Please help ease my irrational worries (new first-time self-build)

[Ringko]

Having had my current computer - a Dell Dimension DXP061 (Intel Core 2 Duo E6300 1.86 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GS) - since 2007, it has become more and more evident throughout the years that it just isn't cutting it anymore when it comes to gaming. Not that I need to play with ultra quality settings, which I don't think I have ever done in any game, but even with average to high quality settings I'd like acceptable performance. Games like W40K: Space Marine and SWTOR while enjoyable games gave me regular fits because of the sluggish performance provided by my computer and with Darksiders I get plain-gray textured surroundings, which obviously makes it unplayable. I understand The Secret World also requires a fairly up-to-date computer, so I won't even bother with that for the time being.

Being fairly intimidated by putting a new computer together myself (what if I mess up and the whole thing either blow up the neighborhood or cause a black hole to materialize, yikes!), my first thought was to get another pre-built computer. But with PC configurators falling short on various components I am gravitating towards, and also being somewhat intrigued by a DIY project (alongside the intimidation) and having various YouTube videos boost my confidence, I decided to go with a self-build.

So I have been stalking this part of the forum semi-intensively the last month or so, scouting out tips and recommendations from you guys, and have finally settled on the components to go with and am about ready to throw a lot of money at the stores... however, while it has been greatly inspired by the suggested builds I've seen, there is still a creeping doubt in the back of my mind, holding me back from proceeded to and checking out the shopping cart.

Long story short... I would greatly appreciate if you could look it over and verify that I have made no glaring mistakes (I will be reusing externals such as monitor, mouse/keyboard and speakers from my current computer):

• Case: Cooler Master CM Storm Enforcer
• Power Supply: Corsair Enthusiast Series Modular TX550M
• Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77-D3H
• CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K
• Heat Sink Fan: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo
  (I'm not 100% decided with regards to the third party CPU fan, since I don't plan on overclocking (I know I probably shouldn't go with the K-model of the CPU then, but I don't find the difference in price to be significant and I may possibly look into overclocking sometime in the future) and there is the whole thermal compound application scariness, but I also read about temperatures running high with just the stock fan. )
• Memory: Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600MHz 8GB (Kit w/2x 4GB, CL9-9-9-24, 1.5v)
• Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670 2GB PhysX CUDA
• Optical Drive: ASUS DRW-24B5ST DVD±RW Writer
• Solid State Drive: Crucial m4 256 Gb 2.5" Solid State Disk
  (I have made some rough calculations and want to avoid having to be ever watchful about maxing out a 128 Gb disk)
• Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB
• Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate
  (Ultimate is cheaper than Professional for some reason)

With regards to optimizations/fixes you may have - while I do not have a budget as such, I would prefer to not go significantly over the roughly $2000 these components calculate into.

[freebaser]

*Stamp of Approval* You've done well. Good luck and have fun building it.

[Biernot]

*Stamp of Approval* You've done well. Good luck and have fun building it.

Indeed. This build is perfectly fine.

One small thing: Why not Windows 7 home premium? Do you need the features of Pro/Ult?

[Dusteyy]

On notable difference between Home > Pro would be the domain join ability. Which.....baring the fact that you might play from work, you should not need

Other than that great beast. GLHF.

[Ringko]

Thanks a lot for putting my mind at ease... and good point about Windows actually. Looking at comparison charts Home Premium would indeed be more than sufficient for my home computing needs. Money saved, yay!

[Ringko]

I'm sorry for bumping my - thought resolved - thread, but even though I put down the order for my parts earlier today, I made the "mistake" of continuing reviewing parts and stumbled over the previously overlooked power requirement of the Gigabyte GTX 670 card (GV-N670OC-2GD) on the official site, which says "System power supply requirement: 550W" (Overview tab) and "Power requirement: 550W" (Specification tab).

Looking through other threads and forums I see 650W+ PSUs being chosen and suggested left and right. I initially had thought about Corsair's TX650 V2 PSU, but various PSU calculators gave sub-550W results (the chosen TX550M was even suggested on Corsair's site - although alongside TX650 V2 and others). Granted even basic GTX 670 wasn't available as an option, so I was using GTX 680 as video card (higher number must mean higher power draw, errrr... right?)... /me grasps at straws.

Am I going to run short with a 550W PSU after all?

[n0cturnal]

I'm running that exact same card with an overclocked i5 2500k, a couple of fans, 3 HDDs and a SSD on a Corsair 450W PSU so you can relax.

[Ringko]

Ahh, phew! That's very good to know. Much thanks .

(I shall remain quiet now)

[Will]

I punched your details into the http://extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine (power supply calculator - use it as a guideline only) and basically assuming a worst case scenario of 100% power draw, maximum processor usage, and PSU capacitor ageing, you'll be fine.

Regarding your point about the aftermarket cooler, well you're right, if you won't be overclocking the stock cooler is going to be fine. HOWEVER I hate the damn things. I personally love having a quiet computing experience, and better cooling isn't the only good reason to invest in an aftermarket solution! Some people specially buy better coolers simply because they're quieter! Food for thought.

---------- Post added 2012-07-10 at 04:12 AM ----------

I punched your details into the http://extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine (power supply calculator - use it as a guideline only) and basically assuming a worst case scenario of 100% power draw, maximum processor usage, and PSU capacitor ageing, you'll be fine.