Need advice on first build

[Kevin117007]

Build So Far:

CPU = $500 http://www.microcenter.com/product/3...oxed_Processor
MB = $368.64 http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-P9X79-DEL...ELUXE+LGA+2011
RAM = $95 G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DD...
GFX = $500 ASUS MATRIX-HD7970-P-3GD5 Radeon HD 7970 GHz Editi...
PSU = $109 XFX Core Edition PRO850W (P1-850S-NLB9) 850W ATX12...
FAN $29 = COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 EVO RR-212E-20PK-R2 Contin...
Thermal paste = $12 GELID Solutions GC-Extreme Thermal Compound
KB = $53 RAZER Black Wired BlackWidow Mechanical Gaming Key...
Mouse = $90 steelseries Sensei 62150 Grey 8 Buttons 1 x Wheel ...
Monitor = $150 (x 3 ) = 450 ASUS VH236H Black 23" 2ms Full HD Widescreen LCD M...
SSD = 269 SAMSUNG 840 Pro Series MZ-7PD256BW 2.5" 256GB SATA...
HD = $85 SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cac...
Case = $169 Antec DF-85 Black Steel / Plastic ATX Full Tower C...
DisplayPort to DVI = $8 http://www.amazon.com/Premium-Black-...vi?ref=prid-20

Total: $2740

Original Post:

Hi all! New to the forum, I was recommended by a friend to go here for advice on building my computer. This is my first time building a computer, and as a current computer science major, I think it's been long enough I'd love to get some advice on parts to build, general guidelines. I've looked at some of the stickies on the site, but a lot of them seem to be outdated, so I decided just to post my own thread.

Below is a rough list of the things I'm looking for:

My budget is $2000-3000.

Must:
3 monitor support. So I can have ultimate productiveness when programming
It must be good at multitasking(chrome, visual studios, iTunes, mathematics all running at same time)
I want this to be a gaming and work computer. So I want to be able to do 3Dmodeling, gaming, heavy programming, ect.
I want a good graphics card for gaming. Maybe not the best, but 2nd-to-3rd best would be nice. Something I can use to play max graphics for most games.
I want a SSD so I can have fast boot and load times for programs.
I want a lot of ram(probably 32gb) in order to achieve good multitasking, gaming, ect.
Mechanical Keyboard and a nice gaming mouse are also requirements.

Nice to Have:
I would like this computer to be upgradable in the future, so this would most like factor into the motherboard I'd need to buy.
I am interested in overclocking my processor, but I'm unsure how risky that can be.
I don't really a lot of disk space(1 TB is good, 500GB is OK too) This can be a mixture of SSD and regular HD.

Cool:
A cool case would be nice, but is not necessary.
Water cooling would be "cool" (haha) also, but air cooling is fine.

Dont really care:
I don't know much about power supplies, so whatever works is good enough.
I don't need a fancy sound card.
Don't need any CD/DVD/BluRay drives.



To summarize: gaming, multitasking, 3 monitor support, SSD. Everything else is secondary.

Any help or advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

[Jack1n]

You defintly want an i7 3770k since it seems you would benefit from hyper threding and ofcourse a z77 board along with it also 16gb of ram.

[PLSG08]

Core i7 3770K, A good Z77 Mobo, 16GB of RAM, 128GB SSD Boot Drive, 1TB HDD, GTX 670

Where are you from anyway? I'll try and Pick out the parts from newegg :-bd

EDIT: Going on the egg now to pick the parts :-bd

[Kevin117007]

I'm from southern California. Many thanks!

[BarbaricSoul]

what country do you live in is the only peice of info we need to put togteher some suggestions for your computer build.

[Kevin117007]

I'm not sure if the GTX 670 has 3 monitor support though? Unless I'm missing something...

[PLSG08]

From what I know kepler has 3 monitor support.... if it doesn't then a 7950 or 7970 would be your choice

[BarbaricSoul]

I'm putting together a build for you. AMD cards are better at multi-monitor support as they can support up to 6 monitors with a single card.

Do you want to be able to overclock?

[PLSG08]

may the best build win :cheers:

[Kevin117007]

Overclocking would be nice. I don't know enough about it as of now, but I'd like to have the feature available for later when I read up on it

[PLSG08]

Do you already have the OS and K-Board + Mouse? or do you literally mean you need EVERYTHING?

EDIT: you want a case too :?

[dude12564]

Upgradability ... Intel's going to be changing to another new socket soon (next year), so the CPU's upgradability is limited if you go Intel.

AMD "Might" stick with their socket as they always do though. I'm inclined to think Piledriver at this time.

[BarbaricSoul]

CPU- Intel Core i7-3930K Sandy Bridge-E 3.2GHz (3.8GHz ...

MB- MSI X79A-GD45 (8D) LGA 2011 Intel X79 SATA 6Gb/s U...

RAM- G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) 240-Pin DD...

GFX- SAPPHIRE 100351SR Radeon HD 7970 3GB 384-bit GDDR5...

SSD- Crucial M4 CT512M4SSD2 2.5" 512GB SATA III MLC Int...

HD- SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cac...

PSU- XFX P1-650X-XXB9 650W ATX12V 2.2 & ESP12V 2.91 SLI... or XFX PRO850W XXX Edition Semi-Modular 80 Plus Silve... if you want to add a second 7970

Heatsink to allow OCing- COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1 "Heatp...

Thermal Paste- GELID Solutions GC-Extreme Thermal Compound

KB- Logitech G110 Black USB Wired LED Backlighting Gam...

Mouse- Logitech G500 10 Buttons Dual-mode Scroll Wheel US...

Monitor- Hanns-G HL269DPB Black 26" 5ms Widescreen LED-Back...

Cost- $2,592.86 with three 26" monitors and 650 watt PSU

Add the OS of your choice, whether Windows 7 or 8. I didn't suggest a case because alot of picking a case has to do with personal choice. Better you go look at cases, then come back here with acouple choices for a case and let us pick from those cases that you picked out.

512gb SSD added as requested. Changed suggested 7970 for one with a better heatsink and about $40 less expensive.

[Kevin117007]

@PLS

I'm a student, so I get MSDNAA and all the good(or bad, depending) microsoft products for free


And I still need a mouse and a keyboard as well. As I said I've never built a computer, so never really had a need for any good mice/keyboard setups. Suggestions are welcome.


@BarbaricSoul

Thanks a bunch! I'll take a look over what you posted.

Any good suggestion for places to shop for cases? (Online or in person)

[BarbaricSoul]

Originally Posted by Kevin117007

Any good suggestion for places to shop for cases? (Online or in person)

Newegg.com


BTW, The system I laid out will have very close to the same performance as my current 2600k system. The 3770k cpu is about 10% faster than my 2600k. The motherboard I suggested has to do with how happy I've been with my MSI motherboard. XFX puts out some very good video cards and I'm extremely happy with my XFX HD7970. I've heard OCZ SSDs are not the best available when it comes to reliability, but I've had two OCZ SSDs now, and never had a problem with either.


Opps, forgot to list the cost of my build. Without an OS or case, your looking at $1527.89

[PLSG08]

So Far this is what I've made...


Intel Core i7-3770K Ivy Bridge 3.5GHz (3.9GHz Turbo) LGA 1155

GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UD5H LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

G.SKILL Sniper Gaming Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)

SAPPHIRE 100351SR Radeon HD 7970 3GB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card OC with Boost

FSP Group AURUM PRO 850W (AU-850PRO)

OCZ Vertex 4 VTX4-25SAT3-128G 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

Seagate ST310005N1A1AS-RK 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive

SAMSUNG B300 Series S23B300B Black 23" 5ms GTG Widescreen LED Monitor (x3)

NZXT Phantom PHAN-002OR Newegg Exclusive Black Finish w/Orange Trim Steel / Plastic Enthusiast ATX Full Tower Computer Case

Summing up to $1,905.89..... still gotta get the other parts.....

EDIT: BarbaricSoul is right, you should pick the case, not us :-bd It's more of personal preference

[BarbaricSoul]

Does the OP need monitors. He said he wanted atleast 3 monitor support, but he didn't ask for monitor suggestions. If the OP wants monitor suggestions-

3* Hanns-G HL269DPB Black 26" 5ms Widescreen LED-Back...

I'll add them to my build and adjust the price

[Kevin117007]

@BarbaricSoul

Summing up the costs:

MB $ 169
CPU $319
RAM $ 169
GFX $ 429
SSD $94
HD $ 84
PU $ 99
HS $ 29
Thermal Paste $ 13
KB $ 59
Mouse $ 54


Total: 1518

Plus 3 monitors @ 150 each = 1968

The monitors I was considering:
ASUS VH236H Black 23" 2ms Full HD Widescreen LCD M...


Didn't even break my $2000 budget. You can spend more than that!


A few things:

You said the graphics cards come with 6 games, but I don't really need that. I'd rather go a step up. Plus I'm unsure if that supports 3 monitors? I need to be sure before I buy.

I can't tell if the keyboard is mechanical? I'm a sucker for the clicky-clack sound

The SSD you suggest is kinda small, I was thinking more along the lines of 250 gb...

Everything else looks good. Love the mouse

[PLSG08]

I thought since he wanted a GPU that can push 3 monitor, he wanted 3 monitors....

Back to topic: Why aren't we suggesting the LGA2011 socket?

[BarbaricSoul]

Originally Posted by Kevin117007

@BarbaricSoul

Summing up the costs:

MB $ 169
CPU $319
RAM $ 169
GFX $ 429
SSD $94
HD $ 84
PU $ 99
HS $ 29
Thermal Paste $ 13
KB $ 59
Mouse $ 54


Total: 1518

Plus 3 monitors @ 150 each = 1968

The monitors I was considering:
ASUS VH236H Black 23" 2ms Full HD Widescreen LCD M...


Didn't even break my $2000 budget. You can spend more than that!


A few things:

You said the graphics cards come with 6 games, but I don't really need that. I'd rather go a step up. Plus I'm unsure if that supports 3 monitors? I need to be sure before I buy.

I can't tell if the keyboard is mechanical? I'm a sucker for the clicky-clack sound

The SSD you suggest is kinda small, I was thinking more along the lines of 250 gb...

Everything else looks good. Love the mouse

Reread my build, I've added three 26 inch monitors and I'm just barely over $2000. The 7970 I listed has connections for up to 5 monitors and will support that many monitors. Three won't be a problem. Also, the 7970 is AMD's best single GPU video card, and is atleast equal to if not better than(depending on the application) Nvidia's top single GPU card, which is the GTX680. The keyboard is mechanical(I wouldn't suggest anyother type). As for the SSD, I'll adjust my build and include a larger SSD.

[PLSG08]

At least no one is suggest a 7990.........

EDIT: I accidentaly that sentence...... but still Maybe OP would like to Crossfire a 7970 GHZ edition to we can hit the magic $3000 mark?

[BarbaricSoul]

Originally Posted by PLSG08

At least no one is suggest a 7990.........

EDIT: I accidentaly that sentence...... but still Maybe OP would like to Crossfire a 7970 GHZ edition to we can hit the magic $3000 mark?

I don't think a 7990 is needed honestly. I play alot of games, and even on my 2560*1600 30" monitor, my single 7970 does great. Only way I'd suggest the 7990 is if the OP was going to run three 2560*1600 monitors.

[Kevin117007]

@PLS (your original post)

The monitor I found was the same price as yours after mail in rebate, but I think it has slightly better performance(better response time @ 2ms)

Again I think I could go a bit pricier with the SSD/graphics card

And I want to stay away from the Phantom case. Not trying to be hipster, but they're not terribly original (even for a guy who hasn't built a PC before!)

Also, would I be able to overclock with the setup? I'm not terribly familiar, so I'm not sure what kinda of cooling system I would need

Thanks btw!


EDIT: of course if getting a better graphics card won't be noticeable at the display I'm at, then I'd rather just save the money

[BarbaricSoul]

Originally Posted by PLSG08

Back to topic: Why aren't we suggesting the LGA2011 socket?

no real need for it, just like why we aren't suggesting the HD7990

[PLSG08]

OP has quite a different taste for cases.... is Op interested in this case? http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/InWin/H-Frame/

Still picking parts tho