1TB drive.
although imo I would use your existing drive as an OS drive with the 1TB as storage unless it is a really old drive.

[Deleted]

As for the PSU, it does feel to be a little low, but perhaps I'm wrong. It wouldn't be enough if I would upgrade to faster SLI 660Tis later?

Its enough for your current system. Shouldn't go beyond 300w out-of-socket under normal use, with the last 150W being more than enough as a margin for power spikes and aging.

It is however too weak to handle a second card safely. It could do it for a little while, sure - but it would be sitting quite literally at the limit of its capabilities - and running a PSU at capacity for a length of time is not recommended as the maximum capacity is reduced by age - and higher loads accelerates the aging process.

[Harry Botter]

I have not looked into if the parts fit in the motherboard or stuff like that, but it seems like a solid build from my perspective. And for the graphics card you should be good to be honest. You won't need SLI in quite some time from what i know. I run with a 560TI and i can run close to all games on ultra. I do have an I7 3770K, but to be honest the I5 3570k is nearly as good, so you should be fine. Disclamer: I am in no way a computer expert, but i have assembled plenty of computers myself, and have a little over basic knowledge.

For gaming purposes there is close to no difference between the 3570k and the 3770k. For applications that require more threading is where the 3770k would be better.

[Lemmiwink]

I would recommend spending another 600 SEK on an SSD as that will make the build feel fast and responsive when you use it. Just like a new PC should. Power supply is big enough and that PC will run everything on ultra just fine.

The best way of taking care of your PC is to make sure it's got proper cooling. I would recommend you get an aftermarket CPU cooler for your computer, especially since the air flow in that cabinet makes the CPU area a wee bit hotter than many other cases on the market, putting the stock cooler in a difficult situation. One way to solve that problem without dishing out extra cash on a cooler would be to get a video card that is closed on the inside of the case and blows 90% of the hot air out the back of your case. Reference coolers do this. I would still go for a proper CPU cooler though.

If you go for a big old on-air cpu cooler you're gonna want to switch your RAM modules into low profile ones or you might end up with a cooler/ram module conflict. But, being a nice silent case as Fractal is famous for, I'd go for a closed-loop water cooler. There are plenty of them out there and they are fairly easy to install. For your CPU I would recommend something like H40/60 or similar.

Last: I would not recommend using the Green disk for other things than pure storage(videos, films etc.)

[Fleur]

Ok, so I'm getting the Western Digital WD Blue WD5000AAKX one then and ignore the green drive.

Regarding the PSU: I did happen to find a "XFX Core Edition PRO550W (P1-550S-XXB9) 550W ATX12V 2.2 & ESP12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply" : PRO550W (P1-550S-XXB9)
For the exact same price as the 450W vesrsion I was planning to get. Should I pick the 550 one instead or will it just make no real difference?

I'm afraid than an SSD and CPU cooler will have to wait due to the fact that I'm at the peak of my current budged. But I guess the point for me was to get the basics and improve from there once I get more money over.

As for the case, does anyone have any better alternatives? I don't think HAF 912 would be any better, would it?

[n0cturnal]

Spreading out your order over CDON, Inet and Komplett can save you something like 400-500SEK, while Inet has really good service they are far from being the cheapest.
You can save even more money by ordering from places like ClickOK and Pixmania but I wouldn't recommend that.

If you decide to order from CDON you should have a look at http://cdon.se/hemelektronik/cdon_%2B_sweclockers/ for some extra savings.

[Fleur]

I was planning to order all wares on inet, except 2 which were a lot cheaper on Komplett.
As for CDON, I made some compartions, and the price difference weren't crucial. With the 5% off I would get things around 200 sek cheaper, but that doesn't include shipping which I think got around 49 sek. Unfortunately, some cheaper producs were out of stock on CDON aswell.

Thanks for the info though, will keep it in mind.