Mid-range gaming build, thoughts appreciated

[jimbo32]

Hey folks.

So as my ancient XP rig recently had a mild stroke, I figure it's time to go with a whole new system. I've read (or YouTube'd) a ton of reviews, so I think I've narrowed things down fairly well. It never hurts to have some extra eyes though.

I'll be using it for some moderate gaming (single monitor), and will likely OC a bit. At some point, I may add another gpu and go crossfire. I'll be sticking with the HDD for the moment (cash is tight), but will probably pick up an SSD whenever I see a decent one for a good price.

So here's the build:
Corsair Carbide 500R case
Corsair TX750M psu
MSI Z77 GD55 motherboard
i5 3570K cpu
Hitachi Deskstar 2TB HDD
XFX 7870 Double D video card
Corsair Vengeance LP 2x4GB memory
Noctua NH-D14 cooler
I'll also likely add a few Corsair AF120 quiet fans.

Should come out to roughly $1200 (Can.) or £765.

My biggest questions are regarding the psu. Is 750W enough if I decide to go Crossfire later on? Or could I even get away with 650W? Also, I thought about going with an XFX psu and saving a few bucks, but the review of the old Black Edition that ended with a literal bang scared me off. Does anyone know if the issues have been addressed with their newer psu's?

Thanks in advance for any input.

EDIT:
Also, huge thanks to Tom for his excellent review vids. They've been extremely helpful.

 

[yassarikhan786]

A single 650W PSU should be sufficient for crossfire considering how efficient the 7870's are.

 

[seumasbeathan]

Apart from the power supply as Yassar mentioned this build looks very good to me

 

[SavageCupcake]

pretty much what i would get if i was going to get a new pc mate as the 2 guys said above 650w should be good for x fire on 7870's. im sure i heard somewhere you can run a 3770k and a 680 which draws 450w from the wall at full load so it should be plenty

 

[Josh Weston]

Can't say that I know all that much about Hitachi, other than they make the mechanical hard drives for the old MackBook pros. With that, i've never had an issue with my MBP, and i've had it for over a year now.
If it were me, i'd probably go for a WD drive, but that's just because I know it's reliable from the reviews that i've read/watched etc. and aso personal experience with my current desktop PC.

Other than that, the build looks very solid.

 

[CPMFW]

change the power supply to 650w
other than that it´s a good selection of parts...

 

[jimbo32]

That's good news regarding the psu. I can get a fully modular Corsair gold AX650 on sale for $130 (£83), which is only about $10 more than the TX750M.

So nobody has any news about the XFX psu's? They seem to be an excellent bargain, since you can get a semi-modular 80+ silver 850W for around the same price of the Corsair TX750M which is 80+ bronze. And I believe they're all made by Seasonic. The only tradeoff being that the XFX cable braiding is crappy - and of course there's the minor detail that the OVP possibly doesn't exist.

 

[Kanped]

Yeah, they are made by Seasonic. It's not a guarantee of quality, though; the Seasonic factory makes cheap stuff with cheap parts, too. The 80+ rating is just efficiency; it doesn't check if the voltage jitter is going to fry all your stuff, for example. HOWEVER, the very best PSUs do tend to be made by Seasonic and I've not seen anything particularly negative about the newer XFX series, so it's probably worth doing more research.

 

[jamesriley94]

I normally say if people have money to spend, get the AX series.
If they are a little tighter on budget, get a Silverstone Strider.

I personally couldn't live without a fully modular psu

 

[robbiess]

if only these components were £765 in the UK it's more like £900; why do compents cost about 20% more in the UK

and switch the 7870 for a gtx 660ti cheaper and has better performance considering your not gonna be using more than 1 monitor

 

[jamesriley94]

if only these components were £765 in the UK it's more like £900; why do compents cost about 20% more in the UK

and switch the 7870 for a gtx 660ti cheaper and has better performance considering your not gonna be using more than 1 monitor

The 660ti for a comparable version is around £55 more expensive than the 7870?

 

[seumasbeathan]

Yeah the 7870 is IMO a much better choice than a 660ti

 

[jimbo32]

if only these components were £765 in the UK it's more like £900; why do components cost about 20% more in the UK

Canadian VAT (known as GST) isn't included in the price, but added afterwards. British VAT is included in the price, correct?

Although our tax isn't as much, we also pay it on any shipping charges. I'd guess that the actual cost will be around £820 when it's all done - less if I can manage to get free shipping on some items. In the USA, the dollar price would be about the same, but they pay much less tax.

Anyway, thanks very much for all the replies.

Edit:
I found a bit more info regarding the psu's at Hardware Secrets.
Review for XFX Pro 650W XXX Edition (Gold Award)
Review for Corsair TX750M (Bronze Award)

Looks like Seasonic has fixed the OVP problem with the new version of the XFX psu's. And interestingly, the Corsair TX-M series aren't made by Seasonic like the normal non-modular version. CWT is the manufacturer. I found that a little odd. I've never heard of CWT. What kind of reputation do they have?

 

[Kanped]

CWT are kinda hit-and-miss. It's really down to the parts they're using in different models, it seems. I think when I looked it up, it wasn't even every model in a series was made by one company; like the 650watt model might be CWT, the 750 might be Seasonic, or vice-versa etc.

TBH, any OEM can make a cheap power supply with crappy components (but it might not be cheap to buy if the right logo is on it!) but there's only a few that really make top notch PSUs at all. I would just try to sick to Seasonic but there's a few others (I think CWT included) that do make great supplies; the only way to really know is to research the hell out of the exact model that you're interested in.

 

[jamesriley94]

CWT are fine. Corsair wouldn't use them if they were unreliable.

I still say go for Silverstone though.

 

[jimbo32]

Thanks for everything so far everyone. It's much appreciated.

So I was just about to order my case, but I've hit a bit of a snag.

Here's the thing - the BitFenix Shinobi XL (with window) just went on sale for $70 off, which puts it $10 cheaper than the 500R. I really like the clean design of the Shinobi cases, but I'm not planning on water cooling, so I don't *really* need a large case. I'm also a little concerned about the airflow - after watching Tom's review, it seems like the front panel fan(s) might have trouble keeping things cool. But at $90 (£58), it's cheap enough to tempt me.

Anyone here have an XL? How's the airflow? (Or even a normal Shinobi I suppose, since the front panels are very similar)

 

[jimbo32]

No owners of the Shinobi XL around I guess. I didn't like the cut of it's jib, so I went ahead and ordered the 500R in nice shiny white.

Another question for the gallery - I know a lot of people recommend the Crucial or Samsung SSD's, but I was also looking at the Intel 330. For 120GB, the Crucial M4 and Intel are around the same price (~$100 Can), with the Samsung 830 being a bit more expensive (~$120 Can). Any recommendations? Any reasons why I should stay away from one or the other?

 

[Kanped]

I've heard good things about all of those brands; more from Crucial than Intel but haven't heard anything actually bad about either (or Samsung).