Build Ready, Need Some Final Advice

[Kelmor]

So some questions as this will be my first custom PC. Will my heatsink/fan be enough for my gpu/cpu? My case and motherboard are on the cheaper side, do I need upgrades? I have a laptop with a tb HD, so I'm just gonna stick with the SSD in my gaming pc here. Any advice would e greatly appreciated.


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($274.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock B75 PRO3-M Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($70.33 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($93.99 @ Adorama)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card ($259.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: Corsair Enthusiast 650W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($82.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B3ST/BLK/G/AS DVD/CD Writer ($25.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $958.23
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-07-22 20:09 EDT-0400)

[Fluorescent0]

You should definitely overclock, it's lots of performance you're missing on.
Is there any particular reason you're going for an i7 over an i5? Activities such as live streaming, 3d rendering.
That PSU is overkill, grab an XFX 550W
Are you sure you can fit all the games you want to play in 128GB of space? I'd get a secondary drive just to be safe.

Oh, noticed you're buying ivy bridge. On that budget I'd really not recommend buying a dead socket.

Try this setup instead.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($80.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus Z87-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($135.00 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($29.98 @ Outlet PC)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($29.98 @ Outlet PC)
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($93.99 @ Adorama)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card ($254.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Corsair 500R Black ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($45.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $1023.88
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-07-22 20:54 EDT-0400)

The case has an amazing limited sale I'd really recommend taking. An unlocked chip will bring a great performance gain by overclocking. Gigabbyte or MSI 760 is really personal preference.

[Kelmor]

I was planning on streaming or at least would want the option to. Is over locking the i5 that much better than the i7 because I'd rather not over clock at all to be honest. And I have that HD already but didn't add it to the list. Will the case you supplied and pay be ok with the i7?

[chazus]

The i5 (4670K) and i7 (4770K) can both be overclocked (as denoted by the K). Usually the idea is that, unless your streaming can pay for itself, don't bother getting the i7 unless you have an exorbitant budget, and the extra $100 is just a drop in the bucket. At this budget level, I wouldn't recommend it.

[Fluorescent0]

Hyperthreading (i7) is about a 20% increase to streaming. Overclocking can give 20% to overall performance (both streaming and playing) so it's definitely a plus.

[Kelmor]

The $100 isn't a big deal for me and I figured why not just get the better CPU, I'm not losing anything getting it and it's better then upgrading it later. Can anyone recommend any wireless cards?

[Fluorescent0]

The point is that going non-k is going to be a far more important performance loss than going for an i5 over an i7, especially if you're streaming at 720p which is entirely doable on an i5. Going on an i7 does not future-proof anything, it just helps on very intensive multi-threaded tasks such as video rendering. This is because most programs use a fixed amount of cores. Increasing cores won't increase performance, increasing each core's performance does instead.

[Kelmor]

RIght, ok, I'll switch it to the 3770k. I switched a few more things so here's what it looks like now.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($249.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: MSI B75MA-P45 Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($64.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($78.80 @ TigerDirect)
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($93.99 @ Adorama)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card ($259.99 @ Amazon)
Wireless Network Adapter: Rosewill RNX-N250PCe 802.11b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($19.95 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: Corsair Enthusiast 650W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($82.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $960.67
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-07-22 23:17 EDT-0400)

[Fluorescent0]

Why are you buying on a dead socket on that budget? If I were you I'd really go for haswell (4770k).

In order to overclock you need a z77 (3770k) or a z87 (4770k) motherboard, a b75/b85 can't. You'll also need a CPU cooler to keep temperatures down.

That power supply isn't on the recommended psu list, I'd switch to a 550 XFX.

Oh, noticed the wireless question. I heard good things about the Asus PCE-N15 card but I'm really not too sure if it's your best bet.

[Kelmor]

Why are you buying on a dead socket on that budget? If I were you I'd really go for haswell (4770k).

In order to overclock you need a z77 (3770k) or a z87 (4770k) motherboard, a b75/b85 can't. You'll also need a CPU cooler to keep temperatures down.

That power supply isn't on the recommended psu list, I'd switch to a 550 XFX.

Oh I forgot the add the cooler, it's Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - CPU Cooler with 120mm PWM Fan (RR-212E-20PK-R2). What do you mean by dead socket? I really appreciate the help and I'm sorry for all the noob questions.

[Fluorescent0]

Ivy bridge (iX - 3XXX) are socket 1155 CPUs.
Haswell (iX - 4XXX) are socket 1150 CPUs.

Socket 1155 is dead, as in, no future CPUs will be designed for it.
Socket 1150, on the other hand, will be targeted by the next generation of CPUs as well.

Going for a socket which is still "alive" (as in, there will be new CPUs coming for it) lets you upgrade if you feel the need to do so without having to change the motherboard as well.

[Kelmor]

Ok, so I think I understand. So then would this work?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($279.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: MSI B85M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($64.24 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($78.80 @ TigerDirect)
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($93.99 @ Adorama)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card ($259.99 @ Amazon)
Wireless Network Adapter: Rosewill RNX-N250PCe 802.11b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($19.95 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: Corsair Enthusiast 650W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($82.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $989.92
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-07-22 23:51 EDT-0400)

[Fluorescent0]

Your RAM is too high for the CPU cooler you're using, get some low-profile RAM instead.

Get a Z87 motherboard to overclock your CPU, such as the Asus Z87-A.

You still didn't change the PSU.

[Kelmor]

I found that PSU on the list you provided? So your saying the cooler I have there won't be enough to cool the computer?

Edit: Sorry I'm working off 2 lists here one on amazaon and the other on partpicker, I changed my PSU to Corsair Enthusiast Series 650-Watt 80 Plus Bronze Certified Power Supply Compatible with Core i3, i5, i7 and platforms - TX650 on amazon, thanks.

[chazus]

Do you need an OS? Do you have a particular budget to work with? You still need a good cooler. The EVO doesnt quite cut it for overclocking, from what Ive seen.

[Kelmor]

I have the OS, I'd really rather not go over 1300, and I thinK I'll stick with this cooler for now because I don't see myself overclocking right away.

- - - Updated - - -

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($279.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: MSI Z87M-G43 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($97.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($29.98 @ Outlet PC)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($29.98 @ Outlet PC)
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($93.99 @ Adorama)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card ($259.99 @ Amazon)
Wireless Network Adapter: Rosewill RNX-N250PCe 802.11b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($19.95 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: Corsair Enthusiast 650W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($82.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($16.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1051.80
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-07-23 11:55 EDT-0400)

[Fluorescent0]

On that budget you can get quite a nicer system than what you were initially proposing, such as this one.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus Z87-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($29.98 @ Outlet PC)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($29.98 @ Outlet PC)
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card ($403.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Wireless Network Adapter: Asus PCE-N15 802.11b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($24.99 @ Microcenter)
Case: Corsair 500R Black ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Rosewill Hive 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer ($15.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $1224.84
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-07-23 11:58 EDT-0400)