First time building a rig

[JLcaron]

Hi,

I currently am looking to build a rig with a budget of 2500-3000 including tax.

My goal for this is to run Guild Wars 2 (MMO) on ultra along with fraps at 60fps without any issues.

The only nearby store (which would save shipping) is canadacomputers.com

Right now I just need someone to tell me if some parts don't fit together, and how many fans I should look into getting for the corsair 800D.

The current parts that I have in mind based off this thread is:

Motherboard: MSI Z77A http://www.canadacom...&item_id=047778

RAM: Corsair vengeance low-profile 2x4GB http://www.canadacom...&item_id=048709

PSU: Corsair TX850M http://www.canadacom...&item_id=040600 (may need revising once the rest of the parts are decided)

Sound card: Creative Recon3D http://www.canadacom...&item_id=043701

Cooling: H80 http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=8_135&item_id=039347 (will also need fans, suggestions welcome)

CPU: Intel i7 3770K http://www.canadacom...&item_id=045423

HDD: 2x WD Caviar Black 2TB http://www.canadacom...&item_id=035360 (in Raid 0). Will also get a OCZ SSD from my brother.

GPU: Asus 7970 http://www.canadacom...&item_id=045722

Case: Corsair 800D http://www.canadacom...&item_id=026052

If I am missing anything in this list please let me know, I am new to actually building a desktop.

Thanks for any advice.

Note that I did change my budget because the paint will cost me a nice bundle, and quite honestly I don't want to spend 1000 on just my GPU.

 

[Master&Puppet]

Start having a look at parts like this:

CPU - 3570k - This is a gaming rig so you only need an i5. Are you wanting to overclock?

Mobo - MSI GD65 or any other decent z77 mobo (many around that price range are equally as good).

RAM - 8gb of RAM. Corsair vengeance low profile 1600 mhz is good but again anything with moderate capacity and speed is all you need. Low profile is a good idea if you want to get a big air cooler like the NH-D14 for overclocking the CPU.

GPU(s). With your budget you might as well go nuts and get 2 cards so:

A. If you overclock get 2x 7950s

B. If you don't overclock then get 2x 680s or 1x 690 (we are awaiting more reviews on which is better).

PSU: Something big and reliable like a Corsair 850W or even slighly bigger.

Not sure what that comes to but it is what you are after and is probably cheaper than you thought!

How much storage space do you need?

 

[JLcaron]

Thanks for your answer.

Processor- Isn't the cache a bit low? Also wouldn't mind having a bit more processing power, so might overclock but I don't personally know how.

Gpu- dont think ill need 4-6GB of video lol. Should I just go for a single 7970?

I seriously don't mind going over 2000, I just want a super powerful rig

As for storage i have a 2TB 7200 rpm 3.0 external and my brother can get me a 120GB SSD for cheap, so not all that much.

 

[Master&Puppet]

Well if you want more cpu powa then you can get a 3770k or 3930k but it won't actually make any difference to your gameplay. GPU power is much more important. An overclocked i5 is actually overkill for gaming.

The gpus don't actually add their vRAM together so it would still only be 2 or 3gb of vRAM. What happens is that they take it in turns to render the frames which gives you effectively the processing power of 2 gpus (it works out at about 190%).

 

[JLcaron]

Cpu- im just used to my i7 620M not being enough for crysis 2 on ultra

Gpu- 2x 7950 will end up at around 1000$ which is alot of my budget right there, i dont want to bottleneck my rig

And sorry im pretty noob at this, i just know the basics lol

 

[Master&Puppet]

No worries, that is what we are here for

you won't bottleneck your gpus with that. You could run them off a AMD FX 4100 and it would be fine believe it or not. Going the intel route gives you better general performance.

 

[JLcaron]

Any idea what I should get for a case? for all this I mean. I need a easily paintable one on the front and sides like the corsair 550D

And for a sound card wondering what I should get if I plan on eventually having a 3.1 or a 5.1 surround sound system plugged in.

Cooling wise, if I do overclock the i5 and get the 2x 7950, do I need liquid cooling?

 

[DanielSK]

instead of dual physical cards, I would go with a gtx690 or maybe even a 590 if you don't wanna expend so much, I really prefer one card instead of 2, less headaches with glitches in games, etc... But that's just me. Overclocking wise depends on how much you wanna overclock it. The case why not the corsair 550d? Have you looked at the fractals?

 

[JLcaron]

I do like the fractal R3 arctic white, which would save some money on the paint I believe. However it seems the Corsair 550D has a better overall quality, I would automatically go for it if it came in white. The fractal is not available in eastern Canada so I'd have to get it shipped from newegg for a total of 145+ tax.

Part of me wants to get 3 art pieces on the front and sides but they are so different I might just end up making it look weird. Another option for the paint would be just the straight up GW2 red dragon on a white finish on both sides, which would go well with the Fractal R3 seeing as it is already fully white.

As per the overclocking, I still want a stable CPU I just want more out of the i5 3570K, I have no experience in overclocking so I can't really tell you how much I want to overclock it.

The 690 is just plain overkill and is also not available close to where I live. Depending on how much the total cost (minus the GPU) is at, I will either get 1 or 2 of either the nvidia 680s or the AMD 7970. Just wondering which one is a better choice (680 vs 7970)

Also please keep in mind this system needs to easily record with FRAPS while running a demanding game on ultra. at 60 FPS.

 

[DanielSK]

NCIX may deliver and have the Fractal R3 arctic white. For the cooler my personal preference is the H100 with other fans (noctua or bitfenix spectres maybe?) since I never went real watercooling. I'm not an expertise in that but if I'm not wrong the problem in recording with fraps is not the gpu but the time it takes to write in the HDD, don't quote me on that but I think you should get a bigger ssd, or buy a second 120 gb ssd and pu them in raid 0

 

[JLcaron]

Yeah I was looking into SSD's a bit more just now and I found this beauty (have to find more reviews as one really isn't enough) http://www.canadacom...&item_id=041469

If I just have that as my only internal hard drive and a 2TB external, I should be fine right? I still don't get how that particular SSD works though

as for the cooling there is H100 at the store near me, so I'd need that and 4 ish fans? assuming I take the Fractal as a case.

NCIX is somewhat near me but unless there is a noticeable difference in price or availability I will stick to canadacomputers, as the store is literally 5 minutes from my house, while NCIX is about 5 hours away.

I have updated the original post for a cleaner recap.

 

[The Scientific Moustache]

Yeah I was looking into SSD's a bit more just now and I found this beauty (have to find more reviews as one really isn't enough) http://www.canadacom...&item_id=041469

If I just have that as my only internal hard drive and a 2TB external, I should be fine right? I still don't get how that particular SSD works though

as for the cooling there is H100 at the store near me, so I'd need that and 4 ish fans? assuming I take the Fractal as a case.

NCIX is somewhat near me but unless there is a noticeable difference in price or availability I will stick to canadacomputers, as the store is literally 5 minutes from my house, while NCIX is about 5 hours away.

I have updated the original post for a cleaner recap.

i don't know if you have seen the Tomshardware review... [linkie] of the revodrive hybrid.

It essentially boils down to convenience, and you may see better results with separate SSD & HDD combined with effective disk management.

 

[JLcaron]

Alright so I've basically chosen all parts, I just need to know if I chose the right GPU (honestly I just looked at the both the speeds in the 7970s, if you see a better card under 650$ on the site please tell me). I also need to know if I should go for the 550D or the 800D, or if you have any other suggestions for that.

On a side note, I will not overclock unless my goals (60FPS with fraps running on GW2) cannot be achieved, so I'd rather have parts that are easy to overclock.

 

[njallday]

Have you considered the Corsair 650d for your case? It can be painted very easily. And yes, the 7970 or 680 can handle essentially everything at 60 fps.

 

[JLcaron]

Yeah I have considered all the graphite series. The 550D has no window, which I would like. The 650D has a window, but quite honestly I do not like the latches at the top. On top of that it is only 90$ less. The 800D is 240$, and lets me put anything in there, so I don't have to worry about space issues. Another issue I have to keep in mind is future use of the case. Unless it becomes damaged I plan on keeping this case for a fairly long time, so again having extra space is always a good thing.

also had to change to a H80 because the bracket number of the H100 does not fit with my other parts.

 

[airdeano]

also had to change to a H80 because the bracket number of the H100 does not fit with my other parts.

huh? the cpu hold down system will fit ivey bridge 1155 or Z77 board. works fine.

http://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?t=106303

airdeano

 

[JLcaron]

oh alright, my friend had a problem like this where he had to cut a pin off, but his was with an older gen of CPU, thanks

either way, do i really need the h100? i mean if im not overclocking, technically I don't even need watercooling (i think), but I still want my temps to be really low.