[Bloodmyst]

Bloodmysts Gaming Build


Case - $129.00 CoolerMaster CM 690 II Advanced NVIDIA Edition USB3.0

Motherboard - $169.00 ASRock Z77 Extreme4 Motherboard

CPU - $332.00 (Intel Core i7-3770k Ivy Bridge)

Memory - $175.00 G.Skill Ripjaws Z F3-17000CL9Q-16GBZH (4x4GB) DDR3

Hard Drive;

1. $95 - OCZ Agility 3 60GB SSD

2. $79.00 - Western Digital Caviar Blue 500GB WD5000AAKX

Graphics Card - $279.00 Sapphire Radeon HD7850 2GB OC

PSU - $159.00 - CoolerMaster Silent Pro M2 850W Power Supply

DVD/CD ROM - $22.00 LG GH24NS90 24x SATA DVD-RW Drive OEM

Operating System - $23.99 Windows 7 Home Premium - 64bit

Total: $1462.99

In summary, for those wishing to purchase a new computer and like this set up. You can quite easily downgrade on the RAM and PSU to take off another $100 - $150 without really forfeiting much speed at all. Also, if you truly want to leave this system completely open for upgrades/overlocking in the future, I'd recommend purchasing the exact same system provided above but purchase the unlocked multiplier version of CPU instead (Core i7-3770k). This way if you decide to go for water cooling later on, you can practically overclock every component necessary.

On a side note, the M'board is ErP/EuP ready, so as long as the PSU is ErP/EuP certified you will be saving that little extra cash on the electricity bill. Also great for those who are conscious about the environment Thankfully, the PSU included in my build is ErP certified.

Thanks for you suggestions everyone.

EDIT: Please don't close this thread mods, using it as a reference for when I buy it next week. lol.

Quick Comments

nirvAnA:

[MazEi]

IMO that VelociRaptor HDD is not needed. Just a WD Blue 500GB will do for now, or get an SSD if you want speed, then get more capacity when the prices go back to what it was.

I always find that people usually need 10GB of RAM maximum, the most maximum I feel, as well as performance RAMs don't actually gain much, but I'm sure someone will have counter arguments about that.

With those cuts you can pour that money back into GFX card for a faster card I guess.

[FaDeHellfyre]

I don't personally have a problem with G.Skill but my thoughts on RAM is that you should always go for the cheapest one out there. Reliability isn't usually an issue with ram, it's all about performance and my 16GB of DDR3 that i've got in my PC only cost me $75. I run some pretty hardcore games and my computer takes a beating, yet i have noticed no difference in swapping to a home brand RAM rather than actual brand name.

Good choice on cutting costs for the CD drive, because be honest, who actual uses CD's any more except for their older games? Any good game nowadays you can buy over steam or origin (which is crap) or something like that, so having a good drive isn't essential.

Switched over from Geforce gfx cards recently and my two Crossfired 6850's are working perfectly. See if you can't get two cheaper cards and crossfire them for the same performance. Cooling shouldn't be an issue, and it can save you some bucks as well.

Other than that i love the case, and know little to nothing about motherboards

GL with the cpu as well.

[Baldie]

I have the G-Skill snipers and they work a treat. With everybody I have spoken to who has them there has never been an issue and they are affordable too for what they offer.

I got 2x 4GB which including my initial 3GB which came with my computer makes it 11GB. I agree with MazEi in that 10GB is more than sufficient.

Numbers like 16GB really only comes into play when you are using 3D modeling and CAD drawing programs etc.

[Bloodmyst]

Originally Posted by ESLHellfyre

I don't personally have a problem with G.Skill but my thoughts on RAM is that you should always go for the cheapest one out there. Reliability isn't usually an issue with ram, it's all about performance and my 16GB of DDR3 that i've got in my PC only cost me $75. I run some pretty hardcore games and my computer takes a beating, yet i have noticed no difference in swapping to a home brand RAM rather than actual brand name.

Good choice on cutting costs for the CD drive, because be honest, who actual uses CD's any more except for their older games? Any good game nowadays you can buy over steam or origin (which is crap) or something like that, so having a good drive isn't essential.

Switched over from Geforce gfx cards recently and my two Crossfired 6850's are working perfectly. See if you can't get two cheaper cards and crossfire them for the same performance. Cooling shouldn't be an issue, and it can save you some bucks as well.

Other than that i love the case, and know little to nothing about motherboards

GL with the cpu as well.

You'll find with RAM, more often then not the latency timings aren't actually synced up right in the BIOS despite having that "auto detect" feature many boards have these days. Once synced up and running at speeds they should be running at, I've found that I've gone through a few sticks of RAM in my time at work... lol. Not sure what it is that causes it, cheap parts? I dunno... But you will also find the latency timings on the more expensive RAM is "usually" much better than the el'cheapos you see getting around.

The motherboard, I just like it because of the nice heatsinks on it, seems like it will do the job keeping it cool. But the other reason I like it is because of the gold capacitators = longer lasting and also mainly it supports PCI-E 3.0 and the new Ivy Bridge CPUS. Recently, I've heard good reports about ASRock M'boards as well, so may as well give them a try. The only thing I don't like about it is the fact it's a tiny bit smaller then the standard ATX board, apparently you need to be that little bit extra careful inserting your memory sticks and main power connector since how it sits on the case chassis.

@Mazei - I only have a 250GB drive on my current computer and it isn't even full lol. Most of my work, music and movies are on my laptop. So the size doesn't really matter much to me. Also, iirc SSD's only have a limited Read/Write limit.... I'll have to confirm this, but I'm pretty sure that is how the older ones were...

I completely agree with the whole 10GB maximum limit thing as well. TBH I was originally only going to get 4GB of RAM... but considering how cheap RAM is these days, why not get 16GB?.... lol

[TCPLemminks]

Comparing your prices to the ones I found for my PC (construction delayed), a few of your parts seem pretty expensive.

I'm currently considering an Asus P8Z68 for a motherboard, it's a little more expensive than yours. Also a $200 hard drive is pretty expensive no? The one I'm looking at is 1TB for $105.

Not knowledgeable to comment on the rest though. If you curious about my build it's here.

Quick Comments

Bloodmyst:

How much are all those parts in shipping? Their all from different stores lol. Or is the shipping included in the price?

[Fraser]

it will definatly run like a boss!

[FaDeHellfyre]

Originally Posted by TCPLemminks

Comparing your prices to the ones I found for my PC (construction delayed), a few of your parts seem pretty expensive.

I'm currently considering an Asus P8Z68 for a motherboard, it's a little more expensive than yours. Also a $200 hard drive is pretty expensive no? The one I'm looking at is 1TB for $105.

Not knowledgeable to comment on the rest though. If you curious about my build it's here.

I have that motherboard, it works brilliantly, but has few USB ports. I'd check the version you're getting to make sure it has enough for you. Mine only had 6 instead of 8, and now I have to choose between headphones and printer...

You can find terrabyte HD's for $100 but it all depends on the speed you want it to run at.

[FaDeHellfyre]

Also, $200 is a little steep Lemminks, i got mine for $200 about four months ago... Should be able to pick one up now for ~150

[|Erasmus|]

750W is overkill for almost any single GPU build. Spend your money better on something like a 650W Corsair or Seasonic (better construction and warranty, and t hey are modular so no cables lying everywhere).

[TCPLemminks]

Originally Posted by TCPLemminks

Bloodmyst:
How much are all those parts in shipping? Their all from different stores lol. Or is the shipping included in the price...

I believe those prices are for pick up. No idea about shipping but it'll probably be cheaper than pcasegears which is Melbourne based while umart and MSY have branches in Queensland.

Originally Posted by ESLHellfyre

Also, $200 is a little steep Lemminks, i got mine for $200 about four months ago... Should be able to pick one up now for ~150

$200 for what? The Motherboard? It's at $170 now from umart, I'll update prices when I plan to actually build the damn thing (no internet = no reason to get a new computer)

[Tonsh]

Originally Posted by Bloodmyst

Hard Drive - $228.00 Western Digital VelociRaptor 600GB

imo, this should be;
1x OCZ Agility 3 60GB SSD - $95
1x Western Digital Green 2TB WD20EARX - $125

prices both from www.pccasegear.com

Set it up by having the OS and your most played games on the SSD e.g. sc2? this will make boot times and load times instant... And then you have 2TB of space for everything else... SSD's are really worth it and is the best upgrade for any system.

[FaDeHellfyre]

Originally Posted by TCPLemminks

I believe those prices are for pick up. No idea about shipping but it'll probably be cheaper than pcasegears which is Melbourne based while umart and MSY have branches in Queensland.



$200 for what? The Motherboard? It's at $170 now from umart, I'll update prices when I plan to actually build the damn thing (no internet = no reason to get a new computer)

yea, the motherboard. that's pretty expensive, considering the speed at which they drop price and that i even got the deluxe version for $200 4 months ago. I'd be looking to get it at $150 or less.

[Bloodmyst]

Originally Posted by |Erasmus|

750W is overkill for almost any single GPU build. Spend your money better on something like a 650W Corsair or Seasonic (better construction and warranty, and t hey are modular so no cables lying everywhere).

I could probably even run the system on a 450W lol. I don't really bother looking at the Watt rating of power supplies anymore. It's more the Amp ratings on the 12V rails that matter. I actually learned my lesson from this when I first bought the current PC I have. I also forgot PSU's these days come with the whole modular cable thing, thanks for reminding me.... I think this one may have that feature though... brb checking.

Originally Posted by Tonsh

imo, this should be;
1x OCZ Agility 3 60GB SSD - $95
1x Western Digital Green 2TB WD20EARX - $125

prices both from www.pccasegear.com

Set it up by having the OS and your most played games on the SSD e.g. sc2? this will make boot times and load times instant... And then you have 2TB of space for everything else... SSD's are really worth it and is the best upgrade for any system.

I actually have no experience with SSD's whatsoever.... How do you set them up? Do you just simply use them as two seperate units or can you set it up in RAID? Or maybe there is some particular feature I don't know about? Also, don't SSD's only have a limited life span with the whole number of Reads/Writes they have? It's been a while since I've checked these out.

[Bloodmyst]

Originally Posted by ESLHellfyre

yea, the motherboard. that's pretty expensive, considering the speed at which they drop price and that i even got the deluxe version for $200 4 months ago. I'd be looking to get it at $150 or less.

You guys realise that M'board still runs on the Z68 Chipset? The ASRock Motherboard in my OP is running on the newer Z77. If your getting an Ivy Bridge CPU, believe me... you WANT to have the Z77 chipset The main reason being because of the new gpu feature the CPU's have. I still need to do a little more reading on it, but from what I can tell your normal GFX card can run in like "SLI/Crossfire" with the onboard GPU (new feature of Ivy Bridge). Although it's not called sli/crossfire, just a poor analogy of mine ><

I've been comparing both of these boards against each other, I cannot see why I would purchase the ASUS M'board over the ASRock one.... Is there something I'm missing here?

[FaDeHellfyre]

Originally Posted by Bloodmyst

You guys realise that M'board still runs on the Z68 Chipset? The ASRock Motherboard in my OP is running on the newer Z77. If your getting an Ivy Bridge CPU, believe me... you WANT to have the Z77 chipset

I've been comparing both of these boards against each other, I cannot see why I would purchase the ASUS M'board over the ASRock one.... Is there something I'm missing here?

I didn't say get it, i know next to nothing about motherboards. I'm just saying he could get it a lot cheaper, because he's buying one.

Quick Comments

Bloodmyst:

Whoops, quoted your quote coz I thought lemminks previous post would be included :(

[Trusty]

If 1500$ is your budget ----

--- take $$ out of some where (probably ram.. you don't need 16gb....)
--- put it into extra disk space. Grab some 1TB wd black's, don't need to be ultra fast yo.

[JAFF3R]

Looks pretty good, but maybe go for the i7-3770k. Main difference will be that you can overclock it AFAIK so the extra money it will be worth it.
750w is overkill. My HD 6950 2GB card runs off a 550w PSU, and the HD7850's are recommended for 500w from what I can see on PcCaseGear, but if you're planning on going SLI/Crossfire then 750w is a must. $200 sounds expensive though? I've heard about the Antec TP-750w being not bad at all, and is only $140.
Go with what Tonsh said regarding hard drives. SSD's make your computer A LOT faster. I can turn my computer on and be in Starcraft II all in about 1 minute.

I guess it also depends on what you want to do with it, if its just for casual gaming then 16GB RAM is excessive. 4GB here and running BF3 and SC2 (not at the same time) fine. Though I'd probably recommend 8GB ram since it's cheap enough these days.

Just my 2c.

[Bloodmyst]

Originally Posted by Trusty

If 1500$ is your budget ----

--- take $$ out of some where (probably ram.. you don't need 16gb....)
--- put it into extra disk space. Grab some 1TB wd black's, don't need to be ultra fast yo.

Yeah, I'm actually looking into the Hard Drive set up Tonsh posted. This way it only costs a few bucks more whilst keeping the 16GB of memory. There is actually an advantage of having that extra memory, but for the life of me I can't remember now (there is some nifty thing you can do with it). Argggghhh sh^t, I just realised I have to get a 64-bit OS now lol.

Originally Posted by JAFF3R

Looks pretty good, but maybe go for the i7-3770k. Main difference will be that you can overclock it AFAIK so the extra money it will be worth it.
750w is overkill. My HD 6950 2GB card runs off a 550w PSU, and the HD7850's are recommended for 500w from what I can see on PcCaseGear, but if you're planning on going SLI/Crossfire then 750w is a must. $200 sounds expensive though? I've heard about the Antec TP-750w being not bad at all, and is only $140.
Go with what Tonsh said regarding hard drives. SSD's make your computer A LOT faster. I can turn my computer on and be in Starcraft II all in about 1 minute.

I guess it also depends on what you want to do with it, if its just for casual gaming then 16GB RAM is excessive. 4GB here and running BF3 and SC2 (not at the same time) fine. Though I'd probably recommend 8GB ram since it's cheap enough these days.

Just my 2c.

Yeah I looked at the unlocked multiplier version of the CPU. But to be honest, I'm not really keen on overclocking my system since overclocking = more cooling "if not" computer blows up. lol. And really, apart from wanting a damn decent CPU for SC2 streaming I don't think I'll really ever have to overclock it. So I've just settled for the former.

The whole SLI/Crossfire setup, personally I don't like due to past experiences with overheating. I'd rather just spend the money you would spend on both cards and put it into 1 damn good card. If I was going to purchase a decent water cooling system I'd definately go for it. But for what speeds this PC will operate at stock standard, I don't really see any reason I'd need to overclock it.... unless it's another 3 - 4 years down the track when my comp gets so old again, but I'd just buy another PC anyway.

Not to mention, I'm not sure about anyone else. But I really don't see why you would want to overclock a brand new PC. If I knew I was going to do that, I'd rather just spend the extra money on faster gear without having to do that. However, I guess for those who are really on a tight budget that want a fast system but can't exactly afford it, I can see why overclocking would play a part.

If anything with the PSU, I'd probably go bigger. Simply because of the amount of problems I've had with my currrent PC (Shi^^y PSU). I'm not going to skimp on the PSU, more cleaner power is always better then "just" having enough.... since I've learned the hard way lol.

So far so good though guys, looks like I'll be changing my HDD set up to what Tonsh recommended (it seems more smart and logical to go for this option instead considering the small price difference).

Also, does anyone have an ASRock M'board? Do you find them fairly reliable? I was also going to ask if anyone had a 7850, but no point asking just yet since the current Sandy Bridge CPU's are bottlenecking em' :s

[mGGDrGooSe]

Can I ask why you are getting an i7 3770? or that case for that matter if you arent running mutliple gpus and overclocking (IMO a case is only for cooling, and that has masses of cooling that you wont be needing). Even my i7-860 was not being used anywhere near capacity for any kind of gaming, so an Ivy bridge is just bling for 90% of users out there not doing cpu intensive work. Also the ram is expensive, I got 16gb hyper-x blue for $100. It's certainly a wicked system, but not good bang for buck unless you are overclocking everything and doing intensive work like streaming, encoding, 3D work, etc, etc.
Anyway, just for reference I'll list my system below for comparison (from ARC in sydney - about a month ago?).

RAM: Kingston Hypex-X blue 4x4GB $113
Case: Coolermaster HAF RC212 $105
i7 2600k $313
CPU cooler: Coolermaster RR212E universal $39
MB: ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z (mATX) $204
Gcard: MSI GTX560 Ti Hawk $262
PSU: Antex 650W Green $99
Total: $1135

already had a cavier black 1TB, think it was about $100 mark?
my benchmarking shows that its only about 10-30% faster than my 3+year old i7-860 system depending on the application (both completely factory default). Tested the cooling by running some quantum mechanics calculations, it was about 12% faster and the cpu never got over 50C (100% for 2 hours). Havent tested prime95 stability yet, but Ive no doubt it will be cool.

Just saying, if you arent certain that you need extra power, dont get it, cos you wont use it.
Edit: my plan for system lifetime is generally to keep them for 4-5 years, with buying a gcard about half way through, that way you actually get money value in that the next system will be about 50-80% faster than the old IME, and you will only just be coming up to games that you cant play on high anymore.

Quick Comments

FaDeHellfyre:

Told ya's the RAM looked too expensive