1st build assistance

[Nachure]

I'm rather ashamed to say I've never had the privilege of playing on quality machine, and recently I've decided to change that. My guild mates suggested unanimously that I build, even though I've never done it before. After some research and pricing of parts, I've decided I'm going to go ahead and do it.

I tried to make sure everything was compatible together, but as this is my first time it could benefit from a good looking over. I'm also not entirely sure of what else I need to order besides what is posted below that I'll need for assembly.

I want this computer to handle 25 man raiding at close to max/max settings. I also want it to do it while recording on Fraps and/or Streaming. My connection is 30 down / 8 up. I will be playing games like WoW, Diablo, and some FPS type games.

This is what I'm thinking so far. Please point out any problems, or changes that I should make, or anything I left out.

Budget Maximum(not including:monitor,mouse,keyboard,speakers): 1500$
Country: United States
Resolution: 1080
Intended use: Gaming, recording, light editing.

MoBo: ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard - 122$

CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor 219$

Ram: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 - 60$

GPU: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 680 Video Card - 613

HDD: SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5 - 110$

PSU: CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX850 V2 850W ATX12V v2.31/ EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC High Performance Power Supply - 135$

Case: Corsair Carbide Series 500R Black Steel structure with molded ABS plastic accent pieces ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - 140$

OS: Windows 7 home - 119


Total cost: 1,518

EDIT: Changed to the below suggestion.

[Deleted]

It looks fine to me but you could make a couple of adjustments:

Drop the i7 down to a i5 2500K. The new Ivy Bridge chips are out but they aren't a huge difference over the older Sandy Bridge chips. You could save yourself a few quid there.

You could then change the motherboard but personally I'd stick with what you have.

I'd then use the extra cash we saved above and drop the 580 and see if you could extend the budget to a GTX 680. There seems little point going for older technology when you have a bit of room in the budget left. The GTX 680 is a pretty significant jump over the 580.

People will say get an SSD but with the budget as it stands I don't know if you can stretch to one. They sure do make a considerable difference but they aren't exactly required. More a very nice if you can afford one item. Still worth considering something like the Crucial M4 if you can afford it.

Everything lese looks fine to me.

[Jalfrezi]

CPU cooler? or you happy with stock?

[Nachure]

CPU cooler? or you happy with stock?

I'm not informed enough to know if I'm happy with stock. I made some changes to the original build, changes posted above. Will the modified build do fine with stock? Or should I get something else?

[vesseblah]

- Z77 board because it's newer and has stuff like native SATA3. ASRock Z77 Extreme4 for example
- You don't need i7 CPU, can easily knock it down to i5-2500K to save $100
- You don't need GTX580 for Blizzard games, GTX560ti would be more than enough. Depends on what your "some fps type games" mean.
- Could drop PSU to 650W since you don't need 850W unless you're going to run two of those GTX580's
- There's zero difference in games between 1600MHz and 1866MHz RAM if you want to save few $
- Make sure you get OEM Win7Home, not upgrade. Should cost $99 not $119

I'm not informed enough to know if I'm happy with stock. I made some changes to the original build, changes posted above. Will the modified build do fine with stock? Or should I get something else?

Can't overclock much with the stock cooler. Something like Cooler Master Hyper 212+ is popular choice in the cheap-ass range, although not the most user-friendliest to install.

[ApocolypticTampon]

And please make sure it is the 64bit version of Windows7 with anything over 4GB of ram.

[Jalfrezi]

Can't overclock much with the stock cooler. Something like Cooler Master Hyper 212+ is popular choice in the cheap-ass range, although not the most user-friendliest to install.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835103065


or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...000&IsNodeId=1

have a look through and pick one which takes your fancy.

I've just been getting: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835146011

which according to a lot of reviews rivals the noctua d-14. getting it since my h60 broke this morning and currently running on my stock, should be here tomorrow

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835146012

there it's little brother which i think looks smart as a carrot.