1. #1
    Field Marshal Acarlee's Avatar
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    Computer build for me

    Hello folks,

    I finally built the build, I ordered for my wife over her tax return. And now, its my turn to get mine built. I'm getting my tax return (more than I expected I was going to get). So, with this build the budget ranges ~$1300-1500, and I'll be ordering sometime in March. I don't need a monitor or any peripherals and will need the OS. And as always, I did my research on the build before I posted this.

    http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Di6q

    My concerns with it so far:

    The case. Should I go full or stay with the mid? I noticed a lot of people seem to go back and forth or is it my preference?

    The next concern, the graphics card. Should I up it to a 7970 Ghz edition (I don't know the differences between the 7970 and 7970Ghz) or go to a 680?

    Finally, if I wanted to add case fans. How do those work? Just plug and go, or do you need a fan controller?

    Thanks!

  2. #2
    Build looks fine. The choice of gpu comes down to what games you play and if you need CUDA cores tbh. Overall I would say the best investment would be the 7970.

    You can add case fans, as many as there is room for, but you would need a fan controller for that. If you plan on getting 2-3 fans they will probably have room on your MB. I always get a fan controller though since I'm a neat freak.

  3. #3
    Field Marshal Acarlee's Avatar
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    Great! Thanks Lemmiwink!

  4. #4
    Moderator chazus's Avatar
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    A couple things.

    1) The SSD you chose is just the bare drive. I believe you want the "KW" version with desktop adapter.
    2) If money is at all a concern (I can't imagine it not being?), the Samsung 840 (non-pro) is $45 cheaper. The pro is technically faster, however in real world use, is indistinguishable from the non-pro. I personally feel the Pro is a waste of money.

    Notably, the 830 is also a good choice (faster) but it is either more expensive as well, or simply out of stock. I don't even bother recommending them anymore since every other day they're out of stock. Occasionally though, they're within $5 and in stock. Occasionally.
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    Field Marshal Acarlee's Avatar
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    Thanks Chazus... I would of never caught that. I did replace the 840 Pro with the Samsung 840.

    I'm still under budget by 150 dollars. Anything else I could upgrade or change?

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Acarlee View Post
    Thanks Chazus... I would of never caught that. I did replace the 840 Pro with the Samsung 840.

    I'm still under budget by 150 dollars. Anything else I could upgrade or change?
    either a better cooler for CPU or upgrade the GPU to a 680 if you want to max the budget.

  7. #7
    Bloodsail Admiral Killora's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by shroudster View Post
    either a better cooler for CPU or upgrade the GPU to a 680 if you want to max the budget.
    680 would probably be your best bet depending on what you play. I know blizzard games tend to favor Nvidia, as well as skyrim.

  8. #8
    Field Marshal Acarlee's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Killora View Post
    680 would probably be your best bet depending on what you play. I know blizzard games tend to favor Nvidia, as well as skyrim.
    Yeah, decided to up the GPU to the 680 and yes, that's what me and my wife play together. D3, WoW, GW2, and the new upcoming MMOs coming out (Skyrim Online and PSO 2).

    One more question and I'll be good to go. Case wise. I was stuck between the NZXT Phantom (410) series, Corsair 500R series, or Cooler Master HAF 922. Any recommendations?

  9. #9
    Bloodsail Admiral Killora's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Acarlee View Post
    Yeah, decided to up the GPU to the 680 and yes, that's what me and my wife play together. D3, WoW, GW2, and the new upcoming MMOs coming out (Skyrim Online and PSO 2).

    One more question and I'll be good to go. Case wise. I was stuck between the NZXT Phantom (410) series, Corsair 500R series, or Cooler Master HAF 922. Any recommendations?
    Cool Master is probably going to have superior cooling.

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Acarlee View Post
    Yeah, decided to up the GPU to the 680 and yes, that's what me and my wife play together. D3, WoW, GW2, and the new upcoming MMOs coming out (Skyrim Online and PSO 2).

    One more question and I'll be good to go. Case wise. I was stuck between the NZXT Phantom (410) series, Corsair 500R series, or Cooler Master HAF 922. Any recommendations?
    I hear great things about the Corsair. Great for cable management, plenty of space, all the good stuff a case should have. I also have not heard anything bad about the NZXT's. The HAF on the other hand I have heard a few complaints here and there on things like airflow and cable management but hear others praising them, so not sure what to think there.

    In the end, Case really comes down to personal preference, what you personally want to be digging around in and what you like the look of. I find newegg.com to have a better variety of pictures for cases, inside and out, so I tend to shop there for cases then once I have made my decision look around for a good price.

  11. #11
    Field Marshal Acarlee's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lathais View Post
    In the end, Case really comes down to personal preference, what you personally want to be digging around in and what you like the look of. I find newegg.com to have a better variety of pictures for cases, inside and out, so I tend to shop there for cases then once I have made my decision look around for a good price.
    Good to know. Thanks. Appreciate all the advice given.

  12. #12
    High Overlord JosephStylin's Avatar
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    The 500R is a great case. I have nothing but good things to say about it. Should be more than big enough for your needs. I own one and have 2 GeForce 560's in SLI, 3 HDDs and 2 SSDs in there and there is still room for more. Comes with a built in fan controller that controls (correct me if I'm wrong) one big ass side fan and the 2 front fans. Cable management is good, cut outs on the motherboard plate so you can access the heatsink mounts without taking the mobo out. But again it comes down to personal preference on looks so you will have to make that decision yourself, but honestly I can't find a bad thing to say about the 500R.

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  13. #13
    Field Marshal Acarlee's Avatar
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    Thanks for the recommendations on the case(s). I did come up with more money when I get my tax return back. $1700-1800 dollars total. From suggestions, I threw on a better Heatsink, Mobo, and, changed the HDD from WD Blue to Black.

    Any other recommendations I could make? I was considering dropping down to the 670 personally, after some research with it from the 670 to 680. Its a 10-15% gain with a bigger price. Or going to the 7970 (or 7970 Ghz). Maybe crossfire/sli? No idea.

    http://pcpartpicker.com/p/DNyo

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Acarlee View Post
    Thanks for the recommendations on the case(s). I did come up with more money when I get my tax return back. $1700-1800 dollars total. From suggestions, I threw on a better Heatsink, Mobo, and, changed the HDD from WD Blue to Black.

    Any other recommendations I could make? I was considering dropping down to the 670 personally, after some research with it from the 670 to 680. Its a 10-15% gain with a bigger price. Or going to the 7970 (or 7970 Ghz). Maybe crossfire/sli? No idea.

    http://pcpartpicker.com/p/DNyo
    For a single monitor running 1080p a single 670 would be more than enough for most games. You could go with the 7970, or gHz, but consider that certain games(WoW, Rift and most MMOs) tend to heavily favor nVidia cards. The AMDs are better price/performance ratio normally though. Crossfire and SLI are also generally not needed in a single monitor setup and some games do not play well with crossfire/SLI and you have to tell them to use one card anyway.

  15. #15
    Moderator chazus's Avatar
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    I'll be honest... I would ditch the 'better' motherboard and go back to the Blue drive.

    I know you have money, but having money isn't a reason to spend it. You are pretty much just tossing about $60 in a fire. There is no performance or benefit from getting those, especially since you have an SSD. $60 out of $1500 may not seem like much but... Its something. Take the SO out for a nice dinner. I promise you doing something like that will get you more life mileage than a black drive and a more expensive motherboard.
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  16. #16
    Field Marshal Acarlee's Avatar
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    Good stuff chazus and Lathais as always!

    Thanks for double checking with me, I was worried about all the upgrading. I went back to the WD Blue, and same ol' Mobo (Extreme 4), and sticking with the 670 (like the price and output it'll give me), and staying with the Noctua NH-U12P SE2 heatsink. And yes chazus, a nice date-night dinner works for me! Thanks again

  17. #17
    Something of note about the blue and black drives. The blue drive has a 3 year warranty, the black drive has a 5 year warranty. Also a little bit anecdotal but in my experience (~20 drives) black drives have never came to me DOA, where as I have recieved 1 DOA blue drive in the 5 that I have ordered.

  18. #18
    Moderator chazus's Avatar
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    Unfortunately, you'll always play lottery with drives. The 5 year warranty is nice, but I like to think I'll upgrade by then (I wont T_T).

    To be honest, the worst part about a drive failing is the data, not the cost of replacing it. And while theoretically, a 5 year warranty drive will last longer... Based off MTBF calculations, it's HIGHLY unlikely that a drive will fail between 3-5 years. Before? Yes. After? Sure, eventually. But in that area? Unlikely. Again, that $20 can be spent or saved.
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    IT'S ALWAYS BEEN WANKERSHIM | Did you mean: Fhqwhgads
    "Three days on a tree. Hardly enough time for a prelude. When it came to visiting agony, the Romans were hobbyists." -Mab

  19. #19
    I agree with chazus on the blue vs. black. Only time I ever recommend a black over blue is when it is used as a system drive, otherwise I think the money is best spent elsewhere.
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