First build parts

Slominskip

Slominskip

New member
Can you take a look at this and let me know what you think? Also would like some input on a good Z77 for a newbie.

Tower--Thermaltake Armor Revo ( Black )
Power Supply--Thermaltake Toughpower Grand 750w
CPU--Intel i7-2700K
Motherboard--Intel DZ77RE-75K Extreme ??????????
Cooler—Cooler master
SSD--Corsair Force Series GT 480GB
RAM--Corsair Dominator Platinum 16GB ( 2 x 4GB )
Video Card--Asus GTX 660 ??????????
Sound Card-- Asus Xonar D2/PM ??????????
Blu Ray Drive--Sony Optiarc BD-5300S
Card reader--Sony MRW620
Keyboard/Mouse--Alienware TactX Combo
Also, is 1 480gb SSD good enough? I only have itunes and a few games..? I am trying to avoid 2 SSD or memory, is it better to have a 64gb for OS and a second SSD or just one big SSD?
 
half gaming and half home entertainment/theatre.. budget is $2000 to 2500$ not including the monitors
 
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Case - BitFenix Shinobi ($180 full tower is crazy overkill) ($65, $115 saved)
Psu - Corsair AX650 (around the same price - $140, better psu and 650w is plenty)
CPU - i5 3570k Ivy Bridge ($220, $140 saved)
Motherboard - MSI Z77 GD65 ($150, $170 saved)
CPU heatsink - Coolermaster Hyper 212 Evo ($35)
SSD - Samsung 830 512GB, Crucial M4 512GB or Intel 520 480GB (or wait a bit for Samsung 840) (~$500)
RAM - Corsair Vengeance LP 4x4GB @1600mhz (Huge savings over your Dominator 2400ghz and just as good for your purposes, $123) ($233 saved)
Sound Card - I'm assuming that you want a high quality sound card, but I wouldn't go with the D2. It uses a normal PCI slot, which is an outgoing technology. I'd go with the Asus Xonar Essence. It's around the same price ($200), and uses PCI-e.
Blu-ray drive - The Sony is probably as good as any other. ($100)
Card reader - as above, though I think the model you chose is discontinued. ($15)
Keyboard/Mouse - Whatever floats your boat, but I'd say that the SteelSeries products are more highly regarded than Alienware (which is just Dell in disguise). ($150)

Total so far: $1698 before taxes and shipping (mostly NCIX prices in Canada)

Total savings of around $650 over the components you chose, which could be used to purchase a top-end gpu like a 680 or 7970. I'm assuming you'll be using multiple monitors, so I'd go for a 7970 -
Asus Radeon HD7970 DirectCUII - $440

Grand total - ~$2140 before taxes and shipping

You probably still have enough wiggle room to add a WD Caviar Green 2TB for movie and music storage and still fit under your $2500 budget. If you do that, you could probably knock the SSD down to 256/240GB which would be plenty for your OS and some games.

EDIT:
Almost forgot - you might want to edit out that case before Tom sees it. :D
 
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As jimbo said, but drop to 8GB of ram and a GTX670 maybe a 7970 for multi monitor gaming, no need to spend the extra money on a gtx680. Only get a blueray drive if you really need it, DVD drives ruin the look of any case and it's much more fun watching movies on a tv anyway.
Get a case any case you like as long as it's from a decent brand (thermaltake is not part of them)
 
THANKS! GREAT INPUT GUYS! Whats wrong with thermaltake...lol. Will the gtx 660 be enough, i read it has all the same features as the 680..? thanks for the sound card advice! thats the sound card will the bigger plug with more pins? the PCIe? and yes the card reader is discontinued but i found a couple stores that had them i already ordered it! i think i will also go with the 2x4gb dominators! but will it perform the same if i have 2 sets of 2x4gb or will one set work just as good?
 
Thermaltake's products aren't build very well. Only the gtx660 TI has the same gpu as the 680 and 670, not the gtx 660. Whether or not it will be good enough depends on how many screens you use.
If anything one set of ram will perform better, as it allows better oc, with ovy that's not a problem as far as I know, but 8 gb is enough. Imo the only reason to get dominators is because of the design, personally I'd get vengeance
 
So with only 2 screens will the 660 be fast enough? the 660ti is the same just with a little better processor?
 
Whats the difference between two of the same sets of RAM but one is

Tested Latency8-8-8-24 and the other is Tested Latency9-9-9-24
SPD Latency9-9-9-24 SPD Latency9-9-9-24
 
As a rule of thumb i dont trust reviews done by places that sell the product that the're reviewing, because they probably wont be as objective because at the end of the day they're trying to sell you somthing.
 
So have you already bought most of this stuff? It seems to me that you're looking for validation rather than opinions and help...
 
I bought the Case, PSU, Blu Ray player, and Card Reader.. Just wondering what do you gentlemen think makes a case good..? Its just a metal box with fans in it..lol? The only thing i can think of is the supplied wires..? IDK? Well i will give it a try and if i find anything messed up i will let you guys know so you can laugh at me..lol. i'm having a hard time deciding on a MOBO, i Know i want the Z77 but..? and i was wondering, have all of you guys who said thermaltake sucks actually owned a case from them..?
 
MSI Z77A G45/GD55/GD65 + MPower - my preferred choices.

As for cases, they've got to look good whilst perform well. It really all boils down to what you want to do with your system.
If you want to build a media server of some sort, you'll need loads of hard drive bays and good cable management.
If you're going for a watercooled rig, you'll be wanting the appropriate space for radiators and reservoirs, and stuff like that.

All cases should have good cable management options, and all should have good airflow. The rest is all down to you.
 
for a case, part of it is just looks, but other factors are the cable managment capabilities, and airflow, as well as wether it can fit the large air coolers or an h100 or even a full w/c setup, price is also a factor as is the extent to which it can be customised or modded or if your building somthing like a media pc or server size might be a factor. as for motherboards, ive heard that the msi ones are the best. as far as thermaltake goes my friend used a powersuply by them which died after 3 months, and i just personally dont really like the cases of theres that ive seen.
 
For one thing, judging from that vid you posted, you paid ~$180 for a case that appears to be roughly the same size as a Fractal Design Arc Midi, and doesn't use it's available space very well. It's advertised (and priced) as a full tower, but if you look at the distance between the top of the motherboard cutout and the roof, you'll see that it's highly unlikely that you'd be able to fit even a Corsair H100 let alone a decent size rad. Just the roof fan alone looks like it barely clears the cutout.

I'd say that a good case is composed of 35% efficiency of design, 35% build quality, 15% looks and 15% price. There are enough high quality cases on the market that you should be able to find one you really like the look of without compromising on the other three factors too much.

I realize that not everyone despises the look of Thermaltakes like I do, but by looking at that TigerDirect vid you posted (promoting something for sale is NOT the same as reviewing it), I'd say that that case fails at design, price, and looks (this last one being highly subjective, obviously). While I've never owned one, I've also heard that their build quality isn't fabulous, so that gives the case 0/4 as far as I'm concerned.
 
i guess i'm the under dog then.. and i got it for $150.00. I know the video i posted was from tiger direct..lol. but there are more videos than that. I guess i will find out when it comes in the mail. I'm not gonna knock something unless i actually try it out.. plus being the under dog is fun..lol.
 
Not to be rude or insulting to you, but seems like you are more of just buying whatever you think you need without checking reviews or to see if the product has any issues. With a budget of $2500 It would make sense to get the latest tech that the industry has to offer, yet you settle for a 2600k but a z77mobo? Mine as well get a quality z77 mobo like a MSI z77mpower or MSi gd-65 with an i5 3570k.
 
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