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First gaming build, need help asap!

mohammed441

New Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2013
Messages
15 (0.00/day)
System Name I haven't got a name for her, but I sometimes call her THE BEAST
Processor Ivy Bridge 3570k 4.2Ghz
Motherboard GIGABYTE GA-Z77-UD3H
Cooling EVO 212 CPU COOLER
Memory DDR 3 CORSAIR VENGEANCE
Video Card(s) ASUS GTX 660Ti 2GB OC EDITION
Storage SEASONIC 1TB SATA3 6GB/s
Case NZXT Source 210 White Mid Tower
Power Supply 600W Corsair Builder Series
Software WINDOWS 7 PROFESSIONAL 64BIT
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
 
Joined
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Video Card(s) Asus RTX 4090
Storage WD m.2
Display(s) LG C2 Evo OLED 42"
Case Lian Li PC 011 Dynamic Evo
Audio Device(s) Topping E70 DAC, SMSL SP200 Headphone Amp.
Power Supply FSP Hydro Ti PRO 1000W
Mouse Razer Basilisk V3 Pro
Keyboard Tester84
Software Windows 11
I wouldn't change a thing. Very good setup for the budget. :toast:
 

Phusius

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Processor i5-2500k @ 4.5
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Display(s) Dell 23" 2ms
Case Carbide 500r
Audio Device(s) Asus Xonar DG
Joined
Jan 22, 2013
Messages
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System Name Desktop
Processor i5 3570k
Motherboard Asrock Z77
Cooling Corsair H60
Memory G Skill 8gb 1600 mhz X 2
Video Card(s) Sapphire Radeon 7850 X 2
Storage 1 TB Velociraptor, 240GB 840 Samsung
Display(s) 27" Samsung LED X 2
Case Thermaltake V9
Power Supply Seasonic 620 W, CX600M on stand by
Software Win 8.1 64
Benchmark Scores Benches are silly
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

New Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2013
Messages
15 (0.00/day)
System Name I haven't got a name for her, but I sometimes call her THE BEAST
Processor Ivy Bridge 3570k 4.2Ghz
Motherboard GIGABYTE GA-Z77-UD3H
Cooling EVO 212 CPU COOLER
Memory DDR 3 CORSAIR VENGEANCE
Video Card(s) ASUS GTX 660Ti 2GB OC EDITION
Storage SEASONIC 1TB SATA3 6GB/s
Case NZXT Source 210 White Mid Tower
Power Supply 600W Corsair Builder Series
Software WINDOWS 7 PROFESSIONAL 64BIT
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

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Apr 16, 2009
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Charleston, SC
System Name Tower of Power / Sechs
Processor i7 14700K / i7 5820k @ 4.5ghz
Motherboard ASUS ROG Strix Z690-A Gaming WiFi D4 / X99S GAMING 7
Cooling CM MasterLiquid ML360 Mirror ARGB Close-Loop AIO / CORSAIR Hydro Series H100i Extreme
Memory CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4 3600 / G.Skill DDR4 2800 16GB 4x4GB
Video Card(s) ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4070 Ti / ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 3070 V2 OC Edition
Storage 4x Samsung 980 Pro 1TB M.2, 2x Crucial 1TB SSD / Samsung 870 PRO 500GB M.2
Display(s) Samsung 32" Odyssy G5 Gaming 144hz 1440p, ViewSonic 32" 72hz 1440p / 2x ViewSonic 32" 72hz 1440p
Case Phantek "400A" / Phanteks “Enthoo Pro series”
Audio Device(s) Realtek ALC4080 / Azalia Realtek ALC1150
Power Supply Corsair RM Series RM750 / Corsair CXM CX600M
Mouse Glorious Gaming Model D Wireless / Razer DeathAdder Chroma
Keyboard Glorious GMMK with box-white switches / Keychron K6 pro with blue swithes
VR HMD Quest 3 (128gb) + Rift S + HTC Vive + DK1
Software Windows 11 Pro x64 / Windows 10 Pro x64
Benchmark Scores Yes
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
 
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System Name Chaos
Processor Intel Core i5 4590K @ 4.0 GHz
Motherboard MSI Z97 MPower MAX AC
Cooling Arctic Cooling Freezer i30 + MX4
Memory 4x4 GB Kingston HyperX Beast 2400 GT/s CL11
Video Card(s) Palit GTX 1070 Dual @ stock
Storage 256GB Samsung 840 Pro SSD + 1 TB WD Green (Idle timer off) + 320 GB WD Blue
Display(s) Dell U2515H
Case Fractal Design Define R3
Audio Device(s) Onboard
Power Supply Corsair HX750 Platinum
Mouse CM Storm Recon
Keyboard CM Storm Quickfire Pro (MX Red)
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

Moderato®™
Staff member
Joined
Apr 16, 2009
Messages
8,193 (1.50/day)
Location
Charleston, SC
System Name Tower of Power / Sechs
Processor i7 14700K / i7 5820k @ 4.5ghz
Motherboard ASUS ROG Strix Z690-A Gaming WiFi D4 / X99S GAMING 7
Cooling CM MasterLiquid ML360 Mirror ARGB Close-Loop AIO / CORSAIR Hydro Series H100i Extreme
Memory CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4 3600 / G.Skill DDR4 2800 16GB 4x4GB
Video Card(s) ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 4070 Ti / ASUS TUF Gaming GeForce RTX 3070 V2 OC Edition
Storage 4x Samsung 980 Pro 1TB M.2, 2x Crucial 1TB SSD / Samsung 870 PRO 500GB M.2
Display(s) Samsung 32" Odyssy G5 Gaming 144hz 1440p, ViewSonic 32" 72hz 1440p / 2x ViewSonic 32" 72hz 1440p
Case Phantek "400A" / Phanteks “Enthoo Pro series”
Audio Device(s) Realtek ALC4080 / Azalia Realtek ALC1150
Power Supply Corsair RM Series RM750 / Corsair CXM CX600M
Mouse Glorious Gaming Model D Wireless / Razer DeathAdder Chroma
Keyboard Glorious GMMK with box-white switches / Keychron K6 pro with blue swithes
VR HMD Quest 3 (128gb) + Rift S + HTC Vive + DK1
Software Windows 11 Pro x64 / Windows 10 Pro x64
Benchmark Scores Yes
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).. :toast:
 

mohammed441

New Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2013
Messages
15 (0.00/day)
System Name I haven't got a name for her, but I sometimes call her THE BEAST
Processor Ivy Bridge 3570k 4.2Ghz
Motherboard GIGABYTE GA-Z77-UD3H
Cooling EVO 212 CPU COOLER
Memory DDR 3 CORSAIR VENGEANCE
Video Card(s) ASUS GTX 660Ti 2GB OC EDITION
Storage SEASONIC 1TB SATA3 6GB/s
Case NZXT Source 210 White Mid Tower
Power Supply 600W Corsair Builder Series
Software WINDOWS 7 PROFESSIONAL 64BIT
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
 
Last edited:
Joined
Jan 22, 2013
Messages
478 (0.12/day)
System Name Desktop
Processor i5 3570k
Motherboard Asrock Z77
Cooling Corsair H60
Memory G Skill 8gb 1600 mhz X 2
Video Card(s) Sapphire Radeon 7850 X 2
Storage 1 TB Velociraptor, 240GB 840 Samsung
Display(s) 27" Samsung LED X 2
Case Thermaltake V9
Power Supply Seasonic 620 W, CX600M on stand by
Software Win 8.1 64
Benchmark Scores Benches are silly
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

New Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2013
Messages
15 (0.00/day)
System Name I haven't got a name for her, but I sometimes call her THE BEAST
Processor Ivy Bridge 3570k 4.2Ghz
Motherboard GIGABYTE GA-Z77-UD3H
Cooling EVO 212 CPU COOLER
Memory DDR 3 CORSAIR VENGEANCE
Video Card(s) ASUS GTX 660Ti 2GB OC EDITION
Storage SEASONIC 1TB SATA3 6GB/s
Case NZXT Source 210 White Mid Tower
Power Supply 600W Corsair Builder Series
Software WINDOWS 7 PROFESSIONAL 64BIT
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/hphotos-ak-ash3/577189_10151392326463472_1048896397_n.jpg

http://sphotos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/226809_10151393020943472_45686548_n.jpg

http://sphotos-h.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/532971_10151393020998472_1926403221_n.jpg

dont worry i definitely did some cable management :D

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

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