First time build (Gaming Rig)

[Jonny28]

Hi all

I'm planning on building my first ever rig. Been reading through this forum for about three weeks now trying to get up to speed on what's the latest and greatest - and what's affordable. This is what I've decided on going for:

Corsair Obsidian 650D Gaming Midi Tower - Black

Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 Intel Z68

Intel Core i7-2600K 3.40GHz

Corsair Hydro H100

Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-15000C9 1866MHz Dual Channel Kit

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 580 WINDFORCE 3X 3072MB

OCZ ZX Series 850W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply

Corsair Force Series 3 120GB SATA 6Gb/s Solid State Drive

Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache

Pioneer 24x Internal S19LBK DVD Rewriter

As regards to the PSU, it might be a bit overkill but I plan to SLI in the future and would like to try out some overclocking too

All comments are greatly appreciated. Would like to know if I have any compatibility or bottleneck issues, or simply if I've made the right choices. Thanks in advance (great forum, I've learned a lot!)

 

[Azurite]

I would have chosen an Asus or Gigabyte MB, Noctua DH-14 cpu cooler and i would also get the ocz max iops/vertex3 ssd. Rest of list seems fine to me.

 

[fcb]

Hey there,

Just wondering whether or not you're actually going to be using Lucid Virtu? The Z68 boards are fantastic, but with that awesome GTX 580 are you going to be using that as your main video device? If you're not going to be doing much video transcoding and or have the need to switch between onboard graphics and the video card, then you may as well go for a P67 board.

Some great P67 or Z68 boards could be:

http://www.aria.co.u...productId=43880

http://www.aria.co.u...productId=43854

http://www.aria.co.u...productId=44425

Will you be doing a push and pull setup for the H100? How much of an OC will you plan to do? If you're only planning for a mild OC the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus/Evolution would be a good inexpensive heatsink to get. If you're going for those high OCs such as 4.7GHz and up, I would suggest something in the lines of the Noctua NH-D14 or Thermalright Silver Arrow. Because the standard fans for the H100 are pretty loud and if you'll be replacing them for better fans, you'll be adding to your expenses. If you were to have the NH-D14 or the Silver Arrow, there isn't any need to replace the high quality fans that are included. It's just a tiny suggestion though.

In the case of graphics, will you be OC-ing your video card? If you plan on doing that and also have SLI in the future, I would highly recommend a 1000W PSU. Corsair has a great HX1050 that you could look into.

 

[fcb]

I would have chosen an Asus or Gigabyte MB, Noctua DH-14 cpu cooler and i would also get the ocz max iops/vertex3 ssd. Rest of list seems fine to me.

Yup definitely great choices. Or, you could also check out the Kingston HyperX 120GB SSD. That's another great SSD.

 

[yassarikhan786]

Don't go with Asrock motherboard because they are known to be problematic. As mentioned above Asus and Gigabyte are your best choices. MSI are also very good.

 

[fcb]

Don't go with Asrock motherboard because they are known to be problematic. As mentioned above Asus and Gigabyte are your best choices. MSI are also very good.

Absolutely.

 

[yassarikhan786]

For the hard-drive a Caviar Black would be a better choice. They are not loud by any means and performance wise they are awesome. Your build is similar to mine so I give it a big thumbs up there

. Be wary of the obsidian 650d fans though as you might hear a slight buzzing noise from the front intake and possibly the top exhaust fan. I only noticed buzzing on the low - medium settings on the integrated fan controller. I think the problem is not with the fans themselves but with the way the air is pushed through the grills. I eliminated the buzzing noise completely with the use of a Sycthe Kaze Master fan controller

. You can use any good quality fan controller and I'm by no means promoting this particular fan controller (I am kind of, lol).

My obsidian 650d was supposedly the revised version with no problems, but I still seemed to have the fan buzzing problem. Hopefully the one you get has no such problems, but if you do have any problems an external fan controller should fix them. Good luck with your build

.

 

[fcb]

For the hard-drive a Caviar Black would be a better choice. They are not loud by any means and performance wise they are awesome. Your build is similar to mine so I give it a big thumbs up there

. Be wary of the obsidian 650d fans though as you might hear a slight buzzing noise from the front intake and possibly the top exhaust fan. I only noticed buzzing on the low - medium settings on the integrated fan controller. I think the problem is not with the fans themselves but with the way the air is pushed through the grills. I eliminated the buzzing noise completely with the use of a Sycthe Kaze Master fan controller

. You can use any good quality fan controller and I'm by no means promoting this particular fan controller (I am kind of, lol).

My obsidian 650d was supposedly the revised version with no problems, but I still seemed to have the fan buzzing problem. Hopefully the one you get has no such problems, but if you do have any problems an external fan controller should fix them. Good luck with your build

.

Buzzing noise I think is actually a fan problem. The assembly of the fan may not have been very good. Sometimes the coiling and motor can be the issue. I guess you can't expect perfection from mass production right?

In any case, a fan controller is a great idea. Zalman makes fan controllers too. Those are simple and pretty cool.

 

[yassarikhan786]

Dude, I know it's not the fans. I have taken them off and tested to see if they make any noise at whatever RPM and they do not. It's only when they are behind the grills, when I hear the noise. I think it's a combination of the fan speed and how the air is pushed through the grills. It may be because the fans are too near the grills. I do not know the exact cause, but after installing a fan controller I have had no such problems.

 

[fcb]

Dude, I know it's not the fans. I have taken them off and tested to see if they make any noise at whatever RPM and they do not. It's only when they are behind the grills, when I hear the noise. I think it's a combination of the fan speed and how the air is pushed through the grills. It may be because the fans are too near the grills. I do not know the exact cause, but after installing a fan controller I have had no such problems.

Oh that's cool. Well at least the fan controller fixed the problem. Not sure if you agree, but loud fans aren't as irritating as buzzing or rattling noise from fans.

 

[yassarikhan786]

Oh that's cool. Well at least the fan controller fixed the problem. Not sure if you agree, but loud fans aren't as irritating as buzzing or rattling noise from fans.

I agree fully. I can't stand buzzing/rattling and I don't know anyone who can.

 

[fcb]

I agree fully. I can't stand buzzing/rattling and I don't know anyone who can.

My friend doesn't notice how bad the fans in his PC are acting up. He constantly has a headphone on and listens to music with the volume way up. I kind of scolded him for doing so, but he doesn't listen. Eventually he's going to go deaf. Poor guy.

I couldn't stand how bad the fans were. I was just helping him to replace a defective video card and ended up having to replace all the fans. Not sure if he was lucky or unlucky when he bought a bundle of fans. I mean the coincidence that the 5 fans he had were all making the same buzzing noise.

 

[yassarikhan786]

My friend doesn't notice how bad the fans in his PC are acting up. He constantly has a headphone on and listens to music with the volume way up. I kind of scolded him for doing so, but he doesn't listen. Eventually he's going to go deaf. Poor guy.

I couldn't stand how bad the fans were. I was just helping him to replace a defective video card and ended up having to replace all the fans. Not sure if he was lucky or unlucky when he bought a bundle of fans. I mean the coincidence that the 5 fans he had were all making the same buzzing noise.

Hahaha, he was either unlucky or the fans were absolute sh**. Good thing he has a tech savvy friend like you

.

 

[fcb]

Hahaha, he was either unlucky or the fans were absolute sh**. Good thing he has a tech savvy friend like you

.

If I recall the fans were Yate Loons. Their fans aren't bad at all. I guess he was mostly unlucky at the time. Has has a 650D as well, but he custom painted his case red by himself. He was going for a AMD red theme.

 

[yassarikhan786]

If I recall the fans were Yate Loons. Their fans aren't bad at all. I guess he was mostly unlucky at the time. Has has a 650D as well, but he custom painted his case red by himself. He was going for a AMD red theme.

Oh. He was unlucky if they were Yate Loons.

 

[fcb]

Oh. He was unlucky if they were Yate Loons.

Yup, it's the ones where the actual fan is red and the frame is black. Comparing the cases, I think the 650D is definitely better than the 600T. The spacing is just right for simple custom water loop. I think it would also be nice if Corsair were to make a 650D with non windowed side panel for those who like the simple look.

 

[Jonny28]

I would have chosen an Asus or Gigabyte MB, Noctua DH-14 cpu cooler and i would also get the ocz max iops/vertex3 ssd. Rest of list seems fine to me.

First of all I'd like to thank you and everyone else for there time and support.

To be honest what persuaded me to lean towards the Asrock was the price, looks, pci 3.0 compatibility and ivy bridge support when it becomes available.

I checked out the Noctua, that beast it huge! Does the job well though from the reviews I read, and the price is good too.

One question I had is should I be concerned that the dimm chips I've selected don't appear on the memory support chart here.... http://www.asrock.com/mb/memory.asp?Model=Z68 Extreme4 Gen3

 

[TicTac]

Should be able to, from what i can see it looks like they haven't updated that page because it doesn't includes any of the Vengeance ram from corsair however there is no doubt in my mind that they will be compatible because the ram specs are listed as compatible so i wouldn't worry! Also one thing to bear in mind is that if you wanted to go to air cooling or if your h100 breaks

then you most likely woudn't be able to fit that ram underneath a beefy air cooler, Just giving you a heads up

 

[Jonny28]

Should be able to, from what i can see it looks like they haven't updated that page because it doesn't includes any of the Vengeance ram from corsair however there is no doubt in my mind that they will be compatible because the ram specs are listed as compatible so i wouldn't worry! Also one thing to bear in mind is that if you wanted to go to air cooling or if your h100 breaks

then you most likely woudn't be able to fit that ram underneath a beefy air cooler, Just giving you a heads up

Yes the size issue on that cooler was a bit of concern. I would like to get into overclocking, but at the moment I'm not even an amateur so I don't think I need something so big, although it is a lot cheaper.

I'm thinking of going for the G.Skill RipJawsX 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C7 1600MHz, there on the compatibly list.

 

[fcb]

Yes the size issue on that cooler was a bit of concern. I would like to get into overclocking, but at the moment I'm not even an amateur so I don't think I need something so big, although it is a lot cheaper.

I'm thinking of going for the G.Skill RipJawsX 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C7 1600MHz, there on the compatibly list.

All P67 and Z68 board will support the Ivy Bridge CPUs later on. It's just a matter of BIOS updates. So, I'd still suggest any of the Asus or Gigabyte boards within your budget. If you're going to be using a 3rd party cooler like th Noctua NH-D14, low profile RAM is definitely recommended. Something along the lines of the Corsair Vengeance low profile series, Kingston HyperX/Genesis, G.Skill Ripjaws X or the Mushkin Silverline/Frostbyte/Ridgeback will be a great fit for larger coolers.