First gaming build, need help asap!

[mohammed441]

Would you guys help me be more efficient in my build, wherever it be for performance and for cost efficient. This is what I'm considering right now


Processor: i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core £161.99

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing £24.99

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H ATX LGA1155 £117.99 Shipping Fee: £1.99

Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 £38.99

Storage: Western Digital RE3 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM £44.34

Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB £236.09

Case: Corsair 300R ATX Mid Tower £59.99

Power Supply: Antec 620W ATX12V / EPS12V £48.61

Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer £12.98

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) £65.99

Total: £813.95


my absolute max budget is £820

Thanks

[erocker]

I wouldn't change a thing. Very good setup for the budget.

[Phusius]

Originally Posted by erocker

I wouldn't change a thing. Very good setup for the budget.

I agree with this. Very well done.

[tokyoduong]

the only thing you can do to save money is change the PSU because you don't need 620W for that system if you don't OC balls out. 450W will work just fine or rather anything with more than 35 amps on the 12V line.

$66 for windows 7 home premium????
There's ways to get a genuine copy of windows 7 for much cheaper.

[mohammed441]

Originally Posted by tokyoduong

the only thing you can do to save money is change the PSU because you don't need 620W for that system if you don't OC balls out. 450W will work just fine or rather anything with more than 35 amps on the 12V line.

$66 for windows 7 home premium????
There's ways to get a genuine copy of windows 7 for much cheaper.

Thanks for all the input guys.

and, yeah, I can get Windows 7 for free from DreamSpark as I'm in eduction at university

[Mindweaver]

The only thing I would change in your setup is the "Western Digital RE3 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM". The reason being is the RE drives are RAID Edition drives, and since you're not going to RAID 2 drives you can save some money and get a cheaper drive or a WD Black drive.

EDIT: Plus, that's a SATAII drive, I'd get a SATAIII drive

[McSteel]

Originally Posted by Mindweaver

The only thing I would change in your setup is the "Western Digital RE3 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM". The reason being is the RE drives are RAID Edition drives, and since you're not going to RAID 2 drives you can save some money and get a cheaper drive or a WD Black drive.

EDIT: Plus, that's a SATAII drive, I'd get a SATAIII drive

It's a RE drive with a regular drive price, so no price premium. Those drives pass a much more rigorous QC process, so they're generally more reliable. And for mechanical hard drives, SATA300 vs SATA600 makes exactly ZERO difference, as even the peak performance of the fastest 15k rpm drives barely touches 250 MB/s, let alone regular 7.2k rpm drives.

The HDD choice is sound.

[Mindweaver]

Originally Posted by McSteel

It's a RE drive with a regular drive price, so no price premium. Those drives pass a much more rigorous QC process, so they're generally more reliable. And for mechanical hard drives, SATA300 vs SATA600 makes exactly ZERO difference, as even the peak performance of the fastest 15k rpm drives barely touches 250 MB/s, let alone regular 7.2k rpm drives.

The HDD choice is sound.

If he can get it for the same price... Then I'd still buy a new SATAIII drive with 64mb cache and not 32mb cache.. Either way sataII drives are legacy drives. I would buy a SATAIII WD Black over the RE3 drive or even a newer RE4 drive if he can afford it. If he can't and the best deal he can get is the RE3 drive, then get the RE3 drive. There is nothing wrong with that RE3 drive, and what he wants to do. I'm just saying, if he can get a new drive that is SATAIII 6.0 and has 64mb cache then I'd buy the newer drive. I'm still using 3x RE2 drives in RAID 0 and they are great, and to me that's where they really shine is in RAID config.

I don't care how rigorous of a QC process they go through, it is still a single drive and a single drive can fail. If he wants redundancy then buy more drive to put into a redundant array (RAID)..

[mohammed441]

i have an update on my build and decided to go with a more reliable retailer



they have something called Scansure Protection (basically if i screw up my build, which hopefully i wont, i can return any of the damaged items) - do you reckon its worth paying for?, if you are a beginner to a whole build, (but have a moderate amount of knowledge on how to build a computer, done a months research and upgraded a few parts before)


http://oi51.tinypic.com/311tfns.jpg

i heard people get ads from that site, u can use this 1

http://i.imgur.com/Zj34FCM.png


another question, since there are so many versions of the 660 ti, which brand should i go with? preferably (best benchmarks)

thanks again

[tokyoduong]

Mohammed, you cannot break anything building your computer unless you start forcing parts together. A cpu will only fit in one socket of your motherboard and it will fit one way. A GPU will only fit in the PCIe slot. It's pretty much common sense putting it together IMO. Follow directions if you are lost.

You most often get bugs and glitches with the provided software/drivers that comes with the hardware. I normally don't use any of it. Install windows, get on the internet and download the drivers. Or get the drivers on another computer and throw it on a usb stick.

The hardest part of your build will probably installing a giant CPU cooler but even that is not hard. Your biggest problem with that is actually clearance. A lot of cases will not fit a 212. Some people make mods/remove fans to fit but I like having space so I just bought a closed loop water cooling kit.

[mohammed441]

Originally Posted by tokyoduong

Mohammed, you cannot break anything building your computer unless you start forcing parts together. A cpu will only fit in one socket of your motherboard and it will fit one way. A GPU will only fit in the PCIe slot. It's pretty much common sense putting it together IMO. Follow directions if you are lost.

You most often get bugs and glitches with the provided software/drivers that comes with the hardware. I normally don't use any of it. Install windows, get on the internet and download the drivers. Or get the drivers on another computer and throw it on a usb stick.

The hardest part of your build will probably installing a giant CPU cooler but even that is not hard. Your biggest problem with that is actually clearance. A lot of cases will not fit a 212. Some people make mods/remove fans to fit but I like having space so I just bought a closed loop water cooling kit.

hey guys, just an update. i managed to build my first gaming computer WITHOUT 1 error! w00t. You were right about the CPU cooler, it was a bitch to put in but it fit just perfectly

heres a couple of crappy pics =P



http://sphotos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/hphoto...48896397_n.jpg

http://sphotos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphoto...45686548_n.jpg

http://sphotos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphoto...26403221_n.jpg

dont worry i definitely did some cable management

also, if you didnt see my other thread, posting on that would belpful

here is the link: http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=181014