Advice on my build here, Any ideas on what would be better for Gaming.

[isadorr]

http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/partlist/


I went by ratings on the site, could I please get some help if there are better parts for the price available? Looking to spend $1,000 or a lil over if necessary.

[inux94]

Your link doesn't have any build.

[isadorr]

Your link doesn't have any build.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/kPLn

Sorry about that. i am new here and any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for letting me know about the link, it seemed to work when i clicked on it but here is the other link.

[inux94]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Xigmatek GAIA SD1283 56.3 CFM CPU Cooler ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Pro3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($102.55 @ Newegg)
Memory: Mushkin Silverline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($38.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.99 @ Microcenter)
Storage: Crucial M4 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 660 2GB Video Card ($239.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair 400R ATX Mid Tower Case ($84.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: PC Power & Cooling Silencer MK III 400W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($49.98 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Asus BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer ($54.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $936.45
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

Couple of points:
1. The unlocked CPU costs the same, so might aswell go for that.
2. The mobo is a waste of money for gaming, went for a cheaper that will do the same for you and is equally well built.
3. Even a Xigmatek Gaia can cool a OC'd CPU to 4.5 GHz, which is usually where the sweet spot for CPU OC'ing is.
4. Went for a 128GB Crucial M4 which is equally good as the Vertex 4, and a 500GB 7200RPM WD Harddrive for mass storage.
5. You don't need more than 8GB of RAM when gaming, even with 30 chrome tabs open and WoW running you'll hit around hit 5GB of RAM usage.
6. You don't need a soundcard, the stock soundcard on the motherboard is good for gaming, it's really only when you go for $200+ headphones you need a soundcard.
7. Went for a more solid case, as the HAF 922 feels plastic-y.
8. Even a 400w PSU will be able to handle i5-3570k + GTX 660, so I changed your PSU, if you want to be upgrade proof then you can go for a 520w PSU.

Power Supply: SeaSonic 520W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($74.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $74.98
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

[isadorr]

Thank you!! You sir, are a huge help to everyone on here and thanks for knocking off almost 400 bucks so I might invest in a mechanical keyboard or any other suggestions? Thanks for the idea with the storage, i plan on only keeping games on my ssd and that will be perfect. Thank you so much I was stressing going through all of the different sites and different setups available.

Ill make sure to post a pic of my setup in a about week when it all comes through. Thanks!!!

[inux94]

Hehe, no problem man.

For keyboards I'd recommend a Das Keyboard, haven't heard a single bad thing about them.

You basically want your OS + the games you play the most on your SSD, with any other applications/games you don't play often on your HDD.

Once you recieve the parts, remember to optimize your SSD, it's not very hard once you follow the easy steps =)
http://thessdreview.com/ssd-guides/o...ion-guide-2/2/ (Only thing I don't turn off is Drive Indexing)

[isadorr]

Ok,that sounds great. I play Wow,Bf3,and a couple sports games. Do you think I will be able to play ultra settings with that setup or is there anything I need to change? You have already helped me a lot and it is greatly appreciated but making sure that this will last me a year or so. i am going to order everything on monday so if you have any ideas ill throw it in the orders on monday. Thanks again and now i have no worries and will be paying extra for fast shipping because i want this asap lol.

[inux94]

You'll be playing BF3 at high settings, it will last about 2 years, when that time comes you can just SLI the 660.

I'm unsure with sports games but they're basically console ports so I don't expect them to be demanding.

[K1boRG]

regarding sound card, I'm personally using Steelseries USB soundcard, which is also 7.1, does it differ from built-in 7.1 sound cards? I have two of them, first one I bought separately, which was 30 GBP, but when I returned my Steelseries Siberia v2, I got then another Siberia v2 set which had soundcard as bonus (free). I recommend, if you don't have decent headset, go for siberia with usb soundcard as bonus.

[inux94]

Siberia is a cheap $25 headphone with a $2 microphone, onboard soundcard is all you really need for gaming.

[isadorr]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Xigmatek GAIA SD1283 56.3 CFM CPU Cooler ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Pro3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($102.55 @ Newegg)
Memory: Mushkin Silverline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($38.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.99 @ Microcenter)
Storage: Crucial M4 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 660 2GB Video Card ($239.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair 400R ATX Mid Tower Case ($84.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: PC Power & Cooling Silencer MK III 400W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($49.98 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Asus BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer ($54.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $936.45
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

Couple of points:
1. The unlocked CPU costs the same, so might aswell go for that.
2. The mobo is a waste of money for gaming, went for a cheaper that will do the same for you and is equally well built.
3. Even a Xigmatek Gaia can cool a OC'd CPU to 4.5 GHz, which is usually where the sweet spot for CPU OC'ing is.
4. Went for a 128GB Crucial M4 which is equally good as the Vertex 4, and a 500GB 7200RPM WD Harddrive for mass storage.
5. You don't need more than 8GB of RAM when gaming, even with 30 chrome tabs open and WoW running you'll hit around hit 5GB of RAM usage.
6. You don't need a soundcard, the stock soundcard on the motherboard is good for gaming, it's really only when you go for $200+ headphones you need a soundcard.
7. Went for a more solid case, as the HAF 922 feels plastic-y.
8. Even a 400w PSU will be able to handle i5-3570k + GTX 660, so I changed your PSU, if you want to be upgrade proof then you can go for a 520w PSU.

Power Supply: SeaSonic 520W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($74.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $74.98
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

How far should I bump my psu up to in case i go SLI next year? Also I am planning to go with a 660ti instead of the 660 and would like to go full tower instead of mid. Any suggestions on a good full tower? I am thinking the more room the better for myself a first timer for putting a complete system together. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

[glo]

A quality 650w unit would be plenty for SLI GTX 660.

[isadorr]

A quality 650w unit would be plenty for SLI GTX 660.

Thanks for the input anyone have a nice full tower that they could suggest? I am going to start ordering parts here tomorrow and think i am going to go with a full tower. I did look at the roswell thor v2 and they are def. a beast of a tower but should make putting everything together or am i wrong there? Any input would be great and wouldnt mind some lighting in the tower.

As far as fans go, should i order different fans at the same time? As far as tower fans and possible cpu fans.

[inux94]

Corsair 400R is more than enough, and stock fans on cases are almost always enough.

[isadorr]

I figured stock case fans would be fine but wanted to order everything at once and wanted to make sure they would be quiet. No input on full tower cases? Are they not liked?

[Targaryen]

I figured stock case fans would be fine but wanted to order everything at once and wanted to make sure they would be quiet. No input on full tower cases? Are they not liked?

tbh today's mid towers are much bigger than they used to be and with the advent of SSD and the lack of needing two optical drives like we used to rock back in the day you just don't need the space of a full tower.

That being said if you are set on it the Thor by Rosewill is highly regarded and you get a deal not paying for a big name like Coolermaster or Corsair.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811147053 (currently 109.99 at the egg with promo code EMCJNJA99)

or the Coolermaster HAF is a top pick too http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811119160 but again paying for name.

[isadorr]

Ordered the Thor in black with the red led's. Thanks again for the heads up. The case may be beigger than I need and I may be wrong but i like the idea of alot of room and i dont move my tower at all.

[Targaryen]

Glad to hear...I mean if you have the space you can't argue with having too much room.

I just built a new rig myself with very similar specs though I went with the 3570k if you haven't yet ordered that check out Microcenter as I got the ASROCK p4 extreme for $85 by buying the proc with it.

I went with the Antec 300 and I just kept thinking how big Midtowers are nowadays.

Happy building!

[isadorr]

I cant order microcenter as there are no stores anywhere near me but i will look at combo deals. I have ordered memory,case,cpu fan and ssd thus far.

Any thoughts on these combo deals and what one would be the best deal?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...=Combo.1065489

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...=Combo.1033223

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116504 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813128542

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...scrollFullInfo

[Nab]

Go with the 3570k and MSI board. You don't want an Asus-V LK. It has no heatsinks on the VRM's.