Medium budget gaming PC

[Cthaine]

Hello every one, i am going to be building a pc for moderate gaming and possibly some game play rendering. (my first custom build ever

) So far what i have is this;

Intel 3770k/3570k (depends on budget)

Some blue(ish) mobo

120/240gb SSD boot drive

1TB WD black HDD

8gb 1866 DDR3

750/850W Corsair PSU

Gtx 570/660

So i have a few questions.

CPU; Is getting the hyper-threading really worth it if i plan to render some game play occasionally?

Mobo; Quite frankly, how the heck are you supposed to "know" its a good motherboard? I dont need anything insane; just enough for possible SLI and a sound card.

SSD; Prices vary so much, and quality is hard to tell; should you get a 240gb that is average or a 120gb that is extremely reliable? For ex, 240gb OCZ vertex 3 is about $220; 120gb intel 520 is about $185.

RAM; Is higher frequency really a performance boost? 16GB 1600MHz is the same money as 8gb 2100MHz.(not that i will ever really need more then 8 right?)

Graphics; is that enough for Star Craft 2 and Eve online? (That is all i play and they really aren't that demanding.)

PSU; I know corsair modular are supposed to be pretty good. Is that enough for the system?

Hope this isn't too overwhelming .

but then again im handling it haha

Even if you can only answer one, id greatly appreciate it guys!

Chris

 

[Josh Weston]

Hey there

I shall try to adress your questions to the best of my ability.

CPU; Is getting the hyper-threading really worth it if i plan to render some game play occasionally?

Seeing as you're going to be using the PC, for the most part, for gaming and general use I would recommend the 3570k. There aren't many games that can fully utilize the four cores that it provides, and the 3570k is still more than up to the job of the odd video render. However, if you think that you may get into rendering/editing more, and you don't want to be waiting around as much, then perhaps the i7 3770k would be better for you. I still think you'd be best off saving some cash and sticking with the i5, though.

Mobo; Quite frankly, how the heck are you supposed to "know" its a good motherboard? I dont need anything insane; just enough for possible SLI and a sound card.

There are, in my opinion, 3 'big' motherboard manufacturers that most people seem to agree all make good products. Asus, Gigabyte and MSI. As long as you go with one of these, you'll generally be just fine. Check out the MSI Z77A-GD65 - it's what i'm going to be ordering soon, and it seems to be a great board. It's also not too expensive, compared to the competition, either. It's also blue(ish)!

SSD; Prices vary so much, and quality is hard to tell; should you get a 240gb that is average or a 120gb that is extremely reliable? For ex, 240gb OCZ vertex 3 is about $220; 120gb intel 520 is about $185.

I'd stay away from OCZ, if I were you! Not the best of companies when it comes to 'quality' products - a lot of them seem to fail. The Intel 520 SSD is certainly a hell of a SSD. Testing carried out by this site showed that the 520 come out on top of the other main SSDs. It is however one of the most expensive SSDs (per GB) around. Have you thought of a Mushkin Enhanced Chronos SSD? They come in a variety of sizes, and they're fairly cheap.

RAM; Is higher frequency really a performance boost? 16GB 1600MHz is the same money as 8gb 2100MHz.(not that i will ever really need more then 8 right?)

You will see slight performance boosts with the higher clock speeds in gaming etc. but it's marginal. And, as you rightly say, you'll rarely need more than 8GBs of RAM. What I would do is get yourself 8GB of 1600MHz RAM (fast enough for gaming and everything else) and see if your video rendering etc. ever exceeds, or encroaches upon, the 8GB. If it does, you can buy some more. If it doesn't, you just saved some money

Graphics; is that enough for Star Craft 2 and Eve online? (That is all i play and they really aren't that demanding.)

They would indeed be more than up for the task. You may also want to look at AMDs offering - the HD7850. They can be easily overclocked to beat the 570 and, I just had a quick glance on Newegg.com, they're a pretty penny cheaper, too.

PSU; I know corsair modular are supposed to be pretty good. Is that enough for the system?

Corsair power supplies are some of the best

Their TX, HX and AX are all great power supplies, with only the latter being fully modular.

I take it that you want to overclock your CPU? I hope so!

If so, a good aftermarket CPU cooler is also required. Some choices: Noctua NH-D14, NZXT Havik 140, Corsair H100 - all good coolers, with the H100 being an enclosed water cooling loop.

Best of luck with your build, sir.

 

[airdeano]

chris,

CPU: the i5 would be a better budget option

MOBO: researching the reviews is the best especially at E-tailers you can see the good vs bad comments.

SSD: you get what you pay for in this catagory.. the good drives are 1.6-1.8 ratio of $$ to GB, good drives are

mushkin, corsair, kingston, late model intel.

RAM: with the newer processors having exceptional memory contorlers the faster memory rates are now a

functional part of the equation. for IB use the fastest speed with the best timings at 1.5v.

GPU: if you gotta have it now, the 570 is fine and because of dollars prolly best spent.

PSU corsair ax750 for upgrades is great, 850-1200 for tri sli/xfire dual water loops and racks of HDD.

airdeano

 

[Lauralarry]

the gd55 would fit his needs if he's gaming.. the gd65 is oriented towards a differnt type of user... they're literally the same board this year

 

[Cthaine]

Thanks guys! Yeah i noticed the AMD is a bit better kinda forgot about that. I might just get a 560.. dono i think a 570 might be a bit overkill for my game style

Deffo agree on the SSD's, have only heard mixed/bad about OCZ. What about Kingston? Seem pretty reasonably priced, good in performance and i hear med-high quality?!?!!?

As for cooling im looking into some basic 240mm rad loops

(Why Noctua fans so ugly?

makes windowed panels feel shamed

)

About the gtx 560/560 Ti.. it seems like there isn't a rather large sufferance(they are the same except cuda cores). Is the little "edge" really worth the extra like $40? Should just go to a 570/7850/6950 :E

 

[The Orange One]

As for cooling im looking into some basic 240mm rad loops

(Why Noctua fans so ugly?

makes windowed panels feel shamed

)

How about some Skythe Gentle Typhoon's - The have a neutral Black and Grey apperance, but also ar not very far off of the Noctua's Performance

 

[airdeano]

What about Kingston? Seem pretty reasonably priced, good in performance and i hear med-high quality?!?

(Why Noctua fans so ugly? makes windowed panels feel shamed

About the gtx 560/560 Ti.. it seems like there isn't a rather large sufferance(they are the same except cuda cores). Is the little "edge" really worth the extra like $40? Should just go to a 570/7850/6950 :E

the kingston ssd can be setup in a RAID0 in windows 7 and not have to worry about TRIM support. it has

its own collection controller.

noctua fans can be dyed, painted or left alone. i worry about performance before what winds up in the window.

use the 570 without SLI the 560/560 ti, less driver issues, cooling worries and looping a single card is easier...

airdeano

 

[Master&Puppet]

There's a lot of good advice here

Personally I think josh has it spot on.

I've a couple of things to add:

If you intend on overclocking with a big air cooler then get some low profile ram like the corsair vengeance LP range. As a CPU water cooling set up there are a few options. The easiest one is to get a corsair h100, it is a good little performer. If you want to go custom then I highly recommend the pre made kits like the xspc rasa 750 range. You'll get good kit and everything you need. A 240 read will do for a CPU loop but a 360 would give you room to expand if you fancy getting a GPU block later.

It sounds like you would be fine with a 560 but a 7850 is a lot better in every respect for not much more.

M&P

 

[Cthaine]

Yeah not so sure what to do with graphics. I def want to have enough power and not bottle neck my system with a low-mid card :E

 

[Big WigglyStyle]

Instead of getting the 570 I would go with a 7850 like Josh said and save 80 bucks or grab the 7870 which has equal to or better performance plus the 2GB of VRAM or if you're stuck on the 570 get the 2.5GB version as most newer games will defiantly utilize it. However my 1.2GB 570 runs everything I have on ultra just fine. If you go nvidia try ti wait for the 670 it has been announced so I would wait for the pricing on that.