My first PC build - Update 24/08

[Joel]

Not necessarily. I don't have an optical drive in my current system

Getting my motherboard to boot off a USB flash drive so I could install Windows was a bit tricky though... installing Windows that way is great for showing off, but not as straight-forward as sticking a disc in!

My problem was when I went to upgrade my Vista to Win8, the BIOS had a setting on default where USB devices (keyboard) didn't work until after the mobo POST's, so I couldn't get into the BIOS to change it. Found my USB to PS2 adapter and that was how I sorted it out.

 

[TB]

Not necessarily. I don't have an optical drive in my current system

I know it's possible, but you have to admit that a disc drive is certainly easier. Especially for us novices.

Another thing I forgot; a wireless network card so I can get on the wifi. Do I need something special for ethernet as well or is this also integrated into the motherboard?

Some have Wi-Fi built in. The motherboard you currently have selected does not. You can either change the motherboard to one that is built in or do what I did and pick up something like this.

 

[Bram Turismo]

Small update:

If you guys still have some remarks, don't hesitate to make them! I hope I've got everything in the list I need now. Been looking at some motherboards, but none that hover around the pricerange of the one I've currently chosen seems to specify any wifi. So I picked an adapter, not sure what you guys think about it. My max download is 30 Mbps so I'm sure it won't limit me.

Again, if there's anything you would do otherwise on this build in favor of value or price, let me know

Assuming the Cooler Master fan will be on top of the CPU to cool it, do I need any other fans besides the one that is on the graphics card and the stock fans that come with the case to keep the card cool?

Oh, and everything's off of Amazon right now. What's the general GTP opinion on them?

 

[Sharky.]

do I need any other fans besides the one that is on the graphics card and the stock fans that come with the case to keep the card cool?

Nope.

Looks pretty good although I'd personally go with a modular power supply (CX600 is non modular; CX600M is the modular variant) 👍 That's more a matter of personal preference though.

 

[Bram Turismo]

Nope.

Looks pretty good although I'd personally go with a modular power supply (CX600 is non modular; CX600M is the modular variant) 👍 That's more a matter of personal preference though.

Ehm, what?

 

[Sharky.]

Modular power supplies only have the 20+4 pin motherboard power hard-wired into the unit (usually. Some high-end units don't even have that permanently wired in!), everything else you plug in as you need it. Non-modular power supplies have a fixed number of cables, all permanently wired in. While there's functionally minimal difference between modular and non-modular power supplies, modular ones help out a lot with cable management and aesthetics.

Compare the photo here - left is a modular PSU, right is non-modular http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_supply_unit_(computer)#Modular_power_supplies

 

[Bram Turismo]

Changed out the graphics card. The GTX 660ti went up from $250 to $335. Changed it out for the same card by ASUS: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008Y65MUA/?tag=gtplanet-20

I guess I won't have to stress about cooling the card with the custom fans installed on it already by ASUS then. Amazon's prices seem to swing in price constantly throughout the day, I might keep everything in my cart until there are some good deals to be had on the parts before I order. I might as well switch to a GTX 670 if I find a good deal on it.

 

[Sharky.]

That Asus card is better anyway, it's factory overclocked and has a custom cooler Reference coolers like on that Sparkle card are loud and if your case has good airflow they don't cool the card anywhere near as well as a multi-fan non-reference design can.

 

[Joel]

I bought a card with a reference cooler (670 FTW from EVGA), although technically it's the reference cooler and PCB from the 680 so it isn't exactly a reference 670 cooler. I bought it because the case I built in is very small and a reference/blower type cooler is best because the heat from the GPU exhausts right out the back of the case instead of blowing on my CPU. If I was building in a bigger case, custom coolers would almost always be superior, especially something like the ASUS or a Gigabyte windforce (3 fans ZOMG). That being said, you'll never have an issue with reference coolers not keeping the card cool enough, but they can be pretty loud.

If you find a really great deal on a reference 670/660ti I'd go for it, but I guess that depends on how important low noise is to you. Just don't worry about the reference coolers not being good enough to keep your temps down.

 

[Bram Turismo]

I think I'm going to settle on the GTX 660Ti. I've been watching videos by the user who made the following video, and he's pretty much playing every game maxed out with this card. His CPU is probably better than the 3570k, but I feel like this card will more than be capable of handling whatever I'd throw at it.

I've always said that I wasn't going to complete Far Cry 3 a second time. But this game just looks entirely different on the higher graphical settings than when I played it on medium on my laptop, just stunning!



I guess I could run Crysis 3 on very high settings on a 1080p display, with no AA settings just fine. I've only played Crysis 1 in the past, maybe I should first pick up Crysis 2 and update myself on the storyline.

On that, I've read that nVidia's newest cards are coming on the market in 2 months? Some people were saying the GTX 680, 670, and 660Ti will reduce in price at that point, but does anyone know at what rate prices of graphics cards drop when the new gen is released?

Who knows I could even go for a 760Ti at that point or a GTX680 if the price drops to a fair amount.

 

[Bram Turismo]

Another small update to the list:

• NZXT Phantom 410 (black, no psu, atx)
• COOLERMASTER Hyper 212 (s775, sAM2, s1366, sAM3, s1156, s1155, sFM1, s2011)
• INTEL Core i5 3570K (3.4 ghz, 6 mb, s1155, 77 watt, boxed)
• ASUS GeForce GTX 660 Ti DirectCU OC (1058 mhz, 2048 mb, DDR5, 6008 mhz, 192 bit, 11, fan)
• SAMSUNG 840 PRO Series (128 gb, sata/600, 530 mbps, 390 mbps)
• SEAGATE Barracuda (1000 gb, sata/600, 7200 rpm, 64 mb, 3.5")
• MSI Z77A-G45
• CORSAIR Vengeance (8192 mb, 1600 mhz, CL9, 1.5 v, non-ecc)
• ASUS Wlan Card (300 mbps, pci-e)
• LG ELECTRONICS DVD RW + Software (24x, sata, Cyberlink SUITE, black)
• CORSAIR CX (600 watt, atx, modular)

Notes:

• This list comes from an online store that either delivers at home or you picking up your parts when you make a call. The biggest advantage here is that this store is situated in the city I work at, so there's zero posting costs as I could make an appointment and collect the parts.
  
• The store didn't have the CM Hyper 212 EVO, so I went with the Hyper 212 instead. Since it fits on a S1155 socket, I'm assuming it fits my i5 CPU just as well as the EVO edition.
  
• 3570k vs 3570 / ASUS GTX 660Ti OC vs ASUS GTX 660Ti: I'm asking myself whether I'll ever overclock the CPU and GPU. Everyone says it's not hard to do. But I'm new to desktops, and do I get a justified boost in performance while gaming compared to the extra pricetags these parts have?
  
• Ditched the Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste. The CM Hyper 212 will probably come with some thermal paste, again the question is whether the Arctic MX-2 paste is so much better to be bothered to buy another paste. I think it again is connected to the question how hard I would ever push this system to any limits when gaming.
  
• Also ditched Windows 7 from the list. I'm going to wait to buy an OS until I have all my parts, since I'm seriously considering going Windows 8. Not planning on playing any considerably old games, so I think I won't experience any compatibility issues soon. Correct me if I'm being wrong.
  
• Is a Blu-Ray internal drive worth the extra 2,5x pricetag? I have some Blu-Ray movies, but I don't have my PS3 anymore since it has gone to my younger brother. Or I could wait and see if I'm going to make more Blu-Ray movie purchases and then go for a second drive dedicated to Blu-Ray usage.

Apart from that, am I missing anything apart from an OS to get this system up and running with everything I need? Already brought out the 22" ACER screen and see in what condition it is. I'm probably going for a 1080p display if I'm going to buy a new monitor, I don't think a GTX 660Ti would be powerful enough to keep the framerate up on a 1440p display when wanting to keep eyecandy. But a new monitor will be for later on, it's not so necessary now since going from 16" to 22" will probably be a nice change already.


Thoughts?

 

[RX-7_FD3S]

Everything seems fine to me.

 

[Sharky.]

• The store didn't have the CM Hyper 212 EVO, so I went with the Hyper 212 instead. Since it fits on a S1155 socket, I'm assuming it fits my i5 CPU just as well as the EVO edition.

The EVO is the newer version of the 212, for all intents and purposes they're identical.

• 3570k vs 3570 / ASUS GTX 660Ti OC vs ASUS GTX 660Ti: I'm asking myself whether I'll ever overclock the CPU and GPU. Everyone says it's not hard to do. But I'm new to desktops, and do I get a justified boost in performance while gaming compared to the extra pricetags these parts have?

3570K vs 3570 is easy to justify, $10 more (usually) for a completely unlocked multiplier is more than worth it. It's better to have it and not use it than not have it and want to use it - and given that you can set the cpu multiplier to x40 and not have to touch anything else (literally nothing. 3570Ks are perfectly fine at 4GHz on stock volts) for 4GHz, why would you not give yourself that option?

As for factory overclocked cards, it depends on the degree of the overclock and the price premium - if the factory OC is large enough it is entirely possible that you may not be able to manually overclock a standard (non-OC) card to the same level; however most factory overclocks are fairly tame and as such are easily attained by standard cards.

Note that I'm referring to comparing a specially-designated OC card to a non-overclock branded version; some manufacturers give their base cards an overclock above nvidia/AMD reference spec anyway, with an OC version being one of these cards with an even bigger overclock. As an example, the nvidia reference clock speed of a GTX680 is 1006MHz and Gigabyte sells a base WindForce3 680 with a 1071MHz core clock; their SuperOverclock WindForce5 version comes in at 1137MHz.

• Ditched the Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste. The CM Hyper 212 will probably come with some thermal paste, again the question is whether the Arctic MX-2 paste is so much better to be bothered to buy another paste. I think it again is connected to the question how hard I would ever push this system to any limits when gaming.

The Hyper 212 doesn't come with thermal paste iirc. I use Arctic Silver 5 and I highly recommend it, although as I haven't used any other paste besides the stock paste on Intel's LGA1156 cooler I can't personally tell you how it performs relative to other similar pastes.

• Also ditched Windows 7 from the list. I'm going to wait to buy an OS until I have all my parts, since I'm seriously considering going Windows 8. Not planning on playing any considerably old games, so I think I won't experience any compatibility issues soon. Correct me if I'm being wrong.

7 > 8

• Is a Blu-Ray internal drive worth the extra 2,5x pricetag? I have some Blu-Ray movies, but I don't have my PS3 anymore since it has gone to my younger brother. Or I could wait and see if I'm going to make more Blu-Ray movie purchases and then go for a second drive dedicated to Blu-Ray usage.

2.5x premium for a BD-ROM/DVD-RW drive? Damn, is that the cheapest blu-ray drive you can get?

 

[Joel]

-My 212 Plus came with thermal paste, but I don't know for the other models. From what I've read AS5 works well and it's cheap enough that you may as well get it.

-Get the 3570k, it's not much price difference and it's worth it in case you eventually want to overclock.

-RE: Win 7 vs 8, it doesn't really matter. I went with 8 because I figured I may as well since I don't have any copies of 7 around. The issues with Win 8 are exaggerated, you won't have trouble using it as a gaming platform. Like I said, if you already have a copy of Win7 don't go out and buy 8, but if you need an OS and don't have one, I'd get Win8.

Would also say probably don't bother with the BD drive, wait until there's a good sale on one and add it later.

 

[TB]

Quasi-mimicking Noob, my Cooler Master Hyper TX3 came with thermal paste but I used Arctic Silver instead. Highest temp I've seen so far was 102°F.

Get the k. Get the k. Get the k.

I've had no issues with Windows 8 short of not having a start button, but that's easily remedied. 👍

Regarding the price of the optical drive, I could pick up a DVD drive for less than $20 but the Blu-Ray drive I bought was around $55, right in the same 2.5x range.

 

[Bram Turismo]

Regarding the price of the optical drive, I could pick up a DVD drive for less than $20 but the Blu-Ray drive I bought was around $55, right in the same 2.5x range.

Yep, the 24x DVD drive is 17,99 euros. The cheapest Blu-Ray drive on this particular website was 32,99 euros, but it was only a 4x speed Blu-Ray drive, and it's DVD ROM drive speed was only half of the other one (12x). The next one in line was already priced at 70+ euros. No way I'm going to spend that much on an optical drive.

Originally I was planning to just order all the parts as one big package from Amazon.com, but then it told me certain parts could not be shipped to my location. And neither did I take into account any postage fees, as well as any import duties.

With this website I can pay an extra 10 euros and they'll deliver it at my doorstep, or I can pick up everything myself after work.

 

[Bram Turismo]

Time for a little update!

Life's been busy since I've started to work. Holidays, travelling with friends, car had to be checked up completely, house renovations have started. A lot of things happening basically.

Since the next GTX cards were being released I kind of waited it out a bit to see what's what and the GTX 760 really looks tasty!

Anyway, I changed out my case to a Corsair 300R. Shaved off 40% of the price compared to the NZXT. I changed out my HD7950 for an MSI GTX 760, actually shaved off some money on that as well (GTX 760 cheaper than HD7950, waddafrack?) and then shaved off some more money changing out parts for cheaper counterparts.

So here's the current list:

Case: Corsair 300R
Mobo: MSI Z77A-G45
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 1TB
CPU: i5 3570k
PSU: Corsair CX600M
Memory: Kingston HyperX 2X4096 mb
GPU: MSI GTX 760 Twin Frozr
CPU cooler: CM Hyper TX3 EVO

A whole 150 euros cheaper than the last update since I dropped the SSD (893 euros vs 1053 euros). I'm pretty sure I would love such fast loading times, but I do I really need it? I'm not so sure. Hell, I could even go down to an HDD of 500GB since I'm pretty sure I'll never even use that much space. But it's only 10 euros cheaper, so I might as well get double the storage for that little extra.

Oh yeah, before I forget: Can anyone explain me the differences in memory clock speeds and how they matter in a build? The listed memory is 1600mhz clock speed, but there are so many different types of them (DDR3, DDR5, 1333mhz, 1600mhz, the list goes on...) that I'm not really sure what I'm choosing from.

 

[Bram Turismo]

It's kind of funny how I'm picking parts from Team Green, yet building a red color scheme

Man, some red LED strips on the top of a case with windowed sidepanels would look awesome.

I think I'm willing stretching the time to actually buy my parts as to make it decent from the first go. Maybe get a new AMD 9x series card or a 770 if I'm willing to wait until Christmas or so.

But, my CM Storm keyboard has blue light (blue switches), and my Razer Blackshark, Razer Deathadder and Razer mousepad are green-themed. Oh darn it!